TITLE: All Bets Off
AUTHOR: Clairisant and Brenda
CLASSIFICATION: AJ/Mac
RATING: NC 17
CREDITS: A special thanks to our beta readers, Shannon, Monsita, and Qupeydoll.
Chapter 1
Saturday, April 17, 2004
0645 EST
Naval Clinic
Pensacola, Florida
PAIN! Mac woke to a world filled with it. She moaned and tried to open her eyes. Feeling a strong male hand clasping hers, her first thought was AJ. In her dreams, he was always there, and usually the first person she thought of when she woke. She didn't realize that she had said his name out loud until he answered her.
"I'm here, Sarah," came the soft Texas drawl of her commanding officer. That caused her eyes to fly open, and there he was-sitting next to her bed, in what looked like a hospital room, holding her hand. That, combined with the fact that he was in civvies, and the extremely concerned look on his face, had her beginning to wonder what the hell was going on.
However, before she could get anywhere with that line of thought, the door to the room opened and a nurse entered carrying a baby. "Oh, look, little one! Your mommy is awake! Your daddy won't have to feed you alone this time."
Mac tried to smile though her pain-babies always made her smile-then she looked around the room for the other couple that the nurse was talking to. She and AJ were alone in the room, so who was the nurse talking to? Mac would have fallen over in shock if she had not been in bed already, when the nurse handed the baby and the bottle to Admiral AJ Chegwidden!
"Sarah, we're going to have to come up with a name for this little angel soon, I know we only had boys names picked out, but she should have a name." He smiled at Mac and then stood to hand the baby to her. "Here, darling, you feed her this time, she should get to know her mommy, too."
Almost dropping the baby, Mac looked at AJ rather than the child he was trying to hand her. "Sir?"
"Oh, isn't that cute!" the nurse exclaimed as she was about to leave the room, "Calling him, sir!" She smiled at the two of them.
"Sarah, don't you want to feed our baby?" AJ smiled gently at Mac.
"What are you talking about? That is not my baby!" she practically shouted, pushing the child back into his arms.
He pulled the baby back a bit because she was so upset, and tried to reassure her, "Yes, darling, this is our child. I know you've been out since you were brought in, and that we wanted a boy, but our daughter is beautiful. Won't you even look at her?" he asked.
"That is not my child and you are not my husband! What the hell is going on here….oh…." her protest ended in a moan of pain and was almost drowned out by the wail of the baby she had startled.
"Nurse, I think my wife needs her pain medication!" AJ called to the woman at the door, and then sat back down in the chair he had been in to comfort the baby in his arms. Putting the bottle in the baby girl's mouth seemed to do the trick, and he turned his attention back to Mac.
"Sarah…" he was interrupted.
"What the hell is going on, Sir? Why does that nurse think that you are my husband and I am the mother of that baby?"
He gave her a very odd look, AJ knew that they weren't married and that the baby in his arms wasn't theirs, but their cover was to pretend that those things were true. Had she forgotten that? He was just about to explain all of that when the nurse came back into the room. AJ could see that she was still waiting for an answer so he answered her as he had to, to maintain their cover. "Sarah, Darlin', you were hurt on your way to the clinic to have the baby. I wish you could remember her birth. It was beautiful. After all this time that we have tried to have a child and now we finally have this darling little girl." He nodded to the child in his arms.
She looked at the baby and held out her arms for it, he placed it in her arms and she looked down at their child. How could she have forgotten so much? She and AJ were married and this was their baby? She looked up into his eyes and asked, "Oh, AJ! How could I have missed the birth of our child?
Something was wrong! AJ looked at her, and it dawned on him that she really didn't remember that they were undercover! She thought that this was real! He was jolted back to the moment, when she looked up at him with tear-filled eyes and said, "Darling, this is a dream come true! I can't believe that I forgot our wedding after loving you for eight long years. I wish I could remember how this all happened, but now we're married and have a beautiful baby together. AJ, I love you, and promise to be a good wife and mother. Just answer me one question….which of us left JAG?"
To be continued….