Chapter 16 – Feelings Confessed

After the Colonel's immediate checkup, Dr. Fields debriefed the crew of GC-1 with the most peculiar news.

"The places where the rods penetrated the Colonel—his chest and stomach—they aren't there anymore. They're completely healed. There was no sign whatsoever to say that he had been, well, for the lack of a better term, skewered by that bomb."

"So he'll make a full recovery?" the General asked.

"Well, sir, to tell you the truth…all he has to do is wake up from that coma to be fine. I'd like to keep him in the infirmary for a while to keep treating the first-degree burns he received from the Joltgun, however. I've healed him once already and most are gone, but there are just a few more there that need to be healed. Other than that, he's in perfect health. There are no more signs of the pathogens."

"Thank God," Hoffman said, and they all left the debriefing room to go visit Colonel O'Brien.

"Hey, guys," O'Brien sleepily greeted the entire crew and team of GC-1 as they entered the room, minus Damian. "Sir," he acknowledged the General. John had just woken from the coma a few minutes before and was just getting used to his surroundings.

"Man, have you had enough adventure yet?" Dude asked, marveling at the way John took this all so naturally.

"Oh, well, you know. A little time off doesn't hurt anyone." Everyone smiled. "But, I'd like to get back into the grind as soon as I can. It was pretty boring just sitting up there, feeling like crap, and having the rest of you scurry around to try to find the cure to get me off of the wall…not that I'm complaining, mind you. I'm grateful for all who helped get me down…

"I'd like to thank…my mom—because without her, I wouldn't have been here and nothing would've been possible," the Colonel began, pretending to be on an awards show. He received many giggles and laughs and was holding a hospital cup as a trophy while a pen served as a microphone. After that, however, he ended quite seriously. "I'd like to thank my team, Major Alex Croft, Dr. Daniel Matthewson, Captain Rick 'Dude' Ellerton, and my man—er, alien—Dagón for their undying loyalty, determination, and friendship—without them, I'd be one very sick, very dead man. I'd like to thank Dr. Kate Fields, PhD, as well, for curing me from the disease and allowing me to take up space in her medical bay." Kate beamed at this and nodded to John, who was staring at her with a smile.

He continued.

"I'd also like to thank everyone who worked behind the scenes, like the nurses, technicians, mechanics and everyone else for helping me out. And, lastly, I'd like to mostly thank my CO, Major General Joseph Hoffman, for his unwavering persistence and resolve to get me off the wall, to save me from the sickness the artifact was emitting, to stop the bomb at all costs, and to stop me from making a bigger hole in the wall." There was more laughing there as the General grinned like a maniac. "Without him," John continued, "this outcome wouldn't be possible at all, and to that, I give my eternal gratitude."

Hoffman and O'Brien shook hands, and a huge cheer erupted from the gathered crowd. The celebration lasted throughout the night with much eating, and the drinking of Whoosh. Everyone now knew of Daniel's renaming of the drink, and they all liked it.

"Daniel, I didn't know you had it in you!" John told him later from his hospital bed as he almost drained his cup of Whoosh in one gulp. The Colonel had been getting nervous about not being able to leave his bed, but the crew included him enough so that he was used to it now. "That's a really good-fitting name!" he continued about the drink. "Whoosh. Wish I thought of it before…"

"Yeah, well, when it was christened Whoosh, you were still sitting there, hanging on to life," Daniel said, glad he had voiced his opinions about the drink aloud to the General. "Whoosh will be named in memory to the fast-paced way we all worked to save one of our own." By this time, everyone was listening to the two's conversation, and they all nodded in agreement.

"To loyalty, honor, friendship, and courage! May GC-1 never find them lacking, and may good luck and safety here abound," the General said while raising his glass. The others all did the same.

"Hear, hear!" they all cheered to his toast, and they gulped the rest of their caffeine-charged drink down. The party continued on into the night.

The time came to turn in when Hoffman announced that it was already two-forty in the morning, according to the ship, and anyone who wasn't in his or her bedroom by three o' clock would be punished severely. The partiers began to trickle out of the room. Alex, Daniel, and Dude all walked up to the Colonel at the same time to bid him goodnight. Dagón had already gone to bed.

"Thanks for your time, and your Whoosh," the Colonel said in reply with a smile. "I expect you three, plus Dagón, to come back tomorrow and explain everything to me in great detail."

"We'll be there, dude!" Rick said.

"Yeah." Alex agreed. "Our missions are postponed until you're well. We'll have a lot of time to spend with you."

"Oh, goody," John replied, and smiling, the three walked out of the medical bay.

Once his team members left, the Colonel was finally alone with Dr. Fields.

"Thank you," he said to her later after she checked his temperature. She looked over at him and smiled.

"You're welcome! It's the least I could do."

"Do you think," the Colonel said, waiting until she was standing right next to his hospital bed, "that I could stay here?"

"Well, Colonel—"

"John," O'Brien said. "Please call me John."

"All right. John, you're going to be here for a week or so, anyway. Why do you ask?"

The Colonel punished himself inside for bringing the subject up, while closing his eyes tightly for a second and balling his hands into fists. Then, shaking his head, he smiled. "I'd like to take more time off."

The doctor cocked her head to one side. "Come on, Colonel! We both know that's not the real reason. Why do you want to stay here, really?"

"Well, um…I, um…" He looked up at her, and their eyes locked. In that moment, he willed her to know how he felt.

Kate instantly saw the affection in his eyes, and was taken aback. "You…?" She gestured to herself as she said that.

The Colonel could only nod.

Dr. Fields sat down on a chair that had been pulled by the bed and just sat there, staring into space, her pulse racing, butterflies fluttering around in her stomach.

"For how long?" she asked softly, wanting to know how long she had been blind.

John sighed. "Maybe a year, maybe a bit more; I'm not sure how long exactly, but it's been a while."

"Why haven't you told me before?" She looked upon him with new eyes, seeing not just a colleague and friend, but also someone who had been in love with her for a long time.

"Well…" John began, holding his hands out in a helpless gesture. "The time wasn't right," he finally said, "and…well…I was a bit nervous and afraid to. I didn't know how you'd look at me after that."

There was a long period of silence, one where John knew he had blown his chance with Kate. Mentally cursing himself, he was taken aback when Kate spoke again.

"Well, John…you can be sure that how I look at you now is not with contempt or disgust." Her voice was not bitter, nor was it angry. A spark of hope rekindled and leaped within John.

"May I ask, then, what you'll feel towards me?" The Colonel tried but failed to keep the hope out of his voice.

Looking up from her lap, she smiled at his hopeful expression as he took one of her hands. "Love," she said simply. The doctor watched him with a smile as he leaned towards her, but closed her eyes just as he kissed her with all of the love he had kept inside. The way Kate opened up to him and deepened the kiss to something extremely intimate gave John his answer to how her feelings were towards him.

After a final extensive kiss, Kate made John fall asleep where he was, and went to her room, feeling lighthearted and free.