CH15 (96)

It is now two months later:

Kate and her family with a now almost 5 month pregnant Madison were all in medical again.

Kate was on one end of the bars with Madison while everyone else was on the other end. This time like most of the others was void of chocolate. However Kali and Emily were up front waiting for their mother.

"Ok Becks when you're ready. I want you to walk to the other end. This time I want to see you run your palms across the top of the bars. No cheating by using your arms to take some of your weight." Madison glares at the back of Kate's head.

Kate took a breath and let it out slowly. Standing out of her chair was the easy part now. Even taking a step or two was easy now. Eight feet walking without cheating was another.

Kate fixed her gaze on her girls up front on the other end and started taking steps while gliding her hands across the top of the bars.

Kate was about half way down the bars when she started paying attention to the pain in her leg.

Kate was almost to the end but was still moving albeit rather slowly and was gritting her teeth, ready to start cursing.

A couple of more steps and Kate had Emily, who was closest, in her arms, and this time Kate's tears were tears of joy. Eight feet walking without cheating, even if there was still pain.

"You're walking mom!" Alexis moved up to hug the two of them.

Kali came forward and tugged on Kate's pant leg, getting Kate to add her to the group hug.

After kissing the top of Emily's and Kali's heads Kate started staring into Rick eyes who was right behind them. His big blue eyes that she could drown in. Not even noticing that Rick was grinning at her.

"Mommy?" Kali lifts up her arms.

Kate's pain becomes a memory and she bends down to lift her up and place her on her hip while putting most of her weight on her good leg. "Hi sweetie." Giving her a kiss.

"Mommy better now?" Was her mom going to play with her now?

"Almost sweetie, almost." Kate puts her down and spins in place and walks her way back to her chair. Cheating a little this time.

Madison leans down. "I told you, you would get there Becks if you listened to me. A couple of more months and you might lose this chair, permanently."

Before the Castle clan left medical Kate was given her pain pill and told to come back next week to do it again. Keeping her daily appointment for physical therapy and her shots.

Next was a stop at the showers so she could wash the sweat off and feel clean again.

Alexis pushed Kate home where her girls were waiting for her. However Kate's attention was on Rick who was opening a case she knew well. "Where are you going?" As Rick pulled out his weapon and shouldered it.

"The freezer is approaching empty again." Rick explains.

Kate sighs, she wished he could stay home and spend some time with them. However she also knew Rick and Alexis had to feed the colony.

"I'll be back tonight." Rick walks over to her and bends down to kiss her. Feeling Kate grab him and deepen the kiss.

"You be careful babe." Her family had already paid a heavy price for this colony.

"I've got two going with me this time. We'll be fine." Rick gives her another quick kiss and moves over to Alexis. "Watch the girls pumpkin." And kisses the side of her head.

"We'll be find dad. Just be careful." Alexis hugs him.

Since Rick knows how to pilot he is taking the shuttle. However in case they need it they have loaded one of the quads.

"What's first." Rick is asked.

"Crocs, and we do this slowly. Being very, very careful." Rick tells him.

They have landed and Rick is walking next to one of the colonists, while the other takes the quad. Rick has his weapon at the ready and has already pressed the power button.

Down near the water's edge the quad hangs back so as not to scare them away.

Rick has spotted a small group of them. Rick steps forward and starts firing a single shot at each he can see as fast as he can. Then he takes aim at a few on the far bank and starts firing but only hits three of them. Then they all hang around, waiting.

When a new croc shows up on their bank of the river looking for a quick bite of a dead croc, Rick shoots him and then they wait again.

After they have waited a respectable time and no new crocs have shown up, the two colonists hook up a number of crocs one at a time and use the quad to pull it to the shuttle, while Rick stands guard with his weapon up looking for anything that moves. A ripple in the water, eyes on the surface.

Since he had 99 rounds to use he fires at anything that looks like another croc without blinking. No one, absolutely no one was getting hurt croc hunting again.

They have six dead crocs in the shuttle when they leave to go Emu hunting, which is a lot less dangerous.

After transporting their kills to the kitchen so Rick could start the process of preparing them for the freezer, Rick started preparing the first of the crocs.

However he soon found himself making a mess of it. He knew better. It was only now that he noticed that he had a hold of the knife he was using with a death grip. He wanted to make the croc suffer. It wasn't the one that had gotten to Kate, he knew that. But that wasn't the point.

If the blue flashes in the water told him anything it was that Kate was conscious enough to shoot it a few times to get it to let go of her. That croc was probably long since dead and gone.

Rick took a few minutes of deep breathing before he tried to salvage the butchery he had been doing to it.

The others all went into the freezer easily enough.

It was on days like this that his kitchen crew did the cooking while he was gone hunting.

It was late after he made it out of the showers to wash it all off so he didn't stink any. He had actually washed twice just to make sure he didn't smell like anything but him and soap.

Finding everyone in bed when he got home. After changing he slides into bed and strokes Kate's arm. Kate had made such good progress. She was almost walking again. Rick couldn't resist kissing the exposed shoulder before he lay back on his back to get some sleep.

He was just about asleep when he felt Kate roll over and snuggle in close, so he moved his arms and pulled a little and soon had her head lying on his chest just like he knew she loved. She could hear his heart beat this way.

Kate however woke up in the middle of the night. Still sleepy not knowing why she was awake. Her head was on Rick, just like always. Then she noticed, his heart was racing. Then she heard him whimpering. He was having a nightmare.

Not wanting to wake the others she pushed herself till her mouth was against his ear. "Rick, you need to wake up. … Rick!" But it only seemed to make things worse.

Kate decided to add shaking him. "Rick, wake up babe. You need to wake up." But his whimpering only increased. However nothing else of him was moving. It was like he was made of stone or something.

Stone body and her voice only appears to make things worse, so she decides to kiss him this time.

At first it was like kissing stone, Kate got nothing back, but eventually she could feel his lips start to relax. Then his tongue started stroking her lips and she could feel his arms start to move.

Eventually his hands were on her back holding her down to him. Kate decided to break from the kiss now that she had a reaction from him. Finding his eyes open, Kate looked into them. "Hi."

Rick however said nothing. "You were having a nightmare. Tell me about it." Kate wanted to help.

Rick switches to looking at the ceiling. "It was nothing."

Kate moves a hand to twist his head and lift herself up to stare into his eyes, giving him no place else to look back but into hers. "Rick don't. … Please. I'm the master at shutting people out, but you're in now. You're my husband, talk to me. My leg is getting better, but it's for nothing if the man I love is going to shut me out."

Rick swallows hard, he wanted the dream to go away, not remember it and tell her what he saw. What he did or didn't do.

"Babe, tell me." Kate whispers into his lips that are ever so close still.

Kate can see Rick's eyes searching, possibly for a way out of talking, but she holds firm. She's going to help her husband.

Even before he starts Kate can see tears forming. "We were at the river. Everything was happening just like it did last time.

This big croc jumped out of the water and grabbed you. But instead of dragging you down to the bottom of the river, it just kept chomping on you. …. Chomping and chomping, swallowing pieces of you whole.

I could see your head turned and you were calling my name over and over. It just kept chomping and chomping. And you just laid there calling my name. But I was frozen to the spot. I couldn't move. I didn't move a finger, call your name, shoot the croc or anything.

I just stood there and watched it eat you alive." By now Rick was sobbing, tears rolling down the side of his face. Kate could feel his body having convulsions.

"Finally all that was left was your head and you were looking right at me, and you asked me WHY?" Rick was struggling to get up, he wanted to run away. Get away from the image in his head.

Kate however was still laying on top of him holding him down. "No babe, that wasn't me. I'm fine sweetheart. …. Look at me, I'm fine. …. Shhhh, …. Shhhh. …. Look in my eyes, see I'm fine. I've got you and I'm never going to lose you. … Shhhh." Kate tries to talk him down while her tears roll down her cheek. Then she kisses him as a deep a kiss as she can. It's a bit of a salty kiss from all the tears.

Then Kate switches to light kisses. "Shhh, I'm fine babe." Kate takes his hand and places it on her chest just to one side of her breast. "See, you can feel my heart beat, I'm fine. …. Shhhh." Kate removes her hand from his leaving his on her chest and strokes his face, giving him light kisses.

Kate moves to lay her head down on his chest and wraps her arms around him. "I'm fine sweetheart, never lose me. Never." Kate twist her head to kiss his chest. "Just sleep babe, I'll be here. I'll always be here. Always." Kate wipes away a few of her tears to prevent from getting Rick's chest soaked.

Eventually Kate could tell Rick went back to sleep, but it had been a struggle. He kept mumbling "It ate you."

Kate never did go to sleep, she stayed awake the entire night. That damn croc and taken a piece of her leg, now it was after her husband's heart and by proxy, hers. Well it had already had its fill, it wasn't getting anymore of them. Kate was not losing her husband to some stupid croc. A dead one or a live one.

Rick woke up in the morning to find Kate lying on his chest again. It felt good for some reason. Her roughly 3 month stay in medical had deprived him of the company of his wife.

Rick had barely touched her to wake her so he could get up when her head jerked around to look at him. Kate had obviously been crying, however her face lights up when she looks at him. "Hi." Kate was smiling at him.

"Hi to you too." And Rick started to move her so he could get up.

However Kate clamped down on him. "NO. STAY!"

What was he, a dog now? Then it occurred to him he hadn't seen any dogs on any of the planets. Did Tellus have dogs? "Kate, babe, I need to get up."

Kate blinked back tears. "No, you stay." Kate wasn't letting him out of her sight. His nightmare had turned into her nightmare. She wasn't losing her husband.

"Kate, babe, I need to pee." Rick had a reason to want to get up.

"OH! … Ok, but only if you take me with you." Kate wasn't letting go of him that easily.

"You want to go to the men's restroom with me?" Rick was lost at that one.

"I'm not letting you out of my sight. Not after last night." Kate explains her reasons.

"We can talk after I pee. …. Or we can shower together." Rick offers arching his eyebrows a couple of times. This however had the desired effect. It got Kate to giggle.

"I'll even help you wash if you push me there." Kate was smiling. Maybe Rick's sleep after his nightmare had done him some good. Still he wasn't getting out of her sight if she could help it.

"Deal, but we need to get going or I'm going to burst." Rick needed to get going.

Kate got up on her own and sat in her chair. Rick all but raced her to the men's restroom and wheeled her into the handicap stall while he took the one next door.

Kate was impressed, if that was the right word. Considering how long she heard water splashing, Rick's back teeth must have been floating.

Kate had decided to use the toilet too while she was here, and was back to sitting in her chair when Rick came and got her.

True to her word, Kate helped Rick wash himself, while she paid particular attention to one area. Making sure it was thoroughly cleaned and hard as a rock. That was soon soft as Kate swallowed every last drop of his orgasm.

They were soon standing with their arms around each other. "I'm going to have to bring you into the showers more often." Rick was smiling and gave her a quick kiss.

"I love you Rick, and I'm not losing you to some damn croc. Last night was scary." Kate looks up into his eyes, searching them.

"My nightmare." Rick whispers. Getting Kate to nod her head. "I'm glad you were there Kate. I'm not sure how I would have handled it if you were still stuck in medical. …. I'd like to say I'll never have another one like it, but I don't know." Rick confides one of his fears.

"I was scared to death when I saw that croc grab you and take you away from me. You mean too much to me to lose you." Rick squeezes her tighter and kisses her head. "And then you were bleeding all over the place. I suppose I should be grateful I've only had the one nightmare."

Kate squeezes back and buries her head in his chest. "One was too many babe. I don't really remember too much. …. I can remember you yelling at me, and then there was so much pain. Then there was water, it seemed to be everywhere. …. Then you picked me up from out of nowhere it seemed. …. Then Mags was talking to me."

"It was a nightmare when it happened, except I was awake for it. Some of it seemed to go in slow motion while other parts when so fast I barely remember them.

The guys and I have a new system for croc hunting though." Rick was glad of that.

"You've been hunting crocs again? …. When was this?" Kate knew he had gone hunting but thought it was only Emu and kangaroo. They needed a fence to start an Emu heard.

"Yesterday actually. The guys and I did a couple of dry runs so we would know what to do." Rick tells her.

"And after you come back, late from that, you have a nightmare." Kate thinks she sees a reason.

It struck Rick at the same time. "We needed the meat." Rick defends his choice.

Kate recognizes the need. They needed more than just two meat choices. "You just be careful." Rick had too much of her heart to lose him to some damn croc.