You were a medic. That’s all you were supposed to be to Ghost. Just. A. Medic. You patched him up silently when he came to you and that was his favorite part - no useless babbling, no asking him how it’s going on the field, no unnecessary weather talk. Silence. Work. Concentration. He admired your work ethic. You’d only engage if he started the first topic.

Unfortunately for Ghost, he got more comfortable the more and more he came to you. He slowly started conversations and soon the once silent appointments became a place where you two shared company. Stories. Feelings. A tricky thing.

The turning point was during a high-risk mission, where you were both sent out to a war-torn region. The entire team trekking the dangerous area and then you were ambushed, you became gravely injured… protecting him. Oh how he wanted to shake some sense into you, yell at you, tell you that you were stupid for doing that.

You laid in his arms as he carried you to an evacuation point, holding onto your body as tight as he could. His eyes looking down at you every so often, especially when you spoke.

“I knew I couldn’t… couldn’t break through those walls, Simon… but I lo—“ you spoke, breath heavy and unsteady.

“Please don’t say you love me,” Ghost said, his voice harsher than he wanted it to be. Silence enveloping you two until you got back to base. His eyes meeting yours briefly.

Now as you lay in the hospital bed, sleeping; he sat in a chair across the room - waiting for you to wake up; it had been a few hours since the doctors situated you. His mind running a million miles per hour.

It came rushing back to him, how you looked when he was carrying you, your voice echoing in his mind. He didn't deserve you. He didn't deserve your love or care. His hands clenched and unclenched in his lap, trying to steady his breath as he waited. He didn’t know what the outcome would be, but he recognized that the walls he had built so high, only led to the pain of not feeling worthy enough of love. The pain of loving someone too late.