Thank you all so much for the kind reviews, favorites, and follows I truly appreciate them, I have been pouring my heart and soul into this story. I would like your opinion on the next chapter, I have a rough outline and some ideas. What would you all think of Ali and Em exchanging letters? Would that be something you all would like to read? Let me know, I write this for all of you to enjoy so your input would be great, Thanks!

Graduation/Advanced training

Family day is a bittersweet for Emily, she had been in contact with her family just long enough to let them know she was okay and not to worry. Taylor who had become her closes friend over the last 9-weeks had adopted her as part of her family. Her parents had both given her a huge hug and felt like they knew her already from all the letters that Taylor had sent them.

Emily enjoyed spending the day with the Taylor, mom Sue, and dad Sam. They definitely made her feel like one of the family as they took a tour of the barracks and base. She did however miss her family and friends, especial one blonde in particularly.

As the day progress Emily starts to feel a bit better and part of the Taylor clan. When the sit down for a diner in the mess hall Sue takes out two small boxes and hands one each to the girls with a proud smile. Emily looks at the small box with tears in her eyes as she opens it, she pours the necklace out into her hand and turns over a small silver heart that says sister on it. Tears slide down her checks as she pulls Sue in for a hug and tells her, "Thank you so much!"

Taylor holds up a matching necklace and smiles. "Now you'll never get rid of me Fields, I always wanted a sister!" She says with a laugh as she joins in on the hug.

Graduation flies by rather quickly and Emily does not have to report to Ft. Sam Houston in Texas for another week. Since Taylor's from Texas her parents offer Emily to stay in their guest room since they both are in the same program.

The week flies by relatively quickly, with the girls really getting a chance to get to know each other.

"So Fields I know so much about you it seems silly I still don't know your first name!" She says laughingly.

"It's Emily but most of my friends call me Em." She tells her giggling.

"Ok, Em it is mine is Amber by the way." She tells her.

"Well it's only fitting we know, since we have these." Emily says holding up her sister necklace with a goofy grin.

They finish their last night at the Taylor's pigging out on pizza and ice cream while watching some of their favorite movies. Emily had chosen Under the Tuscan Sun and Amber had decided on Sgt. Bilko.

They we're both lying on sleep bags in living room chit chatting before going to sleep.

"Hey, Em. Can I ask you something?" Amber asks curiously.

Emily pushes herself up on her elbows and looks at her blue-green eyes. "Yeah, sure." She tells her with a small smile.

"Do your friends and family know you joined the army?" She asks not wanting to pry too much.

"Not…exactly." She starts, "Some really bad things went down before I left and I can't go back, not until I do something to prove that…I'm not a terrible person." Emily says breaking down in tears.

"Emily I'm..So sorry. I-I didn't mean to pry." She tells her putting her hand reassuringly on Emily's arm.

Emily fights hard not to flinch at the contact. "You didn't know its o-okay really." She says sobbing.

Amber feels Emily tense, she asks her in a small voice. "Can I give you a hug?"Not wanting to push the trembling brunette.

Emily hesitates, not feeling worthy of her sympathy but when she looks into her kind eyes she shakes her head yes. Amber pulls her into a tight hug and tears start pour freely. She shakes uncontrollably not use to human contact.

"Have you told Alison anything?" She whispers to Emily not wanting to push.

"No…" Emily says the tears coming faster now.

"Maybe you should, especially since we will probably be deploying pretty quickly after advanced." She tells her gently rubbing her back comfortingly.

They fell asleep with Amber holding Emily in a comforting way, she loves Em very much but just as a sister.

Amber and Emily report to Ft. Sam Houston bright and early the next day to start their combat medic training. The schooling lasted for 16-weeks and was nowhere near as intensive as basic. The barracks were also quite a bit nicer, they got lucky and are able to have their own separate rooms and share a small kitchen, sitting area, and bathroom. They shared a common are with 4 other pods of two as well.

Emily keeps having more trouble sleeping as the weeks go by, during basic it was simple. She'd come back to the barracks so tired she'd fall asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow but now the demand is nowhere near as grueling so sleeping is not exactly her friend.

About half way through advanced training one night Emily falls into a fitful sleep, she is running down the halls at the dollhouse the dark figure is right behind her, she can practically feel their breathe on her neck. If she can just keep going she can make it to the doors just ahead. She trips and gets a back handed slap across the face, her eyes stinging with tears. She can hear Ali's voice calling just ahead; she kicks out with her right foot connecting with the assailant's knee. The figure goes done hard and she pulls herself up cutting her palms on the rough concrete. She runs as fast as she can her lungs burning. She busts out the doors tears choking her as she gasps for air. She sees Alison standing there with her hair in natural large soft curls, her piercing blue eyes staring at her. As she moves towards her she hears two loud bangs and sees blood blossom across Ali's shirt. "N-n-o-o-o" she chokes out running toward her and catching Alison in her arms as they fall to the ground.

Alison gasps looking into Emily's eyes, "I….love…you….Em." She whispers out as her body goes limp in Emily's arms.

"Alison!" She screams tears streaming down her face.

"Emily," Amber says shaking her as gentle as she can trying to snap her out of her nightmare.

"Alison?!" Emily asks still not quite awake or realizing where she is.

"No, it's me Amber." She tells her grabbing her hand comfortingly.

Emily grabs her roughly in a tight hug more tears coming now. "I-I thought it was really…" She keeps saying over and over.

"It's okay Em. I'm here." She keeps repeating till she can feel Emily start to relax and her tears start to slow down.

Amber pulls back slow from Emily not wanting to upset her. She looks in her sad brown eyes and asks gently. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Emily decided then that maybe, just maybe if she told Amber about "A" and being held hostage for a month, it might help her to get past some of it. She decides to leave out the parts about her having to play those awful choice games with "A". She can't bear to see Amber look at her as the monster she truly is.

When she finishes telling her everything more or less and tells her about the nightmare of Alison dying in her arms, Amber pulls her into another hug. "I love you, Em. You are like the sister I've always wanted and that's why I'm telling you this again. You have to call or write her and tell her that you are leaving in less than three months." She says pulling back and locking eyes with her. "You have to!"

Over the next few days Emily and Amber came up with their own "boot camp" to help Emily burn off some her nerves before they got to sleep at night. They alternated weight training with cardio but still take Sundays off to hang out.

One hot Sunday they decided to go to the water park on base, Amber had never seen the brunette so carefree and relaxed as she was in the water. It brought a smile to her face, "Hey Fields!" She calls getting Emily's attention. "If I'd have known you were such a mermaid, I'd have brought you to a pool sooner."

Emily's face falls a little and she gets lost in thoughts of when she used to swim when she was a young teen. Alison use to call her, her mermaid…..

"Hey?" Amber says kindly as she puts her hand on Emily's shoulder. "Where'd you go?"

"That's..." she starts in a whispered tone, "is what she used to call me, her mermaid."

Amber doesn't even have to ask, she knows the she Emily is referring to. "Did you send the letter to her yet?"

"I've almost finished it, it just took a lot longer to write than I expected." Emily says not wanting to make eye contact knowing that she would be met with disappointed eyes.

"Em, we graduate in a week and then we ship off two Afghanistan the following week." She tells her pulling her chin up to look into her eyes. "You listed her as your emergency contact; you need to tell her, okay?"

"I know, I will… promise." Truth be told she had finished the letter a week or so prior but hadn't gotten the nerve to mail it.