Chaotic but Perfect Ending...
Certain Methods
Word Count: 2,085
Rating: PG-13
Pairing/Characters: Definitely Dani/Nico, definitely some Harriet/Bud. Hints at Harm/Mac. Chegwidden features heavily/centrally to the story, too. Add Jeanette to that, and there might be something else, but that interpretation is open, too.
Spoilers: Although I reference something from 1x12, I'm actually going to set this after 1x10 for Necessary Roughness. For JAG? Um... season two, definitely related to that season. Specifically "Secrets" and "Ghosts," and a lot of this won't make sense if you don't know those eps. Otherwise, the spoilers/timeline from JAG is kind of... vague.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I just break things.
Summary: Direct, indirect. Legal, illegal. Military, Civilian. Every person has a different method for handling situations. Some are better than others.
Author's Note: The last bit of wrap up, then, just as chaotic as ever. :)
Controlled Chaos
"Welcome back, Mr. Careles," Marcie greeted him as he walked in the door. "It is good to see you again."
"How was your wilderness adventure?" he asked, removing his scarf.
"Good. My brothers are still crazy, though. How many tonight?" she asked, looking past him to the rest of their car group. Santino had insisted on coming with him, and that meant her children, who had spent most of the car trip arguing with Juliette, who now insisted that she was changing her name to Careles regardless of the paternity results. It had been a long trip.
"Thirteen," Nico answered. Rabb, Mackenzie, Roberts, Sims, Francesca, Santino, Lindsay, Ray Jay, AJ, Juliette, Balzarini, Webb, and Nico himself. "Though I expect some of them will be quite late."
"Of course," Marcie agreed. "Good to have you with us again, Ms. Pittman."
"It's Careles," Juliette corrected. Marcie blinked, and she laughed. "Don't worry. He's going to marry Doctor Santino. He's my father."
"Juliette-"
"I adopted you whether you like it or not," she insisted, not backing down. He gave her a look, but she smiled, ignoring him. He shook his head, but Marcie was back to smiling. "Of course, that makes me stuck with those two, and they can't seem to get over the fact that their mom is in love with him. I think it's easy to see why she would be, don't you?"
Marcie nodded. "Yes."
"Juliette-"
"I should tell you that the general said if I broke up with my boyfriend again, I should marry you," Marcie added, still smiling brightly.
Santino laughed, and Nico shook his head. At least Chegwidden was not here to hear any of this. AJ did not need to know about it, though he would definitely end up hearing later, Nico was certain of that.
"See? There are people in this world that appreciate you for who you are and realize that you are worth a lot more than you think," Santino told him, stepping up so that she could kiss him. He held her for a moment, trying to ignore the rest of them. Her children, he knew, still needed to adjust to presence in their lives, and Juliette was enjoying all of it. Marcie, too, was probably amused.
"I guess that's one way to wait for our table," Rabb remarked as he and Mackenzie came up to them. Santino backed away, blushing a little.
"Don't get any ideas, Squid."
"Oh, he already has them," Juliette said, rolling her eyes. Mackenzie looked at her. "Come on. Everyone knows. Like everyone knew about the two of them and about her friend and Uncle AJ."
"I'm not sure the admiral shares your assessment, Ms. Pittman."
"Juliette. And I'm going with Careles now. I don't need a test. He's my father," she repeated, and Nico shook his head before turning to Marcie.
"Perhaps we should get the table now."
"We're setting up the special occasion room for you," Marcie answered. "We'll need a few more minutes, and that gives the rest of your party time to arrive."
"Oh, good, we're not late," Roberts said as he and Sims came in, looking rushed and a bit disheveled. Juliette grinned, nudging Danielle, and the doctor smiled back. Nico was ready for this dinner to be over, and it had not even started. There were too many people, too many relationships, and too much... emotion going around already. It was far too crowded. "I'm glad we didn't miss anything."
"Just a lot of conversation."
"And a kiss."
"But not between Rabb and Mackenzie, and I think some people might have wanted to see that," Juliette added. Roberts' eyes almost popped out of his head.
Sims patted his chest. "Breathe, honey. Breathe."
"It's just-Never mind. I didn't-I'm fine. I should be worried about you. No, not worried. You're okay. The doctor said so. I need to take care of you."
"Oh, Bud, I love you, but I'm fine. I promise."
"Harriet, you had to shoot someone. Even if the concussion is gone, I-I want to be there for you after something like that. I wish I could have made it so that you never had to do anything like that, but I will be here for you. I promise."
"I know," she agreed, touching his cheek. "And that is so sweet. I love that. I love you."
Sims kissed him, and the others smiled and cheered. Nico looked away, watching as Francesca came through the door. Her father would not be pleased with her choice of dinner companion, though. She had come in with Webb. Her interest in that man was, Nico had to hope, mostly a way of annoying her father-and by extension, Nico.
"Webb."
"Careles."
"Your company has finished sweeping this under the rug, have they?" Nico asked, watching Webb squirm a little.
Francesca touched his arm. "Do not fight now. There is no need, is there? We are all alive, and that is good, no? Sì, es buono. We are here to celebrate, not to argue. We are alive, and the good has won, has it not? Now, where is Papa? I must see him. He is not avoiding the woman, is he?"
"Oh, he had better not be," Balzarini said as she joined them. "It's been a while since I scared a boy away that quickly, and I didn't think your father was the type."
"He is not," Francesca immediately began. "Zio, where is Papa?"
"Finishing this," Nico sincerely hoped. He turned to Marcie again. She nodded, gesturing for them to follow her. Finally. This had taken long enough already. He was not going to sit through the entire meal. He could guarantee that at this point.
"Wow," Sims said as she stepped into the special occasion room. "This is... wonderful."
"Looks like someone should be getting married. Hey, Nico-"
"I would not continue that if I were you," Nico warned, turning toward the speaker, and he saw someone duck behind Rabb. The commander would not be enough to hide Nico's "daughter" forever. He would deal with Juliette later. She was not going to get away with that comment.
"This is satisfactory, then?" Marcie asked, and Nico nodded. "A couple bottles of the house red wines, then? Or something special tonight? This almost looks like a bourbon night."
"It almost feels like one," Nico agreed tiredly, letting the others find their seats.
"You're with Mr. Careles again, aren't you?"
AJ nodded to the girl who met him at the door. "I am. Good to see that you were able to repair the damage to your property?"
"Oh, the parking lot? It wasn't as bad as anyone thought. A very controlled burn, or so my brothers kept saying," Marcie said with a shrug. "We have you back in our special events room. It will be a lot quieter than the main dining room, and that should be nicer for you with as large of a group as you have tonight."
"Good plan. Everyone else is here?"
"Mr. Careles arrived first, but you seem to be the last one, yes," Marcie agreed as she led him past the main dining floor and into the back where the room was. She opened the door and AJ saw that everyone was there, as she'd said. "Here you are. If you would like something besides the house wine, please let me know."
"Ooh, ooh, Marcie, before you go," Juliette cried, getting out of her seat and rushing over to the girl. "This room is great, but I have to wonder, can you do even larger receptions? Like... a double or triple wedding? Maybe more than that..."
"We can handle anything," Marcie told her with a smile. AJ saw Nico gripping his knife like just might kill someone and shook his shoulder as he went to sit in the empty chair beside him.
"At ease, Lieutenant."
Nico smiled darkly before nodding to Balzarini. "It wasn't just me she was talking about, AJ."
Balzarini lifted her glass to AJ, and then leaned over to whisper. "Just so you know, I think we're engaged. If it's any consolation, I can make it worth your while."
AJ shook his head and looked back at Nico. The other man lifted his drink. "Don't look at me. I'm done."
Santino reached over and took the drink from him, replacing it with a club soda. "This is not the end of the world, Nico. And AJ, she's forward, but she's mostly just teasing."
"I can speak for myself, Dani," Balzarini said, and AJ was fairly certain that was her foot under the table. She sipped calmly from her wine before taking a bite of her food.
"Besides, I think the situation at the other end of the table is going to bother you more?"
"What, Sims and Roberts? That's been a done deal since the Sea Hawk," Chegwidden said dismissively. Then his eyes narrowed as he watched the looks and laughter passing between another couple. "Or are you talking about Rabb and Mackenzie?"
"Oh, there is that," Nico agreed, making a face as he drank from the club soda. AJ followed his gaze to Francesca. She was laughing, talking up a storm with Clayton Webb, of all people. "It might not last."
"Her flirtations usually don't," AJ said, shaking his head. He did not want this to be one that did last. He could hardly stand Webb most of the time. "Did you set the date yet, then, Lieutenant?"
"Go to hell. I'm starting to wish I'd let Osborne kill me. Between Juliette and Marcie, I'm in hell already."
"It's not all bad," Santino reminded him, practically crawling into his lap as she kissed him, and Nico responded, quickly turning the tables on her, leaving her back in her own seat and breathless.
"Okay, if you can do that, I will marry you," Balzarini muttered, licking her lips. "Can you? Please? Even if you don't ever see me again, I want that. Just once."
Oh, the hell with it, AJ thought, leaning over to her and sampling what she'd offered. The wine was better than he remembered from his last visit, though that probably had something to do with her and not the wine itself.
He sat back, and she fanned herself, sitting back in her chair with a slightly dazed look. "Check, please."
Santino laughed, putting her head on Nico's shoulder, and the rest of the table was silent. Except for one person.
"That was awesome. Go Uncle AJ. Come on, Frankie, give your dad over there some props, right? Was that not cool?"
"Very romantic, Papa," Francesca agreed with a smile. At least the ones under his command had nothing to say-that was for the best.
Once the excitement had died down and everyone was back at their meals, Nico looked at him. "Well? I did let you kill him since I got Osborne, so..."
AJ nodded. "I know what the deal was, Lieutenant."
"So help me, if you let him live, for whatever noble reason there might have been, I am going to find him and deal with him myself."
"Officially, he was a casualty of a rigged gas main explosion," AJ quickly assured his friend. It was really over. They were not going to have another incident of this mess coming back to haunt them. Though he really would have rather gotten Osborne than the puppet master, the death of Senator Rutt from the appropriations committee was going to have to be enough.
Nico nodded in acceptance. "We're sure about that, then? I know the name was on the list, but there were several names."
"He had the most to gain, and he was still alive when someone had already said he was dead. That makes it official for me."
"Good," Nico agreed. He took a deep breath. "It won't do anything for the families, but it gives me a small measure of satisfaction, I suppose."
"Sometimes it's all we can ask for," AJ said, reaching for the drink Santino had confiscated and downing it in one shot. "Should have gone to a bar. Like the one by that beach."
"Where we all were so drunk we couldn't walk back to the barracks and slept on the beach?" Nico asked, grimacing. "There was sand in places you wouldn't have thought it could get to for weeks after that."
"It was a good time."
"It was a damn good time." Nico touched his glass to AJ's, and they exchanged a smile.