Chapter 9: Fear

"Collecting sample 5." Joe called out, as she had with the four other samples before, as she scooped some sand into the vial in the underwater sub's mechanical arms.

One week of sub dives was under their belt now and Joe was fairly proficient at it. Telling everyone, out loud, what she was doing no longer bothered her either. It was just a safety precaution.

One that trained her for their first manned sub dive tomorrow.

If there was something sinister about the lights, something watching them, surely it would have picked up their pattern of dive/no dive by now. She felt it was relatively safe to dive in the manned sub.

Because Kai would be able to see without lights, and could, in fact, see better without lights, they had been doing the manned sub simulator with lights off. The screen wasn't giving them any information so Josh would tell them what was 'coming' towards them at any given moment. Joe had memorized the entire sub control center by touch and memory.

She was incredibly nervous about it though.

Kai promised to be there to help her, Josh vowed to be an ever helpful voice over the comm. system, and she herself knew the job as well as could be expected.

But that didn't change the fact that she would be plummeting 10,000 or so feet under the water where death was all around her.

Water meant she couldn't breath.

And even if she had a scuba tank with her, the pressure would crush both her and the tank in less than a second.

And even if it didn't, the temperature, which hovered somewhere around a chilly 1 to 2 degrees Celsius, which was just this side of freezing, would make her hypothermic before she could hope to swim to the surface.

Which she wouldn't reach anyway because even a merman couldn't swim that length before the air in her lungs ran out.

Or the water crushed her.

So, the only thing between her and death was the tiny sub and a CBI injection which may or may not have taken affect or be rejected by her body and sent out with the rest of the waste.

All in all, it was terrifying.

But she wasn't too worried. She had Kai, an expert, and he assured her that his people would be standing by to try and haul the sub back up if anything went wrong.

Which was only slightly soothing because Joe knew that a leak in the hull, at that pressure, would send a jet of water through the sub powerful enough to slice her in half.

Because she knew she would worry herself stupid with all the 'what if's that could happen at that depth, she had opted to work instead of resting like Kai and Josh. Work kept her mind busy.

Work kept her from thinking of all the dangers of deep ocean travel.

Or it would if Kai had not shown up halfway through with a man to replace her.

"You're not staying in here all day, Kyma." he told her firmly. "You need rest to be alert in the sub."

"I'll be fine," Joe promised solemnly as she rotated the camera to check out the rest of the landscape that could be seen with the lights they had. "I'll take some sleeping pills tonight before bed."

"Not good enough." Kai retorted. "Come on, Hector will replace you."

"But-"

"No buts." Josh butted in, coming into the room. "Kai is right. You're not the best sub driver at your best. Get up and get out, that's an order."

Joe groaned and grumbled darkly but she stood and let Hector take her place.

"I despise you right now." she informed them, mostly Josh, as she walked away from both of them and trying not to slam the door because of how childish it would make her out to be.

She thought it was a rather good escape. Just enough dignity and she realized that Kai was following her.

"I'm going to rest." she said not looking back.

"I actually wanted to talk to you." he replied. "You've been walking oddly for the past week."

"Gee, thanks," Joe said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Then she realized that he had been watching her walk and she blushed a bit.

"Is something wrong with the CBI's?" he asked, concerned.

"No." Joe replied, completely sure. "They're working fine. If they're working."

"Kyma-"

"Don't 'Kyma' me in that tone of voice." Joe said, determined to ignore him, at least for now. She had wanted to work, not be told what to do like a child.

And the fear of what she was going to do tomorrow was making her a bit surly and unreasonable.

"Kyma," he said again, grabbing her arm and turning her to him, "talk to me."

She was half tempted to. Those deep black eyes encouraged her to spill all her secrets, to tell him everything she knew.

But it probably wasn't a good idea to tell the man who would put his life in her hands tomorrow that she was nervous and scared and almost unwilling to go through with this.

"I'm fine." she repeated, looking away from him.

"You're lying." he corrected. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." she insisted.

There was a pause and Joe thought that he was going to let the subject drop.

Then he turned, her arm still in his hand, and started leading her back down the hall.

"Hey!" Joe said. She wasn't fighting him exactly, but she didn't want to be led around like this. Why couldn't he just let her storm off?

He led her deeper into the bowels of the ship to the crew didn't take her to her room, but down a hall she hadn't explored before and into a different door that she assumed must be his room.

He took her inside, shut and locked the door, and only then released her.

"Man-handler." Joe complained.

Kai reached up and cupped her cheek. "You're scared, Kyma."

"I am not," Joe protested, jerking her head from his grasp. Why couldn't he let her be unhappy? Why was he trying so hard? And why was she so damn content to let him?

He got close to her and slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. "Don't run from me, Kyma," He had said that before.

"I can do whatever I please." Joe retorted feeling childish and ornery.

"Of course." he agreed. "But I don't like seeing you disregard me so." He bent down and buried his face into her hair, taking a deep breath of her scent.

It might just be the location, but she smelled of the sea. The sea and water lilies. It was a beautiful combination and so very her. And all that red hair that he adored so carried the scent so well.

"Kai..." Joe softened, her heart melting as he continued to nuzzle her. He was so touchy-feely and she loved it. Nothing made her feel so beautiful and desirable as Kai's inability to not touch her. Feeling his taking slow, deep breaths of her scent was endearing, feeling him nuzzling her hair was comfortable and touching, and feeling the warmth of his body pressed against her own was indescribable.

"Don't be scared of the sea, Kyma." he spoke softly into her hair. "It is dangerous, but so are many things. I don't want you to fear the water. I want you to see it as I do. I want you to feel at home there as I do."

"I'm not scared, exactly," she admitted. "It's just I can't stop thinking about all the bad things that can happen down there."

Kai kissed the top of her head lovingly. "It isn't the safest place for a human, I'll admit. But trust me, Kyma, no harm shall come to you. I've taken every precaution to keep you safe. Believe in me."

And she did. How could she not? When he held her like that, when he spoke in that low, seductive voice of his, how could she not believe every word he said?

"I'll be okay," she told him, embracing him in return and realizing dimly that he had somehow turned the situation around so that she comforted him."Once I get comfortable in the sub, I'll be fine."

Kai nodded then leaned back so he could get a look at the feline-like face that he had grown so accustomed to seeing.

He brushed a stray strand of her hair back behind her ear and smiled a bit at her. She was so precious, so perfect. Even that inability to not think about the bad things that could happen was strangely adorable.

He leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers, just enjoying the feeling of having her there, in his arms.

"Kai, why-"

"Sh." he interrupted, opening his eyes and looking into hers. "Quiet that mind of yours, Kyma."

"I can't." Joe pouted.

Kai's smile widened a bit. Joe had never actually seen him smile, as his face wasn't all that expressive. But seeing it now, it only made him that much more beautiful.

"Latrevo to myalo sas , agapo to soma sas , s 'agapo , to kyma tis kardias mou." he murmured seductively.

"I don't speak Greek." Joe complained, dying to know what he was saying. Was that a compliment or an insult or what?

"I will tell you someday." he replied just as he said last time.

Before Joe could protest, he twisted his head so his lips were suddenly moving against hers.