Chapter 2
"Just you and me, little man." Andrea told Jack as she dressed him into a fresh onesie. "What are we going to do? hmm?" she asked him.
Jack's response was to kick his legs and wave his arms, an occasional smile playing on his tiny lips. Andrea's heart bloomed with love as she looked at him.
"How about a story?" she asked him, Kat had been out at sea for a week. It felt like a month as she missed Kat's presence in their home. She wondered if this was how it felt in her first home when she left for deployment. But brushed the thought away. "Would you like that?" she asked him with a smile, she knew he wasn't going to respond but just felt like talking. She picked him up off the change table and headed downstairs to the kitchen. "I know, how about the first time I met your father?" she suggested.
Over 3 years ago,
"Do you see this ring?" Andrea asked raising her left hand up to Tex, the man was a flirt. So far hadn't had any luck with Dr Scott. So he'd turned to her. She was a captive audience given her leg and the meds Rios had given her.
The man had been stranded on Gitmo for too long given he was looking at her like she were the prettiest girl at the dance. But then, Andrea felt fairly ugly given her leg was a swollen bloody mess; she was pale, drenched in sweat and scuffed with dirt and grease.
"It's very shiny. Your point?" Tex asked her, with clear interest. She wanted to smile even as a married woman, she had to admit she felt amused and flattered. But instead she glared at him with the stare of 'get a clue buddy, not interested'. It worked 98% of the time.
"I'm married. Happily married." She clarified to him, her words slurred just a little which annoyed her given it made him grin.
"Oh, so flirting meaninglessly with a man of my frail ego would be bad?" Tex asked, he lifted up his shirt to show his bandaged side. "I'm already wounded." He added, Andrea snorted a laugh as the drugs and his bad sense of humour got the better of her. He was in the 2% immune to her wedding band and glare.
"I highly doubt your ego is frail." Andrea told him, she had to admit it felt good to smile given the crap of day they had.
"I promise, I just want to see you smile and laugh. Friends?" he offered out his hand to her. "I promise never to touch you below the waist without permission. Tex Nolan." He added.
"Uhuh." Andrea said drily, she took his hand; enjoying the warmth and strength of his handshake.
"You didn't tell me your name." Tex pointed out.
"You don't need it." Andrea assured him given she spent her life in the engine room. Plus he could read her uniform.
"I'll just have to call you 'Red'." He told her.
"You see, I was married and very much in love with my husband Bill. But he made me laugh and smile which took my mind off the pain I was in." Andrea told Jack as she spoon fed him some pureed sweet potato.
"Gah." He told her in a serious manner.
"I know, very scandalise of him, but we were just friends. He was also interested in Dr Scott. She was a beautiful woman, the kind that caused car crashes walking down the street. But in between all of your father's chasing of her, he always found time to annoy me. Like when we escaped Gitmo, the Nathan James was damaged." Andrea said with a smile.
"You should go above decks. It'll be cooler." Andrea told Tex, who sat with her, the medical bay was like a sauna thanks to the engine malfunction. They had sustained damage to the seawater service system intake during their escape from Gitmo. It hadn't been good but Andrea knew Chung would get the Nathan James and crew through. He was an engineering whizz.
But in the meantime she was sweating it out below decks because she couldn't be moved to the upper decks. She couldn't understand why Tex was sitting with her when he could be on deck.
"Why would I, when things are steamy in here?" He teased.
"You're terrible." Andrea told him with a roll of her eyes. She did however smile at his humour. If he wasn't here, she'd be alone with her thoughts until Rios or Medical Tech came by to check up on her.
"You know it's good to laugh. Healthy actually." Tex assured her.
"You'll ruin my reputation." Andrea told him.
"I am a Cad." He said before blowing out a breath at the overpowering heat in the room, "Here drink some more water." He told her, he helped her take small sips from the drink bottle before letting her rest back. Water restrictions were a drag.
"Maybe, I want you gone because you stink." Andrea told him, a sly smile on her lips. He looked at her for a moment considering her words before he shook his head.
"Hmm, I think you're enjoying my manly musk. Just don't enjoy too much, I'd hate to come between you and your man back home." Tex told her, Andrea snorted a laugh.
"Rest assured there will be no issues there. You're too unkempt for me." Andrea told him.
"I can brush my hair and tuck my shirt in like any other man." He assured her, he wriggled his eyebrows and looked somewhat excited at the idea of it working. But she knew it was just a joke.
"How is the Pursuit of Dr Scott going?" Andrea asked changing the topic. Tex frowned thoughtfully.
"Not well, I think, she thinks that I'm only after her cause Green gave me the speech." Tex told her.
"What speech?" Andrea asked confused.
"No Fraternising, though I think he didn't want me hanging around whoever his ladybug is." Tex said as he scratched his chin. "Is it you?" he asked, Andrea couldn't help but laugh at the preposterous thought.
"Really?" she asked him incredulously.
"You're right, he's far too pretty for you. You like 'em rugged but well brushed." Tex told her with a wink.
"And showered." Andrea added.
"We survived that, though when your Daddy doesn't shower for a couple days he smells very gross. So I was definitely glad when the ship was fixed and he began showering again." Andrea told Jack, she scooped a bit of sweet potato from the corner of his mouth that was falling out. "You're supposed to eat the puree not drool it back out. I promise, you'll get stewed apples after this. Apples?" she asked. Jack's tiny face lit up as he loved stewed apples.
"I know, your father loved apples too." Andrea told him.
Andrea walked into the wardroom and found Tex sitting at the table biting into an apple. His dinner sat on the table untouched.
"The fish was good." Andrea assured him, she had to admit that Tex looked a little disappointed and somewhat quiet. She and the crew like he; were worried about the Captain and the team.
They were anchored and waiting for Tom and the others to collect monkeys for Dr Scott to continue her research into a vaccine for the virus. The team were out of comm range, so far the flare system was working. But even so, it was worrisome given the risks of encountering an infected person was very high. It was the reason Tex, Dr Scott and Burk had returned to the ship.
"I'm waiting for the Doc. I told her to come up for dinner." Tex said, Andrea made herself a coffee and sat down next to him at the table.
"She keeps to herself." Andrea remarked, it wasn't new to her or the crew. Dr Scott tended to think she was above them all, her work more valuable. But Andrea tried to not be prejudice towards her, she was used to people thinking very little of the Navy and their work.
"She thinks the crew doesn't like her for keeping the whole pandemic thing a secret." Tex said.
"She had orders, I understand that. Also, you can't hate or like someone you don't know." Andrea said diplomatically as she took a sip of her coffee.
"How are things upstairs?" he asked.
"Slow, I just hope they get back in one piece. I'm all for being Captain but I'd prefer it to be in my own time. Now is not that time." Andrea told him, truthfully she preferred the engine room. It was her comfort zone, she wouldn't mind going into command but she didn't want it because Tom and Mike died.
"Fair enough." Tex said as he seemed to understand her.
"So are you going to stay here and wait all night for her?" Andrea asked Tex.
"She'll show up. She's got to eat." Tex said with a smile and a shrug.
"You're dedicated, I'll give you that." Andrea said as she rose from her chair. She needed to get back up to the bridge.
"Well, given the only other woman attracted to me is restrained by her vows to the Navy and her husband. I just have to take what I can get." Tex told her. Andrea snorted a laugh as she knew he was talking about her.
"Will you ever stop with the flirting?" Andrea asked him.
"Maybe what we have here is one sided unrequited love." Tex teased her.
"One sided is right. Definitely on your side." Andrea said with a chuckle.
"Hey, if that changes; you let me know." He told her.
"You'll be the first to know." Andrea assured him in a rich tone to which he gave a laugh as she left wardroom.