***** Breakfast Friends *****
Sara pulled up to Andrew's house in the pale light of morning, eager to surprise him. She had given a lot of thought about the control he had shown the previous night. Something about it made her curious to see just how much control he actually had. Getting out of her car she walked up to the front door, happy to find that it was already open.
Michelle was in the kitchen pouring herself a cup of coffee, when she heard Sara knock against the doorframe. "Good morning, Sara. I'm afraid the boys are still sleeping."
"That's fine, Michelle. Is it cool if I wait for Andrew?"
Michelle looked at her watch. "I would love the company. He should be up in about twenty. Can I get you anything?"
Sara smiled at the older woman while she walked to the dining table. "Water would be great, if you don't mind." Sitting at the table she was happy to see that Michelle had a spring in her step that paired well with her satisfied smile.
"Here you go, sweetie." Michelle set the glass down before picking up a document and taking her usual seat.
Sara noticed the subtle smell of sex as Michelle sat next to her. The scent reminded her of how much she craved Andrew. Monday couldn't come soon enough for the kind of deep satisfaction that Sara could smell wafting off of Michelle's athletic body. Rubbing her legs together, Sara looked for any kind of distraction as she took a sip from her glass of water.
"So how did you and Dave meet? If you don't mind me asking."
Setting down the folder, Michelle looked at Sara with a warm smile. "Well, we met in bootcamp. Dave was the toughest man in the unit. All business, all the time." Michelle sipped her coffee, and gave a contented sigh as the warm bitter liquid teased her tastebuds. "I was about to burn out due to FTA when-"
"FTA?" Sara interjected.
Laughing, Michelle responded, "Sorry, dear. Failure To Adapt. Spend as much time in the military as us and you kind of forget to talk like normal people sometimes."
Sara flashed Michelle a fond smile as she waited for her to continue.
"Boot was rough. Even though I ran track in high school, I was not prepared for the brutal training that we faced every day. All the written exercises and studying was easy, but my body ached down to my bones. I just didn't think I could take it anymore."
Sara was intrigued with this insight into a life she would never know. "So what happened? Did Dave come to your rescue?"
Michelle smiled, happy to see the genuine interest from the young woman.
"No, Sgt Henry made me run up and down the beach after I dropped my weapon during drills. He made the rest of the unit stand and watch. God I hated him in that moment."
Despite her words Michelle's face lit up with a warm smile. "Of course he knew what he was doing. After twenty minutes Dave came running out, followed by the rest of the unit. They all took formation and for an hour we ran up and down that damned stretch of beach. Every time I fell, someone would help me up. By the end, it was like a scene from a comedy movie. We were all haggard and Dave was the only one left standing."
Sara watched Michelle, spellbound by the fondness she could feel from her story. She was reminded of Andrew and realized that he must have gotten his story telling cadence from his mother.
"It was then, that day, that I realized how selfless Dave was. Despite his stoicism he genuinely cares for people, especially those that can't look out for themselves."
Sara thought about Michelle's words, and realized how difficult it must have been for Dave to see Andrew struggle through life. Knowing that there was nothing he could do to help.
"So is that when you realized you liked him?" Sara asked, sensing the importance of the story.
Michelle looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "If I had to pinpoint a moment, I would say that is when it started. Of course, it developed through boot. Dave is a powerful man, but he struggled with the academic requirements. I might have taken advantage of that, finding opportunities to spend more and more time with him." She took another sip of her coffee as she blushed at the memory of her child like crush.
"So when did you find out that Dave liked you?" Sara leaned in.
"You probably haven't noticed, but Dave wears his emotions in a safe buried somewhere in a field."
Both women laughed at Michelle's observation.
"We pushed each other through boot. He helped me succeed physically while I helped him academically. We were already a great team, but I had no idea how he felt about me. We graduated top of our class, and as a result we could have joined any unit we wanted.
"I was in love with the ideas behind this experimental program that was just starting up. I ran the idea by Dave to see if I could get a sense of how he felt about me, and I got nothing from him. So I swallowed my feelings and signed up. It hurt having to give up on the possibility of being with him, but we all knew where he was heading. I couldn't follow him, though I would have if I could."
They both drank from their respective glasses as Sara struggled to understand how that must have felt. She always knew how much Andrew loved her. The idea of not knowing made her heart hurt, even just to consider such a thing.
"Throughout boot all Dave talked about was the SEALs. With his scores he would have been accepted immediately. He would have excelled there, we all knew it. But he surprised everyone when he chose to join SOAL, like me-"
Sara laughed as she interrupted, "I hate to ask, but SOAL?"
Michelle blushed at having done it again. "Sorry, dear. Special Operations And Logistics."
Sara gave a grateful grin and responded, "Never heard of it."
"Not surprised. Dave and I were the only real success stories to come out of the program before it shut down. We are in our strange position within the military today because of our experiences in that program."
Michelle took another drink of coffee while she relaxed, trying to remember where she left off.
"So anyways, we started training for SOAL, and damn was it strange stuff. We were doing a lot of simulated torture training and I got a reputation for being a whimp. Of course no one could break Dave, though not for lack of trying. They would set us up in a room, one person would try and extract information while the other resisted their efforts. Dave was the only person no one could ever get anything out of. A lot of times he would end up extracting information from his interrogator."
Michelle smiled as she thought back. "I had such a hard time hurting people, mostly because these were people I knew. Dave volunteered to help me train, so one night we broke into the interrogation suite. He proposed a challenge; if I could get him to tell me his secret he would do anything I asked, if I couldn't then I would have to do whatever he asked.
"I strapped Dave into the interrogation chair and we began. I started off trying to play mind games, but despite all the time I had spent with him I knew nothing I could leverage. After about ten minutes he said something mocking my efforts and I backhanded him in frustration."
Sara gasped, which caused Michelle to smile. "His face barely moved, he just smirked and asked if I could repeat the question." Michelle laughed as she remembered the confident and defiant look on his face. "After a few more slaps his cheeks were red but he still gave me nothing but defiance. As I prepared the low voltage interrogation device, I was making the machine arc and hiss in an attempt to make him nervous."
Sara said with a smirk, "I may not know Dave well, but he must have thought that was cute."
Michelle joined Sara in laughing as she responded, "Yeah, I looked over and saw him roll his eyes. The bastard." She finished with a fond smile. "As I raised the voltage in anger and brought the leads together I accidentally tapped myself with them. The damn thing nearly knocked me out. My whole body seized and I collapsed to the floor. When I looked up I could see Dave's concern as he struggled against his restraints."
Sara was leaning in again, rubbing her hands on her legs as she said, "Ohhh damn, you had him now."
Michelle laughed as she smiled at the young woman, "Yeah, I sure did. I lowered the voltage so that it wasn't quite so intense and told him, 'You will tell me what I want to know, or else.' Of course he didn't understand yet, he thought I was still threatening him.
"He looked at me with defiance, knowing that I couldn't break him. When he refused to talk, I could see that he was prepared to be shocked. The fear on his face when I turned the machine on myself was priceless. He tried to pretend that it didn't bother him but I knew better, I could see it in his eyes."
Sara understood exactly what Michelle was talking about. Somehow she always knew how Andrew felt just by looking into his eyes. Sara felt relieved to know that this was a more universal trait for couples, and not just another gift from their bond.
"After the second time I shocked myself I turned the voltage back up and looked at him, saying, 'You will tell me.' The defiance was gone and all I could see was concern. He frantically blurted out his secret code word."
Sara looked confused. "So you knew he liked you by how he acted, but what he told you couldn't have been the secret you wanted to know."
Michelle was again impressed by Sara. "Of course it wasn't, but he still thought this was all about the SOAL training. I told him 'That's not what I want to know.' and turned the machine on myself again. Damn that thing hit hard. Dave says I blacked out for a few seconds. When I came to his face was red as he struggled against the restraints. As I looked at him I could see how he felt, I could feel it."
Sara laughed and said, "Yeah, but that's not enough."
Again, Michelle admired this young woman. "No, I needed to hear it. So I turned the machine up and looked at him. He blurted out 'I love you, ok. Now stop this already.'"
The two women looked at each other with warm affection as they drank from their glasses. Sara leaned back in her chair as she considered the story. Michelle thought back on the memory with a wistful grin.
"So that's the end of the story, huh? That's how you found out that Dave liked you."
Michelle smiled at Sara, knowing that she was leading towards something. "Yeah, that was when we both admitted how we felt for each other. We have kind of always considered that to be our first date."