Chapter 40
"Thanks for letting me stay." Larrin said to Andrea over breakfast which consisted of muesli, yogurt, fresh berries and chocolate chips. Lots of chocolate chips.
Larrin had to like how Andrea claimed it was 'healthy' because the chocolate chips were dark chocolate that was full of antioxidants and other good stuff for the body and brain hence one needed such a large dose of it. Larrin didn't mind at all as it was a pretty delicious breakfast. Andrea gave her a smile from across the table and washed down her food with a sip of coffee.
"Anytime, I got a guest bedroom for a reason." Andrea told her with a shrug.
"So do you know what's on the agenda?" Larrin asked her.
"We're going over to Kara's house to check out the damage you and Miller did and what we can do to improve it." Andrea told her, she enjoyed the blush that graced Larrin's cheeks.
"It was an accident." Larrin said trying not to smile as it might be funny but she and Miller did some serious damage. "But you should see Wolf's room, though he's probably fixed it by now." Larrin added with a frown as she really wanted to be there when he saw his room.
"What did you do?" Andrea asked.
"Filled it with creepy little lizard statues and put his bed spread into a cobalt blue fluffy cover. It has a matching pouf that has a dog face on it. I made it that he just opens the door and they are all looking at him. Kind of like how a pet waits for their owner to come home." Larrin told her, Andrea could help but chuckle at the imagery in her mind.
"Miller helped you?" Andrea asked.
"Well, we originally ripped the lizards and placed them around the house. I just slowly moved them into Wolf's room. But yeah, a few of the lizards were harder to pull off than others and well accidents happen." Larrin offered.
"That they do. Either way, we'll check out the house. You can do whatever you want but I recommend taking it easy. Commander Chandler will want to brief you before you and he leave for the trade tomorrow morning." Andrea told her in a casual manner.
"Right ok." Larrin said with a nod as she didn't know what to do with her last 12 hours of freedom.
"This is a mess." Wolf said to Kat as he scratched his chin. He really needed a shave as the stubble was driving him batty but he knew his annoyance wasn't really about the beard coming in but about how time was creeping away on Larrin leaving with Tex. Also Miller and the others, Barbara wasn't taking it well knowing Miller was going on mission so she dragged him into the backyard where they'd piled all the salvageable furniture dragged from the house and the attic. They were having Mother-son time as far as Barbara was concerned and Miller was for it.
"We did the best we could." Kat told him a little annoyed at how he just kept nit picking on the negative. She was just as upset and worried about Larrin and her dad going but she was keeping positive.
"Oh nah, not your work. You and Larrin are machines. I meant the house. Where do we even start?" Wolf asked her, Kat perked up at the compliment as she and Larrin had worked hard and it did show. At least upstairs it did as the walls and floors had been stripped of their carpet and wallpaper. So all they needed was some sanding, fresh paint on the walls and a varnish on the floor to seal them.
The bottom floor was fairly untouched. The carpet had been pulled out a long with whatever furniture leaving ugly light fittings and wallpaper that had seen better times.
"Well, Dad said Danny's got a bum leg so maybe focus on the bottom floor for now but Ms Miller said we need to make the baby's room on the list too. She said that it will help Kara to feel more at home knowing the baby has a room and a bed." Kat told him.
"Ok, well we'll get majority whoever's volunteering to work on the bottom floor and task two upstairs. Does the baby have a room?" Wolf asked Kat as she seemed to know what was going on.
"Yeah, Ms Miller said that the baby gets the room with the across from the bathroom on the top floor. It apparently the best size room for a baby." Kat told him.
"Why isn't Ms Miller running the show?" Wolf asked her as Miller's Mum seemed to know everything that needed to be done and in what order.
"Because she likes to sit back and watch the show." Kat told him, Wolf frowned as he didn't like the sound of that as Kat said it in a matter of fact manner but Wolf wondered if Miller's Mum thought he was running a Chippendale show as she was going to be sorely disappointed as the Nathan James crew were fit but majority weren't ripped with defined muscles.
"Ok, you want to take over the baby room business and I'll see what Garnett says about downstairs. Sound good?" Wolf asked her.
"Ok." Kat told him.
"We have to get out of here." Dr Clarke told her. Rachel looked at Dr Clarke wondering in the woman was insane. There was no way she could run in her state. Rachel could barely lift her arms but it didn't stop Dr Clarke from undoing her restraints on Rachel's wrists and ankles. They heard foot steps coming their way and Dr Clarke pulled a blanket over Rachel making sure to cover her up.
"What are you doing?" Julian asked as he appeared in the room. Rachel wished she were anywhere else than where she was. She was cold sweating. Her body felt like it had been put through a grinder and she felt a deep seated sense of desolation as their situation was inescapable. She was once again at the mercy of men and their decisions. It rankled and deeply upset her that she couldn't help herself.
"She's coming down from your drugs. She's cold and in pain." Dr Clarke told Julian. She shrank away from Julian as the man reached out and touched her dark brown hair.
"How thoughtful, I felt I should tell you that your commander doesn't seem to care all that much for you." Julian told Rachel but he kept his eyes on Dr Clarke sizing her up. "He doesn't want you Rachel," Julian told her as he moved to Rachel's bedside. He looked at her like she were a pitiful being which only made her feel worse.
"I told you he wouldn't trade me." Rachel said feeling a sense of pride that Tom wouldn't give Larrin up for her. It would go against who he was as Larrin was an innocent.
"Oh no, he doesn't want you but he's still giving me Larrin." Julian told her, he snapped his fingers and two armed men came into the room and grabbed Dr Clarke. The woman struggled but was easily overpowered as the men dragged her out of the room. "You are useless to him, but Dr Clarke. Not so. But don't worry, I'll look after you." Julian told her.
"Piss off." Rachel told him in a hateful tone. She couldn't fight the tears that escaped her eyes as his words sliced deeply within her. She knew it was the withdraw making her an easy target emotionally but she just wanted him to leave her alone and die somewhere outside of her presence so she never had to see him again.
"That's very rude." Julian told her in a serious tone as he parted her hair down the middle and brushed the two halves down the front of her with his fingers. Nausea rolled up inside at him touching her hair. "For that I'm going to take away your vanity." He told her, he pulled out switchblade and flicked out the blade.
Fear snaked through her chest as she was afraid of what he'd do with the knife. He smiled as he saw her fear and moved close to her; she tried to shrink away from him but it was useless. He pulled onto one half of her hair and sliced through her hair. Rachel gasped in horror as he did the same to the other side of her hair and held her long tresses in his hand. Tears fell from her eyes not because she was upset about the hair but relief that hair was all he took from her. She could grow it back. Scars were a different story.
"Much better, now you just lay there and get better." He told her, he looked proud of work as he assumed her tears were from shame and fear. He just smiled and walked out of the room with her hair in his hand.
Julian walked down the hallway to where Dr Clarke sat slumped unconscious in a chair she was straddling. Her hands cuffed to the rung in the back of the chair. He held out the hair to Farhad.
"We keep the bag on her head, they'll just see height, body shape and hair colour to identify her." Julian told him. They had cut Dr Clarke's hair short ready to glue Rachel's long tresses to the bottom of her's. Julian knew a hessian bag over the woman's head would be enough to fool anyone.
"This isn't going to work." Farhad told him as he was sceptical of the plan.
"It will, they are emotionally involved. The Captain's focus will be on her hair and the way she staggers. We'll be gone before he pulls the bag off her head." Julian said as he liked his plan. He'd get Larrin and then be able to manipulate Dr Scott to work for him. He wouldn't mind experimenting in new scare tactics. He definitely needed something to stop this 'cure' as it would only give people hope and he wanted to crush that.
"They could try the same ploy." Farhad told him, Julian shook his head as the Captain and military were good for their word.
"They won't. They think they are getting Dr Scott. Speaking of you'll need to keep her doses consistent, we don't want the good doctor to crying mess all the time. It'll only be you and Greg as I'm taking the rest of the men to the meet. So if I come back and see you've been touching my things I'll be very angry." Julian told him.
"We know what's yours and what's ours." Farhad said, Julian wasn't worried but felt the need to make sure his wishes clear.
"Good. Let's go, we have a long drive ahead of us and I need her to look the part. So you should get to work." Julian told the man.
"Well, this is something isn't it." Andrea said as she and Larrin walked into the front hallway of Kara and Danny's place.
"Yeah, it was scarier with the lizards like that one." Larrin said pointing out one of the few that survived the night because it just wouldn't budge from the wall.
"Dear God." Andrea swore as she spotted the small lizard on the wall. She hadn't noticed as she'd been looking at the missing patches of brown wallpaper and the gaping hole in the wall. She walked over to the statue and bent over and poked the statue just to make sure it was fake which it was. "That is creepy, and that's an impressive man hole." Andrea said as she moved back to the hole in the wall. She pulled a small torch from her pocket and clicked it on to inspect the interior of the wall.
"The electricity might be on." Larrin cautioned her as she didn't want Andrea to hurt herself by accidentally touching an exposed wire though in Andrea's defence. Larrin had no idea what a dangerous wire looked.
"Well, it's not a support wall which is lucky. There's no sign of structural damage. You guys really did this pulling lizards off a wall?" Andrea asked, she frowned as she never thought she'd ever utter a sentence in her lifetime. Though it did make her want to smile as she just thought 'kids' in that parental.
"Yep." Larrin said not sure if she be apologetic or not given right now she was starting to find it more funny than a terrible mistake. They heard movement from up above and a few seconds later Wolf and Kat came down the stairs.
"Hey, we heard voices." Wolf said as he came to them. He looked at Larrin in a way that made her happy she stayed at Andrea's as he looked ready to hug her. She really didn't want to be hugged or touched really as she was afraid she'd fall to pieces.
"Just checking out the damage." Andrea told him keeping the conversation light and easy.
"Yeah, it's a doozy." Wolf said as he looked at the hole in the wall. "So Kara was wondering if we can remove all the walls to make an open plan living thing like next door." Wolf added, Andrea gave a look that said 'tell 'em they're dreaming.' before she looked at the space.
"You mean take out the hallway?" She asked him for clarification.
"Yeah." Wolf said.
"Ok, let's see." Andrea said with a sigh, she turned her torch around in her hand and started tapping the walls with the handle; listening to what was hollow and what wasn't. "You'll need O'Connor as he's an electrician by trade. He'll know how to safely move the electrical wiring. He's not on mission and should be happy to help is food is offered." Andrea told Wolf.
"Ok." Wolf said taking not.
"But getting people in to help might be a bit hard in the current climate." Andrea said referring to the mission of capturing the scavengers and that many of the crew who weren't in on that were either on much needed R&R or repairing the ship. "How permanent is their move?" Andrea asked Wolf.
"Got no clue but I'd say fairly permanent given the ship is in Dry dock for a long while and Kara's on maternity." Wolf offered.
"True." Andrea said, she wondered just how much effort they should be putting into the place if the couple were just going to move on like majority of Military families did. "Ok, you three go do something else while I wander around and see what compromises we can make that will make this job quick given we're on a ticking clock of getting it done before Kara has the baby." Andrea added shooing them away.
