Anybody Know What
By R. L. Keller
“That
was clever.”
Lee
threw a disgusted look at the speaker for the snide remark. “You weren’t supposed to see that,” he muttered.
“A
good Exec sees all, hears all, and knows all,” came the firm retort from Lee’s
long-time friend. But neither man’s
frown lasted long and they both ended up chuckling. Lee started mopping up the coffee stains from
the navigation chart he was working with.
It could have been a lot worse.
The lightweight cast on his left wrist, more firm plastic splint than
anything, was making him a bit clumsy and he’d jostled his coffee mug. Thankfully he hadn’t knocked over the mugful
of dark, powerful brew, only splashed out a few drops.
“When
was the last time you were in your bunk?” Chip returned to his firm, ‘XO in
Charge’ voice.
Lee
glared at him. “I just got up an hour
ago,” he growled.
The
blond knew him far too well to be affected by Lee’s apparent bad humor. “Allow me to rephrase the question. When was the last time you actually slept in
your bunk?”
The
chart as clean as he was going to get it Lee momentarily closed his eyes, and a
slightly sheepish expression replaced the frown as he sent a sideways look at
Chip. “Been awhile,” he admitted.
Seaview,
the giant submarine Lee Crane captained for the Nelson Institute of Marine
Research, was recovering from a minor altercation with an overly friendly pod
of gray whales. Dive planes had been
knocked off-line long enough to bounce Seaview against a seamount before trim
could be re-established, and anything not firmly secured had been flung
sideways. That included most of the
crew. Thankfully, injuries were minimal
but widespread. Dr. Will Jamison and his
two corpsmen rapidly went through their stores of ace bandages and strapping
tape, dealing with all the strained and sprained wrists and ankles, and had to
come up with a few not quite orthodox alternatives – like cutting up several
sheets into strips, and holding them in place with duct tape to strengthen
weakened and injured joints.
Other
damage to the boat had been more of the annoying kind, as opposed to
serious. Circuit breakers had been
tripped all over the boat. Most just
needed resetting, but enough were fried and had to be replaced that the systems
they controlled caused more than a few anxious moments until full power was
restored. As usual, Chip co-coordinated
everything from the Control Room, his quiet calm permeating every command or
acknowledgement. Lee was everywhere else
– at least it always seemed so to his crew.
He had an uncanny knack for showing up just when an extra hand was
needed or a decision made. His
tight-knit crew was extremely well trained, but they were also very used to
finding their Skipper wandering around, offering a tool here or a suggestion
there.
It
had taken several hours after the accident for Doc’s sharp eyes to note
anything amiss with his workaholic young captain’s movements, and slow him down
long enough to put the soft cast on a badly sprained wrist. As Lee wasn’t showing signs of any other
injuries Will wasn’t able to do much more than get him to also swallow a couple
ibuprofen before Lee was once again off tending to his boat’s needs. Doc did make a point of asking Cookie to
personally track Lee down, as often as he thought he could get away with it,
and keep him supplied with sandwiches and cookies. They were two items both men could be fairly
sure Lee would take the time to quickly eat.
But both also knew that, left to his own devices, Lee would simply
ignore the fact that mealtimes had come and gone without him once giving them a
thought as long as his boat was in any danger, and survive on coffee alone.
Sleep
was an entirely different matter. As
long as Seaview wasn’t running 100% there was little hope of anyone getting the
conscientious (Chip had been heard to call it stubborn and pigheaded) captain
to slow down, short of using one of Doc’s cocked and loaded syringes. Chip considered it a minor miracle that he’d
actually convinced Lee to head for his cabin about 0230 that morning, once all
systems were again up and running smoothly – even if a couple of them were only
jury-rigged. Now, at just after 0700, he
was realizing the error of his assumption that Lee’s head hitting a pillow
would be enough to make him sleep.
Shaking his head at his old friend, he wandered down to the radio shack.
Lee
watched Chip walk away, somewhat surprised that he had so easily dropped the
discussion. Lee wasn’t a stupid
man. He was perfectly aware that he
needed more rest. He was just glad that
Chip wasn’t aware that Lee’s lack of sufficient sleep went beyond just the last
couple of nights, and gave himself a mental shake to wipe the scene that little
revelation would cause out of his mind.
He knew just how hard he could push himself, and knew that even if
limits were reached he had always been able to find that ‘something extra’ to
get him through whatever was happening.
Admiral Nelson was due to arrive shortly in FS1 with several replacement
parts necessary to permanently fix the systems that had been jury-rigged. Once all repairs were completed and his boat
and crew were once again as safe as he could make them, there would be time for
Lee to catch up on sleep. I’ll deal
with the rest of it eventually, he assured himself. He glanced at Chip, seeming to be in
conversation with
But
if Chip called Lee stubborn, the quality was present two-fold in the
blond. Deciding to avoid what would no
doubt lead to all-out warfare with his occasionally temperamental CO, he chose
to make the call he wanted to make from the relative privacy of the radio shack
instead of doing it directly in front of Lee.
Lee hadn’t paid him a whole lot of attention, and Chip hoped that he was
assuming his supremely efficient XO was checking on something. Lee did raise an eyebrow as Chip once again
walked up to the chart table, but the blond gave him an enigmatic little smile
and picked up the duty roster.
It
was several minutes later when footsteps were heard casually descending the
spiral stairs from Officers’ Country.
Chip took one quick glance and decided he needed to be elsewhere.
Lee
also took one glance, and stopped his Exec’s retreat with a deliberate, “Mr.
Morton.”
Chip
turned instantly and plastered his patented ‘XO on Duty’ expression on his
face. “Yes, sir?”
Lee
just glared at him, until a soft chuckle from behind Lee undid both younger
men. “Never mind,” Lee acquiesced to the
inevitable, and turned to face Seaview’s softly smiling CMO. Footsteps could be heard rapidly headed the
other direction. “What brings you
forward?” Lee asked out loud, but muttered still loud enough that Doc could hear
him, “as if I didn’t know.”
“Not
sure what you mean,” Will lied easily.
“I knew that we were still on the surface and thought that I’d come
check out the view. Gets a little boring
just looking at bulkheads all the time, you know.” Lee crossed his arms, frowning. “Not to mention the fact that the Admiral is
due in shortly, and he’s bringing back a fair amount of supplies for me.”
“Your
corpsmen usually take care of that,” Lee observed dryly.
“Both
of whom are finally getting some sleep now that things are relatively back to
normal.”
Lee
gave his CMO – and friend, although you had to see past the almost constant
needling each gave the other to recognize the sparkle each usually maintained
in their eyes – one of his better command glares. “And your excuse for not joining them?”
Will’s
soft smile increased and he shrugged his shoulders. “Couple of people we’re still keeping an eye
on. Frank and John took turns covering
last night while I got some rest.”
Lee
lowered his eyes. He knew, of course,
that Channing, the Delta Watch helmsman, had been bounced out of his bunk during
the initial problem hard enough to cause a slight concussion. After 24 hours he’d been released from
Will
poured himself a cup of coffee from the carafe either Cookie or his assistant,
Higgins, kept stocked in the Observation Nose, and settled casually into one of
the chairs around the table, turning so that he could easily see both out
Seaview’s herculite windows and back into the Conn. He’d known the instant he’d first interviewed
for the position of CMO that he was going to have his hands full. Seaview’s designer/builder/owner, Admiral
Harriman Nelson, was a fiery-tempered multi-billionaire who was very used to
getting his own way. And he had staffed
his boat with intelligent, quick-witted sailors and technicians who could
recognize a problem almost before it became one. The men on board the giant submarine were
dedicated and self-motivated, and Will knew that such men didn’t take kindly to
limitations medical personnel might need to place on them for their own safety
and well-being.
But
Will was, himself, strong-willed and dedicated to his profession. While working hard to keep up with as much
new technology as possible, he still maintained that a good doctor treated the
whole patient, not just an illness or injury.
Submarines were a highly specialized community. While all of Will’s previous duties had
either been on surface vessels or ashore he was well aware that, isolated
sometimes for long periods of time, minor problems within the crew could
escalate rapidly to major ones, both physically and mentally.
Will
had quickly established himself with most of the crew as a conscientious but
fair CMO. He didn’t unnecessarily force
limitations, and was willing to allow the men leeway in any situation where the
discomfort of the few might not outweigh the survival of the many. That didn’t mean that he slacked off on his
duties; just that he was perfectly willing to wander around the boat tending to
minor injuries instead of making the crewmen leave their emergency stations to
come to him in Sick Bay. He had no
qualms about sidelining any more seriously injured man, and with the rank of
Lt. Cdr. could easily enforce downtime for any crewman he determined warranted
it.
Everyone,
that is, except for the three senior officers aboard: Seaview’s Captain, XO,
and Admiral Nelson. The first few
minutes of his initial interviews with all three, Will had known that he was in
for an uphill battle. But even then he
wasn’t totally prepared for the full magnitude of what he was going to be up
against. Two things had so far kept Will
from simply throwing up his hands and walking away. The first was the result of a bit of
forethought on his part – he’d required and gotten a statement written into his
contract giving him total autonomy in all medical matters. It wasn’t something that he flaunted, but had
had to resort to a couple of times when dealing with Admiral Nelson, definitely
a man used to getting his own way!
The
second was a good deal subtler. All
three officers were bonded into a rather unique friendship. Captain and XO had known each other since
they were assigned as roommates upon entering
Will
sat quietly drinking his coffee, running through his options. He could, of course, simply wait until Nelson
was aboard and let the Admiral order Lee to his bunk. Wouldn’t be the first time, Will
acknowledged to himself. A small smile
escaped as he admitted that it would no doubt not be the last, either. But Will was loath to play that particular
card. Years of dealing with Lee had
given Will an extreme high regard for his CO.
And while Will had been known to get so frustrated with the younger
man’s seemingly total disregard for his own health issues that he’d resorted to
throwing stoneware mugs into bulkheads he did, honestly, empathize with the
strong sense of duty behind Lee’s actions.
Will wasn’t comfortable undermining Lee’s authority without serious
reason. He could wish that Lee would rest,
but as he wasn’t doing any great harm to himself, at least not yet, could
justify merely keeping watch, and hope that Lee finally surrendered on his own.
Chip
raised an eyebrow at Will, behind Lee’s back, as he returned to the chart table
a few minutes later. When Will just
shrugged his shoulders, Chip decided that if the doctor wasn’t actively
challenging Lee, things couldn’t be too serious. He gave Lee a smile and went back to working
on a new duty schedule now that everything was starting to calm down.
As
soon as Lt. James appeared just before 0800 Chip went over the current Status
Report with him, gave him the
Lee
frowned but surrendered fairly peacefully.
He needed more coffee, but with Jamie sitting in the Nose hadn’t wanted
to make a hit on the carafe there.
Grabbing his long-empty mug he headed aft, missing the “that was too
easy,” Chip sent to no one in particular before following his CO.
They
had worked their way through blueberry pancakes, thick slices of breakfast ham,
and scrambled eggs, and were just pouring more coffee when they felt Seaview’s
nose dip fractionally. “Nice of the
Admiral to show up, now that all the work’s done,” Chip teased Lee. Lee backhanded his best friend, frowning. But both quickly smiled and headed forward.
Admiral
Nelson took his time unbuckling himself from FS1’s pilot seat. As he stood up the aft hatch was triggered
from outside, revealing Chief Sharkey and several crewmen standing ready to
collect the supplies that Nelson had brought.
He nodded to the COB, then climbed the ladder up into the
As
the younger men joined the older ones in the Nose, Nelson nodded toward the
cast, his eyes sparkling. “Which
bulkhead is in need of having a fist-sized dent repaired?” he asked. Will snorted softly as Chip gave a quick snicker.
“Wasn’t
me,” Lee assured his boss. “But we do
need to get Chip more leave time. I left
him alone in the
Nelson
sent his captain a knowing look. “Might
a reminder to watch your back be in order?”
Lee
shook his head. “At least,” he amended,
“not until we get back to port.”
Nelson
gave a soft ‘harrumph,’ and again sent a glance toward the hard plastic cast.
“I’m
fine,” Lee growled. But his frown
instantly turned sheepish and he added a soft, “sir.”
Something
sounding suspiciously like a disgusted snort came from Will’s direction and
Nelson, having heard that phrase from his captain far too many times over the
years to believe a word of it, turned his head toward his CMO.
Will
sent a quick glance toward the once-again frowning younger man, but gave the
Admiral a small grin. “A little short of
sleep,” was his diagnosis.
“Along
with pretty much everyone else aboard,” came softly from Lee, not willing to
surrender. Nelson continued to look at
Will, who just shrugged. “Thought you
came forward for the supplies Admiral Nelson was bringing?” Lee wasn’t about to lose control of this
conversation if he could help it.
Will
downed the last of his coffee. “Seems it
wasn’t necessary,” he admitted, nodding toward the open hatch down to FS1, from
which steady sounds of activity were still coming. “Guess I’ll head back and start putting
things away.” He sent Nelson a grin and
headed back up the spiral stairs.
“I’ll
walk as far as my cabin with you,” Nelson told him, sent his captain another
grin, and followed the doctor. Lee
closed his eyes just a moment, shook his head, and headed back to the chart
table.
As
the two older men rounded a corner, now safely out of Lee’s hearing, Nelson
sent the doctor a soft, “Will?”
Will
stopped walking and grinned. “Actually,
for once, our workaholic Skipper is telling the truth.”
“And
how short of sleep are you?”
Will
laughed out loud. “Not that short,
Admiral,” he assured his boss, then frowned.
“I have to stay in top form to keep up with that…”
“Ahem,”
Nelson cleared his throat with a grin.
“…young
man,” Will finished tactfully.
Nelson’s
grin broadened. “For which quite a few
people are very grateful.” Nelson gave
his friend a clap on the shoulder. “And
which, I doubt you’ll ever let us forget,” he teased.
“Got
that right,” Will muttered, before they both chuckled openly. They’d reached the Admiral’s cabin and Nelson
opened the door as Will continued on to
* *
* *
Lee
managed to ignore his XO’s frowns and marginally snide harassment until 1145
hours. By that time the crew had all the
replacement parts the Admiral had brought installed, and Seaview was once again
running at 100% efficiency. Also,
unfortunately by that time, he was no longer able to ignore the headache his
lack of sleep was causing. If it had
just been the last 48 hours, Lee would have been perfectly capable of managing
with little or no effect to his system.
It was something that regularly drove the people he worked with up the
proverbial wall – Lee’s ability to manage on very limited sleep.
Happily
– for Lee – they didn’t know that he’d not been sleeping well for the last
week. It happened sometimes. Lee never let it get to him. Sometimes life just got the best of him and
it took awhile to get straightened out again.
It would have been easier this time if he’d been able to take some time
off. Maybe rent a sailboat and head over
to the
They’d
been less than two days out when they’d encountered the apparently amorous
whales, so Lee hadn’t even been allowed the comfort Seaview always brought to
him. There was, to Lee, something
special about the oversized moveable marine laboratory. She “spoke” to him in ways that even he
didn’t totally understand. He reveled in
her smooth handling (most of the time) and quick maneuverability. He protected her with a jealousy that made
those around him smile, and those who didn’t know him frown. But he easily acknowledged that she protected
him just as much. He relied on her
strength, her courage, and her determination to do anything he asked of
her. And in turn she gave him safety,
and sanity. He felt more comfortable
aboard her than he did anywhere else on earth.
He
had been counting on that comfort to finally allow him to relax, and mentally
“come down” from the tension that the ONI mission had left him with. It wasn’t bad – this time. There had been many missions that had left
him much worse, and he’d managed to get through them all. Frequently with Seaview’s help.
Just
haven’t given her the time she needs. He smiled softly, while once
again absentmindedly reaching up to rub a throbbing temple. Apparently it caused Chip to finally reach
the end of his patience. He dropped the
clipboard he’d been studying onto the top of the chart table with a resounding
clunk, drew himself up to his full height, crossed his arms, and stared at
Lee. As tired as Lee was, he still
couldn’t resist teasing his old friend.
His grin broadened and he raised an eyebrow in silent question, and
watched as at least half a dozen responses moved swiftly across Chip’s
expressionful face – Chip may be noted by some as being totally unreadable, but
not always; and especially not at times like this when Lee was involved. This time, as each thought was more
blistering than the last, Lee surrendered peacefully. He reached out a hand and laid it briefly on
Chip’s shoulder before making a judicious retreat to the sound of Chip’s soft
release of air. Just as he started up
the spiral stairs to his cabin he glanced back.
Chip was still watching him, slowly shaking his head. But Lee saw a soft smile start to touch the
blond’s lips.
A
heavy sigh escaped as Lee closed his cabin door behind him, and the total
exhaustion he’d been fending off hit him full force. It was a struggle, but Lee held it at bay
just long enough to kick off his shoes, remove his uniform shirt, and swallow a
couple of ibuprofen before falling face down on his bunk.
* *
* *
Head
down, studying a handful of computer printouts, Admiral Nelson stepped through
the aft hatch into Seaview’s command center.
Barely looking up, he ambled toward the Observation Nose, nearly to the
chart table before he realized that Lt. James was the most senior officer in
the room. Nelson pointed an eyebrow at
the young man.
“Mr.
Morton left for the Wardroom about fifteen minutes ago, sir,” James
answered. “And the Skipper went to his
cabin a short time before that.”
“Willingly?”
Nelson asked, with a small smile.
Chris
didn’t return the grin. He was still too
new, and nervous around the Admiral, to allow that much familiarity. But he did answer easily, nonetheless. “It appeared so, sir.”
Nelson’s
grin broadened. With a nod he turned and
retraced his steps, headed for the Wardroom.
He found Chip already halfway through a thick roast beef sandwich, large
helping of macaroni salad, and one of Cookie’s ‘death by chocolate’ brownies, a
two-inch cube of super-rich, double chocolate treat slathered with half an inch
of chocolate cream cheese frosting.
“Cookie was obviously expecting Lee for lunch,” he said, headed for the
coffee pot. Seaview’s premier chef
tended to reserve the brownies for his Skipper, and only shared reluctantly
with everyone else.
Chip
grinned, and finished swallowing a bite of salad before answering. “Isn’t overjoyed that Lee’s skipping
lunch.” He sent a glance toward the
galley when a loud ‘harrumph’ was heard.
“But I convinced him that sleep was a much more needed commodity than
food at the moment.” A kettle banged
loudly.
“Apparently
with limited success.” Will had followed
Nelson into the Wardroom, and heard Chip’s comment. Chip smiled, shrugged, and took a big bite of
the sandwich. As the two older men sat
down opposite Chip, their plates a bit less loaded than Chip’s had been
originally but with the same items, Will pointed a raised eyebrow at the XO.
“Dead
on his feet and fighting a killer headache,” Chip answered the all-too-plain
question. “But other than the wrist,
uninjured. At least,” he amended, “as
far as I know. Sharkey hasn’t made any
little ‘comments’ as he’s wont to do when one of the crew has mentioned
anything that Lee doesn’t deem necessary to report.” All three men smiled – Will, perhaps, a bit
less than the other two.
“And
he didn’t come back from the ONI errand with any injuries,” Nelson offered.
“For
a change,” Chip growled, and stuffed a forkful of salad in his mouth. The other two gave him indulgent smiles. Chip made no bones about his disapproval of
Lee’s continued connections to the Navy’s intelligence unit.
“I’ll
wander up and check on him after a bit,” Will said.
Chip
nodded. “And I’ll roust him for
supper. If he sleeps much longer than
that he’ll be up all night.”
“Gently,
Chip,” Nelson cautioned, albeit with a large grin.
Chip
returned it. “No way he’s tossing me
headfirst into his desk again. Learned
my lesson the first time.”* Both Nelson
and Will chuckled. Chip looked at
Will. “What’s your secret, Doc? So far he’s never flattened you.”
“Ah,
but I try very hard not to wake him up,” Will smirked. “I leave that to you as much as possible.”
“Gee,
thanks,” Chip grumbled, as Nelson choked on a snort of laughter.
Continuing
the pleasant chatter, Nelson gave himself a silent pat on the back. Snagging Chip away from the Navy and into the
Reserves, to serve as Seaview’s Executive Officer, had been one of the best,
most productive, decisions he’d made when it came to staffing his pride and
joy. Chip was organized to the point of
almost being anal, serious but fair about discipline, totally understood his
boat and his crew, and did everything in his not insignificant power to keep
things running smoothly. John Phillips,
Seaview’s original Captain, had given Chip the high honor of calling him one of
the finest XO’s in the Navy, to which Nelson had added his wholehearted
agreement.
But
Phillips had been content to keep Chip in that position, and keep the running
of the boat herself, and her cruises, under his own control. Not that Chip cared. He was perfectly happy with the division of
duties. He’d always maintained that he
was happiest with the XO’s position, and never wanted his own command.
Lee’s
arrival after Phillips’ untimely death had subtly changed Chip’s role. Slowly, so that Chip hadn’t been totally
aware that it was even happening, Lee had let Chip handle more of the
day-to-day running of the giant submarine’s missions. Nelson knew that part of the reason was his
own doing – he was taking up more of Lee’s time than he had Phillips, asking
for Lee’s input on future NIMR projects and proposals. Phillips had never shown any interest along
those lines, preferring to focus on the tasks at hand, and Nelson had quickly
learned not to bother him. But Lee was
interested in ‘everything,’ it always seemed.
He quickly proved extremely adept at ferreting out minor glitches, or
solving what on the surface looked like minor details, but could have led to
serious complications had they been left unchallenged.
At
the same time, mostly because of Lee and Chip’s many years of friendship, Chip
took a good deal of the lead in reining in his very conscientious Captain. For which both Admiral and CMO were extremely
grateful. Lee had absolutely no problems
putting himself in the line of fire at any time where it would save putting one
of his crew in danger. There was no
doubt in Nelson’s mind why his original CMO had suddenly decided that he wanted
shore duty not long after Lee’s arrival.
Nelson understood what drove Lee because they were, in many ways, much
alike. In Nelson’s case it was a passion
to learn as much about, so as to protect, the two-thirds of his planet that was
underwater, and he knew that he could be totally focused in his pursuits to the
exclusion of everything else. Lee was
just as passionate but he focused on protecting those around him, keeping them
safe, whether or not it meant sacrificing himself to do so. Lee often harassed Chip about his “just
looking after my Captain, as any good XO does’ comments, when Chip got a little
too carried away. But, while it
absolutely never got in the way of Command structure Chip was, nevertheless,
always the first line of Lee’s protection against forgetting to take care of
himself as well.
Nelson’s
private smile increased as Will nattered at Chip about having to pump Chip’s
stomach when he snagged another of the oh-so-rich brownies out from under
Cookie’s frown. Dr. Will Jamison’s
arrival had been another extremely clever feather in Nelson’s cap. The previous CMO’s departure had left Nelson
with a quandary that took him several months – and several unsatisfactory
replacements – to solve. He needed
someone on board who could, first, tolerate life aboard a submarine. Second, they had to be able to tolerate
Seaview’s occasionally out-of-the-norm missions, and the slightly weird
injuries that could result from them.
Third, they had to have the temperament for getting along with a boat
full of people focused more strongly on doing their jobs than taking care of
themselves. That last was what had
caused the departure of Seaview’s original CMO.
The first year hadn’t been too bad.
Kneedler had served on submarines before, understood what it took to be
a submariner, and handled the crew fairly but easily. Nelson had heard a few grumbles from the
JO’s, and Phillips had mentioned once in passing that Chip wasn’t overly happy
at being sidelined for twenty-four hours with what was apparently a very mild
concussion. Nelson had had a couple of
run-ins with Kneedler over minor injuries but he’d just ignored the man, slapped
on a band-aid, and gone back to work.
Lee’s
arrival was, apparently, the last straw.
Now having two men on board who totally ignored him – Phillips had
remained disgustingly healthy and uninjured during his tenure – Kneedler had
not been quiet about voicing his displeasure.
And it wasn’t long before that displeasure grew, as more and more of the
crew started following their Skipper’s lead and became more stubborn about
allowing the CMO to place them on the Binnacle List for what they considered no
good reason. His authority seriously
undermined, Kneedler wanted out!
Nelson
thought that he’d screened the first several applicants well, but none had been
able to stand up to Seaview’s challenges.
He knew that Chip was doing everything he could to see that Lee ate and
slept at regular intervals. Not that Lee
didn’t take care of himself. But he
could get easily distracted if things weren’t going well, and food and sleep
tended to be very low on his list of priorities. And, as Chip had alluded to earlier, Lee’s
occasional errands for ONI rarely left him totally in one piece. Seaview needed a CMO who could ‘handle’ Lee.
Some
serious digging through Navy records had brought Will’s name to light. While he’d never served on a submarine
before, his personal interest in studying the issues inherent in close-knit,
isolated communities drew Nelson’s attention.
As did Will’s grades in Med school and his continuing education
courses. All of his fit-reps listed him
as a conscientious, caring physician, highly intelligent, and a man who focused
on his patients as a whole. A couple of
his former CO’s commented on his strong will and determination – Nelson read
into those that they had apparently locked horns with the doctor over some
issue or another, and lost! Nelson had
immediately contacted Will and asked if he’d interview for the job.
Nor
had he been disappointed. Will had
proven his merit – and his metal – on his first cruise. At almost Nelson’s age, the two had quickly
formed an easy friendship. Will had
proven adept at handling the craziness that Seaview sometimes challenged her
crew with, as well as the crew itself.
And if he occasionally got frustrated with a certain Commander – not to
mention an equally irritating Lt. Commander – he kept enough of a sense of
humor to get him through the problems with his sanity intact. Nelson chose to
ignore the times Will had locked horns with him, and simply sent the doctor a
silent toast for his perseverance, tenacity, and amiable stubbornness.
The
only drawback had been Will’s disgust at having to learn to dive. He was absolutely convinced that the only
safe way to be underwater was with a submarine around him. Unfortunately, as a crewmember, he had to be
a certified scuba diver. But with
perseverance – and a few nights of Nelson inviting him over for a good stiff
drink - Will had gotten past that obstacle.
His yearly recertifications were still a time for a bit of trepidation
on Chip’s part, as it was the XO’s job to see to the tests. Nelson always laughed at his two senior
officers on that day each year. Lee
would make himself scarce, but show up in time to take his friend out for a
couple of what he’d heard was their own share of stiff drinks. Let it never be said that the CO didn’t stand
in support of his XO when the need arose.
Chip
finishing his meal brought Nelson’s ruminations to an end. He gave his two officers – and friends – a
smile as he headed back to his lab. Chip
headed back to the
* *
* *
Lee
had been hoping that his exhaustion – and the headache – would drive all other
thoughts away. And at first, at least,
it worked. He remained dreamless,
allowing Seaview’s powerful rhythms to lull him into a state of contented
safety. But all too soon the unease he’d
been feeling over how the ONI mission had ended once more settled over
him. Even knowing that there had been
nothing he could have done differently to change the outcome didn’t alleviate
his frustrations and, as had happened all too regularly since that fateful day,
he found his comfort disturbed to the point of waking him up. Unlike the other times, this time he wasn’t
alone.
“Sorry,”
Will apologized, standing slightly away from the bunk. “Didn’t mean to disturb you.”
Lee
gave him a small smile, more grimace than anything, and sat up. “You didn’t,” he admitted, and ran a hand
through his short dark hair, unrulier than he liked from an apparent restless
encounter with his pillow.
Will
settled a hip on the corner of Lee’s desk.
“Want to talk about it?” he asked casually. He easily recognized the symptoms; something
was troubling his overly conscientious Skipper.
He also knew, only too well, that Lee kept such problems to himself for
the most part so was prepared for Lee’s response.
“What
about?” He sent Will a raised eyebrow.
Will
kept the soft, easy smile on his face.
“About whatever it was that did disturb your sleep.”
Lee
lowered his eyes, not looking at Will directly, but shook his head. “It’s nothing, Jamie. No big deal.”
Will
didn’t believe a word of it. He also
knew that tackling the problem head on was the quickest way of having Lee clam
up totally, so he chose to keep smiling and come at it sideways. “Don’t suppose that you’d let me give you
something a little stronger for that headache than ibuprofen?” he asked gently.
Lee
frowned. On the one hand, it would be
almost comforting to accept one of Will’s extra-strength painkillers and slip
into oblivion for a few hours. But his
strong sense of duty refused to let him accept the solution – what he
considered the coward’s way out. He knew
that the problem wouldn’t go away until he found a way to accept what had
happened without acrimony, and he couldn’t do that while drugged into nonexistence. “No,” he finally answered. Realizing that the word hadn’t come out with
his usual authority, he followed it by glaring at the CMO.
Will
just continued his soft smile. He’d
learned that, on all too infrequent occasions, he could keep Lee from openly
challenging him by remaining calm and casual.
“Perhaps later, after supper,” he acquiesced. “If it’s still bothering you,” he added
quickly as Lee’s frown increased. “Everything’s
back to normal. You really need to get
some rest to be ready for whatever craziness happens next around here.”
Despite
his irritation, Lee had to smile softly.
Jamie knew all too well how quickly chaos could rain down on Seaview and
her crew. Lee also admitted that he
probably wasn’t in good enough shape right at the moment to handle another
crisis. That didn’t mean that he had to
admit it, however, “Perhaps,” he told
Jamie, with ever so slight a smile.
Will
decided to quit while he was ahead – sort of – and stood up. He started to say something about Lee laying
back down, decided to leave well enough alone since Lee was still being fairly
amiable, and left. Lee wasn’t stupid –
although both Will and Chip had been known to comment otherwise. Will could see that Lee was acknowledging the
issue even if he wasn’t totally ready to give in to it. That, at least, was a start in the right
direction. Time enough to fuss if it got
any more serious without Lee taking measures to correct the problem, whatever
it was.
Lee was a little surprised that Jamie had surrendered so easily. That made twice in one day that the CMO had all but let Lee off the hook. “He’s up to something,” Lee muttered, then gave himself a shake and a sheepish grin. He couldn’t remember a time when he hadn’t hated doctors for what he felt was their interference in how he chose to take care of himself, and had pretty much come to totally ignore any that he came in contact with. That included one Dr. Will Jamison when he’d first come aboard Seaview. He’d quickly come to trust Jamie’s skills as a physician and surgeon as he treated whatever problems Seaview’s crew threw at him. Trusting Jamie with his own health issues had taken longer. But there had come a time when Jamie’s patience and perseverance had finally won Lee over. It didn’t stop the battle of wills that all too frequently erupted between the two, and their occasional shouting matches had become the stuff of Seaview legend. But the arguments were conducted fairly, without getting personal, both men acknowledging the other’s intelligence and strong sense of duty, and were pretty even as to who won. Lee trusted Jamie as he trusted very few people in his life.
But
that doesn’t mean that I totally surrender to Jamie’s will, and he chuckled at that
little play on words as he got up and washed his face. Taming his unruly curls proved an impossible
challenge, and Lee decided that he was definitely overdue for a haircut. He’d have to remedy that by dropping in on
Eddy Carlson, one of Seaview’s Damage Control specialists, who also doubled as
the boat’s barber. For now, however, Lee
settled into his large desk chair and started to work on the items in his ‘In’
basket.
Chip
found him there just before 1800 hours.
When there was no answer to his light knock Chip stuck his head in the
door. He smiled as he realized Lee was
sound asleep in the chair, reports scattered across the desk. It was almost tempting to leave him
there. But Chip had promised. And besides, if Lee missed another meal there
would be no living with Cookie. The
temperamental chef took his responsibilities seriously.
Several
options flashed through Chip’s slightly twisted brain for how to awaken Lee,
but in the end he chose the simplest.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” he said loudly, and had the satisfaction of watching
Lee startle badly before realizing where he was, and with whom.
Lee
blinked, and glared at Chip. “Status
Report,” he demanded.
“Everything
is under control and its suppertime,” Chip answered instantly. “Sir,” he added, before grinning broadly.
Lee
muttered something slightly rude but took the hint, made a brief trip to the
head, and followed a somewhat more forthcoming XO aft as Chip caught him up on
where, exactly, Seaview was, and how far away they were from the area Nelson
wanted to re-chart after several reported underwater earthquakes had made
previous charts worthless. There were a
couple of crew updates as Channing was returned to limited duty, and Mickelson
was placed on it after a minor miscalculation with a fuse box. They were met at the Wardroom door by Nelson
and Will, and a beaming Cookie watched as all four filled their plates with
broiled salmon steaks, caesar salad, peas with pearl onions, and freshly made
whole wheat rolls. The chef appeared
totally beside himself with glee when a suddenly famished Lee asked for a
second helping of the molten chocolate pudding cake that Cookie had made for
dessert, knowing that it was one of Lee’s favorites. Lee was instantly embarrassed by the
attention that brought him from the other three. But he admitted to Chip, as the pair made
their way back to the
Lee
spent some time ambling around the
Lee
only smiled when Chip tracked him down in the Missile Room just before 2200
hours, visiting with Kowalski and Patterson as they performed standard
maintenance checks on the dive gear stored there. Chip herded him gently in the direction of
his cabin – and hopefully his bunk, although Chip studiously avoided mentioning
that directly. And Lee actually went
peacefully, totally prepared to fall into his bunk for what would hopefully be
his usual regenerative rest.
It
didn’t happen. No sooner had he closed
his eyes than the images from his last few hours on the ONI mission hit him,
along with the return of his headache.
He willed both to go away, and actually managed a couple hours of sleep
before both drove him from his rack and back to his desk chair. That didn’t last long either and he
surrendered, re-dressed, and made another walkthrough of the boat. All of the crewmen he encountered were only
too aware that the late night ‘walkaboat’ translated into a troubled Skipper. That included the Duty Crew in the Conn,
where he spent nearly an hour visiting quietly with Lt. Keeter discussing some
advanced classes in naval architecture that NIMR offered to personnel at a
‘work at your own speed’ level to facilitate those people assigned to Seaview
who couldn’t be expected to maintain regular classroom hours. It happened often enough that no one was
overly worried. They all knew that it
would be mentioned to Chief Sharkey, if he didn’t happen to already know. It would then be relayed to either Mr. Morton
or Admiral Nelson. Or both. Those two could be counted on to figure out
what was bothering the Skipper, find a way to take care of it, and everything
would get back to normal. Such was the
way of life aboard Seaview.
But
it was Will who found Lee in the Wardroom just before 0600, working on his
third cup of coffee. The CMO frowned
slightly, deciding that letting Chip handle the situation last night on his own
had apparently not been as successful as Chip thought it had been. It was Lee, however, who initiated
conversation.
“You’re
up awfully early, Doc. Something going
on that I haven’t heard about?”
Several
answers ran through Will’s mind, all of them guaranteed to totally tick Lee
off, so Will settled on the truth. “Went
to bed earlier than usual, so woke up too early. Should have known better than to let John
talk me into crashing before 2100 hours.”
Lee
chuckled. It wouldn’t have surprised him
at all to learn that someone had ratted to the doctor – probably either Chip or
Sharkey – that Lee had been up most of the night. As soon as he’d seen Jamie walk through the
Wardroom door he’d geared himself up to be challenged about it. Jamie’s quiet self-incrimination defused
Lee’s tension. He relaxed and watched
the doctor pour himself a cup of Cookie’s potent morning brew, and sit down
opposite him. “That will teach you,” he
teased.
“And
your excuse?” Will teased right back with a grin.
Lee
just shrugged. “Comes with the
territory,” he answered somewhat enigmatically.
“Humm,”
was Will’s response, taking a long draught from his mug.
“Waffles
and scrambled eggs ready in about ten minutes,” Cookie called from the galley.
“Sounds
good, Cookie,” Lee called back. “But
I’ll be down later with Mr. Morton and the Admiral.” He rose, refilled his coffee mug, and headed
forward to the
“See
that you are,” Will muttered, judiciously waiting until Lee was out of the room
before doing so. He glanced at Cookie,
who nodded back. Both acknowledged Chip
to be the expert at getting a reluctant-for-whatever-reason Lee to eat properly
without totally ticking him off.
Lee
wasn’t overly hungry. But he also knew
that he was being watched. Not eating
was a sure way to gain further unwanted attention. His current out-of-norm actions were causing
enough already without attracting more.
He wandered forward casually, and was in earnest conversation with Rawn
over something that sounded suspiciously like whale songs coming through the
hydrophones when Chip bounced down the spiral stairs at 0645. They were outside normal gray whale migration
paths, and Lee promptly told his XO to kindly send his girlfriends back to
their own territory. Chip glared around
the
“Not
my friends,” he told his CO firmly.
“Those are Orcas and you jolly well know the difference.”
“Just
checking to make sure you did,” Lee smarted back with a grin. Rawn snorted softly, and Lee clapped him on
the shoulder before heading back to the chart table. He listened quietly as Keeter caught Chip up
to date, and then headed amiably back to the Wardroom for a breakfast he still
didn’t particularly want, but knew that he’d better eat just to keep the peace.
* *
* *
Seaview
arrived at the area Nelson wanted to re-chart the following afternoon. The only thing that occurred out of the
normal, everyday, happenings aboard the giant submarine in the intervening
hours was Lee telling Doc that he wanted the light cast off of his left wrist,
after once again nearly spilling coffee all over the chart table, and Will
gently talking him out of it. The doctor
patiently explained that the wrist still needed support from the bad sprain
that Lee had incurred. He agreed that an
ace bandage would be just as helpful, but pointed out that the light splint
didn’t have to be taken off and re-wrapped every time Lee took a shower, and
could be easily wiped clean if Lee got it grungy messing around in Seaview’s
innards as he was all too often apt to do.
Lee surrendered but only grudgingly, and only after Admiral Nelson, in
front of whom the conversation took place, pointed an eyebrow at Lee. So far the Admiral had not mentioned Lee’s
slightly off-kilter behavior this cruise, and Lee was doing everything he could
to keep it that way.
He
still wasn’t sleeping well, but he’d avoided any more late night wanderings
through the boat by staying busy during the day and doing all of his paperwork
after Nelson, Chip, and Doc had gone to bed.
There was always the possibility that one of the JO’s, or a crewman with
business that took him through Officers’ Country during the night, would report
seeing Lee’s cabin lights on, so Lee took the precaution of stuffing a towel
against the crack at the bottom of the door.
He did, honestly, try to sleep.
And usually managed at least a couple of hours before being awakened by
his overactive conscience and spending the rest of the night at his desk.
Lee
knew that he was in trouble when, on the morning of the third day of charting,
his lack of sleep caused a momentary lapse of judgment and he bit Chip’s head
off for no good reason. Chip took it
stoically, and Lee immediately apologized.
But he knew that the lapse would be recognized by his highly intelligent
and ‘tuned in’ XO for what it was, severe over-tiredness, and promptly
reported. He excused himself and went to
his cabin to await being landed on. It
wasn’t a long wait.
He
was expecting Admiral Nelson to charge in and demand an explanation for Lee’s
unusual behavior. Lee wasn’t overly sure
what he was going to say, beyond the simple truth that the last ONI mission was
still troubling him and he wasn’t being able to sleep well because of it. He was sure that Nelson would require some
drug-induced downtime, and was hoping that that would be the end of it. Lee knew that he needed sleep desperately,
and would just have to be more careful in the future if he was still unable to
rest on his own.
Instead
there was a soft tap on the door, and Will ambled in at Lee’s call to
enter. He smiled softly at Lee’s puzzled
expression, and settled easily into the visitor’s chair next to Lee’s desk. “Are you ready now to talk about what’s
bothering you, or should I send Chip in to yell at you for an hour or so
first?” he asked softly, still smiling.
Lee
had lowered his eyes as the doctor started talking, glancing up just enough to
let Jamie know that he was listening but not meeting Jamie’s gaze directly. He did give a quick smile at the implied
threat of turning Chip loose on him. It
wouldn’t be the first time that Lee had listened to a long tirade from the
blond, pointing out in no uncertain terms all of Lee’s supposed character flaws
without ever once resorting to anything so crass as a swear word.
“It’s
nothing, Jamie. Really,” he tried to
talk himself out of the hole that he’d dug.
He knew that it was useless, but it would be expected. And if he didn’t play the game properly,
everyone would start to worry about him even more than they already were.
“Nothing
doesn’t keep you from sleeping even the little bit your crazy system seems to
require,” Will countered, the slightest edge in his voice. But he kept the soft smile on his face.
Lee
just closed his eyes and sighed heavily.
He was never a match for Jamie’s gentle strength of will when he,
himself, knew that he was totally without justification for his actions. He reopened his eyes and focused on the
little injection kit Jamie had in his shirt pocket. “I gather my punishment for current crimes
means getting stood down for the next indeterminate number of hours.” He finally looked directly at the doctor.
“If
that’s the only solution you’ll accept.
I’d prefer you get off your chest whatever is bothering you, cut
yourself whatever slack you need to get off the hook you’ve obviously strung
yourself up on, and get back to the old workaholic persona we’ve all grown used
to.” He chuckled openly at Lee’s instant
glare for that irreverent observation, no matter how true it happened to
be. “But one way or the other, you need
rest.”
“I
know,” Lee said softly, his eyes once more lowered. When he said nothing else, it was Will’s turn
to sigh.
“Then
bed,” he ordered, not unkindly. He
waited patiently for Lee to strip off his uniform and replace it with pj’s,
injecting Lee’s arm with a strong sedative before Lee buttoned up the top.
Lee
crawled between the sheets on his bunk, already fighting to keep his eyes open
as Will covered him with the blankets. Will caught the struggle and shook his
head. “Skipper,” he admonished, “can’t
you ever, even in this situation, just accept the inevitable and fall asleep
without automatically fighting the meds?”
“No,”
Lee answered honestly, and sent his CMO a brief grin.
Will
sent it back. “Trust me. With what I just gave you, even you don’t
stand a chance.” It was a long-standing
feud between the two that Lee was somehow able to pull himself out from under
whatever sedative the doctor used. Both
grinned more broadly, but Lee’s didn’t last long as the meds quickly claimed
him. Will waited a few minutes longer
just to be sure, turned down the cabin lights, and left. What he’d used should keep Lee under for at
least twelve hours. Hopefully longer,
given Lee’s already exhausted state.
Will wasn’t holding his breath.
* *
* *
Lee
surprised everyone – including himself – and slept nearly the clock
around. He did wake up once during the
night but almost immediately went back to sleep, not waking again until shortly
after his normal 0530. He was just
stepping out of the head, towel wrapped around his waist after his shower, when
his cabin door opened after the briefest of knocks.
“Feel
better?” Chip asked carefully. There was
no telling how Lee would react to the enforced downtime, no matter how amiable
Jamie reported that he’d been at the time.
“Yes,
Mother Hen,” Lee snarled, before sending Chip a soft grin.
Chip
returned it. “Good, because we ran
across a puzzle while you were napping.”
“What
kind of puzzle,” Lee demanded, instantly back in full CO mode, and took his
glare off of Chip only as long as it took him to start reaching for his
clothes.
Chip
couldn’t help himself and grinned.
“Down, Lee. Just a little
one. Seems we’re right in the middle of
the area where the several earthquakes were reported. With all the changes that we’ve been
finding…” Lee nodded. As soon as they had hit Nelson’s target area,
visibility had been drastically reduced from debris still floating through the
disturbed waters. Ground changes had
also been instantly noted, in places with dramatic results. Where once there was a depression there was
now a seamount. And vice versa. At first they thought that maybe their GPS
was off a degree or two. Once they
established that not to be the case, they slowly started to totally re-map the
area. “We were a little unprepared,”
Chip continued, “to find the epicenter totally unchanged.”
Lee’s
head popped up. “Totally?” he
questioned. Chip just nodded. “What’s the Admiral saying?” Lee went back to getting dressed.
“At
the moment, scratching his head.” Lee
looked at Chip again, and Chip grinned and continued. “Well, the last count of theories was, I
believe, seven. Although I may not have
heard them all.” Lee joined Chip in grinning. That sounded like the Admiral, alright.
“His
course of action?”
“Sitting
dead center while he ponders his options.”
“That’s
all?” That most definitely didn’t
sound like the Admiral.
“For
the night, at least. I rather suspect
that things will get hopping this morning.”
Lee
nodded. Finished tucking in his
shirttails, he headed for the cabin door.
Chip, recognizing the signs of “CO in Command,” stepped to one side and
quietly followed Lee down to the
It
didn’t take Lee long to catch up with what he’d missed. No one mentioned his absence most of the
previous 24 hours. Chip wondered how
much trouble he’d have getting Lee down to the Wardroom, but as soon as Lee was
content that he had a firm handle on what was happening, went along fairly
peaceably. Although, Chip figured that
it might have had something to do with the fact that the carafe of coffee in
the Nose was inexplicably empty.
They
were almost immediately joined by the Admiral and CMO. Again the previous day was not referred
to. For the most part, Chip and Will sat
quietly listening to Nelson outline all of the various possibilities for the
strange disturbance pattern – or lack thereof, as it were – and he and Lee
discuss all the assorted options for trying to solve the mystery.
What
they finally settled on as a first step was to collect water and seabed samples
from the outer perimeter of the undisturbed area. Most of the bottom was shallow enough for
divers, although one stretch would need to be done using FS1. Nelson had brought along a rough map of the
area and he and Lee plotted the dives, where Nelson wanted the samples taken
from, and how many dive teams to send out.
As Lee was listing off teams to Chip, a loud clearing of Will’s throat
momentarily had Lee glaring in his direction.
But Will sent it right back, and Lee softly substituted Chip’s name for
his own on one of the teams. Chip didn’t
quite get a smirk buried fast enough in his coffee cup for Lee to miss it, and
a foot instantly connected with Chip’s shin. But other than that, the substitution went
unmentioned.
Chip
and Lee were headed back to the Conn when there was a broadcast of incoming
turbulence, followed by Seaview gently rocking side to side a couple of times
before settling back in trim. Lee and Chip
hurried forward but Lt. Keeter, assisted by a recently arrived Lt. James, had
everything under control by the time they arrived. As the new watch came on duty Chip handed
Chief Sharkey a more orderly dive schedule than the one that he’d hastily scribbled
in the Wardroom. The COB had some
momentary qualms about being stuck with Divemaster duties when the Admiral was
headed out with FS1. As Chip leveled one
of his better glares at the man, Lee offhandedly mentioned that since Nelson
wanted to handle the collections himself, piloting FS1 could be left to
Riley. Lee wasn’t sure how Chip kept a
straight face long enough for Sharkey to decide that he’d been out-maneuvered
and head aft. He’d no more than made it
out the aft hatch when Chip lost it, and had to walk into the Nose to get
himself once more composed enough to re-join Lee. But before he could say anything, Nelson
called down for Lee to join him in the lab.
Still barely able to keep a straight face, Chip gave Lt. James the
Lee
was thinking the same thing as he entered Nelson’s lab. It wouldn’t be the first time that he’d had
his orders countermanded by a little subterfuge on the Chief’s part. But he’d had almost as much trouble as his
XO, keeping a straight face as Sharkey left the
Nelson
raised an eyebrow at Lee as the younger man walked up to him, but continued to
gather what equipment he needed for his collections. “I told Sharkey that you had a good reason
for your crew assignments,” he commented dryly.
But there was a mischievous sparkle in his eyes that didn’t go
unnoticed.
“A
very good one, sir,” Lee answered, but he couldn’t keep the smile out of his
voice. “With both you and Chip
‘outside’, I needed my most experienced Divemaster on duty. And as you’ll be doing your own collections
you’ll only need a pilot, not someone versed in running the other controls.”
Nelson
nodded, his eyes still sparkling.
“Precisely what I told the Chief.”
He paused. “You okay being left
behind?” There was sincere caring in the
question.
Lee
just smiled. “Yes, sir. Proper penance for recent actions.”
Nelson
nudged him with an elbow. “Maybe we can
talk Will into letting you go out on the next set. I rather suspect that it’s going to take
several more dives to make sense of all this.”
Lee
gave him a sheepish grin. “Not holding
my breath,” he answered softly. Nelson
chuckled, and the two headed forward.
As
young seaman Riley popped his head out of the open hatch from FS1 to grab the
equipment Nelson was taking along, Lee made a point of aiming a particularly
meaningful expression at him. Riley duly
noted it, gave his Skipper a short nod, and popped back inside the little
craft. Nelson, having seen the exchange,
sent Lee a quick grin before starting down the access ladder.
While there were
those on board who might question Seaview’s youngest crewman’s talents, Nelson
wasn’t one of them. He’d flown with Riley before and found him to be an
excellent pilot - despite Chip’s histrionics over what happened when the XO had
given Riley his first lessons. And he wasn’t even upset that Sharkey had
tried to get Nelson to countermand the assignment. It was so typically
Sharkey. Nelson was perfectly aware of the man’s sometimes rather unorthodox
actions. He also knew that Chip had to put down the occasional rebellion with
the JO’s because of it. But he was also aware, as were Chip and Lee - and
the JO’s when they thought about it - that Sharkey ran one of the tightest
boats it had ever been Nelson’s pleasure to be aboard. If he chose to do
things a little...sideways...well, so be it. He never outright challenged
Lee, Chip was perfectly capable of keeping him in his place, and everyone else
just had to learn to deal with him.
Nelson
realized that he was grinning broadly from his ruminations when Riley sent him
a questioning look. He gave the young man a quick grin and started
outlining what he wanted to accomplish. Riley, young but extremely bright
and quick-witted, took one glance at the chart Nelson held out, and began
preparations for launching the little yellow craft.
* *
* *
Sharkey
very carefully supervised sending out the six 2-man teams. Not because
one of the teams included Mr. Morton, but simply that he was doing the job the
only way he knew how - the right way! While he had originally been a bit
miffed not to be going with the Admiral, he immediately understood the need to
remain aboard Seaview with both Nelson and Morton off boat. He made sure
that not only did all the teams have their assigned search areas, but that he
had an exact location as well in case anything should go wrong. He wasn’t
at all surprised when the Skipper showed up as the first teams were going
out. With Seaview just holding station he could easily leave Lt. James
with the
All
seemed back to normal today, however. The Skipper was still wearing the
light cast on his wrist, so maybe that was why he wasn’t allowed to dive.
Yeah, bet that’s it, Sharkey told himself, and greeted his Skipper
cheerfully. He thought about saying something along those lines as the
two chatted about what the divers might find. But he quickly decided
against it. Despite not diving, the Skipper seemed to be in a good mood,
and Sharkey didn’t want to do anything that could mess that up.
The
teams were expected to be out about an hour, with FS1 gone probably about twice
that, depending on what Nelson was finding. The first couple of teams
were already in and beginning to strip off their gear when Lt. James called
down. “Skipper, please report to the
“On
my way,” Lee answered instantly. “Chief, better get the rest of the teams
in, just in case.”
“Aye,
aye, sir,” Sharkey responded, and started issuing the necessary orders as Lee
hurried from the room.
But
he was just walking in the aft hatch to the
Lee
took just long enough to make sure Chris was breathing, and hurried to call
To
say that the next few minutes were chaos would have been putting it
mildly. But it could have been much worse. Apparently the belly
roll had happened so quickly that, while crewmen were flung about, there were
not a lot of major injuries. One of the first things Lee had done was to
contact Nelson. The turbulence, which at that point still hadn’t been
pinpointed - had flung the littler craft sideways. Both Nelson and Riley, snug in their safety
harnesses, were uninjured, as was FS1. Visibility was next to zero, but
they were making their way back slowly on instrumentation.
Will
himself showed up in the
“Got
his bell rung,” Will told him. “Doesn't appear to be anything more
serious.” As Lee accepted that good news with a nod, Haskins reported FS1
was requesting permission to dock. Lee hit the button to open Seaview’s
lower hatch just as a frantic call came from Sharkey.
“Medic
to the Missile Room - Stat!”
“He’s
been watching too many medical shows,” Will grumbled. Lee gave him
as good a smile as he could muster under the circumstances. “Get him,”
Will pointed to James, “down to
One
of the off-duty seamen who had come forward to help out when all hell broke
loose grabbed one end of the blanket and called for Riley to grab the
other. Nelson had walked immediately to the chart table and was running
through
“All
in all, it could have been a lot worse,” was Nelson’s instant appraisal.
“Bad
enough,” Lee muttered. While he finally had time to appreciate his
extremely well trained and organized crew, he was beginning to feel a little
useless. He figured that it was the odd expression that thought probably
put on his face that caused Nelson to look at him directly.
“Lee?
Are you okay?”
Lee
smiled, although he had a feeling that it came off more as a grimace.
“I’m fine.” His smile increased as Nelson frowned at the old, all too
familiar line. “Really,” he added with as much honesty as he could
express in the single word.
“Harrumph,”
was Nelson's response. “Where’s Chip?”
Lee
shrugged. “The teams were just coming in when whatever
happened...ah...happened. Figured that he got sidetracked somewhere
between there and here.” He looked at
“He
hasn’t called in,” the radioman responded instantly. “Doesn't necessarily
mean anything...” He let the thought trail off as both Nelson and Lee
nodded.
“Skipper,
I’m getting that same sound again,” Rawn reported into the sudden silence.
“All
divers back in?” Lee asked
“Helmsman,
full reverse,” Lee ordered.
“Full
reverse, aye,” came instantly, and Lee immediately felt the giant submarine
start to move.
“All
hands, brace for turbulence,” he ordered firmly.
The
warning came none too soon. They’d barely gotten a hundred yards when
more turbulence - thankfully much smaller this time - again rocked
Seaview. She didn’t totally roll, but was still rocked side to side
several times before trim could be re-established. Thankfully there were
no more reports of damage as
Nelson
headed down to the Reactor Room, just to make sure that he wasn’t needed there
before heading to his lab with the computer printouts from the original
‘whatever it was.’ Lee was just settling Seaview a thousand yards from
the impact point when Lt. Keeter showed up, asking where he could help.
Lee was just about to give Sparks the Conn and leave he and Keeter to handle
things there while he went off to make a walkthrough of the boat, checking on
everything else for himself, when Doc’s voice came over the intercom, asking if
he had time to come to Sick Bay.
“Now
what?” he muttered, and didn’t realize that he’d done it out loud until both
Keeter and
Expecting
to be told that he’d be without Lt. James’ services for the next few days, Lee
was totally unprepared to find his XO lying on the exam table. “Chip,” he
barely breathed.
“Easy
Skipper.” Will looked over from reading
an x-ray.
“Why
didn’t Sharkey say it was Chip?” Lee all but yelled.
“For
the same reason I didn’t,” Will answered calmly. “You had too many things on your plate
already to worry about. You didn’t need
to hear this until things were a good deal more under control.” Lee just glared at him, but Will smiled and
continued. “Fortunately our esteemed Exec has an even harder head than
his CO.” Lee’s glare increased, but so did Will’s grin. “Chip’s was
the last team to arrive back from the dive, and he wasn’t in the hatch yet when
Seaview flip-flopped.
“Ouch.”
Lee had walked up to the exam table while Will was explaining, and laid a hand
on Chip’s shoulder.
“You
won’t be getting him back for awhile. Probably not until after we get home.”
“How
many others, besides Chris?” Lee had spotted the lieutenant tucked into a
lower bunk.
“Well,
although I’ve managed to go through most of the extra tape and ace bandages
that the Admiral brought the other day...” Lee gave him a sympathetic
look. “The damages are about the same. With the exception of these
two,” he amended. “Maybe a few more pulled muscles than the first time,
but I have a good supply of liniment. Don’t suppose we could just leave
and come back another time?”
“Before
the Admiral figures out what caused it?”
“Yeah,
I know. Stupid question.” Lee grinned at the doctor. Nelson
absolutely hated puzzles. “Guess I'd better start cutting up a few
more sheets.”
“At
least you don’t have to worry about running out of duct tape. There’s two
full cases in the aft storage locker.”
“One
and a half,” Will grumbled. “Went through the rest the first time
around.” Lee just shook his head.
Will
gave him a speculative look. “Skipper?” he asked gently.
Lee
just smiled. “No new damage, Jamie. Promise.”
“You
better not be saying that just because of all the threats I’ve made about not
wanting the two of you in my
But
before either could say anything further, Nelson came on the intercom.
“Capt. Crane, report to the lab when you can.”
Lee
grabbed the mic. “On my way, sir.” But he took another look at
Chip.
“He’ll
be fine,” Will assured him. “A whopper of a headache for a few
days. And he’ll have to be on pain meds for that arm. It’s a little
ugly, but clean. Should heal with minimal problems beyond some
physiotherapy to get his strength back.”
“Thanks,
Jamie.” They both knew that it was just Lee’s way of acknowledging having
someone of Will’s talent and skill aboard, without actually saying something
that would merely embarrass them both.
“You're
welcome. Now go help the Admiral figure out how to keep it from happening
again,” Will ordered sternly.
Lee
laughed. “Aye, aye, sir,” he said.
Almost but not quite squaring up to ‘Attention’ he added a backhanded
salute, and slipped out the door before Will could find anything to throw at
him.
Nelson
was understandably upset at the injury report Lee gave him, but they were both
grateful that it hadn’t been any worse. While running quickly through the
computer printouts, Nelson had formulated a theory about what had been
happening on the ocean bottom. He wouldn’t be able to prove it until the
visibility in the area improved, but what he surmised had happened was, an
extremely large thermal pocket had started building up pressure. At
intervals, around the edges, small areas would break through, causing the
initial disturbances that had been mistakenly reported as underground
earthquakes. As Seaview had sat, unknowingly, directly over the main
pocket of pressure it had suddenly broken through the crust, sending everything
in its wake flying. Nelson expected, once that they could get back into
the area, to find a large hole where this morning there had been level ocean
bottom.
Lee
just nodded. Nelson’s theory made as much sense as anything else he could
think of. He’d actually only been listening with half an ear as he was
already trying to revise the duty rosters in his head to cover the loss of both
Chip and Chris.
Nelson
knew his Captain only too well. “Lee,” he now drew the younger man’s full
attention. “Lt. Bryson is perfectly qualified to help cover the
“Yes,
sir,” Lee acknowledged, not quite meeting Nelson's gaze.
“I
don’t suppose you’ve managed to eat lunch?” Nelson asked, a bit more softly.
“Cookie
was making soup. I haven’t wanted to go near the Wardroom,” Lee admitted,
giving Nelson a little grin.
“Humm,
you may have a point,” the Admiral agreed with a grin of his own.
“It
was on my list of places to check on when Doc called me about Chip. I’ll
let you know if it looks safe for supper.” Nelson just chuckled and
shooed his young Captain off with a wave of his hand.
* *
* *
2100
hours found Lee sitting next to Chip’s bunk in
A
belated lunch of cold sandwiches and several varieties of packaged chips kept
everyone going while Cookie and Higgins, with a little help from a couple of
other brave souls who volunteered to ignore Cookie’s ranting, got the galley
back in order. The soup the chef had been making was a total loss, not to
mention the mess it made. But a supper of lasagna was on time.
There were even a few jokes about the ‘tossed’ salad that accompanied it, that
the temperamental chef was able to chuckle at.
A
hand on his shoulder, and another settling over the coffee mug, disturbed Lee’s
one-sided conversation. “Enough for now, Skipper,” Will told him
firmly. “By the time you walk through the boat one more time it will be
getting on to your bedtime.”
Normally
Lee would have just shrugged off the suggestion. But something in the way
that Will looked at him had him nodding a reluctant agreement. He did
maintain control of the mug long enough to polish off its contents before
handing it to the now frowning doctor. But they both ended up with a
smile on their faces. Lee reached out
long enough to give Chip’s shoulder a squeeze, tell him good night, and head
for his normal evening ‘walkaboat’.
Unfortunately,
even with all the day’s excitement, Lee had slept barely two hours when his
eyes popped open. He’d startled so
rapidly that he heard himself mutter a soft “no” before he recognized where he
was, and sank back against the pillow.
But too many nights of hopelessly battling the disturbing visions left
him knowing that it would be useless to try and go back to sleep. There was enough paperwork, both his and
Chip’s that he’d automatically taken over, to get him through the rest of the
night. Grabbing his robe he once again
stuffed a towel against the door, just in case anyone should walk by and spot his
light, and settled into his desk chair to tackle the mound of reports.
By
0530 he’d whittled the stack down to a manageable size. He showered, shaved, and dressed, and was
just passing the Admiral’s cabin on the way to the
As
usual, even with the past bit of craziness, Delta watch had everything running
smoothly. Lee ran over the current
status report with Keeter, told him that he’d just grab a quick breakfast,
check
His
first glimpse of Chip as he stepped through the door into
“Easy,
Skipper.” Will knew that Lee would be
upset. He, on the other hand, was all
too used to Seaview’s XO having strange reactions to otherwise routine
procedures.
“But…”
Lee started in.
“Chill,”
Will told him firmly, and chuckled softly as Lee frowned. “Yes, Chip developed a bit of a fever. Nothing to get excited about.”
“He’s
still unconscious,” Lee complained.
“Sort
of,” Will agreed with a grin, which only increased Lee’s frown. To which Will laughed openly. “He’s been awake several times,” he assured
his now slightly ticked off CO. “But as
I warned you, the arm is extremely painful right now. There were no major neurological problems
from the bump on his head when he was conscious so I increased the pain
meds. Another day or so and the fever
should subside, as well as a good deal of the pain. Not that he’ll be leaving here any time
soon,” he hurried to add.
That
caused a slight grin to appear on Lee’s face.
“They’re your eardrums,” he told the doctor.
“And
I’d appreciate a little help from you keeping them in working order,” Will told
him firmly.
“Do
what I can,” Lee assured him, but the worry was plain on his face as he looked
back at the still restless blond.
“Tell
you what, Skipper. Come back about
lunchtime, and with a little luck you can coax him to eat some soup.”
“Ah,
after yesterday, I wouldn’t mention that word around Cookie if I were you,” Lee
told him with another grin.
“Not
a problem. I keep some canned stuff in
my office for midnight snacks during times of severe stress. On Cookie’s part, not mine,” he amended, and
both men smiled.
“Chris?”
Lee asked, nodding across the room to where the young lieutenant laid snuggly
wrapped in blankets.
“Doing
fine. I’ll want to keep an eye on him
for today at least. Another couple of
days confined to quarters, with maybe a bit of ambling around for meals, and he
should be ready for light duty again.”
Lee nodded, reached out a hand, and laid it on Chip’s shoulder. He didn’t say anything, but the blond
momentarily settled quietly against the pillow.
Lee hesitated, but reluctantly headed for a quick breakfast.
Will
just grinned as Lee walked out. He
checked his patients, and rested his own hand on Chip’s shoulder for a
bit. It didn’t have the same effect as
Lee’s doing it, and Chip kept up his restlessness. Will just shook his head. He wasn’t sure what the connection was
between the two long-time friends. But
he’d watched it happen too many times to discount it – no matter how injured
one was, the other was able to reach through the pain and the meds, and ‘speak’
to him. He gave it a shot, anyway. “Chip, easy,” he told the blond
reassuringly. “You’re safe, your boat is
safe.” He shrugged. “For the moment, at least,” he added with a
grimace. A thought hit him. “And your Skipper is safe. The best thing that you can do is rest and
heal. You know that he’ll be watched,
even if you’re not able to do it yourself.”
For whatever reason, at that last Chip stopped his restless turning and
at least momentarily lay quiet. Will
just shook his head, gave the XO’s shoulder a little squeeze, and headed back
to his office.
* *
* *
Doc’s
timetable ended up being a little off.
Lee spent the morning in the
Just
before 1200 hours Haskins entered the
“Sound
good to you, Bryson?” he asked, with a grin in his voice.
“Aye,
sir,” was the instant answer. He hadn’t
been totally prepared for the reassignment of duties. He was grateful that Cdr. Crane had remained
close by, but his nerves were in desperate need of the break. Even if he wasn’t about to admit it.
“Then
turn the command over, and let’s go see what Cookie’s got for us,” was Lee’s
easy response.
“Aye,
sir.” Lee held in the smile that
threatened to break through at the relief in Bryson’s voice, and the two headed
aft.
Lee’s
first stop however was
“Sorry,
Skipper.” Will’s voice came from his
office door, and Lee turned to face him.
“Chip was awake for a bit about 1000 hours. I was going to call you, but by the time
Frank and I got him a bit more comfortable…” Lee nodded.
He’d been through the routine often enough. Unfortunately. Chip would have been given a quick bed bath
to get rid of the fever-sweat, and the sheets and pjs changed as well. “He was already sound asleep again,” Will
finished the explanation.
“It’s
okay. Even I can see that he’s a bit
better.”
“Hey,
Doc,” came from Chris James’ bunk, and Lee sent him a smile, “Isn’t it about time to let me out of here?”
“No,
it’s not,” Will told the young man. He
sent Lee a glare as Lee chuckled softly.
“While I’ll be the first to admit that emulating our esteemed CO isn’t a
bad thing in most cases, adopting his attitudes toward health care is most
decidedly not a good way to advance your career. Especially around me! Do I make myself
clear?” Chris settled meekly back
against his pillow, but not before he and Lee shared a smile.
Will
practically growled. “Bad enough that I
have to put up with you two,” he included a nod toward Chip. “Do you have to corrupt the JO’s as well?” Lee just shrugged and gave his CMO a little
grin. “Out,” Will ordered firmly, but
relented slightly as he added, “hopefully Chip will cooperate with the schedule
a little better at suppertime.” Lee nodded
and headed for the Wardroom.
He
was met there by Nelson, and the two spent the time it took to down Cookie’s
grilled cheese sandwiches and potato salad hashing over plans for the next
several days. Nelson had spent the
morning analyzing the water and seabed samples that the divers had collected
the previous day, along with those he had gotten using FS1. So far there was nothing to counter his
working theory. The continuing murkiness
of the water, as well as a rise in ambient water temperature, continued to
point to an opened thermal vent. Nelson
wanted to send FS1 out to make a run through the epicenter of the area, where
Seaview had been sitting when everything happened, to see if there were any
signs of gasses still being released.
Lee was hesitant to allow the survey, at least for another 24
hours. Visibility was still so low that
the little craft would be running totally on instruments, and while collections
could determine if the vent was still active, he didn’t see the necessity of
risking her when it wouldn’t hurt anything to just sit back and continue to
watch for a while.
Nelson
smiled at Lee’s choice of words. Doing
what he wanted, anytime he wanted, and preferably the sooner the better, pretty
much described Nelson’s attitude toward life.
He didn’t always appreciate Lee’s occasionally putting the brakes on his
plans. But he did acknowledge that Lee
had all too frequently saved Nelson and Seaview from making what could have
been grave mistakes by slowing down or slightly sidetracking a certain
rampaging Admiral. Now he surrendered
graciously. He did ask that Lee send him
the hydrophone tapes from the last dozen or so hours. He was hoping that, by comparison, he might
be able to “hear” what was happening in the affected area.
Lee
used that as an excuse, once he’d quickly downed what little lunch he wanted, to
return to the
Will
shook his head, and swallowed half of his coffee before answering. “You know that he’s still not sleeping?”
Nelson
nodded. “Happened to be coming back from
the lab about 0200 this morning when I noticed his cabin light flick on. I waited for just a bit, hoping that it would
go back off.” He frowned. “It did, sort of, but not like Lee turned it
off. More like he’d tossed something
down by the crack so the light wouldn’t show.”
“You
didn’t call him on it?”
“Didn’t
seem like the time. You’d just enforced
a good long rest, and with Chip down…”
Nelson just shrugged. “How did
you figure it out?”
“Too
much practice at watching him push himself.”
Nelson nodded. “We both have
watched him, all too frequently, survive on little or no sleep for long periods
of time. Doesn’t mean that I have to
like it,” he grumbled. Nelson sent his
friend a smile. “Still no idea of what’s
causing it?” Will continued a bit more under control.
“Best
guess is, something happened during the ONI mission to throw him off
kilter. But you know him – unless he
chooses to say something, there’s no way to force him to tell us.”
“There’s
a couple ways I could think of,” Will muttered into his once-again full coffee
cup, causing Nelson to laugh out loud.
“Now,
now, Will,” he told his frustrated CMO.
“And
who was it who came unhinged at Lee’s little side trip to
“Harrumph,”
Nelson muttered into his own coffee mug.
Both men ended up grimacing.
“Just Lee being Lee,” Nelson acquiesced to the inevitable. “If we want him for his multitude of talents
– and we do,” he stated emphatically, “I guess we just put up with the quirks.”
“Agreed,”
Will admitted, however reluctantly. They
gave each other a soft grin, and went on to other topics.
* *
* *
By
the following afternoon visibility had cleared enough that Lee deemed it safe
to send out FS1. Nelson piloted the little
craft, with Chief Sharkey riding shotgun.
Lee reported their unfortunate lack of success to Chip that night over
supper.
Chris
James had been released to his cabin, with threats of dire consequences from
Will if he didn’t behave himself and stay away from the Control Room for at
least the next 48 hours. Chip had
continued to improve, and was increasingly more alert when Lee checked in on
him. Tonight, as he worked on what he
disgustingly referred to as “invalid food” – an omelet and dry toast – he asked
what the next day’s plan was.
“Not
sure,” Lee admitted. “The Admiral still
wants to hang around until we can get a good fix on how the ocean bottom came
through the eruption – or whatever it was.
There’s been no indication of further problems so he’s pretty sure that
the last blast alleviated the pressure.
But until visibility improves, there’s not much we can do except hang
around.” He grinned. “On the bright side, Bryson is getting a lot
of good
“At
my expense,” Chip grumbled, and stuffed the last of the omelet in his mouth.
Lee
laughed. “Better yours than mine, for a
change,” he teased his friend. Chip just
glared at him. He also yawned heavily,
and transferred his glare to the IV Will wouldn’t get rid of – no matter how
Chip threatened him. He said the same to
Lee. “See what you’ve done?” he accused
Lee. “You’ve given him so much practice
he just laughs now at my best arguments.”
“Made
that discovery myself the last time I was stuck in here.” It was Lee’s turn to grumble. “We just have to get sneakier.”
“I
heard that,” came from Will’s office, startling both younger men.
“Thought
you were at dinner,” Lee tossed toward the door.
Will
came to stand casually in the doorway.
“And leave you two unsupervised to plot havoc? Not likely.”
He just smiled at the instant twin glares he received, and went back
into his office.
“Just
once…” Chip said softly. Lee nodded, but
they both instantly grinned. Lee’s
broadened when Chip’s ended in another yawn.
“Crash
time for you, buddy,” Lee said, gathering up the now empty dishes. He’d dined on two pork loin chops smothered
in sauerkraut, with creamed corn and apple slices. Now they were both hoping that Doc hadn’t
seen how many bites of the second chop Lee had snuck to Chip.
“Don’t
bother showing up for breakfast unless you bring me real food,” Chip
muttered. There was a chuckle from Doc’s
office. Lee just grinned, nodded, and
left.
Will
waited a ten-count before again appearing in his doorway. He was hoping that Chip had closed his eyes,
but wasn’t surprised to find twin blue lasers directed at him. “Chill, Chip,” he said easily, and wandered
over. “You know perfectly well that
you’d do Lee no good, trying to go back on duty too soon. He’d be more worried about you than he
already is.”
Chip
nodded reluctantly. “He just seems so
tired every time he comes in.” Chip
frowned. “Or else, I’m just so messed up
it seems that way.”
Will
chuckled and sat down in the chair Lee had just vacated. “How much of his dinner did he actually eat?”
Chip
gave him a sheepish look. “Actually, all
but about half of the second chop.”
“Enjoy
the other half?” Will asked with a grin.
Chip didn’t answer, and Will laughed openly. “Back to your normal diet tomorrow. I just didn’t want to hit your system too
soon after the heavy duty meds I’ve been giving you.”
“Doc…”
Chip started.
“Don’t,”
Will cut him off with a glare. “Without
them the pain would have been unbearable.
By now the nerves have had a chance to settle down a bit from the trauma
of break plus surgery to repair the damage, and I can start weaning you off the
meds. But gradually,” he added. “You’re not indestructible, you know.” He chuckled as a thought hit him. “I need you as an example for when the
Skipper starts thinking he is.” Chip had
the good graces to smile sheepishly, remembering all of the times that he’d
blustered that line to Lee. He lay
quietly and let Doc check him over, and didn’t fuss – too much, at least – when
Doc adjusted the flow on the IV.
* *
* *
Two
more days of basically doing nothing – and two more nights of not sleeping
longer than a couple of hours – and Lee was ready for Nelson’s decision that
visibility had cleared enough to safely move Seaview back into the epicenter of
the disturbance. There had been no more
eruptions, and no evidence of further leaks of hot air. Ambient water temperatures were gradually
returning to more normal levels. Nelson
wanted divers to put out sensors that would continue to monitor that area, and
send telemetry to a collection unit Nelson had placed the previous afternoon
outside the area of disturbance.
Lee
let Bryson give the commands to maneuver Seaview into position, but stayed
right next to him as he could see that the young lieutenant was nervous. While Bryson was familiar with the mechanics
of moving the giant submarine, this was the first time that he’d actually given
the orders himself. But Lee was happy at
how well he handled the commands – and the boat – which he indicated by not
interfering. He also gave a nod of
approval as Seaview returned precisely to the site of her earlier ‘dance.’
Lee
would have preferred to wander down to the Missile Room and quietly supervise
the dives. Doc had finally relented the
day before and let Lee get rid of the light brace on his wrist. But just on the off-chance that all, or even
part, of Nelson’s calculations were incorrect, Lee stayed in the
But
all went well. Visibility had cleared to
the point that even from the Nose they could get a fairly clear look at the
epicenter. The divers had an easy time
setting their units. They also brought
back more samples for the Admiral before Seaview moved out of the site.
By
the next morning Chris James was allowed back on light duty. Bryson stayed as his second, but Lee was a
little freer to move around the boat, at least during the morning hours. Seaview began a sweep through the areas they
had already mapped, to note any changes that the major blast might have
caused. But it was a fairly cursory look
as it was apparent that ‘the big one’, as Nelson was referring to it, had gone
straight up. The mounds around the
epicenter had grown proportionately, but that was about all. There was a bit of consternation when one of
the telemetry units reported a blip. But
several hours of Seaview sitting just outside the blast zone showed merely that
every once in awhile a small bubble was released from the very center. Nelson was greatly relieved, as this was his
confirmation that the area wasn’t likely to again build up enough pressure at one
time to be a hazard. He told Lee that it
was time to head for home, and Lee was only too happy to give the orders.
The
only downside to the day was that Chip had had a minor setback. Despite the fact that everyone knew better,
Seaview’s XO had been left unattended just long enough that he’d attempted an
escape. He didn’t get far. On returning from a quick trip to the supply
locker aft, Frank found him clinging to the edge of the exam table. Chip had only gotten that far before getting
dizzy and nearly passing out. Will had
read him the royal riot act before realizing that Chip was once again fighting
a slight fever. The detested IV, which
Chip had only gotten rid of the evening before, was once again set up, feeding
him a more steady supply of antibiotics than just a couple of pills every few
hours could manage.
Lee
hadn’t heard any of this until he came down with Chip’s dinner, which Chip
wasn’t up to eating – a sure sign that the XO was feeling lousy. Lee had been miffed that Will hadn’t called
him, but calmed down when Will reminded him that, because Chris was still on
light duty, Lee had been pretty much tied to the
Even
Chip noticed how ungracefully Lee settled into the chair by his bunk, and
raised an eyebrow as best he could. Lee
just waved off the question. “Been a
long few days,” was his noncommittal response.
Unfortunately Chip wasn’t feeling well enough to challenge it.
Not
so Will. A critical eye took careful
measure of the younger man, albeit from the safety of his office door. Not liking his diagnosis, but knowing that a
frontal attack might not be the best tactic, he decided once again to come at
the man a little sideways. He poured out
about three-fourths of a mug of coffee from the little pot he kept going in his
office, which wasn’t nearly as potent as what Cookie usually brewed. He topped it off with the medicinal brandy he
kept in his bottom drawer for emergencies and walked over to the two younger
men, reaching down and exchanging Lee’s mug for the one he’d brought.
Lee,
in the midst of trying to eat the small bit of dinner he’d thought he could
manage just to keep Chip placated, gave him a curious look and raised the
replacement coffee to his nose. One
whiff told him what Doc had done, but he just shook his head and tried to hand
it back. “Can’t, Jamie,” he said
tiredly. “Not with key personnel still
sidelined.”
There
were times when Will wanted to shake the young man until his brains
rattled. But he tried to be
patient. “We’re headed home,
Skipper. Surely you can relax now.”
“Not
that much,” Lee told him, with half a smile.
Will surrendered to the inevitable, gave Lee back his mug, and sipped on
the ‘doctored’ one himself as he returned to his office.
But
as soon as John showed up to keep an eye on things, Will went in search of the
Admiral. Nelson was always his last
resort when dealing with Lee. Military
life did have its advantages, and it wouldn’t be the first time that the two
older men had had to pull rank on one or the other of the younger ones. He tracked Nelson down in his lab, surrounded
by test tubes, reports, and computer printouts.
The air was stale with cigarette smoke, and Will almost forgot what
brought him there as he grabbed Nelson’s overflowing ashtray and went in search
of some place safe to dump it. When he
returned, Nelson had turned up the air revitalizer and the place was almost
habitable. “Sorry, Will,” he mumbled,
barely taking his eyes off of the report he was reading.
Will
set the ashtray down with a decided thunk.
“Is Seaview in danger?” he asked disgustedly.
“Huh?”
“Is
there something in that report that’s so vitally necessary to world peace that
you can’t come up long enough to eat?”
The ashtray alone told Will that Nelson probably hadn’t been out of the
lab all day.
While
the challenges would normally have just antagonized Nelson, he took note of the
glint in Will’s eyes and surrendered.
Sort of. “And to what do I owe
the pleasure of your company, Doctor?” he asked with half a grin.
Will
decided slapping an Admiral upside the head probably wouldn’t do much to
advance his career. But he was still
sorely tempted. Instead, he took a deep
breath. “Dinner,” he announced, and was
almost surprised when Nelson came peacefully.
They
didn’t say much until both were most of the way through eating. “Care to start over?” Nelson asked.
Will
snorted, but nodded nonetheless. “I’m
becoming seriously worried about Lee.”
He held up a hand to stop whatever Nelson was going to say. “I know that this trip has been weird. I know that we’ve discussed how he can
usually go for long stretches with minimal sleep. But something is wrong. It’s not getting any better. And if something isn’t done about it soon
he’s going to break. Maybe to the point
that we can’t put him back together.”
“He
has rough periods from time to time, Will.
You know that. He always manages
them just fine. Well,” Nelson hedged,
thinking back on a few of Lee’s more eclectic solutions to personal problems,
“at least eventually. With everything
else that’s happened this cruise, he just hasn’t had the time to get whatever
it is sorted out. We’ll be home in four
days.”
Will
nodded. “And I’ve been hoping and
praying that he could hold out that long.
Then I can throw his tail off NIMR property long enough to let him get
his head screwed back on securely.”
Nelson
grinned. It was a standing joke that
about the only time Lee would take a vacation was when Will threatened him with
mayhem if he didn’t. It was another
standing joke that Lee rarely came back from one of these enforced vacations
without some sort of injury, however minor.
The insults that tended to get traded back and forth between the two
because of it were well worth the price of admission. “I gather you’re no longer sure,” Nelson said
now, once more getting serious.
But
Will, now that he’d gotten the problem out into the open, was no longer so
sure. “I don’t know,” he backslid. “I just know that I don’t think I’ve ever
seen him quite this…exhausted, for want of a better word. He seems under control; not frustrated, or
angry, or anything like that. I’m just
worried that he’s going to come to the end of the rubber band he’s been living
on, and it’s going to snap.” He snorted
at himself. “How’s that for a supposedly
learned diagnosis,” he muttered.
“Sounded
pretty accurate to me, “ Nelson told him.
“I gather you want me to talk to him.”
“What
I want you to do, and what I have any right to ask you to do, are two very
different things. Trust me,” Will
growled.
Nelson
chuckled openly. He so appreciated
having Will around. And not only for his
medical skills. On the other hand, I
do sometimes wonder if his grumbling isn’t a calculated effort to alleviate
someone else’s stress. Humm… and he
sent Will a thoughtful gaze.
“What?”
Will continued to grumble.
Nelson
just chuckled. “Never mind. Where is Lee now, do you know?”
“I
left him in
Nelson
nodded. “Sharkey told me. And it will interest you that you’re not the
first person today to mention that Lee’s a bit…out of sync.”
“And?”
Will pushed.
Nelson
shrugged. “Let’s just say that your
arguments are a little more compelling.”
It
was Will’s turn to chuckle. Poor
Sharkey. If he only knew how people
talked about him behind his back. But
Will was perfectly aware of how much of an asset he was to Seaview. Just, sometimes, some of the crew tended to
leave off the last two letters of that description. “And?” he continued, however, to challenge
Nelson.
“And,”
Nelson sighed, “I’ll see what I can do.
Just don’t hold your breath,” he warned.
“Understood,”
Will agreed.
* *
* *
Circumstances
prevented Nelson from tracking Lee down at that point. He went from the Wardroom back to his
lab. Normally unaware of his own
cigarette smoke, and maybe this time because Will had made such a point of it,
Nelson blinked at the faint blue haze that still hung in the room and did a
more thorough job of cleaning up. Next
he had Sharkey track down Lee’s present whereabouts. But when he discovered that Lee and several
of the JO’s were in the middle of a discussion in the Wardroom over how the
recent emergencies had been handled, and if there were ways that specific
problems could have been dealt with differently, he decided not to interrupt
Lee’s obviously impromptu training session.
If nothing else, maybe Cookie could entice Lee to augment his recent
scanty meals with a few handfuls of munchies of some sort. Then he got a call from Admiral Jiggs Stark
that put him in a perfectly rotten mood of his own. By the time he’d calmed down, Lee had already
crashed for the night.
But
remembering a few nights previous, Nelson stayed up and periodically checked on
any sign of lights underneath Lee’s door.
Once again, just shortly after midnight, they popped on. This time, however, they very clearly popped
back off within just a few minutes. His
plan to catch Lee in the act, so to speak, foiled, he went off to his own bunk.
He
couldn’t know that, with all his reports caught up, Lee didn’t have anything to
work on and merely made a quick trip to the head before settling into his
oversized desk chair. He’d discovered
that, sometimes at least, he could sleep there even if he couldn’t in bed. Fortunately, tonight proved to be one of
those nights. Unfortunately, his
exhausted state got the better of him and he didn’t wake up until nearly 0700 –
to find Admiral Nelson relaxing almost contentedly in the chair alongside the
desk. He was sure that he must have
jumped at least a foot, but Nelson merely smiled indulgently.
“Can’t
think that was the most restful night of sleep you’ve ever gotten,” Nelson
offered amiably, and then shrugged. “But
at least it was sleep.”
Still
a bit unnerved, Lee settled for a simple, “Yes, sir,” not quite meeting
Nelson’s gaze.
Nelson
chuckled. There were times when
Seaview’s extremely competent, strong-willed, occasionally temperamental
Captain acted more like a twelve-year-old.
And Nelson valued him all the more for his very human character traits. “Something wrong with your bunk?” he now asked. “Need a new mattress? That one getting lumpy? Can’t imagine how – you spend so few hours in
it.”
Lee
had been slowly shaking his head, but with that last came a return of the more
adult Lee Crane. “Jamie put you up to
this?” he demanded, before realizing how the grumble had come out, and once
more slightly lowering his eyes.
Nelson
nodded easily. “And Sharkey, and Chip,
and
Lee
was frowning – not a good sign. “I’m
fine. The bunk’s fine. Just…”
He didn’t continue.
Nelson
raised an eyebrow. “Yes?” he encouraged
Lee.
“Nothing. Sir,” he added almost as an
afterthought. Nelson refused to be
goaded. Nothing was sure to make Lee
clam up even worse than he already was.
“If you will excuse me, sir, I’d better get to the
“Somehow
I think that Seaview could find her way home all by herself.” Nelson was hoping that Lee would take the
hint and surrender. He should have known
better.
“Need
to check on Chip. And Chris still isn’t
back on full duty. Can’t expect Bob and
Keeter to cover everything else.”
Nelson
just nodded. He knew when he was
licked. And he knew that Lee recognized
the surrender when he rose with only a moment’s hesitation and headed for his
shower. Nelson sighed, got up, and
headed to the Wardroom to admit his defeat to Will.
Lee
was not overly proud of himself. He was
only too aware that he was acting abnormally – even for him. He knew that it was causing worry in those
around him, and worry because they cared about him. But he was still convinced that it would all
straighten out in time. It always had
before. He’d actually gotten almost a
normal night’s worth of sleep for a change.
Seaview would be home in a few days, and not scheduled out for almost
three weeks. Chip’s sister was all set
to come pick him up, to recuperate under her occasionally not so gentle
ministrations – she was perfectly capable of ‘handling’ her big brother. It would leave Lee with a few extra things to
do in Chip’s absence. But he was
thinking that this might be a good time to train Lt. James in a few of Chip’s
shore duties. If nothing else it would
give Lee more ammunition to fire the next time Chip smarted off, and Lee
threatened to replace him by promoting Chris to Seaview’s XO position.
That
thought putting a slight smile on his face he hurried through his morning
ablutions, checked in briefly in the
He
didn’t make it back to either the Wardroom or the
Unfortunately,
it also left Lee quite stunned, and he wasn’t able to resist someone – who
turned out to be Jamie – maneuvering him across the room and into a bunk. He tried to push the doctor aside to see
Chip, but Will held him easily. “Chip’s
fine,” Will assured him. “At least, he
will be.”
“What
happened?” Lee demanded, still struggling despite the fact that he was seeing
double of everything.
“You
of all people know how Chip sometimes has weird reactions to drugs.” He sighed.
“Just another one that I need to add to the ever-growing list of ‘Do not
give to Lt. Cdr. Morton under any circumstances.’ Now lay still and let me see what he did to
you.”
“I’m
fine,” came out automatically, followed by a yell of pain as Will’s fingers
found the quickly expanding knot on the side of Lee’s head.
“Sorry,”
Will said, but Lee didn’t think that he sounded like he meant it.
“I
need to get to the
“Not
until you’re only seeing one of me.” Lee
tried a glare. “And I know that, because
you keep trying to stare in two places at the same time.”
Lee
tried a different tactic. “You always
say that you don’t want more than one of the Command staff in your
Will
almost smiled but knew if he did, all would no doubt be lost. “Just because I don’t like it, doesn’t mean
that I won’t do it when necessary.” He
cut off whatever Lee was about to say with a snort. “Don’t even start, Commander. I am really not in the mood. I’ll let you leave when all the little
tweetie birds stop flying around your head.”
At Lee’s attempt at a ferocious expression for that comment Will finally
smiled, although not before he had turned and walked away so that Lee couldn’t
see it.
Lee
laid back and closed his eyes. His head
really did hurt like the blazes. He
tried once more to see over to Chip, couldn’t figure out which of two – or
maybe three – bunks Chip was in, and surrendered to the inevitable. But boy, was he going to have a thing or two
to say to Chip when this was all over!
Will
interrupted his plans for revenge by returning with a glass of water and a
couple of pills. At first Lee just tried
to push the doctor’s hands away. But a
loud clearing of the doctor’s throat reminded Lee that now might not be the
best time to tick Jamie off any further than he obviously already was. Well, Lee wasn’t so stupid – or in so much
pain – that he didn’t realize most of Jamie’s irritation stemmed from worry
that Chip had once again slowed down his recovery because of a strange drug
reaction. And even as blurry as his
vision was at the moment, Lee recognized the brown pills Jamie held out as
being nothing more than ibuprofen.
Although he couldn’t for sure tell how many of them there were. Lee still took them grudgingly, just on
general principles. He also fussed,
without success, when Jamie removed his shoes, loosened the waistband of his
uniform slacks, and undid the top few buttons of his shirt. A light blanket laid over him seemed,
however, to complete Jamie’s prescription, and he headed for his office. One more failed attempt to look across the
room and figure out for sure in which of two bunks his friend was actually
laying in and, with a disgusted sigh, he again closed his eyes.
* *
* *
Nelson
stuck his head through Will’s office door.
“Chip didn’t?” he asked incredulously.
Will just smiled broadly up at him from his desk chair, and Nelson
walked the rest of the way in. Will
poured him a cup of coffee and handed it across the desk as Nelson took the
visitor’s chair. “Chip?”
“Is
once more responding, after a quick change of meds. They’re both sleeping off the results.”
Nelson
took a peek through the door into
Will’s
grin spread. “And not with any help from
me. The pain Chip caused himself when he
clobbered Lee pretty much sent him back under.
And the knot on the side of Lee’s head, what with his already sleep-deprived
state, is having much the same effect.”
“Chip
do any more damage to his arm?”
Will
shook his head. “One of the things I’m
especially good at is making durable casts.”
He chuckled softly. “Of course,
it might also have something to do with the fact that I taped several light
metal plates to the outside of his arm over the breaks before I put the cast
on,” he admitted. “Not the first time
I’ve had to cast one of our slightly over-enthusiastic XO’s limbs.” He chuckled along with Nelson.
The
Admiral quickly polished off the coffee.
“Guess I’d better go take a turn in the
“Know
any short-cuts home?” Will asked, still smiling.
Nelson
chuckled. “Perhaps one or two. Had quite enough excitement for this
trip?” Will just snorted. “You’re aware,” Nelson got a bit more
serious, “that with Chip going to his sister’s as soon as we get back there’s
almost no way Lee will accept being ordered to take some time off – by either
of us.”
Will
nodded. “That thought had crossed my
mind. I’ll just have to hope that
between last night and however long I can keep him down now, it will tide him
over until we get home. And that from
there he’ll figure out a way to get past whatever it is that’s bothering
him. At least he won’t be trying to keep
Seaview afloat at the same time.” Nelson
nodded his agreement to that, and left.
Will
polished off his own coffee and ambled out to check on his patients. Frank, he knew, wasn’t far away. The senior corpsman was still feeling bad
about having allowed Chip the opportunity to try and escape, no matter how much
Will reminded him that it had just been a momentary oversight that, given
anyone other than the senior officers, wouldn’t have mattered a bit. He merely glanced at Lee, not wanting to do
anything to disturb the always light-sleeping young man, and headed across to
Chip. He had his head down, taking the
apparently sleeping blond’s pulse, when there was a breathed “Lee”, and Will
looked up to see that Chip had spotted his friend across the room.
“Relax. He’s just taking a little nap,” Will told him
with a grin. Chip sent him a look of
total disbelief, and Will chuckled. He
pointed to the slight dent on the outside of Chip’s cast. “I gather that you don’t remember
cold-cocking him this morning?”
“Oh
my gosh,” Chip barely breathed. The hand
Will ran over Chip’s forehead confirmed that the sudden flush across the
blond’s face had nothing to do with a returning fever.
“Not
to worry. You can just explain that it
was payback for his tossing you into his desk.”
Chip
wasn’t amused. “But…”
“Chip,
chill!” Will ordered, but he was still speaking quietly, keeping his fingers
crossed that Lee wouldn’t wake up. He
had no doubts that, whether or not Lee was still fighting a headache and double
vision, he would immediately head for the Conn no matter how much Will ranted
at him. “Despite a rather spectacular
goose egg on the side of his head, he’s actually not all that bad. Now,” he made sure that he had Chip’s full
attention before he continued, “if you do anything, whatsoever, that wakes him
up, you can expect to be made extremely unhappy. Do I make myself clear?” Will punctuated every third word or so of
that last with a stiff finger to Chip’s breastbone.
Chip
took the not so subtle hint. “Aye, sir,”
he muttered. He turned back toward Lee,
but as Will continued to check him over, Chip’s eyes gradually closed once
more.
Will
couldn’t know, but Lee’s sleep wasn’t all that restful. Shortly after Will had gotten Chip settled
back down Lee awoke for the second time that day, startled to discover that he
was being scrutinized. Will had caught
the slight head movements, and the softly muttered ‘somethings’ – the only word
that he understood was “no”, uttered in such a hopeless manner that it hurt
Will to hear it. He pulled a chair over
to the foot of Lee’s bunk, always mindful that awakening a restless Lee could
be hazardous to the person doing it. As
he rested a hand lightly on one of Lee’s blanket-covered legs, Lee’s eyes
suddenly popped open and he tried to sit up.
He was only partially successful, as the pain in his head from the too
quick movement had him closing his eyes against the bright lights. Will immediately moved to dim them before
returning and pulling the chair closer to the head of the bunk. As Lee would have again tried to sit up, Will
ever so gently placed a restraining hand on Lee’s shoulder. “Easy, Skipper. It’s okay.
Just a dream,” he droned softly, hoping that just maybe he could get Lee
to go back to sleep.
He
should have known better. But he was
very surprised when Lee seemed to respond to the doctor’s quiet
suggestion. Lee lay back, turning so
that he could see across the room. “How
many Chips are you seeing?” Will asked gently.
He was surprised further when Lee gave him an almost equally whimsical
reply.
“Down
to about one and a half,” Lee told him, but didn’t take his eyes off Chip.
“He’s
fine,” Will told him. “Bashing you
seemed to knock the fever the rest of the way out of him.” If Lee wanted to be a bit silly, Will was
perfectly happy going along with it.
“Changed his meds again and he’s sleeping comfortably.” When Lee didn’t respond, and just kept
looking toward Chip, Will tried a slightly different tact. “Why ‘no’, Skipper?” That drew Lee’s eyes back to Will’s face, but
he didn’t say anything. “Just before you
woke up you mumbled ‘no.’ Do you
remember why?”
Lee’s
only answer was to roll over so that he was facing the bulkhead, his back to
Will. The doctor easily recognized it as
Lee’s second defense against talking about painful subjects – the first being
to simply clam up and walk away. This
one could be occasionally broken down, if the person trying to do it was
someone Lee totally trusted – and that wasn’t a very long list – and that
person was extremely careful. Will did
nothing more than keep a hand lightly on Lee’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze
every so often, and waited patiently.
It
took awhile. Lee’s eyes closed, and Will
figured that Lee was hoping he would just go away. Frank wandered in but Will quietly shooed him
away, not wanting anything to break the tiny foothold he’d managed to make in
Lee’s self-imposed silence. Will knew
only too well that something as simple as a sneeze outside the door could cause
Lee to shut himself totally off again.
As long as he stayed quiet, Will still had a chance.
Lee
finally opened his eyes again but continued to lie still, staring at the
bulkhead. When he did finally say
something, it was almost so low that Will couldn’t hear it. Silently he moved forward in the chair,
getting a bit closer without actually seeming to. “It was supposed to be such a simple
errand.” Will kept quiet. The story would come out, however much of it
Lee felt comfortable giving him, at Lee’s own speed. Will had known a few times when Lee could be
joked with and prodded for information, but now was definitely not one of
them. “I just needed to get in, get the
intel ONI needed to close down a security leak, and get back out. Their informant had the information, but
couldn’t get it out without blowing his cover.”
Lee
went silent again, continuing to stare straight ahead. Will, remaining quiet with his hand still
laid lightly on Lee’s shoulder, suspected that Lee was no longer seeing the
bulkhead.
“I’d
met the guy a few years ago, and he knew it was me coming, so it wasn’t too
hard to make the drop. Just had to hang
around a few days until he figured it was safe; that I’d been taken for a
common tourist and was no longer being watched as closely as I was at first.”
Again
Lee was quiet for awhile and again Will waited patiently, although a bit
frantic inside that nothing disturb Lee’s obviously painful soliloquy. He’d have felt better if he’d known that
Frank had been perceptive enough in the brief moment before Will dismissed him
to realize that ‘something’ was going on, and was standing just outside Sick Bay’s
door forbidding entrance, and warning passersby to be totally quiet until
further notice.
“Next
door to the hotel where I was staying was a little café. The woman who ran the place lived in back
with her two daughters, one about 14 who helped her mother, and a younger one
that I would glimpse sometimes during the day playing in the little back
yard. She had red hair, and sort of
reminded me of Chip’s youngest sister when I met her the first time Chip took
me to his place…” Lee’s voice trailed
off. Will didn’t like Lee’s use of the
past tense as he spoke of the child and almost unconsciously gave Lee’s
shoulder a slight squeeze. It caused Lee
to shudder, and Will practically held his breath until Lee once again started
to speak.
“Tico
made the drop, but I waited another couple of days before leaving just to be
extra careful not to do anything that could compromise him. I knew that once he made the drop he was
going to make himself very noticeably present in a village several kilometers
away, where he was from. His sister was
about to be married – it was one of the reasons this time was chosen for the
exchange, because Tico would seem to be totally uninvolved if something should
go wrong.”
Will
noticed that Lee’s hands balled into fists, but made no comment. Lee eventually sighed heavily and seemed to
relax, if only slightly.
“The
little girl, her name was Elisa,” Lee finally continued. And again, Will cringed inwardly at the past
tense. “I had made arrangements to leave
the following day, knowing that Tico was now safely in his own village. That night, as I ate dinner at the café,
about half a dozen soldiers came in.
They didn’t really pay me that much attention – I’d seen them almost
every day as I walked around, visiting the local museums and churches, or just
taking long walks. But it was the first
time that I’d seen them come to the café.
The woman seemed surprised as well, but she only sent the older daughter
back into the kitchen, and waited on the tables herself. I never saw Elisa in the front part – in the
café itself. I finished my meal and
started to go back to the hotel. One of
the soldiers stood up and requested that I show him my papers – my I.D. The woman looked worried, but I knew that
everything was in order and offered them openly, if somewhat surprised. That seemed to satisfy the man, and I thought
that that was the end of it.”
Lee’s
eyes closed and he shuddered again. This
time he left them closed as he continued talking. “The next day I checked out of the hotel and
walked down to the train station – the way that I had arrived. It was a bit of a walk – the town sat on a
hill. As I started down I saw Elisa
playing in a field just off the road.”
He grinned suddenly but didn’t open his eyes. “She was chasing butterflies,” Lee said
fondly, and Will gave his shoulder another squeeze. “One lit on her hand. She saw me watching her, and started to walk
very carefully toward me. I guess to
show me her ‘prize.’ She was, maybe
thirty yards away when a jeep came charging down the road. It was the soldier who had challenged me the
night before and one other, who was driving.
I tried to remain calm, and took a couple steps off to the side, toward
Elisa. I thought maybe the soldiers
were merely on the way to meet the train, although I knew that it wouldn’t
arrive for another hour or so.” Lee
paused. “She was so innocent,” he said,
so softly that Will almost didn’t hear it.
Lee
was quiet for so long, his eyes still closed, that Will was afraid he had
finally decided to shut down. Not, Will
knew from past experiences, to keep from revealing anything else that had
happened, but merely to protect his friends from hearing something that he knew
would upset them. Lee was way too adept
at protecting those around him by placing any and all burdens, physical or
mental, on himself. But Will continued
to sit silently, still giving Lee’s shoulder an occasional squeeze. Just letting Lee know that he was still
willing to listen to anything that Lee might want to say. It seemed to take forever.
Finally
Lee again sighed heavily. “The soldiers
stopped next to me. Elisa stopped
walking toward me when she saw them, looking at me uncertainly. She didn’t even seem to notice when the
butterfly flew away.”
Leave
it to the Skipper to notice all the details, Will thought to himself, and
almost let himself frown.
“They
demanded to again see my papers, and indicated that they wanted to search my
bag as well. I tried to remain calm, and
asked why they wanted my I.D. when they’d just seen it the night before. I was surprised that there was no one else in
sight – just the four of us. The soldier
was adamant that he wanted to search my bag.
The intel was hidden well, but I was nervous – if it were found on me I
would be promptly shot and my body simply disposed of.” Again he paused and again Will frowned. The things ONI stuck Lee in the middle
of! It was no wonder Chip got so frustrated.
Speaking
of whom, Will sent a brief look across the room. Even with the dimmed lights he could see that
Chip was once again awake. Will had no
idea for how long. Though Lee had been
talking softly, Will felt sure that Chip could hear at least most of what Lee
was saying. Will was just grateful that
Chip seemed to recognize what was going on and was remaining silent.
“The
soldiers weren’t thrilled when I didn’t immediately cooperate,” Lee finally
continued. “I just kept questioning
their actions as innocently as I could.
The one closest to me – the one that was doing all the talking – drew
his weapon and signaled that I should drop the bag. I shrugged and did, but at the same time
grabbed for his gun. It went off,
harmlessly into the ground, thankfully.
But I knew that I was in big trouble.
I kicked him, wrestled the gun away from him and shot him, and the other
one as well as he was reaching for his own weapon. I didn’t have any choice.” That last came out miserably. Will was all too familiar with Lee’s distaste
for killing – whether or not it was necessary.
And in this case it obviously had been.
“I’d totally forgotten about Elisa.”
Privately, Will didn’t believe that for a second. “I looked up as she screamed and started
running back through the meadow, towards town.
Here I was, someone she’d obviously seen around town, someone who ate in
her mother’s café.” He breathed
deeply. “Someone who she wanted to show
her pretty butterfly to. And I calmly
and quietly, not ten yards in front of her, blew two soldiers to smithereens.”
The
disgust in Lee’s voice spoke volumes to Will.
And, he was sure, to Chip as well.
Will finally broke his silence, extremely grateful that Lee was feeling
rotten for merely having frightened the child – a child that reminded him of
his best friend’s baby sister – and not that something Lee had done had caused
physical pain or, heaven forbid, what Will had been dreading, her death. “There was nothing else you could have done,”
Will now told Lee with as much sincerity as he could.”
“I
know,” Lee still said miserably.
“What
happened after that?” Will asked gently.
Lee’s
voice was flat when he answered. “Tossed
the bodies in the back of the jeep, sent it careening down the hill into a
small grove of trees, and hurried to the train station. I still can’t believe that I wasn’t seen.”
Except
by a small child who wanted nothing more than to share her butterfly, and who
instead was witness to one of life’s more disgusting realities. Will kept that thought to himself.
“I
need to get back to the
“The
Admiral has already assured me that he has matters well in hand, and might even
know a short-cut or two.”
“Oh,
no,” Lee breathed, a more normal tenor in his voice, and tried once more to sit
up.
“No!”
Will told him firmly. “Despite what
you’re thinking,” and he sent Lee a grin, “it will do him good to run his own
boat for awhile; remind him of what a load he places on you all the time.”
“But
you’re not familiar with his short-cuts,” Lee tried again.
Will
sent his CO a glare. “No, but I’m
willing to take his short-cut over your double vision any day.” Will knew that he’d guessed right when Lee
just sighed heavily and turned back toward the bulkhead.
Will
pulled the blanket up a bit further and snugged it around Lee’s shoulders. Lee merely closed his eyes. Will wasn’t foolish enough to think that Lee
would go back to sleep, but as long as he wasn’t actively fighting Will to
return to duty, Will was pleased. He
walked over to Chip, not sure how the blond was reacting to Lee’s tale. But Chip was just shaking his head slowly.
“Only
Lee,” he mouthed silently. Will nodded,
snugged the blond’s blankets a bit more firmly as well, and headed back to his
office. Those two words pretty much said
it all.
* *
* *
Five
days later Admiral Nelson stood on the sail watching a little vignette play out
before him on Seaview’s home dock. He
was refusing to take sole blame for making it into port a full day later than
scheduled. After all, it wasn’t his
fault if his ‘short-cut’ took them past some really interesting and previously
unknown geological formations that he had to stop and check out. Lee had just smiled, not seemingly upset by
the delay.
Nelson
heard footsteps climbing the ladder behind him, which turned out to belong to
his CMO. “Come to watch the show?” he
asked.
“Wouldn’t
have missed it for the world,” Will confirmed.
“And figured I’d be a whole lot safer up here.”
“Coward,”
Nelson said fondly.
“Noticed
that you beat me up here,” Will deadpanned, before they both laughed.
There
had been a car waiting for them when they pulled in. Notified earlier, Security had let Chip’s
sister drive all the way down instead of having to stay up in the Visitor’s
Not
that it kept him from trying. He hadn’t
been able to budge Lee about carrying his own bag from his cabin. And since he’d only been released the
previous day from
Once
they were gone Lee turned, sent his Commanding Officer a salute that Nelson
returned crisply, and headed for his own car.
Will
turned to the Admiral. “And how, may I
ask, did you manage to get him to take the next five days off?” Will had nearly gone into shock when that
little detail had been revealed the previous day.
Nelson
gave him a mischievous little smile.
“You may ask. I choose not to
say.”
Will
frowned. “And you’re sure that he won’t
just show up at the office in the morning, or work at home the whole time?”
“Very,”
Nelson assured him, and turned to head back down the ladder. Actually, he didn’t care if Will discovered
his little ‘magic’ trick. Will would
enjoy it immensely. But Nelson would
leave it up to Lee to explain, if he so chose, the e-mail he’d gotten two days
ago. It had outlined plans for a nice,
relaxing, long weekend aboard a sailboat that had already been rented by a
certain young lady from
Will
took one more glance at Lee, just getting into his little red sports car. “At the very least,” he told his boss, and
together they headed for Nelson’s office.
*see Past Imperfect, by R. L. Keller
**see Jigsaw, by R. L. Keller