Amazing Part 15

Auggie was underwater for a while and emerged with nothing to show for it. Annie led him to another buoy and, undeterred, he went back down. He found the trap with no problem, and sure enough there was something scurrying around in there, he hoped it was a crayfish.

Annie saw his head pop up followed quickly by his gloved hand wrapped around the flailing multi-legged creature they were after.

"You did it!" she screeched a little she was so excited.

Annie opened the net bag and Auggie placed the creature inside, she tugged the drawstring on the bag and handed it over to him before setting off to find her own.

"I can't stay down long enough to reach the trap," Danielle was freaking out a little.

"Yes you can just trust yourself and don't panic," Kendall encouraged.

Auggie could hear a lot of splashing and flailing.

"Danielle, use your torso like a rudder, turn back and forth to propel yourself downward, use short controlled kicks for power," Auggie instructed.

"Thought you served in the desert," Danielle laughed her voice a little shaky.

"You get trained for everything, I had snowshoe training too," Auggie smirked.

Annie popped up then with a crayfish in hand and brought it to Auggie.

"We're done," she touched his shoulder.

"OK, just want to make sure Danielle is OK," Auggie handed her the bag.

Danielle popped up after a longer turn under water.

"That was so much easier, still don't have a crayfish, but I got super close to the trap this time. Thanks, Auggie!"

"You're welcome, good luck," he smiled and allowed Annie to swim him back to shore.

They delivered their bounty and were handed a clue.

"Woo hoo!" Annie exclaimed upon reading it.

"What?"

"We are already home. We're staying at the yacht club tonight, barbecue on the beach and we have the afternoon free to recover from travel," she reported with a huge smile.

"Nice," he agreed.

Annie claimed some towels and some snacks and the two of them found a remote little patch of sand to relax.

"Sunscreen?" Annie asked.

"Are you giving or receiving?" he smirked and found her bare shoulder with his lips.

"Both," her voice faltered a little when his cool lips touched her warm skin.

"You first," he offered and put his hand out for the bottle of lotion.

"Don't miss any spots," she advised as she rolled onto her stomach.

"Trust me, I may not be able to see them, but I am intimately acquainted with all your spots," he whispered in her ear as he leaned over her.

The sunscreen application took a lot longer than necessary, but Annie was fairly certain she was sufficiently coated in the stuff when she reclaimed the bottle from Auggie. She kneeled behind him and repeated the process covering his back in the SPF45 that she hoped was sufficient for the serious sun they were enjoying.

"I think we should approach Gwen," Auggie said quietly.

"Yeah?" Annie replied as she continued the sunscreening.

"I had a talk with her while you were napping in Oman, nothing serious, but she is bright and kind and I think she can be brought in," Auggie moaned a bit when Annie's hands found their way down his sides to his hips.

"We should start wearing sunscreen every day," he mentioned when she pushed him on his back and proceeded to work on his chest.

"Skin cancer is no laughing matter," Annie agreed.

"What is our approach?" Auggie asked as he allowed Annie to skim her hands all over his abs.

"I have an idea, it came to me the night in Italy when you helped Mike," Annie leaned down to kiss him and whispered.

"You want me to pretend to have PTSD?" he asked with concern.

"No, god, of course not, I would never ask you to do that. But, if one of us were to get ill or hurt, we could probably get Gwen alone. It is too risky to out ourselves in public. Also, if things go wrong we could have a plausible out to leave," she proposed.

"Could work," he nodded.

"We don't have to lose a limb or anything, I could fake a twisted ankle on the next challenge."

"OK, tomorrow it is. In the meantime I say we enjoy Australia, in case we are on a plane home tomorrow," Auggie smiled and rolled her underneath him.

"Watch it Romeo, we have to be a little more discreet. Danielle and Kendall heard us in Oman," Annie confessed.

"Heard us what?" Auggie looked adorably confused.

"Do you remember our night in the castle…?"

"I do," he kissed her, "Oh….oh," he finally realized what she was saying.

"Yeah," she chuckled.

"Well, that's embarrassing," he moved off her slightly but not completely.

"Yeah," she repeated.

"You are pretty loud," he teased and she smacked his bare chest.

The afternoon gave way to a fantastic barbecue on the beach, everyone relaxing and enjoying the sunset.

***555***

The next day found them on a short flight to Darwin and a jeep ride out to a crocodile farm.

"Isn't this a little stereotypical?" Auggie lamented as he made his away out of the vehicle.

"Come on, I loved Crocodile Dundee," Annie enthused.

"Of course you did," he shook his head.

The crocs were not huge, but they weren't cute little babies either and leading Auggie through them without him stepping on one was a challenge, but they got their clue.

After bumping along for another 50 miles they found themselves at a grassy airfield, with a picture of a small plane, the kind of plane used for….

"Skydiving!" Annie exclaimed.

Her joy was short-lived when she realized it was a tandem jump, but only for one of them.

"You can go if you want," Auggie offered sensing her disappointment at the Individual nature of the challenge.

"Maybe they'll let us go together, I am certified after all. It was listed in my application, I wouldn't be giving anything away. I want you to go, but I want to go with you," Annie squeezed his arm.

As they talked Cathy & Brett arrived and got the first slot to dive, Brett offering to spare Cathy the heights this time.

"You can just go," Auggie said again.

"I know you want to do this and I want it for you, I just want to share it with you," Annie explained trying to not seem selfish.

Finally she decided to talk to the instructor, he pulled out a tablet and looked up her application, reviewed her credentials and agreed they could tandem together instead of with an instructor. They leaned on the back of the jeep and watched as Brett's plane took off, their fingers twined together, Annie looking towards the sky and Auggie turned towards Annie.

TBC…