Chapter 11

Friday, December 16, 2005

0900 EST

JAG Headquarters

Falls Church, Virginia

Everyone but the Admiral was looking forward to the day ahead.

Colonel Sarah Mackenzie was going to be on the bench, she found that she enjoyed that assignment. She'd even been thinking about requesting a transfer since AJ…no she had to keep thinking of him as 'the Admiral'…had started dating again. Mac loved seeing him everyday, but now that he was dating it was too much.

Lieutenant Roberts and Commander Turner would be facing off in front of Judge Mackenzie on a case that they were both confident of winning.

Commander Rabb would be acting JAG for the day while the Admiral was in meetings with the SECNAV on the Hill. Harm loved the opportunities to run the office; it was good experience for the day when he would be JAG!

Petty Officer Coates knew that she would have a heavier than normal load with the Admiral out of the office, but she didn't mind since she really liked working closely with Commander Rabb. Even though she shouldn't, she couldn't help having feelings for him. Up until now she felt she'd kept them pretty well hidden, but Mattie had come close to guessing before she'd moved back in with her father. Mattie had noticed that Jen wasn't dating and was always eager to do any favor that Harm asked of her.

It was true; AJ hated meetings with the SECNAV and took any and every opportunity to get out of them. Unfortunately since Secretary Sheffield was his Commanding Officer, the opportunities were few and far between. Sometimes it made him wonder if his people ever felt the same way about him.

Mac had been uneasy all morning, even though she loved being on the bench, today she just kept getting a feeling she should be somewhere else. But her feeling didn't make sense. That was why she hadn't acted on it. She kept feeling that she should be in the JAG offices protecting Admiral Chegwidden from some danger. That was the problem, because she knew that he wasn't there. He was on the Hill in meetings with the SECNAV. So she ignored her feeling of impending doom.

Vicky arrived in the bullpen as she'd planned on the pretext of taking AJ to lunch. However, today was the day that she was going to carry out her plan. She felt the smallest twinge of regret for what she was about to do, because AJ had been nothing but nice to her, not to mention great in bed! But this was for her mother, and even if he had changed since those days when he knew her mother, this was payback for then!

When someone has the look of knowing right where they're going and heads there without hesitation, it is rare they are stopped or questioned about their destination. Added to that, she'd already been to the office and met most of the staff so they knew her. That was how she came to cross the bullpen unimpeded and as luck would have it the girl that was usually in AJ's outer office wasn't at her desk. She walked into his office expecting to see him sitting behind his desk, but the room was unoccupied. 'Good!' she thought, 'this was going to be easier than she thought!'

Harm was in the break room when Vicky entered the bullpen. When he'd gone by Jen's desk she got up and followed him. She just couldn't help it; lately she was taking any excuse to be close to him. The two of them were alone in the break room and just so she could be with him a bit longer, Jen started to tell him about Mattie's desire to have a car.

Vicky accomplished her objective and then decided that she could at least get one more free meal out of AJ before it was over. With that in mind she figured she should make a quick stop in the ladies room so when AJ got back they could leave right away before he had a chance to sit down.

Jen and Harm returned from the break room while Vicky was in the rest room.

Returning to AJ's office, Vicky saw that his aid…or whatever she was…was back at her desk. She was about to ask where AJ was when they both heard an exclamation of pain and a loud thud from behind the closed door.

"AJ!" Vicky exclaimed and started for the door.

"Harm!" Jen exclaimed and started for the door.

Throwing Jen an odd look, Vicky asked, "Harm?"

To be continued…..