Lost Code ~ Found Love

From Lost Code to Enduring Love

“Made in Japan with American Parts, Produced in Germany”

Shannon smiled at the caption describing their son’s picture, then sent the birth announcement to family and friends around the globe.

Two years ago, her tour in Japan nearly completed, she had been about to leave the Army for a job writing code for a major computer gaming outfit. She spent what little spare time she had as an IT Specialist in the military getting to know local gamers and writing some on line game code. A company programmer searching online for copyright infringement noticed her posts and offered her a job.

Her plans changed a week before she was scheduled to leave. The new paymaster, just arrived after a tour in Afghanistan, managed to crash the payroll program. Although backups were being loaded, the new transfers and updated tax codes would have to be re-entered. With payroll due in one day, she was assigned to recover the missing data. Somewhere around 3AM, posting the last of the code, she fumed at inept idiots wasting other people’s time.

Startled by laughter, Shannon turned to find that she was no longer alone, but in the presence of the idiot.

“I suppose there’s still some loose sand in my brain,” he said. “Now that you’ve done such a great job fixing my mess, how about showing me where we might grab something to eat in the middle of the night?”

Shannon realized she had missed both lunch and dinner and was more hungry than tired, so she accepted his offer, and over dinner, realized he wasn’t a total idiot after all.

Two years later, married and pregnant, she re-signed for her third tour, transferring with her not so idiot husband to new posts in Germany, yesterday adding a son to their unbreakable code.

© 2006 manga_kate

Prompt: A romance where one or both serve in the military. ~
For Daily Flash Fiction Challenge; Word Count: 300