I tried to work my best despite my excitement. I watched as Chris and Tariq left and felt a twinge of guilt. How would I ever be able to tell Tariq and look Chris in the eye without seeing that night?

A couple hours later, I sat at the table in the break room, trying to enjoy the small bit of time I had for lunch when Gianni came in. "I heard the news."

"What news?"

"You and Riqy. It's all over the ER. Melanie saw the ring and put two and two together. Then she told Jayme, who told Carol, who told Heather, who told Tom, who told Jay, who told Mark, who told me." Gianni sat next to me.

"What is this? Grade school?" I laughed.

"Well, yeah." He grinned. "Congrats to you. I'd congratulate Riqy, but I saw him leave with his Sergeant. Where's he going?"

"Benning."

Gianni sighed. "Ah. I see."

I looked up at him. "What's that mean?"

"What?" He looked at me wide eyed.

"That whole 'I know better than you' sigh of 'I see.', that's what." I snapped.

"You don't know?"

"Don't know what?" I was losing patience.

"Tariq didn't tell you?"

"Well, obviously not if I don't know what the fuck you're talking about."

"His application to RIP's been approved. Was approved while he was in Iraq. His Sergeant that was here is a Ranger and convinced Tariq to put in the application. Well, the way things worked out, Chris is an instructor there and when Tariq missed his first shot, he came out here to find Riqy. Apparently the Captain they served under in Iraq is also a Ranger and now CO of RIP."

"So that's how they knew..."

"No. They called his parents."

"No secret spying or..."

"Nope. None of that." Gianni smiled.

"Well, why didn't Chris just say that then?"

"What?"

I sipped my coffee. "I asked Chris how he found out Tariq was in the hospital and he said something like it was classified information."

"Apparently, Chris Silas has a sense of humor that few see." Gianni smiled. He looked at me. "I have to say this...and I'm ONLY telling you...if you weren't with Riqy, Chris is the type of guy I'd like to see you with. He's apparently very protective."

"Where have you heard all this?"

"Places." He looked up as he heard his named paged. "Chat to you later, sis?" He left the room, leaving me wondering how he knew all the information and I didn't.

Yasmina sighed with delight. "We knew it would be coming, but didn't expect it so soon." She hugged me tightly. "Of course you'll honor our Muslim wedding traditions." It was more of a command rather than a question, but I smiled.

"Yes, Yasmina. I will honor both Baptist and Muslim wedding traditions. I promise." I was surprised and how fast word got around. I knew Tariq wouldn't have said anything. He seemed too distracted when he asked and I didn't, but here we were, nearing a week after he asked and it seemed to be all over Detroit. We gathered up our purses as we headed out to see Tariq fly off to Fort Benning with his Sergeant.

I held Tariq's hand and placed my head on his shoulder. I wondered, briefly, if he and I had been moving too fast with things, but realised that our whole lives were spent together already and growing up, we both knew it would be the other we'd marry. A part of me didn't want to let him go that day. I wanted to hold on to him with all my might and not let the Army have him back. Especially the Rangers. I knew all about the Rangers. I studied up on them after the situation in Somalia went down. It was my freshman thesis.

I had my fears and doubts of the Rangers. I knew Tariq could handle it, but could I? Could I handle sleeping in the middle of the night, hearing the phone ring and watch Tariq just up and leave for 6 months and not have an idea of where he was? Would I be able to handle the pressure of being a Ranger's wife? I felt tears and fear form and then anger because I had to hear from Gianni.

At the airport, Tariq and I stood alone. He held me tight and he sensed something. "What's wrong?" He stroked my hair.

I looked up at him. "Why didn't you tell me you're going to Benning to be a Ranger?"

"I knew how you felt about Rangers and I wanted to tell you in just the right way, at just the right time and it never was. So, who told you?"

"Gianni."

"Figured."

"How'd he know?"

"When you were out with Scream that day, I told him. He was the first person to know. I couldn't even tell my own parents." He softly laughed. "Here I'm going to go train to be one of the Army's bravest and I can't even tell the people I love the most I'm going to do it."

"I don't want you to go."

"I promise I'll be fine." He cooed.

"It's not the Rangers. I feel like I just got you back and now...now, you're leaving again." I felt the tears. "I just want a normal life with you."

He placed his forehead on mine. "You're marrying a Soldier. This is normal." I knew he was right, as much as I wished he wasn't. A normal life for the Soldier isn't the normal life for the rest of the world. Normal for the Soldier is going off to combat operations at a moment's notice. Normal for the Soldier is deployments.

Now, I really began to wonder if I could handle the 'normality' of a being Soldier's wife.

The next couple of weeks were trying to once again get used to Tariq not being around. It's funny how much of a routine that we found ourselves in, even during his hospital stay.

"You good?" Dr. Lawrence asked as I cleaned up an exam room.

"Fine. Thank you." I never looked at him. I couldn't explain the chaos inside of wondering if I could be the military spouse Tariq would need me to be, especially if he was a Ranger. One minute I was; the next, I wasn't sure. I didn't want to talk to anyone about it, but when I got home that evening, Yasmina was waiting for me. "Yasmina. What a surprise!" I hugged her.

"You must tell me." Her eyes pleaded.

"Tell you what?" I opened the door and invited her in for some coffee.

"I know you. You have questions lurking. You must tell me so we can answer them." She sat on my couch. I put the coffee on and sighed. Was I so transparent, despite all efforts to not be? "It is okay. We all have questions about marriage. You can not solve them unless you talk about them."

I sat next to her. "I was just wondering if I'd ever be the spouse Riqy needs. I mean, we've got two completely different backgrounds and..."

"That has never bothered you before."

"No and it's not that, really. It's trying to figure out how to incorporate each religion into the ceremony as accurately as possible."

"I'll help. You know that." She tilted her head. "What else?"

I sighed even heavier. "When he told me he was becoming a Ranger, I froze. It's hard enough to date and marry a Soldier when he's deployed on a normal basis, but Rangers? They could get the call in the middle of the night, while we're sleeping. I could wake up and Tariq could be gone and not come home for a year and I hadn't the chance to properly say farewell." I got up for the coffee.

"You and my Riqy love each other."

"Is love enough?"

"If you let it." I handed her her cup of coffee. "I know it will not be easy for you. But, know that no matter where Yusef and I are, we'll be there for you."

"But is the love I have for Riqy enough or..."

"You are searching for something that you will not find an answer to." I looked at her. She was beginning to sound like Chris. "If you want love to be enough, than whatever comes along, love can conquer. Lose no faith in love, sweet, and love will lose no faith in you."

I smiled. Yasmina was always a wealth of knowledge and calmness. We drank our coffee and talked the rest of the night.