I got to the diner just a little late. The night before had really slowed things down this morning. My whole body felt like there were a hundred thousand bricks piling on top and no matter what I did I couldn't get rid of them.

When I entered I knew Johnny was going to be there. He was always on time and by that I mean fifteen minutes early. I shook my head when I saw him just as I had expected. Sitting with a coffee cup already in hand. He was mixing it with on of the spoons on the counter before he held it up to his lips and took a sip. That was when he noticed me standing by the door.

A younger woman rushes over to me, trying to help me get seated. I brush her off, nodding towards my friend already in his booth. She rolls her eyes before walking away to grab another coffee cup. I wasn't in the mood for coffee, but I knew I'd need some to help me make it through the day, so when she dropped the mug off and filled it up I thanked her. Johnny looked at me, neither of us sure what to say. What did you say? Was I supposed to make a joke about it? Ask him how he slept? Do we say the 'm' word out loud or were we supposed to dance around it like we had no clue what we were doing?

Johnny and I definitely looked like fisherman, with both of us wearing our trademarked hats. The old veterans attire with a fish hook hanging off the brim. Johnny used to go fishing nearly as much as me, we'd have contests to see who could catch the most. When his wife wanted him to retire the boat and focus more on the family business he did as she asked. Selling it the next day. Things had been weird since then, but it wouldn't matter now. We would both be rich, there'd be no worries in our lives.

The community would know us as the two that changed their lives forever. They wouldn't be able to doubt that we had made a big impact on the world, for the better if you ask me.

"How did you sleep?" Johnny was the first to speak. He knew I had spent the night on the boat, and he could probably tell by the extra wrinkles under my eyes today. I shook my head rubbing my hands across my face and through my beard.

"It was rough for the sleep, but easy on the soul," I teased, the best I could while running on only two hours of sleep. I grabbed the coffee cup taking a large gulp of the hot liquid as it burned all the way down my throat warming the inside of my body as it did so.

A small smile tugged at the corner of my lips as Johnny did the same.

"Did you tell the wife?" I looked around the diner to make sure there was nothing else going on. That no one could hear us if we were to slip up and give out too much information. He nodded his head.

"She didn't believe me, she told me we ought a kick you to the curb because you are going insane," He chuckled for a moment leaning back in the chair. I rolled my eyes, but couldn't help but laugh myself.

"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I'd believe her," I mumbled under my breath. The waitress came over to our table and asked if we wanted food. Both of us ordered quickly eager for her to leave again.

"She needs to see her though, once she sees what we have she will believe it a little more," He nodded his head as he took another gulp of the dark liquid. I nodded my head in response. He was right, but we would need to get her out of my boat first. I couldn't hide her much longer, and I'd assume she needs to go back into the water before she decomposes too much.

"We can sneak her into the aquarium today. Debbie said she would only work a half day, we would open later, so after breakfast if we can sneak the girl into the cooler we will be good to go. Debbie said she will come in a little early and we can show her, we will figure out what to do from there," Johnny shrugged as he spoke. The words coming out of his mouth weren't as helpful as I was hoping they would be.

He didn't have a plan yet. He just needed to show his wife and then we would come up with a plan. I could feel a sense of anger taking over but I decided that wasn't the smart thing to do right now.

"How do you propose we carry her? I tried moving her to the bottom of my boat today and it nearly killed me, she may be a skinny girl but she has really packed some weight into her tiny body," I rolled my eyes mixing my coffee once again with the spoon sat neatly in the glass. The waitress came and filled up both of our cups before bringing out our breakfast.

I took a couple careful bites of the white toasts, allowing the buttery bread the melt in my mouth. Johnny scarfed his eggs down in only a few bites. Like a child that hadn't been fed for way too long. I chuckled softly continued to carefully devour my breakfast.

"We will get it taken care of. If we are careful you can get the boat close enough to the building that we won't even really have to pick her up fully. We have a spare tank in the storage we can put her in. Maybe we can spray some water on her and see what happens," Johnny took careful bites of his bacon breaking the pieces as if he wasn't supposed to be eating them.

"Debbie doesn't want you eating that does she?" I questioned, trying to hide the conversation we were talking about previously. I didn't want someone to overhear it and figure out what we were really talking about.

"Nope, not one bit so keep your mouth shut," I smiled at his response. Debbie was a good thing for him, and he had met her when we got back from our first deployment together. She'd stayed with him through many more and provided him with three kids. He loved her to pieces.

Johnny had put her through so much and I wondered how she would respond to this new adventure they would have to tackle.