Our Bruised Bodies | Bradley Bradshaw

ACT FOUR - PART EIGHTEEN

Cheers!

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"When were you going to tell me?" Jonathan asked, the moment he stepped into Grace's office after knocking on her door, even though Grace's assistant had told him that she's busy. His gaze never leaving her, not even as she looked up, before concentrating on the email she was just reading.

It had started early this morning, seven in the morning sharp, since then, the phone hadn't stopped to ring according to Nacy, who was assisting Grace since she had arrived at Miramar and was no busy with picking up the phone, putting people on different lines, while they were waiting until Grace would be finally free to speak to them, while simultaneously reading all of the 341 emails she had gotten since last night. This was a fucking nightmare.

"Bout what?" Grace answered with another question, which had Lieutenant Commander Bates, move further into the room, before planting his palms flatly on his superior's desk.

"When are you leaving here?" He wondered, which had Grace roll her eyes before leaning back in her seat after sending out another email with the same pre-drafted reply, she had send out to everyone, who had made her a job offer so far.

"It was just one officer dinner, Jon. I'm not going anywhere, anytime soon." She reminded him, but if what Peterson told her, that one outing will have been enough. They all seemed very impressed by her persona, the cold exterior of Icarus, just as the tragic in her blood and the mystery of legends around her. To say that Peterson hadn't been pleased with her performance would have been simply wrong and the sheer number of calls and emails spoke in her favour too.

As if to proof a point, Nancy's voice sounded out over speaker. "Commander, Admiral Cain is on line two." Her sweet voice sounded out, which caused Jon to give her a pointed look, but she ignored him and gestured for him to take a seat, for this could take a while, because Grace was still a Commander and couldn't just blow off Captains and Admirals, who tried to reach her.

"Who's on line one?" She wondered out loud, her finger pressing the button, so Nacy would be able to hear her. "A Captain Mitchell, but he said he's not calling for a promotion. And Admiral Springer is on line three." Grac just groaned upon hearing that.

"My brother says he won't be surprised if they make you an Admiral right away." Elrond told her, which had Grace shake her head softly, while starring down at the receiving machine, the phone resting against it, which she would have to pick up soon, for letting any of these people wait won't be the best of ideas.

"That won't happen." She reminded him. The Navy still did things of the book. Skipping a rank was never an option, while pressing her finger down on the two.

"I just got to know the brass a bit, that's not a guarantee for anything." She said, covering the lower part of the phone, as she waited for the call to connect.

"Admiral Cain, Sir. What can I do for you?" She wondered out loud and Elrond made to stand, to leave her office, but Grace pulled her brows together and gestured for him to sit back down before pulling up a block and a black marker.

"Tell me about the hop I missed." She wrote down, annoyingly neatly, for how quickly she had scribbled the words down, the side of her head pressed against her shoulder to secure the phone in between, while she half listened to what Cain was saying.

"You are clearly busy, I will catch you up later." Jon told her, which caused Grace to cover the speaker of the phone while leaning it away from her face slightly.

"I will die, if you don't get me out of this office and into my jet soon." She shout-whispered at him, which caused Jon to smile. Grace wasn't in Miramar for long just yet, this only being her second class but Jon already couldn't imagine going through another round of teaching without her by his side.