Hypodermics and Hijinks

Disclaimer: Same as before.

The Pit, The Infirmary
Kate, Conrad, Sedgewick, Roadblock, Lifeline
04 March 2002, 1104

"Not looking forward to this," Kate began as she walked into the room before removing her jacket and rolling up the sleeve of her blouse.

"Well if it helps maybe we could find Shipwreck and get some shots at Margaritaville afterward," Conrad smirked.

"Not funny," Kate said with a mock glare.

"Besides, don't they say that puns are the lowest form of humor," Roadblock chimed in.

"Au contraire, mes amis," Conrad replied, "Isn't physical comedy a lower form of humor?"

"That's debatable," Kate replied, "But then again you've been making puns about needles for the last hour or more."

"I submit that it does take a fairly sharp wit to make a good pun," Conrad countered.

"You did it again!" Kate replied.

"Did what again?" Conrad replied as he rolled up his own sleeve.

"You made another pun about needles," Kate replied as she tucked her PDA into her pocket.

"That last one wasn't about needles," Conrad protested as they approached Lifeline who prepared the syringes.

"It could arguably be," Kate countered.

"But you can also argue it can be about any sharp object," Conrad replied.

"Can you not make any more puns about needles or any other sharp objects for the rest of the day," Kate asked.

"Of course, mademoiselle," Conrad replied, "Sorry for needling you."

"Conrad!" Kate snapped.

"Sorry, reflex action, I swear," Conrad smirked.

Meanwhile Sedgwick whispered to Roadblock, "Are they always like this?"

"You have no idea," Roadblock replied.

"I don't know who has it worse," Sedgwick quipped, "You being stuck with Todd or me being stuck with our two agents."

Presently the foursome got through their regimen of shots, and as Kate rolled down her sleeve she noticed the door to the infirmary opening and Flint walking in.

"What's going on?" Roadblock asked, turning his head.

"There's something I need to talk to you about Roadblock," Flint replied, "Can you meet me at Psyche Out's office? Agent Hart, Agent Todd, if you can join us that would be great."

"Is he in trouble?" Roadblock asked.

"If it's what I think it's about, Monsieur Roadblock, it's nothing of the sort," Conrad replied.

"Wait a minute, how do you two know about whatever it is then?" Roadblock asked.

"We'll explain later," Conrad replied as they filed out of the room.

The Pit, Psyche Out's Office
Kate, Conrad, Roadblock, Flint, Psyche Out
04 March 2002, 1156

"Well, we're here," Roadblock said as he walked into the room, with Kate and Conrad in tow, "so what's the big secret?"

"Wait a few minutes, we've also go to get Shipwreck too," Psyche Out replied.

"Okay, what do you need Shipwreck for?" Roadblock asked.

"This concerns Althea too," Psyche Out began.

Roadblock quickly put two and two together, and as his eyes narrowed he said, "So you mean they're…"

"No, they aren't, Roadblock," Psyche Out quickly interjected.

"Alright, then what do you want to talk to me about?" Roadblock said.

"Well, you do know the kids have a little romantic relationship going, right?" Flint said, as he walked into the room with Shipwreck in tow.

"Of course," Roadblock said, "Watch the kids interact for more than five minutes and you can tell. So I'm assuming that what you've got me and Shipwreck here for is something to do with that."

Psyche Out nodded, "Yes. It has something to do with the fact that both of them have been doing a lot of sneaking out lately."

"Okay, define 'lately'," Roadblock glowered.

"Within the last week or so," Flint replied.

"And you all knew about this?" Roadblock replied, the scowl deepening.

"I didn't know about it until about twenty minutes ago," Shipwreck replied, "When Flint told me."

"Okay, so my next question is why the secrecy?" Roadblock asked.

"I'm sure you've noticed how things with Todd seem to have improved since he and Althea started dating, right?" Psyche Out replied.

"Certainly," Roadblock replied before his scowl softened, "So you think the sneaking out is good for Todd provided it doesn't get out of hand."

"Exactly," Psyche Out replied, "We wanted to observe first, to see its effects before bringing you and Shipwreck in."

After a long silence Roadblock replied, "I understand where you're coming from, but honestly I'm pretty miffed that you didn't tell me about your plan."

"Roadblock…" Psyche-Out began before Roadblock cut him off.

"If you had explained your intent I wouldn't have interfered," Roadblock replied.

"Neither would I," Shipwreck replied.

"My apologies," Psyche Out replied, "I should've trusted you guys with the information from the start."

"Apology accepted," Roadblock replied. Shipwreck nodded in agreement.

"So do you think something's going to happen tonight?" Shipwreck asked after a brief silence.

"I'll bet a drink on that, Monsieur Shipwreck," Conrad said with a smirk only for Kate to elbow him in the side.

"Did you have to make a wager involving alcohol with Shipwreck of all people?" Kate whispered in Conrad's ear.

"You're on!" Shipwreck declared, "Meet me at Margaritaville!"

"I think you created a monster, Hart," Flint interjected as the group filed out of Psyche Out's office.

"Merde," Conrad grumbled.

The Pit, Mess Hall
Dial Tone, Short Fuze, Quick Kick, Conrad and Kate
04 March 2002, 1214

"Again, why are we taking our chances with BA's food?" Kate asked.

"Sloppy Joes or Bologna Burritos aren't exactly dangerous choices," Conrad countered.

"This is BA we're talking about," Kate replied as they walked to the mess hall's entrance.

"I think if BA serves something that sounds reasonably conventional we're safe," Conrad replied, "Besides, we do want to husband our food supply."

"Oh, yeah," Kate replied, "You did mention he got the latest edition of Vampire Weekly."

"Not to mention half a dozen other cooking magazines," Conrad added.

"Ugh…" Kate groaned, "I keep thinking whenever BA serves conventional menu items the other shoe is going to drop."

"Well, like the Joes say, that's when it's safest," Conrad replied, opening the Mess Hall's front door and smirking, "After you, mademoiselle."

"Thank you," Kate replied. I definitely will have to say he's got to be the most contradictory person I know. A gentleman yet he has a brutal sense of justice.

Conrad and Kate walked into the Mess Hall, picking up their trays and utensils before walking through the serving line, getting their respective meals. As they headed to a nearby table they could hear Short Fuze and Quick Kick in the middle of a spirited debate.

"You're wrong on so many levels," Short Fuze began, holding up a copy of Dr. Grant's book, "A Baryonyx could easily deal with a group of Velociraptors."

"Raptors, as Dr. Grant said, were supremely intelligent, fast and agile. They'd run rings around Baryonyx!" Quick Kick fired back, pointing at the exact passage in the book as he spoke with his index finger.

"Wow," Kate commented to Conrad, "I didn't know that Dr. Grant's book could provoke that much debate."

"Well, mademoiselle," Conrad toothily grinned, "We did argue about the entire piece on Spinosaurus Aegyptiacus and the ingestion of the satellite phone at one point."

"Not that again," Kate groaned, "Especially not before a meal. And let's not forget someone was killed during said 'ingestion of satellite phone' as you put it," Kate countered as she took her seat across from Conrad, as the latter set his own tray on the table before sitting down.

"Let me guess," Quick Kick interjected, "You guys read Dr. Grant's book too?"

"Yes," Conrad replied, "And I'd also watched the movie."

"I've seen the movie," Kate replied, "I only just started the book."

Conrad smirked, "And we had a discussion the supposed morbidity of the scene with the Spinosaurus and the satellite phone."

Short Fuze guffawed loudly, "One of the funnier parts of the book was when they found it."

"Agreed," Conrad replied.

"That is really morbid, you know," Kate interjected.

"So what was the outcome of that debate?" Quick Kick asked.

"We wound up just agreeing to disagree," Kate replied, and switching subjects she added, "I noticed you two were debating something too."

"Yeah Baryonyx vs. Velociraptor," Quick Kick replied.

"Oh I think that could easily get resolved," Dial Tone said, as he approached the table, with a smile on his face.

"How so?" Kate asked.

"Thanks to the miracle of modern computing I can easily design a program to pit these two dinosaurian combatants against each other," Dial Tone said, "If you're that curious, meet me at the computer lab tomorrow after lunch"

"I think I'll pass on that," Kate replied.

"I'll take you up on that," Conrad replied, before turning to Quick Kick and Short Fuze, "Well mes amis shall we have a little wager on the winner?"

"Wagering what?" Quick Kick said.

"Lunch at Coconut Pete's," Conrad replied.

"Alright!" Quick Kick said.

"Interested, Kate?" Conrad offered.

"I tend to lose if I bet," Kate replied before going to enter a couple notes on her PDA, "And don't you have another wager going with Shipwreck for a drink at Margaritaville too."

"Well, mon amie," Conrad smirked, "I tend to have rather decent luck when it comes to bets."

Kate couldn't help but smile at the ex-Legionnaire's smirk, "I think that you're going to be owing Shipwreck a cold drink at Margaritaville."

The Pit, Communication Center
Kate, Conrad, Roadblock, and Shipwreck
04 March 2002, 2236

"Looks like you owe me a cold one, Hart," Shipwreck smirked as Conrad and Kate walked into the room.

"Merde," Conrad groaned, seeing Kate smirk in his peripheral vision.

"Told you wagering with Shipwreck was a bad idea," Kate whispered as they headed for the bank of monitors in the room.

"You are right, mademoiselle, especially given it involved alcohol," Conrad replied.

"Can you say bad idea," Roadblock interjected, "What were you thinking?"

"Perhaps my luck ran out," Conrad replied.

"Why do I get the feeling you're going to buying dinner at Coconut Pete's too?" Kate smirked.

"I thought you didn't gamble, mademoiselle," Conrad replied with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't," Kate replied, "That was a feeling, not a wager, Hart."

"That's debatable," Conrad countered.

"Shh…." Roadblock said as he gestured towards a wall with several plasma screen televisions, all of them showing either green hued night vision imagery or blue, red, yellow and green hued thermal imagery.

The door opened as Psyche Out walked into the room, "So what's going on here?"

"Looks like Todd decided to sneak out again," Kate replied, indicating the feed for one camera monitoring the ninja dojo.

"So has Althea," Shipwreck commented as he pointed to the monitor watching the area near his house.

"And they're meeting up," Psyche Out said, as he indicated the monitor connected to the hidden camera monitoring the secluded glade near the small pond, "I think I was right. This sneaking out and meeting up is good for Todd's recovery."

"I agree," Roadblock said, "But we'll definitely keep an eye on things."

"Sure," Shipwreck nodded.

Kate,

Jungle survival training, huh? Pack plenty of mosquito repellent and stand by for a lot of shots. Be safe out there.

I love you,

Tim

Tim,

You could have warned me earlier about the shots. Not fun. But thanks for the tip on mosquito repellent. I miss you.

And I love you too,

Kate

TBC