Tales from the Diving Bell

By S

Fandom: Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea

Rating: PG

Takes place after "Man-Beast"

Tales From The Diving Bell

By S
VVVVVVVVVVV

"Lee?" Harriman Nelson watched as the dark-haired Captain began to move about on the other bunk in the decompression chamber. The descent to 30,000 feet in the diving bell had made this procedure a
necessity, but fortunately it had saved the life of Lee Crane when combined with the antidote to Dr. Braddock's hideous gas.

As soon as the bell had returned to the safety of SEAVIEW, the two men had immediately been placed in the chamber. Exhausted by his ordeal as the Man-Beast, Crane had fallen into a restless sleep as his body
began the needed recovery period.

For Nelson, it was a worrying time, even though it appeared that the risk of lowering himself with the violent creature had paid off. He could now admit to himself that the man in the other bunk was worth any risk. If he hadn't known it before, the look the two had exchanged when the symptoms had finally disappeared from the handsome face of Lee Crane, would have told him. Nelson couldn't deny that he saw gratitude in those brown-gold eyes, but there was more and he needed to know what it was.

Naturally enough, the decompression chamber was not the place to find out, even if Lee had been more coherent; however, the certified genius intended to find out as soon as the Skipper was back on his feet. The Admiral had almost lost his friend and he didn't intend allow another day to pass without finding out what he needed to know.

When the prescribed decompression time ended, the Captain was helped to his cabin by corpsman Leonard Frank and the CMO, Will Jamieson, who reassured Nelson that Crane would be almost back to normal after a good night's sleep.

As night settled in on the beautiful gray submarine, two men paid separate visits to reassure themselves that Lee Crane was indeed alive and no longer tortured by the wild beast that Dr. Braddock's atmosphere
had forced upon him.

The Exec stood just inside the door for sometime before moving closer to the man with the dark shadows still visible around his eyes. Morton knew that under the crisp pajamas, the Captain's left arm sported a
bandage, covering the slight wound caused by Chip's gun. Shaking at just the thought of nearly killing his best friend, the blond reached out to smooth away a black curl from the high forehead. At least there seemed to be no fever.

Ever since the bell had returned with the raving creature aboard, Morton had berated himself for letting Lee go down on that second dive. **I should have insisted he wait for the Admiral's clearance. I should
have tried harder, made him listen, but no, good old Chip Morton always follows orders--even ones that could get my best friend killed.**

Morton cut himself no slack, not even for defying Braddock by terminating the dive before its completion. After all, what did Chip's job mean to him, compared with the life of the man he had known
for so many years?

Staring down at the sleeping man, the Exec could only hope that somehow this horrible experiment could be forgotten despite Lee's well-developed sense of responsibility Fortunately, it had not been the Skipper, but Braddock, who had killed the crewman or that surely would have torn his friend apart. Lee tended to overburden himself with guilt whenever anything went wrong on the gray lady and murder might be the final blow.

Knowing that he couldn't stay any longer, Morton turned to go when he saw the doorknob to the cabin turning. Not wanting to be caught, he ducked into the small bathroom attached to the cabin. Leaving the
door slightly ajar, he waited. Maybe it was only the doctor, wanting to check his patient.

But it was not the CMO. It was Admiral Harriman Nelson.

Truthfully, the blond was not surprised that Nelson had also stopped by. He knew that Lee and the 4-star officer were close friends and since it had been Nelson who had risked his own life to save Lee, naturally he would be concerned.

Not intending to eavesdrop, Chip started to close the door tightly, but the click would be too loud in the quiet night air so he willed himself not to listen. For a time it succeeded until a totally unexpected
word emerged from the Admiral's lips: 'love'.

Throwing away any pretense of indifference, Morton listened to Nelson's beautiful voice speaking in halting words. This definitely was not the man who had earned his fourth star during the Doomsday crisis or who had defied Walter Tobin by seeing that nuclear fuel had been delivered to aliens; this was a man who had almost lost someone he cared deeply for.

The Admiral spoke of his growing affection and trust for his Captain in the preceding years. The delight he took in spending time with the young man. His fears that Crane could never feel the same for him.
His bottled-up feelings poured forth in a litany of need and desire.

Finally, the words of love came to an end and the stocky man rose to depart the cabin. As soon as Chip was sure that Crane was the only one in the room, he emerged from the bathroom. Glancing down at the
man on the bunk, he could see that the Skipper was still asleep. The Admiral would only dare bare his feelings to a man who couldn't hear him.

Shaking his head at the older man's need to hide his feelings, Chip leaned over to place a light kiss on the sleeping man's forehead then turned and quietly left the cabin. He had the watch in only a few hours.

As soon as the door closed, the brown-gold eyes opened wide. Lee had heard the heart-felt words of the man he admired so much. He had never dared to imagine that a man like Nelson could ever feel that way
about him--until he had seen the look in those blue eyes while in the diving bell. Nelson's look had said everything the Admiral had just surreptitiously confessed, but Crane wasn't sure that his friend would ever be able to actually tell Lee how he felt. It seemed that if the Captain wanted to achieve his heart's desire, he would have to break through those barriers.

Warmed by the thought of his good fortune in having two caring men in his life, Lee let himself slip into healing sleep. Tomorrow, he would put his plan into action.

VVVVVVVV

One Year Later

At 1900 hours Lee Crane, Harriman Nelson, and Chip Morton finished the bottle of champagne which the Exec had brought with him to the penthouse to celebrate the first anniversary of Crane and Nelson as lovers. Morton had been reluctant at first to intrude on the special evening, but the partners had insisted that he join them for a drink and dinner. In the year both men had availed themselves of the blond's sympathetic ear when troubles had developed. Since both Crane and Nelson were used to being in command, there had been some explosive arguments which had benefited from a more objective referee.

While Chip had felt rather embarrassed at first about the situation, he had finally realized it was just another part of his job description as a friend to both of the dynamic men. Indeed, the happiness that they
gave to each other and the resulting benefits to SEAVIEW made it much easier for the Exec to act as peacemaker. As the year had gone by, his services had been needed less frequently which pleased each member of the trio.

With the last glass from the bottle of champagne, Chip proposed a toast, "To both of you and many more years of happiness."

In return Harri proposed a toast to good friends. Morton beamed with the knowledge of Nelson's friendship and trust. Even more important to him had been the quick aside earlier when Lee had told him
just how much he counted on Chip's friendship and would always do so.

With all of them pleasantly mellow from the sparkling beverage, the Exec took courage in hand to finally ask a question he had wondered about for a full year. "Lee, I know you told me that you actually heard what the Admiral spoke of that night in the cabin, but you never did tell me what you said to him to let him know you were interested."

The handsome Captain flushed. "Well, I, uh. . . ."

Nelson nudged his lover. "Go ahead, Lee, tell him. I thought it was darn clever."

"Okay. I guess I might as well. When Harri orderedme to his cabin to ask how I was feeling the next morning, I could see that he intended going back to being just Admiral and Captain so I handed him a note I had prepared when I got up."

"A note? That must have been some note."

Harriman Nelson could barely keep the smirk off his face. "Oh, it was, Chip. It said, 'How do you feel about bestiality?'"

Loud peals of laughter filled the penthouse.

The End