CHAPTER SIXTEEN: SHORE LEAVE

In the morning, Tom couldn't shake the feeling that he'd really messed things up. He knew that he had a lot of baggage in his life and wished he could handle it on his own, without impacting anyone else. So far, though, that wish had gone ungranted.

Once his kids were with his father for 'school,' he headed down to the bio lab. Rachel was there with Bertrise, although the teen quickly excused herself to get some tea once she saw the Captain come in.

"Does she know?" Tom wondered. "About us?"

Rachel smiled and nodded. "She's a very perceptive girl. What can I do for you?"

Tom leaned against the table beside her. "I just wanted to make sure that we're… okay. And apologize again, if necessary."

"It's not," she replied with a chuckle. "We're fine."

"Yeah? You're not upset?"

"I'm not," she promised. "And I hope you're not upset with me."

Tom frowned. "Why would I be upset with you?"

"Well, I hope you believed me when I said that I'm not trying to force you into making any decisions. I'm not trying to manipulate you, and I really am fine waiting."

"I believed you," he swore. "And I love you for it."

Rachel looked up quick; she hadn't heard those words from him before. "What?"

He grinned, taking her hand. "I love you. For being patient with me, looking out for me, and everything else that you bring to my life."

She returned his smile. "You make it easy," she told him. "Well… some of the time." They both laughed. "And I love you, too."

"So… I guess we're good?" Tom asked, just to be sure.

Rachel stood on her toes to kiss him. "More than good."

As January turned to February, they were halfway through the few weeks allotted for the crew's rescue missions. There had been a lot of long days and double shifts, but nobody was allergic to hard work. The ship had made three stops along the South Carolina coast and vaccinated or cured hundreds of people. Spirits were surprisingly high.

With everything they'd been dealing with, Tom knew that his people deserved a break. The majority of them hadn't left the ship since before Baltimore; only a few people went ashore at each stop. So, he poured over a map with Lt. Cdr. Garnett until they found an uninhabited island off the coast of Georgia that could be a good spot for shore leave.

"I was thinking maybe we could go camping," Tom suggested to his kids, Jed, and Rachel as they had dinner in the wardroom. Ashley and Sam looked up fast, their eyes wide with excitement.

"Really?" Ashley wondered. "We get to go on land?!" It had been 3 months since they came aboard the Nathan James.

Tom chuckled. "Yep. Does that sound like a good idea?"

"Yeah!"

"Good. We can't actually spend the whole night ashore, but we'll do the other fun stuff - cook over a campfire and all that. I thought it might be something special to do since somebody has a birthday coming up." He looked over to Sam, catching him just as he'd put a forkful of food in his mouth.

The little boy froze, looking around at everybody watching him, the fork still sticking out from between his lips. "Me?" he mumbled around it.

Tom laughed. "Yeah, you, buddy. Who else? Do you think a camping trip would be a good present?" Material gifts were hard to come by these days, but hopefully making memories with his kids would be equally valuable to them.

Sam nodded. "Yeah."

"Can Dr. Rachel come, too?" Ashley wondered.

Rachel looked to Tom, trying to gauge his reaction. "I don't want to intrude if you have family traditions."

"If you come, I won't be so outnumbered," Ashley matter-of-factly pointed out.

"What do you think, bud?" Tom inquired of his son, noticing a slightly wary look on Sam's face. He didn't want put the boy on the spot, but it was his birthday, so he should get the final say. Sam had been a little hot-and-cold with Rachel recently; Tom had noted a flip in his kids attitudes. Ashley initially hadn't been able to stand talking about her mother, but was comforted by having a mother-figure in her life. Sam hadn't minded remembering, and now seemed to struggle with his feelings about moving on. They weren't clones; each child needed to process change at their own pace.

"Do you like camping?" Sam carefully asked Rachel.

"Well, actually, I've never been," she admitted.

"We could teach you," Ashley immediately offered.

"Let your brother get a word in," Tom told her, softening the reprimand with a smile.

After a moment of thought, Sam finally nodded. "Yeah, we could teach you. Dad and Grandpop are really good."

Rachel looked to Tom again, asking with her eyes what she should say. "Sounds like it'll be a fun time for everybody," he commented, giving her an encouraging grin.

She returned it. "I can't wait."

A couple days later, the Nathan James dropped anchor in the waters south of Savannah. They'd worked out a schedule to let everyone have a few hours ashore, so RHIBs ferried crewmembers back and forth throughout the day.

When Rachel and the Chandlers' boat approached the beach, Ashley and Sam almost jumped out before the bow touched the sand. Tom just barely managed to grab the straps on their life jackets to stop them.

"Settle down, guys," Tom told his children with a chuckle. "Just wait two seconds; the beach isn't going anywhere."

Once they were turned loose, the kids immediately started running around on the sand, giggling madly as they chased each other around. "Careful with your arm!" Tom called after his son. It would totally ruin the evening if they had to go back to the ship for medical attention.

"I'll look out for them," Jed offered before heading off after the children. The siblings playfully shrieked and ran away from their grandfather.

As Tom and Rachel followed along at a slower pace, he nonchalantly twined their fingers together. "You know," she spoke up, "I never imagined you to be a long-walks-on-the-beach type, Captain."

Tom burst out laughing. "Well, if you hang around me long enough, you'll find that I'm just full of surprises, Doctor."

"So I see."

Ashley and Sam came running back, both sporting mile-wide grins. Tom could see his father standing a little ways down the beach, trying to catch his breath. "Did you two tire out your Grandpop already?" he wondered.

They smiled innocently. "We found a great place to camp," Sam told his father.

"All right, then. Lead on."

They were far enough away from the main landing area that they couldn't hear the noise from the crew's beach party. The spot the children selected wasn't at risk from the rising tide and had plenty of wood nearby for a campfire and 'seats.' Jed, Rachel, and Ashley started working on the fire while Tom and Sam set up the fishing pole that they'd brought.

"I'm gonna catch a big one!" Sam boasted.

Ashley shook her head as she sat down on a log. "Boys," she exasperatedly said.

Rachel laughed as she sat beside the young girl. She took off her boots and socks, wiggling her toes in the sun-warmed sand. The kids and Tom were already barefoot. "I'd almost forgotten what sand felt like." She'd never thought her life would be at sea. It was better than she'd imagined but still definitely not the same.

Ashley grabbed a small stick and started doodling in the soft sand. Spirals first, then hearts. Rachel noticed as she added a letter inside each of five hearts - A, S, T, R, and J. Rachel picked up another stick and drew one big heart around the five smaller ones.

Ashley smiled. "I like that."

Rachel returned her grin. "I do, too."

As they continued making drawings in the sand, Sam suddenly ran over. "I got one! I got one!" he exclaimed, holding up a fish that was barely 4 inches long.

"That's not even enough for you to eat," Ashley pointed out.

Jed chuckled. "Gotta start somewhere."

By the time the sun was beginning to set, they hadn't caught any more fish, but Tom had packed a handful of MREs in his bag, just in case. They all sat together around the campfire, talking and laughing. For a little while, they could almost forget that the world had ended.

Once they finished eating, Tom spread out a blanket on the sand and they laid back to stargaze. The children curled up between their father and Rachel, with Ashley's head on Tom's chest and Sam leaning against Rachel's shoulder. Jed claimed he'd need a crane to get him back up if he laid down on the sand, and instead remained seated on a nearby fallen log.

"Do you see Orion?" Tom asked his kids. "Remember how I said to find it?"

"Look for his belt," Ashley responded. "I see it."

"Where?" Sam asked.

Rachel gently took his good hand and pointed to the sky. "Right there, luv. That's his belt, and then there's his body, and his arm."

"I see it," he whispered. "There were never this many stars back home."

"Too much light," Jed softly explained. After the destruction of the country's infrastructure, that wasn't a problem anymore.

"Will you tell the story?" Ashley asked her father. "About Orion."

"You guys know this story by heart by now," he replied with a smile, but nevertheless started the tale. "In Greek legends, Orion was a hunter. He could hunt anything. When he was killed by the scorpion, the Gods felt sorry for him and they made him a constellation. The scorpion is a constellation, too, but he's on the other side of the sky, far away. And so now Orion lives in the sky, hunting all the animals he wants."

"And the scorpion can never hurt him again," Sam added.

"Yeah."

"You're like Orion, Daddy," the little boy decided.

Rachel smiled at that comment. It was obvious that Tom's children idolized him, and she was so happy that their relationships with him hadn't been damaged by everything they'd all been through.

Tom closed his eyes for a moment. Hopefully the 'scorpions' that had chased him and his ship were gone, but there was no way to know for sure. But he felt a slight bit of pity for whoever came after the Nathan James next; he'd do whatever was necessary to protect his crew and his family.

"He's better than Orion," Ashley decided. "He's got more than just a bat to fight with."

They all laughed, and Tom kissed his daughter's forehead. "Yeah. M-16's are way better."

Their little camping trip was perfect. The kids had a great time and were halfway asleep by the time they made their way back down the beach to get picked up by a RHIB. Back onboard the ship, Rachel and Tom got the children tucked into their beds.

"Daddy?" Sam whispered, barely still conscious.

"Yeah, buddy?"

"Camping was awesome."

Tom smiled. "Yeah, it was. Happy Birthday." Sam didn't answer, already asleep. Tom pulled up his blanket and turned out the light.

When the adults stepped out into the hall, Rachel was also wearing a grin. "I had a good time," she told Tom.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I think I might actually like camping."

He chuckled. "You might want to reserve judgement until you've done the sleeping outdoors part. That's usually the deal-breaker for most people."

Rachel laughed; she hadn't thought about that. "Okay."

"Do you want to stay tonight?" he softly wondered. "No pressure; I promise I'll be a gentleman."

She smiled, pretending to think about it. "Your bed is more comfortable than my cot… Better company, too," she teased, thinking about her empty lab.

Tom chuckled. "Gee, thanks."

TBC...