Chapter 2:
"What, what?" Bomber asked, moving over towards Swain.
Swain paced the room, wringing his hands as he explained, "In an emergency, it's possible to transfuse O-positive blood into a patient with O-negative blood – when the risk of serious harm is greater than the risk of a transfusion reaction."
Bomber smiled, "That's great, forty percent of the population is O-positive, there should be plenty of people to transfuse these two." She moved towards the internal radio.
"Whoa not so fast." Swain placed a hand on her arm, "You're right we can transfuse Spider, but not Nav."
"What do you mean you can't transfuse Nav? Why not?" ET spoke out loud for the first time since the captain had left the room.
"She's pregnant."
"Yeah, so?" ET placed a protective hand on Nav's rounded stomach, keeping the other over the dressing on her leg.
"There's this disease that can occur if a baby has a different Rhesus antigen – that's the negative or positive – than their mother. The mother might produce antibodies against the blood type of the baby, which can be fatal for the child." Swain checked the wound on Nav's leg, and placed a fresh dressing over it, then bandaged it tightly. "If the baby is Rhesus positive and we transfuse Nav with O-positive blood her body will make antibodies, and may end up killing the foetus." He sighed and signalled Bomber to make the call upstairs.
"So you're saying you can't help her? She's losing all this blood and we can't do anything else to stop it…we just have to wait and see?" ET was almost in tears by now, tracing an endless loop over the skin on Nav's abdomen.
"Did someone say you needed blood?" X appeared in the doorway, with Buffer standing behind her.
"Both of you guys are O-positive?" Bomber asked, pulling Buffer to sit down next to Spider.
"Yup, and there are five others on board – just let us know if you need any more." X replied matter-of-factly, settling herself in between the two beds.
"Anyone know how to change their blood type?" ET muttered, reluctantly moving away from the table to give Swain access to Nav's leg wound.
"What?" X looked at Bomber for clarification.
Bomber finished hooking Buffer up to give blood to Spider, taping the needle to the seaman's arm as she answered, "We can't transfuse Nav, it's too dangerous for the baby."
The blonde nodded soberly, and turned back to her friend. She clasped Nav's left hand in both of hers, being careful not to dislodge the IV. "You can get through this, Nikki." She whispered, "I know you can."
……………………
1510 hours
Bomber cracked a couple of eggs and folded them into the muffin mixture. The swirls of vanilla blurred as her thoughts rampaged through her brain. She couldn't keep her attention on anything except Spider, lying unconscious in the ward room. At last check his blood pressure was closer to normal, but it was still too low – there was nothing they could do about his internal bleeding.
The oven timer dinged, and she pulled on her oven mitts, extracting two trays of choc-chip muffins. Cooking had always soothed her, the way she controlled everything and didn't have to depend on others. It was so different to the Navy, and helped balance her life.
Lately, that balance had been tilted by the addition of a certain scruffy-haired seaman.
Her relationship with Spider was not yet six months old, and yet she felt a connection that she hadn't felt with anyone else. They had many things in common, but they were also different enough to make things interesting. He kept on her toes and challenged her every chance he got. She knew they would always have their differences, but that was what convinced her it would last between them; they would never bore one another or get so similar that they would feel they didn't have to try anymore.
She thought about their date last night. They had gone out to dinner and then taken a walk along the boardwalk near the beach.
…FLASHBACK…
Bomber stopped in front of an ice cream shop. "What do you say to a scoop of chocolate fudge?" she asked with a playful glint in her brown eyes. "My treat."
"I say yes to the ice cream and no to you paying," Spider answered, pulling his wallet from his back pocket.
"Spider, let me pay," Bomber insisted, attempting to take his wallet off him. "What's the rule? Whoever asks, buys."
"I hate that rule," Spider admitted with a smile as he pulled out a ten and handed it to the man behind the register.
Bomber let out an exaggerated sigh and crossed her arms across her chest. "You just hate that rule because it hurts your big macho ego." She nudged him in the ribs lightly. "Not that it was all that huge to begin with." She added in a low tone, just loud enough for him to hear over the noise of the shop.
"And you just love it because it builds up your feminist one," he countered, taking the two ice cream cones from the shop assistant and ignoring her second comment.
"No," Bomber corrected with a teasing smile, "I just love it because you're the one who does most of the asking." She took the cone he offered her and smiled at him affectionately – the cone he had given her was her favourite flavour, boysenberry swirl, which he had gotten without having to ask.
"Oh, so that's how it is?" he chuckled as they continued their walk. "In that case, fork over ten bucks." He held out his hand expectantly.
"Uh-uh," Bomber grinned, licking the side of her cone. "I offered to pay, but you refused. Guess you're outta luck, buddy."
Spider laughed and wrapped an arm around her waist, stealing a lick of her cone as he did so.
"Hey! That's mine. Eat your own." She retaliated by taking a bite out of his.
"You took a chunk of fudge! A big one too!" He attempted to get another taste of hers, but she held her cone away from him and kissed his searching mouth instead.
They took their cones to a nearby bench, both practically devouring their ice creams. Where Bomber was clean and tidy, Spider was a mess with the chocolate. It was all over his face and on his chin. He reminded her of a one-year-old trying to feed himself.
"Spider, you eat like you're three."
"Hmm?"
"It's all over your face!"
He dipped his finger into his quickly melting ice cream and looked over at her slyly – she was concentrating on finishing her cone. He moved quickly, smearing the sticky chocolate across her lips, chin, and part of her cheek. She squealed in shock and tried to get away from his chocolate-covered fingers. Suddenly she found herself underneath Spider, a wicked grin on his face and cone in hand.
"Billy, don't you dare!" she exclaimed as he threatened to pour some of the now-melted ice cream on her. "I will kill you and make it look like an accident!"
"I'm sure you would, Bec," he chuckled.
He smeared some across her neck and came precariously close to the edge of her shirt, eliciting a horrified gasp from her. He smirked down at her victoriously and he knew he was going to pay for it. Bomber wrestled him off her and ran away, laughing.
Spider finished his cone in three bites, eating as he chased after his girlfriend. Unfortunately the movement caused more fudge to drip down his fingers and onto his shirt, making him look even more like a child.
He probably should have been suspicious when she waited for him at the edge of the parking lot – she hadn't yet gained her revenge. But, due to naivety or wishful thinking, he wasn't at all apprehensive about approaching her, even when she allowed him to precede him towards the car.
"Keys?" Bomber asked, causing him to turn towards her.
"Keys?" Spider replied, raising an eyebrow. "Umm…I don't think so. My car, I drive."
"Oh really?" She said as she walked towards him.
Spider watched her carefully and, having a bad feeling about her plans, backed up. But Bomber had out thought him, he quickly realized, as his back bumped up against his eight-year-old Toyota Corolla.
"No, NO!" Spider protested as she moved closer and closer. "Come on Bec…"
Bomber leaned forward, placing one hand behind his head, pulling it down. At first he protested, before giving in, leaning forward for the kiss. The kiss that never came. Her other hand had been busy, sinking into his jeans pocket, pulling out his keys. She waved them in front of him as she pulled back teasingly, before moving away and entering the car. Spider just leaned against the Corolla stunned for a moment before he too moved, and entered the car on the passenger side, buckling his seat belt as Bomber pulled out of the parking lot.
They drove in silence for a few minutes before Bomber spoke up. "What, now you're not talking to me?"
"Hey, that…that was cruel and uncalled for and – and cruel…" Spider protested, refusing to look at Bomber.
"Oh my god," Bomber gasped, almost getting Spider to turn around and face her, but she spoke before he could move. "You're pouting. You're honestly pouting."
"No I'm not," Spider immediately protested, turning to look at her.
"Oh yeah you were, admit it. You, Billy Webb, were pouting," Bomber said, taking one hand off the steering wheel to point at him and laugh.
"Hey," Spider grabbed her hand, pointing her finger away from him, before prying her fingers open, and weaving his through hers. He sighed, holding her hand tightly in his as he stared out his window.
…END FLASHBACK…
Bomber sighed as she moved to the fridge, choosing a punnet of thawed blueberries to add to her muffins. She only hoped that Spider would be able to join her on many more nights like the previous one.
…………………