Flooded (Ryan/Ditzy)
“Oh no…”
Abby, Chris, Bentley, and Lyle all looked at Connor. Bentley’s hand froze mid air as he was about to raise his bet.
“Would you mind not doing that, Connor?” he said.
“What?” Connor asked, defensive out of habit.
“You see, this recently rather common combination of you browsing the internet, furrowed eyebrows, and worried sounds usually leads to beasts trying to eat us, I’m afraid.”
Abby and Chris were nodding solemnly at Bentley’s reasoning while Lyle with a sneaky grin on his face won their game of poker without anybody noticing - later they would claim he cheated but by then he’d have collected his winnings and there would be no evidence anyway. Connor just shrugged, looking guiltier than one would think possible considering this whole anomaly business really wasn’t his fault in the least.
“So?” Chris asked.
“Huh?”
“Is there a new anomaly, Connor?” Abby said slowly, as if to a child.
“Oh… well, yes… no, I don’t know… looks like it… but-”
“Where?” Lyle interrupted. Connor turned his laptop towards them, showing them the picture he was looking at. They were all thinking the same but it was Lyle who actually voiced it. “Fuck.”
***
“Do I need to remind you why exactly you lot were sent there in such a hurry?” Lester’s voice seemed even sharper over the phone and Claudia stifled an annoyed sigh.
“Of course not, but it’s impossible to search such an immense territory with so few men if we don’t know what to look for. And local help is out of the question, they have more than enough to deal with at the moment. If you could just send Lyle’s unit too…”
“Out of the question,” Lester said firmly. “Cutter’s not even sure if there is a creature up there, I can’t send out all our soldiers on a hunch. Aren’t those men supposed to be some of the best this great country of ours has produced in recent years?”
“Yes but…”
“Well, then, tell them to stop playing good Samaritans and do what they are paid to do.”
Claudia rolled her eyes in annoyance as the line went dead, a clear sign that Lester had considered the conversation to be over.
“What did he say?”
“Do you really want to know?” Claudia sighed, turning to Cutter who had come up behind her. She had to stifle a small grin seeing him exhausted and very much like he had just taken a shower with his clothes on. Stephen and Ryan who were following him didn’t look much better but seemed more or less dry above the waist at least.
“A dog,” Cutter explained, seeing Claudia’s amusement, apparently he himself amused too.
“It jumped on him. He fell,” Stephen grinned, earning an annoyed smack on the small of his back from Cutter.
“So what now?” Ryan asked.
“Lester’s right,” Claudia said, ignoring Cutter’s sudden pointed look. “We need a plan how to proceed. It’s getting dark, let’s find a place to stay and go through our options.”
“What about the people?” Cutter challenged.
“We can’t just turn our back on them, they need help,” Stephen agreed.
“The best way we can help them is by making sure no dangerous creature will eat their children,” Claudia shot back confidently. “Call your men, Ryan.”
***
“Lester’s orders,” Ryan said simply.
“Fuck that,” Ditzy shot back, fishing out a doll of the water, giving it to the tiny girl he was holding in his arms. She grinned at him as she cuddled her toy close to her chest and Ditzy grinned back, ignoring the vaguely scandalized look of the girl’s mother at the language he was using in front of the child.
“Our work is important,” Ryan calmly insisted.
“And this isn’t?”
“David.” Ryan’s gentle but firm voice made Ditzy sigh.
“Don’t David me, I’m coming already.”
He gave the child to its mum and with a last cheeky smile at the girl walked after Ryan.
“This better be worth it. These people could use our help.”
“Don’t let Miss Brown hear you, now you sound just like Cutter and Hart.”
Ditzy grinned despite himself.
“Have those two shagged yet?”
“Miss Brown and Cutter or Hart and Cutter?” Ryan grinned back.
“Either,” Ditzy shrugged.
“No idea,” Ryan scratched his neck as they approached the cars where the others were already gathering. “But I sure hope they soon will. For all our sakes.”
***
The door opened slowly and a young, brown haired boy looked out, watching their not quite immaculate state with interest. He must have been around nine years old.
“Hello,” Claudia leaned down to him just as another head appeared in the door, a girl, probably his little sister.
“Are you here because of the dinosaur?” the boy asked.
“Could we speak to your mum or dad, please?” Claudia said with a tight smile, ignoring his remark. The boy seemed to consider for a moment but then called inside the house for his mother.
“Do we have a cover story?” Cutter muttered so that only Claudia could hear him.
“We’ll just make it up as we go along,” she shrugged and immediately broke out in a charming smile as the children’s mother appeared in the door. “Hi, I’m Claudia Brown. Home Office. I’m sorry to be bothering you at a time like this but we are investigating in the area and, given the circumstances, the housing possibilities are less then optimal so we were wondering if you could help us out. It would only be for a night or two at most.”
The woman looked at the muddy, exhausted bunch of people and Claudia winced inwardly - yes, 10 - but the woman just smiled.
“I have only two available rooms.”
“That’s more than we could have hoped for,” Claudia smiled.
“It really is no inconvenience for us, Ma’am,” Davis assured her. Blade and Kermit nodded while Connor just blinked tiredly.
“We’re good at sharing,” Ryan added, just in case, and his remark only brightened the woman’s smile, making her eyes sparkle with mischief in a way they didn’t quite comprehend.
“Well, come on in, then.”
***
Ryan sighed, leaning back against the wall as he looked around in the crammed room. His whole unit was crouching on the floor in various twisted positions, Cutter and Stephen were sharing the single bed - no one else would take on himself the burden of having to listen to Cutter’s snoring from such close proximity -, and Connor was curled up on an extra mattress. Ryan made a mental note never to share a room with Connor again; the constant babbling never stopped even when the boy was fast asleep. Luckily at least Abby and Claudia had a bit of comfort in the smaller of the two offered rooms.
Ryan sighed again, this was nothing like him. He had been in much worse situations and had always been able to sleep when the opportunity presented itself; but now all he could do was stare at the ceiling, trying not to think of the almost impossible task of finding some water creature that may or may not have come through an anomaly no one actually saw yet but might just hide somewhere in this vast flooded territory.
Suddenly there was a particularly loud snore from Cutter which mysteriously didn’t wake the whole house, only Stephen, who still half in sleep poked Cutter and muttered a teasing “Stop that, old man.” Ryan cursed inwardly and silently sneaked out of the room into the kitchen, pouring himself a glass of water. This really had to stop.
“Everything ok?”
“Sure,” Ryan said, not turning around to face Ditzy, who must have followed him.
“If I was Sam I’d point a gun at you and call you a liar.”
Ryan couldn’t stop a small smile from spreading on his face.
“Forget it, mate, he’s got the hots for the Prof, everyone can see that,” Ditzy patted him on the back softly.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“It’s amazing how someone as good at resisting interrogation as you can be such a terrible liar,” Ditzy grinned as Ryan chuckled despite himself but it died away too soon.
Ditzy rolled his eyes and with one quick move turned Ryan around so they were face to face and kissed him on the lips firmly. Ryan was too surprised to do anything but let it happen. When Ditzy pulled away a few seconds later he had a big grin on his face.
“Withering away like a bashful virgin doesn’t suit you, Captain,” he said, faintly wondering if Ryan was going to punch him for that stunt but the next moment he was pulled close by strong arms as Ryan’s lips were on his again. Neither had any illusions about what this was, about what it meant: offering comfort and chasing away frustration, but that was exactly what Ryan needed at that moment.
He was tugging desperately at Ditzy’s shirt, almost ripping it in the process, though it didn’t seem to annoy his friend, who, after getting rid of Ryan’s shirt in no time, was now busy pushing down their trousers. Ryan groaned into the kiss as icy cold fingers wrapped around his cock and he barely managed to hold back a loud moan when he felt Ditzy’s hardness against his thighs.
Without really thinking he pushed Ditzy against the kitchen table which scraped on the tiles way too loudly as Ditzy wrapped his legs around Ryan’s waist but they were beyond caring. They were moving together in wild abandon, their hard cocks rubbing together, making them moan into the silence, closer and closer to much needed release. But suddenly Ryan froze completely, much to Ditzy’s annoyance.
“I didn’t mean to disturb you,” came the amused voice from the door and when Ryan looked up he was suddenly looking into the sparkling eyes of their hostess. For once even Ditzy seemed lost for words as they were waiting for all hell to break loose but the woman didn’t seem angry at all, quite the contrary, actually.
***
“An Ichthyosaurus?” Cutter asked in excitement and Connor’s eyes lit up while everybody else just kept staring ahead sleepily.
“That’s what she said,” Ryan nodded.
“So the anomaly did cause the flood.” Connor seemed way too excited about his theory having been correct. Ryan shrugged.
“It certainly didn’t make things better.”
“Did she actually see an anomaly?” Claudia asked, furrowing her eyebrows in worry, really not wanting to deal with that problem too even if an exact location would make their lives much easier.
“Better,” Ditzy said. “She met an old acquaintance of ours.”
“Helen,” Cutter muttered.
“That woman is really beginning no get on my nerves.” Kermit and Davis nodded in agreement to Claudia’s words, which made Abby smile in amusement.
“What did she say?” Stephen asked before Cutter could which made Ryan’s palms itch just a bit but he kept his expression neutral.
“Something about “riding the waves”,” he shrugged, completely at loss at what Helen’s cryptic words might be referring to but apparently he wasn’t the only one. Connor screwed up his face in concentration, Cutter was deep in thoughts, Stephen looked simply confused, while all the others kept staring at him blankly.
“So all we need to do is find the anomaly and that thing that came through in a vast flooded area, should be no problem,” Claudia said with a forced smile and Ryan made a mental note never to find himself alone with her when she was sleep-depraved and only wearing a pale-blue pyjama.
“Actually, it seems the anomaly has closed right after Mrs Cutter disappeared.” Some breathed a sigh of relief but Ryan’s by now habitual choice of words concerning Helen once again had the desired effect. A shadow clouded Cutter’s eyes and Stephen looked distinctly uncomfortable in his skin, Claudia’s sharp annoyance was just collateral damage he was willing to take.
“And the creatures?” Abby asked.
“No sightings as of yet,” Ditzy said. “It’s possible there was only the one Helen was following through the anomaly.”
“So we came here for nothing,” Claudia turned to Cutter in annoyance as if it was all his fault. “How the hell am I going to explain this to Lester?”
“It wasn’t for nothing,” he said with a look of determination that annoyed Ryan more than he was willing to admit. “Now we know Helen still cares.”
All except Stephen rolled their eyes at his words, some hiding it better than others but no one as incredulous as Claudia.
“Maybe… maybe not about me,” Cutter insisted. “Maybe not about humanity. But she cares about this discovery enough to drop hints. We can use that.”
And Ryan reluctantly had to admit that for once Cutter almost made sense.
***
After a long day of looking for any other creatures in vain they were ordered by Lester to return home, which news made Cutter even more unpleasant to be around than he usually was, Ryan discovered. He was constantly making sharp remarks and then kept brooding until Claudia called him a petulant child, which prompted a round of thinly veiled flirting, which on the other hand led to a bit more brooding, this time from Stephen.
Just watching this strange dance gave Ryan a headache and the knowing looks of their hostess really weren’t helping. He felt distinctly awkward around her, somehow the fact that she hadn’t even raised an eyebrow when she’d caught him about to shag another man on her kitchen table somehow made it even more embarrassing. Ditzy on the other hand seemed to find that rather amusing and felt completely at ease around the woman and seemed almost disappointed when they were about to leave.
“I liked her,” he said, waving at her one last time.
“I would have liked her more if she hadn’t caught me writhing against you like a hormonal teenager.”
“Come on, you know you liked it,” Ditzy grinned but Ryan just rolled his eyes as they got in the car. He waited a while even after Ditzy got in too and after a small sigh turned to his friend.
“You could come to my place.”
“What about Sam?”
“She should be at her Gran’s today, provided the old hag hasn’t annoyed her enough to make her leave as soon as she arrived.”
“She probably did. That still leaves us a few hours, though,” Ditzy grinned but suddenly Ryan’s phone started ringing. He flicked it open in annoyance and after a few moments and a tight “We’re on our way” he closed it again.
“Hotel.”
“Great,” Ditzy rolled his eyes. “But you owe me that fuck.”