That night they were on their way to meet up with the frigate after the successful removal of the bullet from Kate's arm. She was doing fine but was ordered to stay in the wardroom during the night. Of course she protested and wanted to sleep in the cabin with her children but Robert had told her in no uncertain terms that she had no choice. He didn't want to bother the children with the check-ups he had to perform every few hours so she was to stay in the wardroom.
The children were put in a cabin, but it had been extremely difficult to get them to sleep. Buffer passed the cabin after his watch was over. He looked at the closed door and suddenly thought how strange it was to have the children of his former XO right there on the ship. When he had known Kate McGregor he had never seen her as a maternal person, but over the years she had changed and her children were so much like her.
The door to the cabin opened and Robert Prizeman walked out, almost relieved.
"Oh hello," he greeted Buffer when he saw him.
"Everything alright?" Buffer informed.
The relieved look on his face had to come from somewhere. "They're both asleep so I can finally check on Kate again," Robert answered.
"They're wonderful kids and look so much like their parents," Buffer praised him.
He didn't say it to get into his good books. James was the spitting image of Jim and had the same will power as his mother and Leah looked like the younger version of her mother and had inherited the caring side of her father.
"Thank you. They can be a handful, but we love them very much," Robert stated.
He didn't say much more and walked off so Buffer walked to the next cabin where he had his rack. It had been a long day and he wouldn't mind some sleep for a few hours. Inside his cabin he took off his jacket and hung it over the chair at his desk. Just when he was about to take off his pants he heard a scream coming from the next door cabin.
He rushed out to check and saw a bewildered Leah down in the hallway. "Mummy," she sobbed.
"Mummy is shot," she said, totally upset.
Buffer walked up to her and kneeled down to be able to face her. "Did you have a bad dream?" he asked her.
She shook her head and tears were forming in her eyes. "No, she was really shot," she answered.
If it wasn't so serious he would have laughed so he decided to look away. The door to the cabin was wide open so he could see what was going on inside. From the top bunk a blonde haired sleepy face appeared. James was tired but he was about to get out of bed to check on his little sister.
"Why don't you go back to sleep," Buffer suggested. "I'll calm her down a bit, OK?" he added.
James nodded dreamily and put his head down on his pillow and Buffer closed the door before he looked at Leah again.
"I know your mum was really shot but I think it happened again in your dream, didn't it?" he asked her.
The tears were now rapidly falling down and for the first time he saw a little girl standing in front of him and not the great nothing-can-happen-to-me-Leah she had been showing all day.
"Come, let's go get some milk and cookies and then when you've had those we can go by the wardroom and see how mummy is sleeping," he suggested.
The girl followed him and calmed down already. She needed a good cuddle and some reassurance so he picked her up and held her close to him while he walked towards the galley.
"Do you like Tim Tams?" he asked her. If she was like her mother she would try and hide it but she would dive into the package as soon as she had them in sight.
"Come on, we're going to see if there are some Tim Tams left," he said when she didn't respond.
In the galley he put her down on the counter and then opened the fridge.
"Were you dreaming of what happened on your boat earlier today?" he asked her, again trying to get her talking. This time she nodded. It looked like she wanted to say something but she didn't.
"Was it scary?" he asked, hoping she would say something.
"Are you going to drink some milk as well?" Leah diverted the question.
Buffer thought she was scared for sure so he picked up another glass to fill with milk and got his own Tim Tam from the package, hoping she would trust him. When she had almost finished her glass of milk she looked at him, just when he wiped his mouth clean with the back of his hand. She copied him and put her glass down.
"Mr Buffer," she said. "Did someone ever put a gun against your head?" she asked.
He had lost count on how many times that had happened to him but he wouldn't tell her that so he simply nodded.
"Well Miss Leah, a few times," he answered.
The girl laughed when he called her 'Miss Leah', but then she turned serious again and almost whispered: "I don't like the pirates. They were mean and they shot mummy."
He hugged her and hoped she felt safe now she was on board the Swinton.
"You were very brave today but I guess you're scared too," he tried again. Leah shook her head.
"I'm not scared," she stated defiantly, but he could hear in her voice she was lying.
"Miss Leah there's nothing wrong with being scared. I am scared when someone points a gun at me or shoots one of my friends. Look at me, I'm an old man and you're only six years old. There's nothing wrong with admitting you're scared," he said sternly.
Her eyes started to water again and she was biting away a few sobs so he hugged her again.
"It's OK to cry big girl. It's all over now and you know, it helps when you cry a bit. You don't feel so scared anymore afterwards and so when you dry your tears you can smile again," he explained.
He felt her warm breath against his neck. She was relaxing a bit.
"Mr Buffer," she said seriously. "I'm a bit scared," she finally admitted.
Buffer stroked her back and put some of her blonde curls behind her ear.
"If you want a cuddle from me or from anyone else you just have to say so," he said, looking her in the eye. "Do you want another Tim Tam or should we go and see mummy before you go back to bed?" he asked.
She looked at the package but shook her head. "Can I save the other for tomorrow?" she asked.
"You're a smart girl Miss Leah," he stated. She smiled and jumped off the counter.
"I want to go and see Mum now," she said, leading him towards the wardroom.
As soon as Leah saw that her mother was fast asleep she could finally admit to her own tiredness and was returned to her rack by her father. Buffer stayed behind with Kate for a while until Robert came back. Kate was fast asleep and looked peaceful. He had wanted to catch up with her but not like this, but now he had met her family he wanted to know them all better! James was interested in his stories about Jim Roth, little Miss Leah was simply adorable, only a few months younger than his own daughter, so maybe they could become friends if they had the chance to meet and Robert seemed like a very nice guy as well.
He had been in such a deep thought that he didn't realise that Robert had come back.
"Whatever you said to her it helped," he thanked him. "She's asleep again."
Buffer smiled. "Good. I'll go and get some sleep as well. See you tomorrow," he said before he left the room.