Ms. Jones

[thehonorablebat]

Summary: Private Weir has a conversation with a woman who isn’t as she appears.

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July 1, 1987

Weir wasn’t sure what he expected when he walked in, but a woman sitting on the corner of Major Callahan’s desk never crossed his mind. She wasn’t wearing an army uniform. The suit she wore wouldn’t have appeared out of place in a business conference, and her hair looked like it had been done up by a professional. She resembled a civilian, but there was an air of authority about her that made him want to snap a salute.

“Ah, private, that was fast,” she said, glancing up from the file she was reading. His file, he could see.

“Ma’am?” was all he could think to say. Somehow he figured if he asked where the major was he wouldn’t get a straight answer.

“I’m Jones with the DoD,” she said with a pleasant smile.

His bullshit alarm went off, but he wasn’t sure what tripped it yet. He waited to see if she would say more.

“You can be at ease, private.” Her suggestion went ignored. “Suit yourself. Not the talkative type either, hm? That’s fine. I love to talk, I’ll just go ahead and fill up the empty air.” Jones made a show of setting his file aside on Callahan’s desk and taking a cigarette case out of her pocket.

“I don’t know about you, but the weather here in Georgia drives me mad. I can’t wait to get back up north again.” She lit her cigarette, exhaling a puff of smoke. Jones offered him one, but he refused with a shake of his head. “So, Weir, William. Not your real name, shame on you, but I can see why you did it. I think that’s a little thing we can keep between just the two of us.” 

Weir only frowned. He had known using the alias would be a risk, but it was one that couldn’t be helped.

“You signed up to help get your citizenship, didn’t you?” Jones asked in a way to suggest she already knew the answer.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“It such a shame you have to do this, having been born in Virginia and all,” she said.

News to him.

“What was so wrong with Australia you wanted to leave?” Jones asked.

“Nothing in particular is wrong with Australia, ma’am. I just needed a change,” he answered.

“Immigrating is quite the chance, but I suppose that’s none of my business.”

And he was willing to bet she knew exactly why he left his home country.

“What will you do when you become a United States citizen? Buy a house? Enroll into a nice school? Find a wife?” Despite appearances Jones had been watching him like a hawk through the whole meeting, but now she stared at him like she was trying to see under his skin.

“I couldn’t afford any of those things, ma’am,” he said.

“Fair enough. So what will you do?” Clearly she wasn’t one to be deterred. “You must have an idea.”

“Keeping my stable army career sounds like a good idea in my position, ma’am.” A constant paycheck, three meals a day, and as long as he didn’t royally screw up he would always have a job.

“Stable career, yes, but aren’t you worried about dying?” she asked.

“Not really, ma’am.”

She laughed, reaching across the desk for Callahan’s ashtray.

“So a military life. Is that all? You have no greater ambition?” Jones pushed. This conversation wouldn’t be over until she was satisfied, he could tell.

“I’ve entertained the idea of getting into the special forces,” he admitted.

She hummed.

“Rangers?”

“I was thinking Green Berets, ma’am.”

Jones gave him a pleased smile.

“You would do well, I think.” She hopped off the desk. “That’s all. It was a pleasure meeting you Private Weir. I’ll be following your career with great interest.”

Jones swept passed him and out of the room before he could wrap his mind around her sudden exit. A minute later Callahan walked in as though he were waiting just outside the door the whole time.

A week later, Weir would be a brand new US citizen. He would be more suspicious than happy. Not two months prior they had told him it would take years.