| A Question of Loyalty |
| Crewmen Kowalski and Patterson stood at attention in the Admiral�s office at the Institute headquarters, nervous and unsure why they had been summoned here during the week of shore leave. Nelson sat at his desk looking decidedly unhappy, and Admiral Jiggs Starke stood off to one side, glaring at them with an intensity that made the situation worse. Finally, Captain Crane arrived. �Admiral? What�s going on?� Crane looked around the room, taking in the tense situation. Nelson frowned at Starke. �Jiggs? You care to elaborate?� Starke�s face looked like he was sucking on a sour lemon. He opened an envelope and threw several photos down onto Nelson�s desk. Crane moved around the desk to view them over Nelson�s shoulder. He was not expecting to see what was in those photos. Kowalski and Patterson, in a rather � intimate � situation. Nelson flipped through the first couple, enough to confirm what was going on. From where they stood, the crewmen could see the basic gist of the photos. Their faces reflected their shock at seeing what they had believed to be a private situation made entirely too public. Nelson very carefully kept his face neutral as he looked up at Starke. �Jiggs? What is this?� Starke was so furious he almost couldn�t talk. �What do you think it is, Harriman? These men have � they are � this is unnatural!� �Perhaps it is, Jiggs. But what does this have to do with anything?� Starke stared at Nelson in shock. �Harriman? Be serious! This is a serious breach of security!� Nelson knew exactly what Starke was fuming about, but he�d be damned if he�d let the �old navy� attitudes on this subject into his world. He hadn�t known about these two; they�d been quite discrete. Apparently saving it for �home,� however, wasn�t enough. He looked at the photos again; not at the men, but at the background. They appeared to be taken in somebody�s apartment, he presumed one of theirs. �I�d say so. Somebody spying on my crew in their own homes?� He was starting to get really angry. �Harriman? What the hell are you talking about? The problem isn�t the photos, it�s these men! This � activity � cannot be tolerated!� Nelson�s short fuse burned out. �Now see here, Jiggs! This is not the navy! These two fine sailors have broken no regulations on my boat. I�ll not have you persecuting them for something that�s none of your damn business, something I�m just as guilty of as they are!� Suddenly the room got eerily quiet, all eyes focused on the red-haired fury behind the desk. Nelson realized that in his anger, he�d let slip his own secret. For several heartbeats, nothing happened. Then Starke recoiled in horror. �Harriman? What do you mean?� As Nelson drew breath to try to answer that, Lee Crane moved up from the credenza behind Nelson�s desk where he�d been perched. He laid a hand on the Admiral�s shoulder and spoke directly to Starke. �As am I, Admiral. Unless you want to unleash a really big can of worms, I think you might want to reconsider.� Kowalski and Patterson glanced at each other, both thinking the same thing. //The Skipper and the Admiral?!!! // They began to think there might just be a way out of this mess with their skins intact. They stayed at attention hoping that Admiral Starke would forget all about them for the moment. Starke stared at Nelson and Crane, willing himself not to see the reality they were forcing on him. Finally, his control broke as well. �This is unacceptable!� Sputtering and fuming, he stormed out of Nelson�s office. Again, everything hung suspended for a moment. Crane regained his voice first. �At ease, gentlemen,� he said to the two nearly terrified young men standing so stiffly. He gestured to the chairs in front of Nelson�s desk. Ski and Pat sat down, not sure what was coming next. More than anything, Kowalski wanted to ask if it was really true, about the two men he respected more than anyone else in the world. But he knew asking would be suicide at the moment, so instead he just sat quietly. Finally, Nelson picked up the photos. �Gentlemen, I am truly sorry this happened. You have served the Seaview well, and I promise you have nothing to fear from Admiral Starke. You�re not still Naval Reserve, are you?� �No, Sir.� They answered as one voice. Nelson nodded. �Then as Institute employees he has no jurisdiction over you at all. But one thing disturbs me. Where were these photos taken?� He handed them to the very embarrassed young men. Kowalski spoke up. �That�s my apartment sir. I have no idea how these could have been taken.� Nelson�s lips were pressed tightly together, forming a very thin line. He shook his head. �We�ll look into it.� He sighed and looked up at the two young men, his expression softening. �You two go home, enjoy the rest of your leave as best you can. We�ll handle this.� Ski and Pat knew a dismissal when they heard one. They quickly stood and with an enthusiastic �Yes, Sir!� made their exit. Once the younger men were gone, Nelson sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. He looked at Crane. �What the hell was Jiggs thinking? Hiring a PI? Spying on our crew?� �Are you sure it was him? Maybe somebody sent him the photos.� Nelson reached for a cigarette to calm his nerves. �I�m going to have to talk to him after he cools down. Find out what�s really going on.� He looked up at Crane as he exhaled the first drag. �You didn�t have to do that, you know. It was bad enough that I slipped in the heat of anger.� Lee smiled. �Yes I did. For the same reason you did. It wasn�t a slip, Harry. It was returning the loyalty Ski and Pat have always shown us. We couldn�t stand by and let them be accused like that.� Nelson took a deep breath. �You�re probably right. But it could make our lives quite difficult if I can�t talk some sense into Jiggs. I�m retired, but you�re still active with ONI. This could cause problems if you ever went back to the Navy full time.� Lee chuckled and perched on the edge of the desk next to Nelson. �Harry, how long have I been �on loan� to you now? Eight years. If I had any hopes for career advancement in the Navy, I�d have gone back long before now. Trust me, I�m not worried about my Navy career. My life is here at the Institute with you, with Seaview. I�ve thought about retiring myself lately just to get ONI off my back.� Nelson gazed up at his young lover in astonishment. �Lee? You�ve never said anything about this �?� Lee smiled. �I was going to make it a surprise for your birthday.� �If we�re not being co-opted for ONI missions, the security risks become much less of an issue.� �Exactly.� �And the risks to you �� Lee reached out and gently caressed Harry�s face. �Yes. I know you worry �� Nelson closed his eyes and shuddered. They had faced many dangers together over the years, but the worst missions seemed to be when ONI sent Crane off alone into a dangerous political situation. It had been worrisome enough before they became lovers. But ever since that fateful day when Nelson had been hijacked into becoming a test subject for Dr. Kinnard's experiments with dolphin sex hormones, Lee Crane had become much more to him than a valued member of his crew. Lee had opened his eyes to something he'd kept himself from seeing all these years. That hiding behind his work had been an excuse to keep himself from realizing that he really didn't want a woman in his life � he wanted a man. His whole world changed when he realized that being with Lee filled a void in his life that he hadn't really known was there. Part of it was physical, sexual, but an even larger part of it was loving someone, and being loved. For the first time in his life, he wasn't alone. Now, the greatest fear of his life was losing Lee on a dangerous mission. The dangers they faced together were one thing; but when ONI co-opted his Captain for some political nonsense, it was taken out of his hands, and he hated that. But if Lee fully retired from active duty, ONI could ASK but not command him to take on these missions. Nelson smiled up at his handsome young lover. "You're serious." Lee nodded. "The paperwork is already in process." "Then Jiggs can't say it's because of this, either." Crane grinned. "Nope. We've got him good." Nelson sighed. "I think I'll give him a while to cool down, then see if I can find out why he did this. I'm sure he's responsible for those photos, and I want to know why." Crane's face shifted to a concerned expression. "You really think he had our crew spied on? In their own homes?" Nelson shook his head. "I really don't know what to think right now, Lee. I want to hear it from him." Crane got a mischievous glint in his hazel eyes. "Well, then, since knowing the Admiral it will be several hours at least before he's coherent, why don't we head up to the penthouse and indulge in some activities he'd surely object to? It's almost 5 o'clock anyway." Nelson laughed and smiled at his lover. Lee had brought a spark of spontaneity into his life that had never been there before. Duty had always come before everything. It still did, but he was able to see now that there were times and places when he could relax and indulge himself without neglecting his duty. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kowalski and Patterson beat a hasty retreat back to Patterson's apartment after their ordeal in Nelson's office. After seeing the photos taken at Ski's place, they felt they couldn't go back there right now. They didn't say much in the car on the way, but as soon as the door was locked behind them, Ski's temper let loose. "I can't believe he SPIED on us in my own apartment! Christ, isn't a guy's home his castle anymore?" Pat did his best to calm his friend, although he wasn't exactly happy himself. "Take it easy, Ski. You heard the Admiral. He'll get to the bottom of this." He wrapped his arms around his lover from behind, trying to soothe him. But Kowalski wasn't in the mood to be soothed. He broke loose and stalked over to the window, jerking the blinds and curtains closed, but not before flipping the finger at whoever might be watching here. He stormed into the bedroom and repeated the procedure. Finally, the tall seaman came back into the living room to find Pat just standing there, waiting for him. This time he let his lover hold him, all but collapsing into the strong arms with a heavy sigh. "I know, Ski. I know �" Pat gently urged his lover down to the couch. They sat there for a good while, just holding on to each other. Finally Ski broke the silence. "Why do I feel � dirty? As if we did something wrong?" Pat shook his head. "No matter what Starke thinks, we didn't. You gotta believe that, Ski. The Admiral and the Skipper backed us up. Hey � do you think they meant what I think they meant?" Kowalski blinked. "Shit, I almost forgot about that. The way the Skipper laid his hand on the Admiral's shoulder �" Pat nodded. "Yeah. I don't think he was just puttin' Admiral Starke on, you know?" "You're right. Wow. I never � I mean, everybody knows they're close, but � this? Wow!" Patterson chuckled. "You know we can never say anything about it to anybody else, right?" Ski looked at him. "After what they did for us today? Hell no! Their secret is safe with us." He sighed and snuggled his head against Pat�s shoulder. They both were more than a little overwhelmed by the revelation, and the fact that the officers had defended them so willingly. �We�re damned lucky, Pat. We got the best jobs in the world, and the best people to work for.� �You can say that again. Ain�t nothin� I wouldn�t do for the Skipper or the Admiral.� �Yeah.� They cuddled together for a while, just happy to still be together. Suddenly, Kowalski�s face split in a grin. �Hey, Pat, I wonder � which one of them�s the top?� Patterson sat there for a moment, trying not to think of his commanders like that. �Ski! I did NOT need that image!� Ski laughed and turned to face his lover. �Yeah, kinda weird, huh? How about I take your mind off it?� In short order the crewmen were too busy with their own bedroom gymnastics to worry about how officers would do it � Continue to Part II Send me some feedback Back to Voyage home Back to Site Home Disclaimer: These characters belong to their original creators; I'm just borrowing them for fun, not profit. |
| Part I |