CH9
Kate watched Alexis work the controls with practiced ease as they made their way to the end of the runway. Kate could see Alexis talking but didn't know what she was saying. Likely it was stuff about where and when to move and when they could take off.
They were soon up in the air and since they took off going the wrong way Alexis was soon slowly changing course and Alexis continued to talk to someone.
It was half an hour later when Kate could hear Alexis's voice again. "It's yours Kate, I'm going to go back with dad for a moment." Alexis smiles as she watches Kate take control of the plane.
Alexis had faith that all those lessons Alexis had been giving Kate all this time, event after event were still in Kate's head. Alexis hadn't yet taught Kate how to take off or land, but Kate could hold a course and altitude and even make a soft banking turn to a new course. Beyond that they all needed Alexis.
Rick was sitting up front facing the cockpit and could see Kate pretty good since Rick was on the same side as Alexis, while Jim could see Alexis pretty good, since he was sitting next to Rick with Martha sitting behind Rick.
Rick was trying so very hard not to look at Jim, however he just knew Jim was staring at him and Rick was melting, fast! It was an explanation for his perspiration anyway.
"My wife was a big fan of your books." Jim offers.
"Yes sir, I know. .. Kate told me." Rick knew it was a lie. Well a white lie since he actually learned it from the papers Johanna had written that he had used to write his book.
"So, how long have you and Kate been together?" Jim asks, since this was the first he had heard of it.
Rick swallowed hard. Boy how does he answer that question? From Jim's perspective it was only a couple of weeks. Just that from his perspective it had been years. All three of them had lost count just how many times they had lived the upcoming nine months. So damn many times.
It was also why he knew he loved Kate with all of his heart and she him. They had told each other this so many times. It was why Kate was mom to Alexis and Alexis was her daughter. They had grown into a family.
There was even one event where Kate was pregnant. It's just that the 'event' had started over again before she had given birth. At the start of the next event Rick had found Kate at his front door sobbing.
From her perspective she had lost their baby and it had been more than she could handle, so they had gone back to using protection to prevent Kate from getting pregnant again. Neither of them wanted to go through a pregnancy only to not end up with a baby to hold in their arms.
Kate had gone through finding out she was pregnant. Gone through morning sickness. Gone through having her back hurt, swollen feet, enlarged breasts. Having to need help just to get off the sofa.
They had even tried to delay flying home. They had even considered not flying for home at all. It's just that the thought of giving birth alone with just Rick and Alexis, no drugs, no medical help and no baby items had gotten them on the plane for home. Only to have the entire thing reset yet again.
It was something that they were not willing to go through again, when it didn't result in having a baby to love. It was just far too painful for all of them, especially for Kate.
It had taken Rick and Alexis days before they saw a glimmer of the Kate that they knew and loved again. They had accomplished almost nothing during that event before it was time to fly out to the island. Even after that it had taken weeks before Kate was Kate again.
They had lived a lifetime in those nine months. "Just around 2 weeks sir." Rick decided on Jim's point of view truth, anything else at this stage would sound like he was a mad man. Not playing with a full deck. He had bats in his belfry. He was a few french fries short of a happy meal. Dumber than a box of rocks. One taco short of a combination plate. Sharp as a marble.
Rick shook his head. Sometimes being a writer was a curse. "We encountered each other at a coffee shop and started meeting for coffee. I've started a roughing it resort for people that want that real experience while deep sea fishing, scuba diving, snorkeling or just want to get away from it all. No cell phone service and wanted to spend your time like you did when you went camping. Just with a few luxuries for the ladies.
Fly in for a weekend or stay the week. The initial idea was that it was all inclusive. One price gets you anything you can do there. We even have a Luau dinner, complete with dancers if I could find them.
Fly in and out on this plane or come in your own boat or yacht. We have deep sea access." Rick explains.
Rick was spared being drilled by Jim when Alexis suddenly showed up and sat down in the only empty seat left, which was behind Jim. Alexis however stopped at Martha and hugged her. "Hi grams."
"Alexis darling, it's great seeing you. … Just who is flying the plane dear?" Martha was confused, since Martha knew Alexis could fly. Alexis was dedicated to her father still. Maybe in a year or two she would decide to come out from behind his shadow and be the woman she is meant to be.
"Oh Kate is flying." Alexis explains like it was the most obvious thing.
"KATIE IS FLYING THE PLANE!?" Jim calls out surprised. Ok maybe shocked is a better term, since he didn't know Kate knew how to fly.
"Kate knows enough to fly straight and listen to the radio in case another navy fighter shows up, or someone calls." Alexis answers from her seat.
"Oh my manners. This is Alexis, my daughter and this is Martha Rodgers, my mother." Rick offers.
"Jim Beckett, Katie's father." Jim explains himself.
"You can have my seat Jim if you want." Alexis offers.
Sit in the pilots seat next to Katie while she flies the plane? He did have a lot of questions, one of which was where did his daughter learn how to fly? "Thanks." And Jim gets up and makes his way into the cockpit and works his body slowly into place without touching anything.
"Hi dad." Kate takes a quick look at him as he works at sitting down, before turning back to paying attention to what she was doing.
"KATIE!?" Jim stares at his daughter.
Kate turns her head and give him a quick smile before turning back to flying. "You probably have a few questions." Kate offers and wasn't really looking forward to some of them.
"If by a few you mean the first one hundred, then yeah, I have a few questions. … Like where did you learn how to fly a plane?" Jim starts with the obvious one. Not knowing just how complex that question really was.
"Yeah, that's a little complicated. Probably best if we wait for some answers after we land." Kate would prefer some solid ground to stand on when Jim and Martha went ballistic on them.
"You're going to land the plane too?" Jim was shocked and impressed, just mostly shocked.
"Oh heavens no, for that we need Alexis. I only know how to keep it level and on course. It is kinda fun actually. … I understand now what Alexis sees in it." Kate was wrong, but didn't know that. Alexis saw it as freedom while Kate sees it as having control.
"Rick said you two had only known each other for 2 weeks." Jim states, not seeing how Kate could get enough flying lessons from his daughter in short period of time. And why are they all in this plane anyway?
2 Weeks, huh? Kate thought to herself. Well from her father's point of view that was probably true. "That's kinda part of the long story." Kate knew they were going to try and need to explain it all to her father and Rick's mother. They knew that when they decided to bring them with them this time. Besides this was a first and maybe something would change because of it.
Lord knows something had to stop this from repeating yet again. They all wanted their lives back.
"You seem happy around him Katie." Jim could see Katie glowing. Even now she was smiling and all she was doing was flying a plane. Prior to this she always looked so serious and not overly happy.
Kate took a quick peek at her father and thought about herself and found that even at the moment she was smiling. Something Kate knew she didn't do much of.
Lanie had called her out for her fake smile. Now her heart was light and she was happy. "Yeah he makes me happy dad. … They both do. Alexis is an amazing young woman. Just what every parent dreams of having." Kate could feel her heart grow just a little bigger.
It had her smiling wide suddenly as she thought of the animated Grinch movie. They even had that Jim Carrey version in the DVD cabinet along with a couple of other Christmas movies. They had watched almost every movie in the cabinet over the years.
Jim watched Kate start to glow even brighter with that comment. There was something going on here, and he couldn't wait to find out about it. Somehow his daughter had come back to life and he wanted to know how that had happened.
"Who is she Richard?" Martha asks looking at both her son and granddaughter.
"Her name is Kate Beckett grams, and she's amazing." Alexis loved her and couldn't help having that shine through.
"Kate is a homicide detective that has accepted a position as the captain of a precinct. An entire police station." Rick adds.
Martha swallowed this information and noticed that the two of them seemed to be happy. This cop must really be something. At least she wasn't anything like Meredith or Gina, so Martha was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. … For now.
"And you met her at a coffee shop." Martha had overheard what her son had told Jim.
"Just up the street from her precinct." Rick nods his head.
"And she's flying this plane." Martha didn't think these two would let her if they weren't sure she could handle it. But where did a cop learn how to fly.
"I've taught her what she needs to know grams. Kate is fine till we reach the island." Alexis was sure, since Kate had been flying for some time now.
"Two weeks of you teaching her how to fly?" Martha questions.
"Yeah, about that. We have something we need to explain when we land." Rick tells her.
Martha just stared at the two of them.
"So what do we do at this, .. island of yours?" Martha asks.
"We live mother. … We live mother, live to solve a riddle." Rick tells her.
"And this, … Katherine is part of this riddle?" Martha asks.
"Yes mother, a very big part. A very big part." Rick knew they would never solve it without her.
It is now 3 hours later:
Martha and Jim had essentially remained quiet for most of the flight, leaving the big questions until they were on the ground.
"Can you go get Alexis dad, we've arrived." Kate asks of her father.
Jim took care getting out of his seat, scared that he was going to touch something he shouldn't.
"Katie says that we are here." Jim enters the cabin and takes his seat that he had left.
That got Alexis up and into the cockpit. Alexis put on the headseat out of habit. "How was your father?" Alexis asks.
"Full of questions, … how was your grandmother?" Kate asks back.
"Full of questions. … Check list." Alexis asks of Kate.
"Fuel selector, … Directional gyro, …. Shoulder harness, …. Mixture, …. Cowl flaps, …. Landing gear, …. Propelller, …. Flaps." Kate reads off the list.
"Wind flag?" Kate teases.
Alexis smiles. "Already looked, a little bit of a cross wind head on, wind speed looks a little above 10. More than enough, I think with an occasional gust up to 20. Haven't done this yet with a full load like we have this trip." Alexis admits.
"Here we go." Alexis informs Kate. And Kate watches as Alexis comes in really shallow, just like all the other times. It always made Kate think that they were going to land on the water, or at the very least, the wheels were getting wet.
Just after Kate felt the wheels hit ground she reached and pulled two levers back and shoved two more far forward and helped Alexis with the brakes.
Kate watched as the came to the end of the runway and turned around and went part way back and then parked as Alexis shut everything down. "Few more of these and you'll be able to land here too." Alexis offers up.
"Thanks, but between you and me, I'd just as soon have you do it and I'm kinda hoping we don't do this again." Kate didn't want to think about the upcoming nine months resetting so they could do it all over again.
"I hear that." Alexis adds her wish.
Kate and Alexis get out of their seats and enter the seating area to see Rick handing Alexis a small case while he opens his.
"You two stay here dad, we need to clear the island." Kate tells him and Martha.
Jim and Martha watch as Rick, Kate and Alexis pull out weapons and prep them. "We'll be back in a couple of hours. DO NOT leave the plane." Kate tells them.
They had never been here a day early. All the other times the islands were empty. They were pretty sure they would be this time too, just that they had always checked it just to be sure.
This time Kate was more secure in allowing them to split up and search it faster.
"Weapons?" Jim asks looking at Martha after they were gone and had closed the plane.
"I don't know. I've never seen Alexis carry a weapon before." Martha didn't even know she had ever had one in her hand before.
"If this is a vacation spot why are they searching it with weapons?" Jim asks, not expecting an answer from Martha.
Kate, Rick and Alexis end up meeting just outside the house. "Clear." They tell each other.
"We ready for this?" Kate asks looking at both of them.
"We need to unload the plane so might as well get the trailer now and plug in the golf cart." Rick offers since they all know that the golf cart has sat too long unused so the battery needs charging. "Then we can make lunch and answer their questions."
"Just are they going to believe us?" Kate answers.
"They will in a couple of days when we talk with Espo and Andy and Robert and the others." Alexis offers.
That had Kate and Rick agreeing. They might not believe them now, but they will as they listen in.
They were soon back to the plane except for Alexis who was spending her time opening the house. Turning on the power, solar hot water system and getting the water running for a minute to clear out any air bubbles.
Jim helped Kate and Rick unload the plane while Martha just watched quietly until they started pulling out the cases of wine. "Oh Richard, thank you." Martha was happy now. This stay was suddenly looking up.
Jim couldn't help but notice it was mostly canned vegetables and coffee along with a few other things, he didn't know anything about. Three long hard sided cases and five duffel bags.
Jim also helped put everything away into the pantry. "WOW, we expecting to feed an army?" Jim looked around as he placed the cases of canned vegetables on the floor since there was no where else to place them.
He also noticed that the freezer's were empty save for what was in the coolers they they had brought with them.
"I'll let Kate and Alexis take you two for a tour while I fix lunch." Rick offers while exiting the house to go pick the fruit and look in the greenhouse.
"Dad, Martha, bring your bags and we'll find you a bedroom. You're going to want to change since it will get warm and then hot here." Kate offers.
Martha ended up taking the room Kate had started out in while Jim took the spare bedroom next to the master bedroom.
They got to see the living room, open dining room and open kitchen. Then upstairs to the roof deck to see the solar panels and look out over the parapet walls to see the windmills, battery storage, storage room, back patio and the area that the fruit trees and nut trees took up, along with the dock where the 3 boats were located.
They would fill the planes fuel tanks tomorrow and move cold drinks up from the store.
"We hunt for pigs, and go fishing to get fish, and after enough of the chickens lay eggs that hatch we can have chicken. Those are our only meat sources. Fruit is from the fruit trees and the vegetables are from the greenhouse. Though we brought two more small ones to expand that." Alexis explains.
"Just how long are you thinking that we will be here?" Jim asks being very curious.
"How about lunch first." Kate brightens up and smiles and heads back downstairs.
Kate made it to the kitchen before the others had made it down. "We are so dead babe." Kate sits at the counter and places her elbows on the counter and her head in her hands.
It had Rick smiling since Kate was only expressing what he was feeling. "We're the only ones with guns so they can't shoot us." Rick points out.
"And what do we do when those two idiots show up?" Kate knew those two stupid kids would float in with weapons. They had shot them each and every time. The last few times Rick had been standing off to one side with his Thompson and had filled his own tent full of holes.
"So what's for lunch Richard?" Martha, Jim and Alexis had made it down.
"Marinated Papaya steaks and sliced fruit. … Freshly picked just minutes ago." Rick explains. Same thing they had EVERY time they came here on the first day.
Jim wasn't sure papaya steaks were exactly him, but it wasn't bad.
"Ok, as to why we are all here." Rick offers, taking a deep breath. "I'm sure you have both seen the news about there being a large rabies outbreak." Rick starts off.
"It's all over the news, they've shut down the airports and closed the ports and the border crossings into Mexico." Jim confirms.
"Right, just that what they're not telling you is that it isn't a rabies outbreak. Ok maybe at first it was, but it's changed since then. What is already working it's way up the east coast is a zombie epidemic." Rick tries to start to explain.
"Richard, really!" Martha isn't buying it and she knows her son.
"I'm afraid it's true Martha. Right now there is a wave of infected people working their way north from Miami while another wave is working it's way up through Mexico. As soon as it reaches the border with Mexico the military is going to drop nukes all across the border just as it reaches major cities like San Diego, Tucson and Brownsville amongst others." Kate tells her.
"You'll remember the military that was at the bridge? … Just after early morning tomorrow they are going to blow all the bridges into Manhattan turning Manhattan Island back into the island that it is. There will be no access in and out of Manhattan. Everyone inside Manhattan will be trapped. However that keeps them safe from the infection." Rick tries to explain.
Jim looks at Martha not sure he believes Rick.
"We know it sounds fantastic, and sometime tomorrow you can talk to Espo, one of the detectives that I work with at the precinct. Along with a few other people that you can talk with using the ham radio system you saw in the office area." Kate tells them.
"Richard, really. … Zombies?" Martha wasn't buying it. It was just another one of her sons, … she didn't have a word for it.
"They run around biting people that transfers the infection to an uninfected person and in 12 seconds you are gone and now one of these mindless zombie things. Effectively dead since there is no cure." Kate tells them.
Jim opens his mouth to say something only to close it again. Finally he opens it again. "And you know all about this how, since it sounds like it hasn't happened yet?"
"That's because the three of us have been re-living this event over and over again." Rick tells him.
Jim just stares at him. "I know what this sounds like dad, trust me I do. We've tried any number of things to try and stop from repeating the next 9 months over and over again.
It's why I know Rick and Alexis. It's why I know a little bit about flying a plane. I'm not nearly as good as Alexis is, but Alexis has taught me a lot. And the more times we do it, the more we remember from the last time." Kate tells him.
"Our first trip out here was just blind luck, lately we've started planning ahead. Bringing more supplies to account for what we were running out of or didn't have in the first place." Rick explains.
"And you expect us to stay way out here alone with you?" Jim questions, not sure he believes what they have told him.
"This is actually the first time we've brought you with us. All the other times I had Espo and Ryan come pick you up along with Martha and you spend the next 9 months living on the 4th floor of the precinct, sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor with about 300 other people. Give or take." Kate explains.
"I wouldn't!" Martha takes exception. Sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag just wasn't her.
"I'm afraid you do mother. We have some hope that bringing you two with us this time will break the cycle, since we've tried any number of other things." Rick is forced to admit.
"We've tried getting the CDC and WHO to listen to us since we know of something that would help, it's just that we're guessing the few people we know about to talk to end up infected.
The same for various TV stations in New York. Either they don't believe us or they end up infected and they all end up taking that knowledge with them." Kate was tired of living this again and again.
"Katie I love you and I would like to believe you, but zombies?" Jim wasn't onboard with all this yet.
"You don't really have to at the moment dad. Starting tomorrow or even tonight when the sun is going down you can listen to others using the ham radio and the satellite phones that we have." Kate tells him.
"And you're in on all this dear?" Martha looks at Alexis who had been quiet all this time.
"Mom and dad are telling the truth grams." Alexis tells her. Getting Martha to sit up straight and open her eyes wide.
"MOM!?" Jim questions.
"Ooops!" Alexis suddenly wanted to be anywhere but here. Kate had been mom for so long now she couldn't help it.