“Never, First Sergeant Douglas is looking for you.” A Replacement Sergeant from the third company said as Emily paused to make sure her belt buckle was shiny enough. One of the Military police officers was a real stickler for nightly inspections and kept dinging Emily on her belt buckle. She finally had gone out and bought one for inspection. The problem was that he wouldn't let her change out of it after inspection so it was getting scratched up again. She was probably going to get dinged for it again tonight.

“He is going to have to wait I have a security muster I have to get to,” Emily told him still not looking up from her belt buckle. She rubbed some spit on it hoping that it would shine enough to pass inspection so that she could go out and buy a new one tomorrow.

“Private Emerson you will stop what you are doing and seek out First Sergeant Douglas. That is a direct order. See this is why you got in trouble in the first place. Just because you're a super does not mean you are a Ranger. We follow a code and that you seem to lack....” The Replacement Sergeant said but paused when Emily looked up from her belt buckle. Whatever he saw in her face stopped his speech cold.

“No Sergeant please don't stop. Everyone in is this room would like to hear what you think you know of our Never. Since you been here since the beginning and know what the hell you're talking about.” A Sergeant from the second platoon said from within the lobby office. His voice trembled in anger.

“Please, Sergeant tell us how Captain Hood didn't screw our Never here over to save his sorry excuse for a career.” A corporal from Emily's platoon said putting his hands on his chin.

“I want to know about this code the sergeant is talking about. Does it have to do with drinking? If it does then I am pretty sure our Never doesn't follow it unlike someone else I know of.” Someone yelled out from the lounge. More and more people were coming into the lobby and the replacement Sergeant looked worried.

“Never, why don't you go see First Sergeant. If he doesn’t give you an excuse then there are more than enough people here who will. We got you. It's what us Rangers do.” The sergeant from the second platoon said smiling at her. For the first time in a long time, Emily smiled.

Emily found the First Sergeant in his office. He was typing away at some report. He smiled at her when she knocked on his open door. “You wanted to see me, First Sergeant?” Emily asked.

“Hey Never. They are sending you TAD again. Your heading to Kabul to Camp Kaia. It's the military part of Kabul international airport. They are having a change of guard ceremony for the ISAF Joint command leader. The big bosses of Afghanistan NATO forces. They want you there for security.”

“First Sergeant I can't go I am on restriction,” Emily said stunned.

“And you will be on restriction when you get there. It'll just be a lot easier there since you'll be on duty the entire time. No extra musters. No extra inspections. Unfortunately, this TAD will only be for two days then you’re back here with all the extra crap that goes along with restriction.” The first Sergeant explained.

“When do I leave?” Emily said getting excited.

“Not until tomorrow. They have you flying out around nine in the morning.” First Sergeant said leaning back in his chair. “Make sure you bring your dress uniform. All the big boys are going to be there and I expect that they will have you dress up nice and pretty.”

“Yes First Sergeant. Ah, First Sergeant is there any chance you could give me an excuse for being late to my security muster tonight?” Emily asked hesitantly.

“Never, you're on ready alert until you leave tomorrow with the Colonel. The Security Center has been informed.”The First Sergeant said looking back at his computer.

“Thank you, First Sergeant. Oh, Wait the Colonel is going as well?” Emily said surprised.

“Yes, but you won't be under his command. The Colonel is going as an invited guest.” First Sergeant said chuckling. “Now please leave I have to get this done before I go to bed and I would like to do that sometime soon.”

“Yes First Sergeant. Sorry, First Sergeant.” Emily said with a slight smile.

“Out!” He told her smiling. She left.

Emily had gotten out of the habit of wearing weapons while on restriction. It was too much trouble to constantly take her weapons off before each security muster. Feeling Righteous on her back again felt surprisingly good and her little black knife on her left hip felt right at home. Emily raised her arms feeling her weapons shift around her body. She felt some tension she didn't know she had released. She turned and grabbed her stuff from off the bed including her garnet bag with her dress uniform and headed out the door to her room.

Jan was waiting in front of the barracks with a Humvee with a red cross on the side of it. “What the hell is that?” Emily asked as she walked up to the jeep.

“Is a medical Quick Response Vehicle (QRV). I am borrowing it for today.” Jan said with a smile.

“Seriously Jan this is great but I am still on restriction. I can’t get into any more trouble. Wait, isn’t that just a fancy name for an ambulance?” Emily asked confused.

“I got permission and yea, but I like my name better,” Jan said with a big smile. “As long as I bring some pizza back with me they said I can use it.”

“You're crazy,” Emily said with a smile.

“You know it,” Jan said with a smile. She put her MP3 player on and turned it up as she drove Emily to her plane. There was a small crowd waiting on the outside of the plane as Jan pulled up. She turned down the MP3 player and climbed out to help Emily with her stuff.

“Hey stay safe ok,” Jan said giving Emily a hug. “I know you're bulletproof but you're not immortal.”

“Yes, mom,” Emily said smiling into Jan's shoulder.

Jan broke the hug and leaned back. “I've already lost one sister to this rat hole. I will not lose another. You understand Never. If it goes tits up you run. Screw everyone else and get your ass out of there.”

“It's just a security detail. What's the worst that can happen.” Emily said smiling.

Jan cursed. “Never! Will you stop smacking the universe on the nose and jinxing yourself. I am serious.”

“I'll be fine but thanks Jan. I will promise to leave the universe alone if it leaves me alone.” Emily said crossing her heart with her hand.

Jan shook her head then grabbed Emily in another hug. “See you when I see you,” Jan said nodding to Emily before abruptly turning and getting into her ambulance.

Emily stood there for a few seconds stunned. See you when I see you were the last thing David had said to her before he left her. Emily blinked in surprise at the sudden pang of missing David. “He is an insensitive jerk. Why am I thinking of him now.” She turned around to find the entire crowd looking at her including the Colonel. “Dammit!” Emily cursed silently. Head down she joined the crowd.

Whoever said officers were the last one to board a plane and the first one out never hung out with these officers. They all boarded the airplane first getting the most forward seats letting everyone else shuffle past them. As Emily passed him the Colonel nodded to her acknowledging her. She mumbled a quick Sir and walked past.

She half expected David come walking down the airplane but other than two burly Navy Seals no David. Emily ended up with a window seat so she spent the entire flight looking out the window. Her seatmate was another woman who read gossip magazines on her tablet for the entire flight. The flight took right around forty-five minutes and in no time they were on the ground.

Emily's first impression of the capital of Afghanistan was that it stinks. It smelled like old farts and burnt garbage. Emily wrinkled her nose as she walked off the plane. Everywhere she looked there was a light whitish blue haze surrounding everything. She walked down the ramp to the tarmac and waited on her bags to be unloaded. Everyone waited for their luggage even the gaggle of officers. Emily found it immensely satisfying.

She was still waiting for her luggage when she noticed something flying in the sky. It took her a few seconds to recognize that it was Bubbles and he was racing across the runway really fast. He landed without slowing down about five feet from her. “Never!” he shouted as soon as his force field dropped. He never paused as he dropped his force field and walked up to her. His forward momentum gone before his force field had dropped. It was a cool effect.

“Hey, Bubbles,” Emily said to the French Canadian super as he swallowed her in a hug.

“Come on let's get your stuff. You need to check in we got lots to do.” He said moving around her to grab her things. They had to wait for a couple of minutes for someone to unload Emily's stuff but once she got all her stuff Bubbles grabbed her around the waist. “You remember how this goes? I count to three and you jump.”

“Yep,” Emily said excitedly. She loved flying with Bubbles.

He counted down and she jumped. He took off really fast. Much faster than the last time she flew with him. She was reminded of how odd it was to fly with him as they sped away. She still couldn't feel any movement at all. She looked down and saw the Colonel watching as they flew away. She wondered if she was going to get in trouble for this.

Bubbles flew to the other side of the airport and landed by a hanger. Sitting just outside the big hanger doors was Val. She had her feet up on a three-gallon bucket. Bubbles landed beside her and dropped his force field. She turned toward them and slightly pushed her sunglasses down on her face.

“Look what I found!” Bubbles said bowing to Emily.

“Weren't you an E3 last time we met?” Val said frowning.

“Disobeyed a direct order to get some sleep while on patrol and insubordination,” Emily said shrugging.

“It happens. Welcome to the club.” Val said standing up. “I reached E6 twice before I stopped putting in for advancement. Told them I am a terminal E5 now.”

“Impossible orders.” Bubble said shaking his head.

“Impossible orders,” Val said nodding. When she saw the confused look Emily gave her Val said. “Every once and awhile, someone will forget that we are not all powerful and give us impossible orders. If we don't die more often than not we get busted down. It comes with the territory. Even your boy scout of a boyfriend got busted once or twice for impossible orders.”

“He's not my boyfriend and why doesn't someone do something about it,” Emily said angrily.

“Because sometimes someone does the impossible,” Said a silky sexy voice Emily remember so well. She turned to the Hanger door to see David standing there with a half smile on his face.

Emily felt her knees go weak and a flutter appeared in her stomach. She felt herself smile then she shook her head and frowned. David crossed the few feet to stand in front of her. Not pausing for a second he slid his hands across her waist and pulled her into his arms. Leaning down he kissed her. The world stopped while Emily melted into his arms and kissed him back.

“I am sorry.” He said when they came back for air.

“I'm still mad at you,” Emily said breathlessly feeling goosebumps pop up all over her body.

“I know.” He said leaning his forehead on her forehead.

“That is some welcome kiss. Hey T why didn't I get a kiss when I got here?” Rags said walking out of the hanger.

Emily stepped back and smiled at Rags. “Hey Rags.”

“Hi Never!” Rags said giving her a big smile and gave her a strong hug.

“We will talk later ok,” David said quietly before stepping away. “Ok people we don't have much time. This thing starts tomorrow and we have a few things to go over before we're ready.

David led them into the hanger to a large wooden table with a diagram on it. “Ok, this thing is a bit complicated because the ceremony is taking outside. The powers that be planned for some psychological propaganda mind screw to the OCS. This base has been fought over since they first opened it around the fifties. Anyone holding this base holds the country so basically, we are giving the finger to the OCS and the insurgents.”

“In some ways holding this outside makes it easier to guard and other ways makes it a nightmare. The people on this base had security pretty locked down. All flights on both the military and civilian side of the base have been shut down starting tonight. All planes that are still here will be inspected at least once on the day of the ceremony. The civilian buildings are closed during the ceremony and will be allowed to reopen an hour after the ceremony. There will be a bunch of roaming patrols all throughout the base and airport. They will have a gunship flying overhead during the ceremony and twelve EXO's standing by as a quick response team (QRT). We have four fast attack helicopters on the runway ready to go at a moments notice.” David said looking at each one of them in the eye as he talked.

“There will be a lot of press here both local and international. While all of them have been vetted there is still a chance of a screwup. That's where we come in. They asked us here as a last line of defense. Bubbles you’re going to be on the stage standing in the back here by the flags.” David said pointing to the diagram of the event. “The first sign of trouble you grab the new General first then if you have time grab the old one. You get them the hell out of there. The general's security team has the locations were they want you to bring them. The locations are need to know information so only you and the general's security team will know. They will tell you the locations just before the event starts”

“Val, you and I are going to be here be on either side of the stage. You have the left side and I'll take the right. Anything goes south we keep everyone away from the stage. There are a lot of VIP's on that stage so we have to hold the stage until they are out of danger. You've done this before so you know what to look for.” David said his finger sliding on the diagram to show where he and Val were going to stand.

“Never, You and Rags are going to be in the back boxing it in with Val and me. We got the front you guys got the back. We will show you later on how to spot potential troublemakers. Now the fun part. We all will be in dress uniforms with no weapons showing.” David said ready to flinch.

Rags exploded, cursing up a storm. Emily smiled at all the almost incomprehensible words flowing out of his mouth. She still had no idea what half the terms he used meant. David let run for a full minute before he interrupted the tirade.

“We won't be without our weapons guys. We just can't carry them openly. Emily here is the most heavily armed person here at this table and yet can anyone spot any of her weapons.” David said pointing his open hand at Emily. Both Val and Rags raised their hands. Emily smiled.

“What I mean is that they are hidden. We are just going to have be smart about where we carry our weapons. We are going to have boxes next to each other where we will have our rifles and anything that we can't hide on our persons.” David said shaking his head.

David went on about where everything was what the other security teams were going to do. It took him nearly an hour to get through it all. Then he smiled. “Ok now for the 'how to spotting bad guys' class. If y'all would follow me.” He said leading them to a conference room where he had a projector set up to a laptop. For the next two hours, Emily sat through a series of pictures of peoples faces. It was one of the most boring classes Emily had ever had. David might be gorgeous and smart but a teacher he was not.

They stopped for lunch then came back to the hanger to play act on what to do if there was an attack. David had some wooden boxes painted black that they were going to place their stuff into before the ceremony was going to start. He had them practice getting in the boxes and pull out their stuff. Then he had them go over where they could hide some of their weapons on their dress uniforms.

They stopped that late that afternoon with Bubble heading out to get dinner. They all ended up sitting around at the entrance of hanger watching the sunset. “Val I thought you were retiring why are you still here,” David asked her.

“I am. I just need some extra cash so I made a deal with the Marines. They agreed to pay me double my pay and promote me at the end of my tour so I get E6 retirement and I agree to stay here in Afghanistan for eight more months. I have six and half months to go.” Val said leaning back in a rolling chair.

“So much for terminal E5,” David said with a laugh.

“What about you Rags why are you still here?” Emily asked him.

“Our tours are different your yours love. You Yanks do fifteen-month tours we do twenty-four.” Rags said acting like he was miles away.

“What about Bubbles?” Emily asked the group.

Val chuckled. “He has the same rotation that we do he just been here less than you have.

“Speak of the devil,” David said as Bubbles arched over a building and landed next to Emily.

“Dinner is served.” He said handing Emily a large white bag.

“What the hell is Tim Horton?” Emily asked looking at the logo on the bag.

After a dinner of coffee, donuts and fried chicken, they all split up. Bubbles and Val headed off to watch a street hockey game while Rags headed off to one of the on-base clubs that was staffed by the British. Emily played it safe since she was still on restriction and stayed in the hanger to watch TV. David begged off everyone's attempt to get him to go out with them and stayed with Emily in the hanger.

“Look I want to say that I can be an insensitive jerk sometimes and I do really like you,” David said once they were alone. “But I have to warn you that I really love this. Being in a combat zone I mean. I don't know why but I have to be where the action is or I go nuts. This feels right to me. I can't turn it off and I am not sure I want to. Does that make sense?”

“Yea it makes sense. You're a Navy Seal. Every last one of you guys are crazy.” Emily said sitting down on a sofa. David sat on the other side. Emily scooted over to lean in him.

“I wanted you to know because it has caused problems in the past with my other relationships,” David said putting his arm around her.

“Are we in a relationship?” Emily asked turning to look at him from under his arm.

“Yes. I mean I would like to be. We got some crappy jobs that'll keep us apart for long periods of time but if you want we can try.” David said looking down at her.

“We will see,” Emily said snuggling into his chest smiling.

Emily didn't know when she fell asleep but the TV was turned off and David's head was leaned back at an awkward angle when she woke up. He was snoring softly. She was still laying on him and his arm was still around her. Smiling Emily leaned deeper into his chest and went back to sleep.