Frank removed his reading glasses, gingerly rubbing the bridge of his nose to try and relieve the eye strain. His gaze rested on the tin of cookies sitting open next to his stack of reports. He was about to reach for his fourth when his phone rang. "Sherwood."

"Frank…busy?" Joan leaned back into the couch cushions.

"Reading the never ending flow of reports."

Joan chuckled. "Glad to save you."

"What you saved me from was a fourth Snickerdoodle."

"Denise's cookies? I'm surprised there are any left. Good hiding place?"

Frank chuckled. "Didn't tell Colonel Rose I got a care package." He remembered to bring up something that had been on his mind. "Hey, how's Roland? Denise said he's doing some kind of research on suicide in the military."

"He's at John's Hopkins. He's talking with a lot of good people."

"Can we be briefed on this when he gets back? Anything he can help us with would be appreciated."

"I'm sure he'd be glad to tell you all he can."

"Good, we'll set something up."

Joan picked up her wine and took a sip before speaking. "Hey, did General Clarke's son arrive?"

"Got here this afternoon. Made the hike to Reno."

"You didn't go along with him?"

"He wanted to meet his men on his own terms. He told me the brigade commander would get in the way."

Joan blew out a breath. "You got to admire him, to be that young and that confident again."

"You know this new sergeant with Pat?" Frank shifted the lid onto the tin so he wouldn't be so tempted by the cookies.

"Eddie Hall? Been to a few briefings with him. I know his wife, Maggie. David and her son, Tanner, have become close friends on the spot. And they've gotten into a little mischief together…and of course I overreacted."

"Something worth it I hope."

"Try blowing up an MRE and hitting an MP vehicle with water balloons."

Frank laughed. "Blowing up an MRE…there's no soldier who hasn't wanted to do that a time or two."

"Frank, stop! It's not funny. It flew all over a teacher, irritated her eyes…they're lucky they weren't suspended."

"Sounds like I'm missing out on a lot."

"You're lucky to miss some of it."

Frank leaned forward in his chair. "Sounds ominous."

"New Air Force arrived."

Frank measured the tone of her voice. "Something hit the skids already?"

"A new Colonel and I got off to a bumpy start and by bumpy I mean I fell down in a huge hole."

"Who?"

"Colonel Kat Young."

"What happened?"

"I went to David's basketball game. It's the only time I've gotten to see him play. I didn't hear the phone in my pocket; didn't know 30 minutes out. Her plane was an hour early. I wasn't there. She called General Holden. He met us on the tarmac."

"Ouch!"

"Oh, it gets worse. The plane was supposed to go on through to Andrews…support for the President. And due to the hour delay, I caused another plane to have to be dispatched. The General will be on the phone for a week."

"General Holden asked you to report to his office?"

"You know he did." Joan's voice got low. "He told me I had let him down and the army down."

Frank sighed. "Joan, your record is spotless. He was angry, but he's fair. He's reprimanded you and now things will return to normal."

"I hope you're right about General Holden, but I'm sure things won't be right with Colonel Young for a mighty long time…if ever."

"Stationed there now, is she?"

"In her eyes it's on the army."

"Wait a minute!" Frank perked up. "You went to David's ballgame because the plane wasn't due for another hour, right?"

"Yes, I thought I had time."

"Forget your cell phone, forget not hearing 30 minutes out." Frank thought things through. "You said the plane was an hour early, right?"

"Yes."

"So if the plane was an hour early and you were an hour late, then, the plane was actually met by you and it was unloaded at the time it was scheduled to be all along, right?"

Joan's eyes narrowed. "Yes."

"So, if the plane was unloaded when it was scheduled to be why would it have been late arriving at Andrews? Why did a replacement plane have to be dispatched before the original plane's wheels down time had passed? And she'd called General Holden there to sign off. The original plane could have gotten to Andrews on time, right?"

"Stop saying 'right,' Frank!" Joan got angry. "Colonel Young said she was calling her chain of command. She made me look totally irresponsible."

"Much more irresponsible than you actually were."

Joan rolled her eyes. "Thanks a lot, Frank." She gritted her teeth. "So she jumped the gun. She called just to make me look bad."

"Colonel Young called General Holden because she was inconvenienced, not because there was a crisis."

"I want him to know that."

"Uh, no! Making excuses to General Holden is not the way to go. He hates that."

"Then, what should I do?"

"Learn from this. Watch your back. And…don't put your cell phone in your pocket."

The anger in Joan rose again. "Frank, that's not fair! I have every right to be able to see my son play basketball!"

"I know; I was going to say get someone to cover and turn your cell phone off." Frank's voice quieted. "Kids aren't with us long enough."

Joan sighed as her face dropped. "Yeh."

Frank put on his glasses. "I have to finish this report. Briefing in fifteen minutes."

"Thanks, Frank. I know who I can count on."

"Me, too." And he pushed the button to end the call.