His daughter smiles at him, brown eyes twinkling. Lately she's asking a lot of questions about the military, and they're talking about salutes.
"But Mommy doesn't salute you, Daddy," she says. She knows that her Daddy is higher up than her Mommy, even though Jack has impressed upon her that that doesn't make him better than his wife.
"No," Jack concedes, "that's true."
"That must be because you're not on duty," Grace concludes, her face full of the determination only small children can muster, when they know that they're right.
"No, that's not why," Jack says, smiling at her in mischief.
Grace looks at him, wide eyed.
"It's because I salute your Mother, not the other way around," Jack states matter of factly.
Grace giggles uncontrollably because her Daddy is being silly, and he's wrong, too. Jack walks away from his giggling child, mumbling in mock grumpiness under his breath.
"It's not my fault that my wife is scary..."