Chapter 51


"What are you eating?" Doc asked Wolf as she came into the room the next morning. Rachel was outside taking in the sunshine with Andrea, the two women were becoming thick as thieves. Leaving Wolf sitting sentry at his sister's side, at least he was eating and not grouching at anyone but it couldn't be comfortable with his injuries.

"I have no idea, it's some kind of sandwich. You want half?" Wolf asked as Tex had left him a bag of food that had a couple sandwiches and come kind of lentil salad. He'd already eaten the salad which was surprisingly tasty as it didn't look or smell like it would. Now he was chowing down on a pulled bbq pork sandwich that was 70% meat in sauce while the rest was lettuce, tomato and bread.

"Sure." Doc said as she pulled up a chair and sat down next to him. Wolf handed over the untouched half of sandwich to her with a napkin. "You know you can go home and have a shower, sleep in a bed. There's a whole team of people dedicated to the care of the people on this floor." Doc told him with a smile before she took a bite of the sandwich. She couldn't help but moan in joy as it tasted delicious even though it was stone cold.

"I'm good where I am." Wolf told her with a wry smile as she seemed to be enjoying the sandwich more than him.

"Ok, but it's not going to help your injuries." Doc told him before she took another bite of the sandwich and gave him a 'you'll be sorry later' type look.

"So I heard you have a name now? Like a real name not 'Doc'." Wolf said changing the topic as he'd run into Commander Slattery who told him that they didn't have to worry about Julian anymore. The man was dead, the only problem anyone had with that information was that he'd died too quickly beyond that the man wasn't being given another thought. It turned out that anyone who'd want to get revenge for Julian was dead or didn't exist. The few scavengers they did capture alive weren't saying much but they had more of a feeling it was a lack of knowledge that stopped them not loyalty.

Either way, Wolf was relieved it was over for Larrin. She could move on, well try to but how that would work out depended on how much she remembered and what he should tell her. Something he was struggling with as he felt she should know everything but also didn't want to laden her with the guilt she carried before especially if she couldn't remember. So he was waiting, which was a pain in the ass as the chairs were uncomfortable and he was still not in the best shape to be sitting around all day but he was going to. He would do it because he didn't want her to wake up alone or with someone she didn't remember. He knew if she didn't remember coming America, then she would be incredibly scared to wake up here alone in a foreign country even if it was America.

"Yeah, I also know how old I am, that I drink way too much coffee as I have a lot of those coffee loyalty cards, an expired gym pass, yoga membership and a condom that expired three years ago in my wallet. I had a very boring but very comfortable lifestyle given I own a MIMCO wallet and can afford a gym and a yoga membership. Your point?" Doc asked him, he couldn't help but sense that finding out her name wasn't the joyous life affirming experience one expected.

"You going to tell me what your name is?" Wolf asked in a light hearted manner.

"Nope, just call me Doc. It works as it turns out I am a doctor." Doc told him with a smile.

"Is your name Gertrude?" Wolf tried.

"Nope," Doc told him.

"Star." he offered.

"No." Doc replied before she took another bite of the sandwich.

"Chook." Wolf said with a grin. Doc threw him an incredulous look as it had to be his worst guess yet.

"Really?" Doc asked him incredulously as it had to be the strangest name he'd thrown out.

"Yeah, I knew a girl who's name was Chook. Not a nickname but her actual name." Wolf said as it was true, his best friend had married the woman so he knew it was legitimate given he'd signed as a witness on the marriage certificate.

"Interesting but that's not my name." Doc told him.

"Come on, what's wrong? I figured you'd be thrilled to know something about yourself." he said. Doc ate another bite of her sandwich to buy herself some time as she didn't know how to explain it. She had banked on never finding out and joking about it. There was a laziness in not having an identity, it meant she could pretend she didn't have any family and no life. That way there was no to really miss as she didn't have the memory of them, sure she knew she wasn't hatched but now she had a name and with that came responsibilities.

It meant searching out her family, if she had any alive then seeing the disappoint and grief as she wouldn't remember them, and not be the daughter or sibling they'd grown up with. Then she'd have to deal with them trying to 'fix' her or walk her through memory lane. It would be a strained relationship that she wasn't ready to engage into which was selfish of her but it was how she felt.

"I guess I was expecting something more exciting. Maybe to feel some sense of connection but I don't. It's strange." She offered as explanation.

"Maybe if you practice using the name then it won't feel so foreign to you. We could practice right now." Wolf offered, Doc couldn't help but smile at his persistence but she wasn't ready to hear her name again until she had more time to adjust to the information she had.

"Why do you want to know my name so badly?" She asked him out of curiosity.

"Because you know my name and it's only fair." Wolf said, he was half tempted to say 'because I want to know what name to call you when we're in bed.' but he knew now was not the time to be flirting and it was a little too sleazy to be saying at his little sister's bedside. So he kept things light and friendly.

"Well, suffer in your jocks cause I'm not telling you." Doc told him.

"I'm more of a briefs man." Wolf told Doc which made her laugh.


"So Kara's pretty tied up with the Scavenger business." Tex remarked as he pulled the car up in front of Danny and Kara's house.

"Ah yeah, usually I'd be tapped for the meeting but I'm not needed." Danny said feeling a little left out as he figured he'd be called in to help strategize the long term plans of taking down the Scavengers and installing people to help keep the peace and contacting the leaders of the 'safe zones' to take on larger territories and negotiate trade agreements for the long term future of America. He had a feeling they were going to use Michener as a figure head to pull the people together and have regional leaders to what end; Danny didn't know or really understand. Politics and country building was outside of his wheelhouse. But he knew how plan an op to take out enemy combatants and take on strongholds.

"Well, Lt Commander Burk pretty much has it all in hand." Tex said as he wasn't going to touch on Danny's bruised ego. Now they were back on the mainland it was only time before they all had to move on with their lives on in Danny's case to relearn their place in the command chain. On the ship, Danny's role had been vital but here in St Louis, the Captain and Commander had more personnel to work with who knew the lay of the land better than Danny and had more experience.

"Burk's big brother?" Danny asked as Kara hadn't really gone into details the last time they'd spoken. Though in her defense she'd been quite distracted with the mission specs and Larrin volunteering to be traded for Dr Scott. Either way, when he was kicked out the hospital Tex had come to pick him up not Kara. But Danny had to admit he was grateful it was Tex as he wasn't used to the crutches yet and he didn't want to accidently fall over and hurt Kara and their unborn child in the process. That and Tex had a better chance of saving him from face planting onto the ground.

"The very one, seems he and his people have been working on this for a while they just missed the man power and I guess confidence to strike. But who cares, we're on R&R. Everybody is doing well and you should see the house." Tex told Danny, gesturing to his and Kara's house. Familiar faces were going in and out of the place and construction noise filtered through the closed window of the car.

"I'm going to owe a lot of people." Danny said as he knew it had only been a day but he also knew how efficient the crew were when they needed to be.

"Yeah, a wedding invitation probably wouldn't hurt and chipping in on the food bill for the month wouldn't hurt either. Come on." Tex told him, he got out of the car and pulled the crutches out of the boot before he moved around to Danny's side and opened the door to help him out.


"There, that's good, all we need are some photos for that wall, some baby clothes and other sundries before we can declare this room as ready." Barbara said with a satisfied smile to Kat as they looked around the baby nursery. It was all set up, luckily the baby wouldn't be in for a few months as the room still reeked heavily vanish and paint fumes. But they'd managed what Kat felt the impossible as they'd traded in boat load of what she thought was crappy furniture to an op shop charity shop who in were more than happy to trade them a crib, change table, photos frames, and a tall boy.

They had looked at the furniture from the house and Barbara had decided it would be easier to see if they could trade it in which pleased Kat to no end as she really didn't think 70's baby furniture was all that nice to look at. She didn't even think a new coat of paint would fix it. Luckily, Barbara was a real negotiator because what they got in return for their trade was way better.

She smiled as she looked at the bright teal iron crib to the wall, with the white change table and tall boy. They looked great even if they had a few nicks and scratches, they added to Miller's 'Date' money donated by the crew, the crib was rocking a new mattress and sheets. They'd washed the long lace curtains and put them back up which diffused the harsh sun into the room.

It looked sparse but well on it's way to being a proper nursery. Kate really loved how quickly it came together and that she had a hand in it all. She just wished they had a more exciting colour than buttercream to work with but it did make the room feel warm and welcoming and suited with the furniture. But they were just using left over paints from Their house next door and from the house they were in.

"I like it." Kat said.

"You did very well, I'm sure they will love it." Barbara said to her.

"It's a shame Larrin can't be here to see all of this or even remember it." Kat said, she didn't know why but she felt a sense of grief when she thought of Larrin. She had found a friend but it seemed like she had lost her even though she was still alive.

"I'm sure she'll love it no matter what how extensive her memory loss it." Barbara told her.

"I wish I was that lucky." Kat said with a sigh.

"I don't think she's any better or worse off than the rest of us. It might be nice to forget but it would also be hard having those gaps in your memory, it's not just the bad that goes but also the good memories which is a shame." Barbara said sagely.


"That money was meant for you dude." Cruz told Miller as they spent half their day in Danny's house the other half running around picking up building supplies and food. They were supposed to be having the day off but Miller's Mom was a slave driver but at least she provided meals.

"Well, I didn't give it all to my Mom. I saved some of it." Miller said as Cruz had given him a envelope of cash meant for him to woo Larrin and take her on a date. He's given majority of it to his Mom to help get the nursery for Kara and Danny's baby ready. As Miller had no idea where he and Larrin would be at but he felt like taking her out to dinner would be fairly awkward after all the events that had passed and if she didn't remember him.

"For Vegemite. Vhat the hell is this?" Cruz asked as he opened the jar, he took a sniff and scrunched his nose in disgust."Oh it smells like ass." Cruz informed him.

"You'd know given you're pretty intimate with your own." Miller quipped, Cruz blinked for a moment as he hadn't expected Miller to make such a comeback and then laughed, even Miller laughed as he stole the jar back and capped the lid on it.

"Tell me you're not going to give that to her." Cruz said to him, they'd spent over an hour trying to source iconic Australian food. Not that they had much luck but apparently in the post pandemic world Vegemite was safe from starving hoards of people while everything was game. Something that made no sense to Miller as he had the mind set that beggars could not be choosers. When hungry you eat whatever you can get your hands on even if it didn't look palatable as it was better to live than die for being a finicky eater. Apparently the American populace didn't share that train of thought.

"I am, Wolf said she loves this stuff." Miller said, when Larrin was awake again and ready for visitors; he was going to get croissants from one of the bakeries in town. Butter from Tex and take it to the hospital as nice get better soon present. He figured she'd like food over flowers and especially something that would be a taste of home for her. Something familiar to help ease the overwhelming sense of unknown or so he hoped it would be seen as that.

"Wolf could be lying." Cruz warned him, Miller smiled as he appreciated Cruz's input as he was better with women than him but Miller was going with his instincts on this one.

"I doubt it, but I guess I'll find out in the near future." Miller said with a shrug.


"This is amazing." Danny said as he leaned on his crutches to stand in the living room. Gone was the scary 70's house and in it's place this beautiful empty spaces, hardwood floors, the wallpaper was gone and in it's place cream walls and white ceilings, skirting boards and architraves. He didn't know why but he thought it would take months not days or day but it seemed like nearly all of the downstairs was complete.

"It's not finished." Tex told him as if reading Danny's mind.

"The floorboards need another layer of varnish, the kitchen is staying as it except for the wallpaper. It's gone but they need to be painted. The downstairs bathroom is just being painted as we're not stripping out the tiling. It's too much money and we're scrounging from where we can and trading what we can."

"This is amazing, it's more than I expected." Danny told him feeling incredibly grateful and humbled at the same time. As this was how he imagined it could be. It was definitely enough for him to propose to Kara.

"We dedicated the most time to upstairs nursery. You'll have to wait until your leg is healed to see it but it's nearly ready go. By the time the baby is here it won't reek of fumes which is good."

"Thank you." Danny told him.

"Got a lot more people to thank than me." Tex told him.

"I know but thank for making it happen so quickly." Danny said with a smile as he looked around the room again. It was nearly like Tex's place except they hadn't knocked down all the walls. They'd put in a glass partition door that folded up and the kitchen was still obscured by a wall which gave a nice separation of the room. He hadn't seen the rest of the downstairs but right now this was enough to marvel at for the next five minutes. He pictured the furniture he and Kara had and the children they'd have which would not respect it by crawling all over the 'nice' fabric with their grubby feet and hands.