Amiczi

By Somebody's Angel

Though she would never have admitted it, Nav was searching the ship for ET, unable to convince herself he was fine until she saw him with her own eyes. She always worried about him when he went on risky missions, however the close call made her even more nervous. In the junior sailor's mess she didn't find what she was searching for, however what she did discover was somewhat more intriguing. Spider was sitting alone, holding an icepack to his head, looking miserable.

"Hey Spide, what's up?" She asked, sliding into the seat opposite him.

He shot her a look that clearly said, 'you've got to be kidding me'.

"It wasn't entirely your fault. Yeah you should have told X you were checking something out, but that guy is military-trained, he'd have gotten a weapon sooner or later. If it was later you may have received more than just a blow to the head."

He nodded, though his expression told her that he wasn't entirely appeased. He stared down at the table and tapped his fingers on the surface once, twice, three times, then looked back up at Nav.

"Is it weird that I was more worried about Bomber than X?"

Nav smiled knowingly, "I dunno, is it weird that I was more worried about ET than the rest of you put together?"

Spider returned her smile, feeling privileged to share a secret with the lieutenant. He had always liked her, not the same way that ET did, of course, but felt that she was easier to approach than X, or even Buffer, his divisional officer – she knew how to combine leadership and camaraderie better than any of the other officers.

"So Bomber hey, what happened to Carly Walsman?" Nav's grin turned sly, and she nudged him with her toe. "You guys looked like you were having fun on her dad's boat the other day."

The young seaman smiled self-depreciatingly, and shrugged his shoulders. "Exactly, it was her dad's boat, he was five metres away, with my CO, no less, and she attacks me. She's too much of a trouble-maker for my taste…Bomber didn't see, did she?"

"And it's not like you need any help in the trouble-making department." She finished his thought out loud, "But I get it, you prefer an older woman…and no, she was in the galley the whole time."

He blushed this time, and ducked his head, "She's not that much older than me, less than two years. But it's more about the personality than the age."

She nodded solemnly, obviously thinking about another personality that she was partial to. Her relationship with ET was becoming more and more complicated, as her feelings continued to grow, while the physical distance between them was widening with every day they served on the same ship. She was seriously considering applying for a shore posting, or a position on another ship – as much as she loved working under Mike, she knew ET wouldn't want to leave his mates, and she didn't know how much longer she could stand seeing him every day and not being able to show him how she felt.

"How do you do it?" Spider's voice broke through her thoughts, and she blinked away the images of a second date with ET. "How do you act like there's nothing going on, like you don't even care he's out there risking his life to save a stranger?"

Her temper flared at his words, but she quickly tamped it down – obviously the not-caring act was working, even if it tugged at her heartstrings every time ET boarded a RHIB and she didn't wish him goodbye. "Like you said, it's an act. You've got it easier, at least you have the opportunity to protect her while you're both risking your life. I don't even know what's going on beyond the radio calls, and I have to rely on you guys to watch his back for me."

He nodded, realising that what she said was true – at least he'd have the opportunity to save Bomber if – God forbid – something did happen to her, Nav would never be able to get to them in time, and would have to rely on the others to save ET and bring him back to her.

………………………………

Fate must have been smiling down on Nav and Spider's newfound friendship, for they found themselves in the pub on shore leave that night, and their respective objects of affection were on either side of them.

The conversation thus far had been rather solemn, focusing on the harrowing experience of the search party this afternoon, and the subsequent rush to get the prisoner back to port before he died.

Suddenly Bomber jumped up and declared that they needed to lighten things up. With this proclamation she dashed into the back room of the pub, leaving the others to stare at one another in bewilderment.

When they finally shook off their confusion and followed her, they found that she had commandeered the foosball table, and se soon as she saw them in the room she declared a tournament.

When Bomber put her mind to lightening things up, things got lightened up, ET thought to himself, watching Nav and Spider facing off over the foosball table. The hopeless, concerned mood from earlier had completely evaporated, leaving a comfortable camaraderie, in which they were just friends, no ranks in the room. Well, maybe not so comfortable for Nav and Spider. They both looked deadly serious about the outcome of the game, and the truth was that they were. Which was why he and Bomber and Charge, who had joined them shortly after the tournament started, were all laughing hysterically.

"Hey! That's a foul!" Spider yelped when Nav distracted him by stomping on his toes.

"There aren't any fouls in this game." She said with a smirk, before scoring another goal.

He scowled. "Cheater!"

She rolled her eyes. "Whiner."

Charge grabbed ET's shoulder. "You have to stop them…I don't think I can take it anymore." He panted. "My brain is gonna explode or something if I keep laughing like this…"

"Yeah," ET said watching as Spider triumphantly hit the ball past Nav's defenses. "Ooh, she's not going to like that much either." He gestured towards Spider's mini-victory dance, chuckling loudly.

The three watched in silence for a few minutes as Spider and Nav continued to play, and bicker.

"That was out of bounds!" Nav accused as Spider tossed a ball that had been hit out of the machine back in. "I get a power play!"

"And here I thought you just said there weren't any fouls, Nikki." Spider drawled.

As Nav opened her mouth to respond, eyes flashing, ET decided enough was enough. He stood and walked over to her, putting a hand casually on her back and smiling as he did so. "How about you call it a draw and we end this tournament without any blood being spilled? I doubt the CO would be happy about having to bail someone out of jail."

"Fine." Nav conceded, shoulders dropping.

Spider snorted. "That's right. Get out of here before I wipe the floor with you."

Nav rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Whatever. And who won when you and ET played pool the other day?"

"Ouch. Low blow."

"You asked for it." Nav smirked at him one final time, before turning on her heel, heading towards the bar.

Charge clapped Spider on the back, "Mate well done, I haven't seen her this worked up since she first came on the ship and we ran her bra up the flagpole."

Both Bomber and Spider's mouths dropped open. "You what?" Bomber asked incredulously.

Opening his mouth to respond, Charge realised that Bomber's eyes were flashing dangerously, thus decided that now was a good time to leave. "You've got this, mate." He passed off the explanation to ET.

"That's right." ET just nodded firmly, either oblivious to the danger or counting on his charm to get him out of the hole Charge had pushed him into. "First female officer on the Hammersley, we gave her hell."

Bomber decided against abusing ET for the sexist pranks and instead joined the boys at the foosball table. Spider was still in shock that they had pulled those sort of pranks and not been fired.

Noticing the younger man's slack-jawed stare, ET elaborated. "She knows how to take jokes, unlike the X. Sure we did get in trouble, but not nearly as much as we should have, coz she wanted to handle it personally, wouldn't let the captain so much as reprimand us." He took up a position on the other side of the table, his voice never wavering as he and Bomber started to play. "It actually got her into more trouble, coz apparently she didn't handle the issue properly, wasn't enough of a leader. They didn't like her being so friendly with her subordinates." His tone grew softer at the end, and both Spider and Bomber looked at him in sympathy, understanding the implications of his words.

Nav chose this moment to return with another round of beers, and was surprised to discover that the mood had grown sombre yet again. "What's up?"

Spider took his and Bomber's drinks off the tray, avoiding her eyes.

Observant as always, Nav noticed that neither Bomber nor Spider would look at her face. "What did you tell them?" She rounded on the only person who was looking – and smirking – at her.

"Oh, nothing…just a little about when you first came on the Hammersley." ET feigned ignorance, taking the proffered beer.

Looking back at the younger sailors, she instantly knew the story that would cause Spider to blush and Bomber to stare over her head. "I thought I told you to quit telling people that story!"

ET just laughed, "Spider got you so worked up I had to tell them."

"It was a long time ago guys, and I bet he didn't tell you that he, Charge and Cheffo were cleaning bathrooms for the next two weeks." Nav socked him in the arm.

"Hey, that hurt!"

"Don't be such a baby."

"Don't be such a bully."

"I thought you liked it rough." She sidled closer to him, poking him lightly in the ribs.

He grinned at her, "Wouldn't you like to know."

Spider and Bomber simultaneously rolled their eyes at the banter between their shipmates, then both blushed when they realised their reactions had been identical.

THE END

Please let me know what you think. I love the friendship fics almost as much as the romance ones, and I wish more people would write about the non-romantic relationships on the boat.