Cry Baby
There were dangers to being in warm water. Sure, hyperthermia and other factors came into play in icy water, but the body could survive longer, even after passing out, in chilly water. Anybody had better chance of being revived after their body dropped to certain temperatures and the body’s natural processes were slowed down. In warm water the body acted normal, and Tiffany never got trained to handle underwater swimming to this extent. Cookie got her to the MK V, but she was unconscious and unresponsive.
“Come on, baby, open your eyes,” he begged.
Her eyelashes clumped together and her dark skin had an ashen tone to it as the medics worked on her. True to his word, Tex had gotten them out of Cuba as quickly as possible. Between he and Trace, they’d gotten a MK V prepared for helicopter extraction straight from San Diego and Trace had the British SIS agents in route to escort them. In international waters, and under a joint country operation that hadn’t been sanctioned, the trade over to the British forces had gone smoother than expected. Still, he’d rather have Tiffany fussing at him for letting Cookie, and then Abe, kiss her underwater to keep her lungs full of air.
They’d made it out, but the strain had been too much for her. As the boat raced toward landfall in Haiti where’d they’d be transferred to jet for the remainder of their trip to London, the medics put an IV in Tiffany’s arm and worked to get her vitals stable. He’d never forget the sight of her coming up out of the water, her thick hair stuck to her face, with her head listing to one side. Even knowing she’d passed out underwater as they dodged bullets shot from above, and hadn’t prepared for seeing her out of the water.
Everything was different when it was someone close to the heart.
He wrapped around her body, forcing the medics to work where they could reach her, but he couldn’t summon the urge to care. He needed the evidence that her heart was beating. Her breath, thready but there, whispered over his cheek as he held her close.
“She’s going to be fine, sailor,” Wolf told him. “She’s here, and she’s breathing. She pushed through when most would have been scared out of their minds.”
Cry Baby nodded, unable to speak.
“You know, when I found Katya in that bunker,” Heim started, “I wanted to break into pieces. God, she was so strong, standing there on just guts and nerves, and yelling for us to save the prisoners first, that she as valuable and her life could be traded for them. I’d never been prouder of a woman in my life. But, fuck, I wanted to spank her ass raw for scaring me like that. For ever being in danger.”
Heim reached forward and gripped Cry Baby’s shoulder. “I know what you’re feeling. I’ve been there. Hell, we’ve all been there.”
The other SEALs nodded. Hell, Heim was right. Every single one of the SEALs riding in the boat had to save, rescue, or fight their way to their chosen woman at one point during their relationship. Cry Baby went with Heim to get Katya out of that bunker and she nearly died due to dehydration, malnutrition, and the shockwaves from a bomb blast. Snake thought he’d lost the only woman he’d ever loved to the USO Concert attack, and found out he’d had a son in the process. Akwasi needed therapy for a long time, and still went to therapy, after what happened to her. Caroline helped Wolf foil an attack on an airplane, only to have her later taken by the attackers. The stories just went on.
“Maybe being with a SEAL is a warrant for danger,” Cry Baby said.
Heim shrugged. “That, or we come along when the time is right, that’s what I like to believe. Don’t want to think that being with me is what puts my girl in jeopardy.”
“In my case, though,” Cry Baby started, but didn’t finish. He didn’t want to say it out loud. He traced her cheek with his thumb and watched color come back to her skin. Tiffany would be okay, but she was in danger now because of him. She didn’t have to give him a heads-up about the detainment, or fight to get his team out with him. She didn’t have to race out of GITMO and jump over that cliff and swim much farther than her lungs could take underwater.
“Don’t do that,” Tiffany mumbled.
“T?” he asked, surprised she was awake.
“I can hear you mind grinding with ways to push me away from here. I had to face suck half a SEAL team, you better keep me.”
She never opened her eyes, and even feel back to sleep after saying those words, but it was enough to smooth his pounding heart. He pinned his Budweiser, always with him on missions, on her shirt. No way he’d give her up.
*
“Welcome to Legoland,” Tiffany whispered.
Vauxhall Cross rose from the ground, but it looked like it was from the River Thames, depending on what angle you were at. A fortress of thick concrete, steel, and classified materials, did look like Maya and Aztec temples a bit, as the designer pulled influences from. Still, Cry baby couldn’t believe he was standing in front of it.
“Are we going to get drug down to some unknown basement the minute we go inside?” he asked.
Heim thumped his shoulder. “We are all tired, hungry, and ready to go. Our families are probably worried sick, and I’d like to know if we are labeled traitors before I talk to Katya.”
“I can answer that for you,” a man said. They all turned and Tiffany smiled big at a talk figure with a pristine blue suit, white shirt, and black tie. He looked a bit older than Trace, but the similarities in their faces made Cry Baby doubletake.
“Trace?” he asked, unsure.
“Ah, what they say about the Navy SEAL observation skills are quite true. Most are too afraid to connect me with my brother. I am C.”
“C?” Cry Baby asked, then he thought. Shit, the leader of SIS. He snapped to attention, and the other SEALs followed suit. “Glad to meet you, sir.”
“No need for that now. You’ve brought my top agent home, along with the evidence she needed to finish the case. May I inquire, which one of you is Tex?”
Tex stepped forward with a sheepish smile. “Guilty as charged.”
“If you ever decide to leave the states, good fellow, you have gainful employment by my side. Send word out when you’re ready. I’m sure to find it. Now, if you’ll follow me. Trace has already briefed me on some of it. We’ll allow you to rest in quarters, and then we will speak about your evidence. Welcome to Vauxhall Cross.”
C turned away from them and headed towards the front doors of the building. Cry Baby blinked, not sure what to think. The tension from the last few days, his race away from GITMO, and now this welcome here made his mind reel.
“Trace’s brother is the Chief of SIS,” Cry Baby said.
“Yeah, they don’t like to talk about it. Their rivalry is like Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes. Don’t ask them which one is Mycroft though.”
“I have a feeling Mycroft just walked in the building,” Cry Baby commented.
“You are a Holmes fan?” Tiffany asked with a broad smile on her face.
“Of course,” he said.
“I licked you, you’re mine, and I’m going to keep you,” Tiffany said. She laughed and then she led them into the main foyer.
“I took the liberty of having your team transferred here. One of them, Hawk, has had a tough go.”
“My SEAL team is here?” Heim asked. “Where are they?”
“Based on your evidence I contacted SOCUER about their detainment with a retroactive mission dossier that had their names on it. As far as your government was concerned you were on a top-secret mission in direct contact with SIS signed off on the presidential level.”
“Definitely Mycroft,” Cry Baby whispered to Tiffany.
“And for that, my good man,” C said, turning to Cry Baby, “I’ll make sure that there is a special stipend added to the mission.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“I’d like to see the team, and get with Hawk,” Heim said.
“I will take you to them now, but Hawk is in medical.”
They followed C as he walked them through the main lobby to a set of elevators to the left. Once they got on he pressed a passcode into the pad inside and the doors slid close.
“Why is Hawk in medial?” Cry Baby asked.
“It seems his detainment was recorded, and he did not sleep more than three hours his entire time there. When he did sleep, it was greatly disturbed.”
Cry Baby looked over at Heim but Heim just shook his head. Heim didn’t know why Hawk was so bothered. Welsh was the only member of the team that Hawk shared everything with. They’d have to get in touch with him and see what’s going on.
“For now, let’s meet with the team and we all can get some much-needed rest,” Heim stated.
“Fine. The meeting with SOCUER Commander General Scaparnelli is set for nine am tomorrow morning, considering your travel. While your team is safe, and the mission highly-classified, there is some blow back on your commander and other staff at home. The sooner we clear things up, the better,” C finished.
The elevator doors slid open and Snake, Welsh, and Glitz were standing there.
“Dammit, I thought I’d never see your ugly mug again, man,” Cry Baby said, reaching for Snake.
“I knew you were in love with me. Look, CB, I’m a married man, and I only want Akwasi. If it’s going to be awkward between us, this isn’t going to work.”
Cry Baby punched Snake on the arm. “I think I’m all taken care off,”
Snake noted his pin on Tiffany and his eyebrows disappeared into his hair line. “Ah, you gave him the cookies? But he’s a cry baby.”
“He’s my Cry Baby, and if you got a problem with that I can staple your esophagus to your rectal cavity,” Tiffany said.
“Ouch, love, he’s just sporting you. But you know what they say, once you go Scot, you never go back.” Welsh wagged his eyebrows at her.
“Wrong ethnic group,” Tiffany argued.
“Tomatoes, tom-ah-toes. The point is, you’d like me better. I’m a lover, not a fighter.”
Tiffany grunted. “Yeah, okay, SEAL. But I love my fighter and my lover. Besides, what good Scotsman let’s himself be called Welsh?”
Welsh dropped back, grabbing at his heart. “See, love, we’re both from the other side of the Pond. We’re supposed to stick together. You’re breaking my heart, I swear.”
Glitz nodded to them both, but looked down at his phone and groaned.
“What’s wrong?” Heim asked.
“Big Boss got my message too late.”
“He’s on his way?”
Glitz shook his head. “He’s already in the U.S., in my empty apartment, and has heard about my detainment. He’s been transferred, pending Hawk’s medical review.”
“Transferred to…” Heim turned to Welsh. “What’s going on with Hawk?”
Welsh sighed. “The missions, they’ve been messing with him lately. The one for Katya and Akwasi were rough. We’ve seen hell, you know, but it’s different when it’s someone you know. It just…” Welsh let his words trail off and shrugged.
“PTSD isn’t anything to mess with. It doesn’t always have to be career ending though,” Wolf consoled, guessing what Welsh didn’t want to say. Welsh’s grateful expression explained it all.
“It doesn’t. We’ll see what happens. Until then, it seems we’ll have a Korean SEAL taking his place. Commander must have cleared that before they started giving him shit,” Heim said.
“Well, you know the Navy SEALs helped fund and start the ROKN SEALs, and Commander helped train them previously. He’d accept Big Boss with his eyes closed,” Glitz affirmed.
And with the ties Big Boss had to the team, on top of the scandal surrounding them with this betrayal, they needed to bring in someone they knew could be trust. Someone that could fit along with the team easy enough and move with the missions. Cry Baby understood that. There would have been plenty of Stateside SEALs who could have joined the team, but only none with all the requirements Big Boss met.
“Then Hawk needs to rest for now, this might be hard on him. Welsh, just go check on him later. I’ll look in on him before I turn in and call Katya. She’ll be worried sick, since I didn’t go right home,” Heim said.
“She had Akwasi and Kondo come to the house,” Snake told him. “The Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy can get a good bit of information right now, and they aren’t terrified thinking we’re traitors set to die.”
“Good to know. Hey Cry Baby, maybe Vixen needs to join the First Wives Club of SEAL Team Phantom.”
Cry Baby turned to say something, but Tiffany grabbed him.
“We can talk about all that after we join the Vauxhall Club,” she told him.
If that was what he thought it meant, he was all for that.