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Nick leaned heavily over the pale body that convulsed beneath him, watching his expression as spasm after spasm rocked the thin frame. "That's right, Murray. I've got you. It will be alright as soon as I hear what I want to hear."
"Nick!"
"Tell me."
"Nick!"
"You know you want to."
Murray groaned.
"Come on, Boz... give it up...."
"Nick, darn it. Let me..." hiccup "...go!"
"No, Murray. You're hiccupping like my Aunt Matilda after one of her Bridge parties. I'm not letting you go until you tell me what the heck is wrong."
Murray looked up at him, his expression fading from anger to worrisome, "I can't." Another hiccup. "I just can't."
Nick had known this was coming. Had known it from the moment that he saw the way that Cody and Murray had started looking at each other - those out of the corner of the eye glances that fooled no one but each other. He'd pinned Cody down and had gotten him to talk. That was the easy part. He and Cody told each other everything. It had pretty much been that way from the moment they met each other in 'Nam. Back then it was safer to know your partner than not, keeping secrets was just too damned dangerous. But it had always been easy for them, because as different as they were on the outside, he and Cody were the same inside - same values, same basic outlook on life.
Murray was... well, not harder to read usually, but harder to get to talk. And he did that hiccup thing that drove Nick crazy. Whooping like some overgrown crane and then making even stranger noises in the attempt to relax his diagrams or... whatever the hell it was that he claimed caused the hiccup fit.
"Come on, Boz." Nick shifted his weight, moving back from where he had pinned Murray against the bulkhead. "You can't keep this up. We've got work to do and this... Whatever has you upset... You know you'll feel better if you just come out with it."
"I can't." Hiccup. "Really, Nick." Hiccup. "Not until I've figured out..." Two more hiccups and a wheeze - "...what I want to do."
"Okay. You can't talk to me, is that it?"
"No." Another hiccup, and Nick clung on to what he had been used to thinking inexhaustible patience just enough to not say what he was thinking, which was a pretty desperate chant of - Murray, can you just please, please, please manage one word without that?
"Fine. Then maybe you can talk to Cody. I'll get him on the phone."
"No." Three more hiccups - "Don't bother Cody." Two hiccups and a gasp - Christ, Murray, breathe! "I don't want him to--- " two more hiccups and then a heavenly moment of peace. Nick was pretty sure he earned the canonization of his baptismal namesake, because bringing pickled boys back to life was starting to seem like a cakewalk in comparison to this conversation-that-wasn't.
"What? You don't want him to know?" Nick laughed. "Look, Boz, it's not like he's not going to hear you the moment he comes aboard."
"I know...." Murray's reply was almost a wail, cut short by a renewed series of explosive hiccups.
I knew it! Nick's thoughts were triumphant.
He and Cody had talked and Cody had admitted to him that he was starting to have feelings for the third member of their team. Feelings that were different than those he already had.
"I... I think I'm falling for him, Nick," Cody had confided. "He's just so, I don't know. He's just the Boz, you know?"
Nick did know. As much as Murray often confused him or, hell, even annoyed the heck out of him, he loved the little guy. Life just wouldn't be the same without him around.
And that, was what Cody was worried about. That if he told Murray what he was feeling, it would somehow scare him away, mess up the friendship the three of them shared. The way Nick saw it though, was that not telling Murray, wasn't any better. Cody was unhappy and that made Nick unhappy... and then Murray got unhappy and it was a whole big unhappy.... thing.
But then this. Cody had left for the weekend, gone to some family thing that he couldn't gracefully get out of, Cousin Buffy's daughter's son's induction into Eagle Scouts or something equally as wonderful. Dooley had been there when they were loading Cody's bags into the Jimmy and had made some comment that Nick had only half-way listened to - the way he only half-way listened to most of what Dooley said.
"Hey, Cody. Have fun in Preppyville. Let me know how many Prom Queens you bagged when you get back, 'kay?"
A typical farewell for Dooley, but by the time he and Murray had walked back down the quay, Murray had already started hiccupping. By the time they got back aboard the Riptide, he was into full blown crane mode. And ten minutes after that Nick was ready to bash his head - or Murray's - against the wall until one of them was unconscious, since either way he'd be unable to hear it any more.
That, in the midst of his attempts not to scream at Murray to Hold your breath until it stops and then stay like that! - was when it dawned on Nick that Dooley's comment and Murray's hiccups might, somehow, be connected, and that maybe, just maybe, Cody didn't have quite as much to worry about as he thought.
"Okay, look. I won't call Cody, if you tell me what's wrong. Then maybe we can settle it. You can stop hiccupping and by the time Cody gets home it will be said and done and he'll never have to know." Nick tried reasoning with his friend.
"I..." triple hiccup "...guess."
Nick almost backed off, Murray sounded so miserable. But no, he couldn't. The longer this got put off the longer Murray would hiccup and the longer Cody would be unhappy and Nick... he might just have to move into the Mimi to get some peace.
"Here. Sit down." He lead Murray over to the bench and had him sit down, giving him a glass of water. Not that water ever seemed to help, but it gave Murray something to do with his hands and gave Nick a moment to get his thoughts together. "I have to assume that this...thing...that has you so upset, has something to do with Cody."
Murray's nod only confirmed what the suddenly rapid fire of hiccups told him.
"Are you mad at him about something?" Nick ventured. Yes, he was pretty sure what the problem was, but it would be easier if he let Murray come out with it in his own time.
"No. Of course not." Hiccup . It sounded almost indignant, if a hiccup could be such a thing. "Why would I--"
"--I'm just asking, Murray. If you won't come out and tell me, I have to do a little detective work here." Nick held up his hand. "You're not mad at him. Is he making you feel uncomfortable? I mean... you two have been dancing around each other lately like two teenagers at the prom. What's up with that?"
"That's just it, Nick." Hiccup. "I'm worse than a teenager." Wheezing hiccup. "I mean, Cody has all those girls chasing him and I've seen ..." Hiccup, gasp, hiccup, "...the way even the guys down on the beach look at him." Double hiccup with breath, then two more - "And I'm just the geek he works with." Hiccup, hiccup, gaspy hiccup - God, I'm even categorizing the damn things. He had a nasty feeling that somewhere in the back of his mind, he'd been counting them, too.
"Ah, Murray. You know better than that. Cody and I call you a geek but its the same way that I tease Cody about the Riptide and he teases me about the Mimi. It's not serious. Ever. It's just how friends talk to each other."
"I know that. I guess." Hiccup . "But... darn, this is hard for me to say." Hiccup, hiccup.
Yeah, and doubly hard to say through hiccups. Nick would imagine. "Then just say it quick. That's probably best."
"I... I... " a triple hiccup with a gasp - " I love Cody. There. I said it." Murray flinched back, almost as if he expected some violent reaction from Nick.
"And--?"
"And? What do you mean, and?" Hiccup. Murray frowned at him, his slim white hands dancing around excitedly, like butterflies in a mating dance. "I mean I love him. Not like a brother, Nick. But love, like with a big "L". You know, like dating and flowers and...and... and... all that."
Now that Murray was finally managing, although hesitantly, to get the words out, his hiccups were fading. Thank God.
"And?" Nick repeated himself.
"And? And? Isn't that enough? What am I going to do?"
"Well, I think you need to tell Cody that, instead of me. That should be your first step."
"Of course I should tell Cody." Murray stopped and blinked at Nick for a few moments, his hands braced against his stomach. "What do you mean, I should tell Cody? What if he doesn't feel the same? What if--" Hiccup. "What if-- " Whoop. Well, that was a new variety, at least. "What if he gets mad? What if-- What if he wants me to leave?" The last word ended on a choked gasp that had Nick jumping in quickly before that train of thought could go any further.
"He won't."
"You can't know that." Angry hiccup, Nick thought, and then Good, because he was a firm believer in the idea that there had to be some anger there if you were going to fight - whether for or against something.
Or even, as in Murray's case, when you thought you would have to fight, and definitely in the for something category.
"Murray. Trust me. He won't." Nick put one hand on Murray's shoulder, awkwardly trying to soothe him. "I've known Cody for a long time and, hell, if I'm still around after some of the crap I've laid on him, this will be nothing... I mean if he doesn't, you know, feel the same."
"Do you really..." Hiccup. "...think so?"
"Sure. You just have to tell him."
"I can't. Really, Nick." Desperate sounding hiccup. "I'll just get all tense and then I'll start hiccuping even worse and..." Hiccup, hiccup. "See? I can't even think about it." Hiccup, hiccup, hiccup, hiccup, hiccup.
Nick caught himself bobbing his head along in time with Murray's hiccups. God! What was he going to do with these two? Maybe he'd just take them out and strand them on Fisherman's Island until they talked? Yeah... Leave them with enough food and water for two weeks. That ought to do it. They'd have to talk then. They'd get two weeks of enforced togetherness, and Nick would get two weeks of quiet...sweet joyous quiet. He smiled at the thought. Two weeks with no whooping crane Murray and no sad-faced Cody. Really, as annoying as Murray's hiccups were, he'd almost rather listen to those than see Cody's kicked puppy expression. Now that cut right through him and made him want to...do something, anything, to make it go away.
"Besides, what would I say to him?" Hiccup. Yes, Nick thought unkindly, treating the unhappy little sound as a suggestion. Probably. "Gee, Cody, I'm in love with you." Hiccup. "Why don't you just give up chasing and being chased by all the beautiful people..." Hiccup "...and settle down with your friendly neighborhood geek?" Hiccup, hiccup, whoop, whoop.
Sadly, that was probably exactly what Murray would say. And in all truthfulness, that was probably exactly what Cody would love to hear. Nick nodded cheerfully. "That would do for a start."
Murray just glared at him, between hiccups.
"Come on, Murray. This is Cody we're talking about. What's the worst he would do?"
The expressions on Murray's face flitted from one to the next as he thought of all the worst case scenarios and the tempo of hiccups redoubled. Geeze, the little guy actually has been thinking about this a lot.
"No, Murray. Stop right there. Just stop. None of that is going to happen, because this is Cody. He doesn't have a mean bone in his body when it comes to someone he cares about. And you gotta know that Cody cares about you, about us." Nick ran a frustrated hand through his hair. How did he manage to get stuck in the middle of this?
Oh, yeah - "I'm not letting you go until you tell me what the heck is wrong." - that was probably it. Someday he would learn not to be so persistent. Right... and someday he'd let Murray fly the Mimi.
"But, Nick--"
"No. No, Murray. " Nick held up both his hands cutting him off. "If Cody doesn't feel the same, he'll just tell you. Then it's up to you what happens after that, because Cody is your friend and he'd never do anything to hurt you."
Murray sighed and then straightened up a bit, "No. I know you're right, Nick. He wouldn't." Hiccup. "He'd just tell me nicely and then be sympathetic." Three hiccups and a merciful, thank-you-baby-Jesus breath without. "But how do I tell him?" Hiccup-pause-hiccup, and shit!! He just knew he was going to be insane before this was done.
Nick yanked himself out of thoughts of peaceful insanity, good drugs, and soundproof rooms, and continued down the stony and thankless path of being the advisor. "Look, just tell him. You know Cody. Look him straight in the eye, say 'I love you' and plant one on him. Either he'll kiss you back or push you away and say, 'No thanks.' Why do you have to make this so hard?"
"Just tell him and kiss him." Hiccup. "Yeah... yeah... I think I could do that." Hiccup.
"See, it's easy." Thank God!
"There's only one problem."
Noooo!!! wailed the voice in Nick's head. Aloud, he just said with the last frayed stands of his patience holding together for a few more words, "What's that, Boz?"
"I don't think I can do this." Hiccup, whoop, whoop.
"Boooozzzzzz!!!" He sounded like a menacing bee, and didn't care, because Murray stared at him in hiccup-free silence and then nodded his head rapidly.
"Okay! Okay!!"
"Geeze!" Nick stomped out of the salon, leaving Murray behind him.
Well, that was all Nick could do since he'd foolishly promised Cody that he wouldn't say anything to Murray about how he felt.
Of course, he hadn't promised Murray the same.
Nick grinned evilly, singing a bit of an old Doors song as he stretched out on one of the lounge chairs.
"Wishful, sinful, wicked blue
Water covers you
Wishful, sinful, wicked you
Can't escape the blue..."
Hiccup.
Nick closed his eyes in misery. He now had hiccups punctuating his brain…