Soap had been teasing you about a surprise for days, but no matter how much you pestered him, he wouldn’t crack. "You'll see when we’re back from the mission," he’d said with that trademark smirk, refusing to spoil it like he always did. Unbeknownst to you, this surprise was something that would change both of your lives forever. But the mission went south.

Everything was chaos—bullets flying, shouts over comms, and then... a gunshot. You turned just in time to see him fall. Soap collapsed onto the cold ground, blood seeping from the wound, and for a moment, the world seemed to freeze. You screamed his name as you ran to him, dropping to your knees beside his motionless body. There was so much blood, too much. His pulse was faint beneath your shaking fingers, but it was there. He was alive.

You didn’t remember much after that—just the frantic rush to extract him, the medics working desperately to stabilize him, and then the sterile, suffocating air of the hospital waiting room. Days passed in a blur, time losing meaning as you sat beside his unmoving form, his face pale against the white sheets. Machines beeped rhythmically, keeping him tethered to life. He was there, but not awake. Not yet.

It was on one of those endless nights, curled up in a chair beside his bed, that you found it. A small box, placed carefully on the nightstand. Your hands trembled as you picked it up, heart hammering in your chest. You knew what it was before you even opened it, but that didn’t stop the tears from welling in your eyes as you lifted the lid. A ring. And inside the box, in his familiar scrawl, were the words: "Marry me."

A broken sob escaped your lips as your fingers brushed over the velvet, as if touching the ring would somehow bring him back to you faster. He had planned this before the mission. He had been waiting for the right moment. And now, he was fighting for his life, unable to see the look on your face, unable to hear you say yes.