So I can't remember what I said when I posted this chapter before but my friend 16 going on 42's Gram had a place down in Westport, CT and we did spend a summer at the beach. He had a Laser of his own and we had tons of fun all over the sound…and nearly drowned ourselves several times. The day I most remember though was in August. Our group of friends spent a cloudy day goofing off at the beach. 16 going on 42 and I were showing off with the Laser, and had it heeled over and I was dragging my foot over the opposite side of the little hull to counter and I got a jellyfish wrapped around my ankle and man that stung. Then my hands got all stung trying to pick the tentacles off. They were so swollen I had to let another friend drive me home (Actually it was Police-fan but we weren't dating yet.) We ended up making out against the side of my mother's red minivan in 16 going on 42's driveway though. And once we were dating he taught me how to juggle and ride a unicycle, among other things. Riding a unicycle isn't very useful unless you live in someplace like Portland and can ride to work, like Police-Fan does. Here in Mississippi I think you're sort of asking for trouble with that.

The first person I ever had a crush on also lives in Portland now and she went to The Cure's concert last week. I am so jealous of her. She was always so much cooler than I was. Although they don't know each other, I do envision her and Police-Fan hanging out at Powell's sometimes. I bet she can't juggle though. I got stung by a jellyfish when I was at the beach two days ago but I didn't swell up at all. And I had to drive my own red minivan home to my own driveway, where I do not have a unicycle, but I do occasionally still juggle fruit in the kitchen.

**In Between Days, The Cure**

During Barker's watch on the bridge, Kara manned the TAO position. Now that they had cooled down, they were back to working effectively. Kara was careful to keep her temper in check and Barker, for all he puffed his chest and strutted about the bridge, kept his autocratic tendencies in check too. The seven hour watch passed rapidly with no major mishaps. A team went to the shore and back. In the C.I.C. Kara directed a team recording drone video for Dr. Scott and even the practice run of the missile launching protocol that Slattery made them repeat went well. Kara could only hope that her turn on the bridge went as smoothly.

When she began her shift the next day, there was no indication that it would be an unusual day. She had made a brief morning weather check on her way to the bridge and all the signs pointed to a sunny and cold day. The wind was a steady 5 knots and the seas were relatively calm. After a brief set of instructions from Commander Chandler, she took her place in the captain's chair. She had worked this role before but never without the captain or XO on the bridge observing. Chandler had informed her that he was ill and going to bed. "And don't bother Slattery or Garnett unless you absolutely have to. We all need to get over this thing." She consulted the clipboard of ship's activities hanging from the console in front of her. She really didn't need to read it over since she was the one who had prepared it the day before, but she checked just that same to steady her nerves. She rubbed a sweaty palm down her pant leg to dry it and took a deep breath to clear the slightly sea sick feeling from her stomach.

Shore team prep at 0800. Benz to brief on personnel and activities.

Fuel and systems check at 0845.

Coffee at 0945

Master Chief's daily briefing over coffee at 0945

And so on..

She began making her rounds for the daily briefings. There were plenty of small decisions to make, advice to give, but overall, nothing gave her any worries. By the time she left the bridge in Alisha's capable hands for her coffee briefing with the Master Chief, the butterflies in her stomach had settled to a gentle roil. Jeter filled her in on who was sick and how he was covering essentials and they had a pleasant chat about how some of the juniors in the C.I.C. were working out. She realized that she didn't communicate with the Master Chief nearly enough. He was very knowledgeable about people on board. Of course, that made his "And how are you doing? You seem a little stressed lately." all the more difficult to answer.

Everything was going peacefully until about 1100 hours. The shore team had been giving quick updates every 15 minutes which Kara duly noted in the log. At 1100 hours they didn't make an update. Kara decided to give them a few more minutes in case their hands were full with something. At 1104, just as she was about to request Alisha make a check, the comm came alive. "Mother this is Cobra, we have a situation here." It was Benz and he sounded a little panicked. Although Kara knew he was a bit high strung, her nerves went on full alert. She took the mic herself to respond. "This is Mother, what's your situation?"

"We've had a small accident while climbing the cliffs. We request that you send the helo to make a rescue." Her heart constricted in fear. Danny. Oh God. If something happened to him after she had pushed him away. "Who?" She knew Frankie would know exactly what she was asking.

"Burk. The ice bollard we were using for a belay point cracked and he fell. Not far, maybe 10, 12 feet. But he seems to be unconscious and his knee is bent at and angle that makes us think he has either dislocated or broken it." She breathed a sigh of relief. And at once felt guilty that she was relieved it wasn't Danny. Burk was one of her best friends, her family, for crying out loud.

"OK." She thought for a brief moment about the procedure and then turned to Alisha. "Lieutenant Granderson, call the rescue team to order immediately. Ensign Huang, Go alert the commander of our situation. If he is DND get the XO. Ensign Ruse, go alert Doc Rios and have him meet the rescue group at the helo." The officers scattered to get the rescue under way.

Kara turned back to the mic. "We're getting the helo team going. We'll update when they are lifting off. In the meantime, is everyone secure?"

She sensed Benz's hesitation more than she heard it. "Franklin?"

"Yeah, well Dr. Scott and Miller and myself are at the top of the cliff. Trophet and Cruz are down in the valley. Green and Halsey were manning the ropes from the bottom."

"Danny's with Burk then?"

"Nooo, Burk's about 20 feet up from the bottom, on a ledge. A narrow ledge. We'd like to get someone down to him but the piton and snarg anchors are at the bottom and it would take Green 30 minutes or more to hike up the back with them."

She heard Dr. Scott in the background. "How long Benz? I am quite afraid that when he wakes he will roll right off that ledge. He's barely on it as it is." Kara's pulse was pounding in her ears. This was Burk. She couldn't sit idly and let him suffer, or worse, die.

"Ma'am?" Alisha was trying to get her attention. "The helo says 15 minutes, they have to clear the frost before they can lift off." Fifteen minutes. Burk could wake and roll to his death in that time.

Another voice came on the comm. "I can free climb it. It'll take me five, maybe 10, minutes and then I can use the anchors to secure him and help the rescue lift as well." It was Danny. She wanted to sigh in relief but she couldn't, not yet. What if he fell too. What if she lost them both?

"Can you climb it safely? Will you be roped?" She tried to hide the worry in her voice and utterly failed.

"Nope. Ah, that's no Ma'am. No rope. No time to get any equipment to anchor with back up to the top. But the rocks are very craggy. You've seen them on the video. I can free climb it." Kara wrung her hands and her stomach roiled. She could possibly be putting two people, two people she cared about, at risk instead of just one.

"XO on the Bridge." The room came to attention.

"At ease. Huang filled me in on the way here. What's this I hear about free climbing?" Slattery addressed Kara directly. She updated him quickly and was surprised when he didn't make an order. "Your bridge, your call Foster." She didn't answer at first. Just stared out over the blue water weighing the possible outcomes. "I guess it comes down to whether or not you trust Green to make an accurate assessment of the hazards and his skills?" Slattery waited, one brow raised questioningly.

Well, that did make it clearer. "Absolutely sir." Back in the command mode she gave the order. "Green, you may proceed to secure Lieutenant Burk as best you can." The comm was filled with sounds of Danny moving rapidly and then intermittent heaves and clangs of equipment as he began climbing. Her first impulse was to tell him his comm was still open but she resisted when she realized that this way she'd know exactly what was happening rather than thinking the worst while she waited for an update.

"Helo says deicing under way, 8 minutes to air." Alisha updated from somewhere behind her prompting Kara to check in with Frankie.

"Benz, the helo is 12 minutes out. How does it look from the top?"

"Green is half way. Burk is beginning to stir." She mentally crossed her fingers that Danny could make it in time.

"He's trying to sit up I think." She heard Dr. Scott calling out "Lieutenant Burk, do not move!"

"Five…more…feet…'till I can see him." Danny's voice gave away his effort as he made an update. While the entire bridge was focused on the comm, Kara's white knuckled grip on the back of the captain's chair was the only indication of her fear. She had seen the cliffs through the drone video and she knew they were very craggy with many handholds and ledges, but the risk of Danny slipping and falling was still high. She heard a low moan from Burk, answered by a string of curses from Danny. "Don't move a muscle Carlton. I'll be there in a second." Danny warned the injured man.

She held her breath and silently prayed. Please, please hold still Carlton. Please be ok…

"What happened?" Carlton's voice was rough and confused but if he was lucid, that was a good sign. Kara let go of the breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

"You fell man, 'bout 12 feet." Danny answered before informing the bridge. "Got him. I'm on a ledge about 5 feet down."

They listened as Danny went through the usual injury assessment questions with Burk.

"Skip all that man." Carlton's voice sounded pained. "My head, vision, everything else is fine. My knee is what's killing me."

"Can you move it?" There was a sound of ripping velcro and a corresponding grunt of pain and Kara guessed that Danny was inspecting the injury.

"Fuuuuuuuck that hurt. I think it's dislocated."

"Yeah, looks like it's either dislocated or your patella is broken. I don't think knees are meant to bend that way."

"Yeah man, you ever dislocate a knee?"

Danny laughed. "I wish I could say no. But once the Doc gets it correct you'll feel relief like you have never felt before."

Alisha signaled that Doc Rios was ready and Kara had her patch him in. A few more questions determined that nothing was likely broken and that Burk's circulation beyond his injury was good. "Not much else you can do." Doc Rios advised. "I'll be down there in a few minutes, as soon as I can Carlton. Do what you can to keep him comfortable Green."

"You gonna sing me a song Pavaratti?" Carlton asked Danny. Kara smiled. If he was joking it was probably going to be OK.

"Helo says 6 minutes Ma'am." Alisha updated. For the first time it sank in that she had probably made the right call.

"Nah, the cold is too hard on my voice." Danny quipped back. Kara was tempted to tell him his comm was still on but yet again she resisted. How else would she know that these two men, her family, were OK?

"Well, tell me something interesting to distract me from the pain then." When Danny didn't answer, Carlton continued. "You know, my first assignment was with your father. I can see a lot of him in you." Kara wondered how Danny would take that. From what she could tell, he respected his father, but didn't try to emulate him. Carlton continued. "Yeah, aside from the fact that you are a carbon copy of his looks, you are his total opposite. But, you have been pretty successful in your career too. I've been meaning to ask you what's the most important thing you learned from him."

Next to her Kara saw the XO roll his eyes. "Burk is sometimes so embarrassingly earnest." he muttered.

There was a pause. "Ok, I'll tell you a story about my father and you can draw your own conclusions." Kara was surprised he would do that for Burk when they had some obvious competition in their relationship. Then again, you never knew how compassionate someone was until you put them under the gun.

"My parents divorced when I was 7. You know I have four sisters. Well the two younger ones, the twins, are the product of an affair my father had while still married to my mother, who incidentally was wife number 2." He paused a minute. "Anyhow, he moved out, actually that's when he changed fleets and moved out to San Diego. So I didn't see him much for a few years. When I was 8 he was supposed to come to Norwich for some sub project and my mother talked it up all spring about how I would see him all summer long. Before they split, my father had been my hero so she thought I'd love it. But I was still angry about what he had done, so every time we had a visit scheduled I refused to go. Finally one day in the middle of July, my mother takes me to this marina near our house and leaves me there with him, without warning me ahead."

Carlton broke in. "So you don't get along with him? He seemed like such a good guy, I have a hard time believing he would have abandoned you." Kara was encouraged that his voice sounded stronger than even a minute before.

"Hang on, I'm getting to that part. So he walks me down this dock between these huge yachts and tells me that since I owe him eight dinners at an hour apiece I owe him the entire day. We get to the end of the dock and all I see are a bunch of buckets and brushes so I think he's going to punish me by making me scrape barnacles off a hull or something."

"Did he?"

"Nope. We go around the last boat and there's a brand new Laser sitting there. It was royal blue with a yellow sail. And it said Constance, that's my mother's name by the way, on the side. And he says to me, son, today we are going to share something I love. So we took off and we spent the morning tacking all over the sound." Kara could see it in her head. A sullen kid with freckles, probably a Yankees cap over his unruly hair and his hopeful father looking like an old fashioned version of the adult Danny.

"That's a nice story.." Burk tried to say but Danny interrupted him.

"Oh, that's not even the important part. So by 10 AM we're halfway to Montauk Point and I realize I am starting to get sunburned and we'll never make it back before my mother expects me, plus I have no sunblock, no lunch. So I start to get crabby about it. And he slacks the sail and looks me right in the eye. He says look, we have two options now. We can go all the way to our goal. We'll be sunburned for sure and your mother is going to chew both of us out but that little hurt is nothing compared to the joy we'll get out of making it there together. Or, we can turn back now. We'll still have fun, but we won't get to spend the entire day together, and we're still going to get sunburned and yelled at. I can't make you want to be with me, so which do you want?"

"Please tell me you chose to keep going?"

"Sadly, I didn't. I was a snot faced little brat. I wouldn't have known real wisdom if it hit me in the face. He took me back. I had a terrible sunburn for a week. And while we get along fine, I have barely spent any time with my father, a man everyone tells me is some paragon of military virtue, since then."

"That was a depressing story Green. You are terrible at the distract-the-wounded-comrade-routine man."

"You only said to tell you something I learned. Not all learning has a happy ending." Danny defended himself. "Besides what I learned was super important."

"That your old man was a crap father? You just ruined my hero!" Burk's chuckle was quickly cut off. "Aah crap that hurts."

"No, I learned that some things really are once in a lifetime. I've regretted not continuing on for most of my life since. I should have taken the chance but I chickened out and let a little fear and anger keep me from something that could have been truly good."

"Ma'am. Ma'am?" It took Alisha two tries to get Kara's attention. When she turned around the younger woman was holding up an eyebrow in question. "There's a message for you." You think? Kara almost laughed in self derision. "From the helo crew? They are ready and waiting your order."

Kara tried to focus on the mission again. "Tell them it's a go." She raised the mic to her lips as Alisha sent off the helo. "Green, Benz? Bird is in the air. Prepare for arrival in two minutes."

"Copy that." Benz was first to reply. "We're clearing the slope now so they have a clean work area."

"That was quick." Burk sounded surprised.

"See, my story did it's job. You only have about 2 minutes until Doc gets that knee back in place and pumps you up on painkillers. Any last requests?"

"No more of your downer stories Green. Tell me about your sisters. Are any of them hot?"

"They are my sisters so I am bound by brotherly obligation to tell you they are ugly as sin." This time Burk did laugh without reservation.

The rescue proceeded with no problems. Doc Rios used a basket stretcher to airlift Burk off the cliff and a ladder for Danny so they were back on the ship in minutes. Kara was relieved when the Doc confirmed that it just was a dislocated knee and concussion. Burk would make a full recovery. She directed the rest of the team to return to the ship and Chandler arrived for the next command just as the helo landed. Kara was surprised to see her shift had finished. "Bravo Zulu Foster." Chandler said after her briefing. "A cool head like yours is just what the situation demanded."