"Oh, these…" Metal held up a steak by the grill fork Sonny had placed by the bbq-food, "You've definitely gotta try one of these…"

"Yeah?"

He nodded, "Yeah, Sonny might not look like much, but give the man a set of spices and whatever else goes into that marinade, fire and a grill fork, and the man can work magic…"

Emily laughed a little at Metal's honest expression, "What else is a must-have?"

"I know you love vegetables, so…" Metal dragged his answer out as he placed the meat on his plate and freed the fork in order to point it towards another section of the long table with all sorts of food, "Lisa makes a pretty mean broccoli-salad. And the Perry's have this buttermilk potato salad, also great."

"The Perry's?" Emily tilted her head, "Never heard you refer to Naima or Ray like that before…"

"That's because I have no idea which one of them makes it…" he shrugged quickly.

She grinned, "Anything I should stay clear of?"

"If Brock brought anything other than coffee or booze, stay clear of that."

"Is there a story behind that?"

"Nope." Metal shook his head, "That guy simply can't work his way around a kitchen… Stuff he makes are either boiled to death, almost raw when it shouldn't be, or just seasoned so wrong it hurts."

"And not a wife or girlfriend to help him?"

"If he's got one, he's kept her secret enough for a bunch of SEALs to not notice…" Metal shrugged, "Oh, and if anything is marked chickpea mac and cheese, stay clear of that as well. Never eaten that without being bloated as hell afterwards."

"Copy that…" Emily chuckled, "If something makes you bloated, I don't want to think of what it would do to my digestive system…"

Metal nodded.

SEALTEAM

Emily watched Metal goof off with his teammates. She knew he missed the lifestyle, she had seen that every day since she really got to know him.

She almost couldn't believe how much hard work he put into what was going to be his big comeback.

"How's he doing?"

Emily glanced over at Naima sitting a few feet away, "Huh?"

"Full Metal…" Naima shrugged, "How is he doing?"

Emily shrugged a little, "Good, mostly. Anything specific?"

Naima shrugged a little in return, "How's he dealing with the rest of the team shipping out?"

"They've already been on a deployment or two without him…" Emily shrugged.

"Yeah…" Naima took a deep breath, "But then it was no question if he could have been with them. Now he's almost there…"

Emily nodded a little, "Yeah. Almost. But he knows he's not physically ready yet. I don't even think he's signed up for the physical ability tests yet."

"I think you're right about that." Naima smiled, "Trust me, Ray would've told me about those kinds of news."

"I believe you." Emily smiled.

"-Well, at least he's got you here at home to keep him company."

Emily frowned, "For a few more weeks, at least."

"Okay?"

"I'm going to work overseas for a little while. Just three months this time around." Emily shrugged, "Unless the world goes to hell and they really, really, really need me there for longer…"

Naima nodded a little, "And he knows?"

"He knows." Emily took a deep breath,

"-But?"

"Nothing…" Emily offered up a short smile, "I always LOVED working overseas. Because slow was rare, and I got to be outside of my comfort zone more than I was in it."

Naima chuckled and dipped her head in the direction of the guys, "What are you? The nurse equivalent of one of those guys?"

"I'm an adrenaline junkie. Don't tell anyone…" Emily chuckled, "Either that or I just like chaos."

Naima let her head tilt sideways, her eyes back on the guys on the other side of the lawn. "You know, most of those guys… They have some baggage which put them on the track they're on."

Emily nodded a little.

"In that group, I imagine there's got to be everything from witnessing bad accidents as a kid, to abusive parents, to neglect… Maybe not all of them, I don't know each and every team-guy's story… But a good part of them have something which has molded them into the guys they are."

Emily didn't say anything.

"All I'm saying… If you've got something." Naima shrugged, "I've got wine and I'm a good listener."

Emily chuckled, "Short version: My family went through a couple of tough times when I was young. Just figured it was easier to embrace the fact that I couldn't control anything. Well, not tough-tough… Lower middle class tough, or maybe even upper lower class at one point or two. But my parents always made it work."

Naima nodded a little.

"I know that when the pressure is on, I get calmer." Emily shrugged, "I'm not sure it makes much sense, but that's how I feel."

"Might not fit me, but I'm pretty sure it rings true for some other people as well."

Emily nodded a little, "Nowadays, I'm not as thrilled about leaving home… The last half of the last time was almost unbearable."

"You missed him?"

"Yeah." Emily nodded, "And it felt weird to be over there when I knew he just wanted to heal up and be out in the field with his guys."

"Makes sense."

"I might be closing in on my last trip over there…" Emily shrugged, "Not sure if it's gonna be this one or the next, or one of the following… But… I don't want to be doing those trips forever."

Naima nodded a little.

SEALTEAM

"Was hoping you'd be shipping out with us, Scotty." Jason sighed as he sat down next to Full Metal.

"Not ready yet." Metal shrugged, "Not fast enough. And I need more endurance before I'm ready for the 20-clicks with a 100-lbs rucksack and gear combo we often end up with. Don't want to slow you guys down."

Jason smirked a little, "Next deployment?"

Metal shrugged a little, "That's way outside of this little three-foot world we like to play around in, Jase…"

Jason chuckled, "Yeah, guess it is."

"-But I'm trying to make it happen." Metal unscrewed the cap of his empty water bottle, spit into it and put the cap back on, "Promise you that."

"You know dip is bad for you…" Jason chuckled and bumped his elbow into Metal's shoulder.

Metal grinned at the age-old tease Jason had been doing every now and then for the past twenty years, "Yeah, but you know… Me not having my dip is bad for EVERYONE ELSE…"

Jason laughed a bit, "Yeah, remember that time you actually tried to quit it? I'm pretty sure Sonny still has PTSD from that."

"Maybe that's why he claims I'm scary…" Metal laughed as well, "But really, who the hell wakes a guy up at 3 a.m. when he's on day four of no tobacco, and doesn't even bring coffee as peace offering."

"That was a tactical error on his part." Jason nodded, "But poor guy was just out of Green team."

"He had known me for a couple of months…" Metal shook his head, still laughing, "He should've known better."

"Remember Adam deciding it was in everyone's best interest that your little 'Of course I can quit' bet with Swanny was put to rest?"

"I remember getting a lot of dip cans." Metal smirked.

Jason chuckled, "Yeah, no one wanted to be around what felt like a temperamental cluster mine anymore…"

"I'm not that bad…"

"You have not shared sleeping quarters with yourself when someone takes away your dip…" Jason frowned, "You don't get to judge how bad you are."

"Alright, fair."

"So, what does Emily think about it?"

"The dip?" Metal tilted his head questioningly, "I had to promise to never kiss her with a dip in… Other than that, she doesn't care."

"Oh, poor girl…" Jason shuddered, "Surprise dip sounds like the stuff nightmares are made of…"

"She did jam the nail of her thumb between two of my ribs." Metal's eyebrows drew closer together.

Jason chuckled, "She had every right."

"She probably did…" Metal chuckled.