Falls Church, VA
09.25 EDT
Admiral AJ Chegwidden snapped closed the file he had been reading, leaned back in his chair and looked at his watch.
09.25 he had 5 minutes before his niece arrived for a meeting.
He had to admit he had been surprised when Casey had called him out of the blue and asked to meet with him at his office, truth be told, he hadn't seen her in 5 years, although they had exchanged letters and phone calls on a regular basis.
He was looking forward to seeing her again.
The last time he had seen he she had just turned 21 and she looked more like her Mama than he had ever believed possible.
His memories of Casey were things he treasured dearly, he had been known her since the day she was born.
He smiled as he thought back to that Christmas he and Marcella spent up at "Orion's Reach" in the Appalachians.
Casey had been all of 3 years old then, the snow had been thick on the ground and Seraphina & Nicholas McDaniels had both still been alive.
He remembered Christmas Eve...Casey curled up on a beanbag in front of the roaring fire with Francesca, listening to Christmas Carols playing on the old radio and waiting for 'Santy Claus' to arrive.
The radio had played "Rock of Ages" and Casey had come running into the dining room all excited, telling everyone there was a song about Uncle AJ on the radio.
He had lifted her up to sit on his lap and asked her what she was talking about.
"The song on the radio 'bout you." she said earnestly her blue looking up at him from beneath her red curls looking every bit the little sprite he had nicknamed her.
"What song pumpkin?" he father had asked her.
"Y'know the one about Rock of AJ" she said.
The adults at the table had laughed til they cried.
AJ laughed out loud even now when he thought of it.
He hit the intercom button on the desk.
"Tiner has my niece arrived yet?"
"Not yet sir." came the reply.
"Thank you Tiner"
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Casey McDaniels stepped out of the elevator and walked through the doors marked with the unmistakable JAG insignia.
She touched the 'visitor' tag attached to her jacket lapel and walked over to the nearest office door.
"Excuse me?" she asked the officer behind the desk.
The Commander looked up from his papers and smiled.
"Can I help you?"
"Yes I was wondering if you could direct me to Admiral Chegwidden's office please?"
The man came from around his desk to stand in the doorway.
"Over the other side of the bullpen, I'm about to head over there myself" he said motioning for her to follow him. "You here on business or pleasure?"
"A bit of both." she said smiling
"I'm Lt Cmdr Harmon Rabb, by the way." he said extending a hand in greeting.
"Ah yes the infamous 'Harmful Rabb'" she said smiling as she shook the proffered hand "I'm Casey McDaniels"
"You've heard of me? Should I be worried?" He asked looking her up and down.
He was flirting with her and she knew it.
She also knew about a certain Marine Corps Major.
"Oh I think you're pretty safe Cmdr."
"So who do you work for?" he asked.
"Oh I've been travelling, but I'm working at State for a while." she said
Rabb led her to the Admiral's outer office.
"Hey Tiner, this is Ms McDaniels to see the Admiral."
Tiner looked at her
"You're the Admiral's niece?" he asked an incredulous look on his face.
Rabb did a double take and Casey laughed.
"And you must be the Tiner I hear him yelling for when he's on the phone."
Tiner nodded smiling.
"Is he in?"
Tiner nodded and picked up the phone to call the Admiral.
"No wait...let me get prepared first.,"
She said drawing a deep breath and straightening her jacket.
"Prepared?" Rabb asked.
"Uh Huh...I have some news I just know he's not gonna like."
Rabb and Tiner looked at her intrigued.
"Ok I'm ready, you can buzz him now..."
Tiner buzzed the Admiral and moved to escort her in.
Casey turned at the last minute.
"...Oh and if you hear breaking furniture, screams that sort of thing...don't come in!"
She said with a half smile.
Rabb raised his eyebrows but said nothing.
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Tiner escorted Casey into the Admiral's office.
He had seen the '"Ancient Mariner' smile on exactly three occasions before, this made four.
"Thankyou Tiner" he barked. "I'm unavailable until further notice...no calls."
"Thankyou Tiner" Casey said smiling at him.
"Aye Sir" he said to the Admiral
"Good Luck" he murmured to Casey as he turned and left.
Casey tried not to laugh at the expression of doom on Tiner's face.
The door shut behind Tiner and AJ walked over to give his favourite niece a hug.
"How have you been Sprite?" he asked calling her by her old familiar nickname.
"Good 'Rock of AJ'" she said smiling.
He almost succeeded in not laughing?almost.
"Jeez you look like your Mama.," he said almost in awe.
For a minute, the pain and loneliness she felt at her mothers mention came back fresh and clear, but it was mixed with pride.
"You could have given me no greater compliment Uncle AJ."
AJ looked at her, he could tell she had something important to tell him and he was sure he wasn't going to like it.
Casey had always had this ...look... about her when she had something to tell you that she knew you wouldn't like.
Something kind of like an:
"Uncle AJ I'm running off with a biker" look.
"Want to tell me what's on your mind?" he asked
Casey looked at him, he would yell at her and he'd most likely be hurt by the lies she'd told him.
But...she told herself, it was necessary.
Her job, her life and the lives of those she cared about, had depended on those lies.
It was time for the lies to end.
"You'd better sit down."
"That bad huh?" he asked an inscrutable look on his face.
"Maybe...actually yeah. I have something to tell you about where I work and what I do."
AJ became very still, all kinds of thoughts raced through his head, so many possibilities.
None of them good.
"I know I told you that I worked for a multi- national corporation that had me travelling all over the world, and that's partly true. My job involves a lot of travelling, usually at short notice and not always to pleasant places."
"Where do you work Casey?"
His voice was quiet...way too quiet for Casey's liking.
"AJ I work for The Company, I have for a long time now."
She looked at him, he was angry she could tell.
"I was recruited straight out of FBI training to work for Bradenhurst Corp, they were a cover for the DSD and the CIA, I was only at Bradenhurst until 94. "
"Then what?" AJ asked his voice neutral.
"Then in '94, I was reassigned to a covert group working at State and I've been there ever since."
She said finishing.
"I see!" AJ said.
AJ got up from his desk and walked out of his office door closing it behind him, leaving Casey sitting alone on the leather chair in his office waiting for an explosion that never came.
"Sir?" Tiner asked looking at the Admiral, who waved him off.
Tiner looked closely at the Admiral.
He was actually counting to ten trying to control his anger.
He got to three before he turned back and walked back into his office.
Tiner didn't know what she had just told the Admiral, but he suddenly felt really sorry for Casey McDaniels.
AJ walked back into his office and looked at Casey.
"You've been working for The Company for years and you never thought I should know about it?"
"Uncle AJ...I wanted to tell you so many times, but I couldn't. Part of my job is keeping what I do a secret. Even from those I care about. I kinda thought you, of all people, would understand that."
"So why are you telling me now?"
AJ asked still furious but less so than before, he knew how hard it was to keep that kind of work a secret from the people you loved.
He had learned that in the SEAL's, it was part of what destroyed his marriage to Marcella and kept him from Francesca while she was growing up.
"Because now we need your help. " she said bluntly.
"Who's we?" he asked.
"My partner and I" she said with a grimace.
"And where is your partner?" AJ asked quietly.
Casey looked at her watch.
"He should be here any second"
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Clayton Webb strolled into the Admiral's outer office where Tiner sat at his desk talking to Rabb about a deposition for the Gillie court-martial.
"Tiner, is the Admiral in?" he asked interrupting.
"Yes, but he's with someone right now."
Webb looked at Tiner a pained expression on his face.
"Please tell me Casey McDaniels isn't in there?" he asked.
Tiner and Rabb looked up at Clay in surprise.
"Yes she is...she arrived about 10 minutes ago."
"Dammit, I told her not to go in there alone?if she isn't the most stubborn piece of work I ever met..." He said to no-one in particular.
Rabb and Tiner just looked at him.
"I take it you know Ms McDaniels, Webb."
Harm asked pointedly.
"I should know her Harm she's been my partner for the last 5 years!"
Rabb and Tiner looked at Clay incredulously.
"Partner? You have a partner"
"Yes I do Harm and AJ doesn't know that she even works for CIA, yet alone..."
Tiner raised his eyebrows and interrupted.
"Actually, I think she may have told him where she worked a few minutes ago Sir."
"Why, what happened Tiner"
Harm asked, staring at the petty officer with raised eyebrows.
"Well the Admiral came out and, well...he was counting to ten Sir..."
"How far' did he get?" Webb asked a worried look on his face.
"He, uh...he got to....three." Tiner said a grimace on his face.
Clay didn't wait to hear anything else, he opened the door to AJ's office and announced himself in his most arrogant CIA voice.
"Sorry I'm late...got caught in traffic."
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Casey looked up as Clay walked into the office. She had hoped he wouldn't show.
So much for hope.
It took AJ exactly 2 seconds to make the connection between Webb's arrival and Casey's partner.
"OH NO CASEY...NOT HIM!!!" AJ yelled.
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Outside in the bullpen all work had ceased, everyone was quiet, trying to listen to the raging argument going on in the Admiral's office.
"...AND YOU JUST EXPECT ME TO LEND YOU MY PEOPLE FOR THIS...YOU MUST BE KIDDING WEBB."
For ten minutes now there had been nothing but yelling coming from at least two of the people in the office.
They had heard the Admiral and Webb, but not Casey.
"Think he killed her Sir?"
Tiner asked Harm as they leaned on the desk outside AJ's office.
Harm smiled.
"He's more likely to kill Webb than his niece Tiner."
Tiner smiled; he had no great love for Mr Webb at all.
"Might not be such a bad idea." he mused.
Harm laughed and Tiner blushed, he hadn't realised he'd said that out loud.
Mac came out of the elevator and walked over to where Harm and Tiner were standing.
"What's going on in there?" she asked worriedly as she heard the yelling.
"Well the Admiral has just found out that his niece Casey is actually Webb's partner. I don't think he's happy about it. "
"Webb has a partner? And the Admiral has a niece?" Mac asked the shock registering on her face. "How come we've never met her?"
"Beats me?" Harm said. "Apparently she and Webb have been partners for 5 years!"
The door to the Admiral's Office was flung open and Casey stalked past them and out into the bullpen.
"Casey McDaniels get back in here" the Admiral hollered as he followed he out of the office.
"Case get back here." Webb yelled.
"Don't tell her what to do!" AJ yelled at Webb.
"Why not, she's 'my' partner?" he said enjoying the dig.
"And she's 'my' niece!" AJ yelled back.
AJ fronted up to Webb and Webb refused to back down, someone was gonna get hit if it kept up at this rate.
Casey had had enough, for the last quarter of an hour she had listened to them both argue about what she should and shouldn't have done.
There had been no real mention of their mission, apart from her Uncle sounding off at Webb for using his people.
"Enough!" she said in a voice that surprised everyone.
It was a voice designed to turn men to stone, the voice of a woman very much used to being in charge.
Harm had heard Mac use that same tone of voice on the USS Watertown when she told three sailor's she would feed their arses to the crabs if they didn't show her some respect.
"For the last ten minutes I have listened to you both acting like a couple of kids squabbling over a toy and quite frankly I have had enough of it."
She turned to her partner.
"Clayton...AJ practically raised me. Respect the fact that he is my Uncle...it will never change."
She turned to look her Uncle in the eye.
"AJ...Webb and I have been partners for 5 years. I trust him with my life -which is handy since he's already saved it?twice."
"Sort out your differences and when you do I'll be in the cafe downstairs."
With that she turned and walked away.
The bullpen was deadly silent, everyone had watched holding their breath as the small red-headed woman told off two of the most powerful men in the building.
Clay and AJ stared after her, a look of disbelief on Webb's face and a look of pride on AJ's.
"That's my girl!" AJ said with a smile. "Just like her Mama."
"Wow...I never knew she had such a temper, I mean I knew she had a temper but she's never just exploded like that before."
AJ looked at Webb incredulously.
"You've been partners with Casey for 5 years and she's never gone off the Richter like that?"
"Well maybe at other people, but not at me." Webb said honestly.
"She must have gotten real patient is all I can say!"
AJ said sarcastically as he turned around and walked back into his office.
"You better go get her from downstairs before she drinks that cafe out of coffee."
Webb smiled, Casey's passion for coffee when she was under stress was well documented.
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AJ stood at his window and watched as Webb walked down to the courtyard cafe on the ground floor and approached Casey.
Casey sat at a small wrought iron table under a tree.
He watched as she ignored Webb as he sat down, sipping her coffee intently.
Webb took out his handkerchief and waved it like a surrender flag.
Casey tried not to laugh.
Webb smiled at her and offered her his hand.
She took it and he helped her to her feet and they walked back into the building.
Watching from the window AJ sensed something else between them , he wasn't sure if it was that they were just familiar with each other having been partners for such a long time, or whether there might be something else going on.
But he intended to find out.
Webb and Casey got out of the elevator and walked back into JAG HQ.
Mac and Harm watched as Webb held the door open for his partner, he was being polite and courteous and terribly un-Webb like.
"Y'know , I think I like her already." Mac said to Harm
"Hmmm she reminds me of a certain JarHead I know" he said walking off, a fly-boy smile on his face.
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"Tiner, is my niece and her 'partner' back yet?"
AJ fairly spat out the word 'partner' as he yelled out the door of his office.
Tiner sat at his desk.
"Yes Sir they've just gotten out of the elevator."
"Good get Rabb and McKenzie in here ASAP, Oh and Tiner?"
"Yes Sir?"
"Get some coffee up here too, we could be here a while." He said with a half smile.
"Aye Sir." he said.
Tiner walked out of the office and over to Harm's office where Mac was standing in the doorway.
"Admiral would like to see you both ASAP." he said with a smile.
"Wonder what this is about?" Mac said with a sigh.
"My guess is we have another 'Mission Improbable' courtesy of Webb and his lovely partner."
Harm said grinning.