| Subject: Full Circle C6/6 |
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fananicfan
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Date Posted: 11:01:01 08/19/07 Sun
In reply to:
fananicfan
's message, "Full Circle...Next in the series" on 17:55:08 08/16/07 Thu
Chapter Six – The General's Visit
THURSDAY, MARCH 30, 2006
MACKENZIE CONDO, LA JOLLA, CA
This morning, Mac and I were so comfortable wrapped up together in bed that she was slow to wake to the alarm. When she does leave the bed, she's a little rattled because she's preparing her office for inspection by General Cresswell tomorrow morning and mumbles something about, 'not the time to be lying around in bed.'
She's running for the door when I suggest that she needs breakfast. Her reply is, “I’ll get a muffin and coffee at a drive thru on the way, if I have time. I’ll see you tonight.”
A quick peck to my lips and she's on the move to the door again. Before she gets out the door, I hear her say "okay" in response to my, "I'll come by your office with something for your lunch."
As Mac was getting dressed this morning, she gave me an overview of Tuesday and Thursday mornings. She informed me that Paul picks up Mattie and takes her to school those two days because Frank picks her up from school and takes her to the gallery.
Paul rings the bell, and I get my first look at him. We've barely had time to shake hands when Mattie's there and pushing Paul towards the door. Mattie tells Paul that she'll be right out and turns to me. "Last night in the car, Mac told me to invite him to dinner so you two can talk. I'll talk to him about it today on the way to school. I don't want to be late, so I've got to go," she says before the door clicks shut behind her.
Paul had a firm handshake, but I'm still not happy that she's dating. After they've gone, I wonder briefly how this system of him picking her up two days a week is going to change when she gets her license in a couple of weeks, and then my mind wonders what seeing him over the dinner table will do to my appetite.
I start my morning by going over to see Frank. I got sidetracked last night and I forgot to find out if the box that I'd shipped had arrived. I have one of those 'duh' moments as I back out of my parking space at the condo. Why didn't I ship the box here to the condo? I guess I'm not as settled into marriage and living together as I'd thought.
My box of clothing arrives while Frank and I are talking. Good timing, I tell myself. After my visit with Frank, it's off to the grocery store. I return to the condo with groceries and, after unpacking them, it's time to take lunch to Mac.
Petty Officer Coates greets me with a sir, but quickly reverts to Harm since I'm in jeans and a pullover shirt, and not in uniform. Jennifer has a little surprise information for me about the purpose of the general arriving tomorrow for the conference and extends me an invitation.
I get a chance to see Mac long enough to drop off her lunch. The fact that I don't get to stay longer isn't so bad because, after speaking with Jennifer, I have to make sure that my suit weathered the trip so I can wear it tomorrow.
I have dinner cooking when Mac gets home. She's thrilled to have one less thing to do this evening and runs upstairs to change into something comfortable before dinner's ready. She comes down in sweat pants and a tee shirt, and says that she's starving. She enters the kitchen to see if she can help, but everything's almost ready.
Over dinner, Mattie informs me that Paul will be her date to a gallery event on Saturday evening, and I'll have time to talk to him then if I'm escorting Mac. During dinner, Mac talks briefly about the general's visit tomorrow, but most of her thoughts revolve around shopping for Tyler's furniture this weekend.
After dinner, Mac and I are in the kitchen cleaning up. I'm loading the dishwasher and she's wiping down the counter and stove. "I'd forgotten that you're actually very domestic, but today reminded me. I mean, you did the grocery shopping, made dinner, and now you're cleaning up your mess."
I can't see her face, but I can tell by her tone that she's teasing me. "Did you think that my loft cleaned itself?"
"I don't think I really thought too much about it before, but now that you mention it, you'd have to keep the place ready in case you got the chance to invite a woman over whom you wanted to impress."
"I did have you over as often as I could, didn't I?"
"I don't count. You weren't trying to impress me."
I raise my eyebrow when I ask, "Wasn't I?"
She turns to face me. "You were?" she says like a question and looks shocked.
"I was, but you weren't impressed at all."
"I wouldn't say that. I thought you were just cooking for a friend. I didn't want to read too much into your actions and assume that you were trying to impress me like a man trying to impress a woman he's interested in. Besides, we were such good friends, and I had to be careful that I wasn't putting what I wanted it to mean into the mix."
My hands are wet from rinsing the last of the dishes, but I put them on her hips anyway. "I've been trying to impress you from the moment I met you. And before you say it, no it wasn't because you looked like Diane. Your resemblance to her shocked me, but there was something in your eyes, something that she didn't have that drew me in. I still can't explain it, but I knew from the moment that I met you, though I never expected to fall in love with you, that knowing you would change my life."
She puts her palms on my cheeks and pulls me towards her. "I love you," she says before her lips are pressing into mine.
We continue to kiss for a few minutes because it's simply too enjoyable to stop. Once we finally break apart and finish with the kitchen, we check to see if Mattie's working on her homework, and then Mac takes a bath to help reduce the stress of the pending inspection of her office tomorrow morning.
After her bath, she comes to bed, and the aroma and softness of her skin from her scented bath oil fills my senses, and it's a delight for me to linger over every inch of her body. My attention to her body turns into the slow and passionate lovemaking session that I'd promised myself last night that I'd show her tonight.
FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 2006
JLS OFFICES
Having been through the general's inspection not too long ago, I'm pretty sure that the general is wrapping up his inspection right about now, so I think that I've timed things correctly.
I wasn't invited for any part of the inspection, but Petty Officer Coates was allowed to ask me to appear as Mac's spouse when the general makes Mac's promotion official, immediately following the inspection.
General Cresswell sees that I'm standing out of the way back by the entry doors. "I'm glad that you could make it, Mr. Rabb. Why don't you step forward?"
Mac's face doesn't show the confused look that her eyes express to me. She doesn't suspect what's about to transpire. I hope that I'm conveying an 'its okay' with my eyes in return to ease her mind. I feel a few dozen sets of eyes on me as I take my place. I'm guessing that they're people who don't know who I am. The staff that Mac brought with her from Washington know me, so people like Jennifer will be able to keep the office gossip from getting out of hand, I hope.
With everyone in place, the general congratulates Lt. Colonel Sarah MacKenzie on her promotion to colonel. I'm allowed to give her a very brief congratulatory kiss as her spouse. It's then announced that the dinner closing the JAG conference next Friday evening will serve double duty. It will also be a recognition dinner for Mac's new rank.
With the inspection and promotion announcement complete, the staff is dismissed. A few of the staff that I don't know, along with Lieutenants Graves and Mayfield, whom I do know, make their way to us. I see a few, of which at least one, I'm sure, was staring, migrate towards Jennifer. I'm sure it's to pump the petty officer for information.
The first person who's either curious or brave enough to step forward to meet me is Commander Joesph Winston, Mac's XO. Believe it or not, an introduction can be awkward if you haven't discussed who you are. I'm not in uniform, so my rank doesn't seem of much importance, yet among military personnel of varying ranks, it could be important at some point.
"Commander Joesph Winston, this is my husband, Ca -" Mac began.
I make a quick decision that, in the 21st century, supporting your wife in her career means that you should be able to set aside yours for her moment in the spotlight. "- Harmon Rabb," I say as I extend my hand to shake his to complete our introduction.
Lt. Graves hasn't changed since we worked together, and she manages to congratulate Mac and tell me that she's glad to hear that I'll be at the conference without taking a breath. Thank goodness there are a few more people wanting to congratulate Mac, so to keep the line moving, she needs to move on.
Last in line is Lt. Mayfield. We've met, but haven't worked with each other, so she congratulates Mac first and then says to me, "It was good that you could be here today, Captain, and it's nice to see you again."
Once I've met the brave who wanted an introduction, we're down to just Mac, the general and me, and she invites him to have lunch with us. He's full of surprises and asks if he can meet us somewhere so that he can pick up Mrs. Cresswell for lunch. He explains that he brought her to San Diego with him this year. They'll spend this weekend doing things that they both enjoy, and she'll do some shopping while he attends the conference.
We've ordered, but only our beverages are on the table when the general asks Mac how she feels about having a sailor under foot full time.
Mac laughs and responds to the general with, "He may take some getting used to, but I'm looking forward to it, sir."
We find Mrs. Cresswell to be a combination of ...my mother and ...Harriet. When we find out that Dora likes art, Mac invites them to attend the opening night of a local artist's show tomorrow evening at Mom's gallery.
We have a pleasant lunch and, when we stand to leave, the general asks, "How's the knee, Captain?"
"Coming along, sir. I should be running again next week." I see the fire in Mac's eyes. I'm so busted.
I don't say a word, waiting for Mac to 'blow' after the Cresswells and us go our separate ways in the parking lot outside the restaurant, but she's silent all the way back to her building. She's been sitting in the passenger's seat with her arms folded in front of her.
Before we get out of the car, I turn to her, take her hand and make my attempt at amends. "I know. I know. I should have told you, but I didn't want you to worry. There wasn't anything that you could do."
"What happened?" she asks with her lips persed together, but she hasn't pulled her hand out of mine.
"I was running and wasn't paying attention. My foot came down on a patch of uneven sidewalk and I went down. I thought I was okay, but my knee started swelling and I was in pain, so I went into the ER. The doctor said that I'd be fine. Nothing was broken. I'd just twisted my knee and that I needed to take three weeks off from exercise to let it heal completely and then, when I started back, I shouldn't run long distances every day. I need to vary my regimen to include swimming, running, weights, or any other type of exercise that interests me."
"And when did this happen?"
"March 15th"
"If you weren't suppose to be exercising for three weeks, why did you race Mattie last Saturday in the pool?"
I'm not going to get out of this easily. I put on my flyboy grin before I continue. "My knee was feeling better and I didn't think about it until after the race. You know, when I lost the race. My knee is the reason why I didn't rib Mattie her about wanting out of the rematch the next morning. She may have wanted to go ahead and race, and I knew that it wasn't a good idea because of my knee."
"That smile of yours isn't going to get you out of this one." She pauses. "Now, you told the general that you should be running again next week, but three weeks from the 15th wouldn't make you eligible to run before Wednesday." Now she pulls her hand out of mine. She points her index finger at me and begins to wave it in my direction. "If I catch you or hear of you doing any type of exercise before Wednesday, you'll be sleeping on the couch. Do you understand?"
"Yes, ma'am," I say and offer a mock salute.
Her face softens and she gives me a kiss on the cheek. "I have to get back to work."
"Yes, it isn't good to let being a colonel go to your head in the first few hours and come back late from lunch."
She smiles at the reference to her new rank, gets out of the car and walks towards the door of the building. She's about halfway to the door when she turns around and gives me a wave, resembling a movie star waving to a fan in the crowd. I wave back and watch her go into the building before heading back to the condo.
Late in the evening, in our bedroom...
We're cuddled in bed after lovemaking. Her arm is across my abdomen and her head is on my shoulder, and when she speaks, her breath tickles the skin on my chest.
Out of the blue, Mac says, "You know, Lt. Graves likes you."
"She told you that?"
"She didn't have to say anything. A woman knows when another woman thinks that her guy is pretty special, and don't tell me you didn't notice the way she was looking at you."
"I didn't notice. I had my eyes on you. Lieutenant Graves is a cute kid who worked with me on a case one time out here. She was very enthusiastic and talked non-stop. Besides, I'm in love with a brunette with big brown eyes."
"That's sweet, but I'll be watching her," she says before lifting her head to place a soft kiss on my lips. After the kiss, she looks me in the eye and asks, "Why did you come in a suit today instead of your uniform and introduce yourself as Harmon Rabb?"
"Captain Rabb wasn't invited. It was an event that your husband was asked to attend to show that he's proud of you and that he supports you. When I show up at the JAG conference, they'll all know soon enough that I'm Captain Rabb. Today, I just needed to be your husband."
"I love you, Mr. Rabb, and I was proud to have you at my side today."
"It's taken me awhile, but I think I finally get it. You're not complicated, but there are layers to you that have to be looked at individually. Today at the office, you were all Marine: professional, strong and independent. This evening, within the confines of our room, you're a woman: passionate, sensual and sexy. There are others layers, too, and they each need different things. The Marine needs my support, and the woman needs to know that I love her and find her sexy."
"You're becoming very wise. I want you to know that I think the man in bed with me is very handsome and sexy, too. And I have a hint about what the woman you're in bed with needs now." A few kisses to my neck and a nibble on my ear, and I know that sleep isn't it. "You made love to me, and now I want to make love to you."
The End...of this small segment of our lives.
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