Chapter 9
It was early morning when Seaview arrived at NIMR. Chip carefully brought her into her pen but somehow managed to scratch her paint on the starboard side. Damn, he muttered to himself. Now he would have to pay up on the bet with Lee. Maybe he could get it repaired before he knew about it. Unfortunately for Chip, Lee was awake and felt the boat scrape the dock. Smiling he thought, I got him. He couldn't wait to collect his bet. Both he and Chip had gotten so good at getting Seaview in and out of her pen that they made a new bet instead of the one that whoever scraped her paint would have to buy dinner. The new bet was Chip would get to drive the Cobra for a week if Lee scraped her paint and Lee would chose a day when Chip wouldn't have any coffee for the whole day. He knew Chip would have a monstrous headache by the end of the day. He would make sure to collect it on their next mission.
((()))
Once they tied down the boat and most of the crew had left, Lee would be carefully removed from Seaview and sent to Med Bay for a couple of days much to his displeasure as he wanted to go home and recuperate. "Jamie, I can get better at home just as well at Med Bay. Janet will be there to take care of me," Lee pleaded.
"No you will stay in Med Bay for two days and that's final," Jamie retorted. "I could always add a day or two."
"Okay two days," Lee conceded unhappily.
As much as Janet wanted Lee at home, she wanted no part of that argument as she knew Lee was going to lose anyway. She would stay with him in Med Bay as she didn't want to let him out of her sight after what happened before he left.
Helen would have liked to stay a little longer with her son and daughter-in-law but she had to get home. She had gone on a food tasting mission for a magazine article she was writing. She needed to finish the article and was almost two weeks behind due to her kidnapping. She would be leaving later that afternoon for Rhode Island.
She stopped in Med Bay before she left. "I'm sorry I have to leave but if I don't get this article done I won't have a job," she lamented. "But I'll be back in a few weeks. I have an assignment in San Diego, so I'll stop back before I head for home."
"That's fine, Mom," Lee said as she gave him a kiss good bye. Janet went over to her, "Bye Mom. We'll see you soon," she said with a grin. Lee looked at the two of them. She called her mom, Lee thought and knew things were okay between them.
((()))
Chip stopped in to see Lee after his mom left. He was a little late getting there but had to make sure maintenance knew what to do aboard Seaview and set up the security detail before he could leave. He also wanted to check out the scrape. It wasn't too bad but he was going to have to face Lee and tell him about it. He would have liked to keep it from him but his conscious wouldn't let him and besides that he knew someone would let it slip out anyway. Janet was sitting in the chair next to his bed when he walked into his room at Med Bay.
"Everything okay with Seaview?" Lee smirked.
"You know don't you," Chip sighed running his hands through his hair.
"How could I not know, I felt her scrape the dock," Lee replied starting to laugh but stopped grabbing his side because it hurt too much. "You know the "gray lady' tells me everything."
"Sorry Lee. I though I had her a little left of center and she strayed a little too far right on me," he told Lee. "When do you want to collect the bet?"
"On the next mission of course," Lee snorted. Janet sat in the chair listening to the two of them. She was glad she would be aboard Seaview to see Chip pay off his bet.
"Okay Lee," Chip replied as he sat down on the other chair dreading their next mission already.
"Chip I do have one question. I didn't want to ask when Mom was here as she would want to know who Admiral Johnson is and I'm not ready to tell her about that part of my life just yet. But who did you get to impersonate me on the web cam?"
Chip looked at Janet who answered, "Jason Weldon. He was the only one that I thought could pass for you so I told the admiral to tell Admiral Johnson to use Jason. I'm sorry we really didn't have much of a choice given the short notice. But after putting your uniform on him and your ring, he really did look like you," Janet replied.
"It was your idea to use Jason?" Lee asked.
Chip piped up, "Yes Lee it was her idea. None of us thought of him but Janet and it did fool Mr. Davis."
Lee looked proudly at his wife. "Good thinking." Maybe too good, she's beginning to think like a spy, he thought.
Lee told them about the island and how beautiful it was and that maybe they should go there when they get some time off.
((()))
Tommy was driving Helen to the airport and at the last minute the admiral decided to go with her. When they arrived at the terminal, Tommy unloaded her luggage as the admiral helped her out of the car.
"Take care, Helen," the admiral told her as they waited for the sky cap to tag her luggage.
"You too Harry, please take care of Lee and Janet. I finally realized how lucky I am to have a daughter-in-law that loves Lee as much as I do."
"You're so right," the admiral said grinning and gave her a kiss good bye. I love them both too, the admiral thought.
((()))
Janet stayed with Lee at Med Bay sneaking into bed with him at night. He wasn't up to any kind of intimacy yet but she didn't care she just wanted to be next to him. She thought Jamie didn't know, but he checked on Lee the first night and caught her in bed with him but they both were sound asleep and didn't even know he was there. He left them alone smiling as he went out the door.
Lee was well enough that Jamie released him a day early. "If you stay at home and rest for a couple more days, I will release you for light duty at the office only. No running down to Seaview, climbing in torpedo tubes or under consoles," Jamie told them when they were ready to leave. "I'll check on you tomorrow."
"Thanks, Jamie," Lee said as he knew Janet wouldn't let him do anything anyway.
When they got home Janet helped him upstairs and into bed. Just the exertion of leaving Med Bay and climbing up the stairs left Lee exhausted. He fell asleep shortly after getting into bed. Janet went downstairs to empty out the duffle bag so she could wash the clothes. She found the box with the bracelet in it and opened it up. She was surprised to see the bracelet as Lee didn't usually buy her gifts while on a mission so she would ask him about it when he woke up. She did the clothes and sighed deeply as she put them back in the duffle so Lee could take them back to the institute in case he needed them again. Janet went back upstairs two hours later and Lee was just waking up. He had a smile on his face when he saw her walk in the bedroom.
"Everything alright," he asked sensing something might be wrong.
Janet went over to the bed and took the box out of her pocket. "What's this for?" she replied as she handed it to him.
"I forgot all about that," Lee said grinning, "I bought it for you as a peace offering in case you were still mad at me. Did you open it?"
"Yes, I'm sorry I didn't know what it was," Janet answered. "Sorry if I ruined your surprise."
"No sweetie, I'm sorry. I will never threaten to take you off Seaview again," Lee responded taking the bracelet out of the box and putting it on her wrist.
Janet climbed on the bed and laid next to him after giving him a kiss. "Thank you."
"Just one more thing," Lee said staring at the bedroom door.
"What would that be," Janet responded noticing him staring at the door.
"As soon as I'm able, I'm taking the lock off that door. I don't ever want to be locked out of here again," he stated.
"Okay Lee. I never want to lock you out again," she said quietly. Now what about the pajamas?"
"We won't need those either," he replied mischievously giving her a kiss on the forehead then pulled her closer to him.
The End.
Thank you to everyone who read, followed, posted a review and e-mailed me about this story. I appreciate your kind words and hope you enjoyed it.
