In Their Own Words - Washington Holiday
Lieutenant (j.g.) Bud Roberts
By Anne (annetaul@home.com)
Gee, so much can happen in just a few short days! I’ll never forget how I felt the other day when I saw Harriet Sims at JAG. I made me very excited to know that she was going to be in Washington now. I met Harriet, er, Ensign Sims, a few months ago when we did an investigation aboard the Seahawk. She had my old job as Public Affairs Officer. It was fun to be with her and we seemed to have so much in common, which was pretty amazing, I really don’t ever seem to have much luck with women – but Harriet was kind of different. Then, there she was in Washington to stay. She seemed interested in me when she asked me to give her some pointers. And that made me nervous, of course.
I wanted to ask Harriet out; I really did. I even went to Major MacKenzie for some advice. I hope I didn’t say the wrong thing and offend her. The major said I should go for it and just ask her out. I tried, but I felt sort of awkward and silly. Actually, I think maybe it was Harriet who asked me out. Anyway, we had a date for dinner at a nice restaurant. I was very excited. Then our briefing session ran long and I knew I was going to be late to meet Harriet. I rushed out and drove as fast as I could. The worst possible thing happened. I got a flat tire --- of all the nights! When I opened the trunk, there was no spare. I knew I was in big trouble.
Finally I hailed a cab and went to the restaurant, but Harriet wasn’t there. I took the cab to her apartment, but she wasn’t there either, so I decided to wait. When she finally did come home, she was with another guy. I knew she was mad – I guess I couldn’t blame her. I had gotten two tickets to the NATO ball, so I asked her to go with me, but she had already accepted a date with Lieutenant Knox. I couldn’t believe how badly I had screwed this up.
I was still feeling pretty bad at work the next day when I talked to Ensign Nestor at the copy machine. I had never really intended to use my tickets to the ball, especially since Harriet was going with somebody else, but somehow – and I’m still not sure how it happened – I ended up with a date with Ensign Nestor. Sometimes I mess up so much that even I don’t know what I’m doing.
So much was going on with me and Harriet and everything that I almost didn’t have time to notice all the problems Commander Rabb was having. He had been assigned as a protocol officer to escort this spoiled, impossible princess who somebody was trying to kill. He got entangled in politics and espionage and all kinds of stuff. At first he wasn’t too happy about the assignment, there’s always trouble when Mr. Webb’s involved, but I think after it got going, he didn’t mind it so much. Like I said, I was so involved in my own problems that I really didn’t even have a chance to notice much about all he was doing until........ that night at the NATO ball.
Commander Rabb was there with Major MacKenzie. They danced and seemed to have an okay time. I was kind of watching Harriet and her date, which, I know, wasn’t fair to my date, but....... Major MacKenzie danced with Lieutenant Knox and Commander Rabb came over to dance with Ensign Nestor. That left me and Harriet alone to hook up together. We talked and then we danced. I think she forgave me for that night I didn’t make it to dinner. Anyway, she was the same wonderful girl I remembered.
It was right after we danced that the king and princess arrived. They both seemed nervous. Actually, everyone was on edge. When the princess announced that their country would join NATO, Commander Rabb spotted someone trying to kill her. He rushed to try to stop it, but got there right as a sniper killed the shooter. He was very surprised to find that it was somebody he knew. I’ll have to get more details about that from him sometime.
Chaos erupted in the ballroom. Harriet and I didn’t dance after that; we left soon after. We took a walk and talked. It was really nice. Then I realized that I owed her dinner, so we went to eat. Not much was open, though. We ended up with burgers at an all-night diner. It didn’t matter, though. We had a great time. After dinner, I took her home. When we kissed goodnight, it was really something. She’s very special. I hope we can spend a lot more time together.
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Disclaimer: While based on the JAG episode, this is for entertainment purposes only and no profit is being made.