Title: The Italian Lessons

Disclaimers: I don't own JAG or anything or these characters

Summary: Mac takes Italian lessons. Misunderstanding ensue

Rating: PG-13 at least

Category: Humor, UST

This is a continuation of the story The Kennedy Center. That can be found here, http://home.earthlink.net/~astridz55/stories/kennedy.htm

Authors notes: Feedback to astridz55@earthlink.net

Several months after Mac went to the Kennedy Center for Francesca’s party, they ran into each other at JAG HQ one day.

“Francesca, I didn’t know you were going to be in town again.”

“I decided to surprise Papa, but he is away all day at meetings.”

“I was just on my way to lunch, would you like to come with me?” Mac asked.

“Sure, how about that restaurant that Papa talks about, Callisto’s?”

“That will be great, I always enjoy Italian food.”

They arrived at the restaurant and Francesca spoke to the hostess and waiter in Italian until she realized that Mac couldn’t understand her.

“I’m sorry. I forget that not everyone knows Italian.”

“That’s okay. Maybe you can teach me some. I’ve always enjoyed languages.”

“What languages do you speak?”

“Farsi, Russian, some Japanese, Croatian and German. And just enough Spanish to get me in trouble.”

“You do like languages! And they are all so different.”

“I learned Farsi from my Iranian grandmother, Russian and German in school, Japanese and Croatian when I served in Japan and Bosnia and Spanish, I just picked some up in a variety of places.”

“You’ll be a good student.”

They spoke for a while, Francesca giving Mac some tips on pronunciation and teaching her some words as they enjoyed their lunch. They arrived back at JAG laughing friendly. Harm walked up to them as they walked back into the bullpen.

“So Mac. Enjoy your long lunch?”

“Harm, I was only gone 63 minutes. I don’t think that the Admiral would mind,” Mac said rolling her eyes as she walked into her office followed by Francesca.

“I swear he is so…” Mac said as she shut her door.

“Incantevole?” Francesca asked with a grin.

“Incantevole, that sounds about right,” Mac agreed not realizing the real meaning of the word.

One Month later

Over the next month Mac was studying Italian in her spare time and became closer friends with Francesca even though she was so far away. They sent emails back and forth, mostly in Italian. Mac even began listening to some opera, mostly the Three Tenors. One night she was working late and had her music on when the Admiral clearing his throat at her door startled her.

“Admiral, I thought you had left.”

“Getting ready to but I heard the music, I thought you had gone a while ago.”

“I just wanted to work a little more on the Crawford case. I hope the music isn’t too loud, I didn’t know anyone else was here.”

“That’s fine. I enjoy the Three Tenors myself, didn’t realize you did.”

“A friend told me about them and I just started listening to them. Of course, I can never tell who is who,” she smiled.

He paused a moment before speaking, “This is Jose Carreras, he’s usually called ‘The Other One’.”

“How can you tell?” she asked amazed.

“On this album, Pavarotti technically has the better voice and I know this isn’t Domingo so it had to be The Other One.”

“I’m impressed. How did you ever figure out who was who?”

“I watched the concerts on PBS whenever I was able to catch them,” he said. “If you are about ready, I’ll walk you out.”

“Okay, let me just finish put this away and shut down the computer. I’ll meet you at the elevator?” she asked.

He nodded then walked back to his office to get his briefcase. AJ walked back by her office and seeing that she wasn’t ready yet, he waited for her at her door. He heard her mumbling under her breath and didn’t even realize until after she got in her car and drove off that she had been speaking in Italian. He smiled and wondered when she picked that up.

The following day Harm and Mac were walking through the bullpen and once again Harm was teasing Mac about her wanting to learn Italian. She took his ribbing good-naturedly until they walked into the kitchen.

“I swear, Harm you can be so incantevole,” she said as she turned to see the Admiral nearly choke on his coffee.

“Are you okay, Sir?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” he responded shortly. Mac and Harm watched surprised to see the Admiral walk out of the kitchen then slam his office door.

At the end of the day, Mac waited until everyone else had gone for the day before she knocked on the Admiral’s door.

“Enter,” he said gruffly.

“Admiral, I just wanted to ask if everything is okay.”

“Fine, Colonel. Dismissed,” he said looking back to his paperwork. He didn’t see the surprised look on Mac’s face.

“Yes, Sir,” she said trying to hide the hurt in her voice.

“Mac,” he said just before she got to the door. “I thought you said Rabb was just a friend.”

“He is,” she said surprised.

AJ looked at her intently then silently nodded.

Mac’s studying was going well and Harm continued to bother her about it. Finally she got fed up with him so she turned to him in the middle of the bullpen and very politely told him off in each and every language that she knew. Several people understood some of what was said and they walked away, chuckling. Mac finally stopped when she heard the Admiral laughing behind her. Mac turned around to see the Admiral and Francesca standing there both with large smiles across their faces.

“Colonel, I need to talk to you about the Lewis case if you have a minute. Francesca, do you mind?”

“Not at all, Papa. I’ll wait for you out here.”

Once the Admiral’s office door was closed, he spoke up, “Interesting vocabulary you showed out there, Mac.”

“I’m sorry about that, Sir. He just finally got on my nerves.”

“I don’t blame you. He can be trying at times. So what did you start off with, I came in when you were cursing in Russian?”

“I started with some Japanese then some Croatian then got to Italian with ‘mi piacerebbe spogliarlo e mangiarmelo’ then… what?”

“You probably shouldn’t say that around here, Mac. Especially to Rabb.

“Why?” she asked suspiciously.

“You don’t know what it means?”

“No. My friend hasn’t taught me what it means yet. I think it means something about eating…”

“Check your sources, Mac. They’ve taught you wrong.”

“It was your daughter.”

“What?”

“Francesca has been teaching me some Italian.”

“Oh so that is why you called Harm ‘incantevole.’ I was wondering.”

“What does that mean?”

“Charming.” Mac looked at him speechless. “Mac you should remember that my daughter has always had a thing for Rabb.”

“Oh. I’m going to get her for that!”

“Next time just call him ‘coglione’.”

“What does that mean?”

“Trust me,” he said with his sexy little grin.

“Okay,” she said as she walked out of his office.

“Mac,” Harm called out once he saw Mac leave the office. “I’m sorry.”

“I know. And I was wrong, you aren’t incantevole you are coglione,” she said with a smile.

Harm didn’t understand this but Francesca gasped and looked at her father. “Papa!”

“If you can do it, Francesca, I can do it too,” he said.

“Francesca, I need to speak to you real quick,” Mac said as she pulled her friend into her office. “Okay Francesca what does that phrase mean?”

“Which phrase?” she asked innocently.

“Mi piacerebbe spogliarlo e mangiarmelo.”

“Oh that one. It means I would like to strip him and eat him up.”

“And I said that to Harm? I think I said that to the wrong person,” she said looking at the Admiral through her office window.

Incantevole- charming

Ebete- stupid coglione

Mi piacerebbe spogliarlo e mangiarmelo (I would like to strip him
and eat him up) Thanks to Luz and hywelissigurdwinnson