Title: Starting life over
Author: TC Amlin
Email: Codedriver@aol.com
Rating: PG
Classification: Drama/Angst/ H/M Shipper
Spoilers: 5th season never happened
Disclaimers: JAG and its characters belong to D Bellisario, CBS and Paramount, and don’t belong to me, only those created in this piece do. No infringement intended.
Summary: Mac returns to Washington after a 7-year absence where she helps Webb and has to face what she left behind. Harm has to deal with the feelings he has locked up inside after facing Mac.
12:45 EST
Mar 5th 2007
Washington DC
Colonel Sarah Mackenzie was lost in thought as the cab wove itself through DC. It had been 7 years since she had been in the capitol and nothing looked as if it had changed. But she had changed and had left too much behind when she did finally go deep undercover for Clayton. It had been part of the mission she had worked on before she joined JAG and now 11 years later she was about to face the price of leaving everyone and everything behind.
“I was about to get worried about you.” Clayton Webb said as he paid for her cab. “ The meeting is about to begin and you are the major part of my presentation that will help in future funding of my project.”
Mac sighed, “ Yes, Clay I know that I am late, and that I am you center piece but today is hard for me okay! Most of these people we are meeting with will want answers to other questions that I am not ready to give.”
Clay looked back with a forgive me face. He had asked her after Harm had left for carrier duty to help her out and it had cost her Harm, her friends and almost her career. “ Sorry. Lets get on up to the conference room and get set up. Congresswoman Latham hates me and looks for any reason to stop my funding.”
“ Lead the way.” After following Webb for a few minutes she finally asked, “ Do you know who is going to be here today?”
“ Bobbie said that she might have a few advisors there and somebody from the military but she never gave me any names and since I have been out of the loop with this project, I couldn’t tell you who she has invited.”
“ You have been a prisoner just like I have for the past few years and stuck overseas, quit calling this a project. It is just a way to increase funding for future spooks and their training.”
Clay shot her a look and then walked into the room they had been assigned. Both were shocked to Congresswoman Bobbie Latham and Admiral Harmon Rabb laughing over pictures. The laughing stopped immediately as Harm’s eyes made contact with Mac’s. He then stood up and glanced at Bobbie whose face just read I didn’t know that it was them who were coming.
“ Well, they didn’t tell me who was coming today and you two are certainly a surprise.” Bobbie said as she finally got her voice and rose to walk over to great Clay and Mac. “ I didn’t know that you two were still alive.” She asked trying to be funny.
Clay seeing that the tension level was climbing tried to answer Bobbie with a smart remark, “ just recently freed from prison so as you can see our deaths were exaggerated.”
“ There are a few that are still coming but knowing your bunch I told them to get here around 1:15. I hope you are prepared Clay, I have a busy schedule and there are other projects that want my attention too. And I know that the admiral here needs to get back to JAG. He is still trying to figure out AJ’s filing system.”
“You are the head of JAG now?” Mac asked as she finally found her voice.
Harm looked at her never losing the blank slate expression she had seen him use in court. “ Yes.” He replied. “ AJ retired 3 months ago when I finally got my star. How long are you planning to stick around this time? And what are your plans now that you are free as Clay put it. I need to know so that I can plan for whatever may come up.”
Startled by his frankness, she stood there for a few seconds and before she could reply Harm’s aide walked into the room. “ Uh, sir. I am sorry but the office just phoned and your mother and children have been in an accident. They have been transported to Bethesda.”
Harm grabbed his cover off the table and headed out the door. “ Bobbie this will have to wait and Taylor did they say anything else? And have they called Lt. Rabb at Andrews?” He asked as he kept on walking not waiting for anyone to answer him.
“ Call me later Harm.” Bobbie yelled after him and received a wave from him. She then turned to Mac, “ I am surprised that you aren’t following him, I mean the twins are your children too.”
Mac looked from Bobbie to Clay and saw his nod and took off after Harm. She caught him at the elevator and didn’t dare look at him but knew with his silence that he wasn’t going to say no.
Back in Latham office, “ Hello AJ? It’s Bobbie. Harm just left out of here for Bethesda. The kids and Trish were in an accident and from the sounds of it, it was a bad one and AJ, Colonel Mackenzie was here when he got the call. She rode with him to the hospital. I believe that someone has called Kelly. See you later then. Love you bye.”
“ You know I should kill anything you bring up since you decided to surprise us all by bringing Mac here this afternoon.”
Webb shrugged his shoulders; “ I didn’t know that you were planning on having Rabb here. And who is Lt. Kelly Rabb anyway?”
13:45
Bethesda Hospital
The ride had been in silence with Harm wanting to ask why and Mac wanting to tell him, but neither brought it up. “ Taylor, as soon as Kelly gets here tell her I will be in the either in the waiting room or with the kids in the ER.”
“ Aye, aye sir.”
Mac followed Harm as he wove around the others in the hall and wondered who was Lt. Kelly Rabb?
“ I am Harmon Rabb, my mother and children were brought here by ambulance. How are they and can I see them?”
“ Just a minute sir. I will have to ask the head nurse.” She said as she picked up the phone to ask.
“ Harm, I know that I am out if the loop here, but shouldn’t you call Frank too?”
“ Well, Colonel. If you were in the loop you would know that Frank was killed a year after you disappeared in a car wreck.”
“ I have a name Harm.”
“ Right now I don’t feel safe using it. And I don’t think that either of us wants to have that conversation here. So right now Colonel, be glad that I let you come along and the only reason I did because they are yours too and,” Harm said through clinched teeth and trailed off as spotted Kelly, “ over here.”
Within a few seconds Mac watched as the young Air force Lt. was wrapped up in Harms grasp. “ I just got here and they were calling back for news. I am surprised that you got here so fast.”
“ Well I am with the air force and we do have a few choppers around. I just owe some of the guys a favor now. Do you know what happened?” Kelly asked as she stepped back taking Mac into view for the first time.
“ No. They haven’t told us anything yet.” Harm had just gotten out as a nurse stuck her head out and led them to a private office behind the ER. Harm took Kelly’s hand as they lead them back with Mac trailing right behind them.
It had seemed like hours when a nurse came into the room breaking the mounting silence between the three of them. Harm had his arm around Kelly comforting her when the nurse said, “ Who are the parents to the infant?”
Kelly immediately jumped up, “ I am her mother, is she alright?”
“ Yes she just wants her mommy. If you will come this way, I will take you to her. And sir. Colonel.” The nurse said before leaving, “ The doctor will be out to speak with you in a moment.”
Harm saw the look in Kelly’s eyes, “ Go on and check out Molly. I will give you the run down when you get back.” And with that Kelly followed the nurse out the door.
Mac had been studying Harm since they had sat down taking inventory of the man she wanted to put her arms around and never let go. She could only hope that after they finally did talk that he would be able to forgive her for leaving like she did. He hadn’t really changed much except for graying around the temples and the addition of the mustache. It just made him more distinguished. He was still in top shape and just looking at him made her weak and full of regret. The one thing she did take heed of was the neither Harm or Kelly wore wedding rings and that she couldn’t see what type of relationship they really had. But then she had only known the girl, and that was what Mac considered the 20ish Lt., a girl, for all of the time they had sat there, Harm seemed unwilling to divulge any information at the moment on her.
She was brought out of her thoughts as the doctor walked in. “ Harm, I got here as soon as I could. I have information on the twins and Trish. So I will start with the good news and go to the worst along with what I know.” She said as she looked from Harm to Mac.
“ Uh, Leslie, the is Colonel Sarah Mackenzie, the twins mother, she just got back in the states.” Harm answered the questioning look in the doctor’s eyes. “ Colonel this is Captain Leslie Newton, a classmate of mine from the Naval Academy. She and Diane were roommates.” Harm rushed out as he made introductions.
“ Sorry to meet you like this Colonel.” Leslie said as she offered Mac her hand, which Mac shook back. “ Those two are something else.”
“ How are the twins and Trish?” Mac said wanting to escape the room.
“ Well, Jessica will need a day or two here in the hospital but overall she will be fine. As I understand it, they were t-boned on the driver’s side of the truck. Trish and Trey got the worst of it, Molly was in the middle of the backseat between Trey and Jessica and Trey was on the driver’s side. Jessica has a broken right arm, a concussion, and about 30 stitches along the back of her head where her head hit the door and the glass caught her. She is awake and only wants to know if she will still be able to fly Tomcats like daddy. I told her yes.” Leslie said as Mac took the chance to smile at Harm of the passing of the torch to his children for flying. “ Molly is fine and I saw Kelly with her. She only has scratches from the flying glass.” She paused taking a breath. “Now to Trey. He has a fractured Femur. That is the long thighbone. He is in surgery having it fixed now and some exploratory surgery on his belly. From what the surgeons let me know they are sure he will lose his spleen. He also has a head injury but that was secondary to the bleeding in his abdomen. They will do a CT scan as soon as he is out of surgery. They will know then how bad that is.” Harm lowered himself back into a chair.
“ Well that leaves the worst for last, how is Mom?” He said as he lowered his head into his hands not really wanting to know.
“ She was injured bad Harm and there is no way to sugar coat it. At her age some of her injuries can be fatal but I know Trish and she is a fighter and she will get better. You have to believe that.” Leslie said kneeling in front of Harm taking his hands into hers. “ She has a collapsed lung and several rib fractures. Her left arm and leg are broken and she has a cracked pelvis. They are in surgery now trying to stop the bleeding and patch her up. I will be here till midnight so as soon as they tell me what’s up I will pass it on to you. Just to let you know, Harriet has agreed to take over watching the kids for me until Trish is back on her feet so you just take care of your family. Okay?”
Harm stood up and hugged her.” Thanks I know that mom is grateful for all that you have done. Tell Bob that I think his wife is great.”
“ I will.” She as she walked out the door.
Knowing that Mac was waiting for some other answers, “ She and her husband live down the street from me and Mom is the neighborhood sitter. Bud and Harriet live a few houses down too.” Suddenly feeling like a caged animal.” Let’s go and get some air, I am starting to feel trapped here. We can just let the desk know where we went.” Harm said as he walked out the door leaving no room for discussion, at least there.
Mac just followed him out knowing that he wanted some space and privacy for what he wanted to ask.
Harm found a quite spot out side ER and waiting for Mac to catch up to him. He wasn’t ready for this talk but he needed to get his mind off of Trey and his mother.
“ I am sorry Harm. I didn’t know what Clay was up to or I never would have showed up today. I wanted to have a chance to talk to you in private and let you have some answers.” Mac started out as the sat down on the bench.
“ Well start with number one, why in the hell did you leave? If it was because of my flying I thought that I had explained it to you. I went back to the air for both of us.”
“ Come on Harm, you went back to flying so you could make your dream come true.” Mac said as she crossed arms over chest as a protective shield.
“ I also told you when I came by you apartment the night before I left that the other reason is so we could have a future. One we couldn’t have while working under the same command. I said give me a year at sea and then I will get an instructors position somewhere so we could be close. In the end now I really think my leaving gave you an excuse to return to the life you loved as a spook and running around with Webb. What was that one night to you Sarah? I really want to know. I mean I thought you cared the same? I mean you cried in my arms at JAG that day and even when I proclaimed I loved you that night, that night the twins were conceived. It was love wasn’t it?” Harm asked as his voice lowered to an almost whisper.
Mac sat there a minute before standing up to pace before answering. “ I had no choice in leaving Harm and my old life found me as yours did you. Both of us were, I mean are great lawyers but we had a first love and it called us back. I wanted to believe your dream of what we could be but the day you walked out I,” she was unable to finish what she was saying when she saw Kelly walking up.
Harm stood and walked over to Kelly and wiped away the tears as Kelly handed him Molly. And shocking Mac with his next words. “ So how is grandpa’s little angle? Huh? She going to be her usual self and keep everyone up all night.” He said sitting back down on the bench and placing the infant in his lap as she grabbed for the wings on his uniform.
“ The Doc updated me on the twins and grandma. Oh Daddy what if she doesn’t make it.” Kelly said finally letting go of the fear for her daughter and crying.
“ It will be okay and grandma is a fighter like the rest of us Rabb’s. I need you to be strong now for Trey and Jess.” Harm said as he pulled Molly to him and then placed an arm around his daughter.
His daughter Mac’s mind screamed. She had to be about 24 and Harm had never mentioned her to anyone before. Mac scanned and saw what she was missing before, the likeness. Kelly had Harm’s eyes and build. Mac decided to let them have their privacy and walked over to another near by bench to digest what she had just learned.
After several minutes, she noticed Kelly get up and walk back towards the hospital, so she walked back over to Harm and joined him where he was playing with his grandchild.
“ Why didn’t you ever tell me you had a daughter?” She finally squeaked out.
“ Well if you hadn’t of bolted like you did you would have been there with me when I met her.” Harm said a little more forceful than he should have as he scared Molly. “ Ooohhhh. Grandpa sorry didn’t mean to scare you sweetie.” Harm leaned Molly forward enough so that Mac could see all of her. “ Mac this is my granddaughter Molly Elizabeth Rabb. Next generation aviator, just which service her mommy and grandpa haven’t decided yet.” He said grinning for the first time since they had reunited that afternoon. “ Just so you know, Kelly knows all about you and our relationship. She has her own questions for you and she has her father’s courtroom traits. She is something else and I am so glad that she is in my life.”
Lowering her voice and speaking softly. “ Nice to meet you Molly. You definitely have your grandfather’s eyes. She is a cutie Harm. How old?”
“ She will be 8 months on Friday. Kelly just got back to flying this week, and now she will be taking family leave again because I know her. She will take off so she can be here for me.”
Typical Rabb Mac said to herself. “ So from you comment, you learned about her after I left?”
Harm was temporary taken back to the day on the carrier when the CAG had called him in to give him the news. Shelly, an old flame from high school, the one Harm had though of as the girl he would be with forever, was dying of cancer and her last request was that Harm take care of their daughter. The whole things seemed to be unreal as Harm flew back to the states to clear up the matter. By the time he made it back Shelly had died and her daughter, their daughter was left alone. The letter had told Harm about her feelings and that she was sorry but the life of a naval aviator was more than she thought she could handle. So she left never telling anyone about the baby that they had made on his last night home before leaving for the academy.
Harm shifted Molly to his shoulder as she was becoming sleepy “ Yes, a letter came to me about a month after you transferred from some lawyer in Idaho from an ex-girlfriend who was dying and she wanted to set matters straight. It seems that she didn’t believe me either about my feelings and that when I promise to return I do. We only did it once and then she took off after I left for Annapolis. What a reputation I have love them once, promise them everything, and they leave for parts unknown with the greatest gift two people in love can create and then after a number of years return to my life looking for, for, hell I don’t know what. What are you looking for Mac?”
Mac didn’t know how to answer and was saved again from Harm when Kelly returned.
“ I called Uncle Bud and he said he would call the others. I tried Uncle AJ but no one was home and I’ll bet that he and Bobbie are on their way here.”
“ Thanks Kelly. Did you see Leslie?”
“ No but the nurse is looking for you, it seems that they are moving Jessica to a room. I figured I would take Molly here over to Aunt Harriet’s and let her sleep and get us some change of clothes. Plus Jessica asked if someone would get her Tiger for her.”
“ That sounds like a plan to me. Taylor is still here somewhere with my car, so use it and come back later this evening when you have gotten some rest. Besides what time is it?” Harm said as they started back inside the hospital.
“ 16:32 “ Mac said without missing a beat.
Kelly looked at her and shook her head laughing a little. “ You were right Dad, she gets it from her.”
Mac gave Kelly a questioning look and Harm answered, “ Jessica has the same time clock you do Sarah. She is never late and can tell time anywhere and at anytime she wants to, but poor Trey is about as time inept as his father. God I hadn’t realized that we had been here that long.”
“ Mr. Rabb?” an officer asked as he walked up to them.
“ Yes, I am Admiral Rabb. What can I do for you officer?”
“I need a few questions answered and to give you some information about the accident. In private if we can?”
“ We’ll wait over here.” Mac said as Harm and the officer walked away.
“ I interrupted an overdue conversation didn’t I?” Kelly asked as she patted Molly on the back.
“ Yes. One that can wait, right now I just want to clear up for right now how we are going to explain to the twins why I left. After they are home we can go into the other and why I live elsewhere in DC.”
“ Dad has that covered. He told them that you were on a mission that was very time consuming and when you through, you would be home. They have asked how long you would be gone but now they understand that as long as it takes has no time meaning. I just want to know if you are telling the truth? I mean are you here to stay? I don’t think that Dad can handle you taking off again. If it hadn’t been for the me and the second Gulf War you would have ruined that man the first time.” Kelly said bluntly with no misgivings of doubt.
“ Harm said you didn’t leave any questions of your meaning when you wanted information.” Mac said back in total marine mode. “ I plan on returning to Washington as permanently as I can being in the Marines. You are an officer so you know that you will be ordered elsewhere. Just this time I plan on keeping in contact with the twins. Any other information you want?”
“ Yes there is but here and now is not the time or the place. I may not have been raised by Harm, but his is the only family I have left. He pulled me from a dark place and gave my life meaning. So I trust you understand that I will protect them as he has done for me? I know how he feels for you Colonel, he cares a great deal and it seems that you may be given a second chance. Don’t blow it. Do you have any questions before I leave?” Kelly asked back.
“ Not right now as you have said. I trust that we will have the little talk you want before the end of the week though. I want us to like each other and get to know each other. There are things about me that Harm never knew and so I want to clear the air with him first but then we need to talk.”
“ Fine. Here comes dad.”
“ Taylor is bringing the car around and I had him get her car seat from the ER before he went to get the car. She is out like a light.” Harm said as he rubbed Molly’s back.
“ Harm, if it is okay with you I would like to stay. I think we need to do some talking before the rest of the navy shows up with questions we haven’t had time to answer.”
Harm nodded as gave Kelly a kiss as she headed over to where Taylor was waiting with the car. “ I call if there is any changes.”
“ Okay dad. I love you.”
“ Lets head to the ICU waiting room and see if there is any news. Then we will find a corner to have out talk.”
The nurse at the desk had only been able to give them brief reports of they were all holding their own and that Jessica was asleep. Harm had checked up on his 6-year-old little girl and felt better knowing that she was going to okay after seeing for himself. Trey was in recovery and Trish was still in surgery. Harm called Kelly to give her a heads up and told her to wait till morning to come back and against her arguments he won. He them went looking for Mac and found her at the end of the pediatric hall looking out the window, watching the rain as it was coming down.
“ Reminds me of the night we thought Clay was dead.” She whispered as she felt him approach. “ Tell me how did you find out I was gone?”
“ I called AJ and asked how much longer you were going to be on assignment since that was all you few emails told me you were doing before they ended all together. He then told me that 3 days after I left you had asked for a transfer and were gone by the end of the week. I tried looking for you but then I found out about Kelly and had to deal with all of that. I asked AJ for some help in locating you while I was straightening out things in Idaho but ran out of time. I had to go back because of Kosovo and time just got away. Kelly and I grew close and she needed all of my attention and got it since you decided that you didn’t need me. I just closed up that part of me till the next letter I got from JAG was about the twins and your supposed death.”
Without waiting for the question, “ I found out I was pregnant after I had signed on for the mission with Clay. I can’t tell you what, why or where because it is still classified but it was a way for me to become self-absorbed from losing you. A way to try and forget about you.” She held up her hand to stop any response from him about that statement. “ I am going to be honest Harm we both want that. I felt abandoned by you just like my like my mother leaving. I had no trust in anyone and felt like running was the only answer, it had been the first time I needed space and worked out till I found out about the twins.”
“ You could have called me. I would have been at your side in a heartbeat Mac. It crushed me to know that you didn’t trust us enough to stay. I wondered for years why. I would have never left if I had known that you felt that way.”
“ I couldn’t ask you to stay Harm. I was with you on those cases to the carriers and saw you would light up like a little boy when they let you fly. I wasn’t about to have you start to hate me because I kept you from flying. And I refused to have you come to me in some sense of obligation because of the twins.”
“ DO you think that I am that shallow Mac? Please tell me. I have been kicking myself for 7 years now because of Shelly and then you. Am I? I would have given up my right arm for you at that time.” He said as he started to pace. “I hated everyday of the Second Gulf war because I was stuck on a carrier and couldn’t be there for the twins. It killed me that the 1st two years I had custody of them that they had to live with Mom because I couldn’t get a stateside designator. When I finally got back to JAG I was in funk because you weren’t there. I did what I had to do so I could get my final promotion and take AJ’s place like he planned for me.”
“ I see you were a CAG.”
“ Hell because of an explosion on the bridge, I was made captain of the Patrick Henry for awhile. Can you see me all screwed up and in command of a carrier?”
“ Harm even when you are personally and or emotionally at your worst you performs better than anyone I know. Harm, I want you to know I really did want you there by my side when I gave birth to the twins and the first year of their life but I had to maintain a cover. It was for all of our protection that I did what I did.”
Harm stopped and just looked at her and then looked away lost in thought, unable to reply. Mac could tell he was battling the demons that she had left in her wake and that he was trying to decide if he could trust her again. She trusted him like she never had before. She had read up on his movements when she had the chance and knowing him like she did she knew she had made a mistake by leaving. But what he didn’t know that she had been planning on leaving anyway because her past had caught up with her. His changing designators had been at the exact time she was going to leave anyway. There was no way to explain it without revealing things that were best left unsaid. Only Clay knew them and she knew they would die with him.
“ What are we going to tell the twins?” she asked after a time.
“ I guess that depends on you. I wont allow you to see them if you plan in a year or two you take off with Webb or that part of your life I will never know about will drag you away again. I need to know that you are here for the long haul. No weekends when you are in town, no promises that wont be kept, I want to know that your word is good again and that you wont hurt them like you did me.” Harm replied never looking at her. “ I won’t have the mother of my children doing to them what your mother did to you. I won’t Mac.”
She stood stunned, unable to answer his questions.
“ Well Colonel, “ he said trying to place space between what he was feeling and the place they were at in the relationship. “ What is your answer, do I need to break it down for you?” He said a little harsher than he meant but getting across the pain so she would know that he would not tolerate it again.
After the use of her rank she brought her shields back up that she had hoped by after their talk she could be rid of. “ No sir, Admiral. I don’t plan on letting our children down again.” She said with tears fixing to fall. “They are ours Harm and I plan on being around to see them and our grandchildren. You are stuck with me.” And with that she turned on her heel and walked away. What she missed was his smile and the tears of happiness that fell as he began to see a bright future again.
8:30 EST
Washington DC Hilton Cafe
It had been a stressful couple of days as they all waited to see how Trey and Trish were going to do. Because of their respective injuries the surgeons had kept them sedated so the outcomes of the head injuries had not been finally assessed. Mac had told Harm before she finally left the morning after to change that she felt it better to wait and jet the twins know she was back. She needed to sort out how she was feeling and so did he.
She had lucked out so far and missed all of the other traffic of friends from JAG that had come by to help support Harm; she was not ready to face them either. “ Well Colonel, how are we today?” Webb asked as he sat down and joined Mac at her table.
“ Better than I have been in a long time Clay. Before we go any farther, is that door you promised me the first time closed for good? I don’t want it to ever reopen.”
“ I can’t promise you that Mac. I told you that day when you 1st joined JAG back in the 90s that that was a door that would never be completely locked. I want it shut too and get back to harassing JAG admirals.” He said trying to lighten the mood.
“ I would advise you that the current JAG will break more than your nose and that the former JAG will finish what the current doesn’t do.”
“ The old group doesn’t seem to be to supportive of your return?”
“ No not really from what I have gathered. It seems that Harm leaving for flying was okay but me leaving for my life wasn’t.”
“ Mac, Sarah. You forget they knew all about Harm and his past, they didn’t know yours and they will never know unless you want them too. You just transferred with no explanation and were gone in a day. Rabb at least gave a warning.”
She looked Clay in the face and he saw the pain in her eyes and the indecision of whether or not to come face to face with the factors that had had her leave. He took a deep breath. “ Tell Harm everything, tell everyone everything. And if he still hates you after that then he is an idiot and doesn’t deserve you. And the rest, well take them as you want. But if I know Rabb, he will most likely just drag you to an altar around here as soon as he can to make sure you don’t leave again.” He said and saw the shocked expression come across her face. “And don’t give me that look. I have spent the last few years with you pouting over the fact that you think you have lost him for good. Well he is still single Sarah, and has not dated anyone since he left you. I had some research done.” He ended smiling. “ Get out of this hotel and see your children.”
“ Thanks Clay. I just hope your Intel is on tract this time, the last cost me months in hell hole overseas.”
10:00 EST
Bethesda Pediatric ward
Mac found Harm asleep in Treys room. He looked uncomfortable in the chair but his face showed some peace that she hadn’t seen since they arrived at the hospital several days before. “ Harm!”
Harm snapped awake and turned to face Mac. “ Decided to come and check on them?” he said a little less than friendly as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
“ I had business yesterday and I thought that we needed space. And yes I want to see them, I want to touch them and let them know that their mommy is here.” She said sounding stronger than she had in days.
Harm left the stoic front on but inside he was smiling. His heart wanted to get up from the chair and take her in his arms and hold her but his head was holding him back. “ Jessica is due to be released today and the doctors have started letting up on Trey’s medication so he should be waking up soon. Mom is still listed as grave. She started hemorrhaging again last night.”
“ I am so sorry Harm. I want you to know that I am praying for her.”
“Thanks.” He said getting up from the chair and going over to Trey’s bedside. “ Do you want to meet you daughter? I know that we still have a lot of issues but after talking with Kelly and Bobbie, we all think it would help if she knew you were here and came home for her and Trey.”
Mac stood still and then walked over and touched Trey’s hand careful of the IV’s and bandages. “ He looks just like you.” She said as she paused bring her other hand to her mouth. “ I cried the day he was born and when I saw his first smile, his daddy’s through and through.” With tears falling, “ I should have come back sooner. I wanted to, but fear kept me away. I know how I felt about my mom and I just couldn’t handle my children looking at me the same way and now he might never look at me period.”
Harm came around the bed and took her in his arms, crying with her. “Mac he is going to be fine, and they will never look at you the way you see your mother. I made a promise to you when I took custody of them that they would never ever feel abandoned by you. I keep my promises, remember I have never made one to you that I haven’t kept yet.”
“ There is one you helped happen a little early though.” She said as wiped her face.
Harm grinned at her as they both looked down to Trey. “ Come on, I need to run down to the cafeteria and then get up to Jessica’s room. I am sure she is wondering where I am, I promised her some ice cream if she was good for the nurses.”
“ I always wondered if she had you wrapped around her finger.”
“ She has me completely like her mother did.”
As they waited for the elevator, “ Harm what kind of story are we going to tell them?”
“ I told them that mommy was a Marine and that she was on an assignment. They understand that because of the few times I had to leave them with Mom. They also understood that whenever mommy came home that she would see them when she could, just like when Kelly was stationed far away in Texas. I treat them like small adults, I never lie to them, although I just condense what they need to know to a 6 year old can handle. Leaving out the parts that are to confusing and never leaving anything that can lead to a question. Believe me, they are both future lawyers. They ask more questions that I could ever dream up.”
“ I knew that you would be a great father, but why tell them that I would be home someday when I was reported dead?”
“ I am an Admiral Mac and I am very close friends to a retired Admiral and his congresswoman wife. It took me awhile but I knew the day after you were reported dead that it had to be a cover up but still felt the pain of you being gone. I also knew in my heart that you were not dead. I feel you Sarah just like I know you feel me. If one of us were to die, the other would know it instantly.” He said as he quickly boarded the elevator leaving he standing in the hallway.
Stunned Mac finally followed him in, staring at him as he tried to find something interesting on the elevator ceiling. She followed him in silence as they made their was to the Cafeteria. She mumbled to him that she would wait for him at the door and the leaned back against the wall trying to collect her thoughts. Who knows, maybe Webb was right that Harm still wanted her and wanted to marry her but doubts still lingered whether it was for love or obligation. But after his statement a few minutes ago, her doubts were starting to wash away into a new fear, could she handle getting what she always dreamed of.
“ Daddy!” The excited voice of Jessica Rabb blurted out as Harm entered the room followed by Mac. The little girl with a cast on her arm and a bandage around her head studied Mac for a moment. Mac saw when the child figured out who she was. “ Mommy?” Came the quite question.
“ Yes sweetie, that is Mommy. She is here to see you and Trey. She wants to get to know you.” Harm said as he came to the child’s bedside and handed her a bowl of ice cream.
Mac noticed Harriet sitting in a chair as she surveyed the room full of balloons and flowers.
“ Welcome back Ma’am. The admiral here tells me that you are to be stationed in Washington.” Harriet said with a cautioning tone in her voice. She had been there for Harm as he had struggled to learn to be a full time father and she had seen the hurt caused by Mac’s leaving.
Mac took note of the message and knew now that she had been right to avoid her old friends because of they thought what she did to Harm was on purpose. Now was not the time to set the facts straight, right now was the time to assure a 6 your little girl that mommy was home to stay. “ Hello Jessica. How are you feeling today?” Mac asked as she stepped up to the bed.
Jessica looked from Harm to Mac and back to Harm and asked him with her eyes if it was okay to answer. “ Go ahead Jess, Mommy here just wants to talk with you and it is okay for you to say or ask anything you want.” As he sat on the edge of the bed.
Mac was beginning to panic as Jessica just stared at her and then crawled up into Harms lap looking for security. She knew how the child felt, but the similarity ended with that. Mac remembered that her father would have beaten her for such a reaction.
“ Jessica, you know it isn’t nice to ignore someone who is talking to you.” He said becoming concerned with Jessica’s response to Mac being there.
“ Harm, I will call you later when she gets home. I need to save Bud from our bunch anyway. Colonel.” Harriet said as she gathered her purse in preparation to leave.
“ Thanks for everything. Tell Bud I owe him one for mowing my lawn.”
“ Bye Aunt Harriet. Love you.” Jessica said as Harriet came over and hugged her and Harm. “ Mommy? Are you going to stay this time?” Jessica finally asked Mac.
“ I would like to stay around if you want me too.”
“ Do you like me?”
Mac looked at Harm taken aback by what she had just been asked, “ I told you that they have a lot of questions and are blunt about them.” Harm said.
Thinking for a moment, “ Yes Jessica I love you, I love you very much and I am sorry that I haven’t been here for you. But I want to be here for you, for now and forever. That is if you will let me?”
Jessica looked to Harm as if asking permission to answer. “ How about I go outside while you two talk. And Jessica Rabb, you behave or else.” Harm said shaking a finger at the girl. “ Now just talk with Mommy here and ask her what you want to know.” Harm said as he got up and started for the door. Mac and Jessica both looked at him scared to be left alone with the one person they wanted to get to know but were afraid too. “ I am going to check up on Trey and then call Kelly to come a take you home. If there are any problems you two will have to just figure them out.”
“ Harm!” Mac said in a pleading voice.
“ She is you made over so get to know yourself.” And with that Harm was out the door.
Harm found Harriet by the elevator, “’ Do you think that was wise?” She hinted at leaving Mac with Jessica.
“ I don’t know Harriet, but I am going to play dirty this time. If she leaves this time she will have to live with more than the thought of her children wondering why a mother they haven’t seen since they were 1, she will have to live with the fact they know who she is and she did it again.”
“ Do you want her back in your life? I mean do you still love her Harm?”
Harm tried to avoid Harriet’s eyes and finally looked at her, “ Yes damn me. I still love her and I want back what we started. I know that I left and did damage to her but what she did about the twins was as bad. We have hurt each other for so long Harriet that I have no idea whether or not we can get past that. But I want to try and if she is willing and feels the same. Who knows, but it is time for us to quit hurting each other.”
“ Well, I just hope you don’t end up picking up the pieces again and this time Harm, the children will pay along with you. I missed her too, she was like the sister I never had. You two hurt a lot of people when you both left. We understood why you left and knew that you would be back. She left no reason and left heartache in her wake. She will have to rebuild a trust that you got back automatically.”
The elevator going down opened up. “ What ever you need Harm, call.” Said as she got in.
“ I will, and thanks again for all you have done Harriet. I will give you a call when I get home with how Trey is doing.” Harm finished as the doors closed. He stood for a moment deciding on whether to go on up and see Trey or whether to save Jessica and Sarah from each other.
Same time in Jessica’s room
Jessica sat studying her Mother for a few minutes and Sarah sat there in fear of whether or not her daughter would forgive her. “ Mommy? Are you still a marine?” Jessica finally asked.
“ Yes, honey. I am still a marine. I have a position at the Pentagon, so I won’t be leaving Washington for awhile.”
“ So does that means that you and Daddy will be living together like Aunt Harriet and Uncle Bud?”
Taken aback by the question, “ Well if you want me to live with you we can see, we will just have to ask daddy.” Sarah responded not knowing how Harm was going to react to the child’s question.
“ Cool, Trey and I have a collection of airplanes that daddy has gotten for us, do like airplanes mommy? Daddy has taken us up in his tomcat before and Sarah. Daddy said it is named after his two favorite women. You and greatgram Sarah.” The little girl said as she went on about planes.
It figures was all Sarah could think while listening to the knowledge her daughter had about planes. He had them up in a tomcat. I’ll kill him for putting them in danger, the she was hit by the suddenly realization that whatever Harm had done with their kids had been his decision alone. How could she fuss when she wasn’t around?
“ Mommy?” Jessica asked when she finally sensed that she had lost her mother.
“ I am sorry honey. I was just remembering when you daddy took me up in a Russian Mig.”
“ Ya daddy said you almost puked.” Jessica said as she started laughing remembering the story that Harm had told them at bedtime.
“ Your Daddy told you about our trip to Russia?”
“ Yes, daddy told us how you dressed up like gypsies and told fortunes as you looked for grampa Rabb. Daddy even let me be a gypsy for Halloween last year. Maybe we can be gypsies together this year?”
“ Well we might just have to do that. So are you and Trey into sports?”
Harm stood outside the door as Jessica and Sarah continued to get to know each other with tears in his eyes. Kelly found him leaning against the wall and stood beside him and listened too. Kelly gave him a questioning look but knew that he was a goner to the marine in the other room. Finally she whispered to him, “ You are the biggest sap in the world Dad. An admiral, head of Jag, a great pilot, and a big love sick sap. I just hope for you that this works out.” And with that she headed into Jessica’s room. Harm waited a minute and followed.
“ All ready to sweetie?” Harm asked Jessica as they waited at the hospital front for Kelly to bring the car around to take Jessica home.
“ Yes daddy, when is Trey coming home?”
Harm kneeled in front of his daughter and caressed her face with his hand, “ I don’t know, but as soon as I can get him home I will.”
“ And grandma too.”
“Yes and grandma too.” Said knowing that his mother might never leave the hospital.
“ Dad, I will get her settled and call you later. Are you spending the night here again?” Kelly asked after she had brought the car up.
After safely buckling up Jessica “ I don’t know, The doctors say that it might be days before Trey comes to and they have no idea when grandma will wake up.”
“Dad, come home tonight and after you relieve me there I will come and stay with Trey. You need a good night sleep in your bed and Jessica could you use at home better than her big sister. And you need to finish talking arrangements with Sarah.” Kelly said using her eyes to point to Mac where she was coming from after saying goodbye to Jessica.
Harm smiled at his daughter, “ How can I argue with logic like that. Okay. I will come home after 6 and that will give you time to put down Molly.”
“ Love ya dad, see around 6.”
Mac and Harm waved as Kelly pulled away from the curb. Mac was the first to speak as they headed back inside to the PICU. “ Harm, Jessica asked me if I was going to be living with you like Harriet and Bud. That question came out of left field and I really didn’t have an answer for her.”
“ What did you say?”
“ That it was up to daddy. I had no idea that she would even ask that question and I figured it was best if we were both there to tell her I would be living elsewhere.”
“ Where are you living now?”
“ The Hilton downtown. It was the place Clay set me up till I find my own place.”
“ Well we do have an extra room, you could use it till you found a place. Or when everything is back to normal, I could help you find a place.” Harm couldn’t believe that he had asked her to move in till the words were already out. What are you thinking, he said to himself.
Mac stopped and looked up at him in disbelief, He wanted her to move in with him and the kids. “ Harm, I am not sure that would be a good idea. I mean what happens after everyone is well and I move out? How would the kids take that.”
“ Mac, you need a place to stay, the twins need you and later after everyone is back on track, we will cross that road when we get there. It helps them and me to have you around. Plus Kelly has to report back on Monday and you don’t have to report for 2 more weeks.”
“ Just how do you know that.” Mac said getting a little angry at Harm for knowing more about her than he really let on.
“ I know everything about you that isn’t classified and then some. I know why you left, I got that yesterday, and I know that the reasons you had were valid. I still think that you need to trust me more than you do, because if you had 7 years ago, I would have been there when my children were born. SO, are you going to stay at my place for awhile or not.” He said as he got a little angry too and punched the elevator button.
She said nothing till they were in the elevator. “ I guess I will but you aren’t playing fair Harm. I wanted to tell you but,” she started.
“ There are no buts Sarah, either you start to trust me and totally now or we will never get past our mistakes, our big mistakes of not confiding in each other and trusting the other enough. If we had done that back then, we would never have had to have this conversation.”
Mac held her tongue as to the trust he had given her about getting his eyes fixed without her knowing. At least he did give a warning about his application to return to flight status. She still remembered that night he came over all excited and had her burst his bubble about it. I should have been honest then and several times after that, but she knew deep down she had wanted him to say it first.
They said nothing after they had entered Trey’s room. His nurse followed them in. “ Hello, I am Debbie, I will be his nurse till the midnight shift comes in. You just missed the doctor. The CAT scans came back and looked good, the bleeding has stopped and the pressure in his head has gone down. It will be some time till he is back to the boy you knew, but he that boy again.”
“ Thanks, I am his father Harm and this is his mother Sarah. Do you know when he will wake up?”
“ I’m sorry sir, but that will be up to him. He still has some of the drugs in his system and because of his injuries, we have him on some pretty good pain meds, it might be a couple of days before he is fully conscious. I will be around if you need anything.” She said as she left.
“ What is he like Harm?” Mac asked as she took Trey’s hand in hers.
“ He is us, 100% gung ho and never knows when to stop. I am afraid we passed on the worst of us to the two of them. Both want to be pilots like dear old dad and Big sister. They love the air.”
“ Yes, Jessica told me how she had been up in a TOMCAT. I can’t believe that you took them up. Or maybe I should. I mean knowing you and flying.”
“ Well in all of the times I took them flying, I never once had any problems with poachers.” He said trying to get a smile from her.
Instead all he got was a glare. “ How about Russian Migs? Have any problems with them?”
“ No, only with you do I end up on the ground in some form or fashion.” He said and silently he though < Of course if I have to be on the ground I would rather be with you.>
“ Thanks. See if I fly with you ever again. But since we are on the ground, how about the living arrangements?”
“ We have a spare room that Kelly is using as a nursery, Molly can just sleep in her room and you can have Molly’s. We already have a daybed in there and you would share a bathroom with mom when ever she gets home.”
“ I don’t want to displace anybody?”
“ You won’t, Kelly and Molly will be heading back to the base on Sunday and you can move in anytime you like. Besides I have already had a lecture from Kelly and Bobbie about you moving in.” Seeing Mac beginning to get defensive about others discussing her, he held up his hand to stop the question. “ Bobbie came up last nite and while we were talking she asked me last night what living arrangements you were making. She looked at me and I told her I didn’t know but I would offer you a chance to stay with me. They both think that I am stupid and making a big mistake. I said might be, but for the twins I’ll make it. So when do you want to make this mistake happen?”
Mac looked over to Harm seeing him trying to hide a smile. “ I will move in tonite and see where this mistake will lead us.” She answered and finally saw his trademark smile come through. Maybe Clay was right.
Two Weeks after Mac has moved in
07:30 EST
Rabb residence
Mac woke up earlier that usual with anticipation for starting her new job at the Pentagon. The past two weeks had past by quicker than she could have imagined. She had enjoyed getting to know her daughter and son. Trey was having a few coordination problems along with some speech problems but the doctors had assured everyone that it was expected because of the brain injury he had. He was going to have a long road with rehab but he would be back to normal with no lasting effects.
She had not been able to spend much time with Harm since he was either with Trey or Trish. Mac felt her heart go out to Harm since Trish was not come to yet. The doctors had told them that she might never recover from the head injuries that she has sustained. Harm still seemed to hope for a miracle on the outside and to the twins, but she had read in his eyes that he knew there was not going to be one.
Mac was finishing getting ready when she began to smell bacon being cooked. She headed down stairs to find Jessica sitting on a stool watching Harm cook omelets. “ Well, well, well. About time you got up jarhead.” Harm said making Jessica giggle.
“ Well if I had know breakfast was going to be served I would have been down sooner to help. Morning Jessie.”
“ Morning Mommy, you look great in your uniform even though it is green.”
“ Jess, not everyone wears Navy colors.” Harm said in a mock discipline tone. Jessica started to look ashamed then saw Harm smile and she began to giggle again. “But we will forgive them.”
“ Gee, thanks.” Mac said sliding up to Jessica at the bar. “ I suppose the bacon is for me?”
“ Yes, the rest of us are just having eggs with vegie’s. Ready to go back to work?” Harm said as he started to set the plates of food before them.
“ No, I have enjoyed the time off, but I need to get back into the loop. So are you going in today?” She asked seeing his whites beneath the apron.
“ There are a few problems that I need to attend to before I go and see Trey and Mom today. Can you pick up Jessica form school today?”
“ Sure, I just need to know when. The General I am working under has given me permission to take what ever leave I need till the twins are 100%.”
“ Cool.” Jessica said, “ Can she barrow your Corvette daddy? I mean since it is just me today, mommy will have room.”
Mac couldn’t keep the laugh quiet as Harm shook his head. “ If Mommy wants to drive it then yes, she can pick you up in the Vett. Do you mind Mac?”
“ No I have no problem driving your corvette. Did you buy a new one?”
“ It was Kelly’s and she gave it to me after she got pregnant with Molly. I traded my old SUV for it. I then bought the Explorer so I would have something to drive the kids in. The keys are on the hook by the back door.”
“ I get out of class at 14:30 mommy.” Jessica said as she got down from the stool and put her plate in the sink and then headed back upstairs to get her bookbag.
“ She is something else.”
“ Like I said at the hospital, she is you made over. Call me if there is a problem with this afternoon and I will get her. If not I will be home late, I have an appointment with moms doctor to discuss where we go from here and then Trey’s rehab session.”
Mac got up and put her plate up and then reached up to run Harms around Harm and hugged him tight. “ Everything will work out for the best Flyboy, I know it.”
“ Thanks Mac.” He answered back shocked by her display of affection.
9:00 EST
JAG headquarters
Falls Church, Va.
Harm walked through the bullpen as quickly as he could. Several of the staff had been by the hospital to see how thing were going and he appreciated it but today with his mind racing after Mac’s hug and the meeting that afternoon. The last thing he really wanted to deal with was a lot of questions from his staff.
“ Morning Sir. Here are your appointments for this morning and calls that I have received.” Taylor said as Harm walked into his office.
“ Thanks you Taylor. Could you get Commander Roberts and Commander Pike in here.”
“ Aye, aye sir.”
Harm had been going though his messages when Taylor announced Roberts and Pike. “ Enter.” The two officers entered and came to attention. “ At ease.”
Bud spoke up first, “ How is the family this morning sir?” As he and Kate took their seat.
“ Good for the most part Bud. I have a meeting this afternoon at the hospital so I need to see where you are on the Flores court marshal?”
“ We go to court on Wednesday, otherwise we are finishing notes for prosecution. Commander Pike has been a great asset.” Bud replied.
“ Is Mattoni ready for Defense?”
“ I believe so sir. He was given a list of our witnesses today.” Kate answered.
“ Good, as it has been since the accident, I might not be a lot the next few weeks until Trey is back on his feet. Colonel Mackenzie is helping me out but she started back to work today at the Pentagon, so I have to coordinate with her times that one of us will be there for rehab.”
Kate asked, “ How are things between you and the Colonel?” Not really wanting to know. She was getting ready to transfer out so that she would be free to ask Harm out. Even though she knew in her heart the he would never go out with her. She hated to transfer again out of JAG but she wanted to get past regulations so that it would one less argument he would have for them becoming a couple. She watched as Harm smiled for the 1st time in a long time in front of his officers.
“ Great. Things are going just great. The kids love having her home and having her to lean on some the past few weeks has helped me through this whole episode.”
Bud watched Kate’s face fall a little, he knew Harm missed the twinge because Bud had know for a long time that no one would replace the Marine in Harm’s heart. But it also hurt to see his partner realize that she had lost a battle she never had a chance to start. “ Anything else sir?”
“ No Bud, just when I am gone you are in charge and call me when ever something comes up over you head. Dismissed.”
Both Bud and Kate jumped to attention and then left. Almost back to their offices, “ Kate are you okay?”
“ Ya Bud, reality bites. Did you know that?”
“ Yes, it does. I hear that Web is back in town.”
Kate turned to ask Bud what he meant by that but he was already in his office. She hadn’t seen Clayton in over two years, the 2 years that she had been back at JAG.
11:00 EST
Trish’s ICU room
Harm stood out side the room and watched as the team of doctors and nurses tried to save his mothers life. He had been on the phone with the SecNav when Taylor interrupted when the hospital had called to let Harm know that his mother’s condition was degrading. The SecNav told Harm that the matter could wait and that he hoped the best for Mrs. Burnett.
“ Mr. Rabb?” An older doctor asked as he stepped out of the room.
“ Yes, Dr. Stanton.” Harm said back reading the mans name tag. “ How is she?”
“ Dr. Wilson and I have been working together on your mother since she came in. She has not responded well to treatment and last night started running a fever from an infection. To be blunt, she will never recover and what you just witnessed was the code team bringing her back. She died on us for a short period. I know that you have been hoping as have we that she would start to come around but after this latest set of complications.” He said leaving out what Harm already knew.
“ So what now?” he whispered.
“ We have a couple of choices, one we can continue to everything in our power to keep her alive or two, the next time she codes, I mean stops breathing and her heart stops, is that we let her go. Her injuries were very significant from the get go and she is fortunate to have lasted this long. Did you ever discuss her wishes? Because as harsh as this will sound, she isn’t really here anymore.”
Harm stood and stared going over in his mind everything that the doctor had just told him. He knew his mother would hate to be kept alive by machines but his heart was fighting along with his mind. “ I understand the Do Not Resuscitate orders, she would have wanted me to do that. I know that she hates lying there. Just let me know what I need to sign.” He finished with tears running down his face.
“ I am so sorry, I wish that we had the ability to do more. The clerk will bring the forms in a minute. After they have cleaned up the room some you can sit with her.”
“ How long?”
“ It shouldn’t be to long. Her body has given up the fight, you just need to tell her it is okay to go. I will be doing round on this floor for a while should you need me.”
“ Thank you.” Harm sat and took his mothers hand. He could feel how cold it was, he hated seeing her like that. He knew that he should call Kelly and Mac to let them know but he didn’t want to leave her alone. The clerk came in and left with his signature on the DNR paper work and a nurse brought him a cup of coffee. He sat and talked with her about how the twins were doing and about his feelings for Mac. After he had unloaded his heart on how he loved her and was going to miss her, he told her that it was okay to go. Harm's wait was not a one after that, about an hour after signing the paper work her vital signs started slowing till she took one final breath and then nothing. “ Bye Mom, I love you.”
14:00
Mac’s Office
Mac glanced up from her desk in the sudden realization that she needed to be at the school in 30 minutes to pick up Jessica. She straightened the pile on her desk the best she could, told the gunny that was her aide that she was leaving for the day and headed out to her car. Though she had picked up Jessica once or twice in the past few weeks, she relished the feeling of getting off work to pick up her child. Her thoughts clouded over some, as she though of all of the things she had cheated herself out of because keeping them safe had been more important. At least it had seemed so and that was what she was going to keep telling herself.
Mac pulled into the school driveway and immediately found Jessica walking over to the car. “ You are 5 minutes and 35 seconds late Mommy. I knew that you would be so I didn’t worry about you forgetting me.”
“ I could never forget you Jessie. Don’t ever worry about that.” Mac said as she wiped the tear that had fallen as she turned to look back to make sure the coast was clear. After regaining her composure, “ How was you day?”
“ It was okay. Patrick Roberts kept making fun of my hair till I told him that my daddy would cut his daddy’s the same if he didn’t leave me alone. At recess his brother AJ got a hold of him and made him apologize. The class made another set of cards for Trey. Do you think that I that they will let me see Trey soon? I miss him even though he gangs up on me with Patrick.” Jessica asked as she rambled on about her day.
It was all Mac could do while listening not to laugh at her daughters jumbled tale of the days’ events. “ I don’t know honey, we will just have to ask Daddy. So what all does Trey and Patrick do to you.” Mac asked and sat back and listened as Jessica went on about how AJ, the Roberts youngest Tammy, and she were always picked on by Patrick and Trey. But it was always the 5 of them against the rest of the neighborhood in any other games. Mac had met several of the other families along the block that Harm lived on and their children as they had come over and played with Jessica. She remembered a statement from Harm about how quiet it was compared to the running in and out of neighborhood gang with the twins hurt and how he never though that he would miss those sounds.
Mac and Jessica made a stop off at the store to get the items needed for dinner that nite and were surprised to see Harm’s car already in the driveway.
“ Something happened to grandma.” Jessica said as a statement not a question.
“ I don’t know, lets find daddy and see what’s up.” Mac replied fearing her daughter already had answered that question.
They walked in the door to find Harm on the phone talking quietly. “ Why don’t you go change from your school clothes and start your homework and I’ll see what is with Daddy. Okay?” She asked Jessica who quickly scampered up the stairs. “ Harm?”
“ Mom pasted away about an hour ago. I have already talked to Trey and he was pretty upset but took it well, I was surprised by what he said. You know what he told me,” He paused as Mac shook her head no, “ that grandma was with grandpa Hammer now and that they would look after each other till we join them. It wasn’t till after they took him down to rehab that I found out that a counselor had been talking to him about the accident and Mom. My son with all of his injuries is taking this better than I am.
Not knowing what else to say, “ Is there anything I can do for you Harm? Like help with the funeral?”
“I just got off the phone with the funeral home and everything is set for Thursday. I just need to tell the girls. Where is Jess?”
“ I sent her upstairs to change and start her homework. Would you like for me to tell her while you call Kelly?”
“ Do you mind? I know coming back and finding your family like this isn’t what you had planned did it Mac?”
“ I didn’t have any expectations Harm and I am just thankful that they even welcomed me back at all.” She said as she came and sat beside him taking him into a hug. He turned into her embrace and let go the flood of feelings he had been keeping in check.
18:00
Rabb Residence
Mac had just put the finishing touches on dinner when she saw headlights pull into the driveway. Hoping it was Harm and Jessica, a quick look told her that it was Kelly. Harm had told Mac that they would be back around 6 after going and visiting Trey. The staff had been more than understanding after Harms request to allow Jessica time with her brother.
“ Hello Colonel.” Kelly said as she struggled through the door with Molly and their stuff.
“ Sorry, I should have come out there and helped you, I didn’t know you planned to bring it all in one trip.” Mac said taking Molly so that Kelly could put their things up.
After hanging stuff up and changing into some sweats, Kelly came back downstairs to find Mac and Molly playing on the den floor.
“She is such a sweet baby.”
“ I have been lucky that she is a well tempered baby, but she does have her moments. I just call them her grandpa moments. Grandma Trish did too.” Kelly said letting out a long sigh. “ How is Dad and Jessica taking it?”
“ Your father is quite upset and Jessica is too, although I don’t think that she and Trey quite understand. How are you doing?” Mac said getting up off the floor.
“ I cried some with dad on the phone and then went around getting things in order. I am luck that my Captain is good-natured. All though I bet it will be awhile before I even ask for leave again. Hell I am about 100 hours behind already on my flight time. I guess I can ask dad if he wants to go up one day next week and get some of this behind him.”
“ Now that I would like to see, Navy with an Air Force wingman. By the way, how did you end up or I mean chose the Air Force?”
“ My mother never told me anything about Dad while I was growing up but I always loved flying. A neighborhood boy I knew who was a couple of years older went to the naval academy and learned to fly so I said cool, so will I. Well my mom bristled at that and said that she would not allow her daughter to go to the Naval Academy so I just changed to the Air Force. She still wasn’t happy but at least she let me go. Now that I know who my father is I understand why. She pointed me to another service to spite him. She hated the thought of me in the military totally but she also knew that there was no other choice for me to get to go to college.”
“ Well I am glad for yours and Harms sake that you get along. I can see how much he loves you and Molly. But you were a surprise along with your daughter. I never pictured Harm as the softy grandfather type,” looking to the ground Mac finished, “ not at his current age I should say. Would it be too much to ask where Molly’s father is? I haven’t heard you or Harm mention a name.”
One look from Kelly and Mac knew that she had asked the wrong question and both were saved as Harm and Jessica came bounding into the house. Kelly immediately went to Harm as Jessica came and hugged Mac and she quietly asked her how Trey was doing.
21:00 EST
Thursday Night
Rabb residence
Mac sat back on the patio listening to the sounds of the night. The week had been a long and draw out affair as she watched as Harm and his children dealt with the death of Trish. As much as she was there, Mac had felt like the outsider she had become as Bud, Harriet, AJ, Bobbie, Leslie and her husband Bob Newton came to comfort the Rabb Family. Clay had been the only one to really give her a shoulder to cry on as the week pasted. She knew the others had tried but it just wasn’t the same as before she left.
“ I penny for your thoughts?” Clay asked as he came out to join her.
“ I would be over charging you. Anybody left in there?”
“ Just the Roberts and the Newton’s who are on their way out the door as I headed out here. Kelly was putting Jessica and Molly to bed too.” Clay came and sat down beside her. “ Sarah.”
“ Oh, great.”
“ What?”
“ You never just say my name like that unless it is something big. The last time you did I….”
“ I know, we ended up spending some time in that hell hole as you called it. Well you came through it okay, didn’t you?”
“ Yes I did no thanks to you. We were damn lucky that time Clay, they almost had us and that would have been all she wrote.” She said standing up going over to stand at the porch railing. “ What is wrong Clay, did we miss one and then am I to assume that I am in danger and need to run again?”
“ Yes.” He said quietly.
“ No. Clay I won’t run again.”
“ You don’t have to run, just…”
“ Just what?”
“ You need to move out of here so that we can protect Harm and the kids while we capture Jonas.”
Mac jerked her head around as she heard the name. “ You mean that we missed Jonas. Hell Clay, I would have never come back if I had known that he was the one we hadn’t gotten. Do you remember what he said he would do to me if he ever found me.” She said shuddering at the thought.
“ What did he say?’ Harm asked as he edged out of the shadows causing Mac to jump.
“ Harm!”
“ Damn it Mac, what did he say he would do?”
“ Harm, this doesn’t concern you. Just Mac and myself.” Clay said as he stood up to stand by Mac.
“ I don’t care about you Clay. I care about what that maniac said because if he has found her then he knows that she has two children who are recovering from injuries, he knows that her family includes Kelly and my granddaughter and he knows all of her friends too after today.”
Mac turned back to face the yard, away from Harms glare as he stared at her and Clay. “ What do you think you know about Jonas Harm?” Clay asked.
“ Enough to scare me Clay, I know what he has done, what you have stopped him from doing but I want to know from you what he has against you personally.”
“ That is all classified information Admiral,” Clay said as he was getting miffed. “ Just how did you get your hands on it?”
“ Well Mr. Webb, I am not out of the loop as you are and I have my resources. But lets not go there because as quickly as you can make Mac disappear. I can make you.” Harm said with a tone that made both Clay and Mac wince. “ Let’s just end it with that. Okay? I have more on you for once than you do on me.” Harm ended staring down Clay.
“ Then call them Admiral. I would have figured that they would have contacted you by now.” Clay said back trying to save himself from another angry JAG.
“ Who is to say that they haven’t already. But enough of this bull Clay. Besides what I do and don’t know, I want to hear what you have to say.” Harm said as he came to stand by Mac.
She just kept her focus on the fort that Harm had built for the kids, her kids, the ones that she had put back in danger because she had had enough of running. And because Clay had told her that she was finally free of a past she had nightmares over.
“ It seems that we missed one person in our final sweep 3 months ago, Jonas Young. The second in command of the Knights of Freedom, a terrorist group that had small groups all over the world, except it was an American created group. And most of them are military personnel.” Clay started trying to save Mac from explaining anything.
“ What Clay isn’t telling you Harm is that I know Jonas, we dated when I was in high school. We met back up when we were both stationed in Bosnia.” She stopped and drew in a deep breath. “ And I we saw each other a couple of time while we were there. Nothing serious.”
“ Because he was a Sargent and you were a Captain. I read in your file that you assisted in the apprehension of a group…” Harm started
Mac finished, “ … that was about to aid in the attack on American bases over seas. Jonas’s group was just one of many but his was the one I infiltrated and brought to justice.”
The rest was left unsaid as Harm finished putting the pieces together. He remembered reading about a group of prisoners that had escaped from Leavenworth as he was packing to leave to return to flying. The article included that they were helped by some of the friends that had been released the week before.
“ I would have never had left if you had told me about them.” Harm whispered just loud enough for Mac.
She finally brought her tear-streaked face up to meet his gaze at her, “ I know Jonas, Harm you don’t. We would not be having this conversation right now if I had told you.”
“ I would have been there to protect you Mac, he could never have separated us if we had been together.”
“ Harm, the first thing he did was track down my mother and kill her. He let me know that he would come after me in time. I couldn’t handle losing you like that. To anything but that and now after all of the caution I used in protecting you and the twins was just a waste. It is just a matter of time now.” She said as the tears continued to fall.
“ Which is getting shorter by the minute you two.” Clay said letting them know that he was still standing there.
Rabb Residence
Harm turned his head to look back at Clay and gave him a glare that made Clay shiver inside. Clay thought to himself that he had never seen Harm that angry before. “ Well Mr. Hotshot spy, what bright ideas do you have? I assume that you just plan on running again.”
“ Hiding till the danger has past by.”
“ Well that isn’t good enough anymore. I mean look what hiding has gotten the two of you so far.”
“ Harm that’s not fair. I did, we did what we thought was right.” Mac said trying to take some heat off of Clay.
“ Well Colonel, all you have done is alienated yourself from your family and friends because except for the date on the calendar, you are exactly where you where back then. And the fact is now you have now included a lot more people.” Harm said as he walked over to the far edge of the patio. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“ Clay what does Jerry have in mind for protection?” Mac asked as she hid her pain of Harm going back to her rank instead of her name.
“ Well this house is being watched along with Trey’s hospital room. Jerry figures that we need to get everyone to a safe house as soon as possible before Jonas can make any moves.”
“ SO I am supposed to pack up my family that has been through hell the past few weeks and hide out for who knows how long and ruin their lives just because you screwed up again. No thank you. I have a few favors and I plan on calling them in. My kids stay where they are and they will continue with the lives as normal as possible till you finally get your ‘man’.” Harm said as he came back over to them. “Colonel you have the choice of doing what you want with yourself, and before you say anything, I have custody of the twins, so I have complete control over them. So like I said they stay here. As for Kelly, I will just talk her into leaving Molly here while she is on duty. If you have any problems with that then that is your problem not mine.” He looked from Mac to Clay and then headed into the house stopping to add one last line. “ I hope that you plan on covering everyone that was here tonight Clay too, I am sure Jonas would love to taunt them in front of you guys.” And with that Harm shut the door.
Clay and Mac stood there a few minutes lost in thought before Clay finally spoke up. “ Well Mac, what do you want to do? I can have a team in here and have you and the twins safe by lunch.”
“ He was right you know, 7 years later I am back at the beginning, right where I started running the 1st time.”
“ Yes but Mac, everyone has been safe and secure since then. As soon as we get him, it will all be over.”
“ No Clay, it wont. It will never be over. Harm may forgive me someday but the past will never be over and he has every right to pissed. And look at all the time that has passed and everything I have missed because I didn’t trust him. What have we got to show from all of that running Clay? Nothing, Jonas is still out there and my family is still in danger.” Mac paused for a minute and turned to Clay as she made her way to the door.
“ You are going to stay.” Clay said more as a statement than a question.
“ Yes, and maybe this time I can leave my past behind as it catches up to me..”
Clay pulled out his cell phone and began to dial, “ I hope you know what you are doing?”
“ For the first time in a long time, yes I do.” Mac said as she closed the door behind her.
She walked into the den and halted by the door as she saw Harm standing at the fireplace. After making the decision to follow Harm and stay and fight, she began to feel the old Sarah Mackenzie come back. The one that had been hiding from the world since she had went away. The person she had been proud of and the one that loved the man standing across the room from her.
“ Well have you made up your mind?” He asked bringing her out of her thoughts.
“ Yes, I have. What ever you decide and plan on, I will be beside you all the way. I want to come home Harm. I want to be the Marine you fell in love with. I want to be a mother to our kids and most importantly I want to be me again.”
Harm looked across the room and into her eyes. She was no longer crying, she had her head held high and gleam that had been missing since that day in Bobbie’s office was back. His Sarah was back.
“ Well Marine, I have missed you.” He said with a smirk on his face. “ Do you plan on staying long?”
“ As long as I am wanted and needed. But I am not making any promises until Jonas is taken care of. How do plan on keeping everyone safe?”
“Trey is due to be released next week and we can covert the living room into a gym for his rehab. As for Kelly and Molly, Kelly has to return to duty but Molly will just stay with us. As for school, Trey will just finish the year at home and Jessica will just have a guard there for her. We will just continue as though nothing is going on.”
“ Are you sure that this is the right thing to do? I will follow you in what ever direction you want, but I want it to be the right one.”
“ Mac, everyone that came through here tonight became a target if Clay and my sources are right. Why should we risk their lives because we want to hide and besides that, there is way to many of them to just make all of us disappear. I plan on letting them know in the morning and telling Kelly then too. I just don’t know how she is going to take this thought with everything else still fresh.”
“ What about us?” She asked wondering what would be bothering Kelly.
“Well. What about us?” He asked back
“ Where does all of this leave us? I mean …… oh I don’t know what I mean.” She looking down at the floor not seeing him come over to her.
“ You mean this.” He said lifting her chin up and kissing her.
“ Oh ya,” she said breath less when they parted. “ This.”
Clay stood off to the side and watched them. He decided to wait a few minutes before he busted the moment. He also stood there taking a moment to get ready for the next round with the JAG as he updated them on the situation.
00:00 EST
Rabb Residence
Kelly came down the stairs to find Webb watching Harm and Mac kiss. "You must not get out often Mr. Webb or you are in love with Mac too."
Clay jumped at her voice and turned to face her. Smirking, " Well my dear girl, it is my job to watch them and make sure they are safe. And no, I am not in love with Mac, she is a close friend I care for."
" Well, it seems to me that she is safe and secure in my fathers arms so why are you watching them like the world is about to eat them."
" Because a man that Mac helped put away is lose and wants to kill her. Is that enough reason for you." He said watching her face as she took in what he said. She was so much like Harm it was uncanny he thougt while she digested what he said and drew her own conclusions.
" I was right. I knew that her coming back would bring a price. What are you planning on doing about it, and don't give me that spiel of it will be okay. I overheard some of your conversation on the patio. Just how much trouble is Jonas?"
Clay took a second before answering. Yes she was just like her father and he would have to be careful around her. " If it was up to me, we would be half way to a safe house right now but your father has decided to stay and fight. And Mac has decided to stand behind him in this decision. The wrong one I might add."
" Dad has his reasons Webb and I respect them even if you don't. A lot of other people respect them too. I guess I better plan on some long drives for awhile until you get him."
Clay finally had had enough of opinions being ignored among those who he felt had lost it. " Okay, Okay." He said loud enough that it drew Mac and Harm's attention from each other. " Rabb, if you want to stay here fine, if Mac wants to risk her life following you then fine, if your daughter wants to commute an hour to and from the base, fine, but I think that you are all crazy and making a very bad choice."
" What did Jerry say?" Mac asked as she kept an arm around Harm's waist.
" He thought I was crazy to request that this house be protected because you guys planned on staying. He will do everything in his power to keep an eye on you and the ones that were here this evening. He also wants to come in a beef up the security in the house too. If you don't have a problem with that Rabb." he said giving Harm a glare.
" I already have a top of the line system that was installed when I became JAG." Harm said seeing the shocked looks from Clay and Mac, went on to explain, "It is standard for any officer with a high ranking officer since the attempts on other Pentagon staff a couple of years ago along with the bombings on board our own ships. Feel welcome to check it out in the morning Clay."
" Dad, are you sure that you want to play the game this way?" Kelly asked to make sure her father was sure on his decision.
" I was going to talk to you in the morning but now is as good a time as any. Yes I think that staying will put this episode behind us quicker than running. It did the last time we went through hell, it will again." He said slipping from Mac's embrace to take his daughter into his arms. " I promise that this will pass quickly, just like last year, and I think that it would be better if you leave Molly here under the watchful eyes of our friends. I won't let anyone hurt her or you again."
Mac looked to Clay wanting some explanation to what they were talking about and only received shrugged shoulders and an ask Harm look.
" Well if you guys are finished with me then I am out of here and will be back sometime in the morning."
" After 10 am Clay, some of us plan to sleep in."
" Fine, whatever. After 10 then." Clay muttered and headed out the front door.
" Well, I have a flight in the morning and need my beauty sleep. Dad, I know I didn't ask and now it seems mute with everything that has happened, but could you watch Molly for me this weekend? Just till Monday night?'
" I would love to keep her and I know that a trip to see her uncle Trey will lift both of their spirits. Just fly right and relax in the air. It always does that to me. I love you kiddo." He said hugging her one last time before she retreated up the stairs waving good night to Mac.
Mac turned and headed back into the den followed by Harm. " Harm, if you don't want to tell me that's fine but what happened to Kelly. Several times I have felt like I have said or done the wrong thing around her and more than once you two have brought up something that happened last year. I want to know so I can avoid saying or doing the wrong things."
Harm sat on the couch and ran his fingers through his hair. Mac didn't think that he was going to say anything until he spoke in a rushed whisper. " She was raped."
" Oh God, Harm I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry in that way."
" No Mac, you didn't and you need to know so that you can be aware of her feelings. It is just very hard for me to go back over that time. As a father I am supposed to protect my daughter from injury but there was nothing I could do for her. Nothing."
" Did she know her attacker?"
" Yes, he was a member of her flight group."
" Is he in prison now?"
" No, he is dead, killed by another father whose daughter died in his arms. I was lucky that Kelly was one of 2 people that lived through his attacks. 5 others died while they were trying to catch him, including Kelly's boyfriend. She went through hell while recovering and felt guilty about Glen's death at her expense. She found out she was pregnant a couple of months after the attack, it all came out during the trial before that bastard was killed." Harm said clinching his fists.
" How did she take the news of being pregnant. I know how I did but my situation was different." Mac said reliving the moment she found out she was pregnant with the twins, all alone with no one there.
" She was mortified at first because she didn't know who the father was and then having to face me. I told her I didn't care about who the father was; I only wanted her to be well and happy. The defense council found out about it and tried to make her look like she was easy and that she asked to be attacked. It took everything I had to sit there and watch her go through those questions on the stand. AJ had to hold me down so I didn't make a scene and embarrass her more." He paused before going on. " You should have seen what she went through when they did a DNA test on the baby. She didn't know what she was going to do if that monster was the father and thank God it didn't match him. She was relieved afterwards to find out that the baby was Glen's, so she had Molly 6 months later."
" She is a very strong young woman Harm and she ought to be thankful that she has a father like you. Just like I am thankful the twins have you. I know that no matter what I do and where I am you will always be there."
" Then why didn't you tell me about Jonas?"
Rabb Residence
Sometime after midnight
Mac took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She then glanced around the room before staring into Harm’s eyes. “Harm, we both had some issues back then with trust. We both trusted each other with our lives and yet both of us failed to show it when it came to our hearts. You failed when you had your eyes fixed and your change of designator and I failed every time my past came up. A past that I have never been able to trust anyone with. Not all of it at least.” She then stood up and started to pace. “ Harm every person has left me some time or the other. And you just walked out too. I know that it was hard for you to do it but you never trusted me to understand or allow me to stand behind you when you decided to return to flying.”
“ Would you have stood behind me?”
“ Yes, I understood your dream of flying but the way you announced it was like you didn’t care what you were leaving behind. It made me feel like what we had didn’t mean a thing.”
“ Well you could have mentioned that last night that we spent together that you were leaving soon too and why, but I think I see now why you didn’t. I never left any impression did I that was coming back?” Harm said finally getting a grasp of her feelings at the time.
“ No, you never did and I knew that I loved you and wanted you safe, so I contacted Webb the next morning about a way out and he was there 10 hours later with the solution in hand. Then 6 weeks later I found out I was pregnant, I didn’t know what else to do but to continue to lay low. Then when Clay told me that Jonas was onto me, we faked the deaths of the twins and I sent them to you.”
“ You faked their deaths.” Harm mumbled out in shock since he was never told how Mac convinced Jonas that she was alone.
“ Yes,” she said crying now. “ It wasn’t hard to play the grieving mother when you know that you might never your children again. I knew that they would be well taken care of by you.”
“ When the AJ called me and told me about your accident, I was told that you had died and that bystanders had saved the twins. I am sure the shock on my face when he let me know that we had had children was priceless. It was 2 years later when I was reassigned to JAG before he asked me any questions about us.”
“ Harm, I know that I screwed up and you know that you screwed up too. I just want to know when we are going to get past it. I know that I still love you, I told you when you left JAG and I told you that morning when you rushed out the door late for your plane.”
Harm came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist laying his chin upon the back of her head. “ I love you marine.” He whispered into her ear bringing a smile to her face. “ I won’t say that now and then the past 7 years won’t get in the way but after the past few weeks of having you here, I don’t want to lose you again, I don’t think that I can go through that again. I need you in my life. The twins need their mother too. It will take time but I hope that we can work past it if we don’t repeat our mistakes.”
“ I think that is the first time I have ever heard you say that you love me aloud. I have seen it on paper, in your eyes and touch but never heard the words.” She paused smiling brightly now, “ I am with you no matter what, just one day at a time, wherever this life leads us.”
“ I do have question concerning Molly and Kelly?”
“ What?”
“ Well, Kelly asked if you cared if Molly called you grandma. She asked it the other day when she saw in my eyes that I never let you go again.”
“ She is a smart young lady Rabb.”
“ Well she does take after me.”
“ Really now?”
“ Yes, really. Do you mind?”
“ No, I don’t. I have become very fond of that little girl. She’s the about the age of the twins when I let them go, she helps me bridge the part of their lives I missed.”
“ Who knows, maybe we can try again some day and both see what we missed.” He said as he stroked he stomach.
“ Harm don’t promise me anything you can’t keep.”
“ I haven’t yet. The twins were just 5 years early.”
They both chuckled as she turned around to face him, “ I have only one standard this time Harm, that I am a married woman before I have anymore children. I plan to do things right from now on.” She reached up and kissed him and then left him standing alone as she went upstairs to bed. She never looked back because as much as she knew that they had moved forward, there was still too much hanging over them.
Harm watched her leave going over her final statement in his head. I would like nothing more Sarah than to marry you but until your past with Jonas is laid to rest I can’t trust the future enough to go there but someday. Yes ma’am Marine someday.
Two weeks later after Trish’s funeral
Saturday
noon
Rabb Residence
Kelly couldn’t believe all of the changes that had happened in two weeks since her grandmother’s funeral. The closeness between her father and Mac had increased with some restraint. Kelly had had a hard time readjusting to not having her daughter around when she was at home on the base but her daughter had become quite attached to her new grandmother, as had she. One day last week as she and Mac had been watching the twins play outside, Mac let her know that Harm had told her about the rape. Mac told her some of her past and let Kelly know that she understood her pain. Kelly had slowly let loose those things that she had kept from her father and told Mac. The bond between the two women had grown immensely.
Kelly understood now why her father loved Mac the way he did and knew that someday she would have Mac as her stepmother. A thought that a few years ago she would have scoffed at.
Trey had also come home, turning the house upside down with the equipment he needed for rehab. Harm had decided to take the threat from Jonas for real but not stop living, but he wasn’t going to allow the nut a chance to nab Trey outside of the house. Harm had also been lucky enough to find a trainer that was willing to live on site and with the Rabb zoo. Ben Jones had been checked three ways from Sunday before Clay had passed him along with Harm.
The only thing now was for everyone to go on as normal and wait.
Kelly came down stairs to find out what all the laughing was about and came across Mac, the twins, Ben and her father-playing twister in the living room. “ Daddy, left foot blue.” Trey said from his bedside perch above the twisted mount of arms and legs in front of him.
“ I hope that the phone is nearby when he has to call 911 when one of you injure yourselves.”
“ Well miss high and mighty, decide to down here and join the living?” Harm said as he tried to keep his weight off Jessica, who was underneath him laughing.
“ Well some of us did get in late after flying all day.”
“ Mommy, right arm green.”
“ Great.” Mac huffed out.
“ Problems marine, can’t handle it.” Harm piped back getting giggles from the twins.
“ I think I am going to start lunch, seeing that mountain come down won’t be a pretty sight.” Kelly said as she headed for the kitchen.
“ I can handle anything you can Flyboy.” Mac gruffly replied as she reached across to tickle him causing everyone to crash to the mat.
Kelly listened for a minute making sure that no one was hurt before pulling the items out needed for the salad. A minute later the laughter died down and Mac joined her.
Blowing her hair out of her face, “ Need any help?”
“ Well if there is going to be main course you can start on the pasta and I’ll get busy on the sauce.”
“ Aye, Aye ma’am.” Mac said as she reached under the cupboard to get out the pots and pans that they would need.
Harm came into the kitchen a few minutes later to see if the two women in his life needed any help and found them chatting away. While standing there watching he, heard his private line in his study start to ring so he left to go answer it.
“ Rabb.”
“ Rabb, it’s Clay. Everyone okay today?”
“ Yes, Clay. Everyone is fine. Any news on Jonas?”
“ The same. We haven’t had a good location on him in several days, but a source has him just south of here in the mountains of Virginia.”
“ Great. Any plans on catching him Clay?”
Clay huffed at that question before answering. “ As soon I can I will Harm. Let up some. It was your big idea to stay put instead of take cover.”
“ I want this over. I do not intend to live my life like I did with Palmer.”
“ Well you did everybody a favor when you killed him.”
“ I would never had had to kill him if you and your people had done you jobs. I was just protecting my kids.”
“ Just keep doing the same Rabb and this will be over soon.”
“ What ever Clay. Talk to you later.” Harm finished hanging up the phone before Clay could respond.
“ You killed Palmer?”
Harm turned to see Mac standing in the room. He hadn’t heard her enter when she followed him after hearing the phone ring too. “ Yes.”
“ He came after the twins?”
“ He knew that they were ours and starting using them to get to me. I had had it and when Palmer and I met for the last time, it was the last time. I really shocked him by shooting him. It was self defense so no charges were ever brought against me. It was him that told me where you were and that you were alive. His final act of aggravation to me, it took me another 6 months before I was able to prove that you were really alive. That was 3 years ago.”
“ I’m sorry Harm. I didn’t know about Palmer. It is nice to know though that he isn’t lurking around the corner somewhere waiting for me.”
“ Well Colonel, I think we have enough people from our past to keep us on our toes. And as for Palmer, let the matter rest please. I’ll tell you everything you want to know about it someday but not today.”
“ Okay. I guess just knowing he is gone will do. How many people did we piss off Harm?”
“ Too many for two people in one life time.” He said with a grin. “ Come on lets go help Kelly with lunch and get our crew fed.”
“ Lead the way sailor.”
11:00 EST
Wednesday
Falls Church, JAG Headquarters
Harm stared out the window and watched the summer storm come down, lost in thought. It had been over a month since his mother had died and Mac’s past had come around to haunt them.
“ Miss her sir?” Bud asked as he walked into the admiral’s office.
“ Ya, Bud. I miss her. Her birthday was supposed to be next week. Kelly wanted to do something special since it was going to be her 70th.” He quietly said before turning to face the Commander. “ What’s up Bud, how is the Barnes case coming?”
Bud realizing that his friend needed to be prodded from his mood went on into business. “ Kate and I have most of the prelims out of the way and hope to take it to trial next month.”
“I hear a but in there.”
“ Yes, it seems that Major Barnes is Captain Krennick’s cousin and she plans on representing him.”
“ Great, just what I need, another blast from the past.” Harm spit out as Bud winced at the sound of Harm’s voice. “ Well Bud, I certainly hope you win, I would like to see Alison bested by my best.”
“ Thank you sir. Any news from Webb lately?”
“ No, except that they hope to have Jonas soon. How is Harriet taking being watched all the time?”
“ She hates it sir but understands it. The kids hate it worse since she wont let them out of her site unless they are over at you house.”
“ Trey and Jessica are starting to drive me up the wall too.”
“ AJ told me that Trey is starting to walk with just a cane.”
“ About another month or two and no one will ever know that he spent a month in ICU.” Harm said and started a mischievous grin.
“ What Harm?” Bud asked seeing that Harm was out of his CO mode.
“ Ben and Kelly.” Harm chuckled as he saw the questioning look in Bud’s face. “ Ben and Kelly have gone on a few dates this week when Kelly is home. It is the first time in two years that she has gone out with a guy, and I see sparks happening.”
“ That is great. I know that you are please to see that she is putting her past behind her.”
“ It ..” Harm started as Taylor buzzed him.” “ What Chief?”
“ Sir, Colonel Mackenzie is here.”
“ Send her in.” He said as he clicked off the mic, “ I wonder what brings her here.” He asked aloud to Bud who just shook his shoulders . “ Well Colonel, what brings ….” He started as turned to face her and saw that her uniform was covered in grime. “ Mac?”
“ Jonas.” Was all she said. As she came across to stand in front of Harm.
“ Uh, sirs, I will see you later.”
“ Thanks Bud. Sarah are you all right.” He asked as he took her into his embrace.
“ I will be.”
“ What happened?”
“ I let my aide go and get my car from the garage as I stood talking to John at the elevator. He had business to attend to and since he didn’t know I was back, we were only talking for just a few minutes when my car exploded. Flores was just 21 Harm, just a young boy who was going to ask his girlfriend to marry him tonight. Oh God.” She finished and grabbed a hold of his jacket and started crying. Harm just held her tight and let her go.
“ Come on, I’m taking you home.”
“ No, no Harm. I just needed to see you and be held. I need to get back to my office and make some calls.”
“ Fine then, I haven’t been to the Pentagon in awhile, I’ll be there while you make your calls and harass Webb.”
Mac didn’t say anything and just nodded. She could tell by the tone in his voice that she wasn’t leaving or going anywhere else today with out him.
14:00
Mac’s office
Harm stood outside of her office while Mac called the young Corporal’s family to let them know about their son. Harm was lost in thought as Webb came up to him.
“ She was lucky Rabb, the device was remote controlled. Jonas wanted to let her know that he is near. “
“ Any leads or should I even ask?”
Taking a deep breath, “ No Rabb, no leads.”
“ Do you at least have an idea as to when the device was placed there?”
“ No, we are rewatching the tapes from the parking garage. We should know soon. But hell Harm, she drives that car everywhere, they could have done it when she was grocery shopping.”
“ I have an idea but it is only to speed things up.”
“ Oh ya. What is it?”
“ Mac and I get married in the Rose Garden at the White House where we first met. It is a target Jonas won’t be able to refuse and a way to get this ordeal over with.”
“ When did you propose to Mac?”
“ He hasn’t! What kind of plan is this Harm? Lets get everyone we care about in one spot so that Jonas can take target practice?”
“ Hell no, but I am sick and tired of worrying about what he is planning. So by creating a target that will bring him out is the only solution. Your wedding, our wedding in the White House rose Garden will certainly do that. ”
“ So this is just a plan?”
“ Yes, Mac just a plan.”
“ Well if she agrees I will see what I can do and if Jerry will go for it.”
“Fine.” Mac turning back into her office so that harm wouldn’t see her disappointment.
“ Navy charm. Gotta love it.” Clay said as he headed off to his office leaving the JAG standing there alone wondering if he was really doing the right thing. And cursing himself for not keeping his idea from Mac till they could have talked his plan over.
21:00 EST
Rabb Residence
Harms study
Kelly stood and looked at her father like he had grown another head. “ You said what to her? That it was just a plan. Dad you are dense sometimes.”
“ Thanks Kelly. I do have a plan and it does include marring a certain marine Colonel.”
“ Oh really, why didn’t you tell her that instead of breaking her heart. She thinks that you love her like an old friend, not as a woman.”
“ I am glad that you and Mac have become close friends but there was time when you and everyone else was cautioning me about getting involved with her again and now everyone is mad at me because I am taking things slowly. Shesh, can’t a guy win.”
“ I’m sorry Dad. It is just I see what you see in her now that we have become friends. I know that she loves you and you love her, so why are you balking now?”
“ I guess that I’m scared that I am finally going to have everything that I want and the threat the lies outside that door could take it away from me. I want that to be over with before we precede.”
Kelly was about to say something else when Molly started crying. Kelly gave her father a look before heading upstairs to calm her daughter down.
Kelly missed the smile that overtook Harm’s face when she left the room. Marrying Mac in the garden was part of the plan, but it wasn’t going to be a show for Jonas, to him it was going to be the real thing but thanks to Webb’s timing he had never gotten a chance to properly ask Mac. He walked over to his desk and pulled out the ring he had been carrying with him since he knew Mac was the one 7 years ago after he had left JAG. He went looking for her and found her coming down the stairs.
“ Kids all tucked into bed?”
“ Yes, Trey is so happy to be rid of that hospital bed.”
“ Good, how about a walk?”
She stared at him looking into his eyes seeing a playful side to him that had been absent all day. “ Sure why not. I could use some night air.”
Holding out his arm to her. “ This way Colonel.” He said leading out to the backyard.
“ Thank you Admiral.” She said taking his arm. “ Uh Ben, we will be out back.”
“ Sure thing ma’am.” He said as he flipped channels on the TV.
Harm lead Mac to the farthest part of the backyard to where he had set up a swing. Motioning for her to sit down he stood above her. “ How are you this evening after everything that has happened today?”
“ Tired and worn out. Today another person lost their life because of my past and me. I am not surprised that you want to plan a fake wedding to lure Jonas out so you and the kids wont end up dead too.”
“ That is not what I had in mind Mac.”
“ What did you have in mind. That when Jonas fails to show up we stop the wedding?”
“ No. That we go through with it and get married, I never intended for any of it to be fake.”
“ What!”
“ That’s right Sarah Mackenzie. I want to make you my wife from now till eternity.” He said getting down on one knee in front of her. “ So would you do me that honor of becoming my wife?”
Sarah sat and stared at him for what it had seemed like hours till she regained he composure and asked. “ Are you sure Harm? I mean this isn’t a way to make me feel better is it.”
“Yes and no. It is both to make you feel better and no it is not because I came up with a plan. Well,” he said turning his head to one side show her his famous smile. “I did come up with a plan because I want to marry you in a place that was special and since we met there, why not have forever start there too?”
Her eyes began to tear up as she looked and saw the answer in his eyes. “ Yes.”
“ Are you sure Marine, because I am only going to ask once.”
“ Yes I am sure that I want to marry you. I would have 7 years ago had you asked me then and hadn’t flown away.”
“ Well I’m staying this time unless you have other plans for me?”
“ None that don’t include a good career, a good man and a few more kids.”
“ What happened to comfortable shoes and lots and lots of them?”
“ Well I would like to trade them in on mother hood. I seem to like it better and the rewards are endless.”
Harm started to chuckle as he pulled the box out of his pocket and opened it for Sarah to see. She gasped as she saw the ring and held out her left hand so that he could slide the ring on. After it was firmly in place he took her into his arms and kissed her till they both had to come up for air. “ I love you Sarah, never forget that.”
“ Never.”
Kelly wiped her eyes as she stared out over the yard watching the happy couple embrace, but it was the other watchers from the next house over that smiled as he picked his next target.
Friday
2100 EST
McMurphy’s Bar
Everyone had come out to help Harm and Mac celebrate their engagement and no one was for sure whether it was real or not. And Sarah and Harm weren’t telling. They had decided to play it cool and leave everyone guessing but Jonas.
“ Well Sarah, it is about time that you and Harm settle down.” Bobbie said as she took a seat, joining Harriet and Kate.
Mac thought a moment before answering her. “ I know it is and I am so sorry that I didn’t come back earlier.”
“ Well I am sure that Trish will rest easier now knowing that you are together.” Bobbie added as she took another drink.
“ I just wish for Harm’s sake that she had lived to see us happy.” Was all Mac could respond back with. Harm had told her that Bobbie was the only one still with doubt about her. Mac had become accustomed to Bobbie’s sly remarks. It was evident that she still had a thing for Harm after all these years. At least she never let on to AJ about it. Mac had even discussed it with Harriet who just passed it off as a pregnant thing since Bobbie was due in 6 months. They had also discussed how AJ was going to take being a fulltime father again, which usually had then in tears as they pictures him in the delivery room.
Kate sat and studied Mac, she had never met her before last week when she had showed up after the explosion of her car. Kate also knew at that moment that there would never be another woman in Harm’s life because the electricity that passed from them was evident from across any room.
Mac gave Kate a smile back knowing what she was doing, sizing her up but she then registered the defeat in Kate’s eyes. “ Well, Colonel, you will have to tell me someday how you swept the Admiral off his feet. I know that you both will be happy.”
Before Mac could respond Harriet started in on an abridged tale of Harm and Mac’s love story, Mac took that chance to glance around the room and watch Kelly and Ben dancing. A smile formed as she caught where Harm had run off to across the bar with the guys where they were playing pool, with Bud hustling them all.
“ Harm, you can stop teaching this man all your tricks.” AJ said as he chalked up his stick.
“ Well AJ, I have stopped but he has out grown his teacher. I doubt that I could win against him now.” Harm finished bringing a smug smile from Bud.
“ Well sirs, you are just rusty, that’s all.”
“ Oh, really Mr. Roberts. Rack’em and let’s see what this old rusty SEAL can do against you.” AJ said giving Harm an amused look and then turned to Bud with an evil one.
Bud knew that the retired Admiral was just joking as was he and he enjoyed the closeness the three of then had. Harm and AJ were like a brother and father to him respectively and the feel was mutual between them.
“ Hey dad.” Kelly said as she came up behind her father, hooking an arm around him. “ Ben and I are heading home. I have to be at the base in the afternoon, so we figured we would bug out of here.”
“ Thanks for coming dear. Give the twins a kiss for Mac and I when you check on them. Knowing Webb, he still has them up.”
“ Excuse me, but did I hear you right, Clayton Webb is keeping your kids?” AJ asked in awe as he prepared to shoot.
“ Well who else were we going to trust to keep them?” Harm answered back as he hugged his daughter goodbye. “ Love ya. See you in the morning.”
“ Love you to dad, Later Bud and AJ.” Kelly said as she headed out to the door where Ben was standing
“ SO you think that she and Ben?” Bud asked as AJ started to run the table.
“ I hope so Bud. They have a lot in common and seem to enjoy each others company. And Molly loves him and he has taken to her. He understands and respects Kelly for everything she has been through. So? I don’t know where it is headed.”
AJ was about to make a comment when they all heard an explosion outside.
Harm was the first of the group out the door as he ran to where the burning car sat. He felt Mac’s arms go around his waist and Bud’s and AJ’s arms catching his so he wouldn’t attempt to get any closer. None of them had to ask whose car it was and who was in it.
2130 EST
McMurphy’s
Harm finally lost the grasp of the men holding him and walked to where the burning wreck sat and saw movement from the alleyway. Relief washed over him as he saw Ben holding Kelly to his chest. Harm walked over to her and took her in his arms. “ Daddy.” Was all she said as she held he father tightly.
The rest of the group stood and stared in disbelief as they saw who Harm was hugging as they looked back and forth from what was left of Ben’s car.
“ The other cars are being check as we speak sir. My team leader gave me a heads up and here we are. A clean ride is coming to give all of you all ride to a safe location where your cars will be taken after they can be checked.” Ben told Harm as two men in black came up the alley.
AJ watched with interest as he realized that it was a SEAL team. Harm turned and gave the retired Admiral a smile as one of the men came up to Ben and saluted. “ Commander Jones, the area is clean, the suspects are in custody, and all of the other cars are clean at this time.”
“ Thanks Chief. Is the van here yet?”
“ Yes sir, awaiting the Admiral and his party now.”
“ Uh, sir?” Ben asked a he turned to Harm. “ My team will take care of any tabs left in the bar. Why don’t you and these other gentlemen take the ladies to the van and I’ll check in later.”
“ Sounds like a plan to me. Carry on.” Harm said as he saluted Ben and the other SEAL’s. “ Come on gang, looks like the party is over tonight.”
Instead of asking the thousand of questions they had the group moved to the awaiting van and handed their keys over to the Petty Officer who was standing there.
10 minutes later on the beltway.
“ I am sorry about not telling you that Ben was a SEAL but who better to watch the children.” Harm said for the 5th time.
“ Well next time let the rest of us in.” Mac snapped back. After Harm had finally let everyone in on the secret and getting raked over the coals by Mac and Kelly. AJ and Bud just held onto their respective wives, more than happy not to be in Harm’s shoes right now. Kate kept looking out the side window trying to hide her amusement as her boss got his six chewed.
“ It would have been nice to know Dad. Next time let is in.”
“ Well I pray that there never is a next time and should there be, lets just hope that the young Lt. Commander Jones is available. He has done a great job and we all need to be thankful that his team was doing their job or I could have lost you tonight.” Harm finished a little harsher than he meant as the whole event came crashing down on him again.
“ I agree with Harm.” AJ said. “ Lets not fight tonight and be happy that we all are on our way home.”
The rest of the trip was uneventful as they met up with the team about 10 minutes later in a convenient store parking lot. Goodnights were said and the couples dispersed. Ben had a new car and asked a very reluctant Kelly to ride with him. She wasn’t going to till Mac pulled her aside and after a few minutes she got in with him and they pulled away. Mac looked over to Harm as he watched Ben’s car pull away heading back into the night.
“ Are you okay?”
“ No Mac, I’m not. I came just inches away from burying my daughter tonight.”
“ Well as pissed as I am about not being told all about Ben, you did the right thing.” She said with a sigh. “ I see that now, I just hope that he can patch up with her. She was very upset at being mislead.”
“ She will just have to get over it then. I know that in the short period that he has been living with us that he has fallen in love with her. I, I mean we were hoping that his skills wouldn’t have to be used, but who better to watch us Mac but a team of SEALS.”
“ I am just surprised that you even considered it.”
“ I don’t trust Webb and his men enough. It has been way to long for no leads. I will trust the Navy and its resources long before I will Webb’s. But enough of this, lets get home and check our children.”
2230 EST
Rabb Residence
Webb knew that he better keep his mouth shut as Harm and Mac walked in the door. His men had called as soon as the car had exploded and he knew that Harm would be there soon to kill him. Then about 10 minutes later he got a call saying everyone was alright and out of the night a SEAL team had appeared and disappeared. He took the news and shook his head. He couldn’t blame Rabb for the extra protection and especially now that his men had missed the bomb being placed. He just hoped that Rabb didn’t break his nose.
“ Evening.” Clayton said as the daggers from Harms eyes met his.
“ Bye Webb and until you can prove to me that you can still do your job and your men can too. Stay out and away from my family. Just finish the plans with the wedding arrangement and then give me everything that you plan so I can protect everyone since you can’t.” Harm said clinching and unclenching his fists.
“ Night Clay. I think it would be wise if you left now before I turn my back and let him do what he wants to. I know of at least 4 different plans he has for you and listen to him Clay. Because I don’t plan on stopping him after tonight display from the squad.”
“ Everything will be brought to you by nest Wednesday, and the twins are in bed, goodnight.” Clay said as he decided to listen to Mac. “ I plan on doing better next time, I am sorry about tonight. Bye.” He finished as he shut the door.
Harm headed off to the kitchen, “ would you like a cup of tea?”
“ Sure, but I want to check on the children first.” Mac said as she started for the stair.
Mac came into the kitchen carrying Molly to find Harm leaning over the counter staring out the window into the night. “ The twins are sound asleep but this little girl was up and wanted to see her grandpa.” Mac said as she attempted to lighten Harm’s mood. “ Kelly will be fine Harm. It was just a shock and.”
“ And what Mac? If Ben hadn’t been on alert and his team doing their job, that little girl would have been an orphan. She already has to grow up without a father, she doesn’t need to grow up with a mother either.” He said taking the child from Mac and holding her close. “ Does Molly know how much Grandpa loves her? Hmm? Well grandpa loves her more than she can ever imagine.”
Kelly and Ben walked in at that moment and that was all Kelly needed before she finally let forth the tears that she had been holding in as she came over to Harm and took her daughter. Mac and Harm watched as Ben came over after her and took them both into his arms. He looked over to them, “ Sir, Ma’am, as long as I live, nothing will ever happen to them. That is a promise.”
“ Well Ben, if you make promises like another sailor I know, I believe you.” She said as she sided up to Harm putting a hand on his back.
Saturday Morning after the explosion
Somewhere near DC
“ What do you mean they failed?”
“ Well Jonas, Rabb has his family well watched and they pulled her and that guy out before the car exploded.”
“ Was Sarah there? I hope that she knows that I am here and watching her.”
“ I am sure since the security has stepped up on her and the kids. It will be next to impossible to get them now.”
“ Forget the kids get Rabb. The kids can be gotten when the parents are gone. Let Sarah live with that thought.”
“ You know that she and the sailor are engaged now. And they plan on getting married at the White House rose garden. They are doing it to set you up.”
“ Well that shouldn’t be a problem if Rabb is dead before then should it?”
The other man just looked at Jonas shaking his head. He didn’t understand the grudge beyond the marine capturing him. One of the older guys in the group suggested a past but no one else knew anymore than that.
1100 EST
Monday
Falls Church, JAG
Harm entered the building already exhaust from his meetings with the SECNAV that morning. He was glad that meetings had ended on a good note for once.
Kate nudged Bud as Harm walked out of the elevator. No one had spoken to Harm or Mac since Friday night except Harriet and all she had gotten was that they were all okay and would talk later. Everyone was worried that the wedding Harm was planning was going to end up a bigger event than planned.
Bud followed Harm to his office and was about to knock when he heard “ Come on in Bud and shut the door.”
“ Aye sir.”
“ Thanks for giving us space this weekend, I had a lot to iron out between the women in my life and frazzled nerves didn’t help. Neither did the twins who are both suffering form swimmers ear.”
“ How is Kelly? She and Ben make up?” Bad asked as he took a seat as Harm stood with his back to Bud staring out the window.
“ Well,” he said taking in a deep breath, “ she is doing much better, the pilot in her kicked in and when she got home jumped all over me again. She was just scared and mad at Ben and me. I think knowing Ben as a person 1st and a SEAL 2nd is in his favor. We are keeping his navy status a secret from the twins till this is all over. They went out last night and seemed to have a great time, so as a father I can only hope he will make her happy.”
“ Well I am thankful that I don’t have to worry for a few more years about that men my daughter will date.” Bud said with a smile.
“ Well, Bud I can’t wait to watch you and Harriet pace the floor as your little girl dates. It will sweet to watch a friend go through the same thing that I have for the past 7 years, and get to go through when Jessie starts dating.” Harm chuckled as he thought about Mac pacing the floor.
Harm was about to say something else as the glass from his office window shattered. Bud hit the deck and lay there till he considered the coast clear. He heard the guards yelling outside as he crawled to where Harm had landed face down. Bud turned him over and yelled for help as Kate and Taylor busted in the door.
The Pentagon
1200 EST
Mac walked into her office and threw down the report she had just presented. It had been several years since she had argued for anything and was just thankful that she still had her stuff. She had won the battle and it had exhausted her. Of course the long weekend with Jonas still on the loose didn’t help. She only hoped that Harm was right in trying to flush him out.
She was about to call Harm when Harriet entered her office. Since Harriet had gone back to full duty she had been assigned to the public relations office at the Pentagon.
“ Hello Harriet. I am sorry about being late for lunch.” Mac was saying when she was interrupted.
“ Have you heard? There was a shooting at Falls Church this morning.” Harriet blurted out as she went over and turned on the TV to ZNN.
“…….. As we have been reporting, approximately at 1115 this morning a sniper to aim at the JAG headquarters here in Falls Church VA. Right now no names or numbers of injured have been released till nect of kin are notified……”
Mac sat there with tears in her eyes as she watched the reporter point out the window that had been shot out. She knew that it was Harm’s before the reported let the viewer’s know that it belong the CO of JAG.
“ I haven heard from Bud yet. The only thing I know is that Bud was with Harm when the shooting started. They also told me that no one has been transported from the scene either.”
Mac wiped the tears that were forming and spoke to Harriet. “ I will call for my car and we will just have to go and find them.”
1330 EST
Falls Church VA.
JAG HQ
After being cleared, Harriet and Mac were escorted to one of the back courtrooms where they found a very pissed off Admiral chewing out someone on the phone. Bud saw the women as they entered and walked and took his wife in his arms. Mac stood aside and headed over to Harm. When she got close enough she saw the bandages and that his arm had been secured to his body. There was blood all over his uniform and three holes in his shirt from where he had been shot in the chest. On the floor at his feet was a kevlar vest with three distinct dents in it.
Harm realized that she was there and finally told the person on the other end of the line that they better do better. “ I am sorry Mac, I tried to call once and I should have called again, but you weren’t in the first time.”
“ Are you okay?”
“ Yes I am fine, just some bruised ribs from where my vest caught those rounds and cuts all over from the glass. The doctor assured me that I would be well by the time we get married and go on our honeymoon.” He said as he tried to smile but stopped when he saw the fear overpowering the stoic marine front she put up. “ Come here.” He said as he took her into his embrace wincing as she hugged him tight but letting her do it just the same.
“ I thought that I had lost you, the press wasn’t saying much and no phone calls.” She said as she cried. She finally stepped back a little and punched him on his good arm. “ Damn it Harm. Why didn’t you call me, or at least had let Bud call Harriet?”
“ Sorry Sarah, I didn’t realize that the time had passed by so quickly. Besides, I promised you a wedding and the rest of my life the other night. I don’t break my promises. Remember?”
She shook her head yes and walked back into his embrace being careful of his ribs this time.
A marine Lt. interrupted them as he came up to them. “ Sir, we were unable to capture the men that did this sir. We found the spot and followed it to where they had their car parked. My men along with NIS are going over the area with a fine tooth comb and will report to you as soon as they have any new evidence.”
“ Thank you Lt. I will be going home and can be reached there. Petty Officer Taylor has my numbers.”
“ I’m sorry sir, I though that my men had the place protected better, we will from now on.” The young LT. said feeling he had let the Admiral down.
“ I know you will do better, but lets hope that there is never a next time, shall we Lt.?”
“ Aye, aye sir.” He said coming to attention and saluted them and left.
“ Bud!” Harm called as he released Mac and resumed military protocol. “ I am heading home to change and take the rest of the day off. You will be in charge till I get back tomorrow. Also, until the glass is replaced and this episode over, I want anyone with an office that has windows to move somewhere else for the time being. I don’t need my personnel become targets too.”
“ Aye sir. Anything else?”
“ No, not at the moment. If you need me you know how to reach me.” He started for the door and took the sling off as Taylor entered carrying a clean uniform and vest. Mac stood and watched his face as he grimaced as he put them on. After all was set straight he headed for the bullpen.
“Attention on deck.” Taylor shouted as Harm came to the middle of the room.
“ At ease everyone. I have two things to say, 1 I am fine, just a few bruises, and 2 that everything that happened today is classified. You response to any questions by the press better be no comment. If I find any quotes from any personnel here. There will be hell to pay. Am I understood?” He asked looking around at his people. “ Good, carry on and Mr. Roberts is in charge for the rest of the day.”
Harm had handed Mac his keys as they walked out of the building. She had stood there as he gave a prepared speech to the press that was standing around. And then they had left. After getting clear of everyone Harm had finally let go of his Admiral front and let the pain show.
“ Are you really okay?” Mac asked worried now that Harm was showing how much he hurt.
“ No, but I will get over it. At least I had some uniforms stashed there. That other one would have scared the twins to death.”
Mac stared straight ahead for a few minutes as she thought over her decision as Harriet and she had driven over to JAG. “ Harm I want to call off the wedding.” She finally blurted out. “ And if I can find a station elsewhere I want to move there so you and the kids can out of Jonas’s line of fire.”
“ Excuse me? Did I hear you right? You want to call everything off and run? No Mac, I am sorry but no. It is way to late for you to be thinking that now.”
“ Harm I can’t go though this anymore. My coming back has nearly cost you Kelly and your life. I can’t live knowing that I could be the cause of your death, or of your children. I can’t do it.”
“ Sarah, he plans on killing me anyway. He knows that I am part of your life and he will do anything to hurt you by using our family and me. I also told you that running wasn’t an answer anymore. Because I won’t let you run. Not again and not without me. I can’t lose you again.” He ended nearly in a whisper.
They didn’t say anything till the reached the house. She turned the car off and turned to face him to find him staring at her. Waiting for an answer. After looking into his eyes she knew that running away would never be an option as long as they were together. She brought her hand up to his face. Being careful of the cuts. She finally spoke with a smile coming across her face, “ Why don’t I take you in and you can show me where to kiss to make it feel better.” She said as she realized just how much they did love each other.
His smile outmatched hers as he just pointed to his lips.
Monday Afternoon
Rabb Residence
After the shooting
Mac found Harm talking on the phone to Kelly after they had gotten in. She was on a training mission out of state and Mac could tell she was giving her father the 3rd degree. After about 5 minutes of standing there lost in thought, Mac realized that Harm was hanging up the phone as she was staring at the floor.
“ I see that I am not alone in reading you the riot act?” She commented not looking up at him.
“ No, you weren’t. Kelly let me have it too. She saw me on TV after all was said and done. She will be back next week in time for you girls to go out shopping while the men sit and watch baseball.”
“ Daddy?” Trey asked as he limped into the room. “ Are you going back to work tomorrow?” He asked, Harm had hated to scare the twins like that but there was no way that he could keep them from finding out about the shooting.
Jessica, who was dragging her tiger with her, followed him in. He smiled as he helped his two young ones onto the bed and was joined by Mac.
“ Yes son I am going to go to work tomorrow. Wouldn’t look good if I hid would it?”
“ No I guess not daddy, but are they going to get a new window?”
“ Yes Trey, they are going to put one in that bad men can’t get through. So don’t worry about dad okay. I am going to be fine. I have to marry your mother in a few of weeks, right?” He said as he took Mac’s hand in his.
He then leaned over the twins to kiss her as the twins giggled. Mac let out a chuckle and smiled. It wasn’t the 1st time he had kissed her in front of the twins, but the 1st time he had with such emotion.
“ Ya, so we can be a real family.” Trey blurted out.
Jessica seemed hesitant but finally asked, “ Are you going to have babies?”
Mac looked over to see Harm was quite amused at their daughter question. Though she knew that they wanted more, they had not discussed it since the night they learned that Jonas was free. Left speechless, Harm saved her.
“ Well, would you guys want a baby brother or sister?”
“ I want a brother.” Trey said crossing his arms “ It isn’t far right now, there are more girls than boys in the house.”
“ Girls are okay.” Jessica responded back throwing daggers at her brother.
Mac took on the amused smile and spoke up before an all out war began between the twins. “ It isn’t up to daddy and I whether it is a boy or a girl.”
“So sport, we will just have to make do with what we get. Besides a little sister will need her older brother to watch out for her and protect her, right? Just like you look after Molly. So don’t get all worked up right now. It will be awhile before a baby comes anyway.”
Trey thought over what Harm had said and then decided that it would be okay. Jessica on the other hand still wasn’t happy with her brother but the look from Mac told her to drop it.
Mac was about to say something when they all heard Molly pip up across the hall. “ I’ll get her. You two better start getting ready for dinner. Ben said it was a surprise.” She said as she headed out the door.
“ Cool, I wonder what he made today.” Trey said sliding to the floor and chasing as fast as he could after Jessica.
Harm shakily stood up being caught by Mac as she re-entered the room with Molly. Placing the child on the floor she went over to Harm and lifted up his shirt. Seeing for the first time the bruises that crossed his chest. Trying to hold back a gasp, she failed and was taken into Harm’s embrace.
“ I am fine, they are just bruised and hurt like hell. They will heal.”
“ I know they will but no one should,” she started and stopped. “ I will just have to be careful around you till our wedding nite.” She ended trying not to rehash the conversation from that afternoon. She saw the look of understanding in his eyes. He then bend down and kissed her, deeply only being interrupted by the tugging of his pants legs by Molly who was trying to stand.
Mac bent over and lifted the little girl before Harm even thought about it. Smiling he messed with her hair. “ You know, this could be ours in a few years. I know that I want more and you said you did too? Am I right?”
“ Yes, I want more. Being pregnant with you around should prove fun.”
“ I wasn’t bad with Kelly when she was,” he said as she shook her head after hearing from Kelly what he was like. Kelly hadn’t complained though because she said he was beside her every step, knowing that at least someone who loved her took her care of her.
“ Well as mush as I would want to have several more, one or two would do.”
“ Two more would be nice. We have the room and I love the two we have already.”
“ I would never have placed you as Mr. Mom, but after seeing you with the twins, I knew I was right to sent them to you.”
“ Well I am glad you did. Lets head on down for supper and join them. I know you are hungry and this one.” He said as he kissed Molly, “ will be letting us know how much she is in a minute.
Across Washington
Jonas sat alone as he watched the news. Getting Rabb was going to be harder than he thought. The old navy pilot had a few tricks up his sleeve and had made it though the attempt on his life.
Rabb wasn’t like Chris, easy to scare. Well that would change. Sooner or later the sailor was going to get it and he was going to enjoy having Sarah again before she died too.
Falls Church, VA.
JAG HQ
Wed. 1400 EST
Over the next 2 weeks Jonas made several attempts on Harm’s life. The rest had been low profile and had been kept from Mac. It had become a private war between the two men as Harm tried to find the man intent on killing his family. Harm had also done a lot of research on Jonas and Mac from when they knew each other before she was a marine and even the periods when they had gotten back together over seas when she was undercover. He didn’t like what he had found and knew what kind of pain it would have caused Mac if she knew what he knew now.
The wedding was planned for the next weekend. He was really excited, as he knew Mac was. They had spent the past few weeks ironing out the last wrinkles of their relationship. All that was left for them was the final act of intimacy that they had decided to wait for on their honeymoon. He smiled as he thought over the previous night’s conversation when they had brought up having more children again. The subject came up after Molly had taken her first steps unaided. The whole family including Ben had been there to watch. Mac had brought the subject up later after she saw the distant look from Harm. He had missed that with the twins.
At the end of the conversation, it had been decided that the sooner the better and they had even gone as far to come up with names.
Harm was interrupted when Taylor let him know that Webb was there. “ What do you want Clay?” Harm asked never looking up from his desk.
Clay let himself laugh inside. Did Rabb know how well he did an AJ impression. Most likely not he figured. “ I came to see how your plans are going and to gather some info so my men and yours don’t end up shooting each other.”
“ Then you need to speak to Ben, I mean Commander Jones. He has everything we have thought up. But I don’t think that it will be needed.”
“ Really and why do you think that?”
“ Either Jonas or I will be dead by next week.” Harm said without emotion.
Clay was startled by Harm’s matter of fact statement, “ Where did you come up with an idea like that? I watched his attempt on TV last week.”
“ Well there are 5 other tries since then, most of them off mark. He is playing with me now, waiting for me to screw up, so I might just screw up enough to let him thank that he succeeded.”
“ What? Are you really going to let Mac think that you were killed?”
“ I won’t answer that. What she knows and doesn’t know right now is my business.”
“ Which means you are keeping her in the dark right now. You know that she will have your hide if she finds out.”
“ She will get over it Clay. Just like I have gotten over some of the things that she did with you. Besides I need real reactions when it comes to that point.”
“ I would hate to be in your shoes.” Clay replied. “ Well can I call Mr. Jones?”
“ Sure he is at home with the twins. Doing his job.” Harm said letting Clay know just how much he didn’t trust him.
“ Thanks Admiral for your time. I’ll talk to you later.”
“ Webb.”
Pentagon
Mac’s Office
1500 EST
Harriet stuck her head in to see Mac was busy. She was helping with the wedding plans and wanted to see what else she could do to help. She jumped when Mac came up behind her. “ Can I help you Commander?”
“ Ma’am. I am sorry you scared me. I didn’t hear you walk up on me.”
“ I am a marine Harriet, I am supposed to sneak up on people when they are trying to sneak into my office.” Mac said with a smile. She was happy that their friendship had slowly gotten back to where it was when she left. Only on duty did either one of them use rank anymore.
“ I just wanted to see if there are any details that are left for your wedding. I know that Bud has Harm’s bachelor party planned. Because I have yours planned. Nothing big or bad since Jessica will be there but it will be fun just the same.”
“ At least there will be no clubs, since Harm has to take Trey. What a way to keep your last nights as a free single person clean, bring your kids along.” Mac said laughing.
Harriet laughed too as they both thought back to Bud’s bachelor party where Mac had had to bust the guys from jail. The week before their wedding had been something else and only now could they both laugh about it. “ Well no matter what ma’am, it is way over due for you and the Admiral.”
“ Thanks Harriet. I know when I first came home that you and everyone else wasn’t sure about me, I am glad that those doubts have been erased.”
“ Me too Sarah, me too. You and Harm deserve some happiness. Call me later and let me know when we are supposed to pick up our dresses.”
“ Will do. Talk to you later.” Mac said to Harriet’s back as she headed back to work. Mac sat down at her desk and let her mind wander over the wedding plans. Trey and Jessica were going to look so cute as ring barer and flower girl. Kelly was her maid of honor and Harriet her matron and Dr. Leslie Newton rounded out the bride’s side. The doctor and Mac had become good friends while Trey had been in the hospital. Harm had been happy that they had formed a bond. Mac then went over the groomsmen, Bud was standing up with Harm along with AJ and Keeter.
The dresses and tuxes had been reserved, as had the Rose garden, the only obstacle now was Jonas. Mac knew that Harm had been keeping things to himself since the shooting. With not much evidence she knew that there had been other attacks but she also knew that Harm wouldn’t tell her. She just had to have faith in him and trust. Trust that he knew what he was doing, they had failed last time over trust and she wasn’t going to let it happen again.
Friday Afternoon
Ford Dealership
Harm headed out to his new Expedition. He and Mac had picked it out the week before and he lucked out to be the one to pick it up from the dealership. Mac was envious but had enjoyed driving the Vet too since she had sold hers when she had left Washington. Harm scanned the area as he got into the vehicle. All instincts going into over drive as he felt like he was being watched. He turned the key over and started it up.
After getting onto the Beltway he decided since traffic was light enough that he would see just what his new baby had. It was then that he caught the van that had been tailing him for several minutes upped in speed. Just then the van shot out the tires of a car behind them causing a wreck cutting of Harm’s protective tail.
Of all the days not to have the Vet came to his mind as hew floored the Expedition and started cutting through traffic looking for a good exit and a way to lose his shadow.
Harm took the next exit and headed off out of the main flow. If he was to get out of this alive he didn’t want anyone innocent to take his place. After several turns he knew that a clean getaway wasn’t going to happen so he went with plan B. He silently patted himself on the back for ordering two Expeditions, knowing that this one wouldn’t last long. So much for this truck he thought as he started to gradually slow down and let the van catch up to him. He took out a small device from his briefcase and set it down on the seat as he took out his 9 MM and placed it in his coat pocket. He saw the warehouses he was looking for and waited for the shots and wasn’t disappointed as the van behind opened fire on him. He tried to weave but the van stayed put behind him. Harm grabbed the device and hit the button on it and started counting. He suddenly felt one of the shots hit him in the arm and it was then he started to open the door as the device went off, causing the Expedition to go up in flames.
The men stopped the van, got out and came up to the burning wreckage. The driver smiled as he saw a mass burning behind the steering wheel. He pulled out his cell phone. “ Ya, boss? Mission successful. Was easier than I thought.” The man was about to say more when the expedition exploded a second time. This time it took the three men with it.
Harm came out of his hiding place holding his arm. He found the cell phone on the ground and heard Jonas yelling on it. Harm picked it up, “ I think that it is time we met face to face Jonas. I have had enough of these games.”
“ Well, well Rabb. You still live. Well I agree with you, but I want Mac to suffer and your death will do that. She helped me kill Eddie. She will help me kill you. Keep this cell phone and when I am ready, we’ll meet.” And with that the line went dead.
Harm clicked on end and waited for the police. Jonas could hardly contain his anger as he had spoken to Harm. What’s next? Harm knew by now that Ben’s men had surrounded the house and no one could get his family. Mac was right, they couldn’t live like this much longer.
Several Hours later
Rabb Residence
Harm entered the house through the back door. He had been lucky, the bullet had only grazed him and the team had found him minutes after his talk with Jonas. After a quick trip to the hospital for stitches he was home in his 2nd new Expedition. This one was complete with a tracking device.
Mac and the twins were in the kitchen waiting for him to get home so they could see the new truck. Mac had been getting worried when Ben had told her that he had some problems with traffic. When she came around the corner and saw his jacket, she knew that traffic had been the last of his worries.
She played it off for a moment as the twins rushed out to see the new car with Ben. “ Are you going to tell me this time or leave me in the dark again?”
“ Let’s just say the model you drove last week was nice but didn’t handle well and needed a new AC. Jonas was nice enough to add some ventilation holes for us but I didn’t like the job they did, so I finished it by blowing it up.” His tones dry as he attempted to humor and failed.
Mac stood still as Harm kissed her and then headed up stairs to change. She finally moved and followed him up. She entered the master bedroom as he was taking off his shirt and saw the bandaged arm along with some other new bruises. “ How many other attempts have you failed to tell me about?” She said shutting the door behind her.
Harm let out a sigh and reached into the closet for a clean T-shirt. “ Today makes six.”
“ Six! Harm why haven’t you told me about them, you could have been killed today, a couple of inches to the right and.” She ended not finishing her sentence as how close he had come to being killed again hit her.
“ Look at you right now and you tell me why I haven’t told you about them. I didn’t want to upset you before the wedding. You have enough just worrying about it and the family without the additional strain of what Jonas is doing to me. We had words today. It will be over soon, I promise.”
She held back the tears this time. She wasn’t going to let him see them, she wasn’t. She stood there for a few minutes, glaring at him as he quietly changed. He then walked up to her, gave her a peck on the cheek and headed downstairs to join the twins as the scoped out the new family car.
She followed him outside, trying to be happy and all the while giving Harm the look that we will talk later. He nodded yes as he caught a black truck pass by that was watching them a little to close for comfort. From the corner of his eye he saw that Ben and Mac had too.
Rabb Residence
2230 EST
Mac and Harm had barely spoken to each other since their confrontation after he got home. He had excused himself to his study after dinner and the twins knew that when daddy was like that to leave him alone. Kelly came in late and found Mac sitting outside with the lights off. She left her gear on the kitchen table and joined Mac.
“ An argument already? Boy you 2 are quick.”
“ Hhhmmpp. If you only knew how much we fought before you would wonder how we even fell in love much less like each other.”
“ What did he do now or should I guess.” She looked over to Mac who hadn’t moved. “ Well I’ll guess. Dad is playing the macho role and hasn’t told about other attempts by Jonas. Tonite he finally came home and wasn’t able to hide the evidence and you are sitting out here wondering whether or not to call off the wedding.” After Mac finally turned her way she knew that she had hit every point. “ I didn’t leave anything out did I?”
Mac started to smile. “ You are about as aggravating as your father. Yes you hit everything.”
“ I don’t know if that was a compliment or an insult but thank you. I never got along with my mother or did anything like her.”
“ No you are 100% Rabb and that scares me, because if his traits are that strong, I wonder how our children are going to fair. I just hope that there is enough of me to keep them out of danger.”
Kelly laughed and sat back in the chair she was in. “ Mac, what makes you think that you are not a dare devil too? My younger siblings are in trouble, a navy pilot and a marine. Look out world. I am just glad that I get to watch them grow up and cause havoc.”
Mac laughed along with her. “ I just don’t know what to do about their father. He drives me to distraction and I love him so much Kelly. I just want him and your younger siblings to be happy.”
“ They are happy. For the 1st time since I met him, he has a skip in his step that has been missing. What ever he did, does or will do, remember that he loves you and that is all you 2 need. I am sure that if you 2 had followed that 7 years ago there would be a few more Rabbs around here already.”
Mac saw the young woman stand up and stretch. “ We young lady, you might be an adult but get to bed. I know that you have a long flight tomorrow.”
“ Night Mom!” Kelly said in a mock tone. She leaned over and gave Mac a hug. “ Now get in there and see what dad is up to before he gets himself in more trouble.”
Mac sat out for a few more minutes and went in search of Harm.
She found him in his study, staring at the wall. She finally saw what he was looking at, a calendar with his mothers birthday circled on it. This weekend, she realized.
“ She would have loved you, you know. We used to talk about you from time to time, and she knew how much I cared for you. She wanted to kick my six for letting you get away and kiss yours for sending me the twins. I know that she is happy that we are finally together, but I really wish that she was here.” He ended.
Mac came up behind and wrapped her arms around him. “ I know you do. I wish that she were here too so I could let her know that I do love you and that I promise to take care of you. But you have to let me help you do that Harm. Today.” She said and stopped.
“I know, I know.” He said as he pulled her around so that she was sitting in his lap. “ I should also tell you that I am waiting for Jonas to call. I haven’t told anyone else that. You see that cell phone over there. It belonged to one of his men. We had a few words and then he hung up on me. Seems that I am really pissing him off.”
“ You do have that way with people. Should I be worried about what you are planning next?”
“ No, because what ever happens next will just be us. I want to face him and get this over with.”
“ What is your plan, or do I need to come up with one like I usually have too?”
“ Your input would be most welcomed smarty. But who between us is going to come up with the impersonate plan? We both are involved this time.” As he smiled at the memories from Russia.
“I really think that Ben should be included. He can remain outside afterwards, but you recruited him to do as job, let him do it.”
“ We’ll talk to him at breakfast about any ideas he can come up with. I have a few but would rather only say them once.”
“ Since I won’t like any of them?”
“ Correct.”
“ Great, just what I need, another sleepless night wondering what you are up to.”
“ Mac, I made a promise to you and I plan to keep it. I will be there next Saturday, in my dress whites with my medals polished and my wings as shiny as I can get them. I just can’t wait to see you in your dress. Or.” He stopped with a devilish grin at what she would think when she sees Trey in a small version of his dress whites.
“ Or what?”
“ You will just have to wait and see, but I know that you will like it, I mean love it.” He said laughing making Mac all the more curious.
“ That’s not fair Harmon. Make me wonder what you are up to.” She said as she started to tickle him. He fought her off until she hit his sore arm and he yelped. “ Oh, oops, I’m sorry.”
Rubbing it he frowned, “ I can’t wait till next week Sarah. I can’t wait for the dream I have had for 10 years to come true.”
She leaned over and kissed his arm and then met him half way as their lips met. “ Neither can I flyboy.”
Rabb Residence
Monday Morning
0700 EST
Harm sat out on the deck watching the sun as it came up. He had yet to hear back from Jonas since the incident with the Explorer from Friday. Mac had finally forgiven him and even understood his reasoning but the discussion that they had had with Ben over what to do next still bounced around in his head. He had agreed to get a transponder inserted into the wound in his arm, that way should he and Jonas ever meet face to face, Ben’s team would know where he was and Jonas wouldn’t be looking for an internal transponder.
Mac watched Harm through the kitchen window and pondered over the same conversation. She leaned back against the countertop and sighed. On Saturday she was marring the man of her dreams, she just hoped that he would be there at the altar come Saturday. She just hoped with mixed emotions that Jonas was gone by then and not just to jail but to hell.
The day before
Sunday afternoon
Ben, Mac and Harm sat around his desk in Harm’s study. They had been going over different avenues of ways to protect everyone from Jonas. Ben had been upset over the fact that his team had lost Harm after Jonas’s men had cut them off. Ben knew that Harm had been lucky to get out alive and that he didn’t have to explain why he lost track of a very important Admiral. Ben had had unbeknownst to Harm a small tracking device inserted into Harms arm injury. He wasn’t going to lose Harm again.
After a lengthy debate it had been decided that Harm meeting Jonas alone was the best plan, alone but with the SEALs right behind him. Both Ben and Mac hated the plan but knew that Harm was right. Jonas wanted him dead and then the children. Jonas wanted Mac to watch her loved ones die one by one, and Mac hated every minute that Jonas was free.
After they had finished deciding what Harm would do and the signals they would need and their meaning. Mac had gotten up and went to check the children leaving Harm and Ben to finalize things.
to the present
Mac was so lost in thought that she didn’t hear Harm come in. “ Good morning Ninja Girl. Sleep well?”
She looked up onto his face and put on a fake smile, “ I tired to but there is so much going through my mind right now.”
“ I know what you mean, wedding plans and what to do on our honeymoon.” He said trying to be funny.
“So fantasies of me is what keeps you awake at night flyboy?”
Coming up to her and taking her into his arms, “ yes, it is all I dream about. You and our future, one night is not enough of you for me.” He said hinting back to the night that the twins were created.
She really smiled at that memory. “ Well, I just hope that my dreams of that night and reality haven’t changed that much. I remember a man who loved me like there was no tomorrow and showed me what being made love to by someone whom loved you was like. I can't wait till Saturday to see what that feels like again. Can you? She finished with as she gently let her hands roam over his chest causing him to break contact with her for fear of losing control.
Fighting for that control he whispered, “ I don’t think that Saturday will get here fast enough.” Catching his breath, he put his coffee cup in the sink and attempted with some dignity to head to the stairs. “ I love you Marine, remember that above all else. Now of you will excuse me I need to take a cold shower and get ready for work. And get that smile off your face.”
“ You are stronger than I thought. Are you sure you want to take a cold shower alone?”
Harm gave her a glare and then smiled as he bounced out of the room. She heard him tell Jessica good morning as they passed on the stairs.
“ Well good morning sleepy head, do you want something for breakfast?”
“ Can I have pancakes?”
“ Ya, I want pancakes too Mommy.” Trey said as he limped into the kitchen.
“ Well I guess we are having pancakes. Why don’t you run upstairs and ask Kelly how many she wants and then your dad.” She told Jessica. “ And Trey can help set the table.”
“ Alright.” The twins said as they headed off to what she had asked of them. Mac smiled, at least for the moment all was right in the Rabb household.
Same time
Somewhere in Virginia
Jonas looked over the map one last time before he spoke. " Rabb will have an army of men around him and his family, we just have to use that to our advantage."
" I thought that we weren't going after the children?"
" As soon as I can kill Rabb, they are next Bobby. I want Mac to pay for everything she has ever done to me and the death of her family is it. I know that she is dying inside right now because of the pain I have caused to her soon to be dead fiancée. She killed my brother Eddie and then my best friend Chris. She deserves everything she gets, including the death if her brats."
Bobby stood stunned for a moment, it was the first time the Jonas had let out why he hated the Mackenzie woman so bad. He glanced around the group as Jonas headed to his tent. The group had had about enough of this grudge match. They had decided that they would help Jonas one last time, they all owed him that. But a silent agreement went up as to the death of the children. They would have no part in it.
Jonas picked up his cell phone and called the lookout. " Well, what is up with Rabb?"
" He was out drinking coffee when the sun came up and then went inside to get ready for work I suppose. The new sunscreens they had placed last week make it impossible to see inside, so I have no idea what is going on."
" Call me as soon as Rabb leaves for work and be ready to move to the location I give you."
" Sure boss." The man said as Jonas hung up on him. Today Rabb would pay.
Same time
Down the street
Webb smiled, it was his first break in finding Jonas. He knew that Harm still had to be bait, but now he knew the local of the camp and while Jonas was dealing with Rabb, he would get the rest of the group.
Harm took the Vett to work and left Mac with the Explorer. She had taken the week before and after the wedding off so she could sit back and enjoy herself while getting ready.
Harm watched behind him as he saw several tails following him. He had to laugh, what made him so important that he had at least 3 different cars following him. He knew that one was part of Ben's team and the other one of Webb's. He guessed that Jonas had finally added his men to the list so that when he called that he could be reassured that Harm was alone.
Just then the cell phone rang, the one he had been waiting all weekend for. " About time Jonas, I was wondering if you had finally given up?"
" Funny Rabb, No I just wanted you to have to wait for death. And I like driving Sarah crazy."
" She isn't bothered at all, in fact I know that she is finishing the plans for our wedding this weekend. I would ask you to attend but I know that you will most likely be in jail or dead yourself. Where do you want to meet? I grow tired of this game."
" Fine, do you have a Virginia Rand Mcnalley map in your vet?"
" Yes." Harm answered as he glanced back at his followers.
" Key map grid B-14, there is a small pond, be there in an hour. I am sure I don’t have to tell you alone."
" Nope, I don’t have to be told but I should pass the same suggestion on to you. This is between us and no one else."
" Whatever." Click
" Ben, you get that?" Harm said aloud so that the mic that was woven into the convertible top could pick him up.
" Yes, I did. I already have a team heading that way. It should take you 45 minutes to drive out there.
" Good. I am going to stop and change into my sweats so I can be more mobile. Let Mac know what is going on in about an hour."
" Fine sir. I should let you know that Webb has a lock on where their camp is. He is planning the raid about the time you and Jonas meet. I asked him to step it up about 15 minutes so that the news of it would hit when you two meet. He is going to try. The camp is about 20 miles from the meeting place."
" I know where we are meeting. I have flown over that region a lot. Why don’t you let the Air Force know too, they might come in handy if we need some air support." Harm said grinning.
Ben smiled too and said, " okay and I will tell her to keep it quite."
" Just wait about 30 minutes before you call her so that she won't have time. And it is time that my escort lags back and tell them to head back and watch my family. And Ben?"
" Yes sir."
" If I don’t make it through this, watch out for my family. Keep them safe and let Mac know that this wasn’t her fault. And finally, you have my permission to marry my daughter should you ever ask."
" Thank you sir. Good luck." Ben said as he put the head set down. He picked up the phone to pass along orders and prayed that Harm made so that he could be there when he did ask Kelly to marry him.
Ben stood up and turned around to see Mac standing there. " Ma'am?"
" I knew that he would pull this, I just knew it."
" Mac, he doesn’t want you there, he just wants to make sure you are safe along with Kelly and twins. I promised him yesterday that you would be safe."
" Well Ben, keeping me in the dark is not keeping me safe. Are you planing to be there?"
When he didn’t answer right away, " I asked you a question Commander, do I have to make it an order?"
Ben, out of habit and the tone of the Marines voice had him, snapped to attention. " No ma'am, you don’t but I am under orders from an Admiral not to tell you anything." Mac almost smiled at that last remark, so much like Harm. "But if you will represent me at my DDO trial, yes I am going, would you like to go with me, ma'am"
" I would be more than happy, but since the Admiral isn't here and you are now under my orders, a DDO trial won't be necessary will it? How many men are here watching the house?"
They went over their plan and then changed quickly so they could catch up with Harm. Mac only hoped they would get there in time.
Unknown Location
2300 EST
Kelly looked across the back of the van, staring at her fathers bloodied form that was slumped over leaning against the door. She had cried as she watched Jonas beat him as he stood there and took it without any noise, not one peep as they beat him unconscious. That had been 2 hours ago and he had yet to come to. She knew that he would have never agreed to come out and face Jonas if she hadn't lost her tail. Ben was going to be furious too, that was if she ever saw him or her daughter again.
The Van finally stopped and she could hear cussing going on as Jonas discovered that his camp had been compromised. “ Well we will just head of to the other location.”
She saw a small smile come across her father’s face as he too had heard that Clay had finally done something right. She sighed in relief as Harm attempted to look at her, she then gasped at his face and left eye that was swollen shut. He quietly told her with one look to knock off the scared female routine and become the office he knew she was. She then relaxed and started thinking of ways to help him get out of there. Time was running out.
30 minutes behind the van
Mac sat in silence as she hoped that they would find Harm and Kelly alive. After a quick tour of the JAG HQ, Mac had almost lost her supper. While they were walking around outside she had found Harms academy ring along with Kelly’s. Mac held on to his tightly in her hand as Ben had put hers on his dogtag chain.
They had been lucky in following the transponder in Harms arm and with the help of Clay and other Intel knew where Jonas was heading now, the abandoned warehouse outside of Norfolk. This gave them the advantage of the base and the SEAL teams waiting instructions.
Mac jumped when Ben’s cell phone rang. “ Jones here”…..” Great, secure the area and stay hidden till I get there unless action is needed. I don’t want anyone getting trigger-happy. Out.” He sat the phone down and took a deep breath before answer Mac, “ They are alive right now. Harm was drug in and Kelly walked under her own power. From the looks of it they have beaten him pretty bad. But they are alive.”
“ Thank God. How much longer till we get there?”
“ About 25 minutes. My team is ready to go in and Clay has some members of his own team there too.” He took her hand in his. “ They will be alright.” He said trying to be reassuring.
She squeezed his hand back and kept her gaze out the front window.
The Warehouse
0015
Jonas watched as his men threw Harm down to the ground, and hung Kelly up using her tied hands as the hook. She let out a small yelp when the pulled he off the ground. It took everything Harm had not to react but he knew the only way they were going to make it is if Jonas still thought he was out cold.
Jonas was growing weary of Rabb being out so he started to kick him till Harm had had enough and responded. “ I am awake now, to you can stop that.” He said as he spit out blood.
Jonas reared back and let Harm have a good swift kick before having him stood up.
Trying not to lose focus, Harm pondered over what kind of honeymoon he was going to have with bruised ribs. He was thankful for the lightweight bulletproof jacket he had on, it had saved him from most of the blows.
“ Well shall we call Sarah now and let her know what's going on, but then again I am sure that she has gone by Falls Church by now and knows that I have you and most likely have killed you. I think I will let her suffer tonight and call her in the morning and tell her that the wedding is off.”
“ Do what you want to do. I was just using the wedding as a way to trap you. I mean what sort of idiot would attempt to kill someone in the White House rose garden. Of course you are an idiot so I guess that would have been one of your choices so you could make a big scene.”
“ You mean that you don’t love Mac?”
“ No, why should I? She abandoned her children for her job and only comes back when she feels like it. She is like the plague for men. Every one of them she has loved has ended up dead. Like your brother Eddie. I always wondered why you dropped out of high school, now I know.”
Jonas looked surprised when Harm let him know that he remembered him from school. “ I wondered of you remembered.”
“ How can I forget the one person who caused me grief during track. It is nice to know that I will be getting even here soon.” Harm said remembering the beatings he had taken by Jonas and his creeps.
Kelly remained silent as she heard for the first time that her father had had run in with Jonas too. It hurt to hear him too describe Mac the way he was but she also knew that deep down that he would die before Mac ever got hurt again.
Jonas laughed at Harm’s statement about getting even. “ You have to get free first.” Jonas motioned his men over and walked away smiling.
Harm looked over to where his daughter was hanging to see that she had almost freed herself using the pipe she was hanging from to cut her ropes. He saw the blood that was trickling down her arms as she worked. He knew that his wrists didn’t look any better as he finally got the knot loose. He quickly freed his legs and while watching Jonas, helped Kelly down.
“ Go and give this signal as you leave the building.” He said quickly as he showed her.
“ Come with me dad.”
“ No, I have a plan but you need to get out of here. Ben should be outside and if he isn’t then his team will be. They will get you to safety.” He said as he pulled out some wire from his shirt.
Kelly didn’t want to leave but knew that she had too. With only him here they had no way to bargain with Harm. So she ran out the door the van had driven in heading out into the night. As soon as she knew she was clear, she gave the signal.
Jonas caught Kelly’s escape just as she hit the door and sent his men after her. He looked around trying to find Harm since he saw only one person leave the building. A few seconds later he heard gunshots as his men shot at Kelly. What he wasn’t ready for was his men retreating back as the Seal Team picked them off. Jonas yelled out in rage as he caught Harm’s shadow from behind him.
Mac listened as the radio Ben had in the truck came alive with excited voices from his team. Kelly had been freed, injured but able to move on her own. There were 4 others that had been neutralized but there was no sign of Harm or Jonas. The Team was making their way in. Ben had asked if there was any information on the Admiral and all they got back was that he had been severely beaten, unknown how bad and that was all that they could get from Kelly.
Mac took out her service piece and clicked the safety off as they parked 200 yards from the warehouse. She looked over to Ben as he handed her an ear piece radio that she quickly put on.
They met up with Ben’s XO as they took cover behind a truck. “ The Lt. is being cared for, she told us that the Admiral had stayed behind so she could escape. I have men stationed all around and MAST chopper enroute.”
“ Very good Burns. Do we have any idea where the admiral is?”
“ No sir. The material the building is made of is making it hard to find them. So far we haven’t seem much movement.”
Just as he finished that sentence shots were heard coming from the warehouse. Ben ordered his men to move in slowly. They had barely started forward when the warehouse exploded.
“ Pull back, pull back and regroup.” Ben shouted over the noise and saw his men take cover from the blast. Ben grabbed Mac as she cried out Harm’s name to keep her from running toward the now burning building.
30 minutes later the fire had been controlled since it didn’t have much fuel to feed on.
Mac held Kelly as the two women waited to see if Harm had escaped. The team had searched the outside perimeter and found no one. Kelly had apologized several times to Mac as they waited.
“ You have no reason to feel guilty. He would have found a way to get to Harm with or without you.”
“ I know that Sarah, but deep down because of me, dad had to turn himself over and now he could be…….” She ended breaking free of Mac’s embrace for some space.
Mac stared at her back while dealing with her own guilt. I should have never come back kept repeating over and over.
" Mac, don’t feel guilty either. Jonas has hated dad since high school. You weren't the only reason he wanted dad dead." Kelly said leaning against the pick up.
" What are you saying?" Mac asked, stunned turning to face her.
" Dad mentioned that he used to get beaten by Jonas after track until he moved. He also mentioned some guy named Eddie."
"I'll answer both, Harm and Jonas went to school together, Jonas was always being beaten by Harm in track events and other things in school so Jonas physically beat Harm up for fun. Until Jonas's mom died and he lad to go and live with his father and brother in Arizona." Clay said as he came to put a protective arm around Mac.
" Why didn’t he tell me?"
" I don’t know Mac, but I think that is why Jonas played with Harm so much, he wanted Harm to remember and I think that Harm didn’t want to add to the fear that you have felt. Knowing that Jonas had more than one reason to kill all of you would have done just that. But in the end, Jonas wanted you dead, and playing games with Harm was just like what Palmer used to do and Harm loves you to much to get you in the middle. Which is what you would have done if you had know too."
Mac looked at Clay and knew that he was right on both points, she would have done anything to protect Harm and knowing their past, she would have made herself a target to save him. It was a moot now as she turned back to the blackened building.
The night wore on as the recover team slowly pulled bodies out one by one. The 4 men that worked for Jonas were found first, it was several hours later as the early streaks of dawn began to appear when they found another body. Webb was coming back from where they had had him identify it.
He shook his head no as Mac asked silently if it was Harm.
No one had been seen leaving the building as it had gone up and as the morning came upon them, the hope of finding Harm had all but dissipated.
Around 615 a yell went up that they had found another person. Mac gently woke Kelly up from her spot in the back of Ben's pick up. The two women held onto each other as the search team came over to them.
It was just dark enough that all of them looked alike but Mac quickly scanned the faces as soon as she realized that the stretcher they were carrying was empty. Her heart soared as she saw the grime covered face of the man she loved so much. Kelly didn’t grasp on as quickly but understood fast when Mac let her go and ran to Harm.
" Miss me marine?" he croaked out. As he braced himself as she hugged him tightly.
She couldn’t answer but the tears that she was crying gave him his answer.
" It is over now Mac, he won't hurt you any more. He won't hurt any of us anymore."
Clay came up beside him and helped lead them over to the truck so the medic could check Harm out. " Just what were you hiding in in there?"
" There were several vaults in the back, I just jumped into one and prayed that it was fire proof. It was but talk about heat. I feel like I have been broiled."
" Well sir," the medic said, " you have, you have a first degree burns over most of you body, along with some cuts and bruises. I really think that you need to be seen by the base doctor. My medivac chopper is still here and we can give you a quick ride."
Harm was about to argue when he saw Mac and Kelly's faces, " Sounds fine with me, but can she ride too, and that young lady over there needs her wrists seen to also."
" I think we can manage that sir."
" I will finish here sir and meet you there. I am sure that some time alone with your family will make all of ya'll feel much better." Ben said with a smile on his face for the first time in hours.
" Thanks Ben, but you are welcome anytime and I expect to see you later." Harm said as he got up and saluted the young Commander. " Thanks for protecting my family. I owe you one."
Ben snapped to and returned the salute, " Thank you Admiral. It was my pleasure." Ben stood there looking into the Admirals eyes and turned away to let the medic load the Rabb family up for their trip to the hospital.
Harm leaned on Mac as they headed towards the awaiting chopper that was warming up. Once inside, Kelly leaned against her dad and held his hand, which he gripped firmly.
The Base Hospital
Norfolk
0713 EST
Mac waited in the hallway as the doctors examined Harm. It was about 30 minutes before a young Lt came out looking for her. “ Mrs. Rabb?” He asked.
Laughing for the first time in what seemed like days, Mac answered him. “ Not till Saturday.” She said with a smile and deciding not to explain “ How is he?”
“ Well except for some major bruising on his chest, some 1st degree burns over most of his body and one hell of a shiner he will be okay. He also is dehydrated, so I want to watch him for a few hours and give him so IV fluids. He should be ready to go home in a few hours. Your daughter is with him now. And if you will follow me I will take you to them.”
“ Thank you.” She said as she let the young doctor lead the way.
She found Kelly asleep in a chair in Harm's room and he was lying there with his eyes closed. She stood in the doorway staring at him for a long time until she realized that he was staring back.
" She is out for the count so why don’t you come here and tell me what is bothering you now?" He finally got out in a hoarse voice.
She still didn’t say anything as she came over and took his hand, reddened for the burns. She found the other chair and took a seat beside him.
He instantly read them, " she told you then what I said while Jonas had us?"
Mac shook her head yes, knowing that her voice might crack with the emotions she felt.
" I never told you because it wasn’t till last week that I finally put all of the pieces together myself. I know that you have never truly forgiven yourself over Eddies death and knowing that Jonas and I had a past would have made you feel even more guilty about coming home and bring some of my past with you."
" Are you planning to keep this line of protecting me after we are married?"
" Is there any more demons from your past that I don’t know about and aren't part of both of our pasts from our time at JAG?"
" I don’t think so."
" Then no, I don’t plan on keeping you in the dark again, at least about the evil villains from our deep dark past. Now what I get you for Christmas and birthdays, yes, you will just have to wait." He said trying to be funny.
Mac decided to let him sweat until the tears began again and she said, " I want you to promise me that Harm. I never want to be left on the sidelines again. I never want to have to go through what I did last night again."
Harm lifted his hand to her face to wipe away the tears, " do you promise to never leave me again when the going gets tough and when I behave like a love struck fool who wants to protect you from everything? If you say yes, then yes, I promise to never leave you on the sidelines again. And I never balk on my promises."
" I promise you that Harmon Rabb. I will never leave your side and though I may show how much this Marine can protect and take care of herself when you act like a love struck fool."
" I love you Sarah. Never forget that."
" I love you Harm. Never forget that."
" Then get me the hell out of here so we can finish with our wedding plans." He finished with a frown formed on his face.
" What?"
" My men from the office. I need to get back so I can talk to their families. Taylor was such a promising young man. Reminded me of Tiner before he became an officer."
" Bud is taking care of everything so just get to feeling better and you can call them this afternoon." Mac started, as a nurse interrupted them.
" Sir, Ma'am. There is a phone call from a Lt. Roberts. She says she has two people who are wondering where mommy and daddy are?"
" Can we take it here?"
" Sure, I will forward it."
Mac lifted the phone as it rang and placed the receiver between her and Harms ears so they could talk to the twins together. Kelly watched from her chair as she saw their smiles. She had heard the entire conversation and she was grateful that life would be returning to normal. At least until the wedding Saturday.
0553 EST
Saturday
Rabb residence
Mac lay there staring at the ceiling in Harm's bedroom. He and the Trey had spent the night at a hotel so that the women could stay at the house and get ready without moving half of the house with them.
She along with Jessica, Harriet and Kelly had moved her stuff in Harm's room during the night as a way to pass time after the rehearsal dinner. With all that had been happening, it was as close as a bachelorette party she was going to have. The ladies of her wedding party promised to go out some other time but all had enjoyed themselves last night.
She was grateful that the room had a large walk in closet and that there was enough room for all of her stuff to fit. What she did wonder about was the large king size bed she and Harm would be sharing from now on. She smirked when she remembered their talks about it, " Mac do you know what it is like when you have to share the bed with children when it thunders outside. Believe me, one of us will end up on the couch." He had said with a laugh.
He had even gone on and admitted that he knew it would be him because she needed to know what it was like to share a bed with a little body that ended up sideways using your stomach as a footrest. Or to wake up with pick fuzzy feet in your face.
She knew that she would love it and hoped that she and Harm conceived another soon.
Mac heard Kelly get up with Molly so she grabbed her robe and joined her downstairs.
" How is Miss. Molly this morning?" Mac asked the little one as she blew bubbles.
" She seems to know that her mother needs sleep and wants to play." Kelly answered as she put Molly in her highchair. " How are you this morning Mom?"
Mac shot her a look at the endearment.
" Well, you officially marry my dad today, so that makes you my stepmother. Do you have a problem if I call you that fulltime?"
" No. I like it. No I love it. I have come to think a lot about you. My only regret is that you aren't mine and that I wasn’t around when Harm and you found each other."
" Well we have along time to make that up."
" Mommy what's for breakfast?" Jessica asked as she came into the kitchen.
" How about French toast and bacon?"
" Mmmmm, sounds good to me. What is daddy and Trey having?"
" I don’t know honey, but I am sure that they aren't having as good of breakfast that we are."
Jessica laughed as she sat at the table to play with Molly. Mac started getting the stuff she needed for breakfast as Kelly started to feed Molly.
Same time
Across town
The Hilton
Harm stretched out and pushed Trey off of him as he got up to look out the window. He watched as the sun started to come up and pondered what the Mac and his girls were up to.
Bud and the boys had come over and had a small version of a bachelor party. Kate had joined the JAG guys as they celebrated Harms last night as a free man. He laughed at that thought, he hadn't been a free man since the day he had met Mac, she had owned his heart from then on. He had just been an idiot for a couple of years.
He felt Trey walk over to him. He leaned over and kissed the top of the boys head. He was grateful everyday that he son had survived that wreck 4 months ago. He still had a limp but everything else was back to normal and the limp didn’t stop him or hinder his drive to keep up with Jessica.
"Good morning son, did you sleep well?"
" Ya daddy, I did." He said as he scratched his head. " daddy?"
" Ya son?" He asked back as he kneeled in front of the boy.
" Does your marring mommy mean she wont go away again, ever?"
" I hope it does Trey. I never want her to go away again too. Now she is a Marine and every now and then like daddy she may have to go on a trip, but like daddy, from now on it will just be a few days."
" Good. I don’t want mommy to leave."
" Why do you want to know?"
" Well, the other day when I woke up you and mommy were both gone and I got scared."
" I promise you Trey, as best I can, Mommy and Daddy will be around for along time when you get up."
"Cool." Was Trey's final response as he jumped into Harms embrace. "What is for breakfast Daddy?"
" What ever you want Sport."
Hilton Ballroom
1900 EST
Mac held on tight to her husbands embrace as they waltzed around the dance room floor. Her Husband she sighed. The day had been perfect and even the weather had been nice with the summer cool front that had breezed through. She thought back over the day…
Earlier
1400 EST
White House Rose garden
The sexes had remained separated all morning with only AJ being the go between. The retired Admiral had a smile on his face as he took Mac's arm and helped her out of the car. It was then that she saw her son standing there, dressed up in a uniform identical to his fathers, even with gold wings above the breast pocket. He came over and in only a way a child can asked. " SO Mom are dress whites and gold wings over rated?"
Trey had been told to expect laughing and his mother crying, so when he received both, he smiled his fathers smile which brought on more tears and hug from Mac. He then took her arm and along with AJ led the ladies to the start of the aisle.
Though AJ was supposed to, Trey had asked if could give his mother away after last nights talk, and not being able to tell the young man no, AJ gave Mac a kiss and found a place to sit next to his wife.
Trey answered he questioning face, " This is my job, I want to make sure you get down there and marry daddy."
" Well then, lets get to it shall we sweetie."
Mac beamed as her bridesmaids walked on by one down the aisle till the music announced that it was her turn. Mac caught Harms broad smile as he saw Trey escorting his mother down the aisle. He could see under the vail the tears along with her smile.
The crowd that had gathered there to see them oh and ahhed over Trey and Mac as they came by. And held back the tears themselves when the pastor asked who gives the lady away, Trey answered in a strong voice, " My sisters and I."
Mac leaned over and kissed her son and then took her place beside Harm as her son placed her hand in his fathers.
The rest of the ceremony was a blur as she lost herself in Harms eyes, repeating her vows on autopilot. After exchanging rings and being pronounced husband and wife, the group of family and friends stood and applauded as they walked hand in hand back down the aisle.
Mac and Harm stopped before they came to the place they had met so long ago, and Harm just stared at her. " 11 years marine, it took us 11 years."
" Well, good things come to those that wait." She said as she stood back for a second and then took his arm and led him towards the drive to the awaiting limo. As they past through the Arch of Steele he heard Trey once again, " For the first time in public, presenting my mom and dad, Admiral and Ms. Harmon Rabb Jr." He belted out load and clear as Buds sword made contact with Mac's six. " Go Navy!"
Mac giggled as she held onto Harm, and the crowd laughed. It was then that Harm felt a saber whack his six, he turned to see Lt. Victor Galindez, " Go Marines." The crowd laughed even harder as Harm rubbed where the Lt. had gotten him.
The group followed the couple to the reception.
Back to the Present
" Recalling the days events?" Harm asked.
" Of course. I still want to know where you found that uniform for Trey. I loved it."
" I knew you would. I can't believe that he wiggled his way into AJ's and Bud's duties."
" He just asked and they couldn’t resist. I am glad that he did though. He did a great job."
" Of course, he is his fathers son after all."
She sighed, " well if he is anything like his father, he'll break half a dozen hearts by the time he's twenty."
" He'll look till he finds the right one. Like I have. When do you want to split out of here?" Mac let her hand graze up and down his back before responding. She felt him shudder under her touch. " It will be real soon marine if you keep that up."
" Lets finish a dance or two along with the rest of the traditional wedding items, like the bouquet and the grater and then we'll split."
" Sounds good to me. I love you. Mrs. Rabb"
One Year Later
July 2008
Mac was hating life and she let Harm know it every chance she got. The summer had been unusually hot and being pregnant during that time was not what she had had planned, or at least thought about when they were trying to get pregnant.
Harm had kept his sense of humor through out it all as Mac complained about everything. Even the twins and Molly had kept their distance as Mac let everyone know that she was ready for the baby to come.
He watched her as she sat in the cool living room with her feet propped up, he never imagined that he would ever get a chance like this and he relished in every moment. Mac interrupted his thoughts as she spoke to him.
" I know that you are staring again. Cant get enough of me, I mean no one can miss me as big as I am."
" I can't help myself, I am just in awe over the fact that we will parents again in just a few short weeks. I can't wait to hold him or her in my arms." Harm said as he crossed over to her, " May I join you? I promise to just sit here and fan you."
Looking over at him and seeing his smirk, she thought about saying no, but then said, " Yes." He had been and done everything she knew he would when she had told him and had given him the news as a Christmas present. He had silently sat there at first when she had told him, she wasn’t sure of what he was going to say until he had taken her in his arms and let out a yell that had brought everyone to them. The twins were just as excited as Harm was, and they still fought over whether they wanted a brother or a sister. Trey was adamant about it being a boy so that he wouldn’t be outnumbered any more. She had just laughed at her son, but alone he had told her that another sister would be fine, just another girl he would have to protect from boys when they got older.
She started to move and try and get comfortable, as she had been have false labor for a week now and had not really been able to find a comfortable position all day.
A few minutes later she knew it wasn’t false labor, " Uh, Harm, I think its time."
" Hmm? You mean, really, now?" He asked trying to find the words and make a coherent sentence.
Without making much noise she tried to get off the couch and finally did with Harm's help. " Hey Kelly." He asked aloud.
" Ya Dad?" she said coming down the stairs.
" Do you think that you can watch the twins for a day or so?" He said as his nerves calmed down as Mac leaned against him as another contraction hit her."
One look at Mac and she just said, " Sure, do you want me to get them before you go?" She asked handing her father his keys and giving Mac's hand a quick squeeze as they all walked to the door.
" No, I'll call as soon as she gets close and you can bring them up."
" I love you two. I'll be waiting for your call."
Several hours later at the hospital
"What's taking so long?" Jessica asked.
" Babies just take their time sometimes sis. As soon as its here, daddy will let us know." Kelly said as she wondered the same thing. She had brought the twins up after she had finally found them down the street playing with the Robert's kids. They had been so excited that the baby was finally coming.
Kelly and the rest didn’t have to wonder much longer as Harm came out to the waiting room to find his kids along with Bud and Harriet, AJ and Bobbie.
He came out carrying a small bundle, with a smile a mile wide. He was met quickly by the twins. As they came up to him he knelt down in front of them and uncovered the baby in his arms. " Now be careful you guys, he is still getting used to the outside world."
" It’s a boy." Trey said as he jumped around. " Cool, a brother."
" Well actually you have two brothers."
" Twins again Dad?" Kelly said with some amazement.
" Yep, Matthew David and Thomas James Rabb. Born about 40 minutes ago, ten minutes apart."
" How's mommy?"
“She is just fine sweetie. I left her with TJ so I could show you Matt. In about an hour, I think that I can sneak you two in there. She told me to tell you that she loves you."
Matt started to let everyone know that he was hungry. " Well I need to get back to Mac." He said standing up.
"Congratulations Harm." AJ said as he shook Harms free hand. Followed by Bud.
" Tell Sarah that we will come back tomorrow." Harriet said coming up to give him a kiss.
" I will, thanks for coming by. I'll tell her you were here."
Harm heard Jessica ask Kelly if next time mommy would have a girl, he smirked as he thought of Mac’s response.
Few minutes later in Mac’s room
She saw him as he entered silently whispering to the baby he held in his arms. She couldn’t hold back the tears as he joined her on the bed.
“ Well Marine, you did good.” He said as he handed her the small bundle that was letting it be known again that he was hungry. She opened her gown and with a little adjustment, Matt quieted down. Harm walked over and picked up TJ. “ They are just perfect. Trey is so excited about them both being boys, and Jessica is wanting to know when we are planning to have another girl.”
“ Geez, she doesn’t want much does she. It may be awhile before I want to do this again.”
“ Do you want to have another?” He asked in disbelief after this past summer. He figured that this would be there final one, two though they had discussed more. “ And by the way, why wasn’t I told that there was two of them?”
“ Well, I surprised you at Christmas with being pregnant, so when I found out there was possibly two of them I had the doctor keep them a secret so I would have something to give you for our anniversary. And as for having another baby with you, I don’t see why not, but in a year or two.”
“ Really?”
“ Really, now bring him over here and sit by me.” She said as she adjusted Matt to burp him.
Harm came over with TJ in his arms and sat on the edge of the bed. A few minutes later they were interrupted by Kelly, “ Who is with Trey and Jessica?”
“ Ben just got here and said that he would keep an eye on them before we headed home. I know that you wanted to bring them back but since it is nearly 2230, the nurse asked if I would bring then back in the morning. Oh they are so cute.” She finished as she came to gawk at her younger brothers. “ What are the guys in my command going to say when I tell them my mom and dad just had twins.”
“ Just add that admirals don’t lose steam with age." He said and got punched by Mac with everything she had left. "So when are you and Ben going to give me another grandchild?” Harm asked and got a small shovel from Mac as Kelly took TJ from him.
“ Hey, yours sons are not even an hour old and you are wanting more grandchildren?”
“ Well I want to know?”
“ I want to get married to the SEAL first DAD and then maybe next year.”
“ So when is the wedding?”
“ In October. I chose a date then so that you wouldn’t be overloaded when you keep Molly. Besides, except the chapel we have everything planned.”
“ Oh you do?”
“ How do you think we passed the time sailor. When I was home on bed rest Kelly would keep me company by letting me help her with her wedding plans."” She said as she watched as Kelly smiled and played with TJ. Harm looked at Mac and both knew that there wouldn’t be much of a wait for him to become a grandfather again.
Aug 1st 2008
Rabb Residence
0600 EST
Mac awoke with a start, she hadn't heard the babies cry all night, she reached over to find Harm and felt an empty space where he normally slept. She quickly donned her robe and headed over to the baby's room, she changed directions when she heard voices downstairs. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and watched as Trey and Jessica each held one of their brothers and was feeding him a bottle.
" Good morning sleepyhead, get a good nights sleep?" Harm asked as he spotted her. He had been worried about her since they had brought the boys home. She had been up every night with them and after some coaxing, she had pumped some bottles so that he could help. He was worried that she would tire herself out trying to be supermom.
" Yes, I did followed by a scare this morning when I realized I had slept all night and didn’t hear the boys cry." She answered back as she walked over to the kitchen table and kissed Jessica on the top of her head and let a finger graze Matt's cheek.
"Look mommy, he's not fussy this morning."
" I can see that dear. Just watch his head okay."
" Okay."
" You doing okay with TJ over there Trey?"
" Yes mom, I think we have this down."
Mac and Harm both laughed at Trey's response. Harm led Mac over to the counter and poured her a cup of coffee. " The twins were playing with them when I woke up, and we just decided that Mommy needed some more sleep. And as you can see I had plenty of help. Before you ask, you slept through the 2 am feeding."
" I can't believe that I did that. My internal clock woke me up this morning and it hit me that I hadn’t heard them cry. Scared me half to death."
" Well nothing was going to wake you earlier, I know I tried because both of them were awake at 2 this morning and they were trying to let everyone here know it. Jessica woke up and helped me then, besides, I am just glad that the kids are bonding."
" Hey dad, Matt's through."
" Thanks Jessy, but I believe mommy here is feeling left out so she can burp and change him." Harm said grinning at Mac who shot him a dirty look back.
Mac came over and took the small infant from Jessica and sat down with him. " They look just like daddy." Jessica said as she came up behind Mac and let Matt take hold of her finger.
Mac looked up to Harm's face and saw that he was thinking the same thing, " We'll just have to wait and see Sailor."
" I know, Marine, I know." He leaned over and kissed her and then turned to Trey, " big guy, why don’t you hand him on over and you and Jessica can go on up back to bed if you want. Last week to sleep in late before school starts."
" Don't have to ask me twice." Trey said as he handed his brother over and scampered back to his room.
He was quickly followed by Jessica, leaving the two beaming parents alone with their newborns, " Have I told you how much I love you and thank you for them."
Mac smiled and let the tears fall as she looked across to Harm. " Not today."
He got up and knelt down in front of her, " Well the Mrs. Sarah Rabb, I love you and all of our kids, and thank you again for having them for me." he leaned forward and kissed her causing TJ to be jostled and he let his father know it. " Hey, hey big guy." He said as he rocked the baby back to quite.
Mac placed her free hand on Harm's cheek," I just want you to know Admiral Harmon Rabb, that I love you and our life here too. I am glad you waited for me and that we were able to start over."
