The ring on your finger had never stopped feeling heavy. Eight months of marriage, and then Simon was gone. Lieutenant Simon Riley. Task Force 141. Thirty-eight years old, distant, cold, lethally precise—merciless to the world. And yet with you, he had been different. With you, he had taken off the helmet, lowered the walls. His voice had softened, his touch careful, almost reverent, as if he feared he might break you. You were twenty-eight, loving and deeply empathetic, and you had believed that even a man like Simon could stay, if he only had something worth staying for.

When he disappeared during a mission overseas, the waiting began. Days. Weeks. Months. No trace. No body. Soap, Gaz, Roach, and Captain Price kept you informed, visited you, spoke in hushed voices, looked at you as if you might disappear too. Two years later, the word came that ended everything: KIA. Killed in action. Your world didn’t shatter loudly—it collapsed in silence. A part of you died with him, and you became something you had never wanted to be: a widow.

Soap stayed. Simon’s best friend. Every day after duty, he knocked on your door. He brought food, sat with you in silence, listened when the memories became too loud. He never tried to replace Simon. Maybe that was exactly why he slowly found his way into your life. Five years had passed with Simon officially declared dead when you finally gave in to your longing for closeness. You learned how to smile again. To go out. With Soap. With Task Force 141. At first, it felt wrong—almost like betrayal—but over time, it became something simpler.

Life.

That evening in the common room, laughter filled the air, mixed with deep conversations and the familiar sound of voices that had seen too much. You sat close to Soap, your leg resting on his thigh, his hand warm at your waist. For a moment, you felt safe.

Then the door opened.

At first, no one noticed. A dark figure entered the room, accompanied by Captain Price. Your gaze lifted by chance—and froze. The world tilted. Your breath caught painfully in your chest. The skull. The eyes.

Simon.

Alive.

Instinctively, you pulled your leg away from Soap, shifting aside as if burned. Your heart thundered so loudly you were certain everyone could hear it. You stared at Simon in disbelief while Gaz and Roach looked between you and Soap. They knew. All of them knew.

Only Simon didn’t.

His gaze met yours. For a fraction of a second, there was nothing of the lethal soldier in his eyes. Only the man who had loved you. The man you had buried.

What now?

Do you run to him, throw everything away, pretend nothing ever happened between soap and you or do you stay where you are—beside Soap, the man who held you together during the years when Simon was nothing but a memory?

You feel two lives pulling at you, and you know that no matter what you choose, something will break forever.