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She stroked his arm, “Sit down and I’ll get you some coffee.” He gently tapped her on the butt when she walked by. She looked over her shoulder with a giggle on her way to the coffee station. He sat down at the table where Shaw was now sitting next to Allison. He was staring at Priest with a sheepish grin.

“What?”

Shaw elbowed Allison, “You’re kind of glowing,” she said with a smirk.

“I do not glow.”

“Well, you are glowing today,” Shaw chimed in. “Honestly Sarge, I’ve never seen this side of you before.”

“The only side of me you’re gonna see is the front of my fist if you don’t shut up,” Priest joked.

“You got it, Sarge.”

Lia returned with his coffee and sat down. She looked around the table, “What’s going on?”

“They say I am glowing,” Priest said over his coffee mug. This caused Lia to blush a little. He looked over at her. She had her thick black hair in a ponytail, barely a few grays throughout. Her hazel eyes sparkled next to her olive skin. She caught him looking at her and knew what he was thinking.

She patted his forearm, “Why not you?” she said. He nodded, closed his eyes for a second to say a quick “thank you” prayer. All the women he had ever been with never affected him the way Lia had. It was strange territory for him, but he definitely didn’t mind. “All right, snap out of it and get your shit together, jackass,” he thought to himself. He was ready to turn his attention to figuring out what they do next. “Where is Doc?” Priest asked.

“He had last night’s shift for watch,” Shaw answered

Webb woke up with Izzy still laying there asleep. He got up and used the bathroom and came back into the bedroom with Izzy sitting up in bed. “Shiiit.” He said. She started laughing. “You scared the shit out of me.”

“I can see that.” They bantered back and forth and got ready. She looked at him, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, sure. Why do you ask?” “You were having a rough time last night. You were thrashing around, having nightmares and calling out.”

“Damn, yeah I have issues.”

“Marcus, look, I don’t have any experience with this, but if there is anything I can do to help, I will.”

He leaned over and kissed her, “Just you being here with me calms my spirit. You make me feel more secure in my own mind. You ground me to where things don’t feel so out of control and give me a sense that things are okay. Does that make sense?” He looked up at her and saw she had tears in her eyes.

“It makes more sense than you can ever know.” She wiped her tears away and gave Webb a hug. She pulled back, and they smiled at each other, and then her eyes got big.

“What?” Webb asked.

“I am starving!”

“Me too,” Webb added.

They made their way down to the dining hall, laughing and joking. Webb seemed to have a glow about him as well that Priest noticed. He now understood what everyone was talking about.

Webb sat down across from him and looked up. “What?”

Priest snickered at Lia, Allison, and Shaw. He looked back at Webb, “You’re glowing.” The entire table burst out in laughter.

Izzy came back with coffee, “What is so funny?”

Webb still with a look of confusion on his face, “They said I was glowing. What the hell is that?” Izzy giggled, bent down and whispered something in Webb’s ear. She straightened back up, kissed him on this head and went to the kitchen. If you have never seen a black man blush, Webb’s face looked like a red stoplight. “Aw piss off,” he said.

Bethany Rand called for everyone’s attention and started an introduction, “Straight from the bayou of Louisiana, I give you Chef Renaldo Neville and his Cajun chef-d’oeuvre petite dejeuner!” She turned to Neville, “Did I say that right?”

“That was just fine, Chere,” Neville responded.

“Damn, that smells good. What is it?” Shaw asked.

“It’s a little something I whipped up. Eggs, onions, sausage, cheese and some spices.”