PARADICE
by
Gail Gardner
This occurs a few weeks after Nuts Over You...
"You know; Lee I really wouldn't like to be in your shoes..."Chip Morton said casually over morning coffee with his Captain at the Institute.
"Oh? Whose dog house am I in now?"
"Gwen's. She's a bit peeved about those season hockey tickets you gave me."
"Hey, you didn't have to use them. Why isn't she mad at you?"
"Believe me, Lee, she is. I keep looking carefully around corners and handle all my mail carefully. That woman has a wicked way with her." He grinned sloppily. "I think she has something planned."
"C'mon Chip, you're being paranoid." Lee Crane looked sympathetically at his best friend. Despite warm affection and a close friendship between Gwen Chance and Chip Morton, their relationship was not without it's ups and downs.
"What's worse, " Morton leaned forward with a conspiratorial whisper "She and Edith have had their heads together for the last week."
"They are friends, you know." Lee Crane felt an uneasy itch on the back of his neck. One would have thought that no nonsense, calm, sensible Edith Nelson would have a good influence on the volatile Gwen Chance. However, the opposite seemed to be happening. The two women seemed to blossom into a terrifying force when teamed together.
"Remember what they did at the Institute picnic..." Morton reminded Lee.
Both men looked at each other seriously, and then burst out laughing.
"I thought the Admiral was going to explode..." Chip laughed.
"Yeah, well did. If we hadn't carried them off early I'm afraid there wouldn't be any mortal remains of Edith Nelson or Gwen Chance left to bury." Lee smiled at the result of the rescue of Edith. That evening had been - memorable.
"So what are we going to do?" Morton asked leaning back in his chair, arms crossed behind his head.
"How about a little defusing? Take the ladies out to dinner? A little moonlight, dancing, gentle persuasion to confess their sins..." Lee grinned.
"Tonight, then. I'll make the reservations. You call Edith. I'll call Gwen. They don't have a chance..."With his usual decisiveness, Morton began organizing.
MMMMMMMM
"They don't have a chance of knowing..." Edith said firmly. "Hand me the double sticky tape..."
"Edith..." Gwen ran her hand through her short brown hair, a sure sign of nervousness. "Are you sure that this isn't a bit, hmm, overboard?"
"Are you wimping out on me?" Edith sat back on her heels. "This was your idea."
"I wasn't going to do all this..." Gwen gestured with her hand to the paraphernalia littered around them. "Not that it isn't an improvement on the original idea...,"she admitted.
"It will be perfect. Lee and Chip will be really surprised." Edith said confidently. "I wouldn't mind being a fly on the wall when they see this."
"Me neither." Gwen grinned. "It really is something. But tell me, why are you doing this? You don't have a bone to pick like me."
"Well, I see it like this," Edith tugged at the piece of fabric easing it into place. "Lee and Chip work pretty hard, they face things in their jobs that we can only guess at. A little fun is good for them. Look at Chip, I've known him for years. Since you've come into his life that man has laughed more than he has in the last five years. Even Lee has begun to relax."
"I'm not taking total credit for Lee. It seems to me you have a lot to do with his 'relaxing'." Gwen hung the piece-de-resistance in its place. "Superb!"
"Don't forget Gar.." Edith reminded her pointing to the small paper bag. She was interrupted by the twitter of her cell phone.
"Hello Lee. Tonight? I'd love to. No, not at all. Seven o'clock sharp." She smiled held up three fingers, two, and then one. Gwen's cell phone chirped.
"Yes Chip. Seven o'clock. Lee and Edith? Of course. Mmmm, me too." She closed the phone with a snap.
The two women exchanged knowing glances.
"They are suspicious..." Edith said.
"I have an idea..." Gwen said and smiled.
MMMMMMMMM
"You look gorgeous..." Lee murmured softly into Edith's ear as they danced together. The evening had been relaxed and romantic. They had attracted the attention of many of the other restaurant patrons, the two handsome men and their ladies. The meal had been superb, the conversation light and they all had enjoyed each others company.
"I love that perfume and..." Lee breathed into her ear "what are you and Gwen up to?"
"Shalimar. We did something to the Seaview...don't you think gray is a dull color?" Edith raised her blue eyes to look deeply into his hazel ones.
"Mmm...What?" He stopped dead in the middle of the dance floor.
Back at the dinner table Chip Morton was feeding Gwen a bite of his double chocolate mousse.
"Mmmm. Delicious." She licked her lips. "More?"
"Well I don't know...you had your dessert." Chip pointed to the crumbs of the Black Forest Cake on her plate.
"Which I shared with you..."
"And are you going to share with me what you and Edith are up to?" He held the spoonful of sweetness inches from her lips.
"Of course..." She leaned forward and took the bite of mousse off his spoon. "We upgraded the Seaview."
"What!"
MMMMMMM
The two women looked the soul of innocence as they stood in the nose of dark and deserted Seaview. Though what the security guards thought of the two senior officers appearing in the middle of the night with their dates was easily guessed at.
Lee Crane had breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that the Seaview was still it's normal gray color.
"Oh come now Lee, did you really think we would paint the outside of the Seaview?" Edith gently teased him. "There are only the two of us and someone would have noticed. "
Chip Morton had quickly ascertained that the computer system was intact.
"You flatter me, but you know I'm practically computer illiterate." Gwen smiled. "There are different kinds of upgrades besides computers."
The next half hour was like a game. The men searching through the ship for the change, the women smiling and giving them vague clues.
"We aren't getting anywhere..." Chip said after they had searched the galley thoroughly.
"Tougher measures?" Lee tilted his head towards the bow where the two were giggling together.
"Yes."
Both men took off their suit jackets loosened their ties and rolling up their sleeves advanced on the suddenly quiet Edith and Gwen. The two were swept up and very thoroughly kissed.
"I'll talk..." Edith said breathlessly as she and Lee came up for air.
"Shhhh." Lee's lips silenced her.
Chip was slowly torturing Gwen with soft butterfly kisses on her face, ears and throat. "Tell me everything." He said softly and nipped at her ear.
"The flying sub." She looked into his blue eyes apprehensively her teeth biting her lower lip nervously.
"Ah...finally." He smiled at her and gently pulled her lip free from her teeth with his thumb. "Such nice lips, suitable for kissing. " And he showed her.
Some minutes passed before the four of them began to notice the time and place. Edith laughed nervously. "Lord, if Harry saw this..."
"God forbid..." Lee muttered but didn't release his hold around Edith's waist.
"Snogging in the Seaview..." Gwen spoke up. "Sounds like a song..."
"Behave yourself, " Chip warned in her ear, but softened the reprimand with a kiss on her cheek. "The flying sub." He nodded towards the hatch set in the deck.
"Alright. What did you two do?" Lee pulled Edith into a hug.
"If we tell, it will ruin the surprise..." Edith licked her lips and leaned into the man.
"Okay, but you two go first."Lee nodded towards the hatch."I don't want to run into water balloons or bear traps."
"Lee Crane...would we do anything like that? I'm truly hurt." Gwen sniffed dramatically, but followed Edith down the ladder to the flying sub. She stopped halfway down and looked up at Chip who was a few rungs above her.
"You wouldn't do anything disastrous to someone you just kissed, would you?" She raised an eyebrow at him.
"We'll find out, won't we?" He raised his eyebrow at her.
The two men looked around the interior of the flying sub. They were silent as they took in the changes the two had wrought.
The sensible black leather seats had been covered with fake leopard fur covers.
The control panel now sported a layer of fluorescent green astroturf.
A hula dancer doll was perched on the astroturf.
The unmistakable tang of a pine scented Wunderbaum wafted over the cockpit.
The pilot's seat also had a wooden bead seat.
A suction cup Garfield hung off the window in front of the co-pilot's seat.
Dangling in front of the bow ports was a pair of furry dice.
"Oh God..." Lee Crane's voice was tight and fighting for control. He touched the hula dancer who rocked on her spring provocatively.
Chip Morton had his hand on the back of the co-pilot's seat. He had one hand over his face and was shaking his head.
Gwen and Edith looked at each other worriedly.
"It was my idea..." Gwen said nervously. She looked longingly towards the ladder and then to Chip Morton who still had his back to her. His shoulders were shaking.
"You just wanted to hang up fuzzy dice, I thought up the rest." Edith chimed in, not letting her friend take all the heat. "Lee?"
Lee Crane snorted. Chip Morton seemed to be choking on something.
Both men suddenly burst out laughing.
"Fuzzy dice..." Lee snorted again and laughed. He settled himself in the pilot's seat. "Hey, this is comfortable." He moved his shoulders appreciatively over the wooden massage beads.
Chip touched the furry dice. "Reminds me of my first car. If there was a whip antenna on the flying sub we could put a fox tail on it."
"Chrome control sticks! " Lee chimed in."Flames stencilled on the side..."
"Cool." Morton nodded happily.
" Righteous." Crane replied.
"Boys and their toys." Edith said. "You really like this stuff? It's so, so tacky."
"Well, yes. That's half the attraction." Lee ran his hand on the astroturf. He turned his seat around to look at Edith. "But not on my flying sub. If this had been sprung on us while on duty.." He left the warning in midair.
"I told you we should of painted their cars pink..." Gwen muttered. She looked up to see a rather stern looking Chip Morton in front of her. "Oops."
"You and I need to settle a few things between us." Chip took her arm and led her to the ladder. He turned and winked impudently at Lee as he and Gwen left the flying sub.
"It all comes off easily, Lee. " Edith said and popped Garfield off the port. "You did find it funny..."
"Yes, I did. I also enjoyed this evening, very much." Lee came up behind her and slid his arms around her waist. "But, Edith dear, you have my attention. You don't have to do this sort of thing."
"Do you really see me Lee? You've known me for years. Am I just Harry's kid sister? I've been trying to get you to see me since I was sixteen..."She turned in his arms so that she was facing him.
"There is something between us..." Lee began.
"I know. The Seaview, your work..." Edith interrupted him.
"I meant Garfield here." Lee tossed aside the stuffed animal that was crushed between them.
MMMMMMM
"You want to tell me about it?" Chip stood behind her as she stared out of the bow windows.
"It all started with that damn picnic. So many people telling me what a lady killer you were, and then how surprised they were that you were with me. It was only a matter of time, before...you would tire of me. Find someone beautiful, nice, " Gwen choked. "Sexy."
"Honey, you are beautiful, nice, and very sexy. " He put his hands on her shoulders. "You also are my friend. I enjoy being with you." He pulled her gently back to rest on his chest. "We both love chocolate, going to Disneyland, watching old movies together, diving, being with the dolphins." He watched her reflection in the darkened windows. "No matter what happens between us, we will always have our friendship."
He continued, resting his chin on her head. "You know, I feel the same things about you. You spend a lot of time with Ski and there was that musclebound lifeguard that was following you around. I could even be jealous of Lee sometimes. You two seem so comfortable together."
"But I don't love them or Lee!"She blurted out."Aw hell..."
"Honey? I would like it if you told me what you mean." He pulled her around so that she was facing him.
"Not that I know anything about it, or that you should feel obliged..." She was talking to his shirt button.
He tipped her chin up. "Honey...?" His eyes searched hers.
" I love you, Chip. There, now you know. You don't have to love me. I understand. I'm..." She looked calm, but he could feel her insecurity and panic.
He put his fingers over her mouth. "I know. I was just waiting for you to tell me." He smiled gently at the wonder that filled her expressive honey brown eyes. Maybe it was just a trick of the lighting or a reflection from water, but they seemed to flash to molten gold for a moment.
"Why? You could have told me, said something." She rested her hands on his chest.
"I'm your first real boyfriend, aren't I?" He stroked her head.
"You know you are."
"I wanted you to be sure. Maybe, after you met other men you'd feel different. I wasn't sure if you felt obliged to me, cause of the dolphin thing." He moved his hands down to her hips and pressed her against himself. "You also had to get over being afraid of being touched.. Six months ago if I held you like this you would be shaking like a leaf with terror."
"I'm still scared...a little." She raised her face to him. "But why Chip? I don't understand."
"You don't?" He said softly and gathered her closer so that their faces were breaths apart. "Silly girl, I love you."
"Oh..."
"Is that all you are going to say, 'Oh'?" They were so close that his lips brushed hers feather light as he spoke.
"Oh Chip." She twined her arms around his neck and pulled him down into a deep kiss.
Lee Crane and Edith came up through the hatch carrying the accessories from the flying sub. Both looked a little rumpled. They stopped quietly when they saw the couple kissing near the bow windows.
After long seconds had passed, Edith hissed to Lee. "When do they come up for air?"
"He is a master diver and I've heard her hold a note for over a minute..." He whispered back. "I don't think they'll notice if we leave." The couple left holding hands, not willing to let go of one another. Not for a long time.
Down in the flying sub a pair of fuzzy dice swung idly in front of the bow windows.