Don't Look Like a Seal Pt. 03

"But what," He prompted.

"Well I kind of told her that despite the thing with Ryan she shouldn't swear off guys since the next guy she meets might be the one. The next day she meets your friend and now she's acting like... well like she's acting. I'm afraid I put some idea into her head," Lissa admitted.

"She's a smart woman, Lis, you know that. You didn't put some thought in her head that Ken was the one for her. They met and they hit it off simple as that," He assured her.

"She insists that she's not looking for anything more than friendship right now," Lissa stated.

"Maybe that's for the best for the both of them right now," He said.

"Is your friend coming off a bad break up too?" Lissa asked.

"I haven't seen Ken going on three years now but before things went bad on that last mission he had gotten serious with someone. It turned out she was just using him for a story. It messed him up real bad especially after all he's been through in his life but that's a long story in and of itself. I do think that Michelle would be good for him but he needs to keep his mind on his job right now," He told her. "The guys that are behind this are ruthless if he's distracted it could get the wrong people killed. It could get him killed and I'm not sure I could live with that. That man has saved my life more than a few times. He can't get himself killed over this."

"I'm sure he'll be okay, Scottie," She tried to assure him. "So he's the one I should thank for keeping you alive all those years in the service huh?"

"He's the one," He chuckled. "The crazy bastard that would put his life on the line just so one of us didn't have too. He acted like it was his responsibility to get us all home alive. He took it really hard when Ricky got killed."

Lissa nodded knowing the story all too well since it was the same one where Scott nearly died. She didn't want him to relive that particular memory right now.

"What is this about him needing to have a look around our place?" She asked.

"He mentioned that already huh? Figures that he would," Scott shook his head. "The cops think that I might be the target of this whole thing and not Addison. They want Ken to snoop around and see what he can find."

"How is it snooping if he told you or well us all about it?" She asked.

"It isn't and snooping isn't Ken's way, Lis," He told her. "He wouldn't keep something like this from me."

"Or us since he told me and well Michelle was right there too so she knows as well," She said. "Why would the cops want him to check out our place and not do it themselves?"

"Ken pointed out that he doesn't need a warrant but my guess is that he stuck his nose in the middle of this somehow and some cop thought that if he wants to be involved then they'd put him on a goose chase to keep him out of their way," He answered.

"You really think that's why?" She asked.

"That's just a guess but if he finds anything out he'll let us know first," He assured her.

"I hope that he will," She sighed.

"He will Lis. I trusted him with my life," He smiled. "I can trust him with this."

****

Alex spotted T. J. first as he entered the waiting area of the ICU then smiled when he spotted Addison seated there with them.

"I was gonna say the gang's all here but it seems we're missing a few people." He greeted them.

"It's about time you got here." T. J. commented "I thought Scott would go back to sleep before you showed back up, Alex."

"Don't even joke about that T. J." Lissa told him.

The doctor wanted to run some more tests so Lissa had returned to the waiting room to chat with the others while she waited to hear an update.

"You know I'm just playing beside you know the trick to keep him up now don't you?" T. J. chuckled.

"Why did I ever tell you what I did to wake him up?" She shook her head while Addison laughed.

"Want to bring me up to speed on what's so funny?" Alex asked.

"It's not important." Lissa said cutting T. J. off. "The important thing is Scottie's awake and alert."

"That is the important thing," He nodded then nodded toward T. J.'s wrapped hand. "How is that feeling?"

"It's a scratch," T. J. said. "Grayson already read me the riot act over it so you can give it a rest."

"He did, huh?" Alex asked. "I guess some things never change."

"Not where Ken is concerned," T. J. smiled.

"Speaking of Grayson," Alex said. "Where is he and Ramon?"

"Ramon's gone off looking for the second shift nurse of his dreams. The first shift nurse had a boyfriend apparently but he got her number just to be on the safe side." T. J. answered. "Kenny left with Michelle a little while ago saying something about going to find a suit I think."

"He told me that he had one already." Alex muttered.

"Maybe he had one picked out." Addison suggested.

"Not likely. It's more like Grayson to show up at the party wearing a Hawaiian shirt, shorts and flip flops just to spite me." Alex sighed.

"Well you did try and blow him up." Ramon added as he rejoined the group.

"The timers were defective. It wasn't my fault!" Alex argued.

"You blew him up?" Lissa asked confused.

"It wasn't my fault." Alex repeated and looked at Addison. "See the housing on the timers were cracked when we parachuted in, I hit a tree but that's neither here nor there."

"You guys should have seen him up in that tree," T. J. started laughing and shook his head. "Upside down and backwards trying to reach the knife in his boot after we'd told you time and again..."

"Keep it at your waist, I know," Alex interrupted. "It's been there ever since that day, I assure you."

"I'll bet," T. J. commented. "Anyway, it took us a good forty five minutes to get his ass untangled enough to cut down."

"He looked like a puppet that had been stored in the back of a closet for decades. All tangled up in all his lines," Ramon laughed.

Alex felt embarrassed from the story but when he looked over and saw Addison smiling at him he smiled back and continued. "It wasn't all that bad. I warned Ken that we probably shouldn't use them but we didn't really have an alternative at that point."

"That doesn't sound like it was your fault," Addison immediately commented and Lissa shook her head which she saw. "Well it doesn't!"

"I was the one that rigged the explosives so the blame does fall on me," Alex admitted. "Instead of the ten minutes I tried to give him it turned out to be five minutes. He still had plenty of time to get out."

"If he didn't run into the people guarding the place it might have been plenty of time," Ramon chuckled.

"Thankfully he didn't get into a firefight with them that time," T. J. said. "He used his brain for once and hid until he could get clear. Almost took him a little too long didn't it, Alex."

"That it did," Alex nodded. "He was only a few yards from the place when it exploded. He got a little singed and he couldn't hear well for a few hours but he was fine."

"It wasn't like it was his first explosion or anything," T. J. laughed.

"More like his twenty first," Ramon laughed then smiled at Lissa and Addison. "Things blow up around Grayson a lot."

"Not recently," Alex assured them. "Believe me, I checked."

"You guys have been through a lot haven't you?" Addison spoke up.

"There are days that it feels like we've been through way too much but we're still here for some reason," Alex sighed.

Addison nodded and thought back to what Michelle told her about getting to know a person and not just what they project with their image. When she looked at Alex she would never have guessed he was ever in the service much less a grunt in the field doing dangerous work but now that he was around his friends she could see the camaraderie shared by men who have faced death together. It brought her a new found respect for who these people were and what they endured together.

"Is it all right if I go see Scottie?" Alex asked Lissa.

"The doctor was looking him over again but it should be all right if you want to go back with me," Lissa answered.

Addison glared at Lissa for a second then stopped knowing that Lissa needed to be close to Scott right now and she would have her time with Alex later.

****

"Excuse me Doctor, is it all right for us to come in?" Lissa asked as she and Alex stopped by the nurses station.

"Yes, Ms. Joiner, perfectly fine." The doctor answered. "I was just telling Mr. Brannock that he's made remarkable progress and we'll be moving him up from the ICU to a regular room sometime tomorrow if everything stays the same."

"Great news, Scott," Alex commented as they entered the room.

"Not so great, I still have to eat hospital food." He joked. "No offense, doc."

"It's bland not bad, Mr. Brannock," The doctor commented. "I'm sure that your stomach can handle a little less excitement for a little while longer."

"Don't worry, Scott, I'll smuggle you in a slice of pizza from Pizza Romana," Alex assured him with a wink.

The doctor sighed and shook her head as she left the room.

"You've got your hands full with security at the Voss'," Scott said. "I'll be fine."

"I've got Ken there with me. What could possible go wrong?" Alex tried to joke but Scott shook his head.

"Alex, I told Ken and I'm telling you. Watch out for these guys. They're ruthless, military trained and mostly professional, if you have a shot take it, don't hesitate because they won't," He shared.

"Have you ever known Ken to hesitate? Come on Scottie that shot to the head didn't scramble your brains that much," Alex stated.

"I guess you're right about that. I can't believe he's been so close this whole time and we didn't know," Scott sighed.

"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask him about how he ended up here of all places," Alex said.

"If he lets you know, how about letting me know huh? I'm curious myself," He nodded.

"You just concentrate on getting healed up, Scott," Alex told him. "It's you that we've all been worried about."

"That we were," Lissa agreed as she held Scott's hand.

"Heard about the guy that tried to get in here huh?" Scott asked.

"I've been getting constant updates," Alex nodded.

"I'm thankful T. J. was here and noticed him otherwise..." Lissa started to say as her hand started to shake.

Scott gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"From now on I'm insisting that one of my guys is in your room at all times not just allowed to hang out in the waiting room." Alex told him.

"The cops have already assigned someone to guard me. You saw him when you walked in. Save your man for the Voss'. They need it more than me," He insisted.

"I can spare him, Scott, so he's staying. In the meantime, take this." He pulled his knife and tried to hand it to Scott but he produced the knife that I had already given him from beneath his pillow.

"You didn't think that Ken would leave me without some form of personal protection did you?" Scott smiled as he placed it back in place.

"For a minute there I kind of did," Alex answered. "He is still looking out for you huh?"

"Just like he did on the team," Scott smiled.

"I'm not sure I like you having a knife in your condition but I appreciate the extra guard, Alex," Lissa commented.

"Don't worry, Lis," Scott said. "This knife is for one of those if all else fails scenarios. Don't be too hard on Ken for giving it to me."

"I think that if I tried to go after him then I would be the one needing protecting from Michelle," She smiled. "I just hope that it's not needed."

"Everything will be fine, Lissa," Alex reassured her with a smile. "We take care of our own that's how we've survived this long."

Scott had seen Alex smile like that before and it never meant anything good. He wanted to confront him but not in front of Lissa. She had been through too much already and he would pick his moment to speak with Alex about just what all he wasn't sharing.

****

"I still say you should have let me get the white suit, " I told Michelle as we took a seat in the small ice cream parlor.

She got strawberry while I opted for peach both in cones with plenty of napkins because of the sweltering July afternoon.

"So you could put on a pastel shirt and do your best Miami Vice impersonation tomorrow night? While I think you'd look adorable with a day's growth of stubble on your face and a pair of boat shoes with no socks, Mrs. Voss would not," She stated after a lick of her cone.

"You don't think they'd appreciate the retro look huh?" I asked as I twirled my cone around to stop a drip from happening.

"I think she'd have you out on the beach guarding against a shark attack or jellyfish invasion instead of having you anywhere near the guests," She giggled.

"I like the Magnum look anyway," I commented.

She snorted her ice cream from her mouth and had to grab a napkin to catch the spillage.

"What?" I asked as I passed her more napkins.

"I just imagined you in those short shorts Tom Selleck wore," She said as she wiped at her lips.

"I have nice legs." I defended.

She laughed again but without shooting strawberry ice cream projectiles across the table thankfully.

"Your legs aren't bad but no one and I mean no one's legs are nice enough to wear shorts that short except for Selleck," She answered.

"I don't know about that. I saw a pair of legs this morning that would fit the bill," I found myself flirting before my brain could stop me.

"Do you have to brag about seeing Addison's legs to me?" She asked with a playful smile.

"I'm not talking about Addison's legs," I stated figuring that if she was willing to play so was I.

"Kenny, Lissa is engaged to your friend so looking at her legs is inappropriate," She tsked me.

"I wasn't being inappropriate because it wasn't Lissa's legs I was referring to either," I smiled.

"Karly is a little too young to have you looking at her legs," She challenged.

"I haven't seen Karly today," I confessed.

"Well then I had no idea Mrs. Voss had such nice legs," She said as she took another lick of her cone.

"I don't either because I didn't see her. And don't you dare say Scott just because he called me cutie doesn't mean I was checking out his legs," I managed to say with a somewhat straight face.

She managed not to snort this time but she did giggle before she composed herself.

"You've got me stumped then Kenny because I can't think of who's legs that you could have seen then," She flirted.

"You can't huh?" I asked as I gently nudged her foot with mine under our pink and white table. "No one comes to mind? Not even this very pretty Marine Biologist with nice long legs sitting across from me who is starting to blush?"

"That's just the ice cream," She stated quickly.

"Ice cream gives you rosy cheeks, huh?" I asked. "That's a new one on me."

"You see the ice crystals found in the ice cream interact with heat of the mouth causing a flushing of the cheeks in certain individuals. I just happen to be one of those individuals," She explained.

"So you blush when you eat ice cream and get compliments too then?" I asked with a smile.

"Back off man, I'm a scientist." she deadpaned.

I looked at her for a second then burst out laughing which caused several other patrons to look over at us. Michelle's blush got even redder when she noticed the eyes of several strangers on us.

"Great ice cream," She said to the people that were staring at us then pulled me from the table. "I cannot take you anywhere."

I continued to laugh as she steered me into the parking lot and toward my car.

"If I knew that line would have that effect on you I'd have kept my mouth shut," She grumbled.

"Effect? I'll tell you what the effect is, it's pissing me off," I quoted from the movie.

She stared at me for a moment then burst out laughing herself. The people heading into the ice cream parlor must have thought that either we're on some good drugs or we just had the best ice cream in the world. I opened the passenger door for Michelle who was just getting her laughter under control. She offered to hold the rest of my cone until I got into the car. Soon I was behind the wheel and cruising down the road with the air conditioning going and we were finishing up our ice cream.

"My mother hated when I saw that movie." Michelle confessed as we drove down Highway 17 Bypass.

"Ghostbusters? That movie was tame compared to what's out these days," I commented.

"I went around saying Mother Pus Bucket at everything until she washed my mouth out with soap," She said, made a Yuck face then licked her cone as if to get rid of the memory of the taste.

"Even though it's not exactly cursing?" I asked.

"It was close enough," She said.

"Sounds a lot like the orphanage," I admitted. "I got the soap treatment after my first blasphemous utterance. Yes, that's what they called it by the way."

"Orphanage?" She asked surprised. "You were in an orphanage?"

"Yeah, well in and out of a couple until I turned eighteen and joined the Navy. I mean had to join the Navy I guess I should say." I corrected myself.

Michelle was very quiet for a moment and I glanced over at her. She was looking at me expectantly.

"You don't want to hear my life story right now do you?" I asked as I turned my attention back to the road.

"Only if you want to tell me," She said. "I wouldn't want to pry or anything like that."

I nodded and it was turn to be quiet for a second as I contemplated whether or not I wanted to get into this. My mouth started speaking before my thought process finished.

"There was a car crash when I was eight years old. I was thrown from the car but survived it. My parents weren't as lucky. Dad died on impact and mom lingered for what I'm told was a few hours before she passed. I had no other family that I knew of so I was sent to an orphanage. Sorry, I mean children's home. That's the nicer thing they like to call places like that nowadays. It hardly feels like it was twenty one years ago since that happened," I poured out.

Michelle reached over and touched my hand where I had it resting on the gear stick.

"I suppose that it will always feel like it happened just yesterday," She commented. "I feel the same way about my dad."

"You lost your dad?" I asked.

"He worked on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. There was an accident and while he managed to save his crew and most of the rig... he was caught by an explosion. They uh... never found... his body," She managed to choke out as the emotion threatened to close her throat at the last part.

I turned my hand over on the shifter, grasped hers and gave it a squeeze.

"I'm so sorry, Michelle," I said quietly.

"It's been nineteen years for me," She continued. "You would think that you would get used to it but you never do, do you?"

"No," I answered. "You just learn to live with it. I still carry this with me wherever I go."

I reluctantly slipped my hand off of hers then reached up to my sun visor. I pulled it down then pulled free the faded picture I had tucked there. I passed it to her and she looked over the tattered and worn photograph of my parents.

"That was the only thing I managed to hold onto of them," I confessed.

"You have your father's eyes." She stated while still looking at the pic.

"I do?" I asked.

She looked over at me as I glanced at her. She studied me and the pic then nodded.

"Definitely," She nodded. "You have your mom's smile. They look very happy here."

"I think that was their nature at least from what I can remember of them. They were always laughing, always smiling," I shared.

"That's a great memory to have of them," She said then reached into her purse.

She pulled out a picture of her own and passed it over to me. I looked at the man in the photo. He had dark hair and a matching beard which reminded me of a young James Brolin when he was in Amityville Horror. More like the beginning of that flick than possessed by demon pig or whatever it was supposed to be at the end. A big smile lit up his face as he held a blonde haired girl in his arms who was demurely clutching at his chest. The pale blue eyes on the girl were a dead giveaway that it was Michelle.