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After a few minutes, I straighten up and look around the room. Everyone is watching me closely with their own sadness. My eyes meet Morgan’s, and I remember our talk then suck in my cries. Mom wipes my cheeks and hands me some tissue.
By the time Sheila and Dave join us, I regain the little composure I have and go to them. The three of us hug until Dave needs to step aside and hold Sheila’s shaking body. We lead her to a seat, and Quinn offers coffee and water to everyone.
When the room seems calm, I give Nate an expectant look. He drops his head and leans his elbows on his knees then starts to explain.
“It was a freak accident. We knew one of the machines in the room was faulty, and that’s why we headed in a few days early. Bryce and my team handled our project, and we were assigning our group to this problem once we were back. The whole ship had great responses during this underway. The CO decided to close up this engine room, and we’d hit it hard next week with a whole new set of eyes.
“There were a few of us throwing out ideas, and Bryce and I decided we needed some pressure measurements and gauge response times. These were recorded by another team, but when we read through them, we knew there was a miscalculation. I was scheduled to do a test the next morning, so I headed to bed.”
He takes a deep breath and looks directly at Sheila and Dave. “That’s where the details get messy. For some reason, Bryce went by himself. Once word of the explosion spread, it was assumed it was me because we’d told a number of people I was conducting the test. The first people on the scene say Bryce’s camo was partially on fire, so they ripped it off, not reading the name. Then they got him to safety and a medic.”
“At what fucking point did they figure out it was Bryce?” Dave asks angrily. “This still doesn’t make sense.”
“Oh, don’t worry. Both our families will be getting a formal apology. My name was flying around the boat, and Tommy and Rick had the sense to come find Bryce and tell him, assuming he was asleep. When they found me instead, it was obvious there was a problem. We rushed to the med-bay and tried to get a look at the man they were working on, but I knew in my gut it was Bryce. They had assessed that he had hit his head and made the call for flight here. As soon as that decision was made, the call went to my parents.
“In less than a minute the error was realized. At the same time I was screaming their mistake, a tech read the removed dog tags. Then it was pandemonium. As hard as they tried, I wouldn’t leave him and insisted on being on the chopper. Usually, this would be questioned, but since they had made a massive error, the CO allowed it.”
“Jesus Christ! Massive error? What a bunch of fucking idiots,” Quinn practically screams.
I can’t help but giggle at her inappropriate yet accurate point.
Nate grins and mumbles, “Well said.”
“So what happens now?” Quinn asks.
I look around and notice for the first time that Jamie is sitting between Nate and Crystal. She’s holding his hand and looking at the ground nervously. Then I realize she’s never met my parents until tonight. Her eyes catch mine, and I try to give her a reassuring smile. She bites her lip and starts to blush.
“Why don’t you, Crystal, and Morgan go back to Nate and Bryce’s?” I reach into my bag for my set of keys to their place. “Get some rest, and I’ll call when we have news. Y’all have to be tired.”
“What are you going to do?” She props her hands on her hips and tilts her head at me knowingly.
“I’m going to wait here. I’m not leaving until he opens his eyes.”
“Then we wait.” She settles in her seat and rolls her eyes at me. “Did you really think we’d leave you? Maybe Bryce isn’t the only one who hit his head.”
Even with all the tension and fear in the room, Quinn manages to get a few giggles.
I lay my head on my dad’s shoulders and mouth ‘love you’ to her. Then I close my eyes and pray.
*****
“Who’s the boss’s, boss’s, boss?” Quinn questions, and I widen my eyes at my brother, trying to stop him from answering.
“You mean the largest in command?”
“Yes! The Chief Commander.” She nods eagerly.
He looks at me and raises an eyebrow in disbelief. I move my eyes back and forth, trying to warn him again.
“We citizens call him the Commander in Chief, in other words, the President of The United States.”
She scrunches her eyebrows and then shrugs nonchalantly. “Him it is then.”
“You aren’t seriously going to write a letter to the president, are you?” I question her.
“Hell yeah. He needs to know that there are some incompetent people on his ships. No offense, Nate.”
He sighs and looks at me. “Is she for real?”
