Chapter 22
"Well, Sir, the Commander has been acting strange, and I was elected to talk to him-only he left to go to Admiral Morris's courtroom to tell Lieutenant Bradford something he had forgotten about the case..."
"Bud, calm down and breathe."
"Yes, Sir, sorry, Sir! I don't think the Commander heard a word I said this morning, Sir. We don't know what his problem is, but I was supposed to find out. I think failed pretty badly, Sir," replied Bud sadly.
"Don't worry about it, Bud, just do the best you can to stay out of his way," replied AJ frowning.
"Do you have any idea when you and the Colonel will be back, Sir?" asked Bud hopefully.
"Sorry, Bud, but no. Sarah and I are here until the mission is over."
"The place isn't the same without you two, Sir," replied Bud thinking, 'When did the Admiral start calling the Colonel, Sarah?'
"Sir, is it safe to tell us were you are?" asked Bud.
"Need to know, Bud. Tell Harm I called and with luck we'll see you in a week or two," sighed AJ, rubbing his head.
Harm, mad at the world, strode back into the office to find Bud hanging up the phone.
"Who was it, Bud? With my luck today, it was the SECNAV."
"No, Sir, it was the Admiral checking on things back here," smiled Bud.
"Great! He calls and I wasn't here," sighed Harm. "Did he say where they were and when they'll be home?"
"No, Sir, only that if they got lucky they would see us in a week or two," said Bud getting up out of what he would always think of as the Admiral's chair.
"Two weeks! And he gave you no clue as to where he and Mac were?" asked Harm, exasperated.
"No, Sir," replied Bud.
"Isn't that just wonderful. How can they be rescued if I don't know where they are?" asked an aggravated Harm.
"Sir, I'm sure between the three of them, they should do all right," smiled Bud.
"What three?" asked Harm, confused.
"Well, there's the Colonel, the Admiral, and Mr. Webb, that makes three," replied Bud.
"Yeah, and those three should have me along, for protection if nothing else!" exclaimed Harm.
"Yes, Sir! If you'll excuse me, I have work to do," said Bud, edging toward the door.
"Dismissed!" Harm said, sitting there, lost in thought.
Suite 1493
Ritz Carlton Hotel
Pensacola, Florida
Mac looked up from the lunch cart when he came over to her. "How are things back home?" she asked, concerned at the look on AJ's face.
"I guess Harm is having trouble letting go of one of his cases, or maybe more than one of them," AJ answered her.
"Well, that is hard to do, when you've done all the prep work and then have to turn it over to someone else. I know I find it difficult when you leave me in charge, but you just have to learn to trust the people you work with to do a good job," she smiled at him.
"You're right. I just think Harm has a problem trusting anyone else to do as good of a job and he thinks he can do."
She chuckled, "Ah, yes, Super Harm!" And she finally got what she wanted-AJ laughed at her joke. They promised to put thoughts of the office out of their heads for the rest of the day, and then had a stimulating argument over who would carry the cell phone while they went sight seeing that afternoon.
"I don't have pockets in the sundress I plan to wear!" Mac informed him.
"Then put it in your purse!" he smirked.
"But you have pockets, you could keep it on you."
"But I'm not the one that'll be going into labor!" he teased.
"Neither am I, buster!" she exclaimed.
"Did you just call your Commanding Officer, BUSTER?" AJ growled.
"No, I called my irritating husband, BUSTER!" she hollered back.
"So now I'm irritating, too?" he questioned.
"Only most of the time!" Mac grinned at him.
The rest of the day went along the same lines, teasing each other and keeping things very light hearted.
To be continued….