fanfic_name = The Sit. Room Incident

chapter = 24

author = Dwparsnip

dedicate = Anyone who reads it.;)

Rating = AP15

Type = Angst

fanfic =

Angie collapsed face down onto her couch, totally exhausted from the emotional roller coaster that she had experienced at the service. Her face hugged into the pillow as her right arm hung limply over the edge, her right hand resting palm up on the floor.



The service had been brutal enough on her tortured conscious, but then…



As Rick Hunter walked slowly down the aisle, he looked over and made eye contact with her. Her training made her salute him, although she was pretty sure the guilt had a little something to do with it as well. When she saluted he stopped, actually stopped in mid stride in the middle of the aisle, almost causing a collision between himself and Max Sterling, who was bringing up the rear. She would have laughed had she not been so petrified of what he was going to do. So many terrifying possibilities flashed through her mind in that moment. What if he came over to her? What if he spoke? What would she do? What would she say? What would Sue do? What would Sue think? What would Sue say?



The thoughts were flying through her mind when he did something that made time stop for her. He shifted his eyes to look just beyond her…to Sue. Angie couldn’t take her gaze off of his rapidly darkening eyes. As time began to creep forward again, Angie sensed Sue as she saluted Rick, and out of the corner of her eye she could see those around them do the same. But his eyes…



They looked past her to Graham with an intensity Angie couldn’t even begin to fathom. Angie saw brilliant flashes of emotions in his blue eyes and not once did love or even tolerance show in his visage. She easily discerned caution in his eyes. She could see instances of revulsion, distrust and even a little fear. Then his eyes settled on something, something that made Angie’s heart skip a beat. They settled on suspicion…strong and very deep suspicion.



His eyes narrowed and she could see his jaw muscles twitch as his jaw became set in a pensive look.



Angie could feel the hot rush of pink invade her cheeks. She was about to gulp when his eyes darted back to her. For a moment, everything else around them disappeared and she found herself alone with Admiral Rick Hunter as he looked at her with the same suspicious glare that he had just visited upon her friend. For that moment she imagined that he knew what she had done…how she had been instrumental in hurting so much those he loved.



Thankfully the moment was brief. Angie blinked and all of the other people surrounding her reappeared. Rick’s eyes softened and he nodded in her direction. He took a step forward to catch up to Miriya Sterling, though not without casting one last glare to Sue.



Angie turned her head slightly to the right on the pillow of her couch, allowing her to breathe a little easier. She moaned loudly as she thought once more of the look of distrust on Rick Hunter’s face.



“Did you say something, Angie?”, called Sue Graham from the bathroom. While Angie fell onto the couch, Sue had to go to the bathroom to tend to her continually bleeding lip.



“No”, said Angela tiredly. Angie had wanted to come home and rest, relax and stew about in the melancholy web of regret and self-loathing that had woven around herself. She needed and wanted to be alone. ‘No that’s not true’, she admitted to herself as she watched Graham walk into the living room. ‘I just don’t want to be around her.’



Angie used her arms to push her upper torso up off the couch. She was in incredible shape and never had problems doing push ups, but after going through the service she felt like she was trying to lift the weight of the world up with her too. She finally got into a sitting position and ran her hands through her hair, flattened as it was by lying on the pillow.



She brought her hands down and let them rest neutrally by her legs on the couch. She was torn between genuine concern for her friend and mild amusement. She was amused because the irony of Sue Graham constantly being pestered by her cumbersome lip injury wasn’t lost on her. Then however, Sue was still her friend…her family…and in the end her concern forced her to speak up.



“Sue”, began Angela, “you have to go to the infirmary. It’s been days and the bleeding isn’t letting up that much. The blood should have clotted at the wound by now. Something is stopping it blood from clotting…it could be an infection. If you let it go it’s going to get worse and harder to treat.”



Sue made a dismissive gesture and sat down heavily in Angie’s recliner. “I can’t go to the infirmary, Angie. Grant will ask questions”, she screwed up her nose as she added, “and I’m pretty sure she don’t like me very much.”





Angie worked to keep her face neutral. She liked Dr. Grant and didn’t particularly appreciate the negative tone that Sue used when speaking about her. Angie decided to let it slide and said calmly, “There are other doctors in the infirmary, Sue. Dr. Grant isn’t there twenty-fours hours a day, seven days a week. She won’t be there for the rest of the day.” She reluctantly got up off the couch and walked towards the door, stretching the kinks out of back as she went. “Come on”, she said in a tone of voice that said she wasn’t going to back down. “I’ll go with you.”



Graham got up out of the recliner and slowly walked towards the door as well. She adopted a defeated expression and asked in a child like voice, “Will you hold my hand too, Angie?”



Angie smiled and almost laughed. That was the type of thing that reminded Angie of the strong friendship they shared. “If I have to.” She opened the door and pointed to the corridor, “I’m sick of seeing that lip like that, and soon you’re going to get blood on my carpet. Then I’ll really get mad.”



Graham laughed as she passed Angie. Sue turned around when she got into the corridor and looked into Angie’s eyes. “I definitely wouldn’t want you to get mad at me, Angie”, she said jokingly.



Angie froze. She heard the joviality in Graham’s voice, but what she said struck a chord in her already guarded mind. ‘No’, she thought. ‘I don’t guess you would want me to get mad…then I would let everyone know what you’, she laughed scornfully to herself as she amended, ‘what we did.’



Sue noticed Angie’s sudden attitude shift. “Angie?”



Angela shook herself as if to wake up from a trance. “Yeah…let’s go.” She gave Sue a gentle shove down the corridor, and trying to cover her little fade out she said jovially, “Infirmary is that way.”



As she walked her friend to the Infirmary, it seemed to her that the haunted and dark blue eyes of Admiral Rick Hunter followed their every move.

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‘He’s exhausted’, thought Rick as he slowly closed the door to his son’s bedroom. He tiptoed out to the living room where his friends sat waiting for him. He averted their gazes as he walked towards the little kitchen, pausing at the door to ask if anyone wanted anything. No one did, but he went in there anyway.



Once inside the door, and out of everyone’s line of sight, Admiral Rick Hunter placed both his hands on the counter and tried to stop the tears from coming. He tried so hard to stop it, and for one cruel moment he thought he had succeeded.



But he didn’t.



He watched powerlessly as the drops fell steadily from his face onto the counter top. The little puddle that formed on the counter grew until it threatened to spill onto the floor, but he just couldn’t bring himself to give a damn.



He took a deep breath and blew it out. He had tried so hard to be strong for his son, for his friends and for his crew, and much to his own surprise he did remarkably well. It wasn’t until he tucked his son into bed that the fragile string holding him up snapped. He looked so much like Lisa that it…that it almost hurt.



He shook the thought from his head as he heard footsteps behind him.



“Need a hand, Boss?”, came Max’s voice.



Rick hesitated a moment and then answered, “I don’t know if I can do it, Max. I don’t know if I can say good-bye to her.” He turned to face his friend. He took another breath, tapped his temple with his right index finger and began hesitantly, “My mind…in my mind, Max, I can…I know that she’s…I know that she’s gone, and that I have to accept that. Move on. But here”, he lowered his right hand to his chest and pointed his thumb at his heart, “but here, Max, I know that I can never say good-bye to her. How can I when I feel her all around me? How can I when I look at Roy and I see so much of her in him?”



Max watched as Rick ran his hands through his hair in frustration. Max couldn’t remember ever seeing his friend so worn out, not even after sitting in the cockpit for sixteen hours straight, or when Roy and Ben died. ‘Then again’, thought Max, ‘she’s the love of his life.’



Rick turned back to face the counter and again put his two hands on it for support. “It was her today, Max. It was her that told me to get up there and talk about Hunt, Montgomery, Finch and Stiles. I was out of it…until I…I don’t know…until I heard something…” Rick raised his fists a couple of inches off the counter and slammed them down hard. When he spoke however, it was a whisper. “I don’t know.”



“Rick…”, began Max, but Rick was finished trying to explain it.



“It’s okay, Max.” He turned to face Max again and smiled meekly. “I’m okay.”



Max was about to say something, but he decided against it. Instead Max stepped toward Rick and hugged him. Hugging each other was something that Max and Rick very seldom did and when they did, it usually felt strange for them. Not this time though.



When Max stepped back from Rick a moment later he said, “I’m not sure you have to say good-bye at all, Rick. I am sure that you don’t have to say good-bye if you’re not ready. You’re right that you have to move on, move forward, but at your own pace. Do what’s best for you, Rick. Everything else will fall into place.”



Rick thought about that for a moment and nodded. “Thanks, Max.”



Max gave Rick the boyish smile for which he was famous and replied, “Anytime, Boss.” He turned and took a step towards the door to the living room and said, “Everyone else has left. Vince had to go to the Sit. Room and Jean said there was a report she wanted to work on in the Infirmary. Miriya said she wanted to and call to see how Aurora is doing, so that leaves the two of us. Anything you want to do?”



Rick shook his head slowly. “No, Max”, he said tiredly. “I think I just want to relax and…and be alone.” He walked past Max into the living room and when Max joined him he said, “I think you should go home and be with Miriya. She needs you, Max. More than I do.”



Max stood still, and after contemplating Rick’s words for a moment he conceded to himself that Rick was probably right.



“All right, Rick”, said the General as he headed to the door. “If you need anything just call.”



“I will”, said Rick appreciatively. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”



Max nodded and left Rick standing alone in his living room. He pulled at his tie, loosening it as he turned and headed to the wall where the pictures of the Hunter family were hung in a meticulous symmetry. As a rule, Lisa didn’t nag him about too much. One of the exceptions to that rule was the hanging of the pictures. She was very specific on how she wanted the arrangement of the pictures, even borderline maniacal about it.



He glanced over the pictures and then went over and sat down heavily into the recliner so that he could face the picture wall. He smiled as he remembered the day they moved into their quarters. For almost two hours she had him precariously situated on two chairs with a laser level and magnetic picture holders. She would tell him to go to the left, then to the right, then down and so on and so on. Finally he had reached his limit, oddly enough with the last picture, and turned to nicely explain the delicate nature of the balance he had obtained only to see her grinning from ear to ear.



He closed his eyes and replayed the scene that had played out those many years earlier…



“A little more to the left…the left, Rick not the right.” She paused after he moved it yet again and then said, “I don’t know, Rick. It still doesn’t look right.”



He braced his hands against the wall to support his unsteady balance. He was very careful to keep his body steady, though he did turn his head. “Lisa, I can’t stay like this forev…what the hell is so funny.”



She couldn’t keep from smiling any longer, especially when she saw the look of annoyance on his face. She laughed and tilted her head slightly to the left, as if she were admiring something.



“Did I ever tell you that you have the cutest rear end I have ever seen?”, she asked teasingly. She took a step closer to him and tilted her head to the right. “I never really realized just how cute it is until I saw you up there.” She straightened up, let her smile turn into a smirk and added, “Thanks for the show, Rick.”



Rick took his right hand from the wall, pointed it at her and started to wobble immediately. The rebuke he had in his mind to say was quickly replaced with a variety of appropriate curse words from which he never had time to choose one. He over corrected his balance and began to fall backwards.



Lisa was mortified as she watched her husband fall back onto the floor. Her fears were compounded by the fact that she couldn’t actually see him as he landed because of the wall of unpacked boxes that were in the way. As he disappeared from her sight she screamed his name. “Rick!”



She rushed to where he had fallen, and when she turned the corner of the wall of boxes her fear and anxiety turned into shock when her husband grabbed her hand and pulled her down towards him.



Luck was something Rick learned to respect as a pilot. It was luck that he thanked when he landed on the cushion of the couch, which they had laid on the floor after bringing into their new quarters. His landing on the cushion was almost comfortable in fact. He also believed that it was possible to create your own luck, so when he saw Lisa turn the corner he decided to do just that.



She landed on top of him and he could see that it took her a second to process that not only was he perfectly fine, but that he had the drop on her…so to speak.



Lisa slapped his arm and said angrily, “I thought you were hurt, Rick.” She started to get up but he held onto her. When she looked at him he wasn’t smiling. He was as serious as she had ever seen him.



“I’m sorry, Lisa”, he said with a sincerity that he meant fully. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.” He gently laid his right hand behind her head and slowly, carefully pulled her down to him.



When his lips covered hers all the anger and embarrassment Lisa had been feeling vanished. It was replaced by the passion and love that always simmered just below the thin layer of control she had when she was near him. She returned his kiss not out of choice or even want. She returned his kiss out of need and out of the belief that she would go insane if she didn’t…



Rick sat up in the recliner, opened his eyes and looked to that spot by the wall where he had fallen. They had both realized the significance of what they were doing. They gave into their desires right then and there and made love for the first time in their new home.  It was reminiscent of their very first time together. They moved carefully and deliberately, as if exploring each other for the first time. It was a new beginning for them in their new living quarters aboard their new ship. It was a time of renewal of mission, renewal of spirit and renewal of love and life for them both. It had been a powerful experience for Rick, and the significance of it wasn’t lost on him.



Rick felt a tear wind its way down his cheek. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He got up and went in to check on Roy, who hadn’t even moved he was so tired. Rick smiled and returned to the living room. He lid down on the couch and closed his own tired eyes, only then realizing how truly exhausted he was, and before he knew it he was dreaming of his beautiful wife.

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Sue Graham sat on a bed in one of the Infirmary’s examination rooms and sighed. It had been half an hour since she first entered the room, and the only person she had seen besides Angela was the nurse who brought her in. She removed the tissue from her lip and was utterly annoyed to find a fresh bloodstain on it.



She really didn’t want to be there. In fact, there was no other place that she could think of that she wanted to avoid more. ‘At least Grant is not around’, she thought, trying to find some sort of silver lining in her gloomy predicament.



The door opened and Angie walked in. Angie collapsed into a chair, screwed up her nose and folded her arms across her chest in obvious frustration. “Years of working here. You think I’d have some influence.” She grunted and added, “What a bunch of…”



She never got the chance to finish. The door opened and Dr. Pullman walked in. Angie couldn’t help but smile when he looked at her. He reminded her of an absent-minded professor. He always asked the same questions again and again, and for some inexplicable reason he could never find his glasses…even when they were hanging around his neck. Still, he was a brilliant doctor. Perhaps even the best in the REF…after Jean Grant.



Pullman didn’t speak for several minutes. He looked over the chart he had in his hands, his right hand absently stroking his salt and pepper bearded chin. He finally put the chart down on a table, ran his hand through his unruly gray hair and looked intently at Angie.



“I know you”, he stated without preamble.



Angie looked up to the doctor and said patiently, “Yes, sir. Lieutenant Angela Marques…I work in the Infirmary as a medic, sir.”



He still didn’t look convinced that that was how he knew her, but thankfully for Angie he didn’t pursue the matter. He turned his gaze to Sue, and Angela thought to herself, ‘This should be good for a laugh or two.’



He adjusted his round glasses and asked in a surprised voice, “Why is your lip bleeding?” He took a step closer to her and added, “Did you know your lip is bleeding?” He narrowed his eyes and announced, “I don’t know you.”



Angie brought her hand up to her mouth to hide her smile and stifle the snicker that wanted so badly to escape.



“Yes, sir”, said Sue uncertainly. “It’s why I’m here, sir. I cut it a few days ago and it doesn’t seem to want to start healing.” She glanced at Angie and then looked back to Pullman. “No, sir…you don’t know me. My name is….”



Pullman leaned in close to Sue to get a good look at her lip, which caused her to forget what it was she was saying. He moved his head rapidly every which way he could to get a look at it from various angles, and Sue began to feel as though she was the main attraction in some kind of demented sideshow.



Angie watched with heartening amusement as Pullman examined Graham’s wounded lip. She laughed to herself and thought, ‘The look on her face is priceless.’



Pullman stepped back abruptly and regarded Sue’s lip. “When did it happen?”



Angie watched as Graham reeled in her temper and responded.



“A few days ago…sir. Three or four days.” Sue had to try very hard to keep from snapping, and seeing Angie obviously enjoying her uncomfortable situation only made her feel worse.



“How did it happen, young lady?”, he asked as he stepped towards her, took her face in his right hand and turned it to the left and then to the right.



When Pullman released her face she said, “I slipped getting into my Alpha and hit the fuselage.”



He stepped back and regarded Sue, stroking his chin with his right hand and his left arm resting across his stomach. Without warning, and with a dexterity that would put many doctors to shame, he reached to the table, picked up a swab and dabbed it on her lip. He placed the swab into a sterile dish on the table and resumed his previous position of regarding Graham. The whole episode took only a few seconds.



He looked into her eyes suddenly, and after a moment he said, “I don’t know you. Who are you?”



Sue sighed…loudly…and answered him. “Commander Sue Graham, sir, from Fleet Intelligence.”



“Fleet Intelligence”, he mumbled vaguely. “The wound is red around the edges and I can see evidence of some red streaks extending from the wound. Has there been any discharge from it? Besides blood I mean.” Graham opened her mouth to respond but he continued without waiting. “I suspect, young lady, that there is an infection in the wound that is somehow interfering with the blood’s natural coagulation. I will give you some general antibiotics for now, but when we get the results of the blood analysis, we may have to give you a more specific medication. If that doesn’t help, we may need to try something more aggressive and specific for the type of infection. I’ll have the blood analysis in a matter of minutes, but I’ll want to take some time to go over the results. Come back tomorrow morning. Good day.”



He wrote something down in her chart, mumbling to himself the whole time, and looking up at Graham several times.



Graham looked at Angie inquisitively and Angie shrugged her shoulders in response.



Pullman collected the chart and the sample, regarded Sue and Angie, and without another word turned and left the room. Sue again turned to Angie and was about to ask what was going on when the door flew open and Pullman walked back in.



He looked at Sue, narrowed his eyes and said, “I know you.” Before she could respond he added, “The nurse will be in with your medication in a moment.” With that he reached up to ensure that his glasses were on his face and then disappeared out the door again.



When Angie was sure that he wasn’t coming right back in again, she looked at Sue and couldn’t help but laugh.



“This isn’t funny, Angie”, said Graham nastily. “Are you sure he’s a doctor?”



Angie stopped laughing but retained a smile on her face. “He’s a great doctor, Sue. Come on…it’s almost over.”



Just then a male nurse walked in, nodded to Sue and went to the table off to the left. Sue watched nervously as the nurse reached up into a cabinet and then began to do…something. He had his back to Graham so she couldn’t see what it was that he was doing. She looked over to see Angie with a confused look on her face, which for some reason only added to her own suspicion and discomfort. Finally the nurse turned around, holding a needle in one hand and a swab in the other. He stepped up to Sue and looked at her expectantly. After a moment he said, “Please stand up and drop your pants, Commander.”



Sue’s eyes nearly bulged out of her head. “Excuse me?”, she said indignantly. “I’m not going to…”



“The doctor ordered an antibiotic shot”, the nurse said pleasantly, “which is given in the buttock.” He smiled sympathetically and said, “It doesn’t hurt, Commander.”



After several moments of looking at the nurse with some doubt, Sue stood up and undid her pants. Angie got up to leave.



“Where are you going, Angie?”, asked Graham a little panicky. Angie and Andrea both knew she wasn’t particularly fond of needles. She was also more than a little self conscious about a guy giving her a needle in the butt. “Stay here…please.”



Angie smiled, sat back down and looked at one of the many medical diagrams adorning the far wall and waited.



Relieved that Angie stayed, she turned around and lowered her pants just enough to give the nurse the access he needed.



“Take a deep breath, Commander.”



Sue turned her head. “If it doesn’t hurt why do I have to take a deep….owwwww!”



“All done”, announced the nurse and then he left.



“It doesn’t hurt, Commander”, mimicked Sue as she pulled up her pants. Then she muttered, “Doesn’t hurt my ass.”



She heard Angie snicker and a moment later break out in hysterical laughter. For a moment Sue was lost and a little upset that she was finding this funny, that is until she realized what she had said…then she joined Angie.



When Graham was ready a few minutes later they exited the room and walked out through the Infirmary. As they turned the corner to head to their respective quarters, Jean turned the corner at the opposite end of the corridor on her way into the Infirmary.



Jean walked up to the main desk and regarded the head nurse on duty. “Hi Holly. Have I missed anything?”



The nurse smiled and reported, “No, Dr. Grant…it’s been pretty quiet. How was the service?”



Jean forced a smile onto her face as she replied. “It was…it was a nice and respectful service. They did a good job. Admiral Hunter would have liked it I think.” Jean needed to change the subject. “So there hasn’t been anyone here today. That’s the way I like it.”



“Actually, ma’am, there was someone here today. She just left, as a matter of fact. Dr. Pullman saw her. It didn’t seem to be serious.”



“Still not bad.” She went towards her office and called out as she went in, “Thanks Holly.” Jean sat at her desk and found the report she wanted to look over. She pulled up the appropriate files on her computer and amended the report. When she finished she got up, left her office and turned to go and see Pullman about his afternoon patient.



Jean walked down the hall to the office of her most capable colleague. Jean considered him to be very brilliant, if a little eccentric. When she got to his office the door was opened and she looked in to find Alistair Pullman sitting at his desk behind a stack of folders. He seemed to be engrossed with a certain file. Jean knew from experience that when Pullman was so involved with something, he was easily startled. She cleared her throat and said quietly, “Good afternoon, Dr. Pullman.”



Without uttering so much as a syllable he stood up, walked over to her and handed her a blood analysis readout. “What do you make of this, Jean?” When she took the readout he stayed where he was and waited for her to read it.



Jean’s interest was piqued. He rarely called her by her first name, and he didn’t exhibit any of his usual absentminded quirks. Both were signs that something was serious or very peculiar. She looked to the report and began to read. It didn’t take long for her to see why Pullman was so concerned.



“Seems like a nasty little infection”, she said after going over it. She went over it a second time and added, “But treatable.”



“I agree, Jean”, he said.



“So what’s the problem, Alistair?” He seemed to be more concerned than he was letting on.



He shook his head. “I’m not certain. It just doesn’t seem to be your everyday infection…a nasty little infection, like you said. I haven’t seen it before and I don’t know where or how she could have picked it up. I’m going to run a profile of the infection and see anything comes up in the computers. Maybe the damn things will be good for something for a change.” He took the report from Jean, smiled and said, “Never mind, Dr. Grant. She’ll be good as new in a few days.”



Without another word Pullman went back to his desk and sat down behind his pile of files, mumbling to himself when he got settled.



Jean smiled and slowly shook her head in amazement. “See you tomorrow, Alistair.” She heard a grunt as she turned and left. She said good-bye to the duty nurse and began the walk home, all the way wondering why that blood analysis triggered a very loud alarm in the back of her mind.

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As they approached Graham’s quarters, Sue glanced at Angie and asked cautiously, “When is your next flight recertification?”



Angie looked at Graham suspiciously. It was the oddest question and one Graham had never asked before. “Next month”, said Angie warily. As they got to Graham’s door Angie added, “Why?” She really wanted an answer to her question, but before she could press the issue she saw something in the eyes of her friend that told her to keep quiet until they got inside.



When they went inside Graham’s quarters a moment later, Sue went to the couch and sat down very gently on her still very tender derriere.



Angie came in and stood in front of her friend. The question about her flight recertification, the clouded look of Sue’s eyes and her sudden silence had Angie more than a little worried. She folded her arms across her chest and looked at Sue. “What is it, Sue?”



Graham avoided looking at Angie, opting instead for gazing intently at her coffee table. “I have to go back to work tomorrow, and it doesn’t look like I’ll be getting any time off soon. Woods is going hot and heavy with the investigation. I’m almost surprised he showed up today…he’s so into it.” She finally looked to Angie and noticed the hard look on her face. Graham knew that what she was about to ask Angie could be devastating to her little operation, but she had no other option available. She would just have to have faith that their friendship was strong enough. “It means I won’t be able to go check on the Old Woman, Angie.” She pointed to her lip, “I haven’t been back there since this happened.”



“I’ll see if I can get my recertification moved up”, Angie said calmly. “I’ll go and check on her.”



“I know you don’t want to, Angie, and I know it would be hard…what did you say?” Sue was shocked. She had been expecting any number of excuses from Angela as to why she couldn’t or shouldn’t go. She was expecting Angie to resist the idea as though her life depended on it. The last thing Sue expected was to hear Angie outright suggest that she would go to see the Admiral.



“Like you said, Sue”, said Angie, “there is no other option.” She shrugged her shoulders and said resignedly, “What’s the point in trying to fight it? It won’t be a problem to get my recertification moved up…they’re pretty flexible.”



Graham shifted to her left so that the sore spot lifted off the couch. “Are you sure you’re okay with this, Angie?”



Angie gave Sue a wry smile. “I’ll let you know, Sue.” She turned and headed for the door. “If I go now, I may get someone to let me go out with them tomorrow.” She turned to regard Sue Graham as she opened the door. “I’ll let you know when I’m going.”



Angie was about to close the door behind her but stopped when Sue called out her name. She looked back inside at her friend.



“Thanks, Angie…for everything.” Sue smiled and added, “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”



Angie returned her smile. “You’re welcome, Sue. I’ll talk to you later.” Angie closed the door and walked quickly to her quarters. She’d change and then go and check the pilot duty roster for tomorrow. With a little luck, there’d be someone going out tomorrow who would be eligible to recertify her, and with a little more luck that same person wouldn’t be the type to ask a lot of questions.



She went inside her quarters and changed out of her dress uniform into a set of off duty sweats, and as she headed for the hangar deck she thought of Sue. Angie knew that behind the smiles and seemingly heart felt gratitude Sue had displayed a little while earlier, the question of the ease with which she agreed to go was going through Sue’s mind. She could actually see Sue now sitting on her couch trying to figure out what had gotten into Angie…trying to figure out why she would actually want to go to see Admiral Hunter.



Angie wasn’t really sure herself. A secret she would keep to herself forever was that she surprised herself when she told Sue that she would go to the MED moon. It was easy, simple really, to come up with a reason why she shouldn’t go…but why go?



‘Guilt’, she answered herself. ‘It’s guilt, pure and simple. Besides, it’s my chance to get some things to her that Sue might not want to take.’



She would have to be careful though. Lisa Hunter would try everything to get Angie to help her. She would use every weapon at her disposal to prod and shame Angie into betraying Sue, especially Rick and Roy Hunter. Her confident step faltered as she thought of the Hunter men, but only for a moment. They were hurting so badly, and she had the means, the power, to make their anguish go away. She was perhaps the only one who could. Sue was hell bent on going through with the whole thing, and Andrea seemed almost as determined.



But there was no way that she could help them. ‘I can’t bail out now’, she thought. ‘I’m in way too deep. Aren’t I?’



She entered the hangar deck and got the information she was looking for. A few moments later she was talking to Lieutenant Jenson about her squadron’s flight the next day…a routine patrol to the outer edge of the system. Jenson was a good person and easy to get along with, and when Angie asked her for her help she didn’t hesitate.



“We leave at 0900 hours, Lieutenant”, she said cheerfully. “See you then.”



“Absolutely. Thank you, Lieutenant”, she responded. “You have no idea how much it helps.” Jenson smiled and went on about her business as Angie turned and headed towards her quarters. She needed to dust off her flight suit, get some things together for Admiral Hunter and let Sue know that she would be going tomorrow morning.



Twenty minutes later, Angie was sitting at her computer terminal. As she typed the e-mail she read aloud, “Sue. I got my recertification flight moved up to tomorrow at 0900. I’ll let you know how things go when I get back. Don’t worry everything will be fine. I promise. Angie.”



Angie read it over a couple more times and then hit send. Her message sent, Angie turned her attention to other things, like trying, someway…somehow, to prepare herself for what was going to be a very difficult visit with the woman whose life she helped to destroy.

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She read the message out loud. “Sue. I got my recertification flight moved up to tomorrow at 0900. I’ll let you know how things go when I get back. Don’t worry everything will be fine. I promise. Angie.”



Sue got up out of her chair and gently rubbed her sore spot on her rear end as she went into her bedroom. It was almost as irritating as her lip. Now however, there was something that put the anxiety caused by those two things to shame: Angie going to see Hunter. Sue spent the time since Angie had left trying to figure out why Angie accepted going to the moon so easily. It worried her. Really worried her.



She hated to put Angie in that situation for two reasons. First off, Angie had been feeling bad enough about the whole plan, so how would she react to seeing Lisa Hunter in that cave? How would she hold up against the emotional barrage that Hunter would undoubtedly unleash against her? She really did fear for Angie’s emotional well-being.



The second reason was an extension of the first. If Angie became overcome she might do something stupid and tell someone, namely Rick, what they had done. She opened her bottom dresser drawer and took out the metal box that held her sidearm. After she closed the bottom drawer, she placed the box carefully on the dresser and regarded it almost reverently. The last time she took the weapon out she was resolute in her willingness to use it if it became necessary.



‘No!’, she screamed to herself as she closed her eyes. ‘It won’t come to that…it won’t!’



The last few hours had been a reminder for her of the bond that she shared with Angela Marques. The mutual respect, the concern, the humor and the love they shared as sisters. It was a welcomed shift back to their normal relationship from the strained and sometimes testy association of the last little while. Sue had missed that and she hoped, sincerely hoped, that Angie had turned the corner on her feelings of guilt and remorse. Especially now that Rick could begin to get over the Old Woman. When he looked at her today as he made his way out of the service, she thought she was going to faint. Despite the fact that he wasn’t in his dress uniform, he looked so handsome…and his eyes. When he looked at her it was though his eyes were peering right into her soul.



She blinked to clear the vision of Rick from her eyes and turned her attention back to the box again. ‘I won’t need it’, she thought, not all that convincingly. She picked up the box and held it to her chest for a moment, before unlocking the box and putting it in her top drawer…just in case. She closed the drawer and lid down on her bed. ‘She’ll be fine’, she thought as she rolled over onto her side, and as she tried to fall asleep she tried to convince herself that she was right…for Angie’s sake.



State = Continuará/To Be Continue

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