JAG: Sarah Ch. 01

Sarah crossed the scarlet enclosure and dipped her hand into the bubbling water, smelling the aroma of fresh strawberries rising from its depths. It was then she felt Chris close behind her, his hands on her hips, preventing her from turning to face him.

"Do you like it, Darlin'?" he whispered, his tone husky and seductive. "I planned this just for you."

Dropping his shirt to the floor, Chris reached his arms around and cupped her breasts with his hands. "You've got too many clothes on." he rasped, his fingers pulling her sweater up and over her head.

She felt his hair-roughened chest press intimately against her back, pinning her body between his and the raised edge of the hot tub. Slowly, he brought his hands behind her and released the catch of her bra, dropping it to the floor at his feet. His lips explored the bare expanse of her back, and he once more reached around to squeeze her hardened nipples. Sarah flushed, a rash of "goose flesh" spreading across her upper torso.

Remaining behind her, he silently kneaded her breast with one hand while he insinuated the other beneath the waistband of her skirt and panties, thrusting his fingers into the dampening crevice below.

Aroused, but confused, Sarah attempted to turn and face her husband, but with silken control, he held her fast.

"Not yet." he whispered huskily. "Please...not yet."

Sarah felt his lips descend her spine as he lowered himself to the floor behind her. Then, pressing his lips to the small of her back, he raised her skirt and began to gently tug her panties down her thighs, covering each inch with his tongue as they slowly sank to her ankles.

Trying to conventionalize their actions, Sarah tried a second time to turn and face her husband, but again his pleas held her firmly in place, his hands positioning her naked posterior before him. He had only just begun.

Gently, he lifted her foot, and bypassing her shoe, removed her left ankle from its silken restraint. Waves of passion washed over her, her knees began to tremble. Once more she reached out to support herself on the edge of the hot tub.

Chris pressed his hands between her legs and urged them apart, stroking the silken texture of her inner thighs, again plunging his fingers into her dripping core. She was incredibly wet, aroused beyond belief at his unconventional approach.

Chris gently nudged her upper torso, causing her to lean forward, and project her creamy globes closer to his questing lips. It was then that Chris slid between her legs on his knees, and positioned himself between her trembling thighs.

Sarah's eyes widened as she felt his warm breath waft across the dark curls between her legs. Then, reaching upward with both hands, he plunged his questing fingers into the heated recesses of her body, causing her to gasp raggedly and press against him.

Gently opening her delicate folds with his thumbs, he inserted his probing tongue into her vagina, feasting hungrily on the abundant moisture within.

"Chris!" she exclaimed, her voice high and uneven. "W...what are you doing? Oh..." she bit her lip, stifling a moan of passion. "Chris!" she tried to speak, but the words died in her throat.

Thrusting his tongue maddeningly in and out of her quivering core, Chris began to stimulate the hardened nub before him with the tip of his finger.

Sarah's knees began to buckle, and a ragged cry tore from her lips. "Chris...Chris...Oh my god..."

She began to sink to the floor beside him, but he stabilized her body with his hands until she once again found support from the hot tub. Then, as her climax rocked the room, he quickly stood up and opened his zipper, plunging his enormous erection deep into her wet and quivering flesh.

Sarah was beside herself. She grabbed the hot tub for support as her senses fled, leaving only animal passion in their wake...an untamed hunger that only his body could satisfy.

Grasping her hips beneath the bundled vestige of her skirt , he pulled her roughly against him, thrusting wildly into her dripping sex as her vaginal muscles greedily sucked his engorged organ. He was hard...he was hot...he was ready.

She felt his lips press hungrily against the side of her throat, his body covering hers... bending her forward... plunging harder...deeper...faster. And then she felt the hot rush of him flood her inner being, carrying her once again in its wake.

Afterward, they lay exhausted, in each other's arms as the warm, scented water swirled around them. Let tomorrow take care of itself, she thought. Tonight is made for love.

Fall, 1988
Yuma, Arizona

As with all good things, honeymoons too come to an end.

When they returned home Chris' possessiveness took on manic proportions. She was his wife now, to him that meant he owned her body and soul. Sarah became more and more unhappy with each passing day.

With a year yet to go in school, Chris grudgingly continued to rent the small trailer on the edge of town, and Sarah attempted to complete her studies. She tried valiantly to create the home she had always wanted, but by now her alcohol abuse was absent only during the six hours each day that she spent in class. At home, Chris' supply seemed to be never ending, and Sarah felt her physical and emotional dependence growing with each passing day.

Occasionally, she would ask Chris how he'd earned the money that paid their growing expenses, but his response was always the same. "Here and there." he'd repeat evasively, his look silencing any further query. Sarah's tumultuous life with Joe MacKenzie had taught her to leave well enough alone, and so she accepted his avoidance in the interests of peace, and self-preservation.

Then, one day the police showed up at the entrance to the small trailer the Ragles shared on N. Sitgrieves Avenue. In their hands they carried a warrant for Chris' arrest...the charge: armed robbery. And Sarah's world once again came crumbling down around her.

Chris was charged with the armed hold-up of a convenience store in the Tucson area, a few hours drive to the east. The evidence against him was conclusive, and the respective lawyers involved soon plea bargained the inevitable charge to a span of three to five years in a state prison. Then, on the day before her 19th birthday, almost as though their lives together had never existed, Chris was gone.

Spring, 1989
Near Yuma, Arizona

It was hard moving back to the bungalow in which she'd been raised, but by then, her father was serving a stiff brig sentence for drunkenly assaulting a female acquaintance, and was no longer present. Sarah found herself truly alone.

The townspeople treated her with contempt. "Chris Ragle's little bitch," they whispered as she passed down the street, "Joe MacKenzies drunken kid!" Then one day a tall, square jawed Marine Colonel had turned up on her doorstep"

"Uncle Matt" Sarah squealed, throwing her arms around her visitor. It was Matt O'Hara, her mother's favorite brother, home from his latest tour on the farthest reaches of some mysterious shore.

" I can't believe that you're really here!"

"I had to come, Sarah. I heard some of the scuttlebutt coming from this one-horse town, and it wasn't good."

Sarah was momentarily subdued. Her neighbors hadn't wasted any time.

"It's not too bad." she lied. "I'm getting along okay." Then her voice brightened. "Uncle Matt! I'll be graduating in two weeks...can you stay?" she asked hopefully.

"Absolutely!" he replied. "I wouldn't miss it for anything.

The next two weeks were the most pleasant that she could remember. Uncle Matt became more than her mother's brother, he became her friend. Even her drinking problem, which had reached astronomical proportions, became more manageable. For the first time in her life, Sarah felt truly connected...genuinely cared for.

It was then that she began to worry about what her world would be like after Uncle Matt resumed his duties, and she was once again alone. Could she bear to revisit the alienation and loneliness that had become the calling cards of her life? Uncle Matt was sure that she was stronger than she gave herself credit for, but in her heart she knew he was wrong.

Then, three days before her graduation, her insecurities won out. Taking a bottle of vodka from her former "stash", Sarah crept out into the desert behind her home and attempted to dim the still, small voice that so plagued her.

She drank until the world became a gray, painless blur, and all of the pieces seemed to fit once again. Then, too compromised to rise to her feet, she closed her eyes and drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep.

That was how Uncle Matt found her the next morning,

"Sarah...Sarah? Wake up. Have you been out here all night?"

Sarah looked guiltily around her. Her clothing was disheveled, her hair was matted with sand, and the half- empty vodka bottle lay, like a dying soldier at her side.

Remembering her father, Sarah looked warily at Matt O'Hara, and waited for the invectives to assail her senses. But Uncle Matt was nothing like Joseph MacKenzie. Far from the reproach she had expected, his regard was for her welfare alone.

Crouching by her side, his voice was soft and calmative. "Sarah? Are you alright?" he asked, his face masked in concern. "...think maybe you'd like to come inside now?"

It was then that the tears began to flow down her ravaged, dirt-streaked face. "Oh...Uncle Matt. I'm so ashamed. I let you down...you must hate me."

Gently he brushed the tears from her cheeks, turning the tiny rivulets into wide, muddy swaths. "I could never hate you, Sarah. You should know that. As for letting me down...you're the one who's feeling guilty and ashamed right now...maybe the one you really let down is a lot closer to home."

Then, regaining his feet, Matt O'Hara turned back toward the bungalow, attempting to leave his niece some shred of dignity. "Come on in when you're ready, Sarah. I'll put on some coffee and get a little breakfast started." And then he was gone.

Sarah raised her hand to the ravages of her hair, and tried desperately to salvage her clothing. She was amazed. Even at her worst, Uncle Matt still loved her. The knowledge filled her with a warmth she had never known, and with a dread she could not control. What would she do when he was gone?

The incident in the desert should have helped Sarah gain at least temporary control over her drinking problem, but alcohol had been her comfort and salvation for far too long to abandon it now in her time of insecurity. Instead of fostering moderation, her apprehension over his departure became an excuse to intensify her indulgence.

Soon, she and her old "drinking buddy" Eddie were once again sipping contraband in the desert, only now they had both graduated to a much higher level of abuse.

Graduation Day
June 25, 1989
Coronado High School

Sarah was drunk when they handed her the diploma she had worked for thirteen years to earn.

She'd been drunk for days. Even the solicitous presence of her Uncle Matt did nothing to diminish her frequent trysts with a vodka bottle. She felt lost and unredemptive, and it was in this physical and emotional state that she and Eddie attended the prom at the school gymnasium that night.

The chaperones, her teachers, had been aware of Sarah's condition for days. It was only because they'd taken pity on her, and because the end was so near, that Sarah had not been expelled. But now, at the dance, they were forced to draw the line.

Quietly separating Sarah and Eddie from the crowd of jubilant seniors, one of Sarah's former teachers escorted the inebriated teenagers outside.

"Sarah...Eddie" Mr. Cummings had begun. "You stay here. I'm going to get my car and take you home. You're in no condition to stay here tonight, and I'm not going to turn you loose on the streets." And with that, he turned and was soon lost among the sea of cars in the parking lot.

Eddie, both drunk and defiant, lost no time in hurrying Sarah from the scene. "Come on!" he'd shouted. "Lets go! My car's just down the street. By the time old Cummings gets back, we'll be long gone. He's not taking THIS dude home!"

Confused and disoriented, Sarah wove erratically down the road on Eddie's arm. They were soon in his battered old Chevy, "burning rubber" down the main street of town.

The speed was exhilarating, and the young couple thrived on the sensations it evoked. Then, just ahead, the light began to turn from green to amber. Eddie, beyond reason and filled with a sense of his own invincibility, decided that he could "make it", and stepped hard on the gas.

It was a mistake.

The cross street was a busy one, and the driver entering the intersection from the left had no chance at all to avoid plowing into the aging vehicle.

Shattering glass...grinding metal...the cool touch of the windshield upon her face...the hard surface of the pavement beneath her...and then darkness.

When she awoke the next day, Eddie was gone. He had been killed instantly. She herself was in the hospital, swathed from stem to stern with bandages, over 70 stitches holding her ravaged body together, her head pounding unmercifully.

In spite of it all, there sat Uncle Matt, holding her hand, coaxing her back to the world of consciousness.

Groggy and confused, she tried to speak. "Uncle Matt...Eddie is he ..."

"I'm afraid so, Sarah. He didn't stand a chance. The bystanders said you two were going probably 100 miles per hour when you hit that intersection. It's just a miracle that even you made it through the crash alive."

Overcome with grief and pain, Sarah began to sob uncontrollably. "What do I do now, Uncle Matt? There's nothing left. I should have died with Eddie. I don't want to be here."

Matt O'Hara looked sternly at his niece for the first time. "Well, you didn't die, and now you have an even harder task to deal with...you've got to find a way to turn this around and get on with your life."

She tried to turn away, but he refused to be put off. Taking her hand in his, he continued. "Listen to me, Sarah. Maybe there's a reason that you didn't die out there on Main Street with your friend, maybe not. But the fact remains, you're here, and you're going to have to deal with it!

"I've already called my C.O. and asked for some time off. You'll be out of here in a week, and then we're going to cope with this issue together. I promise you, Sarah...you're not alone. You're stronger than you think. You're going to make it."

August 1, 1989
Red Rock Mesa
Somewhere in northeast Arizona

She and Uncle Matt had been in seclusion for a month, just the two of them, far from civilization in the high desert country near the "four corners" area. They'd "packed in" and set up camp in a large cave near the pinnacle of an escarpment known as "Red Rock Mesa".

It had been a month of recuperation and discovery for Sarah. Uncle Matt was good for her. For the first time in her life she truly had someone to respect...to want to emulate. Uncle Matt was all of that, and more.

Her mother, Matt's sister, had been weak, but Uncle Matt was a "rock". It was from him, during this period of "rebirth" that Sarah learned to take control of her life, and responsibility for her actions. She learned that "intestinal fortitude" is a survivor's creed, and that the pride of accomplishment can mend a damaged spirit. But most importantly, she learned that personal integrity and self-respect are gifts that you give yourself, and are not to be considered lightly.

Matt O'Hara's leave of absence was rapidly drawing to a close. It was their last night on Red Rock Mesa, and both of them dreaded the separation the next day would bring.

As Sarah sat silently contemplating the twinkling stars in the clear night sky, she heard Uncle Matt approach from the mouth of the cave. Wordlessly, he sank down beside her and shared her inner space for one last time.

"You know, Sarah, there's one thing I haven't told you this month, something that I think you ought to know."

"What's that, Uncle Matt?" she questioned, amazed that they still had any secrets to share after their time together.

"Well...I get the feeling that you've sort of got me on a pedestal right now. I just wanted you to know that I don't belong there." he paused. "Sarah...twenty years ago, I was pretty much in the same boat that you were in last month. My life was a wreck, I was drinking more than I should, and my self-esteem was in the toilet. If I hadn't gotten my act together, I know I wouldn't be here talking to you now."

He turned to gauge her reaction, a multitude of stars reflected in the dark pools of her eyes. "Why are you telling me this now, Uncle Matt?"

"I'm telling you this so you'll know that you're never alone. We're the same, you and I, and I know that you're going to come through this, just like I did."

Sarah sat deep in thought, contemplating the incredible man sitting beside her. "Uncle Matt?' she began. "Was someone there for you back then too...back when you hit bottom?"

He smiled, the answer bringing a low chuckle to his lips. "Yeah...I guess you might say that. The Corps got me on my feet, and gave me what I needed to become someone I could live with, someone I could learn to respect. I guess that's why I've stayed all these years...it's been my family."

Sarah digested this information, an idea forming in her mind. "Think those 'few good men' could use a 'few good women' too?" she asked.

"I don't see why not." He smiled again. "But just be sure that if you do decide to join up, you're doing it for yourself...not me. You need to find your own path in life now, Sarah. I don't want you letting me, or anyone else push you in a direction not of your own choosing."

Sarah paused. "I'm going to give it some serious thought, Uncle Matt. Think I'd make a good Marine?" she asked, the question echoing in the stillness.

"Sarah," he replied, sincerity resonating in his voice. "The Marines would be lucky to get you."

They left Red Rock Mesa the next morning, each shouldering their own load as they descended the steep cliffs to the valley floor. Sarah left the insecure girl of her youth behind, like the ashes of their campfire. Instead, a woman of substance and determination accompanied Uncle Matt to the base of the mesa that day, and a new life began.

She owed it all to Matthew O'Hara, and for the first time in her life, she knew that she would never be alone again.

To Be Continued...