Title: The Reason Author: Heather Lee E-mail: mrs_hchikamori@yahoo.com Classification: Introspection Rating: G Spoilers: None Summary: After fifteen years, Liandra reminisces on the anniversary of her marriage while listening to a favorite song. Disclaimer: Harm, Mac and all regular JAG characters belong to DB…Animal and Lia belong to Animal and me. The song "The Reason" is from Celine Dion's Let's Talk About Love CD. Dedication: To Hugo Haruo Chikamori, the love of my life…thanks for being there during the good times we've had so far…and the bad one I've hit…you know what I'm talking about. Words cannot express how much your support and encouragement mean to me. I love you. ************************************************************************ JAG HQ, FALLS CHURCH VA LIA'S OFFICE 1430 ZULU The file folder lay open on my desk, and I'd read the same paragraph of Harm's notes from his meeting with Uncle AJ probably twenty times by now. I picked up my can of Pepsi and took a long swallow. As I set the can down, my portable CD player had changed tracks on the CD I'd put on earlier. As the song began to play, my eyes fell on a picture frame sitting on the corner of my desk. It was one of those double frames with a hinge in the middle. The left side held a photograph of my husband in his dress blues, looking sharp and handsome as ever as he saluted the camera crisply. The right side photo was one of us on our wedding day. He was down on one knee before me, in a romantic imitation of a proposal. I glanced down at my left hand and the rings on the fourth finger. Hard to believe it had been fifteen years since he had first placed them there. I figured it out I was high and low and everything in between I was wicked and wild, baby, you know what I mean It's all because of you Boy, was I ever…all that and more. I'd met Animal for the first time several years before I'd started working at JAG, but it was a fleeting thing, and I'd had no idea he remembered me. Running into him, literally not to mention figuratively, shortly after my Uncle AJ had managed to con me into joining his team of top lawyers was pure dumb luck. I was floundering amidst indecision with my relationship with old flame Harm. Luckily for Animal, Harm and I realized what we'd had was over. Good thing, too, because I was a complete and total mess because of it. If not for Animal, I might have gone off the deep end. Something went wrong I made a deal with the devil for an empty IOU Or an empty relationship, going nowhere fast, that is, until Animal came along that fateful second time. Been to hell and back, but an angel was looking through It was you, yeah, you It's all because of you Smiling at his dress blues photo, I could hear his voice in my mind. "You're my angel." You are the reason You are the reason I wake up every day And sleep through the night You are the reason, the reason He was more reason than that, I thought. He's my entire reason for living…he and the four beautiful children he has given me. Our oldest daughters, the twins Harmony and Sarah; our handsome son Connor, who is the spitting image of his father at that age, according to my mother-in-law; and my baby girl, Krystle Rose…he'd been there each and every time I'd given birth, holding my hand, giving me encouragement and being the best coach a woman in labor could ask for. In the middle of the night I'm going down 'cause I adore you I want to floor you Oh, he floors me alright, every time he surprises me by beating me home and having dinner already fixed, every time he takes one look at me and knows I need a backrub more than I need to breathe…he never ceases to amaze me. I'm giving it up No more running around spinning my wheel Nope, none of that for me. I floundered there for a while after Harm and I finally called it quits the second time. Instead I tried hard to focus on my work, but failed miserably every time I thought of a certain handsome Japanese- American Navy Commander. I'd harbored fiercely intensive feelings for him for a while, but he was tied up trying to get away from the manipulative Meg Austin, so I'd had to keep my mouth shut. I would never in my life forget the first time I'd heard him say the words. In a tender, loving whisper, he said, "I love you, Lia." The passionate sincerity in his voice brought me to tears then, and still does now. You came out of my dream and made it real He did that so easily…the faceless man I dreamed of finally had a face, his face. Even after all this time, I still sometimes secretly pinch myself, wondering if this is real or am I going to wake up from the most wonderful dream of my entire life? I know what I feel It's you It's all because of you You are the reason You are the reason I wake up every day And sleep through the night You are the reason, the reason In the middle of the night I'm going down 'cause I want you I want to touch you I want to floor you You are the reason, baby You are the reason You are the reason I wake up every day And sleep through the night You are the reason, the reason As the song ended, I heard a distinctive low growl coming from directly above my head. My beloved husband of fifteen years stood next to my chair, a dozen white roses in his hand. Setting them down, he gently pulled me out of the chair and into his arms. I felt his hand sink into my hair then his lips descended on mine in a passionate kiss. His lips traveled over my jaw, down my neck to my ear. I heard him whisper softly, passionately, "Happy anniversary, darling Liandra. I love you." Feeling the tears falling down my cheeks, I tilted my face towards his and answered him honestly and lovingly. "I love you, too, my beloved Hugo. I love you, too."