Chapter 46
Miller watched as the blonde woman and the man who was his partner named Roy tousled like a Kung Fu movie. He knew he should step in but he honestly felt he'd get in the way than be of assistance. He had only heard the voice of his partner and he had assumed Roy to be tall and big but he looked more like he was Owen Wilson's cousin, 5ft 10, shaggy blonde hair... hell he had the broken nose but that was where the similarities ended.
Miller winced as he watched on and picked up a rock as this fighting was taking too long and they needed to get this woman back to base and find out what she knew. So he took aim and pegged the rock at the blonde woman hard. He smiled and winced as the rock hit the woman in the back of the head. I'm definitely going to hell... he thought as the woman became dazed. It was enough for his partner to sweep out her legs and roll her onto her back and pin her down with an arm hold.
"Really? You couldn't have thrown the rock sooner?" Roy asked him incredulously as he was out of breath. His nose bleeding and his left eye swelling slightly.
"You looked like you needed the exercise." Miller told him, Roy barked a laugh as he pulled plasti-cuffs and restrained the blonde woman.
"Well, hello Natasha." Roy said to the blonde as he pulled her off the ground to her feet. Natasha stared daggers at him but Roy pressed his fingers into a pressure point or so Miller assumed as Natasha's face pinched in pain. "Don't be a bitch, just come a long nicely." he said to her.
"Bite me." Natasha spat at him.
"I would but I'm not a fan of rabies." Roy quipped with a smile at her. He pulled out a radio and called home announcing their capture while Miller went around the space and picked up the discarded weapons.
"Hey Red," Natasha called to Miller.
"Yeah?" Miller asked as he pulled the rifle strap over his upper body enjoying the security and comfort of carrying a weapon again.
"Don't think this is over," she told him with a sinister smile but Miller wasn't scared of her promise as she wasn't after him personally. She just had a thing against red headed men which was her problem not his.
Larrin tossed and turned in the bed. She had been having a really lovely dream about a redheaded man, his face was fuzzy but she made her feel like she were home, like everything in the world was perfect and nothing could touch her. But the dream had morphed into a terrifying nightmare of her being chased through a forest. It wasn't Australian flora and the terrain was like nothing she'd seen before. She wondered if years of Stargate watching was catching up with her and her overactive imagination.
She woke startled covered in a light sheen of sweat, her heart pounding as she remembered killing faceless men but unlike a nightmare or dream, it didn't fade. It stayed like it were a memory. She kicked off the blankets and made sure she was still dressed. Clothes were still on her person, she looked out the window and noticed how low the sun was in the sky.
She wanted to slip back into the beautiful dream that had proceeded the nightmare, sitting on the couch eating pop tarts. A food item that was next to impossible to find and incredibly overpriced in Australia. Wired things just stuck out in her head and her gut told her that they weren't fiction but she felt it was wishful thinking. She was also afraid if the dream was true then the Nightmare was too. That maybe they were memories resurfacing and her brain was trying to figure them out subconsciously. She brushed her hand over her cast; the camouflage tape, something she knew was not carried in normal stores. The memory of sitting on the same couch which was in her dream but with an older man she felt she admired like she had her father but she couldn't remember his name or why they taped her cast up to begin with. It seemed so important and her head pounded painfully as the answers refused to come out.
She dropped her head back and closed her eyes. She wished she was home, she wished she had her Mum because right now she just wanted to be held and told everything was going to be alright. She wanted a doctor to talk to as she felt like she was a prisoner and that made her worried about the memory blank. She knew she had been attacked but what she couldn't understand was why she couldn't remember anything and why after 7 months being in America her brother hadn't found her? the question marks piled up and made her gut twist painfully.
She heard the lock to the door and turn and she quickly pulled the sheets over her and turn her back to the door. She closed her eyes again and forced her body to relax so that Julian would believe she was asleep and go away. She didn't seem to have any luck as the door opened and closed. She listened as he moved around to the side of the bed to her side. She could feel his eyes boring into her body. Her stomach rolled nauseatingly as he sat down on the edge of the bed. She had secretly dreamed for years what it would be like to be in a relationship with a man while ill. To be cared for but Julian wasn't the man she imagined and her gut just told her to run yet her body was not moving from the pain and the fever burning through her.
She felt his hand gently touch her shoulder, she couldn't hide her flinch so she opened her eyes and looked up at him.
"You don't look well Mon Petit Lapin." Julian said in a soft tone. Him calling her a rabbit in french made her bolt out of the bed to the bathroom. She barely made it to the sink when she dry retched, it took a few good heaves before the tea and toast she had managed to swallow down earlier came back up. She turned on the sick washing the evidence away while she leaned heavily on the sink. "You remember." he said in a deadened tone.
"I don't remember anything." Larrin told him but Julian seemed to be pissed at her. He pulled on her up and forced her to face him. There was something eerily familiar about it all. He used his other hand and grabbed her by the throat forcing her face up to meet his. He looked at her eyes for a long moment.
"You abhor my touch and I make you sick. That tells me it didn't work." Julian told her coldly, he pushed her until she was up against the wall by the door.
"What didn't work?" She asked confused as her stomach was ready to revolt again. Fever burned through her skin and her body told her she needed to fall on the floor and enjoy the cold feel of the tiles but fear mixed in with the lethargy making her heart pound fast in a sick fashion.
"The others fell over themselves to be with me, but you fight me even when your memory is messed up." Julian observed as he looked at her like she were an enigma.
"I knew you were full of-"
"The first time we met you were so gullible, maybe I didn't wipe away enough. It is all trial and error." He said speaking more to himself than Larrin.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Larrin demanded as she vainly pushed against him trying to get him to let go of her. But she was physically too weak, she looked around from a weapon and found the bathroom devoid of anything useful. Julian just smiled at her pitiful attempts to push him off and tightened his hold on her throat.
"It doesn't matter." He told her, he squeezed her throat slowing the blood to her brain. She barely lasted a few seconds before she blacked out. He caught her in his arms and lifted her up into bridal hold. He carried her back into the bedroom and laid her gently on the bed.
Rachel gripped the jagged ends of some of her hair with her hand staring off into space. She had been dwelling in everything that had happened. Doc wasn't lying when she said it would feel like her worst hangover and heart break. The rational part of her brain explained that her emotional state was just over the top, that she was acting like a 16 yr old girl finding out the boy she loved had cheated on her than the adult that she was. That she was overreacting to everything like it was the most horrible things to happen to her and somehow she'd never survive getting out of this bed.
It was ridiculous given she was closer to 40 than she was 16 in age and needed to grow up. She criticised herself to the point it was painful but she needed to be her worst enemy so she would move on quickly. She didn't want to dwell and she sure as hell didn't want to be alone in this room. She hated the loneliness of it all. She wondered where Tex was, he was her friend. Did he not know she was back? Just as she was about to sink into a fresh kind of depression on that a knock sounded at the door.
"Come in." Rachel called out, she didn't bother smoothing her hair or trying to pretend she was fine. The medical staff didn't care as long as she didn't look suicidal and all her vitals were fine. The door opened and much to Rachel's surprise Andrea Garnett came into the room. The woman was dressed in civilian clothing, she looked so healthy and beautiful as her hair was out of it's usual bun. Rachel was surprised as the woman had shoulder blade long, soft wavy red hair, she was dressed in flared jeans with a chambray button down shirt with the sleeves rolled to the elbows.
"Hey Doc." Andrea said to her with a smile as she closed the door behind her.
"Commander." Rachel said, trying to paste on a smile even though she wanted to cry. Andrea just looked amazing and she felt like crap. Once again her bloody body and emotions betraying the adult she was.
"Call me Andrea, I heard you were back and brought you something more palatable than what they got here." Andrea said as she pulled over the tray table with wheels so it was over Rachel's lap. She placed the bag on the table for Rachel.
"Then I insist you call me Rachel." Rachel said in kind. She honestly didn't know why Andrea was here. They didn't have much of a friendship, sure they spoke on the Nathan James but it had always pertained to her work or the mission. Only a few personal moments passed between them but not enough for Rachel to feel she deserved the woman's time.
"Mind if I sit?" Andrea asked gesturing to the bed.
"Of course." Rachel said, Andrea gave her a closed lip smile as she sat down on the bed so the table was between them. She laid the bag on it's side and ripped the bag open for them; revealing three muffins of different varieties.
"These are vegan muffins. I wasn't sure what you eat given you never really ate in the mess the same time as me. So these were the least offensive option I could find. There's plain blueberry, sour cherry and banana oatmeal with chocolate chips. No animals were hurt in the making of these muffins and there aren't any nuts either. So I'm pretty sure they are being held together by hope and pray but I tried a sample in the shop and it tasted pretty good." Andrea teased as she cut each muffin in half. Thus eliminating the problem of choices as it meant Rachel could have some of all of them. She couldn't help but smile as Andrea's comments and the consideration though she wasn't a fussy eater.
"Thank you." Rachel said to her needing to say it before she forgot and because she wanted to.
"No problem, I had time and no one to annoy. So here I am." Andrea said with a shrug as she picked up half of the sour cherry muffin and took a bite.
"I thought you'd be tied up with repairs to the ship or whatever plans there are to save Larrin." Rachel said, she knew there was a plan. Doc had told her about the tracker in Larrin's arm and that they were gathering information and culling Julian's army before they made their move.
"I'm a better engineer than I am a strategist." Andrea knew her strengths and when to get out of the way. "The ship repairs are going well but people are too distracted finding out the place we came home to is still not perfect. So I let them off, and sent those who were still switched on to work on Lt Foster and Green's house." Andrea said in a matter of fact manner.
"Home renovations?" Rachel asked out of curiousity as she wanted to know about what she had been missing out on than talking about herself or thinking about herself. She picked up half of the banana, oats chocolate chip muffin and pulled off a small piece and popped it into her mouth. She wasn't sure how the food would go down but it did taste good as did Andrea's company as the world seemed genuinely lighter even with all the bad going on in it.
"Yeah, the place is a mess. Then Larrin and Miller put a man size hole in the wall of the hallway." Andrea said with a chuckle, Rachel frowned as she hadn't heard the story. Andrea hadn't missed the confusion and launched into the story of how Larrin and Miller had damaged Kara and Danny's home, the antics of lizard statues and horrible 70's decor that migrated to Tex's house. Of course, the catch up of news lead to Danny wanting to propose in the lounge room. "-And he can't help because he was shot in the leg. So we're all busting our asses so that Lt Foster doesn't drop that kid before he proposes." Andrea finished.
"How far along is the house?" Rachel asked, a smile playing on her lips as she loved how much of a family the Nathan James crew was to one another. She didn't know anyone who'd renovate a house for their friends. She did have a good giggle at Miller and Larrin's antics.
"With the amount of people I ordered their way. The bottom area should be 3/4's finished given that Tex, Kathleen and Larrin had stripped majority of carpet and wallpaper out. Why that boy can't grow a pair and ask Lt Foster to marry him without all of the parlaver of a 'setting' and the 'perfect moment' is beyond me. The woman would say yes but he'll get his jocks in a twist about it." Andrea said with an amused expression.
"It's a special moment." Rachel offered diplomatically.
"Bill proposed to me just before I boarded the USS Abraham Lincoln. We kissed and I turned to walk onto the ship when he called out my name. I turned and he threw the ring at me. Told me to think about it and get back to him when I came home." Andrea said, a bright smile crossing her lips as she remembered that day clearly in her mind. It had a sting of grief as it reminded her that Bill was gone but the happiness of that day overpowered it.
"He threw a ring are you?" Rachel asked in disbelief as it didn't sound remotely romantic but Andrea looked really happy at the memory. But Rachel had to admit it was definitely not how she expected a proposal to go.
"It was still in the case with a note asking to me to marry him. He's lucky I caught it as it could have ended up in the drink. That would have been embarrassing." Andrea said.
"Did you say 'Yes' right away?" Rachel asked out of curiosity.
"Nope, I let him suffer until I got back from deployment." Andrea said feeling pretty proud of herself at the part of her memories. "The answer was 'yes' from the beginning but he told me to think about it." she added, Rachel couldn't help but laugh at the humor of it. That and she had to admit it was nice to not hear an a-typical romance. Andrea smiled and grew a little sad as she thought on what she was now missing with them gone. It was hard not to dwell on the life and future she had lost when Bill and Lilly died.
"I'm sorry for your loss." Rachel said to her, Andrea gave a nod.
"Thank you," Andrea said before she straightened her back and squared her shoulders. "But I didn't come here to be a drag, I came here to cheer you up and eat muffins." she told her.
"It's ok, I just appreciate the company. I thought I'd lost everything." Rachel confessed, she gave a tight smile and blinked back tears. Andrea reached out and took Rachel's hand in her own and gave it a comforting squeeze.
"Well, you're back and you're going to be ok. The question is what you'll do next after you get out of here. I for one recommend a holiday." Andrea told her in good humor.
