OOOO
Ch 5
That Monday, Mac saw Cathy in the bullpen as usual, because that was the afternoon Cathy came in to tutor the Admiral in Italian. Afterwards, Cathy always sat and had coffee with Mac and Harriet, while they were on their lunch break. Today, it was particularly sunny, so they ate outside in the courtyard. Mac herself was not eating, because she felt a bit under the weather, but Harriet and Cathy eagerly tucked into their sandwiches.
"I didn't see you over the weekend," Harriet remarked to Cathy, "I take it that you and Mikey made up okay?"
"Yeah," Cathy told her, "I think we're back on track now. Pretty much anyway. There's still the issue about the job in Pensacola, but I'm sure that everything will turn out to be fine in the end."
"I'm positive it will," Harriet agreed, reassuringly
"Even Harm and I didn't see either of them over the weekend," Mac told Harriet, grinning, "Goodness knows what they were occupying themselves with, all weekend, in that tiny apartment! Did you even leave the bedroom all weekend, Cathy?"
Mac and Harriet just grinned as Cathy nearly choked on her sandwich, blushing furiously.
"Mac!"
OOO
A week later, Mikey strolled into the bullpen, looking for Bud and Harriet, for whom he was babysitting that evening. Bud caught sight of him on his way to the Xerox room.
"Hi Buddy," Mikey greeted him, "Sorry I'm early, but I didn't have anything to do at the apartment. Is it okay if I just stick around here for a while?"
"It's fine," Bud assured him, "Harriet's on her way to pick little AJ up from daycare, then they'll meet us back at home. Just let me xerox these files, then we'll be on our way."
OOOO
That evening, Mikey and little AJ spent their time watching little AJ's 'One Hundred and Two Dalmatians' video.
"Uh, sport? Isn't this the video that we watched the last time I came over to watch you?" Mikey had asked the little boy.
"Uh-huh," AJ had replied, "but this is the video me and Cathy watch, whenever she comes over. We always watch it."
Little AJ had been insistent, so Mikey had just gone along with the routine. Later on, when the video had finished, AJ had told him, "Okay Uncle Mikey, it's time for me to go to bed now. You see the clock up there?"
Mikey nodded and little AJ continued, "Cathy says that when the big hand points straight up and the little hand point to the eight, then I have to get my 'jammies on and climb into bed."
"She's right," Mikey told him, "You're going to have a busy day tomorrow, as well. Momma and Daddy are taking you to the zoo."
"Uh-huh" little AJ agreed, "we're going to see the elephants!"
Mikey just grinned, remembering the wonders of childhood, as he helped little AJ into his pajamas and into bed.
"Would you like me to tell you a bedtime story?" Mikey then asked him.
"Cathy usually sings me a lullaby," AJ informed him.
"Which lullaby does she sing you?" Mikey asked him.
"She sings me a Spanish one, to get me to sleep. She sings about this little baby, whose Mother sings him to sleep, because he's scared."
"I don't know that one," Mikey told him, "you'll have to make do with a bedtime story until I can get Cathy to teach that one to me."
"Okay," AJ conceded, disappointed.
OOOO
The next morning, Cathy stood in front of the full-length mirror, straightening her Marine green uniform. Mikey walked through and handed her a mug of coffee.
"So, will you be busy, today?" he asked her.
"I will be until lunch," she replied, "I've got a conference this morning, but I should be dropping by JAG at lunch, as usual, to tutor the Admiral."
"Little AJ told me last night that you sing him a lullaby in Spanish whenever you come to baby-sit him. I promised him that you'd teach it to me so that I could sing it to him the next time I watch him. He wasn't very impressed with my bedtime story!"
"Oh, that's just a habit that we got into when I first started watching him for Bud and Harriet. When I was little I had a nanny, a Mexican woman, who used to sing it to me whenever I couldn't sleep," Cathy told him.
"Well, if it's in Spanish, I think that it's going to take quite a while for me to learn it," Mikey admitted.
"No, it's really easy," Cathy assured him, "I'll teach it to you when we get home, later tonight. He also likes one that I sing to him in Swahili."
Mikey just gave her a bewildered look that said, 'I'm not even going to attempt to learn that one!'
Cathy just laughed and they lapsed into silence.
They both looked at their entwined fingers as they held hands.
"Mikey," Cathy continued, broaching the topic with care, "I got a call from a Marine Intelligence base last night. They offered me a job."
"Where is this base?" Mikey asked her.
"In Norfolk," she replied, hesitantly.
"If you think that you're going to like the job, I think you should take it, Cath," Mikey told her, "Good jobs are hard to come by."
"But if you accept that job in Pensacola…"
"Honey, it isn't like we haven't done this before. Ever since we've been together, we've had to deal with separation for over ten months out of the year. This will just be exactly the same thing."
"But Mikey," Cathy protested, "I don't think I can do that anymore! It hurt so much every time you went away. I won't be able to bear every day without you. How often do you think we're going to get home?"
"Sweetheart, I know that vacations are going to be few and far in between, but we're strong. I believe that we can do this."
"Mikey, please don't make me do this, I can't…"
"Come on, now," Mikey told her, "don't get yourself worked up over this. You've got a busy day ahead of you. I promise that we'll discuss this when we meet, later, at JAG."
"Okay," Cathy reluctantly agreed, "I'll see you later."
She grabbed her briefcase, gave Mikey a last kiss then went to the front door. She quickly turned back as she remembered something then called out, "Mikey, did you check out my car last night, like I asked you?"
Mikey sheepishly stuck his head around the door.
"No…I'm sorry, but Dan called and…you know how stoked he is that we're going to be working together, again…"
"But Mikey!" Cathy exclaimed, "I asked you to check my car! You know how much trouble it's been giving me. I was lucky it even managed to get me home last night…"
"Cath…The car can wait until tonight. There's nothing seriously wrong with it. It's just temperamental, that's all."
"Try telling me that when the emergency services are scraping me off the beltway…let me guess, Dan called and you got sidetracked and forgot all about my car?"
"Dan thinks that your car probably just needs the junk yard…"
"Sometimes I think that Dan and this new job mean more to you than I do," Cathy snapped back.
Mikey let out an exasperated sigh and disappeared back into the bedroom.
Cathy went to reach for the front door again, but she momentarily hesitated as she went to walk out.
She didn't know why, but she was loath to leave this unsettled. Her parents had told her, in their short time with her, that you should never let the sun go down on an argument. Cathy could hear their voices as if they were in that very room with her.
Letting out a sigh, she walked back into the living room and shouted out to Mikey,
"Mikey, honey…I'm sorry…I love you, Mikey. Please don't ever think any different…"
She got no answer, so she turned and walked out, closing the door behind her.
"I love you too," Mikey shouted after her, hoping that she'd hear him but knew she'd be out of earshot, in the hallway. He had the urge to run after her and tell her just how much he did love her and that everything would be okay.
It was all right, he thought to himself, he'd let her know when he saw her in headquarters, later.
OOOO
Mac sat staring at the calendar, trying to make sense of what was going through her mind. She looked again at the date ringed in red on the calendar, almost a full two weeks before. How on earth had she not realized until now? Just then, Harriet knocked on her door and stuck her head in.
"Sorry to disturb you, ma'am, but I was wondering if perhaps you have a moment?"
"I'm sorry, Harriet, but I was just about to go out for a little while," Mac told her, "Could this possibly wait until I get back?"
"Sure, Ma'am, no problem," Harriet answered, then paused, "Is everything okay, Mac? Is there a problem?"
"No, I don't think there is," Mac assured her, smiling as she walked out towards the elevator.
OOOO
Later that day, Mac was about to nip into the privacy of the women's toilets, when Mikey arrived.
"Hello, Mac," he greeted her, "You haven't seen Cathy, yet, have you? I've got some good news to tell her."
"No," Mac told him, "Sorry, she should be in to see the Admiral any time now… In fact she's a running late…"
"I'll just stick around and wait for her, if that's alright?"
"Sure. She shouldn't be long now. I'm just, uh…going to check something," Mac told him, about to head for the toilets. However, she was caught again on her way there, by Clayton Webb, who had just walked into the bullpen.
"Hi, Mac. Have you seen Catriona this afternoon?" he asked
"Sorry Clay," she told him, "Cathy's a bit late getting in."
"Well," Clay continued, "she was supposed to meet me earlier this morning, but she didn't show up. I asked one of her friends from her scheduled conference, who saw her there earlier, but no one seems to have seen her since then."
"You're not the only one looking for her," Mac told him, gesturing to Mikey, behind them.
"One of Cathy's friends told me that Mikey is hoping for a job promotion," Clay mentioned.
"That's right," Mac told him, "in fact, he's got the job, but hasn't decided if he'll take it. The only thing is, it's in Pensacola..."
"So that was why she was fussing about Pensacola!" Clay exclaimed.
"What do you mean?" Mac asked him.
"For the last few weeks, she has been scouring around for a job opening in Pensacola. She approached me for help, but she wouldn't tell me why Pensacola was so important. She even looked for jobs either in or near Florida."
"She did that?" Mikey exclaimed, suddenly, from behind them.
"Sorry, Mikey," Clay told him, "I thought you would know."
"Did she find anything?" Mikey asked him.
"No," Clay replied, "there wasn't anything suitable available."
"I guess that's a good thing," Mikey told them both, "because I've decided not to take the job in Pensacola. I found a job opening in Norfolk. I've decided that I want to be closer to Cathy."
"That's great, Mikey," Mac told him, "but are you sure this is what you want?"
"I'm positive. I want this more than anything," Mikey replied, meaning every word.
OOOO
Mac was in the women's toilets, checking her watch to see how much time had elapsed. The home pregnancy kit sat propped up on the toilet cistern and Mac tried not to keep staring at it.
Harriet, meanwhile, was in the bullpen, outside Mac's office, when the phone rang. She picked it up, answering, "Hello, JAG headquarters."
"May I speak to Colonel Sarah Mackenzie, please?" asked the voice on the other end of the line.
"I'm sorry, but the Colonel isn't in her office, right now. Would you like to leave a message?"
"Actually, this is quite important, is there anyway else that I can contact her?"
"Well, the Colonel may be in headquarters, somewhere. Would you be willing to hold while I take a look for her?"
"Yes, that would be fine."
Harriet set the phone down then ran towards the toilets, thinking she has seen Mac heading that way, quite a while ago. Walking in, she called, "Colonel, Ma'am?"
"Yes, Harriet?" Mac answered, busy looking at the pregnancy indicator stick in her hand.
"Ma'am, there's a call for you in the bullpen."
"Harriet, I'm a bit busy at the moment…"
"They said that it was important, Ma'am."
"Okay…will you find out what they want, while I finish up here?"
Okay, Ma'am," Harriet told her and ran back to the phone. Mac, meanwhile, slipped the pregnancy test into her pocket and washed up, before going back to the bullpen.
"The Colonel will be just a moment, Ma'am. May I ask what this is concerning?"
Mac signaled to Harriet that she would be just a moment, then nipped into her office to put the pregnancy test into her briefcase. She could still hear Harriet in the bullpen.
"Yes, Ma'am, I'm a close friend and a colleague, I'm sure the Colonel would have no problem with me knowing what this is concerning…Catriona Carter…Yes, the Colonel is her legal guardian…"
Just then, Mac, Bud and Mikey looked up in shock as Harriet exclaimed, "Oh my God! Mac! It's a nurse from Bethesda calling, she says that they have Cathy there in the ER!"
Mac sprinted forward and grabbed the phone, while Mikey went to Harriet, trying to get her to tell him what had happened. Harriet could only shake her head, helplessly.
"Yes, this is Colonel MacKenzie…A motor vehicle accident! Is she okay? I understand, but…yes, yes I'll be there as soon as I can!"
Mac hung up the phone then and ran to get her briefcase.
"Mikey, call Harm on his cell phone, please." she requested, "We'll pick him up on our way to the hospital."
"What do I tell him?" Mikey asked.
"Tell him the truth. Say that Cathy's in Bethesda, that she's been in a car crash."
"But is she okay?" Mikey demanded.
"I don't know, they wouldn't tell me over the phone," Mac replied.
OOOO
