Outbreak: Long Road Back (7 page)

And as much as she claimed to be a Christian this man had always treated her with kindness and warmth no matter how little she might have deserved it. He had endured every harsh word she had ever said every time she had lost her temper and hit him... Even though he had lost his wife the mother of his children Lacey went out of his way to see to her needs and make sure she was okay. That night in her parents’ laundry room would always hold a special place in her heart when the two of them had curled up against the wall and held each other tight listening to the thumping of the dryer until she fell asleep…

He had held her tight and whispered in her ear when she was in the middle of a nervous breakdown even though, as a father, he was the one person she expected to think of her as the worst kind of monster. But he did not. Instead he did his best to comfort her and take care of her…the exact opposite of what she herself had done when Lacey had confessed…what he had done in Boston…

“It’s okay, Am…Frays…” he shifted a little, slipping an arm very carefully under the woman’s neck. “Rodriguez is going to watch the kids for me.” Lacey brushed a couple locks of hair away from the woman’s face and maneuvered just ever so slightly closer to her. He noticed the flush in her cheeks, the heat of her breath on his face…

Lacey’s eyes went wide when Frays scooted up a little bit and kissed him, gently at first then a little harder. His tongue found its way into her mouth as his hand slid up and down her back, slowly working its way towards her butt. He found the bottom hem of her tee shirt as they separated. He pulled her shirt off and stared up at her as she pushed him onto his back. Amy kissed him again, his hands moving down her sides caressing the lump where her child grew in her womb…

He lay awake after they had finished feeling strange and listening to Frays snore contentedly into his chest like a Harley Davidson with its muffler missing. The loss of his wife still gnawed at him like biting insects in his mind and somehow he could not help thinking that he had betrayed Laura. The hurt in her eyes when Mister Frays had accused him of doing what he had just done… He realized that Laura was dead and she would want him to find someone else…but…still… Lacey propped himself up slightly on an elbow and looked down at Frays’ face as she slept.

God, she’s beautiful…
he thought and gently caressed her cheek. His finger gently traced the scar from the bullet wound just below her eye. The woman stirred and squirmed up against him, a slight smile flitting across her drowsing face. Guilt boiled to the surface. As much as he did not want to think of it that way he could not help but feel he had taken advantage of her. Then again, Frays had proven in the past she was more than capable of letting him know if she was not interested in him…

It was late. Lacey looked around in the gloom, trying to figure out a way to extract himself from the situation. He would almost certainly wake Frays trying to get up and he did not want to do that. She seemed so peaceful despite the noise rumbling out of her chest that it seemed a shame to wake her. Still, he had to get back to his kids and if anybody caught him coming out of her room in the morning it would raise all kinds of questions…

He bit the bullet and as gently as possible tugged his arm out from under Frays’ head. She stirred and rolled onto her back as he sat up. “Sorry.” he said quietly and smiled down at her in the reddish haze of the emergency lights. “I gotta get back. The kids will be worried if I’m not there in the morning.”

Frays yawned and stretched, vaguely reminding him of a cat. “Alright, Adam.” she mumbled her voice still thick with sleep. To his surprise the woman rose up on her elbows her face mere centimeters from his. She gave him a quick peck on the lips and smiled. He kissed her back, letting his hand run through her long brown hair and savoring the taste in the woman’s mouth for a long few seconds before regretfully disengaging from the situation.

Lacey threw on his gear and slipped out into the hall in a haze. It was almost like a dream or something. He never actually suspected that Frays even seriously thought of him that way. It still struck him as kinda weird though. Sure…he knew that she had obviously slept with at least one guy before… He just never suspected that she could be so frenetic in the sack especially seeing as how she was pregnant and all.

Lacey snuck back into his room and nudged Rodriguez. “Hey.” he said quietly. Lacey smiled awkwardly in the gloomy dark as he helped Rodriguez collect her gear. “Thanks for watching the kids.”

There was a big shit eating grin plastered all over Rodriguez’s face when he turned around and handed the woman her plate carrier. “You totally fuckin’ did it, didn’t you?” she asked and gave the man a good natured jab in the ribs with her elbow. When Lacey just stood there gawping at her like a landed fish Frannie just shrugged and started off towards the door. “I guess I’ll have to ask Frays in the morning.”

Frays woke up and stretched. The lights had not come back on yet so she figured that there must be a little more time before it was actually time to wake up and get to work. She squirmed on her cot trying to get comfortable again. Frays noticed that Rodriguez had settled in to Carl’s cot a few feet away and pulled her blanket tighter around her shoulders.

This is gonna screw things up so bad…
Frays thought ruefully as she tried to get back to sleep for however little time she still had. There was a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. “Frannie…Frannie wake up.” Frays called softly as she sat up and started getting herself together for the day. The other woman yawned and stretched, sitting up and digging something out of the corner of her eye. “Did you talk to Lacey at all?”

“Not too long.” Rodriguez mumbled drowsily. She started trying to work some of the stiffness out of her thigh and shrugged. “I watched the kids for a minute while he was over here with you.” A mischievous glint shone in the woman’s eyes as she tied her boots and tucked the laces inside. “Did the two of you have a good time?”

Frays felt a little sick and it had little to nothing to do with the child growing in her womb this time. “Yeah, I guess.” she admitted, hoping against hope that her friend would not press the issue further. Frays quickly twisted her hair into a haphazard knot at the back of her head and held it in place with a rubber band she had found on the floor in the office.

Rodriguez giggled. “C’mon you can’t just lead me on like that.” she grumbled as she produced a little treasure from a pouch on her plate carrier: a little plastic thing of some off brand baby wipes. Rodriguez took a couple then tossed the container across the room to Frays.

Frays took one and scrubbed her face, turning the white sheet of damp heavy duty paper into a brownish mess in her hands. “We…you know…” Frays mumbled. She looked around the room guilty and gave Frannie back her baby wipes. “I…I dunno… I guess we just got kinda carried away or something.”

Rodriguez smiled awkwardly at her friend.
This is something she should be talking about with her mom…
Frannie thought regrettably. Somehow she thought that this almost would have made Mrs. Frays’ day to have this kind of talk with her daughter. And Frays would love to talk to her mom again… Rodriguez kind of half shrugged. “I know you two care about each other.” she said quietly as she finished getting her stuff together and stood up. “And the two of you got your problems. Just…I dunno…give him a chance, Frays. He’s a great daddy.”

The haunted, tired look in Frays’ eyes struck a chord deep in Rodriguez’s guts. She had seen that look in the mirror too many times to count. “I…I don’t know if I can be what he needs, Frannie.” Frays mumbled, her hands spread wide before letting them fall into her lap. “I-I can’t be around his kids without thinking of that…that little boy…”

Rodriguez sighed heavily. She knew her friend was still wrestling with whatever demons were running around inside her head, the things she had seen and done since the world went to shit on them. She hugged Frays and held her at arm’s length for a minute. “Don’t be late for your checkup.” Rodriguez reminded her friend and made an attempt at a smile. “You know how Doc gets when you’re late.”

Frays slouched towards the Security Forces offices after saying goodbye to Rodriguez. She could not help but feel the sting of her father’s palm making contact with her cheek hard enough to make her see a flash of white. An alarming thought put an extra spring in her step as she trudged along.

“Good morning, Sergeant.” Frays said as she walked into the office and looked around. There were about ten or twelve other people in there, mostly either filling out paperwork or getting ready to go out on patrol. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Hey, Frays.” the skinny man grinned then stopped. Sergeant Hanes pulled a small notepad out of his pocket and leafed through it. “Oh, right. You’ve got your appointment this morning. Hurry up and get breakfast get over there and get back. I got a new job for you.”

This news immediately snapped Frays out of her funk. “What do you mean new job?” she asked and looked around. What could be going on? She found that lately anything new made her suspicious and more than a little anxious. Frays glanced around the room again and slowly stuck her hands into her armpits. “Doing what?”

Sergeant Hanes gave her a cryptic little smile. “You’ll find out when you get back.” the man said, clearly enjoying making his subordinate uncomfortable. He could almost see the questions whizzing around inside that pretty little head of hers. “Don’t worry I didn’t volunteer you to dig latrines or anything. Go on now.”

Lieutenant Haskins met her in the foyer. “Good morning, Airman.” the doctor said, barely breaking stride. Frays fell in beside her and they headed into the back towards the examination rooms. “How’s the kid? I’d like to take another ultrasound today just to make sure that he’s doing alright.”

Frays nodded, scratching at an itch on her arm. “Okay.” she said her voice barely above a whisper as the two of them went into the first exam room they came to. “Um…ma’am…I need to know something.”

Lieutenant Haskins closed the door and leaned against it. She waited for the young airman to come out with whatever she needed to ask with growing concern. Frays looked at the floor then hopped up on the exam table and sat there staring at her hands folded in her lap. “Um…can…can sex hurt the baby?” Frays asked quietly and looked at the woman across the room as if she expected to be yelled at.

The lieutenant smiled as the tension drained out of her. “No, you’re fine Airman.” she said grinning from ear to ear as she crossed the room then pulled on a pair of latex gloves from the box on the counter. “Sex won’t hurt the baby at all right now. When you get closer to your due date you’re gonna have to lay off though.”

Relief landed on Frays like a ton of bricks. “Phew.” she whispered and lay back on the exam table. The woman undid her LCS then rolled up her shirt as Lieutenant Haskins readied the ultrasound machine and pushed it over to the exam table. She gasped involuntarily when the doctor applied the gel to her stomach.

“If you don’t mind my asking who’s the lucky guy?” Haskins asked as she maneuvered the probe around on her patient’s stomach. Eventually the little peanut shaped fetus showed itself on the screen. The doctor smiled at her as she watched the baby wriggle on the monitor and his mother on the exam table.

Frays squirmed uncomfortably. “Remember that guy I came in with? Lacey?” Frays asked with a small, exasperated sigh. “The Marine with the twins?” She jumped a little bit when her son apparently decided he had had enough of those people spying on him and kicked her as hard as his little limbs would let him.

“I saw that, you.” Haskins scolded the fetus making the woman on the exam table smile. “Really? Glad to see you two finally decided to become an item.” Amy caught the doctor making a strange face at the monitor for a second. It took her a moment to place him then she remembered the short skinny guy who brought the little boy who was missing fingers in for a checkup a few times. “He seems like a good guy. Good for you.”

Frays sighed heavily. “That’s just it, ma’am.” she mumbled under her breath as she looked at her wriggly little boy, her little peanut on the screen a few feet away. “He’s a good guy but…um…he did…stuff…” She paused to try and collect her thoughts. “I kinda hate him for it sometimes. I know he didn’t mean to but still…”

Haskins set aside the probe and put a put a hand on her patient’s shoulder. “It’s alright.” she said quietly, wishing she could think of something better to say.
I’m always terrible at this sort of thing
Lieutenant Haskins grumbled internally
Lousy shitty bedside manner!
“Looks like you’re son’s doing great. He’s strong as an ox.”

“Don’t I know it.” Frays said as she forced a smile. She was oh so relieved that the little guy was doing well and she did not hurt her son last night. “He kicks the crap out of me all the time.” Frays swung her feet off of the table and hopped down. She frowned slightly as she shrugged into her LCS and secured her M4.

“I want to see you again same time next week.” Lieutenant Haskins said as she finished putting up the equipment and unplugged it from the wall. When she had done that she took out a notepad and scribbled something down. “Take this to the Dispensary on your way out. I’m authorizing you a couple extra Tylenol along with your vitamins today. No more than two every eight hours with food. Have a good day, Airman.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” Frays said with another forced smile as she accepted the note and started to leave. “You too.” She walked quickly down the hall towards the lobby nervously folding the note Doctor Haskins had given her. She was more than a little distracted by her own thoughts chief of which was how she was going to handle the situation with Lacey. Frays was so distracted in fact that she would have walked right by Tom if the nurse had not caught her by the sleeve.