That was Yesterday

Chapter 5

Kate was walking with Rick hand in hand toward the phone bank. All four phones were in one location on the island. There was something to sit on if you chose and Kate stole one from one location so she could wait with Rick for the phone to ring. They would be there all four hours. For that reason they both had glasses of ice water. Little water, lots of ice.

It had been a month since Alexis had called. For Rick it was business as usual. He was used to it but Kate was not. And not hearing from Alexis had her worried that she had been caught. So much so that even this call might be forced on her. Tell me where you are or we kill her. They might even hear her scream to get them to talk.

It was thirty minutes of waiting when the phone rang and Rick snatched it. "Dad?" Alexis needed to be sure.

"Alexis!" Kate willed her heart to start beating again.

"Hi, pumpkin. How are you doing?" Rick asked her.

"I'm doing great, Dad. I don't have much time. I have a class in just over an hour and not much time to reach it," Alexis said.

Kate bent toward the phone so she could talk and hear her better. "You said you planned to take classes to be an ME."

"I still am. Lanie's even helping me. I'm meeting her at the morgue after my last class. She says she has a body that she needs to do an autopsy on. She's willing to wait for me to get there. I'm looking forward to it." Learning with Lanie was better than her classes but she needed all these classes to get one of her degrees. "How is it there?"

"Hot!" Rick exclaimed.

"Just outside. Rick got us an A/C system. It's only been operational for one whole day," Kate told her. Between that and the ice maker, living there was a lot easier. Add the new bed and their new planter, that hadn't produced anything yet since it was too soon, but so far so good.

"Have you heard anything from the FBI, pumpkin?" Rick inquired.

"Nothing. No signal at all. I've heard nothing in the news, either. Lanie knows of no changes at the precinct. Sorry, Dad."

"So we wait." Kate sat back. Living there wasn't so bad. She could stay there.

"How's the money holding up?" Alexis asked even if there was probably nothing she could do about it.

"I don't know where Kate's money is but my bank account still has plenty in it. No problem. I have my name and number up here only." Rick tapped his head. He used his memory to fill out the forms to make the payment.

"I didn't think of that. But I haven't even accessed my account since I've been here. I probably have less than Rick does but I'm fine. The name isn't even the full name I'm using here. I do have some cash though," Kate answered.

"It's been almost a year, Dad. You're not even in the news any longer. And Kate, I'm sorry I couldn't bring Jim. He said he had a court date that he couldn't get out of. He does know that you're still alive though. I waited three months after your death to tell him just like I was told. He broke down and cried but he's fine."

"Thank you, Alexis. I was so very afraid of what he would do. Losing my mom was bad enough. I didn't want him to repeat it because of me."

"He said he never even considered it. I'm really sorry but I only have five minutes before I have to go. I moved it all to a location pretty far away," Alexis apologized.

"Just so long as you stay safe, Alexis. That's all I care. And thank you again. You could have stayed angry at me." Kate knew she was there only because of Alexis.

"Dad loves you, that was enough for me. Just promise me you'll never leave him," Alexis asked her.

"Never! My heart isn't walled off any more. I'm right where I should be. Thank you again."

"I'll be back in two weeks if I think it's safe. I'm thinking maybe a safe deposit bank in midtown next time. We'll see." Alexis couldn't commit to it. "Just stay safe, you two."

"I love you, Alexis, and I miss you. I'm missing things." Rick hated that but he needed to make sure she stayed safe because of his actions.

"Love you too, Dad. Call you later." Alexis hung up, put her things away and hid them, then left the site. The bag was watertight so no reason to worry.

"She sounds fine to me, Rick," Kate commented.

"Yeah. My little girl wants to be a state ME. Does New York even have a state ME?" Rick knew a lot but that wasn't one of them.

"I have no idea. But I'm sure she'll find one somewhere. She's a smart girl." Kate had faith in her.

"I may have that in my laptop," Rick mused since his laptop had a great deal of memory in it.

"Well we're done here. We can go find out. We need to water our plants tonight," Kate reminded him. It meant they were skipping showers on occasion and using a wet wash cloth to just scrub themselves clean.

-.-. .- ... - .-.. .

"Anything?" Kate sat next to him in their air conditioned living room with a glass of ice water. Based on when she had gotten there, this was living.

"Alaska, Oregon, Montana, North Dakota, Utah, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, Maryland, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine," Rick told her.

"Not New York. So if she wants her dream she needs to move. Wherever it is she'll do great, Rick." Kate laid her hand on his arm. "I have faith in her."

He looked at her with sadness in his eyes. "I don't know when, if ever, I'll see her again, Kate. I'm dead so she has most of my money so she can go anywhere she pleases. So what state would I want her to live in more than others?"

Kate closed the laptop on him. "Anywhere, Rick. Literally anywhere so long as she's alive and happy." She didn't want him planning her life for her.

He stroked her face. "When did you get to be so smart?"

"The very second I finally admitted that I loved you more than anything else." Kate leaned across and kissed him.

"So what's showing up on the next ship or have you finally stopped spending your money?" Kate hoped to catch him off guard and not keep it a secret from her. They had ice, A/C, a new bed, and she wanted to know what else was coming. Besides what she had ordered using her own money this time.

"You'll just have to wait and see and since you don't have your weapon you can't threaten to shoot me any longer." Rick smiled at her. "And I watched you pass that note and paperwork to Ed." He raised his eyebrows. She had to pay for it after all.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Kate could keep a secret with the best of them. Even from Rick.

"Fine. I happen to like surprises, unlike someone I know." Rick could wait.

Kate denied everything. "I also have no idea who you are talking about."

They walked over and looked to see if anything had sprouted in the garden yet. "We have something called amaranth, asparagus, broccoli, carrots, green beans, sugar snap peas, snow peas, and two different melons and sweet potatoes. Hopefully it all grows here.

"Some of it I know will grow since other people have it in their gardens. I'm taking a chance with the rest. Guess we'll see. Just so long as we keep the pigs out of it. Pigs will eat literally anything." And they had pigs running around loose all over the place.

"Well that fence might keep them out. Depends on how big the pigs get. A three hundred pound pig will go right through that little fence." Kate had a little worry.

"It does and we'll have baby back ribs," Rick grinned. Kate laughed and slapped his arm. They shouldn't be just killing anyone's pig just because it raided their garden.

"If we had the power we could electrify the fence," Rick suggested.

"And shock the kids that run around here? Not a chance Rick." Kate punched his arm gently for that one. She was all set to ask what he wanted to do today. They had very few options unless it involved swimming. They went in the back door near the power closet and cooled off. Rick smiled at Kate and was just about to kiss her when suddenly someone pounded on the front door and yelled his name.

Rick answered the door. "We have an emergency," Rick was told. The man looked and sounded panicked.

Rick pointed at Kate, "Grab the backpack," and he stepped outside to see where the frantic man was running away to.

Kate ran to the bedroom and picked up the bright red backpack that had a white cross on it. She had chided him for overdoing it but maybe he'd been right after all.

Rick took it from her and they both took off running. They could hear the screaming before they even got close. A child was crying and screaming.

There were already six people crowded around a small boy who was doing all the crying and screaming when they arrived. "Where's our only medic?" Rick pushed his way in close.

Rick knew he wasn't a doctor or even a nurse but he was the only one around there that had any medical training. "He's coming. We think he is out fishing."

"So no time soon." Rick put his backpack down and opened it. "Hold him still." Rick found the scissors and cut his knee length shorts off of him to expose the damage.

Kate pushed her way in from the opposite side. "Anyone know what happened?" Kate cringed at the wound to his hip.

"They were playing and he landed on that," someone pointed and Kate looked.

"Give me what I ask for, Rick." Kate also had some medical training and had watched Lanie countless times.

-.-. .- ... - .-.. .

Kate was putting in her last stitch. The boy was still screaming because they didn't have anything for the pain but it was clean and now it was closed.

"Antibiotic." Kate held out her hand and a pen was placed in it. She turned it to the number one and since he was already screaming from the pain, she plunged it into his good leg and he screamed again.

Now she was dressing it to keep everything out of the wound. "We need to come back tomorrow and clean and change his bandage and give him another shot, but I think he'll be fine," Kate told everyone.

Just then their lone medic came rushing up. He saw what had been done and listened to Kate explain what steps she had taken.

"Nice work. Carry him to my place. He's going to need a tetanus shot. I'm betting no one on this island has ever had one," he told everyone and stood back up. "Pick him up." He began to walk away and Rick and Kate watched as the boy's father picked him up and carried him.

"I take back everything I said about your backpack," Kate told Rick.

"It's the best I could find. If I was going to be in the middle of nowhere I wanted everything I could get," Rick said. It had cost him but it looked like it was worth it.

-.-. .- ... - .-.. .

Kate washed her hands when she got home and got out what was left of the original milk jug of moonshine. She needed a drink. This time they were sitting outside when finally the father showed up.

"Thank you! I owe both of you a lot. Just ask and it's yours." He shook Rick's hand and hugged Kate quickly so as not to make Rick mad at him for it. Everyone knew she was his woman.

"I'm glad we could help." Rick didn't need payment of any type.

"Just make sure it stays clean and change the dressing every day. He should be fine," Kate told him.

Kate went back to drinking after he was gone. "You might be the only one here with antibiotics, Rick." This place was small and didn't have much.

"It's why I bought it," Rick admitted. He finally broke down and poured his own cup of moonshine. "What I wouldn't give for the good stuff." Rick chugged his down and felt it burn all the way down. "Battery acid." Rick shook his head.

Kate smiled since she had a surprise, if it showed up.

-.-. .- ... - .-.. .

Kate was still in bed and she felt like shit. Her stomach was in full on revolt. Rick was missing so he wasn't here to help her. Though she didn't know what he could do for her. But his presence might help.

Kate jumped out of bed and ran for the bathroom except the toilet was outside so she threw up into the sink. It was mostly liquid anyway.

After she was done she did feel better. She cleaned her face and grabbed her tooth brush to make the taste go away. That was one more thing she could use – a new toothbrush. She had planned ahead but she was down to her last one.

She went back to bed since while she felt better she didn't feel all that great.

-.-. .- ... - .-.. .

"Kate? You're still in bed." Rick didn't remember her ever sleeping in since she had been there. She was coming up her own anniversary soon. He had been here a year and hers was coming up soon. They still had heard nothing and neither had Alexis.

"I don't feel good," Kate muttered. She didn't get it. She didn't get sick. Kate watched him put the back of his hand to her forehead.

"You do feel a little warm but not bad. I'll get the thermometer." Rick picked up the red backpack, got it out, and put it in Kate's mouth. She lay there, still feeling a little sick.

Rick pulled it out. "It's up but only a little." He shook it, cleaned it, and put it back. "Have you thrown up lately?"

"A little while ago."

"Diarrhea?" Rick questioned her and she shook her head. "Hmm, stand up for me." Rick helped her to stand and let go of her. "Dizzy?"

"A little. Not sure I want to walk anywhere." Kate sat back down and looked up at him.

Rick frowned and sighed. "You eat what I eat so it's not that. You go where I go. How's your stomach? Describe it if you can."

"It feels similar to cramps but it's not that. I've had cramps before, bad ones, but it's not that." Kate placed her hand on her stomach. It didn't hurt really but it was uncomfortable.

"Don't move. I'll be right back." Rick left her and Kate decided to lie down.

Rick was soon back and he had his laptop with him. He didn't have internet access. In fact the entire island didn't have internet access. But that didn't mean his laptop or any discs he had didn't have an answer.

"Slight temperature, stomach cramps, vomiting but no diarrhea, a little dizzy but not a lot again." Kate watched him raise an eyebrow.

"What? …What, Rick?" It had to be bad. She was finally happy and she had found someone to love forever and now she was sick.

"When was your last period?" Rick asked her.

"My last… I'M PREGNANT!?" She knew it was possible given how often they had sex. But she had been careful.

"I'm no doctor but that's what this thing says. I didn't bring a pregnancy test kit," Rick told her. Kate shook her head since neither had she.

"Pregnant." Kate laid her hand on her belly. "We don't have a hospital. Or a doctor or even a nurse." She was suddenly nervous.

"This thing says if you're having morning sickness you should be at least eight weeks if not a little more," Rick said.

"I guess we'll find out in a few weeks. Does it also say how long this is going to last?" She hated being sick.

"Well if you are eight weeks it should only last another four weeks. Let's see. …It says get lots of rest, eat lots of really small meals. Eat fruits that hold potassium. Eat carbohydrates like potatoes, rice, and toast. Pancakes maybe." They had some of this now.

"Suck on ice cubes and drink eight glasses of water a day. Some of that's easy. Fruit and toast not so much. I can ask around," he offered.

"You're pregnant!" Rick leaned down to kiss her since he was over the moon and was ready for another baby.

"Pregnant." Kate tried to talk herself into being happy but she was still worried.

-.-. .- ... - .-.. .

Their local medic had stopped by two days later. Kate answered the door and let him in. "YOU HAVE A/C!?" Damn but if it wasn't nice in there. "Can I move in? I'll be as quiet as a mouse. You'll never even know I was ever here." He was teasing and it had Kate laughing. They were getting that a lot lately.

"I came by to tell you that you did a really good job on that kid's injury. That was some nice stitching," he complimented Kate.

"Thanks. Not sure I want to do it again, but thanks." Then she pressed her hand over her mouth and threw up in the kitchen sink. She had a kitchen pot to throw up into but she had left it in the bedroom to answer the door. Rick was in the outhouse.

"You're sick?" This was not good if it was. Blood poisoning if it even was that was harder to get rid of.

Once Kate was done she cleaned herself up and the sink. "Morning sickness." Kate corrected him.

"Pregnant. You know I've delivered a couple of babies in my time. I've even got a shot to ease the pain back at my place. You'll have a nice healthy baby in a few months. Stop by my place in say three months and let me look at you.

"I can't tell you if your baby's healthy or what sex it is, but I can determine if you are healthy. Just eat all the fruit you can find or grow. Drink lots of water and get lots of rest but stay active. I know those two counter each other. Just get in some exercise and get lots of rest. Morning sickness goes away for most women in a few weeks.

"You'll do fine. Women have been having babies for centuries. Well I need to go. I have more fishing to do. Speaking of which, eat fish. It'll do you good. Trust me on this. Tell Rick hi." He lets himself out and sighs once he was outside. Now he was spoiled. They had A/C.

"Was that our medic I saw walking away? What did he want?" Rick saw Kate standing there with a tiny smile that got bigger and bigger. Now Rick was jealous. Only he should be able to make her smile like that.

"He said he's delivered a couple of babies and that he could give me a shot for the pain.

"I'm pregnant." She wasn't as scared any longer thanks to him. She was throwing up. Her period was seriously late and suddenly she wanted to have his baby. Their baby.

Alexis was supposed to call in about a month if she kept to her schedule. That meant she could tell her dad.

Kate walked up to Rick and put her arms around his neck. "I love you and we're having a baby." She kissed him because she was happy. He had made her happy despite all her efforts to remain…well, less happy.