Saturday, May 15, 2004 (Armed Forces Day)

0935 EST

AJ pulled out the letter to Sarah he had finished that morning; he was placing it in his safe when the phone rang. "Chegwidden."

"Sir, Captain Rushford here. I need an attorney at Bethesda ASAP. We have a SEAL embarking on a no-return mission and need a Will drawn up quickly."

"I'll be right there, Captain," promised AJ.

"….so Mr. Secretary, we are agreed that my resignation is effective as of today. It was a pleasure to serve under you, goodbye."

AJ paged Mac, he was placing the letter in his safe as she arrived. "Mac, there's an emergency, you will be acting JAG until Admiral Morris and can take over."

"You're leaving JAG, Sir?" she asked disbelievingly.

"Not just JAG, Colonel, but the Navy as well."

"So you are no longer my CO?"

"Not as of five minutes ago, why?"

"There's something the position has kept me from telling you for eight years. I love you, AJ," she finally spoke the words burning in her heart.

He stood there, stunned, he had no idea she returned his feelings, but now it was too late. Closing his eyes in agony for a brief moment, he came around the desk, "I'm so very sorry, Sarah, but I can't act on that at this time." AJ knew it would be cruel to tell her of his feelings with what he was going into, but he couldn't pass up the chance to taste her lips just once. His greatest regret was that he hadn't kissed her in his bedroom six years ago. Gently drawing her into his arms, he kissed her, slowly, tenderly, and with every ounce of love that he felt.

Startled because of his words, a kindhearted rejection of her love she thought, it took her a moment to respond. When she began to kiss him back, she was even more confused. This was the kiss of a man in love! She just knew it! Why then, with the barrier of regulations gone at last, could he not act on his feelings? She was still wondering that when he ended the kiss, grabbed his cover, said, "Good bye, Sarah," and left.

Later she would think back to that good bye, in light of what was to come, and realize why it sounded so final.

At Bethesda, Captain Rushford met AJ, "Sir, our volunteer, Lieutenant Posen, is waiting,"

"Wrong! I'm your volunteer, Captain. I'm trained, ready, and my Will is up to date," advised AJ.

"Sir! The man has no family and is…younger."

"My daughter is grown. I'm a trained SEAL and I'm ordering you to lay out the plan for me."

Reluctantly, Rushford explained the situation, "There is a terrorist holding the hospital hostage. Kazem Abou has worked here as a janitor for the last four months. This morning it seemed he went down to the research labs to clean as usual, but instead donned a haz-mat suit and released a biological agent into the atmosphere. That was just over thirty minutes ago, because of the closed ventilation system in the lab area, the rest of the hospital is not yet compromised."

Rushford paused for just a moment before going on, "However, that is not the current threat. Abou is demanding that Sadaam Hussein be set free. He has all the entrances and exits watched on monitors from the security room. If anyone tries to go in or out of the building, he will release the agent into the main hospital population. KT12X is particularly nasty, as those kinds of things go, and there is no cure for it. The agent brings hours of pain and misery. The onset was flu-like symptoms, fever, aches, and weakness, and then your blood started boiling. After six hours, your skin starts to peel off like well-cooked meat," AJ was informed.

"At this time, only the scientists and technicians in the lab area are infected. There are ten men and women in there dying." Then Rushford laid out the plan, "Sir, we plan to drop a man via parachute onto the roof. He will go in through the air vent system and take the terrorist out. It's the only way."

"That'll work. Get me to the plane," AJ ordered.

"But, Sir, you're the JAG!" Rushford exclaimed.

"Look Rushford, we don't have time to argue, call the SECNAV. In the meantime get me suited up!"

Rushford placed the call, "Sir, I have a problem. Admiral Chegwidden wants to volunteer for a no-return mission."

"Chegwidden, has his reasons. He's your volunteer," stated Sheffield with a mixture of pride and sadness in his voice.

"Yes, Sir."

All suited up AJ inquired, "Well?"

"Congratulations, Admiral, you win. You must have been a HELL of a SEAL!" He looked AJ right in the eyes before continuing, "There are a couple more things that you should know, the KT12X takes twelve hours to dissipate in the air, even if you managed to kill or subdue Abou, you would not be able to exit the lab area. We will be sending you in with Cyanide capsules to give all of you quick deaths. You will need to blend in with the staff already there, that's why we can't give you a haz-mat suit."

"Understood, Captain. Now I have a request of you, I want you to have the families of the men and women in there, brought to a videophone system so once the threat is over they can say goodbye to them. Then I would like my staff at JAG to be asked to come to the office so I can say my goodbyes as well."

The news media had picked up the story when a visitor had used his cell phone to call out about not being allowed to leave because of a terrorist holding the hospital hostage. That was how Mac had heard about it. She had been in AJ's office with the television on in the background as he always left it, reading his letter of resignation for the third time trying to figure out why…when the news mentioning Bethesda Naval Hospital caught her attention. Mac looked up just in time to see AJ get out of his Escalade and enter the command center.

She didn't know why he was there, but when the call came in eighteen minutes later, her heart sank. Rushford told her that Admiral Chegwidden was taking the place of his SEAL volunteer on this no return mission. He told her of AJ's request to say goodbye to his JAG family.

He was going to die, and he had known it before he left! That was why his goodbye sounded so final! Forcing herself not to cry, she gathered the staff with phone calls ordering them to get to the office as fast as possible. Making a heartbreaking decision she asked Bud and Harriett to bring little AJ with them. She would explain when they got there.