Author's Note: Re: Skeleton Crew: There is no way that Diane Schonke could have been an Academy Classmate of Harm's and be a Lieutenant JG still. If Harm is now a Lieutenant Commander; she would now either be an above-zone Lieutenant (who is subject to up or out) or she would be a Lieutenant Commander (the same rank as Harm). If she was so much of a foul-up to have been a Lieutenant JG still; she would have been discharged from the Navy long before now. The current term is from O-1 to O-2 is 2 years; from O-2 to O-3 is 2 years; then from O-3 to O-4 is 5-6 years so if Harm had graduated from the Naval Academy in 1985…he would have been in the Navy in 1994 for 9 years. Even with his commission frozen for the two years he went to Law School (which evidently wasn't the case); Diane Schonke, having been his classmate in the Academy, would have been a Lieutenant Commander because her commission wouldn't have been frozen. So there is no way that she could have been a Lieutenant JG still. Krennick specifically says that Diane was a "class-mate". That specifically means that she was in the same classes as Harm; and that means that she would have been in the same year as Harm if that were to work. Even if she was a plebe and Harm was an upper-classman midshipman; Diane would have been in her first or second year in grade as a Lieutenant O-3; Ensign to Lieutenant. JG is an automatic promotion; you have to have really screwed up in order to be kept in grade and you'd be out-processed if you screwed up that badly; same with the promotion from Lieutenant JG to Lieutenant; if you're not promoted in 4 years from Ensign (O-1) to Lieutenant (O-3); you fouled up badly and you wouldn't be in the Navy anymore as a result. The US Navy has a policy of Up-or-Out. Subject to the Navy rules; any rank over Lieutenant (O-3) is subject to the number of slots available and whether or not you have been selected for retention by a selection board. 1) You can be selected below-zone (deep-selected) up to 1 year in advance of your slot whereupon you would be frocked to the grade that you are being promoted to until such time as you satisfy time-in-rank of the previous slot (in other words you will be receiving the pay of a Lieutenant while wearing the rank of Lieutenant Commander until such time as you've finished the time in rank requirements; then you will receive your O-4 pay. 2) You can be selected in grade which is at the minimum amount of time in rank served to be eligible for promotion; it takes five years for you to be promoted from O-3 to you get promoted in the fifth year of serving as a Lieutenant then you are promoted "in-grade"; 3) if you are not selected in-zone: you have two-chances (two years past your selection slot – above-zone) to be promoted then you are out-processed as not-selected for retention or you can stay in until retirement in your current rank with no further consideration for promotion. This is called "up or out" and it's to prevent log-jamming in the ranks. So I'm going to chalk up what Commander Krennick said as a major factual error and have Diane be a friend of Harm's from the neighborhood he grew up in; a childhood friend of his (six years apart) who he used to hang out with. The only way that she could still be a Lieutenant JG; is that she in-processed the same year that Meg did. That is the only way that this works for the simple fact of two things; promotion structure & the Navy's policy of Up or Out.
Chapter 4 – Aggravating Meg
Meg's Apartment; Capitol Hillcrest Apartments; Navy Yard District; Washington DC; Saturday 17 September 1994; 0735hrs
At least Meg's apartment was facing the opposite side of the morning sunrise; so it didn't get uncomfortably warm in the apartment until afternoon. And also, it allowed the occupants of that bedroom to not stir until their bodies were sufficiently rested as the morning sunlight did not invade the bedroom. Only the brightening sky lightening in color from dark navy to light blue indicated that it was morning. Meg, as per usual, as well as her lover, was tucked under the sheets and a light throw; unclothed; skin against skin contact. It had become a pre-bed ritual of the past two evenings; make love; take a shower; sleep.
This time Meg stirred first, grinning at her sleeping boyfriend then reached under the sheets to coax her boyfriend awake. Animal woke up; his eyes focusing on her then widening; as his brain realizing where her right hand was caressing made the connection between the sensations he was feeling and the actual physical act. "Like that; do you?" Meg smiled at him with mischievous intent. "Good morning…" She purred in his ear…
Oh, it was a good morning indeed, because Meg ended up on her back on the bed with her boyfriend over her, giving her a wicked grin and growling…"oh…yes…good morning indeed…" as he made sure that morning was good for her as well as for him.
"Oh…yes…Tosh…" Meg gasped; her body quivered with the sensations that she was feeling; the high point leaving her wrung out and breathing heavily; her pupils dilated; her eyes gazing up at her boyfriend, who was also panting heavily. The morning was cool, but the both of them were sweating from their morning exertions. "I think we need a shower again…" she purred; as they rolled over on their sides; still joined intimately. Animal leaned in to kiss her and she met his lips eagerly.
After a satisfyingly intimate shower and a change of dressings on Tosh's shoulder; they clothed themselves; just in time since there was a faint knock on the door audible from beyond the closed door. Meg sighed as she slipped on a pair of slippers to go answer the door. When she answered the door, she was even more thankful that both she and Tosh had gotten dressed as it was a guy at the door; a rather familiar guy as a matter of fact. She sighed as she looked at the guy, in casual dress shirt and jeans, who was standing in front of her apartment door. "Harm? What brings you over?" She gave him a look that basically begged the question: What are you doing here?
Harm just gave her an enigmatic grin…as he looked her up and down just casually taking in the surrounding area. Evidently he was eyeing the situation he had intruded on. Noting that Meg was impatiently tapping her feet, he realized that he'd better get to telling her what he had come out here to tell her. "Just wanted to update you on Krennick; she's been released…she's managed to recover quite quickly enough that they can monitor her as an outpatient. She's still got a massive bandage around the head but she's on oral antibiotics now and she's capable of walking; albeit slowly." He grinned, looking over at her. "Well, you seem to be rather comfortable here…" He'd been here before…and his eyes widened a bit; looking over at Animal's sea-bag; that contained all his clothes that he'd brought from the carrier; Meg had pulled it from the closet to get the dressings…and then had rooted around in her purse for the antibiotic that the doctor at Bethesda had given her to use on Animal's wounds, "So…you and Animal having a good time being roomies?" he enquired casually, but the question was accompanied by a wide, amused grin that caused Meg to give him a pointed stare.
"Harm, I told you that was a need-to-know…and you, partner, don't need to know…"
Harm noticed that his partner's skin seemed flushed and she looked rather content and his eyebrows made yet another skyward trip towards his hairline. "oh…" he said flashing her a grin. "So…" his grin grew wider, "Can I come in…" Meg gave him a skeptical look, "He decent…I meant he's clothed for company, right?" His grin was wicked and laced with innuendo.
"Harm!" She warned him; "You can come in but NOT a word…" she thought of Harm as a good friend and co-worker, but right now he was irritating the hell out of her.
Animal had grabbed his last clean t-shirt from his bag earlier and had put it on, so he was dressed in shorts; a t-shirt and his sandals. "Hey, Harm…" he called out as he emerged from the bedroom. "How you doing? So what brings you over?"
Harm gave him a grin…and looked him up and down and restrained himself from giving Meg a wide grin; he didn't want to get brained with the nearest frying pan; as his mind went places that he would have sworn he would have to scour out with a Brillo pad. "I'm doing good…" Harm didn't elaborate much beyond that. And he didn't ask what Meg and Animal had been doing; he wanted to spare himself the graphic details. His mind provided him that mental picture already. He was going to have to douse his mind with bleach. "Well, at least we didn't gain any bullet holes from Hemlock; don't think you needed any more to go along with the two you already have. Krennick's out of hospital; she's on out-patient status. It'll probably take a month for her to get back into uniform. She's got a hard head. And at least the bullets missed her brain-stem." He explained why he had come over – essentially to let them know the good news.
"Good to see that she's not going to suffer too much from that injury…I've seen injuries that have ended up landing the victim in a wheelchair." Animal remembered a graphic one where a steam line burst and sent a bolt, propelled by the high-pressure steam like a bullet right through an enlisted; severing his spinal column and the guy ended up in a wheelchair…after recovering from the third degree burns from the superheated steam. Those steam lines under pressure were also like water-jet cutters – they'd cut things in half. Luckily those things didn't happen often. But they did happen and maintenance was then liable for not having managed to replace that fitting prior to its failure. The guy was extremely lucky his internal organs didn't get cooked. "She was lucky…those bullets didn't do more damage or split her spine in two."
Harm nodded as he realized the possibilities of those injuries and marveled at Krennick's luck, "Well, she should be back on duty…middle of next month. It'll probably take that long for her wounds to seal up and well, she's dogged and determined." Meg thought her being stuck in recuperation and unable to prowl would probably drive Krennick bat-shit crazy.
"Well; that's good." Animal nodded; "So…Harm, what brings you by other than the news about Krennick?"
Meg muttered under her breath; just loud enough for Animal and by extension Harm, to hear, "Curiosity…" Harm winced as Animal gave him a smirk shaking his head "I presume he remembers what happened to the cat…" Meg muttered darkly as she gave Harm a glare as Harm looked as though he was about to sit down on the couch and make himself at home.
Harm deciding that the safer course of action was to change the subject said, "So…what do you two plan to do today; outside of the…" he paused giving Animal a grin.
"Harm!" Meg growled ominously, the piqued look in her eyes; letting Harm know that he was treading on a very precarious platform.
"I'm gonna have to run by the Laundromat…to toss the stuff that I've already worn into the washer. Running out of clothes…" Animal explained tossing a look over at the bag that he'd brought from the TR. "Oh…and probably some clothes-shopping too; with Meg; I didn't really bring much from the TR…to shore; I'm gonna let Meg clothe me…" he grinned looking over at Meg who was still annoyed at Harm, tapping her feet; arms crossed; as she looked over affixing Harm with a glare that spoke of the slender tightrope that he was treading with regards to Meg Austin's patience level which was rapidly diminishing.
It took a herculean effort for Harm to clamp his mouth shut but he was successful; oh…wait…she doesn't do that for you already when she gets you out of bed…was probably a comment that would end up getting him killed...by Meg. Considering Meg's mood and the fact that she probably would kill him very readily if he decided to invite himself along on the clothing trip under the pretext that he had to get some clothes himself to replace the ones that were getting rather thread-bare…he grinned, "Well…gotta go…have to get some shopping of my own done…" And as he headed out the door he tossed back over his shoulder, "You two be good now…"
Meg growled as she shut the door on him as quickly as possible. "He is sooo dead a week from next Wednesday…" she muttered under her breath. Animal started to fear for his friend's life. "He's fishing for information about the two of us…probably wants to know if we're doing it…"
"I agree; Meg…" Animal said moving close to her and giving her a tender kiss to mollify her ruffled feathers, "It's something he doesn't need to know…" That got him a tender kiss in return along with her arms wrapping around his shoulders and pulling him in tightly to her as Meg took pleasure from their contact.
"Well…we'd better get to the Laundromat and get to the clothing store." She said and looked in the fridge, "I think we'd better also do some grocery shopping…and maybe we can make some Texas Chili tonight to tide us over for the week." She looked in the pot drawer; the large stewpot that she had was of decent size to make certain that the chili that they made lasted for at least three days. The Chinese food was gone…with two mouths in the house; it hadn't lasted long at all.
"Sounds like a good plan; I think your car has the bigger trunk space; so if we're planning on doing some grocery shopping it might be better to take your car…" Animal reasoned.
Meg nodded and they headed out. Finding space at the Laundromat was relatively easy. And considering Animal only had a few items of clothing to wash; it meant that it took maybe an hour to an hour and a half to get it done. Surprisingly the Laundromat was open quite early on Saturday allowing the customers to get in; get their laundry done and still have a day to spend with their family. After they were done, Animal and Meg left the Laundromat and headed over to the shopping mall. It was around 0940 that they pulled into the shopping center. There were lots of clothing stores to look at and the selection was confusing; at least for Animal so he just wandered along, pulled into one clothing store after another by Meg. And told to wear this; put that on…see if that fits…and so on. He felt like a walking doll that was having clothes put on or taken off as was needed by Meg, but it made her happy to outfit him out in clothes that she thought would look good on him. And spending time with Meg was what made Animal happy. And about three hours later and a petrified bank account later; really it wasn't that bad, he hadn't even made a dent in the amount of money that he'd gotten from his late parents as a nest egg. He walked out with at least four bags full of clothes that Meg had selected for him that looked really nice. She had good taste in clothes; clothes for formal occasions; clothes for regular wear around the house, clothes for casual dates; a couple ties for formal occasions where a military uniform was not required and a few non-white dress shirts to go along with those ties and matching dress pants.
Meg had a satisfied smile on her face as she looked over at Animal who looked happy to have clothes that fit nicely and didn't look rumpled on him. "The clothing trip wasn't that bad, was it?"
"It was quite enjoyable…and an interesting time spent," he said as he tucked the bags in the trunk where they couldn't be seen…and leaned over to give Meg a kiss on the lips which she returned eagerly. "…and I enjoy spending time with you…" He looked back at the mall, "I think we need to go get some groceries…so that we can make sure that the fridge is stocked.
"After all…we need to get ingredients for that Texas Chili…" grinned Meg as they both headed arm in arm for the grocery store; they both came to a rapid halt about midway to the store; looking at each other.
"Costco!" they both said at the same time looking at each other with identical grins. They could get a lot more for the money over at Costco and they both headed for the car. Meg got into the driver's seat; Animal into the passenger seat and they pulled out of the parking space; and headed for their local Costco and Meg, having been stationed in DC for the past year already had a Costco membership so it was easy for them to get in and browse the aisles looking for the items that they needed.
"Coffee…" Meg stated; holding up a larger than usual Folgers Mountain Roast coffee canister: the big red, plastic can with the well known black lid covering a vacuum seal to keep the coffee grounds fresh. "Need this to wake up in the morning." She announced. A large tin of diced tomatoes for the Texas Chili; she already had seasonings at home. Three cans each of beans of several types; a restaurant tin of corn; a large restaurant tin of tomato sauce; and a tin of beef soup base. Luckily her stew pot at home was extremely large; it was large enough for quite a few helpings of chili; at least enough for three days. Then they proceeded to get things to stock up the rest of the fridge; several loaves of bread that would go in the freezer. Two large plats of sausages; a large flat of eggs; two large plats of ground beef, one of which would go in the Texas Chili, the other could be scramble fried at some point. A large bag of meatballs, A large box of spaghetti; there was a three for one sale on spaghetti sauce; of various flavors. Bacon…had to have bacon which was three large frozen packages. They had a decent selection of some vegetables that could be cut up for use.
Animal had a hankering for ice-cream so they bought a large tub of ice cream; black cherry. Animal was surprised – it was unusual to find that large of one; usually the flavored ones were only in the small brick packages. A couple of luxury items later like oatmeal raisin cookies; butter croissants and a couple of large chocolate bars. Animal was still young enough to enjoy chocolate bars; his taste buds hadn't lost the desire for sweets yet; as older folks did.
Meg decided to also get some cheesecake; it was her one weakness in terms of desserts and Animal's too; as his eyes lit up in anticipation of the delicious mouthwatering delicacy. There was a huge Black Forest Cake as well…but Meg passed on that. She thought to herself, I'll be working that off for two weeks on the treadmill. The gym at their apartment wasn't all that great. Just one universal weight machine, one stationary bike and a treadmill; and most of the time, they were being used. She grinned as she went past the appliances, stopped and pointed out a rice cooker. "Think we need one of those?" she asked. Animal nodded, so into the cart went a boxed rice-cooker. And Animal went over and somehow managed to lug on his right unhurt shoulder an extremely large bag of rice; Kokuho Rose. Meg's eyes went as big as pie-plates. "Wow…that much?" She'd never bought that much rice in her entire life.
"It'll help the chili stretch…We Asians practically eat everything with rice. Heck we even make our desserts with rice; manju cakes are made with rice-flour and azuki beans. Absolutely delicious." He grinned, "Southwestern chili with Asian rice…sounds like a great combination."
Meg grinned. "Hey…if it'll help make the chili last a week…great…" They went through the food aisles again, to make sure that they hadn't forgotten anything. She said to Animal, "I think I've got an idea for the other plat of ground beef. Tacos…soft; I prefer the soft taco shells; I figure we can get a large bag of soft shells." She nudged him affectionately. "I think I have an idea… You know what, hon, we need to find us an Asian food store and make sure that we stock up on that too since my other half eats a lot of Asian food?"
Animal nodded, "I tried eating the hard shells, they just remind me of unflavored Doritos; I prefer the soft shell tacos too and I like your idea of the trip to the Asian food store…" he grinned at Meg, "but I think we should get this stuff home and put it up first."
"Yup…especially the ice cream…" Meg grinned, "Melted doesn't taste good."
"…or warm either…"
They went to the counter. Meg asked if it was possible to add Animal to her Costco membership. "He's my significant other." She explained. They told her that it was; if he was residing with her. That was good enough for them. Animal anted up the money for the entirety of their grocery purchase; after all he had agreed to that several nights before when he'd moved in with Meg; and his word was good. Lugging the stuff out with the cart proved to be quite a fun adventure. The cart tended to want to roll in a certain direction and it took Animal hauling on the cart to turn it in the direction that it needed to go in. It didn't help that the parking lot was on a bit of a slope and well…the cart had a mind of its own. But after a lot of grunting and hauling on the handle to position the cart in the right direction, they managed to get it to Meg's vehicle. Then it was a matter of restraining said cart with his body in order to keep it from rolling away on them and impacting another car thereby raising Meg's insurance. But finally they managed to get her vehicle all loaded with all the stuff that was supposed to go in the top freezer in an accessible position so they could be taken up to the apartment first. Then it was back on the road back to the apartment so that they could put their purchases away.
Just as Animal and Meg got their groceries up into the apartment, her cell phone rang, "Austin!" she barked, a little out of breath and Animal could practically see her exasperation level rising as she found out who had just called. "Harm? What is it now? Oh, you just got done shopping? Well, good for you...Tosh and I just got back in and we need to put some perishables in the fridge…" Animal was already getting started on putting up the stuff. "Yeah, he's doing that right now. Anything other than that; that you're calling about? You just wanted to hear what your partner was doing, uh-huh?" Animal restrained a fit of laughter as he saw Meg roll her eyes in frustration. "Harm…I have a tub of ice cream that needs to go in the freezer…and I don't like melted ice cream…understand?" Meg looked up at the ceiling, "Yes…Black Cherry ice cream…yes my and Tosh's favorite…and if it melts, you're in a big deal of trouble. Mister!" Animal had already put the ice cream in the freezer but Harm didn't need to know that; the cheesecake had gone in there as well. Animal thought he heard faintly Harm's question of "Whatcha makin' for dinner?" Was Harm being purposefully irritating? The cell phone was fortunate that Meg restrained herself admirably from hurling it out the window. "South…Western…Style… Chili!" Meg enunciated each word through gritted teeth. Her partner was going to be annoying her for the entire week-end? It started to make her long for the weekdays of her leave when he'd be at work.
Meg winced as Harm said, "Oh yum…" Animal thought Harm remarkably held back from inviting himself over for dinner; considering that was Meg's and Animal's meal portions for the entire week. Luckily it had meat in it; if it was vegetarian chili; it would be gone after Harm got through with it.
"…and it's chock-full of hamburger…" Meg told Harm with no small sense of satisfaction, "A meat-eater's extravaganza…" Nope, Harm, as a vegetarian, definitely would not be inviting himself over to partake in the meal.
Animal mouthed over at Meg, "I think we need to find Harm a girlfriend…" as he put up the last of the perishables; one plat of ground beef in the freezer, the other in the fridge to keep cold until they cracked it open to make the chili, later on in the afternoon. Meg nodded back at him as she covered the phone's mouth-piece holes…
"Yes, Harm…I need to get busy with getting the stuff into the fridge. Yes, why thank you…I'll see you on Wednesday two weeks from now…" With an emphasis on the last five words: Wednesday two weeks from now… "Yes, Harm, unless it's an emergency; I will be unreachable until next…next WEDNESDAY…" When she signed off on the phone…and put it back in her purse, she went "AARRGGHHHH! I swear, he's like a two year old fishing for information…every two seconds… Whatchu doing? Whatchu makin'…"
"I think you restrained yourself admirably, sweetheart…" Animal grinned at her, "…from telling him to go play in traffic."
"Oh, believe me, I was sooo tempted." Meg muttered darkly, "I see you put up everything…" she looked through the cupboards to see all the stuff put up. "OK…I'm going to go look through the Yellow Pages to see if there's an Asian food store that has a good selection of Japanese and Chinese foods and other items. I think we should stock up on that stuff."
After a few minutes, she looked up and said, "I think I found a comprehensive Asian food store, "Yamakura Japanese food store…It's got a good selection of stuff…and there's a Golden Lantern Chinese food store right beside it…so I think it might be a good place to find stuff if we want to get Asian foods in one go."
"It's worth trying out…" Animal grinned at her. "Shall we; now that we've managed to get everything put away…I'll set up the rice cooker when we get back."
"Sounds like a plan…" Meg said to him as she got up out of the chair and they headed back out again to get some more grocery shopping done.
The Japanese food store and the Chinese food store were located in a strip-mall and yes, they were side-by-side. Animal decided to pick up some furikake which could be sprinkled on rice; a jar of red ginger and some Japanese sweets…that Meg's mouth watered at too. Manju cakes; and a package of Japanese curry which went good with rice; and a soy sauce dispenser along with a tin of Kikkoman Soy Sauce. At the Chinese food store; Animal picked up some oyster sauce, bok choy, sui choy; Chinese sausages and several plats of barbecued pork and barbecued chicken – Chinese style. And he also picked up a wok with its resultant cover…that was designed to go on an electric stove element. Meg smiled as it was another piece of cookware that was added to the stuff that she had…and she thought its going to get a lot of use.
When they got back to the apartment, it was a matter of getting the food into the fridge…and all the rice cooker needed to have done was set the cord in the slot where the cord went on the rice cooker and…set it on the counter. And Meg set about to starting to work on the Southwestern Style Chili and it wasn't long before the apartment suite smelled nicely with ground beef on the frying pan. Meg thought to herself well, this is quite the change, cooking for me and my boyfriend. Just two and a half weeks ago; they'd never even met and now we're quite domestic. She stirred the ground beef as it sizzled in the frying pan. She'd have to cook the stuff in batches then dump it into the stew pot. She liked her chili meaty but she didn't particularly care for it to be spicy hot; just enough to have a slight bite; a mild chili; she figured that Animal would probably appreciate not having his mouth turn into a three-alarm fire. She also started on the base for the chili…and had it on low as she added ingredients to the chili.
Animal was looking over at the scenery out the window. The sun was just starting to reach the forty-five degree angle to sundown point as it was mid-afternoon around 1700hrs. It certainly made it a little warmer than usual, so Meg asked Animal to turn on the fan, which he did. The stuff that was coming also had his NATOPS manuals for the F-14 so he'd be able to study those and keep the information fresh in his head so that while he was rehabbing he'd be able to make sure that he remembered procedures and ingrained them into his head. Frankly his intent was to get back into that cockpit, only now he had someone who he cared about and who cared deeply about him that he wanted to make sure that he didn't risk his life unnecessarily. Certainly orders were orders and if you had to go up and fight in a huge air-battle in which your life was at serious risk, you had to follow orders, but to risk it unnecessarily by making an mistake during normal flight operations which led to your digging a trench with your aircraft and buying you a eight foot by three foot plot in Arlington because you hadn't kept current on your NATOPS…that was a stupid way to kill yourself. And like they say, "You don't get an award for killing yourself stupidly…" wait…there was the Darwin Award for that.
Animal was hoping that he could make it to a bookstore too…to see if he could grab a few books to read. Animal tended to love aviation books and anything that he could get his hands on about flying. So his shelves were pretty much littered with aviation books; that was probably another reason why Meg and he had to move into someplace bigger. And of course anything on his adversaries; the North Korean People's Liberation Air Force, the Russian Air Force, the Chinese People's Liberation Air Force, the Vietnamese Air Force; and any of the Middle Eastern Air Forces. Frankly any air force that could potentially go up against the United States, Animal kept tabs on in terms of books about the makeup of their command structure; their strengths, their weaknesses; then of course there were the confidential and classified reports that only he and other military aviators were privy to. Know Your Enemy. That way you had the tactical advantage.
By the time he'd finished cogitating, Meg had set the chili into simmer and it was simmering its way to being done. So Animal got busy on washing the rice and making sure that it was clean of talc before setting it into the rice cooker; plugging it into the wall outlet and hitting the tab on the control to make the rice cooker start steaming the rice.
Further to books; Animal also loved reading about the service that he was in; the United States Navy; naval aviation and the other branches within the Navy structure; mainly because he wanted to see how others experienced the naval service…and how others viewed their experiences in naval aviation. And frankly reading those experiences would better help in his leadership and if he was lucky enough to be promoted far enough where he could make leadership decisions on a greater scale, then he would take those experiences and utilize them to institute policy. But that was far down the road. Right now, he was a naval aviator and his focus was on healing enough to get back into the cockpit.
Meg came over to join him on the couch while he was thinking those thoughts. And they spent time cuddling on the couch enjoying each other's closeness. "That was a good run of shopping today, wasn't it?" Meg said.
"It was." Animal looked at her.
"The chili should be ready in about an hour…"
The two decided to watch TV for a while; while they were waiting on the chili to cook. There really wasn't much on other than a few insipid reality TV shows; the rest were on the news; talking about the latest casualties in the Bosnian War and what happened locally. Of the shooting at the Embassy Row Hotel; there was nothing. Evidently the White House, the CIA and Naval Intelligence had clamped down tightly on the information under the veil of national security. That was a relief to both Meg and Animal since neither Meg nor Animal wanted to be front-page news; nor did Harm at any rate. Everything was going to be silenced regarding Shepherd's attempted assassination. So they sat and watched the news for the time that it took for the chili to cook. Meg got up and got a glass of soda…and brought Animal one too which he thanked her for with a kiss on the cheek.
When the chili was done, the rice cooker had also clicked off and went to warm. Animal pulled out the cord on the rice-cooker mainly because the rice if kept on warm too long, ended up going crusty around the edges…and Animal hated crunchy rice. So Animal dished up some rice in two bowls and they poured the chili over top. And Meg agreed, it was heavenly with rice.
Harm's Townhouse, 224B 8th Street, Washington DC; 1846hrs
Harm grinned to himself. Meg certainly was making herself domestic. Evidently he'd irritated her enough today. He knew that he'd ticked her off; since when he'd asked what she was making for dinner, she sounded as though she was clearly enunciating her answer through gritted teeth. Yeah, he had a crush on his partner, but well, his RAG mentor had captured her heart and Harm knew it. He thought to himself, sometimes life really sucks…but he realized that he'd made a mistake and not told her how he felt about her, so he was left with what ifs, maybes and could have beens. He looked over at the letter that he'd gotten from Diane and wondered if he could ever have a life with her. She was pretty; she was dedicated to the Navy and he and Diane had always been close; the best of friends.
Harm realized that even though he cared for Meg a lot; Meg had her own ideas of what an ideal life-partner would be and he realized that he was too closed in; the ghost of his missing father; and too many other things that needed to be resolved before even attempting to get into a relationship. He had to be honest with himself. With all those skeletons in the closet; he wasn't ready for a relationship and he knew it. And Harm sighed as he looked up at the ceiling of his apartment; that Meg knew that she'd found her life-partner and that they would make a life together as a couple from hereon in and that he was just a friend to Meg. And well, that hurt in a ways, because there would always be a part of his heart set aside for Meg; but Animal had Meg's entirety of her heart. Well, he thought there's other fish in the sea…and maybe it was time for him to start throwing the hook in the ocean to see if he could capture one. Meg was feisty and strong and she didn't put up with shoveled down and being condescended to. Animal would never do those things; and he'd always treated others on an equal level in terms of intelligence; and treated them kindly and with respect until they showed him otherwise.
And even though it hurt him on a deep emotional level; Harm had to admit that Animal was a good life-partner for Meg. And she'd made a good choice.
He looked again at the letter from Diane reading it and hoping that there was something in it that gave him an inkling of what she felt about him. There was a little bit of mischief about Diane Schonke that had always intrigued him. She'd flirted with him and teased him about things; but there wasn't meanness in the teasing. It was the good-natured ribbing that she gave to friends that she considered close. And there always seemed to be that bit of a spark in their friendship that hinted of something more; and he wanted to explore that. Since she was deployed as a crypto officer on board the USS Seahawk; attached to the US Sixth Fleet; there really wasn't a lot of time to explore their relationship. When he'd still been with the fleet and served onboard a carrier in the Med; She had joined the Navy. She wasn't much older than Meg when you considered the fact that she and Meg were of the same rank. And Meg and Diane had joined the Navy roughly about the same time. Diane and her family were the Rabb's family friends; thus Diane and Harm, though six years apart were considered play-mates and friends. Considering the fact that Diane had always asked about the Navy when Harm had gone back to his parents' place and while recovering after the ramp strike she'd always had an interest in the Navy. Seeing her best friend join the Navy and serve; she'd always had the dream to serve as well. He was certain that Diane had managed to finagle a sponsorship through their State Congressman to attend the Naval Academy; since her parents weren't in the service. She'd always write him during her time as a midshipman; the letters going out to him on the carrier in the middle of their deployment as Harm and Animal served nearly four years together on the Howlers with a brief stint together in 1990 in VF-41 Black Aces joining them on a cruise that ended up with them in combat over Japan during a trade war that had gone hot; Animal going on three cruises with Harm after he left from VF-101 Grim Reapers and the RAG instructor slot and their flight-leader-wingman partnership was dissolved after Harm had the ramp strike and was formally de-winged by the FNAEB in June '92 and he was forced into a different designator.
The Howlers had newly stood up with the D Tomcat and had a dearth of experienced aviators and Animal had trained aviators on all three types so he was considered the first pick for experience on the Howlers. On the '91 Cruise Animal was teamed with a nugget JG RIO by the name of Lieutenant JG Jim "Scooter" Willis and together they would go on to become one of the premiere MiG Killers of the Gulf War shooting down one MiG 29 Fulcrum; and one Su-27 Flanker; Animal would then out-process from VF-241 and go back to VF-41 in May '92 taking Scooter with him; becoming a crew there joining the Black Aces mid-cruise.
Diane would go on to crypto school and would graduate in March of '92 and then be assigned to the Seahawk where she would serve as a crypto officer in her current position; being promoted to the rank of Lieutenant JG. And being currently on deployment in the Med; while the Seahawk was conducting air operations; it appeared that Lieutenant JG Diane Schonke was up to her ears in work; that much Harm could deduce from her correspondence. He finally figured that he would contact Diane on the night the Seahawk docked in port at Norfolk coming back from her deployment and have dinner with her; he wanted her take on the future of their relationship and whether she could see that going anywhere from hereon in. After all he'd just lost the other option to his RAG mentor and former squadron-mate. Was it a rebound romance? No, he figured, Diane and he had been close friends for most of their lives and maybe, this was the logical next step in their relationship; to go from being close friends to lovers. Maybe he should give serious thought to making that next step with Diane.
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