A/N: I thought I was going back to the dinner party, but it was fighting me and I went south two days in a row over the weekend. (Yay rain, but driving in it... oy.) So, with that in mind, and because I figured out both the who and how of a thing, I give you August (Monday afternoon, specifically) 1986 at the NIS/NCIS Field Office in Dallas...are we doing a flash-forward? Yes. Yes we are. (Also, I'm sorry in advance.)
Week 16 - UDC 10 - Ways to find things out don't usually include this way...
76. Incendiary
He was still swearing under his breath when he entered the building and stomped right past the reception desk and the Agent on duty. The agent moved to block his way with a firm frown and he studied him momentarily, only just realizing what he'd done. "Oh. I'd be frowning at me, too."
"Can I help you..." And then the Agent on duty stared at the identification card he was handed. "We don't have any cases involving children, Mr. Jenkins. Not that I know of, that is."
Alan sighed. "No, I'm here to talk to Agents Huntington and Molloy. They didn't know I was coming, or they'd have likely informed you beforehand."
"One moment," the agent told him as he picked up his desk phone and dialed an internal number. He waited, then... "Molloy, do either of you know an Alan Jenkins? ... Oh, you do? He is? Oh." He put the phone receiver back on it's cradle, then reached for something and handed it to Alan. "Visitor's pass, sir. Turn it back in when you leave." He motioned to the double doors on his left. "Through there, take a right and then a left."
77. Scruple
In the field office's bullpen, he found both Jaime and Fionn at different desks, reviewing their own case files. Jaime took one look at him and froze, then stood and pulled him over to sit down. "It's the middle of the day and you know where I live, Alan. And I know you're not mad at either one of us, so what has you coming all the way to Dallas to see us?"
Alan stared up at him, suddenly realizing why Frank and Dorinda had told him to take the afternoon or else. Was he really that tense? "I... I..."
"Take your time," Fionn told him. "Deep breaths, Mr. Jenkins."
"I..."
Jaime pulled a chair over and sat down, studying him as he did the stupid breathing exercises that Fionn was demonstrating. "It can wait until you're ready, whatever it is."
Two weeks of pent-up worry and frustration piled up and all he could do was sit there while Jaime now led him quietly through a breathing exercise.
78. Careen
They'd been sitting quietly for long minutes when Jaime turned and picked a notepad off of his desk, along with a pen. He turned back and looked at the man, who was staring at his hands as if he were trying to map them. "Where do you want to start, Alan?"
"I don't," Alan said after a moment, blinking. "And suddenly I sound like one of my kids. Is that weird? It feels weird, and I drove all the way here, mad as I've ever been after that phone call that caused Frank and Dorinda to team up and get me out of the office for the rest of the day."
Jaime turned and looked at Fionn, who appeared just as confused as he felt. "Going to need more than vague detail. A phone call from whom?"
"Carole Bradshaw," Alan told him, and Jaime winced at the brittleness in his voice tone. "The Fighter Weapons School graduation was this morning in Miramar, and Pete got sent out to the Enterprise, along with two other Pilot/RIO teams."
79. Piquant
Jaime nodded slowly. "And?" He had a feeling there was more to this, for Alan to be so raw he'd nearly had a panic attack when he finally had to actually talk and explain whatever this was. In fact, he didn't remember ever seeing him so raw before. "Shouldn't he be out on the Enterprise? You know, because he was on deployment out there with Nick?"
Alan's reaction to that caused alarm bells to sound, and Jaime reached out to steady him with a hand on his arm. "Oh. You didn't... of course not. I didn't call you and you aren't an emergency contact, and of course you don't know. I shouldn't have known and wouldn't, if Wolfe hadn't called me, wondering what the phone number was."
The alarm bells got a bit louder as Jaime processed through the verbal word salad. "Details, Alan. What's going on here, that you'd drive to Dallas just to see us, because Frank and Dorinda made you take the afternoon off? And what does it have to do with Pete being on deployment?" And why did he get the sinking feeling that Alan had told him without actually saying it? Someone needed to figure out what the phone number was? That didn't make any sense, in the context he'd gotten so far.
80. Emphasis
The answer, when it came, was no less confusing than the details surrounding it. "There was a training accident two weeks ago," Alan finally explained. "After it, Pete was repeating my phone number in shock and a Coast Guard Diver gave it to one of his classmates, a RIO with the callsign of Wolfman. I beat a commanding officer to calling Carole... and I was right, in the moment. I still wish I hadn't been."
Jaime processed through that, suddenly realizing Alan hadn't mentioned Nick. Not at all. As if... "Oh." Two weeks ago? No wonder the man had arrived with so much pent-up emotion. "Fionn, get him a cup of water, will you?"
"Yeah." Fionn paused, then moved to put a hand on Alan's shoulder. "If you're not saying what I think you're not saying... why is Pete going back out to the Enterprise when he should be on a psychiatric medical leave?"
"Fi?" Jaime prompted, and he went. "That is a good question, however."
Alan shrugged. "If anything about it made sense, I'd be able to give you a workable answer." He studied him, then shook his head. "No, that's a terrible idea."
"What is?"
Alan was silent for a moment, then looked at him speculatively. "Where is your supervisor? If I'm going to be having wild ideas, I might as well just say it once. What are the odds that the Enterprise would need another NIS agent, even temporarily?"
Jaime stared at him again. Of course he was that worried about a kid he'd had in his care since he was eleven. Then he shrugged and got up. "I'll go find him. Never hurts to discuss things, right?"