One-Liners
Chapter 3
Mike: This is your XO. So…two sailors walk into a bar…and they both walk out. We will get our men back. We will get our captain back. That is all.
Mike could hear the bridge crew chuckling, but they quickly went back to work, maneuvering the ship into position. For having such a young crew; they were the epitome of professionalism. At times, Mike felt the need to lighten up the mood, making him Tom's opposite. Tom rarely joked with the crew and Mike knew; if he ever got to be Captain, he would run the ship a bit differently.
It was a long night and Mike didn't get any sleep. He was used to all-nighters and generally only slept two to three hours a day when on the ship. Christine always joked that when he got home; he would 'marathon sleep' to get rested up before transitioning back into being a husband and father again.
At dawn, word came that Tom, Rachel, and Tex had been rescued but Cossetti was KIA. Mike had hoped to take a few hours to get rested up once Tom was back on the ship, but Tom was tired too and someone had to set up the burial at sea, something Mike was getting a bit too familiar with. Finally, about two in the afternoon; Mike finished up and left the bridge in Tom's hands. The only problem was; he was too tired to sleep. He showered and settled down on his bed with the notebook that he wrote notes to Christine in. As the days wore on; it had stopped being filled with the sexy little notes that Mike wrote during deployments, and become something of a diary. He just addressed to Christine, out of habit.
"Babe,
Yet another funeral to plan, but we do have a possible cure. The trials will begin once we are done with the funeral. Someone in a leadership role will need to be part of it. If necessary, I will volunteer, but I doubt that Tom will allow it. My money is on Russ, even though I'm pretty sure this ship will fall apart without him.
My biggest prayer is that if the cure works, I get it to you and the girls in time. I worry about you three; night and day. I am so tired. I don't know why this particular deployment has worn me out the way it has, but even before we found out about this pandemic; I was burned out. Maybe it was the way we argued before I left. I didn't bother to fix things before I left and that bothers me, more than I ever could admit.
As silly as it is, what gets me through this is imagining our reunion. I will apologize for my behavior and will hold you. Kiss you. I will put in for a desk position somewhere, even if it means I won't ever be promoted. I will be a better husband to you and a more present father to our girls. I just wish I had had time to be that for Lucas. I miss him. I miss you and the girls too, but maybe its because I will not ever see him again, its different. But, I have to keep going. The crew is depending on me. They can't afford for me to get mired down in my grief. Russ and I talk quite a bit about Lucas and he truly understands.
I had best get to sleep, but just know; I will be dreaming of you and I hope wherever you are; you are safe and able to sleep and dream of me.
Love,
Mike"
Mike put the notebook on his nightstand, took his reading glasses and t-shirt off. He hoped one day, to give the notebook over to Christine. To him, that would be the best sort of therapy. Even if his marriage was a mess, she understood him. She would know what to do to make him heal. It took a few moments before he drifted off to sleep and began dreaming of Christine and his girls.