over to ask what I needed.
I told him that Lucy and I would be joining the girls for a swim after we went up and changed. He thanked me, and promptly got on the radio. Lucy and I headed back to the room, changed, and came back down. As we were going into the pool area, I saw Lucy give a little smile before she whispered to me 'There's as many of the female agents checking YOU out as there are guys checking ME out!'
I grinned at her, and whispered back 'I think the guys are getting the better deal.', and she nudged me in the ribs. By that time, we were right next to the pool, so I just bumped her with my hip – sending her into the water. She shrieked, and every agent that wasn't watching us started for a weapon before they heard the splash, and knew what had happened.
Lucy came up spluttering, and made a try for my ankle to pull me in; I carefully danced away, and made a dive toward the deep end of the pool. Once underwater, I tucked and turned, so that I was headed back for where Lucy was. She didn't see me, and gave another little shriek when I slid by and 'goosed' her. Robyn and Sandra were watching, and decided to come to her aid. Feeling a little feisty, I decided to give them a run for their money. Even though I stayed in the pool and they didn't, it still took them nearly twenty minutes before they managed to corner me for a mass-tickling exercise. Not being particularly ticklish, they still had their hands full a I put up a 'fight' by tickling and groping them at every opportunity. I finally decided to call a truce when Sandra went underwater and started trying to pull my suit down.
When I looked around, I could see that every agent in there had a grin on their face – even the ones that weren't actually looking at us. I eased over to where a couple of them were laying in their suits, and quietly said 'Folks, it's a little like living in a fishbowl, us in here and you out there. Any*good* reason you can't jump in here and have some fun with us?'
They looked at each other, and one of them discretely got on the radio, telling us a few moments later that there wasn't any reason at all. That settled, two of the younger female agents got up, along with a couple of the younger male agents. When Lucy and the girls saw that, all three of them grinned. The agents jumped in, and headed over to where I had rejoined the others, whispering in Robyn's ear.
She got a big grin, and when the agents got close enough, I told them 'The game is Tag. No getting out of the pool, if you do, you're 'it'.
No drowning, but dunking is allowed – for*anybody*. Robyn is 'it' first.'
With that, Robyn went underwater, and made a beeline for one of the female agents who made a valiant effort at escaping – without success. In the meantime, Sandra headed off in a different direction, then turned back to jump on one of the male agents, pushing him underwater. I went under, and pulled the feet out from under the other female agent before moving on. Lucy just stayed there, hanging on to the edge of the pool, laughing – until the female agent that was 'it' headed for her. After that, it was catch-as-catch-can: while keeping an eye out for whoever was 'it', the rest would swim around trying to find someone to dunk or pull underwater. Once they understood that I was serious about anybody being a target, all of the agents got into the spirit of the thing, and didn't hesitate to go after anyone they thought was vulnerable. Sandra and one of the female agents teamed up to get me; the other female and a male got Lucy. Robyn was kept busy staying away from the other male agent – 'it' – who proved to be almost as good a swimmer as she was.
Eventually, all of us laughing and tired, we agreed to a halt to the game as we hung onto the edge of the pool to catch our breath. I looked around, and saw Agent Hendricks standing off to the side, a bemused expression on his face. When he was sure that he wasn't going to get splashed, he came over to crouch down by me and say 'I don't think these people have*ever* had quite so much fun protecting someone as they have with you people. How you can do it is beyond me.'
I looked up at him and said 'It's easy, actually. If we stay locked up in our rooms, they win. Non Illegitimus Carborundum.'
He looked confused, and I translated for him: 'Don't let the bastards grind you down!' – then splashed him before heading for the other side of the pool. When I got there, I saw that all of the other agents were trying to hide grins at the sight of him standing there with a large wet spot on the front of his suit. He looked positively stunned for several seconds, then started laughing before telling me 'Just remember, Dan: paybacks are a*mother*!', making several agents laugh. I just grinned at him before heading over to dunk Lucy. With that, the game was on again.
Finally, all of us had had enough, and by mutual consent, the game ended. We kind of collected in one corner of the pool, and one of the female agents told me 'Mr. Andrews- I mean, Dan, I think this is the first time in my
Lucy told them 'Thank you, all of you, for jumping in with us and helping make this fun', then floated over to give each of the male agents a kiss on the cheek. Robyn and Sandra offered their thanks and kissed the guys, too – embarrassing them mightily. The females looked at me, with a mixture of anticipation and welcome; I went over and gave them a proper thanks, as well. Neither one hesitated in the slightest to kiss me back, and both looked pleased when we'd finished.
Robyn called out 'Last one OUT is a rotten egg!', and promptly eeled out of the pool, leaving the rest of us to scramble out as best we could. The last one out was one of the male agents, who accepted the good-natured teasing he got with a smile and a laugh.
As I was drying off, I saw Lucy look behind me; but before I could turn to see what it was, felt myself being drenched in ice-cold water. I turned around to see that Agent Hendricks had emptied an entire pitcher of ice water on me, and was rapidly heading away, laughing. I laughed, too, joining everyone else, and nodded to him in acceptance of his trick.
Mostly dried off, the four of us wrapped our towels around ourselves to avoid dripping water onto the hotel carpet, and headed back to our rooms. Once there, we all stripped and headed in for a group shower to rinse off the chlorine from the pool. With that out of the way, we opted for a brief nap – Lucy and I in one bed, Robyn and Sandra in another.
I woke up to find Robyn climbing on top of me. Resting on her hands and knees, she looked down at me to ask 'So, what's for supper?' – making me and Lucy both laugh. A moment later, Sandra assumed the same position over Lucy, who just turned to look at me.
I thought it over, and offered 'If anyone's in the mood for some shopping, how about if we just grab a bite at the mall?'
All three of them thought it was a splendid idea, and Lucy goodnaturedly handed me the phone so I could give the FBI agents a headsup.
They didn't have any problem with the idea, and readily agreed to the fifteen minute time I offered. Lucy and the girls heard me, of course, and all immediately went into overdrive as they rushed around to get dresses in something more than the birthday suits they'd been wearing. Even though I ducked into the bathroom to shave again, I still managed to be ready ahead of them.
A while later, as we were going into the mall, I spotted one of the female agents that had been in the pool with us. Looking like a young housewife, she presented quite a different appearance than when I'd seen her last. I couldn't help easing over next to her and whispering 'Personally, I think you looked better in pool!', causing her to grin and whisper back 'Thanks!', before I rejoined Lucy and the girls.
First on the agenda was something to eat – Sandra and Robyn decided on pizza while Lucy and I went for roast beast sandwiches.
With something in our bellies, we were off to do some*serious* shopping. I lost track after about the umpteenth store, but I'm *pretty* sure we hit all of them. Any we might have missed probably didn't have any reason to be in a mall, anyway. When we were done, all of us were pretty well loaded down with packages – even I'd been drafted into pack horse duty. I think that the only thing that saved us was a couple of the agents discretely offering to help, each taking a package or two. I think they did it as much to try and blend in with the mall crowd as to help out.
Back at the hotel, we managed to get everything hauled up to our rooms, and decided that the easiest thing to do was to simply pile it up in the girls room. Lucy, the girls, and I thanked the agents that helped tote all the stuff by kissing the agents of the opposite sex.
With Lucy wearing an engagement ring, there wasn't any reason to pretend that we weren't staying together, which left one room 'unoccupied'.
