Missing you : Chapter 2 : Mike part 2
On board the USNS Comfort, Hospital ship, Persian Gulf, Late March 2003.
Mike awoke, his eye flickered open to a flash of familiar blonde hair.
He'd woken up next to the woman of his dreams. Reaching for her, Mike wanted to wrap his arms around her, to never let her go. "Kate …"
Kate was a unique and heady mix of beauty, intelligence, and confidence. Mike needed to be inside her, to feel her under him or over him. It didn't matter to him, his desire and love for her was overpowering.
Carol Muntz was pleased, gently removing the man's hands from her shoulders. Her patient was waking up and seemed to be relatively compos mentis if he thought she was his partner.
The two patients assigned to her were Australians, although both had been unconscious for the two days that she'd had them in her ward. The petty officer had had extensive surgery to repair his multiple fractures, while the semi-conscious lieutenant had required hours of surgery to repair his damaged forehead, eye socket and nose fractures as well as the two plates and ten screws fitted to his shattered leg.
She wrote the time and his other vitals on his chart, and then she pulled down the sheet. Her first port of call was to test the perfusion in his toes.
Mike giggled. "Kate, stop! That tickles …"
Carol smiled, gently batting away his hand, and then continued her examination, checking the bindings around his chest. Breathing would be very painful for several weeks until his three broken ribs healed. The man had used up most of his luck; he could have received fatal head injuries from the crash or if his broken ribs had pierced the pleura and then he could have died from a pneumothorax.
Mike sighed, loving the way her gentle yet insistent fingers toyed with his chest hairs.
Working further down the Australian's body, she carefully checked the Foley catheter to make sure the urine was draining freely. Satisfied, she pulled the sheet back up.
He moaned as Kate caressed him mercilessly, her expert fingers wove their way down through his pubic hairs and onto his shaft.
The nursing officer carefully looked at the drain that prevented fluid build up in his forehead and skull. Its clear colour showed that there was no infection. The plastic surgeon had done a magnificent job repairing Flynn's bad head wound and his fractured eye sockets such that he'd probably be left only with a small upside down vee shaped scar between his eyes. Although he looked a mess, with one eye was swollen shut and two superb shiners that any boxer would be proud of producing on an opponent.
"Oh Kate …" Mike cherished the warmth of her touch as she caressed his face.
She clicked on her pencil torch and gently opened his good right eyelid to check his neurological reflexes. It was reactive; another good sign confirming what the CT scan showed – there was no brain swelling.
Mike groaned, wanting to her tender ministrations to continue. Why had Kate put the light on? But as he became more aware he knew something was not right. His body ached. Everywhere.
Carol looked up from the chart to find the confused Aussie staring at her. "Good morning, Lieutenant."
The mispronunciation of his rank and the thick southern American accent was a dead giveaway he wasn't in Watson's Bay anymore. Then it came back to him. The RHIB must have hit something. Panic began to rise. He couldn't see from one eye but he was more interested in what had happened to his boarding party. "My men? Are they okay?" He started to get raise himself up but instantly regretted the movement. White-hot pain radiated from his chest, and he was unable to stop himself from yelling out in agony.
She gently pushed him back down. "Easy, Lieutenant." Typical of most good officers, he cared more about his men than himself. She pointed to his left. "Petty Officer Black is here next to you. I'm not sure if there are any other Australian sailors on board but I will find out for you."
"Thank you." Relieved but still worried, Mike tried to turn his head toward Black but stopped. Moaning, he took a moment to recover. "How is he?"
"He's serious but stable. He should recover but will take time." The look on his face had told her not to sugar coat Black's condition. "You'll be fine too."
Worried about his left eye and what he'd do if he'd lost it, Mike's fingers gently felt the bandage covering it. "My eye?"
"Your forehead took a fair hit. You've fractured both eye sockets and your nose. There's a lot of swelling so we're not sure of the extent of the damage. The ophthalmologist will look at it in a day or two when the swelling has gone down enough."
A medical assistant dropped off the sponge bath rig. "Ma'am?"
"That's all, corpsman."
"Yes, ma'am."
Carol closed the curtain around his bed and then pulled down the sheet that covered him.
Mike was shocked to see his bruised and battered body, but what made him squirm was that he was naked.
She squeezed the flannel. "You had one of these before?"
"No." Mike eyed the flannel in her hands while he fidgeted with the sheet.
"Just relax."
Mike said sheepishly, "Easy for you to say."
Carol ignored his embarrassment as she started the bath.
"Where am I?" Mike hoped polite conversation would distract him.
"The US Navy's hospital ship, Comfort."
"What's your name?"
"Lieutenant Carol Muntz, US Navy, Nursing Officer, at your service." She bowed slightly as a wry smile grew. They were playing a game of twenty questions. "I know your name. Nice to meet you, Lieutenant Michael Flynn."
"Hello, Carol. But it's Mike, please." Only his mother could get away with calling him by his full name.
"Okay, Mike it is. Your ship?"
"HMAS Kanimbla. Used to be one of yours, the Saginaw."
"Any good?"
"I suppose, for a used one."
He grimaced; the nurse had washed his badly bruised right knee.
"Sorry." Carol tried to go as gently as she could but Mike was covered in bruises.
"Have you Yanks found Saddam's WMD yet?"
"Not yet, and unlikely to either. but you didn't hear me say that."
Mike nodded. Everyone knew why they were in Iraq for a second time, and it wasn't for the WMD, but they were officers and did what they were told.
She wouldn't have time to idly chat with a patient if they'd invaded already. Unfortunately they'd have been inundated with wounded. She changed tack. "Where are you from?"
"Australia."
She rolled her eyes. "More info."
"Originally Ayr, Queensland. It's near Cairns. I'm based in Cairns now." He'll be returning to Cairns sooner than he'd thought but it would take months before he would be fit for sea duty again.
After CROC-99, she'd spent a week in Queensland. "Diving the Great Barrier Reef in '99 was just amazing."
Mike shrugged, having seen the Reef many times. "You?"
"Atlanta, Georgia."
"I drank Coke while watching the '96 Olympics."
"Then you're practically a Goober."
Mike questioned, "Goober? I'm stupid? Thank you."
Carol laughed. "Oh sorry. You gotta love cross cultural confusion. It's a nickname for a Georgian."
Mike chuckled. "Okay?"
"It's a peanut thing."
The questions flowed back and forth until Carol declared the job done and pulled the sheet up. She checked her watch. "The doctor will be here for rounds in an hour. In the meantime, is there anyone you'd like me to contact?" The Comfort's Operations officer would have filled in the RAN HQ regarding the condition of the two Australians. Her request had been far more personal. The women that he mentioned in his sleep could be worried. "Your parents, or perhaps Kate? You can call them both if you want."
Mike was taken aback. Kate? Damn. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't forget about her. It was not surprising that Kate McGregor had filled his dreams and nightmares in equal measure for the last six months.
The blood pressure monitor beeped.
Carol watched as Mike had turned away but couldn't hide his obvious distress. Painful memories or perhaps she'd died. And she just put her foot in it. "Forget it."
How could he forget her? It was impossible. As corny as it sounded, it had been love at first sight and he'd felt that Kate had loved him too. Like the wonderful Nat King Cole song, Kate was unforgettable in so many ways. And he'd blown it. Big time. It was entirely his fault. Why did he leave her? He had no idea. It was the biggest mistake of his life. And one that he knew that would haunt him for the rest of his days. Mike had broken her heart and completely understood that she probably would never want to speak to him again.
It didn't matter how many times he'd told himself he was over her, he knew that he was lying to himself. Even his best friends, Jeff and Maxine, had known that too. He'd tried to move on but couldn't. No women could possibly compare to Kate. Mike missed her more than he could ever imagine.
"Look, Mike, I'm sorry,' apologized Carol. The sadness and guilt on Mike's face nearly tugged at her heart. Christ, she was ten times an idiot. She's meant to cheer her patients up not depress them.
Mike turned back toward Carol. In a small way, she resembled Kate. Both were blonde and beautiful in different ways. "It's all right."
Carol took a chance. "Do you want to talk about it?"
For a moment, Mike wanted to feign tiredness, but something made him open up. "You know, you look a lot like her."
Carol raised an eyebrow, hoping he'd elaborate.
"Kate McGregor is the most beautiful women I've ever met and my greatest mistake. I don't think I could ever love another woman and I regret that I left her ..."
I ain't missing you
No matter, what my friends say
I ain't missing you, I ain't missing you
I can lie to myself
'Missing You' by John Waite
TBC