Confirming Carter Bk. 01 Ch. 03

When she was done, Tammy tossed her a towel. She dried off quickly, and tossed the towel back. She was about to step out of the shower when Tammy held out the tampon. She took it, and looked at her.

"Yo...you're not going to w...watch are you?" She said, blushing slightly.

"Well, I am a nurse, and I have had my fingers where you're getting ready to put that tampon. Several times."

"I know. But...please?"

Tammy laughed at this sudden shyness, finding it appealing.

"Okay. I'll be in the living room."

Carter came out of the bathroom a couple minutes later. She was wearing the sports bra and the tanktop, but carrying the panties in her hand.

"I can't wear these. They're too small."

"No they're not, they're a six, they'll fit you just fine."

Carter held the panties up in front of her, holding them by the edges.

"That's not what I mean! They're too smaaaallll." She said, drawing the word out.

"Are you kidding me? Don't tell me you wear those waist high old lady panties!" Tammy laughed. "This puts a whole new light on things. I don't know if I..."

"Oh shut up!" Sam laughed, stepping into the panties and pulling them up, trying to get them seated comfortably.

"You look great! But we gotta get moving. If we stay down here too long, they're gonna get suspicious."

"Will you stop!" Sam said, taking Tammy's hand and following her to the door.

"I wasn't kidding just then." She said as she opened the door. "Andi already doesn't like me, and I just kicked her in the balls professionally. I'm going to have to be careful around her."

"I can always fire her."

"I won't tell you what to do about who you choose to treat you. But I think that would be a mistake." Tammy said. She stopped outside the elevator and looked at Sam. "I think she's a valuable resource right now, and we do need a psychiatrist in the mix. Let us work out our issues, if we can't, you and Jennifer can decide who you want to keep."

"Okay. I'll keep that in mind." Sam said as she stepped into the elevator. The doors opened almost immediately, and they stepped out.

"We're engaged!" Sam gushed as she walked out into the kitchen, holding out her bare hand to show off an imaginary ring. "Tammy asked me to marry her, and I just had to say yes!"

Jennifer spun around, her mouth open. "Are you se...Oh, you're fucking with us."

Andi groaned and let her head fall to the table with a thump. When she lifted it again, Sam was taking her place at the head of the table. "You're wearing clothes. But damn, that get up makes you look hot!"

Carter pointed at Tammy as she dropped into her seat. "Her idea. My period started, so we went and got some tampons from her place."

"I don't care if you run around naked. But right now I think panties with a liner just make sense." Tammy said. "I think you should wear a bra even if you decide to skip the panties. Otherwise, your tits are gonna start to sag, and that would be a shame."

Both the doctors nodded.

"You do have nice breasts, Sam. Much firmer than other women your a..." She stopped, realizing what she was saying. "That didn't..."

"I am only thirty-six years old. That's not even middle-aged." Carter said, glaring at Jennifer.

"It's close." Tammy muttered.

Sam swung at her, but she leaned back, avoiding it easily.

"And she wears old lady panties."

"I know, you should have seen the pair she had on the day she came to see me." Andi laughed.

"Over her belly button?" Jennifer asked.

Tammy saw Carter starting to bristle, and stepped in, cutting the teasing short.

"Are we in for the day? You two have anything else you need to go out for?" She asked.

"I may have to go out later, but I don't have anything planned for the next few hours. I was planning on doing some tests." She looked over at Sam. "Are you up for that? We really need to get started on it."

Carter just nodded.

"That's what I was thinking too." Tammy said. She turned to Andi. "Andi are you available to help with that?"

Andi nodded, not looking at her.

"Good. I'd like to run down to the gym for a little while if that's ok. It's usually not that crowded this time of day."

"Why don't you use the one upstairs? It's alot nicer, it's never crowded, and there's a pool." Carter said. "You can take the elevator, or there's a set of stairs behind a panel by the window behind you. The last one on the end."

"That's a good idea. I'd like you to be available if we need you." Andi said. "You're very competent, and Sam seems to relate to you more than Jennifer or me. She likes us well enough, but she bonded with you as soon as you two met. I think it would be best if you stayed close, if only to make her feel more comfortable."

"Okay, I'll go check it out in a little while. But while we're on the subject, what are we going to do about comms. I haven't liked being out of touch with you two, I'm a nurse, and while I may be over educated, I don't have the level of medical training you do, and I'm not licensed to prescribe medicines, only administer."

"This building is the hub for the comm system covering the southwest pier, and I'm already tapped into it. There are a dozen unused frequencies that we could use without being noticed, unless someone was looking for traffic. I have a box of headsets down on thirty-one. We can get them later if you want."

"Okay, Jennifer, did you get those cameras I asked you about? Which reminds me of something else."

"Yeah, they're in a box by the porter. I got two for her bedroom, two for the living room, two for this room, one for the office, and one for each of the other rooms." Keller said. "I didn't get any for the bathrooms, but I can if you think we need them."

"Get one for her bathroom and the powder room. Those are the two she uses most." Tammy said as she got up and went over by the door where she had dropped her gym bag earlier. She took out a small box, and came back over to the table. She opened the box and took out a thin silver bracelet, and sat the box on the table.

Turning to Sam, she dropped to one knee, reached out and took her hand. She slid the bracelet over her hand, looking up at her as she did.

"I couldn't get a ring on such short notice. Will you settle for bracelet?"

"Look what I got," Carter beamed. "She got me a bracelet!" She pulled her to her feet and kissed her lightly on the lips. "What should I say girls? Help me out here!"

Tammy dropped back in her seat, and held out her hand to Andi. "Can I see your tablet for a second?" She tapped the screen and grinned. "Good, it's Windows based. Trust the military not to move to Android." She slipped a flash drive into the port and started tapping on the screen. A minute later, she handed it back to Andi.

"Jenn, I need yours too."

She glanced over at Sam as she repeated the process on Keller's tablet, and handed it back. "I can adjust that bracelet later if you want. It doesn't have to be skin tight, it'll work fine like it is."

"I like it like this. It's pretty." Sam said, smiling at her.

A puzzled look came over her face as she thought about the last thing Tammy had said. "Wait. What do you mean, work fine?"

"Okay, now you can monitor Sam's vitals from anywhere close." Tammy said, looking back and forth between Keller and Samuels. "I don't know what the wireless range of the tablets is, but the bracelet is good to two hundred feet, it starts getting a little iffy over that. The application name is Guardian Angel, and its the little angel down in the tray."

"I think you just fucked up, Tammy. Her blood pressure just spiked!" Andi laughed, looking down at her tablet.

Tammy glanced over at Sam, and saw her glaring at her.

"Then I think this is a good time to go check out the gym! See ya later girls!" She laughed as she went over and opened the panel, disappearing inside.

Interior-Gym

1425 Hours

Tammy was doing laps in the pool when Sam strolled up. She watched her do a racing turn, then switch to the breast stroke. She only did a dozen strokes before she did another turn, rolling over into the backstroke this time.

Tammy caught sight of her out of the corner of her eye and arched high in the water short of the wall. She submarined, flipped over underwater, and popped up a second later by the edge of the pool.

"Towel?" She said, pointing behind Carter.

Sam picked up the towel and held it out, just out of her reach. "Don't pull me in, I don't want to attract sharks."

Tammy nodded, and heaved herself out of the pool.

Sam handed her the towel.

"You okay?" She asked as she stood up, running the towel through her hair.

Carter shook her head, then walked over and sat in one of the chairs next to the wall.

"They hurt you?"

Carter just nodded.

"You mad at me?"

Carter nodded again.

"It's gonna happen. You gonna forgive me?"

She shook her head, then nodded.

"You wanna dance?"

"Where the hell did that come from?" Sam laughed as she stood up.

"I put myself through Harvard teaching dance for three years. Helped cut down on the student loans I needed." Tammy said as she stepped over and put her arm around her waist, she took her hand in hers and smiled. "Waltz. Let me lead."

They danced slowly along the side of the pool. Sam started to move closer, but Tammy backed away.

"Don't. I'm still wet."

"I don't care." Carter said. "I like to feel you against me."

Tammy nodded, and held her tighter against her.

"You got two masters, and taught dance at the same time? When did you sleep?"

"I got six hours a day, sometimes all in a row." She laughed. "Similar disciplines, alot of the classes and study material overlapped. I finished in three years."

"Just how smart are you?"

"I'm in your league, believe it or not. Low one eighties."

"You got me beat. I'm only in the mid one six..."

"Don't do that. I know you've hit one ninety twice. I've been following you for years. I'm a fan."

"I'm sorry. I know I'm not supposed to lie to you. Habit."

"Where are the glitter twins?"

"They'll be up in a few minutes. They're getting equipment together. They want you to supervise me doing stress tests."

"Okay, I'll pace you. We'll take it easy at first, then ramp up. I'll do it with you." Tammy stepped back, but held Sam's hand, leading her over to the machines.

"You said you could do three-fifty on the bench. I'd like to see that." Sam said as they walked by the universal gym.

"Your machine doesn't go that high, or at least I don't think it does. But I'll show you what I got."

"It's not my machine. Well, I guess it is now. It was here when I got here. I think it's Atlantian."

"I didn't recognize the writing, but the plates look like steel, and the weights feel about the same. Take a look at the markings, think you can you teach me that?"

She moved the pin down to the bottom plate, came around and laid out on the bench, and got her hands settled on the bar, and pressed it up. She did five reps, then let the bar down slowly to a rest.

She sat up, panting, and grinned. "Impressed?"

"I dunno, lemme try that."

"I don't know if that's a good idea, Sam. That feels like three hundred pounds. Have you every tried to lift that much?"

"No, but I don't think it's that much weight."

Tammy looked at her, then sat up and stepped off the machine. Sam sat down and laid out on it, got her hands settled on the bar, and heaved it upwards. The bar didn't move, and she grunted, straining mightily as she tried again.

Tammy stepped over, putting her hands on the bar. "Stop. You're going to hurt yourself." She held her hand out, and Sam took it, letting her pull her upright.

"I'll work with you if you want, bulking up a little wouldn't hurt you any. I'd like to see you put some weight on, maybe twenty pounds. I'll split the difference with you, ten pounds of fat, ten pounds of muscle. How's that sound?"

"I don't think I can carry one-fifty. I felt heavy at one-fourty."

"We're the same height, and about the same build. I weigh one-fifty. You think I look heavy?"

"No, I would have said one-thirty-five. Uh oh, here comes Jennifer."

Jennifer came over, pushing a cart with a monitor and a variety of cables dangling from it.

"What are you guys doing?" She asked.

"We were just talking about Sam's training regimen. She said you wanted her to do some stress tests."

"Really? Can we do something about her weight? I'd like to see her put on, I don't know, do you think she could carry twenty more pounds? Split it ten pounds fat, and ten pounds muscle? I think she'd look pretty good!"

Carter groaned, while Tammy grinned. Jennifer looked back and forth between them. "I'm missing something again, aren't I?"

"She just said the same thing." Carter said. She looked down at herself, then back up at them. "What is it? Do I look bad like this? Or sickly?"

"No, not at all." Tammy said as she moved around behind her. "But if we put ten more pounds of muscle on you, and I'd like to see most of it on your upper body, that will help improve your strength and stamina. Then we put ten pounds of fat on you, that'll fill out your hips, and tits." She said, reaching around and cupping Carter's breasts in her hands. "I like big tits." She whispered in her ear.

Keller was nodding. "She's got good definition in her calves and thighs, so I think cycling or a stair stepper there, But I think free weights would do her more good than that machine you were playing on. What do you think?"

"I do..." Carter began.

"That sounds like a plan." Tammy said. She gestured toward the equipment Keller had brought up. "We really don't need that stuff, you know. We can just capture the telemetry from her bracelet, and review it later."

She looked at Sam. "I don't want to start you off on weights, I'd like to use your own weight as resistance at first. How many push-ups can you do?"

"I don't know. I haven't done any in a while." Carter said.

"Sit-ups or pull-ups?"

Carter shook her head.

"What kind of exercise do you do? You've been doing some kind of workout, that much is obvious." She reached over and pinched her triceps. "We need to do some work here though, you're starting to sag a little. Inverted push-ups will fix that though."

Carter looked at the underside of her arm, seeing that Tammy was right. "I do the bike for thirty to sixty minutes, at least three times a week, try to do the punching bag and speed bag at least twice a week, and I spar with someone for twenty to thirty minutes everyday. Until the last few days at least."

"Good program, keeps you in shape and in practice at the same time. Smart. I'll spar with you. But I want to get some gear from the gym before we get to that." She turned to Keller. "You want to join us? I can help you shrink that ass a couple of sizes pretty quick if you give me an honest effort."

Keller colored, but nodded. She put her hand on her hip and looked down. "It is getting kinda wide back there isn't it?" She looked back at Tammy. "Yeah, count me in. But not today, I have to go down to the Infirmary for a while and catch up with some stuff. But if you'll set up a schedule, I'll be here when I can." She looked back and forth between them. "What do you think? Two sessions a day, then ramp up to three a days after a couple of weeks?"

Tammy nodded. "We're only gonna do one today. Maybe an hour or so." She turned and looked at Carter. "I just want to see what you can do, and what we need to concentrate of first. You okay with that?"

"Yeah," She said. "But I'm still not sure about putting on more weight..."

"Don't worry about it. It'll be there before you know it, and you won't even notice." She looked at Keller. "Why don't you go do whatever you need to do, and take that with you." She said, waving toward the cart of gear. "We'll get started and talk to you later."

Interior-Kitchen

1610 Hours

Carter, Samuels, and Tammy were back at the table in the kitchen. Carter was drinking apple juice right from the bottle, and Tammy had a glass of water in front of her.

"She did pretty good," Tammy was telling Samuels. "Sixty-five push-ups, and she does them Marine style, on her fists. Another twenty-two inverted, gonna have to work on that, I'd like to see her doing fifty to tighten up her triceps and traps. Forty pull-ups, but she loafed through the last five or six there." She grinned at Carter. "You're not gonna get away with that often, so enjoy it while you can." She looked back over at Andi. "Eighty clean sit-ups though, and she pounded through them in less than two minutes. She was winded, when she finished, but she never strained. I was impressed."

She took a sip of water. "So have you looked at the telemetry? Did your tablet capture it okay? I can take one up with us next time if it didn't."

"No, I got everything fine, the signal never dropped off. But take one with you, or leave one up there so you can monitor her while she's working. You can make on the spot adjustments, and get her into a target range."

Tammy nodded, and took another sip of water.

"Heart rate looked good, never got into the red, hovered in the one-thirty range when she was exerting herself, Spiked to one-fifty something a couple times, but returned to normal quickly between sets." She looked at Sam. "You're in excellent physical condition, Sam. Jenn told me what Tammy has in mind, and I agree with it." She looked over at Tammy. "It sounds like you're more interested in toning than conditioning?"

Tammy nodded. "Yeah, I've seen her in the gym a few times, either on the bike, or sparring. She doesn't mess around, goes full bore the whole time, so conditioning isn't a problem." She looked over at Sam, then back at Andi. "Other than a few other soft spots, her triceps need the most work, her muscle tone is good otherwise. We're talking about bulking her up a little, calisthenics the first week or so, then move to free weights so we build her up evenly all over."

She turned to Carter. "Stand up and pull your shirt up for a second, will you?"

Carter stood up and pulled her tanktop up over her midriff.

"Push your stomach out as far as you can," Tammy told her. "Then relax, and tighten your abs."

Carter did as she told her.

"See, not much belly, and she's already got a good start on a decent six-pack." She said to Samuels. She waved Sam back into her seat.

She looked over at Sam. "I want to keep you smooth, but add a little bulk to your upper body. Mostly arms and shoulders. We add some definition, but it won't really show unless you're exerting yourself. How's that sound to you?"

Carter smiled at her. "Sounds good. That sounds like the ten pounds of muscle you and Jenn were talking about. What about the ten pounds of fat? And do I really need that much more fat on me?"

"No, I'm want you to do that for me. I like full figured women." She glanced over at Samuels, then back at Sam. "Not including your breasts, you have about eighteen percent body fat right now. that's just a guess, but we can measure that later. We try to put half on your tits, take you up another half cup size to a solid C, maybe a little more and get the rest on your hips and ass."

Samuels picked up her tablet and stood up. "That's going to do it for me. You've got this under control. I've got some stuff I need to move over, but I'll either be in my quarters or downstairs if you need me." She looked back and forth between them. "What do you two have planned?"

"I'm going to get the comms setup, and bring the headsets and desk units up. I'll give them too you later. Come back for dinner." She looked at Tammy. "What do you think, 1900 or so? Jenn should be back by then."

Tammy grinned. "I'm cooking again I guess. But yeah, 1900 sounds good. I'll make chili." She looked up at Samuels. "I want to get the cameras up. They're wireless, so installation is easy. Getting the software setup is going to take a while, but I'll have it all done tonight."