Chris laughed as he told the story. "But I tell you it wasn't funny at the time. I wanted nothing more than to kick Dim's ass."

I wiped a tear. "Sounds like you had a whole cast of characters."

Chris smiled. "Yeah, I did, but no one beat out that one Corporal." He looked up, as though he were trying to remember something. "Shaver. Corporal Shaver. Now THERE was the character of all characters. Guy had some balls on him."

"What happened?" I sipped my coffee.

"Killed himself." Chris looked down into his coffee. "The Lieutenant we were under was constantly on a power trip. One of his minions went missing. Ended up being held hostage until the son was taken care of. Lieutenant Hunter had no combat experience and he refused to listen to anyone that did, not even Captain Baron. So, we send in Shaver to fix the kid and Angel to shoot or arrest the dad. Rather than wait, Hunter sends in his dogs, killing not just the father, but Private Dana as well. By the time we got in, Shaver had shot himself in the mouth." He fell silent.

"I'm sorry." I didn't know what to say.

"Shaver would have been a good guy to have on your squad. Mouthy, but he knew his job. I mostly felt bad because I was the one that had to set him in his place to keep Hunter from arresting his ass."

"Tariq never shared a lot of this."

Chris stared hard at me. "Why would he? He knew you'd worry and none of them could do that to their families and..."

"What about your family?" I interrupted.

"What about my family?"

"Well, you're always talking about 'their families' but never your family. Why?"

Chris took a gulp of coffee and looked at me. "Because there's nothing about my family to talk about."

I looked at Chris and wondered what he meant. I decided to push the apparently sensitive issue. "But you've got family, right?"

Chris shot an intent stare in my direction. "I just said that..."

"I know what you just said, but I'm Irish and Italian. I am extremely stubborn and get what I want." I smiled.

Chris smiled back and sighed. "Shit! Tariq said that you were, but he never said how much."

"So, what of your family?"

Chris sighed. "I don't speak to my family much. When I joined the Army, my dad basically disowned me."

"Why?"

He sighed. "My dad was as anti military as you can get. He was drafted for Vietnam and lost an arm in an ambush. He hated every second of being Army and told me that if I ever joined, he'd never speak to me again." This rough man's eyes filled with tears and I wanted to comfort him. He went on. "We had a situation in Iraq and I decided to mend fences with my dad and I couldn't get up the courage to call. I just sat there and stared at the phone." He looked at me. "How can I have enough courage to face gunfire and yet I'm scared shitless when it comes to calling my dad?"

I felt sorry for him. No child should ever be disowned by parents. I looked at him. "How long have you served?"

"13 years. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a Soldier. So, towards the end of my Senior year in high school, I saw the recruiter and the June after I graduated, I was off to basic training and out of my family."

"What about your mom? Siblings?"

"Mom's an abused wife. Whatever Dad tells her to do, she does. She sides with him all the time, even if he's wrong. I had one brother, but he was killed by a drunk driver just before I shipped to Iraq. He didn't follow Dad's lead. He kept in touch and when I graduated from Basic, he was the one in the stands. Paul was my hero."

"Older?"

"Yeah by 5 years."

I could see the hurt in Chris's eyes, so I decided to change the subject. "So, tell me the funniest story you can about Tariq."

Chris wiped some tears and looked at me with a saucy grin.

"Well?" I prodded.

Chris choked on his coffee. "We're still trying to figure out how he managed to pull it off."

"What?"

He looked at me in disbelief. "He didn't tell you?"

"Nope. What did he do?" I sipped more of my coffee. "More coffee?" I asked.

"If you don't mind." He handed me his cup and rolled his head. "Anything remotely close to porn is prohibited in Iraq for varying reasons, so we're still trying to figure out how Captain Baron and Tariq pulled it off." He smiled and I handed him a full cup of coffee. "Thanks."

"Continue."

Chris would have continued if he wasn't laughing so hard. It was though the very memory of whatever their Captain and Tariq did was enough to spark a Robin Williams'esque moment. Chris wiped some tears from his eyes. "Tariq, when he got shot in the leg, had to be put on bed rest for a while to heal." Some more laughter. "During this time, he and Captain Baron became buddy buddy and Baron, shit! Baron is a character just by himself. The men love and respect him as though he were enlisted. So, anyway, Tariq has this idea. He and Dim are best friends. Bonded the first day they met and have been pretty inseparable since."

"He always spoke fondly of Dim." I smiled.

"We teased them about being lovers." Chris giggled.

"I think they said something about that at the homecoming."

Chris looked at me. "The funny thing is, the group of men that I thought would never really get to a point where they would fight for each other wound up there. Angel told me that when Riqy was hit the first time in the vest, Dim got pissed of and put one too many rounds in the man who shot Tariq. Angel said he'd never seen Dim so angry. And when a situation arose with Smoke, the guys rallied around him and they all took care of Mrs. B and her son. They're a great bunch of guys."

"I know." I smiled. "But, what did Riqy and Captain Baron do?"

"Oh, yeah." Chris smiled broadly again. "We're out on some shit mission again and we're away from base camp for about a week. What Tariq and Duke were doing at the time, don't really know. All we know is that when we come back, our tent is full of blow up dolls, inflated with helium." Chris laughed in memory. "Still don't know where they got the helium. Tariq said he just used Smoke's hot air. That led to a funny interaction of who could outwit who. I'd say Tariq won that one."

I laughed at the vision of helium filled blow up dolls in the tent. "That must have made quite an impression."

"Yeah, but the funny part is that when Dim opened the tent flap, a few escaped. I mean it was FILLED with blow up dolls. But there was one in Dim's cot, and Tariq put a note on it that said 'Tension Reliever'. Dim didn't know if he should laugh or get mad." Chris looked at me. "Did he pull stuff like that here?"

"All the time. He is a practical joker and he learned from his dad. The Nassiri's are famous for their jokes. Though, they would never joke at someone's expense. If they thought a joke would be funny, but the person would be hurt or upset, they wouldn't do it. So, for him to do that to Dim. Well, Tariq must have known that Dim wouldn't get too upset over it otherwise he'd never have done it."

"So, your turn. Tell me some of the funny stuff Mas'aud did here growing up."

I smiled. "I don't know if the impact would ever be the same. He pulled a lot of shit here."

"I told you one. It's time for you to spill." Chris sipped his coffee and smiled. I found myself attracted to the man. There was something about his Sergeant that fascinated me. I shook my head. "What?"

"Uh, nothing. Just..." I sipped my coffee.

Chris looked at me and his hazel eyes pleaded, intentionally, for the story. I couldn't help but laugh. "Now what?" he grinned.

"This one time at band camp..."

"Please tell me there's no flute involved." He sipped and even though the tone of his voice was serious, his eyes danced.

"No, Chris. No flute." I smirked. "A clarinet."

Chris choked on his coffee. "What the fuck? A clarinet?"

"Yep and it's not exactly like the movie." I sipped my coffee.

"Now you gotta spill." He leaned back in his seat.

"Well, we..." I was interrupted by a page. "Hang on. I'll be right back." I went to the reception desk. "Yeah?"

"These guys are here to see you." The young man behind the desk pointed.

I turned around and saw two men in uniform looking at me. I carefully approached them. "Can I help you gentlemen?"

"We're looking for PFC Tariq Nassiri."

"You're the MPs looking for him, right?" I stuck my chest out.

"We're not here to arrest him, ma'am, if that's what you're getting defensive about." The young man smiled. "We're just here to make sure that he is still hospitalized. That's all."

I glared at him. "He is." I saw David walking down the hall. "Dr. Cavanaugh?" I yelled.

"Yeah?" He looked at me.

"Any progress on PFC Nassiri?"

David looked at the men. "He's still under observation. I'll take you two to see him." The men nodded and David looked at me. "You coming, nurse?"

"Yes." We took the men to Tariq's room and they talked to him for about 10 minutes.

The one looked at me. "When's he due to be released?"

Dr. Cavanaugh looked at Tariq's chart. "We're still monitoring his back injury, so it should be a couple more weeks at least." He looked at the men. "Gentlemen, this young man did not ask to be hit by a car and left for dead. If your superiors want proof that he was here, half dead when he came in, I'll provide them with the proof."

"Thank you, sir." The men nodded and walked out of the room.

Tariq looked at me. "Why then, is Scream here?"

I looked at him. "Hang on." I quickly looked to insure that the men were not in earshot. I saw them walking down the hall, talking to each other. I returned and sat on the edge of Tariq's bed. "To make sure they didn't arrest you for going AWOL. Captain Baron sent him."

Tariq smiled. "Leave it to Duke."

"How did you get those blow up dolls?" I smirked.

Riqy looked at me and laughed. "That's classified information. And how did you know?"

"Chris told me."

"That shit!" Tariq laughed.

"I asked for funny stories."

"Well, that was one."

"There's more?"

Tariq looked at me. "Well, yeah. You know me."

I kissed his forehead. "Yeah, I do. And, I've got your Sergeant waiting in the break room."

"Give him my love." Tariq teased.

"You got it." I headed back. I saw Chris still sitting there, though his stare was now gazing out the window. "Sorry."

"Why didn't they arrest him?" Chris never looked back.

"Pardon?"

"The MPs that were here. They didn't arrest Tariq."

"Dr. Cavanaugh told them that he could provide proof that he's been here since the accident and that Riqy nearly died from it."

"Captain Baron will be pissed to hear that they were here." Chris turned his gaze back to me and sipped his coffee. "Anyhow, what's this about that clarinet?"

For those who watch ER, I did steal that idea. I remember laughing at it when Michael was telling the story and when I was thinking of what Tariq could have done, that thought jumped immediately into my head. He just struck me as the kind that would do just a thing. I'm not very good at practical jokes, so they don't come across as funny when I see them written as much as I wish they would.