Home and a Purpose.
This is my first 'The Last Ship' story. [One-Shot]
Set around the idea of 'going home' after finding out that the US no longer had a military.
~Andrea Garnett takes a few moments to think about her purpose and the meaning of home, after all that has happened and all that she has lost.
Reviews are welcomed, loved and very much appreciated. I hope this isn't too bad for a first story.
Enjoy.
'Take us home' Those were Tom Chandler's words.
Andrea Garnett thought she would be happier upon hearing that, finally, she could return home. However, her reaction had been fear and sadness. Home, or what was left of it, meant confrontation and acceptance. She would have to confront everything, everyone, as well as accepting that the home she left once upon a time would not be the home she returned to.
As she sat on the Bridge she was happy she had been given the night watch. There was something special in the way the darkness turned into light when the sun rose at around 5:30 a.m. The bridge seemed to calm at that time, each member would take a moment to realise that the sun had risen again and they were here, alive, for another day.
She knew Captain Slattery would take over soon, and he would expect her to go back to her room and get some sleep, but they both knew each other well enough to know that she would leave the Bridge and walk in silence to the Engine room where she would work until it was no longer possible for her to focus on anything.
"Captains on the Bridge" Andrea smiled before looking down at her watch. She would have made a comment on how eager he seemed to take over, but again, they both knew he would have been awake for hours, simply waiting for the right time to leave his room and get on with his job.
As Mike sat down in his chair across from her, she grabbed her coffee mug, waiting for him to give her the all clear to leave.
"Are you going to get some sleep?" He asked, but all Andrea could do was give him a small, but knowing smile.
"I thought not. See you in a few hours, your off watch." Again, Andrea smiled, and this time, Mike gave her a small smile back before engaged in conversation with other members of the crew.
It was 6:00 a.m. At home she would drag herself out of bed, careful not to wake Bill, knowing that he was really not a morning person. She would take a few minutes stood in the doorway just watching him sleep. Smiling at his various facial expressions, trying to picture what he was dreaming about. Then, she would walk down the hall, and come to a stop outside her daughter's room. Even at age eleven, Lilly would sleep with all her stuffed toys, just so none of them got offended. Her blonde hair would be a mess, half across her face as she slept peacefully, her blanket threatening to fall to the floor with a single movement, but the little girl didn't seem to care.
Before Andrea came to the top of the stairs she walked past a third, empty bedroom. The bedroom she so desperately wanted to turn into a second nursery, a bedroom that would be for a little brother or sister for Lilly, a second child for her and Bill, but still, it was just an empty room. She would stand for a few minutes, picturing all that she hoped for. Days spend out in the back garden, children running wild, her and her husband cuddling together on the deck, finding peace in the sound of children laughing and playing.
Once finished with her thoughts she would head downstairs, her purpose solely being a wife and a mother until 8:00 a.m. rolled around and she was out the door.
Now, at 6:00 a.m. she would walk back through the passageways of the Nathan James, first to her room where she would change, before heading out again to the Engine Room to start another shift that would last as long as she needed it to. Now she would work until she could no longer function, and then Andrea would head back to her room and fall to sleep without the agony of thinking about all she had lost.
There was no staring into empty rooms, or smiling at silly facial expressions or wondering how many more stuffed animals one child could sleep with. Now, it was walking through passageways, smiling at other sailors, thinking about the task at hand.
The first purpose, the one in which she made breakfast and braided hair was gone. Her purpose now was to maintain a ship.
Tom Chandler had said they were going home, but as Andrea walked further and further through the ship, she realised she didn't need to go home. Home should be where you serve a purpose, where you feel safe, happy, sad and all other emotions. The place Andrea thought of, the place she longed for a second child, the place where she made pancakes and coffee, that was gone.
The Nathan James, was her home now.
I hope this wasn't too bad! Please let me know what you thought of it, like I say reviews are welcomed, loved and very much appreciated! Thank you for reading!
Bethany- Louise.