And the truth unravels.. Enjoy! :)

Chapter 13

x

Rachel got out of the isolation tent after she had just rescued her samples due to the blackout caused by the detonation of a nuclear bomb in the vicinity of the ship.

She walked to her desk and took a sip of her water bottle. Feeling still the sweatiness on her face as she and Quincy had tried to work as quickly as possible to save the samples.

Tom entered to the helo bay half dressed in a hazmat suit which got a puzzled look from Rachel. But before she managed to ask him why he was there dressed like that, her eye caught on a bandage on his left hand.

"What happened?" She asked feeling a sudden worry over the man and glanced at his hand.

"Gear up. We've found a ship and we are going to aboard it." Tom explained and ignored the question about his hand. Doc Rios had already assessed the superficial injury he had gotten a few moments before.

"You sure about that?" Rachel hesitated.

"We need food and fuel, or else we're not going home." Tom said and Rachel nodded briefly. Stakes were high at the moment. They needed to get back home, or to what was left of their home.

She walked behind Tom as they were preparing the RHIBs to aboard the Italian ship in sight.

"Bivas, Foster, Benz, Green. You're on provisions." She heard the Captain's orders and gave a slight look towards Kara. She was still mad at her about what she had done. And suddenly she felt an uneasy feeling inside of her, she wasn't sure what it was, but she had a restless feeling in her gut about their trip to the ship.

"Remember, if the ship has been impacted by the virus, it's airborne and highly, highly contagious even from a recently deceased corpse. You must keep your helmets on at all times." She explained as they sat on the RHIB. She glanced at the young sailors who seemed rather unaware what was waiting for them. This wasn't something they had experienced before. She heard Frankie give a reassuring talk to one of the Lieutenants, the young engineer named Chung.

Tom walked behind Rachel on the Italian ship as they approached a big hall that had once been a festive location on the ship. It was now turned into a sickbay with cots beside each other. The sight in front of them was devastating, they all had died. Died because of the virus. He glanced around and saw a married couple holding each other in the face of death. Until death to us part.. The line from wedding vows came briefly into his mind as his thoughts went to Darien and their children. He hoped they were safe.

His mind was saved from the worrisome thoughts as he heard a voice in a foreign language. Pleading for help.

"Rachel!" He raised his voice to alert her to the fact that they had a survivor. The man was still pleading for help, he felt his stomach twirl at the thought of people suffering this horrible death. And this man was suffering right in front of his own eyes.

He watched as Rachel drew blood from the man. "He wants help." He said as he followed her movements.

"The only thing that can help him now is morphine." She stated in a professional manner.

He swallowed as he watched the man die as Rachel had given him a dose of morphine. Whether it was just a dose to ease his pain or a higher dose that led to his quick death, he didn't know.

"Tom, come on." He heard Rachel's voice from beside him as he still looked over the man she had just treated.

"He's not suffering anymore." Rachel squeezed slightly his overarm but through the hazmat suit it was not much of a comfort.

He nodded and left to follow her.

They were done with their tour around the ship. Rachel had gotten the sample she required to determine how far the virus had gotten during the past months. As they walked through the corridors filled with corpses lying around they heard voices and he saw Rachel rush forward to a lobby with staircases.

"Kara!" He registered her frantic voice and saw her kneel beside the young Lieutenant on the floor, she was unconscious.

"What happened?" He asked and glanced at Lieutenants Benz, Green and Bivas.

"She tripped, fell down the stairs. Hit her head, sir." Lieutenant Benz gave the report as he looked at Kara lying on the floor.

"We can quarantine her on the ship, right?" He registered the concerned voice of Lieutenant Green. His eyes went down to Rachel who seemed rather desperate as she looked over Kara, her mask had slid slightly off as she had hit her head, she was exposed to the virus.

"This is all my fault." Rachel whispered.

"Rachel.." He knelt down beside her and looked at her, noticing that she was completely troubled over the incident. Her eyes were almost tearing.

"If the virus is as deadly as you say, and you don't have a vaccine yet.." He began saying, not sure where to lead this conversation. One person could risk the entire crew, the entire mission if there was a slip up. He sighed as he thought about the right thing to do. It would be wrong to just abandon her here.

"What are you saying?" He got a upset look out of her.

"You're the doctor here. You know how deadly the virus is." He explained. Hoping the rational part of her was in play, but she was way too emotional right now.

"I'm not leaving her! She deserves better than to be left here to die."

"We can quarantine her on the ship." She stated almost angrily as she watched over her.

"Are you going to risk the entire mission for one person?" He asked in return, wanting her to know what was at stake.

"She's worth the risk! You would do the same if you.." She stopped in mid-sentence as she made eye contact with him. In her mind she continued on only knew she was our daughter. But for some reason she couldn't say out loud those words. Not yet. She didn't even know how to tell Kara. How would she react to the news? All this time she has been part of her life without telling her.

"If I what?" He asked looking at her and thought about her words. If you were in the same position, he continued in his mind. If he had given a promise to his friend, would he feel the same as she was feeling right now? But there was something that made him suspicious that there was more to the situation than just the simple promise to look after Debbie's daughter.

Their conversation was cut short when they heard a sound from Kara, she was waking up after her fall.

He got up and he glanced at the Lieutenants who had been witnessing the conversation and wondered what they thought of him now.

"What's all this talk about a quarantine?" He heard Mike's voice as they came through the decontamination process on their ship.

"Lieutenant Foster tripped while going down the stairs and got exposed. Hit her head." Tom explained knowing Mike would be all over this.

"And you thought it was a good idea to bring her back? Risk the entire the crew?" Mike's voice got worried, Tom gave a stern look at him.

"Is this about her promise to Debbie?"

"She's going rather far to honor the wish of a dead person." Mike raised his voice and glanced at Dr. Scott as she was taking vitals from Kara inside the isolation tent.

"Watch your words. Especially around her." Tom nodded his head towards Rachel who probably had registered Mike's words. He was regretting now that he had mentioned Rachel's promise to Mike.

"The decision was mine." Tom said even though he too had had his doubts about this, but in the end the young Lieutenant had regained her consciousness even though she was still groggy. As much as he thought about the safety of his crew, she was a member of that crew, and they all had been on that ship.

Mike remained silent, he was reluctant to agree that this was the best solution, but there was little he could do to change what was already done.

"Dr. Scott?" Danny entered to the helo bay and immediately glanced at the tent where Kara was sleeping at the time being.

"Yes, Lieutenant Green?" She looked at the papers on her desk. She has been trying to figure out a possible combination for a vaccine, even though she knew that it was pointless to try and mix up something too hastily. She needed more time and right now time was something Kara didn't have. It had now been a little over 6 hours since they had returned from the Italian ship.

"Is there anything you can do?" She heard from the sound of his voice that he cared for her, and for a brief moment she thought about how Tom had once looked at her, only seen her, and she thought she had seen that same look on the night of the dance. She sighed as she knew how she felt about him, but he was married.

She got up and faced Danny. Her facial expression was probably enough to tell him that she wasn't sure if there was anything she could do. In the end she wasn't able to protect her after all.

"Nothing?" She met the young man's eyes and saw he was almost crying.

"I don't know. I'm going to try my best, but.." "It could take days, weeks or months before I have a vaccine prototype." She stated trying to hold her voice calm as she focused on the facts, hoping her heart wouldn't take over again like it had on the Italian ship.

Danny nodded at her and they heard the door open. It was Tom. She saw the young Lieutenant gather his posture quickly as his commanding officer was around.

"Am I interrupting something?" Tom gave a suspicious look towards Danny who seemed to keep his cool.

"No, sir." Was his short reply and Tom watched as he left the helo bay, hesitating a bit by the door as he glanced briefly at the tent were Kara was. He wondered if there was an issue he needed to address. The caring look the young Lieutenant held was not hidden very well.

"How is she?" Tom continued to lock eyes with Rachel.

"She most likely has a concussion, we can't know for sure how severe, but we are monitoring her and for the time being her vitals are normal." She explained, trying yet again to focus on the facts. The medical details were the only thing keeping her mind straight right now.

"I've been thinking.." "Why did you say it was your fault?" Tom asked.

Rachel walked back and forth in front of Tom, it all began to remind her of the day when she had told him about the pandemic.

"Because I got her assigned here, to this mission." She said.

"It's my bloody fault that she's on this ship! Lying there right now!" She added feeling angry at herself.

For some reason he wasn't shocked about the reveal. He had thought about the fact that it was a odd coincidence that both Rachel and Kara were on the ship.

"I get that you made a promise to Debbie.. But it must have been one hell of a promise since you've got her here. On this mission." He replied.

A simple promise to look after a child of a friend. It was quite the effort she had done to keep Debbie's child alive. He remembered looking at Kara's file back in Norfolk. Her birth year was a match. It alone was no proof of his suspicion, but a memory he had forgotten was.

He remembered he had met with Matthew briefly, and the strange behavior of him showing the picture of his daughter to him hadn't raised doubts in the moment, but now it made sense.

It was five years after the summer of 1987. They briefly met on the pier in Norfolk before deployments.

"Hey, Matthew!" He said as he approached him from behind. Having recognized him on the crowded pier.

"Tom.. It's been a while." Matthew was surprised to see him.

"Yeah.. About four-five years?"

"You and Debbie disappeared to Kansas I hear." He said and Matthew smiled as a reply.

"How you doing?"

"Great. Debbie's at home. We're married." Matthew told him and he noticed he was a little nervous.

"Well you told me she was the one. Any kids?" It did warm his heart that Matthew and Debbie were still together.

"One. A little girl."

"Congratulations! How old is she?"

"Aah.. She's four. Sweet little girl." He noticed the slight hesitation in his voice, but was reassured when Matthew continued to describe her with a loving tone.

"You have a picture?" It took a while for Matthew to find a decent picture to show him, and he remembered how briefly he held the picture in front of his eyes, excusing himself by saying he needed to get to his ship before it left without him.

He wasn't sure, but he had to ask the obvious question hanging in the air. "What promise did she give you?"

Rachel stopped in her tracks and felt like her heart had stopped. He had figured it out.

He watched her as she heard his question. There was no need to ask more questions. He turned to look at Kara inside the isolation tent, sighing as he was looking at his daughter, their child she had kept away from him. And she was going to die. He suddenly felt teary even though he hadn't known her, but she was still his daughter.

"You told me you gave her up for an adoption.." He said quietly.

"I.. I haven't decided what to say to her." He heard her explain.

"You didn't let go of her!" He raised his voice as he turned to face her.

"You stayed in her life. You got to see her grow up." He stated in a sad tone.

"Trust me when I say, I've had moments of regret every single day for not keeping her!" Rachel said breaking in her voice.

"But the moments went away when I knew how loved she was. How happy she was. And when Debbie found out she couldn't have a child of her own.." She broke in tears as she thought about her friend.

"And when Debbie died.. I.. felt lost. I didn't know what to do. She had been her mother all this time. I didn't know what I was to her now, if I should tell her the truth." He watched her as she told him.

"She needed you to be her aunt Rachel." Tom said calmly, he had noticed Kara's sadness during their conversation back in the Arctic. Realizing now what had been on her mind.

"I know it now. I used my work as an excuse, it felt easier at the time." He heard her admit and saw that she felt awful for not being there for her.

"Come here." He reached to touch her hand and pulled her against him as he embraced her, held her tight as she cried against his uniform. He sighed as he leaned in and could easily smell her scent. It wasn't the flowery scent from their summer together, this was a strange mixture of chemicals and some faint deodorant odor he didn't recognize. As he held her he couldn't help but feel the familiar tingling inside of him. The same feelings he had had all those years ago and on the night of the dance. Despite of her web of lies, his feelings hadn't changed.