Author's Note: So apparently Tom's story carries a lot more words lol. I've noticed his chapters for the first three have been significantly longer than Rachel's! Which is good lol. Anyway, hope you are enjoying this one and maybe leave me a review to let me know. Happy reading. Dark rolling sea.

CHAPTER THREE

Over the next week, Tom had made a point to stay mostly on the bridge and away from Rachel's lab. He had made a fool of himself at that dinner and was embarrassed by his conflicting emotions. He felt out of whack and wished he could sort through his emotional distress. It pained him to stay away from her, as he enjoyed her company immensely, she was beautiful, and his heart had already fallen into place, but his mind was broken. At least that's how he felt about it.

He was having major issues with getting around the fact that he was indeed in love with two women. One right in front of him, the other dead. Part of him was grieving the fact that he had spent over half his time married to Darien at sea, away from her. There was still so much to do, and say, that he would never get to do or say with her. And he had loved her…still loved her. So, falling for Rachel at the same time was confusing and causing massive feelings of guilt. So, it was best to just stay away and try to sort through things on his own.

A few times he had almost broken down and talked to Mike, but he didn't feel he was quite ready to confide in his best friend just yet. He and Slattery had been through a lot, but sometimes Tom had trouble expressing what was troubling him. A few times Mike had hinted that he knew there was something heavy on Tom's mind and he was available to hash it out if Tom wanted.

But so far Tom had decided to struggle on his own. He knew his musings about Rachel had been a distraction to him while on the watch and he was mad at himself that he couldn't separate it while on duty. The Navy regulations were in place to stop this sort of thing. He wasn't one hundred percent focused on his mission. But times had changed, and the world was a different place now. Besides keeping Dr. Scott safe was the mission, wasn't it? Without her the mission would be null.

It still didn't make his battered emotions any easier to deal with. He realized he needed to sort everything out, and soon. Make a decision to go for it, and see if Rachel returned his feelings, or push it away and move on with his life. Before he had found out Darien had died, he knew he had already developed feelings for Dr. Scott. Especially after that kiss on Vyerni, when his brain had short circuited for a moment. That kiss had started as a passing of a note, a critical point in a rescue mission, but after the note was passed…neither of them backed off until they were ripped apart.

He had been upset he was handcuffed at that moment too, because he wanted to touch her. After those thoughts came the guilt. Those feelings were shoved aside again as the rescue continued and he worked to get her of the Vyerni alive. His protectiveness of her had reared its head on that one and again after they got back the guilt over falling for another woman while his wife was out there had struck him hard. He had never cheated on Darien, and another woman had never garnered his attention and tempted him either, until her. But there was something about Dr. Scott. And it wasn't just her beauty. Although he'd be lying if he said he wasn't physically attracted to her, but it was much more than her looks that had drawn his heart to her. The way she stood up to him. The way she disregarded his rank on his own ship. He had to chuckle at that, because if any other person on this ship challenged his authority like she did? He'd throw them in the brig.

Her feistiness and prowess had endeared her to him, her willingness to risk everything for the mission. That last part was a two-sided sword for him. Although he admired and loved that quality about her, he always hated and despised that quality about her, because it meant she was always willing to put herself in harm's way, much like him. These were his musings as he found himself walking by the old hanger bay that had been turned into the lab that was saving the world. He glanced in and saw her struggling to reach something on the top shelf. Without thinking his actions through, he quickly entered the lab and approached her.

"Damn it," she mumbled as he came up behind her. "Who the hell put that up so bloody high?" Tom felt his insides flutter as she was stretched to her full extension just short of the mark. He chuckled to himself as he came up behind her, laid a hand on her shoulder, and pressed his body gently against the back of hers, his hips pushing hers into the table in front of her. He felt her physically jump and then become perfectly still. Emotions swirled inside him, desire, want, love, need. His stomach felt like a million butterflies hatched and took flight all at once. Stretching his arm up along hers and bringing his mouth to the top of her ear his breath skimming over her ear, he felt her shiver.

"Need some help?" his whispered, his gravelly baritone taking on a husky tone. She didn't answer and didn't move. Neither did he as he enjoyed the physical contact between the two of them. His heart was wanting more. He closed his hand around the beaker she was trying to reach and stilled himself. He had her hips pinned gently against the lab table with his pushing against her. His chest was flush with her back, and his lips were still hovering over her ear. He breathed in her scent and felt electricity spark from his core to his limbs. He inhaled again, feeling that electricity flow again and he had thoughts of kissing her neck.

Reality slammed into his mind and the guilt of physically wanting another woman racked his brain again. He knew he needed to pull away, especially before she could feel what she was doing to a certain part of his body. The moment ruined by his guilt for betraying Darien, he slowly pulled his body back and away from her. He noticed that she was leaning down, her hands gripping the countertop tightly. He pulled the beaker down and set it lightly on the table then retreated himself to the table in the middle of the lab. Sitting down on it he brought one leg up and left one down to support himself.

Rachel didn't turn around. She remained absolutely still, gripping the counter tightly. He watched her take a deep breath and exhale slowly and he knew that she had felt the same electricity as he had when they were in physical contact. He smiled pushing the guilt away for a moment. He had thoughts of trying again with dinner, or maybe just some alone time to talk. But the jumbled clutter of his brain stepped in again.

Finally, she slowly turned and leaned her back against the countertop, then looked to her left and picked up the beaker he had gotten down for her. She still hadn't said anything and neither did he. He wasn't sure if his voice would hold or not. Rachel was studying his face, more accurately his eyes. He held her gaze and let her.

"Thank you," she half whispered, her voice cracking halfway through the you. He simply nodded, still not trusting his voice to give away what he was feeling at the moment. She cleared her throat and smiled at him, sending a shockwave of flutters through him again. He knew he had to say something, or the moment would turn from magic to awkward quickly.

"How is the testing and production going?" he asked, managing to keep the emotion from seeping into his words. Thankfully his voice held and didn't crack, or worse sink deeper. She was quiet a moment and he felt she may have been composing her thoughts, maybe muddling through the emotion that was charging the room like a loose electrical wire. She set the beaker down on the counter next to her.

"As good as can be expected with all the setbacks. I was just about to run another test on the latest batch, but so far everything has tested good, and we should be ready when we are in port."

"That's good to hear," he answered her. He probed her with his eyes, unable to stop himself from taking in her entire form. She leaned back and let him. So many thoughts bombarded him in that moment, and he felt like confessing the whole thing to her, but the fear of rejection, the guilt of his feelings, the memory of Darien, the pain of everything flooded him at the same time. He was conflicted by his own heart and again he felt broken inside. He could tell she was studying him right back, trying to figure out what he was thinking, and if he was going to say anything. The silence was stretching, and it was starting to turn into awkward and uncomfortable and that was the last thing he wanted after all the emotions that had transgressed here.

Then he noticed that her breathing increased slightly, a blush rose on her cheeks and something…(desire?) flashed across her eyes. Tom's eyebrows rose a fraction of an inch as this new information filtered to his battered brain. Maybe she did feel the same way he did. He felt his lips curling into a smile and he couldn't stop it. That thought made him very happy and he decided he would push to work through all the issues that were plaguing him. The silence was still stretching, and Rachel picked up the beaker again, breaking their eye contact. He knew he should say something, but nothing was coming out. His brain feeling almost short circuited.

"Well, um, thank you again. I really need to get back to work," she said softly. He stood from the table and walked straight towards her. His want to touch her again was strong but the guilt that always followed was also drowning him. Before he knew what he was doing his right hand snaked out and pushed some of her loose hair behind her ear, stopping it from hiding part of her face.

He wanted to tell her how beautiful she was, how much she had touched his heart, how much he longed his broken brain could follow his wounded heart. His mouth opened to say just those things but then he chickened out and turned sharply away from her. He walked briskly out of her lab and deep into the bowls of the ship to lick his wounds.

To Be Continued…