Colton Stories - Gus and Adi Ch. 02

Gus nodded. "It does indeed feel like a trap."

"I understand," offered the Judge smiling. "But you're wrong. Right now, Jack is not your girlfriend's father, and John is not the AD at Colton College. This is three old friends celebrating a wonderful thing happening in our lives this morning."

Gus nodded.

"And what would that be Grandpa Ralph?" asked Adriana.

"We've worked hard to get four young men settled in the world. Two of them were basically sans parents, so the community stepped in," explained John Moses. "Jake the Jet getting engaged to an amazing young woman is quite the milestone. One we feel the need to celebrate."

"In that case, I'm honored to be included," said Gus somberly. "I'd love a cigar. Thank you," he nodded again. "And I agree completely with your assessment of Grace; she is amazing."

"So, the ladies just get left out?" asked Sara pointedly.

"Not at all," countered the Judge.

"Thank you, Drew," interjected Adriana as she grabbed a cigar from the box of Cubans Andy was holding.

"You may want to go easy there, young lady," offered her father. "Getting green in the gills in front of Gus is probably not the look you're going for," he smiled. "It's all sunshine and fairy dust until you're puking over the side of the boat."

"Andrew, I believe there are some Connecticut robustos in the humidor below," offered the Judge. "That may be a more apropos choice for a maiden voyage. There's some ginger ale in the galley as well."

Andy nodded, took Adriana's cigar back, and headed below deck. He returned quickly and handed the milder, smaller sticks to Sara, Eowyn, Adriana, Ellen, and Eden.

"Alright Droobie, how do I do this?" asked an amused Ellen. "When in Rome, and all that."

Andy punched and helped the ladies light their cigars. He looked appreciatively at Eowyn, who didn't need his help whatsoever.

"You're an old pro at this," observed Andy, as she blew a smoke ring on her second draw.

A grinning Eowyn explained, "Our grandfather is a cigar smoker. He taught us both. In fact, it doesn't really feel like we're sailing without a sigar," she said in a heavy Norse accent.

"I have a very random question," announced Jack Glass. "At breakfast this morning, Haylee mentioned something about being Andy'd. Would one of you be so kind as to explain what that means?"

Sara and Eden burst out laughing. Andy turned bright red, and could only shrug at Jack.

"It's a term Kail came up with," began Eden. "Before Andy got here, guys on campus were very reluctant to pursue the lovely coeds of Colton College in the proper way - actually in any way. There was a certain amount of hooking up that took place, but no one had ever seen anything like Andy pursuing Sara. So now, when a guy goes all in on a young lady, we say 'She got Andy'd,'" she smiled. "Kail says there's a sliding scale involved, as well. If Chris Stapleton is involved, and the local florist knows you by name, you're reaching epic level Andy'd."

"It can be a positive and a negative thing," added Sara quickly. "If a guy loses out on a girl because another guy steps up; he got Andy'd, too."

"So please use it to describe Haylee and Jacob's relationship," Jack inquired.

"Well, Jacob was afraid of getting Andy'd. We all knew Haylee had a thing for him, and apparently the feeling was mutual but Jacob wasn't doing anything about it. So, he stepped up, and now she's getting Andy'd," grinned Eden.

Jack grinned madly, and chuckled to himself. He subtly looked at Gus and nodded. Gus unashamedly nodded back. Out of the corner of his eye, Gus saw the beaming look on Adi's face.

_________________________________________________________

Ninety minutes later, Gus was still happily at the wheel, and various conversations were happening all over the boat. Ben Obikowski, Andy, and John Moses were talking hockey in the bow of the craft. Marty and Padme were exploring the deck of the ship, while Jen Land and Julianna Glass sat and got to know one another. Ellen, Eden, Sara, Adriana, and Eowyn were talking bridesmaid's dresses, and Gus noted that Ellen had her sketch pad out. Jack and the Judge were talking and laughing - enjoying the day and one another's company. Gus smiled when Adriana caught his eye and blew him a kiss.

Gus checked the navigation chart in front of him, and studied the sky to the north and east of their course. He quietly motioned for the Judge to join him, and the two discussed the incoming weather. The waves had increased, and Gus needed the Judge's local expertise. As the pair talked, Gus saw Padme slip on her oversized paws and slide into the sea with the increased pitch of the ship. A horrified Marty attempted an awkward leap into the ocean to get her. Gus watched dismayed as Marty's chin made sickeningly solid contact with the edge of the deck, and then witnessed his hand get bent underneath him at a disturbing angle. His entry into the ocean jolted Gus into action.

"Eowyn!" Gus gave his sister the distress signal and plan of action in Norwegian. Moving quickly, he emptied his pockets, tossed off his jacket, sunglasses, and Twins cap, and in three long, quick strides grabbed a life jacket and dove off the side of the boat.

The Miss Helen was a fast craft under a full spread of canvas with a brisk wind. That meant that the 10 second interval between Marty's sad attempt to rescue his dog, and Gus's purposeful dive created a wider gap than the would-be rescuer would have liked. He noted that Andy had thrown a donut-shaped life preserver out in front of him, and the all the passengers on deck were now aware of the situation.

He could hear Marty's screaming - partly in panic and partly because of the pain from his split chin and dislocated little finger. But mostly, Gus felt the cold of the water. It was damn cold. Too cold for the two of them to spend much time in the ocean without hypothermia setting in. Gus guessed they had about 5 minutes, tops.

He reached Marty in 10 powerful strokes, and dove beneath the beleaguered Down's man. He emerged behind him, and quickly and deftly put the life jacket on the struggling victim. He pushed Marty's legs forward, while grabbing the handle on the back of the jacket. Marty was forced to lie back in the water, and Gus made for the life preserver. Having got there in twice as many strokes as he would have liked, he secured it and discovered that Padme was swimming towards her owner. Gus grabbed the dog and got her into the middle of the ringed flotation device. Having acquired both man and beast, he looked about for the boat. They were roughly 200 yards away from them, and he could hear Eowyn's commands as the ship began to come about and tack against the wind. 'Dammit!' Gus thought to himself. 'We're going to be freaking ice cubes by the time they get to us.' Marty's cries of pain brought him back to the immediate situation.

"Paduan Marty," said Gus calmly. "Use the force, Paduan. Quiet your mind, you must."

"My hand," Marty sobbed. "My hand hurts really bad!"

"Here's what we're going to do Paduan," replied Gus. "Take 10 deep breaths and quiet your mind. If quiet your mind, you do not - then pass your test you will not. When quiet your mind is, fix your hand, I will. How does that sound?"

A frantic Marty nodded his head.

Gus counted 10 deep breaths, and Marty responded well. While he counted, Gus took a hold of Marty's injured hand. His pinky finger on his left hand was pointing at a 90-degree angle away from his other fingers. Gus put both of Marty's hands on the life preserver, and told him to look at Padme. Sensing what was going on, the dog licked her human's face affectionately.

"Marty, I'm going to count to three and then I'm going to fix your hand. It will hurt a little, but that's what we have to do to fix it, OK?"

Gus began counting, and when he got to two, he reset the dislocated finger. Marty cried out in pain, and Gus saw his eyes roll back in his head as Marty passed out from the pain. Moving as quickly as he could, Gus looped Marty's hands into the ropes around the circle of the life preserver, and slid behind him. Reaching around Marty's body, he pulled the unconscious man's head back into his shoulder. Satisfied that Marty could breathe, Gus began to kick towards the tacking vessel.

When their rescuers were 20 yards away, Marty came to. Gus spoke calmly and soothingly to his friend, and the young man quickly grew somewhat calmer; talking to Gus through chattering teeth. Gus saw the blue of his lips and face, and he knew hypothermia had begun to set in - on both of them. He could again hear Eowyn giving sharp and crisp commands to her crew of Ben and Andy, and they responded in kind. This made Gus laugh out loud, so much so that he swallowed a couple of unwanted mouthfuls of sea water.

At 10 yards, Gus shouted to his sister in Norwegian, and she responded back. He gave an update on Marty's condition, and again Ben and Andy were commandeered into action. The sea ladder went over the stern of the craft, and Eowyn dropped the anchor. When the boat was completely still, Gus maneuvered his amassed jumble of young man and puppy towards the ship.

At the stern of the vessel, Gus explained to Marty what was going to happen. A smiling Andy pulled Padme, then Marty, and then Gus himself into the boat. Once on deck, Padme was being tended to by Eden and Ellen, and Marty was being disrobed quickly by his father and Jen Land. As soon as he was on the deck, Gus began stripping off his soaked clothing, and gladly accepted the offered towel and blanket. Once he got to his boxer briefs, he followed Marty and Padme below deck. His body was shaking uncontrollably. With great effort, he took off his boxer briefs, and slid in next to Marty's naked form under a pile of blankets in the large bunk of the captain's cabin. He felt Andy's body behind him, and soon the pair of half-drowned men were fast asleep as their bodies fought to warm up. Thoughts of Adi occupied his mind as he fell asleep, exhausted from his brief but icy ordeal.

Gus woke up some time later to a woman singing. It was soft, and quite pleasant. Sunlight streamed through the small cabin windows of the sailboat. He forced his eyes to focus, and was greeted by the sight of a smiling Jen Land. Marty was asleep with his head in her lap, and Padme had her head in her new mistress's lap, as well.

"Is he OK?" croaked Gus. The swallowed seawater had done a number on his throat.

Jen nodded.

"He vomited some sea water, so let me apologize for the smell of wet dog and vomit," she said softly. "Andy splinted his finger and bandaged his chin," she paused. "Thank you, Gustav. My stepson owes you his life."

Gus nodded. He sat up, and was relieved to find that his arms and back were quite sore. Pain was good. Pain meant things were working. He heard the cabin door open, accompanied by a shuffle of feet, and a loudly protesting female voice.

"Gus? Son, how do you feel?"

He knew this voice. It was the Judge.

"I'm OK," he croaked.

Andy handed him a steaming mug of coffee with a healthy dose of whiskey included. Gus slurped it gladly.

"What the hell happened?" asked a red-eyed John Moses. It was clear the entire episode weighed heavy on him.

"The pitch of the ship carried Padme overboard. She's not yet grown into her paws," Gus explained. "When Marty tried to go in after her, he mistimed his jump. The down roll of the ship piledrove him pretty good. I saw the whole thing happen, and knew he'd need help."

"That was some impressive work, Gus," offered Andy. "I saw it, too, but I was up in the bow of the ship. You move pretty damn quick when you need to," he smiled.

"Thanks," he said. "So, Marty's OK?"

Four nodding heads responded to his question. "Thanks to you, and your sister the dreaded Master Chief McLeod," chuckled Jack Glass. "The two of you make quite the team. Now that everyone is safe and sound, I have to say I quite enjoyed watching the McLeod siblings in their natural habitat. As Andy said, it was quite an impressive display."

Gus returned the smile Jack gave him.

"You can thank our bestefar. The North Sea does not suffer fools. We were taught one way to do things: Henrik Gustavson's way," he explained.

"Are you OK, Gustav?" asked Ralph Carlson.

Gus nodded. "I'm really tired and really hungry, but that's textbook hypothermia."

"Dr. Adams is meeting us at the dock. He'll give you both a good once-over and put some stitches in Marty's chin," the Judge paused. "Gus, how the hell did you get Marty to calm down? He was screaming bloody murder - and not that I blame him."

"I borrowed a trick from Andy," he smiled. "Dr. Moses told us about Marty's love for The Clone Wars. I told him this was his Jedi initiation, and that he needed to use The Force to quiet his mind. By the way, if he asks you, we Force manipulated the boat to come back to us. Of course, when he passed out after I reset his finger, he got really quiet."

"That was damn good work," replied Andy. "Gus, you're a good man in a fight."

Gus chuckled. "Well, no one was shooting at me."

"Last time I checked, the sea is pretty merciless," retorted Jack Glass. "I'd have to agree with Drew on this one."

"Would you give Gus and I a minute?" asked John Moses. "And then I know there's a young lady who will tear this boat apart if she can't see her young man," he grinned.

Gus accepted handshakes from Ralph and Andy, and a handshake with a, "proud of you, Gus," from Jack Glass. He began to get up, but then realized he was stark naked. John laughed, and turned to bark at the recently departed entourage. He returned quickly with Gus's dried clothing. He slid on his boxer briefs, and then did the same with his shorts.

"Gus, there's no way Jen and I can ever thank you enough for what you did," began John.

Gus held up his hand.

"Please. First, thank you for what I think you're going to say. Second, you have already thanked me plenty, John. You and Andy greased the skids for me with Jack and Julianna. I suspect you," he nodded to Jen Land, "had something to do with that, as well. I'm head over heels for Adriana, and you're her Uncle John. Damn right I went in after Marty. Actually, I should be thanking you. The man I'd think I'd like to have as a father-in-law just told me he's proud of me. That's a pretty big deal from where I'm sitting," he grinned.

John Moses laughed until he cried, and since he'd been doing plenty of the latter over the past 60 minutes, the tears soon took over.

"Gus," said Jen softly. "When John lost Linda to cancer, it was devastating. That was a little over 2 years ago. When he saw Marty struggling in the ocean," she now choked up. Gus nodded in response.

"Well then, I'm glad I was there. Marty is an amazing guy. Adi loves him to death. It's what we do for the people we love," he said softly.

Gus was saved - or so he thought - by Adriana bursting below deck. She bounded to him, and just about knocked him back into the bunk when she hugged him. His girlfriend kissed him repeatedly, until she suddenly stopped and began punching him in the arm.

"Hey! That hurts," he protested.

"Don't you ever do that shit again!" she announced testily.

"I was just supposed to do nothing?" he fired back.

She turned her attention to John Moses. "Uncle John, please tell my knucklehead boyfriend that being in love means you do things together. So, if his fine ass decides to dive into the freezing ocean again, it had damn well better be with his lovely girlfriend right beside him. This handing me his phone bullshit to go play Aquaman will not fly. I know Aunt Jen agrees with me."

John Moses burst into laughter. When he recovered, he looked at her cannily. "In love, huh?"

"Like the whole boat doesn't know by now? Please," she retorted as she rolled her eyes.

Gus was saved by the appearance of his sister and Julianna.

"Nice sailing," said a grinning Gus to his younger sibling.

"Somebody had to come get your scrawny ass out of the water. When the engines wouldn't turn over, I got to do some real sailing - though it meant you were in the water longer. Besides, I really like Marty and Padme," she smiled. "But we both know that you're mom's favorite, so there is that."

The siblings embraced, and Gus kissed his sister on the cheek.

"I'm glad you're OK," she whispered. "And for the record, I was the one freaking out. Your girlfriend has ice water in her veins. She didn't bat an eye until you were below deck. Bestfar would be very pleased."

He smiled at her, and received his own kiss on the cheek.

"Love you, E," he said.

"Love you, too," she grinned.

Gus was surprised at the fervor of the hug he received from Julianna Glass.

"Gustavo, what you did . . . I don't have the words. I know you've been thanked plenty, but let me say thank you as well. You were very brave and decisive," she grinned. "But please, save such bravado for when I am not around?"

"Yes ma'am," said Gus sheepishly.

"Do you feel up to coming on deck?" asked Eowyn.

Gus nodded. "Go ahead, it'll take me a minute."

"I'll help him," offered Adriana. "The two of you can go ahead."

As Eowyn and Julianna headed on deck, Gus was surprised to hear Jen's voice next.

"Actually, Johnny would you please help Gus? I'd like a few words with Adriana," she said kindly, but in a tone that let all involved know this was not a request.

Gus kissed Adriana on the nose, and she hugged him fiercely. He looked into her eyes, and saw the affection and care.

"Me too, Miss Prince," he said softly, causing Adi to giggle.

Gus winked at her, and then headed up slowly, accompanied by John Moses.

"I'd like to have an honest, woman-to-woman conversation, Adi," said Jen, once the two men had made their way on deck.

Adriana nodded.

"Your Uncle John thinks the world of you. I know your Aunt Linda did as well. So, I'd like to start by saying thank you for calling me Aunt Jen. That means more to me than I think you'll ever realize. Please know I'm not trying to take her place or fill her shoes. I'm trying to have a life with the man I love - actually with the two men I love."

Adriana nodded again. "I told myself that I could hate you simply because you're not her," she paused. "But I can't. He's happy with you. He loves you, and he loves his life here. When I heard him laugh the other night," Adi teared up. "I've not heard him laugh like that in a long time, Aunt Jen."

The two women sat together for a few minutes to let their newly established relationship sink in. Both were very thankful for this development, particularly since Adriana was just beginning her four years at Colton. The silence was broken by Padme's soft bark as she chased a rabbit in her sleep.

"Adi, you love him - don't you?" asked Jen quietly.

"I do - or at least I think I do," she replied honestly. "I mean, I know I'm only 19, but he's just so . . ." she exhaled loudly.

Jen nodded. "I've been teaching undergrads, in some shape or form, for 13 years. In that time, I've never had a more outstanding young man in my classroom than Gus. In fact," she paused, "the only other young man who is in his league is also on this boat."

Adi laughed, "Well Drew did basically tell me to take my shot with Gus," she admitted.

Jen shot her a look of amazement. "Really?"

Adi nodded.

Jen leaned back against the bulkhead. "Huh. That sneaky bastard," she said softly. "Well played, Sgt. DeGroat. Well-played, indeed."

Adi looked at her, not caring that confusion showed plainly on her face.

"How much has Gus told you about last year?"

"Not much. What I know, I basically know from Jacob and Eowyn," admitted Adriana.

"Well, as you might imagine, your boyfriend made quite the entrance on this campus. You're dating a Colton dreamboat; but you know that. Even with all the non-hetero dating propaganda, the coeds of the college had Gustav McLeod firmly in their crosshairs. He was very committed to Gianna, so Gus was not interested. He moved into the boathouse at fall break, and ended up across the hall from the Misfits. All four found him to be quite the thing, and I know Coach Shea was worried about competing for Gus's attention ruining the harmony of her 4's boat." She paused.