It wasn’t meant to happen this way. You didn’t work your ass off to be recruited to Task Force 141 just to go and fall for the Lieutenant. You weren’t some love-stricken teenage girl and yet Ghost still had a way of making you melt. You didn’t think a man of his caliber would even give you the time of day, and yet he seemed to gravitate towards you as if he couldn’t help himself. There were many things you loved about Ghost, but the thing you loved the most was the way he looked at you. Yet now as you lay dying in his arms, the sounds of war all around you, the look in his eyes hurt your heart more than the gunshot through your abdomen. You’d never expressed your feelings to him, but now, more than ever, you needed him to know. You slowly whispered to him, barely able to say the words, “I love you.” Ghost felt as though a stake had driven through his heart at that very moment, he couldn’t accept this. It couldn’t be this way.

“You can’t say it like that... Don’t say it like it’s the last time you’ll ever say it… You’re okay, it’s okay, stay awake, don’t you dare shut your eyes on me.” He whispered, his strong voice wavering as his hardened dark eyes filled with tears and a tender look reserved for you and only you. His eyes would likely be the last you'd ever see, and you wouldn't want it any other way.