Chapter Ten - "Consolidation"

"Hail and Well Met"

Chapter Ten - "Consolidation"

0500hrs EST, Room 325, Marine Corps Base Quantico VOQ; Marine Corps Base Quantico; Quantico, VA. MAY 16, 1997

"Honey?" Animal had gotten up. This 0500 was starting to get to him.

"What is it, dear."

"I had this horrible nightmare."

"Deja Vu?"

"Yeah."

Meg opened the window a crack, " I SWEAR, YOU MAGGOTS HAVE TWO LEFT FEET. DID YOUR MOTHER NOT TEACH YOU THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RIGHT AND LEFT...IT'S EASIER THAN BEING A REPUBLICAN OR A DEMOCRAT! AT LEAST YOU DON'T HAVE TO FLIP FLOP SIDES AND GIVE UP HALF YOUR BRAIN. OH WAIT THAT'S LIEUTENANT COMMANDERS IN THE NAVY!"

Meg leaned out the window ..."I HEARD THAT! GUNNY!"

"YOU'RE WELCOME! MA'AM!"

Animal was rolling on the floor, laughing his head off.

Meg threw a pillow at him, "Shut up, sir!"

"Hey...no throwing bed linens and head rests at superior officers."

"You're not dressed, doesn't count...sir!"

0600hrs EST; Room 325, Marine Corps Base Quantico VOQ; Marine Corps Base Quantico; Quantico, VA. MAY 16, 1997

"We really should get going...we can get breakfast on the way and try to get all this done by the end of the day. That way we can have the weekend to ourselves instead of frantically trying to set things up before we have to go back to work." Meg's earnest argument made Animal step on it and grab his keys from the kitchen counter where he'd left it.

"We need to stop in at Lowes on the way up to your storage place."

"Why?"

"I don't want a situation where things get ruined because of water damage. We're getting Rubbrrmaid storage tubs and a couple of shelves. If we're going to consolidate our two storage units, let's do it right."

"You've got a point, hon." Meg said. "I think the shelves are a good idea, we don't know exactly what the water table is like in Reston so we don't know what it's like after an excessive rain. Good thinking, sweetie."

"Well on rare occasions my brain can actually come up with something. Don't tell my superiors; they might foist more duties on me..." he quipped as his wife laughed. Locking the door to their VOQ, Meg and Animal headed downstairs. "You drive the Camaro? I'll ride, that way when we rent the van, we'll be able to move the stuff that's in cardboard boxes directly into plastic tubs and get them all packed into the truck. 16' cube should take both units and give us an idea of what size unit to rent. And when we need lunch, we don't have to move the monster truck. You can run and grab our lunch"

Meg agreed. They decided to rent the 16 footer in Reston as it would save them a trip all the way back to DC to drop it back off. Picking up the cube van was no problem. The gas mileage was going to be quite a different story. The cube vans might come with a full tank of gas, but running the thing on the interstate was going to eat up a lot of the gas. Although it wasn't as bad as the stop and go of inner city traffic, Animal thought as he maneuvered the big lumbering beast down the road.

These cube vans scared hell out of smaller vehicles who generally tended to get the hell out of the way. Animal liked that because if a smaller vehicle did attempt to challenge the big beast of a vehicle, it would end up as a fender decoration. Meg was bringing up the rear playing blocking vehicle to keep other cars from riding up her husband's tailpipe. Close but not too close. So as to be there when needed.

Animal had tuned his big truck's radio to the Virginia Baroque station and was happily somewhat singing along to a baritone Handel Aria from Ariodantesomewhat passably.

He was also watching the road carefully and roughly about two and a half hours later he pulled into the parking lot of the Lowes in DC where he and Meg headed in to buy 26 60L storage containers from Rubbermaid. He figured that should be enough to set Meg up with enough containers to get all her things protected from the elements. The Lowes customer service had to check the back to make sure there was enough and then truck them out to the waiting cube van. Then he went ahead and bought several shelves that were plastic heavy duty assembly designed to take the weight of said heavy full containers. Six on each. So he picked up about ten he'd get the others at the Lowes in Reston after he drove back from Norfolk. After paying for all that they drove to Capital Storage Solutions.

0930hrs EST; Capital Storage Solutions; Washington DC

It certainly took some doing but Animal finally managed to back that huge cube van by the storage locker. Sighing deeply in relief, Animal rolled-up the back door of the cube van and started tossing boxes in explaining to Meg that they would sort and organize the containers when they got to the Reston-ULoc. Meg agreed that would be faster and was prepared to go get them lunch but Animal said, "Let's get this done and get to Norfolk."

Meg shrugged her shoulder at Animal's single-mindedness and helped her husband get the containers into the cube van it took a good three quarters of an hour to do so. Animal quickly swept the storage locker clean and returned the broom to the front desk.

When they were completely done and Animal rolled down the back to lock it in tight, Meg tapped him on the shoulder and handed him a Pepsi she'd gotten him from the AM/PM and her husband rewarded her with a kiss. "Thanks honey." Animal said as he towelled his face off with a face towel. It was hot and sweaty work.

Meg figured they should get a cooler and she'd fill it full of ice water and rinse off the towel in that. And maybe that would keep him cool. Of course it didn't help her when during the course of loading he'd stripped his shirt off and those working muscles had made her all hot and bothered. Well. She'd have to do something about it when they got back to the VOQ.

One swig of his Pepsi and he put the lid back on and put it in the cab of the van. "Let's get the bill squared away and get back on the road.

1030 hrs EST; Capital Storage Solutions, Washington DC

"OK your bill is $57.86 if you want to apply the $20.00 deposit to your bill it's only $37.86."

Meg silently handed them her debit card which was swiped and the card handed back to her while Meg punched in her PIN. The machine spit out a receipt as the transaction went through. One copy went to the business owner the other to Meg.

She turned and walked out.

"They still got you for the last month?" Animal asked her.

"Yeah. Five years of using them and still no deal. Oh well, we'll have our storage locker together now "

"Starting to really feel like a family, right?"

Meg pressed up against him as she gave him a kiss. "Yeah. And it feels right."

"Let's get on the road sweetie and pick up my stuff in Norfolk." He sighed. "One four hour drive coming up."

"I think you are going to need lunch I'll grab something for us both when we get to Norfolk and meet you at your storage place." She said.

"Sounds like a plan." Animal climbed back into the cube van cab and started her up. It sounded like a diesel eighteen wheeler with all the noise. Meg started her Camaro. She loved the new car smell and took a deep breath before engaging the transmission to Drive. Moving forward she took the entry point of the storage place blocking it off and sticking her nose out with a honk so that her husband could maneuver the big cube van into traffic. Then she slotted herself behind him. Nope, nobody messed with a cube van especially a large one if they wanted to have an intact car that wasn't wrapped around the front-grill.

It was a quick drive to the interstate and once on it, it was just a matter of staying in the right lane. The back gate was down and locked tight and the containers were tied down with netting and blankets. Protecting anything that shouldn't go anywhere.

The interstate from DC to Norfolk wasn't as crowded as it would become during the afternoon rush hour so it was good that they were getting this out of the way before the expected afternoon crush. Animal intended on getting there by 1430 and timed his speed down the interstate, a big rumbling cube van hurtling along at 70mph.

When they reached Norfolk, Animal kept going as Meg pulled into a restaurant to go buy food for them

1445hrs EST; Norfolk Secured Storage; Norfolk. VA

The gate opened to let the big truck through. Maneuvering the big truck to his storage locker, Animal parked it. It wasn't more than about twenty minutes later that his wife pulled up in her Camaro and was allowed in. She pulled in behind with a ten foot gap from the nose of her vehicle to the rear of the cube van so no one could park and block Animal from loading up his truck.

Unlocking the van and pulling up the gate he opened it up so that he could load the vehicle. The locker was now also open and he started throwing his stuff in there so that it was all stacked neatly and spaced out so the van was balanced. Animal didn't want to tip over because his center of balance shifted and the van got unbalanced. Animal had quite a bit so naturally his loading took some time and eventually hunger got the best of him. Meg had gone to a Tex-Mex restaurant and had gotten two of the most humongous burritos that anyone had ever seen. Both had beef, bacon bits and pork as well as chicken. They both sat on the lift and ate so that they would have full stomachs.

"How do you always know the perfect food to get me?" Animal asked; a wide grin on his face

Meg looked at him and said, " I'm your wife. We always know." And gave him an affectionate nudge with her shoulder.

The Burrito was huge so Meg tossed the Burritos in a cooler bag with ice packs; the Burritos were put into large plastic Zip-Loc bags.

It took three hours to load Animal's locker into the cube van and cleaning it out took another half an hour.

When they were finished, the clock had rounded six PM and rush hour was in full swing.

1820hrs EST; Norfolk Secured Storage; Norfolk. VA

The squaring up of accounts didn't take much time. Just a quick go-through of accounts. The key deposit here was $50.00. And since Animal didn't have a balance owing, he and his money weren't parted. He'd paid first and last month's rent when he first rented the unit.

They started to get hungry again so instead of running into traffic, they opted to wait and eat their burritos. By 1930 they were back on the road headed towards Reston.

2130hrs, EST; Reston-ULoc; Reston, VA

By 2130 they were at the new place Reston-ULoc which had service 24hrs and lockers accessible at all hours. They made sure that they secured their unit and then started unloading. They had their van over-night. By the time they finished it was after zero hour; in fact it was nearing 0200 and they were sweaty, tired and wanted nothing more than to crash right where they stood. Meg murmured, "I could take a sponge bath right now if I was sure that they don't have cameras in the lockers."

Animal grinned at her; I'll take a gander by the cameras with the excuse that I forgot a lock and need to buy one...

"We did forget." Meg said looking around in her purse, "I gave the key and lock back to the owner who had the combination. And what about you?"

"Oh...shit, yeah. I did return the lock."

"Well, I guess we're buying a lock." Meg said dryly.

"Be back in ten." Animal said.

Meg made sure that the sixteen foot Storage locker was swept and clean while the containers were set up on the shelves. And whatever was left would be dealt with as they had time. There were a couple of containers that had clothes of hers that she could change into because she didn't want to go home in something sweaty if she could help it.

A coded tap on the storage locker door had her lift up the door. It was her husband with a smirk on his face. He shut the door. And grinned evilly.

Meg raised an eyebrow. "So?"

"No...camera inside the lockers just along the alleys of the lockers outside. So if someone is loitering around, they know, but once they're inside the locker, they're home free."

"Oh..."

"I told them that we had to organize and would probably be busy all night." He grinned again which caused Meg to be curious as to what the grin was all about. Her husband looked over to the roll-up door which also had a lock on the inside. The sixteen footers also had a standard door as well like the roll-up door was also lockable and dead-bolted from the inside. He waggled his eyebrows as he leaned down, locked the inside and then walked over to the other door.

"Uh-huh?" Meg was starting to get an inkling of what her husband was thinking of. "But what if it gets all hot and stuffy?" A token half-hearted protest.

Animal opened up a box. Clean towels and fresh clothes. Hers and his, pointing at the cooler that now had ice water in it. As most of the ice had melted. Picking up a piece of ice he walked over to Meg taking the piece of ice he traced a line down her neck as she sucked in her breath. That ice cube was cold. Tracing it around front, she barely bit down an exclamation as a cold droplet trickled it's way between her breasts and down her chest. Meg breathed heavily as Animal took a washcloth and soaked it partially wrung it out and ran the edge down the back of her neck. "That's cold." His grin was evil when he brought the wash cloth forward poised over her cleavage.

"What are you going to do..." she whispered.

He squeezed the washcloth and the water in the towel splashed onto the top of her cleavage. Soaking her top; the now translucent fabric now showing her in all her unfettered glory.

"I'm all wet..." Meg said softly. As she looked at Animal she hinted at a double meaning.

"Lift your arms..." Animal said as she did. Standing behind her he pulled her shirt up freeing her completely. Taking the now just damp cloth he reached around her and started rubbing her down with it taking away every bit of sweat that had accumulated on her upper body. Meg leaned back against her husband.

"I'm still wet..." she took his left hand and showed him.

He grinned at her and having moved the cooler close by, he dunked the washcloth in again and then trickled water into her jeans soaking them and her panties too. Her gasp as the cold water touched her nether-regions excited him. He unbuttoned her jeans. "What do you want to do?" Meg purred, leaning her head back.

Animal had removed his shirt. So her bare back was right up against his rock hard abs. He walked her up against the wall and put his hands on her hips. She still had on her jeans, and he took that wash cloth and dribbled more water soaking her even more.

He finally pulled her jeans and panties down exposing her to his view. Stepping out of the now sodden clothes, she said, "my turn..." she took the washcloth, dribbled water on his abdomen and let it run into his pants. Then Meg took his belt and loosened it. "Meg..." her husband uttered.

"Shhh, Tosh...". Meg said. She pulled his pants off as she took the sodden wash cloth and wrung it out over his tidy whities making them just as transparent as her shirt which was on the floor. Taking a hold of the elastic waistband, she tugged them off too. Now he was as naked as her. She took the wet washcloth and washed him off taking especial care of that special part of him. She stood up and he took her by the waist. Pulling her close, she could feel him against her, she gasped in anticipation as he pressed up against her.

"Shhhh..." he lifted her a bit on her toes. And she could feel him probe teasing her. She adjusted herself and he joined her. There was a sense of danger- the risk of getting discovered in the midst of flagrante delicto would put them in a rather not-so-good situation. She sighed deeply as they moved together intimately joined quietly in their locker the only sounds being their heavy breathing.

She could feel he was close when she felt him tighten and then a flood of warmth flowing into her as she breathed deeply. "Yes" she whispered softly, "I love you."

"Love you too, Meg." He said as soon as he could breathe. Clean up was washing each other with a towel, then Meg getting into clean panties, Tosh getting into clean briefs, the both getting clean pants and t-shirts on.

"I feel cleaner now...though I still want a shower." Meg turned around in a circle checking all four walls of the unit, "i think we have this place about as organized as we can get it. What time does the truck rental place in Reston open?"

"0600 is when I can get onto the lot and drop off keys. They'll deduct from my credit card." Animal replied as he looked over at her.

Meg grinned, "so what do we do until then as it's 0314." She checked her watch. All their stuff was now in protective tubs and had been dealt with. Nothing more had to really be dealt with except for maybe a few more shelves.

"How about we leave here at 0500; the 24hr McD's opens at 0500 and we could get some breakfast then I can dump the truck off and we can head back to the shower."

"That's an hour and a half..."Meg said, grinning. "What do you suggest we do for an hour and a half while we're waiting?

Animal raised an eyebrow.

Meg leaned in to him, her breath tickling his nose, her cheeks tantalizingly close as they both nuzzled. "Again?" She whispered. "I don't think any one's checked." She knelt down and pulled and Animal did the same for her. Then it was touches, gasps and soft moans as their coupling was hidden behind the shelving units of the storage locker.

"Oh..." Meg breathed in deeply as her husband took her over the edge again. "This could become a favorite spot." She purred as she gave him a caress. He twitched "...mmmmm..." Meg closed her eyes and sighed.

"Yeah...all...we need...are blankets." Her husband agreed. She brought him to fruition and likewise her five times before the clock struck five. Then it was a hasty wash off of the areas, pulling up of underthings and pants and zipping up. Then a hasty exit from the storage with a "I think we're all organized in there, don't you think?" For good measure. Dumping the water and scouring the cooler of the water and throwing the empty cooler into the back trunk of the Camaro. Starting the truck and the car to make sure everything ran OK. Animal told Meg to meet him at the McDonald's while he refilled the truck with diesel over at the gas station across the street. Filling the gas only took about 10-15 minutes and cost about $150.00 which he paid by debit; he didn't like touching credit unless he had to and for most purchases a debit transaction was fine.

When he met up with Meg, she had her tray and told him that she figured he wanted hot food. Animal agreed and went up to the counter and ordered two hash browns, a large Coke and a Sausage Mcmuffin. After eating and chatting for about fifteen minutes, 0600 rolled around and Animal and Meg returned the truck, rolling the keys into the return box that was essentially a covered chute leading to a collection receptacle. After that, Animal got into the Camaro with Meg and headed back to MCB Quantico.