CHAPTER THIRTEEN
"What did you find?" Jessica asked Karl. It was late as the crew gathered around the table in the mess hall.
"I checked and rechecked and there's a lot of damage to the fuel house. It's leaking now as we speak," Karl sighed, tossing his tablet on the table.
Wyatt sat forward, "How long before it all leaks out?"
"We got maybe five days," Karl shrugged, "a week." Half of the crew let out anxious sighs at the bad news and the other half rubbed their faces.
"Do you think it can be fixed?" Noah asked.
Karl ran his hands through his hair, "We'll need to go out there and eyeball it. Depending on the actual extent of it, we may be able to seal it."
"How soon can we get this done?" Bam Bam questioned.
"It needs to be done asap. We're a good distance away from Saylon and we can't do lightspeed with a hole in the fuel house," Rufus informed.
"And not only do we need to fix the hole, we'll need to get more fuel," Karl added. A silent feeling of despair went around the table at the mounting odds.
"Where do you usually get your fuel?" Wyatt asked.
"We normally trade for it," Jessica spread her hands. "But we just fueled up on Martol." Wyatt swore.
"Look, it's just a matter of time before Ritten rovers find us. We need to get started," Jiya said matter-of-factly.
"We need to be at a dead stop in order to fix it and, at the moment, it's best if we keep going to make sure rovers aren't right behind us." Rufus stood, "In the meantime, I can train you all how to fly the Embarcadero."
Lucy awoke to soft light coming through the window and... wetness.
She eased her hand under Rosie's little body that was flush against her and felt the unmistakable dampness. Rolling her eyes, Lucy sat up, groaning from the aches she felt all over her beat up body. Wondering if Flynn was still asleep, she carefully leaned over Rosie, peeked over the side of the bed and met his direct gaze, which made her start. "Oh...you're awake," she watched as he rubbed his eyes. "How's your head?"
He sat up and felt all the protesting of his muscles, "Downgraded to a dull ache. Thanks for asking."
He checked Rosie, touching her little head, "She feels warm."
"She wet the bed," Lucy said, touching Rosie's forehead as the child opened her eyes.
"Hey sweetie, how're you feeling? Are you hungry?" Flynn rose from the floor, picked up the groggy child and her diaper fell off. He looked at Lucy.
"I'm new at this," Lucy said defensively, crawling out of the bed and revealing that her t-shirt was wet on one side.
"Here," he gave Rosie back to her. Rummaging through the survival bag, he found a thick piece of cloth and scissors and grabbed a towel from the bathroom. He cut the cloth and towel in half. Over on the bed, Lucy watched him intently as he laid one half of the towel out and folded it into a triangle. He then laid one half of the thick cloth on top of it and got down on his knees.
"Let me have her," he said, so, Lucy handed him the tot. "Okay, sweetie," he crooned to Rosie. He laid her on top of the triangle and proceeded to fold it around her little legs and bottom, covering her securely. Looking up at Lucy, he asked, "Do you have any safety pins in your bag?"
"I think so," Lucy got up, checked in her bag for her sewing kit and found some. She handed them to Flynn and he pinned the diaper on like a pro.
"Okay, you're all nice and dry." He picked the little girl up and held her to him, patting her back.
"Thanks for the diapering lesson."
Flynn smiled, "You'll master it." he carefully rose, handing Rosie back to her. "I'll go check on the charging process."
THIRTY MINUTES LATER
Lucy came into the tech room cradling Rosie, "Did it charge?"
"Only two percent," he sighed, looking up at her.
"That's it?!" she exclaimed.
"Afraid so." Silence filled the room as they thought of what they could do now. "Look," Flynn said, "The next tower is about a day's walk round trip."
"Okay, we'll go to the next tower."
"I think it's best if I go and you two stay here."
"You want to leave her with me?" Lucy asked, sounding slightly panicked.
"She may be getting sick."
Lucy had thought the same thing when she had felt Rosie's head. "I wouldn't know the first thing about taking care of her."
Flynn stood, laying a hand on Lucy's shoulder, "If it were just us, then this would be a different story. But now there's Rosie." Lucy looked down at the little girl in her arms as Flynn gazed at them both, "Just talk to her and give her something to eat." He squeezed her shoulder. "I have no doubt that she'll be okay with you."
She gave him a little smile, "Glad one of us is confident."
Lucy went and laid Rosie down and took her temperature with the ear thermometer from the first aid kit. Flynn filled a smaller bag with necessities for his trip. "It's early so I'm going to leave now. The comms still work, so we can still communicate."
"That's good," Lucy said, looking at the thermometer read-out. "She has a slightly high temperature."
"Alright. Keep her cool, comfortable, hydrated and she should be okay," he said as Lucy watched him lower his big frame down to Rosie. The tot held his gaze as he gently rubbed her little head, "Flynn will be back soon. Feel better, sweetie." He planted a lingering kiss on her forehead and then rose.
"Leave the charger and interceptor on." He slung the bag over his shoulder, checked his gun and slipped it back into his belt holster. Unclipping his knife and sheath, he held it out to Lucy, "You know how to throw one of these, right?"
"No, they don't require knife throwing skills in Mason Federation Navy," she said taking it from him.
"We'll have to fix that. I've connected your comm to mine since I gave Wyatt's back to him." He placed his hands on her upper arms and squeezed, "Contact me if you need me."
"I expect you to come back," Lucy said softly.
"I expect to be back."
Giving each other one last look, he left.
After flipping over the mattress and situating the dark gray quilt and adding dry blankets, Lucy laid Rosie on it and the child sneezed and coughed. Remembering Flynn's advice on talking to her, she asked, "Do you have a cold?" Retrieving a cloth, Lucy wiped the tot's runny nose. She covered the child with a blanket and the child turned on her side, stuck her fingers in her mouth and fell asleep. Lucy then went about doing an inventory of what was available in the kitchen and in the survival kit. From the looks of it, she decided they could make it for about three weeks. She hoped that it wouldn't get that far and that they would soon get in contact with the Embarcadero.
It was getting into the afternoon. Rosie had woken up, so Lucy heated up some beans for them on the portable cooker. She sat her on the counter and spooned up a helping to her. "Hungry? Good beans," Lucy said in a singsong voice. Rosie opened her little mouth and Lucy slipped in the spoon. The child chewed the food eagerly and opened her mouth for more. "Good girl. Here's some more, eat this for Lucy," and Rosie ate a good portion of the beans.
Rosie coughed, and Lucy helped her drink some water from a cup. Although she now had a cough, she hoped that since Rosie was eating, she no longer had a fever. To be sure, she took her temperature again; it had come down. "Good, you're getting better...I hope," Lucy said to her as she held her hands out to the tot. "Come to Lucy." Rosie looked up at her with her big brown eyes and held her arms up. Lucy picked her up and hugged her, rubbing her back. "You want to sleep some more?" She went and laid her on the bed again and her two little fingers popped quickly into her mouth. Rosie laid there watching Lucy move around the place until she fell asleep again.
Flynn made it to the next tower in four hours. It was on top of a small hill surrounded by grass and trees. He took out his gun and went to the window. He was just able to make out some furnishings inside. Moving around to the front, he tried the door and it opened. With his gun raised, he entered and saw that it hadn't been ransacked. It appeared that no one had been there for a long time. It was about the same dimensions as the tower apartment they were occupying. Checking all the rooms and finding them empty of life, he got to work in the tech room.
Rosie woke up to Lucy sitting beside her. "You're all done with your nap?" she asked softly and Rosie smiled at her, strumming Lucy's heartstrings. "What a pretty girl you are."
Lucy felt Rosie's little bottom and it was wet. "We'll definitely be needing some more diapers for you," she murmured. Following what Flynn had done, she made some extra diapers and changed the tot.
She looked at the child's dirty brown sweater. Deciding to try to make a top for the child out of one of her own t-shirts, Lucy rummaged through her duffel bag and pulled out a blue t-shirt. Locating the sewing kit and a pair of scissors in the tech room, she sat on the bed and got to work. Her mind went to Flynn. She hoped he was having no trouble with the tower and that he was close to returning. Lucy marveled at the ease Flynn had with Rosie. The way he talked to her and kissed her, she was certain the child had come under his spell and vice versa.
While this tower had a little bit more power, Flynn had still received error messages. No matter how much he tried, there just wasn't enough power to get into the system. Frustrated, he took his lunch and quickly ate it. Once he was done, he gathered his things and headed back to Lucy and Rosie.
It was going into evening as Lucy sewed and fashioned a little tee for Rosie. Holding it up, she thought it didn't look half bad. Who knew she could sew? Rosie's little hand touched Lucy's arm. Lucy pulled her over and the little girl crawled into her lap.
"Hey, let's try this on you." She pulled off the brown sweater and pulled the newly sewn blue shirt over her head until it popped through. She got the tots little arm's through the sleeves and tugged the hem all the way down to her little knees. It fit! Lucy was ecstatic, "Yaaay! It fits! Yaaay!" Lucy clapped her hands and Rosie did, too.
Lucy and Rosie looked up at Flynn coming through the door, "What did I miss?"
"Just made Rosie a shirt," Lucy smiled with a hint of pride as he took off his coat and placed it on a hook.
"Nice job, Captain," he said approvingly. Rosie held her arms up to him and Flynn obliged her, scooping her up. "Hey sweetie! You feeling better?" He pressed a kiss to her cheek and she laid her head on his shoulder.
"Any luck at the tower?"
He sat in a chair across from the bed, rubbing Rosie's back. "Much of the same, but that tower has twenty-two percent power."
"Oh, no," Lucy said, feeling discouraged all over again.
"I want to try the charger and interceptor there. Maybe we can get better results."
"You're going back tomorrow?"
"Yeah, and I'll leave early. If I can get it going, then we can be out of here and you can get home."
This made Lucy blink. He still wanted to send her home? "There's some canned meat and vegetables in the bowl on the counter. It should still be warm," she said tightly, rising up and taking her duffel bag into the bathroom.
Flynn felt something was amiss as he stood and placed Rosie in the chair. "Sounds good. I'm starving."
Lucy heard his words through the closed door. She changed into sweats, thinking about their predicament. The way things were going, it seemed like they weren't going to be out of each other's lives anytime soon, but he had just mentioned her getting home. Did he still want her out of his?
Not a lot of words were said between them for the rest of the evening.
Flynn sat in the tech room trying the computers again, knowing it was useless. He was upset that he hadn't thought to take the charger and interceptor with him to the other tower. Now he had to make another trip, prolonging getting word to the Embarcadero and thus prolonging their rescue. He wondered if that was what had made Lucy so reticent for the rest of the evening. She was probably disappointed that she wouldn't be getting home sooner and he felt bad. He knew Lucy wanted to get home and he wanted to give her what she wanted. Looking at the time, he got up, wanting to get a good night's sleep and head out early to the tower.
Lucy left Rosie in her new tee and made sure her diaper was secure. Not wanting anymore accidents, Lucy placed some towels under the tot to be safe. Flynn sat on the mat and removed his boots. He leaned over to Rosie who had her fingers in her mouth. She gazed at him as he gingerly pulled them out and kissed her wound then her forehead.
"Goodnight, Rosie."
Lucy got into the bed and he laid down on the mat. She rolled onto her side and caressed Rosie's soft curls and the child yawned. With her fingers back in her mouth, she turned toward Lucy and closed her eyes. They laid there in silence until Lucy's soft words broke it.
"I would have believed you."
"What?" he asked, surprised at hearing her voice.
"If you would have told me what you were really doing, I would have believed you."
"Really?"
"I know I was set to arrest you and you held us prisoners, but… I think we were both too hard-headed to back down."
Silence fell between them for a bit. This time it was Flynn's voice that broke it.
"I'm not a pirate, Lucy. I want to take down Rittenhouse and help the people he has harmed, and this is the best way to do it."
She didn't respond. Just when he thought she was asleep he heard her whisper,
"I believe you."