29. Comfort in simple ways

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Danny

"Danny!" Tex met his eyes. "Find her. If I die.. You need to find her. Find Kat." Tex pleaded to him and handed him a letter. As he took the letter from him, he nodded to the man. He made a promise to find his daughter. He hardly knew the man so well, but somehow Tex was trusting him to find his little girl. Feeling a touch of sadness that he hadn't spent that much time with him, to get to know him for real. To know something about the man, he just had made a promise to. To have something to tell his daughter about him.

He was sitting on the beach and he heard footsteps behind him. "You want some company?" Frankie sat down beside him and Halsey came to lie between them. He noticed Burk and Wolf sat down on his other side followed by Cruz.

"He asked me to find his daughter. I promised him I would." He said looking at the ocean, seeing the Russian ship along with the Nathan James.

"We'll help you." Burk said as he glanced at the guys on his left side, they all nodded in unison.

"We'll find her." Frankie said reassuringly. He opened his mouth, but didn't have any words to say. How would he find her, even if he knew exactly where she had been during the outbreak, it didn't mean she would still be there. But he had made a promise to Tex. And he wouldn't break his promise. He hoped to god that Dr. Scott would succeed. That they didn't need more volunteers. He saw the look on the Captain's face, he could only imagine what he was going through right now. He felt relief that Kara was pregnant and couldn't take part in the trial.

"If I could I would have volunteered." Frankie said and as he glanced at his friend, he saw the guilt on his face. The feeling of being untouchable by fate, at least to the deadly virus. Other things can still get to you, but not the virus that most likely has killed the loved ones of everyone's closest family.

"We tried to volunteer, but Tex beat us to it." Cruz stated.

"Perhaps we'll get our turn on the next round." Wolf said stating the obvious. What if Rachel didn't succeed this time around. How many times would she try?

After a moment of silence he had to try and comfort Frankie "You were the key to create the vaccine prototype."

"I might be the key, but knowing that so many people have lost their loved ones.. Why am I different?" Frankie asked.

"Perhaps you're different. Perhaps you're better than the rest of us or perhaps you just are lucky. Doesn't matter why you're different, all that matters is that you're still alive and with us." Burk met Frankie's eyes.

"You might have saved the world. You should be happy about it." Cruz added.

"Saved the world, but there might not be much to save." He hardly heard Frankie's words. The meaning of it, how many would there be to save when Rachel would finally have the vaccine.

Sensing that Frankie felt uncomfortable in the spotlight of being portrayed as a hero, perhaps he needed some more time to process it all, so he turned the topic at hand towards Burk. "I hear congratulations are in order." He looked at Burk and saw that he might just be blushing a bit when he realized what he meant.

"Yeah, we heard. Congratulations." Wolf patted Burk on the shoulder.

"You locked a beauty. Congrats." Cruz added.

"Thank you." Burk smiled a bit.

"We should organize a singles evening." Frankie said joking a bit. Trust it to Frankie to say something like that when the world was possible ending. He heard that his comment got some laughs in their group.

"Yeah, it does get lonely sometimes." Wolf brought the painful notion to the air. While he had Kara, Burk had Ravit, Cruz, Wolf and Frankie didn't have anyone close to them. No one to find comfort in, no one to hold when the reality got too overwhelming, no one to feel in their arms, no one to reveal their deepest thoughts to, their fears and hopes. He felt even more sadder at the thought of his friends being alone, even though they had developed into a tight group, it wasn't the same talking to a friend than it would be to someone you love.

And Frankie might be lucky because he was immune, but he felt lucky that he had Kara as he was sure that Burk felt the same way about Ravit. Was the guilt equally devastating for him and Burk than it was for Frankie? But no matter how he twisted his thoughts in his head. His and Burk's guilt of having some touch of happiness in their current situation couldn't compare to Frankie's.

Kara

Kara was sitting by a table at the main house with Alisha, Ravit and Maria. They were trying to think of something else than the trial that was ongoing. But the mood amongst the group was pretty heavy, but Alisha tried to lighten things up "Do we get to plan a wedding?"

Glancing at Ravit she saw her smile. That very smile she once had felt on her face too. The afterglow of being engaged and when you have made a promise to someone. A promise that you will give yourself to that someone.

"Why are you smiling like that?" She heard Ravit ask her when they met at the base. "I asked Danny to marry me." She said smiling even a bigger smile when she heard her own words. She had asked the man she loved to marry her. Never thought it would be her that would ask the question, but at the time it had felt the right thing to do. "You did what?" Ravit asked looking pretty astonished after her revelation. She nodded back at her confirming that she hadn't misheard her. "Are you in love?" Ravit had then asked seriously. "We've only known for a short period of time, but that was all that was needed for me to fall for him. And the short time we might have left, I don't wanna waste it." She explained and Ravit seemed to understand her as she nodded and gave her a hug.

"We haven't talked about it." Ravit gave as an answer. She noticed the slight hesitation in her words. Might not be a good time right now because who knew how the trial would end up.

"I think it would be nice to have something else to think about." Maria stated.

"Not to worry about the world ending, our lives.." Alisha continued but wasn't able to finish her sentence. Glancing at her, she knew she was thinking about Sarah.

And here she was, happily married, in love and having a baby. Sighing a bit at the thought that she felt glad of all the things she just listed. She was glad that Alisha had pushed her to go on the road trip with Danny, she was glad she had had the courage to make the move on him, she was glad that she had asked him, she was glad that she got to feel this amazing feeling inside of her every time her baby made the slightest move or gave her a kick. First it was just a light stroke against her belly, then it came a little stronger, like a small bump, this time more precise, deliberate little bump. As she studied her belly she could spot the small waves on her skin when the baby was kicking and as she placed her hand to feel the small bumps against her hand, it was so overwhelming. She had even startled Danny the other day.

She had been lying awake on their bed in the tent as she was feeling her baby move. She felt the tears coming down on her face, because she was so happy. That she got to feel these little movements. "What's the matter?" She had heard Danny ask as she probably had woken him up. "Nothing, feel this." She had guided his hand on her belly and she studied his face and wondered when he would feel the little bump. Suddenly noticing him smile and seeing that he was awed by what he had just felt. He glanced at her and chuckled a bit. She saw he was feeling the same as she was. "It's amazing." He got around to say and reached to give her a kiss on the cheek. "I know." She agreed.

"Do you think Dr. Scott has the means to create a vaccine?" Maria brought up the subject they were trying to bury.

"Honestly, she probably has. But when she'll discover the vaccine is something we don't know." She said. She was hopeful. Somehow as she felt her baby growing inside of her, she had found this new hope for the future. That one day Rachel would succeed in her mission that she started all those months ago. But she couldn't deny that the future wasn't still scary. But she had Danny to share her fears with, to comfort her when the thoughts came too much.

They decided to walk to the beach were they had seen the guys sit earlier. And as they walked towards them they sensed that they had been puzzling over the same things. Hoping the outcome of the trial would be a positive one.

Alisha sat down beside Frankie, giving him a faint smile. Hoping it was enough to ease his worries for the moment.

Maria found a spot beside her brother. Giving him a reassuring look and placing her head against his shoulder.

Ravit placed herself between Burk and Wolf, holding hands with Burk and getting a confused look from Wolf as she had taken his hand in her other one. Wanting him to know he wasn't entirely alone.

Kara settled herself in front of Danny, feeling the immediate warmth surrounding her as he embraced her, tucked his chin in her neck. She sensed he was worried about the trial, they all were. Allowing themselves to be hopeful, but feeling the weight of it, that their hopes might be crushed.