“Seven o’clock.” Paula answered. “Peggy is stopping by before hand so try to pull yourself together and make sure your bags are packed.”


“Yes ma’am. He replied and closed his door.


Paula turned on Charlie. He came and took Shawn’s place beside her but avoided her eye contact. “What the hell did you guys get into last night?”


“Your guess is as good as mine”


“You don’t remember what we did last night?”


“Do you wanna lie or the truth?” Charlie snorted.


If he didn’t look so damn cute and equally sick, she would’ve been angry with him. “The truth.” She grinned.


He frowned and shook his head. “I’m sorry babe, I don’t. I remember you waking me up this morning and pushing me to my room before Shawn woke up.”


“You and Shawn need to stay away from one another. You guys can’t go out drinking like that.”


“You’re preaching to the choir. I won’t do it again. God, I haven’t been this hung-over in years.”


“It’s because you don’t drink like everyone else.” Paula rolled her eyes.


“I’m a lightweight compared to Tony. And we have his stag party coming up.”


Paula forced a smile.


Charlie felt the pains of guilt rise in his gut. “Did I do something wrong?” He sat up. “You would tell me if I did something wrong, right?”


She scanned his beautiful face and said tenderly. “Yeah, I’d tell you.”


“So what did I miss?”


“Well, we had amazing sex.” Paula fell onto his arms.


“Really?” Charlie perked up.


“Oh yeah! You went down on me while I was on the phone with Lisa and then you came inside of me.”


Anxiety scissored across Charlie’s face. “I did what? What the fuck? I’m sorry.”


“I’m on the pill but we shouldn’t do that again. Not until….” She was interrupted by the phone. “Hello?”


“Hi Paula, it’s Peggy. Is Charlie around?”


“Yes, ma’am. He’s right here. Hold on.”


“No, don’t bother. Tell him I’m on my way. See ya in a minute.”


She hung up before Paula could say goodbye. “That was your mom. She’s on her way.”


“I’d better wake Sleeping Beauty,” he rolled from the sofa and went to rouse Shawn.




Ten minutes later, Peggy arrived in full uniform. “What were you two thinking last night?” she asked coming through the door.


“Glad you could make it, mom” Charlie said closing the door behind her.


“Don’t be cute, Charlie.” She greeted Paula and sat on the sofa. “Where’s your partner in crime?”


Charlie laid flat on the floor. “He’ll out in a bit. How the hell did you find out about last night?”


“How‘d you think you got home?” her drawl was thicker than Mississippi mud. “You called round three o’clock this morning lookin’ for a ride. Rose dropped your rental car off this morning. Do you have any idea how hard it was to pour the two of you into her car?”


Paula hushed a laugh as Shawn greeted Peggy and took a seat.


“Paula, you should have seen these two,” Peggy giggled. “Rose and I struggled for at least twenty minutes with Shawn alone.” She threw up her hands. “That’s it! I’m too old to be getting drunk dialed by my son.”


“Sorry ma’am.” Shawn said his face resting in his hand in shame.


“Don’t apologize. I’m glad you called---better to call than get behind the wheel.”


“Thanks momma.” Charlie rose from the floor, kissed Peggy on the top of her head and went back to bed.


“Did he just leave me sitting here?” Peggy turned to Paula laughing.


They heard his door close.



                                               ******



Arriving home close to ten o’clock and immediately slipped into their domestic routines: Shawn went home to his husk of a marriage and the couple spent the night at Charlie’s apartment.


Before Paula could get into the office the next day, she was hijacked by Stacy, Mo, and Cathy squawking about the wedding and bachelorette party that Paula now found herself hosting. She silently cursed Charlie’s name for getting her into this. If she’d been in her right frame of mind she would never have agreed to be Lisa’s maid of honor.


In short order, Paula delegated the party’s details to her three new helpers and made a dash for the Fusion Center. Jeanette stood talking over the shoulder of a pretty young white girl with ginger hued hair and dangerous green eyes. She was a civilian and from what she could make out from her seated position, ‘ginger’ had a nice figure. Paula took her seat and went to work without disturbing them. There was only a brief window of real work hours still available seeing that there was a three star General touring the facility. Paula found it amusing that even the top ranking brass had limited access to the Fusion Center yet here she was with unlimited access to the backend codes.


Charlie and Shawn came in after lunch to ensure all classified documentation had been removed. Charlie immediately caught the eye of the young ginger girl. She couldn’t take her eyes off of him. He smiled politely and went about his business, not giving her a second glance. Their exchange wasn’t lost on Paula. As he left, Charlie brushed his hand across Paula’s shoulders, letting her know she need not be concerned.


“We’d better it going. The tour’s starting in twenty minutes” Jeanette said. “Paula, I’d like you to meet Tess Simons. Today’s her third day.”


Paula smiled genuinely and shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, Tess. How do you like the place so far?”


“So far, so good,” Tess beamed. “It’s gonna be awhile before I grasp all of the Military stuff but the coding aspect I completely understand.”


“Don’t worry. I went through the same pains. I’ve only been here a few months.”


“I have a meeting with Msgt. Kirksey. Paula, do you mind showing Tess the ropes?” Jeanette asked.


“Not at all,” Paula grinned. “Come on, let’s vacate the premises before we’re kicked out.” They gathered their laptops and exited onto the main floor.


Tess eyes combed through the staff busy at their desk. Her eyes fell on Charlie. “Paula,” she called under her breath. “Who’s that guy?”


Paula stopped and traced the room. “Who?”


“The tall dark haired guy. He came into the Fusion Center,” she gave a sly point in Charlie’s direction.


Paula gave a short laugh. “That’s Sgt Willis.”


“Is he seeing anyone?”


Paula shrugged, a proud half cocked smirk inched across her lips. “I don’t know. Why don’t you ask him?” What she really wanted to say was, “Yes, he’s taken. He’s mine. Keep your paws off of him.”


“I could never approach him,” Tess said. “He probably has woman chasing him all the time.”


No, she spends most of his nights between my legs, is what Paula self-avowed inner bitch said. “No, I think you’d be surprised.” She replied demurely.