Healing (General's Daughter Book 5) Page 13

  He was satisfied. With a flip on his tail, he zoomed out of the tank.

  CHAPTER TEN

  “That's our cue, too. Let's get home,” Michael said. The three loaded into the lab’s truck and quietly headed back to the house where they were met by a warm fire and hot cocoa.

  “I missed you,” Michael said, leaning back on the couch with Jen cuddled next to him.

  Rich smiled, holding Sam close. “Except for chow. Bet we ate better than they did. Sammi stocked us very well with the biggest crabs I have ever seen.”

  “Is that why your hands are all scratched up, baby?” Dr. Quimby asked.

  Sam wrinkled her nose. “For some reason, Ton felt it was important for me to learn how to be a responsible parent. I’m sorry about all the problems I give you guys.”

  “What are you talking about?” Scott questioned.

  Sam relayed the event, including Ton's interference, which gave her the sole responsibility of caring for all the youngsters. She snorted, adding that the whale felt she was too inconsiderate to her bulls.

  Scott chuckled. “It is unbelievable that an eight ton killer whale can teach her the lesson that we’ve tried for eighteen years. Go figure.”

  “He taught a good part of the lesson, that’s for sure.” Sam eyed her brother and Rich. “I will definitely think twice before I pull attitude on him again.”

  “We were a good team this weekend,” Michael stated, and then looked at the woman cuddled in his arms. “I missed you.”

  “I missed you too. I don’t want you guys going out there again when it’s this bad,” she whispered.

  “I know, but it’s what we do. Part of who we are. You know that.”

  “I’m still scared for you. More for you two than Sam. I have no doubt that she’s safe out there. But you two are different.”

  “Jenny, we’re careful. We have a lot to come home to,” Rich said gently.

  “Both Mike and Rich are pod members now; they have the entire cetacean population looking out for them. Which brings up the point that Ton won’t let any of us get hurt. Except by him. Daddy, look at what that dumb whale did to my foot!” She kicked off her sock to show him the ugly bruise on her ankle.

  “Are those tooth marks?” Scott asked peering at it.

  She frowned. “He decided to bite my flukes himself. He wasn’t happy with me being out there in the storm.”

  “I never thought I’d say this, but good for him. I’m glad he bit you.” Dr. Quimby sighed, pulling her foot onto his lap and gently rubbing the bruise.

  “You have good hands,” she murmured.

  “It’s about time you noticed. You usually complain about my hands.”

  “It depends on when and how you use them. No complaints now.”

  Scott shook his head with a smile. “The queen on her throne getting her feet rubbed. Such a hard life you lead, little girl.”

  “Harder than you think, Uncle Scott,” she answered, shifting on her aching bottom.

  ***

  “I don’t wanna go back to school,” Jen whined as she and Michael waited to complete her schedule.

  He handed the finished paperwork to the admin clerk. “I know, but it’s only three more years. It will go fast.”

  “For you, Mr. Genius. I’m a different story. Did they remember to include the work study?” she asked the man behind the window.

  “Yeah, you get six credits a semester for 15 hours a week. We’ll mail you the forms to have your supervisors complete.”

  “What do we need to do? I can finish them up now and avoid a delay,” Michael asked.

  The man eyed him. “She’s supposed to have a PhD supervisor.”

  “Yes, I know. I’m one of them. She’ll be working the lab with me. Is that a problem?” Michael frowned.

  “You can’t be more than 23 or 24. This is serious. Fraud is—”

  “I don’t appreciate being called a liar. We already settled this with the Dean and department chair. If you have a problem, get them. I have all the time in the world,” Michael growled.

  The clerk glanced at the line behind him. “Fine, but if there’s a problem, I’m not responsible. Next!” the clerk snarled. Jen kept quiet. Testosterone.

  “What a rude little bastard,” Michal commented, turning to leave.

  Jen held his arm. “They’re always like that. I can’t wait until I can get out of this place.” She kissed his bicep. “You’re my hero.”

  “Damn right I am. There is no reason to act that way. You’d best let me know if anyone here gives you problems. I’ll take care of it.”

  “Down, boy. You have that look. It’s no big deal. I promise I’ll call you if there is something I can’t handle on my own.”

  “I just want to take care of you,” Michael grumbled, opening the car door for her.

  “You always take very good care of me, but there are times I need to take care of myself. I’m really glad that I don’t have to go back to those dorms, though.”

  “Me too. Would you like to grab some coffee?”

  “That sounds nice. Sure, let’s go.”

  They were sitting at the Living Room, the family’s favorite coffee shop in La Jolla village, when Jen was approached by a scruffy looking young man dressed in shorts and a tank top.

  “Jens? What are you doing here?” he asked, eyeballing Michael sourly.

  She swallowed, forcing a smile. “Hello, Lyle.”

  “Who are you?” Lyle asked, glaring at the young man who slouched in his chair as he stretched his long legs under the table.

  “Michael Quimby. And you?”

  “Her ex. Biggest mistake she ever made.”

  “Lyle, please don’t start—”

  “Shut up, Jens.”

  “Apologize to the lady, Lyle.” Michael frowned.

  Lyle laughed sardonically in his face. “I don’t see any ladies here. Do you?” he asked, his bravado increasing when two of his friends joined them.

  Michael, still sitting, sized them up. They were up to no good and were looking for a fight. “I’m not going to ask you again,” Michael said in a deep voice.

  The three laughed as Lyle kicked a chair out of the way. “You’re a lot of talk. Since when do you go for pretty boys, Jens? Is the Jag in front his? Lemme guess, you chose bigger bucks instead of bigger cocks?”

  Michael stood up, looking down at the three for about five inches. He slowly removed his hoodie and stood in a snug tee shirt, his muscles clearly visible. The three didn’t look so confident then. “I strongly suggest you three excuse yourselves and stop bothering this woman.” His voice rumbled, as he stood poised and ready for the attack.

  “Mike, they aren’t worth it,” Jen pleaded, touching his arm.

  It was a matter of minutes that the three were on the floor, unable to move without groaning. Michael grabbed Lyle’s arm and hauled him to his feet.

  “I can do far worse than bloody lips and black eyes. Now, apologize.”

  “I’m going to sue your ass, you mother fucker,” Lyle hissed, spitting at him.

  Michael tightened his grip, ignoring the police officer who walked in. “Apologize or I’ll break your arm.”

  “You fuck—”

  “Mike, let him go. We’ll take care of it,” the officer said.

  Lyle jerked away as Michael relaxed his grip. “You know him?”

  “The whole department does. He’s a military ambassador with diplomatic immunity. You also attacked a member of the elite Special Forces. Consider yourself lucky you aren’t dead,” the officer stated, cuffing Lyle before reading him his rights.

  “You whore. Fuck you, bitch,” Lyle hissed as he was dragged out.

  Michael sat back down and reached for Jen's hand as her eyes filled with tears. “It’s okay, honey. What was his deal?”

  “I’m so sorry, Mike. He was one of the people I used to deal with. He always wanted to pay me with sex and got mad because I refused. It was easier to just give it to him. Without it he’s, well, l
ike that. He beat me up once,” she admitted.

  “Oh my god. I’ll kill—”

  “No, let the cops handle him. He and his buddies all got kicked out of school last year. He’s been looking for me since. I didn’t think he’d be up here, he usually stays down south."

  “I can make things hard for him. Just say the word.”

  “No, let it go. And thanks for standing up to him. The look on their faces when they saw how tall you were was priceless.” She forced a giggle.

  “I have an idea. Let’s go for a drive. I have the weekend off, so let’s spend it alone.”

  “Really? Where can we go?”

  “Leave it to me.” Michael smiled, kissing her gently.

  ***

  “Where are you going? Can I come?” Sam asked over the phone.

  “No, you may not come. I’m taking Jen away for the weekend. We aren’t on call so I’m going to take advantage of it.”

  “But I’ll have nobody to play with. Where are you going?” she asked again, lower lip sticking out as she kicked at her desk.

  “You have Rich and the folks. I’m not saying where we’re going because I haven’t decided yet. Stop pouting.”

  “I’m not pouting,” she pouted.

  “Yes you are. I’ll be home Sunday night. If you’re bored, take Rich for a deep dive and terrorize him.”

  “I’d do that even if I wasn’t bored. I could take him to Sea World and see how many tanks I can get into.”

  “We made the agreement with Sea World that you wouldn’t do that anymore without their permission. Think of something else.”

  “Disney?”

  “No, Jen wanted to do that with the family.”

  “The zoo?”

  “Sammi, you can talk with Rich about it. Give me a break, please? Don’t forget to clean your room. I won’t be there to inspect,” Michael said patiently, rolling his eyes for Jen to see. She giggled.

  “Fine. Have fun without me. Bye,” Sam grumped, hanging the phone up on him. Her transmitter buzzed. “Lt. Quimby.”

  “Don’t you hang up on me. Say goodbye nicely,” her brother ordered.

  “Goodbye nicely.”

  “Brat. Be good, okay? I’ll let the folks know. I love you.”

  “If you loved me, you’d take me with you.”

  “I’ll get you a present, okay? See you Sunday,” he said, switching off. Jen started to laugh. “What’s so funny?”

  “I’m just imagining you with a daughter. She will have you so wrapped around her little finger. She’ll get away with murder.”

  “I doubt that. I just hope her auntie doesn’t teach her the ways of weaseling. That would not be good.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “To the airport. Vancouver is beautiful in late summer.”

  Jen squealed happily. “Are you serious? Is it okay to just go? I have nothing to wear!”

  “Jennifer, you won’t be going out much if I have anything to do with it,” Michael purred in her ear as she leaned over to kiss him. “Now put on your seatbelt.”

  “Always the Marine.” Jen giggled as she happily obeyed.

  ***

  “Samantha, please. You need to settle down now,” Dr. Quimby ordered as he joined her and Rich for chow.

  “Please let me go out into the canyon. PLEASE!”

  “We’ve had this discussion before and the answer is still no. It’s too deep.”

  “But I can hit 500 without— Uh, oh.” She paled as he glared at her.

  “What did you say?”

  “I meant 300, Daddy,” she whispered, grabbing Rich’s hand.

  “That is NOT what you said. Is your brother aware of this?”

  “Yes, sir.” She bit her lip. His neck vein was pulsing.

  “Did you do this with his permission?”

  “No, sir. We went down and I just kept going.”

  “Did I not specifically tell you to go no deeper than 300 without my permission?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Yet, once again, you defied me.” He continued to glare at her. She stared at the table, nodding.

  Rich inhaled. “Pardon me, Doc, but if I understand correctly, this has been going on for a while. It’s not a new occurrence.”

  “How long have you been trench diving, Samantha?”

  “Since we got back from the cruise, Daddy,” she admitted. He stood up, excused himself, and left the dining hall without another word.

  Rich looked at Sam. “Methinks you are ground beef, milady.”

  “Methinks you are correct, sir knight,” she responded back with a loud sigh. “But it would have come out eventually. Except NOW what do I do? He’s on his way to tell Scott.”

  “Don’t know. How can I help?”

  “Run away with me? Far away—” Her transmitter buzzed. “Lt. Quimby.”

  “In my office, now.”

  “Yes, sir. On my way.” She sighed, “Well, so much for our weekend together. Time for my hanging.”

  The two entered HQ and walked up the stairs to the base commanders’ offices. Scott’s secretary greeted them with a smile. “Good afternoon, lieutenants. Here to see the general?”

  Sam made a hanging gesture and walked down the hall to knock on the heavy wood door with Scott’s name on it. She and Rich walked in upon his “enter” and stood at attention before his desk where he and Dr. Quimby sat.

  “I don’t recall sending for Lt. Lewis,” Scott said gruffly. “At ease, both of you. Richard, you go sit down over there.”

  “Yes, sir,” Rich said, taking a seat along the wall. Sam stayed standing, trying not to look as afraid as she felt.

  Scott walked around her, eyeing her from head to toe. “Eyes forward. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t thrash the hell out of you right now, Samantha.”

  “I can give you three, Uncle Scott,” Sam answered quietly, ignoring the rhetorical nature of the remark.

  “Oh really? I’m listening.”

  “First, it was my father’s command not to go that deep, not yours. Therefore, it would be his responsibility, not yours.”

  “True. Continue.”

  “Second, I did it with the agreement that I would cease immediately if I felt any unusual symptoms or if Ton sensed anything unusual. That did not occur. I was fully supervised.”

  “And the third?”

  “The third reason is that I need to know my limits. God forbid anything ever happens again like what caused this whole thing in the first place; I need to know how far I can go to help someone. That’s my job and only I can do it.”

  “So you felt that disobeying my orders was justified?” Dr. Quimby asked, joining Scott in staring down at her.

  “No sir, not justified, but necessary. I wouldn’t do something like that just because I felt like it. Daddy, you compete in Iron Man. How do you know when you’ve reached your limits or met your full potential? You run that extra mile, right?”

  “I don’t put my life at risk.”

  “How do you know? Your heart could suddenly call it quits, right? None of us know, but we trust our body’s ability to warn us if we push it. My limits are simply different than yours. I could run that marathon and suddenly not be able to breathe because of my limitations. We don’t know.”

  “I’m not at all happy with you right now.”

  “Me neither,” Scott added.

  Sam dropped her eyes to the ground. “I know. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. That doesn’t change the fact that I’m safe at that level. Or my belief that I can go deeper.”

  “No more of that. You will test in the compression tanks first. If your father decides you can safely take the depth, then he will supervise your descent. Understood?”

  “Yes, sir.” She could hear Scott’s disappointment in his voice. Guilt washed over her.

  “Report to the chambers on Monday, Samantha. Dismissed,” Dr. Quimby said, turning away.

  Sam looked up in his direction knowing that, once again, she had do
ne something to upset him. “Daddy? I—”

  “I said you were dismissed. Close the door on the way out.”

  “Yes, sir. Come on, Rich,” Sam said sadly, leaving the room quietly.

  He took her hand briefly in the hall. “What was that about?”

  “They are upset with me again. Mainly because I was right and they really couldn’t argue it. Don’t worry; they’ll talk about it later once they calm down. I hate it when I put them into this place. It’s gets real lonely for me and I feel like a failure as a daughter.”

  “You’re not.”

  “I know, but I feel that way. Let’s go finish your engineering thingy and then go to the lab.”

  “My thingy? You mean the frequency adjustments on the band?”

  “Yeah, your thingy.”

  Rich drove Sam to the house in his jeep after work that day. Neither of her parents were there, nor were Michael and Jen.

  “They’ve been home. I wonder where they went.”

  “It’s Friday, so maybe up to the O’club. Mike said he was gone for the weekend, remember?”

  “Would you please call them and see where they are so I don’t worry?” Sam asked, trotting upstairs to change out of her uniform.

  Rich sighed, dialing Dr. Quimby’s cell phone.

  “Hey Rich, what do you need?”

  “We were just wondering where you guys were.”

  “Scott and I are up north. We’ll be home pretty late. Sorry, I should have left you a message.”

  “I understand how easy it is to get distracted because of her. I just want to make sure you guys are all right.”

  “We’re fine. Peeved, but okay. Please watch out for her,” the man pleaded.

  “With my life. I swear that to you.”

  “Thank you, son. I appreciate all you do for her.”

  “Let me know if I can help with anything, Doc. I’m going to take her out to dinner then we’ll come straight home.”

  “It’s a nice night,” the man paused, “maybe let her take a swim.”

  “Yes, sir, but only if she needs to. Don't worry. I promise to watch out for her.”

  “I know you will. Goodnight, son.”

  “Did you find out where they were?” Sam came down in her customary tee shirt.