First of all massive massive thanks to the one's who left a review, it means a lot to me, really. I'm glad to know you like the story so far. so big thanks to tmtcltb, guest, jag 389, scousedancer. I hope you like this one as well.
They arrived at the harbour four RHIBS waiting at the dock, several of the captain's men were guarding the pier. They had made it to the harbour safely that was the first though that crossed his mind as he saw the Nathan James on the horizon.
Master chief was on his way with his kids here as well, it bothered the captain that he couldn't be there for his kids in this already hard time for them, they'd just lost their mother and what had he done, chase after people and take revenge on those responsible for his wife's death along with thousands of others.
Getting out of the SVU's and getting in the RHIBS he laid Rachel down, not that he wanted, but when his kids arrived he wanted to embrace them in his arms, check them over, see if the cure really had done it's job.
Make sure that he hadn't failed his kids as well, his father.
And brought the remaining of his crew at Advocet in safety. "Kara?" the captain heard a voice ask, looking down her realised that Rachel had lifted her head from his shoulder, he hadn't had the heart to place her down, maybe somewhere in the back of his mind he wanted to secure Rachel in his arms
And Rachel hadn't fought it, feeling quite safe and secure in his arms after what had just happened, his familiar scent, surprisingly comforting to her as he carried her from the car and into the RHIBS.
Keeping what was left of her dignity, several men of the Nathan James crew had seen her naked and in a vulnerable position about to be raped, hanging on the ceiling by metal chains as they tortured her.
"Kara?" she asked, thinking the trauma to her body has somehow gotten to her brain and maybe her brain was playing a trick on her, putting Kara there in front of her in Danny's arms, looking around she tried to find Alisha, finding her next to Burk in his jacket, knees pulled up to her chest, trying to cover herself as much as possible, jumping at every little noise of movement, she had failed, she'd fought and failed to protect her, she'd been raped.
Looking back at Kara, she wanted to know what she was doing here, getting up from The captain's arms and out of her safe place, "where do you think you're going?" Rachel heard from above her, making Alisha jump up and startling Rachel, it would take a while for them to be around men, and being on a ship with mainly men would definitely be a new challenge, sure they were all navy and one by one honourable men, the damage had been done psychological and would take its time.
"going to Kara and Alisha." Rachel replied, trying to push herself up, caring for other would mean avoiding to deal with what just happened. "I thought you were on the ship?" Rachel asked, looking at Kara in Danny's arm, her body weaker then she had anticipated as she tried to push herself upright.
"they tried to take the cure from the baby." She whispered, her voice being carried on the soft breeze. "stamcells." Rachel realised as she whispered to herself, discovering for herself what they had tried to do. "You okay?" Rachel asked, trying to get up again, this time the captain helped her up, after hearing what they had tried to do to Kara he was worried for her and the baby.
Sure he may not show it but this was his crew and he cared for each and every one of them and after finding out that the world's population has been decimated, they became his family as well, sure he was still the Captain, top of the chain of command and no one would dare speak to him, like any of the others did, he realised that.
He knew that that was how he kept the ship going, but sometimes it would be nice to just be Tom Chandler as well, not the captain, have someone to talk to, Mike was a great friend, one of his best friends, but he saw the rest of his crew as friends as well, he knew he may not show it, but he knew it and that was what mattered.
He cared for them, more then he would let on, for now maybe. He cared for Danny and Kara and their now baby and he had to maybe accept the fact that more of his crew would seek comfort with each other, that those fraternation rules weren't maybe as effective in the new world they lived in.
"they didn't get the needle in." Kara whispered looking at Rachel as she tried to stand on her feet, her feet and knees wobbly, maybe it was the water crashing against the RHIB or the fact that the adrenaline had finally left her body.
"I'll check you out when we get to the ship." Rachel promised, giving Kara's hand a squeeze and trying to give Danny an assuring smile.
"Alisha?" Rachel whispered, looking in her direction, as Rachel looked in her eyes she realised that she was in her own world trying to deal with what just happened, so she sat down where Tom had previously sat, the three women jumping up as a car approached. "It's alright, It's my family." The captain said in a strong and assuring voice, wanting to calm them down, wanting to take Rachel back in his arm at seeing the frightened look in her eyes.
'my family' ran through Rachel's mind, his wife is here, he'd found her, 'what were you thinking anyway, that he'd come to safe you' Rachel reprimanded herself in her head.
'what was I thinking? Now I really had to get over my feelings for him, there was no point in holding on to them, not when he had just found his family.' Rachel told herself as she watched the door to the van being opened and the captain embracing his kids.
Looking at the scene in front of her she questioned the fact that she was only seeing his kids and an elderly man. 'where is his wife?' she asked herself, searching the pier for her an answer as it might pop up from somewhere.
"We were too late for his wife, she was already dead, we didn't even find her." Burk told everyone in the RHIB as if he was reading everyone's minds.
'she's gone?' Rachel asked herself. 'failed again, failed to protect Alisha, failed to protect Kara when they found in her files that she was pregnant, failed the Captain by not being able to save his entire family.' She told herself and with that she turned into her own world, not wanting these people to be angry at her for failing to protect them, she deserved it, not that, but she couldn't handle them being angry at them.
not after she'd come so close to all of them, to Kara, to Alisha, to the Captain, the entire crew. She couldn't handle the only family she had known in her entire life being angry at her. Six months they'd been at sea, four months of trying to separate herself from these honourable men and women, she wasn't one herself, trying to keep everything hidden from them, lying to them.
but then the secret got out and she proved herself to them, her worth, they got faith in her, regained their trust. She started seeing them as her family. The only family she had ever gotten and she had failed them, by not producing the cure soon enough and by not protecting them.
but as she saw The Captains kids approaching she remembered that they had been sick and had been administered the cure, the first ones to try to cure part and not the vaccine part, so she needed to see if it had worked, if she had at least succeeded at one thing.
she waited until they were in the RHIBS, until everyone was in the RHIBS to get up and walk over to them, but she was still a bit weak on her feet and as she got up, her knees buckled under her, the captain catching her just in time.
"easy there." He whispered, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her back down, pulling her back in his lap, there wasn't any place left and he'd rather hold her in his arms, he'd only lost his wife, but he also realised that he liked this woman more then you should like any other random women, he had the great sense and feeling to protect her.
To protect her from any hurt or other dangerous situation like she had been in at Advocet. Ashley and Sam settled on each side of his, their little arms, resting low on his back, holding his t-shirt in their fists as if not to let him go.
the boat ride back to the James was wobbly, maybe he was only aware how wobbly this was with his kids by his side now. The RHIBS hadn't felt this unsafe and wobbly until now.
The captain was the first one to board the Nathan James Sam in his arm, seeing Lieutenant Garnett next to Mike he approached her. "An? Could you go to Lieutenant Foster and Granderson's cabin and get them new clothes, take a double from Lieutenant Foster, I'm sure that Dr. Scott is around the same size as her." The captain asked her with a sympathetic look that said 'not now' he shot the same look at Mike as the RHIBS were lifted onboard everyone climbing out of it, everyone looking at the 8 bags with dead bodies.
The Nathan James had won back the control over the ship, but not without losses, eight people had lost their lives.
Doc Rios immediately approached the three women, it made quite a sight and a few eyebrows were raised when they saw Granderson stepping out of the RHIB with Burk's BDU jacket, but that's not what raised the eyebrows, Dr. Scott wearing the Captains BDU jacket did, it was big enough to cover her up to the knees, his name tag over her chest, his insignia's on the collar of the jacket.
"Don't touch me." Was heard over the deck of the Nathan James as the captain looked as Alisha jumped back as Doc Rios approached her. "It's fine, I'll check her out." Rachel said, her voice stronger then it had been back at the docks.
Maybe she saw it as her way to redeem herself for her failures. Maybe she just understood what Alisha was going through, she was only seconds away from sharing the same fate and she wasn't to warm about the idea of Doc Rios checking her out, but she could feel the skin on her cheeks burning from the hits she'd taken. She was sure a few ribs were either bruised or broken by the feel of it and the jacket rubbing against the burns was anything but comfortable or painless.
"let's get you to the infirmary." Rachel said, wrapping an arm around Alisha's waist, hoping it would be enough to get the woman there. Kara walking in front of them, holding having lost contact with Danny, coming aboard the Nathan James was like all property rules were back.
Rachel had just gotten out of the infirmary. Doc Rios had barely been able to check her out, being jump and skittish about the idea of a man checking her out, checking out her wounds, but she hadn't worn anything under that jacket.
She would be forever grateful to Garnett when she had brought the BDU's, it felt quite oddly against her skin as she wore the Navy uniform, but she couldn't be picky. Not about the fact that Doc Rios had to check and care for her wounds, so she could check both Kara and Alisha, neither about the fact that she was now wearing the Navy uniform.
At first Alisha had been fighting, not wanting to get checked out, but the words of Kara and Rachel had managed to convince her to do it, anyway. Maybe it had been bribing and bullying as Rachel had threatened to not give the okay to go back to the bridge. But it had worked.
With Kara at her head, not holding a grudge against Alisha for what her mother had tried to to do, both to her and the baby. She'd need time to recover from it all. But more so psychological.
Rachel wasn't a psychologist, but promised to be there for Alisha when she needed to talk.
Now she was on her way to the Captains quarters, wanting to check on his kids and dad. She wanted to see their recovery for herself after being administered the cure.
With a soft knock against the metal door she waited for the door to be opened, Kara had been able to fill her in a bit more, Danny having told her what they had found after Kara had bribed him for information and she was revolted by what happened, the captain's wife having been burned at an extermination camp, she couldn't believe they were making sick people believe they had the cure, only to end up killing them and burning them as fuel.
People, human bodies being used as fuel, shaking her head at the idea, the door in front of her was opened. "Captain." She whispered softly. Having been in the company with only woman for the last hour had been quite comforting, keeping up the idea that there weren't man around trying to hurt her. But now standing in front of one, reminded her she was on a ship full of man.
Not that the one in front of her would hurt her. She had feelings for him, but that wasn't what convinced her of the idea of him not hurting her. At least not in the way they had tried to back at Advocet.
"Rachel." He breathed out. "I wanted to check on your family" she explained, "come in" he said, moving aside to let her in.
"dad, Sam, Ashley, this is Dr. Rachel Scott, she's the one who made the cure." Tom said, motioning to me. "hey." She whispered, pulling at the navy shirt she was wearing. Placing her medical bag on the desk she pulled out her stethoscope and blood pressure cuff.
"so we owe our lives to you." his father said, extending his hand. "I'm Jed, Tom's dad." He introduced himself. "I'm not responsible for that alone. Hadn't it been for this crew and the support of the captain, I doubt we'd have the cure. They're as much accountable for it as I am." Rachel explained, checking his sores and muscles.
"How are you feeling?" Rachel asked, sitting down on the coffee table so she was on eye level as she attached the cuff, aware that tom's eyes were looking at her every move.
"still pretty tired, but much better then I felt;" he explained, a soft smile on his face. "that's good, if you feel anything, don't be afraid to tell me or approach me." She assured him as she shuffled on the table so she was sitting in front of Sam.
"How are you feeling, little man?" she asked, doing the same check she had done with Jed. "my tummy hurts and tired." He replied, looking at me through his dropping eyes. "he vomited back on land;" Jed said, next to him. "Might be a side effect of the Cure." Rachel replied, listening to his lungs.
"you still feel like you have to vomit?" Rachel asked, him, lowering her head so she was eye level with him. "not so much." He replied, the tiredness evident in his voice. "I'll give you something for that." Rachel replied, getting up and walking to her medical bag, preparing a syringe, adding some pain relief that would make him sleep, hoping a good night's rest would do him some good.
She injected Sam with the syringe before moving onto Ashley, checking her before getting up. "you'll be alright, you'll feel the effect of the Red Flu for a couple more days, but you'll make a full recovery." She told them, looking more at Jed and at tom out of the corner of her eye then at the kids.
Getting her supplies back in the bag she walked back to the door. "Rachel?" she heard behind her, making her jump a little, not having expected for anyone to follow her out. "Captain;" she said, after getting her heartbeat under control.
"thanks for checking them out." He nodded his head back to his room. "Of course and I'm very sorry that I wasn't able to save your wife." Rachel said, looking at her very interesting shoes all of a sudden.
Tom couldn't believe she was taking responsibility for that, just having seen her care for his children and father with such a soft touch and care, made the spot he had for her in his heart grow with every soft caress on his children's faces. And now she held herself accountable for his wife's death, only he was responsible for that, no one else.
"hey." He said, taking a step closer to her, lifting her chin. "you aren't responsible for Darien's death, if it wasn't for you my kids and father wouldn't be alive. I owe you their lives, I owe you my and my crew's life." He told her, hoping he would be able to convince her.
"but still," she started protesting. "no, my children are alive because of you. you're not responsible for Darien's dead, I am." he ended in a whisper as the pain for his dead wife hadn't lessened one bit, not that he expected for it to lessen, he'd been married for over 15 years to Darien loved her every second of it, still did even now. He'd always cherish the memories he'd made with her, his kids in which he had a piece of her.
He'd never forget his wife. Never forget the memories of him, never lose the feeling at having failed her, having failed to be there to safe her, to even hold her hand as she died.
"no, don't think that. You did everything you could, you're a good man Tom, I'm sure your wife knew you tried everything to save her and be there for her." Rachel whispered, giving in to the feeling of wanting to comfort him somehow, her hand being placed against his cheek, being the one thing that she could think off.
he couldn't help but lean into her touch, the soft caress of his cheek of her thumb as she told him that he was a good man, it seemed her words were able to sink in a bit, as he believed her, or at least a little.
"if there is anything with the kids or your father don't hesitate to get me. I'm sure they'll be feeling like this for a couple more days." Rachel told him, still caressing his cheek as she enjoyed the feeling of his skin under her touch, the stubble on his cheek, out of character for him, but she welcomed it none the less.
"How are Kara and Alisha?" he asked, the fact that he diddn't name them with their formal names, was enough evidence for Rachel that he truly cared about this people and not just because they were his crew, he cared about the people who made up his crew.
"Kara will be fine, I'd like to do an ultrasound though, I can't really check on the baby like this, but I believe both of them will be fine. Alisha will need time," she told him, seeing the guilt in his eyes, wanting to take away his guilt.
"Well, the warlords are expecting us back on land, we're going to help them create some control in the next few days, set up the lab here, I'm sure there'll be an ultrasound machine there somewhere, I'll make sure it gets on board, maybe along with some other stuff, I have a feeling that baby will be born on this ship." He chuckled softly.
"I think you might be right." Rachel agreed, if Baltimore was any proof to how the new world had become, they might have to make the Nathan James there home. They would have to try to spread the cure, but if this is what the world had become like, maybe it wasn't worth saving anymore. Kicking herself at her own thoughts she said. "I'm going to go and see what ravage they did to the lab." Rachel said, taking her hand away from his cheek.
Rachel regretted the moment immediately, she knew he wasn't hers, probably would never be hers, that didn't do the feeling she had for him any good, she couldn't turn off those feelings for him, even if she wanted to.
Tom felt sad as he felt her pull away, losing the caressing and oddly comforting touch of her hand and thumb, yea he was definitely feeling things he shouldn't for this woman, definitely after losing his wife, he couldn't just push her memory aside, he never would.
"Maybe you should get some sleep." Tom suggested. "yea, afterwards." Rachel said in her usual stubborn manner, Baltimore hadn't broken her, not completely at least, there were crevices, but that's what made you stronger, she believed. She wouldn't be broken, not after how far she'd gotten already.
"Well, then it seems even now you're wearing the uniform, you won't listen to the captain." Tom chuckled softly, "already told you, I'm would never go in the navy." Rachel replied with a chuckle.
"Well, the uniform definitely suits you;" Tom complimented, checking her out and he had to admit she wore the uniform very well.
"Doc Rios said to get this on ice ASAP." Mike stated coming into the lab as Rachel was ordering the files they had thrown everywhere, "sorry I didn't mean to startle you." he apologised, leaning against her desk.
"Don't worry, I think I need some more time." She admitted sheepishly. Mike pulled out the primordial strain. Rachel looked at him with extreme gratefulness.
"thank you." she whispered getting emotional as she wrapped her fingers around the small bottle. "thank Doc Rios and Quincy." He ended with a downcast look. Nodding her head she pulled the bottle to her chest.
"I'm thanking you as well." Rachel smiled sadly as she took a step forward and hugged him with extreme gratefulness for saving the most important thing. "Your welcome." He said, "now get it on ice." He chuckled, pulling back and walking out the door.
She quickly put it on ice, the only available and saved fridge. She started making a list of things they'd need to get from the mainland, she had lost a lot of things, hopefully the lab would be able to provide her with some stuff.
She knew going back there wouldn't be easy but she had to, for herself to get over what had happened.
So that's the chapter. I hope you liked it, let me know what you think, if you have any ideas you'd like me to incorporate I'll do my best to involve it in the story.