CHAPTER TWELVE: A CHANCE

"Sam!" Tom called after his son as the little boy disappeared from the doorway. Rachel could get up faster than he could with his still-healing leg, but Sam was out of sight by the time she got to the door.

"He's gone," she told Tom as he joined her.

He sighed. "Damnit."

Rachel was shaking; upsetting his children was the last thing she'd ever wanted to do. "I'm so sorry."

Tom shook his head. "No, don't. It's not your fault, but we need to find him."

"Maybe he went to the wardroom?" Rachel suggested.

Tom nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

~ % ~

However, when they got down the hall, the room was empty. They didn't find him on the route to Jed's stateroom, either, and could hear the older man snoring from the p-way, so they knew Sam wasn't inside. The only other place they could think of looking was the flight deck. The idea of his son being outside, alone and at night made Tom's stomach twist in knots. If anything happened to him…

In some parts of the ship, the lighting had been changed over to a dim red instead of the normal bright white in order to preserve night vision. It made it a little harder to pick out details, and Tom tried to be extra cautious on stairs since he was still a bit gimpy.

At one point as they walked, he heard a familiar sound: crying. Tom stopped short, trying to determine where the noise was coming from.

"What is it?" Rachel wondered.

"You hear that?" he asked. "Sam!? Can you hear me?"

"Daddy?"

Tom whirled around toward the sound. A hatch in the floor was open, and he looked down the ladder to the next deck. Sam was sitting on the floor in tears, holding his left arm with his right hand.

"I fell," the little boy whimpered.

"Hang on, pal." Tom climbed down to get him, while Rachel lingered at the top of the ladder.

"I'm sorry, Daddy," Sam sobbed as his father knelt beside him. He'd lost his way trying to find the lab and hadn't been paying enough attention as he climbed the ladder. It had been drilled into the kids' heads that they weren't supposed to go anywhere alone, but he'd broken the rules.

"Shh, it's okay, pal," Tom tried to comfort him. "It's okay. Where's your arm hurt?" Sam gingerly indicated the area around his wrist. Tom had a feeling he'd broken it trying to use his hands to soften his landing.

"It hurts really bad," Sam cried, fresh tears falling.

"I know it does, buddy, but you're going to be okay. Can you stand up?" Sam managed to get to his feet, with a little assistance. Tom lifted him up with one arm and used the other to climb back up the ladder. Rachel was ready and willing to help, but he made it on his own. "Let's get you to sickbay, okay?" Tom told his son. "The Doc will patch you up, good as new."

"Do you want me to come?" Rachel softly asked.

Tom looked down at Sam; at the moment, the little boy wasn't making eye contact with either of them. As much as he wanted her there for moral support, Tom knew he had to take care of his son's needs first. Whether he was ready for it or not, Tom and his kids were going to have to have a talk. "I think we'll be okay," he told Rachel. "I don't want to keep you up; I don't know how long we'll be."

She understood what he was doing, but it still stung. Despite Tom telling her not to, Rachel blamed herself for this whole misadventure. "Right."

"I'll see you tomorrow," he promised before mouthing, 'I'm sorry.' He really didn't want her to think that he was punishing her.

Rachel nodded. "Of course. Good luck."

"Thanks."

Doc Rios took good care of Sam. Once his broken wrist had been set and immobilized with a cast, Tom took his son back to his own stateroom to sleep. He didn't want to disturb Ashley by going in the children's room.

Given the late hour, Sam fell asleep pretty easily, but Tom stayed awake for a while, just watching his little boy. He waited for each inhale and exhale that proved his son was okay. The terror of not knowing where Sam was or whether he was safe had only lasted for a few minutes, but it took Tom right back to the months of waiting and worrying before Baltimore. Somehow, he'd managed to forget how horrible that had felt. So much of his crew was still living through that nightmare; it was time for it to come to an end.

Eventually, Tom managed to fall asleep, but morning came too soon. He felt a moment of panic when he woke up and saw that Sam was no longer in the room, but then realized he could hear his children's voices from across the hall.

The door to their room was ajar; Sam was rifling through his dresser drawer with his good hand, while Ashley sat up on her bed. "What happened to your arm?!" she was asking her little brother as Tom stepped across the hall.

Sam shrugged. "I fell."

That did nothing to ease Ashley's confusion. "When?" He had been fine when she went to sleep. Surely she would have woken up if he'd fallen out of bed.

"Last night. I got lost and tripped on a ladder."

"Got lost going where? By yourself?"

Instead of letting them continue down that path, Tom broke in. "Morning, guys," he told them as he shut the door behind him.

"Dad, Sam got hurt!" Ashley reported, as if he wouldn't have already known.

"Yeah, I know," Tom replied as he directed his son to sit with his sister on her bed. "Sam was a bit upset after he saw something, right, bud?" he asked. The little boy shrugged again, his eyes downcast.

"What did you see?" Ashley warily wondered.

Tom sighed. "Dr. Sc - Rachel was with me, in my room. We… we've been very good friends to each other recently, and now we're starting to become more than friends." He paused to see how the children reacted to that news; neither of them said a word. "I'm sorry that I hadn't talked to you guys before now. I wasn't trying to keep a secret from you, I just… I wasn't sure what to say. Rachel and I are still trying to figure things out ourselves."

"But you like her?" Ashley asked. "I mean, like-like her?"

He smiled at the grade-school terminology, but nodded. "Yeah, I do."

Sam finally looked up. "Do you like her as much as Mommy?"

"I don't know yet. We're still getting to know each other better and get to know what we're like together. But I do know that liking or loving someone else won't change how much I loved your mother. Nothing can ever change that or make me forget that, okay?" Both children nodded.

"Does Dr. Rachel like you?" Ashley asked.

Tom chuckled. "I think so… I hope so. But there is one thing I know for sure - she cares a lot about you guys. She wouldn't ever try to replace your mom or want you to forget about her. But I think it's important for kids to have as many people as possible in their lives that care about them. So I'm glad that she's in all of our lives."

Ashley and Sam looked at each other, but neither said anything. Tom just let them have their thoughts for a moment.

"You guys are the most important things in the world to me," he finally spoke up. "I don't want to do anything that's going to make you uncomfortable or unhappy. But I'm hoping you'd at least be okay with giving this a chance… Do you think you can do that?"

Ashley and Sam had 'school' that morning, so once they'd finished talking, Tom left to let them get ready. He went back to his own stateroom to prepare for his day before heading to the bridge.

"Captain's on the bridge!" one of the crew announced as he entered.

Tom looked around for his XO and his eyes met Mike's. "A moment?" he requested of the Commander.

Mike didn't say a word as they went outside. Tom was certain his friend was still angry with him and knew he'd probably feel the same way if the roles were reversed. However, they still had a ship to run and a crew to lead.

"I want to set course for Norfolk," the Captain announced.

Mike visibly startled. "What?"

"It's time - past time. This crew has been incredible, but I can't continue to ask you to put everyone else ahead of your own families."

The XO frowned, skeptical. "You're serious?"

"I am. Anyone who wants to search for their loved ones can have a few weeks leave. We'll have to figure out the numbers, but we should set up escort teams so that everyone has protection."

"You're serious," Mike realized.

Tom nodded. "Rachel will supply everyone with as much of the cure as she can manufacture. Hopefully the crew will be able to do some good along their journeys." Mike didn't answer; Tom assumed that meant Dr. Scott was still a sore subject. "Can you start coordinating with the crew? See how many people are going beyond the Norfolk area and figure out how we're still going to keep the ship running?"

Mike gave a quick nod. "Aye, sir." He hesitated for a moment, as though he was going to say something else, but then turned and headed inside without another word.

Tom sighed once he was alone. He hadn't expected this would be a magic bullet to fix everything, but he couldn't help a little wishful thinking every now and then. Hopefully with time, things would work themselves out between him and his best friend.

That afternoon, two unexpected visitors arrived in the bio lab. Rachel looked up from her computer as the hatch squeaked open and was surprised to see Sam and Ashley enter. They lingered just inside the door, knowing that they weren't supposed to be there without supervision.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked the siblings as she got up from her chair.

Ashley nodded. "We wanted to talk to you."

Rachel had a feeling she knew what the subject would be. "All right." The sight of Sam's cast made her even more apprehensive, bringing back her remorse from the previous night.

The children shared a look, as though they were trying to decide who was going to speak first. Finally, Ashley bit the bullet. "We were wondering if you would want to have dinner with us and Dad? Just with us, like… like a family dinner." Sam nodded in agreement.

Rachel was stunned; that was not at all what she'd been expecting. She'd figured the children would have questions for her, maybe even be angry with her. But this? She hadn't allowed herself to be this optimistic. "I would like that very much," she replied with a smile.

Ashley returned it. "Good… We want Daddy to be happy. And you."

"I hope we all can be happy," Rachel told them. "And I want you to feel like you can talk to me and your dad if you have questions or aren't happy."

They nodded. "Just... no yucky stuff, okay?" Sam requested.

She smiled. "We'll see what we can do."

TBC...

A/N: Thank you, as always, to those who faithfully leave feedback. I really do appreciate it. Besides putting a smile on my face, reviews let me know if my story is coming across the way I intended. So if you have an extra minute, it really does help.