At First Glance- A Marina Love Story

Chapter 35

"Any idea on what they are talking about in there?" Travis asked. Carina knew, but of course she wasn't going to say anything. She could control her mouth, unlike Travis.

"No, she just said they had to have a quick conversation this morning." She tried to busy herself by looking through her phone, but her mind kept imagining what was going on behind the closed doors just 10 feet away.

"Mhm..." Travis was sure she knew about it, but he didn't want to press the issue further. He respected that Carina could hold secrets for her girlfriend- even if he was desperate for some gossip.

--

"Take a seat, Gibson," Maya said from behind her desk. She noticed the same sunken in eyes that Carina had seen as he walked in. He looked like absolute hell. She knew that it was a matter of minutes until his lie would be exposed.

The lieutenant slumped down into the chair across from Maya. He didn't say anything, nor did he even bother to look at her. Normally, Jack would have chimed in with a snarky comment or at least rolled his eyes at her. His body language had her seriously concerned.

Maya decided to get right to the point, "Do you have the paperwork?"

Jack reached into the inner pocket of his jacket and took out a neatly folded set of stapled papers. Maya noticed that there were more papers than the required physical forms. His hands shook as he held them out in front to hand them over.

She grabbed them and set them on her desk without looking at what they read. Before going over them, she wanted to give him an opportunity to explain himself.

"Jack, can you tell me what's been going on? I know we don't get along and I'm used to you being an ass to me, but right now I am actually concerned."

"So, now you care." He rolled his eyes and folded his arms. That gesture was more typical Jack behavior.

Maya closed her eyes to compose herself. She promised herself she would not blow up on him, no matter how badly she wanted to. The captain took a deep breath before she added in, "I have always cared. You just make it really difficult sometimes."

He scoffed at her remarks. "Can I ask what prompted you to review my physical? Seems a little out of the blue to me."

She figured that he would ask that question, but as captain she didn't have to reveal the truth. "When I took over, I was asked to review the physicals for my team before completing any intense training. I got to yours and remembered your comments to Andy about you having leukemia and was surprised that it was not mentioned anywhere on your medical forms." Maya didn't know if Jack believed her, but it wasn't a complete lie. She did intend to look over all of the team's medical forms, this incident just sped up the process.

"Well, are you going to read through them or what?"

She was surprised at how thick the packet was. It was at least eight pages and the normal physical paperwork was usually a page or two. Her eyes scanned the first page to see nothing out of the ordinary. However, when she flipped it over her eyes glued to the line: "DID NOT PASS PHYSICAL EXAMINATION."

"Didn't pass?" she asked.

"Keep reading."

She flipped through the next few pages that explained his medical history. Jack did in fact beat cancer as a child. He was 11 at his first diagnosis. He was 16 when it came back for the second time. Jack was 35 when it came back for a third time.

"It's back?" Maya said as tears filled her eyes. No matter how much Jack frustrated her, she really did care about him. They had shared a personal connection, and no matter how much she regretted their time together, she did hold on to a few special memories. Plus, he picked her over Andy. No one had ever chosen her over someone else before.