The Office.
Charles.
Just as I pulled a relatively clean shirt from my locker, Hector slammed the door to his, and plopped down on the bench. "Oh, and I got the pictures developed," he added.
The shirt smelled clean, and had long sleeves, score! "What pictures?"
"The pictures from the trip."
Sure enough, in his hand were at least forty prints from his little idiot-proof camera's. Hector had turned into some weird shutterbug on the training vacation. "You better not have any naked pictures of me again."
His attention was on the photos, "Hey, no one told you to jump off the boat naked man, you did that on your own."
I smiled and pulled the shirt on.
Hector must have found a good one, he set it aside on the bench.
"I was drunk," I countered, tucking in the side.
Hector made a noise, continued flipping, and set aside a couple more. "So you serious about this? All of them?"
"Every last one…I think," I laughed.
Finding my sneakers, I slammed the locker shut and plopped down. I did grab the small pile he was making. What was so special about these pictures? I turned them right-side-up and saw pictures from our diving. Pictures of Victoria and myself.
Hector had gotten a few.
There was one of the two of us in the crystal clear water, she was showing me how to work the new dive computers. I flipped to the next one, with Victoria and her father, who had somehow talked her into letting him drive. He had that stupid sombrero and a beer in hand. The two were laughing. They couldn't look more different, or more happy. Her hair was too dark, she had no freckles and she was too short to be his daughter. Somehow, it looked like she was in the picture. She made him laugh.
Hector handed me another one for the pile.
It was of Victoria zipping me into my suit on the boat. Like I had really needed help. But she was beyond mesmerizing. She had that happy with life smile on her face.
I flipped to another, a really good one. And not just because Victoria was in a bikini on the bow of the boat, while in motion. But I was in the picture watching her. Mack was beside me, hurled over the side of the boat, loosing his lunch. It had been a constant theme that day.
"Oh, here's a good one, you're only a little naked," Hector snorted.
I snatched it from him.
Indeed, there was my bareass. In a bar, so I was hardly to blame. "Did you make doubles?"
Hector smiled, "Of course. That one's going in the Christmas card."
A few guys from Charlie Team came in and to their respective lockers. Hector ignored them, "Oh, I have many copies of this one." He then handed me a picture of Victoria in her black bikini.
Sure, she was dancing with some local dude named Lorenzo, but she looked really hot. The black against her tan popped and her boobs looked bigger. Hector and I both cocked our heads.
"Vicky has a tat?"
Apparently she did, "I guess so. And it's Victoria. She grabbed my coin sack ad squeezed when I called her that."
Hector grimaced, "And you're sure that this is it? The one that grabs your balls is it?"
I nodded, "Positive. Do you have anymore bikini pictures?"
Hector flipped through and shook his head. "I have one of her crying on the phone."
I looked over, he handed me the photo, and I remembered she had called her sister to say hi. Only to find out they were having a family reunion, one she had been casually forgotten to be invited to. The entire restaurant could hear he younger sister's scream's of outrage and fury.
I so wanted to put my foot up the ass of her biological father, and I wasn't even dating her yet. Though I had wary permission from Ryan, her Dad. Who had promised me a painful death in the event I made her cry.
That had been a fun conversation, but necessary, especially since he was practically her Dad.
Hector silently handed me one.
A good one.
It had the two of us seated side-by-side on the beach. Our backs were to the camera and we were looking out at the moon. This was a good one.
The door to the locker room slammed.
We looked at each other.
And then Ryan appeared, he scanned his men and pointed, "William's."
Hector looked up, "Yes Sir?"
"What are you doing?"
Hector paused, "Um…about ready to go grab lunch sir. We have to wait to use the Kill Room."
Ryan nodded and processed, then tossed Hector keys, "Good. Drop by my house and check on my daughter. She was sick this morning when I left the house. I gave her specific instructions. She was to call every hour on the hour and tell me her temperature, which she has not done yet."
Ah, so I inquired, "What was her temperature?"
"103, as of six hundred hours."
minutes later…
Hector pushed the door to Ryan's house open, and the sound of a TV came down the hall. I closed the door and we followed to noise into the massive living room.
Officer's Housing rocked.
When we found the TV and the couch, which had Victoria on it, conked out. I hurried over and felt her flushed forehead. She was burning up. I looked over my shoulder at Hector, "Go find a thermometer. She's hot."
With a nod he was off.
I looked back to Victoria.
In nothing more then sweats and a t-shirt, her hair pulled away from her fever-reddened face. I tapped her cheek, "Sweetheart, Victoria, wake up for me. Come on and wake up, it's time to eat."
Her eyes fluttered, but that was it.
I walked around the couch and scooped her up without effort. She wasn't heavy at all. Then again, I had to bench press thing up to three times her weight. So this was no big thing.
I carried her into the kitchen, when I found it, and laid her on the island. After finding a cup, I flicked water in her face. After a couple tries her face scrunched up. She turned her head and tried to roll over. I held my hand on her soft stomach, preventing it. "Victoria?"
Finally her dark eyes opened and focused on me. Confused, she blinked and tried to sit up. I gave her some water, "You never called Ryan. He sent us to check on you."
She stared, "Who?"
It was then Hector arrived.
I tossed him the phone off the wall, and he tossed me the Thermometer. Which I placed under her tongue, just as she was about to ask who we were.
Oh yeah, she was cooking.
By the time Ryan picked up the phone we had a temperature reading. With Hector looking over my shoulder, he announced it to Ryan.
It was 105.
She was so roasting.
I took the glass stick out from under her tongue, and she fell over on the island. Her ponytail casting dark hair across her face.
I could hear Ryan bitching about her having had her Flu Shot, and that reaction earlier in the year. To which Hector replied, "Well, she has something like the flu. What do you want us to do with her Sir?"
He then nodded, "Yes Sir, we'll drop her off for you."
Hector hung up the phone.
"We're taking her to the hospital?"
"Yep."
Ok then. I grabbed her feet and scooped her up yet again, "Get the doors, will ya?"