Chapter 27

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Carlton was sure he looked like the Michelin man, the white hazmat suit made him feel more than just uncomfortable. He carefully walked inside the tent. His heart was thumping between his ears as he glanced at Miller, one of the young trainees they had been whipping into shape. Swallowing hard as the thought came like a wave over him, they wouldn't get to play basketball ever again, well that was already Miller's fault as he had said he could hoop, and then he had gotten the ball bounce overboard. He smiled faintly at the memory of that particular day.

He moved past Andrea and saw Mike holding her hand. Slowly he placed himself on the edge of Ravit's cot and immediately got a chuckle out of her. Even though her eyes were closed she must have known it was him.

"What?" He asked, not sure how to do this.

"Did Kara put you up to this?" Her voice was weary, but even in her death she seemed to be one of the most beautiful women.

He smiled to himself and let out a low "Yeah."

"I did tell her that you aren't one of those girls who gets all mushy." Carlton kept talking, avoiding the obvious. And he wasn't entirely sure what she wanted from him. Sure they had kissed a few times, but as long as they were on the same mission. He couldn't do much more, and she seemed to understand that. Kara and Danny being an example that it made everything so much more complicated when feelings were at play.

"Mushy?" Ravit opened her eyes and stared at him.

"It was the best I came up with at the time." He shrugged and looked at her. Her smile disappearing as she locked eyes with him. He saw from her eyes that despite of her tough shell, she wasn't ready for this. He reached to hold her hand and the minute she felt his touch, he saw her eyes get more wet.

"Don't get all mushy on me." Carlton tried to joke with a smile and got a sweet laughter out of her, but it didn't stop her tears. He sighed as he thought that these were the last moments when he would get to hear her voice, her laughter. Still remembering how she had charmed his heart already a long time ago.

"You gonna call our girl?" Cruz was nagging at his ear at the bar after their second beer, to call Kara, ask how she was doing. It was three months ago she had left Norfolk, as she was attending the Navy's Special Warfare joint operation training program in Tel Aviv of all places. If she wanted to get as far away from here as possible, she couldn't have picked a more better place, he thought.

He dialed the number and held the phone to his ear.

"So..?" Cruz asked and he whispered "It's ringing." Cheez man, how many beers have you taken? Carlton wondered as Cruz was being impatient.

The ringing stopped and all Carlton heard was some sort of girly giggling. "Hello?"

"Hello.. Hi.. What's up?" The strange foreign voice was trying to talk in a more American style, but failed. But the mysterious voice went straight to his mind as he wondered who she was and how she looked liked.

"Ravit!" He recognized Kara's voice on the background and smiled. It sounded like their girl was doing fine. Although he felt slightly sad that she had felt that she couldn't stay in Norfolk.

"Carlton, hi.." Kara was on the other end of the line now and the mystery voice was gone.

"How you've been?" Carlton asked and put the phone on speaker. They were at a bar, so it wouldn't be a private conversation tonight.

"How are you?" Cruz asked, and so the conversation went on for exactly five minutes and 10 seconds, just short enough to get an update on how things were at both ends of the phone call. And as the call ended he catched that heavenly voice again saying "Ciao" in the background.

"Why did it work on you?" Rachel desperately looked at the one monkey that had survived through her first trial. Her entire body was trembling as she thought through every second of the past few hours. What was she missing?

She rubbed her temples and closed her eyes. The answer was right before her eyes, she just didn't see it.

As she opened her eyes and stared at the emptiness for a moment she realized something, something that got her moving and fast. Before Quincy had the time to administer the Morphine.

"Quincy!" She shouted as she rushed into the helo bay.

She was going through a box when both Quincy and Tom came beside her.

"Micro cellular inflammation, oxidative stress, immune vascular dysfunction." She said almost feeling out of breath.

"How could I have missed it?" She asked, the question was more addressed at herself than the others in the room.

"Can't say that I'm following you." Tom looked at her in wonder.

"What we're seeing is an autoimmune response. The rashes, liver failure, the poor circulation. What happened to Maya was her own body attacking itself." She stopped in her tracks and explained.

"The virus is adapting." Quincy let out in a puzzled tone.

"Once it attached to the decoy, it changed shape. It exposed its human gene. Niels' gene." She stated. That bloody asshole, thinking he was the higher one of them all. She hoped that he was rotting in the bottom of the sea right now as she continued on with her search.

"And that signaled to their immune systems to launch an attack on every cell in their body." Quincy got up with her. About time.

"But the monkey survived..?" Tom wondered.

"The monkey doesn't have human genes." Both Rachel and Quincy answered in unison. And Tom felt like he wasn't cut for this type of science talk.

"It didn't have the same reaction." Rachel then added, realizing how confused this all had to sound.

"Well, this is all good news, but how do you stop it?" Tom asked, staring at her.

"I need to modify the decoy and hide Niels' gene." She said shortly.

"If our immune systems can't see it, it won't react."

"No, no. There is no way to get their bodies to manufacture the modified decoy on their own." Quincy leaned against the beam of the isolation tent and thought about Rachel's newest suggestion.

"Yes, there is. We use the Arctic strain as a Trojan horse." She said victoriously.

Making the new addition to the vaccine, coloring it light blue, she gathered the doses to five syringes and held her breath as she took one and went over to Andrea's cot. Sharing a look with Mike before she added the new vaccine prototype into her saline drip.

"I'm not killing you, please don't die." She whispered as she witnessed the blue liquid flow into Andrea's veins.

They didn't see improvements immediately, but as she could see with her own eyes, everyone was still holding on to dear life. They monitored them closely. The first thing to improve was the color on their skin, and after that their lungs were holding better on their own. It was a good sign, but until she could examine everyone thoroughly, who knew what kind of damages their bodies had endured due to this last minute save of hers? Had she saved them just in time?

Few hours later it looked like the remaining people were coming back from their ordeal, still tired as hell, sore in their bodies, but their minds stronger.

Tom came out of the tent and saw Rachel standing on the side, taking a sip of water from her bottle.

"Can we talk.. about what I hope is going on in there?" He pointed at the tent and Rachel seemed to have a joyous smile on her face which confirmed his suspicions.

"We have it. We have a vaccine." He let out with ease. This was it, after everything they had gone through. They had it. They had the vaccine!

"We don't just have a vaccine. We have the cure." Rachel stepped towards Tom and said.

"You mean?"

"I mean, that we can save people who are already sick." Rachel said her voice breaking as she thought about the past few months. How this mission had started, and where it was ending, although the ending was still at a distance. This was the start.

Tom let out a small celebratory chuckle as he embraced her. Holding her tightly as his eyes got teary at the thought of this. He felt her heart pumping as strong as his own as he held her for a moment.

As he broke off from the embrace he placed his hands on her cheeks and looked at her with admiration, this was a triumphant moment and all he wanted was to kiss her silly. And from the look on her face he knew she felt it too. He just allowed himself to caress her cheek with his thumb and then felt her move his hands away. Reminding him about their goodbye back in Serrana Bank.

He knew that when he got back, he would have to tell Darien everything about Rachel, but the thought of her not being there was scary, what if she hadn't made it? What if his family was gone? A possibility he had taken when he chose to turn the ship away from home.

Five days later Kara was playing cards in the lab with Tex, Ravit, Danny, Carlton and Miller. It was time for their checkup with the doc as Tex put it. Rachel was following the five survivors rather closely, taking additional blood work and monitoring how long it took that all their symptoms went away. There was still some headaches and pains in muscles that the five were experiencing. Rachel hadn't even cleared them for duty yet which annoyed Ravit and Miller since it was likely that they couldn't be on the land team when they got back home.

"I win!" Ravit stated and the rest of them put their cards on the table. Giving up as it was the third time now that she had won.

"So I told her how I feel." Tex gestured towards Rachel who was talking with Andrea in the other corner of the room. Hoping to get some advice from the group.

"I mean, basically, I spilled my guts to her. Sure I was spiking a hundred-and-four-degree fever but still, you know.." Tex shrugged.

"What did you say to her?" Carlton voiced himself as he fiddled with the cards on the table.

"You make me wanna love again." Tex let out feeling rather embarrassed of what he had come up with, and as he said it Halsey gave a slight 'woof' sound from under the table.

"She seems to like it. Perhaps you should take the dog out on a date." Miller quipped and got a few chuckles from the group.

"Well you are a softie, your own words." Kara stated with a smile and shared a brief glance with Danny.

Tex sighed and gave a rather lingering look towards the doc who seemed to be done with Andrea.

"What I understand about women, can fit in a shot glass." Tex said and saw Rachel walk towards the group. Andrea exited the lab, so it was time for the next one in line.

"Whose turn is it?" Rachel asked and Tex got up almost immediately, slightly struggling to hold his balance as if he had taken a few drinks.

"Dizzy?" Rachel asked with a grin.

"Well, you sort of have that effect on me." Tex replied with a wisecracking tone and the group by the table had their share of hard time to hold back the laughter.

"Come on, before you faint entirely." Rachel walked over to her desk and Tex followed, feeling all cocky.

"It's sad that he doesn't have a chance." Ravit stated sadly as they witnessed Tex use his charms on the doc.

"Yeah." Carlton agreed.

After everyone had left it was Kara's turn. It was mostly her blood work that had caused her mother to worry, insisting that she should eat more foods with iron in it. She felt just fine and didn't really understand why she was so worried over a slight drop in her iron levels, especially when donating blood had that effect.

"So I'm good to go?" Kara felt like she was sitting in the principal's office as she sat in front of Rachel's desk.

"You're iron level is still fairly low." Rachel said and looked at her all worried.

"Trust me, I'm fine." Kara got up and was about to leave.

"I'm taking some additional tests, should get the results back in a few hours." She said and Kara nodded kindly as she exited the lab.

On her way to her cabin she saw Tom walk towards her.

"Sir. Any word from Fort Detrick?" She asked.

"So far no joy. You doing okay?" He looked at her. Curious to know if she was alright after the blood donation.

"Yes, sir. You nervous about going home?" Kara watched as Tom thought over his answer.

"I'm scared to found out that we were too late." Kara heard the tone of sadness, the not-knowing shine through his words. At least she knew where Debbie was.

"Your father was in the Army?"

"Yeah."

"According to your XO those guys can hold their own." Kara said with a reassuring voice.

"I hope so." Tom smiled only just and looked at Kara. If his family would still be alive it would certainly be a rather strange family reunion as he would introduce her to his kids, wife and own father.

The following morning..

"You're sure you have enough for the whole crew?" Tom leaned against the edge of his desk in his quarters as he looked at Rachel preparing the vaccine meant for him.

"And 50 or 60 more." She smiled. It was a start.

"When we get home, we use this as a vaccine and a cure?" Tom stilled the question again, even though he knew the answer to it.

"Well, the uninfected will be immunized and the sick can be cured providing they're not too far gone." And Rachel was happy to enlighten him again as she moved closer with the syringe.

"After all the failures and the false start.. I just feel so.." She looked down and avoided his gaze, not sure if she could voice out her feeling.

"Happy?" She heard Tom's voice and lifted her head to meet his gaze with a smile.

"I cant remember the last time that I felt that emotion." A white lie coming out as she couldn't tell him about the last time she had really felt happy. Because it was with him.

They had driven to Tom's family cabin in Clearwater, Virginia. Michael and Debbie were with them, but she knew that her friend would disappear with her boyfriend as soon as they would walk inside the cabin. Leaving her alone with Tom, but it suited her just fine as there was only one thing she wanted, and it was to spend time with Tom.

"A game of Monopoly?" Tom had stared at her with a rather disappointed look that she would choose a board game over him, but she didn't just want to jump him at the first chance she got.

"Come on, it'll be fun." She placed the game on the sofa table and sat on the rather hard sofa.

"If you say so." Tom took two beverages from the kitchen and sat beside Rachel. Deliberately sitting thigh to thigh.

"You know.. There are other things we can be doing." She heard him whisper into her ear as he leaned over and right after that she felt his lips burn on her neck.

"Tom.." She chuckled and placed her arms around his neck.

"You're leaving in a few days." He lifted her legs on his lap and she looked at him, sighing at his effort. He was right though.. She would be leaving in a matter of days and was she really going to spend the precious moments she had left with him playing Monopoly?

"Don't talk." She kissed him and got his ardor going just by moving herself to sit on his lap. His hardness against her was evident as she continued to kiss him.

Later that night she woke up in the room they were occupying during their stay. He was holding his arms around her, sleeping. She turned slightly to look at him. Her finger tracing his jawline as she thought about their time together. Never did she think that she would meet someone who was like Tom. Although still a young man, he had some growing to do, but she couldn't help but feel that a piece of her heart would always stay with him.

"Where did you go?" Tom's voice broke the walk down the memory lane and she struggled for a moment. She couldn't tell him that she had just thought about yet another time when he and she were at it years before.

"Ahm.. Nowhere." She cleared her throat. "As I was saying.. There's still so much to do. We have to mass-produce the vaccine, not to mention the distribution of it. My God.." She continued to ramble on and hoped he didn't know the nature of her thoughts.

"Rachel."

"You did it. Let's enjoy the moment." Tom said warmly and she stopped. A light sigh escaped her as she calmed herself and gave the shot on his overarm.

Danny woke up abruptly as he heard Tex emptying his locker, a confirmation that they were approaching Baltimore, where he would be leaving the ship. Fort Detrick being a bust as the lab it had held had been destroyed, on purpose. The thought of it was devastating. Who would do something like that and why? Now their current destination was Baltimore, where Alisha's mother had been waiting for their return.

"Did I wake you?" Tex asked as he finished packing.

Danny got up and rubbed his face and before he knew any of it the door was wide open and Kara had walked in.

"Hey!" He felt like placing something in front of him which got a laugh out of Tex that he was suddenly acting shy in front of his own wife.

"What are you doing here?" He squinted his eyes at her and saw that the time was not more than 0615 hours.

"Just came for something." Kara squeezed herself between Danny and Tex, taking something from his locker.

"Well this is a nice sandwich." Tex raised his eyebrows and smirked at Danny, who was not amused by his comment. "No?" And at that Tex felt an elbow on his side from Kara. "Aaw, you love me don't ya?" Tex stared at Kara who only gave him a wry smile.

"Hey, get your own tags." Danny said as he saw Kara take his reserve name tags and switch hers with them.

"I don't do any sewing so.." Kara said and placed her old ones in his locker.

"Now that I'm leaving the ship, perhaps you two can bunk together. I mean Bertrise is still hogging over Kara's bed." Tex said.

"He snores."

"She snores."

"Well aren't you just perfect for each other then?" Tex smiled and looked at the two standing slightly awkwardly in front of him.

"Can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm going to miss you." Kara changed the tone of her voice and to Danny's surprise gave Tex a hug.

"This one is a keeper, Green." Tex gave a wink to Danny as he held Kara for a moment.

"Where have you been? I've been looking for you." Rachel caught up with Kara on the P-Way. Sounding slightly nervous.

"Sleeping and preparing for the mission on land." She explained and wondered what was going on.

Rachel looked at both ways on the P-Way before continuing. "I got your test results."

Kara watched as she seemed to be slightly worried and stunned at the same time.

"Just tell me." She said lowering her voice.

"Well, the additional blood work revealed that your hCG level is elevated."

"My what?"

"In other words, you're pregnant, missy." As Rachel said the words out loud she covered her mouth with her hand, the confused look on her face was slowly changing into a smile as she processed what she had heard. Pregnant?

"But I feel fine." She said, careful not to raise her voice too much.

"Well, the blood test was positive and I know you haven't exactly lived in celibacy." Rachel said with a low voice and Kara swallowed hard at the thought. She couldn't be? Could she? Her mind was going through the events on the island, wondering when and if there had been a slip.

"Even if it's true, it still early. So we can take a new test later." She reasoned.

"In the mean time, no one can know about this." She added getting a strange look from Rachel.

"You're not going to tell Danny?" Rachel asked in wonder. Knowing all too well how her secret had backfired on her face.

"This is a reason to bench me. And I can't afford that. And as soon as he knows that I'm pregnant, I'm definitely chained to the ship." Kara stated.

Rachel only nodded. Knowing that Kara was too headstrong to listen to her. She just hoped she knew what she was doing.

As soon as Kara had ended her conversation with Rachel she wondered if the test was accurate? Grazing her breasts slightly she could note a slight sensitivity in them. But as far it went, that was it. The thought of a baby was more than overwhelming right now, she hadn't really given the whole thing a thought, nor had she and Danny actually talked about having kids. Although she suspected it was something he would definitely want, coming from a family with three kids. One child was scary enough, the thought of having two more was even more terrifying. She shook her head slightly as she tried to whisk away the thoughts dominating in her mind. Before she had proof in front of her eyes, it was easier to shut down the reality that it might be true.