Red Mittens and a Rose Garden – the Trisha Pike Chronicles,
Ch30 – "A meeting, a re-union and a question"
A/N: AU. What if there was a long-term consequence to the weekend romp between Lt Caitlin Pike and Lt Harmon Rabb Jr at that motel back in the summer of 1996? What is the responsible way to deal with an unexpected aftermath?
A/N – link to Canon Episodes: none. A "post-canon" timeline puts this into "JAG Season 24…" (solely for those who want to count! "Season 24" would have started broadcasting around 20-Sep-2018).
A/N: Publication date: 22-08-2020: Best wishes to the audience-free Indy-500 motor race on Sunday.
Notes: Mike, UK, 22-Aug-2020 – msg... Bringing a few threads together!
Characters from FFNET – C Pike, H Rabb jr, Faith McBurney-Coleman plus OC
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Ch30 – "A meeting, a re-union and a question"
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Ring Dance Saturday 18th May 2019 – 17:49hrs EST
Dahlgren House, USNA Annapolis MD:
"Wow, it looks like it belongs there."
Trisha had just slipped RV's Class ring onto his finger. He had elected to wear his ring on his left hand in the traditional style. The Eagle, Globe & Anchor motifs on his dress uniform marked him out as one of the US Marine Corps cadre within the Class of 2020.
Trisha had elected to match his chosen outfit by wearing her dress uniform – White shirt, white short bolero jacket, gold cummerbund and long black skirt. She was saving her ball gown for the Graduation Ball in the following year, when the Class of 2020 finally reached its summit.
He picked up the box containing Trisha's ring. Polished to perfection, the original stone from Caitlin's USNA class ring glistened in the early evening sunlight. He held it the ring out to her, positioned to slide onto her finger.
Suddenly, Trisha had a vision of the future – their joint future. She saw RV Galindez, USMC, on one knee, holding out a solitaire diamond on a plain gold band.
She froze, hands clasped across her waist.
After two minutes, RV decided to nudge the process along – after all, the bar *was* open and they were wasting good drinking time!
"OK, TP – pick a hand."
Trisha held out her right hand towards him and RV nodded – then obligingly slid the ring home. She smiled, looked at the ring, then she looked up at him as she made a promise.
"I am keeping this left hand free until my husband places a wedding ring here." She said – keeping a further thought to herself: "And I have a darn good idea of which man I shall be marrying – God willing!"
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Sunday 19th May 2019 – 11:24hrs EST
Superintendent's Apartment, The Buchanan House, US Naval Academy, Annapolis MD:
A slightly hung-over Midshipman Trisha Pike made her way into her parents' kitchen. Despite wearing her running gear under her sweatshirt, she had made the slowest-ever transit across the campus from her dormitory to the Superintendent's home. The Tylenol still hadn't entirely kicked in.
Seeing her arrival – and her delicate state – Harm simply held up a coffee pot and, with his free hand, grabbed a large bottle of water from the refrigerator.
Trisha gave a weary "thumbs up" and slumped onto the couch.
"Good morning Trisha. That ring looks smart."
In line with custom, the ring was turned inwards, so Trisha's right hand was marked with what could have been taken for a wedding band – similar to how her mother had displayed her own class ring on the weekend when Trisha had been conceived.
Caitlin arrived, placed Samuel in his highchair, hugged her daughter and then sat down alongside her to inspect the setting of "her" ring-stone in Trisha's new ring.
"Looks good, Trisha. Harm, please bring the coffees and let's catch up."
"Mom, we had a fabulous time. RV was – as always – a complete gentleman and he saw me safely home to the dorm at stupid o'clock this morning."
"Well, that's another stage in your passage through the Academy. We'll be supporting Samantha Wilkinson on Friday at her graduation."
"Yes Mom – I can't believe that, in a week, she'll be shipping out. I don't know how Tony Lee is going to get through the final year. Rumours are she'll be heading for Tripler Hospital in Hawaii."
"Well, I hope that he has a good deal on his phone package!"
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A restful day around the Rabb home was followed by an early evening meal, for which RV had joined them. Afterwards, Trisha and RV headed back towards their accommodation.
Trisha's hormones were suddenly raging and her mind was in turmoil. Since her vision last night, she had found it had to get rid of the vision of RV as her husband and lover – and the father of her future children. Wow, where had *that* thought come from? But she knew that another year of abstinence lay ahead.
This was going to be a hard 53 weeks – but she was a Pike and she could do this! Outwardly, she just rested her arm around RV's shoulder briefly. "Come on, Marine, time to get ready for the next week of study."
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Friday 24th May 2019 – 09:50hrs EST
Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, USNA Annapolis MD:
Harm checked his uniform once more, before ascending onto the podium. He checked the card in his hand:
Public Affairs Office
Graduation
When: May 24, 2019
Time: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Location: Navy- Marine Corps Memorial Stadium
Details: Class of 2019 Graduation
The guest speaker – Patrick Shanahan, the acting US Secretary of Defense - had a keynote speech ready for the assembled graduates.
Harm looked down at the order of service in his hands. Today, as Superintendent, he was once more shepherding a group of the best men and women that his country could produce, into the next stages of their military lives. He offered up a prayer for Diane Schonke's soul. She had been so proud on her Graduation Day all those decades ago, especially when she hugged her "brothers" afterwards. Ensigns Schonke, Rabb, Turner and Keeter had survived four years in the Academy and they had formed a bond which – hopefully - would last a lifetime. Sadly, the sexual predations of a certain Commander Holbarth would disrupt that plan for decades of continuing friendship.
The awards to top-performing graduates were read out and presented; Harm looked out across a sea of happy, enthusiastic, proud faces.
Shanahan's speech was designed to be thought-provoking and to set a tone for the future.
Shanahan to Naval Academy graduates: learn to embrace failure like samurai and Silicon Valley
Patrick Shanahan has a message for the next generation of naval officers: what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger.
Speaking at the Naval Academy's commencement ceremony in Annapolis, Maryland on Friday, the acting defense secretary and former Boeing executive encouraged members of the Class of 2019 to embrace the mantra of Japanese samurai in their service to the United States.
"If you ever studied the Samurai culture in feudal Japan, you know the most feared, most dangerous of all Samurai were those who had felt the cut of their opponent's sword, and lived to fight the next battle," Shanahan said. "Why? Because they no longer feared the sword! They could – and would – press the fight, knowing the danger but unafraid of it."
While the ensigns and lieutenants he addressed likely won't rush into battle with their sabres at the ready anytime soon, Shanahan argued that this principle is alive and well in the Silicon Valley, where Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's mantra of "move fast and break things" has become innovation gospel.
"Today in Silicon Valley, the major private equity investors don't usually put their fortunes behind the smartest young people," Shanahan said. "They look for seasoned entrepreneurs who have gone bankrupt before; who have failed. Why? Because those people know where they went wrong. And they are smarter, wiser, less arrogant, and more capable than those who have never failed."
"If you have never experienced failure; if you have not felt the cut of the blade, then when failure finds you — you won't know how to recover," he added. "
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Afterwards, Harm and Caitlin mingled with the happy parents and families of the now-commissioned Ensigns and Lieutenants in the USN and USMC.
He found himself drawn towards the Wilkinson family; Samantha was joyfully relating a story to her father, with rapt attention from her little sister and her Mom.
"Hello Doc; you must be very proud of your daughter."
"Oh Admiral, hello – yes, indeed I am. You know my wife Anita of course, but allow me to introduce Samantha's younger sister, our little Barbara Serendipity."
As Harm extended his hand to greet Barbara and to introduce his wife to Barbara (Caitlin, of course, knew the older Wilkinsons), his gaze passed over Wilkinson's shoulder to focus on a woman wearing the uniform and gold stripes of a Rear Admiral (Upper Half).
Her face, although lined, was vaguely familiar. As Harm was struggling to place her, Samantha took the initiative.
"Admiral Rabb, I would very much like to introduce you to my biological mother, Admiral Alison Laine."
*HOLY CRAP – ALISON KRENNICK!* was roughly the thought which flashed through Harm's struggling brain – just as Alison smiled and strode towards him, her hand extended.
"Admiral Rabb; how lovely to meet you again after all these years – it must be nearly a quarter-century. I was delighted to be able to support my biological daughter and her adoptive family – who have clearly achieved excellence in encouraging a new Ensign in the US Navy. I read of your appointment as Superintendent – a fitting tribute to your career by all accounts."
"Hello Alison – Admiral. I never knew you had a daughter."
"No-one knew Harm, apart from Samantha's biological father and the Wilkinson family who adopted her at birth. I was delighted when Samantha reached out to me on 2015 on her 18th birthday."
Harm was rapidly trying to run the figures through his shocked brain.
Alison Krennick had given birth to a daughter. So if she was 18 in 2015, she must have been born in 1997 – so a conception in 1996...
Alison took pity on Harm.
"Admiral Rabb, I understand from my daughter that she is part of a group, from the Class of 2020, called the "Four Horsemen plus" and that there is a young lady called Trisha in that group." She paused: "Wasn't your mom called Trisha?"
"Yes Alison – and she still is; in fact, after my stepfather died, Mom married Tom Boone."
"Good heavens – what a small world."
Caitlin drifted up alongside Harm, placing a semi-possessive hand on his shoulder as she read Allison's name plate. "Hello the Wilkinsons! Good afternoon Admiral Laine."
"Hello Meg, I wouldn't have recognised you. I'm glad that you and Harm found your way back together after the Schonke case."
"Excuse me? I am not Meg!" Caitlin Pike was surprised at this unwarranted intrusion. Who was this Rear Admiral Laine – apart from being overly-familiar with her husband? "I am Caitlin Rabb, US Navy retired. I am also the mother of Harm's daughter - and his son."
Alison had the good grace to look genuinely embarrassed – so Samantha Wilkinson took up the story and tried to pull together the snippets of intel which she had gleaned.
"So, Admiral Laine; you worked with the Superintendent – Harmon Rabb – when he was in JAG?"
A nod.
"As I understand it, you worked cases in 1995-96, after he had worked with the lady here - who is now Mrs Rabb?"
Harm and Alison nodded.
"Are you the JAG Commander who had Harm arrested during the investigation, when his ex-Academy girlfriend was found murdered when her aircraft carrier docked after a cruise?"
Harm nodded, whilst Alison looked increasingly uncomfortable.
"Then, two years later, Harm discovered Diane Schonke's letters and deduced who the killer was?"
Nods all round.
"Admiral Laine, who was the actual murderer?"
"A Navy Commander Holbarth – he had been implicated in Diane's letters, which Harm – the Superintendent – found some two years later in 1998."
"But surely – he was my biological father?"
At this point, Harm's gaze turned towards Alison Laine with a growing sense of sick certainty. Caitlin placed a supportive arm around him as Samantha ploughed resolutely onwards with her questioning.
"But you had worked with Holbarth on the original investigation back in '96 – when I was conceived after you had arrested Trisha's father?"
Alison Laine was now looking *truly* uncomfortable!
Samantha groaned – this was like a bad soap opera! So she summarised.
"So, my biological father met my biological mother whilst she was investigating the death of the girlfriend of the man who now runs the Academy. My biological mother then worked with my biological father - who was the actual murderer (who would be unmasked two years later through letters from his victim who was the Superintendent's girlfriend). My biological mother had a fling with the murderer – resulting in me being conceived: and all this happened around the time that Trisha was conceived by the Superintendent and the lady who is now Mrs Rabb?"
She pressed a hand against her forehead. "But, my biological mother not only got hot and heavy with the murderer, she also had my fellow Horseman Trisha's biological father arrested for the murder of his girlfriend – whom he evidently had *not* actually murdered?"
By this time, Tony Lee and Trisha were starting to chuckle. The Wilkinson family were looking amused as their elder daughter assembled the facts from long ago. Within a minute, the whole party were laughing fit to burst. Standing alongside his wife, Brian Laine was realising what Alison had meant, all those years before in the lead-up to their wedding, when she elaborated on Samantha's birth with her admission of "I've been a naughty girl." His retired policeman's antennae were twitching. It was clear that JAG Commander Alison Krennick had produced a bright, tall and beautiful daughter - of whom Rear Admiral Alison Laine was truly proud. By marriage, so was Brian Laine. But boy, what a story!
Samantha then delivered the "coup de grace" as she wrapped up the tale.
"Then Trisha's father - investigating with the Marine JAG who would eventually become his first wife - was present when my biological father was revealed in '98 as the murderer of the superintendent's girlfriend? At which point my biological father fell into the dock and kissed the camel?"
Who could possibly write such an implausible set of soap-opera circumstances? Harm decided not to mention that the JAG lawyer accompanying him on the investigation at the time of Holbarth's death was, in fact, a dead ringer for his murdered girlfriend Diane! After all, who would believe *that* plot twist?
But it was an enjoyable story!
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Friday 24th May 2019 – 16:24hrs EST
Superintendent's Apartment, The Buchanan House, US Naval Academy, Annapolis MD:
A slightly frazzled Harmon Rabb had eventually excused himself from all the families and Ensigns and Lieutenants and hangers-on, to withdraw to the sanity of his residence. It had been truly informative to meet up with Alison after all these years – and she seemed to have chosen a great guy as her husband – the retired British police officer with a great sense of transatlantic humour. And to think that Samantha Wilkinson, Ensign USN, was actually Alison's biological daughter – wow!
Some time later that evening as they snuggled in bed, a further thought occurred to Caitlin.
"You know, Harm – in a year's time that will be *our* daughter graduating. The Wilkinsons - and Alison Laine - looked so proud as Samantha embarked on her Navy career."
"Wow – they grow and they go."
He rolled over and kissed her tenderly. "Thanks, Kate, for bringing our daughter back into my life."
"Well don't forget, number two could be following that career path in around 16 years, if he chooses to serve - and is selected."
"Oh brother! Admiral Samuel Rabb!"
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End Ch30 – "A meeting, a re-union and a question"
Notes: Mike, UK, 22-Aug-2020 – msg...