Out of Reach
By JSRobertson
Seaview was getting ready to embark on a seven-day cruise to the undersea laboratory, Clear Blue Pacific. Lee and Chip had spent most of the day down at the sub pen making sure that all the supplies were loaded for the cruise since Chief Sharkey had a family emergency and the rest of the officers who would oversee the loading were still on shore leave. Since this lab was the furthest away and they didn't get there very often, they always doubled up on the supplies.
The two men stood on the dock, clipboards in their hands, watching the supplies being loaded, "Chip, I'm going to run some drills on the way to the lab. It's been awhile," Lee said.
Chip rubbed his forehead, "Yes, it's been a few cruises since we put the men through some drills but you know they'll have no problem with them."
"You're right, but it doesn't hurt to keep them on their toes," Lee replied as the last container was finally lifted off the dock and loaded on the boat.
It was 1800 hours by the time everything was stowed and checked off the manifest. Lee and Chip returned to the Institute offices just as Harry was walking to his car.
"Everything set for us to leave on schedule?" Harry asked.
"Yes sir," Lee replied. "We'll be ready to shove off at 2300 tomorrow."
"Okay men," Nelson answered. "Don't stay too much longer."
"Aye, sir," both men responded as they checked in with Howard who was just leaving for the day.
"Good night, sirs," Howard said.
"Good night," Chip replied as the two men opted for the stairs instead of the elevator.
When they got to their offices, everyone was gone except Janet. She was still at her desk working as both Lee and Chip had given her a lot of work to complete before they left for the sub pen.
"Chip, why don't you head on out," Lee said. "I'm sure we'll be leaving shortly."
"Thanks Lee," Chip answered. "Julie has some wedding plans to discuss before we leave. What I thought was going to be a very small wedding is now turning into a huge affair now that her mother is involved. I have a feeling it's going to be a traditional Navy wedding," he sighed.
Chip and Julie's wedding was six weeks away and Chip made Lee promise he wouldn't take any ONI missions until after the wedding.
Chip grabbed his cover, service jacket and left for the evening. He walked past Janet's office, "See you tomorrow," he said as he walked to the elevators.
"Have a good night," Janet said as she sat at her desk.
()()()()()()()
Even though Janet's desk was heaped with papers, she was very engrossed in a spreadsheet on her desk. There was a problem with the inventory and she had to figure it out so they had an accurate count of what supplies were on hand before tomorrow as Chip wanted to review it to see if Seaview needed any supplies before they departed. Also, there were quite a few letters that needed to be done as they had to be mailed before they left and she wanted to make sure they made tomorrow's mail.
Lee walked in Janet's office, sat down on the corner of her desk and eyed what she was doing. Looking up she asked, "Don't you have something to do besides watch me?"
"Not really, as nothing needs my immediate attention right now," Lee answered with a grin. "How much longer are you going to work?"
Janet got up from her desk and walked around to the front where Lee stood up to meet her. She wrapped her arms around his waist, looked him in the eye and said, "Beat it. I can't work with you watching me. Go find something to do for the next hour."
Lee burst out laughing. "You're telling me to go?"
"Yes, if you want to get out of here at a decent hour, you have to leave me alone," Janet pleaded. "Go for a run or go to the workout room."
"You know you can't be here alone," Lee reminded her as he kissed her.
Returning his kissed she answered, "I'm sure there's something that needs to be taken care of so go find it and do it."
She released her arms from around his waist, sat back down at her desk and continued working as Lee walked out the door chuckling, "That's the first time someone told me to beat it."
Janet shook her head and returned to her spreadsheet. Lee went to his office and checked his e-mails. He answered all of them and wondered what he should do next. He would do the schedule for the drills he wanted to run. He found the form that Janet had set up with all the drills listed so all he had to do was find the drill, type in the day and time he wanted them done. He printed it out and would go over it with Chip in the morning. He was going to work on some reports tomorrow, but since he had to wait for Janet he might as well do them now. He wouldn't give them to her until later as he could see she already had a lot of work to finish. He finally finished the last report and looked at his watch. It had been two hours since Janet kicked him out of her office. He turned off his computer and would make her go home as he was tired and hungry. Now I know how she feels when I have to work late, Lee thought as he looked up and saw Janet standing in the doorway with her jacket and purse.
"I'm sorry it took so long," she apologized. "I couldn't find the error and after realizing one of the columns was accidentally hidden, I got it straightened out. The letters that needed to go before we leave will go out tomorrow. She looked at Lee's out box and sighed. "Is all that for me?"
"Yes, sorry I wasn't going to give it to you until tomorrow," he said looking up at her through his long lashes.
"Thanks but I'll just add it to the pile. It's a good thing we're not leaving until late," she replied as she picked up all the folders. They walked out of Lee's office, stopped at hers so she could drop off the folders and left for the day.
()()()()()()()
Once at home, Janet made a quick dinner, cleaned up and joined Lee on the couch where he was watching a movie.
"Chip left early," Janet remarked as she rested her head on Lee's shoulder.
"He had to go over wedding plans," Lee explained. "Seems Julie's mother wants a traditional Navy wedding. He's going to let me know tomorrow."
Janet fell asleep a few minutes later, but Lee finished the movie, woke her up and they made their way up the stairway. Janet got ready for bed, climbed in and was asleep before Lee removed his uniform. She didn't even stir when he quietly slipped into bed.
()()()()()()()
Lee was up early the next morning and was gently removing his arm from around Janet when she grabbed his wrist.
"Where do you think you're going?" she asked mischievously.
Before he could answer, she pushed him on his back and straddled his hips. She leaned down and kissed him softly. After he responded to her kiss, she kissed him again only deepening her kiss. He smiled deviously as he drew her down on his chest. Both of them laid there totally contented before getting out of bed. After taking their customary shower together, Lee left Janet to finish getting ready while he made some coffee and breakfast. Since it was a nice day, Lee decided to take the Cobra to work.
()()()()()()()
Lee parked the car in his parking space and opened the door for Janet just as Chip pulled into his parking place.
"Good morning, Chip," Janet said.
"Morning, Janet, Lee," Chip replied as they walked to the front door of the Institute.
Lee held the door for them and they were greeted by Howard who signed them in as they went to the elevators.
"Make any decisions?" Lee asked as they left the elevators and headed to their offices.
"Yes, you better make sure your Dinner Dress with the Blue jacket is clean," Chip responded. "It's going to be a traditional Navy wedding complete with swords."
Lee looked at Chip and could tell he wasn't happy about it.
"No problem, it'll be fine. At least we won't have to wear the 'chokers'," Lee replied referring to the dress white uniforms with the high collars.
Grinning Chip replied, "That's the one good thing about it, but I'll do whatever makes Julie happy."
Janet had never been to a traditional Navy wedding so she was looking forward to it.
As Lee patted him on the back, he said, "I've made out the schedule for the drills. We'll go over it and see if we need to change anything."
"Janet, did you get the inventory updated?" Chip asked.
"Yes I did. I put a copy on your desk. The only part we're short is that one electrical relay for the flying sub but we just replaced it about a month ago and hadn't had to replace it for a few years before that."
"I'm still getting the new supplier to make the part correctly," he replied unhappily as he'd been working with a manufacturer for a few months and they still haven't made it the right way.
Lee frowned when he found out about the part, but since they had replaced it recently, he wasn't too worried about it.
Chip called Janet to his office at 0900 hours so they could discuss the inventory. They found no discrepancies so she left the office leaving Lee there to review the drills and schedule. As she walked out the door, she heard Lee's phone ringing. She went into his office, looked at the number and knew the admiral was calling Lee.
"Good morning, Admiral," Janet said pleasantly.
"Good morning, is Lee there?" Harry asked.
"He's in Chip's office, do you need to see him?"
"Yes right away and Chip too."
"I'll tell them," Janet replied and quickly went to Chip's office.
"Lee, Chip," Janet said, "The admiral wants to see you right away."
Both men dropped what they were doing and walked out of Chip's office and headed to Nelson's. They stopped by Angie's desk before going in."
"Morning," she said, "Go right in, he's expecting you."
Lee rapped lightly on the door before opening it and entered the office.
"Morning, men," Harry said as he motioned them to sit down in the chairs in front of his desk.
"I just got a call from the SECNAV. Lee, he wants us in Washington as soon as we can get there. How soon do you think we can leave?"
"I can be ready to leave in thirty minutes. Just need to finish up one item, file our flight plan and we can go," Lee told him.
"We'll probably be staying overnight so do you need to go home to get anything?"
"No sir, I have a uniform and whatever else I need already here," Lee replied. He always kept an extra set of clothes and other items he would need in case he was called on an ONI mission.
"Good, so do I, I'll meet you at the elevators in thirty minutes," Harry answered.
"What about the mission?" Chip asked.
"I mentioned it to him and he told me to sail on schedule; it would be no problem if Seaview wasn't in port," Harry responded. "We'll catch up to you while you're in route."
"Aye, sir," Chip said. "I'll do the pre-flight check list on the flying sub while you get ready to leave."
"Thanks, Chip," Harry said as he took his briefcase from under his desk and started to put papers in it. Lee and Chip stood up and left Harry's office.
"I wonder what that's about," Chip pondered as he walked with Lee to his office before heading for the sub pen.
"We'll know soon enough," Lee answered walking into his office. "Chip, adjust the drill schedule. We'll start one day later since I don't know when I'll be back."
"Okay," Chip said heading for the elevators.
Janet was in Lee's office putting some reports on his desk when he walked in. He went over to the computer and brought up the aviation weather site. Janet noticed he entered his destination as Washington DC.
"What did the admiral want?" she asked cautiously.
"We're flying to DC to meet with the SECNAV," Lee told her as the weather popped up on his screen.
"Does that mean we're not leaving later on tonight?"
"No Seaview is still going on her cruise. We can't delay sailing as that lab really needs those supplies. We're already a week late on delivery," he told her as he checked over the weather. Lee frowned as the weather came on the screen. There was a huge storm over the Midwest so he would have to fly further south than normal to avoid most of the storm which meant it would take them a little longer to get to DC. He also hoped they would arrive in DC before the storm.
"When will you be back?" she asked as Lee logged into NIMR Communications so he could file his flight plan.
"I'm not sure and we'll catch up to the boat," Lee replied as he took a duffle out of the closet along with a clean uniform while waiting for communications to come up on his computer.
"I'll do that while you file your flight plan," Janet offered taking the uniform from him.
"Thanks, sweetie," he replied squeezing her hand. He filed the flight plan and waited for them to acknowledge they received it. He heard the ding a few seconds later and turned off the computer.
Janet carefully folded his uniform pants and shirt and put it in the duffle while Lee took a small case out of his drawer. It contained the toiletry items he would need and put them in the bag. Janet removed his service jacket from the hanger and grabbed his cover off the shelf and put it by the duffle bag.
He looked around his office and saw the reports sitting there so he quickly signed off on them. "Chip will give you the drill schedule once he makes a few corrections so you can put it in your bag." Janet had a bag she took with her on the boat. It contained the cruise packet and whatever other items were needed for that mission along with any work she hadn't completed. Once everything was packed, he took Janet by the waist and gave her a hug, but before he could give her a kiss, Harry was at the door.
"You ready to leave?" Harry asked catching them in an embrace.
"Yes, sir," Lee answered as he removed his arms from Janet's waist.
Smiling Harry replied, "Carry on, I'll meet you by the elevators." He left leaving the two of them alone.
"I'll see you tomorrow," Lee said as he kissed her good bye.
She kissed him back and walked with him to elevator where he handed her the car keys. "Have a safe trip," she told the two men as they boarded the elevator and headed for the sub pen.
()()()()()()()
Harry and Lee arrived at the sub pen where Sharkey was overseeing the loading of the last few cases for the mission.
"Everything alright?" Nelson asked as they walked down the gangway with him.
"Yes sir. Thanks for letting me stay the extra day," Sharkey replied.
"Chief, make sure everything is stowed securely as we're packed to the gills on this trip," Lee told him. "Also, I'm going to run the crew through some drills.
"Yes, sir," Sharkey responded. "We just loaded the last of the supplies and noticed there's not much room for anything. Don't worry about the drills, I'll make sure the crew is prepared."
"Thanks Chief," Lee said adding, "and I know the crew will be ready."
They made their way down the ladder into the control room where Chip was just coming up from the flying sub. Sharkey took their gear and stowed it in the flying sub laying their service jackets on the bunk so they wouldn't get wrinkled. Chip had retrieve their leather flight jackets as soon as he boarded the boat and put them on the table in the observation nose. Sharkey helped the admiral into his jacket, while Lee donned his.
"All set," Chip said as he handed Lee the check list to initial. Lee signed off on it and they walked over to the hatch. Harry headed down the ladder with Lee following close behind. Sharkey closed the hatch and secured it while Chip went to the launch panel for the flying sub waiting for Lee to tell them to open up the docking bay doors.
The two men put on their harnesses while Lee attached the throat mic and turned on the engines. After he looked over the instruments, Lee pushed the button on the mic. "Launch," he said once the engines were warmed up.
"All green, Lee," Chip replied as he pressed the button opening the doors. "Okay to launch. Have a good trip."
"Thanks Chip," Lee answered and released the sub from her clamps and lowered her down into the water. He would stay submerged until he cleared the channel before taking to the sky.