Hey Mister
Disclaimer: Same as before. This is a bit of an interlude explaining why Hal looked so haunted when he met Ivy. The events will be more fully explained later on. I got my inspiration for this from a JAG episode known as Skeleton Crew and Amanda M. Daugherty's fic by the same name.
~ ~ ~ ~
6 May 2000: "Speak of the devil." She heard Corso say as Ivy approached.
The British soldier turned around and the look on his face was as if he'd seen a ghost. "Lieutenant?" Corso asked, "Do you know each other?"
"No sir." Ivy replied.
"Yes sir." The British soldier replied, then caught himself, "My apologies sir, no we don't."
~ ~ ~ ~
19 September 1999: He was a fairly ordinary looking fellow when he walked in. Lean, fit build, wearing a green jacket with a brown leather collar, jeans and a collared shirt, that's what I remember. And his eyes, they were small and black and radiated a certain depth to them.
I figured he was one of the fellows from the Regiment or one of the attached units. This is Hereford, after all, and we get quite a few blokes from the SAS based around here. It isn't like Tidworth, a depressing little hellhole of a garrison town where I'd done three years as a boy soldier before I opened this place up. I went to grab a beer glass, I figured that was his type of poison.
All sorts of blokes show up around here, some to pick up women. Some drink to celebrate. And others to drown their sorrows. That's what I figured he was here for.
"Barkeep. I'll take a shot of Crown Royal." He said.
"Right, gove, I'll have it ready." I replied.
"Hey mister." he said to me. I turned with the decanter of whiskey and a shot glass which he took. His first shot went down with a hard swallow; I knew this wasn't his beverage type straightaway.
Sometimes a barkeep's gotta be an impromptu counselor, and this bloke looked like he needed it. "Yep." I replied.
"Have you ever been in love before?" he asked.
Of course I'd been, and still am. My wife's gained a few pounds but is fifty times lovelier, and she's waiting for me back home. "What happened?" I replied.
"We met eight years ago, when I was with the Royal Marines." He said, "She was working at an ACME field office near our barracks. I met her when we were taking night school classes together. I was nineteen at the time, she was eighteen. She was an American, I'm obviously British."
"Awfully long time to mope over a breakup, isn't it?" I replied.
"Diane and I were good friends, and before I knew it, I was in love with her. One night, I planned to ask her out, it was a year after we met, then she asked me had I met her boyfriend, Chris. I was devastated and requested a transfer far away. I recovered, and we both started seeing other people but over the years, we kept in touch despite the fact that our friendship was strained for a while afterward after I told her how I felt. Strangely it strengthened our friendship. Then earlier this year I worked up the courage to ask her if she wanted to try to take our friendship to the next level when she got transferred to the ACME Hereford Field Office." The man replied.
"It didn't pan out?" I asked.
"I was just getting there." He replied, "She and I were planning to go to her parent's cabin by a lake near her home in Indiana. We were gonna spend a couple weeks together, just talking about our feelings, and if we had a future as a couple."
"What happened?" I asked.
"I was on my way to the parking lot at the field office when I saw an ambulance. Thinking nothing of it, I stepped from my car to see the paramedics carrying away a body bag. The top was still open and I could see a face. As I got closer I saw the bloody face was Diane's." he replied, "Hey mister, could you take this photograph for me. I can't bear to look at it anymore. It was her answer."
He handed me the picture and the woman called Diane was gorgeous. She was slim figured, with dark eyes, short auburn hair framing an oval, intelligent face. He left the bar and some other bloke took his still warm barstool. The new bloke, older than the guy I'd spoken to, placed a newspaper on the bar and gave his order.
I was too busy staring at the headline to pay attention. The headline read: ACME DETECTIVE MURDERED. I saw the portrait of the detective and did a double take. In my thirty years of bartending I'd seen it all, heard it all, but this bloke's story just broke my heart. I looked over the photograph, yes, they were the same woman.
I turned the picture over and written on the back, in smeared blue ink was a simple YES with a heart next to it.
~ ~ ~ ~
6 May 2000: Ivy wondered why Hal looked so haunted on meeting her. His hands were clammy and he had the classic deer in the headlights gaze. She didn't know the full story behind the look, and only time would tell how she would react to the fact that she looked exactly like a woman in Hal's life.
~ ~ ~ ~
TBC: Up next, Hal and Ivy's next case. This was just a fic to explain Hal's haunted look when he first met Ivy. There may be a Hal and Ivy romance later on.....
Disclaimer: Same as before. This is a bit of an interlude explaining why Hal looked so haunted when he met Ivy. The events will be more fully explained later on. I got my inspiration for this from a JAG episode known as Skeleton Crew and Amanda M. Daugherty's fic by the same name.
~ ~ ~ ~
6 May 2000: "Speak of the devil." She heard Corso say as Ivy approached.
The British soldier turned around and the look on his face was as if he'd seen a ghost. "Lieutenant?" Corso asked, "Do you know each other?"
"No sir." Ivy replied.
"Yes sir." The British soldier replied, then caught himself, "My apologies sir, no we don't."
~ ~ ~ ~
19 September 1999: He was a fairly ordinary looking fellow when he walked in. Lean, fit build, wearing a green jacket with a brown leather collar, jeans and a collared shirt, that's what I remember. And his eyes, they were small and black and radiated a certain depth to them.
I figured he was one of the fellows from the Regiment or one of the attached units. This is Hereford, after all, and we get quite a few blokes from the SAS based around here. It isn't like Tidworth, a depressing little hellhole of a garrison town where I'd done three years as a boy soldier before I opened this place up. I went to grab a beer glass, I figured that was his type of poison.
All sorts of blokes show up around here, some to pick up women. Some drink to celebrate. And others to drown their sorrows. That's what I figured he was here for.
"Barkeep. I'll take a shot of Crown Royal." He said.
"Right, gove, I'll have it ready." I replied.
"Hey mister." he said to me. I turned with the decanter of whiskey and a shot glass which he took. His first shot went down with a hard swallow; I knew this wasn't his beverage type straightaway.
Sometimes a barkeep's gotta be an impromptu counselor, and this bloke looked like he needed it. "Yep." I replied.
"Have you ever been in love before?" he asked.
Of course I'd been, and still am. My wife's gained a few pounds but is fifty times lovelier, and she's waiting for me back home. "What happened?" I replied.
"We met eight years ago, when I was with the Royal Marines." He said, "She was working at an ACME field office near our barracks. I met her when we were taking night school classes together. I was nineteen at the time, she was eighteen. She was an American, I'm obviously British."
"Awfully long time to mope over a breakup, isn't it?" I replied.
"Diane and I were good friends, and before I knew it, I was in love with her. One night, I planned to ask her out, it was a year after we met, then she asked me had I met her boyfriend, Chris. I was devastated and requested a transfer far away. I recovered, and we both started seeing other people but over the years, we kept in touch despite the fact that our friendship was strained for a while afterward after I told her how I felt. Strangely it strengthened our friendship. Then earlier this year I worked up the courage to ask her if she wanted to try to take our friendship to the next level when she got transferred to the ACME Hereford Field Office." The man replied.
"It didn't pan out?" I asked.
"I was just getting there." He replied, "She and I were planning to go to her parent's cabin by a lake near her home in Indiana. We were gonna spend a couple weeks together, just talking about our feelings, and if we had a future as a couple."
"What happened?" I asked.
"I was on my way to the parking lot at the field office when I saw an ambulance. Thinking nothing of it, I stepped from my car to see the paramedics carrying away a body bag. The top was still open and I could see a face. As I got closer I saw the bloody face was Diane's." he replied, "Hey mister, could you take this photograph for me. I can't bear to look at it anymore. It was her answer."
He handed me the picture and the woman called Diane was gorgeous. She was slim figured, with dark eyes, short auburn hair framing an oval, intelligent face. He left the bar and some other bloke took his still warm barstool. The new bloke, older than the guy I'd spoken to, placed a newspaper on the bar and gave his order.
I was too busy staring at the headline to pay attention. The headline read: ACME DETECTIVE MURDERED. I saw the portrait of the detective and did a double take. In my thirty years of bartending I'd seen it all, heard it all, but this bloke's story just broke my heart. I looked over the photograph, yes, they were the same woman.
I turned the picture over and written on the back, in smeared blue ink was a simple YES with a heart next to it.
~ ~ ~ ~
6 May 2000: Ivy wondered why Hal looked so haunted on meeting her. His hands were clammy and he had the classic deer in the headlights gaze. She didn't know the full story behind the look, and only time would tell how she would react to the fact that she looked exactly like a woman in Hal's life.
~ ~ ~ ~
TBC: Up next, Hal and Ivy's next case. This was just a fic to explain Hal's haunted look when he first met Ivy. There may be a Hal and Ivy romance later on.....