Disclaimers in Part 1
Sonnet 17
Wednesday, 6 November 2002
JAG Ops
Falls Church, VA
2330 ZULU
AJ grumbled, cursing the SECNAV under his breath. He had intended to get out of the office in time to visit Mac, but at this rate...He shoved the file to one side, and took a deep breath.
AJ and Harm had arrived at JAG around noon. As soon as he got in, AJ was inundated by messages from the SECNAV's office, telling him to call him immediately.
AJ was now stuck in the office, completing mounds of paperwork. He now wished he hadn't taken that long lunch, but something had just drawn him to the bookstore by his house. He had perused the stacks of books in the Classics section in the back of the store. He wasn't sure exactly what he was looking for until he found it. An older edition of the Shakespearean sonnets, beautifully bound and covered. He seized it and brought it to the clerk by the front window. She was rather put out after he declined to make the requisite small talk. He would've been abashed by his actions, but he was in too much of a hurry. Of course, hurrying did not cut back on the amount of time spent with the SECNAV, who wanted reporters allowed into Mac's hospital room. AJ respectfully disagreed with the SECNAV's desires, which caused a torrent of paperwork to rain down on his desk as punishment.
AJ sighed. 'I suppose I'll have to see Sarah tomorrow. It'll be 2300 at the least by the time I get out of here!'
Friday, 8 November 2002
Bethesda Naval Hospital
Bethesda, MD
1700 ZULU
"I am not eating that!" Mac shoved the tray of bland hospital food away from her, preparing to show the nurse exactly why he should not piss off an exhausted, hungry, frustrated Marine.
"Colonel, you need to keep your strength up if you want to heal quickly. The only way you can do that is to eat! If you don't, we'll put the IV back in your arm," he warned.
"You will NOT do anything of the sort, Lieutenant!" AJ Chegwidden's voice boomed from the doorway. The nurse snapped to attention, and Mac straightened in her bed.
"As you were, Colonel. Lieutenant, would you care to explain to me why you were threatening a superior officer?"
"Admiral, sir! I'm sorry, sir, but the Colonel will not eat, sir, and she needs the nutrients in order to heal properly."
"I will take care of it, Lieutenant. Do not let me hear of you bullying officers again, do you hear? Dismissed!"
AJ turned to Mac. "So, Mac, how are you feeling today?" He wouldn't allow himself to call her Sarah. He knew that Harriet already suspected something of his feelings toward Sarah, and he couldn't let anyone else see.
Mac smiled at AJ. "I'm feeling just fine, sir. I am hungry, though."
"So, eat," AJ replied, gesturing at the untouched plate before her.
"I meant for real food, Admiral!" Mac laughed.
"Well, Mac, this is all the food you're gonna get while you're in here, so I suggest you eat. Imagine it's a Beltway Burger if you must, but eat."
Mac sighed melodramatically. "Alright, Admiral, if I must." She picked up the fork and began to choke down the food.
They sat in companionable silence for awhile, and then AJ spoke. "I'm sorry I couldn't make it yesterday. SECNAV's been breathing down my neck, and I couldn't get away."
"That's perfectly all right, sir. Harriet, Sturgis, even Webb has been by. And there were so many flowers, I had to get the night nurse to throw them out before I suffocated!"
"Well, then, Mac, I hope you won't throw this out." He handed her a wrapped package. Mac looked at him inquisitively. "Well, don't just sit there, Colonel, open it," AJ said gruffly.
Mac took great care in opening the gaily-wrapped gift. A smile spread across her face when she saw what was underneath the paper. She was ridiculously happy that AJ wanted to share something he loved so much with her. "Oh, A-Admiral, this is wonderful!" She caught herself before she called him AJ.
"You like it?" AJ asked cautiously. He was hoping that she would enjoy it as much as he did.
"Oh, I love it! I've needed something to keep me occupied. I've been going stir-crazy here." She hesitated. "Would you read to me, sir?"
AJ was surprised. "You want me to--?" He cleared his throat. "Certainly, Mac. Which one would you like me to read?"
"Oh, any one you want."
He opened the book and began to read.
"Who will believe my verse in time to come,
If it were filled with your most high deserts?
Though yet heaven knows it is but as a tomb
Which hides your life, and shows not half your parts."
When he got to the next quatrain, he paused and looked directly into Mac's eyes, then continued in a slightly husky voice.
"If I could write the beauty of your eyes,
And in fresh numbers number all your graces,
The age to come would say, 'This poet lies;
Such heavenly touches ne'er touched earthly faces.'"
Mac's breath caught. She recalled that day in AJ's office, when he was asking about giving a gift to Dr. Walden. That, too, was a copy of Shakespeare's works. She remembered saying that it wasn't a very romantic gift. AJ convinced her otherwise, by reciting just that stanza.
"So should my papers, yellowed with their age,
Be scorned, like old men of less truth than tongue,
And your true rights be termed a poet's rage
And stretched meter of an antique song:
But were some child of yours alive that time,
You should live twice--in it, and in my rhyme."
"That was beautiful, sir," she said when AJ finished. She yawned. "I'm sorry, Admiral. I guess I'm more tired than I thought."
"Don't worry about it, Mac. I should probably get back, anyway. I'll let you get some rest."
"Goodbye, Admiral. Thank you for the book."
AJ smiled, turned, and left.
A soft smile spread across Mac's face. 'Oh, if only he meant what he was reading!' she thought wistfully as she drifted off to sleep.
What Mac didn't realize, was that he meant every word.
