A Daunting Mission
By JSRobertson
Seaview sailed into port battered and bruised. She would need to be dry docked to repair a few of her frames after encountering an unhappy whale while returning from the last mission. Some of her crew were also battered and bruised but nothing serious as none of the injuries required a stay in sick bay. The mission had also left the crew exhausted and they all needed a vacation.
After leaving Seaview in the capable hands of the dock crew, the executive officers returned to the institute. They said hello to Angie and Wanda and went to their offices to check on how much work had piled up on their desks. The admiral stopped at Angie's desk as she handed him a file full of letters he needed to sign and proposals to look over. He looked at her and sighed.
Janet went to Lee's office after seeing all the work on her desk and saw his desk had twice as much on it as hers.
"Lee, I know the timing isn't right but we need to get away. This last mission just about pushed me over the edge," she told him as she sat down on the couch.
"I know sweetie. I feel the same way," he replied sitting at his desk. "But what are we going to do? You know how the admiral feels about that subject. Wait here a minute."
They were both exhausted and needed to get away so Lee and Janet wanted to take a vacation. Lee decided to ask the admiral for some time off. He wasn't sure the admiral would let them go as they have a poor track record when it came to going on vacation. The trips to Mexico and Chicago were disasters so they were a little leery about trying again.
Lee walked into Angie's office and noticed the admiral's door was closed.
"Angie is the admiral available?" he asked before he knocked on the door.
"Yes, he is Lee," she replied noticing he didn't look too happy. She didn't have a chance to ask the admiral how the mission went but after looking at Lee, she knew it couldn't have gone very well. Lee knocked on the door.
"Come in," the admiral said as he sat at his desk signing the letters Angie gave him. "Hi Lee, what can I do for you?"
Looking at all the letters Lee told him smiling, "You're going to get writer's cramp signing all those."
"I should get a stamp and have her stamp them. It sure would save time," he grinned back.
"Sir, could I ask a favor?" Lee said standing in front of the admiral's desk.
The admiral noticed how tired he looked as he stood there. "Sure, Lee."
"Janet and I would like to take a vacation. I know we've had problems in the past but we need to get away. This last mission has taken a toll on both of us."
Seaview had no missions scheduled for a few weeks so if they went on vacation it would be no problem.
"Lee, let me check on a couple of things and get back to you," the admiral told him. He had an idea and wanted to check it out before giving him an answer.
"Yes sir," Lee replied happy at least he didn't say no.
Lee went back to his office, shut the door and saw Janet on the computer looking at hotels in the Bahamas.
"What did he say?" Janet asked yawning.
"He's going to get back to me. The Bahamas?" he said as he stood behind her looking at the website she had up on the computer.
"Yes, it's warm, beautiful, and far away from Seaview and NIMR," she told him, "I hope you're not mad but I booked us a flight and reservations to leave in three days. We'll have to get all our work done before then."
"Sweetheart, what if he says no?" Lee asked as he rubbed his forehead.
"I have a feeling he'll let us go," she replied getting up from the desk and hugging him.
He put his arms around her, returned the hug and gave her a kiss on the forehead. He sat back down at his desk while Janet went back to her office. He looked at the work but couldn't bring himself to start working on it. He would work on it tomorrow.
((()))
After Lee left the admiral's office he called Angie and asked her to have Chip report to his office. He called Jamie at Med Bay and asked him to come over right away too. Chip left his office as soon as he got off the phone with Angie, knocked on the door and went in.
"Have a seat Chip," the admiral told him as he brought the letters out to Angie all signed and ready to go. Jamie arrived a few minutes later and sat down in the chair next to Chip facing the admiral. Both noticed Lee was not included in the meeting.
"Gentlemen, your mission if you choose to accept it...," he said with a wry grin.
Intrigued Jamie asked boldly, "What's up Harry?"
"Lee and Janet want to go on vacation," he told them. "You know what happens when they go on vacation so I thought we could go with them. Now I'm not forcing you to go but..."
Chip and Jamie looked at each other; both groaned and said, "When do we leave?"
Smiling the admiral replied, "I'm not sure. We'll be 'Crane sitters'. If we're watching them, we can make sure they don't get into any trouble."
"What about the repairs to Seaview?" Chip asked. "If we leave, who can we put in charge of making sure they get done?"
"Sharkey, Bob O'Brien, Kowalski, Patterson and Riley can oversee the repairs. Angie and Wanda can handle the office."
"Yes sir," he replied knowing with them in charge everything would be repaired properly.
"Good, I'll let Lee know they can go on vacation. I'll tell him that Jamie suggested we all go after Seaview's last mission. They'll never figure it out," he told them chuckling. "I'll let you know when we're leaving and where we're going."
The admiral dismissed them and asked Angie to call Lee and ask him to come to his office. He knocked on the door a couple of minutes later and stood in front of the admiral as he tapped his pen on the desk.
"Lee about your vacation, I have no problem letting you take one. In fact Jamie has insisted all of us go on vacation, so we'll be accompanying you and Janet. Just tell me where we're going and how soon."
Surprised that the admiral, Chip and Jamie were going along Lee replied, "The Bahamas and in three days."
"You were that sure I'd let you go?" he chortled.
"Well..." he stammered.
They all managed to clear their desks and schedules and left three days after they returned from the mission. Seaview had been dry docked and they had started on the repairs before they left.
((()))
The group flew from LAX to the Bahamas via Miami. When they landed in the evening the temperature was a balmy 75 degrees. Janet had booked rooms at the Atlantis Beach Tower on Paradise Island with ocean views. They were fortunate enough to get rooms together on such short notice. Even though they spend a lot of time in the ocean, viewing it from a balcony gave it a totally different perspective. By the time they checked in and got settled they were all bushed. The group would meet in the morning and decide what they were going to do. Janet checked out the resort online and found there was plenty to keep them occupied for the week.
Lee and Janet crawled into the king size bed. Since they were used to sleeping in the bunk on Seaview they didn't need the whole bed. They didn't have any complaints about the big bed and could spread out if they wanted to but as usual Lee wrapped his arm around Janet and they both fell asleep right away.
((()))
They were up early and got ready to meet the rest of group for breakfast to figure out what they were going to do. They met the admiral, Chip and Jamie at the outdoor cafe for breakfast. It was already sunny and warm at 0700.
"Well gentlemen, what are we going to do today?" Janet asked eagerly while they ate breakfast.
"How about we do nothing and lounge by the pool," Chip suggested as he checked out one of the women walking by in a bikini.
"Fine," they all replied looking forward to just relaxing and soaking up the sun.
"We'll meet up later for dinner at the southwestern restaurant say around 1800 hours," the admiral told them.
"Works for us," Lee and Janet answered as Chip and Jamie were shaking their heads in agreement.
The admiral and Jamie stayed at the pool for a couple of hours before deciding they were going to look around the resort. If Janet knew the admiral he would find the library and spend the day there. Jamie did look around the resort and found that sitting at the bar near the pool was very entertaining as he could watch all the people and he saw some pretty interesting people.
Chip, Lee and Janet walked to the pool, found lounge chairs and sat down. Janet had Lee put suntan lotion on her back and she put some on his. Chip looked at them and wondered who would do his back, Janet volunteered. She brought a book to read but Chip and Lee just sat and looked around. Hiding behind their sunglasses they were probably checking out the women.
Chip and Lee got warm sitting in the lounge chairs so they jumped in the pool to cool off. The women sitting at the pool stopped what they were doing and checked them out as they got out of the water in their spandex swim trunks. Janet had to admit they both look exceptionally good in those trunks; especially her husband. After they got out of the pool and returned to their chairs, one woman actually had the nerve to sit down on Lee's lounge chair but one look from Janet and she left in a hurry.
As Chip dried off he chuckled, "You lost the bet."
With a puzzled look on her face Janet asked, "What bet?"
"Lee and I bet I would get the first girl to sit down on the lounge chair," he said still chuckling.
"Well, it's hard for any woman to tell which one of you belongs to me," she said grinning.
As Lee grabbed a towel from the chair and dried off raising his eyebrows he said, "I belong to you?"
"Damn right you do," she stated as she got up, sat down on the lounge chair with him and gave him a kiss.
As they all were laughing another woman stopped and looked at Chip. He looked her up and down and followed her into the bar. Lee and Janet were surprised as Chip didn't normally just follow a woman anywhere but especially into a bar. Even Janet had to admit she was one gorgeous looking woman with long blond hair, a nice figure and a bikini that didn't hide it. Lee also looked at her twice which got him an elbow in the ribs.
After sitting at the pool for awhile, Lee and Janet decided to go for a walk on the beach. They gathered their things and went to find Chip just as he was just coming out of the bar by himself.
"Lose your date already," Lee snorted.
"She wanted to do some things that I had no intention of doing," Chip replied with a grin.
Shaking her head at the two of them, Janet told Chip, "We're going for a walk on the beach. We'll be back in a little while."
"I'll come with you," he said taking his towel and bottle of sun tan lotion from her, "I could use a walk too."
Stopping in her tracks, "You want to walk with us on the beach?" Janet questioned, "Did the admiral tell you not to let us out of your sight. Are the three of you 'Crane sitters'?"
"Yes," he answered sheepishly, "We all have different days to watch you."
Groaning Lee responded, "Hopefully you're only 'sitting' us when we leave our room."
"Of course. How much trouble can you get into in a hotel room," Chip quipped as they headed down to the beach.
Reaching the beach Lee and Janet walked hand in hand in the soft white sand. When they got warm all three of them took a dip in the ocean. As they were walking back to the hotel to get something to eat, Lee and Janet were talking and not paying attention to what was in front of them. Chip noticed a jellyfish on the beach and had to nudge Lee out of the way or he would have stepped on it. As he nudged Lee out of the away he tripped and fell face first in the sand hitting his face on a rock but luckily not on the jellyfish. Lee and Janet helped him up but he had a severe cut on his forehead and some bad scrapes on his cheek.
"Chip, what happened," Lee asked as he helped him up.
"Just tripped over my own feet," he replied brushing the sand off himself.
"Chip you better go see Jamie," Janet told him trying to wipe off the sand from his face without hurting him. "Your forehead is bleeding pretty badly and that cut looks deep," she continued as she handed him her clean beach towel to hold against his forehead and cheek.
Sighing Chip said, "Let's go find him. It does sting a little."
They quickly walked back to the hotel and found Jamie sitting at the bar by the pool talking to the bartender. He got up from his stool when he saw Chip, Lee and Janet approaching. He removed the towel from Chip's face.
"What happened to you?" he asked as he looked at his forehead and cheek.
"I tripped and fell on a rock in the sand," Chip answered back not letting on about the jellyfish.
"We better go to my hotel room I think your forehead is going to need a few stitches. Your cheek is scraped up and I can clean that up but you're going to have a nice bruise on your cheek," Jamie said as he paid his tab and they walked out of the bar.
The four of them went up to Jamie's hotel room where he had a suitcase full of medical supplies he hoped he wouldn't need to use. He cleaned up Chip's cheek and forehead put five stitches in his forehead and covered it with a waterproof bandage and smeared some antibiotic cream on his cheek.
"You should be alright," Jamie told Chip as he put away the supplies.
"Were you expecting trouble?" Lee asked warily looking at all of the medical supplies as Jamie closed the suitcase.
"Well, with your track record, I wanted to be prepared," Jamie replied with a lopsided grin.
"Oh, you're a real riot Jamieson, you know that," Lee deadpanned.
"Come on boys play nice, plus it's time for lunch," Janet interjected.
A sea of nods met her suggestion and they headed out of Jamie's room to find a nice place to eat. As they exited the elevator into the lobby they met the admiral as he came out of the hotel café. Nelson took one look at Chip's face and sighed knowing they would all be in for a long week. He would find out later what happened.
((()))
Before they went on vacation, Lee bought Janet a new digital camera so she was taking pictures of everyone and everything. She wanted to remember how nice it was here and was having fun taking pictures. She took pictures of the admiral, Jamie and Chip while they weren't looking and Lee of course along with the hotel and ocean.
They ate lunch at the cafe and were getting ready to leave when Janet got up from the table and was going to take a picture of the four of them. She kept moving back to get them all in the picture. After taking the picture the admiral saw she was going to fall into the pool so he got up and ran over to the edge so she wouldn't fall in. As he stopped her from falling she accidentally hit him in the eye with her camera and he fell. Lee and Chip ran to the pool and pulled him out. Jamie could see he was rubbing his eye.
"Admiral, are you alright?" Lee asked worriedly as he stood there dripping wet on the pool deck.
"Yes, I'm fine," he chuckled. "I just need to change my clothes. I wasn't prepared for a swim."
"Admiral, how did you get all wet?" Janet asked innocently not realizing that he fell in the pool while she was too busy looking at the pictures she took.
"Just misjudged where the edge of the pool was," he told her wringing out his shirt.
"Okay," she answered back and went back to looking at her pictures.
"Harry, I'll go upstairs with you while you change," Jamie told him as they left the other three at the cafe.
Jamie and the admiral headed for the elevators and went to admiral's room so he could change into some dry clothes and dry out his wallet. After he was changed Jamie checked out his eye.
"Well, Harry your vision is okay but you're going to have black eye," Jamie told him as he handed him a cloth with some ice he got from the machine outside his door.
"I thought I might," he sighed, "Jamie, we've haven't even been here a day and two of us are already injured. I assume Chip's injuries involved Lee and Janet?
"He said he tripped and fell on a rock but I suspect there's more to it but he didn't tell me."
"Jamie what are we going to do? Those two are walking disasters and don't even know it."
"Maybe we should check out and head for home before anything more happens," Jamie snorted.
"Let's wait and see. If things get too bad, we might have to," the admiral chuckled.
((()))
Lee paid the bill for lunch and the three of them left the cafe. After sitting and swimming in the hot sun most of the day they decided to go back to their rooms just to cool off. They didn't want to get too much sun on the first day because no one wanted to face Jamie's wrath if they got sunburned. When the admiral and Jamie didn't come back downstairs, Lee became worried so he dialed the admiral's cell phone.
"Yes, Lee," the admiral answered after looking at the number and then Jamie.
"Just making sure you're okay," Lee replied, "and to let you know we're going to our rooms before dinner."
"I'm just fine. Jamie and I will see you at dinner."
"Yes sir." Lee disconnected the call, "He's okay and will see us at dinner," Lee told Janet and Chip.
Jamie went back to his room. He needed a drink as he was afraid there would be more trouble before they left for home. He went to the vending machine outside his door and got a soda; he would have a more substantial drink at dinner.
((()))
The hot sun and swimming tired out Lee and Janet so they took a nap before getting ready to everyone for dinner. After sleeping for a couple of hours, they were going to take a shower. Janet turned on the water and waited for it to get warm. She stood in the shower letting the warm water run over her when Lee joined her. He started to wash her back when she turned around, turned off the water, grabbed his hand and led him back to bed. They hurried back to the shower and even though they hurried they were still late. When they did arrive, the others were waiting for them when they got there.
Embarrassed Lee apologized sheepishly, "Sorry we're late."
"No problem, son," the admiral answered with a sly grin. Jamie and Chip were grinning too.
They went in the restaurant where the hostess was waiting to seat them. They all ordered margaritas and were waiting for their drinks when the admiral spoke up, "While we are on vacation I'm not to be called admiral or sir. From now on it's Harry. We are all off duty and on vacation. Understood?"
"Yes sir," Janet replied as Lee, Chip and Jamie starting laughing. She had already forgotten to call him Harry. Janet had never called him Harry before and found it very difficult to do. They enjoyed a few more margaritas and a delicious dinner.
"Why don't we go to the casino after dinner," Harry suggested as they finished up. "I feel lucky tonight."
They agreed it was a good idea so Lee paid for dinner and they walked to the casino. Once inside the admiral headed right for the roulette wheel. Too bad Sharkey wasn't there he knew how to 'gimmick' the wheel. Even without Sharkey, the admiral managed to win quite a bit of money. Lee and Janet walked around before playing the slot machines as Jamie and Chip tried their luck at Black Jack.
After a couple of hours in the casino they met up at the front door ready to head back to their hotel.
"Dinner will be on me tomorrow night," the admiral told them, "I did get very lucky tonight; how about the rest of you?"
"We didn't win anything," Lee replied.
"Either did we," Jamie and Chip answered unable to concentrate on the game as they were making sure Lee and Janet were always in sight.
It was a beautiful warm evening with a breeze coming off the ocean as they walked back to the hotel to their rooms after having a nice evening. Everyone was a bit tired.
"How about a round of golf tomorrow morning?" Jamie asked them hoping to practice his putting.
Chip and the admiral nodded yes. Lee looked at Janet who wasn't a golfer.
"Don't worry about me, I'll find something to do. Go and have a good time," she told Lee gladly. "You need to have some fun and maybe you can beat Chip. I'll be fine."
Harry, Jamie, and Chip looked at each other. They would be watching Lee but who would be watching Janet.
Taking the elevator up to their floor Janet and Lee said goodnight to the other three when they reached their room. The others waited in the hallway before going into their rooms until they heard Lee lock the door.
"Who's going to keep an eye on Janet if we play golf," Chip asked running his hand through his hair.
"How much trouble can she get into?" Jamie answered. "Let's see what she's going to do before we panic."
"Okay," Chip reluctantly agreed.
"Chip, how did you hurt your face?" Harry asked.
Chip told him about the jellyfish and how Lee never even saw it and would have stepped right on it if he hadn't moved him out of the way. The admiral just shook his head wondering what was going to happen next.