Tom, I mean, Jillians dad was really good at what he did. A steaming cup next to the stove caught my eye, I looked back at Jillians dads office door, ...it remained closed and silent. I hopped off the counter, ice lollie in hand and mouth, and grabbed the handle of the mug. I licked the last of the ice off of the stick and tossed it in the bin and I carried the mug up to the office door. I made a gentle knock on the wooden door and admired my French tip nails as I waited, Uh, Yep.. Muffled out. Then, totally unexpectedly for me, Martin told his wife, "While you were gone, I told Andrew about my condition and that I'd wanted you to take a lover." Oh, god, Martin, that's hardly relevant," she said blushing."Well, dear, he told me if you ever agreed, he wanted his name on the candidates' list." I'm afraid it was just guy-talk, Alyssa, please don't take offense," I hastily added."Oh, no, he does keep bringing it up, it does bother him I know and, well, you seem to give such good. “I kissed him in the hall right outside my door. I went in and – I had to tell her. I was too happy.”The woman calmed down a bit before continuing, though the smile still threatened to split her face. “She said she was happy for me, too.”Octavia took a long breath and let it out in a sigh, calming down still further. “I think she was worried I’d get rid of her and the rest of my family or something. I think, even if we last a thousand years in the stars, we’re still going to fail to see that. I got to know this man well in Iraq and again in Afghanistan. He and his teams went into places a full regiment would fear to go and usually came out mission accomplished. He personally wrote a letter to the Joint Chiefs and sent a cc to the Pentagon complaining about Senator Creel's business ties to defense contractors in the Middle East. I believe I now know what this whole brouhaha is about."Gordon McReady stopped, collected his thoughts and then continued, "That's what this whole thing is.