28. Progress

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Chandler entered to Dr. Scott's working area on board the Russian ship. She had left the sickbay yesterday and he thought he should apologize for their actions.

"Doc Rios already explained to me." He heard her stiff voice as he walked towards her. She was gazing at the computer screen in front of her.

"I know. But I wanted to tell you I'm sorry. We crossed the line." He admitted and looked at Rachel. Noticing that her gaze slightly wavered from the screen.

"Quite frankly, I don't know if I should slap or kiss you." Rachel met his eyes for a moment. He sensed she was most likely hurt.

"Well I hope the latter.." He chuckled and got a strange look out of her, and then he realized what he had said. He was after all happily married.

After a moment of silence she continued "But I can understand why you did what you did. And I can't completely deny that it wasn't what I needed."

He nodded, not sure how to proceed forward. He hadn't expected to "win" her over this quickly.

"You might wanna sit down." Rachel then looked at him with a serious expression on her face.

After she had filled him in on the fact that the man Commander Slattery had found on the Russian ship was most likely patient zero. Since he refused to cooperate with Rachel and didn't allow her to take any samples, it was the logical conclusion she had made. He had weaponized the virus by adding the human gene thus making the virus deadly and allowing it to spread all over the world. Killing millions of people in it's wake.

But it wasn't all she had to tell him. She might have found a way to create a vaccine. He felt his heart stop at the thought of it. But he also knew that after the first trial, Rachel had been devastated as she didn't know what had gone wrong. But now she claimed she had the answer. It was the human gene that she finally had identified that had caused an auto-immune reaction. She just had to find a way to hide the human gene. Just find a way.. He thought. So she wasn't close to a breakthrough..

"Are you sure?" He asked. Studying the woman as she seemed to be a little insecure.

"I believe so. If I use the Arctic strain as a decoy.. I just need to find the right composition." She explained and then he realized why she was so troubled by her discovery. She can't test the vaccine on monkeys, she needs a new volunteer, god knows how many before she creates the right kind of mixture.

He shook his head. Her last trial didn't give a positive outcome, she hasn't been making any progress for a vaccine and adding to the mix her exhaustion which wasn't public knowledge, but has somehow spread amongst both the civilian survivors and the people serving in the Navy. He and Slattery were feeling the pressure of trying to lead a group of people that were afraid, losing their hope for a better future and now he would have to find new volunteers.

He was with Darien in the wardroom later the day and confided in her about the discovery. He knew he should talk with Slattery about the next step in the plan, but he felt he needed someone close to him to open his eyes.

"I should volunteer." Tom said looking at Darien who sat beside him holding his hand on the table in front of them. He saw the terrified look on Darien's face when he said it out loud. He had thought about it, just because he was in charge of the mission, protecting Dr. Scott and her research, didn't mean that he couldn't volunteer.

"No." He heard Darien's reluctant voice as she met his gaze. He felt her hand tighten around his as she looked at him.

"I will." She then said and his jaw dropped. That wasn't going to happen, he thought. But before he could start to argue her on the matter she sensed he was upset about it. He felt his heart aching in his chest to think that she might not make it through. It was a thought too overwhelming to even process.

"You are needed Tom."

"So are you!" He raised his voice. Not willing to hear her argument.

"Sam and Ashley need you! I need you!" He got up from his chair and walked a few steps away from her. Hearing that she got up too. He was rubbing his face with his hands when he felt her hand on his shoulder.

"Tom. I've lived a life filled with love and happiness. A good life. And if this is when I die.. I'll be content, because if it means that there is a chance for our kids to grow up. I'll take that chance." She said with a calm voice, her voice didn't even waver once. He turned to face her and hold her hands in his. He met her eyes and felt the tears coming in his. He knew she had made her mind about it already. There was nothing he could say, and as he thought about it, what right had he to say that she couldn't volunteer and someone's else's wife or husband, brother or sister, colleague or friend had to be the guinea pig? Although it was voluntarily.

"I don't know what I'll do without you." He said, hearing his voice shake a bit.

"You'll figure it out." She placed a hand on his cheek and he felt her warm touch on his skin.

"Darien.." He started to say as she hugged him, he embraced her tightly, not wanting to let go.

He saw the unpleasantness of the situation in Rachel's demeanor. She wasn't happy about the idea either. Because it meant that his wife's life was in her hands. She was literally possibly killing his wife with one of the deadliest viruses ever known. As it had turned out, Tex had volunteered as well which Rachel had accepted. Allowing her to use two different doses, hoping that one of them would work.

"You doing okay?" Slattery glanced at him as he stood outside the isolation tent.

"My wife might die, what do you think?" He stared the tent in front of him. Following what was going on. Darien and Tex had received both the virus and the vaccine prototype and seemed to be talking, even laughing on their cots.

"I know if Christine was in there.." Slattery began to say, but seemed to sense that there was no comforting words for a situation like this. He knew that Mike understood the emotions going through him at the time. He felt his stomach sick of worry, unsettling feeling of not knowing what was going to happen. His heart beating through his chest as he thought about her.

Thinking back to their wedding day as he had held her in his arms. Meeting her gaze and looking at the joyous smile she had had. He had felt happy, because he had just married the woman he loved more than anything. They would be starting a future together. Never did he guess that the future would turn out to be like this.

For those who are still following the story, thank you for reading! :)