By the Book
WARNING: This story involves the spanking of an adult. Feel free to move on.
Wednesday morning, 09:02 EDT
"Enter!"
Harm pushed open the door, his heart in his throat. Without being told, he quietly closed the door behind him, walked across the room and stood at attention. Admiral Chegwidden stood with his back to Harm, hands clasped behind his back, staring out the window. A long, uncomfortable minute passed before Chegwidden spoke.
"What did I tell you before you left?" he asked, still staring out the window. He sounded more tired than angry.
Harm let out the breath he'd been holding since yesterday afternoon. "You…you said to make sure I did everything by the book, Sir."
"And did you?"
Harm bit his lip. "No Sir."
"No, Commander, you did not."
"Sir, I can explain…"
"You broke a major rule," the Admiral interrupted tensely. "Expect major punishment."
"Sir…"
"Not now, Harm. I need to fix this right now. We'll talk about it later. Go home."
"But Sir," Harm said desperately.
"Go home, Commander. I can't have you in this office when SecNav arrives. He's insisting that I suspend you and restrict you to quarters. So, for the rest of the day, you are suspended and you are restricted to quarters."
"And at the end of the day, Sir?" Harm asked, already knowing the answer.
Finally, the Admiral turned around. "You and I will have a long talk." Harm nodded in understanding. "That will be all, Commander."
"Aye aye, Sir," Harm answered, turned and left the office.
* * * * *
Twenty-four hours earlier:
"SecNav called this morning about the Landon case. It seems he's taken a particular interest in it. I would imagine that would have something to do with the fact that Ensign Landon is General Billing's nephew, but that is neither here nor there. My point is that you need to do your jobs as well as you know how. You need to follow the letter of the law. Everything by the book on this one. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes Sir," Harm and Mac answered simultaneously.
"Good. Major, you will prosecute. Lieutenant Roberts will assist you. Commander, I've had Lieutenant Johnston TAD'd from Norfolk to assist you."
"Thank you Sir."
"Here are the relevant files. Commander, you're going to meet Lieutenant Johnston in Norfolk when you go down to meet with Ensign Landon this afternoon. You'll also need to oversee the Ensign's transport up here for his Court Martial."
"Yes Sir."
"Major, you'll have the opportunity to interview Ensign Landon tomorrow morning. In the meantime, if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask."
"Thank you Sir."
"Any questions?"
Harm and Mac exchanged glances. "No Sir," the answered together.
"Excellent. Dismissed."
* * * * *
Harm pulled into a parking spot outside the Brig at Norfolk. He took a moment to review the file he'd read a few of hours ago before hopping into a car and driving down Rt. 95. Traffic had been a nightmare, but that was nothing new for Rt. 95 in the summer. Thousands and thousands of tourists were headed south to Virginia Beach, Myrtle Beach or Orlando, and it seemed to Harm that most of them were doing it in Winnebago's. It was almost five hours after he'd left Washington – two hours later than it should have been.
When he finally made it to the interview room, his patience was a little thin and he was uncharacteristically frazzled. He hoped the initial meeting with Ensign Landon would be short and sweet and that he, Lieutenant Johnston and the Ensign would soon be back on the road, headed back to DC. But as he stepped into the room, he was immediately accosted by a very angry Ensign Landon.
"You are two hours late!" the Ensign yelled.
It took Harm a minute to realize what was happening. He decided that under the circumstances, he would overlook the Ensign's insubordination for now. "I apologize, Ensign. I called as soon as I realized I was going to be late. Why don't you have a seat and we'll get started."
"I will not have a seat! You were supposed to be here two hours ago. I was here two hours ago, and then they took me back to that hell-hole I've been living in for the last 48 hours! What kind of lawyer are you, anyway? No real lawyer would keep his client waiting!" Ensign Landon continued his diatribe as Harm sat back in his chair and waited for him to fizzle out. It took a while.
Finally, Harm reached the end of his patience. "Ensign, sit down and shut up!"
This stopped Ensign Landon in his tracks. Temporarily. He blinked a few times then stormed over to Harm, stood right in front of him, and yelled into his face, "Do you know who I am?"
Before Harm knew what was happening, he was out of seat and Ensign Landon was on the floor, blood pouring out of his nose.
* * * * *
Wednesday evening, 19:23 EDT
Harm had been pacing the length of his living room for the last twenty-three minutes. Admiral Chegwidden was on his way over and Harm's heart was beating so hard, he was pretty sure that if he stood still and looked down, he'd see it pounding through his shirt. As he paced, he clenched and unclenched his fist. The swelling had gone down, but there was still plenty of evidence that he had lost control and punched his former client.
A sharp knock on the door made him just about jump out of his skin. He stopped pacing, took a very deep breath and let it out slowly as he crossed the room and opened the door. "Good Evening, Admiral."
Admiral Chegwidden still looked tired. He gave Harm a sideways, half-hearted grin and stepped into the apartment. He walked over to the island, pulled out a stool and sat down heavily. Nervously, Harm joined his CO at the island, but instead of sitting, simply leaned his back against it next to the Admiral.
When he could stand it no longer, Harm cleared his throat. "So, how bad is it, Sir?"
The Admiral rubbed his hand across his face and sighed. "It's fine, now. Lucky for you, there were two Gunnery Sergeants posted outside that interview room who witnessed Ensign Landon's rather extended outburst and were willing to vouch for you." He stopped and looked up at Harm. "Don't get me wrong, it doesn't get you off the hook, but it did help me smooth things over with SecNav. Eventually."
"Sir, I am so sorry," Harm said quietly.
"I'm sure you are, Harm. And I do understand that Landon was completely out of line, but that doesn't excuse your behavior."
"I know that Sir." Harm leaned miserably on the counter for a minute. "So what did Secretary Nelson say, Sir?"
"Well, he started out by suggesting some Brig time for you. He thought perhaps the Navy should reinstate keelhauling just for you. He also suggested that you be knocked back down to Ensign yourself, be assigned to a sub and put to work scrubbing heads." Harm paled a bit as the Admiral talked. "However, once the two Gunny's stepped up and told your side of the story, he relented a little."
"So where does that leave me, Sir? Scraping barnacles off the bottom of the entire Atlantic fleet?"
"Actually, he didn't mention that one. You might want to keep that idea to yourself – just in case," Chegwidden chuckled, but then turned serious again. "After he heard what had actually happened, he made it clear that he still expected you to be punished, but he agreed to leave it to me."
Harm swallowed hard. "I'm not sure that's really a better deal for me, Sir."
"No, not in the short term," the Admiral agreed grimly.
Sighing, Harm walked back to the living room and by the time the Admiral had gotten up and followed him, he had already unbuttoned his jeans and was pushing them down. As he reached for his boxers, the Admiral stopped him. "It's ok, Harm. You can keep them."
"But Sir, last time…"
"Last time was the first time and I needed to make sure I didn't hurt you." Harm looked at the Admiral sideways. "You know what I mean." Harm nodded, turned around and bent over the back of the couch.
Admiral Chegwidden slowly took off his belt and folded it in half. Without a word, he administered a hard, but relatively short spanking that took Harm's breath away and then immediately put his belt back on. Harm was so surprised at the briefness of the punishment that he stayed bent over until the Admiral gently pulled him up and indicated that he should pull his pants up.
A few minutes later, the two men sat on the couch sipping beers and chatting. Harm knew that he was forgiven and it was hard to tell which of the two of them was more eager to move on and leave this particular incident behind them.
Admiral Chegwidden stood up, took his bottle to the kitchen, and walked to the door. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine, Admiral. I'm just sorry you had to get involved."
"Harm," he said gently, "you know that no matter what happens, I'll always have your back, right?"
"Yes Sir," Harm said. Then, he grinned widely. "Sir, do you really think what happened tonight falls under "by the book?"
The Admiral turned and looked at the young, grinning man. "Commander, do you really think you're the first person in recent military history to find himself face-down getting a belt across his ass?" He returned the grin then turned and left.
Harm stood at the open door for a moment processing what he'd just heard then glanced at his watch, shut the door and hurried to the kitchen. He poured the remnants of beer from the two bottles into the sink, rinsed the bottles and put them in the bin under the sink. He popped a piece of gum in his mouth then walked back to the front door and pulled it open just as Mac raised her hand to knock.
"What took you so long?" he asked, flashing a big smile.
Mac walked past him, eyeing him carefully. "You ok?" she asked quietly.
"Yeah, I'm ok. It actually wasn't that bad this time."
"Really."
"Yeah, I kind of got the impression that his heart just wasn't in it."
Mac sank into the couch. "He had a rough day, Harm."
"Yeah. I know," he said quietly. "So, I know I'm off the case. Are you?"
"Well, apparently, the charges have changed, so it's a different case now. And since it directly involves our office, it's been reassigned. Oh, and you're now the key witness," she shrugged.
Harm rolled his eyes. "Great." After a quiet minute, Harm suddenly remembered the conversation he'd had with the Admiral. "Oh, get this: the Admiral's, um, methods? Turns out, they're not as unique to him as we'd thought."
Mac's jaw dropped. "Are you serious? What did he say?"
When Harm finished relaying the conversation, the two sat quietly for a moment absorbing the new information. "So Mac, when do you think the Admiral got his last spanking?
Mac and Harm looked at each other. Then they both shuddered and Mac dissolved into laughter. Harm shook his head and headed for the kitchen to get some frozen yogurt. There was no way he wanted that thought to fester.