The man sighed and looked out the window of the car at the pouring rain. The dreary day was only made better that for the first time in as long as he could remember he was going home early. He looked through the foggy windows at the streets of D.C. and watched the rain fall as his driver headed to his house. He was admittedly tired. He wondered again why he thought that taking this job was a good idea. He should have retired, kicked back, and relaxed. God knows he earned it.
The truth was he knew why. He just didn't trust anyone to look after his people and the program. Well, Hank, maybe, but he had indicated that he took the current job as a favor to him. Hank had made it clear that he had no ambition to move to D.C. and was going to retire. He wanted no part of the political game.
He turned and looked at his drive in the front seat. "What's the word Steve?"
Steve glanced in his review mirror. "She went in this morning sir. Still no word on delivery."
Jack smiled. "Well, hopefully we will have a healthy new addition soon."
"Yes sir." Steve replied. He glanced at his passenger in rearview mirror. He was concerned, as was everyone else who worked in the office. They all had seen how much the political battles had worn their boss down. It was obvious that the man was better suited for operation as opposed to the political stupidity he had to deal with on a daily basis.
A trill noise sounded. Steve clicked his earpiece. "Thompson."
He listened for a moment and then then spoke again. "Absolutely. I will tell him. Thanks for letting us know. I will call you in a bit."
Steve turned his head slightly to speak to Jack. "Good news sir. Michael Jonathan Miller was born about thirty minutes ago. Nine point nine pounds."
"That's great. Nine pounds. Wow. How is Shelly?" Jack asked.
"She is fine sir. Resting comfortably." Steve replied. He glanced at the rearview mirror. If the general had picked up the baby's middle name he didn't react. He figured the general had. He didn't miss much and more than one person had fallen victim to assuming the he was not as smart as he really was.
Jack grunted. "After having a nine plus pound baby, I can't imagine how comfortable you can be, but at least everyone is healthy and fine." He reached into his pocket and withdrew his wallet. He pulled out some cash and handed it over the seat to Steve. "Donation for baby gift."
"Yes sir." Steve turned onto the road to the general's townhome. Even though he wouldn't admit, he had known the general was in fact worried about his non-com. Hence why he was driving the car instead of Technical Sergeant Miller. Miller's wife had a rough last trimester and the general had all but ordered him to spend as much time at home as he could. The general's devotion to his troops, his fairness as well as reputation had quickly earned him the undying loyalty of his staff. From what Steve understood, it was the same at the general's last command, at the mountain. He had been here at Washington for a while now, yet the people in Colorado still held him in hero status and were deeply loyal to him and quick to close ranks and shun anyone who they thought may be attacking the general. That had cause more than a few problems when it came to inspections when inspectors asked questions about the command environment that were misconstrued as criticism. Steve just hoped that he could be half as good an officer as he climbed in ranks.
As they pulled up the house, Steve tensed. He noticed something on the front porch. He put the car in park and opened his door. As he stepped out he flicked the lock switch.
"Stay here sir." He ordered as he reached for his concealed weapon in his waistband as he stepped around the hood of the car. He slowly walked up to the form sitting on the steps. He sighed as he heard the car door open and the general got out. He should have known the general was not going to sit in the car and allow him to evaluate the threat. The incident with the senator a while back showed that the general dealt with things head on. He moved closer as the general caught him and looked down.
"Cassie?" Jack asked.
Steve was surprised to see the person was a very attractive young woman as she raised her rain soaked head and looked at the general. "Hi Jack." She said softly.
Jack quickly shrugged off his all-weather trench coat and wrapped it around the young woman's shoulders. "What the hell are you doing sitting here in the rain? You are going to make yourself sick."
Instead of responding, the young lady burst into tears and wrapped her arms around the general, who was now getting soaked as well.
Steve was admittedly shocked. He had never known anyone the general allowed to get that close to him. Well, there were rumors about one, but he had personally never witnessed it and it was an unwritten rule that no one ever talked about it. As far as the staff was concerned, the general was entitled to happiness. Steve looked at the young woman in the general's arms and wondered. He admittedly knew very little about the general's private life, but he was sure a daughter would have been mentioned. He knew the general well enough to know that he would never consider a romantic relationship with a girl that young. Besides, if the rumors were true, he was involved already to someone whose reputation was almost as fearsome as his.
Jack glanced over at him. "Go ahead and go home Steve. I got this. I will be fine."
"Yes sir." Steve replied. He saluted and turned and walked back to the car. He didn't know what was going on, but he knew better to argue with the general. He felt sorry for the girl. Who knew how long she sat in the cold rain. A thought crossed his head. It wasn't much, but maybe he could help.
Jack guided Cassie to the door and placed his key in the lock and opened it. He followed her in.
"Cassie, what is going on? And why didn't you use your key to get in?" Jack asked, gently wiping Cassie's face with his handkerchief.
Cassie looked up at him. The sadness in her eyes almost broke his heart. "I left in such a hurry, I forgot my key." She replied flatly.
Jack saw she was shivering. He wanted to know what was going on, but first things first. "Okay, first, come with me." He ordered.
He didn't wait on a response as he took her hand and led her upstairs to the guest room, which in essence was her room when she was here. He led her in.
"Strip out of those wet clothes." He commanded as he walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower to warm it up. He grabbed a towel off the rack and walked back out to where Cassie stood shivering in her bra and panties. He held open the towel for her to wrap around herself.
He kissed the top of her head. "Go get in the shower." He said gently.
She nodded and walked to the bathroom as Jack watched. As soon as she was inside, he went to his room and dug in the dresser. He pulled out one of his sweatshirts and dug some more. Surely he had at least one pair here. Ah ha. He pulled out the sweatpants and looked at them. They would still be too long, but closer fit than his would be. He paused in thought a moment, and then decided. He grabbed a pair of clean boxers out of his drawer and walked back into Cassie's room. He placed the items on the bed and went back and grabbed a robe and some slippers. He brought those in just as he heard the doorbell ring. He frowned and looked towards the bathroom. He went quickly down the staircase.
He opened the door and was surprised to Lieutenant Thompson.
"Lieutenant?" Jack asked.
Thompson smiled. "Sorry to bother you sir, but…well, I thought you might be able to use this." he said as he handed Jack a bag. "It might…help."
Jack looked surprised as he took the bag. Jack noticed it was hot. "Uh, I appreciate this."
"It's hot food, coffee and hot chocolate." Thompson explained.
"You didn't have to go…"
"Nonsense sir. It's obvious you have your hands full. This is easier than trying to cook and no offense, but she looked like she could use something to warm her up."
"Yeah. Look, about that…"
"Sir, it's okay. You don't need to explain anything. I…well I and the rest of your staff want you to know that if you need anything at all, we are here." Thompson said.
Jack nodded. "Does anyone else…?"
"No sir. I would never do that. I just know everyone else feels the same way I do." Thompson replied.
"I would appreciate your discretion for now." Jack stated.
"Yes sir." Thompson replied. He turned to leave. "Sir, if you need anything at all, just call."
"I will. Thank you." Jack said. He watched as the lieutenant he got in the car and then shut door.
Jack carried the bag into the kitchen and began to dig out the contents. After he had set the table, he realized Cassie should have been out of the shower. Maybe she didn't like the clothes. He walked up stairs to her room. He gently knocked. Getting no answer he pushed open the door. His heart fell to the floor.
Cassie was curled into a fetal position on the bed. She was facing away from the door. Jack could hear her sobbing. He walked over quickly and sat on the edge of the bed.
"Cassie? Honey?" He asked quietly
She tried to stop sobbing, but couldn't hide the whimpers.
"Cassie, please, let me help you." Jack pleaded.
Cassie turned slightly and Jack suppressed a gasp, and then felt his anger rise. Because she had been so cold, he hadn't seen it, but with her skin warmed up he could see the traces of a purplish mark on the side of her face. How had he missed that? How could he have not seen that?
"Cassie, what happened?" He asked as he gently reached out to move her hair out of the way of her face to get a closer look at the bruise. He quickly withdrew his hand when she flinched and pulled away.
"I'm sorry Honey." He said quickly. He was working hard to control his emotions. He was concerned Cassie had been hurt, and obviously needed help, and if his suspicions were correct, he was mad enough to know he would kill whoever did this to her.
She moved to sit up. "I'm sorry, Jack." Her voice was barely audible.
Jack slowly moved closer, careful to make no surprising or big movements. "Honey, why are you apologizing? You did nothing wrong. I just want to help." And I am so out of my depth here.
Cassie looked at him with tears in her eyes. She leaned over against him. He slowly wrapped his arm around her and rested his chin on her head. He noticed she tensed and shifted when his arm touched her back. He wasn't sure how he knew, but he knew she had bruising there as well.
"It's okay Cassie, I'm here. Whatever you need." Jack soothed the sobbing girl.
