Their Little Secret (takes place after the return from the Vyerni – 8)
Chapter 1
Disclaimer: I do not own The Last Ship
This takes place after the episode 8, the return from the Vyerni.
As angry as he had been at Mike for risking Dr. Scott, he had to admit that the plan had worked like clockwork and could only have been called a success. He had to commend Mike, as the acting Commander of the ship.
They had succeeded in taking out the Russians as a threat. It could not have happened without the kiss and Dr. Scott's participation. That was key, but his head was swimming with how many things could have gone wrong. He could not berate Mike. They had a potential cure and passing the note and blade this way, though so very risky, was, he had to admit, brilliant. He would later let Mike know Dr. Scott was never to be risked again.
Captain Chandler was winding down from the fierce activity over the last few days. He and Tex had practically no sleep since the day of the mission to rescue Bertrice. He knew he was totally exhausted, but his mind was still running over all that had happened. He was taking the much needed shower before he could even think of sleeping. He wished the soap could rid him of the memory of the killing, but he knew he would just have to live with that.
He stayed longer in the shower, letting the hot water beat against his aching muscles. His mind was running through what had happened. He and Tex had been swimming for hours in the ocean, before they were picked up by the Russians and taken in handcuffs, to the Vyerni, their clothing still wet from the salt water. His eyes stung from the fatigue and the skin on his face felt tight and hot from the sunburn and the salt. After he was brought to Ruskov, of course, the Admiral contacted Mike on the Nathan James and told him he wanted Dr. Scott and her work or he would torture Tex and himself, until she was turned over to him.
He heard Ruskov give Mike only 10 minutes to give him an answer. He was taken below to join Tex, who was already sitting on the floor of the brig. He did not tell Tex what Ruskov planned to do to them. He knew that he had made it clear to Mike that under no circumstances would Doctor Scott be given to Ruskov. He knew Mike would try to get them out, but short of that, he had resolved that his ship would be safe as long as Dr. Scott remained on board and he was steeling himself to be ready to die if necessary, though he did not want to even think about what Ruskov might have in store for them. He didn't think they would have long before it started.
When later that night, he and Tex had been handcuffed again and were taken up to Ruskov's dining area, he knew he had only minutes before it would begin and he clenched his jaw against what he thought was coming. The door was opened and he looked down at his handcuffs, wishing he was free to do something.
When he looked up, ready to face Ruskov, he could not believe his eyes. He relived in his mind what happened next, something he would never be able to forget. To his utter shock, Dr. Scott was standing there, only a few feet away. He blurted out, in total disbelief and rage, "What the hell are you doing here?"
He remembered thinking Mike had actually sent her here against his orders. They had discussed this together. Dr. Scott was never to be risked.
When his eyes met hers, he saw the sudden look of relief and a softness that passed so quickly, he wondered if he had only imagined it. He then saw the utter look of determination when she suddenly, before he could say another word, launched herself at him, her arm going around his neck, her fingers pressing the back of his neck so that his head bent down and his mouth met hers in the most incredible open mouthed kiss.
He could still feel her lips on his and how he had understood, almost immediately that she was trying to pass him something and the part he was to play in what was happening.
He kept his lips open as did she, in what seemed the most passionate kiss. He was moving his head and his lips to help her. He could feel her desperation and it became his also to make this happen. He remembered that in this kiss, it was almost as if they were one, joined with the same intensity of purpose and when it was accomplished and he tucked the item under his tongue, he felt like he did not want to give up that connection and there was something they shared for the seconds before they were forcibly separated by the Russian Guards. He felt his lips pulled away from hers, like a seal being broken. He remembered exactly how every second of that kiss felt. He could not put it out of his mind, but somehow, he needed to forget it. He had to forget it.
He remembered how that very intensity had absolutely convinced Ruskov that he and Dr. Scott were lovers and that this was why she came so quickly to his ship. Ruskov thought that she was willing to sacrifice herself rather than having to endure seeing the man she loved tortured and killed.
He knew Ruskov was congratulating himself because he now knew that he could use the threat of torturing him, to get Dr. Scott to do whatever he wanted. He remembered wondering if Mike had considered the downside of this little scenario. At the time, he was still furious at Mike for sending her and risking her like this.
He himself knew that the kiss had been convincing, because Tex was berating him all the way back to the Brig, by reminding him that he was a married man and Navy at that. He did not get him to stop until he removed the note and the blade from his mouth, when they were returned to the brig and they had read it. They were to be at the Ladder room at 0400. They had been given all the tools they needed, the time, the place and the blade. He and Tex used the remainder to the time they had left before 0400 to plan and execute their escape from the brig.
He ran through the rest of the escape and the battle in his mind, how they had gotten Dr. Scott, Kelly and Ava off the ship. His brow creased with regret at his memory of how Cosetti had given his life to save all of them, including his ship and shipmates.
The shower had relaxed him and as he walked back to his quarters, he knew he should go up to the bridge. He entered his quarters and walked into the bedroom area. He started to take off what he had taken to the shower to change into, but he needed a complete change of clothing to go to the bridge. As he dropped his last piece of clothing on a chair, suddenly all he had been through caught up with him. He thought "If I can only sleep for a few minutes, I'll be fine. Just a few minutes and then I will get dressed. He fell onto his bed, covering himself with the sheet and was asleep almost before his head hit the pillow.
….
Hours later, when the Captain had missed dinner, that evening, Mike thought he'd better check on him. He had not really expected him to come up to the bridge. He could tell the Captain was totally exhausted, as was Tex. They both had been in the water for hours before the Russians had picked them up. Dr. Rios had made sure they were given water and some liquid nutrition, before they went for their showers, but they all needed sleep. The full debriefing could wait until Captain Chandler was ready. Still Mike felt he needed to check on the Captain. He went to his quarters and knocked. There was no answer. He knocked again with the same result. He opened the door and stepped into the Captain's quarters. He called to him, but there was only silence. He stepped farther into the main room to where he could see into his bedroom. He could see the Captain on his bed. He seemed really out of it. He had been through hell and had no sleep for a vey long time.
He had never known the Captain not to answer a knock at his door and if he was ever asleep, he would always awaken immediately. This was different.
He left his quarters and closed the door. After he got back up to the bridge, he called Dr. Rios. He asked him to look in on the Captain. He said he was not waking up when called. Mike said "I just want to make sure he is alright."
Dr. Rios said that he was in the Engine room where one of the crew had fallen and had a bad cut on his arm. He needed stitches. It was not serious, but he would be tied up for a while. Rios told Mike to see if Dr. Scott could take a look at the Captain. He might have developed a fever after all the hours he and Tex had spent in the Ocean. He said he is probably totally exhausted. I needed to examine both the Captain and Tex after their captivity, but I wanted to give them a chance to get cleaned up and to get some sleep."
Mike sent one of the crew to bring Dr. Scott to the Bridge. After a short time, she was in front of him. He told her he was a bit worried about Captain Chandler and how Dr. Rios has asked her to check on the Captain for him, since he was busy in the Engine Room. He told Dr. Scott that Rios wanted her to check for possible fever.
Dr. Scott said that of course she would check on the Captain. She knew he had been exhausted and running on what was left of his adrenaline.
She arrived at the Captain's quarters with her medical kit. She knocked and was not surprised that she got no answer, after what Mike had said. She stepped into his stateroom, calling to him softly.
She saw that he was in bed with his chest bare, the lower half of his body covered by a sheet. He was so tired he had not even turned the lamp out. From the lamp light, she could see his face was not relaxed.. His jaw was clenched and he seemed to be reliving a battle situation. His head turned away from her and he mumbled, slurring his speech, something about Ruskov not getting her.
His head turned to the other side, as if he might be delirious or reliving the battle they had just fought. Now she was worried. She went directly to his bed and bent over him. She reached for his wrist, so that she could check his pulse. That was a mistake she would soon regret. She had just committed the cardinal sin that all wives, girlfriends, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers and children of men and women in the military have all been warned not to do, awaken them from a deep sleep by touching them, rather than waking them up by calling to them from a safe distance.
The second her hand made contact with his wrist, the Captain's training, which had been drilled into him, over and over at the Naval Academy, came to the fore and he was in action.
Dr. Scott felt herself lifted off the floor by his grip on her arms and she was thrown, passing over his body, onto her back on the other side of him, as he rolled over on top of her, on his knees. His body towered over her as he pinned her to the bed, raising his fist poised to come down and crush her windpipe. As she was thrown into the air, she screamed at the top of her lungs,"Captain…Captain …Stop…..It's me, Dr. Scott!"
In an instant, he came to his senses and was able to deflect his fist to the side, missing her throat, but clipping her left cheekbone slightly just under her left eye, as she turned her face to the side to avoid the blow.
When Dr. Scott had screamed, the Captain was immediately wide awake and looking down at her lying beneath him. He didn't understand how she got there. He yelled at her, furious, "Dr, Scott. What in the hell are you doing here? Good God, I could have killed you!"
She was in such shock that she did not have time to say anything. She looked up at his powerful body directly above her, with the sheet which had wrapped itself around his lower hips, as he had rolled into position over her. Realizing his mistake, in one motion, he rolled off of her and onto his feet. He reached back over and helped her out of his bed, but her legs were so wobbly that she had to sit on the bed facing him.
He was furious. He yelled, "How the Hell did this happen? You don't just walk into my quarters without knocking! Don't you know that I almost killed you? ….Doctor Scot, I want answers!"
Dr. Scott looked up at him and could not believe what she saw. Here he was dressing her down in his most commanding voice, with his towering presence, not three feet from her, with the same force he had used when he was in the Helo Bay, the first time he wanted answers, not that long ago. The only difference, in this instance was that now, he was seemingly completely unaware that he was standing in front of her with not a stitch of clothing on.
Gathering herself together, she said, "Captain Chandler, I can assure you I have a perfectly good explanation for why I am here and I will gladly answer all of your questions, but...…wouldn't you like to take this opportunity to put something on before we continue this conversation?"
She was looking directly into his stormy blue eyes, so full of fire and fury. As she spoke to him, she purposely ran her eyes down the entire length of his body and back up, meeting his eyes once again.
The Captain blinked and looked down to see what she was looking at. He had been so shocked and angry at what he had almost done to her, that he'd not even been aware that something was missing.
He said…"Oh….ah...…Damn!"
Without missing a beat, he'd turned away from her, walked to his clothing chest and took out a pair of regulation Navy boxer shorts, which he immediately put on.
Dr. Scot had tried to keep herself from watching him as he walked to the chest. She got the full few of his back, shoulders and the full length of his very well formed body. She felt her stomach tighten, failing as she tried unsuccessfully to be unaffected.
He went to the sink and got a hand towel, which he ran under the cold water. He brought this back and handed it to her. He said…" For your eye. I am very sorry, but you may have a bit of a shiner from this experience, Doctor."
He then looked a little less intense, as he leaned against the chest.…" Now, Doctor, I am waiting to hear your perfectly good explanation for how you almost got yourself killed in my quarters."
With that, she said, "It all started when Mike tried to check on you, when you didn't come to Dinner this evening. He knocked several times but got no response. He walked into your quarters, saw you in bed, but when he called to you, you didn't wake up.. God knows how exhausted you were and from what I can see now, you still are."
The Captain said. "What time is it? I was only going to sleep for a few minutes."
"Captain, it is 1800" she said."
Mike was worried and tried to have Rios check on you. Doctor Rios was in the engine room with one of the crew who was injured."
At this point, the Captain jumped up heading for his closet to put on his uniform. He said, "Id better get down there!"
Doctor Scott said, "No, Captain, it was just a cut that had to be stitched up, but Dr. Rios knew it would take some time. He asked Mike to have me come and check on you. Rios said to make sure you didn't have a fever, after all you have been through and to check you out, in his place. I told Mike that I would check on you. I am always here to help out Dr. Rios."
She continued, "When I got here, I also got no answer to my knock and yes, Captain, I did knock. When I came in, I saw you were deeply asleep, but I did call to you. Still you did not awaken. I thought you probably needed the sleep, but when I got closer, I could hear you talking in your sleep or I thought you might be delirious. You were mumbling something about Ruskov and not giving me to him. I knew I had to check your pulse and your temperature. You were so deeply asleep. I didn't think there was any way you would wake up from my touch. I bent over you. It was at that point..…"
The Captain finished her sentence. …."all Hell broke loose!"
She said, "Yes, Captain."
The Captain's face softened. The realization of how this happened, suddenly becoming clear. He stepped over to her, looking down at the red bruise on her cheekbone with regret. He very gently took her chin and tilted it up to him. He ran his thumb, carefully over the bruise, which was just starting to turn blue under her eye. He said very softly, barely moving his lips, "Nobody warned you, did they, Dr. Scott?"
She said, " Captain, I had no idea what caused this reaction. I know I did something wrong, but I don't know what. Was it because you were dreaming about the Russians?"
He said, "No, Dr. Scott. None of this was your fault. I feel very sorry for yelling at you and for causing you such pain. God knows you certainly did not deserve this. God damn it! Rios or Mike should have warned you!"
She said," Captain, warned me about what?"
At that point, he explained in detail about how people in the military are often trained to use various " kill tactics" which can be set off by certain actions, which he explained to her. "We always warn all of our family members and any friends about what not to do, so that this kind of thing does not happen. Everyone on this ship, with the exception of you and Doctor Tophet and his family, knows what not to do. I guess they never thought you would be in a situation like this. You don't wake up someone in the military, who is asleep, by touching them. You call to them. You don't run up behind us, when we don't know you are there and throw your arms around our necks. It is certain things like that, people have to be warned about. He explained further what had happened when she touched him.
This was meant to be a kill tactic to protect someone who is sleeping from being attacked by someone who comes up to them suddenly. It ends by crushing the windpipe of the attacker. The knee between the legs was to be used to hit the attacker in the groin, if it was needed to subdue them and to pin them in position for the killing blow. "
The Captain had used a different kill tactic when they were escaping from the guards on the Vyerni, not 24 hours before, to take out the guard who was attacking him. This tactic, he had also learned, along with Mike at the Academy. It had become second nature to them after all the training. These types of moves had saved their lives many times over.
He did not mention this last to the Doctor. He did not want her to be afraid of him or to remind her that he had killed a guard in hand to hand combat, when they were on the Russian ship. The Navy Seals and Special Forces had many more kill tactics. Even Tex used them.
She said, "I had no idea. I am so sorry."
He said, "You have nothing to apologize for, Dr. Scott. You did not know and that's not your fault."
He said running his hand through his hair. " This is a first for me. I have never before failed to wake up instantly when someone knocked at the door or when someone called to me. . No wonder Mike was worried, I only planned to sleep for a few minutes. I was planning to get dressed and go to the bridge. I would have slept later. Now, I had better get dressed and get up to the bridge. I am well overdue."
Dr. Scott said. "No you don't. You will sit here on the bed and let me do what I came here to do."
He sat down, reluctantly, on his bed beside her. She got up and picked up her medical kit which had fallen to the floor in all that had happened.
She took his wrist and proceeded to take his pulse. She then used her stethoscope placed over his heart on his muscular chest. She had him turn to the side so she could check out his lungs by placing the stethoscope in different places on his broad back, asking him to breath deeply. She took his temperature and shined a light into his eyes.
When she was finished, he said. "OK, Dr. Scott?..., I need to get to the bridge!."
She shocked him by placing her hand firmly on his chest and pushing him back onto his bed.
"No Captain, You are not going to the bridge. You are going back to bed for about 6-8 hours or whenever you wake up. That's an order!"
He raised himself up, laughing. "Dr. Scott, you cannot give me orders."
She said, pushing him back down on the pillow, "Captain Chandler, there is only one person on this ship who can give you orders, when it pertains to your health. That would normally be Dr. Rios, right Captain. ? …. Well, Dr. Rios told Mike that I was to take his place, in coming here to check you out. That makes me the Doctor with the authority to order you to go back to bed, Captain and that is just what I am doing. It is my medical judgment that with all you have been through, you need the extra sleep. I can see you can hardly keep your eyes open even now. Mike will be fine on the bridge and you will be fine after your sleep. I promise no one will disturb you this time."
He said, " Are you tucking me in, Dr. Scott?"
She quipped, " If that's what it takes to get you to stay in that bed. Now get some sleep, Captain!"
He looked up at her, feeling the heaviness in his eyes and said, softly, barely moving his lips, which were slightly turned up at the corners….., "Yes, Ma'am."
He then said, "And you get that eye looked after!... That's an order, Doctor."
She said softly, in the same manner…,"Yes, Sir."
She looked down at his handsome, still sunburned face and saw that he was already fast asleep. She felt something stir within her, something that reminded her of the kiss they had shared on the Vyerni, only a few hours before.
She remembered how she felt when she had first seen him on the Vyerni, brought up from below, handcuffed and exhausted, his face burned from the sun. She remembered the wave of relief and something else that had swept over her as she saw him. She hadn't realized how much his presense meant to her, until she thought she had lost him. Then he was looking at her from across the room in shock and anger. In an instant she was rushing to him as he said, "What the Hell are you doing here!"
She threw herself into the kiss. Strangely, he seemed to know almost immediately what she was trying to do and how to help her. They seemed to know each others thoughts. They made it happen and after it was done, they continued the kiss as if neither wanted it to end, as if neither would ever be able to recreate this again. It belonged to this moment.
As they were forcibly separated by the Russian guards, she knew this was something she would never forget, would never want to forget . For this moment in time they had worked as one, as if it had always been that way. They had together accomplished the first goal which was key to the success of the whole escape plan. Beyond this, they had convinced Ruskov that they were in love, though she had not planned to throw herself so completely into the kiss, nor that the Captain would seemingly react to it with a passion that matched her own, even if that passion was for the purpose of passing the note successfully.
Rachel looked down at his handsome face, as he slept peacefully. She had tremendous respect for this man and part of that respect was because he was so loyal to the love he had for his wife and children. She would never want that to change. She would just have to live with what ever this was she was feeling for him.
Now she had to get up to the bridge and let Mike know that the Captain would be fine with a few more hours of sleep.
What had happened here today had to remain their little secret. Though her eye was starting to throb, she smiled. Who would ever believe that the Captain had given her a black eye.
TBC
