Smoke walked outside, unable to deal with all he was feeling at this point. He felt that it should have been someone else. Who that other person was, Smoke wasn't sure. He sat hard on the deck, recalling the first time Private First Class Tariq Nassiri joined the team.

Smoke had been watching the road and heard the Humvee pull up. Angel and Dim stood with Scream and no one said anything. Mad Cow informed them Bo's replacement was here. The back passenger door opened and Smoke gawked at what he saw.

"Private First Class Tariq Nassiri reporting for duty, Sergeant."

Smoke was incredulous. "You an Arab?"

"American." The new PFC responded.

"You know what I mean. Where your people from?"

"Detroit."

Before Smoke could reply, Scream yelled at him to get inside and get some shut eye. "NOW!" He barked. Smoke only rolled his eyes and headed into the make shift quarters.

"Where do you want me, Sarge?" Tariq asked.

"Where you're at's fine." Scream spoke sharply. He wasn't sure of the new kid himself.

Dim smiled. It was as though the war gods had smiled on him and brought someone to bring Smoke to his knees. "Great way to handle Smoke."

"Pardon?" Tariq sat on the sand bags.

Dim sat opposite of him. "Smoke. He's got something against everyone. If you ain't black, you ain't nothin', is how he thinks."

Tariq shrugged. "It's cool. I mean, I'm used to it."

"You shouldn't be, though." Dim squinted in the sun.

"Why not? You can't change everyone."

"Well, I mean, to be judged because you're..."

"It's cool. My whole life I've been judged. Since the attacks, I've been judged more harshly. But, I have the ability to decide how I'm going to respond. I can either become bitter and hate everyone because they judge me based on my heritage, or I can decide that I'm not going to let it bother me and move on. Life's too short to hate because of differences."

"Tell that to the people here." Dim looked down the road.

"Yeah, they're also backwards here."

"Well, I'm sorry for Smoke."

Tariq looked over at Dim. "Why?"

"Calling you an Arab."

Tariq softly laughed. "It's my heritage. I don't think it's offensive."

"What part?"

"What do you mean what part?"

Dim sighed. "Of Arabia. Are you Saudi?"

Tariq laughed. "Nah man. I'm American."

Smoke lay still, listening to Dim and the new guy talk. He still didn't trust the new guy, being of Arabic descent. He was going to make it clear to him that no matter what, he wasn't a part of the team.

Smoke let the tears unapologetically fall. He had not been the nicest to either Tariq or Dim and now he could never apologize to Tariq. "Death changes things, don't they?" Angel's soft voice made Smoke look up.

"Yeah. Ahab will never know, ya know, that I...I'm..."

Angel patted Smoke's shoulder. "He knows, man. Tariq was never one to hold a grudge man. In fact, it was his idea when your mom had a stroke that Dim and I help him help you."

Smoke looked up at Angel. "Wait. That was all his idea?"

Angel nodded. "Yeah. Deep down he saw the person you were despite the person you've tried to be. That was what made him him."

Smoke smiled. "Thanks, man."

Angel patted his shoulders again. "You bet."

Mrs. B ran out. "Guys...it's Dim."

The two shot up and ran in after her.

"Jesus, Smoke. Don't you ever do anything normally?" Dim laughed.

"Nope. I have to do it all gangsta style." Smoke laughed back.

Scream only sat back and shook his head. The group had managed to get camping chairs and beer. The day had been a rough one. Scream looked at Tariq, knowing all too well he was the one of the group that had been closest to dying and yet, here he was, laughing and trying to help Dim and Smoke light the fire.

Mrs. B, who was barely out of high school, sipped her beer. Scream ignored the fact that she was 18. After all, you need to get drunk out here with this shit. he thought. She laughed at the sight of the men. "Hey, DoubleWide."

"Yes, Mrs. B?" DoubleWide answered lightly.

"How many men does it take to start a fire?"

Smoke glared at Mrs. B as DoubleWide answered. "I don't know, Mrs. B. How many men does it take to start a fire?"

"I'll let you know as soon as they get this one started." Mrs. B giggled.

Scream snickered at the comment. "She's right, guys. How many of you does it take?"

Tariq held his hands up as sparks flew. "Just me." He grabbed his beer and sat next to Angel.

Smoke huffed. "Yeah it's the fact that you a third world person that has to rely on fire."

Only Tariq heard the joke in Smoke's comment. "Yeah, but it goes well with weed, now don't it?"

Scream wanted to say something, but he saw the sarcasm in Tariq's eyes. Somehow, this small fire team could joke about things that shouldn't be joked about and no one said anything. They were an odd fire team to start with. Mrs. B and DoubleWide really shouldn't have been connected with them, but they were. Mrs. B was their designated driver and DoubleWide their designated mechanic.

Somehow, it worked. Scream wasn't sure how, but it did.

Smoke and Angel couldn't see Dim because of the crowd around him. DoubleWide was crying into Captain Baron's arms and Scream stood emotionless.

Smoke looked over at the doctors working on Dim. "Sergeant?" He looked over at Scream, tears starting again.

Scream looked over at Smoke and said nothing.

Dim looked over Tariq's shoulder. "She's beautiful."

Tariq smiled. "Her name's Jessie."

"Girlfriend?"

Tariq laughed. "No. Best friend."

Smoke scoffed. "Men and women can't be best friends. There's always something sexual between them."

Tariq laughed harder. "True, but seeing how Jessie and I both dig women, it ain't no big deal." He laughed at Dim's look. "What is it, Dim?"

"Why is it that the most beautiful women are gay?"

Tariq blew a kiss up a Dim. "For the same reason all the hot guys are gay, Dim."

Angel looked up from the letter he was writing. "Why don't you two just go for it and save us the pain of watching you two flirt?"

Tariq feigned offense. "Are you suggesting that..."

Angel's laugh filled the tent. "All I know is that you two can pull of being gay and yet no one thinks you otherwise."

Smoke scoffed. "I know Ahab ain't, but shit! I've had my questions about Dim."

Dim was laughing too hard to take offense to Smoke's comment. "Just be careful where you sleep, Smoke."

Mrs. B held Scream's hand as they stood and watched the doctors work on Dim. Suddenly they heard coughing and Captain Callahan turned around. "Who prayed?"

"I did, Sir." Angel softly replied.

"Someone upstairs must love you because they worked. I have never seen anyone come in with the injuries this young man had and within a matter of hours wake up."

Captain Baron and Scream helped steady Mrs. B and DoubleWide as their knees gave way. Baron looked at Callahan. "Don't shit us, Kevin."

"Dukes don't say shit." a raspy voice softly spoke.

Scream nearly dropped Mrs. B. "Jesus, Dim. You gave us all quite a scare." He helped Mrs. B to the side of Dim's bed.

"That's what I do, Sarge." Dim's smug smile, though present, was hard to see under the swelling. "How are you all doing?"

"It's not about us, Dim." Angel took his hand. "It's about you."

"What were his last words, Smoke?" Dim looked at Smoke.

Smoke choked. "His last words were 'My name's Tariq.' and then he was gone." Tears unapologetically fell. "I'm sorry for all the shit I've done to you, Dim. I..."

Dim patted Smoke's hand. "It's nothing."

DoubleWide resisted the urge to scoop Dim up in her arms and hug him. "Welcome back, Dim."

Dim looked around. Not seeing Tariq there was an odd sight to him. He closed his eyes and heard them all yelling at him to keep them open, but somehow he only wanted them closed. He couldn't stand not seeing Tariq.

Dim opened the flap to the tent and saw all these blow up dolls. He didn't know whether to laugh or scream. He looked over at the cot Tariq was supposed to be in, but the young Soldier wasn't there. Good thing he ain't. Dim thought. He knew only Tariq would get away with this.

Scream walked in the tent and a few escaped. "This is great." He scoffed. "How did they get past..."

"Jesus!" Dim yelled. "He's going to pay for this."

Scream looked over at Dim, holding a blow up doll with a sign on her neck that read DIM'S TENSION RELIEVER. He couldn't help but laugh out loud. "I know Tariq said he'd get you back, but shit, Dim. Even you have to admit this is genius."

"The war's on, Sarge." Dim popped the doll.

Scream made his way outside. Somehow, Dim closing his eyes again didn't sit well with him. He couldn't explain why, but it bothered him that Dim wanted his eyes shut. He saw Captain Baron sit next to him. "Think he's just tired?"

Baron shrugged. "I certainly hope so." He sighed. "Jesus, Silas. You wouldn't ever see this shit on the news at home. They think that we just fight and leave. I mean, seriously, how many people would be shocked at the news there's a bedside vigil for a Soldier?"

"Don't know, Sir." Scream looked at the gauze on his arm. He wanted to cry from the pain, but he had suffered worse injuries.

Scream didn't realise the his arm could bleed that much. He couldn't sit still long enough for the medic to work on it, pissing the medic off. Scream just had to keep checking on Tariq to make sure he was doing fine. "How you doing, Kiddo?" He patted Smoke's shoulder.

Smoke looked up at Scream. He had never shown his young troops any sort of compassion or any concern. Smoke kept a tight grip on Tariq's hand. "As well as I can, Sarge." The shrapnel in Smoke's arm went unnoticed to him. All he focused on was Tariq. Smoke looked back down at Tariq. "You have to hold on, man."

Tariq smiled and said something in Arabic. Seeing the puzzled look on Smoke's face, he explained. "Roughly translated, Smoke, I said I welcome death at this point." Tariq tried to joke, but Smoke didn't see the joke. "Relax, Smoke. It's all good." Tariq coughed and tried to turn his head. "Where's Dim?"

Scream patted Tariq's shoulder. "Dim's on the other side of you. He's not awake, but he's hanging in there, like you should." Scream refused to let anyone see the fear in his eyes as Tariq's eyes searched the helo. Scream had seen a man's eyes before he died and he saw that look in Tariq's eyes. "You hang on, Tariq. We're almost to Baghdad." He squeezed Tariq's hand.

"It's nothing, Sarge." Tariq grinned.

"Both Dim and Tariq said that, Sir, and none of us knows really what it means." Scream sighed.

Baron shrugged. "We'll ask Dim when he's fully awake and ready to get back to the lines."