Title: Do You Believe in Surprise Endings
Author: rooster dawn
Pairing: Harm and anyone who was around at the time
Alternative Universe : Harm and Mac don't work together. They meet at pivotal times in Harm's life.
Disclaimer: JAG is property of Belisarius productions, no copyright
infringement intended.
Summary: Harm is a Naval Aviator. With it comes a cocky attitude and the makings of an international playboy. Will his actions catch up to him?
Author's note: Harm and Mac look back on their lives that have gone in opposite directions. They meet again and come to a surprising conclusion.
Author's note 2: Many of the chapters are a reflection of what happened in the character's lives over the last ten years.
Good feedback is good for one's soul and everyone's happiness.
part one Is it good news or bad news
1500 hours
Friday
5 May 2006
Jag Headquarters
Harm was sitting behind his desk in his office. He had just returned from a meeting with the General Creswell. It seemed that a new command was being formed on the West Coast in Southern California, The Joint Legal Service Center, Southwest. You'll be stationed in San Diego.
At first Harm was excited to hear the news. He thought it would be rather nice to be stationed back home. It sounded like an ideal command position for him. It had been a navy policy that command positions usually went to officers nearing twenty years.
He figured his record was as good as anyone else's in the JAG world. He had many years in the fleet as well as time in the courtroom. He was considered very good in both areas. He also was an Academy graduate. Academy graduates were highly sought after for Command positions.
Unfortunately he was disappointed when the General told him that he would be going TAD to San Diego for three months to assist a Lieutenant Colonel Sarah MacKenzie in setting up the new command that would be comprised of naval and marine personnel.
He remembered Sarah MacKenzie. He had met her a couple of times over the years. The first time it was just after he had received his first DFC from President Clinton in ninety-six. He and the Admiral were returning to their sedan when they met up with her in the rose garden.
He was quite shocked when he saw her. She looked so beautiful standing there in her marine greens. She was a ghostly vision. She looked so much like his Diane, the woman he had loved since his academy days and was hoping to marry.
Unfortunately, she had been killed by a fellow officer she was serving with, he was afraid his career would have been destroyed because he had been sexually harassing her.
Then he had the gall to kill himself afterwards before he was arrested. Why then did he have to kill his Diane? Not only had he ruined his life and Diane's, but the killer's life too. He didn't know if it was possible if he could ever love again.
They had gone back to the Admiral's office for a briefing. A very important document had been stolen. The CIA believed the people who stole the document were former marines.
For some reason they needed a marine lawyer to be involved in the investigation. The investigation involved former marines near a marine base. The hardcore marines never like the navy investigating their own.
Since headquarters didn't have a marine stationed at headquarters at the time they had to bring her in to assist with the investigation.
Since they weren't leaving Washington until the next day, he managed to convince her to come to his apartment for dinner. He promised her a meal only a true marine would love. No, it wasn't beans and franks or trail mix.
Sarah was so beautiful. He thought he had another chance to love someone like he had with Diane. He utilized all his charms and his flyboy smile to get her to go to bed with him.
It turned out to be a night of hot and heavy, passionate lovemaking. At first when they started making love he thought he was making love to Diane again, but it wasn't long before he knew he was making love to another woman, a woman name Sarah MacKenzie. So familiar yet so different. It was a fantastic experience.
The next day he found out the real reason why they had brought in Sarah MacKenzie for this investigation. The man they were after was her Uncle Matt O'Hara, a former Colonel in the Marines. They were right to bring her in. She knew exactly where to find the rogue former marine officer.
Fortunately he was able to convince the Colonel to give back the document. The trial would give the Colonel the forum he needed to state his piece. And he would be able to get him off with a light sentence of four years.
A week later and she was gone. He wouldn't see her again for a long time. He was disappointed. He had hoped that she would stay at headquarters and become his new partner.
She was so beautiful, intelligent, and non-combatant unlike his current partner Meg Austin, who like to argue every decision he made. He really believed Sarah was his soul mate, the woman he was meant to be with, but he supposed that it wasn't meant to be.
The Admiral didn't want any marines stationed at headquarters. He said he didn't need the headaches that came with marines. He would have to continue working with Meg. He wondered if he would ever see Sarah again.
In fact he didn't see Sarah again until many years later. It wasn't until after he had returned to flying. She was still a very beautiful woman. He wished that somehow she had been able to stay.
Maybe then all the heartaches he had suffered through over the last ten years wouldn't have happened, one failed marriage and another where his wife died. A few one nightstands with former coworkers, besides the many others he had met in the local watering holes.
Maybe he would have had more than one child in his life now. Maybe he would be happy with his life. Maybe ...
His resentment began to grow as he remembered that she, Sarah MacKenzie, was three years younger than he was. She had been on the fast track with early promotions throughout her career. His promotion to Lieutenant Commander had been delayed for two years after his ramp strike and with the change in his occupation.
She had been promoted a year early to Major. They were the same pay grade with him having only a couple months of seniority. Then a few years later she had been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel two years early and more than three years before he had.
He wondered if it had something to do with his leaving Jag? The Admiral hadn't been very happy with him at the time. He felt that Harm was deserting him.
But he was returning to the fleet. That should have meant something to the Admiral, a man who had been a SEAL and served many years with the fleet.
He wondered why she and not him? He had what he thought was a stellar career. It had shocked him to see silver oak leaves on her collar when he finally saw her again. Now she had her eagles. Where was the justice in the world?
Why had her career taken off and his career floundered? He sighed as he realized that he had only four more months before he had his twenty years in. He had hoped to make Captain and if God smiled kindly on him, maybe even make Admiral someday before he retired.
But he knew those dreams were dead and buried now. He wasn't going to make Captain. He had been passed over by someone much younger and who must have more to offer the navy than he did.
His career was over. There was no sense in worry about it. He would go to San Diego and assist Colonel Sarah MacKenzie set up her command. He would spend some quality time with his mother in La Jolla before calling it a career.
He would decide while he was there what he would do with the rest of his life. He didn't know what that would be. Would it be a lawyer in some large law firm on the East or West Coast?
Or he could try his hand operating a small airplane business? He didn't know the answer, but he figured he would before he retired.
He began to think back on the other women in his life. As he remembered first there was Caitlin Pike. He worked with her for a year before she left to join the fleet in the Pacific and later NCIS.
He remembered he met up with her shortly in Japan after she left headquarters. They went to Hawaii and spent a wonderful week making love. It had been great being with her. She was one of the few women who actually stood up to him. She gave as good as she got.
Then there was Meg Austin, his partner of four years. She was such a sweet girl, always looking for some way to please him. He definitely knew how to take advantage of her eagerness.
He knew Meg was attracted to him and probably wanted more from him, but he didn't feel the same about her. His life had been destroyed when Diane died. If he hadn't met Sarah, he probably wouldn't have been able to love another woman ever again.
Damm, there she was in his thoughts again. What kind of hold did this woman have on him? Yeah, he had made loved to her each time he had had the opportunity, but she had never been a part of his life like Meg and Caitlin had been.
Why was he thinking so much about her? He doubted that Sarah even remembered who he was. He was just an egotistical flyboy to her. He was good enough to have a good time with, but not good enough to stay around and marry.
Stop it! Stop thinking about her like that, you were thinking about Meg. She was probably the only woman you knew that really cared for you, loved you. You kept her at arm's length the whole time you worked with her, that is until you decided to leave Jag to fly.
What a time that was! Everything in his life was shot to hell.
He remembered back to a time his best friend in flight school, Luke Pendry, had died in a training accident. Shortly there after he began seeing his wife, Annie, whenever he was in town. He convinced her to move east a year later.
She moved to Baltimore. It wasn't long thereafter that they were married. She had a boy name Josh who he loved and loved to do things with. He thought everything was great between them.
But he didn't understand why Annie didn't want to have another child. He pleaded with her for two years, but she said she wasn't ready for another baby. She was still new at her company and needed to establish herself more.
That led him to a state of depression. There was only one thing that could get him out of his depression, that was flying. In this case it meant flying in his Stearman, Sarah.
Ah ... There's that name again. He had remembered talking to Sarah when he was on the Patrick Henry. She had been leery of the idea of flying. She didn't see why any sane person would want to fly in a fighter jet, to go so fast, to pull so many G's.
Just the thought of it left her feeling nauseated. He told her about his biplane Sarah, that he had named for his grandmother. She thought he was telling her tall tales just to suck her in.
The plane was the type they flew during the first big war and stop shortly before the second big war. It had an open cockpit. It didn't fly very fast. She would love the feel of the wind blowing in her hair and the sun in her face. He would even let her take the stick and do some stunts.
She had given him one of her special smiles as she watched him talk about flying. She promised to take him up on his offer the next time she was in Washington the same time as he was.
But that day never came. He never saw Sarah again. Well that is he was going to see her again in a few weeks. He didn't know whether he should feel happy or sad at that prospect.
God! Why was he still thinking about her? He thought he was thinking about Annie, ... or was it Meg. He whacked himself a few times in the head to get his mind back on track.
Annie, when he told her he was getting his eyes fixed, started screaming. She knew there was only one reason why he was having his eyes fix, he was going back to flying. She told him she didn't want to be married to an aviator again.
She had been married to one, Luke, for eight years and only saw him for two. She didn't want to go through that life again. He had thought that even though she might not be happy about the idea of him returning to the fleet to fly, she would have accepted it.
He went ahead with the laser abrasion surgery and she left soon thereafter. Divorce papers arrived in his office two weeks later. He hated the idea, but what could he do? He wanted or should he say needed to be flying again.
He needed the rush. He needed to feel alive again. He had been a desk jockey for too long. He needed to feel the ocean under his feet, to smell the salt ocean air, and the smell of the diesel in his lungs.
Unfortunately Annie wasn't the only one that was unhappy with his change in occupation. The Admiral was livid. He had been grooming Harm, or so he said. The Admiral was making sure he met the right people and made the right connections.
The Admiral hated the idea that three years of hard work was being thrown away so Harm could be a kid again. At Harm's age going back to a carrier was a dead end. There wasn't going to be any promotions. If he did get one it would be hard earned and come with a price.
He remembered Meg had come to his apartment a couple of nights before he left. She wanted to wish him luck in his new endeavor and that she was going to miss him. He cooked them dinner, but before the night was over they started making out like two love starved teenagers.
Hell, Annie had been more than a bit frigid the last six months before she left. In her mind if they didn't have sex, she wasn't going to get pregnant. So when Meg gave all the signs, he took full advantage of the situation.
They made passionate love all night long before saying their goodbyes. That was the last time he had seen or heard from her. He wondered whatever became of her. He hated the idea he was the kind of person that didn't keep in touch with departed friends.
For some reason that he couldn't explain, it was out of sight out of mind with him. It was like they didn't exist anymore. He had met many people during his time in the service, many of whom he had been very close to, but he never seemed able to keep in contact with any of them after they left.
Maybe it had something to do with losing Diane the way he had. She had been murdered the night before he was to go away with her and discuss their future together. He never had the chance to say goodbye to her or say I love you.