A/N: I didn't want him in Fort Worth, he wasn't going to actually be staying this long... and now I can't keep him because the plot demands that he leave. Rats.

WEEK 17 - UDC 1

81. nothing

Going for a morning jog had not been on Mike's list of things he'd thought he would be doing when his wife had put him on a plane earlier in the week, but here he was, getting out of Alan's car yet again, in clothes meant for PT. "This is dumb."

Alan chuckled. "Probably, but a little run is good for the soul, no matter where you do it."

"Clearly, you don't do enough PT if you think that."

"Couple times a week, when there's time for it," Alan told him with a grin and Mike rolled his eyes. "Besides, it's a chance for you to congregate with a member of a different military branch. Different, but-"

"Are you trying to cheer me up?"

"Is it working?"

Mike stared at him, suddenly remembering that the man often worked with teenagers and was used to arguing with them. "If I say yes, will that make you less chipper?"

"Perhaps. Even better if it's true. Now come on, let's go find the correct Airman."

82. everything

The two men that entered the Administration building, one significantly older than the other, in what were clearly clothes meant to be running in, caused Aaron to pause when he looked up from the magazine in his hands. The younger one was twitchy, as if stressed in a way that was so familiar... surely this wasn't who he was waiting for. A guy THAT fresh from deployment? He'd thought Charlotte was pulling his leg in her description, but no. "You must be Mike Metcalf."

The younger man stopped to stare at him, blinking, while the older one grinned. "Tech Sergeant Whittington?"

Aaron nodded, looked at the older man. "That'd make you Alan Jenkins."

"It would," Alan acknowledged. "I got the feeling, the way Charlotte described her mother, that you would be easier for Mike to talk with."

Aaron put the magazine back where he'd found it in the holder as he stood up. "Probably. Walk with me? Maybe between us we'll get Metcalf here to stop being so twitchy."

"Emotional week," Alan told him and Aaron nodded. Of course it was, if he'd only just found out.

83. now

"Walk with me," Aaron said as he led them back outside and away from prying ears. When they were far enough away from the Admin building he stopped and turned to look at Mike Metcalf first, then cocked his head to one side. "I've had questions since June of '68, and some were answered earlier this month by Pete when I didn't even realize I still had them. That kid... it's so odd to be talking to you about this, but I met him because I was taking dinner to Jane and she'd have missed out on one of her favorite meals if I hadn't."

Mike nodded slowly. "I can see where this is odd, then."

"And she'd let him sleep under the desk at her feet at the nurse's station, if I remember right, with her jacket as a pillow." Aaron glanced at Alan. "Is Pete taking German? I ask because he started talking in his sleep, in badly accented German, and her explanation was that his grandfather had been trying to teach him while he was in the hospital for treatment. Normally, I wouldn't have remembered the details this well, but it's not every day that one of the first things a seven year old says to you is that his father is MIA."

"He is taking German," Alan affirmed. "Getting good at it, too."

"Sleeping under the desk?" Mike asked, frowning at him.

Aaron nodded and Mike sighed. "You have to understand here, really. He'd been at the hospital, as Jane told me, nearly every day visiting his grandfather. The nursing staff? They knew him and didn't want to give him up to Social Services where he'd have been in the hands of strangers even more than he was with them. The kid told me that bit about his father being MIA and I made up my mind right then and there to take him home for the night."

Mike stared at him. "And I know hospital procedure the way I think I do, they wouldn't have let him in to see Nora, no matter how upset he was."

"Not into ICU, no." Aaron waited, then fixed Mike with a knowing look. "I hear you had a bit of an adventure involving a red-head whose phone number I still have if I ever want a babysitter."

Alan snorted suddenly, then tried to cover it with a cough when they both looked at him. "Oh, he did!"

84. forever

"And as entertaining as my interrogating Harry Burrows would be," Mike said with a roll of his eyes. "Because from everything I've heard, he's more than earned it, my flight is tomorrow."

"Not worth it," Aaron said after a moment. "Not even if that's the social worker who kept making mistakes left and right about placements." Alan frowned at that. "It's a military base. The only thing slightly less flammable than jet fuel is gossip."

"I've been out since '55, but even then that was true."

Aaron returned his attention to Mike. "Can I ask about Pete's father? We have rumors and not much else, and I tried asking someone back then, but the only thing I could get out of anyone was the official story. Pete asked a good question about the F-4 Phantom needing a RIO, during the tour."

Mike sighed again.

85. fate

Aaron held up a hand, stopping him from talking if he was going to. "If it's too hard, you don't need to tell me anything."

"No," Mike said slowly, looking away. "I was there. Those that were there, were ordered to silence. I can't go into detail on that, because it's classified and redacted right now. But no, he's not MIA. He's deceased. No wonder Pete doesn't believe the official story, if he's making observations like that." Alan reached out, steadying him with a touch and Mike shook his head. "You were right, that now's a bad time to tell him."

"Only because of what kind of week this was for him," Alan reminded him. "And if he'd wanted to ask you directly who you are, he could have."

Mike took a long look around the area, then stared down at the pavement for a minute or two. "I don't know how I'm going to do it, and it'll take forever."

Aaron shared at glance with Alan, realizing he wasn't alone in his confusion. "What will?"

"Clearing Duke's name and getting a status change," Mike muttered, venom so strong in his tone that they both got goosebumps.