Time: 0825
Duke hurried around the corner and almost careened right into Scarlett. Until recently, he'd have thought nothing of it, but thoughts of a certain redhead hadn't accompanied him through the night then, either. He stammered out an apology, then held up his hand, took a deep breath to calm himself, and apologized properly. She chuckled at the sight of the normally unflappable NCO needing such a breath.
"So, you're late for the meeting, too?" she asked with a smile.
"Yeah. I can't find my copy of your report. I was scouring my in-bin."
She dug through the small pile of papers in her hand and gave him a copy she pulled free of the others. "Here. Unlike some people, I always bring spares."
"Hey, how was I to know General Carthwright would be at that briefing?!"
"Oh, maybe you could try actually reading your memos."
"Hah, hah. Very funny."
"I thought so."
As they approached the conference room, they heard Hawk's voice. They each looked at the other with a puzzled look; Hawk never started meetings early unless everyone was there.
They caught the last words. "Okay, we all know what to do? We begin immediately after we're done here."
Duke and Scarlett hurried into the room. Everyone simply looked back at them. Duke was too curious about what they'd heard a moment before to notice the lack of jokes about them whenever they arrived at the same time. Scarlett noticed, but wasn't sure what to make of it.
Hawk cleared his throat and said, "Well, so glad you could join us," in that way that told you he knew you were late. "Now that the star has deigned to grace us with her presence, perhaps we can get this briefing underway?"
Scarlett blushed briefly, moved to an empty seat, and began giving her intelligence briefing as soon as Duke sat down.