A/N - I owe you updates on, um, everything. So, yeah, there's that. In the meantime, this is a scene that I can't make work in Bookworms so I'm sharing it here. Because it makes me laugh. xoxo - tmtcltb

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Love Boat

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"You want me to figure out what's wrong with your girlfriend?" Frankie replied. He braced his hands on his locker, eyes lifting to the ceiling of the cabin. "Jesus, Joseph and Mary. How did I end up on the friggin' Love Ship with prime idiot numero uno?"

Danny ignored the commentary. "Something's clearly wrong. She practically jumped out of her skin when I touched her back earlier. And she's been weird all week."

Not that he actually noticed at the time, but after Alisha pointed it out, Danny realized that she was right. Kara had been acting oddly.

"Um, maybe because we found out about a pandemic killing thousands and she doesn't know where her mother is," Frankie replied.

"I don't think that's it," Danny replied.

Frankie shoved another shirt into his pack. "Oh, hey, I have a brilliant idea. It's called ask Kara."

"Ask Kara what?" Sasha interrupted, entering the cabin without knocking.

"Romeo here thinks that something's wrong with Juliet but instead of asking her he seems to think that I would be a better source of information," Frankie replied, disgust rolling off his tongue. "Next thing I know he's going to be grabbing my ass and trying to stick his tongue in my ear."

"Unlikely given how infrequently you wash them," Sasha retorted, settling herself on the bottom bunk. "Kara has seemed off recently."

"Did you people not get the memo?" Frankie demanded. "Pandemic."

Ignoring him, Sasha turned to Danny. "The other day Tom mentioned that she looked tired. He thought..."

Frankie interrupted. "Tom? Since when is the Captain Tom? Are you sleeping with him?"

"You were saying?" Danny asked, ignoring Frankie.

"Tom said that Kara looks exhausted and that's never happened on a cruise before," Sasha continued. "He suspects that Doctor Scott is running Kara and Doc Rios ragged but neither want to complain about the workload."

Danny frowned, as he considered this new information. Doctor Scott wasn't exactly easy to work for, even if what she was doing was critically important. Plus, in addition to her time in sick bay, Kara was also doing shifts in CIC. "That makes sense."

"That's what I told Tom," Sasha replied. "And why he talked to Amy Granderson about sending additional scientists north to help."

Frankie waved his hands at them. "Heellooo! Tom? Someone needs to fill me in."

Sasha turned unreadable eyes on Frankie. "Yes, Tom. That's his name. Like yours is Frankie. Or Franklin, if we are being precise."

"Are you really going to ignore her calling the CO by his first name?" Frankie demanded, turning to Danny. "Come on, after all my help you owe me!"

"What help?" Danny scoffed.

"Unbelievable," Frankie replied, shaking his head. "How about when I made sure that the XO didn't catch you together with Kara the other night?"

"So you getting caught sneaking out of Nina's cabin in your underwear was for my benefit?" Danny asked. "Next time, I'll take my chances."

"Says the man who is making me camp in the freezing cold for the next three days so he can have his girlfriend sleep over," Frankie moaned. "It gives new meaning to a sock on the door handle."

Danny and Sasha both gave him a look. "Goodbye Frankie."

"Fine." Frankie gave them a two finger salute before snapped his fingers. "Halsey, let's go."

Halsey looked at Danny, waiting for permission, before trotting over to Frankie.

Frankie narrowed his eyes at Danny. "Friggin' love boat."