He’d made sure he had plenty of time to get back to the base, he’d even made sure he had time to run back to base. Not sure what possessed him to run back instead of grabbing a car from the garage, but he’d been so nervous that Sarah had finally given up trying to talk to him about the proposals.
“Get out of here, Oliver,” she’d finally said. “I’ll get the rotation for the weekend set up for you and edit what we have talked about so far, so that we can review again tomorrow to finalize….” but when she looked up, he’d been halfway out of his door.
“Thanks Sara……Have a good night Giovanna,” he said as he hurried out of the main security office.
As Sara finished pulled the documents together, Giovanna stepped in, her gait the warbled swing of someone still learning to use a prosthetic leg, “Can I help you with that, Sergeant?
“I’ve got it, but thank you Gi,” she replied.
“What was the boss in such a hurry about? Can’t be Dr. Foster, he looked happier than normal.”
“Said he had dinner coming up with an old family friend and her daughter.”
“That’s great….He doesn’t talk much about social activites, hardly at all.”
“Regardless of all the nurse’s gossip, I don’t think he’s got much of one, although he seemed pretty involved with someone outside of work a while back,” replied the former detective.
He’d made the run in record tme, and walked into the medical wing at a few minutes after 5:00. He scanned the automated streams on the video screens. He was no doctor, but he could read the basics, although combat medic training never had these cool gadgets. Nothing new, but for once he didn’t crush something in frustration.
Instead he walked over to the bed and leaned down, brushing the hair back out of her face. Well acting like it, as truthfully she hadn’t moved in the two weeks since they had “rescued” her.
“I wish you were here, baby,” he murmured to her unconscious form, while sitting gently beside her. “There’s so much going on. I’m trying to…..figure it out. I know you could help. My brothers don’t really get it, I think Whitley does but she’s too much of a dramatic to……well, ask for help. The others don’t really understand. I just want to blurt it out but I know that would doom anything. But, we are going to dinner tonight, just as a friend of the family. But I hope its a start. What I want is less important than what she needs.”
He sat there for another ten minutes, hoping vainly for a response of any kind. Still nothing, just like last time. He leaned over and kissed her lightly on the lips before standing sadly and walking back to their suite in a much more subdued manner.
He’d showered quickly, and then rifled through his closet. What the fuck did you where to your first family dinner with your daughter? Even if she didn’t know it yet, he wanted to do this right.
He could just hear Shawna laughing at him. He could hear Henri giving him a protocol lesson from some arcane society.
He finally chose, only because he only had ten minutes left. He wasn’t going to be late.
Turned out, he was anyway because as he stepped into the inner courtyard, they were waiting on him. Olivia turned as he walked outside and asked, “So….where we going….not some lame place with reservations….,” as Amelia frowned, “I mean you look nice, wherever would be awesome.”
He looked at her mother, who smiled lightly, and then turned back to his unknowing daughter, “I think you’ll like it, at least I hope so, but…in case you don’t, its going to be a surprise so that we are all stuck there.”
“Phah, ok….well, let’s get this show on the move….Come on, old people!” as she turned and walked towards……”Wait, how do we get there?”
“Just head to the docks.”
As they walked to the docks, Olivia chattered at her mom, while Brett walked silently along, not really knowing what to say, but as they walked out to the small dock, Olivia exclaimed, “Are we taking that? Can I drive?”
“Do you know how?”
“Of course…., duh, I mean who doesn’t?” Unseen, catching her former fiancee’s eye, Amelia gave a short shake of her head.
“Well, I guess maybe we can have a short lesson,” he answered.
“Is it yours? Where’d you get it? How much does it cost? How fast does it go?”
“No, William, a lot, and really fast,” he replied in his normal succint style, but she wasn’t paying any attention as she had already ran along the dock and jumped onto the million dollar ocean-going speedboat.
Last Dreams 