"My Best Friend's Wedding"

Author: Haruo Chikamori

E-mail: hhchikamori

Rating: M

Classification:

Spoilers: N/A

Summary: The wedding of Sarah Mackenzie to Mic Brumby goes through thanks to a few friends of Harm's. (just pure unadulterated AU nonsense – Harm and Skates don't go down in the Atlantic and they make it back for the wedding)

DISCLAIMER: The characters Harm Rabb, Jr., Sarah "Mac" Mackenzie, Meg Austin, AJ Chegwidden, Bud Roberts, Harriet Sims-Roberts et al. belong (in concept if not name) to CBS/Bellisarius. Animal and all OC characters are the property of Heather and Hugo Chikamori. No profit is being made from this story, nor is any infringement intended.

Author's Note: If there is one thing I hate: its writer's block. It's an insidious problem for authors that never seems to resolve itself. The temporary solution I found that works for me is to start another story. The only problem with that is the fact that when I start another story, I keep writing until I run smack into another brick wall…then have to rinse and repeat. Hence the reason I now have 11 bloody fics on the go. ~sigh~ it never fails.


USS Patrick Henry (CVN-74 (AN: in RL, the CVN-74 is the USS John C. Stennis)), Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean; 2001 1645hrs

"Well, Commander Rabb…looks like you've finished another set of quals. Same time next year?" Captain Tobias Ingles smirked at the tall JAG commander and former US Naval Aviator.

"Well, that's if the US Navy hasn't put the Tomcat to bed, sir," returned Harm as he looked over at the return schedule to NAS Oceana. If there was a chance that he could ferry an F-14 home to Oceana he was going to sure give it the college try to convince the captain of the USS Patrick Henry to allow him to fly the Tomcat back.

"Are you lookin' for a ride back to Oceana?" CAPT Ingles' mouth twisted into a grumpy superior officer's expression; he knew exactly what Rabb's close inspection of the flight roster was. Harm's expression was innocence personified and CAPT Ingles could tell exactly what Harm was thinking "Bullshit, Commander, I know you…" Ingles said as he couldn't restrain a snort. "You're looking for a ferry ride back with you at the controls. You know COMSECONDFLT is going to shit bricks. And considering we both know him as a friend, he's going to have my ass in a sling." Ingles shook his head. "No, Commander, you're going home on the COD! No two ways 'bout it…"

"Sir…" A Lieutenant Commander stopped the Captain in the corridor just before the next knee-knocker. "Doc said Crenshaw and Simpkins are both down with the flu, sir. They won't be able to make the ferry trip to Oceana, sir." Ingles turned around to glare at Harm as if he had something to do with it. Harm shrugged his shoulders – he didn't.

"All right…Commander Rabb, get suited up. I presume you want Skates for your RIO?" As Harm nodded, Captain Ingles looked as though he was about to endure another headache. "I hope to hell the vice-admiral doesn't chew my ass off…for allowing you to do this. Lieutenant Commander, go get Lieutenant Hawkes, tell her to go suit up…and meet Commander Rabb in the ready room, she's going on a little trip. And get her to get the up-to-date METREP. I want to know the outlook on that storm that's inbound. If we get Commander Rabb aloft inside of two hours, there may be a chance that they can outrun the storm."

"Yes, sir!" the LCDR barked and disappeared just as fast as he had appeared.

Ready Room, USS Patrick Henry

"So, Skates, ready to go flying?" Harm met up with the short fireplug of a female RIO.

"Of course, sir." Lieutenant Beth "Skates" Hawkes grinned. "Any day's a good day to go flying."

As a crew they had to go to Ops and file a flight plan as they would be flying over FAA airspace in conjunction with airliners and other airborne aircraft. All of that took time; however Captain Ingles was as good as his word. Harm and Skates were airborne inside of two hours. "Hook your mask on…this is gonna be a bumpy ride…" Harm advised as he noticed the huge squall-line to the east as they streaked across the sky westbound. Harm pointed the F-14's nose southwest towards the coast all the while nervously watching the clouds rolling in.

"Are we gonna make it, Hammer?" Skates asked nervously, her own eyes, visible underneath the visor housing and above the top of her oxygen mask, scanning the squall line as it moved ominously westward.

"No worries, Skates. We're ten minutes from Oceana at our airspeed." Harm grinned, as the wind buffeted the Tomcat sideways. "We're going to have a nasty forty-five degree angle cross-wind coming into land though on two-three left…" he remarked.

"You seem to be on fire to head back to JAG, Hammer."

"Just a wedding I gotta be at…" Harm replied as he banked the F-14 to align the Tomcat with the coast line coming up. Five more minutes and they'd be wheels down at Oceana: another uneventful flight home from carquals. "A friend's getting married…and she wanted me to be there…"

"Geez, Hammer, from the sounds of it, it almost seemed like your wedding you were heading in for…" Skates joked.

"She's a bit nervous…" Harm said, not believing a word of what he said and Skates knew it. The silence after his comment made him think of what he had said to her not three days earlier, "If you need me there to make it work, then maybe you should reconsider who you're marrying." Mac hadn't appreciated that comment but Harm was sick and tired of being used as an emotional yo-yo subject to Mac's whims.

"Oceana in sight." Skates changed the subject as the former Apollo Soucek field came into view. Radioing the tower, he was cleared for final approach. Manually cranking back the wings, Harm snapped the F-14B+ Tomcat into a sharp break over the field as he set up for landing. Not more than a minute later, the main mounts of the F-14B+ were chirping on asphalt.

As they parked the Tomcat in the parking spot, Harm looked over to see an individual with vice-admiral's stripes on his USN service blues standing stock still at the edge of the flight line. He cringed as he realized exactly how hot the verbal blast that was going to come down on his head because that vice-admiral did not look the slightest bit amused.

"Hey…Hammer, you expecting somebody?" Skates asked ingenuously, "That admiral looks really pissed."

As Harm undid his flight helmet, his oxygen mask, unbuckled from his ejection seat and raised the canopy, he saw the vice-admiral stride forward towards the F-14B+ Tomcat. As the vice-admiral came to a halt in front of the F-14, he stood stone silent, until Skates' and Harm's feet touched tarmac. "I presume you had fun during carquals?" the admiral's voice was dripping sarcasm.

"Yes, sir." Harm snapped to attention in front of the admiral as did Skates.

"And I presume the CO of the Patrick Henry was doing just fine?" the admiral continued, his tone still sarcastic.

"Yes, sir…Captain Tobias Ingles is doing great, sir. He sends his regards…" Harm said, still locked up tight.

"And just where are Lieutenant Commanders Terry Crenshaw and Barry Simpkins? Might I ask?" the vice-admiral glowered, his tone dripping acid. "The crew who was supposed to be doing the ferry trip?"

"Sir, they're in sickbay aboard the Patrick Henry, sir. They came down with the flu."

"You're not feeding me a line, are you, Commander?" the vice-admiral said disbelievingly.

"No, sir."

"How the hell did you convince Ingles to allow you to do this? Hammer!" the admiral growled. "Your famous poor puppy-dog look again?"

"No, sir. My I'm just an innocent Animal… expression, sir…" Harm cracked a grin. "Learned it from you, sir, on the Seahawk, sir."

"You son of a bitch!" Animal snarled grumpily then laughed. "You're a sneaky shyster…you know that?"

"That's what I call him, sir." Skates chimed in.

"Damned lawyers. You'd do best to steer clear of those lawyer-types, Lieutenant." The vice-admiral advised Skates who laughed.

"Sir, question?" Harm asked, a cunning smile creeping over his face.

"What is it? Rabb…" Animal looked sour.

"Aren't you married to a lawyer type?" Harm asked smugly as Animal smacked himself in the forehead.

"Shit!" Animal muttered. "Nothing slips by you, does it, Rabb…" Harm ignored the facetious comment.

"Sir, so what brings you up to Oceana?" Harm asked.

"Just nosing around, giving the junior officers fits." Animal retorted. "It's like a morgue down in Second Fleet; I figured I'd get hands on with the command. Reading reports all day will just drive me bat-shit insane; not that Lieutenant Commander Burrows doesn't already." Harm grinned at that. Harm knew Lieutenant Commander Phil "Metalman" Burrows was completely dedicated…to driving Animal completely and utterly insane. The things he got away with would have thrown any lesser officer in the brig and processed out. Metalman was irreverent and obnoxious and most other officers of Animal's rank wondered why Animal put up with Metalman – they saw him as just another loudmouth officer in the vein of the former Lieutenant Andrew "X-man" Buxton. But unlike X-man, Metalman knew his limitations and although his skills were vastly greater than X-man's, Metalman knew when to keep his ego in check. Mouthy though he was, he knew how to negotiate the US Navy's structure. And Animal tolerated him, in fact, it could be said that Animal liked the young officer and the fact that he didn't cowtow to Animal very often except in formal occasions. Moreover the Chief of Naval Operations figured that Animal saw in the young Lieutenant Commander a version of himself in terms of skill and told BuPERS to keep Metalman in Animal's command. Metalman was up for O-5 soon and most people unknowing of Metalman's naval guru, thought that it wasn't going to be a shoe-in. But with Animal protecting Metalman, Harm knew that it wouldn't be long before Metalman was going to be wearing silver oak-leaves.

JAG Headquarters, Falls Church, VA 1700hrs (same day)

"Commander, it's good to see you again. It's been a long time." RADM AJ Chegwidden extended his hand to shake the shapely hand of a blonde Commander, her JAG staff insignia above three full gold stripes.

"It's definitely been a while, sir." Commander Meg Austin grinned. "But it's great to be back, sir."

"Now, I'm sure that the majority of the things you were doing were black; considering you were with Naval Systems Command for three years and Naval Intelligence two years prior to that." AJ began.

"Yes, sir. A lot of what I did would be considered black ops and I'm not at liberty to disclose that information."

"Understood, Commander Austin. Again, it's good to see you back here. Use today to get settled in and we'll apportion cases on Monday."

"Thank you, sir." Upon being dismissed, she walked out into the bullpen and was instantly mobbed by people who remembered her. One man in a civilian suit stood off to the side and watched her for a long moment then approached.

"G'day. Commander Austin, I presume." He extended a hand – the woman seemed likeable and owing to the number of the JAG staff approaching her and welcoming her, she was evidently someone that everybody at JAG respected. "Name's Mic Brumby." He said as Meg Austin shook his hand. "Formerly Royal Australian Navy. Reserved my commission to come to America and be with my fiancée."

"…and who might that be, Mr. Brumby." Meg asked.

"Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Mackenzie. Marine Corps." Mic grinned easily, much like Harm. He seemed a likeable fellow. "Knew as soon as I met her, that it was a fair dinkum thing, at least on my end."

"Well…that's good…I think…" Meg replied looking at the Australian with a practiced eye from years of intelligence work. She wasn't sure about the slang term fair dinkum, but at least he seemed honestly interested in his fiancée.

"Well, I'm sure that you'll be glad to meet up with your former partner. Commander Rabb's wagged off to play with his jets for a few days, but he should be back shortly…in time for the wedding. Mac's asked him to be there…" It didn't sound as though Brumby was happy about that. Evidently there was some tension between the two men.

Mic was thanking his lucky stars that Commander Austin had returned to JAG. From what he'd heard from Bud Roberts was that Rabb and Commander Austin were close. If she were able to get Rabb's attention off Sarah, then Mic could marry Sarah in peace and then perhaps Commander Austin would snare Rabb, then they could live happily ever after.

"Well, it was good to meet you, Commander Austin. I'll probably be seeing you around the office…" Mic stated as he turned to see Mac staring coldly at Commander Austin.

"Good to meet you too…" Meg replied as she shrugged her shoulders and headed off to find her office.

JAG Headquarters, Falls Church, VA, 0700hrs (next day)

Harm had quietly made his way to the boardroom where the admiral and the rest of the legal staff would be having their early morning meeting scheduled at 0730 bypassing his office, having grabbed his cup of coffee on the way into work. He'd wanted to sidestep the pre-wedding hoopla in the office, especially since having to deal with Mac was one of the things that he wanted to avoid. What he did not expect to see was a face from the past which was the first thing that hit his eyes when he opened the door to the boardroom.

She looked up at him with a slight smile lingering on her face, a faint ghost of the smiles he used to remember. Her hairstyle too was different, shorter and cropped in a long bob that was progressively longer towards her face, but her hair was still blonde and one couldn't mistake those twinkling blue eyes. His eyes travelled towards the sleeves of her service blues – three gold stripes of a full "silver oak leaf" commander, equal in rank to him and to Mac – a lieutenant colonel in the Marines. "Hiya, Harm…" she grinned patting the empty seat beside her as permission to sit down beside him. "Get a load off your feet and come on and sit down. I suspect the meeting will be starting shortly if I remember the admiral's timetable correctly."

"Meg?" he stammered as he forced his feet to remember how to be in motion and slowly moved towards her offered seat. Placing his briefcase to the side of his chair he sat down beside Meg and turned to her. "So…we have a lot to catch up on…" he said softly as he looked over at Meg with a questioning gaze.

"There's a lot I can tell you, but there's also a lot that I can't, Harm…and trust me on this. The stuff I can't tell you is black." She said sternly hoping that Harm would catch on to the hint and not press her on the information that she couldn't disclose. "All I can say is that I spent a few years with NAVINTEL and with Naval Systems Command – all extremely hush-hush…" Harm knew the ropes and he didn't press for information. All he cared about was that she was back and hopefully permanently.

Looking up when the door opened he noticed another officer coming in. She was short, under five feet at four feet ten inches tall with auburn hair and blue eyes; a wedding ring on her left hand and a smile on her face as she strode over to Harm. "I just got tapped for judiciary." She grinned. "The admiral said I'm a shoe-in for my fourth ring when the next O-6 boards meet…" then laughed as Harm raised his eyebrows to his hairline.

"I'm sure Animal's going to like that…" Harm responded and then realizing that Meg had absolutely no idea who the officer was that he was referring to, "My mentor was Toshio Nakamura at Reserve Air Group when I transitioned into the F-14 Tomcat. He's now a vice-admiral. This officer is Commander Liandra Gracen-Nakamura; his wife. They met when he visited JAG just after he got his O-6. They hit it off like cats and dogs." He grinned seeing Lia's arch expression.

"We did not…" Lia objected, her tone one of sheer pique. "We didn't kill each other…"

"At…least…they didn't. It was a near thing…" Harm assured Meg with a conspiratorial wink, "Office bets were that the two of them couldn't stand each other. I was in for five hundred." Harm told Meg who grinned. "Worst bet I ever made. I'm now five hundred bucks out of pocket." He said, his expression pitiable. "That was food money for two weeks."

"Well, that oughta teach you to bet money…" Meg smirked at Lia, the two of them finding mutual friendship in teasing Harm. "I betcha starvation rations taught you never to bet against a sure thing…" The two women laughed at Harm's expression of why me? Lia had just found a new ally. Harm inwardly cringed – the world was going to end with the two of them in cahoots.

The door opened yet again to bring in Lieutenant Singer, Lieutenant Bud Roberts and Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Mackenzie. Before the door even had a chance to shut, both Commander Imes and Commander Alan Mattoni came in the door…seeing the few seats available to them, they all trooped around the table and picked a spot. Mackenzie sat down directly across from Harm on the opposite side of the table fingering her ring visibly causing Harm to stiffen and become subdued. Meg noticed this and silently thought that Lieutenant Colonel Mackenzie was issuing a challenge to her.

"Lia…" Mac said. "I've got your invitation for both you and your husband." She opened her briefcase and slid an ivory envelope across." The wedding rehearsal was for the following day and the wedding the day after.

"Thanks…" Lia said, her smile not reaching her eyes, noting just how much this was hurting Harm. From the vantage point of one with nothing invested in the resolution of unrequited love, she could see objectively that Harm pining over Sarah Mackenzie was an exercise in downright stupidity. Lia had throughout the time that Mac had joined the office seen that Mackenzie wanted nothing but to jerk Harm around like a puppet on a string and Harm was a puppet, because he danced to everything Mac wanted. She'd heard from Harm just what it was like to be a bystander during that time in Sydney, Australia, when Mac had nearly missed the boarding call for the plane because she and that Australian exchange officer were too busy locking lips. If it was her in Harm's shoes, Lia thought, she would have turned around and kept walking. Friendship ring; my ass…it was nothing more than a flagrant smack in the face to someone that Mac felt that she could keep tied to her as an escape route.

"ATTENTION ON DECK!" Mattoni's voice cracked like a whip through the silent office as officers jumped to their feet as the admiral walked in.

JAG Headquarters, Falls Church, VA, 1200hrs

Meg looked up to see Harm standing by her office door. "So…what's up?" she asked casually.

"Just wondering if you had managed to get something to eat yet?" Harm asked equally unceremoniously. "…because I'm starving…and wondered if you wanted to go get something to eat?"

"I'm sure I could be enticed…" Meg replied as she shoved the FOIA requests that she was working on until she could get her teeth into some cases on Monday – everything was shelved in favor of the damned Sarah Mackenzie wedding. Everybody in the office was going…except for her since she was a latecomer to the office.

"G'day…Rabb…Commander Austin…" Mic Brumby poked his head in the door. "Commander Austin, I wanted to extend you an invitation…" Mic stated as he extended a hand with an ivory envelope – a wedding invitation. "I apologize for my fiancee's frigid welcome. You're welcome to bring a plus one." He grinned. "How are you, Commander Rabb…had fun playing with the jets?"

"Not too bad…was a nice little diversion…" Harm slightly stiffened. He still wasn't too friendly with the Australian who he felt had horned in on his relationship with Mac.

"Well…sorry to have to run, I've got a case involving a dole bludger who thinks the government is shortin' his monthly stipend. Good to see you again, Commander Austin…Rabb…" He turned and headed off towards Mac's office "…got to go catch Sarah before she finds her own way out of here for lunch."

"Well, I'll be…" Harm raised his eyebrows.

"…a monkey's uncle?" Meg finished Harm's sentence. "He seems like a nice enough guy…"

"…a dole bludger?" Harm queried unsure of the Australian slang. Meg shrugged. "Well…let's go get something to eat…" Harm said, "…before my brain explodes…trying to make sense of that down-under lingo."

Meg stood up and smiled. "Sounds like a perfect idea."