Chapter 7


Larrin had barely made it ten steps away from Wolf when a tall, blonde guy dressed in a formal dress navy uniform who looked like he was related to Ken Doll stepped in her way. He immediately smiled wide showing perfect smile that only solidified her opinion that he was a Ken Doll minus the traits she believed the doll's character to have as Ken Dolls usually were interested in Barbies. A Barbie doll she was not.

"Hey, I'm Petty Officer Cameron Wright." he said introducing himself, he slightly slurred his words and she couldn't help but notice that his eyes were a little glassy. All of which made Larrin nervous as she was looking for Miller not to be hit on by some drunk navy sailor.

"Ah, nice to meet you." Larrin said, she tried to move away but Wright blocked her way by stepping in front of him.

"I didn't catch your name Gorgeous." He slurred, stepping in closer to her. Larrin stepped back and gave him a strained closed lip smile as she knew his type. He was conceited enough to think that he could have any girl in the room at the snap of a finger.

"I didn't give it. Now if you'll excuse me I'm trying to catch up with someone." Larrin said as she tried to take another way around him only to have him crowd her.

"No need to be rude." He told her in a playful tone as he ran a hand down her arm as if he were soothing a nervous animal. Larrin's heart flew into her throat in panic as she didn't appreciate the gesture and after months of solitude such personal contact from a stranger unnerved her.

"I apologise and now I'm going to go." Larrin said backing away from him.

"Come on, I've been watching you all night Babe. How about a dance?" He asked her.

"No, thank you." Larrin said with a shake of her head as she turned away ready to climb over a banquet table when Wright caught her by the wrist and pulled her back to face. She knew he was being persistent and playful but to her it was an aggressive move.

"Hold up." Wright told her with a smile as his gripped tightened. Larrin winced as he was too drunk to realise how painful his grip was. Panic rose in her throat as fear bloomed through her body.

"Let go of me." Larrin said in a low voice as she tried to keep herself calm but he didn't let her go instead he pulled her towards him like he thought they were playing a game but it snapped something within her.

Her body went into autopilot from her years of training and the last months of living on the run. All rational thought flew out of her head as she reacted on pure instinct. She jabbed him in the throat and then punched him in quick successions to the sternum and stomach and then turned her back to him as she wrapped her hands around his neck and threw him to the floor. She ended up in a crouched position by his head with her hand still gripping his neck as she was ready to punch him out when she heard her name.

She stopped and looked down at Wright with wide eyes. She released her grip and Wright groaned in pain. She rose to her feet and stumbled away from Wright completely shocked and appalled by her lack of control. Mortified that she had made a spectacle of herself and embarrassed not only her brother but Miller. She pushed her hair out of her face and looked around at the faces seeing their shocked expressions, the obvious concern on Wolf's face.

"I'm sorry." Larrin said to no one in particular in a blind panic as she barely registered the activity before she turned and ran out of the room. Wolf pushed through the crowd as half the crew started in to look after Wright while others placated the civilians or he assumed as he stepped onto a banquet table to cut through the room.

He made out the door and headed down the stairs shouted at Larrin as he spotted her trying to walk calmly through the lobby. She stopped and turned him, her eyes completely wild as her demeanour was that of a hunted prey looking sanctuary.

"Larrin," He said as he got closer to her. Part of him wanted to shake her while another part of him wanted to hold her. She had seemed so completely happy and at ease, he just assumed she was fine but now he saw her differently.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt him. I-I-" Larrin stopped as she couldn't find a way to explain herself, she gave a shake of her head and shrug as tears filled her eyes. She wanted hide from the mortification and the way Wolf looked at her like she were a bird with a broken wing.

"Hey, I don't care about him. You got nothing to apologise for. But where are you running off to?" Wolf asked her.

"I-I don't know." Larrin said completely shaken by what she had done. She couldn't explain to him. Not because she didn't want to. It was just that she had no words to explain it.

"What was that back there? You never fight, you hate physical violence." Wolf said confused as he'd never seen his sister go on the offensive before. She usually used her words not her fists. It was a fairly large deviation from the sister he knew.

"He grabbed my arm and I panicked- I completely messed everything up." Larrin said blowing out a breath as she was still trying to calm down. She had felt sheer terror at what should of been an annoyance.

"No, you didn't." Wolf assured her as he rubbed a hand up and down her back in a soothing manner. All it did was make her want to cry even more.

"Taylor,"

Wolf looked up to see Kara towards them.

"Lieutenant." Wolf said in greeting. She gave them both a kind smile.

"Captain Chandler wants to speak with you. I'll stay with her." Kara offered. Wolf gave a nod and looked to Larrin who seemed to regain some of her composure.

"Ok, thanks." Wolf said as he dropped his hand away from Larrin's back.

"We'll be in the bar." Kara told him, he watched as Kara wrapped an arm around Larrin's and guided her slowly towards the lobby bar. He was grateful that Kara had come down as she was alumni of the Nathan James the fact she would take care of his sister meant that what happened with Wright wasn't going to be a huge disaster or so he hoped as he was backing his sister 100% and wouldn't want to lose what he'd found on the Nathan James for it.


"I thought Wolfman was hardcore but damn. Looks like he's the least of your problems." Cruz said to Miller.

Miller wanted to find Larrin and see if she was ok but they still had a couple more hours of the ball to endure before they were released from their duties. He couldn't exactly slip away now that the commanders and Master Chief were keeping eagle eyes on them all thanks to Wright. The asshole had it coming as far as Miller was concerned. He just wished it could have been avoided completely.

The guy was drunk in uniform which was not cool. Sure they were given some leniency in regards to drinking in uniform but getting drunk and having a woman try to flatten you for harassing her was not only bad for their image but it also led to a bad conduct discharge. Something Wright would escape given there weren't enough sailors let alone ones trained in his job. Yet.

"Oh, so now you're not interested?" Miller asked trying to keep it cool but also seeing where Cruz's head was at in regards to Larrin. Frankly he was fence sitting with her. He wanted to pursue her but on the other hand he was leaving to find his Mom.

"Ah yeah, the woman flattened Wright for grabbing her arm. Crazy women aren't my style. Easy women. Definitely but Crazy. No." Cruz said with a wry smile.

"Ok, well cover for me." Miller told him feeling better that Cruz was not going to be stepping in his way.

"Where you going?" Cruz asked.

"To find Larrin." Miller told him.

"Did you not see what happened to Wright?" Cruz asked him incredulously.

"I'm not him." Miller said as he threw his hands up in the air to say that was all he had. He placed his half empty beer glass on the table and walked away.

"Good Point." Cruz said under his breath as he turned back to the crowd in the room.


"Here, drink." Kara told her as she passed the glass of water to Larrin.

"I'm so sorry." Larrin said to her as she took the water and did what Kara ordered. "I mucked up your night." Larrin added in a despondent tone as Kara was supposed to be upstairs partying not down here looking after her.

"No, you gave us a bit of entertainment." Kara corrected.

"Everything was going so well. I got a job offer from Dr Scott. I was going to dance and celebrate but instead I attack a crew member of your ship. I embarrassed Wolf, probably scared off Miller and lost my job with Dr Scott cause I'm-" Larrin started but Kara cut her off.

"Look, St Louis is like this untouched bubble of the old world before the pandemic. But all of us on the ship, we've seen how fractured and dangerous the rest of the world is. You had to survive in that mess. So while yes, what you did to Wright was incredibly aggressive to the people here. To me, to anyone else from the ship it's understandable. Heartbreaking but understandable because we know that there are people like you who have had to use extreme measures to survive. That's not something you can switch off and get on with your day. It takes time. Something anyone who's ever been deployed can tell you." Kara told her in a soothing manner, she gave Larrin a soft and understanding smile.

"Thank you." Larrin said as Kara's words made her feel somewhat better.

"Everything will be ok." Kara assured her.

"So, what do you think the Captain is saying to my brother?" Larrin asked her.

"I have no idea but don't worry about it. I know Dr Scott will understand and you'll still have a job, Wolf can get over himself if he's embarrassed and as for Miller... Well I don't think he's scared off." Kara told her a smiled played on her lips as she moved her eyes in a 'Look that way' gesture. Larrin looked up and there at the entryway stood Miller.

"I'm going to go powder my nose." Kara said as she rose from her seat and headed to the ladies room. Larrin rose from her chair and cautiously moved towards Miller. Not because she was afraid of him but because she was afraid of making a fool of herself. She didn't want to admit it but she really like him. He was possibly the nicest and most polite man she had encountered since the pandemic.

"Hey. Are you ok?" Miller asked her.

"I'll live, he was being an ass and I over-reacted. I'm sorry." She said, she cringed as she couldn't stop apologising. Miller closed the space between them but made no move to touch her but the way he looked at her made her feel warm and comforted.

"You don't need to apologise. Wright had it coming for months."

"I was trying to find you in the crowd. I was hoping we could share a dance. That is if you dance." Larrin said in a shy manner. "Not that it matters as I can't show my face up there after what happened." She admitted, she bit her bottom lip and she hug her arms around her middle in a self protecting manner. She couldn't help but wait for some kind of blow back where he'd just drop her like a hot potato for being a mess or too crazy.

"May I?" he asked as he held out his hand to her. His cheeks were burning as they were standing in the middle of a bar. He was not a flashy and confident guy but he could dance. Frankly the way Larrin looked at him and made him feel about himself made him want give her the world.

Larrin took his hand in much the same way like they had first met. He relished the confidence that her trust in him gave him, as he slowly closed the gap between them. He adjusted the hold of her hand in his and lifted her other hand placing it on his shoulder as he slid a hand around her waist to the middle of her back.

He felt her tense up but didn't pull back. He knew he was taking a risk of ending up like Wright but he felt it was worth it even just hold her for a little while and as soon as she said the word. He'd pull away.

"What are you doing?" She asked him nervously, as she was unsure of what was going on but not entirely hating it. She could feel the heat of his body and smell the light scent of his cologne that was incredibly intoxicating.

"We're dancing, whenever you want to move your feet." Miller said, Larrin gave a chuckle and ducked her head for a moment before she looked at him.

"I might step on your toes." She warned him.

"I'll survive." He assured her, as they slowly started to dance. She barely made it a few steps before as warned Larrin stepped on his foot. They faltered and laughed it off before continuing on.

After a few rounds of the same steps, Larrin began to relax in his arms. Miller's hand on her back never went any lower and he kept his gaze on her face when he wasn't making sure they didn't bump into furniture. She couldn't help but enjoy the moment as it felt incredibly special to be held by him and let go of her control and let him take the lead.

"So have you made any decisions about where you'll end up?" Miller asked her breaking the companionable silence.

"I had a job offer from Dr Scott to go with her but after tonight. I doubt it's still on the table." Larrin said begrudgingly.

"Dr Scott was gone by then and even so, I doubt she'd care. If the offer was still on the table would you go?" he asked, he couldn't help but feel his hopes lift as it meant their separation wouldn't be too long at all if she was with Dr Scott then he'd get to see her nearly everyday barring when he went to find his Mom.

"Yeah, she's amazing and it would be great as it'd set me for life." Larrin said her eyes lit with excitement at the prospect.

"I think you should take it." Miller said, he knew if Larrin didn't it would be a waste of her potential as he could see it was something that would make her happy an he wanted that for her.

"You do?" Larrin asked.

"Yeah but I'm selfish in telling you that." he confessed with a sly smile.

"Why?" she asked with a frown.

"I'm on her security detail which means I'd be around and we could hang out together." Miller said, he wanted to say 'date each other' but chickened out as he didn't want to push his luck.

"I'd like that." Larrin said to him.

"Looks like the party upstairs is coming to us." Miller said as he heard yahooing and footfalls coming their way and slowed their dance bringing it to a natural conclusion. Larrin gave a closed lip smile and reluctantly stepped back.

"Thank you for the dance." she told him.

"Any time." He told her.