Title: Fantasy Author: Heather Feather E-mail: cmdr_lgchikamori@yahoo.com Rating: G Classification: Animal/Lia R Spoilers: None Summary: Liandra’s mind wanders… Disclaimer: JAG and its characters are all DB’s…except for Lia & Animal. –grin- ********************************************************************** * JAG Headquarters Falls Church, VA “I’m so glad you two are here,” CMDR Liandra O’Hara Chikamori grinned at her friends. “Even if it is only temporary duty.” “Well, TDY’s better than nothing,” LCDR Kimber Benton said, and the young woman standing beside her agreed. “Yeah, it is a change of scenery,” Lt. Midori O’Malley Chikamori murmured. “So, Cuz, how’s married life?” Lia grinned at her cousin-in-law and former RIO. Midori had recently married Liandra’s husband Hugo’ s cousin Kazuo. Since Midori was assigned to Hugo’s squadron, the VF-41 Black Aces, she had to endure teasing about her new life from both sides. “Oh, mine’s fine, how’s yours?” Midori retorted with a grin of her own. “Terrific. Couldn’t be better.” Lia turned to Kimber. “How’s Metalman, Kim?” “Oh, no, you two are not grilling me on my relationship with Phil. No way, Jose.” Kimber adamantly shook her head. Gunnery SGT Galindez stuck his head in the door of Lia’s office. “Commander, there’s a woman here to see you. She says she’s your dance instructor.” Liandra smiled her thanks at Victor. “Thanks, Gunny, send her in, please.” A minute later, Paula Abdul swept into Lia’s office. Lia hid a smile at the look on Gunny Galindez’s face. “That’ll be all, Gunnery SGT.” “Yes, ma’am,” the Gunny replied, then closed the door behind him. “So, what’ve my three favorite students been up to in the last five years?” Paula asked the girls. “Oh, nothing much, just helping keep world peace,” Kimber said sarcastically. “What do you think fighter pilots do?” “Not to mention JAG lawyers,” Midori snarled in defense of Liandra. Ever the peacemaker, Lia held up a hand. “Ladies, please. Let’s not fight. Ok, Paula, what’s up? Why are you here?” “Just got off the phone with Admiral Chegwidden. He said it’s okay for me to use some of my students in a performance for his staff,” Paula replied with a smirk. Kimber looked over at Midori and Lia then rolled her eyes. “Tell me why we took this assignment again,” she moaned. The four women exited the office to find the entire JAG staff waiting for them in the bullpen. Admiral Chegwidden walked over to Paula and smiled. “I didn’t know you knew LCDR Benton and Lt. O’Malley, Ms. Abdul,” he said warmly. “Oh, yes, I’ve known Kimber, Midori, and Liandra for years,” Paula replied as AJ’s jaw fell open. “Liandra?” he cocked an eyebrow at his niece. “I did have a life before Annapolis, you know, Uncle AJ,” Lia said to her uncle. “Well, Ms. Abdul, let me introduce you to a few officers who will also be attending your performance today. This is LCOL Lora Summerall, CMDR Scott Summerall, LCDR Jessica McCaye, and LCDR Jack Keeter.” Paula shook hands with the four officers. “Excuse me, Admiral. Summerall? I didn’t know brothers and sisters could serve together.” Colonel Summerall grimaced and Lia burst out laughing at the look on her cousin’s face. “Let me explain, Uncle AJ, if that’s okay.” With his customary grimace, he said, “Be my guest, Commander.” “Paula, LCOL Summerall is my cousin, and Scott is her husband. And no, they’re not in the same chain of command. Rorie works with NCIS, and Scott is a member of my husband’s fighter squadron.” “Yeah,” Kimber piped up. “Midori and I get to see his ugly mug every day.” “Hey, you two, watch it,” Rorie growled. “What about us?” Keeter howled plaintively. “That was my question, Jack. What about you?” a familiar voice called from the doorway. Male laughter echoed behind him. “Aww, now honey, don’t make Jess mad at you,” Lia pleaded with the Captain standing in front of her. “I’m not in the mood to peel her off of you today. And stop picking on Jack.” “Why should I?” Captain Hugo “Animal” Chikamori asked his wife. “Because I have enough problems with Harm, I don’t need any added aggravation from Keeter,” Lia responded, then groaned when she got a look at the man standing behind her husband. “Oh, no, why did you bring Metalhead?” Kimber walked over to her fiancée and smacked Lia’s arm in the process. “Hey, you, don’t talk about my darling Phil like that. You don’t hear me talking about your precious Hugo that way, do you?” “Of course you don’t,” Midori snickered. “He outranks you.” Lia couldn’t help but laugh herself. “No, seriously, P., half the staff here at JAG is my family, mostly cousins.” Gesturing to Jess, she said,” Paula, this is LCDR Jessica McCaye, Rorie’s younger sister, also my cousin, and, unfortunately for her, Jess is also engaged to that smartmouth punk, LCDR Jack Keeter.” Lia walked over behind Animal and pulled Midori’s husband into view. “This is my husband’s cousin, Lt. Kazuo Chikamori. He is married to Midori. And this bum,” Lia said, pointing to Phil and ignoring Kimber’s ferocious glare, “is my husband’s best friend and wingman, LCDR Phil Burrows. He and Kimber are engaged to be married.” “Who’s this handsome fellow?” Paula asked, looking over at Animal with an admiring gaze. Lia cleared her throat. “This is my husband, Captain Hugo “Animal” Chikamori. He’s Phil, Kimber, Midori and Scott’s boss.” “Oh…pleased to meet you, Captain,” Paula said, stretching out her hand for him to shake. Animal nodded and shook her hand. “All right, now that all the introductions have been made, I believe I promised your commanding officer a show featuring my three best students. You three get going on Posture Exercises,” Paula ordered Lia, Kimber and Midori. “Oh, we don’t have to do them dry, do we?” Kimber wailed, meaning working without music. “No way!” Lia shouted. “Forget it, P. No music, no postures, got it?” Lia turned and walked to her office, returning a few minutes later with a CD in her hand. Walking over to the stereo that had been set up at one end of the bullpen, she placed it inside. Gunnery SGT Galindez, PO Tiner and Lt. Roberts rearranged the desks, moving them out of the way and clearing a path for the dancers. “Hey, girls, y’all up to a little mischief?” Lia asked her friends, showing them the CD she’d brought from her office, Mariah Carey’s Daydream. “Aw, heck, why not?” Dori said. “Yeah,” Kimber said loudly. “Animal never lets us have any fun.” “Oh, I beg to differ,” Lia snorted. “Your fun, though, is at 30,000 feet.” “Okay, are you ready?” Paula asked. “Yeah,” the girls nod. Kimber turns to Lia. “Which song?” Lia grinned. “You’ll see.” Liandra, Midori, and Kimber stood together at one end of the bullpen. AJ cleared his throat. “What, exactly, are posture exercises, Liandra?” he asked his niece. “Oh, they’re this thing Paula made up years ago to help our posture when we dance,” Lia explained with a grimace. “Oh, God, do not remind me of the early days,” Kimber groaned. “Early days?” Animal ventured. “Yeah. At first postures were just us imitating the way models walk down the runway,” Midori explained. “But it was so boring.” Kimber picks up the story. “Then when Paula got more students, she recruited Lia to help. She even let her choreograph dances and stuff.” Kimber grinned. “One day Paula had to run some errands so she told Lia to get us started on postures. After a few minutes, Lia threw up her hands in total exasperation and turned on some music. We started goofing around, throwing dance moves into the mix. Lia even does a little gymnastics in hers sometimes,” Kimber said, wincing as Lia glared at her. “Gymnastics?” Animal spoke up, raising an eyebrow at his wife who grinned back at him. “Charity and I took gymnastics in high school, dearest. I thought you knew that.” “Well, I didn’t,” Animal growled. Harm grinned and Keeter snickered. “Well, we coulda told ya that, Animal,” Harm said. “Yeah,” Keeter chimed in. “Sass’s got great moves,” he snickered again, but quickly shut up after a silencing glare from his fiancée. Animal stood and walked over to Jack. Getting right up in his face, he spoke with a steely voice. “Let’s get something straight, Mr. Keeter. If I ever hear you make a comment about my wife—“ “Jess will probably castrate you, pal,” Harm interjected. He clamped his own mouth shut as Mac elbowed him hard in the gut. “Quiet, Flyboy,” she hissed. “Yeah, Hammer, you’re just gonna make it worse on ‘ol Keeter,” Scott piped up with a slight grin. Only slight though, after he considered the expression on the face of his redheaded wife. Animal cleared his throat. “As I was saying, Lieutenant Commander Keeter, if you ever make a comment about my wife, any kind of comment, again in my presence, I will…”“Are we clear on things, LCDR?” Animal glowered at the junior officer. Keeter could only nod beneath the fury in his CO’s voice. Animal was not finished yet. He spun around and his open palm collided with Harm’s chest. “And as for you, Mr. Rabb…if I want details on your former romance with my wife, I will get them from her. Do we understand each other, Commander?” Captain Chikamori growled menacingly. “Yeah, sure, Animal, whatever you say,” Harm grinned, then, at a warning glare from AJ, added, “Sir.” Lia impatiently stomped her foot from her position over by the stereo. “Can we get on with this…or are you not yet through, darling?” “Through with what?” Animal asked. “Protecting your precious male ego,” Liandra snarled, getting fed up with her husband’s childish and egotistical display. “But I wasn’t…” Animal started to sputter in argument, but stopped when he noticed the expressions on the faces of the four women that had just entered the bullpen. His own mother, his mother-in-law, as well as Mac’s mother, Kathy O’Hara, and Harm’s mother Trish Rabb, were all smirking knowingly at him as if to say, ‘Yeah, sure, tell us another one.’ Animal shut his mouth and stalked silently back to his seat, his expression clearly stating his irritation that the mothers in his family had all ganged up on him. Liandra, Rorie, Jess and Mac, meanwhile, had to smother their giggles. Lia walked over to the moms and hugged them one by one. “Thanks, y’all, for the rather timely intervention.” “Don’t mention it, dear,” Animal’s mother smiled. “We’re just glad to have been able to help. We all know what it’s like to have to deal with husbands that don’t know when to keep quiet,” Lia’s mom, Maria Gracen MacLeod grinned at her daughter over the muffled objections of her husband, who had come into the room with some of his friends. “Yeah,” Lia grinned back. “Especially those aviators with egos the size of aircraft carriers, eh, Aunt Trish?” Trish Rabb smiled at her daughter-in-law’s cousin. “Yes, dear, especially those type of husbands.” Lia heard her father’s garbled mutterings and could not resist teasing him. “Although those with Scottish origins have pretty big egos, too,” she giggled then laughed outright at the look of outrage on Connor MacLeod’s face. “Oh, I wasn’t talking about you, Daddy,” Lia grinned at her father. “I meant Duncan.” Lia scurried back across the bullpen when Duncan’s eyes narrowed at her. “Hey, I thought you said we could all get into some mischief,” Kimber said to Lia. “So far, you’re the only one who’s having any fun.” “Yeah…okay. Let me fix the CD,” Lia said as she adjusted the settings on the stereo. She set the track she wanted for non-stop repeated play and cranked up the bass and volume. “Okay, all set.” Lia handed the remote control to Paula who said, “Let me know when you three are ready.” “Gotcha.” Once more taking her position with Kimber and Midori, she grinned. “I hope you two don’t mind watching me flirt shamelessly with my husband,” she said. “Why no, not at all,” Midori smiled. “I might do a little flirting myself.” “Same here,” Kimber agreed. “It’d do Phil some good for me to break him out of his shell.” Lia snickered. “No comment.” Liandra nodded at her dance instructor who hit the button on the remote that sent the chosen song pulsing to life through the huge speakers. As the first track on the CD, “Fantasy”, began its soft introduction, Liandra smiled mischievously at her husband. Then the song kicked into overdrive and the girls began to walk across the bullpen, timing their steps to the rhythm of the song. Lia glanced at her husband over the top of her glasses. His jaw was on the floor and his eyes kept getting wider as he watched his wife’s body sway in time to the pulsating rhythm of the music. As the first verse played, Lia grinned and mouthed them to Animal. When you walk by every night Talking sweet and looking fine I get kinda hectic inside Baby I’m so into you Darlin’ if you only knew All the things that flow through my mind Lia had a hard time keeping a straight face over those last two lines, especially after her husband raised an eyebrow and grinned at her, but she managed. She spun military-style on one foot and prepared to dance her way back across the office as the chorus began. But it’s just a sweet sweet fantasy baby When I close my eyes you come and you take me On and on and on It’s so deep in my daydreams But it’s just a sweet sweet fantasy baby Liandra spun and twirled until she reached a point almost even with where her husband was sitting. Glancing to either side where Kimber and Midori pranced in their own routines, she got the typical aviator’s thumbs up sign from her friends. Taking a deep breath, Liandra turned a careful slow cartwheel, landing upright directly in front of Animal. She stretched out her right hand, running it slowly down his cheek, letting her thumb graze his bottom lip provocatively. Animal, on instinct, reached for his wife, and, laughing, she twirled away to join her friends. “Okay, Boss, you’ve had your fun, now it’s my turn,” Kimber grinned as the second verse started. Images of rapture Creep into me slowly As you’re going to my head And my heart beats faster When you take me over Time and time and time again Kimber sauntered out even with where Metalman sat staring goggle-eyed. Stifling a giggle, she removed her cover, tossed it nonchalantly into his lap, and began to spin. Balancing herself on one foot, she performed a beautiful slow pirouette. Coming out of the spin, she put her foot down and completed the run to the other end of the bullpen. Upon nearing Phil, she slipped around behind him and slid one arm down his chest to retrieve her cover. After snatching up the missing piece of her uniform, Kimber leaned around and dropped a quick kiss on Metalman’s cheek. She pranced saucily away, leaving Metalman staring after her in complete stupefication. “Two down, one to go,” Kimber grinned as she got back over to where Lia and Midori stood watching. Then the three women together danced across the bullpen as the chorus played again. But it’s just a sweet sweet fantasy baby When I close my eyes you come and you take me On and on and on It’s so deep in my daydreams But it’s just a sweet sweet fantasy baby “Phil’s too uptight…maybe next time we should do this over at the base,” Lia grinned at her former wingman. “Yeah, Metalman needs to loosen up,” Midori agreed. “See ya, ladies,” she said as she slid out onto the makeshift dance floor when the third verse started. I’m in heaven with my boyfriend My laughing boyfriend There’s no beginning and there is no end Feels like I’m dreaming but I’m not sleeping Midori pranced up and down the bullpen, slowing as she passed her husband in both directions. Each time she looked him right in the eyes and blew him a kiss. “Well, that was nice and flirty,” Kimber commented sarcastically when Midori got back. “Oh, but it was,” Dori smiled. “Look at him.” “He looks mad, Dragon,” Kimber said, absentmindedly referring to Midori by her callsign. “He just doesn’t like any sort of PDA whatsoever. He’s probably really steamed because not only is his CO in here, but also a two-star Admiral,” Midori replied. “Oh, he’ll get over it,” Lia stated confidently. “Trust me, I know. The Chikamori bark is worse than the bite.” As the final chorus played, all three of them took one last trip across the bullpen. They spun, twirled and sashayed their way around, stopping in front of their respective other halves. As the last line played, Lia, Kimber and Midori timed their final move perfectly. Throwing one arm across the shoulders of the men seated in front of them, each woman draped herself across her husband’s lap, leaning back and letting her head fall nearly to the floor. The sound of snapping fingers brought Liandra out of her daydream. Kimber and Midori stood in front of her desk, impatience creasing both their faces. Kimber grabbed her hand and pulled her urgently up from her chair. “Come on! We’re going to be late. We’re supposed to meet the guys at Beltway Burgers for lunch.” Lia reached over and turned off her CD player and Midori shut off the lights. As her friends drug her out of her office and through the bullpen, she glanced around. A line from the song ran through her mind. ‘It’s just a sweet sweet fantasy.’ “You can say that again,” Lia muttered with a smile. “Did you say something?” Midori asked her as they left. “No,” Lia replied. “Just thinking about a fantasy I had, that’s all.”