Thank you so much for the reviews! Hope you like this chapter. :)

Chapter 2

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Tom was in the wardroom getting coffee when Rachel walked in. He noticed her slight hesitation to come into the room but thought nothing of it. In his mind he was remembering back to the summer they had spend together. Feeling slight fondness inside of him of the memories.

He remembered the long evenings driving around the town in his car he had bought with his savings. It wasn't a luxury vehicle, but it was good enough for him to drive around with. It was almost like he could imagine her laughter when he had told her a joke or the feeling he felt when he had kissed her.

The sound of her placing the coffeepot back to its place alerted him back to the present and he gave her a slight glance before he thought to fish the cat out of the bag.

"So Claire.. How you've been?" He stared at her all the while taking a sip of his coffee and he saw that she came more tensed with her body language which made him wonder what she was thinking.

Remembering suddenly all too well how he had been all over those curves back in the day.. He tried to forget the thoughts his mind was trying to bring back, suddenly feeling like the memories had been brought to life. He hadn't thought about her for years.

"I hope you don't have any hard feelings." She held the cup with her both hands, afraid she might drop it down. Slowly daring herself to meet his gaze.

"Well I tried to contact you after, but I didn't reach you." He explained and she felt the sting of guilt inside of her because she had given him the wrong number. She had only wanted to have a fun summer, which she did. She wasn't looking for anything serious, she was young and wanted to enjoy life and thought it was what he had wanted too.

"I thought we both knew what it was we had that summer." She then carefully let out, hoping he would understand.

"You could have said it when you left. Instead you gave me your supposed number." He said.

"I know, and I'm sorry for that." She took a sip of her coffee and before he could reply she pointed towards the door "I should get back."

She left the room feeling that there were unresolved issues between them, but she felt they needed a more private location for that conversation. Perhaps he had really liked her and if she was honest to herself, it wasn't like she just had had a crush on him. But they had been young, it was way too early to start planning the future. And how would it have worked out anyway? Her life was in England, his in the US.

He had said his goodbyes the night before. They had been walking by the beach, stars above them. He had this feeling of being restless in his entire body the whole day as he was dreading the moment he had to say goodbye to her. In his last attempt to have a connection to her, he had asked her phone number which she had given. He tried to remember her facial expression during this moment, but nothing had given away her discomfort of the situation. But his thoughts were interrupted as he heard a cheerful humming of a song as the person walked closer to the room in the P-Way, he stared at the doorway, puzzled by who would enter the wardroom now.

It was Andrea, the ship's Chief Engineer. Looking particularly happy, and humming a song he didn't recognize.

"You're cheerful today Cheng." He smiled and she stopped her humming but her smile seemed to be holding on her face despite her tries to be serious in front of him.

"What was that song?" He asked.

"Oh.. it's silly. I saw this film on TV last night, Runaway Bride? Remember?" Andrea explained.

"Yeah." Smiling slightly as he remembered that Darien had dragged him to see the film when it came out.

"There was this song, Ready to run. So it's stuck in my head now." She grabbed something to eat from the food station.

"Everything going fine with Lily?"

"Turning 13 soon, time flies. She's staying with my parents during this deployment. You know I've asked for transfer after this trip?" Andrea sat down by the table with her sandwich and coffee. She was alone with her daughter now. Bill had died suddenly 2 years ago.

He nodded and sat down to keep company to her.

After their talk with Captain Chandler, Kara and Ravit ran into Carlton, but Kara had a suspicion that he was actually waiting for them. She knew that Ravit's presence on the boat would stir up some friction, and Ravit knew it herself.

"I've gathered everyone in the mess." Burk said as they walked behind him towards the mess.

They stepped inside and there was Burk's VBSS teams and she faintly recognized two men wearing the same uniform she had on her. But before they really got to the introductions she was lifted up in the air by Javier Cruz, a familiar face from her Academy days. She, Carlton and Javier had gone to the Academy together.

"This will be interesting." She heard Ravit say beside them as Javier slowly placed Kara's feet back to the floor.

"Good to see you again." Kara said smiling as she was a little surprised to see him on the ship as well.

"Nice to know you haven't forgotten us." Javier said and Burk cleared his throat a little to make everyone look at him.

"Joining us for our mission are these two capable, well-experienced crewmen, their sea legs might not be as steady as ours, but hopefully they'll get the hang of it soon." Burk gave a wink towards them as they stood on the side.

"Lieutenant Kara Foster." "Lieutenant Ravit Bivas of Israeli Defence Forces." Burk made the introductions. She then greeted the most of the people there and then Burk guided them towards the two whom's team she and Ravit were joining. As she glanced at the blond guy, she immediately recognized him.

"I gather these two are the missing crew members you're waiting for." Burk said to Danny.

"Lieutenant Daniel Green." He offered his hand to the brunette in front of him, noticing that she was not entirely happy to see him. She finally took his hand and felt her tight squeeze in his hand which seemed to be tighter than usual. Was this payback? She then let go of his hand and shook Frankie's hand as well. With a much lighter touch than he had gotten, he noticed.

"So you're the first ever woman to be a Navy SEAL?" Frankie gave Kara an assessing look which she was used to. After all being a man dominated branch of the Navy, it was surprise to most men that she had made it through the tough training, but it hadn't been easy. She gave a mean look at Danny, remembering all too well him back at Coronado.

"Can you imagine? A woman in the training?" She had overheard a discussion between two men and Danny had been in the group at the time, although he had already gotten his Trident, she assumed he was in Coronado for some additional training.

"I don't think she'll make it past Hell Week." She then heard the other guy say and it was enough for her to leave and go gather her thoughts. Feeling angry that they felt threaten by her, that they thought she didn't have what it takes to become a SEAL. She had after all been planning this since her childhood. But if anything, she was now more eager to prove the men wrong. She could do it.

"Yes. That would be me." She met Frankie's gaze and hoped she was holding a mean front as she wasn't someone to be toyed with. She took her career seriously and she had worked hard to get where she was today.

"Cool. Hope you have what it takes to keep up with us." Frankie added and glanced towards Ravit who gave a smile to the two men.

"You can count on it." Kara glanced at Danny who was standing there still. She did wonder if he remembered her. But as she met his eyes, she saw that he remembered her.

The women excused themselves from their company and Frankie leaned in to whisper something to Danny. "I call dibs on the sexy and mysterious one."

"Knock it off. There are rules on this ship." Danny gave Frankie a look that meant he was serious.

"What's gotten your panties in a twist?" He then heard Frankie wonder.

"I've met Kara before.. sort of.." He began telling.

"So that's why she gave you the looks. What did you do?" Frankie crossed his arms over his chest and waited for the story.

"It was a misunderstanding. She overheard a conversation between these two dimwits back in Coronado and they were doubting that she would make it." He explained.

"And..?" Frankie gave him a look.

"I didn't do anything. I was there in the moment, which made her probably think that I thought it too. Which I didn't." He stated firmly. If anything he actually felt proud of her, even though he didn't know her personally. He felt that it was good to see a woman manage to go through the intensive training. And he had heard that several other women had started the training after her. He just hoped she would let him explain everything. After all they would be working closely the next months and this was already beginning to feel like a bad start.

- I aged up Lily a little for this story and as you now know Kara is a SEAL too. I know in RL this is yet to happen, to have a woman as a SEAL, and it is why I came up with the idea. :)