Chapter 25

"All's fair in love and war," Mac informed him.

"And which was this?" AJ asked.

"Well, since I don't think there are winners and losers in love…and since I just won…I guess that would make this…WAR!" she laughed.

Laughing out loud at the gleam in her eye, he was pleased greatly to see her so happy and because of that it made the loss easier to bear. If the truth were known, being in her command for a full day didn't seem much of a payment at all. "I will accept my defeat gracefully as long as you promise not to spill the beans to the Federation Council when we get back to Earth."

"Ooooooh blackmail leverage! My silence should be good for at the very least a long back rub!"

"Done!" he declared with a chuckle.

"Rats! You gave in much too quickly! I should've demanded a foot rub too!"

Pulling her into his arms for a tender kiss, he promised, "You shall have that too, my love."

"Oh AJ, is this a dream? I didn't know I could be so happy!"

"If it is a dream then we are both having it Sarah and if so I hope that we never wake from it."

"Me too," she sighed softly.

Stepping on the landmine had almost been enough to wake Bud from his troubled sleep. Somehow though, he instead only managed to wake Harriett who had been sleeping next to him. His violent spasm and exclamation of pain had alerted her that something was wrong.

Having trained herself to wake quickly and fully alert after years in Star Fleet answering to emergencies at any time of the day or night, she was well prepared. She sat up in bed and watched the ravages his dream was having on him. Bud looked haggard, in pain, and years older than he had been when they went to bed.

She continued to watch him thrash and moan throughout the rest of the night. She did think several times about waking him, but knew that the dreams meant something even if she didn't yet know what. Somewhere, somehow, she would find the reason behind them, but until then it would probably be better to let him experience the entire dream so they would have more information to determine the cause of them. So instead of waking him, she just ran her hand tenderly over his forehead when he seemed particularly agitated. She was pleased when her action actually seemed to calm him a bit.

Morning arrived with the computer announcing their wake-up call. Bud opened his eyes and sat up. He reached over the side of the bed searching for something he wasn't finding. "Where is it?"

"Where is what Bud?" Harriett asked as she watched him stand awkwardly on one leg.

He tried to turn to face her on the one leg, saying, "My leg," but before he could complete the turn, the leg he was holding off the ground got caught in the bed covers and he fell.

"Bud!" she cried hurrying around to his side of the bed to see if he'd hurt himself. When she arrived she found him sitting there staring at his right leg as if he didn't know what it was. "What happened?" she asked crouching down next to him.

He looked up at her with a perplexed expression, "It was another dream…"

"I know you had a bad one. You woke me up with your thrashing."

"I'm sorry Harriett."

"That's not important, what is, is what happened in your dream. Can you tell me about it?"

"I was serving on a ship and had gone into a village to check out a school that had been destroyed. I saw a child in the middle of a minefield and hurried in to save him. He seemed to know the area pretty well. He got out safely, while I stepped on a mine. I lost my leg in the explosion," he paused for a moment in his retelling of the dream at her murmur of sympathy. Giving her a grateful smile and a squeeze to her hand, he continued, "There was months of recovery and then a fight to stay in the Navy. But what saved me was the fact that through it all you were there by my side. I know I couldn't have made it without you Harriett!"

To be continued…..