By R. L. Keller
Dr. Will Jamison finished the short phone conversation and hung up the receiver with a large sigh. “Problem?” his wife Lu-Tsi asked, concerned.
Will
grimaced. “Remember that bit of
miscommunication I had with Chip the last cruise?” A grin started to form on
Lu-Tsi’s face. “Yeah,” Will grumbled. “It’s just
come home to roost.”
“Oh,
dear,” she commiserated solicitously.
But the spreading grin left no doubt as to her feelings on the
subject. Will glared at her, but they
both knew it wasn’t for real and he finally returned the grin, albeit
self-consciously. “How bad?” she asked.
Will
shrugged. “Nurse Hale wasn’t specific.”
“You
sicced Esther on them? That’s cruel and
unusual punishment.”
“Let
the punishment fit the crime,” Will muttered.
“Although,” he amended, “when she finds out what started it she’ll very
likely come after me.”
Lu-Tsi
chuckled. “Not likely. She’s perfectly aware that those two are
capable of creating their own havoc.”
Will
joined her in chuckling. “Too true,” he
agreed, and headed out the door.
It
wasn’t a long walk from where the Jamisons lived to where he worked part of the
time. His boss,
Admiral Harriman Nelson, had made provisions for at least some of his higher
echelon employees when he founded and built the Nelson Institute of Marine
Research. When Will had taken over as
CMO aboard NIMR’s research submarine, Seaview, it included a major role in
running the Institute’s
Seaview
had returned four days ago from a cruise to the
Seaview’s
XO – and Lee’s best friend – Lt. Cdr. Charles Philip “Chip” Morton, had never
been bashful about complaining when Lee went off for ONI. This time, however, he’d been especially
upset, and made a bit unbalanced by the fact that he couldn’t come up with a
logical reason why this mission was any worse than all the previous ones. Both Will and Admiral Nelson had taken turns
trying to keep the younger man under control until Lee’s return. Unfortunately, something that Will said had been slightly misinterpreted. Will had immediately straightened it out but
quite obviously Chip had not forgotten.
Now Will was going to have to deal with the results.
The
first sight to greet Will as he slipped through
Opening
the door, he nearly ran into Gunnery Sgt. Esther Hale, USMC (Ret), her arms
crossed over her chest, glaring at Lee and Chip. At barely five feet tall, and maybe 120
pounds soaking wet, there still wasn’t a person on the base – Admiral Nelson
included – who would dare cross the woman.
It was Will’s main reason for offering her a job at
Both
were dressed in exercise shorts and t-shirts, and both were decidedly mussed
and ruffled. Neither, however, looked
particularly injured – for which Will was grateful. He pointed a stern eyebrow at the pair. “Care to explain?” he asked with the grumble
in his voice that he knew both were expecting.
“We
were just working out in the gym,” Lee started.
“We
got a little carried away,” Chip added. Neither looked directly at the other.
“So
I can see,” Will answered dryly. “Skipper, if you’ve re-injured that hip…”
Lee
cut him off. “That’s not where it
hurts,” he admitted, his voice almost shy.
Will
buried a chuckle behind a cough into his hand, and frowned as he turned to
Nurse Hale. “Take Cdr. Crane to the next
room and start the work-up. I’ll be
along once I’ve seen to Mr. Morton.”
Protocol would usually have him starting with the more senior officer,
but circumstances had him turning it around.
Apparently
no one thought it strange, either. “Aye,
sir,” came from both Nurse Hale and Lee.
Will didn’t bury that grin. It
was a bit of a joke between he and his very worst
patient that Lee would ‘sir’ a lower-ranked officer. It was Lee’s way of acknowledging and
accepting Will’s logic and authority to whatever was going on. He slipped off the exam table and quietly
followed the nurse out. Will watched him
carefully and was somewhat comforted by the fact that Lee wasn’t moving badly
at all, although there was an indication of some soreness in his upper
body.
Will
shrugged and turned his attention to the blond.
“Well?” he continued his growl.
“I
was just taking your advice,” Chip tried to defend himself. But he kept his eyes partially lowered and
there was an ever so slight smile on his lips.
“And
you know perfectly well that I was not advocating substituting Lee for a
punching bag,”
Chip
shrugged. “Whatever works.”
Will
snorted. “And did it?” Chip’s expression only went more
sheepish. Will let him off the hook and
started his exam. Once Chip removed his
shirt Will had to admit – quietly, to himself – that he’d been anticipating
much worse. Chip’s face showed evidence
of a punch or two landing around the jaw, but most of the damage was limited to
his torso. Nothing was too serious – it
was pretty evident that Lee had pulled his well-documented punching power,
toning down what could have resulted in serious damage to nothing more than a
few bruised ribs. Will only had to clean
up a small scrape over one eyebrow. Chip
got a bit huffy when Will told him to lay down and
stay put until Will returned, but a quick glare had the younger man complying
with the order.
Will,
however, didn’t take any chances. He
quickly entered the room next door and requested Nurse Hale to go keep her eyes
on the blond while he dealt with Lee.
The brunet gave Will much the same expression as Chip had, but remained
silent as Will gave him a going-over. He
found heavier bruising on Lee’s ribcage than there was on Chip, and there was
evidence that at least one of Chip’s swings had connected with Lee’s nose. Will checked it for damage but happily found
nothing serious. Finally, he couldn’t
contain his curiosity any longer.
“Skipper,”
he started, and waited until Lee almost looked at him, “you want to tell me how
this happened?”
“Did
you ask Chip?” was mumbled back, Lee still not looking directly at him.
“I
already know his version,” it was Will’s turn to
mumble, causing Lee to finally meet his eyes.
“I’d like yours.”
Lee
kept his head up as Will ran a swab carefully up one nostril to clean up a
trace of blood, but kept his eyes lowered.
“Chip and I…ah…we sort of got carried away during P.T. in the boxing
ring.”
“So
I can see.” Will kept his tone
level. “You two don’t usually spar,
since everyone knows your boxing background.”
Lee shrugged but it instantly turned into a flinch, which Will chose to
ignore for the moment
“Whose idea was it?” Lee
sent him a brief look but immediately dropped his eyes again, not answering the
question. At least
verbally. Will had a pretty good
idea that it was Lee, and it caused him to shake his head softly. “Who told you about Chip’s and my
conversation?”
A
quick grin touched Lee’s lips. “The
Admiral,” he answered very softly.
Will
nodded. It explained why Nelson was
sitting in the waiting room. Having lit
the fuse he’d have stayed close enough to control the explosion. “And did Chip figure out that you were
pulling your punches?”
Lee
shuddered softly. “That’s when he hit my
nose.”
Will
couldn’t help it – he laughed out loud, if only briefly. Lee shot him a glare but almost immediately
dropped his eyes again. Shaking his head
softly, Will pulled a chair over and sat down.
With his head now lower than Lee’s, the younger man couldn’t so easily
avoid looking at him. “I never intended
for this to happen,” he told Lee sincerely.
It
popped Lee’s eyes to his. “This isn’t
your fault, Jamie.”
“Eh,”
Will muttered and waggled his hand back and forth,
trying to refute the comment.
“It’s
okay, really,” Lee assured him with a totally open look. Will returned
it. “Chip is never going to happily
accept that I continue to take ONI assignments.”
It
forced a snort from Will. “No joke,
Skipper.”
“He’s
too good an officer to do more than yell.”
Will nodded. “But he’d too good a
friend to let it go unchallenged.” Will
grinned and nodded again. “This was a
pretty good idea, actually.”
“It
still wasn’t what I meant,” Will told him firmly.
“We
both know that.” He sent Will a shy
smile but his eyes were sparkling.
Will’s
smile broadened. “Why do I get the
feeling that next time you won’t be so willing to pull your punches?” Lee’s answering grin was positively evil, and
Will laughed. He also stood up. “You two safe to turn loose
together?”
“Aye,
sir,” Lee answered, smiling broadly with the use again of the inside joke. “As soon as we get cleaned up we’re headed to
BZ’s for pizza and beer.”
“Then
get out of here,” Will ordered sternly.
But he couldn’t keep the smile off his face.
Lee
slipped off the table, but then stopped dead.
“Nurse Hale?” he asked softly.
Will laughed out loud again and lead the way
back to the first treatment room. Not
saying a word, he looked at Chip and jerked his thumb over his shoulder. Chip didn’t waste any time complying, and
scurried from the room. Nurse Hale shook
her head, but there was a grin on her face as she headed back into the
Nelson
shrugged. “Lee’s not the only one who
knows how to look out for his crew.”
Both men chuckled and headed back to their homes, secure that everything
was once more back on an even keel.
Mrs. Will Jamison (Lu-Tsi) used with permission of her creator, Cris
Smithson.