Part 11

"Hey Tyler!" Bud exclaimed, "Didn't you stay to watch the recital?"

Tyler made a gagging noise.

"Tyler decided to stay here, after all," Harriet ignored the boy's playing-up, "His Foster-Mom said he could come back with me…Why's Jimmy in his PJs?"

"He was sick in the fort," Bud told her, "he's fine now, but I think we should probably put him to bed. It's starting to get chilly."

The sunshine from an hour before had disappeared and clouds had moved over.

Harriet and Mac did the honors and AJ and Jimmy stayed downstairs, while Harm helped Bud get the lunch out of the kitchen.

"I'm going to have a delightful time tomorrow," Bud joked to his CO, "Cleaning that fort out."

Harm grinned back, commenting, "Rather you than me!"

Mac and Harriet then returned to put Jimmy's dirty clothes into the washing machine.

"Sorry," Harriet apologized to the rest of them, once she was done, "I shouldn't really have brought them through here. It kinda smells now. I hope I haven't put the rest of you off your lunch."

They all shook their heads.

"Thomas Jay puked at school, the other day," AJ thought it helpful to share a story with them on the subject.

"Everybody was in the classroom, eating lunch," Tyler nodded.

"Nobody could eat afterwards…" AJ told them, while Tyler finished the sentence.

"…because he puked right into his lunch box!"

"It still had his sandwiches inside!" both boys were in hysterics at this last insertion by AJ.

"That's quite enough!" Harriet told them sternly, but the two boys could not help themselves now that the giggling had started, "That is not appropriate dining-room etiquette, AJ."

As the food was passed around, Tyler piped up with another thought, this time mercifully not on the same topic.

"Why do they call you Little AJ?" he asked his friend, "You're almost the tallest in our whole class."

"Because I was named after my Uncle," AJ told him, becoming quiet at the thought of his Uncle, "He's Big AJ, I'm Little AJ. It was so that we didn't get mixed up…But he lives in Virginia, now. I guess we wouldn't really get mixed up anymore."

"And he's coming out here in a few months time," Harriet sensed her son's mood and felt the need to cheer him up a bit. He had been missing many of his old friends and family, despite having made so many more here in London.

"That's right," Mac spoke up, asking the child, "Are you looking forward to seeing him, AJ?"

"Yep," AJ had significantly brightened at hearing this news, "He says he'll come to my show-and-tell, at school. He's even going to bring some of his medals and tell all of my class-mates how he used to be in the Navy-Seals!"

"Wow!" Tyler, in a state of hypnotism, seemed mesmerized by this prospect.

"That's great, AJ," Harm and Mac both smiled, watching the two boys.