I looked up at the clock. Two A.M. I wondered if Tariq was out riding his bike or sleeping. The Emergency Room was pretty quiet for a Friday night. It seems all I was doing was stocking and restocking what I just stocked.

A mother panicked and brought her baby in who had a fever, but nothing else. I smiled at the mother, thinking I'd do the same thing if I was ever a mother. She and I talked as Doctor Givens looked the baby over.

The young mother looked at me. "You have kids?"

"Does a Soldier returning from war count?" I laughed.

She looked at me. "You're too young to ha..."

"She means her boyfriend." Dr. Givens laughed. "He got back a few weeks back and hasn't acted grown up since."

The young mother smiled. "I get it. You look over him a lot?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Someone has to." I looked up as I heard commotion in the ambulance bay.

"Baby's fine, Ciara. Go help." Dr. Givens nudged.

I rushed out and ran to where the paramedics were working on a young man on the gurney. "What is it?"

The paramedic doing chest compressions looked up at me. "MVA. You sure you want to help?"

"What? It's my job." I was flabbergasted. I followed them into an exam room. In the fury, I didn't look at the patient as his stats were being relayed to Doctor Johns. I followed orders and got what was asked for and then I saw the patient. "RIQY!" I screamed and dropped what was in my hands.

Dr. Johns looked at me. "Get her out of here." She said, demanding, but soft.

Nicole took me by my arm. "Come on. Tariq will be fine."

I unwillingly went. "How will I cope without him?"

Nicole led me into the break room. "He's going nowhere. You know that Dr. Johns is one of the best attendings here. Your Dawson will be fine."

Gianni came in. "I just saw who the MVA was." I hugged my younger brother. "You okay?"

"How will...what if something happens?" I wailed.

Dr. Johns entered the break room a half hour later. She sat next to me. "He's waiting for a bed in ICU, but he's in Exam 3. Go see him."

I made my way to see Riqy in Exam 3. He made it back from Iraq in one piece and now there were tubes and machines hooked up to him. I sat in the examination stool and held his hand. "Don't you DARE leave me!" I yelled in a soft whisper. "Don't you DARE! I love you and I wouldn't know how to exist without you."

In a couple hours, Tariq was moved up to the ICU. Dr. Johns gave me the rest of the morning off to sit with him. His parents, my parents, Gianni, Lisa, and James were there, keeping vigil.

"Ciara?" I looked up at the officer standing in the door.

"Hey." I looked at Yasmina and Yusef. "I'll be back." I followed the officer out the door. "What's up, Tony?"

"What's this about last night and a fight at Rosey's 24 Food Hall last night?"

"Some gicker lickers were giving Riqy a hard time. It was only when the guy slapped me that Tariq hit him. Why?"

He pulled out a photo. "Recognize this guy?"

"That's the guy that hit Tariq." I gasped.

"He's also the one that drove Riqy off the road."

"You arrested the asshole, didn't you?" I felt the anger rise.

Tony shook his head. "Nope." I wanted to yell, but Tony finished. "We had him stopped, or so we thought. He led us on a high-speed chase, which is what led to Riqy being run off the road. He finally stopped, but killed himself before we could arrest him."

"Why kill himself?" I sat down.

"Bill Harding. Wanted in New Hampshire for capital murder. An entire Middle Eastern family. He didn't want to go to prison for life." Tony sat next to me. "I'm so sorry about Tariq. It was..."

"You were doing your job." I wiped some tears away. "It's not your fault. It's the eejit's fault and he's the only one I'll blame."

Yasmina, who had been listening, gave Tony a hug. "You have protected Tariq his entire life and you have now." She smiled at him. "He'll be fine. I trust Allah to take care of my baby."

I jumped out of the chair when I heard a heart monitor flat line. I was so scared it was Riqy's. When I made it to his bedside, I discovered his heart rate was normal. Dr. Johns came up and I looked at her, teary. "A word, Byrne?"

"Yeah." I stepped outside. "I'm sorry, Lucy, but..."

"We're assigning you to be Tariq's nurse until he's stable. You'll have your same shift, but you have to be a nurse and not attach yourself too much. We all decided that this would be best for you and him both. He'd get the care of a nurse who loves him beyond all that can be given and it will give you peace of mind and you'll be able to see how well he's progressing, instead of losing concentration in the ER." She smiled. "He's going to be okay. While he did take a nasty spill, and there were a couple touch and go moments, the examination showed little damage to any vital organs. We got the internal bleeding controlled. He will survive this. He'll wake up to a broken bone or two. Couple bruised ribs, and in serious pain, but he'll be fine."

"Excuse me, Lucy?" Gianni stuck his head out.

"Yeah?"

"He's coming to."

Both Dr. Johns and I ran into the room. She looked at Tariq, who was looking around, trying to figure out where he was and how he got there. The stress showed on the monitor. Yasmina reached over and took his hand, trying to calm him. She spoke to him in Arabic, and whatever it was, worked. His heart rate slowed down. Everyone, except Dr. Johns, Gianni and I left.

Tariq made like he wanted to speak, so we found the alphabet board we used for patients who were unable to speak and held it in front of him. He spelled out NIGHTMARE and closed his eyes again. Dr. Johns watched the monitors for a couple minutes before deciding that he was okay and just fell asleep.

I spent the rest of my shift standing over him, making sure he was okay.

Tariq was in ICU for another month. He'd have moments where he was awake and then moments where we thought we might lose him. But for now, he was pretty stable, and soaking in the attention.

The day he was moved into a normal hospital room, there was a visitor. I looked up at the figure standing in the shadows of the door. "Visiting hours are over. You can come back in the morning."

"He going to be okay?"

I recognized the gruff voice. "Sergeant Silas?"

"Yeah. Tariq going to be okay?" He moved in, keeping quiet so as to not wake the sleeping kid.

"He took a nasty hit, but he's fine. If he wasn't, he wouldn't be here. He'd still be in ICU."

"Sorry I couldn't make it out sooner. I had all this shit to take care of at home." He sat down. "I'm also sorry to be here past visiting hours."

I gently kissed Tariq's forehead. "It's okay, Sergeant Silas."

"Call me Chris."

I sat in the other chair. "Okay, Chris. It's all okay. He's been having nightmares about a mission."

"Kids? Candy?" Chris looked at me with an intent look.

"Yeah, and an IED."

Chris sighed. "He had that nightmare quite a lot in Iraq, after the one ambush. We were on our way to help with the kids and the school and yes, we had candy. The Humvee ahead of us was hit by an IED. Fortunately, no one was killed. Many times, the Humvee just ahead of us would get hit by an IED and one guy would be killed."

"So, it's not just a nightmare? It's real." I rubbed my eyes.

Chris nodded. "Yeah. Very much so. What Tariq saw that day will haunt him the rest of his life."

I looked at Chris. "What did he see?"

Chris just shook his head. "Nothing he wants to see again, I can tell you." He looked over at Tariq, who quietly moaned in pain. "What happened to the asshole who hit him?"

"Killed himself." Curiosity suddenly struck. "How did you know Tariq was here?"

"Didn't report back to command. My CO knew he was in my squad, so sent me out to look for him." Chris never took his eyes off of Riqy. It was as though Chris were the father and Tariq his only son.