Monday...
"Commander!" came Chegwidden's voice over the lull of the mundane office noises. "Bring the Colonel with you to my office."
"Yessir," Harm said. He went to knock on Mac's door when he noticed the lights were off; she hadn't arrived yet. As he started towards Chegwidden's office, he eyed her come in with a huff as she smoothed her hair back and shrugged off her overcoat.
"Mac!" he called to her and jogged back. "Admiral's office."
She went to her office without a word and he followed. She managed to retrieve her makeup mirror from her purse and glanced at it. "I had half-an-hour to shower, get changed, have breakfast and drive to work," she said as she adjusted her eye makeup with a shaky finger; it had smudged visibly as she ran out of her apartment earlier that day. "I didn't get to move at a leisurely pace like you this morning."
"What held you up?"
"Late night," she said as they shot across the bullpen, "I had to finalize a report and stayed up past 0100. Wasn't pretty."
Within, the two officers snapped to attention and shared a look of skepticism as Chegwidden eyed them with a trenchant expression.
"At ease, both of you," he said as he handed Mac two files. "DUI for you, DDO for the Commander. And, a Petty Officer Taylor is pressing charges against her CO, on the basis of sexual assault. Colonel will prosecute, and you'll defend Commander. Dismissed."
Both officers spun around and started out when Chegwidden stopped them. "Actually, I…" he eyed Mac and started to wave her out when he decided against it. "Meredith still hasn't heard back regarding the flying lessons, Commander."
"I was meaning to get back to her," Harm started and coughed nervously upon seeing Mac's knowing smile, "but I have plans this weekend…unfortunately," he added as an afterthought.
"Commander," the Admiral replied incredulously, "you can't hang around the office on the weekend too."
"Actually, I'm driving out of town with someone," Harm sputtered out. "Elizabeth Vandelay."
He did not understand why he thought it best to attach a name, when the previous statement would have sufficed, but it was too late to take back anyway. He felt a pang of guilt for fibbing to the Admiral, but it washed away as he remembered what the alternatives were: crash landing in the middle of Farmer John's wheat field in Blacksburg.
He saw Mac bounce slightly upon hearing the name, and caught her grinning. Chegwidden failed to notice and put down his spectacles with a nod. "Dismissed Colonel."
"Aye aye, Sir," she said shakily, fighting to keep the laughter out of her voice.
Chegwidden continued, and Harm squirmed in his spot slightly, like a child being caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Isn't that General Sean Vandelay's niece? He and I met way back in Vietnam. I actually went over to his house for dinner last week."
"Oh, it's probably common name, Sir," Harm lied. What the hell was that? he thought to himself. "Elizabeth's a lawyer, actually."
"Works for that firm, uh, Barlow & Timms, in D.C., right? That's her, Commander. I'm surprised she didn't tell you about her Uncle," Chegwidden smiled amicably and signed a file on his desk distractedly. "She's quite a girl, very polite and pretty too," he winked.
Chegwidden usually made it a point not to meddle in the personal lives of his people, and Harm was having trouble understanding why this was an exception. "That's Liz, Sir," Harm said with a distracted nod, soaking in Chegwidden's insinuating gesture. "If you'll excuse me, I have quite a caseload to be working on."
"Dismissed," he frowned, breaking the sudden sense of ease in the mood. "Finish that DDO ASAP."
"Aye aye, Sir!" Harm sighed and dashed out before the Admiral could get another word in. As he rushed past the yeoman desk, Mac jumped out of the corner and had a quiet fit of laughter. Tiner shot a puzzled look at them before heading out of the office to run the Admiral's errands.
"Mac! Vandelay is the name of some woman the Admiral knows," he hissed and pushed her out towards his office. "You and your stupid names."
"Wow," she smiled, "what are the odds?"
"Slim to none. And she works for some firm in Washington. What if she talks to him or something?" he snapped and closed the office door behind him before crossing his arms expectantly.
Her eyes went wide but she put her hands up in defense. "You're in a pretty big mess," she said, "but it's not my fault. I didn't expect you to actually use that name. It was just a joke."
"Did you know there's a General Sean Vandelay in the armed forces, apparently a close acquaintance to Chegwidden?" he sighed and flopped down in his chair as he combed his fingers through his hair.
"What, his daughter is Elizabeth?"
"Niece," he spat. "That's the last time I take your advice, Colonel."
Mac backed out of the office slowly, keeping the unnerving 'click' of her heels as silent as possible. "I'll see you in court later, right?"
He opened his mouth to reply but saw she had already reached her own office and shut the door assertively. Ms. Vandelay and he would be heading out, it wasn't a big deal. Things wouldn't work out and he would break up with her. Then he'd never hear from her again. Yes, that would be the way to go, Harm thought to himself with a sly smile.
TBC