| Subject: *...For Meritorious Service, Epilogue, part 5, sect. 3 |
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TxJAG_b
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Date Posted: 11:14:45 03/10/11 Thu
In reply to:
TxJAG_b
's message, "...For Meritorious Service, Chapter 27 - continued" on 10:56:42 07/07/10 Wed
THE FINALE…For Meritorious Service – Epilogue – part five
A/N 1: Thanks to my trio of editors [Mary Ann, Janlaw and Karen] for their usual fine job. Kudos also to AeroGirl, Mkim, Soleil, TZ, Janlaw for providing their help and technical expertise. Also thanks to Lisa Griffon [Yahoo Shipper Group] for her continuing support.
A/N 2: Sorry for the delay - only one part after this one, I promise, and then FMS will be complete - for those
of your wondering, the complete story will be posted here
shortly - I think right now you can only find the last part. Thanks for your patience and now...on with the story!
***********************
...For Meritorious Service - Epilogue, part 5, sect. 3
1904 Hours Local
McMurphy’s Pub and Grill
Albert Jethro Chegwidden perused the menu selection with a sigh. It was better than
Benzingers’ used to have, but a part of him still longed to go to the bar and
grill that JAG Corps personnel had made their ‘hang out spot’ since JAG Headquarters had
moved to Falls Church in the winter of 1997. He glanced at his watch and
wondered where Tiner was. After all, the Petty Officer had requested this
meeting.
Jason Tiner appeared at the door as if he had been telepathically signaled. He
quickly walked over and sat down in the booth seat opposite the Admiral.
“Sorry I’m late Admiral,” Tiner began when AJ put up his hand.
He gave his Yeoman a paternal smile. “It’s okay Tiner; I know you have a lot get
in order before you leave for Naval Justice School. I figured that’s what had
delayed you.”
“Yes sir,” Tiner said tentatively as the waitress placed a glass of water in
front of him and left again. The JAG noted his Yeoman’s hesitancy and knew
there was something else he wanted to say. (Well, he’ll spit it out in time.)
AJ thought.
AJ looked over his half glasses at the Petty Officer looking more like a kindly
old gentleman than the Navy Marine Corps JAG as he handed Jason a drink menu.
“So what are you going to have?”
The 1st Class Petty Officer quickly scanned the list. “I’ll just have a beer,
sir.”
AJ looked momentarily disappointed and then nodded his head. “Beer it is.”
He motioned to the waitress who quickly came back to their table. “Two drafts,
please,”
The waitress nodded while making a note on the Admiral’s tab, and then left.
They sat in silence for a moment. Jason shifted in his seat as if he was about
to get up.
AJ sighed and took off his reading glasses. “Son, are you going to make me pull
this out of you?”
Jason swallowed involuntarily and took a quick sip of his water.
“Sir, I have a problem….” he began.
“What kind of problem?” AJ was trying his best not to let a gruff tone enter
his voice. After all, Jason had come to him.
Jason looked helplessly at the JAG. “It involves Petty Officer Coates, sir.” He
said finally.
AJ put down his drink a little harder than he meant to. The bang of his glass
hitting the table made the Yeoman flinch as did the Admiral’s growl. “It
does?”
Jason shrank back in his seat. “Uh, yes sir…” he said quietly.
AJ took a deep breath; he was never any good at this--his track record with
Francesca in these kinds of talks hadn’t been that good. He sighed, and worked
hard to keep the growl out of his voice. “Go on, Petty Officer, what’s the
problem?”
Jason took his own deep breath. “Well sir, I think…I think I love her…”
“You do.” That came out more as a statement than a question. The JAG had not
been oblivious to all the time these two had spent together lately. Not to
mention the ‘competition between her and Sergeant Givers although that seemed to
have died down after the attack.
“And how does she feel about you?” He asked point blank.
The waitress came back with two frosted mugs full of beer and set them down on coasters in front of the two Navy men. Seeing that they were involved in a private, and possibly painful, conversation she murmured, “I’ll be back in few minutes for your food order….” and then left.
Jason turned to acknowledge her while he thought about what the Admiral had said. After a moment he said quietly, “I think…I think she loves me too, Admiral.”
To AJ ‘thinking’ and ‘knowing’ were two different things. “You think? You’re
not sure?” Especially when it came to matters of the heart.
The Admiral’s questioning brought out the nervousness in Jason Tiner that AJ
Chegwidden was oh so familiar with. The words tumbled out of his mouth like
falling bricks. “Uh, as sure, as I can be, Admiral, without asking her. She
told me so – just not in so many words, sir.”
AJ chewed on this for a moment. To Jason, the silence was deafening.
“Sir?”
“So you’re as sure as you can be?” The JAG replied evenly.
Jason nodded. “Yes sir, Admiral.”
Now the irritated JAG took over. “Well then what is the problem, Petty Officer?”
“Sir?”
AJ couldn’t understand why his Yeoman was confused. To him it was clear as day what he had to do. “You love her, she loves you; I don’t see where there is a problem here, son….”
Jason was quick to make his point. He didn’t want the Admiral to think he was wasting his time. “I’m going to be commissioned, Admiral. Then I’ll be at OIS and then at NJS. I’ll be an officer, sir, and it’ll be Fraternization if we stay together….”
“I see….” AJ wondered at first why his Petty Officer hadn’t really thought this though
– like a certain someone else, he seemed to be hesitant to take that leap. Well,
he wasn’t going to let another person under his command blow an opportunity at
happiness. AJ knew all too well that these opportunities should be grabbed when
they appear.
“Yes sir. Admiral, I have to break it off with her, but I really don’t want
to.” Tiner continued, oblivious to the plan forming in the JAG’s mind.
“You don’t.” Again more of statement than a question. Truthfully, AJ hadn’t
heard the last part. He already knew what the Petty Officer was going to say.
“No sir, I really do love her….” Jason answered honestly.
AJ nodded. “I see; well…I can only think of one thing that you can do then,
Petty Officer.”
“Yes Admiral?”
"You’ve graduated from law school and passed the bar exam…correct?”
“Yes sir, I have…” Tiner couldn’t see where he was going with this or how that
would help.
“Then you are hereby discharged from active duty. Effective immediately.
Coates and Sergeant Givers can handle your duties – along with Lieutenant Sims.
Have the paperwork on my desk in the morning.”
Tiner simply nodded. Discharged from service. He hadn’t expected that.
“Then you’ll have to marry to her; the sooner the better.” AJ was blunt with the young
Petty Officer bluntly.
“Marry Sir?” Now Jason was stunned and confused. He had just told the Admiral
he couldn’t marry her and now he was saying that he should get married to
Jennifer Coates right now?
AJ smiled. “And because you graduated from law school and have already passed
your bar exam, you’ll be commissioned a Lieutenant, junior grade. And as such, it
won’t take effect until next Monday. I can delay the necessary paperwork that long.
Call it Admiral’s privilege.” He loved it when he could move mountains for his
people.
Tiner didn’t know what to say. This was hitting him too fast.
AJ shook his head at his slow on the uptake response. He would have to do
better than this at his next posting if he was going to advance within the JAG
Corps. “Tiner, if you’re married to her when you go to OIS and NJS, it’s not
fraternization.” AJ said spelling it out for him.
“Really sir?” That had never occurred to him. He had been so worried about
trashing their careers he really hadn’t considered what they could do.
“Did you not look this up, son?” The JAG said pointedly.
“Well sir, I just figured--” Jason Tiner began haltingly.
“Well you figured wrong.” The Admiral said brusquely, cutting him off. “Look;
I’m having a welcoming back party for Commander Rabb and the JAGMAN team this
weekend--”
Jason jumped in because wasn’t he supposed to plan all these parties for him?
Was he bypassing him because he didn’t think he could do the job? “Sir, I’m
supposed to help with these kinds of things--”
“Well in this case you aren’t.” AJ said in a friendly but firm manner meaning
there would be no more discussion about this. “Sergeant Givers and Petty
Officer Coates are. This is also supposed to be a good luck party for you as
well.”
PO3 Tiner was flabbergasted…and pleased. “I—thank you sir.”
AJ grunted. “Just be there on time and don’t foul this up, Petty Officer. You
love her, she loves you; don’t make me regret getting personally involved with
my staff, understood?”
Now Jason smiled for the first time since they sat down. “Yes sir, Aye, aye sir
and thank you sir.” He said effusively.
Now was AJ’s turn to give him another paternal smile. “You’re welcome, Tiner. And talk
to her about seeing me about one of the Enlisted Commissioning Programs. I’ve been
watching her – she’s officer material too.”
To say that Jason Tiner was floored would be an understatement. “Uh, y-yes, sir, I will sir.” Was all he could manage.
AJ grinned, glad that Tiner was finally getting it. He had his doubts about the Petty Officer in personal relations department because of that fiasco with Meredith’s engagement ring. But now it looked as though he had his head screwed on straight. “Now, what do you say to getting something to eat?”
1820 Hours Local
A.J. Chegwidden’s House
McLean, Virginia
AJ watched as Marla Givers and Jennifer Coates worked with quiet efficiency to
finish placing the table settings and putting out an array of hor d’oeuvres.
“Everything is just about ready, Admiral,” Jennifer announced as Marla Givers
walked over and turned on the stereo, keying up some soft jazz instrumentals on
the combination Stereo-Turntable-Cassette-CD player.
AJ nodded his approval. “Very Good, Petty Officer. Sergeant; will you turn on
the lights out on the porch?”
Marla nodded and headed to the French doors at the back of the living room.
“Yes sir.”
As Marla left to do this, AJ pulled Jennifer to one side. “I hope you--”
Jennifer finished his thought for him. She had learned it was good to
anticipate the Admiral’s thoughts and intentions. “--brought a change of clothes? I did
sir, but I thought I was supposed to be helping Sergeant Givers--”
AJ finished for her. Some would find what she did annoying. But not him, in
fact, he kind of liked that she could that, because he could do the same to
her. “--Sergeant Givers can handle the party from this point on. In fact, I
told her that would be the case.”
PO2 Coates was stumped about the Admirals intentions on this one. “But why sir?”
AJ smiled his all knowing smile. “Because Petty Officer Tiner is receiving
commission to Lieutenant, junior grade tonight.”
“Oh….”
Jen’s heart sank –she had thought he would be made Chief Petty Officer, that
would make talking about solidifying their relationship a little bumpy, but they
could handle that – but not him being promoted to Lieutenant. He’d be an
officer and any future plans they had would mean she or he would have to leave
the service. That difference in status couldn’t be overcome. AJ detected the tone of
disappointment in her voice.
AJ Chegwidden feigned concern. He knew exactly what she was thinking – Tiner
was right; she had been thinking about marriage. “What’s the matter, Petty
Officer, aren’t you happy for him?”
“Happy? Oh yes sir!” She exclaimed immediately brightening and nodding
enthusiastically. “Absolutely; it’s just that--”
AJ cut her off. A little cruel, but he thought the night would make up for
that. “What Petty Officer?”
Her senior officer’s brusque manner told her it wasn’t a good idea to bring up
any girlish fantasies with him. “Oh…nothing, sir.”
The JAG was momentarily disappointed that Coates didn’t fight this more. Since
day one she showed everyone in the office that she was a scrapper and didn’t
back down easily from a challenge. He admired that in her, so seeing her collapse
this easily left him a little worried about the plan for this evening. “Don’t
worry Coates; it will all work out in the end. Now go on and get changed out of that
uniform and put on your civilian clothes. You can use my bedroom.”
She didn’t know what he meant by that obtuse remark ‘work out in the end’, but
the Petty Officer put on her best smile. “Yes sir.”
As she headed toward the bedroom, AJ couldn’t help smiling to himself. He
really did enjoy this kind of subterfuge.
*~*
Jason Tiner was dressed in his brand new Service Dress Whites as directed by the
Admiral. He hoped that they stayed that way at least through the ceremony. It was
an unusual dress code for a gathering of this nature, but it was the Admiral’s party
so--
The door opened before he had a chance to ring the bell. There stood Marla
Givers in a waiter’s uniform. “Petty Officer Tiner, good to see you.” she said
smiling.
It took Tiner a moment to gather a coherent thought as they walked into the
living room. “Marla, are you doing this by yourself this evening?” Normally the
Admiral had Tiner oversee hired the caterers serve as wait staff but right now
he only saw Marla.
(Always the gentleman – bet he would volunteer to help if I said yes, but I know
better than to do that,) she thought. Her smile got wider. “No, Jen helped set
up most of it. My assistants will be arriving shortly,” As if on cue, the door
bell rang. “Will you excuse me, I need to go answer the door….”
Jason nodded absently as he wandered into the dining room and saw the
beautifully set table. “They even have a better centerpiece than I did--”
“Excuse me?” Jennifer said in response to his mumbled comment as she came out
of the bedroom, smoothing her shirt and making sure everything was in place.
Jason turned around to see Jennifer in red polo shirt and jeans. For some reason she
look even more gorgeous even though it was just jeans and a red shirt.
“Jen!” He blurted out as he looked at her. Seeing the look of happy shock on
her face at his comment he blushed as he corrected himself. “ I uh, mean, Petty
Officer, how are you this evening?”
Jennifer fought the urge to giggle at him. Sometimes he was so cute. “I’m um,
fine, Tiner. Thanks for asking.”
“Why aren’t you helping Marla?” He couldn’t help it, but his voice did sound a
tiny bit accusatory.
“The Admiral asked me to change clothes and to join the party.” She said a
little brusquely. She didn’t like the fact he was insinuating that she had left
Marla holding the bag.
Tiner’s color got deeper (Boy, you sure stuck your foot in it, Jason. Let’s see
if you can get out of this one…) “Uh, I’m sorry, Coates, I didn’t mean to
sound…for that to come out the way it did. I’m sorry. It’s just the Admiral
usually has me organizing these things and I--”
He sounded sincere, but Jennifer wasn’t going to let him off that easily. “Next
time leave the rank off when you ask me something like that. I can see where
you might have thought something else, but Marla and I are past that, okay?”
“Okay,” he said sheepishly. He hoped he didn’t do anything else dumb like that
tonight, he wanted this to all go right.
*~*
“Hey; sorry I’m late,” Pete said as he came in the back door of the kitchen.
“What do I need to do?”
Marla gave Corporal Bauer a quick smile as she handed him a tray of hor-d’oeuvres.
“Here, take these and set them on the table. When you get back we’ll get the caterers
to begin serving drinks…”
*~*
Marla opened the door to see Gunnery Sergeant Victor Galindez supporting a still
injured but definitely on the mend Cassie Ramirez. Victor’s class A uniform
seem to be bursting with ribbons - what he called ‘the fruit salad’. She was
surprised that Sergeant Ramirez had worn hers, but then Cassie was known for
being a stickler for protocol. If the Admiral said for her to wear her uniform,
she wore her uniform – injuries or not.
“Gunny! Sergeant! Good to see you!” She said opening the door wider to
accommodate them.
“It’s good to see you too, Sergeant,” Victor said graciously as he helped Cassie
walk in. Cassie didn’t seem to mind the extra attention.
Marla noted a momentarily grimace cross her face. The tale-tell sign she was
still having some pains. “Cassie, how are you doing?” Marla asked
sympathetically.
Cassie did her best to hide her pain and smiled at the Sergeant who was
obviously worried about her. “Taking it one day at time, Marla.”
Marla nodded soberly and then led both of them over to couch where Cassie could
sit. It was apparent that Cassie was far from fully recovered.
*~*
**The red Corvette pulled in behind Jason Tiner’s Dodge Durango. Mac got out of
the car and walked around to the passenger side and opened the door.
Harm and Mac would have come separately but Mac insisted on driving Harm whose
arm was still in a cast. The doctor had told him it would come off next week.
Harm was embarrassed that he couldn’t be the usual gentleman that he liked
being. “Mac, I could’ve gotten Sturgis to drive me…”
Mac scoffed at his attempt to wave her off. “And you two would have never made
it over here…” she quipped. It was fun being the ‘gentleman’ in this particular
case. Besides it was rare when she could make the Commander feel ill at ease in a
good way.
Harm couldn’t let that slide. “As it was, I didn’t think I was going to make it
here tonight, Mac.”
She gave him a cutting look as they continued up the walkway. “Are you
criticizing my driving, Flyboy?”
“I’m just saying you could have slowed down when we came to that last curve,
Marine.” He couldn’t help it and besides, she had been rather lead-footed on
the way over here.
Mac laughed off his comment. “You’re just miffed because you didn’t get to drive
and because Dr. Timas wouldn’t take off your cast until next weekend….”
That was true.
“That’s not true,” He lied. “Look, Mac; I didn’t mind the act of
you driving me,” He said by way of elaboration hoping to soften the blow.
She wasn’t going to let him get off that easy. “Then why the crack about me
driving fast?” She hoped she put the right amount of ‘miffed’ in her voice.
Harm tried lawyer semantics on his partner. “I minded how you drove me. You
were driving fast, Mac.” He hoped she got the point without getting mad.
Nope. “Oh really--”
Marla opened the door on the two bickering officers. “Colonel! Commander!
Please come in, the Admiral is waiting for you…”
“We’ll finish this later, Navy.” She replied in a low voice that held a note of
retribution as Marla led them into the living room.
“Looking forward to it, Marine.” Harm said smiling. He loved verbally sparring
with her.
*~*
Pete Bauer opened the door. “Lieutenant Sims, Lieutenant Roberts; please come
in. I’ll tell the Admiral you’re here.”
Harriet Sims smiled graciously even though she felt like an elephant lumbering
into the entryway. She leaned over to her husband as Pete turned his back to
them.
“Now Bud, please don’t get this uniform messed up; it’s the last clean one you
have right now….” Though it was a different circumstance and different outfit,
she was still worried about Bud’s perchance for party mishaps.
Bud Roberts patted his wife reassuringly on her arm. “Don’t worry Harriet; I’ve
got it covered….”
*~*
John Burford put his Mustang into park just as a Nissan Pathfinder pulled in
behind him and parked.
As the Lieutenant Commander got out of his car, he noticed Carly Clemons getting
out of the Pathfinder.
John smiled.
“Would you like an escort to the door?” The Marine Major asked as she closed her
SUV’s door and began walking toward him.
John closed the door and stood by his convertible. “Are you offering?”
She smiled back. “Well, yes, I am.”
“Then I’m accepting.” He replied.
---To Be Continued...
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