Chapter 60
Larrin sat at the dinner table hours later, everyone was asleep in the house except for Larrin and Halsey. She looked down at the dog and he looked up at her with a doggy smile. She wondered why he had stayed in the main house. She didn't remember him being so attentive of her. Yet here they were, she unable to sleep and he just awake for who knew what reasons.
She had slept for a couple hours but woke up from a terrible nightmare of faceless men chasing her, she running through dense forest as though her life depended on it. The fear and shear panic sank into every cell of her body that when she woke up she felt like running because it felt like she was still being chased. The dregs of the nightmare kept her awake. Were they memories or just her subconscious nutting out some messed up issues.
Either way she couldn't sleep, she was tempted to take a sleeping tablet but was afraid of it becoming a habit. There was something so incredibly enticing about shutting down her mind for a few hours that made her feel like one tablet could turn into two or three, that it would help for a few nights but then it would become a thirst to keep taking them on a more long term basis. Her father hadn't been good with the meds the doctors prescribed him, she always wondered if it was a heredity thing for them to lose their minds, that the meds would just slow that down. She tapped the lid of the orange container not sure of her stance on the matter.
She heard footsteps coming to the kitchen and looked to see Miller come into the kitchen. "Can't sleep?" he asked her, it was a stupid question given the answer was obvious.
"Don't tell Wolf but I didn't have all my meds." Larrin said with a wry smile as she tapped on the container.
"You want something to drink or eat?" Miller asked her as he moved into the kitchen to get himself something to eat. He and Wolf were sharing a room and well Wolf snored. He snored loudly with no sense of rhyme or rhythm which made it hard to sleep.
"Nah, I'm good." Larrin said, Miller got a sense that she was struggling to cope. He'd seen it through dinner, while she kept on a good face there were moment when he saw her exhaustion. He saw her become overwhelmed and wished that she'd been spared being surrounded by so many people. Unlike before where she was all about surrounding herself in noise and joy when they first met, now she needed the quiet. He knew what that was like.
"You need a hand with the lid?" he asked pointing to the pill container she had on the table.
"Yeah, maybe some toast would be good."
"How about half a pop tart. It's the last one, piss off Wolf." Miller offered, he watched as a smile played across her lips. She remembered him, she remembered them eating Wolf's precious pop tarts.
"Sure." she said. Miller moved around the kitchen and toasted the pop tart. Even though she said 'no' he poured her half a glass of milk as she needed something to wash down the pop tart. After the Pop Tart was ready he brought it over to the table and sat next to her. She turned in her chair so she was sitting sideways and looked to him. Halsey moved around Larrin's seat so he was sitting between Miller and her. "Thank you." she told him.
"Anytime." Miller said to her.
"Is he always this attentive to me?" Larrin asked Miller as she looked down at Halsey who looked to her with big puppy dog eyes smelling the pop tart but given it was chocolate the dog was out of luck.
"Sometimes but he seemed to be more aggressive about it since you've come back. Maybe he's picked you to be his handler." Miller said with a frown as he could have sworn Halsey gave him the 'She's mine, so go find your own girl.' look before the dog looked back at Larrin.
"I'm not sure how Wolf would feel about me taking Danny's dog." Larrin said as she was in position to be adopting a dog. She had a job offer from Rachel but she still wasn't sure what it entailed or how much she would be paid. Then there was the big question of if she would go home to find her Mum and brothers. A task she wasn't mentally or emotionally ready for.
"Technically, Halsey was Lt Frankie Benz's dog but when he died, Danny took ownership and now he's just kind of owned by everyone. Kat takes him for runs, Doc spoons with him on the couch for naps." Miller offered, a smile crossing his lips as Halsey was definitely getting a lot more attention these days than when he was on the ship. It was to the point that Danny was already considering putting him into retirement or finding a place that bred work dogs so Halsey could become a role model for pups in training. He had a feeling that Halsey wasn't going to go anywhere but his working days might be over as he was being coddled too much by the women. Not a bad life for a dog in Miller's mind.
"I can't imagine that being comfortable." Larrin said chuckling as the last thing she would do was sleep with a dog. But each to their own and Doc was definitely her own person and quirks. She was fun to have around.
"You're probably sick of this question but how are you?" he asked her.
"I'm ok, I don't think your Mom likes me." Larrin said before she took a sip of her milk. Miller broke the Pop tart in half making sure the bigger half was closer to Larrin before he took the pill container reading that it was sleep meds. He read the label and opened the lid.
He placed one tablet on the plate and closed up the container. He knew she hadn't asked but he figured she might be putting too much thought into it. So he tried to be casual as he felt if a person was in pain or needed sleep then they should take the meds. It was about lessening the suffering, one tablet until one's injuries were healed did not equate to a problem.
"She doesn't have to, all that matters is that I like you." Miller assured her as he knew it was wrong but he felt that his mother's opinion wasn't really valid until Larrin was fully recovered and the two had a chance to know one another. That and if this were the old world, his mother wouldn't have met Larrin until they were serious. So basically everything was happening in jumbled mess but he didn't want to give it up for the world as he really like Larrin.
"I don't want to be a problem for you two." Larrin told him, blushing slightly at him saying he liked her.
"You're not and if it becomes an issue we'll talk about it then. For now let's just have fun and see how we go given we haven't even had a date yet. We both need to be relax about it." Miller said, smiling.
"I know, sorry." Larrin said, she scrunched her nose in an adorable manner. He just wanted to make her happy and smile, so it was going to help if they removed some of the drama that came from the people around them.
"It's ok. So I was thinking this Saturday we could go to that park." Miller said solidifying their plans.
"Sounds good, food truck means finger food right?" Larrin asked as she picked up her half of the pop tart and took a bite.
"Yeah, it does." Miller assured her, she swallowed her bite and gave a sigh of relief.
"Good, I'm so uncoordinated with my left hand. I think I'll be lucky if 20% of the food ends up in my mouth." Larrin said.
"I'm sure it'll be the best 20% of the food." Miller offered at which Larrin chuckled.
"So we leave in the morning and have lunch go from there?" she asked him.
"Sounds good to me." Miller said.
"Great." Larrin said, glad he wasn't running for the hills. Glad that he was here sitting with her in the middle of the night eating a pop tart with her. Glad and relieved that his presence made her feel safe and protected.
"You should take the tablet. You need to be well rested for our date on Saturday. Hate for you sleep through it." Miller joked weakly. Larrin looked at the tablet like it was about to sprout legs and crawl up a wall.
"True," she said as she picked up the tablet and downed it with Pop tart and more milk. "Though if I eat too much I may go into a food coma." She warned him.
"That's ok, it means the date is going well right?" he asked her at which she smiled brilliantly at him.
"I hope so." Larrin answered.
The following morning,
"Thanks for coming with me. I know it's not easy leaving Larrin." Danny said to Wolf as they headed to Kara's townhouse in Norfolk that she shared with her Mother. It had been an easy flight and Danny checked in with Major Damon as Captain Chandler requested. He'd squared away his duties in Norfolk quickly as he'd been given a pretty easy task. Commander Slattery wanted a digital copy of all known deceased people, and a copy of every civilian clocked in at Norfolk. It was in the hopes that maybe some more families of the crew had shown up and for those who hadn't had a chance to go over the records of the deceased.
Either way, he'd been handed a USB stick and mission was half complete. It'd be complete when the USB stick was delivered to the XO's waiting hands. Danny directed Wolf who was driving through the maze of streets. The place had changed a lot. In fact it looked like everything was back to normal with exception that there were fewer military personnel roaming the base.
"Dude, you're about to do something no sane man would do. You sure about this? Messing with Mothers and Daughters is never good." Wolf told him as he pulled the car to a stop as Danny requested. Danny looked out the car window and saw the lawn was in need of a tidy. Not a good sign.
"Yeah, Kara's got enough on her plate. I just want to make sure her Mom is ok." Danny said, he hadn't said to Kara that he was seeing her mother. He secretly hoped that maybe he could convince Debbie to come to the wedding and try to be sober for it. He had to admit he didn't know what it was like to deal or even live with an Alcoholic.
"Alright." Wolf said, he jumped out the car and came round to help Danny out. They walked through the long grass of the front yard to the door.
"Ok," Danny said as he knocked on the door, the door creaked open. Danny and Wolf frowned as it was not a good sign. Wolf pulled a gun from an ankle holster that Danny hadn't figured on him having. But he didn't ask why Wolf was armed instead he was grateful and moved to the side and allowed Wolf to go first as he was more mobile that he was.
He moved inside and watched as Wolf cleared the rooms one by one and came back to him, he holstered his weapon. He looked rather resigned and disappointed.
"She's in the bathroom," Wolf told him. They moved into the house. It was a mess of littered bottles of booze, old take away containers that were rotting with mould. It broke Danny's heart to see the mess as it just showed him an example of what Kara's life was like. It also spoke volumes of Wolf as he was completely unfazed by any of it.
"This is worse than coming back from deployment after forgetting to empty the fridge." Wolf said to him with a wry smile, Danny said nothing as followed Wolf to the bathroom where Debbie was laying in the bath tub, cradling a bottle of scotch that was half empty. She had vomited and missed the toilet and obviously crawled into the shower as she had vomit down the front of her shirt. She was pale and looked to be barely breathing. The smell was horrific and Danny fought his gag reflex.
"She's out cold. I recommend we call an ambo and let them pump her stomach. Or we can turn on the shower and do this the cruel way and see how far gone she really is." Wolf said to him in a matter of fact tone. Danny looked at Debbie completely out of his depth, so he pulled out his mobile phone and called it in.
"You should take the meds as instructed." Rachel advised Larrin as the young woman looked rough around the edges for her first night and morning in Tex's house. It was too crowded, too much noise to the point it was overwhelming for Larrin. Rachel could see the panic in Larrin when she and Andrea dropped by to pick up Kara and Larrin for the shopping trip.
"I thought I was fine. It was only one nightmare and then I took one tablet at like 2am. So I'm still a little out of it." Larrin said as she sat down on one of the wing chairs in the shop. She liked it better when they were going ga-ga over Kara's wedding dress choice. She looked gorgeous in a white silk bustier strapless dress with a sweetheart neckline, the silk draped in a way that made her pregnancy not so noticeable but still flattering the rest of her curves. It was an easy sell and Kara was bolstered by more female votes to say buy it. Much to Kara's protest, Andrea and Rachel paid for it as a gift to her.
So it was already in a garment bag to go home with Andrea and Rachel for safe keeping until the big day. Now it was down to the others to get something to wear which was more of a challenge than first expected.
"Sleeping pills equals no nightmares. Wait until you're fully healed to deal with nightmares and all the emotional garbage that comes with it." Andrea told her.
"That is the worst advice." Kara told Andrea said with a frown as she rummaged through a rack near them. They made a rule that rank didn't exist in social settings which Kara was embracing with surprising ease given she'd already shoved three dresses at Andrea to try on without the slightest hesitation.
"It's the best treatment plan you got at the moment. If she's thrashing around and tensing in her sleep then she's doing more damage to herself in the interim. Heal the physical first and then treat the emotional. Right Rachel?" Andrea asked looking to Rachel who reluctantly gave a nod.
"It's true, in some cases it's best to heal the physical issues but the psychological effects can't be ignored. So it's good to talk about it. To digest it and gain perspective." Rachel said as she pulled out a dress and held it out to Andrea.
"You need a dress too. Can you and Kara focus on Larrin's dress first? I'm looking for a pantsuit." Andrea told her, Rachel couldn't help but smile at Andrea's bashfulness given it was clear that Andrea did want to dress up, maybe not entirely for Tex's benefit either but also for herself. It was rare for a female officer to be effeminate as it was seen as a weakness except on the occasion where they just wanted to shock and awe those around them.
"No black." Kara reminded them, which made all the women smile as it was the only rule Kara had. No one could wear black or any tone of black either. Her phone rang before she could list off any other specifications. Kara looked down at the ID on the call. "I have to take this." Kara said with a sigh as it was her home number in Norfolk. "Hello?" she said, bracing herself for her mother.
"Kara." Danny said.
"Danny, what are you doing at my place in Norfolk?" Kara asked as she didn't remember him saying he'd go see her mother. She had hoped he'd avoid Debbie altogether.
"I came to see how she was. I knew you worried, please don't be mad." Danny said, if anything she loved him more than ever as he hadn't called to tell her the wedding was off. Yes, pregnancy made her think irrational things just yesterday she was worried that she shouldn't be wearing white to the wedding given it was hypocritical. Luckily Alisha had talked her out of her downward spiral assuring her that white was symbolic of Kara entering her marriage with Danny as a new beginning of them together.
"I'm just confused. Is everything alright?" Kara asked, wishing it wasn't going to be bad news but was already geared for the worst.
"Wolf came with me. We found your Mom, she's in bad shape and is being taken to the hospital for alcohol poisoning. Just wanted to let you know and that I can handle things here for you. If you don't feel up to coming over." he told her.
"Danny-" Kara started but Danny cut her off before she could tell him that'd she try to find a way to be there even though it was the last place she wanted to be. She wanted to be happy. She was a few days away from marrying the man she loved and right now she wasn't sure she had it in her to pull her mother out of her current bender.
"We're going to be married soon. Your family will be mine. Let me help you and Debbie ok? All I'm going to do is stick around and see where she's at mentally. So let me do this for you, you've got enough on your plate. Ok?" Danny asked in a soft pleading manner that made Kara want to cry in sheer relief as he was letting her off the hook. Something no one had ever let her do when it came to Debbie.
"I love you." Kara told him.
"I love you too and I'll keep you posted." Danny told her, she smiled as she felt his love even from Norfolk.
"Ok, bye." She said, Danny said his goodbyes and Kara hung up the phone on her end and tossed the phone back into her bag.
"Everything ok?" Larrin asked her as it was clear something was up.
"Yeah, my Mom isn't coming to my wedding." Kara said to her and the others as Rachel and Andrea had paused in their search to look at her with empathy.
"I'm so sorry." Andrea said, Kara gave a weak smile and a shrug.
"It's to be expected. She's not a big fan of celebrations." Kara said, she gave a shake of her head and went back to rack in front of her and pulled out a cotton canary yellow dress with cap sleeves. "Here try this on." she said holding the dress out to Larrin.
"Isn't it a little under dressed?" Larrin asked her with a frown as she thought weddings meant dressing up.
"It's for your date with Miller on Saturday." Kara told her.
"Do I have to wear a dress?" Larrin asked her.
"Yes," All three women said in unison. Larrin not one to argue that resounding answer; pursed her lips and rose from her chair. She reluctantly took the dress and went into the change room.
