Title: You Can Call
author: Lydia
Summary: Missing scene from "Promised Land". Takes place: After Bud accepts his Purple Heart.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Bud stood at attention and Harriet held back proud tears as she pinned his
Purple Heart on his hospital robe. They embraced, and Harriet let her tears
flow freely. Bud sat back down on his bed, and a low cough was heard at the
doorway.
"I don't know wether to congratulate you or not, Lieutenant." Harriet stepped
aside and turned around as Clay walked in.
"Mr. Webb!"
Harriet's face was still a little streaky. She wasn't expecting to see him. Clay
silently handed her a Kleenex, and turned to Bud.
"How are you holding up, Lieutenant?" He offered his hand. Bud shook it.
"Pretty good, sir, except I just fell out of bed..." Bud chuckled.
Clay raised an eyebrow. "Now how would that be possible? After all," he gestured
to the missing leg. Bud smiled again.
"Well, I woke up and wanted another pear," he pointed at the fruit basket. "And
forgot my leg was gone, then stood up, and fell."
Harriet was surprised. She was expecting Clay to come back with a sarcastic
remark in response, but all he did was nod with a tiny, sort-of-understanding
smile.
"And how about you, Harriet?"
Harriet? Where did that come from? Mr. Webb sure was acting a little odd...
"Oh, you know, sir..." She answered evasively. Clay chuckled. They both turned
to Bud, and noticed he had fallen asleep again.
"Well, I'd better go," Clay commented softly, as not to wake Bud. Clay offered
his hand to Harriet, and she shook it.
"Thank you for coming, Mr. Webb. It was very nice of you to visit."
"Well, Bud didn't deserve that,"
Clay took his hand back, and avoided Harriet's eyes.
"And even though we don't get along very well, I do consider him a friend, and
I wanted to see how things were going."
Harriet chuckled inwardly. This Clayton Webb was different that the other
Clayton Webb she knew. He was acting nervous.
"Well, I guess I'd better go," Clay repeated. "And if you need help with
anything, you can call me, alright?"
He said behind his shoulder as he walked out the door.
"Thank you," Harriet called bemusedly. Clay turned a hard right, and she smiled,
curious. She always knew he wasn't so bad. But she had never seen him act...
nice... Bud stirred awake again, and Harriet hurried to have a pear on hand.
END
Follow up fic
Author: Lydia
Title: Coping With It
Takes Place: This is kind of a follow up to "You Can Call"
(And again, I own nothing that has to do with JAG, except for a few video
taped episodes :P)
Clay sat down at the kitchen table with a cup of ice water. He wasn't
really in the mood for anything else... And if he did pour himself some
scotch, or got a beer, he knew it would just lead to another, then
another, and he didn't really want to get drunk. Clay stood up
restlessly, and dumped his water down the sink. Roberts wasn't even
technically a friend... Clay groaned. He turned on the TV and channel
surfed for a few minutes. Nothing was working. Every time he looked at
something else, he saw Bud, with his pale face, and Harriet hovering over
him, looking like she was going to start sobbing. Clay angrily turned the
TV off, and began pacing the length of the living room. Five minutes
later, he had a thought, and turned to a bookshelf. He opened a cabinet
on the bottom, and began leafing through the pile of folders that was
there. He smiled and pulled out his selection. Corelli: Sonata in D
minor, Opus 5, No. 8... Ok, if this didn't help at least a little bit, he
was going to get mad. Clay placed the solo on the stand, and tuned his
cello. He rosined his bow, and opened the Corelli. The preludio was slow,
and sad. Concentrating on the music, Clay temporarily forgot about why he
had pulled this stuff out in the first place. As he finished the slow
movement, he jumped right into the fast movement, instead of preparing
himself for the change in tempo. The allemanda was the exact opposite of
the first movement. Fast and jumpy, it had a cheerful lilt to it. Over
too soon, Clay began the sarabanda. This movement was slow like the
first, but only three lines long. Then came the giga. Another fast one,
and fun to play as well. Clay held the double stops at the end in an
extra long retard. He hadn't played that one in a while. He was pleased.
It sounded pretty good. It wasn't ready for a concert, but it was still
pretty good. Clay packed up his cello, and headed for the kitchen. He
ironically picked a pear out from the fruit basket on the counter. As he
bit into it, the pear once again reminded him of the predicament Bud was
in. Clay sighed and finished his pear in aggravated silence. Suddenly he
smiled. Why didn't he think of that before? Twenty minutes later, Clay
was at a farm, dressed in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. He walked into
the barn and looked at all the horses in their stalls.
"Hello, Mr. Webb," a girl greeted him.
She was bringing Xerxes in from the pasture.
"Hi, Megan," he answered her. "Did you have your lesson yet?"
"No, I was early, and I'm waiting for Marie and Laura to get here." Clay nodded.
"You haven't been around for a while, where've you been?"
"Oh, you know how it is..." Clay answered evasively. He absolutely could not
get Megan involved in his work... That would be disastrous. He silently begged
for Marie and Laura to come. As if by magic, they appeared, leading Reuben
and Breezy into the barn to saddle them up.
"Hi, Mr. Webb," they chouroused.
"Hey, guys,"
Clay smiled, trying to get through the three horses now tied in the barn.
"Have a good lesson!"
"Thank you," they replied.
Then the three girls began talking about school, and giggling at
who knows what. Probably boys... Clay headed for the far end, where
Pentagon was stalled. Clay's horse whinnied to see his master.
"I'm sorry, buddy. I haven't been here in a while, huh?" Pentagon shook his
head. Clay laughed. It was only because there were flies, but it sure
looked like Pentagon was agreeing with Clay. A loud voice echoed through
the barn. "Ok, girls! Lets get out here!"
The three girls led their saddled mounts out, and their giggling died. Now
alone, Clay began to just talk to his horse.
"How've you been doing? Good, huh? Be glad you're
a horse, Pent. You don't worry about anything, do you? You don't have to
feel bad about stuff... I wish I was a horse sometimes, Pent. 'Cause see,
Bud Roberts from JAG got his leg blown off when he was in Afghanistan,
you know." Pentagon whinnied.
Clay sat down in the straw.
"Yeah, pretty bad huh? Well, I went to go see him in the hospital, and now,
I can't stop thinking about him and Harriet."
Clay looked up at Pentagon. The black Hunter cocked his head at Clay, as if
gesturing for him to go on.
"I mean, it wasn't my fault, but I can't help wondering if there was
anyhting I could have done to keep it from happening... I don't know why,
but for some reason, I'm having trouble coping with it..."
Pentagon nuzzled Clay's shoudler sympathetically, and Clay stood up and stroked
Pentagon's muzzle.
"I got to get a new job..." Five minutes later, Clay and Pentagon were happily
jumping fences in one of the outdoor rings.
END