Wild Blue Yonder

Spring

Jump to new as of December 20, 2001

Operation Welcome Wagon

Posted on Monday, 26 November 2001, at 3:42 p.m.

It is a Truth Universally acknowledged that a single woman enlisted in the United States Air Force must be desirous of a Promotion.

It is also a Truth that the USAF Promotion Board is about as slow as Molasses in January.

How many Truths are there? Tons more but I'm only mentioning one of them for now: It is a Truth that Fraternization between Officers and Enlisted is a Serious Offence. This Truth must be understood if this story is to go any further.

Operation Welcome Wagon

Staff Sergeant Elizabeth Bennet surveyed the group of fifteen females standing before her. This batch was the last of her new flight; the others had arrived the night before and were at this moment getting as much sleep as they could before she woke them up in a few hours. The girls were unaware of her presence and glanced around nervously. A few looked back at the taillights of the departing bus, wishing that they were on it. They always looked the same. Scared, tired, smelly and unkempt. Only the names changed. She wondered if she looked just as scared when she arrived here nine years ago and smiled to herself. The smile didn't show on her face though. In fact, her flight probably wouldn't see her smile for another month unless she was yelling at them. Until then she would probably keep her face as passive as she could. These girls didn't need a warm and cuddly TI. They would need to learn discipline. Starting off on the right foot always helped. After performing a head count and checking the list to see if the numbers matched she decided it was time to introduce herself. She straightened her Smokey Bear hat and cleared her throat.

"WAKE UP!" That did it. Someone squeaked in surprise. Staff Sergeant Bennet walked over to the front of the group. "What the hell do you think you're doing? When your TI talks to you, you respond!"

"Y... yes, Ma'am!"

"Ma'am, yes, Ma'am!"

"Ma'am, yes, Ma'am!"

Lizzy put a finger to her ear. "Excuse me? I didn't hear what you said." She walked up to a recruit. "WHAT DO YOU SAY?"

MA'AM, Yes, MA'AM!!" The airman bellowed.

Lizzy turned around and walked in front of the flight annunciating clearly. "My name is Staff Sergeant Bennet. I will be your Technical Instructor for your Basic Training in the United States Air Force. You will always address me either as Ma'am or Staff Sergeant Bennet. Not Sergeant, not Sarge, not Hey You, and definitely not Sir. Do you understand me?"

"Ma'am, yes, Ma'am!"

"While you are under my instruction you will do everything I tell you to do without question. I will teach you the basics in being a member of my Air Force. And maybe, if you last, you will have even learned to walk erect," Lizzy moved her eyes over the faces of the flight, noting the ones who seemed most likely be problems and the ones who seemed most likely to drop out though she was sometimes surprised by the end of training, from her initial assessment, at who among them was remaining and who was recycled. "Is that clear?"

"Ma'am, yes, Ma'am!"

"NOW GET IN LINE!" The girls continuously bumped into each other trying to form a single line. "MOOOVE!" A line was formed. "You've got to be kidding me! Look down!" Fifteen heads hesitantly bowed down to stare at the yellow footprints painted on the ground for the benefit of the newly recruited. "Do you see the footprints on the pavement?

"Ma'am, yes, Ma'am!"

"Put your feet on those footprints!" Bennet watched as they picked up their luggage again and moved into formation. "When you are standing, your feet will always be in a forty-five degree angle, exactly as they are now. That's twenty-two and a half degrees left and twenty-two and a half degrees right. Do I make myself clear?"

"Ma'am, yes, Ma'am!"

"Attention!" Fifteen girls stood stiff as a board in what they thought was a passable attempt.

"WRONG! You," she pointed to a small, mousy girl who thought she was safe hiding in the back. "Come over here. Now watch as this airman demonstrates the correct way to stand At Attention. When you stand at attention you will look straight ahead of you with your fingers curled and your thumbs aligned with the seam of your trousers. Shoulders back, chin parallel to the ground..." Lizzy adjusted the airman as she spoke until the girl was standing the way Lizzy wanted her. "You will not move. You will not speak unless spoken to. You will not sneeze, fart, scratch an itch or deviate from your position until you are told. If a fly lands in your ear and starts humming every note from The Sound of Music, you will let it hum until either it gets bored and flies away or you are allowed to stand At Ease. And whatever you do, you will never lock your knees. I'm not going to drag around a bunch of stupid airmen who fainted because they cut off their own blood circulation. That's important so remember it," Lizzy let the girl rejoin the group then called for attention.

"I said attention! When I say attention you snap to attention. Say it!"

"SNAP!"

"Attention!"

"SNAP!"

"What is your primary malfunction? Stand at attention when you say it! Attention!" They snapped together as best they could.

"Again!" They did. "Again!"

"SNAP!"

Lizzy decided it was good enough for now, they could practice again tomorrow. She had all day to practice 'attention' and 'at ease'.

"If you're taller then the person in front of you, tap them on the shoulder and move forward!" Nothing happened. "Tap. Move forward." Someone jumped in surprise. Lizzy stalked over to the offending creature. "Stop shaking! I don't bite!" She lowered her voice to a menacing growl. "Do I make you nervous, Airman?"

"Ma'am, yes, Ma'am."

"I'm pleased. I'm not pleased very often, Airman. Move to the front of the formation." The girl picked up her bag and stood in front of the group. "Flight! Pay attention! This is your Dorm Leader. She is responsible for you until such a time as I decide to pick another Dorm Leader. If any." She glared at the girl. "For now, she's in charge to make sure you don't screw up!"

"Pick up your bags! When I call out your name say 'here'." Lizzy went through the roll making sure to pronounce the hard names wrong. Let them think she was an idiot. It was all part of the process. "Put your bags down!" Seventeen bags whumped to the floor. "Pick them up!" Fifteen backs bent as they retrieved their luggage. "As a group this time. Do it again." She had the flight pick up and drop their bags four more times until she was satisfied. "Get in line!" The girls looked at each other. They were in line. Lizzy marched over to the dorm leader and yelled in her face. "What's the matter with your flight, Airman? Get them into a single file line immediately! Now! NOW! MOVE!"

The girls scrambled to get back into a single file. "It took you long enough. If you're taller than the person in front of you tap her on the shoulder and move forward. This will become automatic for you starting now!" The girls got in order. "Now, as I call out your name you will form a single file line to my right. That's my right. You're in the military now, you'd better learn right from left pretty quick!" She called out the roll again and quickly a line formed up. Again. Lizzy checked her watch. Two a.m. Time to get the little buggers to bed. "Pick up your bags! Forward... March! Thirty-two pairs of feet pounded the pavement and up the stairs to their dorm. Lizzy stood next to the door, holding it open as the girls filed through. She finally let her voice relax and spoke normally. "You are now Flight W-421. You will live, breathe, and eat that number for the duration of your training. Until graduation, you belong to me." She let the door slam shut behind her.

Major Fitzwilliam Darcy III, USAF (Will to his very close friends) reported to his new command precisely at seven a.m. Major Darcy felt good about himself, a career officer born and bred in the United States Air Force, he was fresh from the Pentagon and was excited about his new command. He'd just been promoted to Major and because he had a short time in grade he felt that he had to live up to his responsibility at Nether Field, Lackland AFB, Texas. And commanding a training squadron held a lot of responsibility. If he did his job well, then the Air Force would be provided with well-trained airmen for the future and he'd look pretty good in the process as well. If he screwed up and didn't do his job, then the consequences were not even worth thinking of. There would be no career, there would be no future and the Family Name would be dragged through the mud and if there was one thing that was pounded into his head from infancy from his mother and father it was how important it was that the Family Name always mean, at the very least, three things: Honor, Pride and Duty (The list was actually longer and changed according to the lecture and what young Will Darcy did wrong to deserve that lecture but those were the overall top three mentioned) and he truly believed that with all his heart. He loved his job and his country and his family and to mess that up would be stupidity beyond compare. He felt confident that the title General Fitzwilliam Darcy III was in the nearish future. This most recent assignment was all part of the process. Everything was looking up. Yes, Darcy was very pleased.

Except that he hated Texas.

He pulled his car up to the squadron and parked it in the reserved commanding officer's spot. Grabbing his brief case and a medium-sized box containing his belongings from the passenger seat, he strode to the front doors of the building and made his presence known. He was easy to spot; he was the only one in the building wearing a hat.

He found his office without a problem since the military is primarily one size fits all, passed his secretary with a nod, pleased to have recognized her, walked in and promptly closed the door with his foot. From the box he took out plaques and certificates and pictures. There was one five by seven of his sister Gina, one five by seven of his father General Fitzwilliam Darcy II, and one five by seven of his mother standing by the family car in front of base housing. Darcy didn't remember exactly where they were when the picture was taken, he thought it was Andrews AFB but then again it could have been any number of houses in any number of bases around the world. He placed the picture of his mother in between the other two pictures on the left of his pen set. He always kept his desk the same no matter where he went in the service. It gave him a sense of constancy.

He always left a spot open on the right hand side of his pen set where his future wife's picture would go. Not that he had anyone particular in mind, but he would be getting married someday. He sometimes dreamed about the perfect woman and how she would make his life complete but the reality was the women he met were all Air Force brats or worse, Air Force personnel. He didn't want to marry inside the military, be they General's daughters or Generals themselves. Sure it had its advantages; she would know the ropes and wouldn't need to be instructed on how the military worked, but the women he met seemed, to him at least and rather hypocritically at that, that they valued him only as far as his career would take him. They thought only of Washington Cabinet posts and embassy appointments. Darcy sighed as he looked at the bare spot on his desk. No, he would definitely wish to marry outside the military. He would have to do it soon. It was almost impossible to make General without a wife.

Within thirty seconds there was a knock on his door. He adjusted his glasses on his face and with a deep breath, prepared for the day. "Enter."

"Good morning, sir," First Sergeant Charlotte Lucas walked in the room carrying a sheaf of papers and some manila folders. She had known Major Darcy previously from when they were both stationed at Hickam AFB, Hawaii. He was all right... for an officer. Strict but fair. Sometimes annoyingly overbearing in a keep-your-distance-lest-you-get-burned kind of way. Still, he knew his stuff inside and out, he definitely wasn't stupid and was good to look at to boot. The First Sergeant knew from experience that he would rely on his subordinates and delegate as needed according to ability, which was a bit odd since he prided rank so much. But, she remembered, he would pull more than his fair share and make doubly sure that everyone would perform to the best of their abilities while he was in command. As he should. She'd seen him come in a few minutes ago and watched his progress down the hall. Half the women in the office were smitten already and Charlotte was glad that there were rules governing fraternization. She made a mental note to remind a few of the less scrupulous people on her staff of that Thou Shall Not Hanky Panky Around rule they found so pesky.

"Good morning, First Sergeant. Good to see you again."

"Thank you, sir. And you." She handed him the training order of the day and briefed him on what was scheduled for the week. When she was finished she said, "There's a new flight starting their training today, sir, would you like to look in on them?"

"Perhaps after chow. Meantime, I want to make the rounds around the administration offices and meet everyone before the welcoming ceremony this afternoon."

"Yes, sir." By 'everyone' First Sergeant Lucas knew he meant the officers. He would get to know the enlisted personnel vaguely, after time and only as needed.

When the First Sergeant was done and had taken his orders for the morning to see that they were carried out, Darcy took off his glasses and polished the lenses and wished for the umpteenth time that had 20/20 vision. He bitterly regretted not being able to fly as he wished when he first went to the Academy and he especially hated wearing glasses. For that matter he also hated jockeying a desk but then, at least he wasn't in Motor T. Outside his window, he heard someone barking out orders. No doubt it was some TI and her recruits stumbling around outside and from the way the TI was shouting it was probably that very same flight that First Sergeant Lucas had told him about. He put his glasses back on and looked out the window. It was a female flight just arrived and still in their civilian clothes. He listened to the TI as she verbally berated some poor soul who didn't do everything she wanted. Darcy smiled to himself. She was good; he'd never heard that particular phrase before. He jotted it down and tucked it away in his briefcase. Not something to say in mixed company but his cousin Richard would like it. On second thought, his cousin the Marine probably originated that particular phrase. He took another look out the window but all he could see of the woman was her Smokey Bear hat and BDUs. She was short, a lot of her airmen towered over her but she intimidated the recruits as if they were nothing but snails. Darcy nodded his head in approval; no doubt she would ease up on them in a week or two when they got into the swing of things. He pushed his chair back and got started with his day. Maybe if he had the time he'd take a look at the new flight.

Operation Whoopsie

Posted on Tuesday, 18 December 2001, at 6:48 p.m.

By Sproops the Pirate Kig

Dedicated to Troops the Pirate Doter, Moops of no relation and Tooloops because of their loopy one trook mind. I hope they approve, it comes out to about 21 pages on my computer.
(Those of you who remember might notice that this takes a very different path than the original WBY)

Some people would say that it is too much of a coincidence that Major Darcy is stationed at the very same base that his best friend also 'just happens' to be stationed at. But the truth of the matter is, is that the military is a small institution and the inmates are bound to run into each other. So when Dr. Charles Bingley, Captain, USAF called him up the day after his arrival so they could get together and play catch up, Darcy wasn't even phased. Of course, he knew that Bingley was at Lackland so the surprise factor was pretty slim to begin with. Especially since he'd given Bingley his contact information. What Darcy didn't know was that Bingley had just gotten himself engaged to a certain Dr. Jane Bennet, Captain, USAF and that Jane Bennet had four other sisters one of whom he had already admired outside his office window his first day there...

The phone was ringing but Darcy didn't bother to lean over his dinner (pepperoni pizza with extra cheese) to pick it up preferring to let whoever it was talk to the answering machine.

"Darcy, hey, it's Charles. Listen, I'm having a... thing this weekend with Jane... you remember I told you about Jane, right? Well, a couple of weeks ago we got engaged and..."

In his hurry to pick up the phone and the ensuing fumbling around with the receiver once he got a hold of it Darcy managed to drive his elbow smack in the middle of the pizza. "Ugh! Wait, begin again. What happened?"

"Oh, you are home," Bingley's always cheerful voice practically beamed across the phone lines at him. "I need you to be someplace this weekend."

"What place? Why? You know I just started here, I don't think I'll have time to..."

"Will, come on, it's just a small party for me and Jane."

"Who is Jane?"

"She's the one I just told you about. It's our engagement party this weekend. Her parents are throwing it. You know a party, where everyone is polite and eats too much antipasto? You have to be there, Jane's mom wanted to have this last weekend but I made her put it off until you arrived and if you don't come she'll think I made you up."

Darcy picked up his chair and sat down. "You really now how to lay on a guilt trip don't you?"

He could hear Bingley practically grinning, "How do you think I get my patients to follow my advice half the time?"

"Funny, it couldn't be for competence could it?" Darcy heard Bingley snort. "Ok, I'll go to your party but I can't stay for long. You know how much I hate antipasto."

"Great! Thanks! Jane's just dying to meet you and I know you'll love her. Everyone does, especially me."

"Naturally."

"And there's one other thing I have to say but I don't want to do it over the phone so can I meet you sometime between now and Saturday?"

"Sure just stop by the squadron anytime you have a break. I should be either in my office of in one of the dorms looking important."

"Great, I'll stop by tomorrow."

"Fine. Oh and Bingley, Congratulations." Darcy hung up the phone and stared at it wondering what his friend had gotten himself into. Marrying a complete (in Darcy's point of view) stranger seemed a little hasty. Darcy was not one to rush into things, especially when dealing with situations of great import like, for instance, getting married. Darcy tried to remember the first time Bingley had mentioned this Jane person and he seemed to recall that it was only a few months ago that he first heard anything about her. But then he was in a different state and he hardly expected Bingley to report back every time he saw her and , well, he didn't pay that much attention at the time either.

There was something so Bingley-ish about the whole affair. How like him to fall in love with someone he knew only for a few months. It seemed ludicrous. Darcy could just see his friend falling for some blonde (She was always a blonde. Darcy had never seen him with any other type except for that one time with a certain redhead best left unmentioned.) their eyes meeting across the room in some overly romantic scenario that always happened to people overly romantic people like Bingley.

It was easy for Charles. Charles could just fall in love. Get married. Have kids. Grow old. Retire and die. What was so hard about it that he couldn't do it himself? And that, if he'd stopped to think about it, was what bothered Darcy. Not very much - nothing that he'd admit to at any rate. Just a tiny little inkling deep down under his skin. A nagging suspicion that maybe, just maybe the reason why he couldn't find anyone to love wasn't because he couldn't find anyone good enough for him but because he wasn't good enough for anyone else. ...Ouch, that hurt and Darcy quickly destroyed the thought, reasoning when he time came for him to fall in love, he would. And hopefully, the person he chose would love him enough back to want to start a family together, which, he thought, would be nice.

Next day

Darcy led his friend to his office where they could talk in private, letting him sit in the comfortable chair by the wall, "So let me guess, it was love at first sight?"

Bingley had to pause to think then he remembered, "Oh! No, actually it was the opposite. She hated me for about a month at first. Thirty-seven days to be accurate. Couldn't stand the sight of me." He sat forward with a rueful look. "I hate this story but I'm telling you just so you don't hear someone else's exaggerated version."

"Someone else like Jane?"

Bingley nodded. "Exactly. She'd rip me to shreds. Okay, here's the short but truthful version. I had a small group of interns with me and we were doing the rounds in the nursery, that's where she works you know, when I inadvertently criticized the treatment of a patient."

Incredulous, Darcy's feet slipped from his desk and thumped to the floor, "In front of all those people?"

"Yeah. Not so good."

"Obviously she heard you."

"She was standing right behind me," Charles gestured in case Darcy didn't know what 'right behind' meant. "And no one said a word. All interns are savages, I tell you, complete savages. I was trapped. I felt like the biggest idiot in the world..."

"Naturally," Darcy started chuckling at the thought of his friend's predicament.

"I swear I thought she was going to backhand me..."

"This is the person you're going to marry?"

"...Really hard too. So I quickly asked her to tell the interns why she was treating the patient in that particular way and, well, she told them. And it turned out she was right and I was being an ass in front of everyone and..."

Darcy cut him off, "How did you change her mind?"

"Ah! That's a secret," Bingley smiled and leaned back in his chair. "But let's just say that I did and I did it so well she is, of her own free will, giving herself to me in holy matrimony."

"I'm shocked."

"That I'm marrying her?"

"No, that she agreed to marry you."

"Well, I'm happy. Jane's happy. Her mother's really happy...."

"Why did you need to see me today anyway?"

"Didn't I tell you I'm getting married?"

"You might have mentioned it, yes."

"Well I need a best man..."

Darcy's face lit up, "Charles, I'm honored..."

"...And since Hurst can't make it I thought I'd ask you." At the mention of Charles' draft dodging alcoholic uncle they both burst out laughing. After a while Charles wiped his eyes a bit before continuing, "Seriously, I would like for you to stand up for me at my wedding. You don't have to do anything but stand there and look pretty."

"I thought that was your job."

"Actually it's Jane's but she's a natural at it."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. And you'd better prepare yourself too. The whole family is gorgeous and she's got four sisters."

Darcy rolled his eyes at the mention of sisters, "Caroline is one too many sister for me I don't need your in laws to make things worse."

Bingley leaned forward again, his eyes lit up mischievously, "That reminds me, Caroline is helping Jane with the wedding. Giving advice and acting as mother of the groom and all that."

"Does she know I'm in town?"

"Not yet, but she'll find out on Saturday."

"Greats." Darcy could feel the onslaught of a headache beginning.

As Charles got up to leave he set a sheet of directions on top of Darcy's desk. The party's at eight, I hope you'll be there."

Darcy smiled in spite of himself. "And miss the chance to meet the beauties of San Antonio? I'll be there. Thanks for the warning about Caroline."

Bingley opened the door, "Why do you think I came to see you today?" Then he winked and left. Darcy pushed his glasses up and got down to work, listening to the rumbling sounds of the circling C-130's overhead and the slightly less noisy barking of the squadron's TI's drift in through the open window.

Lizzy stood in the doorway of Flight W-421's dorm with her eyes wide open in shock and her hands on her hips. She wrinkled her nose at the stinging odor that assaulted her nose. But the smell wasn't half as bad as her floor.

"What the... hell happened in here?" She demanded stopping everyone in their tracks. Someone eeped in the background, Lizzy ignored it and walked into the room stepping over the bodies of girls kneeling on the floor, their hands rough and cracked from scrubbing. She looked around sending shivers down the backs of her flight. "Dorm Leader!"

The dorm leader ran up to Lizzy and stood rigidly at attention. "Ma'am, Airman Perez reports as ordered!"

"What did you do to my floor, Airman?"

"Ma'am, we were getting the scuff marks off the floor..."

"What were you using to do this?"

"Alcohol, Ma'am."

Lizzy choked down a half scream half laugh. "Do you know what happens if you apply alcohol to wax, Airman Perez?"

Perez tentatively looked down at the floor. The color drained from her face. "I... it takes it off... Ma'am?"

"It takes it off." Lizzy calculated her voice to sound almost patient. "You just stripped all the wax off of my nice shiny floor. Now what?" Lizzy folded her arms over her chest in a stance that Major Darcy would have recognized very well if he were in the room.

"Um... Ma'am, we wax the floor again?"

"Are you kidding me? I wouldn't trust this flight to wax rhapsodic after this! It took six flights to get this floor looking like that and you melt it down in one afternoon." Lizzy wrinkled her nose. "Now the whole dorm smells like alcohol. DORM!" Heads popped up from behind beds and lockers. "Open the windows, air this place out before you all pass out. Then strip your beds down." Lizzy allowed herself to smile. "We're going for a walk."

Lizzy turned around and walked to the door. "Airman Perez, I will bring the up buffer this evening. I expect my floor looking as it did by lights out." Perez 'Yes, Ma'amed' and ran to strip the sheets off her bed.

"Oh goody. Now grab your mattresses! Let's go." Lizzy led the flight out the dorm, down the stairs and onto the parade grounds, their mattresses slipping off their backs or falling out of their hands.

"Leyuh, leyuh, leyuh, 'ight, leyuh... To the rear... harch!" Someone dropped her bed. "PICK IT UP, AIRMAN! Move it! Move it!" Lizzy checked her watch. "Are you tired yet?"

"MA'AM, YES, MA'AM!"

"I'm not. Double time... harch!" Lizzy kept them at it until she was sure that they got the idea that using alcohol was bad for her floors.

When the flight was allowed to return to their dorm, Lizzy went down to Admin to set the next day's schedule when she ran into her sister.

"Lizzy!" Jane waved from her car and ran over to her sister.

"You just love making me do this, don't you, Jane," Lizzy said as she snapped a perfect salute at her sister.

"It's the biggest thrill of my life, why do you think I hang around here?"

"Familial love and all that?"

"How did you guess Charles was here today?"

Lizzy laughed, "Did he enlist? Do I get to train him? That's great, I can't wait to instruct him on the finer points of scrubbing toilets. Or maybe I'll just give him pointers on how to live with you. Like how to wake you up with ice water."

Jane grimaced, "Just for reminding me of that I'm going to come back when your flight is around so you have to salute me in front of them too."

Lizzy tried not to laugh even more, "Come on, I'll walk with you." She walked at her sister's left hand side as they strolled leisurely towards the admin offices.

"Charles is here today visiting someone but I did come to see you - to remind you, little sister, that you are expected this weekend at Mom and Dad's. Will you be there?"

Lizzy pretended to think about it, "Aw, Jane, you know I have a brand new, almost moronic flight to break in." At Jane's pleading blue eyes, Lizzy capitulated, "Yes, I'll be there. Of course I'll be there! I told you yesterday I would be there and the day before I would be there and I tell you today that I will absolutely positively be there and I've got my assistant TI covering for me the entire weekend to babysit the bumbleheads and everything. A whole two days to find interesting and new things to do with cheese and crackers. Will that make you happy?"

Jane's smile lit up her face, "Oh that's great! Now don't forget you have to be there by..."

"Seven thirty, I know. I'll do my best." Lizzy wiped her forehead with the back of her hand. It was too hot to tease her sister for long. "Charles must have nerves of steel to be able to resist your puppy dog eyes trick for more than a month. What took him so long to come around anyway?"

Jane smirked. "That's a long story and not appropriate for one so young as yourself. Now, if you'll excuse me," Jane said with great dignity. "I'm going to go meet my Honeybunch for lunch. See you this weekend, Lizzy. Thanks!"

Lizzy stood to attention and saluted, "Always a pleasure, Cap'n." As Jane turned the corner, Lizzy could hear her sister's tinkling little laugh.

Lizzy pulled up half a block away from her parent's house, jerking up hard on the emergency brake to stop her battered car from crashing into the light pole, cursing all the mechanics on the planet and vowing revenge on Ford. She made a mental note to take her car into the shop on Monday, again before she plowed into a van or, worse, some pedestrians, then checked her makeup in the rearview mirror. Taking a deep breath to prepare herself for the family function, Lizzy got out and walked up the immaculately manicured lawn to the house. Late! Late again! How could she explain to her mother that she had to stay late at the squadron then when she got away she couldn't find her shoes which meant she had to change her outfit then find the purse that went with it and by the time she was dressed, she felt so angry that she had to sit and relax for a bit, cursing herself and feeling childish and now it was a quarter past eight and she was so late her mother probably wouldn't speak to her.

Lizzy let herself in and dutifully hung up her shawl on a little hook in the hall closet. Her mother must have invited the entire town because even the hallway was crowded with people and there was something sticky on the regularly polished hardwood floors. Lizzy made a mental note to be out of the house when clean up time came around or else she would find herself on her hands and knees scrubbing just like her current flight and the irony was something she did not want to experience. She squeezed past several people crowding around the entrance to the living room and surveyed the room. Jane and Charles Bingley were standing in the back of the room, talking to some well-wishers and giving each other moony eyes.

"Lizzy!" Mr. Bennet cried out in joy at seeing his second daughter. He hobbled up to her, walking as fast as his cane would let him and hugged Lizzy tightly. "You didn't tell me you were coming. I thought you were breaking in new recruits. Don't you know that surprises may very well give me a heart attack? What would your mother do then?" Lizzy laughed at him and kissed him heartily as her dad pounded her back.

"Hello, Elizabeth."

Lizzy turned to see her mother smiling politely at her, her hands held in front of her stomach as if she were going to start singing at any moment. "Hi, Mom." She kissed the air next to Mrs. Bennet's cheek. "You look wonderful as always." She stood back and let her mom survey her. Mrs. Bennet nodded her head showing that she approved of her dress and Lizzy relaxed a bit.

"Thank you, dear. It's good to see you. It's too bad you're late, your father's already announced Jane's engagement to Captain Bingley." Mrs. Bennet frowned briefly at Elizabeth then turned towards Jane and fairly glowed. "I'm so happy for her. Charles is such a nice man. I wish, for her sake, that he wasn't in the military, that's all. Jane won't be able to handle it if anything happened to him." Mrs. Bennet's voice trailed off slightly then she perked back up. "But then, he's a doctor and likely he won't be in harm's way."

"That's right, Mom, he won't," Lizzy said reassuringly.

"I just don't want her to go through what I did." Mrs. Bennet glanced at Lizzy then looked away.

"I don't think that's a possibility with Jane, Mom."

She was trying to think of something to say when her mother walked away leaving Lizzy standing in the middle of the room. Lizzy glanced around looking for someone to talk to and stopped short when saw someone sitting in the old leather recliner that Mrs. Bennet tried to hide by tucking it away in the corner. He going through one of her father's scrapbooks which no one ever paid attention to. Oh my stars... Lizzy actually felt her knees go weak. He was handsome, reminding her of an actor she'd seen once. Probably from a movie during that one long summer she in the movie theater that was four long dusty blocks away from their old house back on the base. The theater was a welcome relief from the hot Texas summer, cool and soothing and away from her mother's prying eyes and her younger sisters' screaming voices. Yes, that was it, although she couldn't remember which movie or which actor, just that it was black and white and this man's squared chin and glasses were both very attractive. Something about this man with her father's scrapbook triggered that memory. Lizzy thought that here was a situation she was very unprepared for and felt something in her stomach that was too much like small butterflies to be called anything else whirl for a second - no it was a small eternity - before settling down again. She moved closer to him watching his reactions to her father's pictures that she'd made for her father. She'd pieced the book together for his fiftieth birthday, digging out old photos and clippings from battered shoeboxes and dusty drawers then carefully, in her best handwriting, inscribed a caption for each article on the pages.

Darcy sat mesmerized in a well-beaten leather chair in a corner of the crowded living room. All around him the party was in full swing but he was intent on the book in his lap. He turned page after page of pictures and news clippings. At the beginning, there was a striking photo of Aaron Bennet standing next to his F-4 Phantom, his name stenciled onto the nose of the plane, helmet under his arm, short blonde hair tossled by the wind and with a cocky grin on his face. Pictures of promotions and overseas deployments encompassed the main portion but the more engrossing items were towards the back of the book. Small blurry newspaper pictures of Aaron Bennet's battered face staring blankly out at him from an article about his plane being shot down over North Vietnam. More snippets of information about the supposed whereabouts of the pilot gradually becoming fewer and fewer as the item became old news during a time when war was unpopular and the people who participated even less so. Darcy turned the pages, studying the pictures thoughtfully, trying to connect the carefree pilot in the first picture with the absentminded man rambling around in his comfortable house in the suburbs. He turned another page and found that it was the last one left with only two pictures in it. One was of Aaron Bennet in full dress uniform shaking hands with President Ford and the last one showed a painfully emaciated version of Aaron Bennet, his jumpsuit hanging from his bony frame, walking from the stairs of a gray C-130 and into the waiting arms of his wife and child. Darcy stared intently at the picture, in the foreground of the photo there was another child, a dark-haired little girl, not much more than two or three, holding a small bouquet of wilted flowers in her clenched fist, standing apart from the group looking lost among the happy family.

Darcy glanced up slightly then started and blinked when he saw Lizzy standing several feet away, an interesting expression on her face. He lifted his head to look at her with a mixture of surprise and shy admiration. Darcy hesitated only a moment then slowly closed the scrapbook and set it gently aside on the table next to him. Lizzy stood there with her hands at her sides unsure if she should approach him when he smiled shyly up at her, the smile reaching into his eyes. He put his elbows on the armrests and leaned towards her, his whole demeanor asking her to talk to him.

If it wasn't for that shy smile Lizzy probably would have stood there all night, feeling like the world's greatest fool but unable to turn away. But he did smile and Lizzy reasoned with herself that at least as a guest in her parents' house he deserved some courtesy so she smiled back and walked towards him. At the very least. And she wanted very much to know who he was. He was probably married. There was no way he'd be single and unattached and not gay and attracted to her. But something inside her forced her to see for herself. She tested the waters with a quiet, "Hello."

"Hello," he'd quickly got to his feet as she approached him and gestured at the vacant seat next to him, " Would you like to sit for a while?"

Lizzy looked down at the chair and smiled at the thought of someone politely offering a seat in her parent's own home and realized that this man had no idea who she was. He probably thought she was a tag along of some odd friend. "Thank you, I will."

They sat together in a comfortable silence. After a while, Lizzy spoke first, "My name's Elizabeth."

"I'm Will," And strangely enough, he found himself holding out his hand and even stranger, she stretched out her hand and as they touched fingers she noticed a sort of a shock go through her. By the way his eyes widened in surprise Will must have felt it too.

Lizzy dropped her hand and forced herself to look away to try to regain her composure. "I assume you're a friend of Charles? I've never seen you around Jane before." And oh my, if Jane found this one first there's no way I'd ever have a chance with him... She'd have her claws sunk in him so far he'd never recover.

Darcy nodded, still slightly dazzled by Lizzy, the scrapbook, her hand and the shock when they touched. This doesn't happen in real life, it's only in movies and those silly romance novels Caroline is so fond of. No one falls in love like this. "I'm to be Charles' best man."

Lizzy smiled once more, "That's great." At the confused look that crossed his face she hurried on, "I'm Jane's sister. I'll be her maid of honor."

"Really?" His face brightened. "That is something isn't it?"

"Yes, it is."

A nagging thought entered Darcy's mind but managed to do it with great effort to tuck it away for the moment. "Then we'll be seeing more of each other."

A beguiling smile played around the corners of Lizzy's lips. "Yes, we will."

"I like that."

"Yes." Lizzy wondered if Will was as infatuated as she was.

"This is the first time I've met Jane."

Lizzy bit her lip trying not to frown. She loved Jane dearly but hearing about the many virtues of her sister from this particular man made her insides turn around and upchuck. "Oh. Do you like her?" Please G-d don't let me lose him to her now. Not this one when she's got someone and I'll be stuck watching the train wreck.

"I don't know, I just met her. Charles likes her and that's the important point." He gave a slight shrug to his shoulders, "I think she'll keep him on his toes... Why are you smiling?"

"No reason," Lizzy hesitated to tell him the truth but then... "It's just that most people fall in love with Jane the first time they meet her."

"I must be an anomaly." He almost added because who could look at Jane when you're around but that sounded undeniably stupid to him so he silently added it on. Then he amended the thought to include her smile was infectious.

They sat there staring at each other some more when Lizzy felt that it would probably be best if they didn't sit there much longer. They were bound to be noticed, especially if they kept gawking at each other and she didn't relish the thought of company at the moment. Most of all if that company was her mother. She tried to think of something to say, most of it beginning with 'are you married?' and ending with 'take me, I'm yours' "You've been reading I see. It's interesting isn't it?" She took the book from him, carefully straitening out the pages that came loose.

You can tell a lot of how a woman will treat her husband just by watching how she treats her father... "Yes. You're father was quite an impressive man."

"He still is, he just doesn't wear a uniform anymore." Lizzy placed the book back on the table without looking at him.

"It must have been a hard time for your mom." Lizzy looked over at him curiously. "When your dad was captured, I mean."

Her face fell slightly and leaned back again. "It was. She still hasn't gotten over it. I don't really remember much of it." Just then someone bumped into her knee then scurried away with a half apology. This is ridiculous, you're never going to get a word out of him if you stay here with of all these people crowding around. She had an idea and didn't know if she should act on it. On a whim she decided to take a chance and damn the consequences, "Listen, do you want to take a walk? The back yard is beautiful."

Before she even finished with the second sentence Darcy blurted out, "Yes." And immediately it. He hoped to G-d he wasn't blushing and if he was he hoped she didn't notice. "I could use some fresh air," he explained to cover up his embarrassment.

"Of course," Lizzy fully understood what he meant because if he felt the tenth of what she was feeling, then a bit of fresh air would do them both a world of good. At the moment she hardly recognized herself for what she was doing. She never ever took anyone out into her father's garden. She never practically drooled in people's laps upon first acquaintance. She never ever started thinking about running off with complete strangers. She never fell in

"...Love?"

Lizzy started. "Excuse me?" I didn't say any of that out loud. Please no.

Darcy motioned towards Charles and her sister as they passed them by. "They really seem to be in love."

"Oh!" Lizzy gave a relieved half laugh, glad to know that she didn't betray her feelings and still bewildered at the sudden emotional uproar when she laid eyes on Will. "Yes. They do." She led him down a hallway and down a short flight of stairs to a set of French doors that led into the garden. "That's good don't you think?

"How long, exactly, have they known each other?"

"Um, I think about a year. I'm not sure, I've been busy at work and Jane doesn't tell me much about her private life." Lizzy started to undo the safety latch to the doors.

"Where do you wor-"

But Lizzy had gotten the doors unlocked and threw them open. "There!" She turned the lights on low and led him out. "This is Dad's garden."

Darcy stepped out with a look of amazement at the lush green world around him. Lizzy had called it a garden but what he expected was anything but what she'd just shown him. The plants seemed to have taken over the little space allotted to them and began to encroach upon the deck that they were standing on. Moss edged stones informally placed in a random manner led toward a hidden area framed with large red tropical flowers that Darcy had never seen before. Green was the predominant color he saw but there were so many different shades that Darcy didn't think that just the word green would fit for such a variety now before him. A wall comprised of what looked like just big heavy rocks placed on top of each other surrounded the area and that too was filled with lichen and violets and small ferns. "Your dad did this," he asked as he bent over to look at a clump of violets popping out from a crack between two of the rocks and fingered a velvety petal. "It's fantastic. How come it's not open? Why aren't there people out here?" Large fragrant flowers burst out through the succulent greenery and the air seemed heavier somehow as if he'd stepped into a different world that the one he'd been born to. The air was perfumed, the night was hot and Darcy became intoxicated.

"It's Dad's garden," Lizzy explained happy to see the look of wonder and appreciation on his face. "Mom actually has her own yard on the other side of that wall. She doesn't like the way things are overgrown here, hers is manicured to death - like a bowling green, and that's what's open to the house guests. And there's more room there as well. Besides, that horde would trample the place down."

Now that she'd mentioned it, he could hear the chatter of the party being carried on on the other side of the wall but dimly. The whole wall and the profusion of plants muffled the noise so that it wasn't a distraction in the least.

He stood up. "Where does the path lead to?"

Lizzy silently took his hand and showed him to a teak wood bench under a Thai style pagoda. She sat down and looked at a bougainvillea sprawling at her feet "I don't do Mom's parties that well. I thought that this would be a nicer spot to sit and talk."

"I can appreciate that," Darcy sat as well much too close than was proper for a first meeting but the bench was very small, that must be the reason why his fingertips were brushing hers. "Elizabeth..."

She smiled when he said her name, "Yes?" She couldn't seem to stop smiling tonight. How unusual.

This time it was Darcy's turn to hesitate, "I didn't fall in love with your sister tonight." He thought he saw her blush but in the dim light he couldn't tell for sure. He let his fingers brush up against hers a little more, "Thank you for showing me this."

"It's my pleasure, Will." She plucked a flower from a plant trailing up the pagoda and handed it to him, their fingers brushing up against each other again in a heart racing glance. "We don't let everyone know about Dad's garden." Lizzy's heart pounded surely he must hear it? The whole neighborhood must be able to hear it. she thought that this may very well be the bravest thing she'd ever done as she leaned over closer to him, every inch of her body wanting to be near him while her mind was screaming at her to Wake up! Wake up! You've just met this person! What are you doing?? Lizzy solved it by shutting off that part of her brain and let herself be drawn in until she was inches away.

"Then that makes it even more special." Darcy didn't know if it was possible to lose yourself in someone's eyes but he supposed that was happening to him right now and he registered a mild surprise at being able to notice even that much so objectively before the thought trailed off into oblivion because at that moment he lost his heart and leaned down and kissed her lips with a long terrifyingly ardent kiss and she, Oh G-d, she was returning it and returning it and sharing her breath with his, forever it seemed but it was only a moment surely and he quickly snatched his glasses off his face because if they ever stopped kissing Darcy thought that he might die but eventually, after a lifetime, they did break apart - gasping - and Darcy thought that it was the most natural thing in the world to kiss a woman he just met only minutes ago and it was natural to have their arms around each other because of course they weren't sitting there like guppies. Darcy had just caught his breath when Lizzy kissed him back.

When they broke apart for the second time Darcy pushed her hair off her forehead and kissed it several times as she savored the way his arms felt around her.

Lizzy knew that they had to get up and move but she didn't want to. Nevertheless after a few moments she said quietly, "I think we probably should go back now don't you?"

Darcy sighed into her hair and nodded. "Are you ready?"

"Just as soon as my toes uncurl."

He cleared his throat, "I'm not quite ready to walk just yet either." He put his glasses back on and looked down and Lizzy's upturned face, her eyes still closed and an expression of complete happiness etched over her features.

"Are you okay?"

She opened her eyes and met his. "Never better. I'm just wondering if I should bother telling you that I never do this or if that's a stupid thing to say right now." She looked away, running her fingers through her short hair to straighten out the mess Darcy was proud to have made in it and he relished the chance to do it again.

"I was just wondering if you'll be busy --for the rest of your life because if not then I'd love to have you-- on Friday night."

Lizzy smiled. "I have no fixed engagements." Airman Trent is going to spit nails for making him work two weekends in a row but that's just tough... She leaned into him, marveling at how natural it felt. She no longer felt nervous, she felt like everything she'd been wanting to say to Will had been said in those two breathtaking kisses they'd shared. It certainly served as an ice breaker.

They sat there for a while talking if they felt like it, sharing small (and less intense) kisses, enjoying each other's company when a call from inside the house resonated into the garden:

"Lizzy, where are you?"

Lizzy, who was sitting in her father's garden wrapped up in the arms of a man she met just an hour before sighed. "Time's up, Will. Duty calls." She slowly unwound his arms from around her waist. Darcy stood up and helped her to her feet and as they walked arm and arm out of the garden, he picked up the flower she'd plucked for him and put it in his pocket.

Mrs. Bennet's hands fluttered about as she worried her way into a fit, "Lizzy, thank goodness you're still here, I've been looking all over for Charles' best man because I would like to take the time now about..."

Darcy had stepped out from the hallway just then and Mrs. Bennet flustered some more before taking him aside to discuss in minute detail what she wanted from him as far as the wedding ceremony was concerned. That there was another reason for her to be concerned didn't even cross her mind but that's to be expected given the short nature of her daughter's and this gentleman's acquaintance.

Lizzy scribbled her name and number on a scrap of paper and waited until her mother was done (almost but not quite jealous of the time she was taking) with Will and her detailed instructions that honestly could have waited until the rehearsal ceremony which was months from now but the way her mother's mind worked you had to take the weird with the good. At last her mother finished and walked off in search of another groomsman to inflict her instructions upon and Darcy looked after her in amazement. "Mom's one of a kind, isn't she," Lizzy asked, breaking into his thoughts.

Darcy chuckled. "Everyone is unique, it just varies as to the degree I suppose. You two don't seem to be much alike do you?"

"G-d I hope not," Lizzy exclaimed then blushed at the way it sounded. "My mom and I are too different to enjoy each other's company for very long."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Me too." Lizzy held up the piece of paper on which she had written her number. "Here's my number. My work schedule this week is a bit hectic and I don't know when I'll be in but I check my messages regularly."

Darcy took it and put it in his pocket with the flower and started to ask again what it was that she did for a living when the voice he'd been dreading to hear all night floated out at him from behind. "Oh no, It's Charles' sister," he whispered to Lizzy before he turned around to face his attacker so he didn't see the devastated look on her face when Caroline Bingley called out again,

"Major Darcy!" Caroline Bingley was simpering down at him, her immaculate dress matching her Italian shoes which was coordinated with her impossibly small purse and everything was pieced together with the chunky jewelry that fashion dictated she wore, making her look more like a Barbie doll than a real woman. "Hel-llooo, Major Darcy, I'm surprised to see you here. Charles didn't say anything about you being in town." She laughed lightly then glared over her shoulder at Bingley who shrugged his shoulders apologetically to Darcy in silent defeat.

"Yes, Caroline. How nice it is to see you." Darcy cursed her timing but supposed it was better to face her now than half an hour before when he was in a lip lock with Elizabeth. He noticed that she was staring at him rather intently and he hoped that she didn't think that he was with Caroline because that was the farthest thing from a good idea that Darcy could think of.

"Thank you, Major. But you know you shouldn't have hidden yourself away like that because I have so much to discuss with you about..."

Just then Lizzy managed to find her voice, "Major? Darcy?"

Darcy turned to her and smiled.

Lizzy tried again, "Darcy?"

This time she also got Caroline's attention.

Lizzy really to know so she tried again, "You're last name is Major Darcy?"

He frowned a bit and said, "No, my last name is Darcy, my rank is Major." Surely an Air Force brat would know this.

"Oh." She looked at her shoes. "We must have skipped that part when we met."

"We did, didn't we," he said smiling. He would have loved to rehash old times but that was impossible with Caroline hanging on.

Caroline tried to get his attention again, "And with that out of the way, Major, dear, I'd like to go over that plans of the wedding with you..."

"Oh right, thanks but Mrs. Bennet has just been so good as to inform me of everything that is expected of me so I'm all set. Thank you, Caroline."

"Well then, what are you doing in this little corner all by yourself, Major?" Caroline leaned over to give him the best view of her rather low cut dress.

Darcy looked discreetly away. Go away, Caroline, I really am not in the mood for this. And I'm not alone. And once Caroline latched on there was no getting rid of her. He looked at Lizzy who silently observed Caroline. "I was talking to Elizabeth and if you don't mind, it's a bit important." He looked over at Lizzy who looked almost ill. He touched her arm gently, "Are you all right, Elizabeth?"

Lizzy nodded her head dully. She had had enough, her head was pounding her heart was breaking and this woman's perfume was cloying. She needed to think and to do that she had to get away and the best way to do that was to get in her TI mood and scare this Caroline person away. "Right. Yes." she said brightly. "I was just explaining to Will that crickets are the tastiest bugs to eat, although they're a pain to catch and clean properly." Darcy stared at her incredulously but she just gave him an innocent look back fighting down a feeling of despair.

"Crickets?" Caroline looked Lizzy up and down. What is she talking about?

"You know those little insects that make the funny noises at night," Lizzy reasoned. "But you have to aim very carefully or else the bullet takes out the abdomen and then you've blown your dinner away. Especially if the only weapon you have is a .50 cal, those'll knock a cricket out from a thousand yards. Splat!" She smacked her hands together for effect. Darcy must have caught on because he was trying not to laugh. "So the best way is to try and snare them with wire..." Lizzy looked quickly at Darcy but turned away just as fast so she wouldn't burst into tears. "...And you have to pop the legs off or they tickle your throat."

"You eat crickets." Caroline looked green around the gills.

"I always make them sing for their supper though. That way I get dinner and a show." Lizzy turned to Darcy who was turning red from holding back his laughter. "Isn't that right, Will?"

As it turned out, Darcy didn't need to say anything, he rescued himself with a coughing fit to cover up his amusement.

"Oh, you poor dear!" Caroline immediately started pounding on Darcy's back taking out her frustration from Lizzy's teasing, just a little bit. Darcy waved his hand for Lizzy to continue.

Lizzy perked up. "Speaking of which, do you know which method is the best one to gut a deer?"

Caroline stopped slapping Darcy on the back much to his relief, and spun to face Lizzy. "Do you think I'm stupid? I know very well that you have to cook meat. And you don't catch crickets with snares!"

"Well, how do you do it then?" Lizzy asked calmly. Darcy started coughing again.

"I don't catch crickets! I wouldn't eat a cricket if you paid me."

Lizzy paused then brightened, "Ever had squirrel?"

Caroline's face screwed into a horrified mask. "You're disgusting. Is this how you occupy Major Darcy's time? He has better things to do other than sit here and listen to your gross recipes for bugs. Who the hell are you anyway?" Caroline placed her hands on her hips defiantly.

"I'm Jane's sister, Elizabeth. Welcome to the family." Lizzy's elf-like grin reached from ear to ear as she reached out her hand to shake.

"Are you insane?" Caroline didn't bother to touch hands with her soon to be sister in law.

"No, I'm just hungry." Lizzy stood up and stretched herself as far as her five foot two inch frame would allow. "And I suggest you find a place in line before the buffet is wiped out." Lizzy pinched Caroline's arm. Caroline looked aghast that she would touch her. "And from the looks of it you could use a decent meal. Don't you eat?"

"I ate before I came." Caroline tossed her curly hair as she spoke.

Lizzy crossed her arms over her chest, a familiar stance to her recruits, and gave Caroline her best TI look that froze jeeps in their tracks. "You refuse our hospitality?"

Caroline wavered under Lizzy's scathing glare. "I'm sorry," she squeaked out.

"Don't apologize, go eat. Put some meat on those bones." Lizzy swept her hand toward the buffet table and smiled sweetly again.

Caroline looked back at Darcy not knowing what to do. Then she pulled herself up and as dignified as she could, "I believe I'll try some of the salad. If you'll excuse me." Caroline brushed past Darcy, gave Lizzy a wide berth and got in line for dinner.

Lizzy looked at the retreating figure. I'd love to give her a toothbrush and a dirty toilet to scrub. Lizzy turned to Darcy who was regarding her with admiration.

"How did you manage to do that?"

"Lots and lots of practice," Lizzy felt very tired. "Is she always like that?"

"Worse. I don't know why she picks on me." Darcy took off his glasses, huffed on them, and wiped the lenses with a handkerchief. "I'll just have to wait until a Colonel crosses her path or something.

"Ahhh, she's one of those." Lizzy peered at the buffet line and saw Caroline holding a flimsy paper plate in her hands, waiting for her turn at the fruit salad. "Well, by the looks of those hips, she's a breeder. Even if she is too skinny. Let's hope her nasty character skips a generation."

"Yes." Darcy smiled in a gorgeously crooked way, "Did you want to go out and grab a cup of coffee with me?"

Lizzy hesitated, unsure of what to do. Five minutes ago her whole world was right and beautiful and she'd found herself in a magical garden with a wonderful man (and one hell of a kisser) and she could have sworn that she might have fallen in love with this man - yes, she would have, if someone had asked - but then in a single blow the bottom fell out from the perfect world and because of this one little thing he was strictly off limits to her. Her head hurt from thinking. And the name Darcy rang a gong as well, it was the name of the new commanding officer at her squadron and there were a thousand different kind of no's in that. Lizzy took a deep breath, "I'm really very sorry, Will. But I can't." She tried not to cry. It was stupid. Childish. She must have only thought she fell in love with this person. It was just a thing that happened and now it's over, an hour and a half later and that's all there is to it. "I think I have to work in the morning and I should be going to bed soon."

Darcy sensed her sudden mood shift and wanted to throttle Caroline for wrecking everything. After Lizzy got her belongings he walked her to her car and kissed her goodnight. He was surprised that she clung to him the way she did but he wasn't going to complain. He was on the verge of asking her if she had changed her mind about the coffee when she abruptly broke away and got in the car.

As he watched her leave, he took out her phone number to memorize it when something about it caught his attention. It had the prefix of a number on base. But she couldn't live on base. Could she?

"Keep in step! Left! Left! Left! Right! Left! Steady. Steady. Steady."

STOMP STOMP STOMP STOMP

"Stop bouncing!"

STOMP STOMP STOMP STOMP

"Look at you! Webber, what's the matter with you? I said right! Your military right, Webber!"

STOMP STOMP STOMP STOMP

"Leyuh, leyuh, leyuh, 'ight, leyuh!" Staff Sergeant Bennet surveyed her flight with a discerning eye as they marched to her orders. They were all kinds of messed up, but they were learning fast. She was standing on the drill pad near the squadron area, practicing with the brother flights that came in at the same time as Flight W-421. She had to shout loud to get heard in all this stomping and barking. "Flight. Halt!" Lizzy stormed over to her flight. "I said no bouncing! What the Hell was that mess I just saw? You looked like a bunch of friggin' kangaroos out there! You'll be marching all over this drill pad until I get tired. Do you understand me?"

"Ma'am, yes, Ma'am!"

"Fall out!" Lizzy turned around and sauntered off.

The flight semi-relaxed and started walking around, nervously looking at their TI walking towards the far end of the drill pad. Where the heck was she going? We're gonna have to run all the way there. They looked at each other. Finally Lizzy stopped. They could barely hear her voice over the other TIs. "FALL IN!" Instantly the flight ran like mad squirrels towards Lizzy trying to get there and formed up in an acceptable time frame. Quickly they got into formation. Lizzy shook her head. She decided that it was time to start having fun with them.

"Fall out."

Damnnnnnnn! The flight gave a collective mental groan.

Lizzy leisurely walked over to where they'd just left. "FALL IN" Another mad dash back to the other end of the drill pad. Form up. Line up. Arm. Shoulder. Arm. Tap. Move forward. Space. Cover. "We're doing it again. This time, don't f*** it up. Flight. Attention! Column of twos to the right! For-ward. March." Lizzy had them march all over the place keeping them close together. "Flight. Halt."

"Step! Stop!" They aligned themselves so they were straight.

"Enough! I think you got the basic idea of halt without yelling it out." Lizzy put her hands on her hips and peered down the field through her sunglasses. Darcy was there with the XO and some staff member. Her heart was pounding and only years of training and doing things she did not like kept her from running away, screaming mad. She was bound to run into him at some point it was better just to get it over with. She gave her flight a break to drink some water from their canteens while she walked over to two of her colleagues to discuss progress of their flights.

Darcy watched the training with an amused smile on his face. The sound of marching boots beat a strong tattoo giving backbone to the barking of TIs. Not bad for their second week, I suppose. At least they're wearing uniforms this time. If this is the type of people we're recruiting, I suppose we'd better make the most of them. He watched as one flight left side-stepped across the field looking like a bunch of penguins. Darcy folded his arms across his chest and relaxed enjoying the show. He noticed Lizzy but she was too far away to be recognized.

"Sir." Sergeant Lucas walked up and saluted. "I've got you're eye appointment set for 1540." Darcy nodded his acknowledgement. "Your eyes are still bothering you, sir?"

"Could be worse, First Sergeant. Tell me, any chance of these flights making Honor Flight?" Not that it mattered in the great scheme of things, but the better the flights were under his command the better he looked. Plus it was good to know his facility was producing competent Airmen.

"Well, Staff Sergeant Bennet's flights generally take honors three times out of four."

"Is that so? What's wrong with the other TIs?" Darcy looked over at the instructors gathered in conference. Bennet? There was another Bennet in the service? Why didn't he meet him at the party on Saturday? Oh, well obviously he was staying with his flight over the weekend. Most of the flights were new and couldn't be trusted not to burn the place down. He returned his attention to his First Sergeant.

"Nothing, sir. They're very capable. Bennet just has a knack for it." Charlotte shielded her eyes and peered at her colleague. She was marching her flight towards them. Charlotte supposed they were on their way to get their shots. "Whips them into shape I guess you could say."

"You could say that." He watched as the flights were forming up to leave. He glanced at his watch, time to get to his appointment. "First Sergeant, you needed the rest of the afternoon off, didn't you?"

"Yes, sir. My daughter's not feeling well."

"Very well, why not go ahead and leave for the day. If she's not feeling better tomorrow then feel free to show up in the afternoon."

"Thank you, sir."

"Anytime. Give Mariah a hug for me." He was pleased that he got First Sergeant Lucas to smile (a very rare occasion) and walked closer to the departing airmen to get a better look. It's been a week, he had meant get to know his instructors better but he'd found himself so occupied with other things that he didn't get the chance to meet all of them yet, which was inexcusable really considering this was a training squadron. He thought that he should get started right away before they thought he just didn't care enough about his new assignment to put forth an effort. Rumors like that would hurt his career. He walked back to the squadron and since he had no one telling him to half step march Darcy got to there first. Two males flights marched by, the TI's snapping a salute which Darcy perfunctorily returned.

Then the flight of females marched by. The TI was in back calling cadence and she sounded frighteningly familiar to Darcy. But this was the TI he'd been admiring all last week from his window of course she'd sound familiar. (Why didn't you recognize her voice?) The name of Bennet swam around his head as females in BDUs stomped past. He could see the Smokey Bear of their TI approached from behind, the person wearing it still hidden by the flight. Elizabeth? (That voice!) This is Staff Sergeant Bennet? Oh my G-d, Elizabeth! No!

The last row of females marched past and there he found out that it was possible to have the rug yanked out from under you and still manage to stand. Elizabeth Bennet, the woman he fell in love with on Saturday, had turned into Staff Sergeant Bennet on Monday, the best instructor his squadron had, marching in back of her flight. A Staff Sergeant... That's impossible. He watched with mounting alarm as she actually looked straight at him with no amount of surprise in her eyes and snapped off a salute to which Darcy only returned due to years of habit.

He stood there and waited until she dismissed her flight to go back up to their dorm, wondering what to say to her. He doubted he could even speak. When her flight had disappeared up the stairs, Lizzy walked over to him, feeling miserable. This was the wrong way to do it.

"You're a... a Staff Sergeant?"

"It's a living," She must have used up all her smiles last Saturday because there were none left today. She looked up at him, lifting the brim of her hat slightly with the tip of her finger so she could see him better and instantly regretted it. The look in his eyes reflected the pain she was feeling. There is no way any good will come out of this.

"We must have skipped that part when we met," there was a hint of accusation in his voice putting Lizzy on the defensive.

"Yes we did."

Darcy looked away, unable to speak for a moment, trying to regain his senses. When he could speak what came out of his mouth almost surprised him, "Obviously our date must cancelled."

"Ri-ight," Lizzy nodded, upset that he'd actually cancel even though she knew that he must. "Obviously. I'll be working anyway. I have nothing better to do." She wondered if he was going to stand there and state the obvious all day or if he would get to the point eventually. Typical officer, she thought. She looked over her shoulder to see if anyone was coming. It didn't matter, she supposed. To anyone approaching it would look like she was getting chewed out by a superior officer. A normal occurrence.

Darcy nervously pushed his glasses up, "I called you yesterday..."

"Yes, I got your message," Lizzy said quietly. She was starting to get a headache and knew that if she didn't leave soon, she would take it out on her flight which would be unfair to them.

"You could have said something, Eliza-" He cleared his throat. "I mean Staff Sergeant."

Lizzy flinched as the anger in his voice hit her. "And what could I say, Major Darcy? Sorry, sir, I can't go out with you because it's against the UCMJ? Besides, I wasn't home, I was working."

"That's an insolent tone of voice!"

It was Lizzy's turn to get mad, "Look, I suggest you either get used to it or transfer me out, sir." She started to turn around but stopped halfway. "Major Darcy, I didn't know who you were until Caroline started yoo-hooing. No one told me anything about you before we met, only that Charles had a friend who was going to stand up for him at the wedding. I didn't hear any names. I didn't plan to... for this to happen." Lizzy took a deep breath and continued as fast as she could, "I don't know if it would have made a difference if I had known." She walked away from him and headed towards the stairway.

Darcy sighed shakily and followed her, "Eli- Staff Sergeant!" She stopped but didn't turn around. "I'm sorry."

Lizzy closed her eyes and willed herself not to cry, "I am too." She glanced back at him quickly then looked away, "You have no idea how sorry." She started up the stairs but he caught her hand first. "I think I have a very good idea, Elizabeth."

He let her go then turned around to go to his office. There was a lot of work to do that day.

---