Author's note: This story is set in the same universe/timeline as my story The Last Step, which was about the love story between Mike Slattery and Rachel Scott (yes really!) but I promise you don't need to have read that to enjoy this one! The main thing you need to know is that aside from Rachel not being shot and killed, the timeline and events in this universe stayed pretty close to the show, until midway through season 3, when Alison Shaw was unmasked before she could execute her coup, and although the James remained in Asia to bring Peng to justice, events at home stayed focussed on rebuilding the country. This story starts in St Louis, about three months after the James finally made it home. Everything else you can pick up as we go along…
Sadly, none of the characters from the Last Ship belong to me, we just hang out on occasion. Thank you for reading and reviewing!
Chapter 1 – All the Time in the World
Mike Slattery's words were still ringing in his ears as Tom Chandler watched Sasha Cooper laughing and dancing with their friends and colleagues on the lawn of the mansion that normally housed military headquarters, but today was hosting Mike's wedding to Rachel Scott.
"Happiness is in short supply these days. If you can find some with Sasha, you should. Plus, if you don't, someone else will."
In some ways, it would be easy to dismiss the advice; after all, Mike had just got married, he was hardly impartial. And although both of them had lost their wives to the virus, Mike's marriage had been over in all but name long before the Nathan James had set sail for the Arctic. It was right and good for him to move on, but Tom was still grieving for Darien, especially now that he was back in St Louis with their children.
But at the same time, he couldn't deny that he and Sasha had grown close during their time in Asia. He'd maintained to Mike that they were just old friends, but if he was honest with himself, there was still a spark there.
As if she could read his thoughts, Sasha looked over at him and smiled. She was wearing a long red dress, so different to the combat gear he'd grown used to seeing her in on the James, and perhaps it was that that made him notice just how stunning she was. Mike was right, he realised, now they were back on land, there would inevitably be a lot of men noticing Sasha, trying to date Sasha… His own disastrous one-off foray into the world of post-apocalyptic dating had taught him that, let alone listening to Tex's stories of his much more enthusiastic attempts.
And that was the question, wasn't it? Was he prepared to lose Sasha to someone else, because he didn't feel ready to take their relationship to the next level?
He smiled back at Sasha, his face not betraying a flicker of the thoughts running through his head; he'd always been good at hiding his emotions. She beckoned him, laughing and making a begging gesture. He shook his head, but at the same time his feet were already walking towards her.
As far as he could tell, the playlist for the evening was based on someone's iPod hooked up to an ancient looking speaker system and playing an apparently completely random selection of music. While he'd been talking to Mike there had been hip-hop in the background, as he'd watched Sasha it had been cheesy '80s pop, but now as he reached her, as though the universe were conspiring with Mike Slattery, it changed to Louis Armstrong.
"We have all the time, in the world…"
Sasha was still smiling, and around them those dancing were either splitting into couples or hastily leaving the floor. He opened his mouth to suggest they stepped away themselves, but her hand was already reaching out for his, he saw just the slightest flicker of uncertainty in those blue eyes, and then before he had a chance to think about it, he was taking her hand in his and placing his other hand on her waist, and although he kept a decorous gap between them, they were dancing.
"Beautiful wedding." Sasha commented, smiling at him again. "I liked your speech."
"Thanks." Tom laughed slightly, "Tex was a tough act to follow…"
"That suit!" Sasha glanced over at Tex, who was wearing a bright pink suit that he'd deemed suitable in his role as Rachel's maid of honour, and was now instigating drinking games at the long wooden table that constituted the bar.
"I know." He chuckled. "Overshadows the dress whites, that's for sure."
Their eyes met and they smiled at each other again, and Tom felt something give a little in his chest. Maybe he was making this too complicated.
"Rachel looked beautiful." Sasha offered, "She and Mike seem so happy."
"They do." He hesitated before adding, "I don't think it's always been easy though. I mean, this new world of ours takes some getting used to. And relationships are complicated enough-" He cursed himself as soon as the words were out of his mouth, but Sasha looked thoughtful.
"The new normal." She said. "Everybody's lost somebody. We're all trying to navigate that now." She looked up at him and the look in her eyes made him swallow.
"How do you think we do that?" He asked, unconsciously tightening his hand slightly on her waist.
"Slowly. Carefully." She smiled just a little. "Honestly."
"I think it will take some people more time than others." He said slowly, thinking not only of his own loss, but remembering hers: a man who had barely become her husband before being taken from her.
"That's not a bad thing." She acknowledged softly.
The music changed to an even slower song, and Sasha moved just a fraction closer to him, close enough for Tom to move his hand from her waist to the small of her back, close enough for her to move her hand from his shoulder to the back of his neck. For a few moments they just swayed to the music, and he breathed in the subtle scent of her hair.
"Sasha, I-" He began, but then something hit his shoulder with force, and he instinctively closed his arms around Sasha, pivoting his body to shield her as three drunken sailors lost their balance and sprawled across the makeshift dancefloor, landing heavily amid gales of laughter.
He looked down at her face, his arms still tight around her, her eyes wide and looking up at him in surprise, and for a split second he almost kissed her, but then he remembered where they were, and all the reasons not to do that, and instead gently let her go.
"Okay?" He asked, and she nodded.
"What were you going to say?" She asked.
He hesitated, but somehow the moment was gone. "Nothing important." He replied, once again employing his ability to hide his emotions behind a mask of calm.
"Commodore!" Tex was suddenly beside him, clapping him on the shoulder, drink in hand. "You are without a drink my friend." He turned to Sasha, "And the stunning Ms Cooper, I should buy you a drink and let you reject me in six languages!"
Sasha laughed as Tex stepped between them and slung an arm around each of their shoulders. "Actually, I could reject you in more than ten."
"And I still might keep trying." He steered them both towards the bar table. "Unless-" He stopped suddenly, "-I was interrupting something?" He shot Tom a surprisingly shrewd look, and he realised Tex wasn't as drunk as he seemed.
"We were just dancing." Sasha said, her smile directed solely at Tom. "That's all."
Once they were drawn into the group at the bar, there was no more opportunity to talk until the party finally started to break up. The sun had long since set, the bride and groom had disappeared hours before, and more than one guest was asleep on the lawn.
As he finished bidding Danny and Kara Green goodnight, Tom spotted Sasha sitting alone on the steps that led up from the lawn into the mansion.
"You need a ride home?" He asked.
"I can go with Alisha and Andrea." She replied. "They live just down the hall."
He nodded. "Well, I'd better get back. Dad took the kids home hours ago." He knew he was sounding stilted, but the ease he'd felt between them before had evaporated.
"Around the same time the bride and groom did their disappearing act?" She asked with a knowing smile.
"Kathleen is babysitting." He explained. "I think they wanted to make the most of their first night in six months without Jamie to interrupt them."
"Well, every couple deserves a wedding night, right?" Her expression was hard to read as she stood and brushed down her dress. "Goodnight Tom."
"Goodnight Sasha." He shook off the instinct to lean forward and kiss her cheek, because for a brief irrational moment, he worried he wouldn't be able to stop there.
She smiled and turned, starting to walk up the steps, before he found his voice and called after her.
"You know, I think Tex was talking about breakfast tomorrow, late breakfast, soak up the hangovers… If you feel like it."
She turned back and smiled at him, a different kind of smile. "Let me know, okay?"
"I'll call you if it's happening."
"That would be good." It was her turn to hesitate, before she said, "You could call me anyway. If you wanted."
"I'll do that." And for just a few moments, Tom Chandler let himself relax in the warmth of Sasha's smile.