Thanks you to all the people who have sent reviews recently. You make me want to wrote all day long…which I can't do because I have one of those pesky job things.
**Every Rose Has Its Thorn, Poison**
Chandler looked around his tiny office. He was sick of reading the same reports day after day. He could understand why the crew was getting bored. This mission, while easy, was a real drag. In the last two weeks he'd had to review not one or two but six different reports from Jeter on enlisted's pulling pranks. The last one, an incident involving toothpaste and the toilet seats in the officer's heads had been the final straw. This week was going to be crack down week. He shoved back his desk chair and went to find Mike.
The XO was sitting idly in his chair on the bridge. It felt reasonably warm for once with the sunlight streaming in the forward windows. "Captain on the Bridge." The watch officer announced him and everyone stood.
"At ease everyone. I'm just here to get Mike." They headed down to Jeter's office where they found him typing away on yet another incident report.
There were bags under Jeter's eyes and he looked unusually haggard. Except for the clear eyes and steady posture, it reminded Chandler of the way he'd looked back in his drinking years. "Sirs, I have determined who put salt in all the sugar dispensers and he is being disciplined as we speak."
"I hope the punishment fits the crime. I take coffee very seriously." Mike grumbled.
"Yes indeed. Bacon was thrilled to have some extra help in the kitchen. He'll be using the salt and sugar that he ruined to scrub grease scum out of the stoves and ovens this week. Hopefully he'll appreciate how hard they already work by the time he's done." Chandler could always trust Russ to turn an incident like this into a lesson well learned. When he began to fill them in on the incident Tom sighed and held up a hand. "Hold that thought since I'm going to have to read it anyways. A lot of the burden of these shenanigans has fallen on you Russ, and I think it's time we put a stop to them."
"That would be fantastic Sir." The creases around Russ's smile deepened. "What do you have in mind."
"I think it's time to shake people up a bit, keep them on their toes. Make sure we come back into port in tip top shape."
Mike's face brightened. "Time for a few inspections?"
Tom ran his hand through his hair and snagged a few strands, pulling them straight and measuring their length against his finger. "Yep, but let's not give ourselves more paperwork than we have to. We'll do a few surprises with the groups that always keep things up and let the word get out before we hit the hard cases. You guys know how this works. As soon as rumors start flying we let the officers start dropping hints about what we're looking for and by the time we get to the puppies they will be looking pretty good."
Mike nodded and glanced over Russ's shoulder to the org chart on the wall. "Ok, then I'm thinking we do a workstation run through with the CIC because Barker runs a tight operation to begin with. But we'll include uniforms and appearance so Russ, you can start spreading the word about that and remind people of the regs. Then we do the senior officer racks at some crazy hour. God help us with the paperwork if we catch anything though so we better be sure to skip the previous offenders."
It was three in the afternoon but Kara was dog tired. All her sleep for the last week had been in broken pieces. She rotated off her night watch and had dinner. Then a few hours sleep. Then she'd tiptoe to Danny's room for a few hours. Then she'd tiptoe back and sleep another hour or so. She tried to make up for the lost sleep with afternoon naps, but it wasn't enough. She supposed this is what new parents felt like. It was enough to convince her to never have children.
Days like today, when Barker called a meeting during his own assigned watch, were tougher. A wiggly blue line left incriminating evidence on her notepad that she had just nodded off during his briefing about the next weapons trial. God Barker could be so boring. After eight rounds, she was pretty sure people knew the plan. All he really had to do was tell them the new parts but noooo he had to start from the beginning every time. Only three more rounds to go after this, just 34 days, she reminded herself.
Her mind began to wander as she stared out the window on a gray and drizzly sky. She wondered how long they would stay in Norfolk when they got back. Since this last stop had been so short, she bet they stayed longer than normal. Yale had an online course in computational meteorology she'd been wanting to take. Maybe she'd be able to squeeze it in. Barker was describing the torpedo battery they would use now. It was the same as tests 3 and 6 so she spaced out again. Or maybe she should just take a vacation someplace warm. She did have enough leave time earned to go somewhere for a few weeks. She could see it in her head now, white sand beach with big thatched umbrellas, the sound of waves and palm trees rustling in the wind. They could snorkel in crystal clear water. She closed her eyes again and saw white curtains billowing out on to a private balcony, a dark ceiling fan lazily circling, mmmm and a sultry afternoon spent…
"Foster?" Barker's sharp question shattered her fantasy. "Are you ok?" The group tittered nervously and she felt the hot sting of a flush clear to her hairline. She scooted back in her chair to sit as upright as possible and fought the sudden urge to yawn.
"Yes, yes I'm fine." She stammered. "Uh, I find the midnight sun a little disruptive to my sleep cycle and this rainy day isn't helping."
Barker looked surprised but then again, sometimes she thought he was so perfect he must be a robot. "Well, if you need to stand to keep yourself awake, by all means." He indicated the back of the room.
Reluctantly she stood, careful not to utter the sigh that rose within her. A prickle of embarrassment swept her hairline. She'd never had to stand before, not even as a student. Then again, she smiled wryly to herself, the price might be worth what she'd gained from all that lost sleep. She took her place in the back of the room, determined to pay more attention. She may have swayed on her feet a little, but overall she manged to survive the rest of the meeting intact. She had to reluctantly admit to herself that she probably should make sure she slept the entire night through for once, just to catch up a little bit. It wouldn't do to mess up tomorrow just because she was tired. She resolved to break the news to Danny at her evening break. She was sure he'd be disappointed but would ultimately understand.
The first half of her shift in the CIC was no more exciting than Barker's briefing. She made some preliminary calculations for tomorrow's testing and worked on the program she was writing for Nishioka to store the weekly fire drill data. Then she drafted an email to the master at arms with some detailed info about tomorrow's testing. At 2100 hours she made her way to the foredeck to check the weather station. After she made her measurements she hustled back toward the CIC. If she was quick, she would have a few minutes for a quick kiss with Danny in the storage closet beneath the ladder leading back up to the level with the bridge and CIC.
She was rushing down the p-way when she heard someone behind her calling her name. "Lieutenant Foster? Lieutenant Foster?" she heard heavy footsteps and turned to see Seaman Yates advancing on her. She caught a glimpse of olive camo also heading her way over his shoulder.
"Yes Mr. Yates?" She knew he worked with the master at arms so she had the feeling he was going to ask her the exact things she'd put in the email already. She watched as the chubby seaman puffed to a stop.
"CPO Heller sent me to get some details about tomorrow's testing from you."
She hoped she could finish with Yates and get him to move on before Danny got there or else there would be no 9 PM rendezvous tonight. "I have an email in the works for him with all the details. But basically, we'll need the dummy boat about three miles away around 2 PM. There should be a set of target drones in a box somewhere to mount on it." Yep, that was all, move on sailor, she thought. Danny was looked angry as he approached and when he saw the younger man talking to her, his brows lowered and his scowl deepened.
Yates just stood there also frowning. "Yes but Heller was concerned about the heat signature. The instructions Barker sent say nothing about it."
Kara wanted to stomp her foot in frustration and it took all her effort to keep from matching Danny's scowl. "That's because we're testing if we can ID and get a fix on the target drones using their latent heat signatures." Danny was upon them now and she noticed his hair was curling slightly like it had been damp since the last time it was combed.
"Lieutenant, Seaman. Good evening." Kara knew he couldn't stop right where they were standing by the closet, it would look too suspicious, but she was a little surprised at how he glared at Yates.
"Ah, g, g, good evening Lieutenant Green." Seaman Yates stammered. His cheeks colored.
Kara rolled her eyes. For the life of her she couldn't figure out why the younger crew found him so intimidating. Sure, he was fit but he wasn't unusually tall like the XO or heavy like Bacon. And he looked good but she knew for a fact that Yates had a girlfriend at home so the seaman wasn't crushing on Danny either. Sure, he had some additional combat skills and experience but so did Burk and they didn't go starstruck around him. "Sorry" she mouthed to Danny while while Yates took up a sudden interest in his shoes.
Danny shrugged although she could see the disappointment in his eyes. "Later" he mouthed back. He gave a quick whistle and Halsey trotted along, leaping gracefully over each knee knocker and leaving the faint odor of wet dog in his wake.
Oblivious to the disruption he'd caused, Yates proceeded to ask her several long winded questions about what latent heat was and how the drones would have it without having their heat coils turned on. When she finally made it back to the CIC she was late and she discovered everyone standing at attention while Slattery gave their workstations an inspection. While he easily accepted her explanation that she had been answering Heller's questions via Yates, she also got a reminder to not conduct business in the p-ways but rather ask colleagues to continue to the CIC instead. Already feeling a bit of anxiety over Danny's cloudy expression, she just wanted the shift to end so she could go find out what was wrong.
After a frustrating evening without a visit with Danny, Kara hustled to the mess for some fuel and a moment to contemplate what could have possibly made him so angry. She had just sat down to a bowl of minestrone and Bernie's fresh bread when no less than four people crowded her. She just wanted to eat fast and then get to bed, so she could get up again in three hours. But, when you live and work with the same people day in and day out there is little room to be rude.
"Hey Foster, is this as warm as it gets here?" PO3 Smith took a break from slurping his soup to rope her into the conversation he had been having with Burk, Cossetti, and Frankie about working outside in the Arctic.
She suppressed a sigh and straightened up. "Pretty much. Every once in a while a mass of warmer air will move up here, but due to the cold water temperatures, it rarely gets above fifty."
Frankie snorted. "Fifty would be nice. I think I had icicles in my nose when I came in at 2200 last night. At least the rain gave us an early night." He wrapped his big hands around his bowl, enjoying the warmth.
"Well, even when the sun is up, after about three PM it starts to cool again as it gets lower in the sky. Why so late? If the rain had started to freeze it would have been treacherous out there." She tried to sound only mildly interested but here was her chance to find out what had made Danny scowl so fiercely this afternoon. "Is that why Green looked so pissed when I saw him around nine?"
Burk was shaking his head. "No, he's pissed because he pretty much had to shout before we could get Dr. Scott off the ice when it started to rain. She was yelling about not understanding the urgency of her work and he lost his temper and told her she could stay but if the conditions weren't fit for the dog then he sure as hell wouldn't keep his men out and we were going in whether she did or not."
Frankie shook his head. "Yeah, wouldn't have been a big deal but the kicker is that after we got back, she went and talked to Chandler. So sure enough, right after dinner Chandler called Danny boy into his office."
Relieved it had nothing to do with her, Kara's mood brightened. "Well, Chandler is a great negotiator. Hopefully he stood strong against Dr. Scott. He always puts the welfare of the crew first. He really doesn't like to see his people get taken advantage of." Burk was nodding in agreement.
Smith put down his spoon. "Damn it. If you saw him at nine and he was still pissed then I bet Chandler gave in to Dr. Scott. Shit," He pounded a fist on the table. "I really don't want to be a baby but the ice gets so slick when it rains that I just don't want to be out there in that. We can adjust our gear, but really, her damn birds don't seem worth the risk of someone getting injured."
"I could try to advise against it. On the basis that it's not good for people to underestimate the cold as we move away from the noon hour." She volunteered.
Frankie shook his head. "You can try but you haven't seen that woman when she is being stubborn. We practically have to physically haul her off the ice every evening as it is."
Kara headed off to bed much relieved that Danny wasn't mad at her. Whatever was going on with Dr. Scott, Chandler wouldn't allow people to be put at risk if he didn't think it was necessary. She could find out more later, but for now she really needed some sleep. She set her alarm for 3:15 and undressed for bed.
Danny woke from a deep sleep with the feeling that he was late for something. He glanced at the clock and saw it was 3:30 in the morning. He had been sleeping since 9:30 and yet he was still exhausted. He knew why. He had been replaying his conversation with Chandler over in his head. "She did admit that you told her the forecast included rain when she insisted on going up that ridge anyway. And I agree that she needs to follow directions better. Next time Foster puts rain in the forecast, I'd say you are well within your rights to refuse to go so far inland or even to authorize transport at all. You might remind her that as she is a civilian we can't stop her from doing whatever she wants, but we also are not obligated to lend her our resources or save her ass." The problem was, Danny had already figured out that Dr. Scott really would go marching off into the snow herself if she didn't see any immediate danger and that Chandler would never deny rescue to anyone who needed it. Danny would end up out there rescuing the damn scientist all the same.
He sat up. Kara was usually there by 3:30. He wondered if he had been a little too grumpy earlier. Gah, what if she thought he was mad at her? He blinked sleep from his eyes and pushed himself to his feet as his throat sank to his stomach at the thought. He'd better go apologize now before she changed her mind about this whole thing again. He shuffled into his flip flops and then opened the door.
The bright white lights in the p-way were unexpected, as was the XOs smile from where he was lounging against the bulkhead. "Ah, good morning Lieutenant Green. You can join the party." Slattery motioned to where seven or eight other people in various forms of sleepwear and an equal number in full uniform were already standing at attention along the wall.
Danny blinked against the light. "Uh, may I get the dog, Sir?"
Slattery nodded. "Good thinking, no need for him to go all guard dog and wake up the next p-way."
He opened the door wide and helped Halsey down. As he straitened from setting him on the floor he swiped a hand over the counter, sending the bobby pins to the floor. He kicked them under the bed and followed Halsey out. They took their places at the wall just as Slattery nodded to Garnett to knock on Kara's door.
"30 seconds, make yourself decent." Called out the chief engineer. There was no response so Garnett knocked again. When there was still no response she turned to Slattery with her brows raised. Danny caught the subtext. Foster would be the last person on anyone's list of people likely to not be in their bed at the appointed hour. He wanted to tell her that Kara slept like the dead, but he knew better than to make any comment. Garnett slid the master key into the door and it swung open. Further down the line Danny saw Gator, who shared the room across from Garnett's with Barker, craning his neck to see inside.
As the light splashed over her room he saw that she was sleeping face down, one leg and one arm hanging off the bed. He cringed when she started to stir and fell in a crumpled mess on the floor, one bare leg and a sliver of pink panties showing from beneath the blue shirt she was sleeping in. Gator covered his mouth but he was staring. Feeling a sudden surge of angry possessiveness, Danny gave Barker an eye nudge and the other man elbowed Gator. "Eyes forward sailor." Garnett quickly stepped inside the room pulling the door behind her but an amused, "Wow, I didn't realize you were such a sound sleeper Foster. Grab some bottoms and join us for the inspection." could be heard through the crack in the door.
A few moments later they emerged and Kara moved to take her place at the wall while Slattery knocked on to the next room to wake up Burk and Mason. She met Danny's eyes with a questioning gaze and he mouthed "Lucky.". She nodded curtly and took her place next to Halsey. In a few minutes all 14 currently off-duty residents of the P-way were lined up and Slattery and Garnett were calling them forward to review their rooms, clipboard in hand.
"Alright officers, listen up." Slattery stood by the door to the first room on the p-way. "I don't want any extra paperwork from this so it is more of a general housekeeping check, given that it was a surprise and no one had a chance to make their bed." He glanced into the first room. "Nice job on the bed though Barker." Danny was glad he'd swept the floor only two days ago. It wouldn't do to get written up for the tumbleweeds of fur that tended to accumulate. Slattery continued. "We have roughly 33 days to go so between now and when we head back to Norfolk we are going to inspect every inch of this ship. I want you all to complain a little, gloat a little, whatever you need to do to get the junior people to clean up their act before we get to them because as you know..." He pointed to Barker.
"You hate paperwork Sir?"
"Bingo!" Slattery knocked his knuckles on him clipboard. "Alright, sit tight out here and we're going to blast through these rooms. Gator, Barker, let's start in yours." The three men disappeared through the door. The rest of them relaxed slightly. Danny absently rubbed Halsey's ears and shared a commiserating glance with Burk. They were going to be wrecked in the morning but they would still have to take Dr. Scott out for her crazy quest.
Garnett motioned to Kara and Alicia. "Come on. We'll get yours over with." They passed back into the room and Danny heard Garnett asking the women to open lockers and lift their mattress and otherwise display that they kept the room clean and items properly stowed. Then the two women stood with their backs to the open door as Garnet began checking off her list on the clipboard. "What's all this fabric in your trash about? That trash can should be emptied daily."
He watched Kara's loose hair gleam as she nodded. "Ah yes ma'm. That's my fault. They are just scraps, from my sewing projects." He wondered what she was sewing now. He knew she had sewn that scarf for him but it seemed like an oddly domestic hobby for a woman who could run complex equations in her head and take out a target from 500 yards. "Very good on the housekeeping in general though Foster, Granderson."
Garnett shut the door to view behind and then opened it again. For a few moments, all they could hear was the sound of Garnett shutting lockers as she moved around the small room. "You know better than to leave laundry hanging from the end of the bed." Garnett tsk tsked. The hand he had buried in Halsey's fur froze. He had left his shirt there a few days ago and not had the chance to recover it. He was an idiot for not passing Frankie's warning on to her. He held his breath waiting for Garnett to notice but she just kept on going. "Floor is clean. Nothing untoward in the lockers, no evidence of food or insects. Liquids stored in closed bottles." He let out his breath as Andrea appeared in the doorway, relieved that she hadn't seen the nametag or processed the fact that Kara would be swamped in a shirt that size. "These sewing scissors need to be in a locker Foster, not on your desk. If we hit rough water they could be dangerous."
"Yes Ma'am." There was a note of relief in her voice as well. He wondered if she had been standing there, willing the other woman not to look too closely at the shirt.
Garnett passed back out into the narrow p-way, holding his shirt. "Last but not least, Lieutenant Green, can you explain why these lovely ladies have your shirt in their room?" Kara's head whipped around and he could see the total panic in her face.
His mouth went dry. He could feel 12 other pairs of eyes bearing down on him. Shit. What a stupid way to get caught. He drew a blank on what to say.
"It's my fault Ma'am." Alicia interjected, turning to face Garnett. "Green asked if one of us could sew on a patch for him and I tossed it there and forgot to tell Kara about it." She gave him a glare that said I'm only covering for Kara, not you. That was ok with him. He was just grateful she was such a quick thinker.
"Ah yes Ma'am. I heard Foster could sew." He offered Garnett an apologetic smile.
She just scowled and thrust his shirt back to him. "Lieutenant Green. The women on this ship are not here to be your personal assistants." Her cheeks were more pinched than usual and he had no doubt he had offended her.
"Yes Ma'am." He did his best to look contrite as he accepted the shirt from her out thrust arm. Over her shoulder he could see Alicia smirking at him. Yeah, he owed her.
"Come on, we'll do your room next." Garnett waved and hustled toward his open door. "Imagine, a grown man, 10 years in the Navy, needing help sewing a patch. Don't they teach you that in boyscouts?" Behind him he heard Mason barely hold in a titter. As he and Halsey returned to his room to accept what was sure to be a very thorough inspection he caught a commiserating look from Lieutenant Chung. "At least it doesn't look like you're expecting your Mommy to come in here and clean!" Garnett tapped her pencil on her clipboard and he took his place by the door. It was going to be a long, long day tomorrow too.