It's fun re-watching the last ship but I do wonder if they'd have had less injuries and deaths if the crew had worn a helmet when out patrolling. Lol. Hope you enjoy the next chapter. Thanks for reading.

Kara decided she'd have lunch before going to the hospital for her check up with Jayne, she'd taken the week as Jayne had advised and hopefully her blood pressure would be down enough to go back to work full time. It hadn't sbeen as bad as she thought it would be. Tom Chandler had known why she needed to finish early and had been very accommodating, she suspected he'd fended off work that was destined to go in her direction and she was grateful but she was now hopeful she could go back to work.

She'd gone back to the hotel to drop off her bags and stop for lunch. She'd started to pack up her room as well. She recognised that if Danny had made the effort to get her a house as she'd asked she should make an effort to look like she was moving in. It was a beautiful house but when she'd been telling him she wanted a house it was more to push them to being together, she wasn't sure if having Danny stay in a different room was closed as being together. She wondered if maybe it wold be better to stay in the hotel but then there would be the issue of finding somewhere for her mom to live. She loved Debbie but she wasn' sure she wanted her to move into the suite she was currently living in as well as a small baby in the room as well. She knew the house was a good thing, she just needed to move in. Once her mother was here, the house wouldn't seem so big. She started to eat her baked potato, enjoying the fresh salad that had been produced that morning. Food was definitely simple these days but she didn't mind, it was good. It was food that reminded her of being back on the farm. She noticed Adaline enter the dining room. She'd only seen her a couple of times since her arrival. Once in the hotel where she'd been passing through the entrance hall and then this morning. Going into anoher meeting with the President and Capt Chandler. Danny hadn't been there this time. She assumed he was back on the ship, working and she was glad she wouldn't have to see them working together. She didn't know their history other than what was briefly mentioned the other night when they'd arrived. In order to avoid a fight she'd avoided talking about it last night with Danny. She reassuread herself that she ad nothing to worry about. Sure, this woman was is ex, she was stunning, thin, physically fit and not pregnant. She tried not to continue thi line of thought, Danny had done nothing to suggest he felt anything for Adaline still. She noted Adaline heading towards an empty table at the back of the room and without knowing what she was doing she called her name:

"Adaline," she felt as susprised as Adaline at doing this, she wsn't sure Adaline even knew who she was but Kara suspected she knew. "Would you like to eat together?"

Adaline smiled, "Sure." Adaline found herself sitting at the table with Kara. Not weird at all.

"So, how are you finding St Louis," Kara asked the blonde, who also was tucking into a salad.

"Well,compared to the warehouse I'v been living in for the last 5 months, it's really nice." Adaline said with a smile, "I didn't realise how much I missed just being able to go somewhere."

"You spent 5 months in a warehouse. Why?" Kara asked, intruiged and Adaline looked at her puzzled.

"Didn't Danny tell you? Adaline had assumed Danny would have told Kara, maybe not much about her bbut at least about the centralised weapons system. Kara sheepishly looked down at her salad, then looked up.

"We haven't spoken much recently." Aware that it sounded like they were in trouble, Kara backtracked. "I mean yesterday, he took me to our new house, so we didn't really discuss work." She said with a smile.

Adaline smiled, "You have a house? That must be good for when you have the baby."

"Yeah." Kara agreed. There was silence for a moment, Kara windered how quickly she could eat her jacket potato and get out of there. Searching for something to say Kara finally said,

"So, are you going to join Danny's team on the Nathan James?"

Adaline laughed.

"Absolutely not. I joined the Army not the Navy" Adaline held up her hands. "Put me on a roller coaser and I am fine but put me on ship, it barely has to go anywhere and I'm sick. I remember this one time, I was only onboard for four days and it was miserable, the worst bit was the fact that it was flat."

Kara laughed and relaxed, so she wasn't perfect afterall.

"I love rough seas," Kara told her, "It's exciting but I guess it's miserable if you get sick."

"I get my excitement from doing my job, firmly on land." Adaline told her, "Besides, I'm not American and I want to go home." she finished quietly.

So she wasn't staying and Kara found herself relaxing just a bit more.

"I heard you threatened to shoot Burke." Kara said with a cheeky smile and glint in her eye and Adaline laughed.

"Yeah, I was a bit rough but like I said my excitement comes from land and he was driving so slowly. He just didn't didn't even pick up on my need to get back here, so I kicked him out of the driver's seat." Adaline laughed, the look on his face was still entertaining her. "He looked… wounded." She told Kara.

"I know that look," Kara told her, "He means well and then can't understand why it's always well received. He just needs a girlfriend. But he's drawn to strong, independent women." Kara said with a shrug. "He really liked a woman that attached to Danny's team, Bivas and she died." Kara said sadly thinking back to that day.

"That is sad." Adaline acknowledged.

"We've lost a lot of people and not just to the virus but everything that;s gone with it."

"Yeah, Danny said about Frankie and the rest of the guys." Adaline's mouth turned down.

"Did you know them?" Kara asked.

"Some of them, I worked with some of them before they joined the Nathan James, it's how I know Danny."

Ah, now they were starting to talk about Danny.

"Did you work with him for long?" Kara asked.

"A few months, we worked out of the same office. A couple of missions together. That was it."

"Burke said you and Danny had dated." Kara was finally brave enough to ask.

"For a while," she said with a shrug, "And Burke needn't take it personally that I threatented to shoot him, I also aimed a red at Danny too but that's mostly because we had past."

Kara felt herself get uncomfortable again, Adaline said it so freely, aslmost as if she didn't recognise it would make Kara feel insecure.

"Ws it serious between you?" she asked, hoping the woman would say no.

"For a while," Adaline said and Kara's heart sank.

"Do you want him back?" Kara surprised herself at how honest she was being.

"No," Adaline said."

"Why not?" Kara asked genuinely curious. She'd almost forgotten how it would affect her if the woman had said yes.

"The things that stood between us still do and I really want to go home." Adaline said longingly. "I almost was home, a day before my flight and in an effort to stop the spread of the virus they grounded all flights. I missed it by one fucking day."

Kara hadn't really been home but at least she knew her mom was ok and the rest of her famiy had been the crew of the Nathan James and for what it was worth, she had Danny.

"What stood between you?" she asked a little more sympathically. This woman wasn't a threat to her and Kara was interested, it may give her insight into Danny.

"Neither of us were willing to give up what we had. I was good at my job," Adaline saw Kara's eyebrows go up, "I know, it's pretty arrogant for me to say that but I was. I was bloody good at my job but so was Danny and neither wanted to give that up, plus long distance doesn't work when both of you deploy for long periods of time. We argued a lot in the last couple of weeks because naively, for a while, we thought it might work but we just had to agree, there was no future. In theory, I was never meant to see him again." she concluded.

"I'm sorry," Kara said and Adaline laughed.

"Don't be, he loves you now." That one comment suggested to Kara that it had been more than a quick fling between them, there had been love and Kara wasn't sure it was a good thing that Danny loved her now because now the long distance relationship was becoming her problem with the added pressure of a baby. The doubt on her face must have shown.

"Kara, he's a good guy. We just didn't work and that's ok. You couldn't have asked for someone better to be the father of your baby."

"Really?" Kara asked hopefully.

"Absolutely. We we never going to work because neither of us we were willing to change but he has changed, even in the last six months, he's changed. He used to talk about having a family, not necessarily with me but how he talked about the future but I couldn't give him that because I wasn't ready to give up my life."

"Do you think I'm giving up my life by being pregnant?" Kara asked, realising this was one of her fears.

"No because everything is different now and we should value every opportunity that comes our way to be happy, to have love and that's what a child is."

"I hadn't really seen it that way. I think I'm still trying to hold onto the old life." Kara thought outloud.

"Tell me, doesn't Danny still have his dreams?" Adaline asked.

"You know about his post-traumatic stress? Did he tell you?" Kara asked.

"No, I found out the same way you will have done, the screaming in the middle of the night. I can relate, we'd been through similar things. I didn't think he would've sort help after the virus hit."

"He's been kinda busy and he won't talk to me about it." she told Adaline with frustration.

"You just got to be patient. Maybe he's working it out but you know Danny, he has to do it in his time. He's a good guy but stubborn as fuck." Adaline said with a lugh and Kara found herelf laughing but more to do with Adaline's choice of words and nuance.

"Burke said you had colourful language," Kara said.

"Oh, at one point he looked like I'd skinned a puppy alive infront of him but he's sailor, he's got heard worse." Adaline said with exasperation.

"Uh oh," a male voice broke through their chatter and both women looked up to find Danny approaching the table. "This doesn't bode well for me." He said with an uneasy smile, he smiled a tentative crooked smile at Kara first and then a wary smile in Adaline's direction.

"Don't worry," she said she said with condescending reassurance, "I kept your secrets." she said with a conspirative smile.

"It worries me that you have secrets. The sooner you're on that plane the the UK the better." Danny told her dryly.

"Don't worry, I'm not planning on staying here any longer than I have to. Get me back to Hereford."

"I didn't know you were going to be here, were you looking for me?" Kara said.

"Erm, no. I was actually looking for Adaline." He admitted awkwardly.

"Oh," was all Kara could manage.

"What do you need me for now? Was babysitting your shit for the last five months not enough?" Adaline said tongue in cheek and Kara was slightly taken aback at the level of banter between them.

"I was hoping you'd take a look at some of the Int equipment onboard the Nathan James, just a favour really."

"Ok," Adaline shrugged easily, "I have nothing else to do, might as well make myself useful. I have a meeting though at 1500, wih a woman called…. Val." She said the name slowly, looking at their reactions to see if they recognised the name.

"You'll like her, she's like a civilan version of you, apart from her weapon of choice is a computer not a rifle." Danny bants back with mock-seriousness. He looked at Kara as if it suddenly dawned on him. "Aren't you working today?"

Kara realised she'd gotten changed, ready for her hospital appointment and he'd notice. She thought quickly.

"Yes but I don't have a meeting until 1500, not with Val with someone else and I needed to come back to the hotel. I had some time to finish packing my bags to mve to the house." She regained some composure and Danny's face broke out into a wide smile when she mentioned the house.

"Great, do you want me to help you move later? I can get a vehicle." He looked exicted and Kara went with it.

"Of course. Would you like dinner tonigh at the house? I can cook something." She offered.

"Great, I'd like that a lot." He smiled and then coughed self-consciously when he realised this exchange was going on in front of Adaline. Adaline smiled at him, if Kara hadn't been around maybe she would've thought about staying the USa a bit longer. She started to excuse herself from the table.

"Thank you for the company Kara, I'vev enjoyed our lunch. Maybe we can do it again sometime." And Kara nodded.

"I'd like that," Kara agreed.

"I'll go get my bag and I'll see you in the entrance in ten minutes." Adaline said, leaving Danny and Kara alone.

"Do you want me to drop you off at work?" he asked.

"Er, no. Thank you." She said, smiling. "It's the opposite direction for you and I like the walk." She told him. Technically it wasn't a lie, it was the opposite direction and she did like the walk.

"Ok, well, I'll pick you up here at 1800, then."

"Great, I'm looking forward to it." She told him. She considered telling him about the appointment but he clearly had things on that afternoonand she was certain that once she'd seen Jayne, there would be nothing to worry about.