I settle Harm against the wall, praying that he stays standing long enough for me to do this, and I crouch down low to pick the lock. It�s an old one, and relatively easy to pick, but I�m nervous and I keep looking up to check on Harm every few seconds.
Within a minute I�m in and I helped Harm over to the bed. He flopped down, cover and all, and I took his cover off, tugged his shoes and coat off, and lifted his legs up onto the bed. It was too hot to bother with covers, so I didn�t worry about trying to get them out from under his body.
�Don' go,� Harm said in a whiny voice, reaching out as I turned to leave.
�Harm, you know I can�t stay,� I said softly. I knelt down so I was at his eye level and I stroked his hair soothingly.
�I know,� he said sadly. �Wish you could, though,� he added, his eyes meeting mine for a long moment before his body shut down and he passed out.
�Me too, Harm,� I whispered as I leaned in to place a tender kiss on his forehead. I quickly made sure that he wouldn�t fall out of bed and I moved the garbage can closer to the bed, just in case, and then I left, more than a little reluctantly.
Even though the transport wasn�t due to leave for another two hours, I was dressed and packed shortly after six. The base PRO had come by my room at 0600 on the dot and I�d managed to convince him to get me to spare key to Harm�s room after explaining that he would be very hung over and was not known for being too friendly early in the morning anyway. Apparently the young Public Relations Officer didn�t have a death wish and was all too willing to leave my partner in my hands.
Of course, he didn�t leave without giving me an envelope.
The contents?
A fax from Admiral Chegwidden stating that we would have to take civilian transportation back to Washington since we had missed the transport the day before we were supposed to go out on and that we would be paying our way home.
That means he�s had another fight with Sydney.
Of course, that also means that I have to sit next to Harm on a 747 or whatever we end up on and watch him wish he were up in the cockpit rather than leaving the flying of the �friendly skies� to a couple of air force drop outs.
And, to top it off, he�ll be hung over.
My day just keeps getting worse and worse.