"Parenthood"
Author: CdnJAGScribe
E-mail:
Rating: M
Classification:
Spoilers:
Summary: (From various viewpoints) Parenthood…and all that goes with it.
DISCLAIMER: The characters Harm Rabb, Jr., Sarah "Mac" Mackenzie, Meg Austin, AJ Chegwidden, Bud Roberts, Harriet Sims-Roberts et al. belong (in concept if not name) to CBS/Bellisarius. Animal and all OC characters are the property of Heather and Hugo Chikamori. No profit is being made from this story, nor is any infringement intended.
A 3 versus unknowns hop is a situation where you have to keep your head on a swivel. Problems can crop up due to aircraft separation and lack of it; situational awareness is a problem with so many aircraft in the swirling fur-ball at Angels 30. I'm watching my flight lead; today it's Animal and it's a wonder that he's got his mind in the game. The man knows how to compartmentalize his emotions and he's able to do what it takes in order to get us back home safe and sound. Top Gun had a saying, "You fight like you train…" and the implicit inverse was "You train like you fight." And Animal knew exactly how to give us all a kick in the proverbial rear-end.
It was five and a half months since I came back from moving all Mac's and my stuff from DC and we had just finally managed to make our home liveable. Best choice I ever made to suggest to Mac that we move in together. She was working at the JAG detachment, I was flying with Animal's NSAWC instructor cadre and that made it possible. No conflict of interest. No possibility of superiors trying to hit us with an Article 133 Conduct Unbecoming. So it made things really nice and comfy.
So here I was in an F-5E Tiger II, flying at Angels 30 watching for bandits; but in actual fact, we were the bandits to the F-14s flying against us. Sucked for them that they didn't know how many of us were up there. In fact there were four more F-5Es flying in welded wing formation; three flights of two each. It's a beautiful sky up here and it would almost seem peaceful, with the occasional puffy white cumulus clouds hovering under our wings. That was the only thing that obstructed a clear view of our surrounding battlefield.
"Keep your eyes open." The radio crackled and that was Animal's voice breaking radio silence. A quick radio call to keep our eyes peeled and the radio was silent again.
It felt damned good to feel stick and throttle even though I wasn't flying the Tomcat any longer. I could technically go to an squadron again, but I've had too many years away from blue-water ops. I didn't think that I'd get in enough hours in the cockpit before being told that I had no choice but to get out because the Navy wouldn't train an aviator like me with minimal hours. It appears as though my only choice after NSAWC is to head back to JAG unless Animal can find me a place with his staff.
"Three bogeys three one five radial; level, inbound nine hundred knots closure." Animal's voice again as the radio crackles to life. I look up to my left and scan the sky. Animal has damned good eyesight. "Spike, Gremlin go left. Rat and Monk go right. Hammer, on my wing."
"Roger…" I respond briefly as we break welded wing and go combat spread as the other two fighter pairs break off in opposite directions.
The whole horizon narrows to a greyish pinhole as we pull six plus Gs to get onto the F-14s' tails. I grunt to prevent G-LOC as I pull the stick back and stomp left rudder as the horizon spins. It almost sounds like a hiccup with a t on the end of it as I help my G-suit. The F-14s are flown by rookie NSAWC students so they split apart like three frightened mice being chased by a herd of cats.
"Fox two, lead Tomcat…" Animal's voice crackles over the radio again and the F-14 waggles its wings to let them know that he acknowledges the hit, but I'm too busy with its wingman as the range judge declares Animal's shot to be a hit.
"Come to papa…" I say as I put my HUD TACTS Atoll (we're carrying an inert Sidewinder and a TACTS pod on the opposite wingtip pylons loaded with TACTS electronics to simulate hits) right up the wingman's six, just as the unlucky SOB tried to break right.
"Who's got the other guy." I crane my head around to follow the other F-14 and we see the two pairs of Tiger IIs sandwich the poor F-14 in a cross fire which involves three TACTS Atolls being fired at the hapless rookie NSAWC student at one time. Needless to say, the guy didn't make it. The range judge gave out his succinct eulogy and said, "Tomcat 912, you're a mort." I restrained a chuckle behind my oxygen mask as the poor guy left the range.
"Knock it off, knock it off, knock it off…" the radio crackles again and Animal says "RTB. Acknowledge!"
"912, roger…"
"903, roger…"
"910, roger…"
The calls each came in.
"Ivan one-zero, roger"
"Ivan zero seven, roger."
I called in "Ivan one three, roger".
When all the calls were in, I formed up again on Animal's wing and we flew back all welded wing, both Tomcats and Tiger IIs, to Fallon.
When we had all landed and parked, there was a Humvee. A young ET, I think Animal called her Jen Coates, waited at the flight line. When the engines had shut down and the noise on the flight line was dampened enough, she called out. "Sir!"
Animal looked up to glance over at Coates. I was busy trying to get my oxygen mask and flight helmet off.
"Sir?" Animal hopped off the ladder to walk over to Coates who said something to Animal, inaudible to me, who was unhooking from my Tiger II.
"Hammer!" I startled slightly as Animal cupped his hands as he dropped his flight helmet bag in the jeep and yelled in my direction.
"What?" I hollered back.
"She's in labor!"
I knew instantly who he meant. The desperation in his voice; the need for assurance that everything would be alright. I felt the same desperation that I felt when she was hurt by Hemlock. Even though she was another man's spouse, Meg would always be one of my best friends.
"Who's taking her to the hospital?" I looked over when I heard Animal growl.
"Major Mackenzie is." To her credit, Coates didn't wilt at being growled at. "Yeoman 1 Trebalos indicated that Major Mackenzie called the flight line to let you know."
"Very well…" Animal subsided as I shook my head, a wry grin on my face. I could understand just how worried Animal was about Meg. It hadn't helped her stress levels when Krennick had showed up wanting to be defended on charges of Article 133, due to her wantonly lascivious attitude towards junior officers whom she felt a physical attraction towards. She had wanted me to defend her, but I was unable to as I was no longer a JAG and I refused. Thus the task fell to other person whom she had known in the office which was Meg and that had seriously pissed Animal off. For Meg, this being her first pregnancy and the constant back and forth of morning sickness had caused problems throughout. She had for some time had trouble keeping food down and that had put the baby at risk. Krennick had still demanded her help regardless and Mac volunteered as second chair to spell her off. Animal had ripped into both Krennick and Albanesi about Meg's condition and how the stress of the trial was affecting her physically. If it had been me, I would have done the same, but eagles didn't stand a chance with stars and Animal had those stars. I didn't have the rank to provide much influence in that regard; hell, I only had gold oak leaves.
It was only a short trip from NAS Fallon to Banner Churchill Community Hospital; only eleven minutes in total and Animal spent most of it in anxious silence. When we pulled into the parking lot, he said to Coates. "Find someplace to park the Humvee. Here's twenty bucks for parking. If you need more, let me know. Then come in and wait for us." Not even waiting for Coates' reponse, we got out of the Humvee and I followed Animal into the hospital.
We were waylaid by a nurse and Animal demanded. "Where is she?" We were still in flight gear…because all we did was throw our gear in the back seat. Jen followed us in, as soon as she parked and I was mollified to see that she had brought both our flight-helmet bags in. On the civilian market, the HGU-55/P flight helmet was running about twelve hundred bucks and JAG would investigate if the flight helmets were lost and ended up on the open market.
"Thought you might want to keep them with you, sir. These things are expensive and the Navy won't be happy if they get stolen right out of the back of the Humvee." Coates stated. She was quite the pretty young sassy brunette, but I was already taken by a beautiful Marine major and only had eyes for said Marine.
By this time, Animal had finished interrogating the nurse and headed up towards the birthing rooms. Following my commanding officer, we entered the neonatal unit as Mac poked her head out. "You didn't have time to get changed?" she had a look of disbelief on her face. A moan came from the room.
Animal looked startled. "Did she ask for anything?"
"No…she wanted it all natural, no Demerol, nothing. So she's in pain…and asking for you." Mac told Animal who looked rather panicked. "Get in there…sir."
Animal nodded and went in. I poked my head in there too, as Animal went in to sit down beside Meg. She reached out her hand for his and gripped it. I would swear that even in the dim light, Animal's well-tanned hand turned almost sheet white, while Meg tried to keep from screaming out loud. I saw Animal wince; and second thoughts crossed my mind about the idea of having kids especially if, when during child-birth, the love of your life decides that she doesn't like the location of your male organs and that surgical removal with a rusty spoon is the best option of birth control that she could ever make.
I heard Meg moan, "I'm never having another kid again!"
"I love you…Meg." I heard Animal whisper.
"I really…hate you right now, Tosh…" Meg whimpered as another contraction hit and Animal winced as I saw Meg compress his hand to half its normal size. If I heard a crack of bone dislocation, I couldn't tell.
"She's only four centimeters dilated, Mr. Nakamura." The nurse who had entered the hospital room said to Animal who looked as though he was in pain himself. "She still has some more time to go. We've put a fetal heartbeat monitor on her and are regularly checking her blood pressure. All blood pressure is normal. "Mrs. Nakamura, are you sure you don't want anything to kill the pain?"
"No…maybe later!" Meg snapped irritatedly. "What's HE doing here?!" At that point I decided that for my own personal safety; to vacate the area. I walked back out to the waiting room where Mac and Coates were waiting for me. The looks on their faces indicated that they were anxious to cross-examine me.
"How is she?" asked Mac worriedly.
"Asides from the fact that she wants to kill Tosh and possibly severely injure me?" I replied jocularly.
"Why you?" Mac asked with a wry look in my direction.
"Partly because I was within her line of sight. That's why I vacated the room." I answered, trying to make a joke, "I'd really like to keep breathing."
"Probably because he's a man…ma'am." Coates volunteered and Mac barely stopped herself from letting out a burst of laughter.
"Poor Harm…" Mac looked at me with a wide grin on her face. "Big Bad Navy Woman scare Flyboy?"
"Oh…be quiet, jarhead." I smirked at her. "So how long did you sit with her?"
"It was only about half an hour since I brought her here. You must have been up flying when we called. The Yeoman said he would let the admiral know when you two returned from your flight." Mac stated looking me up and down. You came without getting out of your flight gear?" She asked as I nodded.
"We ran into Coates at the flight line." I looked past Mac over at Coates and nodded thanks to her. Coates nodded back. "She drove us directly over. Animal ordered me to get in so we got in and drove over directly from the flight-line. I'm considering heading back after the birth and grabbing a change of clothes for both Animal and me. For now, though, I just need to take off these speed-jeans or my bladder's going to change zip-codes." I commented casually not also letting them know that I needed to make a quick detour to the bathroom. Bags didn't allow the wearer to eliminate unless they damned near stripped and I was deeply regretting the glass of water I had drank during pre-hop briefing. A few more seconds and I'd be River-dancing over the Yellow River. I excused myself and headed for the lavatory. When I returned, Mac grinned, "I stopped by for a minute to ask Meg if she needed anything. She was trying to double the number of bones in the admiral's hand when she told me that all she wanted were ice chips from the dispenser."
I wasn't sure why women only wanted ice chips when giving birth but it probably had something to do with not having enough energy to consume anything that required chewing and that contractions made them perspire so they wanted something to cool them down.
"I told Admiral Nakamura to wipe Meg's forehead with a damp cold towel." Mac continued and smiled,"I didn't realize Meg knew that many cuss words."
"Do you think I need to rescue Animal?" I queried; mentally calculating if my survival quotient would be greater if I just left Animal to his fate.
"Judging from the fact that she said, in my presence, that she would geld Animal if he moved out of arm's reach, I doubt it..." Mac snickered, her eyes twinkling with merriment. My grin must've been contagious since Mac broke out in a wide grin.
"Mac, I'm gonna go see if Animal needs anything." I angled over to the birthing room that Meg was in. "Hey, Animal...I'm going to the cafeteria, do you want anything?"
Meg opened one eye and glared at me. It was cringe-inducing. "If I can't eat anything..." She snarled. "You are not eating anything." She glared at Animal who winced. Boy, women in labor sure could be unreasonable, but was I going to express that opinion? Do you think I'm suicidal or something?
So I retreated before Meg could skin me alive. Hey, I'm not a chicken, I just know when it is prudent to beat a tactical retreat against overwhelming odds. Animal could fend for himself; he married the woman. With a grin on my face I headed back to the waiting room where Mac and Coates awaited.
Mac sniffed the air slightly and remarked innocently, "Do I smell singed feathers, flyboy?" I smirked at her.
"Yeah...she roasted me good..." That was an understatement. My dear sweet former legal partner had turned into a raging hormonal, homicidal lunatic. And I sure as hell, if I wanted my own manly parts intact, the best thing I could do was not be in her presence until her physical ordeal was over.
I offered to get Mac and Coates lunch at the hospital cafeteria. And we went down to enjoy ourselves in the interim.
It was about seven and a half hours later that we saw a nurse enter Meg's room and about five minutes later come back out. Hurrying over to the head nurse's desk. "She's eight centimetres dilated and has been for about the last hour."
I heard Meg from her room intensely telling Animal, "I can't..." And him reassuring her that she could do it, that he loved her and I realized just how intense this moment was and couldn't resist looking over at Mac wondering if I could do the same.
"Dr. Malinchek. Neonatal, Urgent!" A call went out on the intercom. It didn't seem very long before a surgical garbed female doctor walked through the sliding doors and walked over to the nurse's counter and I followed her track with my eyes as she headed to Meg's birthing room. Evidently she had a voice like my former Academy drill instructor because her voice projected all the way to the waiting room.
"How are you today Mrs. Nakamura. Your doctor referred me to you due to the fact that she's on duty at the base today. I have your file and I'm going to check and see if you're fully dilated or not."
"It hurts..." I could also hear Meg's moan which was strident.
"Breath slowly..." Dr Malinchek said as Meg groaned at the hand being inserted checking her dilation.
"9 centimetres. Mrs. Nakamura, you're doing fine. We'll check back in fifteen minutes and see how you're doing. It should go faster from here..."
I grinned as I heard a vehement "I hope to hell so..." from Meg fully audible before it was cut off by yet another groan. Evidently her contractions were coming so quickly now that there was barely a respite between them. And Meg's moans of pain could be heard from her room through the open sliding door separating the birthing rooms from the main waiting room area. I locked eyes with Mac wondering silently if the miracle of birth was so painful, why any woman would put themselves through it.
Mac looked over at the birthing room with an eager expression and even though Coates wasn't attached to anyone, both she and Mac had the same longing expression on their faces.
It's hard to understand from a male point of view. Guess the bond is there after birth that women want to, except in rare cases, nurture their child. I've seen some women, even prosecuted one who had no attachment to their child and in a fit of narcissistic abuse nearly tortured her daughter to death. Needless to say, she escaped the death penalty due to the fact that she hadn't managed to successfully complete her task, however she did get the life sentence she deserved and her history of child abuse had insured that she wouldn't live to see freedom again. In some regards, I was damned glad that I was flying with Animal and not having to deal with this sort of case ever again, but the justice seeking side of myself wanted to ensure that every child was protected. Hell, I'm getting up there in years, and I've been constantly asked by my mother every time I visit her and Frank in California why I'm not married yet. But now that I see my mentor in the birthing room with my former legal partner, I wonder if I'll ever have that dream. And I look over to see Mac looking at me as if I've got that same expression on my face.
"It's wonderful, isn't it, sir?" Coates asked, sitting beside Mac.
"Yeah, I guess…" I admit as I wonder if those two are going to interrogate me on how I feel…and all that touchy-feely stuff.
"Just I guess, Harm?" Mac asks with a knowing glance.
I look away silently trying to inspect the ceiling tiles but a flicker of motion to the corner of my line of vision makes me look over towards it. It was Dr. Malinchek again heading for Meg's room. Hopefully, it wouldn't be much longer because even though Meg is Animal's wife, I still worry about her. She was my partner for an year and a bit and there is still a bond of partner to partner and yeah, I worry. After all, childbirth isn't without inherent risk. During the pioneer days, there was a risk of dying in childbirth, but I try to blow away that worry. It's not something that I want to think about right now.
"10 cm dilation, Meg, time to start pushing." I heard Dr. Malinchek say clearly. Still astounds me just how clearly I can hear that woman's voice from the birthing room, but evidently her voice carries pretty darned well. "Baby is well-positioned. Meg. C'mon, you can do it."
"I CAN'T!" Meg screamed in pain as another contraction hit, "It hurts too damned much!" Even though I'm not in the room, I hear the pain in her voice and my heart contracts in sympathetic pain. Though my sex would never allow me to empathetically feel her pain, I still feel the urge even though she's not mine to worry about anymore.
"We need to get the baby out…honey." Animal's baritone voice cut through the moaning, "Push, sweetie, push."
"IF YOU TELL ME PUSH AGAIN, THE NEXT KNIFE I SEE, I'M GOING TO CUT YOUR NUTS OFF!" Meg's threat was cut off by yet another contraction and she subsided to moaning.
"You can do it…" Dr. Malinchek exhorted her, I presumed she meant to push, not to do what Meg threatened to do to Animal.
"I WISH YOU COULD PUSH!" I heard Meg retort then she evidently gasped as yet another contraction hit. "I SWEAR TO GOD…YOU ARE NOT TOUCHING ME AGAIN!" She obviously aimed the last at Animal.
A lot of concentrated grunting came from the room for the next five minutes and I heard the doctor's voice go, "He's crowning…" as Meg let out a piercing scream that seemed to pitch higher into a pained keen. That agonized scream nearly made my heart jump into my throat. "OK, Meg, Head is out and just a few more pushes…" Then a "he's a boy…congratulations. Meg, a strong handsome boy."
I heard a choked sob of joy that sounded like it came from Meg. Something that sounded like "My…baby…"
I heard Animal's voice, a little choked up as well…saying, "I love you, Meg…"
And the wistful tone of Meg's voice broke my heart "I love you so much, Tosh…" even though I knew that she was Animal's wife. She had been my partner for so long. Mac touched my arm consolingly knowing just what I was feeling. I nodded, not speaking and we all got out of our seats heading for the birthing room. By that time, they had covered Meg up so that anything private that only a husband should see wasn't visible to any others.
"Is it safe to come in…" I asked.
"Come on in…" Meg said weakly as she grasped Animal's hand. "If you can forgive me for yelling at you…"
"You were in pain…no harm, no foul." I joked as I stepped aside to let Mac and Coates in. "You are alright though?" I asked, a little worried.
"I'm fine." Meg said, "Though I haven't eaten since morning so I'm a bit starved."
My eyes followed the bare shoulder to the little wrapped bundle with its mouth to Meg's bared breast. Meg supported the little bundle with her hand on the back of the little baby's head. The little tyke had a scrunched face and its nose was flattened against Meg's chest and its little cheeks were working furiously as it gobbled down the nutrients that Meg was giving by way of her breastmilk.
"So what are you calling him?" Mac asked, noting the little blue blanket that covered the little body and guessing exactly what gender the baby was.
"We've decided to call him, James Daniel Masaharu. Three strong names. The Japanese name means victorious heart." Meg stated, a radiant glow about her, it seemed at least to my eyes and I glanced at Animal; he noticed it too because the look in his eyes was one of sheer adoration. "Daniel; because of my father. Masaharu because of Tosh's great-grandfather." She looked at Jen Coates. "Thank you for getting him here."
Animal quickly got up. "I really need to get out of this g-suit before my bladder explodes." He said as he scurried over to the washroom and hastily shut the door. I snickered. "Meg, did you not let him go anywhere?"
She smiled sheepishly and replied. "I needed him here…" And I understood…even though Meg and Animal had accomplished something that I would not be able to, at least not until I had a significant other bound in the bonds of holy matrimony and parenthood.
Animal came back out, wearing a look of relief that he hadn't had an accident, intact g-suit in hand after having removed it, his flight-suit still on, as I was garbed. The G-suit was a garb that helped prevent G induced loss of consciousness (G-LOC) and it was separable from the flight suit. It was a set of inflatable chaps that went around ones legs, thighs and torsos and pumped oxygen into the bladders so that they would keep one from blacking out during ACM. Now it just felt a lot more comfortable when we were just in flightsuits sans the chaps. The USAF and USN/US Marines had consolidated their G-suit program and now all aerial services flying high performance jet fighters used the CSU-13/P G-suit. Goodness knows how many time that set of chaps has saved my life. I noted looking over at my own helmet bag over which my chaps were draped. Animal folded his g-suit over his helmet bag which was to the side of the chair that he resumed sitting on.
Coates and Mac were ooh'ing and ah'ing at little James and I finally said, "Hey, Animal, I'm going to stop by the base and pick up your overnight bag and bring it back to the hospital. I need to drop the Humvee off at the motor pool and get my own vehicle. "
"Thanks, that would be great." Animal said in response, giving me a grateful look.
"…and when you need to, I'll drive your car over to pick up you, Meg and James from the hospital. And I think I can ask Mac to drive my car over to the hospital so that I can let you guys head for home." I informed him. Between the two of them, I don't think they were both able to think at this moment considering the emotional turmoil that they had gone through in the birthing room over the past eight hours. And that was considered quick for a first time birth according to what I'd heard. Some women's labor had gone almost sixteen hours.
"OK…you two, c'mon…we gotta head home. I'll be back in about two hours to drop it off. I know it'll be past visiting hours, but I'm sure when I let them know that I have your overnight bag, they'll understand." I gave him and Meg a thumbs up.
We were walking down to the Humvee together when Mac turned to me and said, "You know, Harm…that was really something."
"Yeah?" I replied.
"To be able to be close-by when our friend gave birth…that has to be something that can't be topped." She said quietly looking up at the sunset. It may be spring in the desert, but it's damned well still scorching during the day. The days were getting longer but it still got dark by seven in the afternoon.
"I think there's only one thing that would top that…" I said quietly thinking to myself. Mac is the woman that I want standing by my side…through life…in all things.
"…and what's that?" Mac asked, while Coates was looking dreamily off into the night as I started the Humvee and drove back to the base.
"The only thing that would top that…would be one of…" I paused for a long moment gazing into Mac's eyes at the red light.
"…one of what?" Mac said.
"One of our own…" I said and grinned at Mac's look of surprise.
A blasting honk from the back end of our vehicle and a "Goddamnit. It's green you can go anytime now." Woke us both out of our dream as we gazed into each other's eyes. With an irritated sigh I looked back at the rear view mirror and slowly pulled out.
After a long silence…Mac glanced my direction and said, "That would be nice…"