Tales from the Deep End
Summary: AU Garfield Logan is a marine biologist traveling the ocean with his lovely wife, Rachel. What happens when a freak encounter at sea mentally scars Garfield?
Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans….end of discussion
Dedicated to Dreamzcometrue and blueflower1594 for being so helpful, supportive, and patient with me :)
It was a lovely July afternoon, and Garfield Logan was currently sailing out at sea with his crew and his first mate, or rather, his actual mate, Rachel Logan. Their two year anniversary was coming up in September and he couldn't be happier to call her his own. He breathed in the salt-filled air with a content sigh. He worked all his life with animals. Even when he was younger, he would ask his late parents to take him to the petting zoo whenever it was possible. But once he reached his late teen years, he became fascinated with the sea. That was thanks to one of his High School friends, Garth Aqua.
Garth and his dad invited Garfield out to sea for some deep sea scuba diving. Garfield was nervous at first but once he dove into the water with his friend, the rest was history. Garfield immediately fell in love with the sea, so much that he was "adopted" by the Aqua family, receiving the nickname "Aqua-dude" by Garth and his father. Although Garth and his family moved away during Garfield's junior year, Garfield never let his love for the sea die. That was until he met, Rachel Roth.
Rachel was a quiet, timid, and overall closed-up girl that he had a crush on in his freshmen English class. For the first semester all he did was stare at her in the corner of the seminar. It was until he was lucky enough to have her in his second semester English class that he had the guts to talk to her. Much to his surprise, she was in no way interested in his petty attempts to woo her. But after he took things slow and grew a trustworthy friendship with her, it was like blood in the water, he eventually got Rachel to meet him at the altar three years later.
Garfield smiled to himself at the happy memories. His attention on the water was taken away when the object of his affection came up and grabbed his hand lovingly. He looked down at his wife and smiled gingerly as she rested her head on his shoulder.
"It really is beautiful isn't it Gar?" Rachel whispered staring at the sunset
"Yeah it is…but not nearly as beautiful as you" Garfield commented
"Wow…that was incredibly corny" Rachel deadpanned, something she had almost as a trademark of her character. Garfield chuckled
"You know it babe" Garfield laughed again as Rachel pointed a finger at him
"What did I say about 'babe?" Rachel lectured poking her husband in his chest. Garfield flinched and chuckled some more
"Alright! Alright! I'll stop!" Garfield continued to laugh
"Good!" Rachel smiled smugly as she crossed her arms confidently. Garfield smirked before he scooped her up and ran back to his private quarters down bellow his vessel, which he names S.S. Rachel, no doubt a direct reference to his wife. As Rachel screamed and squirmed, playfully trying to release herself from her husband's grasp, she knew it was no use, so she simply let him throw her onto their bed. Rachel laughed as Garfield climbed up and snuggled close to her. She responded by latching back onto him. Planting gentle and loving butterfly kisses on each other, the two lovers enjoyed the company they had in each other. Garfield began to tickle Rachel's belly which caused her to gasp and pull away.
"Garfield! Don't do that!" Rachel said in between chuckles
"Sorry Rae, I couldn't help it. I love your laugh" Garfield smiled. Rachel smiled back before playfully smacking his cheeks. Garfield merely puffed them back up in response. Rachel laughed at his immaturity.
"Friend Rachel, friend Garfield! Please! Come look at what we have found!" Kori, Rachel's childhood friend and recently Garfield's friend as well screamed from the deck excitingly.
"Coming Kori!" Garfield shouted back as he got up and helped Rachel make her way back to the main deck. When they reached the man deck they found their friends and crew shouting in excitement at the spectacle that they were looking at. There was a group of dolphins swimming and jumping around the boat.
"Richard! Get the camera!" Garfield exclaimed at one of his best friends who quickly retreated and returned with his camcorder and began to film the amazing show of nature.
"Man! Look at 'em go!" Victor, Garfield's greatest friend, yelled out happily
"Richard you getting this?" Garfield asked
"You betcha!" Richard answered as he continued to film the dolphins swim
"Wow! What do you think they're doing?" Rachel asked her husband curiously
"By the looks of the splashing and the sounds of the squeals, I'd say it's a late lunch. More than likely they found a pretty decent size school of fish" Garfield explained. Rachel stood there quite impressed
"Well, you're the biologist here" Rachel complimented
"Yeah…it's getting dark so I think we should anchor here and wait for tomorrow to complete my research assignment" Garfield said offhandedly. Rachel sighed, knowing what he was talking about
"Garfield, do you really have to…"
"Yes Rachel, I do. It's part of my research. Just think of the wonders my research can do to the knowledge of Marine Biology!" Garfield grinned widely
"But Garfield…It's dangerous" Rachel looked up at her husband worriedly
"Well…swimming with sharks is pretty dangerous" Garfield chuckled, which caused Rachel to glare at him angrily. Garfield's smile died before he hugged Rachel.
"Don't worry Rachel, I'll be safe" Garfield spoke softly and calmly as he stroked her lovely dark hair
"How can you be so sure?" Rachel asked uncertainly
"Well truthfully Rae, I'm not so sure" Garfield answered honestly causing Rachel to stir and shake a bit. He embraced her a little closer
"But I'm an expert remember? I've dealt with deadly land and sea predators alike. And it's not like I'm going to be completely vulnerable out there. I'll be protected" Garfield tried to reassure Rachel
"That doesn't help" Rachel whispered
"Just have a little confidence in me ok?" Garfield brought her face up to look at him. He smiled when she nodded before he kissed her softly
"Come on let's go up and open up that bottle of Champaign" Garfield's smile grew bigger
"Actually….I'm not really in the 'Champaign' mood" Rachel admitted
"Really? But you love Champaign!" Garfield exclaimed in shock
"Yeah I know…but not tonight" Rachel whispered but before Garfield could respond, Richard call them over for dinner.
After a nice dinner and a bit of dessert, everyone on the S.S. Rachel was ready to call it a night. Fortunately for Garfield, his crew, and friends; his vessel was pretty darn big. Bigger than a normal sized yacht, but smaller than a ship, it had plenty of room for his 10 ship mates. Garfield and Rachel walked down hand in hand to his private quarters and lain down next to each other. Rachel sighed deeply and tiredly before she wrapped her slim arm around her husband's chest. Garfield smiled as he kissed her lavender-shampooed hair.
"You know, I never thought I would be married to an animal loving, tofu eating, goofball a few years back" Rachel commented tiredly before yawning softly. Garfield chuckled
"I never thought you'd even agree to go out with me let alone marry me!" Garfield laughed
"I guess we're both equally surprised" Rachel whispered
"Yeah…and I wouldn't have it any other way" Garfield smiled as he felt Rachel snuggle closer to him. And like that the two fell asleep soundly
….
The next morning was a calm and easy Friday morning. Garfield slowly got up to the smell of breakfast. He groaned as he knew that Victor woke up early so he could cook his precious bacon before Garfield could have the chance to argue. He was about to get up when he felt his wife's grip on him strengthen.
"Stay" Rachel groaned
"Rae, I gotta have breakfast before I go swimming-"
"No…no swimming for you. Just lay here with me…" Rachel's voiced trailed off. Garfield sighed before he lay back down to rest. After fifteen minutes, he sensed that Rachel was deep in sleep again, so he carefully pulled himself out of Rachel's death grip and swiftly got changed. He climbed the stairs to be greeted by his close friends and crew members.
"Morning Gar!" Richard greeted warmly, Garfield smiled at Richard and took a seat next to him and his girlfriend Kori
"Yes! A morning of goodness to you friend Garfield!" Kori addressed the boat's skipper happily
"Yeah morning lettuce-head" Victor chuckled as he dropped a plate of tofu eggs and bacon in front of Garfield
"Wow! You actually cooked me a plate of tofu eggs and bacon?" Garfield cried out in shock
"Pffft! Yeah right! Kori did that, even when I told her not too…"
"Yes! I thought it would be the least I could do to thank you for inviting us on this most extraordinary voyage!" Kori clapped her hands excessively
"Thanks Kori!"
A few minutes into breakfast, Rachel groggily made her way up to the dining room and took a seat on Garfield's lap and laid her head on his shoulder, taking a short snooze.
"Rachel? You ok?" Garfield asked questioningly
"Mhmm…" was her muffled response
"You really don't want me to go swimming huh?" Garfield chuckled softly, receiving a slow nod from his exhausted wife.
"Actually Gar, are you sure there isn't any other way you can do this? I mean…swimming with sharks…." Richard began
"That's some Steve-O crap man!" Victor finished for Richard
"Guys, it's not like I'm trying to commit suicide! I'm doing this for science and to protect local swimmers" Garfield explained again
"Alright friend, just please be careful" Kori spoke worriedly
After Richard and Victor were able to pry Rachel off of Garfield, it was time for Garfield to begin his assignment. One of his crew members walked up with a camera and began to roll the film.
"Hello, I'm Garfield Logan; Jump City University Marine Biologist. I got a call informing me that recently there has been a whopping increase in Shark Attacks along the coast of Florida. 7 attacks in the last year with 1 being fatal. Experts believe that it was because of an increase in the Caribbean Reef Shark's population along the Florida Coast. Well I'm here today to see what exactly the problem is, and how we can protect the beaches without harming the sharks or their natural way of life." Garfield spoke to the camera as he equipped himself with his wet-suit and shark-suit and dived into the water. Rachel was not on top of the main deck to observe her husband since she claimed that she felt sick to the stomach for unknown reasons. Garfield assumed it the uneasiness she felt about him diving into the water.
As Garfield stayed afloat of the water, he calmly began to explain and inform the camera man, who was also in the water with him, the diet and behaviors of the sharks he was going to be swimming with.
"The Reef Sharks normally like to feed on Bony Fish and small sting rays along the coral reefs. They can grow up to 10 feet in length and up to 150 lbs. But it is very uncommon for them to attack humans, seeing as they are normal shy and timid creatures around us. Which is why it leaves biologist like myself, stumped as to why the attacks are increasing" Garfield clarified before he got back up his boat.
"Well the water seems like the perfect temperature for these sharks to be swimming around. What we are going to do is tag 10 of these sharks with this top-of-the-line electronic tagging device. What it does is let us know where this group of sharks will be moving, so we can see if it is indeed this species of sharks that is attacking the local beaches." Garfield made clear as he demonstrated the device. He caught a glance of Rachel standing by the edge of the boat looking quite afraid of the water. Garfield got up and gently hugged her from behind.
"This is my wife Rachel; she's not very happy with my little 'swimming' with the Reef Sharks" Garfield and his crew chuckled.
"And I have reason to be upset" Rachel retorted before Garfield kissed her on the cheek in front of the camera
"She's just a little worry-wart" Garfield chuckled again as Rachel glared at him.
Garfield gave Victor and Richard a thumbs-up signaling them to throw something into the water.
"What my colleagues just dumped into the water is a 'chum-si-cle.' 300 lbs of frozen fish-carcass to attract the sharks so I can tag them as they feed" Garfield explained as he made his way back to the deck and dove into the water with his camera men and safety divers.
Garfield swam down to the sharks whom began to swarm the bait floating in the water. Soon the semi-large group of sharks began to feed onto the bait ripping and tearing at it viscously. Garfield cautiously made his way down and slowly and steadily began to randomly tag the distracted sharks. On the eighth shark that he was tagging, it suddenly turned around and bit down onto his forearm. Garfield stayed calm and let the shark release himself off his arm as he quickly tagged the fish and finished tagging the remaining two before he swam back to the boat.
"Well as you can see, this is a very dangerous maneuver that I was pulling." Garfield began as he showed the damage that his wet-suit received from the bite
"But fortunately, my chainmail shark-suit blocked the bite from reaching my skin and arm." Garfield spoke as he climbed back onto the boat fetching a blinking box-like device from a table nearby
"This is the base for the electronic tags, it will notify us whenever this group of reef sharks is within 30 miles of the coast." Garfield said to the camera man as he jumped back into the water and planted the device onto the undersea bed. As Garfield was beginning to swim up, he saw something that made his blood run cold in fear.
~"Richard"~ Garfield spoke over his microphone
"Yeah Gar?" Richard asked
~"We've got a problem…"~
"What! What is it!" Richard spoke a little too loudly catching the attention of Kori and Rachel
~"There's an aggressive looking Tiger Shark swimming straight at me…"~ Garfield spoke, surprisingly calmly for someone who was at high risk of a shark attack
"What! Garfield! Get back here now!" Rachel grabbed the radio out of Richard's hand and yelled into it.
~"Yeah, I'm making my way back right now"~
At hearing this Rachel ran over to the back of the vessel. Upon seeing a shark fin gliding over the ocean waves, Rachel suddenly grew stiff and was paralyzed in fear. In her sudden shock she didn't notice how wet the deck was and slipped and fell into the water, dangerously close to the feeding frenzy.
~"RACHEL!"~ Garfield screamed as he swam like a mad-man to his wife. Unbeknownst to him, the Tiger Shark was swimming right behind him.
End of chapter
A/N: Yeah….I was kind of watching Shark Week, and all of a sudden this idea popped into my head lol. I don't know if you guys like the idea or not, but please let me know if you would like me to continue this story in your reviews. I would understand if you didn't since…well…it's VERY out of the Teen Titans norm! lol! Well don't worry about "Master of Puppets" I still haven't given up on that story, I'm just stuck in a writer's block and I'm working on the newest chapter as we speak :P SO like always, let me know what you guys think of this idea in your reviews! And again, if there are any of you guys still out there, thanks for being so loyal and patient with me, I REALLY appreciate it, especially with all these recent troubles and hardships in my life. Thanks again! And I love you guys! :D
