Starve.Org White Noise Usenet Archive: "SG5 - Under Pressure

Jamie rolled over and knocked the phone off the bed stand. It was
entirely too early on a Sunday morning, or rather, he'd been out
entirely too late the night before. He grinned at the reason he'd
snuck into the house in the wee hours of the morning, even though he
was quite certain Mrs. Maguire was going to give him an ear-full over
breakfast. A sigh escaped as he located the phone under the bed just
as it stopped ringing and went to his voice mail. Just once he'd like
to wake up in the morning in the same bed with her.

Lying back against the pillows, he stretched and listened to the
message. Well...at least someone was up bright and early this
morning. That someone just happened to be his CO and she left one of
her usual off-kilter messages. He reluctantly climbed out of bed and
began searching the drawers for some clean clothes as he dialed her
number.

"So, who's driving today? I'm assuming you'll want to get some prep-
work done today."

"No hello, no good morning.. I feel so neglected." Her tone was far
too chipper to be so though. In truth the woman sounded almost
frighteningly gleeful. "My turn to drive. I've all ready picked out
the high speed chase music for the drive over there. You sound too
groggy to drive anyways, Mac Daddy. You've got to slow down the
drinking come your ripe old age. I'd do so, too, if I were ancient but
luckily I'm still dustless."

Mac sighed dramatically into the phone as he located a clean set of
bdus. "And good mornin'. You're damned chipper for a Sunday
mornin'." His accent was thick in this semi-alert state and he didn't
bother trying to hide it. "Give me ten to shower and change. But not
much longer or I'll have to suffer through a well-meaning lecture."

"See I told you to stop drinking. It's a terrible thing to face the
wrath of your nanny. Grr with the fearsome gaze! Best ye be repenting
'fore she gets the nuns then woe be unto us all! And yes I'm in a
wonderful mood. I'll show you my ring before I bury it in my locker.
It's shiny, Mac. And pretty in a girly way that I'll never admit."
Svaboda closed the truck door behind her after one last wave to Frank.

He stopped in his tracks and blinked a couple of times as what she
said caught up with him. "It's about damned time you came to your
senses Mieke. Frank's a good man." He smiled widely and closed the
drawer he'd been digging through. "Okay - I'm going now. See you in
a few."

"In a few. I'll divert fire from your keeper while you don your
boxer." It was the least Mieke could to confound and confuse when in
such a good mood.

Less than ten minutes later and feeling much better, Mac tromped down
the stairs. He could hear Mieke and Mrs. Maguire in the kitchen and
both of them sounded jovial enough. That worried him a great deal.

"-Always use the wooden spoon with slots." Svaboda was saying as Mac
came into view. "It's that swooshing sound: brings grown men to
shaking in their shoes from the sound alone. And still manages to be
gentle enough to only count as psychological warfare."

Mac groaned as he entered the kitchen and went straight to the coffee-
pot. "Mieke, she's been terrorizing boys and young men since before
either of us were born." He smiled warmly at the older woman, "Good
mornin', Mrs. Maguire."

"Now Jamie MacTaggart, don't go tellin' tales on me." She mock-
threatened him with a wooden spoon. "And donnae think you're getting
out of that lecture, young man. I've been assured by Ms. Svaboda that
you won't be working a full day. So, if you want your dinner tonight,
you'll have to suffer through an accounting." At the calculating look
on his face she added, "And I'm making your favorite."

"Am I getting some, too?" Mieke leaned on the older woman's shoulder
and grinned up at her. Food was her international language of
adoration: always was, always would be. "I'll be a good girl. He'll be
a trouble maker."

"You are more than welcome, lass." Mrs. Maguire answered with an even
wider smile. "I like this one, Jamie-boy. Why don't you marry her?"

Mac chuckled and fixed his coffee, "Because not only is she my
commanding officer, ma'am, but she's already been claimed by a
wonderful man who cooks almost as well as you do."
Denise: "Besides...Jamie already has a girlfriend." Rhys piped up
from the table where he'd been watching the exchange in a bemused
fashion. "She's really pretty too and from Italy or someplace. Her
name's Lina." He grinned as Mac glared at him with narrowed eyes.
"Well...it was pretty obvious yesterday at the con that she was more
than just your 'friend'."

"AHA!" Svaboda's grin multiplied three fold at the newest chirp of
information. She'd been waiting for the opportunity to continue to
build the Mac's reputation as ultimate Bond-ish lady's man since their
first mission. "I *thought* you were just entirely too clean shaven
lately to not be bumping u- into someone lovely and from Italy. Named
Lina. You'll have to tell me all about it on the way to work. I'll be
all ears!" She all but gloated, shooting a wink Rhys' way.

He knew when he was outmatched and most likely outsmarted and opted
for silent acceptance of this new situation. In hind-sight, he knew
his relationship with Messalina would eventually be discovered. As a
matter of fact, he had most likely invited it, taking her and the kids
on the same outing. Well, there was nothing for it now but to deal
with the fall-out.

Putting the lid on his travel mug, Mac gave Rhys a mock-growly half-
threat, "You'll have a girlfriend one day, just remember that." He
squeezed Mrs. Maguire's shoulder in farewell and jerked his head
toward the door. "Let's go before the boy gives away all my secrets."

"You act like I don't know them all ready. Spies, Jamie. Darn good
spies. Bye guys!" Mieke took her cue and sauntered out the door first,
grinning like the Cheshire cat. She hopped into the truck all too
eagerly and gunned the engine to life, filling the cab with ZZ Top.
"Now there's no one to save you Mac. No distraction, no witnesses.
Spill it, spill it, spill it or I'm driving 100 miles per hour all the
way to work. Is she pretty? Where'd you meet her? Is she good with
the boy?"

He hunched down in the passenger seat, mentally preparing himself for
the roller coaster ride to work. "She's gorgeous, that's classified
and good enough."

Mieke turned a quick questioning look Mac's way before accelerating in
reverse down the driveway way too quickly. She shifted them into a
teeth rattling surge forward at the street that barely missed the
mailboxes. "Classified? What do you mean by classified? Kiss my ass
I'm not telling you classified or nailing a spy kind of classified?"

Mac gripped the dash with one hand and steadied his coffee with the
other. He had to give her something or she'd have him shacking up
with Queen next. "Classified as in not a spy and not the girl next
door, okay?"

"You're killing me here." She grumbled during a downshift to edge
around traffic during a merge. "I take it there's a super secret
squirrel scout reason why you're being tongue tied aside from
terrified that I might meet her. I'd even be polite and not bring
Eddie. But that's okay: he gets enough of your time during our
briefings."

When threatened with Eddie, Mac had no choice but to give in just a
bit. After all, it might be interesting to see Mieke trying to track
down the elusive 'Lina'. "I met her on-base, okay? And we really
don't want our relationship to be common knowledge." Slanting a
sideways look at her he preemptively answered her next question, "And
no, she's not married."

"I don't imagine you'd be the kind to skim the guppy pool, Jamie. And
you know I don't go running my mouth about the really important crap.
I'm just.. animated.. Shows I care- Hold on." The truck off roaded for
a few moments to avoid a speck of a Volkswagen going only a measly 45
through the one lane stretch. Gravel and dirt flew in a little cloud
that made a wake behind the truck. "I'll stop the 20 questions now if
it's making you uncomfortable."

Why did he let her drive anyway? Or rather, why did he agree to ride
with her? He turned and studied her profile - the almost crazed grin
on her face as she blasted past the other car and the relaxed posture
as she casually flipped the truck back onto the road. "I hate it when
you go all 'human' on me, Mieke." He offered her a lopsided grin and
couldn't help himself. He always gave in when she turned serious on
him, "Her name is Messalina, but please, keep a lid on it, okay?" He
added the big puppy-dog eyes just to impress upon her the importance
of this.

Mieke pouted slightly. She hadn't expected a response like 'damn it
when you're sane' but not 'damn it when you're nice'. Was she that
much a pain in the ass? "I'm 100% human.. in my little toe. You act so
surprised by this I think I should be hurt. I'll take it as a
compliment though that I'm learning to be tolerable."

Mac laughed and shot her a wink. "It's all Frank's doing, I'm sure."
He genuinely liked Mieke, "It was a compliment, m'dear." Sitting up
straighter as they neared the base he switched the subject, "So, are
we still headed out on that herb gathering mission, or is this
someplace new?"

Shrugging, Svaboda turned off onto the usual side roads. "We're
gathering herbs from what I got out of the message. We pick some
medicinal weeds- might as well just go to Portland- but that's what
they want. Skip the snakes and tumbleweeds and it's all happy hand
holding from there. The briefing should be the same as before just a
few days behind."

"Well, at least I still have all the paperwork." Mac said with a
grin, "It's just a matter of changing the dates." And that pleased
him to no end.

"Yeah thank goodness for small miracles, right? We have the cliff
notes version for once." Mieke chuckled. "Whoda thunk we actually have
a plan?"

------------
Capt. James MacTaggart
Demolitions/Linguist
2IC of SG5

And

Maj. Mieke Svaboda
CO & Medic of SG5
Demolition derby time!