This story is AU (mission is the same) and as the story goes on, you'll notice the changes I've made.. Not to reveal too much of what lies ahead, the story will include some of the favorite pairings: But the story does focus mostly on Danny and Kara + Tom and Rachel.

To make things little more interesting and to have a story to write, I got the idea to have Kara be part of the team with Danny along with Ravit. And it does appear that Rachel and Tom have met before..

So I suggest you read the first chapter, if you like it.. Stick around. :)

Chapter 1

x

35,000 feet up in the air..

Sitting in a army plane and looking out the window. White clouds below them. She was going home to just leave again.

Kara was flying back to US from Israel, accompanied by her colleague who served in the Israeli Defence Forces. She had gotten orders from home to aboard a ship. That's all she knew about her upcoming mission as it was all very rushed. And to her surprise the commanding officer in charge of the Naval Special Warfare Joint Operations training program branch in Tel Aviv had recommended Bivas to accompany her to the upcoming mission, which she was happy about. She didn't really want to leave her friend behind, having worked tightly together with her for the past year.

"So what do you think the mission is about?" Ravit asked as she was trying to find a good position on her seat after being dozed off for a while.

"I don't know. All I know that we need warmer clothes." She gave a look at her friend.

"And this Burk guy is helping us obtain the gear we need?" Ravit continued.

"Yeah, he used to be my roommate and he's on the mission too." She explained and picked up a book from her bag.

"Oh, don't go reading on me." Ravit said. "Tell me more about the guy." Ravit raised her eyebrows a little and smiled at her.

"Just wait for 3 hours so you can see for yourself." She teased and thought about Carlton. She hadn't seen him in a long time. She had been away ever since her mother died. She didn't have a family to go back to.

Meanwhile in Norfolk..

"This blows. Why did they call us in, when our team is missing half of our crew?" Frankie sat down in the wardroom with a coffee in his hand.

"Don't look at me. But we're getting two new members." Danny said as he sat down beside Frankie. He had made recommendations for candidates that were more than capable to accompany him and Frankie, but as far as he knew, none of them had been contacted. Which he thought was odd.

"I sure hope they are badasses. Not going to be easy to replace Berchem and Smith." Frankie stated and took a sip of his coffee.

Danny nodded. Thinking how it was just their luck that Smith's wife Sharon had given birth to their firstborn child and he had taken leave to be home with his family. And Berchem was still recovering from the last mission they had been at. But he felt lucky that he and Frankie were still alive and kicking, and Halsey. Can't forget Admiral Halsey, he felt the dog breath between his legs as she was lying down under the table.

He felt somehow that this mission wouldn't require him to put his life in danger, but he had a feeling that it would be an interesting cruise.

Lieutenant Burk walked in and glanced at him and Frankie. "You're the new guys right?" He saw him come and talk to them. "Danny Green." He stood up and offered his hand for a hand shake and Frankie did the same. "Carlton Burk, I'm the head of the VBSS teams." "You'll be working alongside with me." He told them and he nodded. He had heard as much. Everything else about the mission was hushed and they still didn't know exactly where they were heading except that wherever it was, the air would be colder, hence the winter gear on their packing list.

"Shouldn't we have departed already?" Frankie glanced at his watch since the ship was still steady and they hadn't heard any other commotion going on.

"We're waiting for two crew members, their plane was delayed." Burk said and checked his clock. "But they should be here shortly."

They were preparing inside of a hall. Packing their gear. She only faintly recollected the name of the man who's ship they were going to use. She had gone over her head to convince the government to even make it possible for her to go to the Arctic and find the primordial strain for the virus that was spreading in the world. Operation Bluenose which was top secret. Only she and her partner Quincy knew. The Captain and the crew thought they were on a training mission. Really? Couldn't they come up with a better excuse, she thought. What kind of a training mission requires the ship to be in EMCON for several months? It would be a long work ahead of them. She just hoped they would find the answers they were looking for.

"You can just put that down over there." She commanded the Navy Officer as he was helping to carry their gear. "Be careful, that's delicate equipment." She added as she saw him almost drop the case down on the floor as he stood in line and saluted someone. Then she came to the open and saw him. Like a ghost from her past, all the way back to the year 1987.

"Hi, I'm Tom. What's your name?" She remembered the boyish charm he used on her when he looked at her.

"I take it you're my new houseguest.." She saw the look of recognization on his face, but he tried to keep the talk on the official level. After all, they would be locked on a ship for the next months, plenty of time to catch up.

"I'm Commander Chandler, ship's captain." He introduced himself and offered his hand for her.

"It's Claire, my name is Claire. " She smiled shyly at the young man. She was only visiting her friend for the summer in Norfolk. Going back to England after the summer.

"Rachel Scott." She hesitated a moment, remembering all too well how she had used another name back in 1987, but thought to play along and she took his hand. Feeling somewhat tension in the touch. Tension that was long forgotten.

"I'm sorry we had to take over your helicopter bay, but it was the only space large enough to accommodate our lab." She explained.

"What exactly are you gonna be studying up there?" He continued without a problem.

"Birds." She gave her short answer and hoped he would leave soon.

"Birds?" She heard his asking reply. Chuckling to herself, what language would he understand? He was a Captain of a guided missile destroyer.

"We are virologists.." She began and hoped he could follow. "Tracking obscure microbes in hard-to-get-to places." She explained and felt the now very memorized lie come out of her tongue like it was the spoken truth.

"Pretty boring stuff, actually." She added. To anyone else it might sound boring but it has been her life's work.

"We really do appreciate your assistance Captain Chandler." She made eye contact with the man, remembering all too well how she had once looked at him.

She was looking at his eyes, watching him as he was telling her how beautiful she was. She smiled at the compliment but she knew he was a young man, a young man with certain thoughts. And since she was here for the summer only, she wasn't looking for anything serious. She was hoping to have a good time. So she didn't mind the cheesy flirts. She leaned in and gave the young man a kiss.

"We're here to serve." He took on his hat.

"Welcome aboard, doctor." He said before he left and she let out a heavy breath. Feeling her touch on the box slip a little as she felt trembling in her hands. Their next discussion would surely be more heated, she thought. Or would it? She hadn't missed the wedding band on his finger. He was married.

"Everything going as planned, Captain?" He heard his XO catch up with him on the deck, after his talk with the doctor they were going to house.

"Like clockwork." He nodded.

"I have some bad news. The two crew members we are waiting on.. Their flight was delayed, so they are arriving later than we had expected." Slattery informed of this new development.

"I see. Well, Lieutenant Green needs the two on his team so.. We can't leave without them." He stated and Slattery sensed that the Captain was somehow drifting into his thoughts.

"You're sure everything's okay Tom?" Mike gave a worried look at his friend and Tom nodded and continued his way inside the ship, leaving him to watch over the loading process.

He was standing in all his height on the deck watching as the loading was almost completed. He was rubbing his wedding band, somewhat feeling it strangely weighing on his finger, once again. After his divorce with Christine a few years back, he hadn't really given any thoughts to marrying again, but that was before he fell in love. Smiling at the thought that he was a married man once again, freshly married since it had only been little over 48 hours that he said 'I do' to the woman he loved. They had been friends for a long time, meeting when they had a chance for it, some would call it dating on and off again, but for him it didn't matter. After this trip he would find a desk job and gladly have his feet on solid ground.

Frankie and Danny made their way to the deck of the ship. It had been a while since they had been on a ship and it would probably be long months up ahead as he kept thinking what was so important that they were chosen for this mission? The little he had heard, it was a training mission and he didn't even have anything to do with the CIC on the ship, his specialties lied on a completely other field of the Navy.

"Danny, look!" He felt Frankie bumping his overarm and he gave a glance the way Frankie was pointing as he witnessed two women aboard the ship in a hurry. They didn't even have their uniforms on.

"Women! Always running late. I'm surprised the Captain would even wait for them." Frankie stated and shook his head.

"Well it was their plane that was late, not them, but I wonder why these two are so important?" He followed the two women as they vanished inside the ship. One of the brunettes did seem familiar, but he wasn't sure since he was looking from a distance. Frankie just shrugged at his comment and then they saw the ship getting loosened up from the pier. It was time. He gave a look at the crowds on the pier. Waving goodbye for those on board the ship. His family wasn't amongst them, but somehow he felt the warmth inside of him as he saw the people waving at them.

"Welcome back home." She saw Burk in front of her as they stepped inside the P-Way. Getting a warm hug from him. Perhaps she had been too hasty in stating she didn't have a family back home. Suddenly she felt Carlton just might be the closest thing she had to a family.

"Carlton, this is my kickass friend Ravit Bivas." She introduced her to him, although he had been hearing stories about her the past year during their phone calls and letters.

"Hello." Ravit shook hands with Burk and she couldn't help but notice the sudden icy behavior from her part. And she had been waiting to meet this guy for a long time.

"You know, when I was deployed in the Gulf, I spent some time outside Tel Aviv, a town called Gi-Va-Tayim." Burk tried eagerly to make contact with her friend.

"Givatayim." Ravit pronounced the name with her foreign accent.

"Right." Burk added a little puzzled by this woman.

"Congratulations." Ravit added like it wasn't a big deal to be stationed on that particular town.

"Sorry Carlton, we need to change before our meeting with the Captain. He's nice right?" She gave a look at him and he managed to nod at her.

When they were closing in on their cabin she had to ask. "So.. what was with the cold act?" She wondered as she opened the door to their cabin.

"What? I can't give away anything. He can't know I might be interested." She shrugged her shoulders as she said it and dug out her uniform and they began changing their clothes.

"I call dibs on the top bunk." She heard Ravit state and she chuckled, her teaching of the American language was catching on Ravit.

They had just enough time to tie up their hairs and put on their uniforms. She felt she hadn't showered in a long time, but since they were late, there wasn't time for that. She just hoped she didn't smell like a bag of week old dirty laundry.

They were quickly making their way to meet the Captain in his quarters.

"Lieutenant Kara Foster, sir." She shook the Captains hand.

"Lieutenant Ravit Bivas, Israeli Defence Forces." Ravit followed her example. After all she wasn't part of the US Navy, but somehow the officials had agreed that she could participate on this mission.

"Captain Thomas Chandler, nice to finally have you on board." He walked to his table and glanced inside two folders which she assumed were hers and Ravit's.

"Participating in the Naval Special Warfare Joint Operations training program. Experts in diving, explosives, intelligence operators both of you.." He read and from his voice she could hear that the Captain seemed pleased to have them on his ship. Which made her feel slightly smug about what she and Ravit had accomplished so far despite their age.

"Yes, sir. We've been on the Gaza strip lately and other missions." She confirmed.

"Well I hope your ready to get your sea legs." He turned to stare at them and had a faint smile on his face.

"Report to Lieutenant Green, he's also been assigned to this mission and you two are now part of his team since he is short for two." Chandler explained, both she and Ravit nodded and left the Captains quarters.

Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed it. :)