Chapter Eleven - "Weekend"

"Hail and Well Met"

Chapter Eleven - "Weekend".

0800hrs EST, Room 325, Marine Corps Base Quantico VOQ; Marine Corps Base Quantico; Quantico, VA. MAY 17, 1997

"I could so do with some really strong coffee," Meg towelled her hair off as Animal accompanied her out of the bathroom. After getting home they opted to just force their bodies to stay up so they took a shower together allowing them to actually clean themselves off rather then the sponge-bath they took. Meg's face was rather flushed. Presumably from the hot shower they took or maybe it was something else entirely.

At least the layout of the VOQ married quarters was like a one bedroom suite. That meant that there was room for a couch within the living room. The kitchen was small yet functional with lots of cabinets to store things. A stove and a dishwasher for those on the go. They could choose to make dinner inside their VOQ and forgo the hassle of trying to find a seat at the chow-hall. Plus it was a far lot easier deal to cook at home and spend time with the spouse.

Finding the coffeemaker in the pile of appliances ended up with the coffeemaker being scoured clean of two years of accumulated dust of sitting in Meg's storage locker and then loaded with coffee in a single paper filter out of a hundred fifty to a box that Meg had bought at their shopping trip day before yesterday at the NEX. The nutty aroma filled the air with caffeinated-promise of s savoury mouthwatering cup of get up and go as the water steamed up and percolated through the coffee grounds and into the carafe. Meg raised her cup in her hands with closed blissful eyes drinking in the aroma of the especially strong coffee drunk black, bitter yet tempting on the tongue laced with caffeine to give the body a good swift kick in the posterior end.

Animal was not so much a morning coffee person and he grabbed a glass, threw in two ice cubes and smiled when he heard the nice pfzzz of an opening bottle of Pepsi. The liquid pour accompanied by fizzing of the carbonation was more than enough to get his tastebuds dancing, the sweet bite of the cola enabling Animal to get up off his hind end and do some work in getting some items unpacked.

The suite came provided with a desk, Animal noted running his hand along the veneer finish. It might not be much but it would do at least for the short term. If not, Animal looked over at Meg who had started unpacking more of the appliances wiping them off with a wet dishtowel and then with a disinfectant wipe. After three hours, they were done. Clothes were all hung up and neat, uniforms were all done and Meg said to Animal. I think we need to take a drive up to DC and collect my uniforms from NAF Washington's NEX.

Animals response was a loud slap of his own forehead. "That's right, they were supposed to be finished on Friday."

"Yup, yesterday..." Meg nodded and sighing she grabbed her car-keys. Animal got up and they both headed out, locking the door behind them.

They decided to take her Camaro again, Animal riding shotgun, Meg had her own music, soft rock or country and Animal leaned back enjoying the ride as his wife drove. It was going to be a two hour drive one way and it was not too bad at this time with traffic not getting bad until after four PM.

1330 hrs EST; Navy Exchange; NAF Washington, Washington, DC

Getting on base was easy with ID and letting the gate sentry know that they were picking up uniforms at the NEX. They were ushered forward and proceeded to the NEX.

Upon reaching the uniform tailor's they found out that Meg's uniforms were done and in a protective sleeve. The uniforms were checked all had the appropriate two and a half stripes. Meg nodded, signed the slip saying that they were done and picked up.

"OK, where to now?" Animal asked. After they came out of the NEX to drop the uniforms off in the trunk of the car.

"Food." Meg said, "I'm famished since all I've had to eat was that Sausage and Egg McMuffin at 0540."

Animal nodded. His stomach was starting to complain too. "Shall we grab food at the Food Court?"

"Yeah. Probably quicker." She noted looking at the various lighted signboards advertising their wares.

"Starbucks..." Animal commented. "Mocha frappuccino with three java shots and cinnamon..."

"Geez, you're going to be hanging off the rafters tonight." Meg commented with a note of disbelief coloring her voice.

"Well if it keeps me from doing a face-plant in my food right now, I'm all for it." Animal grinned at her, "besides...we can tire each other out."

"Oh...really?" Meg's response was a smirk. "You think so, huh? You realize we both have work on Monday?"

"Yeah, but nice way to put a capstone on our honeymoon." Animal grinned at her. She smirked at him.

Meg looked over at the offerings at the food court. Burgers; Fish n' Chips; Juice Bar, Italian, Krispy Kreme, and others.

"I know which one I'm going for..." Animal was eyeballing the Fish & Chips.

Meg grinned,"Figures. Y'know, I'm kind of craving Fish & Chips myself." They made their way to the lineup. It was a good ten minute wait; evidently the food from this place was good. When they got up to the counter they each ordered three pieces of halibut and fries which was a taste sensation for the mouth.

Animal was enjoying a delicious chunk of halibut, eyes closed savoring every morsel of that bite, the succulent piece of halibut like a golden, crunchy, meaty, fleshy taste bomb in his mouth. It was well worth that $5.99 plus $2.00 per extra piece of fish and Animal was simply in Seafood Heaven.

When Meg and Animal ended up finishing up their gastronomical delight, the two realized it was nearly 1500hrs. And it would almost be time for rush-hour. If they were going to make it back to Quantico without being stuck in mind-numbing traffic, they needed to get going. So back out to her Camaro they went and got in. By the time they reached the interstate it was 1535 and were lucky to just miss the time that rush-hour would be starting; sliding on just in time to get a free and clear ride in two hours back to MCB Quantico.

And by 1740 they were pulling up to the Quantico sentry gate with food in the car from the McDonald's and a drink from Starbuck's. When ushered through they took their victuals, Meg's uniforms and headed upstairs to their VOQ suite.

1800 hrs Room 325, Marine Corps Base Quantico VOQ; Marine Corps Base Quantico; Quantico, VA. MAY 17, 1997

Animal and Meg got in the door with the bags of food, the bag of uniforms, which immediately went in the closet in the bedroom, and managed to shut and lock the door.

Meg had set up her computer on the desk in the living room and was looking up some site regarding law while munching some fries. Animal was munching on some fries as well in between sips of his frapp. He wasn't certain what to do with himself at the moment. The burgers were in the fridge for later.

He figured that maybe he should try to get himself one but being a child of the sixties, computers wasn't really a thing for him. Sure he was able to use them for their intended purposes in terms of writing reports and making sure that evals were done but games and other things that were computer oriented entertainment were foreign concepts to him. Maybe I should get with the timeshe thought, then maybe I could relate to the way that the new nuggets in the squadron were thinking. After all computers were becoming part of aviation. Most of the new aircraft coming out now have digital cockpits and will start to become so high-tech it'll phase us old warhorses thought that he would check out a computer store on the way home from work on Monday and maybe he might be able to get himself a laptop computer which seemed to be the thing now Portable computers designed to do a certain job. There was a TV in the living room but the TV never really interested him.

Eating the last fry, he tossed the container out, "so..." he started, "I have to come up with a guest list of who's supposed to come to the change-of-command ceremony. You got anyone who might be interested in coming asides from Harm and Mac?"

"Maybe the Admiral might." Meg said turning around to face him, "I'll ask at the office on Monday and bring home a list," Getting up, Meg came over to sit beside him on the couch. "We've been so busy this past week..." she started...as she leaned into him.

"Yeah...so much to organize and make sure that we're ready for work on Monday morning," Animal agreed.

Meg sighed, "we haven't been able to spend too much time doing what I wanted..."

"Mmmhmm?"

"...which was spending time with my husband." She purred in his ear.

Animal nodded. He noted that it was 1827hrs now. Only half aware of what Meg was doing, he started feeling her hand in his lap. His eyes widened.

Ah...honeymoons.

2000hrs

Meg looked at Animal who looked thoroughly as though he'd been wrung out. The sheets needed a good washing before being used again. Since it was May all they needed was a light blanket on top of the sheets.

Right now Meg was laying on top of Animal; their noses touching.

"Liked that, did you?" She murmured, her breath tickling his nose.

Animal nodded. The feel of Meg, bare skin against bare skin as she gazed at him, eyes locked on his was as intoxicating as a sip of the finest vodka 70 proof(enough alcohol to get you plastered drunk; but not kill you). All the other times seemed like mere innocent play in comparison as she'd completely seduced him and wrung every bit of what she could get out of him. His energy level was so low he needed sustenance and sleep in that order.

Swinging her legs off him, she stood, a bare Venus; and said, "join me in the shower and then we'll eat the burgers afterwards." Animal somehow managed to extricate himself from the sheets and hope that he would survive the shower. Yes, he somewhat remembered an off-hand comment made in a certain food court that day about "tiring each other out". Though at the time he'd never realized how expert Meg was at the art of "tiring him out..."

In comparison, he was a mere novice.

In the shower, Meg commented, "hmmm, I guess that frapp you got from Starbuck's wasn't so effective at keeping you from getting tuckered out." She casually brushed her hand along his waist. "I think we're just washing off and eating." She said looking over at Animal throwing her arms around him. A part of Animal feeling the touch of a sodden Meg Austin-Nakamura in his arms tried to stir...but failed miserably. He was that exhausted. Sleep was needed.

So wash was all they did. Meg murmured, "I think this is all we need before bed." They ate the burgers and washed the few dishes that were in the sink before heading to the bedroom. Where they stripped the bed and remade it with fresh sheets and a blanket. By this time it was 2145hrs. The sun had nearly disappeared below the horizon.

Their bathrobes, the after-shower attire were left on the floor as Meg and Animal joined each other in bed, Meg spooned with Animal under the sheets. Animal dropped off to sleep nearly as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Meg smiled softly and sighed as she felt him join with her, intimately, unconsciously in sleep. May be that little break to eat helped him after all. She snuggled in tighter and dropped off to sleep too.

0500hrs EST, Room 325, Marine Corps Base Quantico VOQ; Marine Corps Base Quantico; Quantico, VA. MAY 18, 1997

"Honey? What is that?"

Meg's tired hand reached up to the window handle and opened it, " YOU MISERABLE PUKES ARE THE MOST USELESS PIECES OF HUMAN FILTH POSSIBLE. I DO NOT KNOW WHY THEY INSIST YOU TO BE BROUGHT INTO MY MARINE CORPS. THERE IS NO HOLIDAYS, THERE IS NO WEEKENDS, THERE IS NO FAIRY GODMOTHER TO GO POOF CINDERELLA, YOU ARE GOING TO THE BALL. YOU ARE IN MY MARINE CORPS AND THIS IS YOUR VERSION OF HELL!"

Meg's hand shut the window. And her head went under her pillow. One could still hear Drill Instructor Fontaine bellowing at his Marine Officers in training though somewhat muffled now.

"God Almighty!" Animal muttered and copied what his wife did. Two seconds later Animal tossed off the pillow and grumbled, "that's it, I can't even sleep in on weekends."

Meg looked up tiredly, "yeah, this is going to be a hell of a three months and we're only four days in."

"We might be gibbering idiots by the time September move-in rolls around." Animal commented.

"Coffee..." moaned Meg as she tiredly reached for her bathrobe. Staggering to the kitchen she muttered caustic epithets about early-bird Marines in general as she poured in enough coffee grinds to send the aroma of coffee wafting through the entire VOQ.

"Strong enough to scrape the barnacles off the hull of the Merrimack?" Animal queried tiredly.

Meg looked at him balefully, "if this keeps up, I'm going to end up having to buy stock in Folgers."

Animal looked in the cupboard. "Shit!"

"What?"

"There isn't a big enough glass!"

"Big enough glass? For what?" Meg asked curious.

"There isn't a big enough glass to pour two litres of Pepsi in all at once. I'd have to get a vase. And it'd probably shatter when I put in ice. I don't think vases are designed for temperature differences of that magnitude."

"Why don't you just drink coffee?"

"Makes me go pee." Animal replied "I'd be stopping at every second gas station and truck stop on the interstate asking for the key to their restroom"

Meg grabbed the carafe and her mug and poured a cup of coffee then added sugar and sipped at it. Sighing she sat down at the table and looked out the window as Animal joined her with a glass of Pepsi.

"Five AM is too early in the morning, but I'm going to have to get used to earlier. If I'm supposed to be in the office at 0630 hrs I'm gonna have to be up at 0400hrs. Ugh. Grab breakfast on the go."

"Likewise. It's gonna take some getting used to." Animal commented.

"Hah..." Meg snorted, "You, Mr. Zero Dark Thirty up at all hours flying your Tomcat...you'd be used to it in no time flat." She paused... "I'm a staff officer, I'm only supposed to know one three AM during the course of one day."

Animal snuggled her as she leaned her head back against him.

"You know...honey, our love-life is only going to be on weekends if we go like this for years on end. It's come home, eat a quick dinner, go to bed then up the next morning rinse repeat."

"You could transfer to the Norfolk office." Animal suggested.

"And sell our place before we even move in?"

"Well, it's an idea. See how we manage over this next three months then see if we have to make adjustments."

Meg turned to kiss him, " OK. We'll try that and see if it works, then I'll see what I can do about a transfer to Norfolk and work the overflow cases out of that office that are coming in to HQ. Harm says a lot of cases are coming into Falls Church that can be handled through Norfolk and I suspect that's part of the backlog of cases. Plus all the harder cases get shunted up to headquarters because nobody in the RLSOs want to deal with time consuming cases. And well, I think that latitude from the RLSOs has to stop or we're going to get farther and farther backlogged."

"Sounds like a good plan." Animal said to her. "AJ may accept the idea of you working out of Norfolk with occasional call ups to HQ as needed. Heck honey, you keep going like this you may get your O-5s before too long." He grinned at her.

"I wish. I have to exhaust my minimum time in rank at 0-3 before even being considered for O-5 for a job well done. Harm will get his O-5s before I will." Meg smirked giving Animal a return kiss.

"Well when you do get yours, it will definitely be well-earned." Animal said, "...and well-deserved."

She got up, and came over around his side of the table pulling him to his feet and kissed him, deeply, tenderly and full of desire. Meg whispered, her lips against his, "i'm so glad I have someone who believes in me and supports my career."

"I always will..." Animal replied, his arms full of his beloved wife, "Just as you support mine..."

"So...what shall we do today?"

"Probably we should prep our uniforms for tomorrow and get breakfast and lunches prepared for the week."

"Ugh, practicality." Meg complained.

"Well. First is..."

"Business then pleasure...yes, I think I heard that before somewhere." Meg thought. "Though the name pf the book escapes me at the moment." Her longing glance towards the bedroom gave blatant clues as to what she'd prefer.

"Oh yeah, we need to wash the sheets that we took off the bed." Animal said

"Ugh!"

0900hrs EST; Room 325, Marine Corps Base Quantico VOQ; Marine Corps Base Quantico; Quantico, VA; MAY 18, 1997

Meg looked at the freshly cooked meals that were laid out in the fridge waiting to be taken to work. Ten containers of food that could be eaten for lunch by both her husband and her.

Then the other ten containers were breakfast. Each would be accompanied by a fruit, either an orange or a banana. And meal prep was done for the week. Which meant they really did not need to stop at a fast food restaurant and that would be really important to cut down on needless expenditures in order to maximize savings considering they now had a mortgage to deal with and with that came a serious reduction in retained earnings.

No more frivolous spending. Everything they purchased had to be checked against a strict balance sheet. Was what they were purchasing really necessary? Was it essential that would enable them to sustain their family? Meg sighed thinking, Well, no more frivolous trips to the Starbuck's down the street for coffee. Even though she wore gold oak-leafs she still had to consider for the next three years that she had the pay of an officer with railroad tracks. Oh well, win some, lose some. And being able to be with the man that she loved was worth every sacrifice that she needed to make just as he was making sacrifices for her.

"I think that's done." Animal came back in holding a bunch of freshly folded linens. A man that could do laundry and neatly folded too. Oh right, his parents had owned a laundry.

Lucky me. Meg thought to herself as her husband deposited the clean linens in the linen closet.

Both uniforms for tomorrow were pressed and ready to be put on in the morning, on their way out the door. Weekday mornings were essentially a grab and run to get to work. Animal and Meg both had to be out the door at 0400 to ensure they were there by 0630.

As the XO, Animal had to go over plenty of things with Rattler prior to the change-over so it was crucial that he be there early to go over plenty of stuff with the CO before the change-of-command ceremony and Animal's ascension to the lofty position of commander of a front-line Navy F-14 Tomcat fighter squadron.

Then he would be going nuts trying to whip his squadron into deployment-ready shape as Carrier Air Wing 8 would be deploying at the end of next year after thorough pre-deployment workups. And headed back to the Mediterranean Sea in preparation for any hostilities as day after day news of Serbian atrocities made the headlines and UN peacekeeping forces were not able to keep a handle on the hostilities that threatened to break out.

Animal's squadron had been told that they would be working up their F-14s with the new Bombcat strike capability package. Which meant that the F-14 could be outfitted with two 2000lb LGB along the tunnel as well as their complement of two Sparrows and two Sidewinders or if the aviator wanted to get into the phone-booth with the opponent; four Nine-Limas. Meg hoped Animal would always choose the former load-out. The idea of Animal flying close ACM in a knife-fight in a phone-booth scenario frightened her even though she knew he was more than capable of fighting such a dogfight.

Animal got the full brunt if the responsibility of turning VF-41s Tomcats into a strike air/fleet air defence package and had to make sure that the squadron was good at both which meant a lot of strike preparation at the bombing ranges in Nevada out of Lemoore and DACT training with the Aggressors out of Fallon. His future as a naval officer slated for high command would depend on how well he executed his job as a squadron commander.

There were many squadron commanders competing for fewer CAG slots and Animal would have to excel in his position to contend for it and that was his goal. And Meg would support him wholeheartedly in his goals as he supported her goals. That was the essence of a marriage: mutual love and support.

Hmmm, what to do. Laundry is done, breakfasts and lunches are done, linens are done thanks to hubby and well...oh wait our breakfast this morning. We got so busy doing chores and cooking we forgot to feed ourselves. Oops.

Meg pulled out the frying pan, greased it with butter, pulled out another package of sausages, stripped the cellophane wrapping off it and tossed the frozen brick on the frying pan. and set it on high.

Then she pulled out another frying pan, added some butter and made some scrambled eggs with the remaining eggs. She sparingly salted the eggs.

Took Animal's Wok and put it on the stove and tossed in some hash browns. When the hash browns were done, she tossed the scrambled eggs in and mixed the hash browns together which made a sort of potato/egg scramble that would potentially be filling. In the meantime, the sausages were making a delicious aroma. There were six a piece and combined with the scramble would make for a delicious breakfast. Then, Meg thought to herself, if we do a bit of baking, we should be able to get this fridge filled up with some decent food for the next couple weeks. She decided, after dishing up some breakfast on plates, that she would bake a few banana bread which would be a good snack or a pick me up after a good work out.

As far as working out, there was a gym but frequented by Marines who were pretty much all gym rats. Animal was a squid according to Marines, but one Marines wouldn't mess with, so if Meg wanted to work out she'd go with her husband.

As she and Animal ate, they discussed what they needed to do over the next few weeks that they could do in order to ensure that things went smoothly. That nothing could potentially hinder their getting to work like a base lockdown or god-forbid a full scale mobilization of Marines to expeditionary status.

Meg, after eating, suggested heading to the NEX so that she could get some baking supplies since she was planning a baking marathon. She planned to make at least five loafs of which she planned to freeze at least three until next weekend, where she planned to make various fruit pies. If she was going to make banana bread she was going to need more bananas than she had.

"Banana bread would be awesome...". Was Animal's comment.

Meg smiled; as far as her husband was concerned, everything she did was awesome.

They took his Mustang over to the base NEX. When they got over there, they looked over the bananas and made sure that the ones they needed were just at the ripe point where they would be perfect for the banana bread and several sevens of green ones that were going to be set aside to ripen. Those would be for work next week. She also took some time to get a few apples and she told her husband when she got home on Friday that she intended to go get the blueberries and raspberries then.

They weren't sure when the mortgage payment would come out or if for ease's sake for the service family they would take it out split in half off each pay. It would certainly be a lot easier to budget knowing five hundred and nineteen and change was coming off each pay-check rather than one whole thousand thirty eight dollars and fifty one cents off one cheque. If the former was the case then they would have to budget around it and plan the stock-up of groceries when the bigger check came through.

And doing baking made more sense than buying sweets and other treats. And it'll give me a chance to do some cooking in the kitchen trying my hand at different recipes that my husband will like. Maybe I should try my hand at some Japanese style cooking.

She was able to get a good selection of baking ingredients sugar, salt, flour, baking soda, baking powder, yeast for bread, they also had to buy baking tins since they didn't have very many things to do baking with. After all, baking required the proper tools. And of course there was the upfront cost of all this to deal with.

And of course stews were a good plan for dinner since coming home and doing a fancy cooked meal was probably not in the cards. Meg looked for stew beef that she could load up on.

So in between baking, she would set up a stew with a large stewpot that she located and put in the cart. It should be enough to make the stew for about a work week and if we run out we can always make Friday a bring-home-dinner night. I'm sure Tosh wouldn't mind Fridays being a special treat night. and suggested it to her husband who enthusiastically agreed.

"Of course, special treat or not, it doesn't beat your cooking, hon." He gave her a loving nudge.

"Oh, you, you always think that." Meg nudged him back, after all she had cooked him several meals while they were running around dealing with Harm's mess, before everything and each time Animal had glowed over how good her cooking was. But that was then and now they were husband and wife and his compliments on her skill in the kitchen were that much more special to her.

After paying at the checkout, they headed back to the VOQ. Putting the bananas on the counter and the baking tins up in a way she would be able to reach them as needed, Meg decided to start on the stew first. Since that would take the most time to cook, she set the stew beef into the preheated oven at 350 and then tossed the beef into the oiled casserole dishes. Searing the meat she added spices, salt and pepper then finished the searing. Sprinkling in flour she cooked the meat in the oven for two to three minutes. She set up another oven-proof casserole dish and then put in butter, garlic, onion, celery, and seasonings and cooked them for three to four minutes. She sliced up carrots and other vegetables she wanted in the stew, washed and rinsed the new large stewpot filled it half full of water, tossed the seasoning and the beef stock and two whole cans of tomatoes along with the tomato juice in the can. Adding two cans of tomato sauce, and let simmer on medium heat in the stew pot till it came to a boil

During that she was making the banana bread. Mixing the ingredients she was able to split the bread into five bread baking tins and thus was able to start the oven going, her oven mitts went on a hook. The preheated oven was brought down in temperature. And the baking tins with the banana bread dough were put in.

Then she went back to the stew which was now ready for the vegetables to go in. And that nearly brought the level of the stew to the top of the stew pot. Animal was looking up something in the phone book.

"I'm going to stop by Kaneshiro's on the way home tomorrow." He stated looking over at Meg.

"What were you going to get?"

"Something that will stretch stew..." he said vaguely.

"Oh?"

"You can make the stew stretch by pouring it over rice. And it makes a nice thicker stew, rice vegetables and beef."

"That sounds like a great idea." Meg said. "We brought the rice cooker before we cleared out the storage locker." Looking in the cupboards, she found it. "It looks like it needs a good rinse."

"Rice takes about twenty minutes to cook in the rice cooker. I'll bring home the good stuff, Kokuho Rose". He grinned.

"Sounds like a WWII propaganda radio star." She grinned.

"That was Tokyo Rose." Animal snickered. "Didn't she get hung?"

"Can't remember... anyways, you know which brand tastes better. I always defaulted to Uncle Ben's.".

"EWWWW!" Meg started laughing at Animal's disgusted look. "And what the hell is converted rice? Converted from WHAT?! Wheat remnants?! Pig hoof shavings?"

Meg grinned as she held up an invisible note-pad and pen. "Memo, do not bring Uncle Ben's into house any more. Wait for dear husband to pick up rice after work."

It was at that moment her timer decided to go off. Marking the time to pull out the baking tins of banana bread from the oven. Tossing pot rests on the counter she grabbed her oven mitts and one after the other pulled the tins out of the oven then cutting the heat off. Each were a nice dark golden brown. Turning each tin upside down she smacked the tin with an oven mitt covered hand. And since she'd greased the tins before putting the dough in the bread slid out then she stacked the tins and put them in cold water. The bread, still piping hot, and smelling delicious was placed on wax paper to cool off.

The stew would take another hour and a half at medium heat.

"Gosh, that banana bread smells so good." Animal said.

"It's still hot." Meg informed him, "we should let it cool some."

1400hrs EST;Room 325, Marine Corps Base Quantico VOQ; Marine Corps Base Quantico; Quantico, VA; MAY 18, 1997

Meg looked at three loaves of banana bread in bread bags that headed into the top freezer section of the fridge to be frozen for some other time. "We should get a freezer when we move into the apartment."

"Considering how much you intend to start baking," Animal grinned at her, "I agree wholeheartedly."

"Well, I am thinking about cheesecakes down the road and freezing them so that we don't have to buy them." Meg looked over at Animal who looked like somebody had told him that he'd won the lottery. "And maybe some almond cakes with marzipan icing. Of course I will have to buy a good sized cheesecake baking tin of excellent quality. After all, I do like cheesecake too." If that made her husband roll over and beg like a puppy, that would be hysterically funny.

The rest of the day was spent together enjoying each other's company. Dinner was the stew that Meg made which was absolutely delicious even without rice.

Animal sighed as his wife curled up with him watching a TV program that was about warships on Armed Forces TV.

They realized that they would need to get to bed at 2000 in order to have enough sleep for the work day starting the next morning, so they retreated into their room about 1800 and decided to spend the last night of their honeymoon sharing intimacy and then showering. And they fell off to sleep,spooned, Animal's arms around her.