Vanessa watched Dim sleep. She wondered if this was the first time he slept in a long time. She wiped a few tears as he fought an unseen assailant. She grabbed his arms and he snapped up. "It's okay, Frank." She said as he looked around.

The nurse looked in on him. "Everything okay?"

Vanessa nodded. "Just nightmares." She stood up and spoke quietly to the nurse. "Is there anything we can give him to ease the nightmares? He sleeps okay and then suddenly, he's flailing everywhere."

The nurse gave a sympathetic smile to Vanessa. "Mrs. Dumphy, we can give him something here, but what will you do when you return home and these nightmares continue?"

"I just want him to get some sleep without waking up, fighting someone we can't see." Vanessa's voice was sharp.

The nurse caught on. "I'll see what I can do for your husband, Mrs. Dumphy."

"Thank you." Vanessa returned to her seat and softly stroked Dim's hair. "You okay?"

Dim looked at her. "No, not really, Vanessa. I can't help but think I could have done something."

"Like what could you have done?" Vanessa softly kissed his forehead.

Dim shrugged. "That's the thing, Vanessa. I don't know."

Dim woke up, not sure where he was. He saw Eddy and Vanessa sitting next to him. "Hey!" He walked over to them, but they laughed and ran away. He chased after them. "EDDY! VANESSA!" The farther ahead of him they got, the more frantic he became. He kept screaming their names and chasing them, but he couldn't ever catch up. He watched as they fell into some sort of hole. He looked down at them, watching them as they still laughed and danced.

Without warning, the whole area around him went blood red. He looked up and saw Tariq walking towards him. "You gotta help me, man." was all Tariq kept saying. Dim held Tariq and as he tried to save his best friend, fire bursts surrounded him. He watched as guns, RPG launchers and mortar rounds went wild around him.

He picked Tariq up. "You'll be fine, Tariq. You'll be fine." With that, an explosion rocked Dim to the ground. When he regained his composure, he tried to pick up Tariq, but found he couldn't. He started freaking when Tariq would no longer reply or ask for help. As he attempted to help his friend, he was attacked, fighting for his life...

That was when Dim always woke up. He was thankful to find Vanessa by his side. Despite the problems in their marriage, she was there by his side when she needed him most. He wiped a few tears and looked at her. "It's the same dream, Vanessa."

"Tell me the dream." She sat on his bed. She shuddered when Dim told her. "No wonder you're flailing about."

"Even in my dream, I can't make out who I'm fighting. It's like this war, Vanessa. You never really see your enemies even when you're looking right at them."

Vanessa soothed Dim. "It's okay, Frank."

"I wish it were, Vanessa. The truth is I'm alive and Tariq's not." He looked straight ahead, as though he were trying to see through the wall. "The last thing I remember was the RPG heading right to were we were taking cover after..." Dim's words trailed off.

Vanessa kissed his forehead. "Frank, there's nothing you could have done. According to Angel, you were in as bad of shape as Tariq." She wiped some sweat off Dim's forehead. "It could have been you as well and you gave them some scares."

Dim said nothing. He just kept staring at the wall as though he were watching his life unfold on it.

The guy came out of nowhere and shot Tariq point blank. Dim watched his best friend fall and anger overwhelmed him. He yelled as he let off round after round after round into the body of the rebel until he felt satisfied the motherfucker was dead. Until then, Dim never once thought of losing any member, much less his best friend, in the unit.

Scream was calmer about it. After things calmed down, he pulled the spent bullet from Tariq's vest and helped the breathless, dizzied young man to his feet. For the first time that day, Dim relaxed. Tariq was fine.

He sat by the fire a few hours later, drinking beer, and looking at Tariq. Dim hadn't suffered real loss in his life and he just about and there wasn't anything worse than the fear of losing someone he cared deeply about. He looked around the group as they talked about the death of Lieutenant Underpants, trying to figure out who shot him. There isn't anyone in this group I don't care about. If anyone of them were to die in this war, I don't know what I'd do. Dim thought as they talked.

He smiled over at Mrs. B, realizing he was fond of her new haircut. He looked at Scream, who, as per usual, had his signature pout. Jesus, doesn't he ever smile? I mean, the whole time we've been here, he's only smiled once. He couldn't help but think of what could have happened that day. As they put the fire out, he smiled quickly at Tariq, who understood the smile to be a 'I'm glad you are okay' smile and smiled back.