Chapter Six;
Pleas(e)

Wednesday afternoon. Still no sign of land. Two figures sat on the deck. She had her knees pulled up under chin, and he was staring out to sea. They both had jobs to do, they both had paperwork to do, but no one was chasing them up on it. In fact, everyone on the Hammersley seemed to understand why the duo were out there most afternoons just waiting for some sign of base. He was fiddling with a button, staring out to the horizon. She had her head on her knees, watching him. She was concerned, very concerned, but more than anything a feeling of guilt lingered in her mind. Guilt about how she was treating her best friend, her confidant, RO. He'd been ignoring her lately and she knew why. All this time she'd been spending with Spider over the last few days, since he'd heard about his sister, had clearly confused RO. Either that or he was jealous. But then, maybe that was just Bomber being hopeful. So now, here she was, caught between a rock and a hard place. She couldn't confide in RO the truth about why she spent all this time with Spider, but she couldn't ignore Spider's pain either. So, instead, she'd chosen the right thing to do. On Friday they'd reach shore and she'd be able to talk to RO. The minute he knew the truth, knew how much keeping things from him had hurt her, then he'd understand. Hopefully.
"You look tired." A voice broke Bomber's thoughts and she refocused her eyes to note that Spider was watching her. She gave him a small smile but he didn't buy it. "Bomb?"
Bomber sighed. "Spi, I'm fine. Really. Don't worry about me."
Spider looked like he was about to say something else, but then he stopped and, Bomber could see, caught himself. She wondered silently what he had been intending to say but didn't have long when he did finally speak. "Have you been sleeping alright?"
Bomber gave a dry chuckle. "Yeah mum, I've been sleeping fine." Her tone was slightly sarcastic, but Spider didn't crack a smile. Bomber got serious. "It's nothing."
Spider turned towards her, pulling his leg out from under him and shifting his weight. "C'mon, tell me what's wrong." He finally gave a small, sad smile. "'Dear Abby' wants to fix your problems."
Lifting her head Bomber silently thanked the heavens for the ending of that mess she and Spider had gone through when she'd first joined. "It's RO. I think I've offended him. He won't talk to me."
Spider nodded slowly. "Yeah, I've noticed that." Bomber tried not to think about why Spider had been noticing things like that in her life. "Do you know what you've done?"
She was determined not to tell him the truth, that he and his problem was part of the problem. She knew the first thing he'd feel obliged to do was tell RO the truth and now she thought about it, what right did RO have to ask that of her? She suddenly felt a bit betrayed by, not to mention a bit angry with, one Leading Seaman Dixon. "I don't know." She resigned herself to, masking the sudden anger at RO on her face.
Spider laid his head back on the bulkhead behind him and gave a small chuckle. "Then you're stuffed."
For good measure Bomber leaned over and punched him in the arm. "You're as useful as a wet dog."
Spider put his head up and smiled. "Woof?" Bomber shifted back to her spot with a smile and the two lapsed back into silence.

Later that day, a little before she was due to start dinner, Bomber sat in her room thinking what about she needed to say to RO. She knew she couldn't tell him the truth, betray Spider's confidence, but at the same time she knew she couldn't lie to him. It actually did hurt her to lie to him. And even now not telling him hurt her. She wanted to tell him everything, every one of her problems because she knew he'd know the exact right thing to say. She wanted to tell him her entire life up until now and hear about his. She wanted to know what his family had been like, what they were like now. Wanted to know about his previous girlfriends although she knew that if he spoke about them with passion still in his voice then she'd be hurt. She wanted to know everything, tell him everything. But at the same time she knew she couldn't betray Spider.
That day when he'd told her everything after rejecting the aid of others, people he had known longer than her and had a better friendship with, she had felt special. It was something to trust someone with everything about you, it was another to have that trust thrust on you. And while she had already trusted with Spider things that she had struggled to tell anyone else, like the relationship with her mother, to have something like this confided in her was another thing altogether. And then, for some reason, she'd allowed her worries for Gemma and Spider to overwhelm her. Forced from him a comfort that she didn't deserve. He was the one about to lose a sister. Not her. But he'd responded, hugged her back. And now she was even more confused then ever before.
Her head in her hands as she sat on her bed, Bomber knew she had to talk to someone about this. More than just someone, but someone who would listen and not judge. She decided to put her name on the call list the next morning. She needed to talk to her sister.

Dinner had been uneventful and now Bomber leant against a bench top in the kitchen, eating slowly from a plate of food. She stabbed a small gathering of peas rather forcefully and a few flew to the floor. One rolled at the feet of Spider, who had joined her for tea in the galley. He glanced down at the pea rather lazily and chuckled. He then lifted his foot to squash it.
"Don't you dare." Bomber warned.
Spider grinned. "What, do you still want to eat it?"
Bomber frowned at him. "Yeah, I wanna eat it." She said facetiously, pulling a face. Spider laughed then picked it up and threw it at her. She ducked and it missed her, but it did land on her plate, rolling back into her pile of peas. This just made Spider laugh harder as Bomber tried to work out what pea was the floor one. Eventually she gave up and, finding a small spoon, scooped up a small pile of peas and flicked them at him. Peas rained down on the seaman and he gaped, surprised that he'd managed to get such a reaction from the fiery chef. But now he knew better than to push it. He put down his fork and held his hands aloft.
"I surrender!" He laughed.
Bomber didn't relent. She scooped up another small pile and flicked them at him. He eyed her as she laughed. "So much for white flag. You're dead." Grabbing a small handful of his own peas, he threw them back at her. Two landed and stayed in her hair. As she started to scoop up another spoonful with a laugh, there came a voice from the doorway.
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." RO, looking at them sourly, walked into the kitchen and over to the canister of boiled water. Filling his mug silently, he turned to leave when Bomber stopped him.
"RO, I…" She started but he turned and pointed to her hair.
"You have two peas in your hair." He said matter-of-factly before turning to leave.
"RO stop." Bomber said quickly, catching him and Spider off guard. They both looked at her with surprise. She spoke to both of them. "I've had enough so listen." She gave them a look that simply said 'or else' then picked the peas out of her hair. "We need to talk."