Home is where your best friend is Chapter 7: Apartments and Lawyers, a jag fanfic

Chapter 7

Home is where your best friend is

Thursday 1830

Outside room 178

A hotel in DC

Mac fumbled with the keycard in her right hand, attempting to swipe it so
that she could get the door to her hotel room open. The only problem she
was having came from having a sleeping Ali balanced on one hip with her
right arm and holding a large bag full of food and other items in the other
arm. Mac fumbled again and this time dropped the keycard. Muttering under
her breath, she contemplated how to retrieve the keycard without having to
put anything down.

"Need some help there?" came a friendly voice to her right. Mac turned and
saw a young woman in her mid-twenties walking down the neatly carpeted
hallway towards her. The woman was dressed in a knee length black skirt and
a short sleeved casual-looking green top. She looked vaguely familiar toMac, although she couldn't place her.

"Yes please, that would be wonderful." Mac replied gratefully. "If you
could just get my card for me..." she nodded to the card on the floor and
the woman picked it up and swiped it for her.

"Here let me help you." The woman insisted, taking the bag of groceries from
Mac's arms.

"Thanks."

They made their way into the sparsely furnished room where the lady
dumped the bag onto the counter of the tiny kitchenette. Mac set Ali
down on the bed and removed her daughter's glasses, setting them on the
small nightstand. The room was small, however Mac wasn't planning on
staying in it for long, she had no desire to burn all her money by
renting expensive suites. When you entered the room there was a double bed
immediately on the left and on the right, a closet for clothes and other
items. The closet door slid open to reveal a few drawers, a rack for
things to hang off and a shelf with a TV on it that could be seen from the
bed, provided you left the doors open. In the back right corner of the room
was a small bathroom in the left hand corner was the tiny kitchenette. The
only furniture in the room apart from the bed was a small table with two
chairs around it. It wasn't luxury but it would do.

"Pretty nice room for what I'm paying." Mac stated, turning to the stranger
in her room. "Mac" she said, holding out her hand and introducing herself
in her usual minimalistic way.

"Kara." The woman took her hand and shook it, smiling. Her cheerful
demeanour reminded Mac somewhat of Harriet. "It's good to meet you, Mac.

Why are you called Mac, if you don't mind me asking?"
Mac smiled. She preferred straightforward people like Kara to those who
just looked at her oddly when she said her name, yet didn't dare ask her
why she was called that.

"It's short for my last name, Mackenzie." she answered. "I've been going by
'Mac' ever since boot camp."

With a jolt Mac realised that she had said that Mackenzie was her surname,
not her maiden name. What surprised her more was that she really did think
of Mackenzie as her last name, not Casey or Mackenzie-Casey.

"Boot camp?"

"Yeah. United States Marine Corps."

"Wow cool....or should I say, cool ma'am?" Kara joked, grinning.

Mac smiled too. She was already starting to feel more relaxed after her
difficult day. She had spent the day drawing up the divorce papers
with the divorce lawyer she had hired. Unfortunately, every time she thought that they had finally got it right, something else would occur to her and she would have to go back again to add it. By the end of the day, though, the papers were ready to be faxed off the Rob for his approval.

"So, why are you staying here?" Kara asked Mac. "That is, if you don't mind
talking about it. If you don't want to say anything, I completely understand. I'm just curious and like to make friends whenever I can."

"No, it's fine. I actually used to live in DC in a nice apartment but about three years ago I got married and my husband wanted us to move to LA. So we did. Now I'm staying here because I'm moving back to DC."

"That's great. So where are the two, or rather three of you - I'm presuming that she's you're daughter - going to live?"

Mac winced inwardly. "No, you see I'm moving back to DC, with Ali. My husband's not. I've spent all day with my divorce lawyer."

"Oh." Kara replied somewhat embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry."

"Naa, don't be. I'm not. I have no desire to live with him any longer. " Mac shrugged. "That's life for you. Some people just aren't what they seem.

"So, why are you here?"

"Oh, I live here. My dad owns the hotel so we kind of don't need a house.Besides, we spend so much time around here anyway that living somewhere else would just end up being an inconvenience. I'm in the room at the end of the hall. So where are you going to live once you move back here? If you don't mind me asking."

"I really don't know. I mean, I had my own apartment before I got married but when we moved I sold it, which means that I have to go apartment hunting now."

"Yuck. I hate apartment hunting."

"I thought you lived here, though."

"I do, but a few years ago I decided that it would be nice to live on my own somewhere else. Believe it or not, it was such a hassle just trying to find an apartment that I gave up without ever moving."

Mac laughed. "Yeah, I know what it's like. In fact, I should probably start tonight because I just know that it's going to take forever for me to find decent one."

"Well in that case, I'll leave you to your apartment hunting." said Kara, eading towards the door. "If you ever find you need anything, you know here to find me"

"Thanks, Kara. I'll see you later. Thanks for helping me bring all my stuff in."

"You're welcome. Bye."

Mac shut the door after Kara and made sure that it was locked securely. Taking her way over to the counter of the small kitchenette, Mac opened the large bag she had brought and took out the newspaper. She flicked through it until she found the real estate section and pulled it out. Picking up a pen from the bag, she opened up the paper and began looking at all the different apartments for sale or rent.

Same time
Casey residence
LA

Robert Casey swore as he tripped over the small bin in the bathroom. He crouched down and began to put things back into the bin when he noticed a bloody tissue. He remembered that it had come from Ali when she had fallen over on Tuesday and scraped her knee on the gravel. As he saw the tissue and an idea popped into his mind. After his conversation with Sarah on Wednesday, something that she had said kept repeating itself in his brain.

"If you think that I'd actually cheat on you, for whatever reason, then you obviously never knew me."

It was not just her words, however, it was the hurt and disbelief that her voice carried. It made him think that maybe, just maybe, he had been wrong and that he really was the father. Picking up the tissue and dumping the rest of the rubbish back into the bin, he left the house, got into his car and started driving.

Thursday 1930
Mac's apartment
Hotel in DC

Mac put down her pen and rubbed her eyes. She had spent over half an hour looking at ads for apartments and not one of them seemed to be suitable for what she wanted. Deciding to give herself a break for a while, she got up and shuffled into the small kitchenette and rummaged through the small freezer and found the TV dinner she had put in there earlier. She took off the plastic wrapping and started it heating in the microwave. While she was waiting for her dinner to heat up, she picked up the phone and dialled a familiar number. She rolled her eyes in annoyance as the answering machine at hers and Rob's house picked up. She had actually wanted to talk to Rob, as it would have made organising details easier, however that was made rather difficult because he wasn't actually there.

Not that I really expected him to be there. He's probably out at some bar or other getting drunk...the usual

"...and we'll get back to you as soon as possible." A beep followed the answering machine message.

"Rob, it's me. I'm just letting you know that my lawyer is sending the divorce papers over to you for you to sign. If you have any problems with what goes to who, call me and we'll work something out."

She hung up with out even saying goodbye and went to sit on the kitchen counter to wait for her dinner. The microwave beeped a minute later and Mac hopped off the kitchen bench and took it over to where her newspaper was. She had just speared the first mouthful of lasagne onto a fork and was about to put it into her mouth when one particular ad caught her attention. She stared at it. It was too good to be true. It was an apartment in Georgetown.

Two bedroom apartment with one bathroom, large kitchen and large living area. Good view of the city and not much noise from traffic. Perfect for one or two. Affordable renting price.

Mac stared at the picture that accompanied that ad. There was something vaguely familiar about the apartment she was looking at. Inwardly shrugging, she looked at the last part of the ad and did a double take when she saw what was written there.

2812, The Washington building
Apartment 202
Georgetown

It was the address of the apartment for sale. Not just any apartment, though. It was across the hall from the apartment she had lived in before she had married Rob. She couldn't believe her luck. Getting her old apartment building back would definitely be a bonus, and without a second thought she picked up the phone and dialled the phone number and waited for the person on the other end to pick up.

Thursday 1630 LA time

Casey Residence Robert Casey sat in his living room, randomly flicking through the TV channels, not paying the least attention to what was showing. Bored, he went over to the fridge and took out a beer, glad that he could now keep alcohol at home. At first he had never consumed any alcohol when Sarah was around, however after a while it had changed to just one drink in her presence, then two, then three... Soon he wasn't even bothering to offer not to drink when she was around. After all, everyone else was drinking, why shouldn't he?

Surely she was used to it. She had drawn the line, however, at having any alcohol stored in the house. He was usually able to sway her decisions in other matters, however this was one matter on which her opinion would not change. Now that she was gone, however, he was able to store whatever liquor he wanted. Maybe being single again wasn't such a bad thing.

He walked back over to the couch and sat down again, just as bored as hehad been thirty seconds before. The people at the medical centre had toldhim that they could have the results to him in 6 weeks at the earliest. Not that that bothered him. The divorce would take at least 6 months to go through, so he would have plenty of time for..... whatever it was. It all depended on the results of the DNA test.

The phone rang, but Rob couldn't be bothered to pick it up. He usually wasn't home at this time anyway, so it wouldn't matter if he didn't answer it. Whoever it was could leave a message.

He heard the answering machine pick up and Sarah's recorded voice floated across the room to him.

"Hi, you've reached Rob and Sarah. We're not here right now, so just leave a message and we'll get back to you as soon as possible."

A beep followed the recording and Rob was startled to hear Sarah's voice again, but this time not recorded.

There was a click as she hung up and the whirr of the tape rewinding to the beginning of the message.

A/N: ok, so that chapter was pointless with virtually nothing happening. I apologise for that, but I had a nasty battle with the evil Count Writers-Block. Never fear, however, because I beat him with my shiny sword. All is well now.

And for those of you who asked, yes, I will mail you your brownies, only I think that they may take a while to get to you, considering that they'll have to come from Sydney. And no, I can't afford self-refrigerated envelopes.