Interlude: Top of the World

Whoever finds a friend, finds a treasure

[Author's note: This story follows the story First Command, and functions as an interlude in the story series. It takes place while the destroyer Henanand the Nathan Jamesare on their way to the US mainland.]

Lieutenant Alisha Granderson, Acting XO of the destroyer Henan, a ship that was currently an 'honorary member' of the US Navy, was glad to have finished her shift. With only a skeleton crew on board to take the ship back to the American mainland, everyone had a heavy workload. She was standing at the railing at the edge of the ship, watching the day fade into twilight and trying not to think about what was not at home.

She heard footsteps behind her, and turned.

"Evening, ma'am," said Miller. "Finished up?"

"Yes," said Granderson. "You too?"

"Yeah, and glad of it."

"You know, I never had the chance to thank you ... for being there when I got that letter. About Sara. Guess I wasn't really Navy-tough that evening."

He smiled. "Your secret is safe with me," he said.

"But," she said with a laugh, "something I don't thank you for is telling everyone that Wonder Woman story. I don't think I'll ever be able to shake that tag now."

He laughed too. "There are worse handles," he said.

They were quiet, standing together, looking out to sea.

After a while, she said: "You know, I don't know your first name."

He smiled again. "It's Eric. Hey, before I ran into you I was on my way to, well, to a sort of special place. A place I found. Private. Quiet. Want to come with?"

She thought about it. Right about now, a place that was private and quiet sounded pretty good. "Yeah, sure," she said.

He led her to a ladder and started to climb; she followed.

And he kept climbing, switching from one ladder to another. Eventually, they reached a little platform near the highest dish of the radar tower.

Granderson looked down. They were at the very top of the ship. "You weren't kidding when you said it was private," she said.

"It's some sort of maintenance platform, I think," said Miller. "There's no equivalent on the James."

Granderson realised the platform was swaying. With the rhythm of the ship. The waves. The ocean. The air smelled different up here. The world looked different. It was like being closer to the stars that were beginning to appear.

"I ... I've ... kind of ... needed somewhere to go," said Miller softly. "Since ... the thing with the pirates. Takehaya. The blood. Being tortured. You know, on the James we used to meet up a bit, the six of us. Jeter, Ray, the Captain, Doc, Garnett, me. Sometimes we just sat together, didn't say much. Sometimes we talked. Talked a lot. About everything. About the fear, the nightmares. I think those meetings saved my life, that first few weeks.

"Now, here, on the Henan, Commander Garnett is the only other one of that group, and she's the boss, of course. So, well, pretty busy."

"I ... I didn't realise," said Granderson. "I thought ... you guys ... I thought you'd got over it. All of you looked like you had."

"No. Not over it. Not entirely. I'm not sure I ever will be. So here I am. As high as you can get without flying." He looked down. "You know, I used to think about it. Flying. Just ... stepping off."

"I can understand that. But ... I'm glad you didn't."

They were quiet for a while. "Hey, you want to know a secret?" said Miller.

"Yeah, good place for it."

"You know that I got my leg smashed up? Well, the Doc says it's never going to properly heal. I can walk alright, but he says that if I had to go through a Navy medical I would fail for sure. He didn't put anything about it in the records, he said."

Granderson smiled. "Your secret is safe with me," she said.

"You want hear something else? Something I come up here to do."

"Yeah, sure."

He took a harmonica from his pocket. He began to play. He played a tune that was sweet and gentle and sad, a song that spoke of things lost and things found. But there was some happiness there, too, underneath, waiting to be heard.

He finished. The last notes were taken away by the wind.

"Damn, that was beautiful," said Granderson.

"Just something I made up," said Miller. "But it doesn't have a title. Maybe you can think of one."

They were silent for a time, watching the ocean and the stars and the nearby lights of the James.

Then Miller said: "We'd better get back. Another busy day tomorrow. We'll be hitting Hawaii, I think."

Granderson nodded. They began to climb down. Eventually, they were back on the deck. They looked at each other.

"Goodnight, Eric," said Granderson.

"Goodnight, Alisha," said Miller. They began to walk away from one another, going their separate ways.

Then Granderson turned and called out for him to stop. She came back to him. "I know what the title should be. Top of the World."

He smiled. "Yeah, that's it," he said. "That's perfect."

There was a long moment. Then she reached up and kissed him on the cheek, tenderly. She turned and walked away. She had a feeling that on this night she would be able to sleep without bad dreams. For the first time in a long while, she did not feel sad. In fact, she felt fine.

"Top of the world," she said to herself.

END