Chapter Four - "Hemlock"

Chapter 4 - Hemlock

Denny's; Washington DC; 14 September 1994; 1200hrs

Lunch proved to be an interesting find. They had a choice between brunch at a Denny's or just finding a Beltway Burgers along the route to a container shipping place. They had both looked at each other and said, "Yeah…Denny's…" Of course the meal was mouth-watering; the burger patty being thick with juices running off it when one bit into the burger. And the fact that Animal loved the Denny's Teriyaki Burger with a thick pineapple ring in the center of the burger – he was in seventh heaven gastronomically speaking. Meg opted to have a Southwest style burger with some spice kick to it along with a Coca Cola chaser. Animal also had them bring him out a Coke; specifically a Cherry Coke. At least it soothed the hunger pangs and let them enjoy the rest of the day.

Their next stop after eating was heading over to find a container shipping company. And they had to make sure that they could find that particular shipping company would pack up Animal's old storage locker; close up the accounts at that storage locker; cart it over to their shipping place, crate it all up and send it over to the East Coast for Animal. This, they evidently found was going to be a tougher prospect than they thought. The first two places they found wouldn't crate up the storage locker; they said that the person who owned the storage locker would have to empty the storage locker and bring the stuff to the California branch office to have them ship the stuff over. However after about five misses, they found one who catered to service people; was insured against loss and theft and also was able to send someone over from their branch office in California to close up shop on Animal's Cali storage locker and get it all packed up and shipped. "We deal with service people all the time…" was the attendant's comment. "And we try to make sure that things get to where they're needed when they need it." The cost was certainly quite a bit more than the $650-750 Animal was estimating; it was more in the $1200 range, but well, if it meant that his stuff would get there quickly, reliably and without loss; the accounts taken care of and closed; then fine. It was cheaper than a $600.00 airline ticket, a week of hotel costs and then having to pay all the shipping costs on top of that. The woman took his California storage locker key and popped it into a courier bag to send to the California office along with a shipping form and the contract for the storage locker so that it could be closed by the shipping attendant over at the California office.

"It should be here by around a week from Friday…and then you can figure out when to pick it up."

"Thank you." Animal replied…after having paid the monetary cost up front which had made his wallet hurt . It would probably mean that Meg and he would have to swing by his bank-branch to withdraw from the ATM. As Meg and Animal walked over to the car, Animal said, "Well…I guess…it's off to the mall?"

"Yup…" Meg had a bright happy look on her face and well, Animal figured that he did need some casual clothes to wear; so if it made her happy to go clothes shopping for him; well…why not?

"So, my sweet, what do you think I need for clothing? I'm putty in your hands…" he grinned at her and she gave him a smirk.

She leaned in and whispered sultrily in his ear, "Well, you certainly weren't putty last night…in my hands…" she grinned as he gave her a wicked smile. "…which was a good thing…"

As they reached Meg's car, Meg's cell phone buzzed and she answered the call, "Harm, what are you doing at the office, I thought you were at home on vacation."

Animal could hear the volume turned up on her cell-phone and caught snippets of Harm's answer "...cancelled my vacation ...not at the office...hospital...Krennick…"

"WHAT?!" Meg exclaimed as she nearly dropped the phone. "Krennick got shot…?" "Harm? What happened?" This didn't sound good at all… Animal noted Meg's concern as she tossed over her car keys to him mouthing quietly "You drive…" and returned to her conversation with Harm, "You're with Krennick? OK…I'll meet you at the hospital…" She looked over at Animal, who had by this time unlocked the door on both sides of the car.

"We're going…" Animal said as he started the car and Meg got in, still on the phone with Harm, "Which one is it?" he asked Meg,

"DC Metropolitan…" Meg turned to him informing him of their destination.

"OK…" They both got in…they may have been in civilian clothes but they had to get there…and no time to change into uniform; worry about protocol later. Animal was a competent driver, getting them there in what appeared to be no time at all. Finding a parking place only served to ramp up their worry and they were both antsy by the time they had managed to reach the emergency waiting room where a stressed and worried Harmon Rabb Jr paced the room in blood-soaked dress blues.

"Harm!?" Meg called out to him and he stopped pacing to look over at both Animal and Meg approaching him with questions clearly shown in their expressions

"Hemlock…" was all he said, his visage grim and a nod of the head towards the operating rooms where Allison Krennick was fighting for her life and the doctors were doing their best to save her.

Meg's blood ran cold. This guy was a legend in intelligence. He was an assassin with no scruples and he generally killed anyone who saw him…in other words; he left no witnesses.

"You need to be armed at all times, Meg…Animal…you too." Animal nodded at Harm's assertion. This wasn't play-time. The situation was deadly serious and he wasn't about to crack a joke about "Crockett and Tubbs". The woman who had defended him against Campbell's accusations was lying in a coma in the ICU. "Metro Police came through with these." Harm stated as he handed Meg a sheaf of papers and then handed Animal a sheaf. "Carry permits for DC…you're going to need them, because I don't know who he's seen in the JAG office and who he's got a target on…to eliminate as witnesses."

"Austin, you're still on leave…Rabb cancelled his vacation-time" AJ said, forestalling questions regarding Harm's status and why he was in uniform which were circulating through Meg's head as she noted his current attire as he walked up, "But I'm going to need you on call. If something goes down and I have to have Rabb backed up, I'm going to need you to help out."

"You've got me too, sir. Wherever she goes; I go, sir." Animal said, "If Harm needs back-up he's got us both." AJ looked over at him.

"Pointer told me that you were protective of your friends, Commander. Just be careful, I don't need you earning another Purple Heart. With this guy, it may be posthumous."

"Aye-aye, sir."

"Harm, how did this happen?" Meg asked, "How did Krennick get shot…"

"Evidently, Hemlock came in to the JAG office; in a Royal Navy Commander's uniform; asked if she could find him some information; the itinerary for some guy by the codename of Shepherd that got faxed to your fax machine and when Krennick went in there to find it, before she could turn around; he shot her twice in the back of the head while her back was turned. She flat-lined once on the operating table, but they were able to bring her back."

"Shit…" Animal swore. His blood ran cold with the fact that this guy had no second thoughts about killing those who witnessed him. Evidently Hemlock was capable of gunning them all down without batting an eyelash; a cold calculating killer.

Harm nodded, pretty much guessing at what Animal was thinking even without Animal voicing a single thought – evidently what he was thinking was plain to see as the nose on his face; "And that's why we have to be careful. I don't know who he's after…but I intend to find out." Animal looked over at Meg to see what her reaction to Harm's statement was. She shivered; anybody would; knowing that a killer was out there and if one laid eyes on him, the timer to the end of their existence was ticking and wouldn't stop until the killer was killed or the killer accomplished his task of killing them.

Meg said to Harm, "I think we can talk to someone who might know exactly who he's after. But I need to call Nevada…" Pulling out a cell-phone that looked nothing like one that Animal had ever seen before.

Harm told him, "Scrambles any calls, makes them undetectable to outside surveillance…nobody's able to pick it up or if they are they can't decipher what the call is about," Animal looked at him with a what? He'd never heard about intelligence operative stuff like that. "I think she's calling Uncle".

"OK…"

When Meg was finished, her face was pale, "Uncle Ollie told me who Shepherd was…It's Yeltsin; he's supposed to be in town day after tomorrow to sign an ultra secret agreement to ban the sale of nuclear materials to Pakistan. There's only one reason for Hemlock to go after him. Hemlock wants to prevent that agreement from being signed."

"We need that itinerary…" Harm stated. "And I know just where to get it…"

Naval Intelligence HQ; Washington DC; September 14, 1994; 1825hrs

"Harm; you know I can't give you that information…" Lieutenant Commander Bruce Carmichael replied to Harm's request. "It's going to violate all manner of internal security for the visit."

"Would it please you to know that we'll be risking nuclear war with the Russians, if something happens to Shepherd?" Animal growled; he was in dress blues; the ones he'd worn in court; with the Commander's stripes. "If you guys hadn't screwed up and ended up faxing the damned itinerary over to Lieutenant JG Austin's fax machine, maybe Commander Krennick wouldn't be in a hospital on life support right now…or does that not faze you, Lieutenant Commander!?"

"How the hell did he learn about this? Harm?" Carmichael irately turned on Harm. Animal grabbed Carmichael by his blues slamming his back into the wall, pinning him up against the wall. "I'm two seconds from having you join Commander Krennick in ICU if you don't give me a goddamned answer…right now!" Carmichael looked down to see Animal's right hand reaching towards his pocket and his mind thought that there was an outline of an M9 in there and he looked over at Harm.

Harm casually said with a rather amused smirk on his face, "I'd answer him if I were you…Bruce…" tracing his fingernails down the palm of his hand examining them without a care in the world. "150 North Koreans found out just how nasty he can be if he gets really pissed off at you…and well…they're not breathing any more…and something tells me he's not really happy with you right now…"

"It went to my girlfriend's fax machine…" Animal snarled; his elbow up around Bruce's jugular; compressing it so that Bruce Carmichael was finding it exceedingly hard to breathe and Bruce had a morbid thought go through his head. Less than five pounds of pressure on my jugular and… "And you put her square in the sights of Hemlock; it was just lucky that she was on leave when the fax came in, so she wasn't the one who got shot. If she had, you'd be saying your prayers right now because there wouldn't be a chance in hell you'd be walking out of here alive…so you either tell me what Shepherd's itinerary is so we can stop Hemlock or I start dismembering you limb by limb; your choice."

Meg grinned at Harm. "Don't worry, I got it;" she printed out a piece of paper which had times and descriptions. "Now we have a chance of protecting Shepherd;" She turned to address Animal, "Oh, sweetheart, you might want to let Lieutenant Commander Carmichael breathe again?" Bruce was starting to turn a rather disturbing shade of mauve.

"I'd suggest you count your blessings, Lieutenant Commander…" Animal growled ominously as he got in one more shake of Bruce, releasing the chokehold he had on the naval intelligence officer. "…because you sidestepped a big mistake…"

"Thank you kindly…Bruce." Harm grinned at Carmichael, who looked like he was in no condition to object to anything after Animal had roughed him up.

"It didn't come from my fax machine…" Bruce protested in between gasps of air; he was slumped over, trying to get the air back in his lungs.

"I don't think he cares, Bruce…" Harm replied casually, "And you really did put his girlfriend at risk…so I probably wouldn't have stopped him if he did decide to take it out on you. Oh, like you intelligence guys say; you didn't see us…and he didn't touch you. You have a nice day, Bruce…"

Animal fixed Bruce Carmichael with a cold stare… "I'd suggest you find out just where the leak in your office is coming from…" he snarled as the three walked out of his office. Bruce shivered…that look the commander had just given him was just about as cold as the look on face of the subject in the picture that he had of Hemlock. And he had put the commander's girlfriend at risk. So no, he wasn't going to go make a complaint about it.

Embassy Row Hotel, Washington DC, 16 September 1994 1145

Harm and Meg ran through the Embassy Row Hotel trying to find Hemlock; and after making it up to the room where the signing was supposed to take place, managed to get in when Bruce Carmichael showed up right behind him. "Is that him?" Meg asked just as the man looked over at her and then leveled a semiautomatic silenced pistol in her direction. Bruce shoved her out of the way and the man fired hitting Bruce in the upper chest towards the shoulder; and he went down. Pandemonium ensued as Russian security turned around and went into protective mode ushering President Yeltsin out of the room and down to the security vehicle. Hemlock dressed as Russian security followed them. Harm muttered "That's him alright…He's still going after Yeltsin; Stay with Bruce; Meg" and began a chase through the hotel food preparation area and down to the parking garage. "Animal! That's him…" He called as Animal had managed to sneak down to the garage to lie in wait, Beretta in hand, just in case that Hemlock came through. Animal ducked behind a car as Hemlock fired two shots in his direction. The shots narrowly missed him slapping into the side of the car with a pair of metallic pings; two nice holes where the shots exited through the thin steel, uncomfortably close to Animal's head.

"So much for trying to avoid getting shot at again…" Animal muttered out loud as he saw Hemlock fire a shot point blank into a Russian protective services agent. Seeing Hemlock get into a BMW, Animal cursed as Harm came running up beside Animal.

"He's in the BMW, Harm!" They both sprinted for the parking garage entrance as Harm leveled his Beretta and fired six shots into the back window of the car which shattered and the car horn went off…a steady continuous loud blare. The car came to a halt as both Animal and Harm, not letting down their guard, leveled their Berettas in order to fire if there was any movement from inside the vehicle and it started rolling back towards the pair of officers. Harm held his Beretta on the vehicle until it came to a halt beside them. They found out the reason why the car-horn didn't shut off; the man that they called Hemlock lay motionless slumped over the steering wheel; his dead weight pressing down on the horn. Hemlock physically looked like a typical assassin, non-descript, no identifying features except for his cold dead eyes…which well, they were now dead and lifeless, considering two of Harm's 9mm rounds had gone through the back of the guy's head and exited out the front of his skull. They were probably embedded in the dashboard of whoever this car belonged to. He'd hate to see the insurance claim on this one. When Harm reached in and pushed his head back…he nodded to Animal with a grim look, "It's him…"

"It's never a dull day in your line of work, is it, Harm?" Animal muttered sarcastically. Harm nodded, grinning as his mind wondered at the fact that he was able to smile so readily at a time like this, as he and Animal walked towards the elevators as they deposited their own handguns in their jacket pockets. "Meg?" Animal asked in concern,

"She's OK…Hemlock almost got a shot at her, but Bruce managed to keep her safe."

...and Harm noticed a flash of deep anger in Animal's eyes as Animal's face hardened at the mention of Carmichael. "Guess I can't knock his teeth in for putting Meg in the line of fire again, huh?"

"Probably not, Animal…he did push her out of the way and take the shot…"

"Good thing he did push her out of the way; 'cause if he didn't he'd be eating my fist…with what little teeth he has left after I knock them down his throat." Nope…no forgiveness from Animal's quarter towards Bruce; if Meg had been Harm's girl, he wouldn't either. Harm made a note to tell Carmichael to stay away from Animal if he wanted to survive to a good, healthy, old age because right now it seemed like his friend pretty much wanted to count Bruce's bones…as he ripped them one by one from his torso. Animal conceded, "Guess we'd better go see how your Navspook is doing? Make sure that he's not leaking out too badly; wouldn't want him to mess up the carpet. It'll be a bitch for the hotel to replace." He wanted to make sure that Meg was alright, rather than a concern as to Carmichael's well-being.

Harm looked over at him with a wry grin at what appeared to be a callous statement; he knew Animal didn't think too highly of Bruce Carmichael at the very moment. As they stepped out of the elevator and cell-phone reception came back, Harm noted to call AJ picking up the phone and dialling the hospital line and when he was connected and AJ had answered with a gruff "Chegwidden!" Harm informed him of the news, "We got him, sir. Hemlock's dead…"

"Good…Commander…Allison just came out of her coma…she's resting right now…"

"Good to hear, sir."

When they stepped back on to the main conference level pandemonium was in full swing. Security was rushing around trying to secure the area…Meg finally came over to Animal and Harm. "Bruce is OK…he's being sent to a hospital to get those bullet fragments out of his shoulder but he should be fine." She looked over at Animal noting that he didn't seem to overly concerned about the Navy Spook's destination, in fact, he looked relieved that he didn't have to punch Carmichael's head in. She looked at the time on her watch, "Oh, no…Honey, we missed your follow-up appointment…at Bethesda." Meg said, a note of dismay in her voice. Captain Sharpley had recommended yet another Navy physician to see Animal as far as his treatment was concerned. So between the two doctors, they would consult each other on how best to treat the injury and ensure that Animal got back up to fighting fit as soon as possible.

Animal's tone was cavalier "Well, I'll just let them know that it was a matter of national security. Harm got him." She nodded.

"I'm glad you're both OK…" She didn't care who saw…she enfolded Animal with a tight embrace; not wanting to let him go.

Harm had to look away from Meg as she was holding Animal, his own heart fragmenting as he saw the lovers' tableau; although he had to inform them eventually, "Allison came out of her coma…she's resting at the hospital…"

Meg, lifting her head from Animal's shoulder, looked over at him, "That's good to hear…shall we go to the hospital and check on her?"

Harm and Animal looked at her and said in unison, "Yeah…might be a good idea."

DC Metropolitan Hospital, Washington DC, 16 September 1994 1205hrs

Krennick looked up at AJ, "Didn't expect to see you here, sir." Allison had a bandage wrapped around her head covering the wound where the bullets had gone in…it would take some time for them to heal.

"I didn't expect to have to visit my JAG officers in the hospital…" AJ replied. "I'm glad you're back with us."

"It will take a while, sir, but I hope to be on my feet soon, sir." She still felt groggy.

Allison looked up to see Harm, Meg at the door and then Commander Nakamura. "I didn't expect to get a whole party coming by either…My head feels like it got struck by a baseball bat…" she said softly.

Harm looked over at her, "I got him…he's dead…"

"Thank you, Harm…" Krennick looked over at him and tried to smile. "I can still see his face when I close my eyes…his eyes were lifeless…cold…like he didn't care about anyone…"

"Lieutenant Commander Carmichael got shot trying to get him. He should be OK…he's probably in operation getting the bullets out of his upper chest." Meg replied. "Harm and Tosh went after Hemlock. Harm was the one that fired on him and hit him."

"I should thank you too, Commander Nakamura…especially considering that you went after Hemlock while you were wounded as well…" Her voice sounded tired… "Yet you put yourself on the line again…to help me…"

"You get some rest, Commander…and get better" Animal said. "Meg and I have to go pick up a car…"

Commander Krennick looked over at Meg, weakly from her hospital bed…looking at the two standing close to each other "You two make a good pair, Lieutenant…" she smiled.

"Thank you, ma'am."

Animal and Meg said their goodbyes and headed out. Luckily it wasn't too far to go…since Harm said he was going to catch a ride with the admiral back to HQ. Meg and Animal had to head back to HQ in order to pick up Meg's car. "Let's call Bethesda and see if they can make a new appointment for you. And I need to get out of these blues and into a change of clothes."

Meg dialed up, "Hi…Commander? Sir, we just missed an appointment for Commander Nakamura…there was a bit of a national security issue that we had to deal with…so unfortunately Commander Nakamura was with us at the time he was supposed to be at that appointment, is there any chance that we could make a new appointment for him. Oh…at six today? Great…That would be great…I'll let him know…Thank you, sir…" she looked over at Animal with a smile on her face as she informed him of the time. "Great…we get to go over today at six…so evidently they definitely want to see you today to go over your file and the x-ray results. That's going to be interesting." Meg furrowed her brow in thought, "That's going to make it tight to grab your vehicle. We may not have time to bring the vehicle back to the apartment like I thought we would. And have time to change over to whites…so we may just have to pick up the car and go directly up to Bethesda. I'm sure that the Uniregs will allow this just once…"

Meg's Apartment, Capitol Hillcrest Apartments, Navy Yard District, Washington DC

Meg slipped into her civilian clothes; a light blue blouse and a jean skirt and her athletic shoes. Animal got into his summer service whites…making sure that his ribbons and shoulder-boards were properly arrayed; his white commander/captain's officer's cap looked brand new; surprisingly even when it had been worn with the whites and with the blues, it seemed to retain its nice white shininess.

"You look so good with those three stripes…" Meg gave him a kiss on the lips. There was a reason for her to wear civilian dress; it would allow her closeness to her boyfriend that she wouldn't get if she was wearing a uniform. It had to be proper decorum in uniform…considering her boyfriend was three grades higher in rank than she was. She thought to herself: by the time I get to commander, he'll be wearing admiral's stars. She grinned as she contemplated the thought of their continued relationship for that long of a time. It was a romantic thought that she reveled in in the heat perhaps of first love but she had a feeling that this one was for real.

Animal gave her a kiss back, "Guess we should get going and pick up that car; so that we have enough time to come back and drop off yours?"

"That's the plan…" Meg replied looking over at Animal as Meg locked the apartment door and they both headed down to the parking lot.

The trip to the car dealership wasn't too long. And they managed to pull in. "Sorry about being late…" Meg told the salesperson, "Something urgent came up that we had to deal with…"

"Oh…no problem; Lieutenant Austin…Commander Nakamura…" The salesperson addressed Animal looking him up and down, impressed by the sharp Navy uniform and the crisp new shoulder-boards that Animal was wearing. "She's all vacuumed out, cleaned and wiped down; exterior washed and waxed and she's looking pretty as a whistle. Animal looked in; there was a CD player in the dash that he hadn't seen under the tape deck before, an aftermarket Alpine; he looked at the salesperson in question. "I had them put that in for you. It was a little extra that I figured that I'd pop in to say thank you for choosing us to buy your car from."

"Thank you…" Animal said. The man handed over the key…shook Animal's hand and stepped back, his military training coming to the forefront; locking up and giving Animal a salute – Evidently Army Sergeant First Class Haines still felt that camaraderie between fighting men even after leaving the service. Animal smiled and gave him a proper salute in return. It was the least he could do for the Vietnam veteran; a sign of respect for a man who had put his life on the line to serve his country and who had made it home; and endured a greeting from peaceniks that no-one who put their life on the line deserved to receive.

"She should purr like a kitten, sir." The salesperson stated as he turned to head back into the sales center to wait for the next customer. Animal nodded and said thank you again; as Meg got in her car and started the engine. Animal grinned at her and raised his thumbs up as he got into the car and started the engine as well…it had a nice growl to it. He gave the salesperson, who was standing at the door, a jaunty salute and put the car into drive. It had a good solid feel to it as he headed down the road back to Meg's apartment. They needed to drop off her car and she'd take a ride in Animal's new car. At least his new car was paid for outright. No loans needing to be taken out at all. That was one of the benefits of having some of his late parents' nest egg for him. The car was smooth on the road and he looked over to check to see if Meg was in front or behind him in terms of vehicle position. She was coming up on his passing lane and over took him to take the lead. She was a good driver but she liked to drive fast; Harm used to jokingly say that for Meg; speed limits were a suggestion, not the rule. Animal knew that the horses under his hood would pretty much leave most of the vehicles other than supercars in the dust. But he wasn't about to play that game; he was going to take a nice leisurely drive up to Bethesda.

Bethesda Naval Hospital, Bethesda, MD

After signing in at the gate-guard and showing ID, Animal found the parking space and they headed in to look for the office where his doctor would be. Meg was holding his arm…since she was in civvies and wouldn't normally be recognized as military. This way she was able to be close to him while they were going through the patient intake process. Even though he was considered an out-patient, his TAD while recovering was at the hospital so like the military…he still had to sign in…and make sure that he made the appointments to ensure satisfactory recovery prognosis.

"Commander Nakamura?" The nurse Lieutenant asked looking up from her computer terminal at the reception desk. Animal nodded showing her his Navy ID. "Sir, Commander Whitman will see you in a few minutes." She gestured over at the seats, a small smile on her face, encouraging them to take a load off their feet. "…if you will have a seat."

Commander Whitman was a rather lean moustachioed man; who wore glasses and had an easy-going bedside manner. "Good evening, Commander; Ma'am," he looked over at Meg who was in civvies, and didn't realize that she was also a serving officer, "If you will follow me down this hallway, I can brief you on what we're going to do." He didn't say any more since treatment and other medical procedures were strictly confidential and not to be discussed out in the waiting room. "Dr. Sharpley asked me to check on your wound since he had other rounds to make. Between the two of us, we'll be overseeing your treatment and rehabilitation. Since your wound is still open…we are going to have to delay rehabilitation until the wound heals but I would like to make sure that we at least make a weekly check-up in order to see how the wound is healing up. So, I'll check on the wound right now and take a look…" As they got into the examination room, Dr. Whitman asked Animal to take off his shirt and his t-shirt so that he could change the dressing and check on the healing of the wound. He looked at the wound carefully, "Whoever has been dressing the wound has been doing an excellent job of making sure that the antibiotic gets to the wound and making sure that it is clean; because its starting heal up nicely." He looked over at Meg, "I'm presuming that as his companion, you're the one who does the cleaning and re-dressing of the wound?"

"I am…" Meg replied as she looked over at the wound…it was still raw looking but it was starting to heal. "I'm just glad that the AK-47 round wasn't a fragmentation round…or he wouldn't have an arm left." The round went cleanly through and didn't cause much peripheral damage at the speed that it was going at. And Animal had gotten shot at from 200m.

"That's true…We just need to make sure that we get some x-rays to make sure that the muscle tears from the bullets that went through are also starting to knit properly and not scarring. We don't want your muscles to bind when it comes time to start rehabilitation. You received this wound from combat?"

"Yes, sir." The doctor looked at Animal's wings.

"You get hit by small-arms fire while doing close air support?"

"No, sir, I was just stupid enough to get in the way of two 7.62mm bullets while going into Indian country to get two friends who had been shot down out. Firefight ensued and well, I got hit. But at least we managed to get my friends out."

Dr. Whitman looked impressed. He pulled out a tube of antibiotics and put a large amount on a large sterile dressing and and placed it gently over the wound. Animal winced a bit as the antibiotics stung a small amount. And of course, the back side was just as sensitive. "This will make sure that there isn't anything left over that will take hold…and it will help heal the wound faster. I'll give your…"

"girlfriend…" Meg volunteered.

"girlfriend…three tubes of it in order so that she can use this as antibiotic for when she dresses your wounds…Dressings should be changed every time you take a bath…"

"I need to stop getting in the way of bullets; had two fired at me today…by some jackwagon…" Animal muttered and Meg looked alarmed. "Our friend needs to get into a safer line of work, Meg." He joked. Meg snickered.

Dr. Whitman grinned, "I assume the guy missed you because I don't see any extra bullet-holes."

"Didn't collect anymore, Doc, but the car I had to hide behind did. Have to be lucky that the guy was such a piss-poor aim…"

Dr. Whitman laughed, "At least you have a sense of humor."

"You would think JAG lawyers wouldn't get bullets shot at them; you'd be surprised…"

"Your friend's a JAG?"

"Yes, Girlfriend is too." He looked over fondly at his Meg. Dr. Whitman looked over at Meg who nodded.

"I presume you're not in uniform for personal reasons…" Dr. Whitman grinned.

"Yes…" Meg said, "Allows me to be closer to him…we're not in the same chain of command, but uniform usually means proper decorum since he's a Commander and I'm a Lieutenant JG." She gave him a smile, "Kind of hard to give your boyfriend the proper support during a doctor's appointment when I have to call him sir."

Dr. Whitman nodded, giving her a wide grin, "I would say that would probably be hard to be the supportive girlfriend especially when rank structure has to be obeyed. I won't tell…" he gave her another grin. "So, I'd like to send you down for X-rays again today and then you can see me in one week and we'll see how your wound care is progressing and how long this will take to heal."

"Thank you sir…" Animal started slowly putting on his t-shirt and summer whites shirt. He took his cover and accepted the proffered X-ray request form "I'll see you again one week from today…or when the first available appointment is open?"

"You can make it when the first available appointment is open next week if you prefer, Commander." Dr. Whitman replied indicating to Animal that he had a choice in when to make the appointment.

"OK…will do then, Doctor…"

"You two have a good one…" Dr. Whitman said as Meg and Animal exited the doctor's office.

"You too, doc."

Animal looked over at Meg as they walked down the corridor, hand in hand; and aside from the occasional, "sir." Animal said as he passed an O-6 or higher grade, it was a relatively quiet walk to the radiology department. Meg was certainly glad that she decided to come here in civilian garb as she could hold his hand without anyone commenting.

"Ah…yes, you must be Commander Nakamura. I've got your appointment time listed as 1840, sir. Please have a seat; the radiology attendant will be out shortly." The MOA O-3 looked up at him with a smile. After the whole dog and pony show of getting hit with high frequency high-energy, electromagnetic radiation at roughly 3×1019 to 3×1016 Hz, it was time to get re-dressed. Well, now they had a three way cross section of his wounded shoulder to look at and see if there was anything that was hampering the healing of the wound at any rate. Hopefully he wouldn't have to undergo surgery again on his shoulder since it seemed to be healing up properly. Meg followed him back to the dressing room and handed him his underwear pants…t-shirt and uniform shirt with a knowing grin all the while watching him dress himself, She kept his cover until he'd managed to get dressed then handed him the cover so that he could carry it under his arm.

"Guess we should stop by the NEX" Animal said as they walked through the lobby.

"Yes, I think you said you needed a couple more shoulder-boards, a few sets of collar rank devices and several sets of shoulder rank devices for your jackets." Meg informed him. "Weren't you also saying that you needed a spare white cover as well as khaki covers? Also see if they have the mini-medal for your Purple Heart. It'll be good for when you need to have the dinner dress uniform on for the office formal Christmas dinner." She was looking forward to having him by her side.

Animal grinned at her, "I love it, I now have someone who is able to remember everything for me." He teased as Meg gave him a smirk in response. "Love you…"

Meg grinned back at him, "Maybe we should check there and see if there's anything else we missed out on…you might look at getting a rack that fits all your ribbons; get a couple ribbon racks done up because then you won't have to interchange them all the time. Probably gonna be spending about $600.00 on uniform stuff today."

"Yeah, ouch…oh well, have to." Animal grinned at her, "And once we finish up at the NEX; we'd better get something to eat."

When they walked into the NEX it wasn't busy at all so they were able to browse around and Animal finally found the items that he needed. One of his naval officer's ceremonial swords was on the TR; the other was in the storage unit in California. So he didn't need to get that but he needed to make sure that he had another set of service whites asides from the three sets of khakis that he had. He also had the NEX cashier make up three more racks of ribbons so that he could make sure that he had enough so that he didn't have to alternate his racks between uniforms all the time. He was also able to get the covers, the Purple Heart mini-medal; seven pairs of O-5 shoulder boards (two pairs which would go on his sets of choker whites permanently until he achieved his O-6 rank); at least five packs of collar rank devices and three packs of shoulder rank devices - he had two black jackets and one khaki jacket which the shoulder rank devices would be pinned onto. The total came out to just a little over $700.00. Oh well, at least he was set for a while until the rest of his uniforms came back from the West Coast. When they arrived, he'd have five sets of service dress blues; seven sets of khakis and seven white service uniforms. Also, the stuff that was arriving had two sets of dinner dress whites; two sets of dinner dress blues (which weren't used very often); three sets of choker whites and his overcoats; two raincoats; and three winter overcoats. Of course four of the service dress blues (with the exception of the fifth service dress blues that he had had altered when he first got to Yokosuka for the trial and had brought with him from the TR), he was going to have to send into the PX and have them sew proper commanders stripes on them. At least with the dress whites; all he had to have was shoulder-boards and full-size medals.

"I think that's about enough shopping for today…" Animal said as the attendant handed him his newly made ribbon racks, which were wrapped up and placed in the bag. He had about three bags that needed to go into his Camaro. When they had gotten settled back in the car, he grinned, "Now…let's get some food. I'm starved."