It took me way too long, but it was a way too huge chapter, and I was way too busy. I hope you'll like it! Let me know what do you think about it, please!
As usual...sigh...I don't own them...but hope is not ovverrated, is it?
I didn't know who I should have met, yet. He was a British connection, but who? At the bottom of my heart, I had kept hoping it would have been HER. But I knew it was impossible. For a moment, it came back to me, those summer days, under the grey and blue Normandy sky. She had found me, bleeding, and delirious I had mistaken her for an angel. She had been sent from the skies, in a certain sense. It was a pity that it was RAF, and not fate. And she hadn't wasted her time on pointing it out. In spite of the warm and rich voice, her approach had been, so too speak, quite straight. A soaked in disinfectant rag and a hand to be on my feet again, and off like a shot, toward a shack, secluded goodness knew where. Florence Nightingale, who? Two months, we had passed together, and about her I knew only the French origin and...the left hook. Never dream of a woman, when you share the rack with a counterespionage agent.
1000 EST
DAY 12
"THE LONG WINTER" SET
JAG HEADQUARTERS
FALLS CHURCH VIRGINIA
"Ok, folks. Till this moment we've been enjoying ourselves, but now we've work to do" Jake had been appointed Drill Sergeant, after the shouts and threats of the previous days. Nobody seemed to take offence, anyway: it looked like quite standard stuff, among the technicians.
"Easy, Jake!" Melanie, the newly elected Peacemaker, hissed "You're not Scorsese!"
"Ehm...maybe I let this thing get out of hand"
"Maybe"
"Don't worry, Jake" an unexpected voice supported him "after all, we're in the military. We take a perverse pleasure in being ordered. Kind of going back to boot camp"
"Yeah, right" an other voice, feminine, teased him "and tell me, Harm the Marvellous Soldier, when did you have to endure such a living hell, at Annapolis? When you lose a game of rugby and had to stand the gang a drink, didn't you?"
"I forgot you Marines think about the dirty job as your privilege. Wallowing in the mud and creeping along the ground under barbed wire, like real mean men. Semper FI, Colonel"
"Uh uh. Somebody got up on the wrong side of the bed, this morning, didn't he? Or is it that you found out I have the verdict in my hands, at last?"
"Calm down, you two" Steven, the trio's Practical Mind, exclaimed "save yourselves for the shot"
Easy for him to say, but they both were definitely strained exactly because of the movie. They had fulfilled their duty and more, and accomplished every kind of undercover ops, but they weren't actors, and the whole situation was turning out quite awkward.
The crew had gathered all around them by then, ready for the daily instructions, and the little squabble was immediately set aside. The weather seemed still clement, thus they had decided on finishing on location shooting, in spite of the prearranged timetable.
And this, in not so many words, meant scene 4. The along the Loire goodbye scene.
"Well. Are you ready?All of you? This morning we're dealing with one of the screenplay nerve centres. As you know, we left Captain McBride and his mysterious rescuer in the shack along the river. There, they spend two months: they don't find out a lot, about each other, but build a bond, a kind of, in that "interlude of peace on the fringe of battlefields. Have you got it, there?"
"Yeah, Jake!" Steven, rolling his eyes, scolded him "sometimes you look like an high school science teacher"
As soon as the laughters had decreased, Jake began to speak again, silently thanking his friend's contribution in loosening the tension.
"As I was saying, after two months, the Captain's wounds have healed, and the two of them have to part ways, just there, along the river, before going back to their respective duties. It should be the movie sappy climax" he went on, winking at Melanie, who probably had struggled, in order to win it "with the sunset and the whole chick flick package. Anyway, McBride and the mysterious woman cannot put into words what they're feeling, whatever it is they're feeling, and try and communicate those emotions and thoughts with a kiss, a little...awkward, for lack of a better word. But this is not enough. They miss their opportunity and part ways"
Harm and Mac had fallen silent during the whole explanation, paler and paler: it was simple to rationally accept the situation, but it was quite a different matter, having to get involved and in front of the whole office, which would have laughed at them forever. But that was duty, so they installed the action façade and got ready to follow their orders, pretending not to see the curious glances.
"Steven, as usual you'll deal with the shots. What do you have?"
"I think I'll leave an eye-level camera in front of them all the time long, I'll use the second one for close-ups and as for the third...I'll pan a little: scenery, backdrop, stuff..."
"Always the swot"
"In all modesty..."
"You, Melanie, will deal with their performances, right?"
"Being the only one having studied acting, in here...and you, dear Jake, what should you do? That is, there isn't a lot left..."
"I shout "Action", what do you think?"
"Uh uh" his friends grinned, nodding. They were a good team, and that little assigning roles routine, even if useless, had become their propitiatory ritual.
"Well. Harm. Mac. With me" Melanie sprang up, leading them some feet away from the crowd, in order to refresh their lines.
Some moments later, the cameras were set and the crew quiet, at last, ready to begin.
"Ehm...can I ask something?" Harriet's faltering voice rose "I know, it's silly, but I was wondering...if the scene takes place in the sunset, why are you shooting now, at 1000?"
"We'll add the sunset later, with MAIA"
"..."
"CGI, Computer-Generated Imagery"
"But...so, even the river..."
Melanie shot an understanding glance at her, while Jake, handling with care the clapboard, dryly shouted.
"Ready? "The long winter". Scene 4/1. Action"
Ready was definitely not the right word. Harm and Mac turned towards each other. Silently stared for a long moment. And convulsively burst out laughing.
Not getting discouraging, Jake stopped the shooting, showed Steven something and let everybody set again, before perching on his director's chair and shouting again.
" "The long winter". Scene 4/2. Action"
A long silence, again. That time Harm succeeded in not looking at Mac's eyes and concealing his expression. "Well..."
"STOOOP"
Stunned and a little shaken, the two of them turned towards Jake.
"Don't...don't. Melanie, could you explain, please?"
"Of course" the girl maternally hastened "Harm, I know it's awkward but...practically...you should look at Mac while talking. That is...we've a camera behind Mac that frames you, and if we don't see your expression, shooting is useless"
"Sorry. I didn't know..."
"Don't worry, no problem. That is, with digital technologies and all we don't even waste film, and you two are not professionals. It's understandable. And as for you, Mac, could you not giggle, please? That is...we can see it"
This time, it was Harm that stared at her with a grin: a blushing marine was definitely not everyday stuff.
"Are we ready?"
At Jake's always imperturbable call, Harm, Mac and the crew regained the previous positions.
"Ok? "The long winter". Scene 4/3. Action"
Silence. Gaze.
"Well..."
"So"
"It looks like we've to say goodbye"
"Goodbye"
"STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPP"
Now almost scared, the two aspiring actors immediately turned towards Jake, while Harm encircling Mac's waist with a protective arm.
That, of course, didn't go unnoticed by the present company.
"You're mechanical. You're false. That isn't the Christmas rhyme, that is a dialogue!"
"Wait, Jake" Melanie meddled in his outburst, fearing a further worsening "Mac. Harm. You're doing well. That is...no one expects you to perform an Academy Award acting. Jake is only suggesting you...practically...you should put a little of yourselves in what you're saying"
"..."
"I didn't make myself understood. Well...you have to think about your lives, ok? Try and remember a time when you had to say goodbye to a person you cared for, you loved, maybe. That is, it happened to you, didn't it?" Unbeknown to her, the two officers' minds were looking back at other memories, other goodbyes "try and remember what your feelings were. Practically, try and relive those emotions, those sensations, while you're saying your lines. You don't need to go so far as to suffer, you don't have to. Only, think about that, ok?" satisfied with their vague nodding, Melanie went back to her spot at the set side and suggested Jake to insert the storyteller intro, in order to help everybody in visualizing the moment.
"But wasn't it settled you would not not need me till dubbing?" a worried voice asked.
"Sturgis?!" Ham incredulously cried out "YOU, would it be you, the storyteller?!"
"Yes" the commander answered, a little hurt "it so happens that I have a "documentary voice"..." and, more doubtful, went on "even though I really don't know: is it either a compliment or an insult?"
"Yes, Sturgis" Melanie went on, after a last advice from Jake "but now we only need you in order to help their acting" nodding to Mac and Harm "that is, we won't record anything now. You will repeat everything later, when we'll deal with the audio bridge"
"Ok" Sturgis sighed, taking a seat with his script "if I have to..."
Only those that really knew him would have noticed, seeing him sitting with his back unnaturally stiff and his fists clenched around the crumpled pages, the tension he was trying and hiding with useless sarcastic remarks.
"Steven, can we have some detail shot of their hands? And a filter, maybe, to soften a little the light? In my opinion the clouds aren't quite enough, this morning"
Steven moved some devices of lighting, straightened a camera and made a sign. Thumbs up, they could start again.
"Let's hope for the best" Jake whispered " "The long winter". Scene 4/4. Action"
"Silence. In that moment preceding sunset, when you can hear the wind rustling and the river lazily murmuring, two shapes stood out on the bank, dark against the rosy blade escaping the impending clouds. Their shadows were lengthening and chasing, in the fast decline of the sun. Silence measured the space between them, making even heavier the words, the thoughts they would have need to share" Sturgis, with an unusual warm voice, said.
"Well..."
"So"
"A flock of swallows slowly covered the leaden sky, little restless dots looking for a place to call Home. Among the high stalks of the grass, shiny because of the rain, crickets sang their gloomy melody, promising stars that, at night, wouldn't have roused, there over the sky"
"It looks like we have to say goodbye"
"Two gazes met, carefully. You could have read pain in those eyes, you could have read regret, you could have read awe, and maybe even..."
"Goodbye"
"Goodbye"
"Can I...hug you?" the Captain sadly smiled, remembering a little misunderstanding of their first days as "co-residents".
The woman didn't answered, but intertwined, almost desperately, her arms around his neck, while a cold tear dug into her skin.
"I have so much I want to say to you, I just can't find the words"
"I know. I know"
Hidden, even the Captain had blurred eyes. He didn't want to let her go. Not that way. He freed himself from the embrace, enough to perceive her face and make her see, somehow or other, that he was feeling the same emotions.
"With his thumb" Sturgis, at that point, continued "he wiped away the tears streaking her cheekbone. With his lips, he tasted the salty, bitter drops drying up the corner of her mouth. With the heart, they both forgot, even if for a lonely moment, the river, the war and the world"
"STOP! STOP! I SAID STOOOP"
Shaken, snatched from the wave of memory, Harm and Mac reluctantly parted. One foot. Just in order to breath again. Was it a dream, reality, a past life, a wonderful performance? Was it really them?
"Good. Keep this shot. Let's have a break"
End of the magic.
"Mac?" Harm asked, avoiding her eyes.
"Yeah?" she shortly answered, with a fragile voice.
"Would you...would you come with me, just for a moment, please?"
"Of course, but..." then, reading the silent warning in his partner's gestures, she followed him towards a bench at the other end of the garden.
After a bunch of minutes, the two of them were sat on the cold slab of light granite. Mac tried and hide, without any luck, a shiver. November was showing impatience. The fast North wind had painted the maples leaves that now was plucking like feathers, angrily. She could hear their moaning. Moaning? Mac, feeling uneasy, tried and automatically straightened her uniform, only then remembering she was wearing the worn-out dark skirt her costume was made of. That, and a dusty scarf she hastened undoing, hopelessly trying and tidying her hair. It was Harm that broke the uneasy silence, after a moment. From goodness knew where, he had showed a bright folder.
"Ehm" he cleared his throat, roughly snatching Mac from her considerations "do you remember the files Bud gave me yesterday?"
"Yes, but..."
"They were the JAG staff files. At the moment i didn't realize it...he succeeded in clearing all of the classified records and screening the suspect ones"
"Poor Bud. He probably worked all the night long!"
"Yeah" he guiltily answered "like ourselves tonight, anyway"
"What?"
"Do you know how many candidates we are talking about?"
"Let me guess. All but you, me, the Admiral, Sturgis and the Roberts?"
"No. Bud rejected even Admiral Morris, Tiner and Galindez"
"Uh uh"
"That makes..." quickly counting the names on the list "more or less 320 people"
"What?! Really?"
"Surprise. Anyway, we won't check on everybody. This morning I struck out those that physically didn't gain access to the information. If Tiner's wastepaper basket always remained there, of course"
"Of course. So?"
"So, we have only 83 lives to dissect"
"Wow. It will took really all the night long"
"Fear?" Harm asked, challenging her.
"Never"