"No, Mac, It's Not A Man-Cold"
Author: Haruo Chikamori
E-mail: hhchikamori
Rating: M
Classification:
Spoilers: N/A
Summary: Animal has the flu. And Mac wonders what she got herself into.
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.
Author's Note: This is a Animal/Mac timeline ficlet. Yes…occasionally I inflict poor Animal with certain little maladies, including a certain character that wears Marine Green – This is when they were still dating. – Author's prerogative. Of course in this ficlet, I think I've inflicted Mac with Animal. Yes, we whine when we're sick.
Animal & Mac's home
Georgetown, VA
Saturday
"I swear to God, I don't know how a Captain in the United States Navy could be so whiny." Major Sarah Mackenzie said cupping her hand to the telephone receiver in the hallway. "I tell him to drink fluids, he downs a 2L bottle of RC Cola and then complains that he feels dehydrated and dizzy. I can never get him to go running with me. In the morning when I wake him up, he mutters something unintelligible and rolls over and goes back to sleep. I'm sure the fact that he doesn't exercise as much as Harm and I factors into the fact that he got sick so damned quickly."
Lieutenant JG Harriet Sims-Roberts' voice was saccharine, "Well, you know how men are, they can get shot and end up behaving like he-men, but the minute they catch a cold, they turn into little children. Bud's exactly like that." She paused for a moment, "Is he eating the soup that you made?"
"On occasion. His usual garbage-container appetite has somehow evaporated into the mist and he's become a picky eater. I've had to travel 30 miles out of my way this afternoon to go pick him up some bean-paste buns, teriyaki chicken and rice and some Chinese barbecued pork! Then he takes two bites of it, and says he's not all that hungry. I could have cheerfully wrung his neck." Mac said tiredly. "He's become a full time occupation."
"Oh, I'm sure he'll get better…eventually…and I know, it can't come soon enough." Harriet opined sympathetically. "Bud usually makes me want to strangle him by about the second week."
"HONEY!" a persistent whine came from their shared bedroom. "I'm hungry now…"
"khedawend bh men sebr 'eta kened…Lord grant me patience" Mac uttered a supplication in Farsi as she said her good-byes to Harriet. "I love him, but he's starting to wear at my last nerve." She muttered darkly and then put a false tone of happiness in her voice "OK…sweetie, I'll get your food warmed up and bring it up to you." Putting the teriyaki chicken and rice in the microwave, she nuked it for 2 minutes, making sure that it was nice and warm for Animal to eat. "Coming…" she called out as she walked over to the bedroom. Animal looked up so gratefully that it was hard for Mac not to feel appreciated.
"Can I have some more soda?" Animal asked with an innocent look.
"Sweetheart, you know that's going to dry your throat out and make you cough more." Mac said trying to force an indulgent tone into her voice.
"…but…" If Animal could look more like a sad puppy, Mac didn't know how. Evidently Animal knew which buttons to press, because Mac couldn't refuse his request. He had a little pathetic-sounding coughing fit.
He doesn't like water… Mac put her forehead in the palm of her hand as she stood by the sink pouring some more RC Cola into a glass with some ice in it. He's just going to get absolutely dehydrated and sicker. She decided to give him a glass of water as well as the cola and brought both glasses up to Animal. He looked up at her with another loving look.
"I love you…" he uttered punctuated by a cough.
"Love you too…" Mac couldn't help but chuckle at his forthrightness. Her face brightened as she saw him reach for the glass of water too punctuated by sips of cola. At least then he'd feel a lot better. Hydration meant that he would recover a hell of a lot quicker and that meant that he'd be able to make his deployment which was going to happen in three weeks. As the CAG, Animal was a necessary part of the USS Theodore Roosevelt's air wing and missing deployment would put his career in a tailspin which wouldn't be great for their monetary finances. Animal's income was $9,090/month and that formed a substantial part of the mortgage on their house as well as their aspirations to connubial bliss in the near future.
"I love you so much…" Animal uttered as he lay back in the bed sighing with happiness.
2 weeks later.
"You're not coughing or sick any more…" Mac said as she came through the door after work.
"Nope. All better, sweetie." Animal leaned over to give Mac a peck on the lips, which worked as Mac snaked her arms around his neck and pulled him over to her to turn that peck into a passion-filled kiss. That particular event increased in ardor to an erotic encounter in the bedroom which left them satiated.
About an hour later Mac looked up at Animal who was still on top of her pressing her into the mattress. "Hey…I think that means you're definitely better."
His voice was husky with desire. "Let's see if my stamina still is the same as it was before this cold." Mac laughed joyously as she drew him closer and they sought new heights of passion and ecstasy.
1 week later
NAS Oceana,
Virginia Beach, VA
Mac waved as she saw Animal maneuver his F-14 Tomcat Fast Eagle 100 out of the parking spot, Locking eyes with her, he saluted. Through the plexiglass canopy, since Animal had his oxygen mask draped unhooked on one side, she could see his face clearly though he was wearing his flight helmet. She saw him whisper, "I love you!"
She responded by waving and blowing a kiss in his direction. "I love you too…" she whispered as she saw his F-14 taxi out to the runway. Her man then put the throttles full-forward blowing a blue flame out the tail pipes of the Pratt & Whitney TF-30s and released the brakes. The F-14 started on its rollout for takeoff – the prelude to the deployment of which he was the CAG for the airwing. "I love you so much, Tosh…" She whispered watching until the F-14 was a dot in the distance.
She turned tired steps back to the car that Animal and Mac shared. Her destination being the JAG Headquarters.
JAG Headquarters
1 week later
Her throat felt funny and she felt the onset of a headache.
"Mac, you OK…you look kind of pale." Harm asked.
"I feel kind of dizzy." Mac replied looking kind of confused.
"You eaten anything today?" Harm aimed a worried expression at her. Her stomach heaved at the question though she didn't throw up.
"I feel tired and if I eat anything, I feel like I'm going to puke." She uttered.
RADM AJ Chegwidden stopped by the door. "Major. What's seems to be the matter. Good God, you look pale as a ghost." At that precise moment, Mac sneezed then uttered a pungent oath at a volume loud enough to make a Marine Corps DI wince. AJ and Harm looked at each other.
"My goddamned flyboy gave me a COLD!"
THE END!