Drowning

Recovery

I rush through the lower deck with my white coat trailing behind me as I bump into multiple men along the way. My hair is braided down my back and flows with me as I run to the right wing of the medical facility. I lost track of time and spent an extra thirty minutes talking to Mark and Maggie, or M&M, as they call themselves. The nickname still makes me gag and I refuse to "grow up" about it. Their getting together three years ago is still the most bizarre thing. I never saw that relationship coming, much less an engagement that was just announced last month.

Mark was working a lot of the time with his new position as a Senator for the state of Michigan. After serving as governor for one term, he was so popular and admired in the political world that he was able to advance to the Senate, where he is currently at the end of his first term. Maggie finished school and became a teacher a year after for the high school in South Haven. She started teaching at our old college two years ago.

I reached for the clipboard dangling off of the cart I last left it on before my break. The nurses laugh at my flustered expression and I give them a smile as I look at my afternoon schedule, which consisted of mostly checkups and only one x-ray. Today wouldn't be too hard, and then I could sit on deck and watch the water. It wasn't the same as the lake, but still a beautiful, dark blue color, or green depending on the day and area of the world we were in.

I was as surprised as everyone else when I decided that I wanted to serve as a doctor in the Navy. It was almost ironic. I was currently in my second year of service, this being my third deployment. I worked at the hospital in South Haven when I was on leave, focusing mainly on war veterans and the Emergency Room unit.

I graduated from Michigan University's medical school three years ago and started training immediately after. It was also that same year that my diabetes stabilized and I was able to find medication to keep it under wraps. It was a quick decision, to join the Navy, but I haven't regretted it once. I loved working with the men and women on this ship, and even more with the patients. My time at home always seemed empty without these people. I loved my own bed, don't get me wrong, but I thrived in this atmosphere.

"How're you doing today Stephen?" I asked the man that was sitting on the examination table of the room I just entered. I reached for the stethoscope around my neck and pressed it up against his chest. "I'm doing well, Grace. How's your day been?" Stephen was one of my closest friends on this ship. He ran into me the first day I arrived and caused me to drop all of my paperwork, immediately crouching to the ground to help me pick it up. "Shouldn't an engagement ring be on the left hand?" He asked me, meeting my eyes with a smile and commenting on the ring I wore everyday. "It's not an engagement ring," I told him, returning the kind gesture. "It's lovely, none the less." I smiled at him and we ended up running into each other on a regular basis. From then on, we just clicked.

"I ended up talking too long with Mark and Maggie and almost knocked some guys out running down here." He laughed at me and shook his head, "One day you really will and people will be wondering why you aren't out there hauling up the ropes with the rest of us." Stephen left the room after his check up and I went to the next patient on the list.

I walked in the room and was met with a strong southern accent of a boy that had blonde hair and blue eyes. "Where are you from," I looked down at the sheet, "Austin?" I had assumed Texas before he even said it. "My grandfather was from there." I smiled at him and continued the examination.

I thought of Gram as I went to pick up the x-rays for the next patient. It's crazy how much has changed over the last nine years. Gram passed the same year Mark first ran and won for Governor. We buried her in the middle of December as the snow fell next to our grandfather. It was a hard time, but she had lived a full life. Her boyfriend passed just a few months later, and Mark and I attended his funeral out of respect.

The x-rays showed a woman's side that looked as if a few ribs had been healing themselves. I looked at my folder outside of her room and saw that she had fallen on her side while moving cargo and a box landed on top of her, cracking one rib and fracturing another. "Hello, Joyce," I greeted the woman as I opened the door. I told her that her ribs had healed nicely and to take it easy for another few days, then she should be good to do.

I walked out of the room with my head down and ran directly into one of the male nurses in the hallway. "I'm so sorry!" I recognized Shawn's dark complexion as I looked down at his arms holding me in place. "You're fine Grace, but there's a Captain in the next room that needs you to look at his arms. They were burned awhile back and he needs to know how to stop making them itch, apparently it just started and it's been pissing him off."

I shook my head and laughed at the sudden need. I waved to Shawn and made my way down to the nurses' station to get some anti-itch cream. This really wasn't something that I needed to take care of, but I wasn't busy, and if he specifically asked for the doctor, I had better be the one to show up.

I caught sight of the corkboard we kept on the back wall of the station and noticed the picture that I had put up a month before. It was of my little red lighthouse back at home with the water covered in snow, along with the black rows of lights in front of it. I had taken that picture the night before I left. It reminded me of home and everything I held there.

I couldn't help but let a certain face appear in my head as I walked back to the room where the Captain was waiting. I still hadn't forgotten Emmett after all these years. It wasn't that I still was grieving over him, but instead hoping the best for him. As far as I knew, he was enjoying the Navy much like I was. I knew this from keeping in touch with Stan, who still lived in South Haven, but had retired just this last year.

I liked talking to him because it brought back memories that always made me smile. I say that now, but any mention of what I had lost would have led me into a depression just years before. I had learned that by letting go of Emmett from my immediate mind, I was able to prosper in the now instead of living in what could have been. I still thought about him often, though. I missed his laugh in my ears and his eyes looking into my own. I even missed his sleep talking on nights that just seemed particularly boring. I never met anyone that I went on a third date with since then, but that was alright with me. I was fine with waiting as long as it meant the right one would come along. Maggie was frequently bugging me about being single with how close I was to thirty, but I didn't let it get to me. I was in great shape and lacked any wrinkles, and my age shouldn't matter if we're talking long term, since one day I really will be old.

I laughed a little to myself at my last thought as I opened the door to the examination room. "Alright Captain, let's get you taken care of-" I looked up then and felt the bottle of medicine drop from my hands, the impact making a sound that was dulled by my pounding heartbeat. The breath in my throat hitched and my palms became sweaty within seconds. My legs were shaking and my head was spinning. The man sitting on the table was looking directly at me, his mouth formed into an "o" shape and his arms frozen in the position he had them in when I entered.

I was looking into eyes that matched the color of the sky. They swirled like the wind and shone like emerald. I was suddenly drowning in a sea of blue that I knew so well, but hadn't seen in the last nine years. After countless days of looking out my window or over the edge of the red lighthouse, the color I was experiencing now beat them all tenfold. His brown locks covered his face and broad shoulders continued from his neck. His eyes met mine, and then fell to the necklace resting on my chest and the ring adorning my hand.

I was planted firmly into the ground while he slowly stood from the table, walking towards me as if it were his first time on his own feet. His eyes were a mix of emotions and glowed against his dark complexion. "Grace," he spoke to me, his voice sounding better than my memory could hold.

~Emmett~

"Emmett," she said back to me, tears in her eyes and my heart in her hand. The pink in the ring looked lovely with her eyes, just as I remembered, as she covered her mouth to stifle the sobs of pure joy that were escaping her. I walked to her and wrapped her small body in my arms, molding her to my own as I have imagined doing for the last four years. "I remember," I whispered and tilted my head to press my lips to her own.