Off the Grid

by Saissa

The politics of JAG and the Navy are getting too much for Harm to deal with, so he decides that he has had enough and wants out. I just had this idea that Harm and Tracy would go Off the Grid once Harm has his 20 years in. ON HIATUS. Rated T for some language. AU after Boomerang in season 5. JAG characters belong to Donald Bellisario.

1. Chapter 1

Off the Grid

A/N The Prologue includes everything known about Harmon Rabb's life up to and including season 1 of JAG

Prologue

Ever since Harmon Rabb Junior had returned to the USA after his summer in Vietnam as a teenager, he had never forgotten what he had seen. Sure he remembered those people who had died to get himself and Colonel Stryker out of the country safely, and he certainly never forgot Gym, but he also remembered how the people had lived off the land without being bothered by the government bureaucrats.

As Rabb went through the Navy Academy, he made a determination that at some point in his life, perhaps after he retired from the Navy, that he too would be living off the grid. During the years after graduation and after flight school, he couldn't do anything about living off the grid while he was being posted to various aircraft carriers.

But then came his Ramp strike, the hospital stay and the enforced medical leave he was forced to take. Harm spent 6 months recovering on Grandma Sarah's farm in Pennsylvania, during which time he fixed up his dad's old biplane and named her Sarah after his grandmother. His dream to live off the grid had also been revived as he explored the land around the farm, learned how to hunt, to follow animal trails, and successfully make a kill. He was astonished when grandma Sarah showed him how to skin, clean and cook whatever animal he had hunted and killed, be it quail, rabbits, ducks, or young deer.

After he was declared fit for duty, Harm decided to become a lawyer - and enrolled at Georgetown Law school in Washington DC. Upon graduation, he attended the Navy Justice school in Rhode Island and was then posted to JAG HQ in Falls Church.

Harm was still a Lieutenant, as was his first partner Lieutenant Caitlin Pike. Pike's body language indicated she was available and so they had a torrid 2 day affair during one of their cases. Harm was ashamed at his lack of control and he ended the affair as soon as the case was complete. Pike requested a transfer.

Harm's next partner was a young innocent blonde haired woman from Texas. She was almost as tall as Harm, which gave them something in common. Her name was Lieutenant (junior grade) Meg Austin. The two of them got on very well together and Harm even felt himself falling in love with her. Until she disappeared after just one year and no-one could or would tell him where she had gone. The JAG could only explain that her mission was classified.