This is Prompt No. 23-Jokes

"Are you sure you can handle this?" Shane asked three weeks after he had approached Mitchie about courting her, one arm stretched out towards, but not touching, Mitchie's back as she stood and began walking around. The walking wasn't what disturbed Shane. It was the fact that Mitchie was swinging her healed arm around as she walked that had him concerned.

Mitchie rolled her eyes. "Please, Shane!" she begged. "I'm fine. I want to get out of this room. I want to go to the theater, and I want to see this base that I've been kept in and yet haven't seen!"

Shane chuckled at her little rant. She really thought that he was going to deny her that? "I want to take you out so that you can see the base," he assured her. "I want to go to the theater with you, and I want you to meet everyone. I just want you to take it a little slower. You've just started feeling better, and I don't want you to have to spend more time back in this room. Promise me you'll slow down?"

Mitchie saw his point and stopped swinging her arm, wiping the stubborn look off her face as well. He wasn't going to hold her back, so why be obstinate? "Very well," she said, sighing for dramatic effect. In a moment, she was pulling on Shane's sleeve, trying to get out the door of her room. "Come on!" she pleaded. "I want to go."

With a chuckle, Shane opened the door for her and led her out into the hallway, almost running into her, for she had stopped so suddenly. "Is something wrong?" he asked, speaking right into her ear.

Mitchie gazed around her and said, "This is not exactly what I had expected."

Shane chuckled once again, knowing exactly what she meant. Her room was one of many, with tunnels forking out in all different directions. Small, barely legible signs were the only way to tell which tunnel went where. People scurried about, eyeing the couple and nodding. Some even called out a greeting.

"Hey there, Miss Mitchie!" a portly woman called as she scurried past. "Glad you see you up and about!"

Mitchie raised her hand in greeting and turned questioningly to Shane. "That's Mrs. Bedford, the cook," he explained and then added with a grin, "She's the one that makes that pudding you like so much."

At this news, Mitchie stared after the bustling woman. "Her?" she asked excitedly. "I love her already!" Her teasing made Shane smile and they continued on.

Throughout dodging other people coming up and down the hallways, a few people tipped their hats or smiled at Mitchie as she passed, speaking a quick, kind remark to her. Each person that spoke to her received a nod and a smile, and generally a "thank you," from Mitchie. Once they were safely out of earshot, Shane would then explain who they were.

Finally, Shane led Mitchie down a quiet hall and stopped in front of one of the doors. He knocked and was commanded, "Enter!"

Mitchie stepped inside while Shane held the door open for her and as soon as she stepped inside, she heard a shriek. "Mitchie!" Caitlyn, dressed in a fashionable crème-colored dress, launched herself at Mitchie, somehow avoiding Mitchie's recovering arm in her loving throttle. She pushed her away at arm's length and nodded. "Yes, that dress definitely suits you."

Mitchie glanced down at the borrowed dress of Caitlyn's and smiled. "Thank you so much for letting me use it," she said.

"You're more than welcome. What do you think of the base?" Caitlyn asked. "Was it what you expected?" Her gleeful tone indicated that she doubted it.

"No, it wasn't at all," Mitchie said, confirming Caitlyn's guess. "This place is huge!"

Caitlyn nodded. "Part of the base is under Confederate territory and they don't even realize it." She put a hand over her lips and blushed. "I completely forgot to introduce you!" She turned around and for the first time, Mitchie saw three others standing quietly in the room.

"Hello, Mitchie," one said, stepping closer.

Mitchie smiled as she remembered the face. "Hello to you as well, Jason. I believe I own you thanks for saving my life?"

He smiled back. "No thanks necessary. Shane thanked me over and over…and over again, so he covered your thanks for you." The teasing joke on Shane made Mitchie smile, and she turned to the next person standing there.

"Mitchie, this is my husband, Nate Grey," Caitlyn told her friend, stressing the word "husband" and wiggling her eyebrows suggestively as she thought back to the first day she had met Mitchie and her last name had confused the girl.

Mitchie laughed and Shane turned to her, confused. "Did I miss something?" he asked.

Caitlyn waved him off. "Inside joke," she explained, trying not to laugh.

Mitchie swallowed her laughter and smiled at Nate. "I'm pleased to meet you," she said, "again."

Nate raised an eyebrow. "You remember me?"

Mitchie nodded. "You were in France with Shane, weren't you?"

Nate nodded. "You have an excellent memory," he complimented.

"And this is the man in charge of everything," Caitlyn said turning away from her husband. "Mitchie, this is General Blake."

The general nodded at Mitchie, smiling as he said, "Finally! I finally get to meet the young lady responsible for Shane's elevated heart rate."

Jason let out a snort and Caitlyn laughed even as Shane's face reddened with embarrassment. Mitchie blushed but had to smile at the general. She liked him already. "You're not supposed to tell her everything!" Shane exclaimed, his voice borderline whining.

The general strode over and clapped him on the back. "Oh lighten up," he teased the younger man. "These missions have made you far too serious." He turned to Mitchie and asked, "Do you think you can get him to loosen up a bit while you're around?"

Mitchie caught the wink he sent her and she nodded with a smile. She looked around at these new people, friends already, and her smile grew wider. Already, the base was beginning to feel like home. "I'll do my best," she promised with a wink of her own.

A/N: Hoped you liked the chapter! Let me know what you think! :D