Our boss laughed when we walked back through the door on Monday morning, but the joke was actually on him. The "Nude Day" assignment he gave us turned out to be a lot of fun. He thought we would be embarrassed, but he was the one who turned red as we relayed to the rest of the office, the details of our excursion.
"I need to talk to you guys." he said as he turned towards his office. It was painfully quiet as we sat down and waited for him to continue.
"Now, the last assignment was merely fun and games, and I'm glad you two enjoyed yourselves, but it's time to get back to work. As you two know, every publication around has done a piece on the war. I tried to stay away from it, but the public is just soaking it up." He swiveled around in his chair.
"But the war has been done to death...no pun intended." D said, as we tried to read our editor's face.
"I know, but I think I may have a different angle. This whole thing started with the Trade Towers in New York, and by now, it's back to business as usual. But for those protecting us, it's far from usual. I thought maybe you guys could cover the Navy ships that are used to restock the fighting cruisers...you know...sort of a 'behind the scenes' kind of thing. It hasn't been touched on much, and those guys are just as important as the ones we see on TV."
D and I looked at each other, and nodded in agreement. Without saying a word, because we already knew, I held out my hand. He knew as well, and opened his desk drawer pulling out the packet. I snatched it from his hand, and we left the humid office.
We didn't even open the envelope until we got home, at which time we discovered we would be traveling to the East coast. It seemed almost like a waste of time, as we would be flying for almost as long as it would take to get the story. We were to spend one day on a Navy supply ship, taking pictures, and interviewing sailors, then it was back home again.
The flight was typical, and we took a cab to a nice hotel. We checked all our gear, and hit the sheets early, as the ship would be pulling out about eight the next morning.
We got to the base around seven, as we weren't sure what would be involved in getting clearance.
"Didn't anybody call you?" the sentry asked, as we handed him our passes. "The supply ship had mechanical problems off the coast of North Carolina. I'll let you in to talk to my commanding officer." he handed us a small map of the base, and gave us detailed instructions on how to get there. Typical government, the building was straight ahead.
"I'm sorry you made the trip all the way out here, but these things happen." he said. I could tell he was truly sorry, as he really wanted his men to get the recognition they deserved. We said our farewells, and almost made it out the door when he shouted to us.
"Hey! I have an idea! Hang on a sec!" He grabbed the phone, and turned his back to us while he spoke. A minute later he hung up the handset and smiled at us.
"It isn't much, but we have a sub coming into port. The crew onboard has been out to sea for nearly six months. They'll have some time off, and the second crew will be doing exercises for a few hours each day. Your welcome to tag along for a day with them." He waited for our response.
"Oh wow! I've never been on a submarine before!" D exclaimed. She had no idea. I knew from experience that it would be cramped, hot, and smelly, but crap, we did come all the way out here for a story.
"Yeah, I guess that would be fine." I said without a lot of enthusiasm.
"Great! It should arrive here about twenty-three hundred hours. You should be back around seven hundred." We shook hands and found our way back to the gate. We spent the rest of the day sightseeing.
"What's it gonna be like?" D finally asked as we walked into the hotel lobby.
"It'll be hot, and it will smell like diesel." I said flatly.
"Then I better wear something cool." she said. As soon as we were in our room, D began to rifle through her stuff. as she pulled out clothes, she suddenly burst into laughter. I had to see what was so funny.
"Hey! How about if I wear this?" she teased, holding up a short "sailor dress", complete with the black tie.
"Yeah, I dare you!" I said as we rolled on the bed laughing. She then got up and laid out a silk pant suit, throwing the dress back in her bag. I wonder why she even brought that thing with us.
The next morning at o'dark thirty, we began to assemble ourselves for the day. Fresh out of the shower, D walked over to the balcony and stepped out.
"Looks like it's going to be cold today." she said with a shiver as she closed the glass door.
"Well yeah, when you walk outside naked!" I reminded her.
"We're twenty floors up, and it's still dark out." she said in her defense. But it was getting late fast, so I jumped into the bathroom while she got dressed. D was ready by the time I opened the bathroom door. I grabbed my coat, she already had hers on, and we ran to the elevators.
The same guard was in the booth, and he greeted us with a wave.
"Gonna try again, huh?" he said as he pulled out another map. It took him five minutes just to convey to us, the difficult route of going to the end of the lot and turning right. It took him longer to explain it, then it took for us to walk the quarter of a mile down to the pier.
As we stood there, the crew slowly began to make their way down the narrow path. They looked beat, must be from getting up so early.
"May I help you?" one of them asked politely.
"Yes, we're supposed to go out with you guys for the day." I said holding up my camera.
"Oh, reporters?" he asked, as he straightened out his tie.
"In a way." I said as I handed him a card.
"Oh wow! I read that magazine all the time! You mean that's you?" he said excitedly.
"Well, we do some of the articles."
"You guys will have to excuse the crew. Seems the back up crew didn't arrive, and we have to go back out. At least we got hot showers and got to sleep in the barracks for a few hours. But five months, twenty two days and six hours is a lot of time to spend with fifty five other guys...if you know what I mean." He blushed a bit when D caught his eye.
The sun had risen and most of the crew were on board. As we walked up the gang plank, we could hear some of the men moaning about being on the sub for another day.
"Ma'am, it's going to be a bit warm on board, would you like me to take your coat?" I quickly shed mine, but for the first time in a long time, D started to turn red.
"Honey, are you all right?" I asked. She just gave me a nod. "Give the man your coat, it's gonna be like an oven down there!" She slowly started to unbutton her coat. The rest of the crew were getting ancy to pull out.
"Sir, if you are ready..." he said as he gestured towards the hatch. I quickly descended down the ladder, and was greeted by a dozen or more sailors. It turns out they are all big fans of mine, so this trip may not be too bad after all. Of course they all still moaned about being here, but the tone of their moans changed dramatically. I turned around to see why, and noticed they were all looking skyward. Or hatchward as the case may be. Now I could see D's predicament. She decided at the last minute to wear her sailor dress, but thought she could keep it under wraps until we got off the sub.
Try to picture my lovely wife, in a short, short dress, climbing down the ladder with a crowd of horny young men gathered below. I guess it wouldn't have been too bad, if she would have worn panties, but no one complained about her silk stockings and garter belt.
The men soon realized that she was my wife, and became more embarrassed about the situation than D was. When her feet finally hit the floor, the men cheered, and one placed his hat on her head, completing the look.
Now normally, it would take one sailor about fifteen minutes to show someone around the sub, but, for some unknown reason, it took six men almost an hour to give D the tour. She loved the attention, and it put her at ease, as she crawled through each hatch, giving sailors on both sides a nice view.
We sat in the combination mess hall and galley as the sub pulled out into the sea.
"So, why the change in costume?" I asked as I put my hand on her knee.
"I was going to surprise you when we got off the sub." she said meekly.
"But instead you gave these guys a show." I noticed the two cooks couldn't keep their eyes off D.
"I wasn't trying to be a tease." she said softly.
"But now that you are, what are you going to do about it?" I asked as I slowly pulled her knee towards me, effectively spreading her long legs apart. I knew the cooks were getting an eye full right about now.
"What would you like me to do about it?" she cooed in my ear.
"Whatever it takes not to tease these poor guys." I whispered back as my fingers grazed across her pussy lips.