Ara pulled off her combat helmet and set it on her bunk. With a big sigh she sat down. Her friend Gabe came into her tent. "Hey, Soon to be retired 2nd Lt. Callaway." He teased. She just rolled her eyes and shook her head. Gabe smiled at his long time friend. "Hey, since we are all leaving and you're retiring, the boys and I thought it be cool to go to Finland. You known to celebrate before returning to the U.K." Gabe suggested. "That sounds cool. It be nice to see our friends over there." She smiled weakly. "Yeah. Our flight leaves in an hour and seeing you've been packed, you can take a nap and I'll come to wake you before we leave." Ara nodded and drifted off. Gabe got up. "Finland here we come." He laughed to himself.
Now, she sat in a car waiting for the rest of her friends to load the trunk, so they could get going to their friend Angelo's house in Helsinki. "You guys take to damn long." Ara growled. "Oh, shut up. After 2 years in Afghanistan, we got the bloody right to be as slow as we please." Michael grunted sitting next to her. "Yeah." Gabe, Sean and Leo said in sync. "Men." Ara said under her breath. The drive was two hours from the Airport. The gang of friends sang stupid songs and played countless games on the way there. "Finally!" Sean yelled as Leo pulled into Angelo's driveway. Angelo met them at the front door. "God, you guys are a sight for sore eyes." He said hugging them all. "Missed you to, Lo-lo." Sean smiled. "Come on in. I'll show you to your rooms." Angelo ushered them in. Ara got into her room and changed out of her Marine uniform to a pair of tight black jeans and a blue shirt. She went back downstairs to see the boys jumping up and down. "Ara! Helldone is in town, Dude. And Angelo got us all tickets and backstage passes." Gabe yelled excitedly. "Cool, When do we leave?" Ara asked feeling her blood starting to pump. "Um..." Angelo looked down at his watch. "We should go, now." He said. "Alright, let's go." She said bouncing out the door with the rest of them.
