Gina heard her son and son-in-law talk about 'the good ol' days' in the living room as she kept stirring the pot. She never admitted to it, but she loved it when 'her boys' relived the fun they had experienced in the past.
Because they were both her boys. Alright, she had only given birth to one of them, but as soon as Scott had brought a couple of friends home on a leave, Rob had turned into one of 'her boys'. Even though that list was long, she loved every one of them.
She heard them laugh about pulling a prank on Trent, a couple of decades back. Trent was of course also one of her boys. Almost all the team guys were.
The guys were laying the set up out for Emily, that this was back when Trent still slept like the dead, and all that. And explained that Trent from time to time have had long hair from time to time, always. Well, not before they made it into the SEAL teams, but from then on out.
Gina chuckled quietly to herself as Rob explained how he had snuck into one of the female barracks to recruit a woman for a hair braiding mission, and had ended up bringing no less than three girls along.
"Nowadays, you can barely look in Trent's direction before he wakes up…" her son chuckled, "Back then, you could pretty much poke him with a stick and worst thing he'd do was to roll over and Charlie Mike."
"What?" Emily asked.
"Continue Mission…" Rob clarified a bit, "And that mission would be to continue sleeping."
"Oh, okay…" Emily chuckled, "I need a pocket dictionary or something…"
"You'll get the hang of it…" her son chuckled, "Don't worry…"
"Well, anyway… I come back with these three women. Light's on in our quarters. Trent's out COLD on the only couch we had…"
"Using a lot of space the rest of us wanted to enjoy as well…" her son shot in.
"And I direct myself to these fine women, and point in Trent's direction…" Rob chuckled, "And I ask them if they would be so kind to braid this sleeping man's out-of-regulation length hair, for some sort of…"
"Favor in return…" Her son shot in when Rob had to search for the right phrasing for a little too long.
"And they did?" Emily asked.
"They did."
"They also braided his then not so impressive beard…"
"Oh, yeah… That thing was the patchiest thing you ever saw back then…" her son chuckled, "We gave him hell for it every chance we got."
She heard Emily chuckle a bit, "Well, at least it's grown in by now…"
"Yeah…"
"Anyway, that's how most of our old team ended up as male strippers for an evening…"
"No?" Emily's shocked disbelief was almost more than she could handle standing there in the kitchen, and Gina tried to keep her laughter as quiet as humanly possible. "Is it true?"
"I know there exists photographic evidence of it…" Rob chuckled.
"For real?"
"Yeah." Her son admitted, "Sure does. But most of us drew a line at our last sock…"
"Not all of you?" Emily was almost too busy laughing to ask. Of course she had enough imagination to where the last sock might have been placed.
"Except one freak…" her son chuckled, Gina didn't have to see them to know that Scott was pointing to his brother-in-law.
"-The sock slipped."
"Nah-uh… Not buying it…" her son teased.
"It did. A little." Rob chuckled, "Figured the crowd deemed it more respectable to pull it all off, compared to tugging it back in place."
The three in the living room laughed a little more.
"Seriously though, when Metal gets back on his feet, you should ask for a performance." Rob chuckled, "Man's got more rhythm than you'd think…"
"What makes you think she hasn't already seen the show?"
"Well, she sure hasn't seen THAT show, because your leg is not up for that yet…" Rob chuckled, "But a more age appropriate and handicap friendly one? Yeah, I could imagine that's already been done… Ohhh… You're blushing!"
Gina figured she had to save what she hoped would be her daughter-in-law in not too long, and stepped into the living room. "Rob, be nice to Emily…"
What she hadn't been prepared for was Emily laughing so hard she barely could breathe, and her son blushing.
"Never mind…" she covered her smile with her hand and headed back towards the kitchen again, "Go on…"
"Now, the way you're blushing… There's gotta be a story there…"
"There's really not…" Emily chuckled, "Is there, Metal?"
"No… Not really." He answered, "Let's just settle it with NOTHING went as I had planned."
"Nothing, huh?" Emily chuckled some more.
"I had not planned on you feeling sorry for me. Or spending even more quality time with a bunch of ice packs… So yeah… Nothing went as I had planned."
"Ouch…" Rob winced.
"Yup…" Metal sighed, "Gonna be a while before I attempt anything like that again…"
"Now, is there any chance those photographic evidences might come into my view any time in the future."
"Tell you what, if Metal doesn't show them to you within a reasonable amount of time, I will personally find a copy and let you see… At least him…" Rob chuckled.
"I'll hold you to those words…"
"I don't doubt it…"