Chapter 169: Naval Recruit
*Tenth General Order of the Navy – To salute all officers and all colors and standards not cased*
Dean sat in the second row of the rented SUV with Helen. Jaxon and Jolene sat in the third row talking quietly. Childs sat in the front passenger seat talking with the driver – Gigi’s crush who they discovered that morning was named Savannah.
Helen reached over and grasped Dean’s leg that was bouncing nervously. She gave the teen a smile of understanding.
“I’m so damned nervous. Please don’t make me write a paper over that.”
Shaking her head, Helen replied “Time and place. And this time, it’s both.”
She took a ragged breath and then looked out through the front windshield as she nodded. The gate sat in front of them, large and imposing. Behind the large rolling gate sat a red brick guardhouse under a large white covering. The roof was angled just like a house, but underneath was a decorative arch, and it was open on all sides.
NAVAL STATION GREAT LAKES was written over the arch in large letters. In smaller letters QUARTERDECK OF THE NAVY was underneath.
The line to get in was long and Dean now understood why they had to be there so early. Finally, they pulled up and Savannah handed over everyone’s drivers licenses and the four tickets. The sailor at the gate eyed Childs for a moment.
“I’m just security.” Childs grinned. “I’m not getting out or going in. But you can call command, my boss already cleared it.” He handed over his VA card and a letter of authorization from the commander of the station.
While he was dealing with the ID’s and letter, another sailor was walking around the car with a dog and a third was doing something with a stick.
“There’s a mirror at the end of it.” Savannah explained. “They use it to look for bombs or tracking devices.”
The sailor returned to the car and handed everything back to Savannah. “I know that you know where to go." He sighed and his voice sounded resigned as if he knew she would not do what he was about to tell her. "Make sure he stays in the car.”
“I will.” She promised with a smile as she shook her head.
“I got a new James Brand novel. I’m good.” Childs said as he held up a paperback book based in WWII.
The sailor looked at it and grinned. “The good guys win.”
“Well, hell, I hope so.” Childs replied as Savannah drove onto the base. “You come here every Friday?”
“I come here *every* day.” She grinned. “My husband is stationed here. Driving gives me something to do and I get to meet people. I always ask for families of recruits on Fridays.”
Grinning at Dean in the mirror, she added, “This time, I traded to have your family.”
“Thank you.” Dean smiled back.
“Welcome to the Navy.” Savannah said. “Being a Navy wife can suck, especially since you look so young, but I wouldn’t trade a single minute of it. Our own son graduates in a few weeks. Take advantage of Navy Life program, they'll give you great information once you're inside.”
“You don’t look old enough to have a son in the Navy.” Helen told her while Childs gaped at her.
“Close your mouth, Marine.” She grinned as she followed the well-traveled roads. “I’ve got a daughter in the Marines, a son in the navy and a grandbaby on the way. I had our daughter my junior year. Found out that I was pregnant two days after he shipped out.”
Laughing, she stopped at an intersection. “He graduated on Friday morning; we got married that afternoon and I was back in classes on Monday. I’m not going to guarantee that my dad has forgiven either of us yet.”
“My wife had a baby the same day that my mom had triplets.” Jaxon called from the backseat.
Savannah flicked her eyes to the mirror again. “Miss Helen?”
“Yes, I have six kids. Well,” she smiled at Dean, “eight, actually. And three bonuses. So, I guess I have eleven kids. You girls aren’t going to go poly on me too, are you?”
Jolene and Dean both laughed and emphatically answered no.
“I think that Neo is more than enough for me.” Jolene said from beside her older brother in the back seat.
Jaxon gagged. “I don’t want to hear about my sister’s sex life. And I sure as hell don’t want to hear about my brother’s sex life.”
“Well, I couldn’t tell you about it.” Dean admitted.
Helen squeezed her hand and when Dean looked at her, the warm smile that the older woman gave her, made her lips tip up slightly in a small smile of her own.
“Take your time, Dean.” Helen suggested. “Don’t rush into anything.”
“Mom’s just saying that because she doesn’t want any more babies in the house.” Jaxon said in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Jolene looked at him and shook her head as she smacked her older brother on the back of his head.
“Ow!” he looked at his sister, rubbing the back of his head.
“You probably barely felt that with all your damned hair.” His sister retorted as she crossed her arms over her chest.
“Keep squeezing like that, maybe your boobs will show up.” Jaxon replied with a grin as he threw out the insult from when they were younger.
“Mom!” Jolene complained with no heat and a giant grin.
“And I’m starting over with three more.” Helen shook her head as her two oldest continued to bicker in the backseat just like when they were little. “What was I thinking?”
“Just a guess, and I could be totally wrong,” Savannah suggested as she pulled into a parking lot. “After seeing your man, you were probably thinking the sex was good.”
“The sex is very good.” Helen laughed.
“MOM!” both of her grown children screeched from the backseat while Dean declared, “Get it Miss Helen!”
Childs turned in his seat and offered Helen a fist bump. “Trust me, he agrees. He doesn’t tell us, but with that smug as fuck look that doesn’t leave his damn face, you can tell.”
Jolene and Jaxon looked at each other and then both acted like they were gagging.
“How the hell do you think the triplets got here?” Dean asked amused.
“I know the physics of it, I just don’t want to think about *my mother* doing anything like that.” Jolene said and her brother agreed.
“I mean, I know how I got my daughter, but I don’t need the image of-“
“Your mother taking two dicks at once?” Helen said much to Dean and Childs’ amusement.
“MOM!” the two in the backseat screeched again.
“What? You think I didn’t have a few questions?” Helen turned around to face her children. “There’s three of you in the relationship and until your mermaid was born, you didn’t know who the dad was. I had questions.”
“YouPorn.” Dean suggested.
“Hell yeah!” Childs offered her a fist bump.
Laughing Savannah parked in a spot and put the SUV in park. “Hell, I’ve got questions now!”
“I’m not discussing my sex life in front of my mother-“
“Already know about it.” Helen interjected as she took off her seatbelt.
“-or my sister-“
“Thank God!” Jolene huffed.
“-or my stepdad’s employee-“
“Bummers.” Childs objected.
“-or a stranger-“
“I’m the perfect person to tell.” Savannah pointed out.
“-and certainly not my little brother’s underage *virgin* girlfriend!”
“I’ll try to remedy the virgin part.” Dean smirked. “Then can we discuss it?”
“No!”
“Good try.” Childs smiled at her.
Savannah was laughing at the family. “You guys are going to do just fine with the military.” She then pointed to the building that they would go to. “Everyone else will be trying to get in there. Might want to hurry.”
After the family left, Savannah grinned at Childs. “You want to go watch?”
“I’m not supposed to get out of the car.” He pointed out.
“Pssshhh.” She rolled her eyes. “There’s advantages to being married to *the* chief.”
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