Disclaimer: I do not own The Last Ship or any of the characters!

Author's Note: Thank you to morning glory 2, joys, starfoxtwin, and mrw7 for your wonderful pm's –they really brighten my day. In response to some reviews I decided to add another chapter to the story. Thank you so much to everyone who left a review–even one word means a lot!

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She felt his hot breath against her neck, nis nose nuzzled against her ear. Their bodies fitting together so tightly...so perfectly. She felt cold but her body was on fire how was that possible? She could hear his strong heart pounding in his chest, challenging her own faint heartbeat to respond in kind. She could feel his hands across her back...why couldn't she move? She felt frozen in place. She wanted to run her hands all over him, touch him in the most intimate of places. She couldn't breathe and suddenly she awoke with a gasp.

Tom hurried to her side with a mug in his hand. Rachel asked hoarsely "what happened, where am I?…I…I remember plunging into the water"? Putting the mug down Tom helped Rachel sit up.

"Rachel, I will tell you everything but first I want you to drink this" he handed her the mug; "sorry I couldn't find any tea in the cabin" he said smilingly, "it's just hot water to help get your core temperature up. You were suffering from severe hypothermia." Rachel's eyes widened. "We were running from an ambush and you fell head deep into the freezing water. I managed to pull you out and get you to this abandoned cabin. You were soaking wet and your body had stopped shivering." "That, is not a good sign", Rachel interjected. "Precisely doctor, which is why I had to follow the standard protocol given the circumstances – I wasn't about to lose a man," he said with a soft smile.

Rachel nodded and looked down at her hot water, "and what, may I ask, is standard protocol in this situation?" already knowing the answer but wanting to hear it from his mouth and confirm her doubts.

"I wasn't about to let you die, I had to get you out of your frozen wet clothes and get your body temperature up…by any means necessary." Rachel's eyes pleaded with him to go on. "I covered you with blankets and then slid all your clothes off, I started the fire…Rachel, you were non-responsive, your lips were blue and as I said you had ceased shivering. I didn't have any hot packs or insulation blankets so I had to give you my body heat." Rachel blushed not making eye contact. "The same as I would have done for any of my men", Tom added to put her at ease.

He could read her eyes wondering how now she had her clothes on. "After I felt you had stabilized, I put your clothes back on…all the while keeping you covered with the blanket…I didn't want you to be startled when you woke up."

Rachel looked up meeting his eyes, "thank you captain, thank you for saving my life." Tom chuckled putting her at ease, "it's the least I could have done for Dr. Rachel Scott, creator of the cure to the Red Flu. Now drink up, I have another mug of hot water waiting for you." Rachel smiled and nodded.

After a minute of comfortable silence passed, Tom brought up the courage to talk about something important he wanted to address. "Rachel while you were in the grips of the hypothermia you mentioned something."

"Oh did I?" Rachel's heartbeat quickened wondering what she had blurted out.

"Rachel, do you blame yourself for Darien's death? Because I don't and I can't go on letting you think that you had anything to do with her death."

Rachel met his eyes for a second before looking down at her tea "But didn't I? If only I could've figured everything out sooner? Maybe I should've told you about the mission sooner" her voice trailed off.

"Rachel there's nothing you could've done differently that would've changed this outcome. Say you had told me about the mission earlier, chances are one of my crew would've broken radio silence and the Russians and God knows who else would've found us or maybe we would have turned the ship around or…so many maybes! and you wouldn't have even found the artic samples you needed and there would be no cure! Also remember no matter what you did, nothing would have worked until we found Bertrice. In fact, we both know that had we done anything differently we probably wouldn't have the cure now" Tom said in an authoritative tone.

"Rachel why do you blame yourself – why are you taking this so personally?" Tom asked earnestly. Followed by a moment of silence, Rachel took a deep sigh. "I wish I could've saved Sam and Ashley's mother. My mom died when I was about Ashley's age and...just...I wish…no child should have to go through that pain"...She said as a single tear escaped her eye. She quickly moved to wipe her tear away. Tom quietly moved closer to her wrapping his arms around her and letting her cry into his chest. He comforted her just holding her for a minute. Then he slowly pulled back and looked down at her - he couldn't stand the pain she was in – he could feel his gut wrench. He pulled her chin up so that he could make eye contact with her. "Rachel, please believe me, this is not your fault." She looked into his eyes not moving not speaking. "My kids are alive because of you - not to mention my whole crew and my father and now the whole world has a chance - all because of you. Rachel do you hear me?" She nodded ever so slightly. Somehow she actually felt a little better; she needed to talk about it, she needed to get it off her chest, she needed to cry…cry in his strong comforting arms…his arms melted her pain away. Tom wiped away her tears with his thumbs and cupped her cheeks.

She leaned forward unconsciously glancing at his lips and before he had time to think or ask questions, Tom found himself leaning into her soft lips. Their lips touched in gentle greeting. Her lips were delicious, salty and tangy and moist and before he could stop himself, Tom immediately moved to deepen the kiss - as if his tongue had a mind of its own, it slid into her mouth to taste her and drink her in - she responded immediately; their tongues live wires carrying the current of their powerful connection. After a few seconds, she pulled back abruptly, almost scared of their connection, her heart racing. Awareness returned to her and she immediately brought her walls back down around her. Tom too returned to his senses knowing he had crossed the line he drew for himself.

"I'm sorry…I don't know why I did that…the last 24 hours have been a roller coaster" she awkwardly said.

Tom removed his hands from her face and used her title to cut their emotional connection, "Dr. Scott I'm the one who is sorry, I shouldn't have kissed you... I don't know what came over me…you're right it has been a frantic 24 hours…let's cut ourselves some slack" he said with a small smile. She nodded in agreement, turning her eyes downward and forcing her mind back to the task at hand.

He lied. He knew exactly what came over him, his body just played out what his mind had dreamt of over and over again. The kiss had hit him deep in the gut, confirming all that he knew to be true. How did he let it happen? He was playing with fire, a fire that could only destroy them both. He would be more careful in the future; this can never happen again he thought.

"Have you heard back from Green, Burke or Tex? I hope everyone is okay…she tensed up, concern taking over.

Just then Tom heard some static over his receiver. "This is the Captain, who is this? Report your status." As Rachel heard that Green, Burke and Tex were safe and had secured the area after a drawn out battle and were coming to pick up her and the Captain, her mind drifted…

In earnest, she respected and admired him so; admired his dedication, determination and leadership. Admired how he owned his mistakes and supported her and believed in her. She had wondered many times what it would be like to kiss him and in truth, she was sorry she kissed him….very sorry…because she hadn't expected the connection to be so strong…it was electric and all her feelings overwhelmed her…she knew she felt something much deeper than admiration. She stopped her train of thought, scared by the answer. She knew she could try and save the world but she could not even begin to save herself. She immediately chided herself for her trite thoughts and pushed her feelings deep deep down in a safer place. The world needed her and she was not about to let anyone down; there was too much at stake.

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So please tell me what you think–like I said even one word means a lot. Chances are I will not update the story again anytime soon - I may decide to pick up the story again and put Tom and Rachel in yet another sticky situation and see what happens. Thank you again to this amazing fandom and I can't wait for season two!