The day promised to be an ugly one. The rains of winter still fell occasionally, and today happened to be one of those days. It wasn't a heavy rain, but it was enough to keep most people indoors.
A pair of headlights cut through the falling drops and a Ford Ranger parked in an apartment complex located just a couple of miles from the front gate of Camp Pendleton. Kline and Hanson stalked from the truck through the rain and walked to a lower level apartment. The Lt. looked at his watch.
"0955, sir."
Hanson inhaled and nodded. He was slightly hung over, but Kline had gotten him up early enough so that he was mostly recovered. He cleared his throat and unclenched his fists, trying to relax. Finally, he reached up and knocked on the door.
The two men waited. After a few moments the door opened. "Come in gentlemen." Crawford's voice was even and held no disrespect. That surprised Hanson.
They entered and shut the door. Crawford had three mugs of coffee sitting out on a coffee table, along with bagels and cream cheese. The sailor walked to an armchair and sat. He scooped up his coffee cup, then took a bagel and began smearing cream cheese on it.
"Come on over and have a seat if you want." Crawford pointed at the mug farthest from him. "Captain, that's yours. Two sugars and a cream." He then pointed at the other. "Lt., yours is black as night, just as you like it."
The two men stood there and looked at the drinks and food. Crawford had always been one for detail. Hanson cleared his throat. "Crawford. Why are we here?"
"Sir, can you both please sit down? Please?" The sailor asked and looked at the two of them.
Hanson looked back and felt himself bristling like an angry hound. "Why are you ASKING us to do anything?" He sat down on the couch in front of his coffee. "You got us here through blackmail, and now you get all nice?" He laughed bitterly. "What the fuck is your game?"
Kline sat down beside the Captain and picked up his coffee. He sniffed it then tried a sip. It was dark and strong, like he always made it back at work. He picked up a bagel and sat back to listen and watch.
"Look Captain." James set down his coffee, paused, and then looked up at him. "I've served in the US Navy, honorably, and to the utmost of my ability. I have never asked anything of my country that I wouldn't be willing to give in return. Yet, there's something that I've always wanted that I just can't have." He smiled darkly at the officers' questioning expressions. "All I want is a single day that I don't have to lie. I'll never get that, so I want you two to know how I've felt over the years."
Kline frowned. "What do you mean?"
"What I mean, sir, is just what I said. I want to be able to tell the truth when someone asks me where I went over the weekend. Or asks who I'm seeing, or even if I'm getting laid." James' face was impassive. "You can't imagine how it tears me up to lie about these things." He shook his head. "But you will know, after today." He looked at the Lt. "Why do you think I'm not re-enlisting? I've never been as good at anything in my life as I am at being a sailor, but I can't keep doing it. It's eating me alive."
Hanson studied him carefully. He could tell the angst Crawford felt wasn't an act. But that still didn't answer his question. "Why are we here, Crawford?" He asked again, but this time there was less of an edge in his voice.
James grinned. "Well, in addition to enacting a little poetic justice; I've had to keep myself from even thinking about my marines as sexual prospects. I'm around them all the time and it'd be impossible for me to hide my secret if I allowed myself to think about them sexually. So I learned to ignore my desire." His smile broadened. "That is, until I saw both of you in the same room."
Kline looked at Crawford then back to James. "Why us? And why both of us?"
"I have no idea. But it only happens when you're both in the same room."
"What, exactly, is `it'?" Hanson dreaded asking as soon as the words left his mouth.
James stood up. He was wearing a pair of sweat shorts and they were tented with an erection. The two officers looked at his crotch and both went red in the face. "This is what happens, and it stays hard as hell the entire time I'm in the same room as you both." James laughed at the men and sat back down. "You two have some kind of chemistry I haven't been able to pin down." That evil grin came back as James looked at them. "But I'm willing to try."
Kline swallowed nervously. "What do you want us to do?"
"First, eat and drink." He got up and opened a door leading to a bedroom. "Then, come inside. Don't take too long, or I'll come looking for you." He went inside and shut the door, leaving the two of them sitting on the couch.
After a few silent moments, Kline looked at Hanson. "So Captain, if you've figured a way out of this yet, let me know. My plan still needs a little work."
Hanson groaned and put his face in his hands.