"Well damn", Captain Thomas Chandler said when he realized how beat up he was after a close with the Immunes. It was a win-win day, no one died, but everyone had their fair share of injuries, including Tom. A bullet grazed his shoulder, he was stabbed in the arm, and had a nasty cut above his left eye that was probably going to need stitches.
When Chandler and the other sailors got back to the ship, Dr. Scott made her way over to see how many would need medical care. Looking around, she could tell she was going to have a long day. She looked around for one particular person; a man who had eyes as blue as the ocean. Rachel was relieved when she finally spotted him across the ship talking to Slattery. She wanted to make sure he was back and safe.
Dr. Scott started the long process of assessing and bandaging the injured. Chandler refused medical treatment until everyone else was taken care of. Of course he did. That's just the kind of man Thomas Chandler was; he would bleed to death before he would take care of himself.
One by one, Dr. Scott made her way through the injured, bandaging them up and making them as good as new (well almost). She went to find the Captain and found him in his quarters. He sat down so she could assess his injuries.
"My god Tom, what happened to you?", she asked with a shock expression on her face. Chandler's injuries were worse than everyone else's. It looked like he had been through hell and back. With the Immunes, hell wasn't too far from the truth.
Tom simply replied, "Oh, you know. I got shot, stabbed, punched, basically anything that can be done to a person."
"You're going to need stitches on this cut above your eye", Rachel told him. Tom nodded his head and sat there while she stitched him up.
The whole time Rachel was stitching the cut above his eye, Chandler never stopped staring at her. She tried to focus solely on what she was doing, but that was just not happening. Those blue eyes of his distracted her way too much; way more than she would like to admit. When they met, his eyes were the very first thing she noticed. They pulled her in and she always seemed to be staring at them. It's like they paralyzed her; she couldn't move, couldn't even breathe, when he looked her in the eyes.
To make sure everything was okay, she asked Chandler if there was something wrong. He said "no" and continued to stare.
Rachel finished stitching the cut. She then moved to his arm. "You will also need stitches for this one too." Chandler just nodded his head and continued to stare at her.
By this time, Rachel's hands were very unsteady, which was definitely not a good thing. She was the doctor who was trying to stitch a cut with unsteady hands: BAD idea. The way Chandler was staring at her was doing things to her she didn't want to even think about. The way he stared at her was like she was the only thing that mattered to him.
Rachel was mentally and physically trying to get ahold of herself. Her hands were unsteady, she was starting to burn up, and she had many not-so-appropriate images of Chandler running through her head.
Get ahold of yourself, Rachel, she thought. This is not the time to imagine Chandler naked in your head. You need to get ahold of yourself and stop acting like a fool.
His gaze was so intense that she was coming undone and feeling things she shouldn't feel. She could not stop imagining him unclothed, or what it may have felt like to have him against her body, caressing her skin.
Chandler could not stop staring at her. Rachel Scott was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He couldn't help but stare. She looked so determined while stitching him up and for some unknown reason, this pulled him in. He loved that look of determination she had when she was doing something important.
Chandler knew she knew he was staring at her. As the minutes went by, she started to act more nervous, and one time he could have sworn he saw her blushing. This made him hopeful. Maybe she did reciprocate the same feelings. Was Rachel acting this way because she thought he had lost it or was it maybe, just maybe, because she was enthralled by the way he was looking at her? Tom often wondered if she wanted more like he did. Did she think about him in the middle of the night when sleep wouldn't come like he thought about her?
There was one thing Tom was sure of: he was tired of running in circles trying to figure out how this woman felt about him. Chandler knew everything, but when it came to Rachel Scott, she was a big mystery. He was going to figure out how she felt TODAY. He was tired of not knowing or asking himself "what if?". There was one little part he hadn't had the slightest clue about: how? How was he going to find out her feelings? He knew it wasn't going to be easy, so he was just going to stare at her like an idiot. For now, it was way easier than talking.
Rachel finished stitching and bandaging up his arm. Now it was time for the shoulder.
Great, Rachel thought. He has to take off his damn shirt. There was no other way to get to the wound.
Rachel let out a big sigh. "Captain... I'm going to need y-you to t-take off... your sh-shirt", she stuttered.
Without saying a word, he took off the shirt. He only broke eye contact long enough to get his shirt off. Besides the wound, what Rachel saw was very pleasing. He looked even better than in her imagination. Come to think of it, Rachel had never really noticed his arms until now. She took the sight of him in. He had a great body, very toned with muscles. She just wanted to run her fingers through his hair and down his chest and squeeze those muscles of his..
Rachel thought to herself, we have the top half uncovered, if I could get the bottom half unclothed, that would be nice. Shut up, Scott, she told herself. Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Thinking like this gets you into trouble now shut up!
Rachel was having a hard time concentrating, and what made matters worse was they were only a few inches apart (she had to sit down or she was going to fall down, or worse; pass out). She could feel his hot breath on her face.
Rachel finally got brave enough to ask the question that was running around in her head ever since she started assessing his injuries. "Don't take this as an offense, Captain Chandler, but may I ask why you keep staring at me like that? Is there something on my face? If there is, you should have told me a long time ago." Rachel knew there wasn't anything on her face, she was just desperate for a bloody answer.
Chandler started laughing then, which shocked Rachel.
She really is blind, isn't she?, Chandler asked himself. Here he was staring at her and she thought there was something on her face? Couldn't she see in his eyes the way he was looking at her so intensely to get her answer? Chandler was going to have to paint a picture for her to get it.
He didn't answer her question, but replied with, "My name is Tom, call me it. Captain Chandler is what my crew addresses me by."
Rachel had finished bandaging up his shoulder and began to pack up her medical supplies.
"Ok, Tom", she said, emphasizing his name a little too much. Rachel was starting to get irritated because he wasn't answering her question. She was so wound up as it was anyway.
"Why are you staring at me like that?", she asked once again, desperately trying to get an answer from this complicated man.
"Rachel...", he said. "You don't get it, do you?
Rachel was taken aback by him calling her by her first name. He rarely said it- the last time was when she told him there officially was a cure. She loved when he just called her "Rachel". She loved the way it sounded coming from his mouth. This time was different. This time... it sent chills down her spine.
"What do I not get Tom?", she asked him. She just wanted answers dammit, and so far, she wasn't getting any.
Chandler was really going to have to paint a picture for her. The way he was staring at her gave her all the answers she needed, but she wasn't paying attention. She can't make it any easier, can she?, Tom asked himself.
"Rachel Scott", he said, "You need to pay more attention to the signs people are trying to give you. I've been sitting here for half an hour staring at you and you don't have the slightest idea why?"
Rachel shook her head, obviously very confused.
He continued, "God, can't you see I'm staring at you because I can't keep my eyes off you? You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Your face, your eyes, and that drive me absolutely crazy. I can't get you out of my head. As soon as I wake up, you're in my mind. When I sleep, you haunt my dreams. You don't know what you're doing, but you have half the men aboard this ship talking about how beautiful you are. They all want you, but no one wants you as much as I do. I'm sure of it. I love when you pick fights with me because you are the only one who is brave enough to do it. I've wanted to kiss you since you told me you had the cure. I don't know why I didn't. I'm just stupid, I guess. I want all of you, every single bit. I guess all I'm trying to say is.. Rachel Scott, I'm in love with you and I have been for a very long time."
Rachel had tears streaming down her face. This beautiful man who had eyes as blue as the ocean confessed his love to her. He wanted her and ONLY her. All Rachel could do was stand there with tears on her cheeks and her heart filled with so much love and desire, it was going to explode. She just stood there and looked at him while she cried.
Seeing Rachel cry made Tom think it was a bad sign; that she didn't love him and didn't know how to respond to what he just confessed. He got up and started to leave. Before he could, Rachel came to her senses and realized what he was doing and pulled him back in and shut the door.
"Thomas Chandler, where the hell do you think you're going?", she asked confused. "You don't just leave someone after you have confessed your love to them."
Tom looked at her with sadness in his eyes and started to say, "I was leaving because I thought you didn't feel-", but before he finished, Rachel kissed him with full force.
Tom was relieved. He honestly didn't know how their relationship would have been if she didn't feel the same way.
Desperately needing air, they broke the kiss, but Tom didn't stop at her lips. He kissed her cheeks and made his way down to her neck, kissing, sucking, and nipping.
While Tom was doing this, Rachel started to explain how she felt in short, ragged breaths. "Tom, I'm hopelessly in love with you. I've loved you longer than I want to admit, and you were about to leave because you thought I didn't feel the same. How could I not love you? You are so-", she tried to finish, but Tom nipped at a sensitive spot on her neck, making her moan really loud.
"Rachel, we can talk about this later. I want you. NOW." He began to kiss her again.
A few seconds later, Tom broke the kiss. "Try not to be so loud. We can't let everyone get the wrong idea and think there's something going on."
Rachel rose her eyebrows. "But there is something going on, Tom."
He laughed and replied, "Yeah, I'm very aware of it, but everyone else isn't."
Rachel smiled. "Just shut up and kiss me."
"You got it", he said before he began to kiss her again.
Tom picked Rachel up and her legs instantly went around his waist.
They kissed for what seemed like hours. They could not get enough of each other.
Tom carried her to his bed, then sat her down. They started to remove each other's clothing one by one. Tom never once took his eyes off Rachel.
Once the clothes were gone, Tom positioned himself on top of her.
"Are you ready? Are you sure you want to do this?", he asked her.
All Rachel could do was nod her head. Tom entered her, but kissed her before he did.
Tom began to move. Rachel held him as close as she could. She was afraid if she let him go, she would wake up and all of this would be a dream. They molded into each other perfectly. It's like they were made for each other. They both finally had each other in their arms. Who would have thought it would have happened like this? Who would have thought they would ever fall in love with each other? They both met each other because of a mission, but along the way, it was way more than that. It was like it was fate that they both met each other in this damned apocalypse. They both found each other. That had to be fate: meeting each other and falling in love. That's all that really mattered now, right? Having someone by your side to hold you while the world is slowly falling apart? To have someone to keep you sane? To have someone make the world a little less shitty?
They formed their own perfect rhythm; they moved faster and faster until Rachel could hold on no longer. She cried out his name while the pleasure ripped through her body. Tom didn't last much longer, whispering his name as he came.
Tom pulled out and kissed her forehead and laid beside of Rachel.
"I love you", he whispered.
"And I am irrevocably in love with you, Thomas Chandler", she whispered back.
They laid there and both of them fell asleep in each other's arms. They both slept better than they had in a very very long time.