Chapter 15
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Maddie followed Sasha as she opened the door to the small, white bungalow down the street from a similar style house where Mike lived. She wondered if the entire crew lived on this street, or at least in the general neighborhood. Given that Sasha hadn't knocked before walking inside, Maddie was getting the strong impression that the crew of the Nathan James remained a tight-knit group even though the majority of them no longer were attached to the ship itself.
"Did you bring ginger ale?" a voice called from the depths of the house. It wasn't Kara. Andrea perhaps?
Sasha kicked off her shoes before walking towards what Maddie suspected was the family room - based on the position of the kitchen, the place appeared to be the mirror image of Mike's house. Sure enough, as she trailed Sasha into the other room, she found herself in a room stuffed with two large sofas, a half dozen random chairs, an overflowing toybox, and a bookcase that seemed to house technical manuals. It took Maddie a moment to recall that, prior to being selected as the President's military advisor, Kara was a TAO and was most likely the owner of the manuals. Kara sat next to the fire, wrapped in a blanket despite the fact that it was really quite warm outside. Andrea occupied one sofa, shuffling a pack of cards, while Alisha was setting several glasses down on the coffee table that, now she was close enough, Maddie could see was actually designed as a train track.
Maddie leaned down to study the table. "My nephews would love this."
"Danny got it for Frankie," Kara said, chuckling. "Not that he's old enough to know what a train is yet. How old are your nephews?"
"Two and four," Maddie replied. She narrowed her eyes on Kara. "My sister claims that two years is the perfect span between children and Frankie is about one, isn't he?""
Andrea snorted. "I'm impressed. Asking without asking, Brawler. Nicely done."
"As though there would be any other reason to forgo a bottle of Caymus." Kara sighed, gazing longingly at the bottle Maddie had set on the train table next to the ginger ale. "In answer to your unspoken question, Frankie will be getting a sibling in January. They'll be almost two years. Assuming this one doesn't come early."
"I might beat you then," Maddie said casually, although she did feel a slight knot in her stomach. After all, the crew was the closest thing that Mike had to a family these days. She popped the top on a can of ginger ale. "I'm due in December."
The silence that descended told Maddie that, despite Mike's constant groaning about how nothing stayed a secret from the crew, this news hadn't leaked. Kara blinked at Maddie, before glancing at Andrea, who shrugged. Sasha leaned forward to pour herself a glass of wine, holding it up. "Cheers. You managed to pull one over on all of us."
"Congratulations," Alisha added, refilling her own glass. Then her eyes filled with mischief. "Although I am wondering how Mike plans to explain what happened given all those lectures on the importance of birth control."
"Lord," Kara groaned. "I was stuck in CIC once while he was giving Barker advice about getting a vasectomy. Painful doesn't begin to describe it."
"Apparently there's a one percent failure rate," Maddie said, replying to the question that Kara didn't ask. Truthfully, she had expected to feel awkward at this moment but, instead, she felt included - part of the joke rather than the butt of it.
Andrea narrowed her eyes on Maddie. "When's the wedding?"
Maddie opened her mouth, uncertain of how to answer, when Kara spoke softly. "Since Christine's body was never found and there's no death record, Mike's technically still married."
Silence descended as everyone considered the conundrum, which would require Mike to have his wife either declared dead through the courts or obtain a divorce, broken when Andrea announced. "Kat walked in on me and Tex earlier this week. Now she thinks we're getting married."
Every eye in the room swung in her direction. Sasha was the first to recover, lifting her glass. "I am going to need far more information in order to process this."
Groaning, Andrea described the horror of waking up naked to find Kat in the room, with the expected resulting hysterics. Finishing her explanation, Andrea sighed. "Kat's actually excited about the idea of us getting married. I haven't had the heart to tell her that's never going to happen. And Tex is no help at all. He just laughs and tells her that he is ready and willing to appear at the courthouse whenever told to do so."
"So call his bluff," Sasha suggested.
"Unless," Kara observed, sipping at her ginger ale, "you aren't sure he's bluffing."
Andrea scowled. "I was very clear about the rules. Sex only. Nothing more. First it was dinners. Then grocery shopping. Hell, two weeks ago we gave someone a joint birthday gift. And now he seems to think that getting married is a perfectly reasonable next step and I can hardly tell Kat that I ... that I ..."
"That you aren't sure what you want?" Alisha offered, her voice soft. "Because Kat would understand if you told her that you weren't ready. She knows how much you miss Bill and Lilly. She won't hold that against you."
Andrea murmured something too quiet to hear. Deciding that it was time to move on, Sasha spoke. "What's going on with you and Azima anyway? She's had a certain spring in her step these last few weeks?"
Maddie couldn't decide if the flush in Alisha's face was from the fire, the wine, or the topic. "Once we got past Danny's idiotic dating advice, things have been great."
"Idiotic advice?" Maddie asked. "Do share?"
Kara groaned. "He apparently gave Eric Miller some lecture about the proper steps when dating. I mean, he's never actually followed these steps and they were ..."
"Asinine?" Sasha offered, her lips curling in amusement.
"Exactly," Kara said, nodding sharply. "No wonder Eric took forever to ask Courtney out. Who could follow that jumbled mess of suggestions?" She turned to Sasha, eyes wide. "Do you know that he suggested you hook up with James Fletcher? The Brit? I mean, can you imagine someone more boring. The guy is the human equivalent of a paper bag."
Sasha snorted. "You're the one who married him and agreed to reproduce." She paused. "Twice."
"Don't remind me," Kara huffed, wrapping her blanket tighter. "I haven't been able to keep anything down all week."
"Have you decided on a new target?" Andrea asked Sasha, confusing Maddie. Wasn't Sasha dating Wolf Taylor? Although, now that Maddie thought about it, Mike had made a few offhanded comments about Sasha and Tom Chandler being involved. She made a mental note to find out what the deal was later. Mike might be mostly a closed tomb when it came to his best friend's odd disappearance, but Maddie had a few tricks up her sleeve as well.
"I'm still working on getting Jesse back to the States in a way that isn't obvious. She turned Mike down flat when he reached out but ..." Sasha stopped, eyes swung to Maddie, and then she smiled in a way that made Maddie very glad that Sasha was on her side. "I might just have a new plan."
