Producers note: Once again, we hit a snag with scheduling. I wrote this this afternoon to cover the absence of our writer for this week, who is hopefully going next week. If all goes well we should have two stories next week instead of just one.
Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be.
2300 Zulu
JAG Headquarters
Petty Officer Tiner stepped off the elevator and went over to his desk. He couldn't believe that his car wouldn't start. It was 1800 hours and the floor was unusually deserted for this time of night. Admiral Chegwidden was in Italy visiting his daughter, the Lieutenants Roberts were picking out nursery furniture for the new baby and he had heard an unsubstantiated rumor about Colonel MacKenzie and Commander Rabb, but until he saw it for himself he wasn't believing it.
He picked up the phone to call a garage to come tow his car to be looked at when Gunny walked up beside him.
"What's wrong?"
"My car won't start," Tiner sighed, dropping the phone back into the receiver.
"Let's go down and I'll take a look at it."
Five minutes later, Gunny closed the hood.
"Tiner, your battery is dead."
"I knew that. Do I have a sign on my forehead that says *stupid*?" Tiner retorted.
"Sorry, didn't mean to imply that you were. Let me get my car and we'll jump start it."
Gunny walked over to where his car was and pulled up beside him.
**
North of Union Station
"Remind me once again why we are doing this," Harm said, as he finished making dinner.
"Because no matter how you feel about him, she is still your friend," Renee commented as she set the table.
"I don't even know what she sees in him, he tried to put her in jail!"
"Why are you so hung up on that?"
Why indeed? Because it seemed like every time they had been on a case together for the past month they would get just a little closer, only to come back to Washington and reality and she would go back to Mic and he would go back to Renee? Was that why it bothered him so much? Harm shook his head at the thoughts.
"What are you making anyway."
"It's called Perogie, it's an authentic Russian dish. I had it when I was there."
"You've been to Russia?" Renee asked, surprised to hear something new about him.
"Couple of years ago."
"What were you doing there?"
Harm glanced at Renee and realized that he had never told her of his little obsession with his father.
"Guess I haven't told you that story, have I?"
"No." Renee sat down on one of the barstools and watched as he kneaded the dough.
"Do you remember that I told you that my father died when I was six?"
"Yeah."
"Well that's not entirely accurate."
**
"You know Sarah, maybe after I suffer through this evening, we can discuss the ring," Mic said cheerily, as he drove them through the streets of Washington.
"Mic, you said you would behave."
"I will, I just would like an answer one way or the other. I moved 3,000 miles to be near you."
"It's not that simple to me. We've really only been seeing one another for two months. We had one date before you proposed and then I came home and you stayed there. This relationship is still so new."
"We've had this conversation before. Why do I always end up on the short end?" Mic smiled at her as they were stopped at a light.
"Because I'm brilliant." She leaned into his kiss. "I just need more time."
"Yes, you are brilliant, and you can have all the time you need."
**
Tiner and Gunny were driving back from the auto parts store with the battery for Tiner's car. They were a few blocks from JAG headquarters when Tiner's eyes got big.
"Gunny, stop!"
"Why?"
"Just, do it." Not feeling like fighting, Gunny pulled the car over to the side of the road. Tiner got out and ran a few hundred feet back.
"Look!"
Tiner and Gunny looked in the ditch at the very dead body.
"We need to call the police." Gunny commented. Just then they heard the wail of sirens in the background. By the time the police car came to a stop Gunny and Tiner were standing directly over the body.
**
"I know you said not to bring anything but I felt bad," Mac said, as Harm closed the door behind her and Mic.
"Thanks," he replied, taking the dessert dish out of her hand and placing it on the counter.
"Dinner is just about ready," Renee said, putting the dishes on the table.
"It smells good."
"It smells Russian, actually," Mac commented, as they all sat down at the table.
"It is. Harm was just telling me about your trip to Russia."
Mac looked at Harm awkardly for a few moments. The whole exchange was uncomfortable, actually, until Mic finally broke the silence.
"So, Harm, what was it like to pretend to be a mindless boy-toy for a few days," Mic quipped. Mac wadded up her napkin and threw it at him.
"It was, interesting."
**
Police Station
"I'm not saying anything until I can have an attorney," Tiner said to the officer.
"That's it Tiner, act guilty why don't you," Gunny snapped. "Look Officer Ryan, we know you're just doing your job. We stopped because we saw the body, we don't know anything about it and have nothing to do with what happened."
"How do I know you're telling the truth?" Ryan asked them.
"How do we know you're not an idiot?" Tiner asked.
"Tiner, shut up, that's an order."
"You can't order me around."
"Technically, I can."
"Why don't you both shut up and tell me what is going on!" Ryan screamed at them.
**
Harm and Mic were both surprised to find out that if they put their differences aside, they could stand one another. After dinner, Harm offered Mic a beer. Mic turned to Mac.
"Want a drink?" Harm looked over at Mac, stunned.
"No, I don't drink, remember?"
"It won't kill you." Harm looked at Mic, about to take back every nice thing he had just thought about him.
"Why don't we go outside for a minute?" Renee asked, tugging on Harm's shirt sleeve. Harm followed her to the terrace but kept the door open.
Once they were gone, Mac turned to Mic.
"Mic, there is something about me that you probably need to know."
"What?" he asked, surprised by the course of events over the last few minutes.
"I'm an alcoholic." She watched his face cloud up in shock. "I've only fallen off the wagon once in eleven years."
"Sarah, I had no idea."
"I know. I should have told you earlier, but it isn't something I like to talk about."
"No, it's okay. I feel awful for offering you the beer now."
"Mic, don't beat yourself up. You had no way of knowing."
"If you had told me earlier..."
"You what? Would have stopped drinking too? No, you wouldn't have. Don't worry about me, I'm not going to fall off the wagon at the slightest provocation." Mac turned to see Harm standing with his back up against the door.
"You can come back in now, oh overprotective one," Mac laughed.
**
"So, tell us what you know," Ryan demanded again.
"For the last time, we were driving down the road. Tiner saw the body, we stopped, we got out of the car and you arrested us." Gunny was starting to get angry. He had been a deputy sheriff. This man wasn't even fit to carry a toy badge, he was so incompetent.
"I want a lawyer."
"Tiner, you ask for a lawyer one more time, I'm going to tell them to call Singer!"
**
Renee was in the bathroom and Mic was in the hallway on his cell phone. Mac went over to where Harm was standing by the kitchen counter.
"I'm sorry," she started.
"For what?" he asked.
"Picking tonight to tell Mic about my drinking."
"Don't sweat it Mac. You know I told Renee about my little obsession with my father earlier tonight too."
"Harm, there was nothing little about that," she laughed at the shocked expression on his face.
"Why do things like this always happen with us? Just when we might be getting somewhere we end up back where we started?" Harm commented, as Renee and Mic both came back to the room at the same time.
**
Ryan was shining an interrogation light in Tiner's eyes when the door to the room swung open.
"Release these men now!" They heard from behind the door way.
"Mr. Webb, what are you doing here?" Tiner asked.
"Officer Ryan, the body you found was one of our operatives who has been missing for three weeks. I doubt these two had anything to do with it."
"Who are you?" Ryan asked.
"Clayton Webb, Special Assistant to the Undersecretary of State." Just then the door opened more to reveal Ryan's superior officer, Captain Nelson.
"You two are free. The department apologizes for the way you've been treated."
"I would hope so," Tiner snorted, walking away. He zipped past Webb. Gunny was hot on his tail.
"You two could be a little more grateful. You all remind me of Rabb."
Nelson turned to Ryan, "What in the hell were you doing?"
**
The next morning
JAG
Harm and Mic stood in his office laughing. Tiner looked in the window and shook his head. He would have thought that the night Harm and Mic were nice to one another would have been the night that he would have been interrogated by an insane cop.
Go figure, he'd been right after all!
THE END