OOO

Part 2

Mac was chatting to Harriet in the kitchen, when Catriona came in to see them.

"Oh hey, sweetheart!" Mac exclaimed, "I didn't know you were coming into JAG today."

"AJ asked if I would come down on my lunch break. He wanted to run a couple of things by me."

"Cathy's tutoring the Admiral in Italian. He thought he could do with a bit of brushing up," Mac told Harriet.

"I didn't see you when I came in," Cathy told Mac, "Were you in court?"

"Yeah," Mac replied, "I had the Rawlings court marshal."

"Did you nail him?" Cathy questioned.

"Of course!"

"That's my girl!" Cathy congratulated her.

After pausing for a moment, Cathy concluded, "Well, I'd better be getting back to work, my lunch break's nearly over."

Giving Mac and Harriet a hug goodbye, Cathy then walked out of the bullpen. As she approached the elevator, she saw that the doors were just closing and so she broke into a run, to try and catch it.

"Hold the elevator, please!"

Just as the door was about to close completely, a hand came from nowhere and grabbed the door, pulling it back open. As Cathy walked inside, she turned to thank the stranger who had come to her aid. Her gaze was met by a pair of stunning, baby blue eyes. On closer inspection, Catriona found that they belonged to a young sailor who was tall and muscular and had dreamy, wavy brown hair. As the doors closed once more, Cathy graced him with one of her sparkling smiles.

As she exited JAG headquarters, she commented to herself, "Wow! A real, live gentleman! I didn't think there were any of those in my generation. Talk about a dying breed!"

As she walked across the courtrooms, there was a visible spring in her step.

OOOO

As Harriet made her way through the bustling bullpen, she let out a startled cry as she caught sight of the tall, muscular sailor.

"My gosh, Mikey! Hon, Bud and I didn't think that you docked for another week!"

"Hi Harriet! Sorry to catch you off guard, but we docked a bit early. The crew were hit by a nasty epidemic of food poisoning, myself included."

"Oh, my poor guy!" Harriet exclaimed, "I thought you were looking awful skinny. Look at you; you've lost quite a bit of weight, by the looks of it. We're going to have to feed you up while you're home on shore leave."

Suddenly, a voice came from behind Mikey, startling them both.

"Harriet!" Bud joked, "Don't encourage him. You'll have him eating us out of house and home!"

"Buddy!" Mikey exclaimed, turning to Bud and enveloping him in a hug. Mikey now towered above his older brother, which Bud had always told him was a trait that he'd gained from their Mother. Bud and Mikey's Mother had left when they were both very young, so Mikey didn't really remember anything about her, but Bud had always told him that the more he was like their Mom and less like their Dad, the better. Master Chief Bud Roberts Sr. was a big bully of a man, whom both sons had fled from, as soon as they were old enough to.

As Bud, Harriet and Mikey continued to catch up, the Admiral walked out of his office and into the bullpen, closely followed by Gunnery Sergeant Victor Galindez.

"Admiral on deck!" he shouted and everyone stopped talking immediately and snapped to attention.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am well aware of the failure of last weekend's football game against the District Attorney's office. Even those who were unable to attend will have no doubt heard about the massacre that took place."

At this, there were a few stifled giggles around.

"However, I believe that my aim to promote a better working relationship between my staff members is not a lost cause and spurred on by a voice of great encouragement, as well as authority, I would like to present to you my latest initiative."

Separately, Harriet and Bud thought to themselves that they knew exactly who this 'voice of great encouragement and authority' was; Cathy!

The Admiral paused for a moment to build up the suspense in the bullpen, then announced,

"On the Eve of Independence Day, in exactly three weeks time, I will be holding a themed celebration at the American Embassy in Washington. Now, the theme has not been chosen yet, so I will be placing a suggestion box in the kitchen, which I hope you will all contribute to. At the end of the week, I will read the suggestions out and majority vote will determine the winner."

As the Admiral paused again, to look around and see what sort of an impact his words had left on his staff, his gaze fell on the tall sailor standing with Harriet and Bud.

"Mikey! Son, how are you doing? Great to see you again! Will you be available on July 4th Eve? Yes? Very good, you must come then. It'll be nice to get some of the younger generation there, too."

OOOO

That night, Mikey decided to drive up to Arlington National Cemetery, to visit the grave of his baby niece, Sarah. Bud and Harriet were out with little AJ, so Mikey climbed into his car and went by himself. Halfway there, he remembered that he'd have to stop and buy some flowers, so pulled over at a florist's. After that, he set off again, getting to the gates of Arlington just as it was getting dark.

There was a figure in a long coat walking out just as Mikey pulled in. That figure was Cathy, on her way home, after visiting the graves of her parents and family, who were also buried there. As always, she was still a little upset and was just blotting away some tears as Mikey passed her.

With the shadows beginning to spread in the dimming light, Mikey didn't even recognize her until he'd passed her and then was too far passed to stop. As he walked up to baby Sarah's grave, a couple of minutes later, he continued to think of the woman whom he'd run into at JAG and wondered why she had been so upset when he had passed her.

OOOO

It was the dead of the night when Catriona turned over in her little camp bed.

"What a weird dream," she thought to herself, the voice of Mac still reverberating in her ears. After a second, when the crying voice did not subside, Cathy realized that the crying was coming from the bed next to her.

"Oh, good grief, not again," she thought as she pulled back the bed sheets and put her to the floor.

"Mac, Hon, it's okay, I'm here," Cathy said aloud, as she sat on the side of Mac's bed.

As Mac woke up and realized where she was, she promptly burst into tears again.

"Shhh, it's okay," Cathy soothed her, as she cuddled up to Mac. It would be a long time before either of them got back to sleep again.

OOOO