Note: I am working on an S3 post-canon fic and this is sort of* a preview.
**Rock Lobster, B-52's**
Crouching behind the shrubbery surrounding the Old Courthouse in downtown St. Louis, Commander Green nudged his companion to take the field glasses he was holding. He spoke softly into the mic clipped to his collar. "Thimbelina this is Frog Prince. POTUS is exiting the front steps now with his entourage."
"Confirmed, Frog Prince. Package was received and placed in the top left drawer of his desk, as predicted. Lunch is being served in 10 and secret service just passed my desk headed west. You are go for entry." Kara's voice in his ear held a hint of laughter that spurred a matching smile on his own face.
"With any luck I'll see you in 10."
He patted Vince's knee and the two men, dressed inconspicuously in khakies and polos rose up out of the rhododendron's. They quickly ducked into the overhang of the service door where Vince pulled a small toolkit out of his back pocket.
"Just like old times, isn't it?" Vince worked on the lock while Danny kept lookout. Being a drizzly February day, there weren't many people around. Although people were beginning to migrate into the city, St. Louis was far from the bustling place it had been and the president had prioritized having personal body guards over guarding the building. Since the president's secret service detail had left with him, the building was less secure than usual. Vince nodded to the top corner and Danny carefully held the alarm system magnet in place with a flathead screwdriver as the big man slipped the deadbolt and swung the door open. They entered quietly and carefully closed it behind them, leaving the screwdriver wedged in place. By the time the two secret service men left in the building made it to this side, they planned to be long gone.
This hall, a dark and narrow afterthought, had once accessed judges chambers and file storage. The two men quickly hurried to the intersection with the main hall running north - south through the building. They flattened themselves against the plaster and listened carefully. The main entry hall was to their right and they needed to cross it while the guard was distracted. The signal that it was clear should come any second.
"Oh Ensign Ross. I don't know if I'll have energy to make it back up the stairs today. Do you think you could give me a hand?" A slow clicking of heels and tap of nails echoed off the marble tiles as Kara approached the guard's rotunda. "I should have insisted Chandler take offices on the first floor, but I had no idea pregnancy would be this draining! Who knew I'd have to make twenty trips a day tot he first floor restrooms?" Danny nodded to Vince. As soon as the shuffle of shoes and paws rising the steps sounded, they silently strode across the hall to the opposite wing. As they passed in front of the stairs, Danny gave his wife's lovely backside, which could be seen slowly waddling up one step at a time, a cheeky salute. Even at 38 weeks he knew she could actually take those steps at a jog.
It was relatively simple to enter the president's office and they quickly located the item they were after, a small sealed plastic bag holding two tiny tablets. Vince zipped it into his tool case for safekeeping. "Thimbelina, are we clear for extraction?" Danny whispered in his comm. When there was no response, he frowned at Vince and the two leaned against the president's large desk in silence. They knew the drill. Wait a minute and then request info again. Vince picked at his fingernails while Danny ran through the list of names Kara had given him for homework this morning. One thing was for certain, he was not letting her name his daughter Fiona. Although he thought he might accept Travis for a boy. It had a nice ring to it.
"Thimbelina..." He tried again. This time apprehension pricked at him. Had she been caught using the radio? Chandler was supposed to be out to lunch with the president and this morning's guests. It had been a stroke of luck that Kara had happened to see the note on his schedule that the guests had promised to bring samples and helped hastily hatch this plan.
The two men exchanged a worried glance when they heard a muffled conversation in the hall. At the sound of footsteps, they rapidly ducked into the small attached bathroom. Careful not to make a sound, Vince slipped a nasty looking knife from his boot. Danny carefully positioned himself so he could see the office door reflected in the bathroom mirror and flicked on his comm so Kara would know they might need backup. He knew she had her service pistol, a 9mm Glock that she could handle like nobody's business, in her desk drawer, not to mention the 75 pounds of lethal dog that was likely right under her feet.
Two large men, one in NWUs and one in dress blues, pushed inside the door and immediately headed to the same desk drawer they had just emptied. Danny exchanged a worried glance with Vince. They might have the element of surprise on their hands, but these two guys were formidable opponents. As the taller of the two men reached for the drawer the other slammed his hand on the table. "Damnit!" He swore in a gravelly voice. "I've never pulled rank on you before, but this time I have to. If those drug reps only brought one sample, it's mine."
The two men stared each other down. At six four, and packing 225 pounds of muscle, few men ever challenged Commander Mike Slattery over anything. But this was Rear Admiral Tom Chandler and he wasn't planning on backing down. "Oh come on, it's my anniversary and I can either drown my sorrows at the bar or with this. You're just going to give it to Jed. Everyone heard he took your new nanny on a date.
"I most certainly will not give it to him. You know as well as I do that Rachel gets back from Lima tomorrow. That's way more important than your appointment at Madame LaFluer's. Chandler accented appointment with air quotes.
Finally, the taller man relented. "Fine. But if there are more than one, we split them 50/50."
A muscle in Chandler's tightly clenched jaw ticked. "No way. I have a lot of lost time to make up for." Danny had to bite back a giggle. Imagine that. The two most powerful men in the Navy were arguing over who got to steal drugs from the President's office.
Suddenly Vince started to shake. Danny could see he was holding in sneeze. A soft "Kerchew!" sounded as he tried to swallow it and remain silent. Instantly, Slattery and Chandler swung their weapons toward the bathroom door.
"Come out with your hands where we can see them." Ordered Chandler. Vince slipped his knife away and flashed Danny an apologetic frown.
With a sigh, Danny nudged the door open with his foot. Seeing two men they recognized, Slattery and Chandler relaxed. This isn't what you think." Began Slattery. "I have a blood press.."
"What the hell are you two doing in here?" Demanded Chandler. "Stealing from the president? Who are you working for?" He grabbed the little tool case from Vince's hand and set it on the desk. He then proceeded to liberate three knives, two handguns, a boxcutter, and four zip ties from the man's pockets. From Danny's he removed a handkerchief and one half eaten Cliff bar.
"Uh hi. I guess you caught us." Danny tried to stall. He needed a cover and he couldn't think of anything. He was still reeling from the fact that Slattery and Chandler were trying to steal the same package they were.
"Uhm," he said the first thing that came into his head. "I'm meeting my wife for lunch?"
Slattery looked at the pile of confiscated items, clearly confused. Chandler had an amused twinkle in his eye. "In the president's office?"
Vince caught on. "Well, they couldn't very well meet in her office. They wouldn't want to disturb you while you were working Sir." Danny heard the faint click of heels approaching from the hallway. He hoped she had a good reason why they needed to meet here. The door swung open and she rushed into the room, followed closely by Halsey. If Danny was shocked to see her jacket half unbuttoned and her hair down. He was doubly shocked when she said "Ok, We have 15 minutes, let's do.." She trailed to a stop as if just now seeing the other three men int he room.
"Oh dear. Oh my." His adorable wife blushed twenty shades of red. "Sorry sirs, I, um." She began to rapidly re-button her jacket.
Chandler turned equally as red and Danny shrank under his gaze. "I though lunch meetings were what got you into trouble in the first place?" He rolled his eyes. "And in the president's office none-the-less? My God. In two days the Prime Minister of Japan is going to sit across from the president at that desk." Chandler threw up his hands. "Maybe I was wrong giving you that promotion.
Slattery narrowed his eyes. "You brought a friend to sneak in here with you to surprise your wife? That's pretty kinky."
Danny bit his cheek to keep a straight face. "He's a good lookout."
Now fully buttoned, Kara slipped to his side, one hand sliding behind his back and the other resting on his chest. "Yeah, Vince was going to guard outside while, you know." Behind his back Danny felt her wave her hand at the dog.
"Uh-huh, you don't say." Slattery continued to look skeptically at Vince. There was an awkward pause as the five of them stood looking each other up and down. Clearly everyone wanted some reason to be the last to leave the room because otherwise they would be scattering like cockroaches.
Danny saw Halsey gently nudge the small tool case with his snout. To distract the other men while Kara gave another signal behind him, he began speaking again. "You know how it is. I've been away a lot these last few months since we got to St. Louis and well, sometimes you just gotta be ready when the urge hits."
Under his arm, Kara gave a little shrug. He looked down to see that she had plastered on her most charming smile. "Yeah, come on, you both were newlyweds once." She nodded at Chandler. "Twice." Behind his back she waved her hand again and Halsey trotted out the door with the case in his mouth.
They likewise began stepping toward the door. "So, I guess this was a failure. We will ah, see you later." Kara was still beaming as they reached the threshold. "Vince care to join us for lunch?"
Vince reached for his items but Chandler cut him off. "Leave it here."
"But, that's my.." The older man protested.
"We'll talk about this later operator. Slattery and I have to decide what to tell Michener now.
Vince gave him a derisive look. "Fine, I'm sure you'll rise to the occasion, Sir." It was no secret that after years of working independently, Vince resented the yoke of Chandler's command.
The threesome made a quick exit to the rotunda area where Halsey was sitting patiently, the black case under one paw. Vince reached to remove it but the dog let out a low growl and he quickly pulled his hand back. "Here." Commanded Kara and Halsey nudged the case to rest between her feet.
"Kara, I think you missed your calling. You are a splendid actress." Vince gave her a quick hug.
"Thanks!" She couldn't help but blush, still a little surprised that she'd managed to convince the Admiral that she was going to climb on top of the president's desk and.."
"That was some good thinking. After little Vinnie is born, I could turn you into a heck of an agent you know."
At his words, Kara shot Danny a worried glance. "I think I should stick with my current job, but I'm always happy to work with you Sir."
Vince shook his head. "I know. I know. Someone has to keep all the Admirals' in line. Anyhow, they've still got my best knife in there. And well, this is the time for taking action, isn't it? Gonna have to double back for it. Can I take my cut now?"
Danny nodded and knelt to retrieve the case. Despite a little drool on the outside it was none the worse for wear. He carefully removed the little bag and handed one blue tablet to Vince. "Be careful with that. Only one more left in the world as far as we know."
"Yeah, Yeah. You just tell our mutual friend that this was my fee for having to work when I'm at the age for making things happen. See you on Friday for the BBQ."
"Are you going to bring your new squeeze so I can finally meet her?" Kara asked with a fake innocent smile. She had been scheming to set Vince up with every woman over 50 since he'd arrived in St. Louis.
"We'll see how well tonight goes." Vince answered her with a big grin. "We're going to watch the sunset from some old bathtubs up overlooking the river."
Danny threw back his head and laughed. "Well, just don't forget. If it takes more than four hours, you better call someone and get some help with that."
Vince gave him a stern look. "Now listen here Danny boy. I am at the age where giving up just isn't who I am."
They split up and Danny and Kara made their way across the parking lot to the behemoth of an SUV he insisted she drive. After they strapped in and Halsey was ensconced in the back he took her hand. "That almost went terrible but we really turned it around. You were brilliant."
She smiled and kissed his knuckles. "I'll never be able to look Chandler straight in the face again, but I'm just glad it worked out. It will be worth it when we see the look on Tex's face."
"And Ruby's. She's going to be thrilled too." As they drove through the streets of St. Louis Danny marveled at the changes. When they'd arrived in October the place had been a ghost town. Trash had been piling up on the streets, cars abandoned everywhere. People had been living in alleys for fear of entering buildings and encountering the virus, not to mention corpses. Now new life was coming back into the city. Crews were slowly clearing and sanitizing buildings, and parts of town were beginning to look normal again.
After a few more minutes of quiet she asked. "You didn't promise we'd name the baby Vincent if it's a boy, did you?" Danny looked over and she was absent mindendly patting her belly and chewing her lower lip. "Because it's a perfectly good name, but well, I have to admit, I've already picked a boy's name and I'm kind of set on it."
Not the names again! Chandler had told him a few weeks ago that the secret to the names was that as soon as she agreed to liking a name he could tolerate, to just start acting like they had agreed upon it. "You don't even want to know the suggestions Darien started coming up with after eight hormone powered months." He'd said.
"Is it on the list?" They were down to four boy's and four girl's names and all of them were pretty good at this point. "I have a favorite too."
Kara shook her head. "Not on the list, sorry. I tried to talk myself out of it, but I keep coming back to the idea." Danny pulled into the parking lot outside a small diner a few miles away from the courthouse. Several cars and even more trucks were parked in the lot. "Looks like she's doing good business today." Kara commented.
"Do you want to stay in the car? The crowd here can be a little rough." Danny reached over the backseat to get the little black case.
"Are you kidding me? I'm not afraid of a few bikers. Besides, we should say thank you to Tex together." He got out and opened the back door so Halsey could bound out beside him. The second his paws hit the ground, the dog made a bee line for the passenger side. Danny unzipped the black case and pocketed the small bag containing the precious tablet. Crossing around to the passenger side himself, he took in the image of his beautiful wife. Her dark hair shone in the weak winter sun. As she lifted her hand to swipe an errant strand from her face, her uniform molded to the new curves of her blossoming body. She said she hated feeling like a cow all the time, but Danny thought she looked sexier than ever. He took her hand and drew her close. Her cheeks had a pretty flush to them and he couldn't resist tilting her mouth up for a kiss.
At this point he had to bend a little awkwardly over her belly to fit them together, but he didn't mind. And apparently she did not either. She groaned into his mouth and grabbed the belt loops of is khakies, pulling him even closer. "Do you think Chandler is going to be upset if we just don't get back to work after this?" She asked between kisses.
Danny really didn't care whether Chandler minded or not. At this stage of the game, hormones were a tricky thing and he wasn't taking any chances. "Nope. Let's put this mission to bed, so to speak, and then head home."
They headed up the walk toward the diner, hand in hand. A blast of country music and the smell of greasy food hit him as he held the heavy door for Kara. A wall of men in work shirts and ball caps, who looked like they were the age for knowing how to get things done, lined the counter while several families and groups filled the booths. A woman in a baby blue waitress uniform with Clara Belle red hair looked up when they entered. "Well if it isn't my favorite couple!" She called over her shoulder to the short order cook visible through the window. She eyed Kara speculatively and cracked her gum. "You look ready to pop little lady. Don't think you'll fit in a booth anymore."
Kara blushed as practically every man at the counter swiveled on their stool to look her up and down. Danny's instinct, to step even closer and clearly indicate that they were together, was foiled by Halsey who stuck to her leg like glue. "Thanks Ruby, but we're not here to stay. Is Tex around?"
"Oh he's out back in the office taking care of business. I'll get him. Why don't you at least let me get you some fried to go. That way Danny boy doesn't have to make a late night run later when you get your craving."
She pushed through the swinging doors to the back and Danny heard her snapping out "Drop some fries Hal." Tot eh short order cook as she made her way toward the office. A minute later Tex hustled out through the same door. He immediately wrapped Kara in a big hug and pressed a paper bag into her hand. "You can't eat fries three meals a day you know. That little one needs a salad every once and a while."
"Three meals a day?" Danny gave Tex a questioning look.
"I might have stopped in for breakfast." At his alarmed expression Kara continued "For eggs. Dr. Scott suggested I eat more protein. I just had the fries on the side. Not much different than hash browns really."
Tex laughed and leaned on the edge of the scarred linoleum counter. "Oh I'm just teasing you KFC with a G, you can come here and have whatever you want, whenever you want. What can old Tex do for you today? Have you decided to exchange your shiny new boyscout of a husband in favor of a more broken in model?"
Kara's grin was a mile wide. "Ha, Ha. I am in no condition to fight Ruby for you Tex. No, We've been thinking of the right way to thank you for Baltimore and the opportunity presented itself today." She nodded toward Danny, who was extracting the small bag from his hip pocket. "The president had a visitor who brought a little something we thought you would enjoy."
Danny placed the bag in Tex's hand. "We just, well, we thought we could never thank you enough but, we couldn't let this go to waste just sitting there in Michener's drawer."
Tex took the small bag and held it up to the light, squinting at its contents. There was a collective gasp from the men at the counter as they recognized the little blue tablet. "Where did you say you got this?" Tex tucked the precious item into his shirt pocket.
"Michener had a meeting from some guys who want a loan to get the old Pfizer plant up and running again. They brought some samples and promised it wouldn't take long to have it back in action."
A rough looking man with a two day scruff and a hoodie sweatshirt asked Kara an urgent question. "Did the president agree to the loan?"
She smiled at the man. Clearly he wasn't the kind to wait around for things to happen. "Yes!"
The men at the bar exchanged delighted glances. "Viva la revolucion!" Shouted one.
Tex grinned. "You didn't have to thank me, but I think this is the sweetest gift anyone has ever given me." He kissed her on her cheek. "Ruby?" He called through the swinging door. Hang up your apron, we have plans for the entire afternoon!"
Turning back to Danny and Kara he winked and said "If you'll excuse me, I've got some urgent business to attend to." Before disappearing into the back.
They lingered a few minutes until another waitress brought Kara giant paper bag full of fries. "Ruby says your money is no good here. She can't thank you enough either."
Danny hefted the bag. "Holy cow! This is too much. They will be soggy before we can eat them all!" but Kara just thanked the woman and snaked her hand in the top to get one of the greasy treats.
"Oh hot!" He watched her hold it between her teeth lest she burn her lips. She chewed and swallowed and gave him a teasing grin. "Don't worry. I know a few tricks to perk them up if I need to."
He groaned. "Come on Commander, let's get you home before it's too late."
As they made the short trip back to their neighborhood, Kara munched on more fries. "These are so delicious. I'm so glad we decided to do this."
Danny was busy planning his course of action for the afternoon. "Mmhum."
Seeing that he was distracted, she decided it was the perfect time to strike. "What do you think about Nolan? Could you live with it?"
"Well, I'm certainly grateful for all he's done for us, but he was a pain in the ass as a roommate. I wouldn't call him an it…Oh" He saw where s was going with that. "Yeah, I could live with it."
Kara smiled into the bag of fries. Chandler had been correct. Sometimes you did just have to go for it when the moment was right!
*Sort of a preview because I haven't written much on the new fic yet, but being April 1st it seemed a good time to preview it. I think it's going to be a comedy so if you got the jokes in here and found it funny, let me know.