All for you

Chapter 15

Day 3 in Base

I am awoken by my alarm. It's 0730. I remember Amy saying that she will have my uniform ready for me to meet with Commander White and CO Flynn. I check outside the front door and find a white box with a note taped to the lid.

All tailored. Good luck today, Ivy

I pick up the box and take it back inside. A white buttoned top lays on a pair of bright white pants. A pair of very shiny, polished black shoes wrapped in tissue paper lay on top of the shirt. I unpack everything and lay it on my bed.

I dress myself and stand in front of the mirror admiring how sophisticated I look. I feel like all of this is finally falling into place.

As I check that all my buttons are done up and that I look okay, there is a knock at the door. It's Liz.

"Ready to go?

"Yep."

"We will go have breakfast before we go in and the meeting might be moved to an earlier time."

"Ok cool. I'm starving."

I follow Liz out of the student apartments and back to the Navy base.

We sit at the cafe and have breakfast.

"Why do I need to have the interviews?"

"I'm not 100 per cent sure but I know they will be assessing your security risk and one of the meeting you will have will be with a psychologist to assess your mental state."

I nod slowly. If I have got this far, I'm not going back now.

I check the calendar on my phone. It was synced up with the Commander, the CO and with Liz so that I know what's going on. The meeting is still scheduled for 0900.

My phone begins ringing. It's Commander White.

"Good morning ma'am."

"Good morning Ivy. Where are you right now?"

"On base, having breakfast with Elizabeth."

"Ok well just letting you know that my 0800 meeting ended earlier than expected so if you finish breakfast, my door is open and I'm ready for you."

"Ok thank you ma'am. We will be there in about 10 minutes."

"Ok. Thank you Ivy."

I hang up.

"All good?"

"Ahh yeah. Commander White is ready for us from now onward."

We are almost finished breakfast so we quickly finish up and head over to NavCom. I fit in very well with everyone else.

We walk through the doors at the front and I follow Liz to a large open room. There are people sitting at computers and at the front of the room is a large screen with a map and on it, the locations of all Navy boats that have sailed out of the base. This must be a command and control room.

Liz stands at a door and inside is Maxine sitting at her desk. She stands up and walks to the door to greet us.

"Nice to see you again Elizabeth. And Ivy. You look very grown up in that uniform. Please, the two of you, come in and get comfy."

As we sit down, the CO walks in.

"Good morning ladies.

"Good morning sir." I stand and shake his hand firmly.

"Ok. We have a lot to discuss so let's get started."

We all sit and talk for at least an hour about my risk to other with the KVA after me, what my job in the ship will be and what I want to do on the ship along with many other things.

Once we are finished, Maxine dismisses all of us and Liz takes me to another part of NavCom; Medical Wing. She takes me to a desk and talks with someone. They leave and come back. We are then told to sit and wait.

A few minutes later a well dressed young man walks out to the room we are waiting in and calls my name.

"MackIntosh, Ivy."

I stand up and face Liz.

"I wish I could come in but you'll be ok. I'll be waiting for you here."

I follow the man and walk with him into an office.

"I'm Andrew Williams. I'm going to be assessing your mental state."

I think shrinks are full of shit. They make you think things that they want you to.

"Ok. What do you want to know?"

"I want you to tell me about your kidnapping. I want to know everything. I want to know, how you felt every bit of the way, I want to know why you made the decisions that you did. I want you to tell me everything."

"Do you also want me to tell you how that made me feel and tell you what I see in ink blots? Do you want me to lie down on a sloped chair?"

I don't know why I was being so sarcastic all of a sudden.

"Ivy. I assure you this won't be anything like that. I just need to work out whether what has happened to you will effect how you work in the field, whether or not you will freeze up under pressure. That's all. I mean if you want, I can bring out the ink blots."

I sit in a big comfy chair opposite Andrew. I didn't realise how long we talked for but he stopped me at 45 minutes of pure detail and feelings. I sort of wanted to keep going.

"That's a big ordeal for you to have gone through alone. Thank you for sharing that with me because I know it can be scary. Sometimes it comes back while you are recalling it so thanks for sharing all that with me."

He places down his notebook that he had been writing in and stands up walking to his laptop and types away.

"I'm allowing you into the field but under a condition. I'm also going to be giving you some medications. I will see you again in a few days after all of your training to give you these once they've been prescribed and approved."

I stand up realising the seriousness of the whole situation.