Chapter 16

Luck be a Lady Tonight

Col. Pete Bradley's Office

A loud rap broke through Pete's concentration. He'd been engrossed in his daily operations paperwork. Sometimes, Pete wished he'd never been promoted. He wished he was still on the line, in the cockpit, flying Mach two with his hair on fire. He loved his job for sure, he loved the men under his command. But, he hated paperwork.

"Enter" He called and immediately jumped to his feet as he recognized his commanding officer. "How can I help you, sir?"

"Got a minute, Pete?" Christian McAuliffe asked with Commodore Maggie Flynn in tow.

"Of course, sir. How can I help you?"

"We've got a bit of a problem. " Pete watched as his boss and friend turn six shades of pink as he fingered his wedding ring as the commodore wrung her hands in worry as well.

"Okay, what seems to be the problem?" Pete asked.

"It seems, well, this is embarrassing. It seems that sometime last night, the Commodore and I, well, we…uhm…" He couldn't finish his thoughts.

"What he's tryin ta say is, we got married last night". Maggie Flynn blurted out.

"What? How?" Pete was taken aback.

"That's what we don't remember or even know." McAuliffe replied. "The question is, are we legally married?"

"I really don't know. I think we need to talk to the ADC. They would be the best people to talk to."

"We were hoping we could talk to Abernathy. I understand he just had several of his soldiers go through the same thing." Flynn said.

"Well, his wife did just have triplets and he's in Utah right now. I'm not sure when he was planning on returning to Nellis. "

"Great. We need to figure out if this is legal." McAuliffe said. "I think our best course of action is to talk to the ADC"

"What is the ADC?" Flynn asked.

"The Area Defense Counsel. They're our lawyers."

"I thought you called your solicitors, Judge Advocate Generals? At least, that's what I saw on your Telly."

"Well, yes. They are. But, the ADC are our legal advisors. They serve to advise the individual members of the Air Force on legal matters." McAuliffe explained. "Normally, they advise us if we're in trouble with the Air Force. But, they may be able to help us in this case."

"Well, then, let's talk to them." Maggie said simply.

"In the meantime, I will call Clayton and see if he has any ideas as well" Bradley suggested. "I'll also see when he plans on returning to Nellis."

Pete picked up the phone and dialed.

The Pit, Somewhere in Utah

The phone rang in in Hawk's office, awakening him. He shook off the sleep and suddenly remembered where he was. "General Hawk"

"Clay, it's Pete. How are you doing?"

"Ugh….why didn't someone tell me what it was like to have triplets."

"Because, neither me nor Caroline have triplets, brother." Pete laughed. "And we don't remember what it was like when we were born. But, I do remember my mother saying she didn't get a lot of sleep with twins."

"Somehow, I can believe it. How the heck did Caroline do it even with one. I missed out on both my kids baby moments." Hawk said simply. "What can I do for you?"

"I know you said two of your people were somehow magically married." Pete said.

"Yes, why do you need to know?"

"You're never going to believe this, but, my base commander found himself married to the commodore from the British team." Pete below out.

"Somehow, I believe it. If two of Cobra's operatives weren't in the same predicament, I'd think this was one of their hair brained schemes."

"Okay, so who could've done it." Pete questioned aloud.

"That we still don't know. We're still trying to figure out how to get our people out of this mess."

"How legal are these marriages?"

"Don't know yet. I've got a call into a lawyer. But, from what I've found, unless the couples show up at the courthouse and apply for a license, they can't be too legal. No matter what the wedding chapels say." Hawk replied. "I'm going to be on a flight out of here in about an hour. I should see you in about two hours."

"Are you sure? Doesn't Caroline need you?"

"Pete, Carrie would rather I take care of my people, you know that as well as I do. She understands Duty, Honor, Country"

"Yes, yes, she does. See you in two hours." Pete said as he hung up the phone.

"I want to go with you." Caroline said as she walked in with all three babies in tow.

"Carrie, you just had triplets. I don't think that's a good idea."

"I do. I think you're too overprotective. Besides, Kerry and Pete should meet the babies."

"Carrie" His one word response spoke volumes.

"No, Carrie about it. You shouldn't go."

"I am going, no arguments." She let him know in no uncertain terms was he making this decision.

"Fine. You can go."