Message-ID: <7597eli$9801201637@qz.little-neck.ny.us> X-Archived-At: From: Morg105829 Subject: NEW: Kathy by Morgan, Chapter 21a (M/F) Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Path: qz!not-for-mail Organization: The Committee To Thwart Spam Approved: X-Moderator-Contact: Eli the Bearded X-Story-Submission: X-Original-Message-ID: <533e6854.34c48789@aol.com> To: story-submit@qz.little-neck.ny.us From: morg105829@aol.com Subj: "Kathy" Book III, Chapter 21a (M/F) (292 lines) January 20, 1998 This is about the 28th section. Although this is substantially more tame than many postings on A.S.S.M., the usual disclaimers apply. There are two pieces to Chapter 21; this is the first. Permission is granted to repost, but only on non-commercial sites. Please inform me if you do so. "Kathy" (c) 1991, 1998 by Morgan. Book III Chapter 21a It was New Year's Day and Ken was admiring the beautiful girl asleep beside him in the bed as he reflected on their months together. His happiness and good fortune was due entirely to Kathy. He could not believe that only a few months had passed since they had first met. 'Bless the United States Navy,' he thought. Famous for screwing up family lives, in his case the Evans' operating schedule fit his personal needs perfectly. He had met her only a few days after returning from the Med. Ever since the Evans returned, she had spent the time at pier-side, in drydock and back at pier-side again, as the technicians -- ship's company, base, and civilian contractors -- found first one and then another major item that required attention before she could rejoin the fleet. His crew had adopted Kathy. He grinned thinking about fights ashore that started because his men were thought to be too possessive of her. They had ben told that just because Kathy was their captain's lady it didn't mean the Evans owned her. She was the Norfolk Navy's girl. If they didn't know about Kathy, his crew could not have understood his behavior. Ken was honest enough with himself to admit that he had a reputation as one of the hardest-charging skippers in the destroyer fleet. Pre-Kathy, he would have been going berserk at the endless delays and pyramiding mechanical casualties -- main propulsion, weapons, and most of all, electronics -- that kept his ship tied to the shore. Captains make their reputations in peacetime by running more exercises and achieving higher scores in less elapsed time than their predecessors. Now living with Kathy, he showed an uncharacteristic patience. Objectively, the Evans was better off this way. She was a WARship, with no war to fight. She was reaching the highest state of readiness she enjoyed since she was first placed in commission. Better, in fact, since major weapons systems had been replaced with newer, even more effective ones. Now the Evans was preparing for sea. Next week she would be going out for a two-week shake down preparatory to another extended Mediterranean deployment. As commanding officer, Ken did not stand watches so he had spent every night in Kathy's arms. As a result he was facing the first time they would have slept apart since that fateful Friday night. When his life was a shattered ruin, this girl appeared and put it back together in less than a week. Idly, he ran his fingers lightly over an exposed breast. Almost instantly its nipple stood to attention, and a smile started to form on the lips of the still-sleeping girl. He quickly took his hand away and watched her relax again. She nuzzled closer to him with a soft sound like a purr and was again deep in sleep. He carefully covered her exposed breast and grinned to himself as he remembered the day that Kathy had picked him up wearing her white dress. When they returned to the apartment he had asked her about the curious reference to "Junior G-Man." With a grin she had showed him her Federal badge and Virginia State ID. Another expression of the extraordinary regard in which she was held by respected agencies that knew her. It was weeks later that he found out about the hiding place she had used for the transmit ter. He vividly recalled her concluding explanation, "You did it," she had told him brightly. "I was so stretched from having you constantly inside me I didn't feel a thing." His thoughts returned to the Evans and the ship's picnic they had had in late October. There had been the usual contests and Kathy insisted on being on the enlisted men's side competing against the officers and senior NCOs. The white hats had been delighted to have her as their mascot but they got a whole lot more. He remembered with chagrin how she had won the softball game for them with her hitting and fielding. He had been pitching for the officers when Kathy came to the plate with men on second and third. The usual practice when a woman was batting was to float the ball up and let her try to hit it. He knew Kathy better than that, so he started firing his pitches despite loud complaints from the white-hats. With the count one ball and one strike, he released his best pitch of the day. It was on the letters at the inside corner for a second strike. Suddenly, Kathy uncoiled and lined the ball into left center. The outfielders normally played very shallow when women batted -- more of a deep infield -- but he had them playing very deep. They understood why as the ball was still rising when it passed between them. He remembered how she had sped around the bases so fast she had to slow almost to a walk to avoid passing a slow runner who had been on second base. She had hit the ball so deep and had run so fast, she could have easily circled the bases twice before the ball came back to the infield. He could have still won the game for the officers, and he thought he had. In the last inning he was batting with two outs, two men on, and trailing by one run. He nailed a pitch flush, right on the sweet spot of the bat. The ball was a line drive rising out to deep center field where Kathy was playing. He had seen her put her back to the plate at the crack of the bat and start to fly. It was probably the longest ball he had ever hit in his life but she still outran it. At the last instant, she launched her body out straight and, with her glove hand outstretched, caught the ball, and then did a somersault as she hit the ground. For an instant he though she was hurt, but then she bounced to her feet, waving the ball in her glove. There was silence for an instant, followed by pandemonium as the enlisted men went wild. The officers and chiefs looked on in awe. Kathy was mobbed on the field by her teammates and carried off on their shoulders. 'She really knows how to hurt a guy!' he reflected ruefully. When they finally released her, she ran over to him. There was dirt all over her legs, on her clothes and in her hair. There was a huge sweaty dirt smudge on her cheek, and she looked beautiful. She smiled sweetly, said, "Thank you, dear," and told him that the ball she had hit wouldn't have gone nearly so far if it hadn't been his best fast ball. 'No wonder the crew love her,' he thought. Then he remembered a dinner they had in Norfolk at the Omni when he first met Tom and Cindy Donetti. His first reaction was that they were a handsome couple and, from the way they were greeted by name, were well-known in the hotel. He recalled how very much in love they seemed. He had a revelation that night when he saw the way Cindy looked at Tom with an expression of adoration and realized that it was nearly identical to the way Kathy always looked at him! They were delightful young people and they adored Kathy. Nonetheless, he couldn't figure out how their paths had crossed. When Kathy excused herself from the table, he took the opportunity to ask. Tom quickly recounted the rape charge and how Kathy had had it dismissed. Ken had commented that he thought he had heard all the Kathy Smith stories, but this was a new one. Tom had smiled and explained how Kathy had buried the story. Cindy chimed in and hinted at the way in which Kathy had helped her and the subsequent weekend here at the hotel. Blushing, she explained that she and Tom still came back for weekends. As she said it, she took Tom's hand in hers and squeezed. Ken understood partially. He still didn't see what was such a big deal. Of course Kathy had dismissed the charges; there had been no crime. Tom had looked down at the table and then into his eyes. "Ken, you've heard of the Mafia? My father runs Tidewater, and Cindy's father runs Philadel phia. We're used to people being nice to us because of what they think we can do for them... or are afraid of what we might do *to* them. They're not friends in any real sense of the word. A Mafia kid was caught cold on felony rape. Make no mistake, Ken, there was even video tape that would have done it. She did what was right, IN SPITE OF who we are, not because of it. Then she honored us by being Cindy's maid of honor because she loves us. God knows, we love her!" Ken recalled his eyes were moist when Kathy returned to the table. Then there were the Fergusons. 'Jane Ferguson is Kathy's closest friend and confidant.' He recalled the night Kathy had them over for dinner and he first met them. When he greeted Jane, he saw a vibrant, bubbling, beautiful young woman madly in love with her husband, Bob. He recalled thinking how her tan, her dancer's grace, and her lack of self-consciousness reminded him so much of Kathy. Bob, he knew, was Kathy's attorney. When they excused themselves to go over some papers, he had a chance to talk to Jane alone. He recalled her studying him carefully. Finally she nodded, smiled, and said he might do. He recalled being taken aback by her comment. "Ken," she had asked, "How old do you think I am?" He had guessed twenty-five to thirty, and she had grinned, thanked him for the compliment, and said that she was older than he was. She told him that she had been the widow of a Navy pilot and had been working as Bob's secretary when she first met Kathy nearly ten years earlier. She told him how Kathy had brought her back to life, and in turn, how she had been able to bring Bob back from the tragic death of his first wife and his daughter. He recalled how this beautiful woman had looked at him and said, "Kathy has a wonderful sense of humor. She loves her little jokes, and she loves to tease. Ken, her little joke as far as I'm concerned is her 'wedding present to Bob.' You see, I AM the wedding present. She dragged me, kicking and screaming, out of the dark hole where I buried myself after my first husband was killed. She brought me back to life. So please be good to her, Ken. She's the very best there is!" He recalled her use of the exact words Sally O'Rourke had whispered to him. He recalled all the people who loved Kathy and looked to him to give her the happiness she so richly deserved. Recalling Jane's comment about Kathy's sense of humor reminded him of their second meeting with Trooper Stockdale. They were in Kathy's car headed home late one night at a conservative -- for Kathy -- 115, when the flashing blue lights appeared. This time, he recalled, Kathy grinned as she pulled over. "I'll fix him this time!" she had exclaimed. He recognized Will Stockdale in the lights. He had started a repeat of the previous exchange when Kathy interrupted. "Don't give me a ration of shit, Will Stockdale," she had said. "Look at this!" She had passed him her Virginia badge and ID, followed by its Federal counterpart. Will, suspecting one of Kathy's tricks, had taken the ID back to his cruiser. A few minutes late he ran back towards them, opened Kathy's door and lifted her out of the car as if she was a feather. He then hugged her and gave her a big kiss saying, "Kathy, you're really one of us now!" Embarrassed, he then carefully put her back on the ground, at which point she had kicked him in the shin -- fortunately protected by a high leather puttee -- and told him he had a hell of a nerve manhandling a defenseless girl. Will had just smiled and Ken recalled he had cracked up laughing. "Defenseless" was not a term he could easily associate with Kathy. Ken frowned as his reverie continued. For months now he had been asking Kathy to marry him. He pointed out that his marriage to Sylvia had been annulled. He loved her and she loved him. But the answer was always no. She had told him she loved him more than life itself. Although he couldn't understand why, he had come to believe her. Usually when he asked, she tried to tease him off the subject. Several times she had cited Sally O'Rourke's comment about a sailor's loves. Like Sally, she insisted that she was already sufficiently far down of his list of loves; she was unwilling to move from mistress down to wife. There were many other excuses offered, but the answer was always the same: No. Yet he wanted desperately to marry this girl. He was torn. He wanted to break down her defenses and get her to say yes. At the same time, studying her carefully, he believed that each time he asked, it seemed that she wasn't taking him seriously. Yet he thought they were perfect together. They liked all the same things. She was radiant in his presence. He noticed it, but more importantly, her friends, who knew her before she met him, saw it. They said Kathy was madly in love with him. He didn't know what to do. Becoming aware of soft fingertips moving on his chest and brilliant blue eyes watching him, Ken was startled again to see she was as beautiful at the instant of awakening as at any other time. Her fingers moved lower on his body and soon they were making love again. After recovering from their climax together she whispered softly, "Good morning, Darling. Happy New Year!" Later in the day they were side by side on the couch in the library companionably watching a football game. It was another interest of his that she improbably shared. She was nuzzling close and his arm was around her shoulders when he asked, "Honey, what are you going to do when I'm gone? We're scheduled to be out two weeks, assuming something major doesn't crap out before then, of course." She looked at him steadily. "I don't know if I should tell you this, but your mother is coming to visit. For some reason, it's a secret." Ken was startled. It was so out of character for his mother, he thought. "Kathy, did she tell you anything? Why she wants to see you?" She turned off the TV using her big toe on the remote control. "Make me a drink?" 'Uh, oh!' thought Ken. 'Something's up.' He made drinks for them both and sat down again. He was tempted to say something like "Out with it!" but quickly decided it would be the dumbest thing he could do. Rather, he said, "Kathy, I would really appreciate it if you would tell me anything you think you can." She smiled at him gratefully, and he thought that he might have said the right thing for a change. "Ken, before I answer, would you answer some questions first?" He nodded agreeably. "How long have your parents been married?" she asked softly. He looked embarrassed and was. "Gosh, Kathy, I don't know... Wait... Of course I know! About thirty-two years: I was born before they had been married a full year, and I'm thirty-one." "How old are they, Ken? Your parents, I mean," she asked softly. This time he did his thinking out loud. "Well, let's see... They got married in June, as soon as Dad graduated from the academy. It was one of those Annapolis weddings you see on the society pages every year with the arch of swords and all that stuff. I guess Dad was twenty-one or twenty- two, so that would make him fifty-three or fifty-four, I guess. Mother didn't finish college. In fact, I think she may have only had one year -- no more than two, certainly. How old would that make her, Kathy?" "Do you know if she was young or old for her grade?" she asked. Ken said he didn't have a clue. "Damn it, I do, too. Now I remember! Of course! She wasn't twenty when I was born, so I guess she's just about fifty plus or minus a couple of months." "How do your parents get along? I know it's a strange question to ask, but let me explain: You refer to your father as Dad and show him a great deal of respect and affection. I realize you share naval careers and that probably makes a difference. But, Ken, you refer to your mother as Mother. I don't know if you intend it to, but it comes across sounding very formal. The fact is, Ken, you hardly ever refer to your mother at all." Ken was shocked at Kathy's astute observation. He looked at her wryly. "Hon, as usual, you're right. I never really thought about it before, but you're right. Kathy, since you brought it up, can we talk about it? I think my mother is irrelevant! It really sound terrible when I say it... But let me explain: I guess, for as long as I can remember, she's had a life of her own... That's it! It's like they're not even married, for God's sake. They are more like two unrelated people sharing a house." He saw Kathy looking at him fondly. 'She understands!' he thought. 'She really does.' Kathy picked up the thread. "Thank you. On no evidence at all -- just intuition -- I agree with you. To answer the question you asked at the beginning, I think your mother is frightened. She has been leading her own life independent of your father. Now she's hitting fifty. She suddenly notices that your father is very attractive to other, younger women and she's getting scared! Very scared, I think. Ken, I never want to hurt you, but I have to ask a question. If you don't feel like answering, tell me to shut up. Promise?" Ken was startled, but he realized Kathy was deadly serious. "Yes, Kathy. I promise," he answered, maintaining her serious tone. "Does your father play around?" Ken reddened with embarrassment and remembered his promise to her. 'God, it did hurt!' He looked down at the table top and said quietly, "I think he does." He looked up at her quickly and saw the sympathy in her face. "Kathy, I can't know for sure, and I know you know that. But... but... but I hear things and see things." His voice was growing stronger as he spoke. It was becoming easier, now that he faced it. "There's a young lieutenant commander I hear about. I've seen her around, and she's very attractive. They're supposed to be *very* discreet... Do you remember the first night we met my parents at the O-Club? I think she was there with an escort. She's supposed to be very careful to be seen around with a lot of different guys, and just as careful never to be seen with Dad... That's it!" he exclaimed with a note of discovery. "That's what's so damned suspicious! She's on his staff, for chrissakes! Even if she was ugly as sin, service activities would bring them together in public *sometimes*. But they're *never* seen together. Ever! Kathy, does it sound like I've lost it completely?" She grinned at him affectionately and said softly, "And to think that I believed his only feelings were in his cock! Who would have believed it?" She grinned and apologized, "I'm sorry, Darling. I am a hopeless tease. Will you forgive me?" He took her in his arms and slowly kissed her. She could feel her internal fires ignite and quickly build, as she gently pushed away and smiled softly, "Can I interpret that as being forgiven?" They were together on the couch with Kathy lying on top. He loved this position because it provided him the opportunity to caress and squeeze her firm little ass. She was lying as still as possible making warm, appreciative noises. He stopped his stroking and cupped her cheeks in his hands. When she opened her eyes and looked at him questioningly, he said, "Kathy, I have to ask you something. I want to marry you -- I want it desperately. But Hon... you don't seem to take it seriously. You change the subject, you joke, you tease. Kathy, I've never been more serious in my life. Please marry me, Kathy." With her face inches above his, he saw her smile sadly and say, "No." "Kathy, I give up -- for now. You don't seem to take my proposal seriously. I don't know why. Look, I won't bug you any more, but the offer stands. If you change your mind, all you have to do is say, "Ask your question. Okay?" * * * Kathy appeared to be unusually cheerful as she drove him to the pier. The Evans was sailing today. Ken thought ruefully of the way Kathy had affected his own attitudes. In the few months he had been married to Sylvia, he came to greet the ship's sailing with a vast feeling of relief. It got him away from her constant bitching, at least for a few days or weeks. Sylvia used to cry and say he didn't love her. Considering what he had learned through Kathy, the bitch should have recorded the announcement. She had undoubtedly used it over and over with her many husbands. Now he was with Kathy. She was so wonderfully cheerful, while he felt that something was being ripped out of him. He hurt! Then with startling clarity he realized what was happening. Kathy was trying to make *him* feel better. He had told her of the conflict between wives and the demands of the naval service. 'God!' he thought, 'what a woman!' If only Sandra, the wife of Jack Castle, his executive office, could take a lesson from Kathy. But that was far too much to hope for. He was certain that Jack would be glad to get away from the shrew, if only for a couple of weeks. Kathy came into his arms and they embraced. He kissed her softly and she instantly responded. Then he felt tears on his cheek and gently pushed her away to see her face. Tears were streaming from her eyes as she desperately tried to control them. It was no use. She clung to him and he stroked her hair. Then he heard her soft voice huskily trying to apologize -- apologize! To him? For what? Then he heard her say how much she had wanted to avoid this: making their parting more difficult than it had to be, and she was so sorry she had failed. Ken thought of the women screaming at their husbands about the Navy, while Kathy apologized because she cried. Kathy sat in her car as the Evans was maneuvered away from her berth with the help of a tug, and out into the channel. She couldn't drive yet. She couldn't see through her tears. * * * -- +--------------' Story submission `-+-' Moderator contact `------------+ | story-submit@qz.little-neck.ny.us | story-admin@qz.little-neck.ny.us | | Archive site +--------------------+------------------+ Newsgroup FAQ |