The Ring Part 4
Harm's eyes opened when the front door closed. He put a hand on the bed where she was before, but the crumpled sheets were empty. He blinked and pinched the sleep out of his eyes, checked the clock, and flipped the blue sheets off of his naked body.
He scratched the top of his head as he lumbered into the living room and scanned around for signs of Mac. He was certain she stayed the night. He stared to wonder if he'd dreamt it, but he wasn't creative enough to think up sex like that.
Standing naked in the middle of his apartment, Harm closed his eyes for a long sleepy blink to wake up and remember. He sniffed awake, and then he smelled it. It was the most god-awful smell: synthetic grease, galley eggs, Navy coffee….
Harm turned to the kitchen. A breakfast had been cooked for him, and she was thoughtful enough to keep the wax paper boxes displaying the meatless bacon and I Can't Believe It's Not Eggs around the steamy dish. Harm's face brightened with the humor of it. He chuckled as he approached, and scratched his whiskers when he picked up the creature that was sitting on the counter poised to eat the eggs.
The bear was a plush stuffed animal with blue fur and a cute little white nose. It wore a tall white chef's hat, full apron, and carried a tiny cardboard spatula.
Harm scratched the back of his head and wondered it he would insult her if he didn't eat it.
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Harm was in the Admiral's chair with stacks of files and paperwork around him. He wasn't his usual cocky self about being in this office because his ear was pressed to the phone. "Yes, sir, I took care of that."
"Good," the Admiral said from over the horn, "I also want you to check the results of the Chief's Review Board. Did you get it?"
Harm's eyes widened as he searched the various stacks of files and flipped through odd collections of loose papers. "Just a moment, sir." He chewed on the side of his tongue and covered the phone, ready to page Tiner to help him find it—
But he stopped himself and put the phone to his ear. "Admiral? What name would I be looking for, sir?"
"You can't find it, can you?" The Admiral said with a smile in his voice.
Harm tried to sound innocent, "I was just wondering if I should or should not get Petty Officer Tiner's help to find it, sir."
The Admiral's voice calmed down, "get Gunny to help you…. And if he made it, inform Ms Young yourself."
"Yes, sir." Harm smiled easily. "Anything else, sir?"
"No, that's it."
"How's Geneva, sir?"
The Admiral sighed, "the same." He chuckled a little. "I'll call again tomorrow."
"Yes, sir."
Click.
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Gunny stepped into the room with a casual saunter, "you asked for me Commander?"
"Close the door, Gunny."
Gunny turned and exchanged glances with Tiner as he closed the door.
He squared his feet in front of the desk and clasped his hands easily behind him. "What can I do for you, sir?"
"Can you help me find the Chief's Review Board results in this mess? I don't even know what they look like."
The Gunny smiled. "He made it, sir. Tiner is on the list."
Rabb's face splashed with surprise. He sat up slowly, "how do you know?"
The Gunny smiled again. This data should have been obvious to the man. "I'm Gunnery Sergeant, sir -- same rank jarhead-style. We saw the results before anyone else did."
Harm put a palm on the armrest. "The Admiral's not going to be here for this. What would you suggest I do?"
"Let us handle it, sir," Gunny said. "I've taken the liberty of informing all the required personnel. At knock off Friday afternoon, the Chiefs will be by to… take care of it, sir."
"I see." Harm spouted, a little aghast at the way the NCOs were taking care of their own. "As his commanding officer, albeit temporarily, shouldn't I be the one to give him the anchor?"
Gunny grinned a little. "If it's that important to you, sir, you're welcome to give him the anchor."
Harm looked at him from the side of his eyes. "What else are you planning to do?"
Gunny smiled from ear to ear, "tradition, sir." He let that sink into Rabb's brain a little before asking, "is there anything else, sir?"
Rabb was still wincing in the air at what they were going to do to Tiner, in the office, Friday afternoon. He simply shook his head.
Gunny about-faced and grinned as he moved out the door.
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If he made the Chief's board, they would have told him by now and Tiner said as much over the phone to Jodi the night before. She consoled him lovingly and told him there will always be another Chief's board. Even her father called him up and told him not to sweat. As he told every other enlisted man that didn't make it, he told Tiner to sit down with his ECO and figure out why he didn't make it, so he could fill that hole before the next review board.
The only thing really glaring from his service record was sea duty, but being the Judge Advocate General's yeoman should have made up for that. However, without sea duty, there was no way to get his ESWS and lost a great number of chances for accommodations to add to the tiny fruit salad on his chest. He debated heavily on whether or not leaving JAG was worth making Chief.
By 1500 Friday afternoon, Tiner was waiting patiently for knock off so he could go home to Jodi and drink a six-pack to talk the decision over. Commander Rabb had The Mahogany Door open and waded through paperwork without incident, and the office was quieted to a grueling silence of work. Everyone was trying to get through one task or another before the weekend. There was little more noise when court let out, but Commander Sturgis and Lieutenant Roberts weren't exactly noisy when they finished arguing their cases and moved back to their offices.
Then, like an explosion on a battlefield, the noise of big men on the warpath boomed through the office. The eldest two were gray-haired, the youngest two were raven haired with gray streaks. All were Viet Nam Vet era and all of them were six-foot-one and taller. They marched in loudly, looking around to find their way and couldn't care less about the people that stared back at them.
Lt Simms looked up and slowly stood up. Lt Roberts' brows flicked. Commander Sturgis grinned a little. Colonel Mackenzie turned and squinted, approaching slowly, "Senior Chief Young, isn't it?" She held out a hand to shake the man's hand.
Roger, Joe, and Jethro Young faced the Colonel off from behind Steve and boomed angrily, "where is the Admiral's office?!"
Steve Young waved for them to shut up and lifted a small request chit to the Colonel. "our yeoman had the balls to mail me this request chit without signing it correctly."
He showed her the request chit and remembered it instantly. "What's wrong with it Senior Chief? I thought it was kind of romantic."
"Romantic?!" Roger boomed from behind her.
"Where is that sonofabitch?!" Joe growled but the move let his smile escape.
Clearly, they were putting on a show and when Gunny hustled to the scene with a twinkle in his eyes, people started figuring out what it was all about, "this way, Senior Chiefs."
Various members stood to watch the crew move to the Admiral's office. They strolled nonchalantly to peak around the corner and see what was going on. The old men made a show of it: stomping their way to Tiner's desk. Commander Rabb was already standing at the door with his mouth open, trying to figure out what to do. "Nice to see you again, Senior Chief."
Tiner hadn't met The Dad yet, much less any of the infamous uncles. He was too stunned to get up from his desk for them, but his brows lifted with surprise, fear, and 'oh shit, I'm dead'.
Joe Young slapped the request chit on his desk and pointed at it. "You signed this as a Petty Officer First Class?!!?" He picked it up and ripped it up and then threw the slivers of paper at Tiner's head.
Tiner blubbered a little and started to offer to sign it as-
His breath escaped as enlightenment filled his eyes.
Joe Young's growl was as loud and as tough as the Admiral in a bad mood. "Fill it out again if you're still alive on Monday."
Gunny slid passed the big men, unworried, and gave the anchor to Commander Rabb.
Harm smiled until his tongue stuck out again, stood on both feet, and moved through the men to step out to the floor so everyone could see.
"Chiefs?" Gunny said, smiling easily down at Tiner. "Would you mind bringing the Petty Officer out to the floor?"
Jethro leaned over the desk and grabbed the front of Tiner's crackerjacks with both hands. Roger took one arm and Joe took the other. The three of them yanked Tiner out of his chair like they were going to beat the snot out of him and pulled him right over the top of the desk.
The move knocked over the keyboard until it hung from the side by its cord, the pencil holder fell and splashed pencils and white board markers over the floor, and several files went tumbling making a complete mess and scaring the bejesus out of poor Tiner.
They planted his feet on the ground in the main room but held him by the arms in front of the Commander. The collar flap of his cracker jacks was wrinkled and hanging over his shoulder, and then Steve Young roughly slapped the white cover on his head upside down, Gilligan style.
Gunny stood next to the Commander with a big smile, "Commander, it looks to me like this man is grossly out of uniform."
Commander Rabb chuckled a little as he tried to figure out where to put the anchor. Cracker Jacks don't have collars in the traditional sense. He pulled the white hat off Tiner's head, pinned the anchor to the cuff, and chuckled when he gladly slapped it back on in the same Gilligan fashion. "Congratulations, Chief Tiner."
Tiner's arms were still being held firm, so he flicked his head to adjust the hat enough to see. He had a bewildered grin on his face and muttered, "thank you, sir."
"Oh, he ain't no Chief until we're done with him!" Jodi's father hooted loudly to the room as he grabbed an ankle. "Everybody say good bye to Petty Officer Tiner!"
They sang goodbyes and congratulations and watched as the four big men took him by all fours and picked him up to their shoulders. The Young Boys carried the poor kid out to make a chief out of him and Gunny proudly strutted behind, grabbing his own cover and smiling evilly at the people he passed.
Tiner was swung by the arms and legs and literally thrown into the back of an empty van, but he was laughing about the jokes and growls by the time he landed. Petty Officer First Class Carran from the first floor was also thrown into the van and slid to crash into Tiner. The doors were slammed shut like they were criminal captives, but the two were already teary eyed with anxiety and laughter. A voice curled so high pitched from the back of the van, it was hard to know which one it was, " we're gonna die."
The Young brothers fought like cats and dogs about who was going to drive and Gunny easily ordered them to just 'get the fuck in the car'. Another small group of Chiefs piled into the bed of somebody else's truck like a Frat party and the whole crew sang loud and laughing to the tune of My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean.
My father sells cheap prophylactics!
My mother pricks them with a pin!
My sister sells out her own breast milk!
My god how the money rolls in!
The same thought crossed everyone's mind as the caravan squealed away.
'It's too bad the Admiral had to miss this.'
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Tiner had trouble getting all the blueberry jam out of his hair. It had stained his brown curls to a dark purple in places. The brand new hat would cover it on his way in, but while inside it would be fairly obvious. Tiner didn't mind though. He flopped the cover on his head by its black bill, made sure his tie was straight, and climbed out of his car slowly. He was sore and bruised, but still grinning a little about the whole thing. Nothing the officers could say or do to him today would hold a candle to what the Chief's did to him.
There were three new words that just the mention of them made his stomach turn: KY jelly, chickens, and creamed corn.
And they say crossing the line is bad.
Tiner got there before everyone else did, like a yeoman was supposed to, and put down his new, black billed, white cover with a fat gold anchor on the front. Someone had picked up the stuff from the floor, but it was still out of order. He opened The Mahogany Door to verify Rabb wasn't in there yet, moved around to sit down at his desk and started putting things back where they were supposed to be.
There was no big applause or standing ovation, but everyone managed to stop by one by one to congratulate him and suddenly, Tiner was no longer known as 'Tiner'. His first name was 'Chief' now. Even Rabb smiled and shook his hand when he showed up, "so you're the Chief come to take over Tiner's job. Welcome aboard."
"Thank you, sir." Tiner said casually, picked up the schedule, and moved into the office behind him to rattle off morning pass-down to him.
The Admiral's plane touched down at 10:30 at Reagan Airport and Chief Tiner was released to go alone to pick up the Admiral. They'd done this so many times that Tiner and the Admiral had a spot on the curb already picked out for them to meet. The Admiral didn't mind walking out of his way. It was worth always knowing where to meet his ride without having to have a discussion about it.
So Tiner stood by the passenger door of the car with his feet shoulder-width, his arms crossed at his chest and his back so straight it almost bowed backwards. He watched the Admiral come out of the terminal from under the black bill and managed to keep his mouth closed while beamed proud as punch as the man stepped forward.
He came to attention at the last minute and saluted with an eccentric flick of his wrist. The Admiral stopped directly in front of him, set his feet shoulder-width, and clasped his wrist in front of him, letting the briefcase hang to his knees.
The O8 looked over his nose at the E7 and studied the new uniform. He looked Tiner up and down, leaned to the side to check out the half-circle added to his crow patch and angled head to make sure the tie was a nice tight knot.
When he felt he had let Tiner stand there in salute long enough to make his arm start going to sleep, he put his brief case down, came to attention and met his eyes to give him the same, long, proud as punch, salute back.
It was all the congratulations the Admiral would give him. And all the congratulations that Tiner ever needed.
When the Admiral dropped his salute, he quickly picked up his briefcase and opened the back door himself. "Let's go, Chief."
"Aye aye, sir." Tiner said easily, closed the door for the man, and hopped happily around the car to drive him home.
