Chapter Seven - "Getting Back to Work"

Author's Note: The author is barely holding in his bile as he writes that Beltway Burgers section. The Author is a long-time Vancouver Canucks fan and having to write about a New York Rangers fan (even if it is his created OC) makes him want to projectile vomit. Damned fucking Rangers puke! As a Vancouver fan; I loathe Mark Messier's donning of the Vancouver Canucks jersey in '97, usurping the captaincy from Trevor Linden; his apparent disrespect of demanding number 11 from Wayne Maki (who passed away from cancer – and whose number is unofficially retired(I don't care if it's been his number that he's played under for many years – as a player; when you don a Canucks jersey you're a Vancouver Canuck and you respect the team's traditions)) and his "I'm just playing here for the money – no effort" play while in Canucks uniform …so let's face it; writing about him too was making me want to blow chunks. And that explains my antipathy towards Marky Messy. May the impact of a thousand slap-shotted pucks land upon his bald head. Go Canucks Go! Unlike the OC's wish, the author's fervent wish is to see a Stanley Cup come to Vancouver within HIS lifetime though as he rounds fifty, he's starting to think that is probably NOT going to happen anytime soon. What the hell was that? Benning? Giving up a conditional first round draft pick for a third line player in trade?!

Chapter 7 – Getting Back to Work

JAG Headquarters, Washington DC; September 28, 1994; 1000hrs

The worst part about coming back from leave, Meg found, was that it was hard to concentrate on anything; especially with the heavenly two week leave that she'd had with her now-boyfriend; she smiled to herself as her mind touched on the subject of Tosh. She sighed, trying to focus on the file in her office; but the words that Harm had said about her file being on the admiral's desk weighed heavily on her concentration and made concentration on her work nearly impossible. After all she hadn't put in for transfer; and she had no idea as to why her file would be on Admiral Chegwidden's desk. But the reasons why were for the admiral to know and for her to find out later when the ramifications hit. So she doubled-down on her work and tried to fight through the threats to the devoted application to her work. After all, being unable to concentrate was no excuse for not doing a good job on any case that she was assigned. With the overhanging threat of an Article 92 d) (3) Dereliction in the performance of duties (A) Through neglect or culpable inefficiency if she failed to render a good performance on her cases; she didn't particularly want to lose two thirds of her pay; and end up cooling her heels in the brig for three months. Not only did she have her investigations with Harm that she had to pay attention to; she also had minor cases that she was either defense or prosecution counsel for that she had to deal with; minor things like custody matters in the case of servicemen splitting up with their spouses – rights to access, etc. The big stuff from the UCMJ she wouldn't have to deal with until she received her second bar.

The case that she was working on was a custody dispute between a Marine sergeant and his civilian ex-spouse who wanted to leave the state and while he was stationed at Marine Corps Camp Lejeune, his spouse wanted to move back to the West Coast taking the children along with her thus violating his rights to access to his children. However the Marine Corps didn't care about the fact that he could not see his children. He was assigned to Lejeune and there was no way that he was going to be able to transfer at least for another year to a base much closer to his spouse so that he could continue to see his children and it was too far for his children who were three and eight to travel alone to meet him clear across the other side of the continent. The spouse was adamant that she wanted to leave the state since the job opportunities now that she was single were not there in North Carolina. Meg was frustrated mainly because of the fact that neither spouse wanted to budge from their position; the sergeant wanted access to his children; the spouse wanted to leave the state and neither were willing to concede to the other.

And now that she had a significant other; Meg was seeing this case even more closely as she considered her own situation if Tosh and she decided to take such a significant step as walking down the aisle and further, having children. What would her own situation be like since Tosh was working clear across the continent with his squadron since they were based out of NAS Lemoore, California? What would she do to keep their relationship stable so that this situation, that she was counsel for, didn't happen to her own personal relationship? She knew it was hasty to think of that since she hadn't even broached the topic to Tosh or even the idea of marriage; besides they were still in the rose-colored glasses stage of their new relationship; the stage where they were too busy feeling out their physical and emotional ties to each other before they really truly committed to an everlasting relationship involving rings and a walk down the aisle. She smiled as she thought the only thing that I know right now is that Tosh and I love exploring each other's bodies and they had certainly explored each other's bodies thoroughly after two weeks of that heavenly leave. It was at that point that she heard a knock on the door.

"Can you concentrate?" Harm's voice penetrated her thought processes.

"What?" She looked up in confusion at her investigative partner.

"…because I can't worth a damn…" Harm muttered caustically. He came into the office, shut the door and leaned up against the wall giving her a pitiful puppy expression.

"Are you even trying?" Meg asked pointedly as she indicated her open file. "I'm trying to get through a logical argument regarding a custody case so that the person in question…" keeping the case vague. "…won't lose access to their kids due to a violation of the right to access orders…" Harm mumbled something unintelligible in reply to that query. "well…maybe if you went to the galley and got yourself a cup of coffee…it might help you concentrate on your work?"

"You wanna join me?" were the next words that she could understand out of Harm's mouth.

"Were you planning on grilling me?" Meg raised an eyebrow as she looked down at her case file that she had maybe managed to get about two sentences scrawled with regards to getting any further with the case than she had prior to going on leave.

"No…" Harm grumbled, "Just don't like going down to the galley by myself; thought I'd ask if I could have you as company." Meg smiled; Harm really wasn't an extrovert. He had a small circle of people who he counted as friends, including her now-boyfriend and he didn't really care for large crowds. Neither did Animal and frankly, neither did she. And that was probably why they all got along so well. Each one of them knew the other's tendency to want to go sit alone to recharge or to stick in a nice comfortable small group of people that they all knew well. Harm tended to get uncomfortable in large crowds; and so did Meg.

"Alright, Harm, but after this, I have to get back to this file and make sure that I make at least some headway before secure; otherwise the admiral will have my head on a platter." She gave him a glare to let him know that he was impinging on her time.

"Yeah…OK…" Harm grunted as she locked up her office and then they both headed towards the galley. Meg looked at her wrist-watch and nodded. "time?" Harm asked.

"Yeah, Tosh is supposed to be heading into Bethesda. He's got an appointment at 1100hrs to check on how the healing is going with the bullet-wounds…see if they're closing up the way they should be and to make sure that there is no risk of infection." Harm gazed at her and nodded.

"I take it you've been applying the antibiotic that the doctor gave you and him to use on his wounds?" Harm asked assuming that Meg was the one doing the dressing of Animal's wounds for him.

"Yeah…they still look raw though…it might take a while…"

"That's probably another reason why I don't like the idea of getting shot…" Harm muttered. "It was a close one with Hemlock. Animal, I think, narrowly avoided getting shot again. He showed me the two bullet holes that went into and the exits in the car that he took cover behind…they came pretty close to his head."

Meg stared at him. "He didn't say that they came that close." She looked alarmed. "All he said was that they hit the car that he was hiding behind…not anything about any exit holes."

"I think his luck is holding out…so far…" Harm muttered.

"By the way he told me to tell you…Get into a safer job." Meg passed along her boyfriend's recommendation as Harm snickered.

"Yeah…like he should talk…" Harm grinned at Meg. "…considering he launches himself off decks…and goes Rambo on North Koreans…"

"Didn't you used to launch yourself off decks too?" Meg retorted; her line of sight indicating Harm's naval aviator wings

Harm gave her a wide smile. "Yeah…you got a point there…but I've never felt the desire to go full-on Rambo…"

Meg smirked at him, "So…no desire to earn a blue-button?"

"I'll leave that to your boyfriend…" Harm shot back.

"I think one's enough…" Meg said wryly. "I want him to be here for a long time…" Harm looked over at her with a telling look. He was still not comfortable with the fact that Meg was now no longer available for a relationship and the look he gave her was one that didn't speak of just friendship…but of close ties and wanting something more. But unfortunately, he'd had his opportunity and he didn't take up on it. So now, Meg was no longer single but dating and was unavailable.

By this time, they'd managed to reach the galley and get in line to wait for the MS2 (Mess Management Specialist) to get to them to give them two take-away cups of coffee; Harm took his black; while Meg took hers with two cream; two sugar.

Bethesda Naval Medical Center; Bethesda, MD; September 28, 1994; 1045hrs

Animal had on khakis…his rack of ribbons neatly arrayed over his left breast pocket; three to a row; four complete rows in total, along with nicely bright polished naval aviator's wings that gleamed in the sunlight of the late September mid-morning going on noon. He'd just parked his Camaro in the visitors parking lot and got out of the car. Wearing his RayBan aviator sunglasses, he put his cover on…he decided to bring his officer's cover with the single row of scrambled eggs on the brim and not the overseas cap. A bit of conceit in that the officer's cover gave a much more professional and squared away look to his khakis than the overseas cap which on his head always tended to flop a little which caused him no end of disgust; even starching the damned thing stiff didn't work – maybe his head was a little too round at the top since the overseas cap tended to flatten out on the top like a triangle that had gotten squashed so he rarely wore it.

He got quite a few smiles from the khaki wearing female officers who looked over at him striding past; his eyes shaded by the RayBans; the gold wings gleaming and he noticed quite a few of them ogling him; must have been his wings. But of course, he had the love of a beautiful female JAG officer so he didn't bother returning their looks. Besides, he had an appointment to make and he only had fifteen minutes to get up to the office.

When he got there, his cover under his arm and his sunglasses neatly squared away hanging by its left earpiece off the left breast pocket; he walked up to the LT who was manning the MOA desk. "Good morning. Commander Nakamura?" she asked.

"Yes, Lieutenant…I believe I have an 1100hrs with Dr. Whitman."

"Yes, sir…you do…I'll let Commander Whitman know that you're here…" The Lieutenant smiled at him as she lifted up her phone. "Sir…Commander Nakamura is here…" cupping the mouthpiece, she said softly, "Sir. Please have a seat, Dr. Whitman will be right out shortly."

"Thank you…" Animal responded and went to take a seat. The bandages were still bulky and his wound was still tender when pressure was applied slightly to it whether it was sitting down and the khakis rode up due to starching the uniform for proper creases or tucking the shirt back properly when getting up out of the seat.

"Well…Commander…good to see you…" Dr. Whitman strode out. Evidently UOD for Bethesda was also khakis today. The Service Blues change-over wouldn't happen until the first of October and Animal noted that in mind as he realized that he was in the nation's capital where uniform regulations and UOD were strictly adhered to. And he made a note to himself to make sure that his service blues were always pressed and ready for wear and that his white covers were also nice and clean. Animal stood and grinned at him "C'mon and we'll head for my office and we can go over the file together as far as your progress is going." He turned and led the way to his office. When they got there, he ushered Animal in and they both sat down. "So your girlfriend is back at work?" he inquired as he shut the door and came over to his own side of the desk and sat down in his chair.

"Yes, today's her first day back…so I'm solo coming up here." Animal said, shrugging his shoulders giving him a wry smile.

"I'm seeing quite a bit of healing and relatively little scarring in the area where the bullets punched through." Dr. Whitman said noting the x-ray that was in Animal's health chart. "We usually see scarring where the muscle gets torn; but you've managed to avoid the tears…they were just straight puncture holes right through the muscle tissue; they were arthroscopically reattached on the Mercy and they appear to be growing together just fine. I don't believe you'll really have any loss of motion…which is a primary concern for wounds like these; as that would have serious ramifications on your ability to return to the cockpit."

"So what is the prognosis, Doc?" Animal asked.

"Well, Commander, it pretty much means that you're on progress to start rehab in the New Year, preferably by the third of January; you should be healed up enough to start light physical training…on that arm to get the strength back. By about late March-early April you should be ready to move onto higher strength training so that you can get back to being able to pull G's without enormous strain on your shoulder musculature."

"So would you say that by June-July I should be able to return to RAG for retraining in type?" Animal asked him and Commander Whitman looked down at the chart.

"If your progress remains the same as what I'm seeing, I think you'd be looking at a late July next year return to flight-status; provided…" he paused ominously, with a cautionary look at Animal "…that there are no setbacks…in the schedule. I'm not going to give you a definite green light yet, but I'd say that if the progress continues the way it's been going; then you could look tentatively at that time-schedule for a return to flight status…" Animal nodded.

"I'll try to restrain my enthusiasm…" Animal said, "Don't want a setback…too early in the game."

"Just take the rehab slow and steady…" Dr. Whitman stated. "You won't get there any faster…by over-doing it…"

"I'll keep that in mind. Doc…"

The rest of the examination involved checking the wound physically and Dr. Whitman looked over the wound… "I see your girlfriend has been applying the antibiotic regularly and making sure that the wound is clean…because the healing looks pretty good…and there aren't any signs of redness which would be a cautionary sign that there is possible infection…so she's done a very good job…I'll do some cleaning, reapply the antibiotic and then redress the wound…" he stated as he went about doing that. "We'll do another consult again in a week's time…just to make sure the progress remains the same…on an upwards movement." When he'd finished reapplying the dressing after the reapplication of the antibiotic ointment, the doctor grinned, "Well, I think that pretty much takes care of that…so I'll see you in another week. Commander. So where to now for you?"

"Off to the NEX to pick up my blues…which should have my rank-stripes replaced with the proper rank by now" Animal grinned. "Yeah…lots more money to spend…" he sighed.

"Well…hopefully it doesn't make too much of an impact on your bank account…" Commander Whitman said cheerfully. "NEX has a habit of raising prices… on a regular basis…"

"Naw, I think I'm good financially…the Navy just needs to make money...hence the relentless price gouging." Animal replied giving his doctor a cheerful grin, "So see you next week, Doctot?"

Doc Whitman nodded a cheery affirmative to the question as he stated, "You have a good one…"

After leaving the doctor's office, he headed downstairs…towards the Navy Exchange outlet in the Bethesda Medical Center. The QM1 who was there looked up, "Good morning, sir…"

"Good morning. Hughes…" Animal grinned at him, "So…are my blues ready?"

"Ready for pick-up, sir…" Excusing himself, QM1 Hughes headed over to the backroom to pick up Animal's tailoring request. "I believe it was four service blues and two mess dress blues?"

"Yes…I believe it was…" Animal grinned at him. Hughes proffered the uniform in a uniform bag, unzipping them to show him the tailored uniforms. The rank rings were nicely arrayed on the mess dress as well as the service dress blues and Animal nodded his satisfaction to the QM1. Hughes also made sure to show him the size to make sure that the sizes were exactly the same as when he'd dropped them off – no substitutions.

"Great…" Animal grinned, "So how much is this going to freak out my debit card?"

"Well, I think you're probably going to be set back about a hundred fifty, sir."

"I figured as much." Animal said proffering his debit card to the QM1 who took it and scanned it through the debit card machine…then offered the pin-pad to the officer to punch in his pin-code. When the transaction went through, Animal passed the pin-pad back to the QM1. "Thanks a bunch, Hughes. I'll probably see you next week. Gotta swing by and pick up a few more O-5 boards on my next pay."

"We'll see you then, sir, you have a good one."

"I will…"

After leaving the hospital doors, he looked around, putting his sunglasses back on. Gotta go grab a bite to eat somewhere; Wonder where there's a Beltway Burgers. Animal thought to himself as he headed over to his Camaro.

Joint Chiefs of Staff, Pentagon; September 28, 1994; 1200hrs

"So, have you seen the latest? Our newest blue-button nominee put in the guy who went in with him in the helo up for the blue button as well. Looks like we gotta send another investigation crew out to the TR to see about interviews. Maybe if we time it right, we can get them both awarded at the same time at the same ceremony." The CNO stated to the Commandant of the Marine Corps.

"Well, I think that was good of the Commander to acknowledge the Marine Corps help." General Wisebrough, USMC stated to Admiral Jay Whitmore; the CNO.

"So you agree with Commander Nakamura on Captain Wild Crow being awarded the Medal of Honor." Admiral Whitmore looked over at the Marine General.

"I was thinking more of the Navy Cross when I read Wild Crow's citation, but if the Commander can make the Medal stick, then I'm fine with it. I'll sign off on it; and I'll sign off on your Navy boy's blue button too. I think it's gonna be a unanimous since he pretty much took the heat off by redirecting the fire on himself by taking the NKs's attentions off our helo. Think the Army and Air Force boys are gonna go for it though?"

"I'm sure they will…they've had enough chance to read the citations and they know what it takes for the blue button; after all; that Air Force F-4 pilot that got shot down and resisted capture; then resisted while a POW in 'Nam was a posthumous award; so even the Air Force knows exactly what it takes to receive the Medal."

"Good, because I don't want the Air Force or the Army to stuff up these awards…" As much as there was rivalry between both the Marines and the Navy; they were still a part of the same Department of the Navy and well, when it came to rivalry between the Air Force; the Army and the Navy – the Marines and Navy would stand side by side.

Beltway Burgers; DC Beltway; Washington DC; September 28, 1994; 1300hrs

Animal had found out while on cruise that his home favorite Rangers had won the Stanley Cup over the Vancouver Casucks in June. The Casucks attempt at a comeback had fizzled even though Linden was their most effective player. The Rangers with Messier had pretty much shut down the Canucks offence after brutalizing their top players, slewfooting Bure and roughing up a few of the other players like Courtnall and Ronning; the little midget; Messier taking a double-handed axe chop to Linden in Game Six. Animal despised the Canucks; the bunch of dirty floppers. And on top of that…after the loss the Canucks fans practically started flipping cars and starting a riot. Well, that would be another 25 years of futility for the Casucks. The Hockey Gods would not look too kindly on that. With any luck the Casucks and their Canucklehead fans would never win the Stanley Cup in any of their lifetimes.

Animal was a devout hockey fan; happy to be an Original Six team fan and unfortunately due to being shuffled around by the needs of the Navy; wasn't able to attend the Rangers games, but maybe now that he was assigned to the Nation's capital, maybe he should attend a game or two when the Rangers came to town to play the Capitals. Of course Capitals fans wouldn't like the fact that he attended the games in a Rangers jersey, however; tough luck for them. Just because he was in the nation's capital didn't mean that he was going to root for the Capitals. Hockey fandom didn't work that way. You cheered for YOUR team and that was it; cheering for anybody else was anathema. In hockey; hatred of other teams was a definite.

Searching through the Washington Post for news about his beloved Rangers and the deals that were being made; was short shrift in the sports section because the Post generally covered the Capitals; the laughingstock of the NHL; their Cup aspirations were negligible and Animal loathed any team that wasn't wearing his favorite Red, white and blue. He resolved that he needed to stop by the local newsstand and pick up the latest New York Times; at least that would have some Rangers coverage.

So he looked at the Post, ate his fries and his burger; sipped on his shake laughing at the Capitals' attempts to make a competitive hockey team. They would probably have decades to go before they became anything that even remotely had a chance to win the Cup and hopefully the Casucks would never win – let the streak of futility continue. He must have been a sight; khaki-uniform clad naval officer munching on a fry; staring at the Washington Post and laughing malevolently at the sports section.

He finished his lunch, deposited the paper on the Please Read convenience rack; dumped the empty wrappers of his burgers and his fries container, picked up the milkshake that was still half full and headed out to the waiting Camaro and got ready to go find a news-stand so that he could pick up a Times. He found one just about three blocks down the street and pulled in, going in; tossing down the amount needed to pick a copy up…and then went over to his car and sat down in the driver's seat; getting ready to start the engine. He'd read the paper when he got home. It would tide him over until such time as Meg got home.

The drive home was uneventful; pulling into the underground parking garage and then heading upstairs to their one-bedroom suite. He went upstairs, pulled off his khakis and took all the insignia off it…since considering it was hot, he needed to send it into the wash; he pulled on one of his t-shirts and shorts…and some sandals…then he sat back and flipped open the Times to the sports section to see what direction his Rangers were going…and that kept him busy till Meg walked in the door at 1815hrs.

"Hey, sweetheart…" Meg walked over as Animal got up off the couch and enfolded her in his arms. "Mmmmm…I missed you today…"

"I missed you too…Meg…" He leaned in and kissed her receiving a passionate kiss in return.

"You picked up a New York Times?" Meg queried as she saw the paper on the coffee table.

"Yeah…had to for the sports section. All they cover in the Post is the Capitals."

"Ah…" Meg raised an eyebrow, "Ice hockey fan?"

"Yup…and it is hockey…it's generally understood to be played on ice…the other forms of hyphenated hockey don't count." he smirked.

"I've never really watched hockey so I don't particularly have a preference for a team." Meg informed him. "But of course, I'm open to learning…My brothers preferred football…Cowboys or Oilers"

"Yeah, Edmonton has a team called the Oilers in hockey…it's the team that Messier won his first Stanley Cup with…" Animal told Meg who nodded. "Messier's now the team captain of the New York Rangers." He smiled with satisfaction "…and they won the Cup this year…and yes, I'm a New York Rangers fan…long before their current Cup Run and win; been a fan since the mid-sixties." Animal grinned, "So…how was work today?"

"Hard to concentrate. Harm thought I was transferring…and he really didn't believe that I wasn't." Meg informed him; shaking her head looking up at the ceiling in frustration. "Evidently the admiral had my file on his desk with a highly-recommended post-it on it and Harm jumped to conclusions…"

"Highly recommended also can refer to recommendations for promotion boards…" Animal informed her. "By the way, aren't you just about at your four year mark?"

"Next year June…" Meg said; a light-bulb going on in her head. Maybe the admiral was sending her name into the O-3 promotion boards. That sounded like the most logical conclusion for her file to be on the admiral's desk. But she would keep that information to herself because it could be that and she really didn't want to jinx it. She was looking forward to pinning on the double bars of a full Lieutenant. It would mean that her hard work was being recognized. And it would mean an upwardly mobile career path provided that she didn't stumble over a knee-knocker in the process. And well, it would lend justification to her choice of career. She'd gone into the Navy because her father and Uncle Ollie both served in the military and she'd had a keen interest in the Navy and the sea.

Meg really wanted the promotion; but it was still almost nine months away before she would see the promotion list come out stating who would be able to put on the twin-bars of a lieutenant and that she could drop the JG part of her rank and then it would be five years after that before she'd be able to pin on gold oak leafs. She just had to be patient; though hearing the possibility that it was regarding her promotion candidacy directly from her boyfriend's mouth was something that was certainly plausible considering her hard work over the past year and three months that she'd been a lieutenant junior grade. Her glowing fitreps from the time that she'd pinned on her ensign's bar would go a long way in cementing her status as an officer that was fit for retention.

Meg looked over at Animal, "Yeah…I'm sure that was it…" she stated regarding the file on Chegwidden's desk. It was at about that point that Meg's stomach started growling. "Hmmm…seems like I'm kinda hungry…" she commented, "Ideas on what we should make for dinner?"

Animal shrugged his shoulders. "I'm pure out of ideas."

Meg snapped her fingers, "I got it. Cantonese Chicken; we can use some of the ketchup and soy sauce and we bought honey at the Costco the other day. And all we need is lemon juice; I can get that at Safeway."

"Sounds like a good plan…"

"And we can have rice on the side with it…" she suggested indicating the rice cooker .

"OK…" Animal responded; "before we head out to Safeway to grab the lemon juice…how about if I get the rice started, then we can have it ready before the chicken goes in the oven. It can keep warm for the duration that the chicken cooks. It won't start getting crunchy unless you leave it on all night."

"Good…I'll go change into civvies while you deal with the rice." She smirked at him giving him a kiss and then headed for the bedroom; while Animal started on rinsing the rice. That was one of the things about rice; you had to rinse off the stuff that they powdered the rice with to keep the grains from sticking together; it wasn't healthy to ingest that stuff. You washed the rice till the water ran clear; then stuck it in the steamer. The sauce and chicken would have to marinate in the fridge for two hours before cooking it in the oven for one hour at three hundred seventy five Fahrenheit (thirty minutes covered; thirty minutes uncovered) but at least they would have a delicious meal after that.

The trip to; the actual purchase of the lemon juice and from Safeway only took about 45 minutes so they were back around 1930hrs, though of course it would be a late dinner. Meg, looking at the time, decided that they had better order pizza and let the chicken marinate over night in the fridge covered by foil; then they could have it the next evening. All Animal had to do was throw it in the oven and let it cook for an hour.

The pizza was good enough for couple of nights…dinner even if it was skipped for two nights in favor of Cantonese Chicken.

JAG Headquarters; Washington DC, September 29, 1994; 0600hrs

Meg pulled into the underground parking lot of the JAG HQ at the Washington Navy Yard. Grabbing her purse and her cover from the vehicle she shut the door and locked it. Heading upstairs via the elevator she signed in at the Marine sentry's position. "Good Morning Staff Sergeant."

"Good morning, ma'am." The Marine looked over her JAG Office pass checking to see that both face and ID matched up. "You're good to go, ma'am."

"Thank you, Staff Sergeant." She stated as she headed for the elevators leading up to the offices at the JAG headquarters.

The elevators were only a brief moment's wait as they were quick to arrive on her current floor and she was able to get on one. When the elevator let her off at her floor, she stepped out and headed over to her office; unlocking the door and heading in to put her briefcase down. She then figured that she'd better head down to the galley and get herself a cup of coffee before morning briefing. She'd managed to get a settlement done on the custody case and that was cleared off her slate. But there was another mountain of cases that she needed to get some work done on and if she didn't get some coffee in her she was going to impact her forehead on her desk and the resultant concussion probably wouldn't do wonders for her state of mind at this point. Mornings were rough on Meg mainly due to the fact that everything was a rush up until she reached the office. Traffic was nuts this morning on the Beltway; two motor vehicle accidents had slowed traffic down to a standstill. And she was lucky enough to manage to slide into the off-ramp bound for the Navy Yard. She had a gut hunch that she should get out early this morning and managed to do so which was the only reason why the accidents on the Beltway did not make her late.

Animal had mentioned this morning that he was considering heading up to the National Air and Space Museum just for something to do. Considering that he was convalescing still and not in a heavy duty rehabilitation program yet; he had some free time to do whatever. So he got to spend all day in civvies whereas poor Meg had to head into the office in khaki uniform; properly attired and uncomfortably starched. Yesterday was midweek; still one more workday after today to go…until the weekend…she thought to herself as she got in queue for the coffee.

"Two cream; two sugar…" she informed the MS2 who served her.

"Two cream; two sugars; aye ma'am…coming right up…" And he handed her a steaming take-away cup of java with two packets of sugar and two small plastic sealed cups of cream.

"Thank you, MS2." Meg replied as she headed over to the free counter to put in two creams and two sugar and stir the mix with a stir-stick; the empty sugar wrappers and cream containers went into the garbage and once she was done stirring; the stir-stick followed them into the garbage container. She headed over to the cashier to hand over her ninety-five cents for the coffee. It was really the only thing that she bought on a regular basis from the galley. Besides if one didn't kick one-self in the ass in the morning with a jolt of caffeine; one would find themselves nodding off at the most inopportune time; like in the middle of briefing. That was the one thing about having a boyfriend that was a problem. Spending most of the evening exploring each other's intimate leanings ended up with them dropping off to sleep at about just a little after midnight, exhausted and satiated; which made for a very short sleep before having to roust one-self out of bed a scant five hours later. At least getting to the office was only really about an hour; an hour and a half if one wasn't like Meg who figured that speed limits were a suggestion and when she was late, she tended to get a little heavy on the accelerator pedal. Luckily she hadn't pushed her luck too much this morning, since a Virginia State Patrol stop would have pretty much ruined her chances of getting in before being counted AWOL; managing to still get in on time even with the crawling traffic on the Beltway.

It was about half an hour later that Harm managed to shuffle himself past her office door muttering something caustic about Beltway traffic and Washington DC idiots who couldn't manage to drive to save their lives. Meg grinned as she thought, Shoulda gotten out earlier this morning…lucky for her she had listened to her hunches. That saved her quite a bit.

A legalman knocked on her door, "Ma'am; ten minutes till morning meeting…"

"Thank you for the heads-up, Legalman Two."

"You're welcome, Ma'am." The Legalman grinned at her and made his exit.

She gathered up her files and got ready to head down to the boardroom. Because of the number of lawyers in the Navy Yard office, the boardroom was configured like a classroom with everyone facing the JAG who was at the head of the classroom like a teacher. Each one of the lawyers would have five minutes to brief the JAG on the disposition of their caseload and if their caseload was starting to become light, they would be the first to receive new cases based on their abilities. The higher ranking officers were the ones who routinely got the heavier cases due to their experience level although O-3s did have their share of them.

Being an O-2; she picked a seat at the back of the room; the O-5s and O-4s got the seats closer to the JAG due to their seniority. Harm chose to sit beside her in the seat next to hers. "Traffic was hell this morning…" he muttered as he dropped his briefcase right beside the desk.

"Had a gut hunch this morning to get out early, sir." Meg grinned at him. "Got out at 0445…and well…at least I was able to miss most of the traffic stops coming in. Heard there were two fender-benders on the Beltway so I switched lanes early to avoid getting locked in on the Beltway and miss my exit."

Harm looked over at her; envious. "I sure wish I had those gut hunches; would have saved myself a helluva lot of time."

It didn't take long for the JAG to show up and the attorneys in the office stood up and waited at the position of attention until the JAG ordered them to sit down.

The day for Meg was full of tasks to complete and case-files to go over and an exhausted Lieutenant JG Meg Austin was more than happen to head back to her apartment in the Navy Yard District of DC to a comforting dinner and night with her boyfriend.

JAG Headquarters; Washington DC; September 29, 1994; 0945hrs

Meg found Thursday just as painful as the day coming back from leave – it probably wouldn't be until mid-week next week that her mental state clicked back into work mode but she tried her best to concentrate on the cases assigned to her. Her thoughts kept wandering over to her boyfriend and what enjoyable thing he was doing; looking at the planes over at the National Air and Space Museum; she smiled to herself as she looked over at his picture on her desk. Actually it was a picture of the two of them together at the zoo which they had gone to on one of the days of her leave; she was in a jean shirt and white blouse and she had on a jean-skirt; they were both looking at the camera and both had wide smiles on their faces. She was already eyeing a frame at one of the photo shops; a perfect frame for their Christmas dinner photo that she planned on having done; Tosh would make a great photo dressed in his dinner dress whites with commander's boards on his shoulders and wearing his officer's cap. She would be dressed in a figure hugging evening gown – she hadn't determined what color it would be as of yet, but when she figured that out, they would make a stunning pair.

A knock on her door caused her to start visibly and she called out, "Enter!"

"Hey…" her partner said giving her a grin. "So…are you busy?"

"Did you not get a new load of cases, sir?" Meg asked raising an eyebrow at the question. "Because I did…"

Harm grinned at her. "Mine are mostly ones where I have to interview witnesses – ninety percent being larceny cases; find out what's going on and I can do that later on today – they're relatively simple to dispense with and not really ones that require a whole lot of work to do." He noticed the frame on her desk resisting the urge to pick it up and look at the picture in the frame; it wasn't facing in his direction of sight…and it was Meg's property. "Hey, that's new…" He looked over at Meg.

"Yes…it is…" Meg remarked briefly with regards to Harm's observation as she stuck her face back in her file; so much for Harm's attempt to find out what picture was in that frame. "I've probably got to go down to Norfolk today at some point and interview some of the couples that I have to deal with – y'know find out their stories and why they're at loggerheads with each other. Same old my husband or my wife spends too much time with the service; that's why our marriage split apart and I've now got the kids…I'm leaving town and my husband or wife wants to stop me from moving on with my life…" she muttered crossly. "And I have to waste time doing a four hour drive down and a four hour drive back. And here I was hoping that I could get home and have our Cantonese Chicken tonight. I started working on it yesterday and it's marinated enough that I could just pop it in the oven; however that case is going to set back my getting back home until around 1930hrs. Hang these cases!" she grumbled. "If I don't report back in; they'd consider me AWOL from ETA to next morning…and that necessitates a trip back here before going home."

"Hey, I got an interview down in Norfolk. So why don't we do that together; would save you some energy and I can drive." Harm suggested as he looked over at her with a look of expectation that she would agree to his suggestion.

"The speed at which you drive would probably put me to sleep…" Meg replied archly. "But then again, that's not a bad idea. At least I'll be well rested." She smirked. Harm rolled his eyes.

"That's a little too much information. Meg…" Harm stated; a wide grin on his face as he looked over at Meg's look of embarrassment on her face at the implication of Harm's statement; a look of frustration quickly following as she shot him a sharp look letting him know that it wasn't her intention to have said something that he could construe as a red-light comment .

"Well, sir, I was just stating as fact that I would be well-rested after a good nap; I can't help that your mind ends up crawling into the gutter." Meg said. "…sir…" she added as she started packing up the files that she needed to take with her. "I've got about three interviews I have to do in Norfolk so it might take a while; if you don't mind waiting."

"I'll review my cases…while I'm waiting." Harm replied…heading back to his office to grab his cover and his black windbreaker. Meg did the same and they headed downstairs to the Navy motor pool vehicle assigned for JAG investigative use.

"So…where's Animal today?" Harm asked as they pulled out of the parking garage.

"He mentioned something about going to see the National Air and Space Museum…so I figure he's there or heading up there about now…" Meg replied as she looked out the window at the changing color of the leaves. Harm by this time had pulled up to the first red light at the intersection…just before the guard-gate.

"Heading out to Norfolk." Harm told the guard.

"OK…you have a good one, sir." The Marine guard stated, "Drive safe…sir."

"Will do, Thanks Sergeant." Harm replied and they were finally on the road to Norfolk.

Meg thought that she'd better tell Tosh that she was going to be late coming home and if he could pop the Cantonese Chicken in the oven for 1 hr at around 1800hrs because it was going to be about 1930hrs before she got home and she would be tired and want to eat relatively quickly. So she pulled out her cell-phone and dialed Tosh's cell-phone – when the call connected she found out that evidently he was up and out of their apartment because she could hear the echo of a vast open interior space which meant more than likely that he was at the Air and Space Museum. Evidently considering the drive time, he'd probably left about eight o'clock in the morning.

"Hey, honey?" Harm rolled his eyes as he heard Meg's endearment to her boyfriend, "Yeah, I have to head down to Norfolk to do some interviews. New cases…so I'm going to be a bit late coming home. Yeah…four hours there and four hours back. Harm's doing the driving; he's evidently got an investigation there too; so yeah…I'll be home around 1930hrs…can you pop the Cantonese Chicken in the oven for an hour; half hour covered; half an hour uncovered. Yup…I want to eat when I get back; don't wanna have to wait on it to cook. OK…love you, sweetheart…" Harm surprisingly kept control of the vehicle considering the fact that he rolled his eyes hard enough to see the inside of his skull. Meg grinned as she ended the call looking over at Harm, "What…sir?" she asked knowing darned well what Harm was thinking.

"I think I'm going to die of saccharine poisoning." Harm muttered caustically as Meg gave him a wide smile.

"Well…" Meg replied, "Always have to make time for the relationship to work out…" she informed him with another cheeky grin while Harm rolled his eyes again.