JAG HQ
FALLS CHURCH, VA
1600 EST

"Mac you ready?" Harm called, looking nervously over his shoulder at where Renee was pacing.

"No" she replied "but I don't have a choice I guess. How you talked me into this I don't have a clue. I don't let you stampede over me in court."

"Mac relax it's only dinner." Harm came in to her office and closed the door. "It's only dinner, why are you so jumpy? I'm going to make nice with Bug....I mean Mic, and Renee can be a lot of fun. We're going to drive five miles down Wisconsin Avenue and have some good seafood at O'Donnell's. Unless the place is swarming with armed terrorists, it should be a nice relaxing evening." He paused and laughed. "As long as you keep Mic off my back."

"Quit" she ordered and her eyes flew down to her ring, which Harm noted was on her right hand yet.

"Mac what's wrong?" Harm's tone changed and he pulled up a chair to the desk. "You've been jumpy all day. Even in court this morning that was a routine move we made and you nearly...."

"Harm I know I almost blew the case OK. I don't need to hear a litany of my mistakes." She rubbed her temples as if suffering from a migraine.

"We won. It's over" he shook his head. "The only thing I'm concerned about is what's wrong with you." He took a deep breath. "Now don't hurt me for this but is it Mic? Is he pressuring you....or worse, hurting you somehow?"

Mac squirmed under his intense look. "It's not something I can share right now please" she finally said in a small voice. "But no, he's not....not what you said."

"And if he values his health it better stay that way" Harm muttered.

Mac gave him her first smile of the day. "OK big brother. Honest Harm it's not that and I can't go into it just now with you."

"Then with him?" he retorted, more sharply than he intended.

"Not with anybody" she replied quietly and her tone made him immediately contrite.

"OK but this is me you're talking to here" he pointed out. "I know we haven't been so much together since...."

"Since you left to fly" she reminded him.

"All right let's not go back there" he sighed. "I don't need to be reminded of my mistakes either."

Another smile from her. "It wasn't a mistake for you. You just didn't find what you were looking for." She turned away and started to gather papers on her desk. "I guess we're all looking for something" she murmured and then looked back at him. "Let's go eat Sailor."

When Harm opened the door he found both Mic and Renee standing together waiting on them.

"Hungry significant others out here" Mic laughed and held his arm to Mac.

"Exactly" Renee sighed, wrapping her arm around Harm's. "After all we're not going to see you two for what you say will just be a few days and we'll be lucky if it's not more than a week, not to mention you probably won't call."

"Renee give it a rest" Harm smiled and shot a look back at Mac, still concerned by what seemed to be troubling her.

Mac simply nodded to him and then turned to listen to what Mic was saying in her ear.

OCEANA N.A.S.
1030 EST NEXT DAY

"I don't suppose you'd like to tell me what's bothering you?" Harm tried again as they were waiting for their chopper lift to tour the crash site. An F14 out of Oceana on a routine flight had gone down in the mountains that lined the Virginia-North Carolina-Tennessee borders, the culmination of what had been a series of seemingly unrelated incidents, starting with minor happenings and escalating to this crash. Now the C.O. of Oceana NAS had asked for a JAG investigation, suspecting sabotage.

She shot him a withering look.

"Have you at least told Mic then?" he asked gently. "Seems like something you need to talk about to someone."

"Harm could we please just stick to what we've come for" Mac begged. "There might have been a time when I would have been able to talk to you about something like what's bothering me but that's....."

"Colonel Mackenzie, Commander Rabb I'm ready for you. Lieutenant Commander Laura Metcalf, your chopper pilot."

"This is a conversation we're going to finish later" Harm hissed at Mac and then acknowledged the junior officer's presence. "You think you can get us in there? That terrain looked awful rough on the topographical map."

"Sir I can set my helo on a nickel" Metcalf smiled, holding the door for Harm and Mac.

SHEPARD'S MOUNTAIN
1105 EST

Twenty minutes later she proved good to word as the chopper landed several yards from the wreckage.

"Nice job" Harm approved and jumped to the ground, reaching back to help Mac. She hesitated momentarily and then took his hand as she hit the ground.

"There's not much left" she said quietly as she looked around. "And two men died here."

"Yes they did" he nodded soberly. "It's something every fighter pilot knows can happen, and something they don't let themselves think about or they would freeze when they need to act."

She nodded thoughtfully. "And they didn't even attempt to punch out? It was like they slammed into the mountain thinking everything was normal."

Harm fell silent as he looked at the debris, making notes regarding the terrain and the location of the largest pieces. Mac watched him for several minutes and then pulled out her own notebook, walking a ways down the trail of downed trees created by the incoming fireball that was once an F14.

None of them noticed the wind beginning to pick up, nor the low bank of dark clouds in the west. The warning came over the radio to Metcalf.

"Sir we've been ordered back" she called urgently. "There's a weather front moving in faster than the original report called for. Where's the Colonel?"

Harm looked around in alarm. "Mac where are you? We have to get going" he screamed over the rising noise of the wind.

"Sir she walked off down the trail" Metcalf recalled.

"Start it up Commander--we'll be right there" Harm ordered, hurrying in the direction Metcalf had indicated.

He quickly found her, sitting on a downed log as she made some notes and he pulled her to her feet, wrapping his hand around her arm. "We're outta here. Heavy weather moving in" he explained as he tugged her back toward the chopper.

Wind began to buffet the small craft as soon as it was above the tree tops and Metcalf turned to look back at her passengers. "I thought we'd get up and away before it got too bad" she shouted, "and there's no way I can be sure we'd make it back down with this wind. It might not let us land in the clearing--it could send us into the side of the mountain or the ground."

"Understood" Harm shouted back, "make for Oceana."

"Yes sir" she nodded and a second later wind shear tore at the chopper, turning in sharply on its side as Metcalf fought the controls. Mac's eyes were wide with alarm and she looked at Harm for reassurance.

"Not good" he screamed above the noise and as he did so the helo began a violent spinning motion coupled with a rapid loss of altitude. "Get down." He quickly pushed her forward, forcing her head down between her knees and throwing his upper body across her back, pinned her in place.

She tried to turn to see him and his hand clamped to the back of her head, pushing it low between her knees once again. "Harm please" she screamed, "there's so much I want...that I need to say....."

"And it will keep until we're down" he shouted, tightening his hold of her as the ground rose up to meet them with dizzying speed.

The aircraft pitched forward as it neared the ground, the rotors hitting the trees and snapping off like match sticks before the cab slammed into the earth and broke apart upon impact. She was at once wrenched from his grasp and there was time only for each to scream the other's name before all was black and still.

Rain, cold and wet, soaked Harm's face and he sat up slowly as a sickening dizziness washed over him. A sharp pain pierced his head and he gingerly touched his forehead. His fingertips came away bloodied and he grimaced in pain. "Mac you OK?" he mumbled, tentatively feeling to the immediate area around him, straining against the seat belt which confined him. Irritably he released the buckle and pulled himself free, desperate to turn his attention to his partner. "Mac we're down, let me help you." There was only empty space where she had been. The seatbelt had been ripped from its moorings and she was no where to be seen.

A scream of "NO, please" escaped his lips and he pawed the wreckage, frantic to locate her and at the same time terrified of what he would discover when he did. Finding nothing there he lifted his gaze to the immediate area, willing away the fog of pain that threatened his vision. It was then that he spotted her, lying on her back several feet away. He gave an involuntary cry of her name as he flung himself to her. She was so still and pale that the thought she might be dead overcame him and his hand trembled hard as he reached for her, afraid of what his touch would tell him.

"Mac can you hear me?" His voice was barely audible and he touched two fingers to her cheek. When there was no response he steeled himself to check her pulse, his hand now shaking so violently he had to still it with the other before he could touch her skin.

This time at his touch she moaned and opened her eyes.

"Hey" he whispered, his relief so great that 'hey' was the only coherent utterance he could manage.

She looked up at him, uncomprehendingly at first, her deep eyes boring into his. Then as the haze of shock lifted she whispered, "We crashed didn't we?"

"Yes ma'am" he nodded, "now tell me where you're hurt."

"Everywhere" she answered, "but injury wise my leg and my head and....." Full awareness returned with a start and she struggled to get up. "Harm are you OK?"

"We're talking about you right now" he admonished her "but yes I'm fine."

She relaxed at his assurance and then her face contorted with pain as she attempted again to move. "My leg..I can't" she gasped.

"Let me see"" he urged her back down, now noticing the odd angle in which her leg was bent. "Could be broken" he told her after a quick check. "You can't walk on it in any case. Anything else?"

"Don't think so." She shook her head, provoking a massive wave of dizziness which did not go unnoticed.

"You could have a concussion too" he sighed, pressing his palm to her cheek briefly trying to check for head injury.

"And what about you?" she demanded, for the first time seeing the blood on his face and she reached up to touch the gash.

He caught her hand quickly. "I'm all right, nothing that won't keep until we get out of here."

"Harm" she moaned, her voice tearful and then she took a deep breath, struggling to bring forth her Marine self. "So what do you suggest, call Triple A?" She managed a note of sarcasm in her voice that buoyed his spirit some.

"Sorry, let my membership lapse" he grinned, letting his fingers graze her cheek. "No we're going to have to do this ourselves. Hang tight and let me check our pilot."

He gave her an encouraging quick grin and a hand squeeze and staggered to what was left of the cockpit, straining to lift the heavy canopy. "Oh god." He did not have to check for a pulse to know she was dead and he said a quick prayer before hurrying back to Mac, stopping to scoop up some material to make a splint for her leg.

"Metcalf didn't make it" he said quietly.

Mac bit her lip and said nothing, though Harm knew she was thinking that there was now another death associated with her.

"We'll talk later" he promised, taking her leg in his hands. "This is going to hurt."

"No kidding" she got out through gritted teeth. "Just do it will you."

As gently as possible he straightened the limb, putting the splint in place. Beads of sweat mixed with the raindrops on her face as the pain hit her full force, and again she said nothing.

"There, you OK?"

She nodded and let out the breath she was holding. "Now how do we get out of here?"

"We crossed the river just a few minutes before we landed here" he pointed out thoughtfully, "and the road follows the river. There's a couple little towns along there. Plus they'll know soon enough that we're overdue into Oceana." He slipped his arm across her back around to her side and pulled her to her feet, then pulled her other arm across her shoulders. "Let's move out Marine. Don't you put an ounce of weight on that leg either." He gave a short laugh as another vision of them in similar straits came to him.

"What's funny?" she demanded, "because I sure could use a laugh right about now?"

"About three years ago, in this same mountain system, maybe a hundred miles north....getting familiar?"

"Way too much thank you" she returned.

"Point---I got you out then and I'm going to now" he said firmly.

The storm raged above them as they walked, he propelling her along down off the mountain. Thunder rolled and lightning lit up the sky and rain soaked them.

"I don't know which is worse, this weather or the poachers" she muttered, and Harm felt her leaning more and more heavily on him, less able to support her own weight the further they went. At the same time Harm felt himself growing weaker, straining under her weight as his head pounded from his own injury.

He estimated they had covered about four miles, roughly half the distance he guessed they needed to accomplish to get back to the road and their best chance for help.

"Harm stop" she finally ordered. "Stop right here right now."

Her tone commanded him to do just that and he lowered her to the ground, next to a rushing creek. He quickly dropped beside her, his hand automatically going to his head. "You're right, we need a breather" he panted, "we'll rest a bit and then move on."

"No we won't" she said firmly. "We are not going anywhere. Not my half of 'we'. I can't make another step and you carrying me isn't going to work either. You're about to fall out yourself."

"Mac if this is about to turn into 'Harm leave me and go on without me' you'd better do a quick about face. I wouldn't three years ago and I sure as hell won't now" he shook his head vehemently, and his lips parted involuntarily in a gasp of pain.

"I could make it an order" she retorted.

"And then I'd be up for a DDO charge" he grinned despite their situation, "and then I'd need a good lawyer. Know one?"

"Cute Sailor" she growled. "I want you to get out of here. Look it's going to be dark in a few hours and then what? I don't want to spend another night in the woods with you--nothing personal here; but at this point a warm hospital bed is starting to seem like a much preferable alternative."

"I won't leave you" he insisted. "You wouldn't leave me if the situation was reversed."

"If it was the best chance for survival for both of us I would yes" she argued, hoping she sounded more convincing than her convictions provided for. "Harm please, try to think logically. You're a lawyer. I know you can do it. If you leave me you can make it to the road, find help and be back here in a couple hours. Traveling with me we won't make the road in twice that time not to mention dragging me is aggravating your head injury. I don't need you with your brain any more scrambled than it already is."

"My mind is made up--the answer is no" he persisted stubbornly.

"So is mine" she growled "my stubborn streak can be just as strong as the infamous Rabb one. You're going to help me over to that outcropping of rock and I'm going to take a nap while you find us help. It's just that simple. And we've burned a good ten minutes of daylight arguing about it."

"No" he shook his head stubbornly.

"Harm please." Her tone changed to one of quiet begging. "Honestly I can't go any more. I just can't. I'm going to pass out if I try. And you can't carry me. You're barely carrying yourself. We both need medical help and I'm depending on you to get it for us."

Her words finally convinced him. "All right" he gave in quietly, knowing she was right. He helped her to the rocky edge of the creek, settling her beneath the outcropping as she directed which protected her from some of the rain. "Are you ........?"

"Yes" she interrupted, reading his thoughts. "Just be careful will you."

"Promise" he nodded and leaned back down, brushing his lips to hers. "I'll be back ASAP."

He was about to raise his head when she caught the back of his neck and held him in place, repeating the kiss with just a little more emphasis. For a long moment their gaze locked and then he forced himself to back away from her, their eyes never losing their hold until he resolutely turned from her and began a fast trot back toward the river, the road and the help he knew he would find.

Harm's head was pounding unmercifully when he reached the road a long hour later, his thoughts back up the hillside and what he left there. "I'll be back soon Mac" he shouted into the wind.

"Please God" he uttered a small prayer as he started off along the road, an all-purpose plea for Mac's well being, his own ability to keep going to obtain help for her, and for some kind of guidance in what was happening between them.

Three miles, which seemed more like thirty, later, the welcome sight of a convenience store loomed before him. "Thank you Jesus" he breathed and quickened his pace.

"I need help" Harm panted the second he burst through the door. The store was empty except for three men: the clerk and two men who had obviously taken shelter from the storm. Three pairs of eyes focused on the wild eyed man, his uniform soaked and caked with mud.

"What's the problem son?" the older of the men asked at once. "You break down in the storm."

"Not quite. I'm Commander Harmon Rabb, US Navy JAG corps. We were up on the mountain checking on a fighter plane crash and our chopper went down in the storm. My partner's hurt and I had to leave her. Her leg's broken we think and she couldn't go any further. I need someone with a four wheel drive who can take me back to get her and then we need an ambulance or preferably a medivac if the weather clears." Harm's words came out in a tumble and he was panting even further when he finished.

"We can take you" the youngest man offered at once. "I'm Caleb Bodine and this is my brother Jesse."

Harm nodded at the other Bodine brother.

"Where did you leave her?" Jesse asked, pulling his coat off the counter.

"Back up the hillside" Harm gestured vaguely. "We got as far as this creek and she wouldn't go on any further. I know I can find the spot again though. She's under this rock outcropping."

"Wait" Caleb spoke up. "You left her by Hershey Creek?"

"What difference?" Harm said impatiently, making for the door. "I left her and we need to get her. That's the bottom line."

"No the bottom line is this" Caleb said firmly. "Hershey Creek flash floods when it rains like this up on the mountain. In no time it's out of its banks, triple its size and depth. That whole area ends up under torrents of whitewater."

"No, my god no" Harm's yelped, "please let's go."

"We can check sure" Jesse said easily, leading the way out to their small SUV.

As they neared the spot, Harm stared in muted horror at how the area had been transformed in the short time he was gone.

"Here. Right here. Stop" he ordered when they reached the immediate area. "See there" he pointed to where the outcropping had been. "I left her right there and it's.......gone." The spot where he had last seen her was now under three feet of rushing water.

"If she couldn't move well she didn't have a chance. Hershey empties into a small lake about three miles on down" Caleb said quietly. "That's where she'll wash to, unless the body snags."

Harm's mouth dropped open and he grabbed a handful of the man's jacket at his neck. "Don't say that. Don't even think it. She's not dead" he screamed, running his hand through his rain soaked hair and wincing as his fingers touched the gash across his head. "Mac where are you? Maaaaaaac" he screamed and then repeated his cry.

The sound echoed from the mountain and then there was silence. "She begged me to leave her and find help--help for both of us she said. So that's what I did and saving my own worthless self has cost her life" he moaned. He looked desperately at the two younger men.

"We can try looking around here" Jesse offered dubiously.

"Jess" Caleb protested.

"It won't hurt to look" Jesse told his brother, giving him a small shove in the direction of the hillside, sensing it was important for Harm to know the outcome.

Harm turned and forged his way through the sodden undergrowth. A few minutes passed and then from somewhere above he heard a weak whimper and then what he could swear was the sound of his name being called very quietly.

"You ready Mr. Rabb?" Caleb called.

"Hush--no" Harm waved his arm urgently. "I hear something." He raised his voice, "Mac it's Harm. I'm here. Call out again. I'll hear you and find you I swear it."

"You're hearing a bird or maybe a squirrel chatter" Caleb suggested.

"No--no" Harm shook his head. "I'd know her voice if....."

"Harm here"

Now all three heard it, more of a whimper than a call.

"Mac I'm coming" Harm shouted, joy in his voice as he charged into the undergrowth after her. "Keep guiding me with your voice now."

She called twice more and then the third was barely audible.

That last cry plus his faith was enough and a moment later he was kneeling beside her, rolling her carefully on his lap. She was even more soaked than before if that was possible and her hands and face bore the scratches resulting from crawling through the briars of the forest floor.

"I've got you Sarah I've got you" he said over and over, rocking her to him. "I thought you had drowned. My god I thought I had lost you."

She lay her hand along his cheek. "You give up too quick Sailor."

"You're right. I should have known. That Mackenzie stubbornness pulled you through. How did you get over here?"

"I heard the water rushing" she said slowly, "and I remembered at Red Rock Mesa there's a place that's just a trickle most of the time and a torrent when it rains in the high country. I dragged myself over here and then I guess I collapsed."

Her hand suddenly grew slack where it had rested and she fell weakly against him, closing her eyes in utter exhaustion.

"Caleb, Jess, we have to get her to a hospital" he pleaded.

"You're not exactly the poster boy for perfect health either" Jesse reminded him. "Blood running down the side of your face doesn't speak well."

Harm's hand went to his face and his fingers were bloodied at once. "Can you get us an ambulance? You have a cell phone?"

"We can get you there in half the time it would take an ambulance to find us" Caleb told him. "St. Lucien's--we'll have you there in less than fifteen minutes."

"Thanks." Harm did not trust his voice any further than that at that moment. He staggered to his feet, stumbling under her weight and both Bodine brothers hurried to assist.

"Let me take her" Jesse urged.

"I've got her" Harm retorted, juggling her in his arms.

"You're not going to make ten feet with her" Jess snorted. "You'll be doing good to carry yourself. Now we can waste time we could be on the road or you can hand her over and let me get her to the car."

"Yeah OK" Harm sighed in defeat, reluctantly allowing Jesse to take her.

"Caleb help Mr. Rabb to the truck" he ordered.

Harm's eyes never left Mac in Jesse's arms as they made their way through the mud back to the road.

Once at the car he climbed into the back and his arms eagerly reached for her, settling her on his lap, her head resting on his shoulder.

"Hospital real soon now" he whispered and to his surprise she murmured softly. "Good" he grinned, feeling a small measure of relief. "You'll be fixed up real soon now."

"What about you?" her voice was slurred with exhaustion. "Your head?"

"Hurts" he admitted, "and needing some aspirin."

"You be sure....." she began and her voice trailed off.

"Got it covered" he said softly, wrapping his hand across her forehead and holding her tightly.

ST LUCIEN'S HOSPITAL
ASHVILLE NC 1745 EST

The hospital was a blur of doctors and nurses and of Mac being taken from Harm's grasp, though not before he secured a promise that they would be reunited as soon as both were treated.

It was he who was finished with first. An xray and CT scan showed nothing more than a mild concussion and after the wound was cleaned, and stitches done, he was discharged with just a large Band-Aid covering the spot.

Finally he called JAG HQ to make their report. "Tiner, Commander Rabb, let me talk to the Admiral right away please. It's urgent............I see. Well who's in--Commander Brumby will do nicely thank you." "Could this day get any better" he muttered as he waited. "Mic it's Harm........No everything is very terrible actually right now so just shut up and listen.......Our chopper crashed on the mountain earlier today and our pilot was killed. Mac is being looked at and I don't know how she is at the moment. I haven't been able to find out anything.......Of course I was with her and no there wasn't anything I could have done. We were in a bad storm. And I'm still alive thank you for asking....St. Lucien's in Asheville........I don't know. Ask for directions......Her leg may be broken and possible concussion. Look I have a throbbing headache and this conversation isn't doing a thing to help it. Could we hold the twenty questions game. A woman died out there today and I need to call Oceana so I'm hanging up now.......No that's not necessary--Mic please--it's not--OK we'll be here. See when you get here." With that he hung up the phone. "Could this day get any better" he moaned again, now contemplating Mic's pending arrival as he placed the call to the NAS.

"Harm." Never had he been more glad to hear her voice a long half hour later. Mac's bed was being wheeled into the room. Her leg was propped up in a sling and an IV needle in her hand; and never had she looked more beautiful to him. Her hand groped for his as he crossed the floor to her.

"Hey you" was all his voice would allow him at that moment as his hand closed around hers. "What did the doctor say?"

"It's just muscles and ligaments badly pulled" she sighed. "Not broken, but I have to stay here overnight." She lay her free hand along his cheek, touching her fingers to his bandage. "But it's you I'm worried about. How's your head?"

"Still there" he grinned, hoping to reassure her. "I'm relieved your leg isn't broken, and my head is hard enough to withstand just about anything. You and my mom made that very clear to me many times."

She smiled and silence fell between them for several minutes as he simply sat by the bed, her hand in his and his thumb stroking the back. Both were lulled to an exhausted sleep, Harm's head resting on the edge of her mattress, her hand still firmly encased in his.

"Harm I want to talk to you about something" she finally spoke up two hours later, tugging on his hand, "the something you've been trying to pry out of me but I need your pledge of confidentiality."

"I would never betray a confidence of yours Mac" he said softly, awake at once and leaning down so he could hear her better.

"OK, what's bothering me is that I'm afraid I'm...." she began only to be interrupted by the approach of a doctor.

"Ms. Mackenzie" he looked at his charts once more and then at her. "Everything looks real good here. You should easily be able to leave in the morning. I have the results of that one test..." He looked to Harm for a moment and Mac nodded for him to continue. "Negative ma'am. You rest easy and I'll be back later."

"Thank you" she gasped and she collapsed in total relaxation, closing her eyes for a second.

"I'm guessing that's good news" Harm said hopefully.

"I was afraid I was pregnant" she said quietly.

His eyes opened wide. "I uh..I see. So...negative is good? But I thought you wanted a baby at some point" he ventured tentatively.

"Yes I do" she said in that same quiet tone, "but with the right man and at this point in my life I'm not sure Mic is that man."

Harm drew his breath in sharply at that admission and with that knowledge bolstering his courage he squeezed her hand, resting the other on her forehead. "About today" he began, "about what we went through--about what we felt..."

"Harm no, not now please" she shook her head.

"Hey don't you dare deny that you felt something out there. You had to feel what was happening between us" he challenged.

"That's exactly the problem" she returned. "I felt it too much and I can't deal with it now and I don't think you can either." She turned her head from him to the wall and he stood in stunned silence.

"Sarah I think we......."

"Sarah love" Mic's familiar Aussie voice crashed into his words and a moment later the man was at her bedside. "Rabb thank you for taking care of her. I'll take over now." Harm nodded wordlessly and released her hand, turning around slowly only to be hit full force by Renee hurtling herself into him.

"I was so upset when Mic called me" she gushed. "I had to see you. I was on the line with a producer and I knew something was wrong the second I heard his voice and when he said he would come for me I....."

His eyes turned from her, meeting Mac's over the top of Mic's head for a long moment and each then understood what had taken place that day.

The incident on the mountain was but a moment in time.

The End