Part 1...
August 13, 2001
1420 EDT
BWI Airport
Southwest Airlines Terminal...
Tapping her foot impatiently on the ground. Austin looked from her watch to the
clock on the wall. Why was it that every time she was on time to pick someone
up the flight was delayed? Sure thunderstorms were probably hard to fly around
or through, but right now she wanted Victor back.
Her weekend had been fun, thanks to Harriet and Bud being sure she was
entertained every minute of every day. Despite her protests that she was
capable of being alone and not sobbing brokenly into an empty pint of Ben and
Jerry's ice cream, Austin had been thankful for the company.
She'd seen more antiques than she was aware existed in the entire state of Virginia. It was almost a certainty that she could now recite "Green Eggs and Ham" from memory after the number of times little AJ had asked her to read it to him.She'd also managed to dance so much on Friday night that her legs were still a little sore and stiff. All of that to try and forget she was way too attached to someone she'd been dating for a month or so.
"Southwest Airlines Flight 1293 from Albuquerque, New Mexico is now
arriving at Gate 75G."
"And it's about damned time!" Austin muttered under her breath as she
stood stretching her legs, brushing her bangs off her forehead and adjusting
her backpack style purse on her shoulder before she moved to the window to
watch the jet maneuver to the gate.
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Meanwhile on the plane...
"Is someone going to be here to pick you up dear?"
Victor smiled at the kind old woman he had been sitting next to and stood to
get her bag out of the overhead compartment for her. "Yes Ma'am."
"Well that's nice dear. Thank you so much for being so helpful."
"It was no trouble at all Ma'am. Have an enjoyable stay," Victor
answered as politely as he could when all he could think of was seeing Austin
again. He couldn't wait to put his arms around her again, though he'd make
himself wait until they were alone for that.
The aisle began clearing out and Victor stood moving into the flow of people disembarking moving through the corridor preparing himself for the disorienting noise and bustle he'd be thrust into as soon as he entered the airport's waiting area.
He stepped into the terminal and to the side scanning the room for Austin
seeing her almost instantly in a pair of denim overall shorts with a hot pink
T-shirt underneath. Victor raised a hand in greeting, grinning as he walked
toward her.
"Victor!" Austin squealed happily throwing herself into his arms for
a brief, tight hug before he stepped back holding her hands tightly in his.
"Hey Aus...you're looking good. Any plans for this afternoon?"
"Well...I was thinking that this really handsome Marine I know would take
me to lunch then back to his place so we could say hello properly. The Admiral
told me I could have today off," Austin teased seeing Victor's look darken
slightly as he looked at something over her shoulder.
"That sounds wonderful Miss Bradford, but Gunnery Sergeant Galindez might
need to take a rain check on that."
"Webb," Victor's tone made the word sound less like a greeting and
more like a curse.
"Hello Miss Bradford. May I borrow Gunnery Sergeant Galindez for a moment or two?"
"No!"
"Of course," Austin countered squeezing Victor's hands tightly in
hers. "It's okay Victor, I'll go get your luggage for you while you talk
to Mr. Webb."
"Make it fast Webb..." Victor growled after he was sure Austin was
far enough away not to hear anything he was going to say.
"I've requested you be assigned to me for a little while. Admiral
Chegwidden approved it. We need to talk about what it is we're going to be
doing."
"Not now Mr. Webb. Now all I want to do is have lunch with my girlfriend
and go home."
"Later tonight then."
"No," Victor's response was immediate and brooked no argument.
"In the morning is soon enough."
Clayton Webb nodded, knowing he wasn't going to get anywhere with Galindez at
the moment. "I'll be in touch."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1800 EDT
Victor Galindez's apartment...
"Vic, you've been cranky ever since we ran into Mr. Webb. What's
wrong?" Austin purred as she snuggled against his side making him wrap his
arm tighter around her shoulder while he flipped through the channels on the
remote.
"Nothing...I'm sorry Aus," Victor answered feeling bad that she had
noticed his mood. He'd tried to hide it from her, apparently he hadn't tried
hard enough.
It wasn't that he didn't want to work with Webb, he knew it would be exciting
and he'd certainly see a lot more action with Webb than he would at JAG. Maybe
it was just getting back from a week away from Austin and knowing he was
probably going to be spending more time away from her. Tiner had filled him in
on office gossip shortly after his arrival and one of the chief topics of
conversation had been how Commander Rabb and Colonel Mackenzie seemed to come
back from any time spent with Webb looking a lot worse for the wear.
"Come here you," he whispered in her ear letting his free hand slide
down her leg.
"Mmm...I missed you," Austin breathed softly as his lips hovered
millimeters from hers.
"Missed you too," Victor murmured running his lips over hers
tenderly.
The couple settled into a deep kiss only to be interrupted by the ringing of
the phone.
"Oh for the love of..." Victor bellowed glaring at the inoffensive
machine sitting on the table across the room.
"Answer it Victor: It might be your mother wanting to be sure you made it
home all right," Austin coaxed watching as he stalked across the room.
"Galindez," Victor spat into the phone knowing it was not his mother.
He had talked to her earlier while Austin had been out buying some groceries.
"I'm guessing I interrupted something," Webb's voice came through the
phone line sounding amused rather than repentant.
"None of your business. What do you want?" Victor growled looking
back at Austin who had an eyebrow arched as she watched him.
"We need to talk about what it is I need you to do. And we need to do it
tonight. Meet me at McMurphy's in an hour."
"I have company...I'm not going anywhere."
"Look, just meet me there in an hour...she can take a bath or something
while you're gone...get ready for you. Just be there!"
Victor was ready to snarl something else when the dial tone rang in his ear.
Terrific...there went his nice evening with Austin. He stiffened briefly when
her hands fell to his shoulders, kneading gently.
"Who was that?"
"Webb...I need to go out for a little while in about a half hour. Do you
want to stay here tonight or go home?" Victor asked hoping she would stay.
He liked being able to sleep with her in his arms.
"I'd like to stay here...I have a bag in my trunk," Austin smiled.
"I'd like you to stay...that's settled then," Victor smiled running
his hand through her short silky hair. "I'll go get your bag."
Austin watched him go wondering if tonight would be the night they finally did
more than sleep in each other's arms when they got into bed together. She felt
as if she'd been waiting forever. Not that Austin wanted to rush into anything,
but it was getting harder and harder to deny how much she wanted to have sex.
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