Chapter 21

Mike moved to the bucket of water and scooped out a cup for himself a cup of water when the door opened. Mike leaned heavily against the wall as he felt washed out and nauseous. He now had a better understanding of how Kate had been feeling the past few months and was in awe of her as she managed to work, have time for friends, energy and love for him and the girls. Here he was a hostage and he could barely stand on his two feet and get a cup of water; let alone try to fight for his life.

He did however push off the wall and force his body to try and stand on his feet; all in an attempt to not look weak as Takehaya walked in. He was a poster boy for good health and vitality as he walked with no weakness. His skin no longer pale as before, he even had a swagger in his step as he walked up to Mike with a piece of paper in hand.

"Michael Slattery, Captain, United States Navy. Serial number 17181120. I rewatched the video." He paused as he looked at the piece of paper in his hands and wore a small smile like he was impressed and pleased. Two things Mike didn't want that man to be. "Very clever. And very stupid. You have led your friends to their deaths." Takehaya told him, he dropped the piece of paper on to the floor and walked out of the hut.

Mike leaned back against the wall and slid to the floor wondering what Takehaya meant. He had been wondering how large Takehaya's collective of pirates was, how many ships they had, and what type of armada they had. Mike knew they had a freighter as it was the ship that had transported them to the island. But if Takehaya was ex-military there was a good chance he took his destroyer with him. Mike had to keep hope as Tom had yet to be defeated in combat and there was no way he'd sail to their coordinates without doing recon.

"Approaching the first island now, Sir." Mejia announced, Tom looked out the front window with Sasha at his side. It was so strange having his sister at his side, he wasn't entirely sure why she was up here but it seemed like she preferred to be in the thick of things. He tried not to think too much on what she wasn't telling him. He looked out the front and could just make out the outline of the first island. Tom picked up the phone receiver from the front dash in front of Mike's chair and dialed CIC; once Alisha picked up on the other end he spoke.

"CIC, Bridge. I want full power, sonar. Peng's ships could be lurking." Tom ordered, once Alisha acknowledged the order; he hung up the phone and looked up just in time to see the water a few thousand feet in front of them explode.

"Pull engines back, full!" Tom ordered as he braced himself against the Captain's chair as the force of the engines pulling the ship back shifted the gravity of the vessel. Anything that was loose fell off and onto the floor towards the front of the ship as it slowly fought the current and forced itself back. Cameron was at the back of the bridge shouting orders over the P.A. system for the crew.

"General Quarters, General Quarters, mines in the water. Set Condition Zebra. All decks. Disengage shafts." Cameron ordered, his voice booming over the P.A.

"Disengage on." a crewman shouted.

"No turns port and starboard. Rig for Quiet One." Tom shouted over the cacophony of the alarms, engine noise, people shouting information and confirming orders.

"All hands, rig for Quiet One. The reason for General Quarters is mines in the water. Secure all spaces, Set Condition Zebra." Lt Commander Burk continued over the P.A. system, he hung up the radio receiver and went over to a console and turned on screen in preparation to show what the King Fisher was detected as he called down to CIC for a report from their ASW officer manning the sonar station.

"Shut down long-range sonar. Shine Kingfisher." Tom ordered,

"Shining Kingfisher. Aye." Cameron said before he passed the orders down the line. Tom turned to Sasha who was keeping out of the way of the crew as they did their duties. He walked over to her until she looked to him.

"Whose water is this? Whose been out here?" Tom asked her seeing that she was looking out of sorts. It took him a moment to remember that she was Army not Navy so she didn't understand what was going on. Only that they were trouble. She blinked at him for a moment and responded.

"This is disputed territory. There's three nations, several non-governmental actors currently vying for. Why are you turning off sonar if there are mines around?" She asked him, as she thought they would need sonar to see the mines which meant they were sitting in the dark.

"Long-range sonar's what set off that explosion. Kingfisher's lower power will still give us a picture of the minefield." Tom said as he moved to where Mejia and Cameron were standing. The men stepped back to let Tom in to see the screen for him.

"I've got Kingfisher on this screen, Sir." Cameron said.

"There's got to be dozens of them out there, Sir." Mejia added from behind Tom as he was assessing the situation.

"CIC had last count at 96, CNO." Cameron told him, Tom looked to the man as much as he hated sending the man down to CIC. He needed a more experienced TAO in the room than Lt Granderson as she was not trained in every aspect of CIC yet. Wright was still too green to be making judgement calls on what he saw on Kingfisher.

"Get down to CIC, I want a clearer picture of what's going on." Tom ordered him.

"Yes, Sir." Cameron said rushing out of the Bridge to take over CIC.

Kate sat on the lounge in the living room with the TV on low. Scout was conked out on a pillow she had tossed onto the floor for him. She was watching the news, so far there wasn't anything new. It was just recapping the videos of Miller and Diaz being beaten by bamboo sticks while Mike and the others knelt in the dirt. The news was tearing Michener to pieces over his secrecy, how ineffectual his administration was and that there was no signs of Michener doing anything for the hostages or their families. Kate made a face as Christina's face showed up on the screen. Her mascara running, her nose red and looking like a heartbroken wreck.

"Why is Mom on the TV?" Maddy asked, Kate nearly jumped out of her skin as she hadn't heard her come downstairs.

"They are talking about your father and your mother is letting everyone know how upset she is." Kate offered in a calm tone but she really wanted to throw the remote at the screen. The title under Christina on the screen calling her a grief stricken wife of Captain Slattery. She wasn't sad Mike was a hostage, she was glad to be in the spotlight, lord only knew how much she got paid to be in TV. "What are you doing up?" She asked as the news started a whole new story giving a brief history on Mike and his family.

"Couldn't sleep." Maddy said as she sat down on the lounge next to Kate.

"Same, would you like some honey milk?" she offered.

"No," Maddy said as she pulled her knees up and hugged them to her chest. "Why are they showing our photos? I don't like it." Maddy added as she saw the screen of happy family photos.

"They are doing it for all of the sailors that were taken. I don't like it either," Kate said as she wrapped an arm around Maddy's shoulders and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "We're not here to be the entertainment for others." she said as she turned her attention to the screen to see the story had changed to talk about the others. they weren't as heavily showcased as Mike but then Rios, Diaz, Jeter and Garnett didn't have many surviving family members. Mrs Miller was in Iowa and already seen as not interested in being in the news as she wanted her personal life to be her own. The media had tried to get her on camera but she told them to call her media liaison officer.

Kate was lucky as she had restraining orders against majority of the media outlets. They could approach her office and request an interview but they couldn't approach her on the streets or at her home. There were a few who thought themselves invincible like Jacob Barnes but he would so learn. So far he hadn't approached her, he only wrote about her, but as soon as she had evidence of harassment; his ass would be toast too.

"I miss Daddy." Maddy said as the news played the video clip of the sailors saying their names and serial numbers. "He looks really hurt." she added.

"He's just got bruises, they'll heal up and he'll be fine." Kate assured her.

"Do you think if he'll come home and stay with us if-"

"He'll come home but I don't know for how long. But he will come home." Kate said as she cut Maddy off as she could tell it was hard for Maddy to say what their worst fears were. Frankly she didn't need to hear the end of the conversation to know what Maddy was going to say.

"I want him to stay for good." Maddy told her, Kate couldn't help but smile at the less than subtle demand.

"I know," Kate said, she didn't want to say it but she wanted to Mike to stay home for good too. But she wasn't selfish enough to demand that of him as she knew what was signing up for when she married him. She knew that if their roles were reversed he'd not make her give up her career because of the dangers. But she was definitely going ask he stick around for the birth of their child as she didn't want him to miss that moment.

"As of 30 minutes ago, President Michener gave the order to begin the evacuation of all United States Naval forces from our Base in Uruma, Okinawa. What's left of the Pacific Fleet. Two ships is currently heading east, en route to their agreed position in Pearl Harbor." Samantha said as she addressed the press from the podium. Michener had dragged his feet on moving the vessels. He didn't want to seem like he was conceding to the enemy even with the Japanese Government ordering him to remove his vessels from the region.

"Efforts are currently being made to negotiate for the release of the hostages, both directly with the parties involved and through our allies in the region. The nature of these details must and will remain classified. The President asks for all Americans to maintain faith with their government in this time of crisis, while we keep our service people in our prayers and thoughts. Thank you." Samantha closed the folder and took a moment for herself before she looked at the reporters.. "I'm open for questions. Mr Barnes, let's get your crackpot questions out of the way before the real questions." she said in amusement as she picked the most antagonizing reporter of the bunch first.

Jacob's cheeks went red with embarrassment as he chuckled off the insult and looked at her. "How do we know this is the whole story when Michener's administration has been keeping information from the public ever since Chandler left for Asia?" he asked.

"No information has been withheld in regards to CNO Chandler and his visit to China." Samantha told him.

"Where are the press releases? there aren't any photos or press releases. Why aren't we being told what's really going on with the hostages?" Jacob asked.

"CNO forgot his hair and make up crew, hence no photos. I know it's very disappointing for all of us but we shall have to endure." Samantha said acerbically, many of the reporters smiled as they wrote down notes. "As for press releases, the President told you the talks were going very well. So we see no point in repeating ourselves. The Summit in Hong Kong is going well. Our main concern at the moment is securing the release of the Hostages. The need for confidentiality on the matters is not to keep the public in the dark or to be malicious but to preserve the safety of the hostages and the safety of our service people as they perform their duties. Now, I wouldn't be very good Military adviser if I handed over all our plans to those dastardly pirates via our own media now would it?" she asked them.

"She's mocking them." Allison said to Alex as they were watching the press conference in the command centre. Samantha had told them it wouldn't look good for so many bodies to be standing behind her. But Allison now saw it as a power play. Samantha was separating herself from Alex and Allison while bolstering Michener. She took the press in her stride in a way Michener hadn't. No question ruffled her and when she didn't want to answer a question she made a snarky comment about either herself or the reporter in a way that told them to leave it alone. It worked.

"They are lapping it up." Alex told Allison, he looked over his shoulder as Michener came into the room.

"She's still on air?" Michener asked in surprise.

"Yes, she hasn't fucked it up yet." Allison said bitterly as she wanted Samantha to fail, she didn't like being usurped and Samantha was getting in the way of Allison. She also didn't like that in less than 24 hours Michener was leaning more on Samantha than her. It didn't bode well for the future if Allison lost her sway with him.

"They seem to like her even Jacob Barnes." Michener said as he was still trying to get his legs for the press conferences. He didn't want to admit it but the confident man he'd been before the pandemic was gone. While he could do the job as President there were moments where he just couldn't handle the pressure or he was worried that he was mucking it up.

"Then can you tell me why majority of the families of the hostages weren't informed immediately?" Jacob asked.

"We worked as fast as could, we live in an imperfect world where things take time. Now are there any other questions or you all going to have Mr Barnes attempt to dissemble me? I feel like I'm getting a rough go when none of you have asked how I'm enjoying St Louis or my new appointment. Where's the love?" Samantha asked in a joking fashion with a smile. The reporters seemed to enjoy the light humor mixed in with what they needed for their stories as it made the press conference less formal and in a way made the hostage situation seem less dire and like the government had more control over the situation than they did. The confidence of Samantha and her willingness to interact help push home that they were confident that their rescue efforts.

"Why isn't President Michener here to give this press release?" Jacob asked being a pain in the ass as always.

"He's currently working with our Allies in the region. He'll be back in the morning to do his usual morning briefing with you all." Samantha assured them.

"Is he in contact with Japan right now? I heard rumors that there is a mutated strain of the virus? It that why Japan sold their debt markers to Lassiter Industries and the Japanese Government ordered our military vessels out of their waters? Are these two things related?" Jacob asked, Michener froze as he wondered how the hell Jacob had heard that information. Samantha wasn't ruffled and she gave nothing away as she looked in Jacob's direction.

"I'm no scientist but I remember Dr Scott saying the virus could no mutate, so who ever your source is needs to do their homework or you do before getting people worried about nothing. As for Lassiter Industries, I can't speak on their behalf so I suggest you direct your questions to their Media Liaison Officer. As for Japan, they didn't order us to leave. They told us politely to leave as they didn't want any involvement with Hostage situation. You know the old saying 'Too many cooks...'. Now, I thank you for your time and we will keep you all posted when we have more information." Samantha said smoothly as she brought the conference to a close and walked away. The press were still shouting questions at her and filming as she disappeared around a corner. A few seconds later she walked into the command room and closed the door.

"All done pirating for the day?" Mike asked Takehaya as he and the others had been helping the pirates unload their dingy boats of supplies for the past couple hours. Garnett had been absent for nearly half the day. It worried Mike but he kept it stowed as he knew he wouldn't get any answers in regards to Garnett's well being.

"Not quite." Takehaya replied as he'd been standing around talking to Toshiro and the others for a while before watching Mike and the others unload supplies. Given the amount of food and equipment coming in. Mike surmised they would be here awhile.

"What are you after this time? A shipment of men's suits? Lawn furniture?" Mike asked sarcastically, Takehaya's lips quirked into a small smile.

"No, not today. Today, we hunt a bigger prize; your ship." Takehaya said, he gestured over to a dingy boat where Toshiro was covering a Torpedo with a drop sheet. Mike turned to Takehaya who was looking rather smug. It meant that Tom was closer than he thought but also in a lot of danger.

"Don't do this." Mike pleaded in a low voice to the man. He knew Tom was looking for them and the Nathan James could deal with a Torpedo attack but he couldn't help but want to plead their case. "They are only looking for us by orders of our President."

"Your President is apparently negotiating for your release but it seems he hasn't called me yet. He also moved the ships too late so I guess I will have to decide who dies next." Takehaya told him.

"It's not like you listed your phone number in the video and if you kill another one of my people then you're another blood bank down." Mike argued.

"Good point, but then I have to make it clear that I'm not a man to be played with." Takehaya countered in a dark manner.

"I just heard from Beatty. The regional leadership committee is demanding a meeting." Allison said when she came back into the office. Samantha had been discussing the next moves for US military in general. She was vying for the other branches of the military to have advisors in St Louis as she felt that she couldn't speak for the Army and Air Force and they deserved their own Advisors to be on staff in the offices for Michener to confer with.

"Demanding?" Michener said as he looked up from the paperwork Samantha had placed in front of him. It was outlining what the Government needed to do in order to rebuild the military and their resources. It was something Michener had been ignoring for whatever bullshit Allison and Alex felt was more important. Of course, Samantha knew certain things trumped her wants for the Military but she didn't want to wait for a 'better' time to show up to plead her case.

"Half of them are in town already. The rest are on their way. We're gonna have to level with them about Asia, bring them into the fold." Allison informed them.

"No way, this is above their security clearance and it will only complicate matters." Samantha argued as she leaned back in her chair and looked to Allison. She knew the woman had orchestrated it. How she knew because Allison came from one of the regions and she hadn't missed the trend of her favoring the regional leaders wants over the general population when it came to her agenda.

"I'm afraid Allison's right. Like it or not, they're our partners, and they speak for millions in their territories. Their support is crucial, now more than ever if we want to keep the peace." Michener said to Samantha.

"Install Martial Law to the regions that can't keep their shit together-" Samantha started but Allison cut her off.

"That will remind people of what happened in the Pandemic. It won't go over well." Allison told her.

"The people are rioting over bullshit issues that have nothing to do with Asia or the hostages. Frankly it's two separate issues. The hostage situation has nothing to do with the US civilians or Regional leaders. What the CNO and the Nathan James do isn't relevant to them. So they do not need to be read in as it doesn't affect their jobs and this meeting is a waste of time." Samantha said.

"You have no understanding-" Allison started but this time Samantha cut her off with glee.

"Oh, I do. The Regional leaders are coming here to bitch to Michener hoping he will weaken on his stances on the less popular laws he's instituted since coming into power. What I'm saying as a Military Advisor is that it is none of the Regional Leader's concerns what the Nathan James is doing. It's international and their powers are limited to national. Thus useless and wasting our time." Samantha informed her, she couldn't help but inwardly smile as Allison went slightly pink in the face from anger as Samantha was basically cutting the legs out from under her.

"Their powers are limited but Michener needs the support of his leaders to continue in this office. It's politics." Allison told her.

"It's bickering of small minded and petty people that reaps no real productive results. Thus a waste of time." Samantha told her in a tone that said she would not argue it further.

"It might be but I can't ignore them." Michener said with a sigh as he knew like a lot of things about being President. He didn't always have a choice.

Jed walked into the lounge room and couldn't help but smile as Rachel passed out on the lounge with one arm slung around her eyes and the other gently over the legs of Evie. Olivia was in the playpen gurgling and cooing, he crept over to her and lifted her out of the playpen and smiled at her as she looked up at him. He loved holding babies, they made him feel younger than he was and needed even when they were just placid like Olivia was.

He also liked that their needs were simple; they wanted food, to be clean and held. Most importantly loved which was easy. He also loved watching them go through the changes as they learned their surroundings, marveling when they realized they had hands and feet. The things they took for granted. He knew he had maybe a couple decades in him if he continued on his health kick so he'd be around for a while. Long enough to enjoy being around the kids and repair what was left of his relationship with Sasha and Tom. Heal their family.

Not that he put pressure on it but it would be nice to see his daughter again. He walked with Olivia in his arms to the kitchen and went to getting himself a hot milk so he could get a few more hours of kip before the older kids got up for breakfast. He was incredibly grateful for an electric stove as he could turn it on one handed.

"So Miss Olivia, what are you doing awake hmm?" he asked her. Olivia just looked up at him and gave tiny baby gurgling noises and half a smile appeared on her face before she farted which made Jed chuckle. "Just like your father." he told her, as Tom had been one gassy baby and all his smiles were just precursors to farting which he remembered being hilarious until he had to change the diaper but that was just part of the deal with parenthood. Luckily as Grandfather; diaper duty was optional and even luckier for him now that Olivia wasn't in need of a diaper change yet.

"Sets of three, and they're very close, sir. Sir, I've calculated every available path for us, sir. We're surrounded. There's no way out." Mejia told Tom,

"You only put up a wall if you're trying to protect something. That means we're close. How are the divers going?" Tom asked as he looked at the screen that showed the Nathan James' position and the position of the mines. He couldn't believe that they had sailed right into the middle of a minefield to the point they were completely surrounded. It was pure dumb luck they hadn't set off more than one mine at the moment.

"They've just reached their mines." Sasha said as she stood at another screen watching the camera feeds of the divers in the water. It was a shame they didn't have enough certified divers on board as they had to send the men out solo to designated mines to see what they were up against. Wolf was the first to reach his as it had been one of the ones closest to the ship.

"We've got a banana split here. Block contact activated. Block magnetically activated. Still trying to get a handle on the third one." Wolf said as he described what he was seeing and his opinion as this was his field of expertise given he was a E.O.D. diver. He sidled up to the last one in the three mines chained to one another. Tom moved to the screens to get a look and picked up the radio designated for communicating with the divers.

"Everyone else seeing the same thing?" Tom asked, the other divers acknowledged that they were seeing the same which he hoped would make this easier. It didn't help narrow down the manufacturer of the mines or how to disarm them.

"Wolf, is there any writing on it? A manufacturers' number? Anything?" Sasha asked him as she had her own radio to communicate with them as they were using one channel to link CIC and Bridge to the divers.

"Negative so far. I've never seen a mine like this before. I have it at one meter in diameter, steel casing, painted." Wolf replied.

"Look at the tether attachment. Sometimes the bolt heads are stamped." Sasha told him, Tom couldn't help but be impressed by Sasha's knowledge given she was Army and shouldn't know much about anything related to the navel warfare.

"Yeah, got something. It looks like it's Lassiter Industries Logo." Wolf commented as his camera showed the stamped bolt. It was indeed the symbol for Lassiter Industries. Tom would've been pissed at seeing and American mine in Asian waters but remembered that Lassiter Industries was no longer in the weapons race. These mines could've been picked up from America when the world fell apart and brought here. It also helped them as it would be in their database.

"Burk, focus on Lassiter Industries database in our system." Tom said over the radio, needing to say it even though he knew Burk was on it.

"Checking reference based on physical descriptors and the stamp. Stand by." Burk replied over the radio.

"And what looks like a vent hole on the center of a steel box at the bottom. Vent's screened off. I can't see in there too well. There's some kind of homemade contraption in there." Wolf continued in his inspection of the mine.

"Anything, Burk?" Tom asked.

"Yeah, but it's not much and it looks like it's been modified from the original design." Burk said, which meant whatever was written in their database to disarm the mine would not work.

"Sir, we're drifting. Suggest we start our starboard engine and run slow... two degrees right rudder, one minute every five to counteract." Granderson said from the navigation station with Mejia at her side. Tom gave a nod and looked to the helmsman.

"Helm, ahead 1/3 for two knots as necessary to maintain position. Muffle starboard and proceed." Tom ordered.

"Aye, Sir." Helmsman replied. Tom took a moment as he thought through their next moves. They couldn't sit in the middle of the minefield forever. They had to start moving while they had daylight to work with. It was do or die, so they needed to get to work. Tom just hated this part of any mission where he couldn't be out in the thick of it. Being at the back making decisions that could lead to the deaths of good people was never easy when it came to being a Captain. He knew the day it did become an easy choice was the day he'd retire and walk away.

"All right. Listen up, gentlemen. Looks like we're gonna have to start sweeping with just the information we got. Stay as clear as you can from the third mine in each series. I need you to cut the chains to the bottom in a narrow avenue ahead of the ship, then you are going to gently move each group out of the way, one by one. Are you all ready?" Tom asked them.

"Aye, Sir." Wolf and the others responded.

"All right, mine-group seven, that's you, Kudelski. Start now." Tom ordered to the man.

"Kudelski, Aye. Commencing cutting 12 lengths beneath the mine." Kudelski said, Tom looked to the man's video feed and watched as he went ahead and cut the chain on the first mine in the group.

"Captain, we need to belay that order. There's something about this third mine. There's some kind of electrical coiling in it." Wolf said,

"Kudelski, stand fast." Tom ordered but it was too late as the chain was cut.

"Chain's free, Captain. It's all good. I may need a hand from another diver to move these guys. They're pretty heavy." Kudelski said, Tom looked at the screen feeling a tight knot form between his shoulders as Kudelski ignored his order. He was about tell Kudelski to stand down again when Burk's voice came over the radio.

"Kudelski, did you hear the Captain's order to belay?" Burk demanded.

"It's moving, sir." Kudelski said as he slowly pushed the first mine away from the others.

"Kudelski." Burk demanded, but Kudelski wasn't listening which peeved Tom to no end as his word was supposed to law and while he could admire initiative. Showing it now was not the best time to do so.

"Sir." Kudelski's voice garbled with interference over the radio. "The mine he-... It's beginn- t-ibrate." The rest came out garbled and then the feed on his camera snapped to black as an explosion sounded.

"Everyone out of the water now!" Tom ordered over the radio, once they ascertained none of the other mines were going to be set off. Then he'd send out a retrieval team for Kudelski but right now they needed to regroup.

"We'll get to see Alex today." Mike said to Kate as he held her hand in his and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Kate looked at her burgeoning stomach and smiled as it was only a few more weeks and Mike was here. He was wearing Army Desert BDU's which looked damn fine on him.

"Alex? I don't remember agreeing to that name." Kate said teasingly, as she laid on the bed in the medical imaging place. They were waiting for the ultrasound technician to come into the room.

"It suits boy or girl." Mike argued, she felt like they'd spent way too many hours discussing names with no luck but Kate was in the mind of waiting until she held the baby in her arms and deciding then. Mike however wanted everything to be decided on in a timely manner that was helpful but also could get a little full on and stressful. She didn't want to ever revisit the nursery theme debacle ever again.

"I want to wait, just make a list and on the day we'll pick from that." Kate said as she smiled at him.

"It'll grow on you. I like Alex better than Amelia." He said, seemingly obsessed with names starting with 'A' or maybe he was hoping by the time he reached the middle of the alphabet she'd cave and pick a name just to stop him.

"Mmm not sure Amelia would work for a boy." Kate replied, Mike leaned over her and gave her a warm and slow kiss that made her melt. When he pulled back the door opened and Kate sat up in the bed with wide eyes as Milowsky strode in dressed in hospital scrubs holding a file looking incredibly bored and rushed.

"Ok, let's see what we got here." He said as he moved to the ultrasound machine, he pulled up a chair and sat down. Kate looked to Mike who didn't seem to notice the man at the ultrasound machine.

"Ah, what are you doing?" Kate asked Milowsky, the man gave her an amused smile.

"Pregnancy Brain always does a number. We're going to see your baby Mrs Slattery, so just relax back onto the bed and we'll get to it." Milowsky told her, Kate felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Mike pushing her down onto the bed she looked back to Milowsky and saw him coming at her with a scalpel. She tried to kick out at him but found her arms and legs were restrained, gone was the imagining centre room and she found herself back in the lab in Baltimore. She was paralysed by fear as she watched in horror as Milowsky sliced a line down the middle of her abdomen. She tried to scream to tell him to stay the hell away from her baby but no noise came out as Milowsky's hands reached into her abdomen, she could feel his hands inside her abdominal cavity-

Kate jerked awake on the couch, the dream felt so real it took her a moment to realise that she was awake and this was real not the dream. But it didn't stop her from feeling her stomach over. Of course the baby bump was non existent compared to how large it had been in her dream. But it had felt so real, she pressed a hand to her mouth and choked on a sob as tears ran down her face as the fear was still coursing through her.

She took a moment, just letting the emotions run through her before she took a deep breath and focused on her surroundings. She wiped away the tears from her face and kept her breathing slow and steady as she remembered falling asleep on the couch after Maddy went back to bed. The news wasn't showing anything she hadn't seen before, so she turned it off and turned her attention to Scout who was making the cutest little snuffling noises as he slept on the floor. She was half tempted to wake him up so he could distract her but she stopped herself as it was wrong. The puppy needed to sleep.

She looked to the clock on the wall noting it was barely 2am, she knew in that moment she could not go back to sleep. The dream was so real to her she was afraid if she closed her eyes she would be back in that same dream and she didn't want to know the end of it. So she picked up the remote resigned to anything but the news as she turned the TV on and channel flicked until she found a channel that was showing reruns of Star Trek Next Generation. She settled in, hoping the show would banish the dream and keep her mind occupied enough to not dwell on it.