15. On the Nathan James

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He was running up the hill as fast as he could, feeling a sharp pain in his stomach. He saw her disappear behind the hill. In desperation he shouted out "Kat!" and as he took another look up the hill, he saw the hill transform into Mount Everest and he was standing on the bottom of it. Then out of nowhere he heard the faintest voice.

"Are you okay?"

Glancing around him, but not seeing anyone. "Who's there?"

"He's not wearing a uniform, sir." Another voice said sounding near him.

"He's hurt." The first voice came back again.

"Sir. What are we going to do about him?" The second voice again. Where was it coming from?

"Bivas. Take him back to the ship. Put him on quarantine." That voice, where did it come from?

Glancing around him, bright sun stinging in his eyes. "Kat? Is that you?"

"Can we trust him?" A different voice this time.

"Keep your eyes open for hostiles."

"How's John Doe doing?" Kara glanced inside the isolation tent in the helo bay where the old man was lying handcuffed to a bed.

"He's delirious, severely dehydrated. I managed to clean and close the wound on his stomach. It was most likely caused by a small knife." Doc Rios explained.

"Is he talking?" Kara asked.

"No, only thing he keeps repeating is, where's Kat?" Doc Rios replied and Kara nodded, leaving the helo bay.

Feeling slightly afraid that they had picked up an unknown man and he was on their ship now. It had seemed like he had taken several hostiles down by himself and gotten wounded in the process. But they couldn't know for sure if he had gotten all of the hostiles. They were short on people and having General Quarters at the moment wasn't an ideal plan.

Their mission to Nicaragua had been a success. They had found the Wild Life Preserve Dr. Scott had told them about. During their trip towards Nicaragua they had also answered to a distress call made by a young girl. She wasn't quite sure what the Captain had thought when he had answered to her hail, but they had rescued the girl. She had been on a boat with infected people, but she had survived and as Doc Rios had tested her, she too was immune. What were the odds of that? She thought. According to Dr. Scott natural immunity was rare.

But she couldn't help but feel that something was off. It had been too easy, she thought.

On their way back to Norfolk, Captain Chandler had decided that they were stopping at Gitmo to gather up supplies and to refuel. Officials had evacuated the base, but there was still a good chunk of supplies left. And they could use all they could find.

As she walked towards the CIC, Ravit caught up with her. She had escorted the man back to the ship. But Green, Burk, Taylor and Chandler were still out there. She felt the uneasy feeling coming over her again. Wasn't the ventilation on the ship working? She felt suddenly very warm. Given the fact that things weren't as strict anymore she wondered if Captain Chandler would allow his crew to just wear normal clothes instead of the standard navy uniforms. It was after all warm in their current location.

"So.. You never answered my question." Ravit gave a look at her way.

"Huh?" She glanced at her way puzzled by what was she talking about now?

"You know.. On scale from 1 to 10, how good is the package?" Ravit said with a light tone.

Feeling the sudden redness coming on to her cheeks. Oh that question.. "I'm not going to answer that." She chuckled awkwardly. She wasn't going to discuss about how well Danny was equipped and the topic at hand wasn't his choice of guns. And for the other hand, knowing how well Burk would be.. No no. She forced the thought out of her mind. She could discuss other topics, but not this kinda girl talk.

"So how are things going with Burk?" She stopped and looked at Ravit. Trying to change the subject to something more decent.

"I suppose things are going great, given the situation around us." Ravit answered, but she was sensing there was more to it.

"You know Burk is pretty serious about you." She met Ravit's eyes and saw that she seemed a little guarded, was she afraid of something? Remembering back to her wedding.

"Look at them." She had whispered as she was dancing with Danny. "I'm looking at you." She heard him say and she turned to meet his eyes. "Your beautiful." He had continued. "Your making me blush." She chuckled, but it did feel very thrilling inside of her, hear him say things like that. "Can I dance with her?" She then heard Burk's voice beside them. So they switched, Ravit was dancing with Danny and she was with Burk.

"You two are cute together." She smiled and she sensed Burk tense a bit. "We are not exactly together, but I like her. I like her a lot." Burk told her with a serious tone. And she saw it in his eyes, he was serious about her and perhaps that's why he felt so nervous around her. "She likes you too. You know that." She reassured the man. Ravit had been worried at the cabin when Burk wasn't there, so she must have deeper feelings too.

"I know." Hearing her answer with a nervousness in her voice and as she took hold of the necklace she had around her neck. The same one Ravit had loaned to her on the day of her wedding. It seemed there was a story behind it.

"You can talk to me. When ever you want." She reached to touch her overarm and gave her a little stroke. Seeing Ravit nod at her, she knew she would eventually tell her.

The team had scouted the base and they hadn't found any hostiles which was a relief. The warehouse was filled with food, but they would have to work long hours to transport the goods back to the ship.

She was in the head and she faced her own gaze from the mirror. Sighing to herself.

"How far along?" She heard Ravit ask beside her. How had she figured it out?

But it was true. She knew what it was. The sudden feel of being tired, and her period was late and she was almost never late. And when she had smelled Bacon's usually delicious breakfast buffet this morning. It wasn't as delicious to her stomach.

"4-5 weeks I guess." She looked at Ravit. "How did you know?" She asked.

"My little sister was the same." Ravit smiled. Hmm.. So she was an aunt. How was she really handling all of it? She might never get to go back home.

"I thought you were careful?" She heard her ask.

"We have been careful, but sometimes we might have slipped. It hasn't exactly been looking like we are going to make it through this. So.." She explained. She should have known better, but thinking about the state of the world.. Dr. Scott wasn't making any progress that they knew about with the vaccine. So they had been careless a couple of times, but they had taken the risk together.

"You going to tell Danny?" Ravit looked at her.

"Not yet. I wanna be sure first." She met Ravit's eyes and she nodded.

"Congratulations then." Ravit smiled. "Thank you." She smiled back. But her smile didn't last very long as she felt that the news of her being pregnant wasn't all that joyful at the moment. Not knowing if they would survive.

As they exited the head she saw Ensign Mason waiting for them. "Ma'am, there's something you need to hear." He said and they started to follow him to the comms room.

"Listen to this." Mason gave her the headset.

As she listened, her jaw dropped down and she had a pretty stunned look on her face.

That voice..

Thank you for reading! :)