Chapter 1

Harm had been gone a year. A long hard year. He had to prove himself against kids half his age. But now he was back at JAG. However, things had been different since his return.

Mac and the Roberts were giving him the cold shoulder. Harm was betting Mac had gotten Harriet on her side and Bud was going along with it since he wanted to stay off the couch. The Admiral was giving him looks, reminding him of the way a father would look at his son, in disappointment. His office had been given to Commander Brumby during his absence and Brumby and Mac had gotten engaged. Harm had first been delegated to a former broom closet and now he had to share a small office with Loren Singer all part of his punishment for abandoning his friends.

Yet while sharing the office with Loren Singer he had learned a great deal about the newest member of the crew. Upon first meeting her he had gotten the impression of a cold, distant, by-the-book lawyer, but now he was getting the glimpses of a carefully hidden, completely different side to Loren, one no-one had ever seen before.

She kept a bag of chocolates in one of her desk drawers. She would get funny emails from someone once a week and might share if he happened to be in the office.

Today he tried again to get his friends back: the Roberts, Mac.

He needed them, without his friends JAG didn't feel like home, not anymore.

He was standing in the break room, getting a refill for his coffee when Mac and Brumby walked in.

"Mac. Brumby." he greeted them with a nod.

"Commander." Brumby answered.

Mac only looked at him.

His leaving still hurt and she was still angry over choosing his precious jets above their friendship, that's why she wanted him to suffer. She wanted him to feel what she had felt when her best friend had abandoned her.

Still, it wasn't fair, they'd been only ever friends and the way she was acting was like a scorned lover, not a mere friend. Even Jordan Parker, his former girlfriend hadn't taken it as hard as she had. Yet the fact that she had no right to feel nor act that way didn't matter to Mac, she only wanted Harm to hurt.

Chapter 2

If his friends treating him badly wasn't enough. Harm had been handed a doozy of a case for his first one back. The admiral had assigned him to defend SECNAVs son for an insubordination charge. Harm wanted Lt. Bud Roberts to second chair with him but Mac beat him to the punch getting Bud to second chair the prosecution of a Marine charged with robbery.

Having missed out on getting Bud to second chair with him, Harm returned to his shared office to strategize his case. Lt Singer was waiting for him. She wanted to know if he needed a second chair for his case. Harm had heard that she was cold and heartless but he knew he could use all the help he could get. Harm didn't like to listen to others opinions about people. He liked to form his own opinions.

Harm accepted Singer's help on the case if she agreed to his rule. Winning and losing didn't matter but the pursuit of truth and justice did. Loren was taken back by the Commander's rule because she had heard how good a lawyer he was. She decided it was worth it to learn from him.

Loren replied "I accept your rule sir. Where do we start?"

Harm was now the one to be shocked. "Alright Lieutenant. Let's review the case file and make notes separately and see what we find. We can compare notes and formulate a plan."

"Aye, Aye Sir!"

"If you want since we are working so close together than we can use Harm and Loren while its just us. It will make it an easier flow. Agreed?"

"Sure Harm." Loren quickly answered "Shall we begin?"

They started to review the file. Shortly each of them had a page of notes. They exchanged their notes.

After reviewing Loren's notes Harm was impressed at what she had found. He grinned knowing she would be an asset to the defense team. It was growing late in the day. Harm stretched since he was feeling stiff.

Loren noticed his grin and said "Harm is there anything you want to share?"

"Just thinking about how wrong everyone was about you." Harm answered "you have a keen eye for the facts and are seeing things others would miss. You have been nothing but friendly to me, which is more than I can say about my so-called friends."

Chapter 3

Loren starred at him thinking that he was insulting her at first but then realized that he was giving her a compliment. She smiled and thanked him.

Loren was getting hungry and suggested they call it a night since she wanted to eat.

Harm was enjoying talking to someone and suggested "Loren if you don't have any plans perhaps you would be willing to come over to my place and discuss the case while we eat. I make a mean meatless lasagna."

Loren was shocked that a commander would invite her over but she was tired of everyone assuming she was the ice queen or whatever other nickname they had for her. Plus how could you say no to him smiling like that. She replied "Sure Harm, sound like fun."

"Alright Loren let me give you my address and we can meet at 18:30 and finish going over the case file. We will meet our client Wednesday at the Navy yard and get his side of the story. Maybe we can avoid a trial. I know that is what SECNAV wants."

Loren looked at the sheet of paper Harm handed her and said "are you kidding me Harm? We are neighbors you live across the hall from me!"

Harm chuckled at hearing that and said "well then welcome to the neighborhood."

They both ended up laughing at the fact neither of them had seen the other going in or out of the building.

Mac and Bud noticed the laughter coming from Harm's and Lt Witch's Office. They wondered what would be causing the laughter but figured Harm was on the phone with someone. They were shocked to see both the Cmdr and the Lt leave at the same

Bud and Harriet starred at each other like they had made a mistake by being so mean to the commander. They were following Mac's lead to teach Harm a lesson that he shouldn't have abandoned his friends. They were now beginning to think they had been too hard on him.

Mac saw what the Roberts saw and said "Bastard can't even apologize to us for leaving us and now he had to go make friends with the Ice Queen. Well then they deserve each other."

The admiral heard Mac's comment and shouted "My office now Colonel!"

Chapter 4

Mac thought to herself CRAP I AM IN FOR IT NOW!

The admiral waited for the Colonel to enter and slammed the door before Brumby or either of the Roberts could come in. "Colonel as my chief of staff I expect better of you than what I just heard. How can you command respect when you treat others as pawns in your game? I am sick of your pettiness. I want you to think long and hard about this. Commander Rabb has been nothing but supportive of anything you ever did, even if he didn't like it. And as for Lieutenant Singer what has she done to you other than kick your ass in the court room?"

Mac said "sorry sir I am mad at the commander for leaving us and going back to flying. He needs to understand that he as to earn his place here again."

The admiral thought about that for a split second then said "As of now that stupid thinking stops. He has more than proved himself to us over the last month taking everything you, Brumby and the Roberts have done to him by ignoring him and treating him like crap. Do I make myself clear!"

"AYE AYE SIR!"

"Good! Brumby and both Roberts get your sixes in here since you outside the door."

The trio enter the Admirals office. The admiral didn't even wait for them to acknowledge they had enter. "You three are here ordered to stop being assholes to Commander Rabb!"

Meanwhile, Rabb and Singer were heading out of HQs and home for the night. When they arrived home and parked. Rabb was smiling to himself that he was about to have dinner with a smart beautiful woman and she seemed to like him for him. Then he thought wait did I just call Lieutenant beautiful?

At the same time Loren was smiling to herself that she was out flanking the Colonel once again and making a turn to becoming a better lawyer and now had the attention of the hottest gentleman at JAG. Did I just call Commander Rabb hot?

The other not knowing what the other was thinking mean the night was going to be an interesting night for the pair.

About 30 minutes after arriving home, changing clothes and heating the lasagna, Harm heard a knock at the door and said it's open. He was expecting Loren but however Lieutenants Roberts came in. Harm starred at them and said "Yes?"

"Sir we wanted to apologize to you for our actions over the last month. We listened to Mac and we are ashamed of our actions. We would be honored to have for you dinner this weekend."

Harm replied "I will think about it tonight and let you know tomorrow. Now if you will excuse me I have plans this evening."

The Roberts left wondering what plans the Commander have.

While Commander Rabb was talking with the Roberts, Loren was in her apartment trying to figure out what to wear. Did she want to dress up, casual dress, or just casual? She decide to go casual. She put on a pair of Comfortable jeans and US Navy T-Shirt. Right as she was going to walk across the hall she peaked out the peep hole and saw the Roberts leaving. She waited until they had left before walking across the hall. She knocked on the door and heard "Its open come on in."

She walked n and said "Harm it smells really good."

He smiled at her and noticed her hair was down and even though she was dressed in comfortable clothes, she was not pretty but gorgeous. Harm replied "Thanks I hope you like the taste just as much."

Loren noticed Harm was wearing a T-shirt that showed off his muscles quite well and dammit she wanted him more now. How was she going to play this? Wait he is checking me out, maybe I can find out what he thinks of me. "Harm you said earlier that you didn't believe what the others thought of me. But as a friend of mine what do you think about what I am wearing?"

Harm was shocked that Loren would consider him a friend but he had said she was friendlier than his so-called friends. "Well Loren as your friend and not a fellow officer than I would say it is a great outfit for you and any guy would be lucky to have a lady like you."

Loren closed the distance to Harm and got on her tip-toes and kissed Harm on the cheek. "Thank you Harm. And if you cook half as well as you practice law than you will make some lady very lucky."

Harm had to chuckle at the joke Loren had made and was wondering if her kiss was more than a friendly peck. Harm had been slow to make the move on women ever since Diane had been killed. Today he resolved to move faster and take chances. He was tired of being alone in life and more than anything he wanted a family. He was jealous of Bud since he had a family.

Harm asked Loren to come help him by holding the oven open while he pulled the lasagna. Loren was questioning the reasoning but none the less was happy to help. After Harm pulled the Lasagna out the oven and set it on the counter, he grabbed Loren and kissed her passionately on the lips. Loren was shocked by Harm's sudden decision to pursue her. However she had nothing against the idea. She returned his kiss.

Harm noticed the kiss being returned and realized Loren was for the idea of something between them. They broke the kiss and Loren said "Wow, but before we go any further I was promised dinner so feed me. You don't want me to become what the other call me Lieutenant Witch."

Harm had to smile at her teasing herself like that. He served the lasagna up and they sat at the table. As they ate Loren asked Harm "what do you see between us. I need to know what we are doing before we go any further. I want to make sure we are on the same page."

Harm was flying by the seat of his pants. He knew what his long term goal was but did he see himself with Loren. He coughed and then said "I am not certain on everything yet. I do know so far I am enjoying what we have done so far. I would like to explore a relationship but only if we both agree to that. I want us both to be comfortable with decision and of course know what we are doing before we tell the admiral about us."

Loren smiled at Harm and said "Sailor I think we both enjoyed that kiss and I would be open to seeing where this leads but we have to be careful. The colonel hates me and she seems to dislike you at the moment so if she thinks we are doing anything she will be all too happy to drop a ton of bricks on us."

Harm knew she was right. They got to work on the case and knew they needed to head to Norfolk to interview the accused and his CO. The made it an early night. Harm always being the gentleman walked Loren al of 3 feet to her door. He kissed her goodnight and went back to his apartment.

Chapter 5

Harm arrived to the office early feeling refreshed and happy. Staff call was short and sweet. He met Loren and they loaded up into a car from the motor pool and headed off to Norfolk.

They checked in first with the Captain of the Destroyer and found out that if the Lieutenant JG was willing to apologize and give up a week's pay then the whole thing would be forgotten. They had to ask if anyone from SECNAVs office had talked with him or anyone else. They were told no so off they went to meet the JG. It was a quick meeting because they told him the offer and he quickly said he would accept. They headed back to JAG HQ. They arrived back about 5pm to find Brumby packing up. Harm headed to his office to tell him the CO offer and that their client was accepting. Brumby told Rabb to buzz off he was in a hurry to leave he had plans. Rabb was annoyed with Brumby and went to the Admiral's office. No one was outside the office so Rabb knocked. He heard "Enter!"

Harm told the Admiral what was going on and want to get the case cleared as quickly as possible. Chedwiggin asked "why are you telling me this?"

"Commander Brumby blew me off and won't discuss the case" Harm replied "I was trying to take care of this case as quickly as I could per your instructions Sir."

The Admiral was not amused by Brumby. He said "Rabb have the paper ready at staff call tomorrow morning. We will handle it then."

"Aye Aye Sir."