DOUBLE DAD DUTY

TBNS/IDOJ Crossover

Set at end of Season 6 TBNS

Story by CAJeannieFan57/Donna

Third in a Series: "I Dream of Genie", "Double Jeopardy" and "Double Dad Duty."

Roger Healey walked into Tony Nelson's office one Friday morning whistling and feeling really happy. After an argument on Thursday night, Roger and his wife Tracy went to bed mad at each other. However, she awoke in the wee hours and lay there, finally waking up Roger to apologize. She had started it, she said, and was wrong. The way she'd apologized made a wonderful start to the morning.

"Good morning, Tone," Roger said to Tony. "You needed me over here?"

"Yes, I have your training schedule for next week," Tony said. "And an extra copy for General Blake over in the Engineering Department. Whenever you're not needed here, you can be…" He was interrupted by his phone. "Tony Nelson. Yes, he's here, just a moment." Tony handed the phone to Roger. "I don't know how they found you here, but they did. It's for you."

"Me? Is it Tracy?" Roger asked.

"No. I don't really recognize the voice."

Roger took the call, looked at his schedule for that day and said, "Sure, I can do that. Three o'clock, Worldwide Air, flight 87 out of Chicago. How long are you in for? ... No, don't do that. Stay with us, we've got plenty of room. …. When do you fly tomorrow? … We can do that, too. Good to talk to you again, see you later." Roger hung up.

A puzzled Tony asked, "Who was that?"

"A friend from Chicago … he's flying in this afternoon, and I'll go up and get him. Maybe I'll take Skylar, or T.J., with me," Roger hinted around.

"T.J. has an appointment this afternoon over in Baghdad, Rog'," Tony told him. "Take your daughter - she'd love your attention. Tracy might, too."

"Tracy's got a party tomorrow, and said she was spending this afternoon reorganizing her inventory." Roger's wife owned her own Hot Stuff franchise, a company that sold lingerie through home parties. She was not only top saleswoman for the company in Houston, but also was an Area Coordinator. "She would probably appreciate it if I could get Skylar out of the house for a couple of hours. Can I use your phone?"

"Sure."

A little later, on the way to the airport, a very excited four-year-old girl asked, "Daddy, are we going somewhere?"

Roger chuckled. "No, Punkin. Remember, I said we're picking up Mr. Borden. He's flying into Houston and has an overnight layover here."

"What's a layover?" Skylar asked.

"That's when you stay someplace longer than you want to."

Roger and Skylar waited at the gate at Houston Intercontinental Airport, which is on Houston's north side. It had taken them an hour in light traffic to get there. Roger was going over routes home in his mind as he waited – a 3:00 landing meant that he'd be traveling with rush hour on the way home.

Many travelers got off the plane first. Skylar kept watching. "Daddy, I don't see the man who looks like you."

"Pilots and navigators don't get off the plane with the passengers, sweetie. Besides, he just went back to working on a passenger airline, so it may take him a little longer."

Indeed, the last people off were the plane's crew. Howard Borden came down the telescoping ramp with a ten-year-old boy at his side. Howard greeted Roger first.

"Hey, how are you?"

"Good to see you, Howard," Roger said. "Are you responsible for a child traveling alone? I thought that was the flight attendant's job."

Howie Borden giggled. "No, I'm not traveling alone. I'm Howie – this is my dad."

Roger looked the boy over. 'This one must look like his mother,' he thought. Aloud, he said, "I'm glad to meet you, Howie. Your dad didn't tell me he was bringing you. I'm Roger Healey, and this is my daughter, Skylar."

"That's a funny name," Howie told Skylar.

"I'm named for SPACE. That's where MY daddy travels," Skylar told him.

Roger explained a little further, "Skylar's mom found out we were going to have her while I was up on Skylab. So her name is sort of like Skylab." Howie looked puzzled, not understanding what Skylab was, and Roger chose not to explain right away.

The four walked towards an office, where Howard stopped to take care of something. While they waited outside the office, Howie said, "My dad said you look like him. Sometimes my dad is wrong, but not this time."

Roger chuckled. "Yes, we've been mistaken for each other a few different times. That's actually how we met."

Once at the Healey family car, the four piled in and Howie immediately started talking about how "cool" it had been to ride in the cockpit of the plane and how he'd learned about all the dials and instruments there.

"How did you get to ride in the cockpit, at your age?" Roger asked.

Howard answered, "It's Take Your Son to Work Day. This was the first time Howie was old enough to go." He put his arm around the young man's shoulders and drew him close, very fatherly.

"And Mom let me go, too!" Howie exclaimed.

"She wasn't really thrilled about it," Howard explained, "but it meant a weekend with her new husband."

"My step-dad's a real jerk," Howie declared.

"That's not a nice word!" Skylar interjected. "My mommy say, I not use that word!"

Howie laughed a little. "My mom doesn't like me to use the word, either. But Dad knows what I mean – don't you, Dad?"

Howard didn't say anything for about a minute. "Don't use that word, son," he finally said.

"Okay, Dad." Howie then went on to tell Roger all about the plane's cockpit and how he really wanted to be a pilot someday. "A pilot, not a navigator like my dad."

Roger chuckled. "Navigators have to be pilots, too."

"Do YOU know about pilots?"

Howard interjected, "Howie, Colonel Healey is an astronaut."

THAT got Howie's attention. "You mean, those guys that FLY in SPACE?" Both Howard and Roger nodded. "WOW!" Howie immediately started asking Roger a lot of questions about rockets, the moon, and the planets.

Roger made a quick stop at a pay phone at one of the exits off the freeway, and made a phone call. He hopped back in the car. "All right, it's set. We're not going straight to our house. Howie, how would you like a tour of NASA's Johnson Space Center?"

The freeways were surprisingly light for a Friday afternoon, so they made it back down to Nassau Bay in a little over an hour. They then spent the next two hours touring the Space Center. Roger got a golf cart from Public Affairs Department to expedite their visit. Both Howard and Howie were fascinated by the place. Every time they passed a full size model on display in the Quad or other area, Howie had to ask Roger how many people did it hold, where did it fly, was this the real thing or a model, how fast could it go, and had he ever been in one?

"I think I changed my mind, Dad," Howie told Howard. "I want to be an astronaut when I grow up!"

Howard rolled his eyes and sighed. "And how much does THAT cost!"

Roger gave Howie the information he needed. "These days, the astronaut corps wants people with college degrees in Science – either aerospace, engineering, or something like Geology. Most of us old astronauts were also trained pilots, a lot with either war experience or fighter pilot school like Top Gun."

Howie looked at his dad. "You went to pilot school, right?"

"I sure did," Howard told him. "But that was a long time ago and it's different now."

"Different how?"

"I don't know. I learned in the military."

Turning back to Roger, Howie asked, "Then what after college?"

"You have to apply to the astronaut corps and be chosen. It's really tough, and you have to really want it bad."

The golf cart rolled past NASA's Recreation Building. There was a playground located right next to it. "Daddy, can we swing for a little while?" Skylar asked. Roger stopped, figuring that Skylar needed to stretch her legs. Roger and Howard watched as both Howie and Skylar jumped out of the golf cart and raced each other to the swings. They laughed as each hopped on a swing. Skylar knew how to pump a swing, but always had a hard time getting it going at first. "Daddy, push me!" she requested. Both men watched as Howie got off his swing to go and push the little girl. He gave her one push.

Roger went to push his daughter, but Howard got there first. "Can I push you?" Howard asked Skylar.

She was a little surprised, but she said, "Okay. Just don't push me too hard. I'm little and I'll fall off." Both fathers tried not to laugh aloud.

Howard said quietly to Roger, "I think Howie's still a little boy at heart, though he tries to act grown up for me."

At the children's bed times, Tracy tucked Skylar in first. "You've had a long day, sweetheart. You need to get some sleep."

"Mommy, we had fun today. Howie – he push me on the swing. So did Howie's daddy," Skylar told her.

"That was very nice of both of them," Tracy said. "But you have pre-ballet class tomorrow, so you need to go to sleep."

"Can I take Howie to the park after ballet?"

"That will be up to your dad. He's taking you to class in the morning. I have a party to host," Tracy answered.

After Howard tucked Howie in – well, as much "tucking in" as a ten-year-old boy will allow – the three adults gathered in the living room to chat. After about an hour, Tracy excused herself and let the two men talk by themselves. They were talking about flying and the differences between piloting and navigating. Though Tracy's initial opinion of Howard Borden was that he must not be very intelligent, after listening to him talk about that subject for that long, Tracy was inclined to think that he wasn't as stupid as he seemed.

Once Tracy was out of the way, Roger could ask Howard about the next day's schedule and the planned activities. After some chuckling and sinister plotting, the two men decided to have a little fun the next day. What they didn't know was that the fun was going to begin shortly!