Chapter 10

It was 0500 on Wednesday morning when Janet awoke. When she sat up, she heard Lee snoring softly and knew he was sound asleep. She was glad they would be docking later that afternoon as she'd found him awake the previous two nights. The first night she found him typing his AAR to Admiral Johnson. The second night she discovered he was awake when she tried to snuggle up to him because she was cold and found him sitting at his desk reading a report. When she asked him to come back to bed, he said he would but it was a couple of hours later. She knew when he did return to bed, he would just lay there not sleeping afraid to move so he wouldn't wake her. He had dark circles under eyes and was starting to look a little haggard. Janet was worried about him, so she decided to let him sleep for a couple more hours. She laid down and fell back to asleep also.

"Shit," Lee said loudly waking up Janet.

"Lee, what's wrong?" she asked still groggy. "Is something wrong with the boat…I didn't hear any klaxons."

"No, I overslept. I'm going to be late," he said as he quickly got out of the bunk and headed for the head. "I can't believe I overslept."

"I let you oversleep," Janet confessed. "I was awake at 0500, you were sound asleep so I didn't wake you."

"YOU let me oversleep," Lee shouted angrily. "What the hell were you thinking…you know better…I always report early when I've been gone."

"Lee, calm down," Janet shouted back before she realized she was shouting and softened her tone. "I'm worried about you. You look tired and have dark circles under your eyes. You haven't slept through the night since you got back from Hawaii. Besides, Chip will take over, it's not like there's no one else to run the boat."

Lee glared at her as he ducked into the head, took a quick shower, dressed and left the cabin slamming the door.

"Damn, that went well," Janet sighed. She showered, dressed and headed for the wardroom.

()()()()()()()

Harry and Jamie were in the wardroom when Janet arrived and had just gotten their breakfast. She took some toast, eggs and coffee and sat down to join them.

"Where's Lee?" Harry asked before he took a gulp of coffee.

"In the control room. I let him sleep in because he's been up the last few nights. He hasn't slept well since he returned from Hawaii. He wasn't very happy with me but I'm worried about him. I was hoping I could talk him into seeing you, Jamie, but he was so angry with me, I let it pass."

"He knows Chip or Bobby will be in the control room to relieve the men on duty," Harry said. "I'll have to remind him he's not the only officer on board."

"Thank you, sir but you know he feels responsible for everyone and everything," Janet replied after taking a nibble of her toast.

"Let me talk to him," Jamie said. "I'll try and convince him that I need to do a recheck on his blood work."

"Jamie, I'd appreciate that but I'm not going to hold my breath he's going to let you."

The three of them finished their breakfast in silence. When they were done, Harry and Janet headed to the control room and Jamie to sick bay. He decided he would talk to Lee later.

()()()()()()(

Lee ran down the spiral staircase and entered the control room. He noticed Chip was not there and Bobby was just entering through the aft hatch as he made his way over to the chart table.

"You're relieved of duty," Lee told Taper and Morgan.

"Aye sir," they replied and headed for the aft hatch. Lee picked up the log book and noticed that there were a few entries missing.

"Taper, Morgan, get back here on the double," Lee ordered.

Both men turned around and headed for the chart table just as Chip was coming into the control room.

Lee held up the log book, "Aren't you forgetting something," he snapped. "You didn't note the change in command. Looks like a few other entries are missing too. Mr. Taper you should know better," Lee ranted. "I just might to rethink your new position Mr. Morgan. Dismissed." The two men quickly high tailed it out of the control room.

Chip hurried over to the charting table. He had a contrite look on his face…his blue eyes wide open. "Captain," he said urgently. "It's not their fault about the entry in the log book. I relieved them and told them I would log it in but none of the pens worked, so I ran to get a couple."

"Why didn't they say something?" Lee asked calmly.

"You didn't give them a chance to say anything before you took their heads off," Chip replied confused at the change in Lee's demeanor.

Lee rubbed his hand over his head, "I better go talk to them," he responded and took off out the aft hatch and almost ran over Harry and Janet.

Lee knew Scott liked to get breakfast before he hit the sack so he made his way to the wardroom hoping to catch the two men before they retired to their quarters.

"What the heck is going on?" Harry asked Chip when he walked over to the charting table. "Lee ran out of here like a bat out of hell."

"Mr. O'Brien, you have the con," Chip said motioning Harry and Janet to the observation nose.

"Aye, sir," O'Brien replied and was going to note the change in the log book.

"I'll take care of it," Chip told him and joined Harry and Janet.

He explained to them what had taken place in the control room.

"Lee, would never dress down a crew member in front of the men," Harry said perplexed.

Janet sighed deeply. "It's my fault. I let him sleep in since he hasn't been sleeping and he took my head off because I did," she told Chip. "I never thought he would take it out on the crew. I'll apologize to the men. I just thought you or O'Brien would be here."

"I was here, he just didn't know it but what worries me is he was pissed one minute and back to himself the next."

"I'll make sure Jamie checks him out," Harry replied worriedly. "I'm assuming he went in search of Taper and Morgan?"

"I guess so," Chip responded and looked around the control room and could see the men were shaken at what had taken place. "Okay men, back to work, we still have a boat to run."

"What's gotten into the Skipper?" Kowalski whispered to Patterson. "I've never seen him do that before."

"I don't know but he's sure in a bad mood."

The men returned to monitoring their stations and consoles wondering what had gotten into their skipper.

()()()()()()()

Lee ran into the wardroom pleased to see Scott and David sitting at a table eating breakfast. Both men immediately stood at attention when Lee entered.

"At ease men," Lee told them and sat down. He motioned to Cookie to bring him a cup of coffee.

Cookie knew Lee hadn't eaten breakfast so he brought him over a plate. He set the plate down in front of Lee who nodded thanks.

"Go ahead and eat," Lee said to the men. He took a forkful of eggs before he continued. "I need to apologize to you for the way I acted earlier. Mr. Morton explained the situation to me. I should have asked why the log entry was missing before I dressed you down in front of the crew. It'll never happen again."

"Yes, sir," both men replied.

"You're both doing a good job and I appreciate the hard work you put in," Lee said. "I'll let you finish eating so you can hit the rack." Lee took a large gulp of coffee, left his plate of food and walked out of the wardroom.

Scott and David looked at each other not knowing what to say. They finished their breakfast and made their way to their quarters as they were tired and confused at the way the captain was acting but both knew strange things took place on Seaview.

()()()()()()()

Harry, Chip and Janet were still in the observation nose when Lee returned to the control room. He hesitated slightly at the aft hatch before he made his way to them.

"Chip, sorry I lost my head," Lee said rubbing his hand on his forehead. "I was late and just snapped."

"No problem, Lee," he answered. "It was just a misunderstanding but you do look tired."

"I'm fine," Lee responded and looked at Janet. "I shouldn't have yelled at you either. I know you were just trying to help."

"It's okay," Janet replied giving his hand a squeeze. He quickly pulled his hand away from hers. Janet was caught off guard as Lee never pulled his hand away.

"Lee, before we dock, I want Jamie to take a look at you," Harry stated. "I'll make it an order if I have too."

"Yes, sir," Lee conceded. "I'll go in a little while."

"Good," Harry said and patted Lee on the shoulder. Janet noticed Lee flinched when Harry touched him. "If you need me, I'll be in the lab packing up the samples and gathering my notes."

"Do you need help?" Janet asked.

"No, thanks," Harry replied and started up the staircase.

Lee, Chip and Janet walked over to the chart table where Chip pulled out the log book and made the entries while Lee looked on.

"I'll be in my office after I stop in the crew's quarters to get the inventory tickets," Janet volunteered.

"Lunch at 1300 hours?" Lee asked before she left.

"Aye, aye, sir," she replied with a smile and made her way out the aft hatch. She stopped briefly after exiting the control room to turn around and look at Lee. Something is definitely wrong…hopefully Jamie will have some answers, Janet thought and continued down the passageway.

()()()()()()()

Janet had no intentions of stopping in the crew's quarters, she just used that as an excuse. She was going to stop and talk to Jamie. When she arrived at sick bay, Jamie was sitting at his desk reading a report.

"What brings you to Sick Bay…are you sick?" Jamie asked. He could see by the look on Janet's face that something was bothering her. He'd already heard the scuttlebutt of what took place in the control room.

"No, I'm not sick just worried," she replied and sat down in the chair in the front of Jamie's desk. "I suppose you heard what happened in the control room."

"Yes, you know not too much is kept secret on the boat," Jamie answered.

"Jamie, there's something wrong with him," Janet said vehemently. "He bit my head off this morning because I let him sleep in. He hasn't slept the entire night for the past three nights. I know he doesn't need a lot of sleep but I can see its starting to take a toll on him."

"I'll make sure he stops and sees me before we dock," Jamie assured her.

"You don't have to worry about that as the admiral ordered him to see you before we dock," Janet responded. "One minute he's like Dr. Jekyll and the next Mr. Hyde. He also grabbed his hand away from mine when I went to squeeze and he flinched when the admiral patted him on the arm."

"I'll check out his blood again but run more in-depth tests when I get back to Med Bay. Maybe I missed something," Jamie answered. "Try not to worry we'll get to the bottom of the problem."

"Thanks, but please don't tell him I was here," Janet asked.

"Don't worry, I won't let on," Jamie said and patted her hand.

Janet stood up and left Sick Bay. Jamie sat at his desk wondering what was going on but would have to wait for Lee to come to him. He returned to reading his report.

()()()()()()()

At 1300 hours Lee and Chip turned over the control room to Bobby and went to the wardroom for lunch. Janet and Harry came in shortly after they had sat down with their plates.

"When will we be docking?" Harry asked. "I want to let Angie know so she makes sure the docking crew and maintenance know when to arrive."

"Around 1700 hours," Lee answered before taking a bite of his sandwich. "I'm waiting for the latest weather report from Sparks. When I checked earlier it wasn't looking too good."

"Let me know if there's a problem," Harry said. "Have you seen Jamie yet?"

Lee looked up from his plate, "No, not yet," he replied impatiently. "I'll do it right after lunch."

When they finished their lunch, Janet and Lee headed to Sick Bay, Chip back to the control room, and Harry went to his cabin to call Angie.

()()()()()()()

Jamie and Frank were doing inventory when Lee and Janet entered. Jamie put down his clipboard and walked over to them.

"How are you feeling?" he asked innocently.

"Fine, just following orders…seems my not sleeping and wanting rules followed is a problem," Lee replied testily as he sat down on the gurney and rolled up his sleeve.

Surprised that he was cooperating Jamie wasted no time drawing a few vials of blood but noticed Lee flinch when he touched his arm and put the needle in for the blood…it never had bothered him before.

"I'm going to run some quick tests to see if there's something I missed the first time," Jamie said as he noted Lee did look tired and haggard. "I'll run more complex tests at Med Bay just in case I don't find anything here."

Rolling down his sleeve, "Am I done, I have a boat to get into port?" Lee asked curtly.

"Yes, sir, you can go," Jamie answered. "I'll have the results in an hour or so."

Lee was already out the door and didn't hear Jamie's response. Janet looked at Jamie. "Sorry."

"It's okay," Jamie said seriously. "But I do agree something is wrong. Let's hope these tests will help us find out."

Janet left Sick Bay and returned to her office where she packed up what she needed to take back to the institute. Once that was completed, she went to the cabin and packed up their duffel bags.

()()()()()()()

When Lee returned to the control room, he headed over to the charting table. He resumed command of the boat so Bobby could get some lunch. He filled out the log book and headed over to the radio shack.

Leaning on the radio, he asked, "What's the latest weather report?"

"Not too good Skipper. The winds are gusting at fifty miles per hour and there are eight-foot waves. There's a storm heading in," Sparks replied handing Lee the weather report.

Lee returned to the charting table, picked up a pencil and tapped it on the table. "Weather's not looking good," he told Chip. "We're going to have to stay submerged almost to her berth. It sure would be nice if we could take her to the underground pen."

"That would be a lot easier but the last I heard they were still working on the new dock," Chip replied.

Lee looked at Chip with a huge smile. "Maybe I should let you take her in. I might be able to collect on our bet. It's been awhile."

Chip looked at Lee and returned his grin, "No problem, Skipper," he joked surprised at the good mood Lee was in.

()()()()()()()

As soon as Lee left, Jamie took a couple of the vials of blood he took from Lee and began to run some tests. He wasn't sure what he was looking for but hoped something would turn up. He also kept a few in reserve to run more extensive tests at Med Bay than he could on the boat. He and Frank finished up the inventory making notes on what they would need to restock before the next cruise.