Author's Note: This is my first published attempt. It's harder than it looks. My compliments to those of you who do it so well. Thanks to East-Wing-Witch for the careful reading. I've made some minor changeswhich should deal with the age problems.
Disclaimer: Of course the JAG characters do not belong to me. Lt. Cmdr Cassidy, her family and the friends mentioned are all my invention.
Lieutenant Commander Josephine Cassidy was leaning in the door way of Commander Rabb's office. From his vantage point across the bullpen, Admiral AJ Chedwiggen could see the Commander seated on the corner of his desk. He was laughing softly at something the Lieutenant Commander had said. She was nearly as tall as Rabb, with a slender build and a narrow face. Her white blonde hair was wrapped in a soft tidy knot at the back of her head. AJ remembered the first time he'd seen her.
She was standing across the desk from an aide to the Secretary of the Navy one morning, when he'd arrived at the Pentagon for a meeting. She was dressed in civilian attire, but she came to attention just like the aide when he entered. Her long hair was swept back from her face in a pony tail and she was dressed in a soft pink sweater and grey slacks. It was laughter then too that attracted AJ's attention as he waited to be ushered into the Sec. Nav.'s private office.
Her attention had returned to the file in her hand. The aide, a shorter squat man, who had to look up to meet her gaze, made a comment and her reply was covered in quiet laughter. When Admiral Chedwiggen left after the meeting, she was gone. She was an aide to some deputy undersecretary for something. He'd asked the Sec Nav.'s aide her name and then looked her up in the staff directory. It wasn't just her brilliant smile and the light in her green eyes, that made Chedwiggen see her that first time and then look for her discretely every time he was in the Pentagon, it was, as he admitted later, that she seemed happy. It was something he hadn't managed since Meredith.
Now he was seeing her at JAG Ops. He'd seen her here at least three times in the past seven days. Rabb knew her from somewhere or other. She always seemed to be in his orbit and it made AJ jealous. There he'd thought it. She was a hazard to his own good order and discipline and since he out ranked everyone else in the place, he was going to deal with it.
"Good morning Commander." Rabb snapped to attention. The Lieutenant Commander half turned to face him and came to as well.
"Good morning Admiral." Said Commander Harmon Rabb Jr.
"Lieutenant Commander do you work here at Jag Ops?"
"No sir."
"Never the less, you seem to be here quite a bit if I'm not mistaken."
"I was looking for Colonel Mackenzie, sir." She said.
"The Colonel is TAD until sometime next week. I could find someone else to assist you."
"Ah actually ah." She started to stall and looked slightly flustered. Rabb was studiously attempting to become invisible. "Sir it's personal not Navy business."
"I see Lieutenant Commander. In future if you have personal business with my staff, I suggest you use the telephone or email to contact them." He leaned in and snarled just a little to get her full attention "preferably at home".
"Yes sir" was all she said. He turned and stalked into his office. His heart was pumping in an uncharacteristic manner, but he was impressed that she'd managed to maintain her bearing with an Admiral breathing down her neck. Instead of quelling his interest; he wanted to know more about this aide to the undersecretary of - dammit what department was that anyway?
It was two days later, a little after 0700 that she came into range again. This time he was waiting for a elevator in the Pentagon. The doors slid open and she slid in between the doors just as they began to close. They were alone.
"Lieutenant Commander Cassidy." He nodded his head.
"Admiral. It's good to see you sir." She responded.
He turned and looked at her, surprised at her remark. "Now Lieutenant Commander that's not the reaction I would have expected after our last conversation."
"I was in the wrong sir."
AJ nodded. When the doors opened he waved her through ahead of him. They kept pace down the hall. "Were you able to contact the Colonel?" He asked.
"You told me all I needed to know. I have tickets for an event at the Dorval Theatre Saturday night. It's a singles mixers and I thought I could twist the Colonel's arm into coming with me."
"I see." There was a long pause.
"Actually Admiral, perhaps you'd be interested in the other ticket. It's one of those things where you don't take a date so much as a trader."
"A trader?"
She blushed then. "You know" she said. "Someone who you feel safe with but aren't interested in romantically."
"I see." This sounded like an opportunity; maybe the only one he was likely to get. "I'm free Saturday. Shall I pick you up?"
"I have the tickets in my desk. I could meet you there."
He nodded. "Ok." He stepped into her office when they got there and stood patiently by her desk feeling like a cross between a school boy and the village idiot.
He had the very same feeling two nights later standing in the foyer of the Dorval with a glass of red wine in his hand. There weren't many situations that made him uncomfortable, but he was wishing himself home in front of the fire very badly. The room was crowded with men and women in a range of ages, AJ thought, but mostly in their thirties and forties. He felt out of place. The booze was flowing. There was some loud laughter and mingling. He was beginning to wonder if he hadn't been set up. She'd given him the ticket and sent him into singles hell without any intention of meeting him. He was on the verge of dumping his wine and heading for the parking garage when someone elbowed him gently.
"Hi" she said. "I'm sorry I'm so late Admiral, the game was halfway to Pittsburgh."
"Game?" He found himself almost shouting.
"Baseball" she said. "Sometimes getting to the games and getting home again is half the fun, Sir."
The lights dimmed, so AJ dumped his wine and followed her to their seats. They were seated side by side in a small section to the right of the stage. The theatre filled quickly. They managed quiet small talk as they settled into their seats and flipped through the program before the play began. The play wasn't one he knew but it was light and entertaining in its way.
At intermission, Joey offered to replace his wine. He shook his head. "No thanks, but you go ahead if you like."
"No I've been here before, sir. The wine they serve is terrible. I'd settle for a quiet corner."
"Not much chance of that here."
"No I suppose not." Her gaze drifted over his shoulder and she smiled briefly at someone behind him. AJ turned in the tight quarters just as a man and woman joined them. The woman, nearly a foot shorter than Joey, hugged her awkwardly.
The man reached out his hand, "Tim" he said over the noise around them and my friend Grace."
"AJ," the Admiral responded and shook the hand.
"Joey, I thought you were going to quit coming to these things." Tim said.
She shrugged, "Well I finally met someone worthwhile, so it doesn't seem so bad tonight." She gave AJ a sweet smile.
The play ended a few minutes after nine. They filed out of the theatre and onto the street, now flooded with patrons and cars. "Would you join me for something to eat, sir " she asked. "I missed supper after the game and I'm famished."
He nodded ."Where at?"
"There's a little place about 3 blocks from here. The pesto is to die for and the Chianti is better than the vinegar they serve in there." They walked mostly in silence. The air was crisp and cool now that the autumn heat had disappeared when the sun set.
The restaurant was a tiny place with only 10 tables, but at 21:30 it was only half full. AJ ordered brushetta and a cheese plate. Joey nibbled waiting for her pasta and they sipped red wine from large glasses.
"So you're a lawyer, Admiral?"
"Call me AJ," he said simply. "I don't have the opportunity to litigate very often, but I'm a member of the bar. It's an administrative position really, staffing, budgets, fit reps and assignments. What about you Lieutenant Commander?"
"Sir if you really expect me to call you AJ, you have to call me Joey." He nodded so she continued. "My position is administrative too. Some days I wonder how knowing how the undersecretary likes his coffee helps the war effort, but then I try to remember that even small cogs in big wheels make the Navy go round." Her face lit up with a broad smile and AJ did his best to hide his reaction in his wine glass.
"Can I ask how old you are?"
"I'm thirty seven," she said "and now you have to tell too."
He shook his head. "Fifty three next month." It was too much AJ thought immediately. She was too young and he was too damned old. She'd come to her senses and that would be the end of it.
"What day?"
"The seventeenth."
"My dad was born on the third."
"How old will he be?"
"He's 75... Going on 5. He has Alzheimer's disease." She was sombre then but clear eyed.
"You're very matter of fact."
"Most people think they like that in me, but after a while it tends to wear on people. My friends can only take me in small doses." She twirled her pasta on her fork. "What do your friends like about you?"
The question took him aback. He had close friends. They went duck hunting in the fall and fly fishing in the summer; they didn't talk about their feelings. AJ decided that if she could be honest, he could too. "My friends are hunters and fishers," he said swirling the wine in the bottom of his glass. "They like me because I help set up the duck blind and I'm good for a round of beer after a day in the bush."
She laughed quietly. "I think you might just be matter of fact too."
All in all the rest of the evening passed without heat or difficulty. She paid her portion of the bill without asking and slipped her arm into his when he offered it as they walked back to the theatre where his car was parked. "I'll walk you to your car" he said.
"Oh" she said, "I came in a cab, I thought parking would be tough especially arriving late. I can catch one around the corner at the hotel."
"Why don't I drive you?"
"Oh I'm living in Vienna right now. I'm sure it's not convenient."
"I live in McLean. Its not that far. But only if you're comfortable."
"I'd be grateful really. Cab fare was a small fortune."
He held her door open for her and she slid into the passenger seat with a long legged grace. She was tall but compact and wiry almost. He'd love to watch her play baseball. The thought grieved him. There was absolutely nothing wrong from the Navy's stand point with the two of them spending time together. But tongues would wag at the age difference and he couldn't bear the thought of exposing her to the kind of rough conjecture that could impact her career. Having thought that, he was completely enchanted by her smile, and her forthright way of dealing with everything.
They continued to talk about their lives. He told her about hunting the first time with Dammit, the shepherd dog that had claimed him. Joey was laughing and the sound pleased him. She told him that baseball, on Saturday, was really a volunteer coaching position with an unruly group of eight, nine and ten year olds. She coached and cajoled the kids and reprimanded the parents for conduct unbecoming. She admitted she hadn't been to a professional ball game in so long, she'd forgotten what it was like. AJ took note for future reference, but didn't comment.
After Meredith's betrayal, AJ had sworn off entanglements. The occasional date with some dazed newly divorced woman from his hunting buddies' social circle was the most he'd attempted and he'd hated every dull, painful moment. And then it hit him. He'd assumed things not yet in evidence. He was driving into minivan soccer mom country. She might not just be entangled but married with children, and this singles evening a ploy to get Mac out of the house. He looked then. She wore a slim silver band on her pinkie, but no other jewellery. Meant nothing he told himself. He'd have to ask. Who was he kidding? he thought. It was ridiculous. He couldn't go out with her again. She was too young. She was in the Navy. She was gorgeous and smart and funny and - oh God -what was he thinking.
He parked in front of the house. There were a couple of lights glowing behind curtains on the main floor, but the upstairs was dark.
"Thank you. I really enjoyed this evening."
"I should thank you. I had a good time too." She had her hand on the handle of the door. "I'll walk you up," he said.
"No" she said, "it's fine. I'd ask you in, but I'm living with my sister and her husband for a couple of weeks while my place is painted."
"Oh" he said. Now was his chance but he quelled the questions and let the moment slide.
She got out. Once he saw that she'd gone in, he put the car in drive and pulled away slowly.