fanfic_name = The Sit. Room Incident

chapter = 5

author = Dwparsnip

Rating = AP15

Type = Romance

fanfic = Half an hour after receiving the official notification of her assignment to the Jupiter Division, Lt. Sue Graham was sitting in her office with Lt. Andrea Grace, one of the very few people in her life that she actually trusted enough to call friend. They had gone through their basic training together and formed a bond that lasted through that tortuous time, maybe even lasted because of it.



“How much longer until the EoD?” asked Grace.



“Another fifteen minutes”, replied Graham.



Grace shook her head, her straight, shoulder length blonde hair moving from side to side as she did. Her brown eyes held a mischievous glow as she said, “I can't believe today's the day. You're actually going to try it.”



It was Grace who had informed her of her impending assignment to the Jupiter Division. Lt. Grace was the administration officer in the personnel office saddled with the responsibility of organizing the notification of assignments. Though she was ordered not to release the assignments a month ago, she still knew where most people were going, including her friend Sue Graham.



When Grace had told Graham of her assignment over three weeks ago, she was everything she should have been earlier that day when the ensign came to her with the actual order: angry, livid, terrified and vengeful. But as the hours passed, she realized that it could be used as an opportunity. Grace had told her that Max Sterling had issued the order to have her assigned to the Jupiter Division. While it was common for a Captain to issue such orders, the fact that Sterling, the Captain of the Air Group and Skull squadron leader, was issuing orders for Graham, an intelligence officer, indicated to her that her assignment wasn't just for her “…exemplary service….” It was Sterling's attempt to get rid of her, to get her away from Rick. ‘A very valiant attempt', she had thought, admiring Max's cunning. ‘I didn't think he had it in him. You'll forgive me Captain, if I don't go gentle into the night.' Then the thought occurred to her that maybe Max Sterling wasn't the driving force behind her new assignment, perhaps it was Admiral Lisa Hunter. She wouldn't get involved personally, it would be even more obvious and suspicious than Sterling on a number of levels, but she may have felt threatened enough to get him to do something like this. Of course, there was no way to be sure if Lisa Hunter had come up with the idea.



Or was there?



“Time to go Sue”, said Grace as she got up. As she left she said, “Good luck.”

Sue nodded to her. A few minutes later, she picked up the briefing notes for today's EoD and placed them in her pouch, along with her transfer order. Then she left her office and headed slowly for the office of Admiral Rick Hunter.

Slowly. She needed a few minutes to prepare and she wanted to be late.

------------------------------ ----

After leaving his wife in her office, against his will and better judgment, he returned to his own office and waited. His last appointment for the day was the EoD and he was waiting patiently for Sue Graham to do the briefing so he could call it a day. The MED was the next day, slated for mid-morning. It would be a busy and long day. He would have cancelled the EoD briefing but he had cancelled too many times lately, and Major Woods had mentioned it to him.



He sighed and looked at the clock on the wall. ‘It figures', he thought bitterly. ‘The day before the MED she picks for her first time to be late.'



He was reaching for the intercom to call the comm. officer and get him to page her when there was a quiet knock on his door.



“Come in”, he said with a bit of annoyance in his voice.



Lt. Sue Graham came into his office and sat down in the chair facing his desk. That was alarm bell number one for Rick. She had never entered his office and sat down without saluting and announcing her presence before. Rick looked at her and he couldn't believe what he was seeing. She looked like something the cat dragged in. It was obvious by the redness in her eyes that she had been crying and her hands shook as she took her briefing notes out of the carrying case she always brought to the EoDs. It took Rick a minute, but he noticed that even her breathing was ragged. In all the time that he had known Sue Graham, he had never, ever seen her so…'Distraught', he thought.



She took her notes from the case and held onto them on her lap, her hands still shaking terribly. She didn't look up and appeared to be despondent. He waited several seconds for her to say something, but she just sat there staring at the floor between her feet and Rick's desk.



He asked softly, “Is there anything wrong, Lieutenant?”



He had spoken softly, but the sound of his voice still appeared to startle her.

“Lieutenant?” and she finally looked at him. “What is wrong?” he asked.



Rick watched as she opened her mouth as she tried to speak, yet nothing came out. That was alarm bell number two. He had never known Sue Graham to be totally speechless.

Rick was really worried now. Even when he had rejected her advances at him in the Sit. Room, she was calm, cool and collected. But here she was, sitting in front of him now a total wreck.



Finally Graham said, her voice barely a whisper, “Please Admiral, may I have a few moments?” She began to look at the notes on her lap and Rick thought she looked as though she couldn't focus.



He got up from his chair and walked around his desk to stand beside her. He went to one knee and carefully took the briefing notes from her hands and placed them back into her carrying case, which he laid beside her chair.



“Lieutenant”, he began, “What's the matter? Let me know, I may be able to help.”



She just looked at him, her eyes beginning to water.



“Sue…” he said.



“Did you know about this Admiral?” asked Graham, her voice cracking.



Rick was stunned. “Know about what Lieutenant?”



She took her assignment order from the front of her case and looked at him, the tears in her eyes building up quickly. “This! My assignment to the Jupiter Division.”



“Jupiter Division?” he said in a puzzled voice as he took the letter and sat on the edge of his desk in front of her.



He read the letter, and when he was finished he looked at her and said in a calm voice, “Sue, I know absolutely nothing about your being assigned to the Jupiter Division. I was not consulted or informed about it.” He looked at the assignment notification letter again, noticing for the first time that Max had ordered the transfer. ‘Max?' he thought in disbelief. What was Max doing issuing orders for intelligence staffers? That wasn't for him to do.



“Admiral, please, I can't go with the Jupiter Division. I've finally found a home in Fleet Intelligence, a place where I belong! There's no reason for me to leave there to join Jupiter. Even Major Woods doesn't know what's going on, sir, and he's my CO! All he said was that Captain Sterling had informed him of my reassignment, but he would give no explanation for it. Fleet Intelligence is so under staffed, it…it makes no sense.” Her voice now alternated between cracking and whispering. She looked at him pleadingly, “Why would Captain Sterling issue those orders, Admiral? Why?”



The tears were streaming out of Graham's hazel eyes by now and Rick was genuinely concerned about her emotional stability.



He looked at her and said soothingly, “I've known Max Sterling for a long time Lieutenant. I'm certain he has his reasons.” But Rick couldn't readily imagine what they were.



“Lieutenant, please return to your quarters and wait for me there. Try to remain calm.” He gave her a reassuring smile and said, “I'll go and talk to Max about this and see what's going on.”



“Yes…sir”, she managed after releasing a new wave of tears. She got out of her chair, picked up her case and opened the door when she reached it. She went out and Rick followed to watch her from the doorway. She walked away from his office, bent over a little as though she were about to be sick.



“It'll be okay Lieutenant. I promise”, he said to her back.



“Thank you sir”, she said feebly as she kept walking.

------------------------------ ----

When she heard his office door close behind him as he went back inside, Sue Graham straightened up and a broad smile slowly emerged on her face. She took a tissue from her uniform pocket and wiped the tears from her eyes and face. It was a performance worthy of awards and accolades. Crying on demand was a talent she had learned as a young child to get things that she had wanted, and she had practiced it and used it many times over the years when she discovered members of the opposite sex would do almost anything to stop her from crying.



A few moments later, after she returned the classified documents to Fleet Intelligence, she was inside her quarters, sitting down on her couch replaying with extreme satisfaction the events of the last few minutes.



The smile was still on her face as she thought, ‘That went very, very well…'

------------------------------ ----

Max was out on patrol and wouldn't be back for at least an hour, so Rick decided to head home and wait. He ran over what Graham had told him and thought, ‘Why would Max issue transfer orders to an intelligence officer?' In the little over a month since the Sit. Room incident, she had been the model professional soldier and caused no trouble that he was aware of. Woods adored her and her work ethics and he had no problems with her in the EoDs. She was professional, never spoke out of turn or about anything other than the briefing. She never even asked about Roy, something she used to do frequently before that night in the Sit. Room. ‘The Jupiter Division. Think. She'd leave Fleet Intelligence and go aboard the…' It was as he walked the corridors and thought that thought that it dawned on him.



‘He transferred her to get her away from me! Ah Max, what have you done?'



He arrived at his quarters and went inside, furious at his best friend.



“Rick?” he heard from the bedroom.



“It's me Lisa”, he said as a reply.



He sat down on the couch, leaned back and folded his hands on his lap.

He was still like that a couple of minutes later when Lisa came out of the bedroom. She saw his face and instinctively went to him and sat next to him on the couch.



She looked at him and asked worriedly, “What is it Rick?”



“Max”, he said shaking his head. “Max issued transfer orders to Sue Graham to get her off the ship and away from me.”



Rick didn't notice Lisa automatically tense when he said her name. She didn't realize it, but she took Rick's arm and held it tightly, very tightly.



He went on to explain his EoD briefing with Graham, her look, her attitude and her helplessness.



“What was Max thinking Lisa?” he asked with numbness in his voice. “She was doing nothing, only her job. She was professional and responsible. On top of that, I talked to Major Woods and her departure leaves Fleet Intelligence with less than half of a full staff. He needs her in Fleet Intelligence. How dare Max jeopardize Fleet Intelligence for a personal matter.”



“Maybe he was just looking out for his best friend”, she replied weakly.



“And I appreciate Max's concern, really I do. I'm touched by the fact that he looks out for me, for us. But I'm a big boy, Lisa, I can take care of myself when it comes to Sue Graham.”



He kissed her cheek and got up. He went into the bedroom and quickly changed into a fresh uniform. He said when he came out, “Max should soon be in from his patrol. I've got to talk to him about this.”



She sat on the edge of the couch and said quietly, “Rick…”



“It's just the thought of it all”, he said with angst. “He deliberately compromised the viability of an essential division to do this.”



“Rick, please listen to me…” she tried again.



He stopped by her and kissed the top of her head and said, “I won't be long Lisa.”



As he turned to leave Lisa grabbed his hand and held on tightly.



“Lisa…”



“It was me Rick. Not Max. I asked him to transfer her to the Jupiter Division. I asked a favor of a dear friend and he did it for me. He's not to blame.” She spoke quietly, but with confidence. It was the confidence of knowing that what she did she did for the love of her husband and for their marriage. Even for her own sanity.



“Lisa…I don't…why?”



She looked into his blue eyes, locking onto them to reinforce what she was about to say. “I didn't trust her Rick. I still don't. What I did, I would do again in a heartbeat if it meant protecting you and us.”



Rick was in a state of disbelief. His wife was admitting that she had organized the transfer of a woman into a division that was about to stare death right in the face because she had feelings for him. Besides that, Fleet Intelligence would be severely compromised, which by extension compromised the safety of the fleet.



Rick was almost speechless. “Lisa…I don't understand. When did you ask Max to do this?”



“Two nights after she kissed you in the Sit. Room”, she answered.



“That was over a month ago. How come neither of you told me this?”



“I …I didn't want you to think that I was so weak to believe that she could be a threat to us.”



He said angrily, “Lisa…”



The intercom buzzed and paged Lisa. She went to it and began talking on the headset to Forsythe.



Rick just stood there, fuming. ‘I don't believe this!' he shouted at himself. ‘What has gotten into her?' Before he even finished asking the question to himself he was telling himself the answer. ‘She loves you Rick, and despite your best assurances she was afraid of losing you.' He looked at his wife, still talking into the headset. ‘Why didn't she just trust me?' Again came the answer, ‘Because you can be an idiot when it comes to women Rick. You didn't even see the first kiss coming in the Sit. Room, and let's not even get started on how long Lisa had feelings for you before you noticed.' He shook his head. He had asked her to depend on him to keep harm away from them, to stay on the sidelines and let him handle it, and Lisa couldn't just stand by and allow him to do it alone.



He couldn't blame her. ‘What would I do if our roles were reversed?' He didn't even hesitate for a heartbeat before answering himself. ‘Rick old son, you would do anything and everything you could to keep your relationship strong and keep Lisa safe. And I wouldn't be able to stand by and let Lisa do it herself.'



Lisa hung up the headset and came back to sit on the couch. She didn't look at him. She couldn't.



He knelt down in front of her. With his right hand he lifted her chin up, then brushed her beautiful brown locks away from her eyes so he could see them, and she could see him.

“I love you”, he said calmly, warmly.



She looked at him and blinked. That had been the last thing she was expecting him to say right now.



Seeing the confusion on her face he said, “Lisa, I can understand why you did what you did. You have made no secret of the fact that you don't trust Sue Graham, I don't either. You felt she was a threat to us, and you moved to remove the threat. That's a sign of love I'd say”, he said smiling. “I thought about it while you were on the phone, asking myself what I would do if the situation were reversed and you had a handsome young man kiss you. I have to admit that I would do anything to make sure he was as far away from you as possible. More than that, I'd probably clock him too.”



When the confusion remained on her face, he said, “I love you, but understand that I'm mad too.” He adopted the tone of an Admiral talking to a subordinate who had broken the regulations. “You and Max used your authority to take care of a personal matter, and in doing so put in peril the operations of Fleet Intelligence, a division essential to the safety of everyone.”



He softened his expression and tone again. “Sue Graham is not a threat to us Lisa. You've got to trust me on this. Trust me, trust my love for you and trust that you're so beautiful in every way to make me fall in love with you every time that I see you. Nothing is going to change that. I promise.” The last two words were a whisper.

She looked into his blue eyes and realized that her eyes were filled with tears, and it was only another second before they were rolling down her delicate cheeks. He brought her into a loving embrace.



“I'm sorry Rick. I'm sorry that…”



“Shhhhh”, he said moving back from her. He kissed her lightly on the lips and looked at her. “No apologies. If I hadn't been so slow I could have stopped all of this before it started weeks ago. No blame, okay?”



She nodded and said softly, “Don't be mad at Max, Rick. He was just doing what I asked him to do. Please, don't even mention this to him.”



He looked at her emerald eyes, and for the first time since he had known her they were begging him to do something for her. “Okay”, he said. “Not a word to Max. But I'm going to rescind his transfer order for Graham, and then I'll go let her know, I told her I would. She should be waiting for me in her quarters.”



He got up and was going to leave to do just that when Lisa said forcefully, “No.”



“Lisa…” he began.



She stood up and Lisa said again, “No. I did this and I'll fix it.”



She went to the door and reached to open it, only to have Rick take her hand. He brought it up to his lips and he kissed it lovingly. “I'm proud of you, baby. Hurry home.”



She nodded her head and left, and on her way to the quarters of Lt. Sue Graham she thought, ‘No more being afraid and insecure. I've had enough of that.'

------------------------------ ----

Sue Graham had taken a shower and barely bothered to get dressed. The only thing that covered her athletic curves was an almost see through, knee length scarlet robe. Sue had kept her dejected look as best she could, waiting for Rick to come to her after having it out with Sterling and maybe even his wife.



He would be furious with Sterling, and even more so with Lisa if she were involved. She couldn't wait for him to come to her in that state of mind: confused, disoriented and vulnerable.



Very vulnerable and susceptible to her feminine charms. She took a moment to imagine Rick, furious and beside himself, coming to her.



Her trance was interrupted by a knock on her door. She messed up her black mane to give it a more disheveled look, went to the door and smoothed the robe down over her toned features. She opened it and…



…almost fainted from the shock she experienced from seeing Admiral Lisa Hunter at her door.



“May I come in Lieutenant?” This was one conversation Lisa didn't want to have in the corridor.



Sue found her voice and said, “Of course Admiral.” She stepped back to allow Lisa entry into her quarters.



Lisa took a quick look around. ‘Only one picture, no mementos, no knick-knacks. Who is that in the picture with her? Lt. Marques from the infirmary and… is that Lt. Grace from personnel?' A light turned on in the back of Lisa's mind. She turned and looked at Sue Graham, the cause of so much of her worries and torment over the last month and a bit. ‘Damn', she thought as she took in her features. ‘She is good looking.'



“How can I help you Admiral?” asked Graham, trying to keep the nervousness and shock out of her voice.



Lisa looked at her and smiled a sardonic smile. “Well now, Lieutenant Graham. The short answer to that question is stay away from my husband. But that seems to be a near impossibility these days. You have cajoled your way into doing the EoD briefings with him…”



“Admiral, I never…” Graham began to protest.



“And make no mistake Lieutenant”, Lisa interrupted adding more force to her voice, “I have no doubt in my mind whatsoever that you did weasel your way into it somehow.”



Sue just stood there, looking at the Admiral of the Fleet, astonished and a little mortified.



She started to move closer to Lisa, but Lisa said, “Attention!”



Sue Graham came to attention in the middle of the living room in her own quarters.

Lisa slowly moved to her and stopped a mere couple of inches away from her face. “I have rescinded your transfer order to the Jupiter Division, Lieutenant. You're needed in Fleet Intelligence, as it is under staffed already and would be more so without your presence. You will report there tomorrow morning bright and early as you always have, as though nothing happened. A mistake was made, it was rectified, end of story. Understood?”



“Yes, ma'am!” said Graham.



“I know Lieutenant, that you have been scheming and plotting to take my husband away from me. It will stop. Now. Understood?”



“Ma'am?” she said, trying to look and sound as ignorant as possible concerning Lisa's allegation.



“I never came to see you after you kissed my husband in the Situation Room, Lieutenant. Did you ever wonder why?”



Actually, she had wondered why, but instead asked, “Ma'am?”



“I never came to see you for two reasons.” She started slowly walking around Sue and continued talking. “The first reason was that Rick had handled it. He told you he was married, in love with and devoted to me. He told you to transfer and to never try anything like that again. We both thought that was the end of it and then you transferred just down the hall to Fleet Intelligence.” She continued circling Graham, who was at this point in time visibly distressed. “The significance of that wasn't lost on me Lieutenant. I'm not a simpleton. You obeyed his order, but managed to stay close. I concede it was very clever of you.”



Graham didn't dare respond. She just stared straight ahead and listened as Lisa slowly circled her.



“When you began the EoD briefings, I did some checking. Lieutenant Powell is a good officer, and he wouldn't request a transfer unless it was for a good reason… like love. I wonder how he found out about the Copernicus' mission to patrol the Sentinel worlds before the order was even given to its commanding officer. Captain Jansen was quite surprised when Powell asked him if he could join the Copernicus before it left on a mission that he hadn't been informed of. Maybe he had some inside info from someone like, oh I don't know, your friend Lieutenant Grace.” It was a hunch, so she played it.



Sue lost it for just a split second. It was Grace who had been her informant on that as well as her assignment. She shot a small nervous glance at Lisa who caught it as if she was waiting for it.



She was.



“I thought so. The second reason I didn't come to see you Lieutenant”, she said as she continued circling her prey, “was that I was actually afraid of what I might do to you.” She stopped in front of her and said, as an idea inspired by something her husband had said minutes earlier came to her, “At ease.”



Sue Graham complied, and as she relaxed her shoulders she received a strong right hook from her commanding officer.



The left side of her face exploded in pain as she stumbled back and would have landed on the floor on her rump except the door got in her way. Lisa followed her and again stopped inches from her face.



“I will fight any fight I must to protect my husband, my marriage and my family. Any fight, any battle. No exceptions, Lieutenant. I love him dearly and he means more to me than anything else in the galaxy, with the sole exception of my little boy. Stay away from Rick, Sue. It's not a request and it's not an order. It's a warning.”



Lisa stepped back, and Graham moved out of the way, still in shock.



Lisa opened the door and hesitated. “You were waiting for Rick to come with news about your transfer, is that right?”



Graham, still in shock and not thinking, only nodded affirmatively in response.



Lisa looked at her with eyes that could almost kill and asked, “Do you always wear a sheer robe when you're expecting company, or was it just that the company you were expecting was my husband?”



Graham opened her mouth but could say nothing.



Neither did Lisa. She just left and closed the door behind her. She got around the first corner on the way back to her quarters and stopped, turned and leaned her back against the wall. She bowed her head and shook her hand. It hurt like blazes, but there was no way she would let Graham know it. Lisa wasn't sure how she should be feeling. Should she proud of herself? Embarrassed? Ashamed?



She had never hit anyone before out of pure malice, although when she had first met Rick she was tempted to pop him in the kisser once or twice. She couldn't sleep for a week after the first Daedalus Maneuver. It was her idea, and for a while she personally blamed herself for the deaths of hundreds of Zentraedi. Even in the few combat situations she had engaged in during the Sentinel campaign, she felt remorseful for hurting her opponents.

She could summon no such remorse right now.



She thought about it for a second longer and decided that she did what she had to do to protect everything that was important to her. And there was no shame in that…

------------------------------ ----

Sue Graham put some ice in a cloth and held it to her tender cheek. There would be a formidable bruise there by morning.



‘I severely underestimated you Lisa, and for that I'm sorry. But it isn't over. A time will come. I don't know when, where or how, but it will come, and I'll be ready.'



Still holding the improvised ice bag on her left cheek, she lid down on her couch and closed her eyes.

------------------------------ ----

When Lisa got home she found her husband waiting for her on the couch. When she closed the door after entering he got up and went to her.



He kissed her with a passion and she nearly melted in his strong arms. She was still amazed at how well he had reacted to all of this.



He stopped kissing her and took her right hand with the intention of heading into the bedroom.



She winced instantly and exclaimed, “Ouch!”



Rick, startled, let go immediately. “What happened?” he asked as he gently took her hand again and looked at it carefully. He saw a darkened spot on her knuckles, the type of thing he'd seen on his own knuckles whenever they had come into contact with someone's jaw.



“I hit something”, she replied honestly.



Rick gave her hand a tender, gentle kiss and headed for the kitchen. He returned with an ice pack, placed it carefully on her injured hand and asked with a grin on his face, “Something or someone?”



Lisa tried to stammer an explanation but Rick cut it off with a passionate kiss and the world went away. It was getting late, and tomorrow was the big day. The MED would exhaust everyone on the ship, them included.



Still kissing they edged their way into the bedroom and eventually to their bed.



The ice pack dropped to the floor and Lisa, enjoying the moment, forgot about the pain in her hand, and more importantly she forgot about the cause of it….





State = Continuará/To Be Continue

feedback = Sí/Yes