AJ peered around the bullpen. Things seemed to be going forward as usual, and people were trickling in, their heads craning to see what was going on in the corner office. He for one, knew exactly what was going on, but was one of the people who was scared of the result. He knew the Christopher family well; having dealt with the elder Christopher on many occasions and knew exactly what type of people they were. Kind, outgoing, incredibly intelligent but strong willed and pig headed. He chuckled to himself. Sounded familiar. Staff call was still forty five minutes away, though more people were in the bullpen, earlier than usual.
"Is she doing complete renovations in there?" Lt. Singer asked glaring towards the source of the noise.
"I'm not sure, why don't you ask her." AJ crossed his arms across his chest and stared at the young lieutenant in front of him. "Do you have a question Lieutenant?"
"Yes sir, I mean, no sir. Not until staff call."
He looked down at the woman who was still standing uncomfortably close to him. "Then you do have something better to do than just stand here?"
"Yes sir." She scampered off muttering under her breath about the noise.
"Alex, sir?"
Spinning around he saw the smiling face of his Chief-of-staff holding a steaming cup of coffee in her hands.
"How did you guess?"
"She kind of has that 'leaving a wake of destruction in her path' type of personality sir." Mac replied with a grin. "I'll go check to see if she's accomplished to bury herself yet and warn her about staff call."
"Thanks Colonel. And Colonel?" He stopped and waited for her to face him. "It's nice to have you back."
"Thanks sir." Following the sound of the noise she stood in the doorway of Alex's office. It was a little farther out of the way, closer to Bud's old office, but Alex swore that as long as it had a desk and a few chairs she would be fine with anything. "Doing total renovation?" She called through the open door.
Alex popped her head out from behind her desk and waved. "Not completely. Just putting some stuff away." She motioned to the pile of books on the floor and the shelves in corner. "They're going to EVENTUALLY make it over there."
"Looks like you're settling in."
"Pretty much. Got everything I need, now I just need to organize it. I usually do the 'chaos' method of organization." She sighed and stood up. "It looks like something vomited my books everywhere."
"Everything else is in order though..." Mac looked around. A few flags hung on their respective poles in the corner, a Canadian flag, a Saskatchewan Flag and a Saskatchewan Roughriders flag, giving the room a pale green glow. Framed pictures adorned the walls. Mac looked at the first one and laughed. "When was this taken?"
Alex blushed and wiped her hands on her forest green skirt. "When Cody and I first met. His dad was really into photography at the time and accomplished to snap that picture. Both of us held onto it and when we met up again we both ended up having them." The picture had the two of them, obviously a lot younger, sitting on the boards of a hockey rink wearing their team uniforms, helmets on the ice. Alex's hair hung in light, obviously dyed, blonde curls, metallic piercing on her lip and eyebrow adding to the 'teenaged' appearance. Cody's hair was close cropped his face flush with excitement. They both had smiles on their faces.
"Piercings, Major?"
"Yeah, I kind of went through the 'rebelling against authority' phase." Her fair skin turned an unhealthy shade of red. "I got over it pretty quickly though."
"Apparently." Mac looked at the other photos on the wall. An extended family picture with everyone wearing green, a picture of Cody, Dante and Alex all wearing Washington Capitals jerseys…"Well, I just wanted to stop by and see how you were doing and warn you about staff call in – "
"Seventeen minutes." Alex grinned. "Thanks Colonel. I want to start things off on the right foot, being on time is one of them."
"I would like to introduce everyone to our new trial lawyer, Major Alexandra Giannini of the Canadian Armed Forces. Commander Rabb, as everyone knows, has been transferred out to the Canadian Armed Forces National Defense Act. Major Giannini will be here to help lighten the load." AJ motioned to Alex who looked down at her hands and gave a shy smile. "So Major, tell us a bit about yourself."
"Well…as the Admiral said, I'm in the Canadian Armed forces, been a JAG stationed out of Ottawa Ontario for the past three years." Her voice was quiet leaving most of the table straining to hear her.
"Have you tried any big cases?" Lt. Singer asked, giving the young woman a sideways glance. "We do really big cases here at headquarters, since we are the protectors of the free world and all."
"I guess it depends on what you mean by big cases."
"Anything to do with 9/11?"
The room was silent, AJ allowing the two young women argue their stances. "Well, as you may or may not know Lieutenant, Canada has no jurisdictions on anything that happened in 9/11 unless the culprits were under Canadian soil. Though, I have been helping with the Omar Khadr case. You may have heard of it."
"Probably not, I don't really pay attention to small going ons like that, MAJOR." Lt. Singer replied with a smug look.
"Maybe you should, since he's being held in YOUR prison. He's been held there since 9/11 despite being 15 years old and a Canadian citizen." For the first time she looked up at the Lieutenant. "I've been working on that for the past year, along with a few smaller cases."
Mac bit the inside of her cheek to stop from laughing, looking at the look on the young lieutenant's face. Sturgis coughed loudly and Bud, poor Bud, looked like he had swallowed a tennis ball.
"Well, you two can finish up later. We have a few cases to go over. The Marterson case." AJ said with a smirk on his face. "Reckless operation of a vehicle. Roberts, you defend. Mattoni, you prosecute." He tossed the files at the two respective lawyers. "The Perez case. Young Lieutenant charged vehicular manslaughter, drunk driving. Giannini, I want you to prosecute this one, Colonel with you sitting second chair. Turner, Singer, you two defend."
The Lieutenant's eyes lit up. "Yes sir." She smiled at Alex who had gingerly picked up the file and slowly began to read through it. "This." She thought, "means war."
Alex chewed on her pen and stared at the file on her desk. Loud music filled her ears from the headphones she had, her head bobbing to the music. A wall of books was built around her, hiding her from anyone who walked by, or in for that matter.
"Major. MAJOR!" Mac banged on her door and receiving no response stuck her head in. All she could see from behind the barricade was a head bobbing to music only the owner could hear. She waited a few seconds before Alex looked up and tore the headphones out and jumped to her feet.
"Sorry Colonel. I…didn't hear you come in."
"I see that." Mac smiled and motioned for her to sit down. "Just wanted to check up and see how it's going researching in the case."
"Not bad, just finishing talking with some witnesses. I should have my notes ready by tomorrow." Alex pushed aside a few books and smiled at Mac. "I have one question for you Colonel."
"Shoot."
"What crawled up Lieutenant Singer's butt, Ma'am?"
Mac burst out laughing, looking at the younger woman. "Know what Major? I ask myself that every single day."
He ran his hand absentmindedly through her hair, twirling a stubborn piece around his finger while he read through a rather large volume on Canadian politics. Mac sighed softly and read through some of Alex's notes on the Perez case. She let it fall to the ground with a loud thump. Harm folded the corner of the page over before shutting the book and pulling Mac father up onto his lap.
"Are we doing the right thing?" Came her voice, almost a whisper.
Harm placed a light kiss on her shoulder. "I'd like to think so. Why? Second thoughts?"
A long silence followed. "Do you see a future?"
He had to force back a laugh. "I always have. I was just too stupid to realise it. Why? Don't YOU see a future?"
Turning her gently so they looked eye to eye. "Don't you think you could do better than me?"
"No. There is no one better than you."
She shook her head. "No, listen to me. Someone who…doesn't have baggage. Someone who doesn't make you change your designator. You shouldn't have to settle."
He swallowed a smile. "Mac. Sarah. You, of all people, should know about MY baggage. And I'm not just changing my designator for you. I'm doing it for us. I've done it twice before and JAG means more to you than it does to me." He flashed her a grin. "Now can I get back to the heart stopping action of Canadian politics?"
Mac rolled her eyes. "Well, I had OTHER ideas on how to spend tonight, but if you would rather spend it with Pierre Elliott Trudeau and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms."
The book hit the floor. "Mister Trudeau can wait until tomorrow.
"I'll stop by around noon, I have a meeting with Thom, but after that I think I'm back at JAG." Harm pulled into the parking lot and placed a kiss on Mac's lips.
"I'm going to be in court until 1230 with Alex, but after that I should be in my office." She returned the kiss, leaving him breathless before stepping out of the 'Vette and walking into JAG headquarters.
The smell of coffee wafted through the air. She knew it was too early for either Tiner or the Admiral to be in and she really should continue reading over the case notes and prep for today's court. But, the smell was too enticing.
Alex leaned against the counter, a mug in her hand.
"Morning Colonel." She grinned and pushed her bangs to the side.
"Good morning Major. You're in her early." Mac replied with a smile.
Alex shrugged. "Not really. I'm a morning person, I function the best before sunrise and keep running on caffeine." A look of concern crossed her face. "I made a pot of coffee. I'm not sure if I was supposed to, so I brought in my own blend." She pulled a bag out from under the counter. "Fair trade organic coffee from the mountains of Chiapas in Mexico…I can make another pot of the regular stuff if you want Colonel."
Mac eyed the dark steaming brew. "Would you mind if I gave it a try? It smells amazing."
"Go for it. But word of warning, Cody calls my coffee a cheap replacement for motor oil." She blushed and handed Mac a mug.
"Don't worry. Harm says mine can be used to power nuclear subs." Mac grinned and took a sip of the dark liquid. She revelled in the deep taste as it hit her tongue. Alex gave her a nervous look. "You know Major, I may have to kill you."
"Uh…why?" The coffee mug rested on the counter, replaced by Alex nervously rubbing her palms together.
"Now I have to buy this coffee. It's AMAZING." Mac smiled and took another swallow.
Alex picked up her mug and laughed. "I get a shipment every month from a friend in San Cristóbal de las Casas, I can ask him to throw in a few extra pounds."
Raising an eyebrow, Mac refilled her mug and turned to face the young Major. "How much does that run you?"
"'Bout twelve dollars for ten pounds." Alex had a grin that stretched ear to ear and she followed suit, taking a large swallow. "Now, I may be ready to face the day."
"Court?"
"Maybe not that ready."
"What a bitch." Loren thought looking at the Canadian Major. "She thinks she's so damn hot. She's like…a Colonel Mackenzie clone. Mini Mackenzie." She glared as the young woman walked by, a file under one arm, a giant mug of coffee in the other. And of course everyone loved her. She was that girl that moved and came into her 10th grade class. Perfect. Everyone loved her. Just like Major Giannini.
"Excuse me, have you seen Major Giannini?" A large, very good looking young man asked, nervously playing with his visitor badge.
"I think she was meeting with Colonel Mackenzie. Can I help you with anything?"
The man shrugged. "Probably not. I'm supposed to meet with her." He pushed a lock of curly hair out of his eyes and gave her a small smile. Loren couldn't help but notice the man's long lashed blue eyes and broad chest.
"I'm Lieutenant Loren Singer." She gave him a wide grin and stuck her hand out.
"Cody Giannini." He said, his voice quiet. "I'll just wait for my wife."
"Of course." Loren thought, watching the young man settle in a chair. "Of course HE would be HER husband." She started to storm towards her office and ran into the Major. "I'm going to kick your ass in court tomorrow Major. Be ready for it, hoser."
Alex raised her eyebrow at the comment. "Bring it Lieutenant. I'll be waiting." She walked past and grabbed the hand of her completely confused husband.
"I'll be waiting." Loren mimicked slamming the door to her office.