Author: Mackie, charmed_mac@hotmail.com I don't own the characters, they belong to D. Bellisario, Chris Carter and others, I don't make any money with this and no copyright infringement intended. JAG/XF crossover, part 1 No major spoilers.

Realizations

Mac paid the cabdriver and walked towards the door of her building. She was very absent and didn't notice the red-haired woman. The woman didn't see Mac was heading towards the door and so it resulted in the two women bumping into each other.

"Oh god I'm sorry I didn't see you."

"No, no it's my fault I wasn't looking at all." Mac stumbled as a reply.

She looked at the woman, she was rather small and she had red hair, a bit longer than herself. She didn't recognize her.

"Uh...do you live here?" she asked to break the awkward silence.

"No I'm looking for someone, ah Major Sarah MacKenzie, do you know her?"

"Wh..I'm her."

"Oh, well. I'm special agent Dana Scully." She said as she showed her badge.

"What's wrong?"

"Well it's about Cmdr. Harmon Rabb Jr."

Mac fell silent and stared ahead of her.

"Major?"

"Uh yeah, sorry, please call me Mac. Would you like to come in?"

"Yes thank you."

Agent Scully followed Mac to her apartment.

"Can I get you anything?"

"Just water is fine."

Mac gave her a glass of water and they both sat down on the couch.

"So, they put the FBI on it...?"

"Yes, do you know what happened yesterday morning?"

"Well Harm, I mean Cmdr. Rabb, was gonna go flying in his Stearman, but he didn't tell anyone."

"But you knew?"

"Yes, actually he asked me to come. He usually takes Bud, eh Lt. Roberts, but since he had a hearing, he asked me. I said I couldn't come because the Admiral had just assigned me to help Lt. Roberts with the hearing. He asked me not to tell anyone that he went flying."

"So did you?"

"No, not until today"

"Why not, he hadn't come home all night."

"I thought he'd taken someone else, another friend maybe. I wasn't really worried until this morning, when he didn't show up. Then I told the admiral after I checked his house."

"Alright. Now, Cmdr. Rabb went flying over the Appalachian Mountains right?"

"Yeah I guess so, I think he usually does. Can I asked you something, Agent Scully?"

"Please, Dana. What do you want to know?"

"Why is the FBI put on this?"

"Last week, a prisoner escaped from Leavenworth, he's probably hiding in this region of the Appalachian Mountains. His name is Clark Palmer."

"Oh my god!" Mac got a frightened look on her face.

"You know him?"

"That man will do anything, absolutely anything to get to Harm."

"Even kill people..."

"Yes he's tried to kill Jordan and me. Do you think Harm...?"

"It's possib.."

She was cut off by the sound of her cell phone.

"Scully" "Did you find anything?" "Yes I am." "Alright, bye."

Turning to Mac she said. "That was my partner, he'll be here in a few minutes."

They continued talking, Scully asking all sorts of questions until there was a knock on the door. Mac opened it and let the man in after he showed his badge.

"Mac, this is my partner, Fox Mulder."

They greeted each other.

"So what have we got, Scully?"

"Well it's possible Palmer went after Rabb, Mac told me Palmer will do anything to get to him."

"Well the Appalachians are a big region."

"Yes but this man's life may be in danger."

"Scully can I talk to you for a sec."

He took her apart.

"What are we doing here?"

"Mulder not again, you know the x-files are closed, so you might as well work with me here if you want to keep your job."

He started to protest, but she gave him a look. They continued questioning Mac and eventually they finished.

"Well, if anything happens, call me okay?"

"Yes, thank you."

Both agents left and Mac returned to the couch, she was too absent to work on her cases so she was thinking about what might have happened with Harm. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. She was startled and went to open it, only to find no one there. When she turned she noticed something at the door. It was a picture of Harm, tied to a chair in a wooden cabin. He looked pretty beaten up. A tear rolled over her cheek, this was Palmer, he had Harm captured somewhere in the woods. She tried calling Dana but couldn't reach her. She called a few times but nothing. Suddenly a striking pain knocked her out cold. When she woke up she found herself on the ground with a terrible headache. A picture lay in front of her. On it, she was sitting on the couch, unconscious, her clothes raveled and a cut on her forehead. She touched the place where the cut had been and it was still a bit sore. On the back of the picture was a short message.

The 2nd one I gave to your friend here.

She felt terrible, it was 2:50 in the morning and she decided to take a shower first. Letting the hot water stream her mind drifted away. When she reappeared and went into the bedroom, on her pillow was another picture of Harm, more beaten up than the first time and his head was bleeding lightly. Without hesitation she dialed Dana's number.

Dana Scully woke up from the sound of her telephone.

"Mulder, it's 3:17!"

"Dana, it's me."

"Mac, oh I'm sorry, what's wrong?"

"I've been attacked, I was knocked out and whoever did it took a picture of me and gave one to Harm."

"Oh God are you alright?"

"Yes, but my attacker was here three times, he also left a picture of Harm on the door earlier and one on the bed just now."

"Wait there I'll be right over."

"No, you don't have to."

"But what if he comes back?"

"He won't, this is just his sick game, I'll be alright."

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"Yes, why don't you meet me at work tomorrow?"

"Well...alright, try to get some rest and lock everything extra safe."

"I will, sorry I woke you."

"Don't be, if you hadn't called Mulder would have."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he does most of the time, well I'll see you tomorrow. Bye."

"Bye."

Mulder had dialed Scully's number.

"What, she's on the phone? Who could she be calling at this hour? Maybe she just unhooked it..."

The next morning, Mac was sitting in her office. She was staring at the two photographs of Harm. Someone knocked on her door and she called to enter. Mulder and Scully came in.

"Dana, Mulder I'm glad you came. I do think Palmer has an accomplish, he wouldn't leave Harm alone for the time he'd need to give me the pictures"

Dana had given her a good word of advice, never call him Fox so she didn't.

"Hi, can we see the pictures?"

Mac showed them the two pictures when a second time a knock on the door sounded. Petty Officer Tiner stuck his head round the door and told Mac that the Admiral wanted to see her.

"Enter"

"Sir, you wanted to see me?"

"Yes, I believe you had word with the two FBI agents. You received two pictures of Cmdr. Rabb, I'd like to see them."

"Yes sir, let me go get them."

A few minutes later, Mac, the agents and the Admiral were examining the photo's.

"Look there, through the window. You can see what looks like a tower."

"Seems like what, 10/15 miles away?"

"If you look at the sun, it's almost setting."

"Yes, my guesses are these pictures were taken somewhere around 8 o'clock maybe."

They were all brainstorming, examining every little detail in the pictures.

"So we have a wooden cabin, in the woods with a tower, approximately 10 to 15 miles south/west of it."

"Sir, if we can get a plane, we might be able to spot it from the air."

"Yes, Major, arrange for a flight, you can drop the rest of your case load for now."

"Yes sir, thank you sir."

Mac's eyes were scouring the scenery, looking for a tower. She had arranged a flight and were now flying somewhere above the Appalachian Mountains. They had checked on the possible locations of the tower they'd seen on the picture.

"There! Could that be it!?"

"I think that just might be your tower, ma'am!"

They flew over there, now 10 to 15 miles east of it they needed to spot a cabin. They circled around, trying to look through the dense leafing. They were planning on returning soon, a circling plane would look suspicious. Just as they wanted to turn the pilot spotted something.

"There ma'am, look!"

"That's it! Great job!"

"Alright, we have the location, let's go back." Everyone was now coming up with strategies. They couldn't wait any longer Knowing Palmer, Harm's life was in grave danger.

"Be careful, remember we're dealing with at least one very dangerous man."

Harm woke up with a killing headache. His arm hurt like hell, he remembered Palmer taking a shot at him and laughing. He couldn't move but that didn't surprise him. For the last few days Palmer had kept him here, with barely any food. He frequently beat him up and the pain was killing him. On the wall in front of him was a picture. Mac was sitting on the couch, bounded and the expression on her face showed pain. He couldn't look at it, he felt helpless. Not for the fact that he'd been tied up here and was at the mercy of Palmer, but because Mac might be in trouble. Palmer would tell him stories of what he'd done to her. And he was intimidating him using his past. Psychologically destroying Harm. The light of the sun through the window told him it was somewhere around 3 or 4 o'clock maybe 5. Suddenly he heard the rustle of bushes outside. Out of the next room, Palmer appeared.

"Terry! Go look outside!"

A second man appeared, got his rifle and went out. He stayed away for a while. Palmer got mad and started cursing. He heard the rustle of bushes again and called for Terry, no answer. Then Palmer took his own gun and went outside as well. Harm knew he walked around the cabin because he saw him pass the window. When he looked back, a figure was down at the door, signaling not too make a sound. The light was slim since the window was small, but he would've recognized that figure in total darkness. Mac quickly moved towards Harm and cut the ropes. 'Can you walk' She mouthed. He nodded a bit insecure.

Palmer walked around the cabin and saw a foot, stick out of the bushes. Carefully he looked and discovered Terry's body. He cursed again. He was startled by a sound of wood. He ran back to the front of the cabin and was just in time to see Harm and Mac, running away.

They heard a shot. Harm pulled Mac aside but couldn't prevent the bullet from penetrating her arm. She screamed in pain. It slowed them down, but they tried to go as fast as they could, stumbling over the branches and bumps. They knew Palmer was gaining on them, they could hear is rapid footsteps.

"Drop it Palmer!"

He heard the female voice but saw no one. He aimed again but now heard the clicks of two guns. He doubted.

"Drop the weapon."

Palmer slowly moved his hand down as he saw the man and woman appear from the bushes. He lowered his hand more and just as he was about to drop the weapon he shot. Both dodged the bullet as well as firing themselves. Palmer collapsed to the ground, two spots of read appearing on his body. Harm and Mac looked back and saw Palmer fall. They stumbled back to the place where the agents were. All four of them were trembling.

"Mulder!"

Mac called through the crowd. Mulder turned around and greeted them.

"Did you bring Scully?"

"Yeah she's checking her coat."

Not long after, Scully appeared from the crowd. The four of them sat down at a table with the Admiral.

"Well done Major."

"Thank you sir, but I couldn't have done it without them."

"Yes, I'm glad you could all come to this party, especially after what happened this week." They had a great evening, dancing laughing and talking. Dana and Mac struck up a good friendship and Mulder and Harm seemed to take a liking to each other as well.

"May I have your attention please?" Somebody spoke. Everybody gathered round the small stage.

"We're coming to the end of this fantastic ball. I'm sure you've heard the story, word travels quick. There are four people among us who risked their lives this week, they got to a very dangerous escapee."

People started applauding and the speaker continued when they'd calmed down.

"So this last dance will be dedicated to them, they will be the first to start the end of this most wonderful ball."

Mulder took his partner and led her to the dance floor, as did Harm. Slow music started to play and they danced. Everybody was looking at them. They all heard the story. Bud and Harriet both smiled widely. Harriet had sure noticed the way Harm was looking at Mac. People mingled now, on the dance floor. Everybody fell silent as the music swayed them. Mulder smiled at Scully, she smiled back at him. Mac looked up at Harm's eyes, she could see how grateful he was. The music took them away, the world around them faded.

That was part 1, stay tuned for part 2, soon to come ^_^ I hope you like it, plz give me some feedback, charmed_mac@hotmail.com