Chapter 18


"Do we have some music?" Alisha asked from the backseat as they'd been driving for nearly 6 hours and while they stopped a couple hours ago to stretch their legs and have a break they'd run out of conversation and she just wanted to fill the silence so she didn't think about Sarah or Val.

She was so completely conflicted about Val as she had never felt such chemistry with a beautiful, intelligent and incredibly frustrating woman who made her blood boil with her crackpot conspiracies. But there was something about Val, a sense of understanding that Val had never felt with Sarah who was the love of her life.

It was why she was so driven to find Sarah. She felt if she found Sarah it would make whatever she felt for Val disappear. Frankly she had wanted to search for Sarah since setting foot in Baltimore all those weeks ago. She tried not to think about Baltimore as it led to thoughts of her mother.

"Local radio stations aren't playing music." Wolf said from the front seat as Miller was driving.

"No CD's?" Alisha asked them.

"It's a new car." Wolf explained.

"I could attach my iPhone. I got a kick ass playlist." Miller said as he weaved through the highway narrowly missing abandoned cars. He gestured to said phone that was sitting in the middle console in one of the cup holders.

"No, you don't. Your taste in music is questionable." Burk told him as he woke up from his nap in the middle seat to join the conversation.

"Anything would be better than the silence right now." Alisha told Burk as she reached past him for the phone without even asking for permission and turned on the Bluetooth on it. She looked to Wolf who obliged by turning the settings on the sound system to pair with the phone. She scrolled through Miller's music selection until she found something she could listen to and embarrass Miller at the same time.

She showed Burk who shook his head at the song choice but it didn't stop Alisha from hitting play. Sexy 80's saxophone and percussion music played over the speakers. Wolf chuckled as he turned up the volume.

"Diamond life, lover boy. He move in space with minimum waste and maximum joy.City lights and business nights. When you require streetcar desire for higher heights" Of Sade's Smooth operator played. Alisha started singing with the song while Burk shook his head in disapproval.

"Sade is awesome." Miller said seeing Burk's disapproval in the rear view mirror. Danny just sat in his side of the car smiling as he didn't really care but enjoyed the frivolity of it as Alisha sang 'Smooth Operator' as smoothly like she were the true owner of the song.


"So when will they check in?" Larrin asked Kara as they were making dinner, it had been a long day of stripping more carpet out of the house. Larrin was beginning to think that the house was breeding the carpet as it seemed like they'd ripped out enough to cover three houses worth of floors.

"When they hit their first campsite. So just before sundown unless something happens that we need to be aware of." Kara told her as she shredded lettuce for a salad while Larrin was playing with Halsey on the floor. Kara didn't have the heart to tell her that Halsey was a working dog. Plus Halsey was totally mooching the attention as he rolled onto his back for a belly scratch. Something Larrin obliged him in.

Tex and Kat had left after lunch to see about schools and getting Kat enrolled. Tex was adamant about her finishing high school, something Kara had to agree with even if she didn't have any right to an opinion on the matter.

"Ok," Larrin said with a nod, Kara gave her a kind smile as she had to admit staying behind while others went out on a mission was not a new experience to her but today was the first time she wasn't acting as support in CIC. So she could understand Larrin's sense of being lost by the whole process. It wasn't like the guys and Alisha ran off for a weekend in Vegas. It was still dangerous out there and America was not the same place anymore.

"It'll be fine." Kara assured her.

"I know, I just want them to be safe." Larrin said, she knew what it was like out there and felt a tight knot in her stomach about them being out there even with their training and weapons. She paused in petting Halsey, he rolled onto his stomach and dropped his head down watching them as Larrin absently rubbed his back.

"They'll come back just fine. You know, I really appreciate you and Tex tearing apart my house to bring it into this era." Kara told her.

"I broke a wall." Larrin told her as she gave Kara an incredulous look not understanding how Kara could possibly appreciate her damaging her property.

"I don't mind. Oh, I found another lizard in the pantry." Kara said pulling the small statue out of the pocket of her apron and placing it on the bench. Larrin smiled as she got to her feet and moved the bench. She picked the lizard up in her hands.

It was really creepy looking but she had been slowly putting them all into Wolf's room with them all facing the door. So when he came home and walked into his room; he'd find them all staring at him like a dog waiting for its' owner to come home.

"Last night was a lot of fun." Larrin said as she remembered last night vividly. She kind of wished she had kissed Miller properly just once before he left. So she would know what it was like, but she also liked waiting, it made it feel all the more special, that she was treasured.

"You really like him don't you?" Kara asked, Larrin blushed at the question.

"He's a really nice guy who's fun to be with. I just hope he finds his Mom." Larrin said gently changing the topic as she really didn't want to create a fantasy relationship with Miller in her head of how great it'd be if the reality ended up differently.

"I think it's safe to say that we all hope we find our families alive and well." Kara said as she tossed the lettuce into a serving bowl that Larrin had put in tomatoes and avocados.

"Is Danny looking for your family?" Larrin asked, Kara shook her head.

"No, I just have my Mom and she's alive. I found her in Norfolk, just where I left when I deployed to the Arctic." Kara told her.

"Will she move down here?" Larrin asked, she noticed how Kara's features closed at the question and wondered if she had said something wrong.

"Ah I don't know, she will probably visit when the baby is born but it's a little complicated." Kara told her in an evasive manner. She didn't know how to explain to Larrin her fears of her mother the recovering alcoholic sliding off the wagon yet again.

It had been great seeing her mother sober and productive but it wasn't like she hadn't seen her that way before. Her mother always sobered when a man was in her life but the moment he left; emotionally or physically, she sank into the bottle. It was so hard to love her mother, as it left Kara being continually hurt and feeling as though she was never enough. That she wasn't worth much because her mother didn't think she was important enough to give up alcohol.

She knew she would have to call her mother but right now she had the fantasy that her mother was sober and living her life in Norfolk. She feared if she called it might be the opposite and now she was pregnant she had the hard choice of helping her mother or focusing on her future and child. She knew it sounded harsh but she didn't want her child knowing that side of his or her grandmother.

Drunk Debbie was a cruel and vicious woman, Kara had put up with it for years because for most part she didn't know any better and because she always thought she could one day be enough that her mother would sober up. It shaped the person she was, why she didn't drink, why she didn't date a lot of men. She didn't want nor need a man to validate her existence. Her career had been her focus point and then Danny had come along. He was really an aberration, he made her feel in a way no other man had before. It had thrilled her and scared the hell out of her at the same time. For all the mistakes they made over the short course of their relationship she'd come to realise that she loved him and didn't regret a moment of it.

"I'll tell you about it one day, just not today." Kara told Larrin.

"Fair enough." Larrin said letting it go. "So, do you know what's going to happen with reconnecting with other countries?" she asked.

"I don't know but I can ask around. I know given we have a cure it's now all about spreading it to everyone around the world." Kara told her.

"I'd like that." Larrin said, she knew it was a long shot but she would like to know if her family was alive. It also raised a lot of fears and other questions she wasn't sure how to answer. Right now she was living in a bubble where she could pretend her family was alive. If she found out otherwise- well, she couldn't think about it because it hurt too much.

"Do you think if you got the chance to go back to Australia you'd go?" Kara asked her out of curiosity. One of the questions Larrin was thinking of.

"Only if I had something to go home to but I doubt I'd know what to do there any better than I do right here and now." Larrin said a self deprecating laugh as she placed the lizard back on the bench. It really made her uneasy being so listless and without purpose.

"You don't have to any answers or do anything." Kara said wanting to lessen the burden from Larrin's shoulders.

"Except fix up your house." Larrin said with a teasing smile, Kara smiled.

"You don't have to do that." She told her in a serious tone so Larrin knew that it was optional for her.

"It's actually really cathartic to work with my hands." Larrin confessed to her, it did feel good to work in the house. It was a distraction but at least at the end she will feel as if she had finished something that would make Kara happy, it would be a home for her, Danny and their baby.


"I can't believe it took us 8 hours to drive something that'd take 2 hours." Miller said as he and the others sat around the dinner table of an abandoned house. It felt wrong being in the house of strangers but it was easier to stay in the house than set up a campsite. It was luckily early spring so they didn't really need to worry about heating or air conditioning. With no electricity they relied on the afternoon light to go over logistics.

"We knew it wouldn't be easier." Burk said as he took a sip of his coffee.

"True but there has to be a road somewhere that's more accessible." Wolf said as he looked down at the maps laid out on the table.

"According to Satellite images, we just need to get through this part of the highway and we'll have a clear run up until here." Alisha told them. It placed them just on the border of Iowa. "Commander Slattery wants us to stop at the town here and deliver some of the cure there. Apparently there's a group of immune people who go out and find supplies for the safe zones still intact in the region. If we give them the cure then they will spread it in their travels." Alisha added.

"They aren't immunes right?" Burk asked for clarification.

"Yeah, it was clarified that they are friendlies. It's too far North to be Ramsey's people and I doubt they'd want to help us." Alisha told them.

"But we'll proceed with caution." Wolf said more than asked as he didn't like how it sounded. He knew he wasn't the only one who was a bit edgy about meeting new people on their travels.

"Goes without saying." Danny said, it was why they were travelling in plain clothes than in their BDU's. They wanted to keep a low profile as much as possible as they were out in the wild alone with no back up. That and technically it wasn't a mission so they weren't suppose to wear their uniforms.