CH12

"There are just some people you can't replace sweetie. It sounds like this Lanie is one of those. But if you'll let me I could be a really good friend. You are already one of mine." Natalie tells her.

Kate can only nod since all she can do is cry.

"And where would you be without Rick?" Natalie asks but thinks she already knows the answer.

Kate shakes her head. "Dead, destroyed, mental patient, take your pick."

"You think your mother sent him?" Natalie asks a belief question.

"He's from another planet, I don't think my mother had much to do with it." Kate counters wiping away tears and calming down some.

"She may not have sent him here but have you thought about how you actually met him? About how you continued to run across him everywhere?

I'll admit he would drive me insane, if I didn't kill him first. But for you he is the perfect man on this planet. So I'll ask again, did your mother send him?" Natalie pushes.

Kate goes quiet and slowly stops crying. She opens her mouth like she is going to answer but re-closes her mouth. Kate tries again but just closes her mouth without answering.

"It's ok sweetie, you think about that. This isn't over Kate Crystal." Natalie tells her. "I did it again didn't I?" As Natalie can see the look on Kate's face. Natalie wraps her arms around her again and holds Kate close. "Oh sweetie I'm just glad you had someone when you needed them. And it sounds like this Lanie is just such a person.

Come on let's get out of here before I start growing webbing between my fingers and toes." And Natalie gets up to get out. "MY GOD IT"S COLD OUT HERE!" Natalie and Kate run for the stairs and back into the warmth of the building.

Back inside with the door closed. "Christ that was cold." Natalie tells her. "Can your shower handle two people at once?" Natalie is curious.

Kate just nods her head, not sure where her friend is going with this.

"Good because you and I need a hot shower. And I've just forced you in a trip down memory lane and opened up old wounds. And you're my friend; I'm not letting you out of my sight until I know you are alright. Even if Jim and I have to spend the night. Now let's go." As Natalie grabs Kate's hand and leads her down to the master suite.

The shower takes place in silence as the two women try their best not to size each other up in the close confines. With towels wrapped around them Natalie borrows some of Kate's make-up to repair her face.

"Bracken is why I met Jim. Hank and I were following up how weapons were making it off the base without our knowledge. I got to have some fun with 3 guys in a big black SUV loaded with weapons. That same day Jim shows up from DC and asks if I was Hanks secretary? ME a SECRETARY! …. I proceeded to spend the next two hours trying to beat the crap out of him. We ended up going out to dinner that night and then back to my place.

I wasn't a virgin but that man did things I didn't know you could do. I was so sore the next day I could barely walk. Then we did it all over again the very next night. I had to get him to help me into the shower in the morning, I was so sore. And I wouldn't have changed a thing." Natalie is grinning wide.

"Then we both found out from Hank that Sarah had transferred Jim to the same base I was at, and the rest is history." Natalie finishes.

"So Sarah and this Hank played match maker?" Kate asks innocently.

Natalie turns to face Kate with her mouth hanging open and has stopped trying to apply make-up.

"Well it sounds like they did. Do people in the military get transferred from one base to another easily?" Kate asks.

"Come to think of it no. You are usually given at least several weeks advance notice. Months even." Natalie pauses. "Oh if Jim finds out Sarah set him up with me. It's a good thing she isn't around anymore. I don't know what he would do to her for that. Sarah was like a big sister to him and his partner at the time." Natalie is giggling now. "Oh he is going to blow a blood vessel if he ever finds out what she did." And Natalie switches to laughing.

"Well since we are baring our souls today. I wasn't a virgin when I meet Rick either. He took me to this fund raiser ball and pretty much danced with me the whole night. I think I fell in love with him on that day. I just wasn't ready to admit it to myself. I was still pretty far down the rabbit hole I was still in.

He escorted me home straight to my front door and was probably going to leave me there. Then I kissed him, …. And well he ended up spending the night. I didn't know sex could be like that either. What he did that night and several nights since then, …." Kate trails off.

Natalie is done with her make-up and goes over and offers Kate both her hands and looks her square in the eye. "We are lucky women you and I. Come on, let's go see if we can drive our men mad. At least until they go all cave man on us and drag us to the nearest bed so they can have their way with us." Natalie tells Kate with a smile.

"Now you are talking my language, … secretary." Kate teases.

"You're lucky Rick doesn't have a mat down in that game room of his, or I would make you eat those words." Natalie looks serious but her voice gives her away, then she is suddenly smiling again. "Come on girlfriend, let's go upstairs and let the games begin." And Natalie keeps a hold on one of Kate's hands and drags her upstairs.

Once upstairs and they spot their husbands in the living room playing x-box with the other boys. "Shall we get started?" Natalie asks.

"Hell yes!" Kate agrees giggling. "They are never going to know what hit them."

Neither of them were sure they were succeeding in their plan. Both Jim and Rick seemed to be playing it cool. If with all the innuendo and placement of hands or shoeless feet placement.

Everyone had said their goodnights and were gone while Kate went to check on the boys and make sure they were asleep.

Natalie only make it as far as the front door they used to open a transmit wall into their house before Jim was all over her and removing only those items of clothing necessary to achieve his goal. Then they spent the rest of the night in bed. Natalie needed help again in the morning just to make it to the shower. However she was smiling all the way.

Kate only made it as far as closing the bedroom door before Rick was doing what Jim on the other side of the country was presently doing. Kate also needed a little help in the morning just to make it to the shower. Kate was also smiling all the way.

Since it was a weekend and the boys didn't have school, Kate was getting the same treatment that Natalie was getting in the shower that morning.

Both husbands left their wives to recover lying on the bed while they went off to make breakfast.

"Kate?" Natalie calls out.

"Yes?"

"Are you up?" Natalie is wondering if she called too soon.

"Rick is off making breakfast which I can already smell by the way. But I'm not sure I can get out of bed to eat it." Kate tells her.

"Same here. I thought our little plan wasn't working at all until we got home." Natalie informs her.

"I didn't think it was either. Rick didn't say a word or play back. He just ignored me until I closed the bedroom door." … "I need to get up soon though. The smell is making my stomach growl." Kate tells her friend.

"Yea I'm hungry too. … Aauughh, that is painful." As Natalie gets up.

"Aauughh." Natalie can hear Kate. "And I still have two flights of stairs." Kate moans.

"Suck it in girlfriend. We both know you enjoyed every second of it." Natalie tells her.

"I hate Marines." Kate growls out in response.

Natalie laughs in response. "I'll talk to you later. ,,, Hhmmm, this is going to be hard. Oh wait he better not be or it'll kill me." Natalie resumes laughing.

"Suck it in Marine. … Hhmmm, just one and a half more flights of stairs to go."

Kate has made it to the top of the stairs and hobbles her way over to the breakfast bar where the boys are sitting eating.

"Are you ok mom? You're walking kind of funny." James comments.

"I'm fine sweetie just eat your breakfast." Kate tells him.

"Are you sure because it sure looks, …" And he stops when he sees the glare on his moms face. So he shuts up and turns back to his breakfast.

Kate eases onto one of the bar stools. "Hhhmm."

"Here you go Kate, I made the bacon nice and crispy and HARD just like you like it." Rick tells her, and gets the same glare from her that his son got. "Well while you three are eating I'm going to go start laundry. I'm pretty sure the bed sheets need changing." As Rick rounds the corner and gets still another glare from Kate.

And Rick stops and whispers in her ear. "If anything becomes too HARD for you to handle, you just let me know." And walks off ignoring the daggers of death that Kate is inflicting on his back as he leaves.

"So what do you boys have planned to do today?" Kate asks hoping for a movie marathon where she doesn't have to move any.

"Dad said we were going to have a pool tournament. You and me against James and dad." Levi tells her excited.

"Oh he did, did he?" This means Kate will need to bend over a pool table to play. Oh she is soooo going to kill her husband. Just as soon as she can move fast enough to catch him. Wait she still has a gun in the safe doesn't she?

The three pool games they played were pure torture for Kate. Having Rick stroke his hands in strategic locations when the boys were not looking didn't help matters any. He had even goosed her twice already.

"Why don't you two play Foosball while I talk to your father?" Kate asks them. Getting an ok, Kate drags Rick out of the pool room and out of view of the boys.

"Please stop Rick, I can barely stand as it is." Kate pleads.

"I don't recall you stopping last night before everyone left." Rick counters.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"And I didn't hear you complaining about last night in bed." Rick adds.

Kate leans her forehead onto his chest and clutches his shirt in both her fists. "Please Rick."

Lightly chuckling that he has gotten his payback. "You go lay down, I'll keep the boys busy for the rest of the day." Rick takes his belated victory and decides not to gloat anymore.

"Thank you." As Kate moans as she gets up on her toes to give Rick a quick kiss and then moans and groans all the way to bed. Mostly at the flight of stairs needed to get up to that level.

About an hour later Rick finds her resting in bed but still awake. "Can't sleep?"

Kate shakes her head. And watches Rick get up off the edge of the bed and go into the bathroom. Soon he comes out with a glass of water in one hand. "Here, it's a couple of Tylenol." He tells her then helps lift her up so she can drink them down.

"That should help you sleep Tigress." Rick teases.

"Meow." Is all Kate can think to respond with?

"Get some rest, KITTEN. Lucile will be here to watch you if you need anything." And Rick gets up and leaves.

"You sure you want a body?" Kate asks her after Rick is gone.

"More than you know Kate, more than you know." Lucile tells her softly.

"I'd loan you mine at the moment but I don't think you would want it right now." As Kate drifts off to sleep.

"Even to feel the pain you presently feel, and why, I'd trade in a heartbeat, if I had one." Lucile whispers to a sleeping Kate.

Meanwhile in Everett, WA. Natalie did not have the luxury of having the day off. A naval base never really shuts down. She was presently sitting at her desk with her forehead on the desk, moaning softly. When her husband comes in.

"We got the HARD copy of the report you asked for yesterday." Jim teases.

Natalie pokes the desktop with a finger. "Put it on my desk."

"You want me to do what to you on your desk?" Jim teases again.

Talking into the desk. "OHHH funny man, funny man. Maybe you should quit your day job?" Natalie teases back. Feeble as it is.

"Go home HUN, no one will know you are gone." Jim tells her.

Natalie just shakes her head still glued to her desk top. "Got work to do."

Jim comes around and lifts up his wife. "Your desk isn't going anywhere and your holding it in place with your head isn't' really necessary. Come on you're going home." And he steps up to her closed office door and opens a transmat wall for home. "Go on, and take a couple of Tylenol when you get there." Jim tells her.

Natalie partially turns in his arms that he is using to hold her up. "Thanks." And gives him a quick kiss before stepping through her transmat wall.

"I'll gloat about pinning her to the mat some other time." Jim tells himself, smiling.