When Tex appeared after Gitmo, all she could was roll her eyes. She had seen a million guys like this before. But he had a friendly smile, and while his sense of humor was questionable, there was something about him she couldn't shake about him.
Rachel, when he met her, she was exactly the kind of woman that he loved. She was a challenge and she didn't give him into him easily. There was always the type of woman who fell easily for his charms. He fell in love on the spot. She was going to save the world. And not with pure brawn, there was plenty of that around here, but all brains. And he wanted to watch her do it everyday for the rest of his life.
The Nathan James was a crowded place. An almost full crew plus Dr. Scott and Dr. Tophet, but there was still room available. It was also nice of Tom Chandler. Dr. Tophet seemed nice enough to him, but he was squirrely. Not something he felt right about. And the russians, they wanted Dr. Scott and would take no others. When it was that way, he puffed up like a peacock. He hadn't even known her for more than forty eight hours and he was already profoundly protective.
When they got back, it was all hands on deck, because the russians had trapped them in the harbor. It was not going to be a very easy way out and he sure wasn't going to get to see Rachel much more in that time, because he was pretty much grabbed by Lieutenant Green the second he got out of their stateroom, and dragged to sitrep, to see where they stood. He was glad to have a chance to prove himself to all of these people, but it meant that he would be learning all of the dynamics on the fly and he usually liked a little more cover than that.
Before everyone got settled, ye old commodore wanted everything double checked, and he was good with his haste, unlike some of the military that he had met before, he was good with hastening the timeline, but that didn't matter to Ruskov, who literally thought about every way he could get out or look out. Seeing those people brutally murdered in the name of …what exactly? It wasn't alliance to country. It wasn't for the good of humanity. Ruskov seemed to let old rivalries burn inside him and not much else. He wanted what he wanted and he was going to get it if it was the last thing he did. More than that, it was hearing everyone inside get so worried for those who died. Everyone was on a hair's edge.
He left and went to his stateroom to get away from it all. Danny didn't say more than about two words about the guy whose bunk this used to be, but he figured that it was a long story that they might get to someday, but it didn't need to be anytime soon. They didn't have to be down with the enlisted who weren't bad, but had significantly less space and often had to hotbox for beds, something he knew a thing or two about and was glad he didn't have to do right now.
He had done a lot of odd jobs before he settled on private contractor work. He lived a lot of places and in all sorts of situations. It was always an interesting ride with one Tex Nolan.
He heard a lot of murmurs in the hallway and he looked out, getting a clearer picture. "Yeah, Dr. Scott seemed to save the whole ship," He heard more fully now. He stepped fully out now. He went up to the lab and saw there was no Rachel. He did see one of the passageways doors was closed and he saw the clipped haircut of the commodore and saw they were talking. He stood there and wondered what the hell was going on. Why was she getting the fifth degree if she had saved all these people?
The door unlocked and Tom looked at Tex with a questioning brow, he simply shrugged and the man seemed to leave well enough alone. He wasn't hurting anybody by being up here. Rachel saw him and stared. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, I heard we all have lives thanks to your bravery," He said, cracking a smile. "I wanted to make sure that you were okay," He then said, more seriously.
It was at that, that he saw the smallest hint of a smile. Rachel Scott could, in fact, look genuine in an interaction with him. That love he had known at their first meeting, it only grew stronger. As he suspected it would with every interaction they had. "Thank you, Tex." She said, "I'm quite shaken up, but I did save all your lives," She said, parroting the words back to him, then with a bigger smile, "But I should get back to work," She said, as she patted him on the shoulder, and made her way to her mug and her computer.
Rachel saw Tex in a different light when he came up to the lab to make sure that she was okay. He gave her a bit of levity in a wholly tense situation. He was the one person on this ship who seemed to take everything on less seriously. It made sense though. He was a civilian though. He had a certain amount of free reign when it came to levity. It wasn't like they could demote him for making an inappropriate joke.
He left without saying goodbye, although she didn't want him to take her away from her work anymore than she'd already been pulled away from it. This whole business with Quincy and now with Tom Chandler, it was enough for today. Besides, doing a bit more work would make her more stable for tonight's ingenuity from the crew. They already had something cooked up, she could tell.
The whole maneuver took about an hour, but finally they were back out to full seas. Tom Chandler spoke to Quincy, but she took up to her stateroom, hoping that she would be able to get even four hours of sleep after all of this. There was still so much to do in making a vaccine and the fate of the world rested on that hope that there was a vaccine to be made.
A couple of days later they were left with no power. It was enough to make a grown woman crazy. Quincy at every corner, just being the bane of her existence and now power. Power. The one thing she relied on was consistent power. It kept all the samples cool and the equipment working. Equipment that would be vital in making the vaccine. If they didn't have any power, she had to stop and she was essentially a passenger on a military vessel, not a very easy position to be in. Especially, when your skills did not include very many other uses that might be beneficial to the running of a ship.
Tex was in his element though, with the exception of turning beer into water, he was alright the grizzly off grid nature of this predicament. There was always something new on the Nathan James, something to always give him a little bit of surprise. It was interesting. He never knew what to expect and for a lot of jobs that was what finished them off for him. Eventually, he knew everything, every scenario back to front in how you could make things possibly go wrong and how to make them better. That was never his nature. It was in his nature to keep seeking out new situations. Off grid on a boat that theoretically was supposed to make its own fresh water, that was a new one.
He hadn't seen Rachel in a few days because she was so busy "resequencing" something. It was full of technical language that he didn't really understand and while she reported all of that information to the commodore first, she had actually come to him too.
"You're not going to believe it," Rachel said to him, with a great big smile.
He nodded to her, "What you got, doc?" He asked, in that gleeful voice that always made her smile. And she did. She smiled so hard. Maybe he could see the hint of a blush coming on for the lady, but he said nothing about that.
"I have a vaccine prototype," She told him as she put her hand on his arm and just stared into the ceiling. She had really done it. She'd done it and the second she and Quincy had found it, all she wanted to do oddly enough was tell him about it.
He shook his head and grinned. He wanted to hug and kiss the lady. She was so smart. She was above all the stars in the sky. He waited on the affection though. As much as he wanted it, he wanted to make sure that he knew what he was getting into. "I'm so proud of you, Doc," He said instead. "We're so lucky to have you,"
She did hold her finger to her lips. It was clear that this shouldn't be spread around. He nodded and when she left to go get some sleep, he simply walked the other direction to the wardroom to make sure that left his thoughts just thoughts.
The hope didn't last long. While they had mostly been able to maintain a constant source of power to the lab, there was now a breaker that had fried and wouldn't able to be repaired, at least not in time for the lab to be of any use. Assurances of power everytime they could get it on wasn't enough. For all his knowledge of militarycraft, Tom Chandler did not know the fine science of biologics and keeping them cool.
Chung came up with a bit of an unorthodox plan that she did not love. Everytime the box so much as moved the wrong way, all she wanted to do was bring it back up and take it into her hands. This was literally over six months of work that they were going to just put in the ocean and hope that the ocean in her infinite wisdom did not decide to chew up. That made her feel crazy. How did all of these incredibly smart people on a first class piece of machinery not always feel like this?
The day was warm but windless. Captain Chandler's idea of being able to rely on the winds it seemed like a crazy idea, but it was not coming to fruition. Maybe it never would. Maybe they would all die out in the middle of the ocean. But they had to try, because watching that screen and making sure that the temperature stayed there, it was the least thrilling thing that she had done.
But then of course, the wind came. "Gently does it," She said as they started to bring up the case and she could get all of her work back to the lab. There was still the lack of water to deal with, but as they huddled on deck and tried not to pass out from the lack of water, Rachel was there helping out sailors.
She didn't go back to the lab and work on anything she could like she could very well be inclined to do, no, she sat there with the sailors, helping the doctor wherever he needed the help. Right now, it seemed to be administering water. He watched her and she didn't notice any at all, so singularly focused on her task at hand.
It was at this point he looked between Kara and Green. He knew that there had to be something going on. The way that man snapped. And he shared a stateroom with the guy after all. It was a little hard to keep secrets. Not impossible, but hard. His feelings for the good Doctor were obvious, but her revelation about the vaccine last night had been something he thought about since he found out. He had gone to the Wardroom, restless, after his little conversation with Doctor Scott last night. To his credit, Green only nodded and kept his snarky comments to himself.
He thought about getting the vaccine to his kid and his ex. He also thought about how it would affect his relationship with Kathleen if she ever saw him like this. He and his ex, they were a rowdy bunch, and Kathleen, they were honest with her when they split ways. It was obvious that since he never could stay in one place for long, and kids need stability and all that, that Kathleen should stay with her mother. The breakup was amicable and he came back as often as he could to see Kathleen. It had been a bit too long since the last time he had to admit.
It was still a long time till the beach, several hours, but they made it. By god, she thought, Tom Chandler does it by the skin of his teeth, everytime but he manages to do it. When she saw the island on the horizon, she couldn't quite believe it. And when Tex saw it, he was practically dancing with anyone he could find. Slim pickings on the navy ship, but some people half-heartedly took him up on it, a little dazed by the lack of water.
"Come on, doc, give me a twirl," He said in that big cheery voice he had.
She couldn't help but blush and take his hand, and do a princess twirl. His smile grew bigger, impossibly so, she thought. She had noticed him keeping peeks on her while she was hydrating patients. He said nothing during that whole time which was impressive, she thought. Tex had a word for nearly everything.
When she let go of his hand, she blushed a little and didn't look at anyone too closely. She was the english doctor around here. Stubborn and stoic. She couldn't very well get a reputation for blushing.
Tex took the trip to the island, where the crew was not restrained by the rules of duty and instead they were just people. People in their real clothes. Not their uniforms. Everyone had on something a little different and it was wild to see them transform right before his eyes.
There were fires and drinking the good water that the island had provided. There were people who played guitar and people who sang and danced. That he could do. Tex knew how to dance. His performance with the doctor apparently impressed some of the ladies so much that they wanted to show him a few moves too.
It was then when he saw Rachel coming down the side. He stopped looking at the other women around him immediately. "You want to get in on this, Mary Poppins?" He asked.
But she had her walls up. "Maybe another time," She told him.
He couldn't give up though, "I'm an excellent teacher,"
"I have no doubt," She said and her walls broke a little. He was good. He was persistent. He was just the kind of man she liked and she hated it a little that she could so easily give in. It wasn't hard. But right now, she had other things to work on. That was why she had her wall up in the first place. She tried to stride past him.
"Where you going?" He asked in his cajoling tone.
She simply shook her head. "This way,"
"Need an escort?" He asked somewhat seriously. There was only so much seriousness he could take in his life.
She thought about it for a second. He might be handy. And they were civilians. Needed civilians. There was a part of her that said screw it and throw the professionalism to the wind. But then she thought of all the people that were dying and she shook her head, but smiled. "I'll take a rain check on that," She said with a bit of a laugh.
They simply stared at each other for a brief moment and she knew the feelings were there too. Dammit, he was going to make her go crazy.
She heard him in his audacious personality ask the other women of the ship to hula with him, but that was just fun for him. He was always going to be the center of a show somewhere, but she worked in the background. If everything went right, it wouldn't be her name or even her that would be the center of the world. It would be her work. People would remember her surely, but they would know her for the live saving medication that she was trying to come up with.
Not simply because she knew how to dance on a beach. But she was glad he was ephemeral. It balanced out her stability and she liked that more than she ever cared to even think of admitting. She always liked a little bad boy fun.