CHAPTER 93

Approaching the cabin door, Jack thought that he heard the muffled sound of his son crying.

It was unusual because Elizabeth never let the baby cry. She always slept almost half-awake. Ready to feed her son the moment the sound of him babbling or sucking on his fist filtered through the night air to her ears, or simply to cuddle with him if he had awoken and missed her touch. She did it by habit, by nature, without missing a beat. She could sleep soundly until Aaron made the slightest noise and then she would be at his small soft side.

It seemed that for once, a sleeping Elizabeth had missed the noise.

When the door slid open, Jack immediately went to Aaron who was wailing from his berth, and scooped him up in his arms.

"Shhhh. It's okay. Daddy's here. Shhh. It's okay."

Jack's voice was soft and soothing as he gently bounced the small tear-stained boy in his arms.

"Why the tears? There's no reason to cry."

Aaron's cries stopped now that he was being held by Jack, and he snuggled against his father's chest while gripping his baby blanket in one tiny fist.

"Your mommy must be so tired she's sleeping right through your cries," Jack said quietly to his son in the darkness. "Let's let her sleep."

He bent down and slowly lowered Aaron towards the berth with the side rail, but the little boy's back hadn't even touched the mattress when he started to whimper. His lips quivering as he thought he was going to be ignored again.

Quickly reversing course and bringing the boy to his chest again, Jack rubbed a hand along his back.

"Are you hungry? Is that why you're crying?" he whispered.

For a split second, Jack thought about putting Aaron against one of Elizabeth's breasts. Knowing that even when she was half-asleep, she would be able to nurse the boy, but he decided against it.

Even though he had just come back to the quarters, he wasn't so weary that he would rouse a tired Elizabeth and unload a hungry son onto her. Now that Aaron could eat some solid food – more mushed than solid but something other than milk - Jack could no longer avoid parental meal-time duties, no matter how late at night it was.

"How about we go down the hall and get you some apple sauce with oatmeal?" he asked in a hushed voice.

Jack reasoned that if he took Aaron to the Cafeteria, which was still open as it served the night-shift workers, he could fill the baby's stomach and be back to his own bed within thirty minutes.

"Late night food run," he conspiratorially whispered to Aaron. "You'll do a lot of these when you're in college."

"Of course, those will be for beer and pizza but you'll learn about that later," he added as they moved the few steps across the room. He continued to keep his voice hushed so Elizabeth could sleep.

The door slid open, allowing light into the room but Jack's back was already to the berths.

Jack was stepping over the door's threshold and into the hallway, when Aaron stretched his upper body to look around his father's torso. He squirmed about as if desperately needing something.

The little boy sadly whimpered and reached down towards the floor of the quarters with one of his small arms.

Jack, wondering what held his son's interest so intently, paused before the door could slide closed and looked over his shoulder.

The boy's blanket was lying on the floor in a heap.

"Got to keep a hold of that thing, little one," he quietly instructed his son.

Securely holding Aaron on his side, Jack moved a few steps into the room and crouched down. Picking up the blanket with one hand, he glanced at Elizabeth's berth to make sure he hadn't disturbed her.

He was grateful to see that she hadn't moved. Surprised, but grateful, that he hadn't interrupted a good night's sleep.

With the hall light illuminating the area behind him and the cabin's small night-light too dim to see much more than shapes, Jack assumed that the object hanging over the edge of Elizabeth's berth was a pillow.

For some reason, it seemed off. That she'd have a pillow draped over the bed. As if she had restlessly thrown it away from her, and it hadn't quite made it off the mattress. It wasn't like her.

Hesitating for a moment, he stayed in the room and allowed the door to close behind him.

His eyes became accustomed to the dimness and he stared at Elizabeth's berth. Trying to decipher what he was seeing.

He squinted as he slowly moved towards the berth. His eyes widened when he realized he wasn't looking at a pillow bent over the side of the mattress.

Quickly setting Aaron down, Jack ignored the boy's renewed fussing.

What scared Jack the most was the combination of the odd placement of Elizabeth's body and that she hadn't woken up despite Aaron's earlier crying or Jack moving about the room and whispering.

The baby's tiny whimpers were soon drowned out by the new sound.

EMERGENCY!

EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE REQUIRED.

PASSENGER INCAPACITATED.

EMERGENCY!

EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE REQUIRED.

PASSENGER INCAPACITATED.

The noise blared from the intercom when Jack slammed his hand on the small red button.

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