Faith

Disclaimer:

I don't own Harm, Mac, etc. I don't own the name Patrick Henry (obviously) or The Learning Channel. I'm not using this for money. Yatsa, Yatsa, and Yatsa.

Claimer:

I own Beth, Gen, Gio, Gwendolyn, Davadita (Daah-vid-ta), and any others not of the JAG world.

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Have Faith

Part One:

I Can't Keep This Secret Anymore

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Cmdr. Harmon Rabb Junior bounced into JAG headquarters, happily whistling a song he'd heard on the radio. "Morning, Harriet! Where's Bud?" He smiled as he passed her and didn't wait for an answer to his question.

"Sir?" She called, albeit shakily, after him, "Sir, you may want to wait for a moment!"

About to ask why, Harm was cut off by Bud who walked over, "Cmdr., the Admiral wants to see you."

"Okay, let me just go put my briefcase in my office."

"No, sir. This can't wait."

"Okay. What's wrong? Is Mac okay?"
"Col. MacKenzie is fine, sir." Bud paled, "Sir, Davadita Parkington is here. She wants to see you. She's been talking to Admiral Chegwidden for an hour now."

Harm's eyes widened, "Why?"
"She needs to talk to you." Bud motioned for the Cmdr. towards Chegwidden's office. Harm ran to the door, and saw the person he'd considered a niece, Davadita, sitting in a chair. Her face was red from crying, but she came to attention as she had been taught in the academy. A young woman of twenty-five, she wore her khaki uniform, her long blond hair braided. Her eyes, blue like the sky, seemed pained, and he cringed inwardly at the thought of anything hurting the child he'd known since her birth and he had named.

"Davy?" At the sound of her nickname, one only her Uncle Harm – as she always called him – could get away with, she collapsed into him and began to cry, "I didn't…I couldn't protect her! I promi…promised her! I…didn't do what I promised!"

-*-*-

After a half hour, Davy had fallen asleep. Harm placed her on the couch in the Admiral's office, and covered her with his coat.

"Do you know what did she meant about protection and promises?" Chegwidden asked.

"No I don't, sir. It probably had to do with her sister Beth. But I have no clue what it was about." Harm replied, running his hand through his hair, "I've never seen her cry like that."

Mac, who'd been standing by Chegwidden's desk the entire time, looked to Harriet then to Bud, before walking over to her friend, "Harm, you may want to sit down for this."

He looked at her through wide eyes, "What's wrong?" He asked, repeating his earlier question.

"Harmon. Sit. Please." The Admiral told him, the trace of an order in it.

Confused as to why he'd just been called by his full first name – and by the Admiral, he simply did as told and turned his attention to Mac.

"Davadita came here about two hours ago looking for you. She was near hysterical, and sensitive to the movement of anyone's hands. When we got her calmed down, she explained that she wants you to prosecute her parents in a court martial and to see to it her sister is taken from their custody."

"Why? They love Carli and Jacob."

"Harm, Davadita is filing charges on behalf of Beth. She has evidence that Ens. Parkington and Lt. Parks are sexually and physically abusing her sister."

Overcome with the urge to vomit, Harm ran from the room and into the restroom.

-*-*-

Davy approached her uncle's office and looked in at him. He wasn't that much older then her – only a little more than decade – but almost all of her memories of her youth were filled with Harm. He'd taught her everything he'd known, filled her with a passion for flying as well. When she was five and found out that he'd been the one to give her the eccentric name she had, Harm's nickname changed from Harmy to Uncle Harm.

Now as she watched him, she could see the pain etched into the all-too-young features. He looked up at her and then at his shoes.

"Why didn't you tell me? I could've done something for her…and for you."

"There's no need to protect me, Uncle Harm, they never hurt me."

Harm's gazed changed direction like lightening, "Don't lie, Davadita Serenity Parkington. If it happened to your little sister, I know it happened to you."

Davy sighed, "I never could lie convincingly to you. It did happen to me, but it doesn't matter. I got away. Beth's still got four or five years with them. As much as I can try, I can't protect her any longer."

"What did you mean before? When you said you promised her and you broke your promise?"

Inhaling deeply, Davy prepared to give the simplest explanation she could, "When mom and dad got back from their tour on the Patrick Henry, Beth was so scared that they'd found out what we'd done. I promised her they wouldn't and I'd take care of her. I didn't follow through. They hurt her so badly this time." She wiped the tears from her eyes.

"What'd you two do while they were away?" He asked, standing up and walking to her. He hugged her as tight as possible then let her go. He pushed her into a chair, shut his office door, and sat down next to her.

"Changed her name."
"What?"

"Beth couldn't stand being called Bethany anymore. Dad would tell her that because he named her, he owned her. I used to hear it in the night." She closed her eyes, banishing the memories, then spoke again, "So while they were away, she asked everyone to know that she'd unofficially changed her name from Bethany Hope to Harmony Elizabeth Jewel Parker. About a month before mom and dad were due home, I asked if she wanted to officially change her name. That was the first time in a long time she'd smiled. So we changed it. One of my friends made it so that my parents wouldn't know, and because her middle name became Elizabeth, we could still call her Beth."

Harm thought for a moment. He didn't want to talk about this any longer – the pain in Davy's eyes was heartbreaking, as though she were trapped in a permanent hell and was always tortured. He quickly spoke, "Harmony Elizabeth Jewel Parker? She thought that up?"

"Well, she thought up the Harmony part. She said that if she were changing her name, she was either taking Harmony after your first name or she was taking Rabb as her last. You've been more of a father to her and to me that our real one." She smiled, and then went on, "Elizabeth was my idea. I knew it'd be hard on her if her nickname suddenly changed so I looked up every name with four of the letters being B-E-T-H. She hated all of them up to Elizabeth. She fell in love with it. Voila. Middle name. Part of it any way." Davy took a breath, "Jewel was your idea. She doesn't know why I asked her to take it, but when she was born, I remember you saying that she looked like a jewel. I thought it be something I could tell her later, like when I found out that you'd been the one to name me Davadita Serenity. And Parker was just taking the first four letters of our parents last names and adding E-R."

He smiled at her, "So where is my goddaughter?"

"Home." She looked at him, and then added, "No! I didn't leave her with them! God, I'd have to jump off a bridge if I purposely left her with them. My friend Gwendolyn is watching her. She…umm…has custody of her brother and sister. Gen and Giovanna baby Beth. They've been trying to get me to do this for a long time. I just was so much of a coward I could do it while they were home."

"Are they home?"

"Not for the last two days. I don't know if they finally went home, but…they went out to a bar with some friends and didn't come back. I've been hoping they're dead, but I got a call from them yesterday. They sounded pretty drunk."

"What'd they say?"

"Don't talk to you."

Harm sighed, "So are you sure you really want me to do this?"

"Yes. I…I've been horrible to Bethie. I was trying to hide my shame by not saying anything, when I should've been talking to you. I was being a coward instead of a sister."

He nodded, "Why don't you call your friend and ask her drive to JAG. We could go get something to eat, talk, what have you."

"Sure. Gwendolyn's been bugging me to introduce you to her."

As she walked out of the office, Mac walked in. She noticed the look on his face, "You gonna be okay?"
He nodded, "I think so. I just…" He looked out the window then at his best friend, "I just never thought in a million years that Carli or Jacob would do anything to their kids. Davy is so sweet, so perfect. She loves her baby sister to absolute death and she's great with kids, too. And Beth. She's such an angel, so smart. She gets straight A's and High Honor roll every quarter. You don't know how happy I was when they called to say it was a girl and that they wanted me to be her godfather." He paused to think back to that phone call.

Twenty-one year old Harmon Rabb sat at his desk writing a last minute paper thinking of what his teacher would do if it weren't finished, when the phone began to ring. Ignoring it, he continued with his homework. It rang incessantly. Finally, stretching his last nerve, he grabbed the phone, "Harm. And it better be good."

"It is. Oh, it is."

"Carli?" He asked, knowing it was she, but just wanting to check.

"No, it's the Easter Bunny. No wait, I'm Santa Claus because I have a special present for you."

"Really? What is it?" He asked sarcastically.

The sound of shifting resounded through the phone, then an infant's quiet breathing followed by fussing made Harm realize what present it was, "Hello, Little one…"

Carli moved the phone again, "Bethany Hope Parkington. Six pounds, ten ounces."

"Another perfect little girl." He smiled, "So when's she coming home?"

"Couple of days. She's jaundiced but she'll be fine in a day or so."

"Well, I'll get a plane ticket and be there to greet you guys. I have a paper I have to finish, so I'll talk you guys later. Tell Davy I send my love. And give Beth a kiss for me."

"I will. Umm, Harm before you go…Jake and I want to ask you something."

"What?"

"Will you be her godfather? I know you always wanted to be Davy's, but you couldn't, so we thought maybe you'd want to be Bethany's."
Harm's smile turned into a hundred watt, ear-to-ear grin, "It would be an honor."

"Thank you."

Dragging himself back to the present, Harm looked at Mac, "Sorry."

"It's okay. So are you going to be the prosecution?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure you want to?"

"Mac, Beth is my goddaughter. I've seen her grow up. And Davy. She's been living with this for so long. To think I never knew." A fierce look covered his face, "I'm going to go after them with everything I have. Carli and Jacob aren't going to get away with doing this!"

She nodded, in full agreement with him. "Where's Beth now?"

"Davy says she's with friends." He looked at her from the papers on his desk, "She mentioned that her friend had custody of her young brother and sister. I didn't even have to ask why."

"I guess Davadita found a kindred spirit. Think her friend knew?"

"It's possible. Abused kids always know what to do, what to hide, know how other kids think. Maybe Davy's friend knew if she said anything, something would happen to one of them."

She nodded, "How do you know that?"

"The Learning Channel."

"You watch The Learning Channel?"

"Some times."

Davy appeared back in the doorway, "Gwendolyn said she can come up, but Gen and Gio are supposed to be grounded, so she can only stay for a little while."

"Okay. Is she coming here?"

Davy nodded her head, "I'm sorry if I intruded."
Mac smiled, "You didn't intrude on anything, Davadita."

"You can call me Davy, you know. As much as I love the name Uncle Harm came up for me, it's kinda annoying when everyone is calling me it."

"So you came up with her name?"

"Yep. When I was little, Carli asked me to spell Divinity. I spelled it D-A-V-A-D-I-T-Y. When she was born they changed the Y to an A."

"Needless to say, friends of mine who're married want me to ask him for names for their kids." Davy laughed.

"So how far are they from here?"

"About an hour. Maybe one and a half."

Harm grinned, "Would you like to get something to eat in that case?"

"Sure."

"Would you like to join us, Mac?"

"Sure, flyboy. Let me go get some things and I'll be ready."

"Well hurry up, ninja-girl!" He called after her as she left the office.

"Flyboy and ninja-girl. I really DON'T want to know!"

Harm laughed, "At least our nicknames aren't as bad as Bird and Fish!"

"Hey! That's not funny, HARMON!"

Harm smiled and guided her out of the room. He was glad that she was smiling – when he finally kicked into the protective mode and the lawyer mode he knew would come sooner or later, he wasn't sure Davy or Beth would be smiling.

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Cassie Jamie

noahXfiles@aol.com

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