The mission, all in all, had been a success. They helped to move an old abandoned car out of a schoolyard, allowing the children to go to school without fear. The kids had attached themselves to Tariq because they could talk to him. Scream smiled and laughed as the kids jumped up for candy. Tariq and Dim looked at Scream, who hadn't really smiled since they got there. "Who knew Scream had personality?" Dim joked.

Scream shot him a look. "I'm loaded with personality, Dim." He smiled an uncharacteristic smile. He looked around. "Let's load up!" He barked. The men jumped on the back of the Humvee. Lieutenant Coolson was in the lead Humvee and gave the signal to move out. Angel pulled in behind the Humvee carrying Coolson.

He watched as Coolson's Humvee took off. "Sarge, Coolson's taking off as fast as he can."

"Step on it, Angel." Scream said as he proceeded to talk to Lt. Coolson about having his driver slow down. "Yes, Sir. We're...SHIT!" Scream yelled as an IED hit their Humvee.

Lieutenant Coolson knelt by Scream. "We should have been there faster. We were only..."

"Sir, then they'd have killed more men." Scream didn't look at Coolson. His attention was on Dim and hoping that Dim would live to fight another day. "I know you guys got ambushed too and all they accomplished with your group is holding you back, separating us, which is what they really wanted, Sir. No hard feelings. You did what you could, Sir."

Dim couldn't believe how cold 80 degrees could be, but he shivered in the morning hours. "How is it possible, Tariq, for 80 degrees to be cold?" He watched as Tariq made coffee carefully.

Tariq smiled. "When you're used to 120 degree weather, 80 can be freezing."

Dim laughed. "I'll never complain about how hot it is again when it's 80 plus humidity!"

"I second that." Tariq poured a cup and handed the coffee to Dim.

"Thanks." Dim held the cup close, trying to warm his hands.

"No problem. You ever think you could make coffee this way?" Tariq laughed. He and Dim were usually the first ones up and spent the first hour making coffee and talking about nothing to everything.

Dim sipped his coffee and smugly grinned. "Never. Coffee's supposed to come from a store, like a 7-11 or something."

Tariq poured himself a cup and sat next to Dim. "My mom makes the best coffee. I don't know how she does it, but man! It's a real wake you up."

"Unlike this shit you make?" Dim elbowed Tariq.

"Yeah. I don't claim to be a coffee connoisseur." Tariq elbowed Dim back. "Think we should get Scream up? He makes coffee that rivals my mother's."

Dim laughed. "Yeah. Let's wake him up and see how loud he can really scream."

Tariq smiled back and the two sat in silence, sipping their coffee, watching the sun rise.

"Why's Dim crying, man?" Smoke stepped back.

"He lost his best friend." Mrs. B's voice was still soft and barely audible. "How'd you feel if you lost your best friend?"

"He got Angel, don't he?"

Angel looked at Smoke. "Dim and I are friends, but Tariq...that was his best friend, Smoke. They had a lot of inside jokes that none of us understood."

Scream smiled. "I wanted to be so mad when they joked about being gay. But, right now, I'd give anything for them to joke about it again." Scream wiped some stray tears. He'd only shown his men emotion once, when they lost that young orphan, and in the past 4 hours, showed them more. They didn't know how to respond.

Baron laughed. "They certainly knew how to push the line without crossing over."

Tariq laughed as he opened the package from home. "Holy shit. The fun that's to be had."

Captain Baron came in the tent. "How's the leg, Soldier?"

"Still there, Sir." Tariq smiled.

"What's that?" Baron pointed to the box.

"A practical joke." Tariq looked back at the contents of the box. "I know, Sir, that this bends the rules, but Dim needs to be taught a lesson that you don't mess with a practical joker supreme." Tariq's brown eyes danced and Baron tilted his head and looked at the young man.

"What is it?" Baron laughed loudly as Tariq pulled out a blow up doll. "Soldier, that is bending the rules, but I didn't see anything." Baron pulled a chair up and sat next to the cot Tariq was lying on. "What do you intend to do with these?"

"You have any helium, Sir?"

Baron cocked an eyebrow. "I know where to get some."

Smoke laughed loudly. "I can't forget Dim's face. He looked like he'd seen a ghost or somthin'."

Scream laughed softly. "That was a good one. Still, Sir, the rules were broken."

"I didn't know anything of it." Baron's blue eyes danced with laughter, revealing his lie.

Scream's eyes followed the lead of his Captain's. "Yes, Sir. Never said you did."

DoubleWide wiped a tear. "I'll never forget how protective Dim was. Not just of Mrs. B, but of all of us. He was idealistic, but he...he...he wanted nothing more than to help and pro...te...protect us." Her voice quivered. "I don't know how we'd ever...I don't want to..." Her voice trailed off.

The insurgents came out of nowhere. Dim looked as he fired. "MRS B?" He yelled. "DOUBLEWIDE?"

The young ladies were behind a wheel, firing off rounds as fast as they could. "Over here, Dim!" DoubleWide yelled.

Dim found the ladies. "You alright?"

"Yeah, just peachy." Mrs. B snorted back.

Dim smiled. He may have been married, but he was attracted to the young West Virginia girl. Full of sass and vinegar. he thought. He didn't have much time to think as a couple rebels came from behind the Humvee. One pointed his gun right at Mrs. B and Dim reacted quickly, firing before the rebel did, felling him to the ground. The other fell and Angel looked around the corner, asking if they were okay. "Yeah, Angel. We're just peachy." Dim's green eyes danced as he looked at Mrs. B."

"Thanks, Dim." She smiled back.

"It's what I'm here for." He helped DoubleWide up. "Let's go."

"He had balls of steel for being such an idealist." DoubleWide wiped another tear.

"I remember when he got pissed and shot dude with multiple rounds when Tariq got shot in Underpants' convoy of money." Angel smiled, pain present. "Dim's a good guy."

Callahan had been keeping a close watch on Dim's monitors. He was concerned that there wasn't much change in them. He pulled Baron outside. "John, I don't know if he's going to make it."

"What do you mean, Kevin? You said he was doing well and that..."

"The will to live is in his hands. He lost his best friend. What's that going to do to a Soldier?"

Baron rubbed his hands over his face. "So, he's going to forget about the others in that room, surrounding his bed, that love him just as much?" Baron became angry.

"Look, John, I'm not..."

"He can't do that to us!" Baron's voice resounded loudly, causing the small fire team to look at him. "He can't." He made his way back in the room and put his hand on Dim's shoulder. "You can't do this to us, Dumphy. You have to live. You have to fight." For the first time, the team saw Captain Baron's eyes fill with tears. "We need you to stick around for us. We need you to fight with us, to stand beside us, Dumphy, and have our backs. You're a top notch Soldier and we can't lose you. We're going to be selfish here, Dumphy, and hold on to you for as long as we can."

Captain Baron looked at Dim, who had his usual 'I-know-something-you-don't' grin on his face. "What is it, Dumphy?"

"We're actually needing another body for volleyball, Sir, and Sergeant Scream sent me in here to see if you'd like to play, Sir."

"You do know that Officers don't mingle with Enlisted, right, Private?" Baron knew he'd play, but wanted to give Dim a hard time.

"Yes, Sir, but Officers also don't generally challenge a Private to a game of chess, Sir, when it's not his strong suit." Dim's smug grin never left his face.

Baron laughed. "How right you are. Lucky for you guys, I was Enlisted first." He looked at Dim, who now had the 'I-told-you-you'd-play' grin on his face. "whose team am I on, Private?"

"Mine, Sir."

"God help me." Baron laughed as he patted Dim's shoulders and made their way to the makeshift volleyball game.

"Captain Baron?" A deep voice echoed from behind him.

Baron turned around. "Sir?"

"Captain Samuels told me that your team got hit pretty bad." Smoke stared intently at the man as he approached Dim. "This kid has a lot of potential if he makes it." He looked at Baron. "You know that he had the balls enough to stand up to me and ask questions about how I was handling a prisoner?" The man smiled. "Should have taken him from you right then, Sergeant."

"Yes, Sir." Scream was uncharacteristically quiet.

"We got the information we needed, Sergeant."

"Yes, Sir."

"Still unsure of me, are you, Sergeant?"

"Yes, Sir."

Colonel Ryan looked at Baron. "If he wakes up, let me know. I want this kid." He turned to go.

"You can't have him, Sir."

Colonel Ryan looked back at Smoke. "What did you say, Private?"

Smoke swallowed hard. "I said you can't have him, Sir. He's our brother and he ain't goin' nowheres unless we all go."

Baron smiled. "I'm afraid it's a package deal, Sir."

Colonel Ryan laughed. "You all have balls, I give you that much. Just inform me when he wakes up, Captain."

"Yes, Sir."

Tariq and Smoke sat in the cool night air, listening to music. The previous days had been unusual to say the least. Despite the apparent apprehension to each other, nothing was said.

"Been crazy, ain't it?" Smoke broke the silence.

"Yeah, man. It has." Tariq kept his voice soft.

"Ya ever think that you'd be doin' what you're doin' now when you signed up?"

"Not so much, no." Tariq sighed. "I mean, I knew I'd have to eventually be in a war, but I never expected to be held in a ghost town with a sadistic Colonel."

Smoke grinned. He had been so skeptical of the new comer. When Tariq stepped out of the Humvee, Smoke was surprised to see him. His first words were "You an Arab?" He leaned back on his elbows. "That was somethin' though, wasn't it?"

"How'd you like to be serving under him?" Tariq grinned.

"You mean we ain't?" Smoke sarcastically replied as Scream passed by.

Tariq laughed. If he had been told when he first arrived to the unit that he and Smoke would be outside talking to each other, he'd have laughed. He was used to discrimination, but often Smoke took it too far to the extreme. But, here the two of them were, talking, laughing and seemingly forgetting that Smoke had been less than enthusiastic when Tariq first arrived.