She was never good at jet lag. I would take her a couple days to get on a schedule and then a couple more when she got back. He told her she needed to go to sleep since it was night over there, but to her it was mid afternoon and she just couldn't make herself do it.
He sulled up after their cry and couldn't seem to shake it. He brought her some water and rubbed her hair until he thought she was asleep then posted himself on the couch just physically unable to be near her right then.
After he was out and she received the texts from Federale she laid there quietly and thought about a strange series of events some 25 years ago, and how that moment when she was just fifteen years old had led her here to this place.
A lifetime ago she was a pretty high speed kid at a great little German Texas high school that produced ivy leaguers and service academy prospects every single year. She attended at a high school career night when a United States Senator sitting at the US Naval Academy table caught her eye.
She went over to talk to him and he asked about her SAT scores. Once she delivered them, he was very interested in adding her to his list of potential appointments. He gave her information about a summer math, science and engineering camp they held on campus at Annapolis and cautioned her it was pretty difficult to get into. "They have three sessions, 300 kids each, taken from your class nationwide," he said. "They lean heavily on your SAT math score, and I think you are sitting in a pretty good place right now."
"My counselor says I should maybe take it one more time, later this year then not again," she said.
"Yep, sophomore year is when most of the students on your track top out," he said. "I agree with your counselor. Take it one more time and let's see where your math score winds up."
It would end up in the top 1%.
She applied for the camp and waited to hear back, not really knowing what it would be or if she was even really interested in the Naval Academy. A few weeks went by and a letter came in the mail- she was in.
There was a packing list, info for how to meet the airport shuttle to campus, and a daily schedule. She had choices of classes to pick from, including all kinds of things. She circled systems engineering, cryptology, German literature, and aeronautics.
Annapolis was a beautiful eastern seaboard town with cobblestone streets and building after building dating to the 1700s. Arriving on campus, which was built atop the site of a revolutionary war fort, she was ushered to her room and introduced to her two roommates. One was from Delaware and the other was from Oregon. There were 300 students at this particular session and she and her roommates were the only three females.
They did PT every day at 5:00am, very difficult pt. They had obstacle courses to run, classes to attend, and the cafeteria was marvelous. Steak and eggs for breakfast every single morning. One night they had a special assembly where the featured speakers were the crew of the space shuttle that was about to launch... they were ALL Naval Academy grads. One of which was female. She was completely in her element and absolutely ate it up.
About halfway through the week she was running the obstacle course and while jumping a trap landed wrong and broke her ankle. David Robinson's old college roommate (yes, David Robinson graduated from there too) took her to the hospital to get checked out. Lt. drove a Supra and it went VERY fast. She was in a whole new world of possibilities and everything looked so bright.
While they were waiting in triage a group of men filed by. Lt. completely changed his body language and immediately seemed very nervous. She watched the spectacle and wondered what in the world about those men were getting to him that way.
"Who are they?" she asked.
"They're SEALs," he said. Lt. went on to explain that the US government has special forces guys that are not fit for everyday public consumption. These guys were in between missions and not allowed out and into general population until after the next one and after some serious mental and physical rehabilitation.
"Why?" she asked. "Don't they all have Mamas who would want to see them when they are stateside?"
He laughed at her and put his hand on her back. "Oh little lady I am not sure I have ever even thought about that, but I am pretty sure these guys do not have Mamas. I think they were created in a lab somewhere full grown, muscled up, and crazy. They're here I guess because they have to have all their labs checked out coming in from whatever place they have been. And also because without psychiatric evaluations they just don't need to be out."
He looked at her shocked face and tried his best to explain. "I don't want to say anything ugly about them, but these guys do things that most people couldn't stomach. It takes a lot of mental preparation for them to be able to complete these missions, and it takes a lot of mental preparation to be able to put that away and go back into society in a safe and healthy way. We got a notice yesterday that they will be bunking on campus for a couple weeks, and that they requested a battleship for their stay."
"A battleship! Ooh! I am supposed to be on one tomorrow for a class I signed up for," she said.
"Not anymore you're not, they want it to go fishing and if I heard right to lay out and sun some."
"Wow. You can just request a battleship for a fishing trip?" she asked incredulously.
"If you are one of those guys, you bet your ass you can," he said.
They finally called her back for xrays and afterwards she was ushered to a hall to wait on a room and for a doctor to go over the results. Lt. told her he would be at the desk waiting and would not come in the room with her because of privacy reasons (she fully got that, they both turned beet red when the xray tech asked her if she could be pregnant). So she was left there for a bit just swinging her legs and waiting.
While sitting in the hall she watched several people go by. Some were on stretchers, some were limping, and some were holding their heads. There were pregnant people, old people ... you name it. Then after a bit a very large man came and sat next to her on the bench. He had an interesting tattoo on his left forearm and in her estimation he was very, very handsome. She smiled up at him and when he realized it and turned to meet her gaze he just stared at her. He wasn't creepy (he was kinda hot!) but while sizing him up she thought he must outweigh her by about 150-175 pounds. He was most likely mid to late 20s, though it was hard for her to completely decide his age.
She was nothing if not overconfident, so she thought what the heck and said "Hey!"
"Hey," he responded, with astonishment. He continued to look her over with interest. Almost like a predator looks over prey. "Busted up your foot, huh?"
"My ankle," she corrected. "You see in Texas we do not routinely have large men screaming and chasing us through sand traps and over water obstacles at high rates of speed. And well, I missed a jump. It's probably broken."
He smiled then realized that probably wasn't an appropriate response to that description. So he quickly switched his face to concern. "Where in the world would you have large men chasing you?" he asked with intense curiosity as he leaned in. His tshirt was so tight on his arm she thought it might rip.
"Oh at the Naval Academy..." she trailed off and turned her head, doing her best to feign disinterest and project toughness while thinking o.m.G! this dude is TALKING to ME!!!!
Naval Academy? "Small world," he said. "I'm at the Naval Academy. But I guess if you're a midshipman I can't be talking to you anymore, as I'm not supposed to fraternize."
"Oh I'm sorry to hear that," she said with disappointment. "You seem kind of nice."
Now it was his turn to look away and hide his face. Because grinning wasn't something he often did, and blushing even less so.
"But for what it's worth you can still talk to me because I'm actually not a midshipman," she offered.
He turned back to face her again with interest. "Oh yeah?" he said. "They just let random Texans run the obstacle courses on campus these days? Seems highly suspect to me." He smiled and his eyes lit up. She did too.
"No, of course not. I belong there I'm just not a midshipman. Well not yet. And I really don't want to tell you all this," she said as she looked around, "some of it could be classified... and I just don't really have any way of knowing what your clearance level is."
"Oh it's high," he said with a chuckle.
"Ok then," she said still making sure the coast was clear,"but please once I tell you play it close to the vest and don't get up and run off to tell people."
He looked at her as she struggled with something. And damn it if he wasn't intrigued with whatever it was about to be.
"You see I don't know how old you are, but I'm fifteen. I'm here because of this summer science math and engineering camp and you're probably here because you go here. But I'm not as young as it seems, because see my birthday was late so really most of my friends are already sixteen."
Fifteen. Wow, he thought.
"No actually you are as young as it seems you see that's how it works. You are actually fifteen until you are actually sixteen, and that fact is completely separate from any friends of yours who are in fact already completely sixteen."
Dang it, she thought. He's about to bolt.
Dang it, he thought. She's about to bolt.
He offered a peace treaty. "So I saw you guys on campus yesterday, looked like about 300 of you but all guys." It seemed to work as she looked back at him.
She grinned and thought "he didn't bolt..." before replying "There are exactly 300 of us, and three of us are girls."
"A whole three of you, eh? That sounds awful. Why in the heck would you want to come to that camp??" he asked sincerely.
She looked completely bewildered before responding "Because I told you- there are 300 of us and only three of us are girls."
He threw his head back and laughed, then turned back toward her and looked her over really good. He could not believe this kid. "Oh man, you are a piece of work. Are all Texas girls this confident? I mean you are sitting here weighing like a buck eleven at most, and just going at me like a spider monkey. Not the least bit scared or wary. And babe, most grown men would rather piss themselves than sit here next to me and carry on a conversation. Probably for good reason."
"I resent you saying that," she said and crossed her arms confidently. "First of all, I weigh 114. And furthermore you may be big but you are not scary. I think under the right circumstances I could take you."
He looked at her in disbelief. "No, no you could not," he said.
She shook him off. "Oh I'm sneaky. You have no idea. I can wait you out. You might be sitting there underestimating me because you weigh like 400 pounds but you have to go to sleep sometime," she threatened. "And I will be there."
She was unbelievable. "I weigh 286," he commented dryly and with much affect.
Dear God, she thought. And ALL muscle.
She gulped a little and went right back at him, slowly looking him up from his boots to his head. "Well I don't know how tall you are, but I bet your center of gravity is affected by all that muscle mass. I still think odds are on my side." He couldn't believe this squirt was sizing him up.
"My center of gravity is just fine," he said and shook his head. "Maybe when you're legal you can give it a go," he replied with a grin. "But not a second before."
She shrugged. Denied. But he still hadn't bolted.
About that time a nurse came to take him to his room and another one came to get her. They went different ways down the hall, and she turned to look at him one more time. He was standing in the doorway grinning. "Til 1994, my dear. And by the way, I'm twenty six."
How humiliating, she thought.
A couple hours later she returned to campus mostly mended up, with her leg in a fresh cast. Another camper who she hadn't met yet was assigned to help get her in and out of the halls with their bags and her crutches. He was a guy her age from Mississippi.
"I really do appreciate all of your help," she said.
"Oh no worries. Gets me to chow first! Do you know the Battleship has been taken off the schedule? The SEALs took it!" he said with excitement.
"Yeah, Lt. told me earlier. I wonder what we are supposed to do this class period?" she asked.
"Study from what I hear. I'll help you up the stairs to your room."
He stayed with her during the cancelled class period and the two of them were instantly thick as thieves. They were both lovers of history and shared many political views and conspiracy theories. By the end of that first night they had decided if he ever became President she would be his Secretary of Defense. From that moment on the two were inseparable in only the way that one can be with their very best friend in the world.
So that was the day she met Federale.
And also the day she met a head hunter, though she didn't know it at the time. How could she possibly know that the large muscled up man with the left forearm tattoo grabbed her medical chart (like the nurse was going to do anything about it) and put her name on an actual recruitment list for 1994.
But he did.
A fortuitous and calamitous day all in one. The day she met her future best friend.
And the day she met El Jefe.