Conversation Hearts
Author: Ava
E-mail: mmmThatAJ@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13Summary: Little AJ hands out valentines with boxes of conversation hearts and then teaches the JAG staff a new game.
Author's comments: Here's my response to Kelly's challenge on the AJMacFic group for a Valentine's Day story with AJ & Mac. She wanted roses, a box of chocolates, and conversation hearts. Characters' speaking parts are in double quotes ("text"); characters' thoughts are in single quotes ('text').
Disclaimer: JAG and all its characters belong to Belisarius Productions, Paramount, CBS, Viacom, and probably endless others.
Friday, 13 February 2004
1530 EST
JAG Headquarters
Falls Church, VirginiaLieutenant Colonel Sarah MacKenzie looked up when she heard someone tapping their foot. She smiled, seeing little AJ Roberts standing in her doorway. "Well, hello," she smiled.
"Hi, Auntie Mac."
"What brings you here today?" she asked him.
"I have a present for you. For Valentine's Day," he chirped happily.
"For me? How sweet!" She scooted her chair back and walked around to the front of her desk, squatting down to the almost 5-year old's level.
"Uh huh. I brought you one. And one for Uncle Harm. And one for Aunt Jen. And one for Mommy. And one for Daddy. And a special one for Admiral AJ." He handed Mac the handmade valentine.
"Oooh, AJ, this is beautiful! I don't think I've ever received a valentine quite as special as this one," she cooed, making the child smile brightly.
"There's something inside, too," he told her.
"There is?" she acted surprised. It was quite obvious there was something inside the card; there was a lump right in the middle of it. She opened the card to find a small box of conversation hearts. "Thank you, AJ. I haven't had these in a long, long time," she said, trying hard to sound extremely happy. In truth, she hadn't had any for years because she couldn't stand the chalky taste of the little candies.
AJ beamed his pleasure at her. "I told Mommy you'd like them. She said you'd like chocolate better, but I knew you'd like these," he confided.
Mac started to open the box, "Would you like one, AJ?"
"NO!" he almost screamed. "You can't open them yet!"
"Why not?" she asked, taken by surprise.
"You'll see," he said secretively and left her office. Then he poked his head back in the doorway and said, "Remember, don't open them yet! Not until I say!"
Mac chuckled, "Okay, AJ. I'll wait for you to tell me it's okay."
He nodded. "Good."
Commander Harmon Rabb smiled as his godson walked into his office and jumped in his lap. "Hi, Uncle Harm!"
"Hello, yourself, Squirt!" Harm said as he tickled the little boy.
"No! No!" little AJ squealed. "You'll bend it!" Harm stopped tickling the child and saw that he held something in his hand. AJ handed it to him with a smile. "This is for you. For Valentine's Day."
"Valentine's Day is tomorrow, AJ. Not today," Harm told him, berating himself for having completely forgotten the holiday again.
"Yeah, but I won't get to see you tomorrow," the child explained. "So Mommy brought me here after school today so I could give you your valentine."
"That was very nice of Mommy," Harm grinned as he took the card and opened it. "Wow! You gave me candy hearts, too! Thank you, AJ! I love these things!"
Harm started to open the box right away, but AJ snatched them from his hands and screamed, "You can't open them yet!!"
"What? Why not?" asked Harm.
AJ jumped down from his lap, put the box of candy on Harm's desk, and walked to the door. "You'll see. But don't open them yet. Wait until I say you can. Okay?"
Harm shook his head in confusion. "Yeah, okay. But hurry! I'm hungry!" he teased.
Little AJ laughed and scurried away.
Lieutenant Harriett Sims saw her oldest son coming out of Harm's office. "AJ, have you handed out all your valentines yet?" she asked. "We need to get going so we can pick up Jimmy from the babysitter."
"Almost, Mommy. I already gave one to Auntie Mac and Aunt Jen," he counted off the people on his fingers, "and Uncle Harm and Daddy, and you." He looked up surprised. "I only have one left!"
"Sweetie, the Admiral is really busy this afternoon," Harriett tried to explain to her son that he wouldn't be able to see Admiral AJ Chegwidden today. "You can just leave his card with Aunt Jen and she'll give it to him later, okay?"
The child shook his head vigorously. "No! That spoils the game!"
"The game?" his mother questioned. "What game?"
But before she'd finished speaking, AJ grabbed the last valentine from his mother's desk and ran to the Admiral's office. He knocked on the door and opened it before the older AJ answered his knock. "Happy Valentine's Day, Admiral AJ!" the youngster smiled as he walked right in and behind the desk.
The Admiral took his reading glasses off and scooted his chair back, turning to see the child. "Well, thank you, AJ," he replied.
Harriett was right on the child's heels now, "Sir, I am so sorry. He got away from me..."
"No harm done, Lieutenant," the Admiral smiled. "I always have time for this little fellow."
"I made you a valentine," little AJ announced.
"You did?"
"Uh huh. Just for you. It's a special one, too," he whispered, handing it to his elder.
"I can see that," replied the Admiral. "It's a very handsome card, AJ. Thank you." Then he opened it and acted surprised when he found the box of candy hearts. "A present, too?" He looked down at AJ and smiled. "Thank you very much, Son. This is very special, indeed." He set the card and box on his desk and picked up the boy, hugging him tightly. "But you are even more special!"
"We can play the game now!" the child announced.
"Game? What game?" asked the two adults in the room.
"The hearts game!" He pulled on the Admiral's hands to make him stand up, so he did. "Bring your box of candy!"
The Admiral knew he really didn't have time for this interruption... and certainly not for a game in the office! But he also knew that the boy wouldn't want to play for too many years. 'They grow up so fast,' he mused to himself. "Okay," he reached back to his desk and picked up the box of hearts and followed the child to the bullpen, surprising Harriett.
She followed them and found that her son was rounding up everyone to whom he'd given valentines. "Stand in a circle!" the child instructed everyone. "Boy, girl, boy girl," he added. They all chuckled as they switched places to meet his requirements. When they had one too many men for women, he said, "Daddy, you be both, okay?"
"Both?"
"Uh huh. A boy and a girl. You'll see."
Lieutenant Bud Roberts sighed, "Okay, AJ. But just this once."
The adults laughed while the youngster explained the rules. "The first person opens his box of hearts and takes one out. You can't look for the one you want; you just take the first one that you get." He looked right at Harm while he said this last, "No cheating, Uncle Harm."
"He knows you pretty well, I see, Commander," giggled Jen, who was standing next to him.
Harm grinned, "We played a game last weekend. He caught me cheating."
"You cheated on a little boy?"
"I was trying to let him win," Harm defended himself.
"A likely story," Mac put in.
"Quiet!" the child reprimanded them. "You have to be quiet so you can hear the directions for the game!"
They all looked duly chastised, as the child continued. "The first person opens his box of hearts," he repeated, "and takes one out. He reads it out loud and then turns to the person on his left and does what the heart says."
Harriett interrupted her son; she remembered what some of these hearts said. "AJ, where did you learn this game?"
"At school! We played it today during our party! It's fun!" he assured her. Continuing with his instructions, he said, "After the first person does what his heart says, then it's the next person's turn. And then the next, and then the next. And when you get all the way back around to the first person, you go around again, but the other way."
The adults looked at each other with grins on their faces. Most of them hadn't even seen these little candy hearts since childhood. And since the candies were meant for children, what harm could it do to play along with the little boy?
"Who goes first?" Bud asked his son.
Little AJ looked around the circle. "Well, since you have to play a girl, you can go first, Daddy."
They all chuckled as Bud opened his box of candy hearts. He pulled the first one out and read it aloud, "Hug me." He turned to his left and was very glad that his son was standing there. "I think I can handle that," he teased as he bent over and hugged his son tightly. As he stood back up, he glanced around and saw the faces of his coworkers... they were all a mite uncomfortable now. 'They obviously are remembering what these little candies say!' Bud realized as he popped the candy in his mouth
"I'm next!" little AJ said. "Oh. I don't have a box!" He reached over to his father, "Daddy, can I have one of yours?"
"May I?" prompted Bud.
"May I, pleeeease?" the child asked.
Bud smiled his approval and handed the box to the boy. AJ pulled a candy out, handed the box back to his father, and giggled as he read aloud, "Love me." He quickly popped the candy in his mouth and turned to his Auntie Mac. He crooked his finger at her and she bent down to his level. The little boy threw his arms around her neck and said, "I love you, Auntie Mac!!"
Mac stood up, the biggest smile on her face any of them had ever seen. It felt good... really good... to have someone tell her that. "My turn?" Little AJ nodded as she opened her box of conversation hearts. "Be mine." She knew the Admiral was on her left. 'Oh, how I wish you could be mine. I wouldn't be an idiot like Dr. Walden or Meredith; I'd never let you go!' She turned to her left and spoke to the Admiral. She tried to sound light and glib, but she wasn't sure how it actually sounded to the others. "Be my Valentine, Sir?" she smiled, offering him her piece of candy.
AJ teased back, "I thought you'd never ask, Colonel." He took the candy from her hand and ate it. It was his turn now. He was very glad he was standing next to Harriett... especially so when he read his piece of candy. "Hug me." He turned to Bud and said, "With your permission, Lieutenant?"
Bud grinned widely, "Most definitely, Admiral."
AJ turned back to Harriett and pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly. "Oh!" she gasped when he released her.
Little AJ giggled, "Admiral AJ hugged the stuffin' out of you, Mommy!"
"I'll say!" quipped Harm.
"Only proper way to hug someone, Son," the Admiral winked at the youngster and ate the candy.
Harriett opened her box and pulled out a heart. "Umm, I think I should draw a different one; this one is a little smudged and it's hard to read..." Harriett made an excuse.
Little AJ was next to her, snatching the candy from her hand, in an instant. "It's not hard to read, Mommy! It says, 'Lick me'." He looked up at his mother's face. "You have to lick Uncle Harm!"
The other adults roared in laughter as Harm turned shocked eyes to Harriett. "Well? I guess those are the rules," he said.
Harriett put her hands on Harm's chest and leaned up on her tiptoes to reach his cheek... and licked him. A big, wet, sloppy lick. "Eeewww!" squealed little AJ. "At school, I drew that one, but I just licked Allison's hand... not her face, Mommy! Yuk!"
The adults laughed all the more at his response... as both Harm and Harriett blushed a deep crimson. Harriett waited until her son wasn't watching her, and then she returned the piece of candy to the box. She didn't like the things any more than Mac did.
"My turn," Harm said nervously as he opened his box and pulled out a candy. "E-mail me," he read. "E-mail me? Since when is that on candy hearts?" he looked perplexed.
Harriett replied, "At least since last year, Sir."
Harm ate the candy and winked at Jen. "Excuse me, Petty Officer." He walked into his office and sat at his computer. He typed a quick note of hello and sent it to Jen. Then he returned to his place in the circle. "E-mail sent," he announced.
"That was too easy!" complained Mac.
"You're just jealous," Harm retorted.
Jen already had her box open and a heart in her hand. "Squeeze me." She looked at Bud and smiled. 'Think like a child, Jen. A child. What would a child squeeze?' It came to her in a flash and she reached for Bud's hand. She squeezed it tightly and graced them all with a brilliant smile as she popped the piece of sugar in her mouth.
Bud laughed at her ingenuity. "Okay, so it's my turn again, hmm?" he asked his son.
"Yes, Sir. Only this time, you go the other way," little AJ replied.
"Okay." Bud reached into his box and pulled out another piece of candy. "Desire me." He raised his eyebrows in confusion. "Desire me? How do you act that out?" he asked as he ate the heart. But before anyone answered him, he turned to Jen and said, "I desire you to come to lunch with Harriett and me one day next week."
Everyone laughed. "Perfect, Bud!" "How'd you think of that so fast?" "That's too funny!" their exclamations came at the same time.
"I'd be delighted, Lieutenant," smiled Jen as she pulled out another heart. "This one says 'Hug me'." She turned to Harm. "And like the Admiral said, there's only one proper way to hug someone." She practically threw herself into Harm's arms and hugged him as tightly as she could... laughing all the while.
"I think that's enough hugging!" barked the Admiral good-naturedly.
Jen ate her candy as Harm tilted his box in his hand and another candy heart landed in his palm. "Tickle me." He grinned at Harriett. "And are you ticklish, Lieutenant?"
"Not a bit, Sir," she lied.
Little AJ giggled, "Yes, you are, Mommy!" He jumped up and down. "She's ticklish under her arms, Uncle Harm!"
Harm winked knowingly at the little boy. But he reached to tickle Harriett at her waist. She didn't laugh, but she smiled, "I told you."
"Not there, Uncle Harm," AJ corrected him. "Under her arms!" Harm moved his hands up a little on her sides. Still nothing. "Under her arms!" insisted the child.
"Well, I tickled her; she just didn't laugh," Harm insisted that he had fulfilled his duty. He tossed the candy heart in the air and caught it in his mouth.
"Nuh uh!" the child shook his head. "She has to laugh or you didn't tickle her."
"The boy's right, Commander," the Admiral agreed with a grin.
Harm turned a red face back to Harriett. "Sorry, Harriett," he apologized as he reached for her and began tickling her under her arms.
Harriett squealed in laughter and doubled over, trying to get away from Harm's hands. But now that he was successful, Harm kept at it. He tickled her mercilessly and Harriett's laughter soon resulted in tears flowing down her cheeks. "Stop!" she cried. Harm finally did and Harriett stood back up, wiping her tears with her hands. Harm handed her a handkerchief. She accepted it and dried her face and hands. Her smile was still enormous and she was still shaking when she took a deep breath. "I guess it's my turn again." She poured a heart into her hand and read it. "Kiss me."
She turned innocent eyes to the Admiral and said, "With your permission, Sir?"
AJ winked at her. "It'll be a pleasure, Lieutenant." He was enjoying this game.
Harriett decided to pay him back a little. It was, after all, his fault that Harm had tickled her so much. He was the one who'd agreed with little AJ that Harm had to tickle her until she laughed. So she slid her hands up his chest, much the way she had Harm last time. Only this time, she kissed the Admiral... right on the mouth! She even wrapped her hands around his neck and held tightly so he couldn't back away.
"Umm, Harriett?" Bud said urgently when she didn't release the Admiral right away. "Honey?"
"Mommy's kissing Admiral AJ!!"
"Sweetie, I think that's enough now," Bud tried again.
Finally, Harriett pulled back and released her hold on the Admiral's neck. AJ grinned wolfishly. "Maybe I'll just go see if there's a spot open back in the IG's office for you, Harriett," he teased. "You could leave Bud and move in with me!" Harriett grinned at his words and the others laughed. All except for Bud.
"But, Sir," Bud started. "She was just..."
The Admiral winked at Bud. "I'm just kidding, Bud." Then he turned to Harriett. "From now on, though, I suggest you save those kisses for your husband."
"You didn't like it, Sir?" she teased coyly.
"A little too much," he muttered as he dropped a candy heart in his hand. "You have to be kidding!" he bellowed. "Eat me! This thing says 'Eat me!' Who the hell put that in a child's box of candy?"
There was total and complete silence in the room until little AJ piped up. "Marilyn bit Joey on his ear this morning at the party at school."
"I don't think the Colonel would appreciate my biting her ear, AJ," the Admiral said sternly. 'I sure wouldn't mind doing it, though... of course, I'd rather eat her... get your mind out of the gutter, Chegwidden!'
"Oh, I don't know, Sir," quipped Harm. "She likes it well enough when Webb does it, I understand."
Mac turned flashing eyes to Harm. "Put a lid on it, Harm! You know full well that Clay and I aren't seeing each other anymore."
"I wasn't aware that you were seeing him to start with, Colonel," AJ intoned.
Mac nodded. "We were, Sir. But we both agreed at the end of January that it wouldn't work, so we're just friends again."
"That's probably for the best," the Admiral said, wondering to himself why he thought that.
"Admiral AJ, you still haven't done your heart," little AJ informed him.
"What?"
"You have to eat Auntie Mac."
The Admiral turned to Mac and shrugged. "My apologies, Colonel," he said as he leaned over and took her earlobe between his teeth. He bit down gently and then released his teeth, allowing his tongue and lips to soothe away the hurt. When he raised his head, Mac's eyes were closed and she sighed. "Perhaps I didn't need to apologize?" he whispered for her ears only.
Her eyes flew open and she blushed lightly. "It was nice, actually," she replied just as softly.
"Your turn, Auntie Mac!"
Mac turned her box over and poured a candy into her hand. "Kiss me." She grinned as she grabbed little AJ to her and smothered his face with kisses.
"Eeewww!!" he squealed. "That's enough! Auntie Mac, that's enough!!" Everyone laughed as AJ wiped the kisses from his face with the back of his hand. "My turn!" He looked up at his father, and Bud handed him the box of candy. "Be mine." He looked up at his father. "Daddy, would you be my Valentine? I already have a Valentine at school... that's Julie. And I asked Mommy this morning. But it's okay to have three Valentines, isn't it?"
Bud smiled at his young son. "Of course it is, AJ. And I'll be glad to be your Valentine."
Little AJ hugged his father's legs. Then just as quickly, he released him and jumped up and down, shouting, "Let's play again! Let's play again!"
"I think that's enough game time for one day," replied the Admiral. "It was a fun game, though, AJ. Thank you for teaching us how to play it." He looked around the circle, "Back to work, people." He noticed that Harriett and Mac put their last piece of candy back in their boxes. He grinned and did the same thing as little AJ gobbled his down.
Saturday, 14 February 2004
1045 EST
Sarah MacKenzie's Apartment
Georgetown, Washington, DCMac was busy cleaning the bathroom when the doorbell rang. "Who can that be on a Saturday morning?" she wondered. She dried her hands on the towel and hurried to the door. Peering through the peephole, she saw roses... but no person. Obviously, the flowers were hiding the person's face from view. She unlocked the door and pulled it open.
"Good morning!" the delivery boy chirped. "Flowers for Sarah MacKenzie."
"That's me," she answered, accepting the large vase.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Ma'am," the boy said before he turned to leave.
"Thank you." Mac closed the door and set the flowers on the coffee table. She counted the roses. There were seven white roses nestled in with a dozen red ones. "They're beautiful," she sighed. "But who are they from?" She didn't see a card, but there was a pick where one would normally be. "That's odd."
She couldn't imagine that Clay would have sent her flowers for Valentine's Day... not after they'd broken up. And she knew Harm would never send her flowers. At least, he never had before. 'No, they couldn't be from him.' She drew a blank.
"I wonder what the significance is of the white roses?" She thought for a moment. "Seven. There are seven white ones." She counted the years she'd known Clay. "Seven!" she realized. She reached for the phone to call him, but as she dialed his number, she remembered that she'd also known Harm the same length of time. "Seven years." She disconnected the call before it rang through. "So the flowers could be from either one of them."
Frustrated, Mac returned to the bathroom and finished cleaning it up. Then she moved to the kitchen and scrubbed it down. Next she dusted and vacuumed the bedroom and living room. When she finished, she showered and wrapped herself in her soft fleece bathrobe. She piled up on the sofa and stared at the roses. "Maybe if I called the florist, they could tell me who sent them. Or maybe the card fell off in the delivery van."
Just as she reached in the drawer for the phone book, the doorbell peeled again. Mac pulled her robe together tightly and padded to the door. She looked through the peephole and saw another delivery boy. She opened the door and he smiled at her. "Happy Valentine's Day, Ma'am." He handed her a large red heart-shaped box of Fanny Farmer chocolates.
"Oh my goodness!" she exclaimed. "This must be three pounds of candy!"
"Yes, Ma'am. That's our biggest valentine box this year," the boy told her. "Three pounds. Someone must really care a lot about you," he winked.
She smiled, "Is there a card?"
He nodded. "Should be just inside the box, Ma'am."
"Thank you." Mac closed the door and quickly opened the box of chocolates. She found the note and pulled it from its envelope.
February 14, 2004
I'll always remember nibbling on your ear, Sarah. Eat these gently, dear one, and think of me.
Mac gasped as she read the card again. The only person it could be was the Admiral! But that was impossible. Surely he wouldn't have done this! She wanted to call him, but she knew she couldn't. What if she was wrong?
She set the card on the table and curled up on the sofa again staring at the roses. She leaned forward and buried her face in the blossoms, inhaling their fragrance. That's when she spied the card. It had fallen off the pick and was nestled down between the stems. She quickly retrieved it and ripped open the envelope.
February 14, 2004
I've wished for 7 years you could be my Valentine, Sarah. And finally, thanks to a 5-year old boy, you are! Will wonders never cease?
Mac read the note again. Was it possible? Could these flowers and the candy really be from Admiral Chegwidden? Surely not. "But here are the cards to prove it!" she said aloud. No, he hadn't signed them, but that was probably to protect both of them, she knew... just in case anyone saw them. "I can't believe it!" Mac picked up the phone and dialed his home.
"Chegwidden!"
"Good afternoon, Sir. Happy Valentine's Day," Mac said brightly.
"And to you, my lovely Valentine," AJ replied with a lilt to his voice Mac wasn't used to hearing.
"I received some magnificent roses this morning, Admiral," she confided.
"Did you now?" he teased.
"I sure did. And an enormous box of chocolates this afternoon."
"Really? What kind?"
"As if you didn't know," she said, hoping she was right. When he didn't comment, she continued, "And I have a confession to make."
"Oh? What kind of confession?"
"I've wished for seven years that I could be your Valentine... AJ."
"Have you?" he asked quietly.
"I have," she responded in kind. "And I dreamed about you last night, too. You were nibbling on my ear... and then some."
"Mmm, sounds intriguing."
"Oh, you were much more than intriguing," she purred.
"I am rather good with my mouth."
Mac sighed audibly. "I can only imagine."
"I'm afraid that's true, Sarah," he replied softly.
"I know."
"But it was nice to think about," he added.
"Very nice."
"Very nice, indeed."
"Thank you for making this a very special Valentine's Day, AJ."
"It was my pleasure, Sarah. I only wish..." he hesitated. "I hope you enjoy the rest of your day," he said instead.
"I will, Sir. And thank you, again."
"Goodbye, Mac. I'll see you at the office on Monday."
"Aye, Sir." She set the phone on the table and reached for a chocolate. She bit into it slowly and felt the liquid center ooze between her teeth. "Oooh, AJ."
The end.