Jet Lag

Posted on 07 Dec 2021 @ 13:56 by Lieutenant Commander Elizabeth Watts & Jonathan Demir

Episode: E1: A Historic Voyage
Location: Poulsbo, WA - Home of LCDR Watts
Timeline: Date 2025-04-01 at 1000

Liz crawled out of bed having shut off her alarm after snoozing for a third time the desire to crawl back into bed was unreal. She couldn't though she had things to do today things for her own personal life which she had set the next few days aside for wanting nothing to do with work or anything that involved being on or under water... except for the shower she was about to take anyway.

Liz had arrived home last night at about 10pm local time returning from England where she had been for Prospective Commanding Officer school. One of the few lucky United States Naval Officers to be able to say they attended and gradated from the Royal Navy's Submarine Commanding Officer's School known as "Perisher" due to its high failure rate. With a class that began with ten she was one of just six that graduated from the program. With the coordinated efforts between the UK, Australia, and the United States officers from the three services could attend the Prospective Officers Course from any three navies to gain their final qualifications for command.

She was convinced that the only reason she was able to attend Prospective CO School so quickly with this being just her initial tour as an Executive Officer was because of her status as the first female to do either of those things. She imagined and it had been alluded to her that she would be the poster child of females in the US Navy Submarine Service and was slated to be the first female commanding officer. She hoped after at least two tours as a CO that she would attain flag rank and her goal was to as long as the political side of life cooperated retire as the Command of Submarine Forces.

She stumbled into the bathroom knowing that her neighbor, landlord, and good friend, Jonathan, would be there any minute. Luckily he had a key and would let himself in when she didn't answer. It wouldn't be the first time in their friendship that he would need to wake her when they had plans. She wasn't around often due to the nature of her job but when she was she slept deeply. It was refreshing to her to not have to worry about being awoken while on a submarine.

Liz and Jon had met the last time she was stationed at Naval Station Kitsap while serving aboard the USS Maine as a junior officer on her first tour after sub school. They had become fast and close friends bordering on a couple throughout her years assigned to Maine on the Blue Crew affording her six months aboard the submarine and six months at the base. She lived in base housing throughout her tour aboard Maine but had stayed with him in his apartment often. She departed for six months for the Submarine Advanced Officers Course in Groton, Connecticut before returning back to Washington having selected UW as the location of her Fleet Scholars Education Program. They had decided when she had to give up base housing that she'd move in with him and they started dating, she met the family, and when she was assigned to a submarine in Hawaii after graduation she ended it not wanting him to wait for years for her to be with him or give up his business.

Liz stripped leaving her shorts and tank top on the floor and started the water cranking it to full heat full blast. A real shower... another amazing thing about being home and not underway. Once in the shower she stood there... not moving... and enjoying the water until she slowly adjusted the temperature so it wouldn't burn her as it continued to get hotter. She would miss showers when Arizona got underway she knew they'd return to Kitsap after the trip around the continent but knew that they'd also be sent right out on their first true patrol after the crew had been ashore for the past year in pre-commissioning status.

The sound of someone entering the bathroom could be heard over the stream of water and, a moment later, a well toned arm bearing a sizeable mug darted past the curtain.

"Your usual," the voice of the mug's bearer remarked. His tone was both familiar and amused as if this routine had been repeated more times than he could count. Once the mug had been claimed the arm withdrew and a shuffling could be heard followed by a moment's silence before the curtain drew back slightly and Jonathan stepped into the shower.

She grabbed the coffee and took a sip before she met his eyes, he routinely ruined her plan to not let him back to couple status. When she returned to Kitsap for her shore tour which turned into her becoming Executive Officer of Arizona before it was commissioned which kept her working mostly office hours for three years she had insisted that she'd live in the small apartment in his building but that was it. He came and went as he pleased and basically had his way with her whenever he wanted which was almost as often as she wanted... but she was stern and made sure he knew that they were not together and he should remind his sister and his mother of that regularly.

He wore a slightly amused grin as if someone had just told him something hilarious and he wasn't quite adept enough at schooling his features to keep his response off of his face. Dark eyes tracked down then back up before he snagged the mug back from her, setting it on the side of the tub furthest away from the stream.

She pouted when he took the coffee cup not wanting to part ways with it.

"Missing good hot water pressure?" he asked with a small smirk whirling his finger to indicate she should turn around as he snagged a loofa and a bottle of soap. Soap met mesh netting and then water before Jonathan's hands found her back, working from top to bottom and then back again, his hands settling on her shoulders where he started to rub at the spot just where lean shoulder muscles met her neck.

Liz turned without responding and sighed happily as he began to rub.

"Do we have a plan today?" he asked, "Or is it open season whatever we want to do?"

"Open season," she said. "I have forty-eight hours and then I have to report to the ship and get back to work," she told him. He had been aware that she passed her training and that she was traveling home and when she'd gotten to the airport and back to the apartment but alas he had been traveling as well and with the jet lag there was no way he'd be waking her up. It was bad enough she drug herself out of bed at this hour... whatever hour it was... she tried to do the math of the time her alarm went off and what time it was in England but her mind wouldn't let her.

"Coffee..." she muttered, and let out a quiet, "mmm," as he rubbed just the right spot.

Strong hands continued down the line of her shoulders, pressing at each as he went and pausing to work out a knot here or a particularly tense muscle there. "You'll get water in it if you drink it facing that way," he murmured, pressing his lips to the nape of her neck lightly before stepping back. "Turn around and you can have the coffee back."

"I think that's a good idea," she said, turning quietly, she adjusted the wet hair from her face and the tops of her shoulders. She looked him up and down and couldn't help but smile as the warm feeling of home washed over her. Finding Poulsbo had been the best thing that had ever happened to her. She kissed his lips gently and then held out her hand for her coffee mug.

Jonathan sighed, clearly debating withholding the mug for some sort of further payment, but, in the end acquiesced, handing it to her and waiting for her to take a sip before resuming the loofa and the soap.

"Do you want to stay in? Go out? Get tacos from Tres Hermanas?" He met her eyes with a cheeky grin. "Stay in..."

His hands were careful as he went, but not so careful as to be interpreted as chaste though he was particularly cautious not to interrupt her as she sipped the coffee. Having finished the task he held his hand out for her mug again, tilting his head as if to suggest that relinquishing her coffee was in her best interest.

She took a second sip for good measure and then handed the cup back off, "all of those things?" she asked. "I barely wanted to get out of bed but I probably smelled like submarine and England," she said, rolling her head around stretching out her neck. "I want to eat a lot of food... food from America that tastes good and I expect to do a lot of lounging... lots of lounging."

"Hmmm...." he murmured, stepping closer after returning the coffee mug to its perch on the side of the tub. "Should've gotten here sooner. I've always wondered what England smells like."

Eyes dancing he watched her, an irrepressible grin spreading across his face. "I missed you," he said simply, ducking his head to kiss her before reaching to the side for shampoo.

She had been just about to issue the usual witty reply when he caught her off guard with the I miss you comment and then distracted her with the kiss. She of course returned the kiss and passionately so as it deserved, she loved him, there was no question... but he could never know that she wanted the things that she wouldn't let them have. After all, she had submarines to command and a fast track to admiral and then who knew what from there. He had his shop, he had his life, and they weren't the most compatible and she wouldn't want him to resent any concessions he'd have to make... she wasn't giving up her career now, not at this point, or likely anytime after. How could they make this work she wondered to herself wishing she could just make these thoughts flooding her mind disappear. Clearly, she just needed to just change the subject and her hands moved to him sitting on his sides as she looked up and into his eyes with an impish little smile before they began to drift toward his center he fingers lightly tracing along his skin.

The hand with the shampoo stopped mid-reach, returning it to its perch before dropping to dust lightly down the curve of her hip. "Are we changing the subject?" He asked, expression making it clear that she was welcome to do so. He leaned in, nose brushing the side of hers, but stopping just shy of a kiss. "Maybe we start with staying in?"

She kissed him in response, "coffee first," she grinned against his lips, kissing them again. Her hands reached their destination and they did nothing but encourage staying in.

He groaned at her caveat. "You're going to have to stop that if you want your coffee back," he muttered lips dropping to trace along her jaw toward her ear then slowly and deliberately down her neck.

“I’ll drink… you dry,” she said, then biting her bottom lip as he kissed.

"Counter offer," he remarked, chuckling against the skin at the crook of her neck before pressing around to the hollow of her throat. His lips grazed the other side of her neck as he moved upward, settling just behind her ear. "We keep going with this..." His teeth found the bottom of her earlobe, tugging lightly before releasing and returning to kiss along the line of her jaw, ", then we both get coffee and I make you breakfast."

“Oh alright,” she said, attempting to sound put off but her breathy words gave it away. “If you insist…” she said, grasping at him gently and tilting her head to be sure he had the best access possible.