Chapter 3B

Saturday, 28 June 03
1200 EDT
Merriweather Residence
Indian Head, MD

Jules was in her kitchen, barefoot, dressed in denim cut offs and a Marine green t-shirt with her hair up in a rolled bun. The apron she wore over her front said, "Kiss the Cook!"

Finally, after wandering the market for nearly an hour yesterday, Jules decided to prepare a fresh tossed salad of baby greens drizzled with a rosemary vinaigrette, penne pasta topped with a light creamy Parmesano Regiano sauce with fresh steamed vegetables and a pan seared juicy white chicken breast marinated in rosemary and lime juice.

AJ had called to let her know he would be arriving right at 1230 so she had just enough time to take a quick shower.

While she was washing her hair she thought about what she wanted to say to AJ, how she wanted to say it. How much should she tell him? There was so much, not just what she did, but the training and, well just so many things.

She stepped from behind the shower curtain and reached for a towel to wrap around her hair and another to dry off with. She had time to spare on primping a little before the mirror, to apply a little makeup beneath her eyes to cover the circles and apply a light hand of color to her eyes, cheeks and lips. She moisturized herself from head to toe, sprayed a little leave in conditioner in her hair so it wouldn't frizz as it dried and she was ready.

As she padded, still barefoot, into her bedroom, she heard a door slam outside and the murmur of a deep voice. A moment later, half way to the living room, she heard the doorbell rang.

"Right on time!" Jules pronounced as a rather large black Shepard looking dog poked her nose at her feet and started licking her red painted toes. "This must be Ginger." Jules crouched down, balancing on the flats of her feet and allowed the dog to smell her all over before ruffling her ears.

"Come in." Jules invited after standing.

AJ set down a rucksack filled with food, treats and a few toys, took the dog off her leash and let her roam around while he pulled Jules into his arms, kissing her softly on the lips.

"Mmm." Jules wrapped her arms around AJ's neck, bringing her flush against him and ran the tip of her tongue along the seams of AJ's lips.

AJ allowed her to deepen the kiss as his hands wandered down to her bottom, pushing her hips into him. They thrust and parried, dueling with each other's mouths before Ginger tried to nose between them, a little jealous her Papa was giving his attention to someone else.

They broke the kiss, reluctantly, and Jules sat on the floor in front of Ginger and smothered her in hugs, kisses, belly rubs and lots of attention. Ginger just lay there, tongue lolling with her head in Jules' lap and let her do what ever she wanted. Ginger wasn't a fool.

Jules looked up and saw an incomprehensible look on AJ's face. She said, "Its only fair, AJ. She saw you kissing me, she's probably jealous. Aren't you, Baby?" Jules crooned to the dog squirming in her lap. "You just want your share of the attention from AJ, don't you? I can understand that, Ginger, he's a sexy guy and you want him all to yourself. But I tell you what, if you share your Papa with me, I'll share my River with you. How's that? Deal?" Jules asked.

Ginger sat up and barked.

"See AJ. She just needed to know the score." Jules stood up using her legs; not seeing AJ's appreciative gave on her denim-clad thighs. After her shower, she'd donned denim shorts that fell on her upper thighs and teamed it with a form-fitting t-shirt in emerald green. "Come on, Baby, I'll take you outside and show you the River, that way you know I won't back out of the deal."

AJ watched as Ginger trotted along behind Jules to the kitchen and then out the back door. They'd taken to each other right away and AJ could see they would get along just fine. Quite a difference from Meredith, he mused. They'd tolerated each other in the house, but never got friendly.

Following at a leisurely pace, AJ watched from the deck as Jules and Ginger walked down to the small pier and sat down next to each other. Jules dangled her feet in the water and Ginger hunkered down, putting a tentative paw in the water before she sat back up and looked at Jules, like she was asking for permission. He could hear Jules say, "Go ahead, but if you splash me and ruin my hair or get my clothes wet, I won't feed you any goodies." Then she got up and backed away from the end of the pier as Ginger jumped in.

Spotting AJ still on her deck, Jules walked back and said, "I thought we'd eat here, under the shade. That way we can keep an eye on Ginger and she can just swim herself out."

Nodding absently AJ said, "I'm glad you left your hair down."

Beaming, "You told me to. Unfortunately, it's in its natural state. I didn't have time to tame it."

AJ eyed the riot of curls that tumbled down her back and just pulled her to him, kissing her again, "I like it."

"Mmm, I'm glad." Jules purred. "Come inside with me and see what you'd like to drink from my fridge."

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and they walked into the kitchen. "You can see the River from that window." Jules pointed as she opened the fridge and pulled out a pitcher of lemonade for herself.

When AJ asked if he could do anything, Jules sent him outside to set the table while she finished off the chicken and put everything on a tray to take outside. They sat under the awning that covered her deck, sipped lemonade while they watched Ginger and talked of nonsense.

Jules knew the time would come when she'd have to broach the subject they were here to talk about, but she just wanted one more perfect meal with AJ before she told him about her job.

"You seem happier today. Not as sad as yesterday." AJ didn't want to wait any longer to talk; the suspense was ruining his mood.

So much for her perfect meal, Jules thought. Well at least they were finished eating, she mused. "I'm doing better today." Jules looked at AJ and asked, "Did you happen to look up my service record, AJ?"

"Yes, but I couldn't find anything, not your name, or rank, not even what branch of the military you're in." AJ took another sip of his lemonade before setting the glass firmly on the table. "That has to do with your security clearance, I imagine."

Nodding, Jules started at the beginning, it was easier. She first asks the reader, in an aside, to use their very active imaginations to make the information given out in this conversation seem not only possible but also plausible. "I joined the Marines right out of high school. It baffled my parents because no one in the family had been in the military since Vietnam. I wanted to join because the recruiter said you could see the world, I think they all say that."

Jules grinned. "I wanted to travel, so I thought this would be a good way to do it. I went through Boot at Parris Island. They farmed us all out to further training based on our skills, a few of us went to Officers Candidate School and I was one of them. After OCS we all went on to further training. They went to law school, med school, nursing school, flight school."

"Where did you go?" AJ asked.

"Quantico."

"There are all kinds of schools and training at Quantico." AJ sat forward; most of them were combat related.

"Yes there are." Jules mused, sipping at her drink.

"So which school did you go to for training?" AJ asked, watching her deliberately casual movements.

"First?" Jules asked and watched the confusion mar AJ's face. "I didn't go to an actual school at first. My CO at Parris recommended me for further marksman training so off to Quantico I went, then OCS. I went back to marksman training after that under the Combat Development Command at Quantico."

JC smiled as she said, "I trained with a bunch of guys that dropped like flies the further into training we got, by the time we made it to survival training there was five guys left and me. Afterwards I was still climbing that ladder of training until I reached the end. I was a member of the Marksman Corps, the only woman."

AJ smiled, thinking of her with a rifle to her shoulder, she's too tiny for that, he thought.

"I was approached a few days later by a Gunnery Sergeant. By then, I was already an officer. He asked me if I wanted to do something with my marksman skills."

"The Marine Corps doesn't have women in combat, what could you do with the marksman skills." AJ asked, baffled.

Smiling ironically, Jules said, "Enter sniper training."

"Sniper School?"

"Yes. Sniper School." Jules stopped right there and watched him, for his reaction.

"Why would the Corps train a woman to be a sniper, they'd never send her into the field." Or would they, AJ wondered.

"Normally, no, they wouldn't send a woman into the field, but my training was being monitored by the Gunny who approached me. Apparently, he'd never had a student before then that had such aptitude for the job, instinct. I went through sniper school and then became his apprentice, if you will, in the field. He taught me everything he knew and sent me for further training every chance he got."

"You're an active sniper?" AJ asked, incredulous.

"Yes. I have been ever since I was nineteen. I went with him on his missions and then eventually went solo on the easier missions until I worked myself up to replacing him after he retired to teach full time."

"Who trained you?" AJ asked.

"Gunnery Sergeant Ray Crockett."

AJ was impressed; he remembered a few years ago, watching the Gunny one day on the field shooting at a Jeep that Commander Rabb was driving. "One shot, one kill." AJ remembered.

"Yes. That's what he taught me. If you can see your target, you can hit it."

AJ's mind boggled at the knowledge that this woman was capable of the things he'd seen a young Crockett do in Vietnam. How the hell did she spend the day with him last Saturday, giggling and laughing?

"Ray pushed me to attend all manner of extra training. I started at the War College and then went on to other classes and schools. I attended aviation training and have probably logged double the flight time of Commander Rabb. If it's got wings, I can fly it. When Ray retired I replaced him. When I retire, Crash will replace me."

AJ looked disbelieving; it was a lot to take in.

She continued, "I went through Intelligence training at Quantico and then was sent to the CIA to train with them at Langley."

"Langley, with the CIA? Who did you..."

"I trained under Tim Fawkes."

AJ just closed his eyes and sat back. He remembered what he did in 'Nam with Tim and couldn't believe that Jules was trained to be basically a hit man, that's of course what a sniper was, but still, she had so much training in that area. She was an assassin.

"What else?" He asked, knowing there was more. He didn't know how he knew, but he just knew.

"I was trained by a DSD agent before it was dismantled." When his head whipped up from his lap where he'd been lost in thought for a moment she said, "I hear he's in Leavenworth now."

AJ stood up and paced to the railing, looking out at Ginger as she sunned herself on the pier. She was trained by that psycho Clark Palmer? She was an assassin and a whack boy, girl, whatever. He shook his head and marveled at what he was hearing.

Jules continued, now that she was talking she wanted to get it out fast. "He wasn't crazy when I was training with him and unlike him, I don't enjoy what I do. I'm just good at it." Jules hated that she was so good at her job.

"What else?"

Jules went through her list of credentials, training and capabilities. AJ was reeling by the time she finished, but thought, she was right; she is quite possibly the most trained officer in the US Military.

"The team I work with is comprised of Marine Recon but also guys from different branches of the military. Crash is Navy as you know. We work the blackest of Black Ops. Things the government would never admit to doing."

"You mean like your last mission?" AJ asked. Knowing she did something that was just terrible.

"Yes. Like my last mission. It was a solo mission. Marine Recon dropped me in; I hiked ten klicks to the nearest town, found my targets, took them out, hiked back and was picked up by another Helo." Jules stared at her lap.

"Who were your targets?" AJ wondered. When she didn't answer right away, he felt himself tense.

"The wife and young son of a man we have in custody right now. He surrendered himself last week and the military was able to cross off the name on their list as the fourth most wanted Iraqi." Jules stood up and went inside for a few minutes. She went to her gear bag and grabbed her notebook and then to her bedroom, grabbed a portfolio notebook and took an insignia off one of her dress uniforms. She resolved to tell him everything.

AJ sat on the deck watching the water. Everything she told him was nearly impossible to believe. There was so much. She was a sniper trained by the best in the Corps, Gunny Crockett, she was Intelligence trained by someone he considered a good friend and mentor, a man he himself risked his life to rescue, and she was an assassin trained by a crazed psycho killer.

How the hell was she able to laugh and play around with Ginger like she did earlier today? And last week, she'd been on a mission and then two days later, a date with him where she giggled all day. How is that possible with everything she's had to do?