Chapter 11

Bud couldn't talk to her about the dream that he'd just had. The emotions were too new, too powerful, too raw. How could he tell her how losing their child affected him without telling her the truth of how he felt about her? That was something he wasn't ready to do. So instead he reminded her that he had two other dreams to tell her about.

Knowing that he was trying to distract her from what was bothering him by bringing up the older dreams she knew that if he relaxed enough talking about calmer issues that the more troubling ones were likely to be revealed. So to that end she encouraged him to tell her about the first 'other world' dream he'd had.

He had no trouble starting the first story with the funny case he and Major Mackenzie had been working on. In the dream a young cadet from the Naval Academy had been involved in a goat-napping prank. However the prank had gone bad when the goat died. Harriett was giggling over the story until he told her that he was left to handle that case while Mac had gone off to investigate the one involving Admiral Chegwidden. Someone had been stalking him and had even managed to kill the Admiral's girlfriend Judge Laura Delaney by mistake. She had stepped on a booby trap meant for the Admiral.

Bud conveyed the empathy felt throughout the office for the Admiral. Everyone working at JAG was more like family than co-workers.

"I see," Harriett said quietly. There was something bothering her after the claim he made. However, she didn't want to bring it up to him until she had a chance to analyze it, she did make a note of it for later though. "Please tell me about the second dream that you had," she urged him.

The second dream had also been about the Admiral and it turned out gave the reason that the stalker had been after him in the first dream. A wrongly accused Marine had take the Admiral hostage and later Bud and Major Mackenzie had also been forced into the office with him. Bud told her how the man sent to save the day and really been there with his own agenda and how Commander Rabb and Admiral Chegwidden had foiled his plan. Since the man had known the Admiral from when they both served in the Viet Nam war, he focused his revenge on him.

Bud finished his story just as it was time for the two of them to head to the Bridge and report for duty, but Harriett still wanted to discover what had been bothering him when he arrived. To that end, she suggested that they have dinner together when their shift was over.

Having no idea that she wanted to talk to him about why he'd been upset, Bud thought she was asking him out on a date. Being the shy guy he was, Bud was happy that she was making the first move. He cheerfully agreed and went through his whole shift with a spring in his step and fighting the urge to whistle a happy tune.

During the day Captain Rabb needed to talk with his Chief Engineer about some changes Mattoni wanted to make in his department. One of his men was up for promotion and Mattoni wasn't sure he was ready for it. He had a very gung-ho young woman that he wanted to promote instead. Lieutenant Singer would be his choice. After the meeting with Mattoni and watching both of the candidates work, Harm agreed that Lauren Singer would be the better choice.

Knowing that today was his wife's day off, Harm decided to drop by Sick-Bay on his way back to the Bridge. Waiting until the doctor had finished treating one of the security officers for a sprained wrist, Harm wandered around the room. When Webb was done he came over to Harm and asked, "What can I do for you today Captain?"

"I wanted to find out the sex of our baby. I'm guessing you found out in your exam of Jen."

"Yes, but I thought she didn't want to know."

"She doesn't, but I do. If I can't change her mind, I just won't let her know."

"You're not planning on telling her you asked?"

"No, I don't mind if she knows I know, I just won't tell her what I know."

To be continued…..