#This man's flabbers were ghasted that day

[ltcdrmcgarrett]

Unnecessarily big gifs of Steve McGarrett [5 of ?]

[soldiergirlscorned]

Call Me Rio and I’ll Call You Jack Ch. 1

Call Me Rio and I’ll Call You Jack Ch. 1

AU Note: THIS HAS MANY SPOILERS FOR PURPLE HEARTS, IF YOU HAVE NOT READ IT, DON’T READ THIS.

Now that that’s taken care of: we didn’t get to see a lot of the budding relationship between Rio and Jack after the war. But guess who has a few ideas about what happened. Me. The answer is me.

So, this little story will have a lot of fluff and maybe a little smut. Maybe? I lied. It will have smut, but later on. I’ll tell you when it’s coming and when it’s done so you can bypass it if you don’t want to read.

 1964

Kid knew something was familiar about the man that limped up to her desk, cane in hand. She knew the signs of veterans, being one herself and working with them for almost ten years now.

But, studying the man, she knew that him being a veteran wasn’t why he was familiar.

“Can I help you?” she asked, noticing that he wasn’t in uniform, when he had pressed up against the desk to get out of the traffic in the room, “Sir, how did you get in here?”

The red-haired man smiled and pointed to the man right behind him, battling the many people trying to push him out of the way, “Frank let me in.”

“Not even close,” the supposed-Frank said, “Child, right?”

She nodded.

“He’s here to see your boss.”

The caned man turned to her and smiled, “I’m here to see your boss. I’m assuming it’s Rio?”

Kid made a confused face.

“Richlin. Rio Richlin. West Point. Medal of Honor. I don’t know what her rank is anymore. She was a sergeant when I knew her.”

“And what’s your purpose for being here?” Kid asked.

“Well, Child, a scary Sam—“ he turned around fast and the man behind him shook his head, “Damn. I’ll guess it right, don’t you worry. Anyway, this scary man in the suit showed up at my flat in London and told me by order of Rainy Schulterman that I was to pack a bag and leave with him. I got on a plane and now I’m here.”

Kid was silent for a second and then, “I’m sorry. Are you--?”

“Jack Stafford, at your service. You are?”

“Sergeant Melinda Child.” She shook his hand, “Wow. Okay. I had read about you, from, you know, the memoir, but I never thought…. I’m going to see if Colonel’s available.”

“Please do.”

Kid almost ran to Richlin’s office, knocking softly before entering and closing the door quickly behind her, “Colonel.”

She shot a hasty and somewhat sloppy salute towards a bewildered Rio, “There’s someone here to see you.”

Richlin looked back down at the papers in front of her, “Tell the major that whatever it is, I don’t care.”

“Ma’am. It’s not the major.”

When Rio came out of her office she was both the most happy and nervous that she had ever been in her life. The folks in the office were known for pulling pranks, but never against her. And the way that Kid had seemed completely flabber-ghasted meant that he was really here. He had to be. It would be a cruel joke if he wasn’t.

But there he was, still so utterly recognizable even if his face had aged and his clothes changed. It was still Jack. And it was still his smile.

“Hey, Sarge.”

Rio’s awe-filled gaze changed to one of pure joy, and before she knew it she was across the room and in his arms.

The whole room stopped. Literally. People stopped moving, phones dropped from ears, conversations died instantly as everyone watched their lieutenant colonel throw herself into the stranger’s arms.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, finally withdrawing, but not really letting go.

“Well, I am a gift from Rainy.”

“Rainy?! That bitch. You know she’s working for the ‘commerce department’ now?”

“No shit.”

“Just saw her about a week ago.”

Jack turned to look over his shoulder, “Bob, do you work for the commerce department?”

The man in the suit crossed his arms, “My name is not Bob. And sure, I work for the commerce department.”

Jack twisted again to look at Rio, “You know, he also told me that his name was Ben, but I didn’t believe him then either.”

Rio laughed, “It’s good to see you, Jack.” Realizing that it was too quiet, she turned towards the soldiers working, “Don’t you all have a job to do? I can give you one!”

Jack smiled as the government building returned to normal (while still watching the Colonel of course). “Well, some things just never change, now do they?”

“I thought I had gotten a lot better at that!” Rio said, half-heartedly offended.

Jack laughed, “You doing that yelling anywhere else these days?”

“What do you mean?”

“Kids, of course.”

Rio laughed, “The only kid I have is Kid,” she said, pointing to Melinda Child, “I got out of screaming households a while ago.” At Jack’s raised eyebrows, Rio explained, “I’m divorced.”

“Oh, yes! The pilot. Castain sent me a letter. Told me you were getting married and also told me not to worry because it wouldn’t last long.”

“You’re kidding me? She did that?”

“I’m not lying.”

“Oh, God!” Rio covered her eyes mortified, but before long was smiling up at him.

“Say, Rio, do you have a lunch break soon?” Jack asked.

Child was right behind Rio, “She already went to lunch.”

“But coffee will do just fine,” Rio smoothly interjected. “Let me grab my things. Kid, if that major shows up, tell him to fug off. I’ll be back before the meeting at two.”

“Got it, Colonel.”

As Rio came back, tying a scarf around her neck, she turned to Rainy’s agent, “Tell your boss that she’s not being very subtle.”

Then, the whole building watched as their boss left work early for the first time.

 (*&*)?><>?><>?><>?><>?><>?><>?><>?><>?><>?><>?><>?><>?><>?><>?><>?>>?><>?><>?><>

 “What have you been up to, Jack?” Rio made sure to slow down her pace to match Stafford’s limping steps.

“Working mostly. As a real-estate agent in London.”

“Really?”

“Shocking, I know. Your job, however, is not shocking. I always knew you were bound to abandon your own and become an officer.”

“Ouch, Stafford. That hurts!” Yet, they both laughed at the familiar joke. “Any kids of your own?” she asked, looking straight ahead.

“Never married actually.”

Rio looked up, shocked, “Really?”

Jack shrugged, looking straight into her eyes, “I never found anyone that measured up. I went on a couple of dates, of course, but no one ever stuck around.”

“I can’t imagine why they would ever leave.”

Rio realized her mistake as soon as she said the words. “I would assume you wouldn’t have to imagine, since you should know.”

“Look, Jack, I—“

“Did you come visit me? When I was at the medical station back in Germany?”

“You don’t remember?”

Jack thought back to that time, “I remember the shape of you, but I don’t know if that was real or a dream. I didn’t know what to believe I was on so many painkillers.”

“You had a whole conversation with me. And I sat by your bed until they knew without a doubt that you were going to live.”

“What did we talk about?”

“You. Going back to Britain. I told you that your job was done, and you told me that you weren’t going to give up fighting until either the war was won or I left it. Then you went back to sleep and I made sure you were on a ship headed home before you woke up.”

Jack was silent for a moment, “I don’t remember that.”

Rio looked up at him as they entered the coffee shop, “For what it’s worth, the whole platoon went home after that. What was left of it, at least. Those who were POWs got released a week after the Russians took Berlin.”

“You didn’t let me come back with you,” Jack stated.

Rio shook her head.

“Why?”

Richlin shrugged, “For lots of reasons: Britain was your home, you were injured, I was your sergeant, I had already given myself to someone else—“

“I thought you didn’t care about that. That’s what it said in the memoir.”

“God, I hate that thing.” She took a deep breath, “I didn’t care when I was on the battlefield, but back out here…I knew it would mean more. I knew that people would expect me to marry Strand and if I had brought you back here, you would have married a fallen woman.”

“Maybe I wouldn’t have cared.”

“Maybe. But other people would.”

Jack laughed, stepping up to order his coffee. Even by the time they were sitting down with the steaming cups, Jack was still shaking his head, “I should have known. I should have known that it wasn’t that you couldn’t have been happy with me. It was because of your stupid sense of self-sacrifice.”

He laughed a little, and Rio looked down at her cup.

“Rio. Just answer me one thing, honestly: would you be happy with me? If I stayed here, could I make you happy?”

Rio shook her head, “Jack, you have a life in Britain—“

“That’s not what I asked, Rio. Could you be happy with me? Can we try it? Just for a little while. And see if this, us, is worth looking into.”

Rio looked at him, as he shifted nervously in his chair. She grabbed his hand in hers, “Jack, I would love to try. You just need to make sure that this is what you want. I won’t leave the States, which means if this works out, you would be giving up your life. You need to think about what you’re doing.”

Jack shook his head, “I don’t need to think. I would give up the world for a chance to be with you.”