Chapter 4

Lee and Chip took out the three men that needed to be re-certified, Cummings, Bailey and Lawrence. Cummings and Bailey were both seasoned divers and had been on Seaview for a few years working on the Beta watch. Lawrence was also a seasoned diver and a new addition to Seaview's crew. He just started working on the Alpha watch as a backup on sonar and radar and helped out with the diving gear. As expected, they all passed with no problems.

Seaview continued on to the laboratory and would be there tomorrow afternoon. When they got to the laboratory, Chief Sharkey and Kowalski would bring supplies to the laboratory and bring back Dr. Barry. Janet was in her office the day they arrived at the laboratory. She was still typing up the admiral's notes on a new torpedo launching system.

They delivered the first load of supplies and brought back Dr. Barry on the return trip. Lee and Chip were in the control room when they returned. They went to the observation nose and Chip un-dogged the hatch as soon as he heard the docking doors close. Kowalski was at the top of the hatch waiting for him. He handed up Dr. Barry's suitcase and then helped her up the ladder as Chip helped her up into the observation nose where she laid eyes on Lee. She walked over to him and gave him a very passionate kiss just as Janet was walking down the spiral staircase. She stopped on the staircase to watch them. She could tell he was very embarrassed that Belinda was kissing him in front of everyone. Seeing Janet on the staircase, he gently pushed Belinda away while Janet came into the observation nose.

Chief Sharkey and Kowalski were standing next to Chip as Belinda kissed Lee and saw Janet on the staircase.

"This should be interesting," Sharkey mumbled under his breath.

"Now Chief," Chip muttered to him.

"What's wrong dear, not happy to see me," she pouted as she had her back to Janet and didn't see her. "Well I'm sure happy to see you," she said giving him a hug and another kiss.

Belinda caught sight of Janet as she walked up next to Lee. "Belinda, I'd like you to meet my wife, Janet," Lee said taking Janet's hand and giving it a squeeze.

"Your wife?" Belinda replied with a surprised look on her face. "Did you say your wife?" she repeated again stunned that Lee was married.

"Nice to meet you Dr. Barry," Janet said pleasantly reaching out to shake her hand. "Captain, would you like me to show Dr. Barry to her cabin?"

"No," Lee said abruptly, "Mr. Morton would you please take Dr. Barry to Cabin Three?"

"Aye sir," Chip responded quickly as he could see Lee was uncomfortable at what had taken place in the control room.

"We're going to have lunch in the wardroom in ten minutes while they unload the rest of the supplies to the laboratory, if you would like to join us," Lee told her.

"Yes, thank you, I will be there," Belinda mumbled still in shock at what Lee just told her.

Chip picked up her luggage and followed her up the staircase. None of them saw the scowl on her face.

Lee went back to the control room and stood at the charting table as Janet stayed in the observation nose staring out the windows. Lee watched her as she stood there not sure what she was thinking after seeing Belinda kiss and hug him. I'll talk to her later about it, he thought. Janet walked into the control room a few minutes later and the two of them went out the aft hatch for lunch after Lee turned over the command to O'Brien.

((()))

Chip opened the door to the cabin Belinda had been assigned and could tell she was not happy.

"How long have they been married," she asked irritably. "And is she always on Seaview?"

"They've been married just over three years. If you want any more information, you will have to ask them," Chip replied bluntly as he put her luggage down. "And yes, she is on Seaview for every mission as she is a member of the crew. Do you remember where the wardroom is?"

"Yes, I do. I will be there shortly," she replied curtly.

Chip left and made his way to the wardroom. The admiral, Lee and Janet were already there getting their lunch. Cookie had roast beef and turkey sandwiches with potato salad. Chip grabbed one of each sandwich and a generous portion of potato salad and sat down with them.

"Where's Belinda?" the admiral inquired.

"She'll be here shortly," Chip replied taking a bite out of his turkey sandwich.

Belinda entered the wardroom, went to the side board where Cookie put a turkey sandwich on her plate. She shook her head no to the potato salad. The admiral was glad to see her and stood up to give her a hug. "How are you, Belinda? You're looking good."

"I'm fine Harry. You don't look too bad yourself," she answered staring at Lee. They chatted about the research laboratory and the new project she was starting when she returned home while the other three ate their lunch in silence.

Taking a sip of his coffee, the admiral asked, "Chip, Lee, now that Janet has passed her scuba test, when will you be certifying her per Seaview's regulations?"

"The day after tomorrow. We still have a few crew members that need to be re-certified. Once they're finished, Chip is going to take her out," Lee replied looking over his coffee cup at the admiral.

"Good, let me know. I want to watch her swim past the windows."

Janet didn't say anything, she just smiled. She was a little nervous sitting at the table with one of Lee's ex-girlfriends. She could tell Belinda still had feelings for him after seeing her kiss him in the control room. Belinda didn't say much either, she just stared at Lee and Janet. She was surprised that Janet had just learned to scuba dive being that she has been on Seaview for three years. She was also a master diver. Being assigned to underwater laboratories around the world it was a necessity for her to know how to dive.

Janet had finished her lunch and excused herself so she could finish typing up the notes for the admiral. Chip and Lee also excused themselves to they could get ready to take out the crew men. Lee gave Janet a kiss and hug outside the wardroom door which Belinda saw. She was upset as she hoped Lee was still available as she hadn't heard that he was married.

((()))

Once Seaview had unloaded the supplies, she left the laboratory and was a day and half out of Santa Barbara. It didn't take Lee and Chip long to re-certify the crew men, Jenkins, Edwards and Smith. They all were seasoned divers and passed with no problems. Janet would be next but Chip needed to fill out the paperwork for the crewmen, so she had about an hour to wait before she would go out plus Seaview had to go to shallower waters for her to dive as she could only dive to sixty feet. Once she passed this regulation, she would take the additional classes to get the advanced open water certification so she would be able dive to one hundred and thirty feet. Lee found a place where they could hold trim at sixty feet and there was a plateau under her that was no deeper than one hundred feet just in case there was problem.

In the missile room, Kowalski and Lawrence were in charge of making sure Janet's and Chip's equipment was ready to go. They checked and doubled checked the regulators, BC's, weight belts, masks and fins. Kowalski knew how much weight to put on Janet's weight belt from the lessons he taught her.

"No matter what she does, she's going to pass," Lawrence said snidely to Kowalski. "How can she fail, she's the skipper's wife and besides that I can't wait to see what she looks like in a wet suit. I'm sure the curves are all in the right places," Lawrence continued making a lewd outline with his hands.

Kowalski had all he could do to keep from decking him. "Watch it buddy. First of all she can dive and you better not let anyone hear you talk like that about the skipper's wife or you'll be cleaning the bilge tanks for the rest of your stay on Seaview," Kowalski told him seriously.

Chip's and Janet's dive gear was ready to go when they were ready to dive. Kowalski and Lawrence left the missile room and went back to their duties.

((()))

Before Chip and Janet got ready to dive he met her in the passageway near their cabins. He explained to her what they would do when they left the boat. "First, follow me out when we leave the boat. We're going to start from the starboard side, swim to the front around the nose and then down the port side, around the back and then back to the hatch." Smiling, "Second, don't be nervous. You know how to dive," he reassured her.

Taking a deep breath, "I know but I'm still nervous," she answered quietly nervous above using the escape hatch.

Janet went into her cabin and put her wet suit on and would meet Chip in the missile room. By the time Janet got there Chip was already putting on his equipment. Lee, Kowalski, Lawrence, Patterson and Chief Sharkey were in the missile room too. Lee helped Janet put on her equipment and could tell she was a little nervous but knew she would be okay once she left the boat. He would watch them for the observation nose along with the admiral and Belinda. The rest of the men would stay in the missile room until they came back aboard.

"Good luck, sweetheart," he said gently giving her kiss.

"Thanks, Lee," Janet replied nervously.

"How about me, don't I get any luck," Chip said grinning.

"Good luck, bro. Take care of her or else," Lee told him patting him on the back and left the missile room making his way to the observation nose.

They entered the escape hatch and waited for it to fill. Chip explained to Janet how to get out as she had never exited through the escape hatch. She followed him out with no problems. He gave her the thumbs up once she was clear of the hatch. She swam a little behind him on their way to the front. They got about 100 feet from the front when Janet saw him crisscross his hands; she knew he was having trouble breathing as there were no air bubbles. She swam to help him but she had no air coming out of her reg. either. She grabbed Chip's arm before he sank to the bottom as he was unconscious and swam to the front of the boat towing Chip with her. She saw Lee and crisscrossed her hands before she passed out.

Lee knew immediately that they were in trouble. Grabbing the mic in the observation nose he yelled.

"Missile room, get two divers out now," he said frantically. "Mr. Morton and Janet are in trouble in front of the boat."

He threw the mic down and ran to the missile room with the admiral and Belinda following. Jamie heard Lee over the intercom so he and John, the corpsman on duty, grabbed some oxygen masks and tanks, a stretcher and also ran to the missile room.

((()))

Kowalski and Patterson with the help of Lawrence and Sharkey put their diving suits on and went out the hatch a few minutes after Lee called. They found Chip and Janet on the bottom right in front of the boat. Kowalski grabbed Janet while Patterson grabbed Chip. They pulled the defective regulators out of Chip's and Janet's mouths and gently inserted the octopus regs attached to their gear in their place. Ski and Pat let loose a relieved sigh when both stricken divers started to draw on them and resume breathing. They quickly grabbed their diver around the chest then began swimming back to Seaview as fast as they could.

Sharkey cracked the escape hatch as soon as the water drained out. He took Chip from Patterson while Lee grabbed Janet from Kowalski. Jamie already in the missile room was by their sides as soon as they were laid on the deck. They quickly removed their wet suit hoods and Jamie placed the oxygen mask on Chip while John put one on Janet. Lee was by Janet's side so he took over holding the mask in place when she started to come around after a few minutes.

"Chip, is he alright?" she asked weakly pushing away the oxygen mask.

"Relax sweetie, Jamie is working on him," Lee reassured her putting the oxygen mask back on her.

Janet looked over at Chip and saw he wasn't moving. She started to cry.

"Please calm down. He'll be okay," Lee told her again.

"We need to get him to sick bay," Jamie said to Lee as they put Chip on a stretcher. "She needs to come too." Patterson and John carried Chip to Sick Bay. Janet started to get up but before she got completely up she passed out. Lee caught her before she hit the deck. He picked her up and carried her to sick bay.

"Kowalski, Lawrence," the admiral bellowed, "check out every piece of equipment they used especially those regulators. How could they both fail?"

"Yes sir," the two men replied crisply as they started looking over the equipment.

The admiral and Belinda left the missile room for sick bay. Belinda could see the worried look on the Admiral's face.

((()))

When Jamie, John and Patterson got Chip to sick bay they took off his wet suit. Jamie was still giving him oxygen and he was finally starting to coming around.

"John, keep giving him oxygen," Jamie directed as he went over to Janet as Lee had put the oxygen mask back on her as soon as they got to Sick Bay.

"Lee does she have..." Jamie asked before he took off her wet suit.

"Bathing suit," he told him worriedly as he helped Jamie take off her wet suit. After a couple of minutes she also started to come around again. She woke to Lee and Jamie staring at her.

"Welcome back, sweetie," Lee said gently brushing her wet hair off her face.

"Chip" she asked with tears in her eyes.

"He's going to be okay," he told her while he wiped away her tears.

Chip was conscious but Jamie still had him on oxygen. He pushed the mask away and started to get up.

"Janet," he asked as John pushed him back down and put the oxygen mask back on him.

"She's okay," Jamie told him as he walked over to him. "Just lay back down, you'll be here for awhile and so will she."

Lee was holding Janet's hand as the admiral and Belinda walked in. The admiral was relieved to see both of them awake.

"Lee what happened out there," he demanded. "Kowalski and Lawrence are checking out their equipment."

"Admiral I don't know but I'm going to find out as soon as they're feeling better."

"Let me know when you do," he said tersely. "I'll be waiting in the observation nose,"

The admiral and Belinda left sick bay and went back to the observation nose. Lee went over to Chip to check on him.

"Chip, what the hell happened out there," Lee asked tensely.

"Sorry Lee, something went wrong with my reg.," he said running his hand through his hair.

"Lee, please come here," Janet called softy, "please don't blame Chip something happened to my regulator too. I saw he was having a problem so I grabbed his arm. I knew if I held my breath I could swim to the front of Seaview and if I gave you the signal you would know we were in trouble. I held it as long as I could, but I couldn't swim back. I'm sorry."

"You held your breath?" he exclaimed in dismay, "thank god you did or you both might be dead."

Chip and Janet stayed in sick bay for another two hours before Jamie released them to their cabins and were off duty until tomorrow.