A Friendly Demonstration

Chapter 62

Harm replaced the phone on its hook and with a thoughtful expression sat back in his leather padded swivel chair, steepling his finger as he did so, his elbows lightly resting against his rib cage. The Admiral had seemed in a pretty good mood, he thought, much more so than Harm had feared, considering that he knew the older man had been coerced into taking up the reins at JAGC once again. It might… just might… be an opportune time to resurrect the subject of his two gapped billets. A decisive nod confirmed his decision and leaning forward he reached out a long finger and tapped the speak button on his interphone, "Yeoman Two?"

Julia Martinez' voice came back on the instant, "Yes, sir?"

"Bring me in the Officer Manning file, please."

"Aye, aye, sir!" Martinez reply was crisp.

The file duly arrived and Harm set to work with pen and legal pad, repeating his request that the two major gapped positions, for an XO and an Admin Officer be filled, as soon as possible. Quoting as references his initial request that had been addressed to General Cresswell in his capacity as the now former JAG, and that officer's curt dismissal of the application on the grounds that there was a budgetary shortfall preventing him from cutting orders to fill those positions.

Harm had a delicate line to tread… He couldn't come straight out and complain to the Admiral that he thought at the time, and still thought that the refusal to provide him with the assistance he needed, was either a piece of petty spite, or even worse a deliberate attempt to set him up to fail in his first command, but he hoped that he had been cautiously plain enough for Admiral Chegwidden to read between the lines.

So it was not without a few second thoughts about the wording of the letter that he called Martinez back into his office, "Type this up in draft form and then print it off for me, please, Yeoman Two."

Julia cast a quick glance at the handwritten draft, to make sure she could read Harm's somewhat spiky handwriting and gave a brief nod, "Aye, aye, sir. With some urgency, sir?"

"Yes, I'd like to get it into the mail bag today, please!"

"Aye, aye, sir!" Martinez repeated as she drew herself up into a brace before about facing and leaving Harm alone to contemplate grimly the Himalayan proportions of the stack of files awaiting his attention in his in-tray.

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Julia immediately set to work on the draft that Harm had just handed her, prompting Jen Coates to ask, "Something urgent?"

"Oh… The Captain's repeating his request for an XO and an AO… but to the Admiral, this time." Julia paused and looked across at her Legalman friend, "Jen, you worked with the Admiral, what's he like?"

Jen looked up in mild surprise, "You know you shouldn't be asking questions like that, Julia… but… well… between us, and as long as it doesn't go any further… He's a bit gruff, and acts like a bear with a sore head sometimes, but I think he's a pretty good guy… he could have thrown me in the brig on a couple of occasions, but he was generally pretty understanding when it came to me and my big mouth…" A reluctant grin spread across Jen's face, "Especially the time I accused him of being stubborn, pig-headed and unreasonable!"

Julia look aghast, "Jen, you didn't!"

"Well not in so many words, I just agreed with him when he said that was what I was thinking!"

"How come you're not busted all the way down to Seaman Apprentice I'll never know!" Julia laughingly protested.

"Hey, what can I say? When I'm good, I'm good!" Jen joined in Julia's laughter, but then continued more seriously, "But we won't be that good, either of us, if the Captain catches us goofing off!"

Julia frowned, "No… he wouldn't be best pleased…" she paused, her frown deepening, "Jen, I've got a slight problem…"

"Oh… With that letter?" Jen nodded at the sheet of paper in front of Julia.

"No… It's personal, and I don't know how I could have been such a klutz…"

"What have you done?" Jen asked in concern. It wasn't like the bubbly Latina to be so down.

Julia gave a self-conscious laugh, "Well, with all the fuss about the wedding – and remember it is next Saturday – I forgot one very important thing!"

"Don't tell me you haven't bought a dress!" Jen said in horror.

"No… it's not quite as bad as that…" Julia said hesitantly, almost as if she regretted having raised the subject.

"Oh for God's sake, spill it; fish or cut bait!" Jen almost snapped at her friend.

"Um… well… I was lying in bed last night… just going over arrangements in my head… and then I suddenly realised – I've got no-one to support me when I walk down the aisle."

Jen looked aghast, "Julia! Where's your head been?"

"Somewhere on cloud nine, I guess," Julia said mournfully, "But Jen, seeing as how you're my maid of honour, do you think that Victor… I mean, I know we've only met formally just the once, but he is from New Mexico too, so maybe there might be some fellow feeling? And not only that, but apart from the Captain – and I am not asking him – he's the only older guy I know over here…"

"Wow, that's a hell of an ask for someone who you barely know… I don't know, but I'll ask him for you, if you want?"

"Yeah, I'd like that, and if he says yes, could you ask him how he feels about wearing his Marine Best Blues?"

"Ouch! Okay… I'll ask, but I can't answer for what is answer will be. He might not think it appropriate…"

"That's a chance I'll have to take, I guess," Julia said.

"M'mm… and right now is a chance for you to get on with that letter for the Captain, Julia – you klutz!"

"Yeah, I admitted that right from the start, so no argument there!" Julia replied as she finally opened the word processing programme on her computer.

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"Okay Mattie, one more try!" Tom Maitland the physiotherapist demanded as the red-faced and sweating teenager handed her crutches, one at a time to Heather, grabbing hold of the parallel bars and, despite the soreness of those hands, with a look of determination on her face deliberately lifted one foot in as natural a manner a she could manage and took a step forward.

"That's it! Good girl!" Tom encouraged her, "And another step… good… and another…!" And so the encouragement continued until Mattie reached the end of the bars where Heather, a pleased smile on her face handed the crutches back to their rightful owner. The crutch handles were now wrapped in what Heather called 'Gamgee', a layer of absorbent cotton sandwiched between two layers of gauze bandage and all held in place by surgical tape, offering padded protection for Mattie's sore palms.

Tom Maitland was apparently very well pleased with Mattie's progress this morning, "Excellent work, Mattie! Now, off you go and grab a shower – then take break for lunch. You've got some motor nerve tests due this afternoon, I see, so this is the end of your work out for today, but don't forget your swimming costume for Wednesday – a nice relaxing session in the hydrotherapy pool!" he smiled as he promised the youngster.

Mattie however, stifled a groan. She was not deceived in the slightest; she had already experienced the exquisite form of torture that had just been so beguilingly offered to her as a treat!

Mattie however managed a tired grin, "Yeah… right… thanks… I think… Oh, but definitely thanks for this morning!" Then she mock glowered at her therapist, "Slave driver!" she muttered just loud enough for him to hear. Tom's grin merely widened as he took her words as an encomium.

"Get off with you, now! You'll feel better after a shower and a chance to sit down! And if you carry on your rate of progress, Mattie, I reckon it won't be too long before you're in walking re-ed!"

"And that's something to look forward to!" Heather MacLauchlan added, receiving a go-ahead nod from Tom as she wheeled Mattie's chair forward, "Come on, take a bit of break, you've been on your feet for most of the morning, and getting over-tired won't help!"

Mattie scowled in objection, but not only had Heather's expression settled into a an 'I will brook no opposition' expression but even the teenager's energy was beginning to flag, so carefully manoeuvring backwards she sat down in the chair and allowed Heather to push her in the direction of the female showers and locker room.

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Jen sat back and shrugged her shoulders in attempt to rid herself of some of the stiffness in them that she acquired through a morning of typing up the statistics return, and with a sigh of gratitude saved her least favourite document and closed down the computer. "How are you doing with that letter?" she asked Julia.

"Oh… just one or two minor amendments to the wording," Julia replied cheerfully. "In fact, I'm just 'bout to print it off and take it in for signature…"

Jen glanced at her watch, "Good… because it's coming up for lunchtime… wanna join me?"

Julia cast a jaundiced look out of the window, "Yeah, okay, but somewhere indoors – I am not sitting out in the park on a day like today!"

Jen shared Julia's expression as she too took a look at the dark grey, rain-laden and scudding clouds as they were driven overhead by a brisk, and what Jen knew from experience, would be a really cold wind. "God, what a country!" she complained half-seriously.

"Would it be any different in DC?" Julia asked as she collect the printed letter from the printer's out-tray.

Jen looked somewhat put out by the question but then agreed, "No… not much… but DC is a bit further south, so maybe not quite so cold."

"Well, we can't have everything, can we?" Julia said a soft smile spreading over her face, "After all, to make up for the weather, we have… well I have a good man who's going to be waiting for me in Church in a few days." She paused and with a sly grin at Jen added innocently, "And what about you and Victor?"

Jen felt a flash of annoyance with Julia's incursion into her private life, but just managed a laugh and shook her head, "We're doing great, but it's far too early for us to start making long term plans. I don't know about your Johnny Walker, but Victor's a career Marine… I mean I can see him staying in until they kick him out due to old age!"

Julia stood in thought for a moment and then said contemplatively, "H'mm… Victor Galindez, Sergeant Major of the United States Marine Corps… it has a definite ring about it, doesn't it?"

Jen nodded, "It does, but the odds? I'm sure Victor would like it, but I think he'd be quite happy to make Command Sergeant Major… I mean I can't really see him settling for a desk job at 8th and I or Marine Headquarters…"

"Yeah, he has been pretty action-oriented, hasn't he?" Julia said over her shoulder as she finally stepped up to knock on Harm's office door.

Five minutes later Julia re-merged into the outer office, a satisfied smile on her face as she printed off a second copy of the letter for the file and neatly folded the original, slipping it into the pre-printed envelope on her desk, before adding it to the mail bag and then with a grin, turned off her computer before looking at Jen, "The Captain says it's time we went and got us some lunch!" she affirmed.

"Oh, thank God for that, my stomach is beginning to think my throat's been cut!" Jen laughed.

"Oh?" Julia's cocked eyebrow asked a world of questions.

Jen nodded, "I've been overdoing the eating recently, so I bullied Victor into dragging me along or a run this morning – instead of breakfast!"

"You must have had something?" Julia asked, aghast.

"Well, there wasn't much time, but we did manage a couple of slices of toast and a coffee before we had to leave!"

"¡Ay de mí! – You'll be found dead with nothing inside you!" Julia exclaimed.

"Yep, so I could just about go a foot long pastrami and salad sub right now…" Jen said dreamily as she gathered her cover and purse.

"You think?" Julia asked.

"No… It would be good, but what are the odds of us finding one within walking distance? So why don't we try that place we took Mattie to when she first got here? She seemed to enjoy that Cornwall Pastry…"

"Uh… That's Cornish Pasty, Jen" Julia corrected her friend.

"Ah, yes…Do I detect the civilising influence of a certain British Soldier beginning to show?" Jen teased Julia as the pair made their way across the bull pen.

"Civilising? Well… maybe!" Julia laughed as the two women walked into the locker room, "But, you know, Johnny's pretty clued up on a lot of stuff… he even makes English History sound interesting – and I get the feeling he knows a lot more about the US than he lets on!"

"Well that can't be a bad thing, surely?" Jen said as she shrugged out of her uniform jacket and reached for waterproof jacket, at the same time as her hand went to her skirt fastener. "I mean, if he's going to go back to the States with you when your tour over here is finished?"

Julia's face fell, "Well, that's not something we've really looked at in detail yet. I mean I've got another three years to do here, and Johnny only has to give eighteen months' notice to quit…"

Jen plumped down onto one of the benches that ran in front of the lockers, "Oh, Julia… You really are a klutz! What's going to happen if Johnny decides to stay career in the British Army and you're assigned to Pearl… or Keflavik, or even to a ship?"

Julia frowned, "Yeah, well, I guess we'll have to face that hurdle when it comes… Of course, I could always not renew my contract and stay with over here with him as a military spouse…"

Jen looked troubled at that, as some fairly new development in the UK's' immigration policy jumped around at the back of her mind, waving its arms and demanding her full attention, "You might want to check out the Brit immigration requirements for non-EU spouses; I think I've seen in some recent newspaper reports that they've tightened them up considerable!"

"Is that a problem?" Julia asked, her frown now taking on a worried shade.

Jen nearly shrugged, "I'm not sure, but I do think you need to check out what the requirements are going to be! And you do need to start talking about these sorts of things with your Bombardier – Julia, there's more to marriage than four legs in a bed!"

"I guess…" Julia said miserably.

Jen suddenly realised that her dose of reality had acted like a dash of cold water in the younger woman's face, so puffing slightly as she tightened the belt on her pants she reached over and clapped a light hand on Julia's shoulder, "Sorry, didn't mean to be so negative – and anyway, you'll feel better when you've got something inside you, so come on let's hit that diner before it gets too crowded."

Julia made a valiant effort to cheer up, and nodded, "Yeah, I think my stomach's beginning to feel the same way as yours!"

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Heather MacLauchlan carefully stowed Mattie's wheelchair in the boot of her car before walking around to the driver's side of the vehicle and sliding behind the wheel. However before she started the engine, she made a careful note in a brand-new pocket notebook, scrupulously recording the mileage, and then when she had finished that, she turned to Mattie in the front passenger seat and looked at the teenager a trifle anxiously. Mattie, to her eyes, looked pale and tired and her eyes were closed. "How are you feeling, Mattie?" Heather asked, worried, that although the physiotherapists seemed to know what they were doing, that they hadn't been a little too demanding on the American girl on what was her first day of concentrated physiotherapy.

Mattie's eyes opened and she mustered up a tired grin, "Yeah, I'm a little bushed, and I'll be glad to get home and relax for an hour so… unless you've got more torture lined up for me when we get home – I saw the physical therapist hand you a bunch of exercise notes!" she ended suspiciously.

"Yes, he did!" Heather acknowledged as she turned the ignition key in the lock, "But those are for the days when you're not up here at the hospital, so yes, once we get you home, I'll put the kettle on and you can rest and relax until your folks get home."

"My folks? Oh, you mean Harm and Gill?" Mattie paused for thought and slow smile spread over her face, "Y'know, I guess I've never thought of them in those terms, I mean. They're Harm and Gill, but yeah… you're right, they are my folks, now!"

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"This is a bit busier than I'd thought!" Heather commented as she edged her car alongside the kerb outside Harm's quarters, no easy task this afternoon as the road for about fifty yards was lined on both sides by parked cars with people on foot milling around..

Mattie sat up and looked around with a puzzled frown as she realised that the focus of the small crowd's attention was the Davenport house, home to the three young British girls she had met over the weekend. Then she, along with Heather noticed the concerned and even worried expressions on the faces of some of those same people, especially on the faces of some of the women, while the men, most of them in RAF uniform all looked concerned.

But in response to Heather's comment Mattie's frown deepened, "Yeah… there's something wrong, here… I don't know why, but I just feel it…"

"I think you're right," Heather agreed, "But let's look to our priorities and get you indoors and a cup of tea inside you…"

"Tea? I'd rather have coffee… and I'll make you the same deal as I made Gill," Mattie argued, but only half-heartedly as she looked back over her shoulder at the Davenport house even as she lifted her legs, one at a time out of the car.

"What deal was that, Mattie?" Heather asked.

"Oh… I'll teach you to make coffee and you can try to teach me to brew tea!" Mattie half-grinned, but her heart really wasn't in the banter. She had a bad, bad feeling about whatever was happening across the street.

Heather nodded, making a determined effort to ignore outside distractions as she asked, "Now... are you going to try the ramp on wheels or on crutches?"

Mattie bit her lip and looked at the ramp. It was a daunting prospect for her to attack it on crutches, and while she knew she could manage it – well, nine times out of ten – in her chair, she was determined to get her legs back under her as soon as she could, so I was with some diffidence that she replied, "Well… I'd like to try it with my crutches, but… but… can you follow me up with the chair… just in case, please?"

Heather nodded approvingly, having been almost able to follow the teen's thought processes by the expressions that had flitted across her face, "Go for it, lass!" she smiled as she unloaded the chair from the boot and unfolded it ready for use if the need should occur.

Mattie checked back over her shoulder one more time and then with a grimace of determination started to stump her way up the ramp. Again it was a red-faced and damply glowing teenager that stood balanced, somewhat precariously to Heather's alarm, on one crutch as Mattie delved her other hand deep into her pocket to retrieve her front door key.

Heather suspected that her own sigh of relief as Mattie negotiated the doorway and propped herself into the house was matched by that of the teenager herself, who made a bee-line for the kitchen, collapsing, almost gracefully, and certainly grateful onto one of the kitchen chairs.

Heather closed the front door and collapsed the wheelchair before following her charge into the kitchen.

Seeing Mattie sat safely at the table she relaxed slightly and said, "Okay… this deal about teaching me how to make coffee…" she looked around for a filter machine only to be surprised by the teenager.

Mattie seeing Heather look around, guessed what the nurse was looking for and said rather smugly, "We use a proper percolator in this house; Harm won't have his coffee made any other way!"

"Wow! I bet he suffers at work, then!" Heather grinned, "But where is it?"

"That green jug-looking thing!" Mattie indicated the percolator. "You take out the metal filter bowl at the top of the jug and fill it with coffee… three scoops should do it, then half fill the jug with cold water, plug it in, switch it on and wait until it gurgles…"

"As simple as that?"

"Oh, yeah, but you've got to get the right proportion of coffee grounds and water!" Mattie grinned, "But it comes with practice!"

"Just like walking!" Heather nodded with a further smile as she moved to the kitchen sink to fill the jug with water.

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Harm noted Heather's car parked a few yards away from the ramp even as he took in the numbers of people coming and going from the Davenport house, confirming the uneasy feeling he'd had all day that something was badly wrong. If that was the case, he wanted to show support and sympathy but felt that his status as what was no more than a casual acquaintance with the Davenports kept him from making an open approach, so it was with a sense of relief that he saw Pat Griffiths, the Tornado pilot he'd met at the Davenport's dinner party, walking away from the house.

Quickly slipping out of the Subaru, Harm intercepted Pat just as the other officer reached his own car, a VW Passat, "Hold on a moment, please!" Harm called out. "I don't know if you remember me, but…"

Pat Griffith turned a concerned face towards Harm, his expression lightening slightly as he recognised the American Navy Captain, "Of course, Captain Rabb… Harmon… isn't it?"

"Yeah, Uh… look this is a bit awkward… but there's something going on, isn't there? I thought I saw a chaplain visiting earlier… I hope there's nothing…"

"No… well… yes, it is bad news, not as bad as it could be, we're all hoping… it's just that Tim Davenport's 'plane went down yesterday evening over some God-forsaken place in Afghanistan. From his wingman's report…" he nodded in acknowledgement of Harm's Aviator's wings, "It seems that Tim's plane was hit by a SAM. Anyway, the wingman, Peter Matthews claims he only saw one good 'chute ejected from the plane before it augured in, but we're all hoping that he just lost sight of the other in all the confusion… So we're all hoping and praying. Of course, Bella's at her wits' end and the girls are pretty inconsolable." Pat Griffiths drew himself up with a shaky breath, "And I'm on my way to see Helen Robinson – Mike Robinson was – is – Tim's Navigator – fortunately there are no kids involved there, but…" his voice trailed off miserably as he glanced back over his shoulder.

Harm nodded understandingly, "Of course… well, look I won't intrude on Bella, but if you could find some way of letting her know that I… that Gill and I will help in any way we can…"

Pat nodded, a little stiffly Harm thought, almost as if he resented interference from someone outside the RAF 'family', but he answered civilly enough, "Of course, I'll let her know… And I'm sure that once she's got her second wind, she'll thank you in person…"

"There's no need for thanks," Harm replied soberly, and glancing down at his own wings he added, "We all know how it goes and that every time we strap on an airplane…"

Pat Griffith nodded, "That's the truth… Well…" he drew himself up into an informal sort of braced position, "If you'll forgiven me, I really do need to go and see Helen Robinson… Mike was – is, dammit – a member of my flight!"

"Of course, and I'll pray that both of your guys make it home safely!"

"Amen to that!" Griffiths responded, smartly saluting as he paused before turning around to get into his car.

Harm stood back and watched the VW pull away from the kerb and with an even heavier heart than before he turned and re-crossed the street heading for home and the comfort of his family, a comfort that he was all too well aware would be missing in the Davenport house.

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Harm entered the house with a heavy heart but managed a brief smile for Heather and Mattie as he, following his nose, tracked down the fresh brewed coffee in the kitchen. "Hi ladies," he said as lightly as he could.

"Good afternoon, Captain Rabb," Heather's reply was nearly drowned out by Mattie's chirpier greeting.

"Hey, Harm…" and then even the ebullient teenager seeing the shadows on Harm's face asked in a more concerned tone, "What's up, Harm…" and then the thought struck her, "Something's wrong isn't it? Across, the street, I mean."

Harm nodded, "Yeah, Group Captain Davenport, the girls' dad… he's MIA…"

Mattie looked shocked and concerned; she knew enough of Harm's personal history to realise how the news must affect him, and she shoved herself to her feet, ignoring Heather's gasp of "Mattie!" to wobble uncertainly for a moment or two before holding briefly onto the chair back as she took an even more uncertain step towards Harm before wrapping her arms around as much of his torso as she could manage.

Even as Heather jumped to her feet, Harm quickly wrapped his arms round Mattie, not only in appreciation of her unspoken sympathy for his ancient loss, but also to prevent the impetuous young girl's leg giving way under her and depositing her on her six on the hard kitchen floor.

Shaking his head ruefully, he gently guided her back to the recently vacated kitchen chair, murmuring as he did so, "Thanks, Mats, I know what you're trying to do, but you need to be a little more careful…" He lowered her into her seat and smiled, "I'm proud of you, Mattie Rabb, very proud, for all that you've achieved in such a short time, and I'm even more proud of you today, but you also need to promise me that you'll take care… I don't want you to injure yourself and have to take a step or two back!"

Mattie, out of the corner of her eye, catching Heather nodding in reinforcement of Harm's words gave a little sigh, "Okay… I'll be good – I promise! But when I see you hurting…"

"Yeah, well, the memories are still there, Squirt, but it was a long time ago, and most of the time… well… it's okay… but just once in a while…"

"Yeah, and that's when I feel need to help you, for a change!" Mattie interjected.

Heather was becoming uncomfortably aware of the heightened emotion in the room and tentatively cleared her throat, "Um… Captain Rabb… I'm sorry to intrude… but I really do need to get going… I do have things to do at home. So… I'll see you both tomorrow at seven, if that's okay?"

Harm reminded of Heather's presence, was also now aware of just how much of his emotions he had let slip in front of a stranger and nodded, "Of course, Heather, let me walk you out!"

"Yeah, see you in the morning, Heather!" Mattie chimed in, "Zero seven hundred, clean, dry and lightly oiled!"

"Oh, I don't know about lightly oiled, but I think I can manage bright-eyed and bushy tailed!" Heather grinned back.

Harm walked Heather to the front door and stood in the doorway, but only half his attention was on the nurse as he kept an eye on happenings at the house opposite, and it appeared to his eye that the crowd, small as it was, was already thinning out, as friends and colleagues of the Davenports having paid their respects and proffered their sympathies were forced by the nature of their daily routine to take up the reins of what would, for the duration of the uncertainty as to Tim and his Navigator's fate, pass as normality.

Shaking his head, as if denying what he had heard would somehow magically negate the events of the day, he closed the door and returned to the kitchen, to find that Mattie had poured him a mug of coffee, "I don't know if you'll like it," she said as she slid the mug towards him, "Heather made it, but I did tell her just how much coffee and water to put in the percolator…"

"Well, if it's warm and wet, it should do, thanks, Squirt!" Harm took a sip of his drink and his eyebrows rose in mild surprise, "You say Heather made this?"

Mattie nodded, her hands cradling her own coffee mug.

"Well, even if under instruction, she made a damned good job of it!" he enthused and then caught Mattie's accusing eye. "Oh, alright, she made a darned good job of it!"

"That's better!" Mattie agreed with a smile that slowly faded.

Harm looked across as Mattie's expression clouded over, "What's up, Squirt?"

"Well… it seems somehow wrong… we're just sat here like it was a normal day… while the Davenports…"

Harm nodded and put his mug down. "That's the way things go when you're a flyer. Every time you get into an airplane, there's a little thought at the back of your mind that it may the last time you ever do anything. That's why we plan for the worst case scenario and hope for the best…"

"Yeah, that's okay for the guy or gal in the airplane, but what about their families?"

"Well… Tim and Bella Davenport have been married for at least sixteen years, so I guess like any flyer's wife, Bella has learned to deal with the possibility of Tim not coming home from a sortie. Otherwise the marriage would have ended a long time ago… And when you get your wings and have a significant other, then that's something they are going to have to learn to cope with, and if your significant other is a service member too, then it's something you'll have to learn to get a handle on too!"

Mattie gave a little shudder, "Wow! Cheerful, much!" she objected.

"Mattie life in the service isn't all roses, there are down sides, but I still reckon that the good outweighs the bad, but this is a lesson you need to learn early on, and I'm hitting you with it now, firstly because you're already seeing, from the periphery, what can happen, but mostly I'm laying it on you now, because I think you're tough enough to handle the truth!"

Mattie still looked slightly down but the effect of Harm's words brought a lightening to her expression and she mustered up a weak smile, "That's a heck of a compliment, Harm…" she offered.

"No compliment, Mattie, that's what I really think. Look at what you've achieved in the past few months. And a trans-Atlantic flight – a pond hop, as we aviators call it is just about the least of it. You've left all your familiar surroundings to come and live in a foreign country – yeah the Brits speak English, but in some ways they're just as foreign as the Germans or Dutch or even the French. You've started to walk again, you're signed up for a pretty tough course of physical therapy and you've still – in spite of crashes, comas, pain, and all the rest, you've still got your sights set on the academy." Harm grinned, "It's beginning to dawn on me just what a tough kid I've adopted!"

"Hey! Not so much of the tough kid, please," Mattie interjected, "I'd prefer a determined and dedicated young woman!"

"Young woman? Not young lady?" Harm teased.

"Nah… I don't reckon I'll make it to the lady status… not like Gill… Now… she is a lady, a heck of classy one!"

Harm's smiled grew warmer, "Yeah, she is."

"So how come she and you… I mean…she's totally different from …" Mattie stumbled to a halt.

Harm's smile grew a fraction less intense but he replied, "Hey, it's okay Squirt, you can say 'Mac', I'm not going to fall apart just hearing her name. But as for how Gill and I got together? Well, I was just lucky I guess!"

Mattie eyed him severely, "You do know that is not a satisfactory answer don't you?" And when Harm merely nodded, Mattie followed his example before adding, "Yeah, just checking that you understood that!"

"Oh yeah, I get that! I really do!" Harm said and swallowed the last mouthful of his coffee before standing up from the table. "Now, I'm going to shower and change into something a bit more practical and then I'll make a start on dinner. Are you okay as you are or do you want some help?"

"No… I think I can make it to my chair and then into the shower all on my own-some…" Then Mattie checked her watch, "But you might want to get a wriggle on. I don't reckon it'll be too long afore Gill gets home – and I know her first priority is going to be the shower!"

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Mattie's prophecy as to Gill's priorities was slightly out. Her first action on entering the kitchen was to casually, and over that teenager's squawked protest, ruffle her riot of curls in passing before she walked up to the worktop where Harm, freshly showered and changed, was busily engaged in chopping root vegetables for the vegetable curry he was in the middle of preparing, while Mattie was busy with mortar and pestle grinding assorted spices with a little vegetable oil into a paste.

"Hello people," Gill breathed as Harm turned to meet her, taking her into his arms as she raised her face for his kiss, a proceeding which Mattie watched with great approval, but with also just a little pang of jealousy as the couple's reaction to each other reminded her that she no longer had Harm's undivided attention. However she swiftly fought down her slight negative feelings, but wondered at the same time why it was she had never felt excluded when it seemed that Harm and Mac were, after all, going to make a reasonable stab at a full on, adduct elation ship, and came to the conclusion that perhaps unconsciously she had realised that relationship was never going to take off – certainly not with the speed and intensity of the events unfolding in front of her.

However, despite Mattie's satisfaction with what was happening in front of her, Gill wasn't deceived. She dropped her arms from Harm's neck and used her hands behind her back to prop herself against one of the kitchen chairs while her eyes searched his face.

"That's not quite as enthusiastic as I was hoping for," she commented, albeit lightly, "Is there something the matter?"

Harm managed a wry grin, "No hiding it from you, is there? Yeah, there is something wrong…" he nodded in the general direction of the front of the house, "Tim Davenport's gone MIA over Afghanistan."

Gill blanched, "Oh, God, poor Bella… Have you said anything to her?

Ham wriggled uncomfortably, "No… When I got home there was a whole bunch of RAF guys and some of their womenfolk over there… and I… well… I don't feel that I really know them well enough to intrude on the family at a time like this… I remember how tough it was for Mom when well-meaning friends and neighbours heard about Dad and kept on knocking at the door to pass on their condolences. It was hard for her and I don't want to make things any harder for the Davenports – Bella or the girls…"

Gill nodded thoughtfully, "I've never really thought of it in those terms before, but, yes, I can see where you're coming from… But…"

"I did leave a message though, saying that if she needed anything then we – you, and I and Mattie would be here to help."

Gill nodded thoughtfully a second time, "Yes… Under the circumstances that's probably the best thing to have done. Poor Bella, though," she sighed and then with a sharp intake of breath she made an attempt to throw off the sense of melancholy that had crept over the little family and gave a shaky laugh, "I know it seems insensitive or maybe even callous to worry about the hum drum necessities of life, but I really need to take a shower and get changed…."

"Yeah, go ahead," Harm smiled, "You're not being callous, just practical… and I'm probably letting it get to me too much anyhow!"

xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

Julia sat on the side of her bed, a container of prawn fried rice, the spoils of a quick stop at a local Chinese takeaway restaurant, resting on her knees as she thought back to what Jen had said at lunchtime… all of a sudden it seemed to her that a precipice had opened up almost directly beneath her feet, and the horrible thought occurred to her that maybe she – and Johnny – were rushing headlong into this marriage without clearly thinking things through, and that she decided ruefully was entirely her fault. It was her request – no, her demand for a baby – that had sparked off his proposal, and then it seemed that things had gotten out of hand. Then she had stumbled across all the regulations that the US Navy had designed, specifically it seemed to her, to make a service member's marriage to a foreign national as difficult as it could be, without banning all such marriages outright. And all on top of all the usual preparations for the wedding, and here she acknowledged that Johnny's family had been superb, really rallying around the young couple in a break-neck effort to get all the arrangements made in the limited time they had been given.

Still, there was one thing of which she was in doubt whatsoever, and that was the fact that she and Johnny did love each other. True there were things that needed to be cleared up ASAP, but she was sure that what she felt right now was only a classic case of pre-wedding jitters – plain old cold feet!

The first few notes of a military march sounding from her cell phone alerted her to an incoming call and that the caller was Johnny, only he would have selected the opening bars of 'The British Grenadiers' to identify himself she thought fondly. So temporarily abandoning her half-eaten dinner she lay back against the pillows on her bed and cradling Rocky in he left arm picked up the phone.

"Hey you…" she breathed gently into the handset.

"Hey yourself!" Johnny's voice was warm and loving, bringing a smile to Julia's face, as he continued, "What are you up to?"

"Oh… I'm just lying back on bed, with my arm around Rocky and wishing it was you," Julia smiled.

"I wish it was too," Johnny agreed and Julia could just envisage his rakish grin as he spoke and then her own smile broadened as he carried on speaking, "Listen, I got a letter from your Navy Medical people this morning. I have an appointment on Thursday at the US Naval Medical Clinic on Thursday, and that's at RAF Blenheim Crescent at West Ruislip, just a couple of miles up the road from Northolt. So I figured I'd drive up on Wednesday evening and book us a room at that hotel I stayed at the last time I visited."

Julia's smile, despite her only slightly earlier doubts broadened into a grin, "Y'know, that's just about the best thing I've heard all day!"

"A tough day?" Johnny asked sympathetically.

"Tough? No… well, not really, it's just that Jen and I had a talk and she brought up a couple of things that set me thinking… and Johnny, on Wednesday we do need to sit down and have a serious conversation about a few things."

A cold hand seemed to grip Johnny's heart, "Uh… you're not having second thoughts about us are you? I mean just more than pre-wedding nerves, 'cos I expect those – hell I've got a few of them myself!"

"No… no… it's nothing that bad… sure, I'm a little jittery, hey, honey, it's a big, big step for both of us!"

"Yeah, but we love each other, right? So everything will work out…"

"Yeah, we love each other, but it's only going to work out okay if we work t it! And if we get it right, what we say to each other on Wednesday will be a good step on the way to getting it right!"

"Okay…" Johnny agreed, but to Julia's ears he still sounded a little doubtful.

"It's okay, sweetheart, honestly, we just need to take a step back a little and get some perspective on what's coming on down the pike!"

"Well, okay, just remember that I love you," Johnny replied.

"Yeah, I love you too… Now, changing the subject, just slightly… I've been a real idiot!"

"Oh, how come?" Johnny asked dutifully, although again to Julia's ears his voice was less than convincing in conveying his interest.

Julia giggled and blushed, thankful that Johnny couldn't see the red in her cheeks, "Well, I almost forgot one important detail about the wedding… I forgot to ask anyone to give me away!"

"Julia! You… you… you…" Johnny was temporarily lost for words.

"Klutz?" Julia suggested mischievously.

"Well, it's not a word I'd use, but yeah, I guess it fits!"

"Yeah, well that's what Jen said when I asked her…"

"Wait a minute, you asked Jen to support you down the aisle? I thought she was going to be your maid of honour?"

"Oh, she is. No, I asked her if she thought Victor might stand up for me!"

"Victor? Jen's Victor? The Marine First Sergeant? Julia, you hardly know him!"

"I know… but first off he is from my home state, and secondly, apart from the Captain he's just about the only guy I know who's got the right… bearing, and is the right age, and… and hell, I can't ask the Captain!"

"No… that would be too much," Johnny concurred.

"Yeah, so Jen's going to ask him for me this evening, and I hope he'll say 'yes. – oh, and I asked if he'd be willing to wear his Dress Blues for the ceremony and Mess Dress for the evening… just so that he'll fit in with you and your Groomsman!"

"Well… that might help, when are you expecting to get an answer, and what happens if you don't get the right one?"

"I'm hoping to hear from him tomorrow, and yeah, I really would like an affirmative, but if I don't get one, then I guess I'll just have to do without a supporter."

"That wouldn't be too good, but I have faith in you and if the worst comes to the worst then I'm pretty sure we can think of something together." A belated thought struck Johnny, "Uh, is this one of the things you wanted to talk about on Wednesday?"

"Huh? Oh, no… this was something different entirely!"

"Oh good! I can't wait until Wednesday!" Johnny said, the irony readily audible in his voice.

"Good, then I'll try not to disappoint you!" Julia smirked.

Johnny's voice softened, "Ah... you'll never disappoint me, sweetheart! I love you too much.

"Yeah, and I love you too," Julia replied softly, "But I'm going to say goodnight now. I've got uniform to get ready for tomorrow!"

"Yeah, goodnight, sweetheart!"

"Goodnight, Johnny Walker!""

xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

Jen gathered up the dirty plates and flatware from the table and carried them over to the sink, where Victor had already added washing up liquid to the hot water and with, to Jen's mind, an incongruous pair of bright pink rubber gloves on his hands was waiting for the delivery of the dirty dinnerware. Catching Jen's amused look at his hand wear he growled, "And not a word about these anywhere outside these four walls! Got it?"

"I hear, and to hear is to obey, O Master!" Jen quipped back at him, provoking an amused snort of disbelief from the normally stern faced First Sergeant.

Jen's face lost its amused look as she bi her lip and said, "Victor… there is something I need to ask you…"

"Anything!" Victor promised looking keenly at Jen.

"Oh... it's not for me… It's Julia…"

"What's she got to do with anything?" Victor asked in a puzzled voice.

"Well… she's been a bit of klutz… in fact a hell of a klutz… much klutzier than usual, and she needs bailing out of a hole…"

"Yeah, okay, I can accept that, but I repeat, what's that got do with me?"

"Um… she suddenly realised that she's got no-one to support her when she walks down the aisle next Saturday, and was wondering if you'd agree to do it… In your Dress Blues, too…"

"No way, Jen! I hardly know the girl! I can't give her away…"

"The thing is, Victor," Jen said as she fielded the first of the now clean, but piping hot plates from Victor's hands, "She just doesn't know anyone else – apart from the Captain – who is of the right sort of…"

"Age?" Victor asked grimly.

"Well, I was going to say 'gravitas'," Jen objected, "But hey, I can go with age if you'd prefer?"

"No I would not prefer!" Victor rasped handing Jen a second clean plate.

Jen nodded, "Well, anyway, as I was saying – before you interrupted me – the only other person she knows is the Captain, and she's certainly no going to ask him! That would be… that would be…"

"Brown nosing on a huge scale!" Victor interjected.

"Well… again, I was going to say, awkward, but yeah, brown nosing fits… so you see she can't ask him. And Victor is it really such a big deal, a five minute walk down the length of a church… and I'm her maid of honour, so you'll be stood there with no-one else you know around you…? I think she feels some sort of connection between you – you are both from New Mexico, and from what I understand, her dad is Law Enforcement down there… just like you used to be before you re-joined the Corps…"

"Oh… that's dirty pool, Jen!" Victor objected.

"Well, maybe, but is it working?"

"I don't know… I'll think about it overnight, and then I'll speak with her tomorrow… But she hasn't really left us much option, has she… or much time to get my Dress Blues sorted out!"

Jen looked at Victor in surprise, "Oh, Victor! You're the Security Company First Sergeant for the Embassy – I can't believe that your Dress Blues aren't permanently immaculate!"

"Well maybe they're not too bad…" Victor conceded.

"So, you'll do it?" Jen asked, her eyes sparkling.

"I'll think about it overnight, and I'll speak with her tomorrow, an after I've spoken to her, I'll make my decision, okay?"

"Okay!" Jen smiled, "I knew I loved you for a reason!" Then the penny dropped and Jen suddenly realised what she had said. "Oh… Victor, I… That wasn't meant to put you on the spot… it just kinda slipped out…"

Victor was nearly as surprised as Jennifer at her words and he took a light hold of the edge of the sink, before turning his head to stared at her for a few long seconds before he spoke, "Well… was it just a slip of the tongue, or did you mean it?" he asked, hi expression serious.

Jen faced him, a sinking feeling in her stomach and her heart in her eyes, afraid that when she replied that would be the last she saw of Victor Galindez other than on points of duty. Gulping she took a firm grasp of the nettle, "Oh… I meant it alright Victor, I meant it!"

Victor' face cracked into a smile, "Then that's okay then… Because I'm certain that I love you too!"

"Uh… You do?" Jen gulped.

"Damn straight!" Victor replied forcefully, stripping off the hated rubber gloves and reaching for Jen.

Jen allowed herself to be folded into Victor's embrace, her head resting comfortably against his shoulder as she murmured, "Well… what now?"

"Can we just leave things as they are right now – just for a little while?" Victor asked somewhat tentatively.

Jen leaned back against the support of Victor's arms, her eyes suddenly troubled, "Why… is there something wrong?"

Victor gave a decided shake of his head, "No, there's nothing wrong… But there are a couple of things I need to deal with before anything else…"

A sudden dark suspicion crossed Jen's mind, "You're not going to tell me that you've got a wife and kids back in the States, are you?" she demanded urgently.

"What?! No! No, no, of course not! No, sweetheart, there's nothing like that happening… but I do need to sort a couple of things out. For one, I need to get onto Corps Headquarters Manning Office and withdraw… uh… ah… well, that's need to know, dammit. All I can tell you is that the way things stand, I could be sent TAD to another government agency – and now with you in my life I ain't willing for that to happen anymore… And there are one or two other, less important things to straighten out too… But nothing discreditable!"

Jen gave a little moan of despair, "Oh, Victor… still involved with the Agency?" Jen needed to say no more, they both knew exactly to which agency she referred.

"Yeah, and that's what I've got to fix. Get my name taken off the list of 'dependable temporary assets'," Victor said gently.

xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

Harm and Gill made a determined effort to return the atmosphere in the house to something approaching normality, but there was a slight air of sadness over the little household, although after dinner had been eaten and the kitchen cleared down, Harm and Gill had quizzed Mattie about her first full day of physical therapy, receiving a wittily and slightly cynical account of the teenager's day, which did a lot to lighten their mood.

Harm and Gill listened with growing mild amusement and once Mattie had finished describing Tom Maitland as a "Darned slave-driver!" the pair of them burst into brief laughter.

"But you're not too upset with him, are you?" Gill asked.

Mattie didn't need to think before answering, "Upset, no. He's doing his job, and from what Heather has let slip, he's doing it pretty darned well!"

"And how are you getting on with Heather?" Harm asked, remembering the mild forebodings he'd had about hiring a stranger to help with Mattie's care, and the worry that the two wouldn't be able to get on with each other.

"Heather? Oh, she's great! A little bossy, maybe, but I guess she needs to be..." a devil of amusement awoke in Mattie's eyes as she just beat Harm to the punch, "And I guess if she's going to cope with me, she'd need to be!"

Harm was forced to grin, "You just about took the words right out of my mouth!" he quipped.

"Yeah, Heather's great. We... Well, I've got some exercises to do tomorrow, but Heather says we'll split them down into two sessions, one morning, and one afternoon and in between the sessions she says we can go into the town and have a look at the shops. I don't suppose there'll be much to see in Ruislip..."

"Well... it will do you good to get out and about a little," Gill intervened. A quick glance at Harm's face suggested to her that he was about to object to the proposed expedition.

Harm, for his part, had been about to veto the idea, but her quick warning frown and shake of Gill's head persuaded him to sit back and keep silent for a few moments until he finally said, "I suppose that's okay, as long as you take your chair and take it easy. I don't want to get home tomorrow afternoon and find you collapsed, exhausted and in pain – and no junk food for lunch!"

"I'll be good!" Mattie promised him earnestly, "And besides, I don't figure that Heather will let me run riot around town on my crutches! And she's just as much of a culinary tyrant as you are, so although as a teen I have a constitutional right to burgers and fries, I know I won't be having any tomorrow!"

"No, probably not!" Gill laughed, "But now if you don't mind, there's a programme coming on TV about the discovery of the Palace of Knossos that I'd quite like to see!"

"Television?" Harm grumbled, "Oh well, I suppose archaeology is better than watching those useless, brain-cell rotting soaps!"

Better than soap operas the programme might be but the trio sat around and watched only a little television before Harm becoming bored with the subject, which he felt could have been presented in a much more lively manner, struggled out of the depths of the couch and announced, in what had become a nightly ritual, that he was going to fix the hot chocolate and after that it would be time for Gill to give Mattie what little help the teenager now needed in getting ready for bed.

Gill nodded; it might seem implausibly early for a sixteen year old to be going to bed on what was, after all, a non-school night, but although Mattie managed to see to ninety percent of her needs it still took her appreciably longer than it would have done had she the full use of her legs.

xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

Harm groaned and rolled over in bed as he shot out an arm to silence the alarm clock, only becoming aware as he turned back that he was now alone in bed and that Gill's kimono was missing from it's accustomed hangar on the back of the bedroom door. Sitting up in bed he listened intently and yes, he could hear the shower in the bathroom. With a grin he slipped out of bed and barefoot and dressed only in his boxers he padded across the hallway and opened the bathroom door to be almost overwhelmed by a sweet scented wave of steam as Gill vigorously soaped herself down. Stepping out of his shorts, he opened the shower cubicle door, and eliciting a squeak from Gill dropped a gentle kiss on the pulse point of he neck.

"Harm... what do you think you're doing?" she protested faintly.

"Just saying good morning to my best girl!"" Harm grinned, his hands beginning to slide up Gill's rib cage.

Gill however writhed free and turned to face him, "Oh, Harm, I'd love to... but Heather is going to be here in less than forty minutes, and it is a duty day!"

"So... you'd love to would you?" Harm repeated Gill's words, his eyes taking on a darker shade of blue, "Well if we can't we can't, but just hold onto that thought!"

"Oh, I will... but you... you go and shave now while I finish showering, and then while you're in the shower I'll maker a start on breakfast..."

"And what about Mattie?" Harm asked, regretfully stepping back out of the shower.

"Well... isn't that one of the reasons you hired Heather, so that she could take some of the load off of our shoulders?"

Harm nodded, "True... true... But it's taking a little time for that fact to sink in!"

"Well, make it sink faster!" Gill grinned placing a hand on Harm's chest and giving him a gentle push out of the way while she determinedly closed the shower cubicle door.

With shower time shenanigans prohibited it didn't take the two officers, both used to military hurry ups, to dress and reunite in the kitchen, where Gill, had prepared the fixings for breakfast omelettes, including some of the left over curried vegetables, now finely chopped together with mushrooms and onions, and on seeing Harm enter the kitchen briefly instructed him to pour the OJ and coffee – already steaming in the percolator – while she ladled enough of the omelette mixture into the sizzling pan to serve them both.

Breakfast was interrupted by the appearance of a tousle-haired and still pyjama-clad Mattie who stumped into the kitchen on her crutches bitterly complaining, "Hey! Not fair! What's the big idea of not waking me for breakfast?"

"Well, it seems that you managed that all by your self!" Gill smiled. "We were going to leave it for Heather to have breakfast with you, but seeing as how you're here already, pour yourself a cup of coffee and some OJ and as soon as I've finished this," Gill indicated her half-eaten omelette, "I'll put one on the go for you!"

"Okay... but I'm going to need some toast too!" Mattie growled mutinously.

"Yes'm!" Harm grinned as he swallowed the last of his portion and got to his feet reaching for the bread bin.

"And marmalade!" Mattie reminded Harm.

"On it, Mats!"

Breakfast passed therefore happily enough, with Mattie making a pretty clean sweep of anything that came within her orbit, and finished only just in time for Gill and Harm to stack the dirty kitchenware in the sink before Gill gasped as she glanced at her watch. "Oh, my paws and whiskers!"

"Don't tell me, you're late!" Mattie accused her.

"Not yet! But I will be if I don't run!" Gill shot back, pausing only to give both Harm and Mattie a brief peck on the cheek before she made a run for the front door, grabbing her purse and car keys off the hall table as she opened the door to come face to face with Libby Hawkes who had her hand poised to knock on the door.

"Oh... Good morning, ma'am!" Libby snapped out, remembering Gill from the night of the Trafalgar Anniversary Ball.

"Good morning, PFC Hawkes, isn't it?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Well... bang on time this morning, and it's me that's running late..." Gill hesitated a little and then allowed a smile to cross her face, Harm having confided to her the circumstances of his being adrift the previous day, "I just hope that my boss isn't going to be such a grouch about it as yours was!"

"Uh... no, ma'am. I hope not!" a temporarily dumbfounded Libby Hawkes replied.

"Good, well no doubt we'll see each other again!" Gill gave the younger woman a final nod and then practically trotted to the kerbside where her Ford Focus was parked, but as she did so she scanned the house across the street alert for any signs of unusual activity, but for the moment all seemed quiet.