InsaneJournal

Who: Laurence & Mary, with a special appearance by Judy and Leon
What: Fleet Week
When: Backdated to the end of August
Where: Los Angeles
Rating: PG for drowning situation
Status: Complete!

Laurence had always thought that the Americans had a bad habit of making a big hullabaloo over whatever they could, but he couldn’t say he truly minded in this case. Perhaps, normally, he would be chagrined at the idea of turning the Navy into a public spectacle, especially of the idea of civilians tromping along their military ships, but he couldn’t truly say he minded at this time, not when he could show Mary a little bit of what his life entailed.

He’d felt a little strange driving alone with Mary all the way to Los Angeles for the event, but the drive went quickly with her charming conversational skills, and he felt very little awkwardness over it once they were on the road.

He had managed to clear a more private tour with Mary with his Rear Admiral, and he had been pleased to surprise her with it. It was certainly preferable to walking along with the tourists, and he was happy that they could walk at their own pace, with Laurence answering any questions that Mary had. It had gone smoothly, aside from a wolf whistle from one of the Petty Officers, crude and rude, directed at Mary. Laurence had barked his name, and the man had come immediately to attention, looking properly ashamed, and Laurence had let him off with a warning that the next time he heard such vulgarity, he would report for Captain’s mast, and once Laurence had passed him, the sailor had gone back to his duties with renewed vigor.

All in all, it was a rather successful afternoon, and Laurence thought a leisurely walk along the beach would be the best way to end it. “I hope that you enjoyed yourself this afternoon,” Laurence said, glancing at Mary.

It was particular to go back to regular life after those intense and strange attacks, but that’s exactly what the OC did. Mary received a call from the family she nannied the same day the all clear was given and she found herself back to the usual schedule and demands of the children. The rest of August seemed to fly by as she prepared the children for their return to school. What would have seemed to be more time for herself proved to be the complete opposite as she ran errands for the family, making sure everything was set up for their return home from school and work each day. She would have forgotten her birthday had the family not known themselves and given her a small party with a chocolate cake and the offer for her to take a paid vacation.

When not at work, Mary found her time catching up with her summer reading list, guiltily binge watching shows on Netflix, and staying in communication with William. He had been so noble and kind to think of her during the attacks; she would be forever grateful to him for helping her overcome her nerves and sheer panic of the situation. It was with her utmost glee that she had him over for dinner in thanks a few days after the attacks had subsided. She didn’t wish to take up too much of his time, yet she always looked forward to hearing from him, no matter if she had just spoken to him the day before.

She was delighted when he remembered their date for Fleet Week and the lengths he had taken to impress her. His knowledge was unquestionable and she was impressed not just the knowledge, but the history in which William explained everything. She thought she might faint when the sailor whistled, a lovely blush covering her cheeks as William admonished him. It was the most noble thing someone had done for her and she couldn’t help but take his arm in appreciation.

“I’ve had a lovely time,” she said, her shoes in her other hand as they walked arm in arm. “It was the sort of day you wish you could pause or make longer so you might enjoy it just a touch more.” She looked at him and smiled easily, resisting the urge to reach out and touch some of his hair that had fallen on his face. “I hope you’ve enjoyed yourself as well?”

Laurence flushed with pleasure when Mary had taken his arm, his heart thumping in his chest at her touch. This, he supposed, must have been what people spoke of when they spoke of butterflies in the stomach.

He bowed his head to her as they spoke, scarcely aware of anyone else at all on the boardwalk, except to avoid walking into them. “More than I can say,” he answered her. “I could not think of a better companion to have with me for this event. I must apologize again for my men,” they truly should have known better. “I hope that Mr. Sanderson didn’t cause much offense.”

Only William could find a way to have a private conversation in such a public setting. He had a way of bringing her near, making her feel as if she were the only person he cared to listen to. She blushed at the compliment and at the reminder of the young officer. “Oh, think nothing of it,” she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and trying desperately to seem nonchalant about the whole thing. “Although I appreciate you stepping in to remind him of his manners. The youth seem to be rather…rambunctious for this generation. It will do that young man some good to have such a good influence in his life!” She smiled up at him, giving his arm the slightest squeeze.

A young man breezed past them, bumping into Mary and causing her to push into William. Her blush grew brighter, her annoyance obvious in her tone. “As we were saying!”

Laurence had been prepared to make some response when Mary had been knocked into him. He caught her by the elbows, and sent a dark look to the jogger, who had half turned, raise a hand in what Laurence supposed must have been some sort of gesture of apology, and called “My bad!” without so much as slowing his step.

He breathed in deeply, deciding against saying something to him - he was already too far to say anything without causing a scene or losing some dignity - and turned to Mary to make sure she was quite alright. But he found himself temporarily at a loss for words as he looked down at her in his arms and realized just how close she was, their torsos nearly touching. He swallowed. “Are you alright?” he asked.

Mary was about to assure William that she was quite alright when she blinked and looked up at him, feeling her own heart rate pick up. She stared at him for a moment before she realized what she was doing. Another blush, a deeper one, covered her face and she looked away, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Yes, I’m alright,” she said, placing a hand on the arm that supported her. “Thank you William.” You are being quite silly! A blushing school girl when he’s trying to offer his assistance! Mary made herself turn to look at him, words of appreciation on her lips but they didn’t seem to quite come out. No, her attention was drawn to William’s own lips, wondering what it might be like to kiss them, wondering if they would ever find themselves in that kind of situation.

She felt herself get jostled again, bringing her out of her reverie, her annoyance returning again. “Really now, is this completely necessary?” She glanced around her and realized that a crowd was rushing over towards the pier, many pointing at something in the water. She frowned, turning to William to question what might be happening when she heard a scream and froze.

“My baby! Someone help, please!” Mary placed a hand over her heart, looking at William with concern on her face. “We must help her!” She took his hand without thinking of how forward a gesture that would be, pulling them towards the crowd. The pier was high up from the water and she could see a small figure below. Not actually a baby, but definitely a child.

Laurence allowed Mary to pull him along until he realized what was happening. He looked around for anything that he could throw to the child, and found nothing. With the speed in which the child was drifting out to sea, it appeared that he was caught in a rip current, and a strong one at that.

He’d never been a strong swimmer, despite spending the majority of his life at sea, but no one else was acting and he could see no better alternative. He was already slipping his jacket off from his shoulders, while at the same time pulling loose his tie. Then he unbuttoned his dress shirt, while untying his boots. “Do try to find some help,” he said to Mary, slipping out of the boots, though it hardly seemed necessary with the commotion that the crowd was already causing. He laid his clothing on top of them to at least attempt to stop his shirt from lying directly on the pier.

He dove off the pier into the cold water, and swam out to the boy.


Leon hadn’t particularly wanted to come out to LA. He wouldn’t have wanted to come out for Fleet Week regardless of what was happening with Alex, but especially not now. Crowded beaches were his least favourite kind, and even if Judy had said that they could go surfing all day, he knew that the good waves would be crowded - not too bad for him, but for a beginner like Judy, they could be tricky. Besides, it felt wrong, somehow, to do something vacationy like driving to LA for the surf with everything that was going on. But Judy was nothing if not persuasive, and after she’d badgered him for long enough, he’d finally given in, if only to make her shut up about it.

He hadn’t been wrong, either. The beach and the ocean were packed full. So much so that he almost didn’t notice the crowd gathering. He glanced out, seeing a man swim toward a child who, after a moment, Leon recognized was drowning. The man was still wearing his pants, which made Leon frown to himself, and he didn’t seem to have the powerful strokes that one would expect from someone saving a drowning victim. His worries were all but confirmed when the man swam right up to the kid, and the kid tried to crawl on top of him, pushing him under the waves.

“For fuck’s sake,” Leon grumbled, grabbing his towel from the sand. He turned to Judy, already heading back to the water. “You ever rescue someone from drowning?” he asked her over his shoulder.

Judy was happy that she could convince Leon to join her, although she might have felt a bit guilty. She knew he didn’t really wanna go, but with everything that had been going on, she felt like he needed a break. She’d never experienced something like this though, so she wasn’t quite ready for him to actually be right and not over exaggerating in how busy it’d be.

They had just found a spot when he suddenly grabbed his towel and Judy found herself following after him, trying to keep up to what was going on. It took her a moment to see the floundering child and...man? She couldn’t really see as they kept ducking under the water. “Cheese and crackers, uh...no. But I know CPR,” she offered as a way to pitch in.

“Are you going for the child or the adult?” Judy was preparing to dive in with him for an assist.

“Hopefully both,” Leon said, slinging the towel around his neck. “I’m going to get you to follow me out there with the surfboard. I don’t want you going near either one of them once you’re in the water, or you’ll end up like that fucking idiot and I’ll have three morons to rescue,” the idiot in question being the man who was still struggling with the panicked child, therefore making Leon’s job a hundred times harder. “And I need you to do it quick,” he barked, and then dove into the waves.

After this, maybe he’d give Judy a bit of the lifeguard training Leon had had as a teenager when he’d been earning some spending money during the summers. It couldn’t hurt, especially when situations like this arose.

Judy opened her mouth to argue and shut it again. (It only seemed to be with Leon that she found herself not arguing on some subjects). He had a point, she didn’t know much of how to save a drowning person, especially one that seemed to be in a panic. She certainly wouldn’t want to drown herself, something it seemed like this man was doing. While his intentions may have been right, he was likely to get both of them in trouble if it weren’t for Leon being there.

She grabbed at a surfboard, yelling over her shoulder that it was needed for police business. The group didn’t seem to follow after her so she hoped it’d work and she could explain it once she gave it back. She was running towards the surf, her eyes scanning for Leon and where he was. Spotting him in the distance, she had to feel impressed with the amount of distance he had been able to make. She dove into the water, pulling herself onto the board and kicking out towards them.

Mary had been beside herself when William had jumped into the water, despite how noble she thought the action was. She turned around, looking for someone that might be able to assist, her heart pounding. “Help! Please, someone! There’s a child out there!” She pointed at the sea when she heard the murmurs behind her. Some of the onlookers were starting to mutter between themselves, shaking their heads. “Doesn’t look good. The guy looks like he’s struggling.” Mary glanced back out at the ocean and felt her heart drop. Bloody fool, could he not swim?

“Bloody hell,” she muttered, bracing herself against one of the pier posts so she could take her shoes off as well. She was going to jump in and help when someone shouted and pointed. She looked to see what was now developing and let out a sigh of relief, her hand going over her heart.

If Laurence could, he would have been embarrassed for Mary to see him in such a predicament. As it were, all of his mental facilities were dedicated to trying to save himself, the child on top of him pushing him under the water, and his mouth and lungs being filled with the biting salt water. And then, just when Laurence thought he would not be able to force himself to the surface again, the child was being lifted off of him.

He reached blindly for whatever had taken him, but already there was nothing near him. He managed to open his eyes, to see a well-muscled man swimming backwards, the child having been grabbed from behind and under the arms so he could not struggle and pull the new man down. For a moment, Laurence thought about how that would have been the way to do it, and then he was being slapped in the face with a wet towel.

He grabbed onto it by instinct, even as he managed to process the words, coming as if from a great distance, of “grab on,” and once he had a relatively firm hold on it, he could feel himself being towed parallel to the shore, out of the rip current.

Leon wasn’t able to go quickly, both his arms being occupied with the boy, and one of them holding onto the towel that was carting the other guy - he was built bigger than it had seemed from shore, but it didn’t take him too long before he stopped feeling the pull of the current and could start swimming toward shore.

Still, it was exhausting, more than he remembered from his lifeguarding days - those were already in his teenage years, before he’d started smoking and drinking, and the boy, now limp in his arms, wasn’t helping much. At least the man was kicking, if not feebly between his spluttering coughs. He glanced over his shoulder for Judy, and then grinned widely when he saw her not too far behind him.

They closed the distance, and Leon heaved the kid on top of the surfboard and pulled the man closer, where he clung desperately to the side and began hacking up water. Leon dove under and to the other side to prevent his weight from flipping the whole thing over. “Good timing,” he panted to Judy.

Judy gave him a quick smile, her attention to the child laying on the board. She bent down, trying to feel if there was any breath coming from him, her hand immediately reaching for his wrist to feel his pulse. “It’s shallow,” she said, glancing from the man they had saved to Leon. She didn’t even wait to see if it would be better for them to paddle to land, but immediately started the CPR process. She straddled the board so her legs were dangling in the water, her head bent down to blow air into the child’s mouth and started the counts of pumping at his chest. It was a bit difficult between the waves and having two other people hanging onto the board. “Keep it steady!” she said, bending back down to blow air into the child’s mouth, the rhythmic pumps to his chest constant.

It took another minute or so until the child started to cough up the water he had inhaled and Judy felt a rush of relief wash over her. She glanced back at Leon, her smile wider. “Let’s hope someone on the beach was smart enough to call 911.” Her eyes traveled over to the gentleman who had tried to be a hero.

“Are you doing alright sir?”

Leon frowned a little when Judy got on the board to start chest compressions, but he couldn’t fault her. The sooner she got him breathing again, the better, and while he had, at one point, known how to give a basic CPR while in the water, that was a skill he hadn’t practiced in nearly a decade and he knew it wouldn’t be up to snuff. All he could do now was try his best to keep the board level, even as he started pushing it back toward land.

He hoped that someone on land had been clear headed enough to do it. Half the time in an emergency situation, it took someone to specifically point someone out to call 911. It was one of the first things taught in CPR and first aid. But there’d been a sizable crowd there, and at least the worst of the danger had passed.

“Good job, Judy,” he said, not quite smiling back, though he was relieved that the boy was now panting on the board. The other man was still coughing, the occasional mouthful of water disappearing into the ocean, but at Judy’s question he nodded and lifted an arm weakly as if to wave away her concerns. It didn’t take much longer before Leon could feel the sand under his feet, and he was able to walk the board the rest of the way to shore.

Much to Judy’s happiness, it seemed someone on shore did have the know how on what to do and she heard the sirens before she saw them. Judy jumped off once they hit the shore, helping Leon bring the board to shore and assisting the paramedics that rushed onto the sand with the little boy. She glanced down at the gentleman, taking his arm to help him stand.

Mary had made her way to rush towards them as soon as she had seen the rescue happened. Her heart still beating like it wanted to burst through her chest, but she had been happy to see Laurence moving, if not a bit weakly.

By the time she made it to the beach, it was already littered with people who were wanting to see what all the commotion was about. There were a few from the dock that had followed Mary’s pursuit to see how the whole ordeal would end up. It was perhaps the one time she didn’t follow decorum and pushed her way through the masses, eager to make sure William was alright.

“William! Excuse me...Excuse me!” She gave the best nanny glare she could and the gentleman who had just pushed in front of her backed up. “William! Oh my goodness, are you alright?” She knelt down next to him, a hand going to his back.

It was undignified, but Laurence allowed the young woman to take the brunt of his weight as he stood, not quite able to get his own legs under him just yet. Mary’s sudden presence didn’t do much to alleviate his embarrassment. He attempted to brush his curly blond hair from his face, and hoped he didn’t look quite as wretched as felt. At Mary’s touch, he forced himself to stand up straight, taking his weight off from the young woman.

“All is well,” he assured Mary, his voice coming out in a hoarse croak, much to his chagrin.

“You know him?” Leon asked over his shoulder, though it seemed fairly obvious to him that she did. He was trying to keep the crowd away from them, though it wasn’t an easy task. Despite his booming voice, a long-haired blond in swim trunks apparently didn’t command much authority among these people.

“Yes, I’m with him.” She glanced from Laurence to Leon, and back to Laurence. “Are you quite sure you’re alright? Should we go to the hospital?” This last question was aimed at Leon as she didn’t quite trust Laurence on his own self assessment. She didn’t want him to be any worse for wear; despite his most noble attempts, it looked like it might have taken a toll out of him.

Judy jumped, nodding her head to confirm. “I would recommend that he goes. Just to make sure everything checks out.” She glanced at Leon. “At least wait for the ambulances to get here and have the EMT’s check him.” If they gave the all clear for him to go home, that was good enough for her.

“I’m fine,” Laurence assured her, to Leon’s eyeroll. As far as Leon was concerned, the guy needed to have some sense yelled into him, but he was too busy now trying to give the kid space so the EMTs could check him out.

“But I will remain and allow the paramedics to check me over if it would bring you comfort,” Laurence continued. If he were being honest, he needed the time to rest before he could move on anyway. Luckily, it didn’t take the paramedics long to arrive on the scene, and a couple of them made their way to Laurence to perform a basic assessment.

Mary just nodded her head, not trusting herself to say anything more. While she and William were new friends, she would have been devastated if anything had happened to him. She had to concentrate on not crying and making a complete fool of herself. Luckily the paramedics helped with a distraction and she quickly turned, wiping a few tears from her eyes.

When she composed herself, she turned back to the cops who had jumped in to help. “Thank you for your service officers. I am indebted to you both!” She held her hand out to shake each of theirs. Judy gave her a smile, insisting they were just doing their jobs.

“It’s not our jobs on our day off,” Leon grumbled, though Laurence couldn’t help but notice that despite his complaints, the man had acted immediately. He was about to express his gratitude, when the officer turned on him. “And you just made everything worse. Next time you decide to play hero, make sure you know what the hell you’re doing.” A beat. “And take off your fucking pants next time you go swimming in the ocean.”

Laurence stared, stunned for a moment, but despite the rather crude language, he couldn’t deny that everything the man said was true. “My apologies,” he said after a moment. “It will not happen again.”

“Yeah, it’d better not,” the officer grumbled, and turned on his heel to walk away. “Let’s go, Judy.”

Judy hesitated only for a moment, before she gave them an apologetic smile. “Your heart was in the right place,” she offered, looking between the two. “Just make sure he stays warm so he doesn’t get sick after this!” She gave them a small salute and hopped after Leon, catching up to him and giving him a hard time on being the “hero of the hour”.

Mary smiled her thanks at the two, a bit taken aback by the gruff attitude of the man. Still, he had helped when no one else seemed to be volunteering. So she swallowed what she really wanted to say to him and let them pass, her attention immediately going to Laurence.

“That was very brave of you,” she said. “Although you put yourself in so much danger as well!” She sat down next to him, placing a hand on his arm. “We’ve only just met William, but I don’t know what I would do without you!” While it may have been a sentiment that was overly used or used in the wrong context, Mary meant it. He had made sure to visit and stay with her during those strange attacks, always checking in to make sure she was alright. She hadn’t wanted to read anything into it, but she’d come to care about him quite deeply, although she had never actually examined her own feelings on the subject.

She realized that she might have been chastising him for a heroic effort and she smiled. “As soon as you’re cleared, we’ll get you back home and I’ll make some dinner for us. It sounds like you will need all the rest after this!”

Laurence laid his hand atop Mary’s, taking a small amount of comfort in the heat of her body. He found himself chilled to the bone, though he wouldn’t let it show. At least the sun was warm above them. “I did not meant to worry you,” he said apologetically. “But if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, I think that sounds like a lovely idea.”