Chapter Six = "Coming Home"

"Hail and Well Met"

Chapter Six - "Coming Home"

0600hrs, Domestic Arrivals Terminal, Dulles International Airport, Washington DC

"Delta Flight 218 arriving Terminal Two Gate 6" Animal sighed barely audible over the strident arrival announcement. Meg looked over at him with a smile.

"I could have had us stay there forever..." Animal sighed again. "Aromas of flowers, warmth of the South Pacific seas and the Hawaiian Islands. It would have been heaven."

"Yeah," Meg sighed, but it all would have cost lots of money." She said, "Maybe when we retire, my love." She gave him a kiss. "But right now, we have to find us a home and a vehicle or two. But first of all, I think we need a base of operations for the first little while as we get settled."

"Sounds good to me." Animal replied.

"Oh, and I have to go to the NEX and make sure that my uniforms are redone with O-4 stripes. I also have to get some O-4 pins."

"Would you like one of my very first pairs?" Animal asked.

"That would be very sentimental to wear one pair of your very first of your O-4s, I'm sure since I would only need one of the devices per uniform that would take care of two of my khakis, thank you for that generous gesture, sweetheart. And while I'm mentioning that, I have to get a few more JAG mille-rinds. I seem to have a few more khaki uniforms than I used to."

"Well considering you were serving out in China Lake..." commented Animal, who realized that the facility was in the desert. Khakis and service whites in the summer months were the only thing that could keep you from being charred to a crisp. " And the relative heat index of the location.

Animal currently was dressed in a nice navy blue polo shirt and tan trousers neatly pressed with a pair of brown loafers; his usual out of the house or travel civvie garb. If he was really casual, he preferred shorts, t-shirt and a set of Nike running shoes. It fit his casual nature which seemed an anomaly compared to his by-the-book, hard-nosed command style as an Exec of the VF-41.

"Hon," Meg turned to him," are you going to contact Dale and see when he's planning on doing the change of command ceremony. He will have to let you know so that you can get your dress whites pressed and the Navy dress sword polished and presentable." She reminded him, "We'd better find a hotel in Falls Church and base ourselves out of there until we can find a home."

To Animal, it seemed really fascinating to see how domestic his beloved wife was sounding. A bright computer whiz, and an astute lawyer, Meg was a practical person, but marriage and love had also brought out the part of Meg that wanted a home to call their own; a place to start their journey through life and a safe and secure place to start their family. He grinned as he said, "well let's grab a rental car for now and then see how it goes as far as picking up a home then our new vehicles. I'll follow your lead."

Meg smirked, "well, Fast Eagle CO..," she gave him a light tap on the tip of his nose with touch of her index finger, "let's see if you can keep up...".

"On your six, JAG." He gave her a smirk back.

The two headed for the luggage claim ; Animal pushing a trolley, as they had acquired a couple suitcases with some purchases for their new home once they found it. Meg had an eye for collectibles and how much they would be worth but obeying the rules about what could and couldn't be taken off the islands.

They had to watch the luggage claim carousel for a while as the various pieces of luggage came down the chute and slid onto the carousel. People were cued up around the carousel and darting forward to grab their bag like birds picking up tender grubs and other morsels. Their duffel-bags had their name plastered on the side in white chalk, waterproofed, but their suitcases with only the standard airline baggage to be watched for and when they had those in hand, they headed to the arrivals door and waited as others were checked through to be allowed to go through the terminal. Since Meg was astute, she'd looked up and got clearance to bring these souvenirs from the island in terms of what could be considered heritage items. And that pretty much sped the clearance up, by waving a sheaf of clearance papers at the TSA agent and essentially forcing his supervisor to come through and look through each page of one hundred and thirty two clearance forms prompted a heavy sigh, a roll of the eyes and a tired-sounding, "Thank you, ma'am your papers appear to be in order. You're clear to go through..." Animal was suitably impressed by Meg's thorough efficiency in helping them clear that checkpoint.

"My ID needs to also be changed over to my married name," she informed him, "unfortunately before we buy the cars." Animal groaned; he was happy that she wanted to add his last name hyphenated to hers on her ID that quickly, but that meant a torturous wait at the DC DMV. "But not before we eat..." Meg stated to his relief as they walked to the terminal "and definitely not before we check-in at the hotel." It was certainly going to be interesting to have to get all this done in seven days before they had to all be at work. And with her husband's change of command ceremony taking place shortly, she would have to book off work and probably all her friends in the JAG office, would probably want to book off that day to come see the ceremony, perhaps even the JAG himself. That was going to be fun. She thought. There's lots to do; time to get cracking on it. She guided her husband to the rental car outlets that served travelers who needed to acquire a mode of transportation to get around town.

"Hi, welcome to Hertz, how may I help you..."

"We'd like to rent a vehicle."

"For how long?"

"Three days maximum..."

"Is it returnable at any Hertz location?"

"Yes, ma'am, it is and the other location will contact us to pick it up and it will not go against your deposit on the vehicle nor will it appear on the charges." The smiling customer service clerk reassured her.

"Is there a discount for veterans?"

"Yes ma'am." By this time Animal had reached into his wallet and pulled out his special MOH ID card and smiled at the clerk as he placed the ID in front of her as her eyes widened.

"I believe there is a special rate for those who have the Medal of Honor?" Animal said. It was photo ID of Animal in choker whites with the Medal of Honor around his neck. The clerk looked at the ID and at the man before her snapping to attention. Now that caught Animal off-guard.

"Sir! Specialist 4 Brianna Henderson! United States Army National Guard, Fort Belvoir, C-12T tech, Sir!." She was a reservist with the Army so that explained it. She worked in the car rental business when she was not serving her two weekends a month requirement.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Soecialist 4," Animal grinned at her. Never before had he gotten such a response from who he had assumed was a civilian. There was a saying about assumptions.

"Yes, of course we would be delighted to assist you with your mode of conveyance, sir. Your ID entitles you to free no fault collision insurance coverage, thirty percent off your cost of rental and the first 3500 miles free of charge any further mileage will just be charged at a rate of three cents per mile." Meg's eyes widened at the perks the card entitled the bearer to. But it certainly was owed to the legitimate bearer of such a card.

The transaction went along quickly after that and Animal and Meg were both pleased with the service including the free upgrade to a large sedan. They were given the key to a '95 Cadillac Escalade. And Animal was pleased as punch. Animal hoisted the bags into the trunk and then got in the driver's seat. "Oh, that's comfortable." He sighed; the pillowy comfort of the leather seats was just about enough to send him

Into a lethargy.

"It is..." Meg agreed. "Now, I think we need to get our hotel room and find some breakfast."

"In actual fact, I'm seriously thinking we find our hotel, put our bags in the door and go get ourselves some food at the hotel restaurant." Animal suggested.

"It would be, it's just that I've been having a hankering for some pancakes - the gourmet style." Meg replied, "Ordinarily, I'd say load the plate with bacon, sausages, tosst, and eggs. But I've had standard breakfast fare for the past two weeks and two days."

Animal wickedly grinned, "There's always katsuo-bushi..."

Meg raised an eyebrow. "I can't remember if I've ever tried it."

"Shaved skipjack tuna flakes...you sprinkle it over a bowl of hot rice and have it with soy sauce." Animal grinned, "It's breakfast...well...at least I'vehad it for breakfast." He amended.

"Well it's a thought..." Meg wasn't sure she was completely sold on rice and tuna in the morning. "Maybe tomorrow, want pancakes...today...now!" She insisted emphatically "start engine...drive." She ordered.

"Yes dear. Starting engine, aye..."

Meg's malevolent glower was adorable and frightening at the same time.

0930hrs; Jurgen's Pannekoek House, Falls Church, VA

Animal grinned at his wife. "There... Shall we partake in some Panne-koek?" He pronounced it panic-cake probably butchering the Dutch pronunciation.

"I think that is acceptable, you will not be sleeping on the couch tonight." Meg muttered carrying the charade on a little further but deep down she was grateful and loved her husband even more deeply and gave her husband a kiss to let him know how much he was appreciated.

Locking the door on the Escalade, they went into Jurgen's. And was it ever gourmet. Animal had never tasted a better pancake with a side of apple strudel. The pancake was topped off by three large strawberries and a chocolate ganache. Meg evidently was famished because she devoured her strudel very quickly and her pancakes didn't last too long either.

And it was about twenty-three dollars for the two meals and some cappuccinos which for Animal was truly rather gourmet indeed; he'd never had a twelve dollar fifty cent breakfast before.

They managed to check in at the hotel and Meg stated that she was going to have a shower to freshen up before they headed out to deal with her ID which was the wise thing to get done today as that would help streamline further processes.

Then their next stop would be NAF Washington's NEX so that she could deal with her dress blues and get them all prepped before the changeover to winter uniforms in the fall.

She was still quite enamored of the fact that an extra half-stripe was going on her uniform. To make Lieutenant Commander in six years instead of nine was miraculous and pretty much unheard of but it certainly spoke well of her abilities. Such deep frocking was precedent setting but the Navy was now looking at advancing the capable than the kiss-asses or at least that was to be the primary goal. No more Canoe U favoritism? Animal thought that would happen when pigs started growing wings and launching themselves off farm trucks.

—

(Author's note: I have taken serious literary-license here in terms of Meg's promotion. In any case Making Lieutenant Commander in six years in real life is not only impossible it goes against the minimum time in rank rule. The deepest you can be deep-selected for frocking is one year before you are in zone so at the eight year markas normally you would have to stay a minimum of five years as a lieutenant for eligibility to be promoted (receive your LCDR's pay and all rights and privileges therein)😂confusing as shit, ain't it?). Yeah, as a civvie-puke, it took me twenty years to figure it out.

—

Needless to say her Commander (O-5) husband was exceedingly proud of her too. If she kept doing well and succeeding, she'd be paving her own way to stars and flag-rank. And Animal wanted the very best for his wife at all costs. As long as things went well for her she would stay in-line to be promoted. Though of course she did have to wait the three years before she would receive her full Lieutenant Commander's pay and allowances. At least she would have plenty of time in rank as an O-4 unless she did something commendable to the point where she would end up getting promoted to the rank of O-5 and then she'd end up having to wait for more of her pay.

Meg came out of her shower drying her hair and just wearing a pair of panties and a camisole. Well it did happen to be warm and Animal barely restrained himself from ravishing her. She smirked knowing full well what she was doing to him and loving every minute of it; the evil woman.

At this point Animal was starting to realize just what he'd gotten himself into when he said "I do..." in the Justice's of the Peace office in Naples, Italy.

...and he loved every minute of it. Hewouldn't change a single iota of it. Meg was the spice of variety in his life; his life had been boring without her in it.

By the time Animal was finished cogitating, Meg was already dressed in jeans, blue camisole shirt and she was looking over at Animal with an expectant air of are we going?

They were going. Animal picked the keys off the table and they headed out of their suite. The door locks were magnetic key entry. So another credit card size card to keep track of. Slipping into the Escalade, they shut the door. "Let's hope the DMV Lineup is not around block." Animal muttered.

1125hrs EST; Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, Fairfax, VA.

Thankfully the lineup was rather sparse at the Fairfax Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles office to Animal's relief. Along with a relatively bored looking young clerk.

"ID? Change of name...proof of married name, you have a marriage license, you were married in Italy? Phyllis? Are Italian marriages legally recognized in the states? Ok they are. Fine, step over to the camera" the camera flash seemed to come in two variants; too dark or bright enough to think there was a Fresnel lens in front of the flash.

Meg swore she was seeing spots floating around her eyeballs after that flash went off. "Honey?" She said sardonically, "Remind me to schedule an eye exam with the optometrist's office? I swear I've got floaters." Those were little malformations in the lens of the eyes that caused one to see little dark spots roaming around the eye's line of sight which were called floaters.

Luckily Animal had never had those happen as that would be the death knell of his flying career in the Navy. He knew Meg was just being sarcastic as bright flashes could temporarily cause one to see spots. Those usually went away after a while.

"OK, ma'am" Mrs. "Ben Stein" said "you have a new photo; your card should take three weeks to show up in the mail. In the interim, here is your temporary paper license, your name is now listed as Mrs. Megan Renee Austin-Nakamura." She paused, "was there anything else?"

Meg shook her head, "no? Next..." all in a bored monotone.

"If I didn't know any better I would've thought Ben Stein got cloned into a female version of himself." Animal muttered as Meg barely managed to stop from laughing as they exited the DMV. "Thank goodness you got finished quickly or I would have bounced my head off my kneecaps listening to her talk. She could put a caffeinated chihuahua to sleep." That did it, Meg had to hold her sides from laughing so hard. Luckily they were far enough from Ms. Monotone Drone for her to hear the commentary.

Animal and Meg, after she stopped cacchinating, headed to the vehicle. Meg announced a quick change of plans: Pentagon, directly to BuPers was the orders. So Animal pulled out of the parking space and headed for the Pentagon.

1430hrs The Pentagon, Washington DC

"Good morning Sir, Ma'am, do you have military ID?" Animal held out his NAVY ID as did Meg.

"OK, sir, ma'am you're cleared through." The Marine Corporal stood back and raised the barrier.

Animal and Meg nodded. When they parked and entered, they stopped at the guard desk of a Marine Sergeant to collect Visitor's passes.

"Sir!" The sergeant stood up and greeted Animal,

"Sergeant Keller, you have Washington duty?"

"Yes, sir, The Corps gave me my E-5 and posted me to the Pentagon, sir. Good to see you."

"It's good to see you too."

Meg looked over in question. "Meg, Sergeant Keller when he was a Corporal served on the USS Theodore Roosevelt as one of the many security detail on board the ship. He's now a Sergeant and is working security detail at the Pentagon."

"Nice to meet you, Sergeant." Meg stated, shaking his hand.

"Nice to meet you, ma'am." He said.

I always keep forgetting myself. Sorry Sergeant", he gestured to his wife, "Sergeant Keller, this is Lieutenant Commander Megan Austin-Nakamura, my wife."

"Ma'am".

"We just need to go to BuPERS."

Sergeant Keller said, "Yes, sir, Ma'am, let me get you two Visitor's passes and sign you both in, please remember to return the passes before you leave, sir, ma'am." And Sergeant Keller smiled, "and sir, ma'am?"

"Yes Sergeant" Meg replied

"Congratulations on your marriage, sir, ma'am."

"Thank you Sergeant" Animal grinned. "We'll be back with the passes."

As they headed down the hallways, Animal was amazed at the ornate marble flooring and walls. This was truly a magnificent building. Within this building were the corridors of power and decision making within the United States Armed Forces; where those who made the decisions controlled the very direction of the US policy for foreign affairs and self defense. Those who sought to lead the Navy did so as a primary sort of reason for kicking and clawing their way towards the pinnacle of the Navy food chain - everyone looking for a way to stand out so that they could become a top dog in a dog-eat-dog environment.

And he resolved that he'd try to stay out of this building for a duty station for as long as he could.

"I hope you know which way you're going..." Animal informed his wife. "Because right now I'm sure I'm hopelessly lost."

Meg laughed lightly. "Well the Marines are a quick phone call away. I hear they look for lost souls too."

"Let's hope it doesn't get that bad." He muttered.

Sure enough, Meg knew what ring she was in and located the BuPERS office. The clerk there said that they would put an expedite on the ID and name change so that Meg would have the ID before end of close which was in two and a half hours in terms of personal service. And sure enough the clerical specialist first was right. They just had her dress in a uniform shirt (dress blues) with proper female tie and a jacket they only needed the top third of her uniform for the official uniform photo. And then they got to wait for an indeterminable time as the card; the pertinent data changes were being made and now according to the US NAVY she was now Megan Renée (with the proper accent égue) Austin-Nakamura, Lieutenant Commander, USN, designator 23120 (look up proper designator number when internet back).

Animal also got the file Page Three information changed to make his marital status as married, Meg, as his wife, as beneficiary,

the one who would receive the benefits of his insurance should he be KIA." and all information linked to bring up Meg's file in conjunction with his as they were now a service family. His page three would get a little more complicated when they started having children, but that was a ways away to think about. But at least all of that was sorted out and well his designator was still 1310 as an active duty naval aviator.

Once they were done and Meg had received her new NAVY ID , they returned the Visitors passes to Sergeant Keller and made their way to the parking lot.

It was now 1715hrs.

Time to hit her storage place where she kept her uniforms and personal possessions. They'd left their stuff that they had with them in her locker before they went to catch the plane to LAX so Animal was well prepared to grab his things that he'd left with her unit too.

1745hrs EST; Capital Storage Solutions; Washington DC

She had dress blues bearing Lieutenant rings on her sleeves; those would need to be tailored and the rings replaced with new Lieutenant Commander rings. Animal grinned as he loved hanging out at NEXs. Meg also pulled out all six of her dress whites which also bore sleeve rings.

From what they could count of the uniforms that were stored at the storage unit, there were six dress blues plus the two that she had in her duffel that made eight in total. For dress whites, again eight in total. dinner dress blues two, dinner dress whites two, service dress khakis twelve, service whites twelve, working khakis six, there were six pants six skirts, of each; blues khakis and whites. Six lightweight pants for the working khakis; not advisable to wear skirts with working khakis even though they were available. There were other assorted uniform items but those could stay in storage until they had a place of their own to lay their heads.

"How many dress whites and blues did you leave at China Lake?"

"Three of each. And about twelve khakis, twelve service whites with boards. Had to get a second set of uniforms there because I got shuttled out so fast. I took two of the five I had to Naples. So that's why I've now got eight including the ones in my duffle of my dress blues, and dress whites here."

Animal pantomimed writing something down in a notebook while his wife raised one eyebrow. "Key...feature...any house...we buy..." he said slowly scrawling an invisible pen "large...walk-in closet...". Meg threw a dress white top at him.

"Hey!" Her husband teased her, "...don't you know you're not supposed to throw uniform items at superior officers?"

Meg gave him a cheeky look,"I don't see one...merely a higher ranking one." She stuck out her tongue at him when he laughed.

When they had assembled all the uniforms they would need he had all his at a storage unit including the rest of his possessions - what few he had, at Norfolk, he looked over at the stuff left over, "you have a list of how many items that you need to get for each set of uniforms?"

"Six sets of lieutenant commander collar pins. three sets of large shoulder ranks for my khaki and black windbreakers. Probably should get a second black one now that I'm back in DC. twelve O-4 boards with JAG mille-rinds and then tossing the dress blues, dress whites and dinner dress blues at the NEX tailors." Meg thought for a ling moment, "I think that pretty much covers it until my other set of uniforms comes back from China Lake. When I have all my uniforms in one place then I'll look and see what I'm missing."

"You got enough for all that?" Animal asked, if he had to he'd lay down cash to deal with that; she was his wife after all.

"I think I can cover it. I'll let you know if I go over my budget..."

"My bank card will be ready if need be." He kissed her as she smirked at him.

OK, let's load up your uniforms that you need in our car. We're going to have to deal with finding a place quickly." Animal stated; he meant buying a home whether it was a condo or a starter home in a good neighborhood.

After they locked up everything it was 1839hrs and they made it to NAF Washington by 1900hrs. The NEXs were open late as they catered to service people and there were also food services that functioned like a second informal mess.

Meg managed to get into the tailor's just in time to be able to drop them off for rank adjustments. They were able to quote her a price at $10.00USD per uniform for uniform far as adjusting her rank rings and the addition of the new half-stripe so it came out to $200USD paid in advance with pickup on Friday ready to toss at least three of each uniform in at the dry-cleaners after confirmation of her frocking orders. Meg managed it on her debit card drawing from savings as they wanted to keep their credit clear for the home purchase. There was a further $400.00 for the uniform items that could be dealt with at the NEX cashier. Carrying two large bags filled with rank insignia plus her second black windbreaker, she and her husband headed to the Escalade.

"Now for dinner to take home to the hotel and eat. It was 2000hrs, still early at night but they were starting to feel the travel from Hawaii and the fact they were going on adrenaline for most of the day. Animal was used to long hours as an XO and a combat naval aviator, but he too, was starting to feel it.

They decided to stop in at a Beltway Burgers and get two large bacon cheeseburger combos with two extra burgers each with curl-fries

Stopping in at an 24 hr stop and shop they got several 2L of soda.

They would get ice at the free ice machine in the hotel lobby when they got back to the hotel. After driving back to the hotel and parking the Escalade for the night, Animal let his wife heft the smaller bags from the car; the stuff that she got from the NEX and their food while he played He-Man and hefted both duffle-bags and the bags of 2L sodas bottles. Meg looked at his flexed muscles bulging through the polo-shirt and felt seriously aroused all of a sudden as they waited for the elevator to take them to their sixth floor kitchenette room. It was a little more expensive per night, but at least they didn't have to eat out every night and the fridge allowed them to keep things cold including their drinks while the stove allowed them to make a basic breakfast.

They got to their room and Animal put the duffel-bags down and put the sodas up in the fridge they'd also had the presence of mind to get some cups that they could use for putting soda in to drink instead of the cave-man method of open bottle lid, chug soda- burp loudly optional.

Animal came out with two cups with Pepsi placing them down on the bedside tables, he said to Meg, "Going to go down to the lobby and get a cup of ice."

"OK." She said unwrapping her burger. "See you in a bit..."

Animal headed out with room card in pocket, over to the elevator and pressed the down button waiting patiently. When the elevator stopped and opened the door, he got in and pressed L. The elevator deposited him on the lobby floor and he walked out to the ice machine that said FREE ICE; as it turned out there was no need to bring one's own cup. A bag was provided so that one could put ice in the freezer part of the fridge and use it for drinks for the rest of the night. At least it was near the check-in counter so no one could contaminate the ice supply without being seen.

So Animal helped himself to a bag and using the provided scoop put ice enough to fill the bag. When he was done, he closed the lid, stopped by the candy machine and got two packs of M&Ms plain milk chocolate, he could do without the nuts - he had two nuts too many in his squadron.

When he got back upstairs, Meg looked relieved, "ah you have plenty of ice...". when he showed her the bag of ice.

Dropping a few cubes in the drinks he quipped, "Hopefully the drinks aren't flat." He said over his shoulder as he deposited the bag in the freezer.

"No, not yet." Meg informed him, "...though I suspect your burgers are cold; as are your curl-fries. You might have to nuke them." Ugh, cold fries and nuked didn't help much either.

He also proffered her one of the bags of chocolate M&Ms.

Meg grinned at him, "oh, chocolate, I knew I married you for some reason." Animal grinned back at her as she continued, "Chocolate; the key to a woman's heart."

After nuking the fries and the burgers, he sat down to eat; the fries were tolerable and the burgers were fine. When they were done it was time to get some shut-eye, they needed to rest so that they would be ready to do some house hunting. Well evidently there would be no happy, fun, sexy time tonight. They were just too beat.