It's funny how time flies when you don't pay any attention to it. Seems like Riqy had just left when he came home. I wanted to be there when he graduated from RIP, but everything seemed to work against it. "Never mind." Tariq told me. "It'll be better...MUCH better...if we celebrate my graduation in Detroit." and I settled for his answer.

It's even funnier how things you plan out don't always.

Somehow Tariq found out about my sleeping with his Sergeant. I expected a fight. A HUGE fight. Instead, Riqy sat on my couch and looked up at me. "I'd love nothing more to be mad at you, but there was this fembed..."

"Chris told me. And he only told me after I threatened him with stitches." I smiled.

Riqy smiled back. "So, what do we do?"

I stopped smiling. "What do you mean 'What do we do?'"

He softly stroked my face. "Do we yell and argue or go straight to the make up sex?" His eyes danced.

"What was she like?"

"As like what?"

"Was she pretty? Was she smart? Was she worth the chance of getting caught?" I ran my fingers softly in his hair and he looked at me. "What?"

"Is this your way of asking 'Is she a better fuck than me?', right?"

I smiled. "No."

"Yes." Riqy laughed. He gave me a soft kiss. "She was pretty. I don't know, but I seem to have a weakness for blue eyed lassies." He winked. "She was able to hold her own in the smarts department, but Dim constantly reminded her that he was smarter than everyone else." He then heaved a sigh. "At the time, I, uh...I know that this will sound like an excuse, but, uh, I was just..."

"Horny?" I laughed.

His soft laugh followed mine. "Pretty much and you can only get so much from your hand and...What?" He laughed harder at the look of disgust I gave him. "You don't think that's a reality of war? Jesus, babe. We used to...God, there was this one guy who used to tie string to his dick and tell us he was going to go walk the dog. Besides, I happen to know you have a vibrator for..."

I playfully slapped his shoulder. "That's for us to use together." I felt the blush rising in my cheeks.

"Right. Together as physically or together as when you dream about me?" His eyes danced and sparkled.

"Okay...enough about my vibrator!" I laughed.

"Was she worth it?" He looked deep in my eyes. "No. I didn't know how to even tell you and Scream and I...I'm lucky he's the one that caught us...talked about it. I regret it." He looked at me. "Even though we weren't technically a couple."

I felt ashamed for my actions and Riqy knew that. He wiped a couple tears away. "I'm sorry, Riqy. I am..."

"I know." He gently kissed me. "We got our first argument and cheating stories over and done with now. Now, we move on." He picked me up. "So, where is that viberator?"

I laid on Tariq's chest, carefully tracing a scar left over from his accident. "You healed well."

He softly stroked my hair and kissed my forehead. "Only because I had a great nurse."

I shifted to where I could look him in the eyes. "Well, when you first came in, we didn't know if you'd live."

He smiled at me as he pulled me down closer to him. "I have a lot to live for." He softly said before his lips met mine.

Yasmina smiled. "It will be quite difficult to make a ceremony both Muslim and Baptist."

"Well, I like the idea of the scarf over the heads, but to expect me to not look at Tariq except in a mirror, not going to happen." I laughed.

"We will find a way to balance out our traditions and the Nassiri's traditions." My mom assured.

Yasmina nodded. "Of course we will." She patted my knee. "Most of our relatives and friends do not understand why we are allowing Tariq to marry someone who isn't Muslim. Until Yusef assures them that it is love, not religion, that binds you and Riqy together."

Yasmina always made sense, even when she spoke in riddles. I smiled at her. "How'd you get to be so lovely?"

"Yusef made me lovely." She blushed. Yusef and Yasmina had been married nearly 35 years and the thought of Yusef still made Yasmina smile and blush. If anyone asked if someone could still be as deeply in love many years after their wedding, I would have pointed them to the Nassiri's.