Disclaimer: I do not own JAG or their characters. They belong to DPB, Paramount Pictures, Inc., CBS and DPB Productions. Thomas Burnett is mine as well as Justin Burnett.

Summary: A New Love comes into Adelle's life. Will her family and especially her brother accept him into her life? Or will things become strained between Adelle and her family only to come full circle with the marriage of one of Adelle's nephews will things be straightened out or stay the same.

A/N: This is part of where AJ Chedwiggen is a Lt. In the Navy and a Navy SEAL and serving in Vietnam. This is from his family's point of view and the support of him being in the military fighting for the freedom of a nation. Ours.


Chapter One

Thomas was staring across the sand and the water looking at the sunset that was setting. He always loved the sunsets here in California. The way the sunset over the water reminded him of a beautiful woman in a sun dress with her blowing around her face.

Thomas Burnett was not one to linger at the sunsets except maybe 15 or 20 minutes. His brother Frank always thought he should just stay out longer when the sun completely set. His brother was always the dreamer. That is what got him the job at Chrysler. Dreaming of a better future than the here and now.

He looked over the beach and decided to head in. Something caught his eye though. A lisp of girl not more than 25 or 30 years old dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt. To Thomas' eye she looked cold the way she folded her arms around her chest. He decided to walk over to her and introduce himself to her. This woman intrigued him. As he got closer he noticed that she had blond hair with brown high lights to it.

Adelle noticed that he was coming over. Her brother would've had a cow that the man was coming over. AJ was so protective of her. She always told him that she could take care of herself. Now here she was thinking about him. Looking toward the horizon, she knew that AJ was thinking about his family in his own way. Jarred out of her thoughts the stranger walked up and held out his hand.

"Hi. Beautiful sunset is it not?"

"Yes it is" Adelle answered then turned back to the sunset.

"You look new around here." Thomas said casually

"Yes I am. I come from Texas. I am not used to the cool air. Mind you Texas can get pretty cold in the evenings, but out here in California with the waves and sunset it just looked colder." Adelle answered him in kind.

"What part of Texas?" Thomas asked.

"The middle of it. I know that is vague to you but where we come from we don't give out town we know them pretty well." said Adelle with a little bit of cautiousness.

Thomas understood. He did not want to push. He had just met this woman and did not want to put her on the defensive. He did notice that she had the accent of being from the south. He decided then and there he wanted to get to know her and take it slow. Thomas did notice that she had a far away look to her.

Adelle picked up on that he was wistful and the question in his eyes. It was nice to have a brother that she could read like the back of her hand when he got that look in his, like he was questioning her on something. Adelle giggled. She always remembered how AJ could get mad at her for reading him like a book. She quickly sobered and started praying that AJ would come home soon.

Thomas noticed that she started to giggle. He decided that he like it. It was slightly rough but he did not care. It came from her throat and it made her more attractive to his way of thinkingness he noticed that she stopped giggling. Wonder what made her stop, he wondered.

Adelle looked at him and said with more force that she wanted to, "My brother is in Vietnam right now fighting for a war our country thinks is a waste of time." It disgusted her that the country did not back up the men and women working their behinds off just to make our country free.

Thomas noticed her tone. He did not want to agree with her but knew that the men and women were doing their jobs. He did not like the war. His younger brother was a plane captain on a carrier. He brother said it was great. Meeting new people was great. Justin said that he met a Lieutenant that was a pilot and that he treated him with respect and made sure none of the guys gave him a hard time because of the job he had. Thomas was glad that Justin had someone in his corner.

Adelle noticed his was thinking. She looked at him with a question on her face. He answered "My brother is on a carrier out there too. He has a lieutenant looking out for him." He considered his next words, "I sometimes know how you feel and other times I just want it to end to bring Justin home."

Adelle nodded. She had the same feelings. Adelle hoped for both AJ and Justin's sake they would both make it home okay.


A/N: Browny points to those who figure out what carrier Justin is on. SC