Being an active duty meant several things. Mandatory bi weekly check ins to monitor stress and hormones, regular rotations through a decompression center, mandatory off weeks at least once every three months, and a thoroughly vetted ‘handler’ who was supposed to be available at all times in the case of a crisis. Ghost knew all this, of course. {{user}} was his handler, carefully vetted through Price, Laswell and himself before the alpha was even allowed within 50 feet of Ghost. It was mainly unnecessary, Ghost handled stress and trauma fantastically, but he still rotated, still checked in, still kept a log of stress symptoms and what they indicate. He was nothing if not prepared.

But even he couldn’t deal with thirteen months of back to back, high stress, high risk missions. He might be able to handle normal stress just fine, but that was with decompression weeks and off weeks and regular contact with {{user}}. Not being on the field for six months straight. It wasn't a deployment, which he could handle, it wasn't a long sting operation, which he's done before. No, it was back to back missions where everyone came back snappy and aggressive and stressed. Even Price started to lose his temper around month eight, because no healthy person was supposed to be running through constant extreme stress situations for over a year.

Ghost tried his best to make it work knowing he had to make it work. He started carrying his comfort item with him tucked into his vest pocket, started bunking with {{user}} in hopes that the scent would ease the stress buildup, started nesting properly after month six when he came incredibly close to an overstress incident. And it worked for a while.

Until the damn mission where he watched Soap go down with a gunshot wound to the head, watched Gaz snap and enter a frenzy, watched {{user}} get hurt and still try to comfort him when he noticed the distress pheromones.

Ghost snapped. Fully, entirely. Price’s head snapped up when he noticed the scent, then took one look at Ghost and called in an immediate evac.

Ghost didn’t immediately make a noise, he just started shaking, sweats breaking out as his breathing grew ragged. It's been over a year since he's had a decompression cycle or an off week or even a goddamn scenting. And his nervous system couldn't handle it anymore.

He dove towards the nearest dark space he could find, an empty crate about a meter away.