Tommy stood on the patio outside the room where he and Nikki were staying admiring the view. Their room had a marvelous view of the ocean and Tommy watched as the waves crashed on the shore and smiled. So far their vacation had been perfect but they had been in Hawaii for three days and Tommy still hadn't worked up the nerve to ask Nikki to marry him.

"Thomas, why didn't you wake me?" Nikki asked as she joined him.

"You just looked so peaceful, I couldn't bear to disturb you," he answered.

"Well at least it's still early enough for breakfast," Nikki remarked.

"I could order us some food if you want to go and take a shower," Tommy told her.

"That'd be great, I won't be long," Nikki said as she turned to go back inside.

"So what do you want to do today, more sightseeing?" Tommy asked after they had finished breakfast.

"Actually, I'm a little tired of sightseeing, maybe we could just stay here at the resort and relax," Nikki said.

"What exactly did you have in mind?" Tommy asked grinning.

"Thomas Oliver, is that all you think about?" Nikki teased.

"What?" Tommy asked pretending not to get her meaning.

"I was going to suggest that maybe we go down to the pool," Nikki replied.

"Sounds like a plan to me, I could use the cool down," Tommy said and Nikki laughed.

Tommy and Nikki walked downstairs and outside to the pool area of the resort. There were only a few other people around so they had no problem finding lounge chairs to place their towels on.

"Last one in buys dinner tonight," Nikki said as she ran and jumped in the pool.

"You cheated!" Tommy yelled as he jumped in after her.

"It's not my fault that you're slow," she joked.

"Oh yeah, well take this," Tommy said as he began splashing her with water.

"Your crazy you know that," Nikki told him once they stopped playing.

"Crazy about you," Tommy said as he moved in closer to kiss her.

"Tommy we're not exactly alone out here," she reminded him.

"So what there's no law against kissing my girlfriend in public," he replied.

"No but with you kissing always leads to something else," she said.

"I see your point but we will finish this later," he told her.

After sometime in the pool, Nikki and Tommy decided to relax in the lounge chairs.

"Can I get you folks anything?" one of the resort employees asked.

"I'd like a bottle of water, what about you Thomas," Nikki said as Tommy lay there with his eyes closed.

"Water would be good and I'd like the paper if it wouldn't be too much trouble," Tommy replied.

"Coming right up," the employee said as he left.

"Thomas, those two guys keep staring at me and it's starting to creep me out," Nikki said and Tommy opened his eyes.

"I don't believe it, what in world are they doing all the way out here," Tommy said looking shocked.

"You know them?" Nikki asked.

"I don't think they were staring at you, I think they were trying to figure out if I were who they thought I was," Tommy told her.

"I don't understand," Nikki said puzzled as Tommy got up and went over to where the two men were standing and Nikki followed out of curiosity.

"How long were the two of you going to stare at me before you came over and said hello," Tommy asked.

"We're so sorry sir, we didn't mean to," the smaller of the two said.

"Bulk, Skull, it's me Tommy Oliver, you don't have to call me sir," Tommy told them.

"See Bulky I told you it was him," Skull said.

"We almost didn't recognize you with the short hair," Bulk replied.

"I thought it was time for a change," Tommy told him.

"Thomas, you know theses two?" Nikki asked.

"Yeah we went to high school together, Nikki this is Bulk and Skull, boys this is my girlfriend Nikki," Tommy said.

"Nice to meet you," Nikki told them.

"I got to hand it to you Tommy, you always did have the best luck when it came to girls," Skull told him.

"What are you two doing here in Hawaii?" Tommy asked.

"My uncle owns this resort and he let me run the beach club," Bulk explained.

"That's great, I never thought I'd run into you two after all these years," Tommy told him.

"Small world I guess," Skull said.

"So Tommy, what have you been up to, new hair, new girlfriend, what happened to your racing?" Bulk asked.

"I left racing to go to college and study paleontology," Tommy answered.

"What is that again?" Skull asked.

"I study dinosaurs," Tommy replied.

"Interesting choice of study," Bulk told him.

"Bulk, Skull, what have I told you about bothering the guests," a man shouted from across the pool.

"Oops, that's my uncle, he gets a little testy when we're not at our posts," Bulk told him.

"Well it was nice seeing you," Tommy told him.

"So you went to high school with those two?" Nikki asked.

"Yeah, believe it or not they were the school bullies," Tommy told her.

"Those two were bullies?" Nikki questioned.

"Yeah but they were harmless, you wouldn't believe some of the situations they managed to get into," Tommy said laughing as he remembered.

"Here's your water and the paper for you sir," a waiter said.

"Thanks," Tommy told him.

A few moments later as Tommy sat reading the news paper, Bulk and Skull approached him with a phone in hand.

"Excuse me, sir you have a phone call," Bulk said as Tommy held out his hand to receive the phone. Nikki watched as Tommy took the phone and guessed from the frown on his face that it wasn't good news.

"I'll be there as soon as I can, you know what to do next," Tommy said as he turned off the phone and handed it back to Bulk who had stood there waiting.

"Thomas, who was that on the phone?" Nikki asked afraid that someone they knew might be hurt or worse.

"I'll explain once we get back to the room, I don't have much time," he told her.

"What do you mean you have to leave?" Nikki asked confused by what Tommy had just told her which wasn't much.

"Some pretty bad people are about to get there hands on an important weapon and if I don't stop them in time all hell's going to break loose," Tommy told her.

"What people, Thomas what's going on?" Nikki questioned.

"I wish I could tell you more, but I can't you just have to trust me that I wouldn't be going if I thought there were any other way to prevent this from happening, that phone call was from an old friend of mine and he wouldn't have called if it weren't urgent," Tommy informed her.

"You said that these were bad people, so why can't you just call the police or something," Nikki said.

"I'm afraid there's nothing the police could do in this particular situation, it'd be far too dangerous for them," Tommy spoke without realizing what he said.

"It's too dangerous for the police but yet you have to go, I'm sorry Thomas but that just doesn't make any sense to me," Nikki replied.

"Baby, I know this is confusing but trust me I know what I'm doing, I'll be fine, I won't be alone there are others who will be helping me, I've done this kind of thing before and that's why my friend called me to head the mission," Tommy told her.

"How long will you be gone?" Nikki asked.

"I'm not sure but it shouldn't be more than a couple of days," Tommy replied.

"And what am I supposed to do just sit here and wait," Nikki said as tears started to form in her eyes.

"Nikki, you know how important this vacation was to me and us finally having some time to ourselves but I wouldn't leave you if it weren't absolutely necessary," Tommy said.

"Thomas please don't go, I don't want you running off into danger especially when you can't even tell me what it is that you'll be doing or where you're going," Nikki replied.

"I won't lie to you Nikki, there is a chance that by leaving on this mission I'm putting my life at risk, I shouldn't have even told you that much but I thought you had a right to know," Tommy said.

"This is just too much," Nikki remarked wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Nikki, I love you and I promise that I'm going to make it back here as soon as I can," Tommy told her as he wrapped his arms around her.

"I love you too Thomas, please be careful," Nikki said.

"I'll be back," Tommy told her as he gave her a kiss.