"Yeah. I can find my way," I snapped and stalked out of the control room.
* * *
"Would you care to tell me how the hell she did this?" Hafer hissed at Tony.
"I can't tell you, it's top secret," Tony growled a reply. "And no, you don't have clearance so don't ask. She's on loan to me for the moment, so don't go there, either."
"My friends got me out," the prisoner mumbled.
"That's right." A corpsman spoke soothingly while shining a light into the man's eyes; he appeared to have a concussion.
"How did they know to grab him?" Captain Chapman asked. "Nobody knew he was on that ship except the higher ups."
"Somebody let it slip or those pirates got lucky," Tony grumbled. "We're just fortunate that we had Lissa at the moment. Send some people out and see if they can pick up our pirates now. We'll see if Lissa's right."
The Captain leaned out the door and shouted, getting a response quickly. Two small, well-armed craft were sent out in no time to check on the status of the pirates.
* * *
Clouds were gathering overhead as I found my way to the room in which I'd wakened, and I smelled rain in the air. It hadn't arrived yet, but it wasn't far away. Shutting the metal door behind me, I turned and took stock of my poorly furnished room. The bunk was situated against the wall or protruding out of it. It was also the only place to sit so I sat in the corner facing the door. Tony hadn't brought any books for me to read, so I closed my eyes after a while and listened to the sounds around me, my nose soaking up scents as well. Thunder rumbled over the ship a while before Tony's footsteps sounded and his scent reached me long before he did.
"Sorry," he came in shaking himself a bit—a burst of rain had followed on the heels of the thunder. I was grateful the rain had held off during my rescue mission.
"How's the patient?" I asked, watching as Tony flipped water from his black hair.
"Better. They've got him in the infirmary," he said. "Don't ask who he is, Lissa. I can't tell you that."
"Wasn't going to," I muttered bitterly.
"Lissa, don't be like that," he came to sit beside me.
"Like what?" I asked, refusing to look at him.
"Upset because I can't tell you something." He reached out and ran a knuckle down my cheek.
"You're just another in a long line of that," I said, pushing his hand away. "I'm used to it by now. You may have problems with the ass Admiral, though. I saw the light in his eyes and I didn't like it."
Tony scooted back until he was against the wall, just as I was. "Lissa," he sighed, draping an arm around me, "we all walk around in the dark at times. I'm sorry." I just snorted at his words. Sometimes, I think the person doing the dirty work deserved to know what they were getting into. He leaned in and nuzzled my temple before placing a kiss there. I had to stop him before he got too far with that. Had to.
"Tony, stop," I tried to push him away.
"What would happen if this guy didn't exist," he took my hand and rubbed a thumb over my ring.
"Tony, I am what I am and you're human," I said, refusing to look at him. "How long do you expect that to last? You wouldn't get kids. No backyard barbecues on Saturday afternoons. No lunch dates. No waking up next to each other in the morning. None of that. We're the classic fish and bird, Tony. We might love each other but how can we ever live together? It's impossible. Go find somebody else."
"Like Winkler did? He's going crazy already and he's not even married to her yet." Tony shook his head in confusion.
"That's his fault. He wasn't thinking with the proper part of his anatomy on that one."
"Lissa, just stop for a minute, all right?" Tony put his arms around me and I felt his warm breath on my temple. "Close your eyes and let me hold you," he whispered. "Let me pretend just for a little while that I'm the big, strong male here and I can protect you, okay? That there isn't anybody else out there, right now. Nobody that needs anything or wants anything from you. You're safe, Lissa. For this one small moment, let me have that." My hand shook as I wiped the tears away. It was a nice dream, what he'd said to me. But still a dream, when all was said and done.
* * *
Winds whipped Tony's clothing as the helicopter settled onto the landing pad at the end of the ship. A seaman opened the door and took the small cooler from someone inside. The cooler was dutifully carried to Tony, who accepted it while the chopper rose into the air and flew away, heading back to land.
* * *
"Lissa, I've never done this before so you're going to have to help me, all right?" Tony's voice woke me the evening of April second. It was a Friday, if I remembered correctly.
"Hmmm?" My eyes blinked open and I looked up at him. He was sitting on the edge of my bed—or bunk, I should say, holding a unit of blood out to me. "Where did that come from?" I mumbled.
"I had it flown in," he grinned.
"Oh, that's not going to tell everybody what I am or anything," my sarcasm woke up almost before I did.
"They don't know what it is exactly," he was still grinning. "I just told them you had an unusual medical condition and we left your medication behind."
"What is wrong with you?" I sighed, snatching the unit of blood from his hand. "You may not want to watch this," I said, biting the top of the tubing off the bag.
"No, this fascinates me," he said, gesturing for me to drink. I did. I have to hand it to him, he didn't even go pale. "What happens if you get packed cells?" he asked.
"No idea," I said and continued drinking. He had a cooler plugged into a socket in the bathroom with five more units of blood inside when I put my third of a bag back for later. "They'll be coming for us tomorrow night," he said. "We'll take a helicopter to Kuwait and a military jet from there. I'll have to zip you up in your bag after we get halfway home; that's when daylight will hit us."
"Lovely," I told him. "How's the former prisoner?" I sorted through the duffle for something to wear.
"He's good. The ship physician says he's stable now, so the Navy will deliver him where he needs to go."
"Ooh, more secret stuff," I fluttered my fingers. "What about the pirates?"
"They were picked up after floating in the water for a while. Our boats stayed a little way off until they let their weapons sink in favor of saving their own skins. They're in the brig right now. If you could speak their language, you'd hear them talking about the ghost that visited them."