Sorry, this is not a new story or a new chapter added; several little errors have been driving me crazy, so I'm re-posting some chapters with these corrected. If you are discovering this story for the first time; Enjoy! If you've read this before, please give it another go! You might enjoy more than you did the last time! I really hope this is the case! Jules
Summary: Okay, this story is definitely what would be termed 'alternate universe'; No Falls Church, no Bud, Harriet, AJ, Cresswell or Sturgis Turner. In this reality, Harm and Mac never met any of them, nor spent any time in DC. Their lives retain a hint of official canon, but more has been changed than not.
AN: Okay, I acknowledge this; my story is very different; Harm met Dianne Schonke, they had a child together, then she disappeared. Never giving up on finding the Mother of his child, Harm pursues her trail all over the US and eventually abroad, ending up in Bali, Indonesia, where this story takes place. Then Mac gets transferred there from San Diego and of course things become very uncomfortable. How will Harm react to the new partner who looks so much like the absent Mother of his child? How will his daughter react to her? Since I'm a Harm-Mac shipper, I promise a happy ending, but you all know how much I enjoy injecting elephant-sized amounts of angst into my stories! The road to happy shipper-dom will not be smooth! Enjoy!
Category: H/M shipper (eventually!)
Rating: K , but perhaps T. It contains quite a bit of angst, but no bad words. You may think that some contents may warrant something a bit stronger than K , you may not. Just proceed with caution, either way…I'm not that great at rating my stories, sorry!
Part 1
Title: Ramayana
The Ramayana is an epic Balinese tale, telling of Prince Rama and his beautiful wife Sita. One day, while out in the forest, hunting, Rama and Sita come upon a beautiful golden deer. Enchanted by the deer, Rama takes off after it, stalking it through the forest, determined to catch it for his wife Sita. Because he must leave her behind, he first places her inside a magic circle of protection. But before Rama returns, Sita is discovered by the evil King Rawana. He breaks Rama's circle of protection and carries the terrified Sita off to his land of darkness and despair. When Prince Rama returns and discovers what has happened, he enlists the help of the hero Hanuman, the Monkey General and his army of monkey warriors. They travel far, to the kingdom of darkness ruled over by King Rawana. After a fierce battle between the two, Prince Rama finally slays the evil Rawana and brings Sita home to safety.
She was still quite young when they came to this beautiful, peaceful island, but for as long as she'd been able to make sense of what was going on around her she'd been able to draw similarities between her own life and wonderful tales of Balinese folkore. Her Father was the dashing Prince Rama, her Mother his beautiful wife, Sita…only for them there was no happy ending…not yet, anyway…Her Mother, Lieutenant Dianne Shonke went missing from the home in California. She wasn't yet one year of age, her Father had no idea of what had happened to her and the police never came back with anything more than questions. Eventually, her Father became impatient and at the same time, he found all of the things around him did nothing but multiply his pain, because they reminded him of her. In a way, so did his child. So he decided to go and search for her himself. Being a Lieutenant Commander in the US Navy, it wasn't hard to secure himself a TAD another state, then another country entirely. And so it continued; moving from place to place, following a meandering trail of evidence, never staying for more than three or four months at a time, just long enough to search for clues and answers. When his daughter was five, they settled in Bali and for a time, her Father was happy to build a life, put down roots. She didn't dare to do so, dare to hope for a normal life.
One evening, after they had not been here long, he came home more broken than she'd ever seen him. She assumed that he'd found more evidence and that he was disappointed that this horrible treasure hunt had still not come to an end. He wouldn't tell her anything, but she could still see it in his tearful eyes…He was giving up.
"Don't cry, Daddy," She told him, "She wouldn't want us to give up."
She couldn't quite discern the main expression on his face as he looked up at her, but she could see a strengthening of his resolve.
That night she packed her bag again, anticipating another move, come morning…but as was routine, he woke her up and told her to get ready for school. He dropped her off as usual, before leaving for work, or at least that is what he said. She was worried sick the whole morning, until lunchtime came, when she ran all the way home. Letting herself into the house, she ran around, throwing open cupboards and drawers, not stopping for a breath until she knew for sure that every single belonging of her Dad's was there…He had not left her…
OOOO
Five years later…
16th June, 1992.
Rabb Residence,
Ubud, Bali.
Kim quickly packed a bag and slung it over one shoulder, before bolting for the bedroom door. Her hand began to twist the knob open, before she remembered and darted back to the chest of drawers, yanking open the bottom drawer and taking out a rolled-up sarong. The last thing she needed was to be late and without proper attire; her teacher would definitely not be impressed. Now all prepared; she took the stairs two at a time, only to come to an unexpected halt at the bottom; face-to-face with her Father.
"Dad…you're home."
Well, that was hardly what you'd call articulate! She wasn't sure who was most surprised.
"Yeah, I have to get changed."
It wasn't usual for him to be home from his job at the military's JAG office this early.
"I have a work function, tonight…I'm sure I told you."
Perhaps he did…unfortunately, she probably wasn't paying attention at the time. That wasn't anything new for either of them, a point illustrated by his next question.
"You going out?"
"Uh, yeah…Tonight's dance class, remember? And I'm going to be late…"
Five years of classes in traditional Balinese dance, every Tuesday night and you'd think he'd remember…Nope!
"Oh…Uh, I'd give you a ride there, but…"
"You have to get showered and changed, yeah," she finished for him, nodding in understanding, "That's okay. I'm going to ride my bike over. I should make it in time if I hurry."
"Okay, ride carefully, though."
"Okay, bye…"
And with not a word more, they hurried in opposite directions; him upstairs to his bedroom and her out the front door, to where she left her bike collapsed in the front yard.
OOOO
Once he was out of the shower, Harm moved in front of the bathroom mirror, grabbing up his can of shaving foam. Once it had been smeared over the contours of his face, he picked up his razor, making quick work of removing the stubble that had appeared since this morning. After drying off and re-dressing, Harm picked his cover up off the desktop, where he had left it.
He hurried downstairs, where he made himself a quick sandwich, not knowing when he'd next get a chance to eat. Tonight he was to meet some of his colleagues at local military base, to greet an incoming group of officers who were to take up posts both within and outside his chain of command. They'd take them for a tour of the base where they'd be working, including the JAG offices then they'd take them for an informal tour of some of the local sights. He didn't know what his fellow officer, James Greene had actually organized.
As Harm sat down at the kitchen table, he moved some of his daughter's schoolbooks, which had been left there after homework was completed.
Harm sighed when he saw a familiar book, one that was written for children much younger than Kim's ten years. He'd bought it for her five years ago, when they'd arrived here. It was a book full of tales and pictures of local folklore. It had always been one of Kim's favourites, but now Harm was concerned that Kim was clinging to the fairytales within it. He was concerned that Kim might be shunning the adult world that most children Kim's age were now beginning to be indoctrinated into. Oh, he knew that Kim was an intelligent child; she wrote and read at the level of a thirteen-year-old and her mathematics abilities were also above average for her age. She was articulate and for the most part sociable, but she often chose to bury her nose in a book of story-tales, rather than play out with the neighbor's kids. Harm was beginning to think that he'd have to intervene, if she was going to move past these fanciful, romantic tales and learn what the real world was all about.
It was something that Harm didn't have the time to worry about, just now, though. He had better be on his way. He put his used dishes into the sink for later washing and made his way outside, locking the front door before climbing into his car.
OOOO
Part 2
Kim found that she was just in time for her class. She dropped her bike to lie on the ground beside the temple entryway and quickly wrapped her sarong around herself, tucking it in at her waist.
The class began and Kim quickly lost herself in the dance and the music. Usually, if it was a performance day, a full Balinese orchestra would be assembled in the courtyard, to provide music for the dancers, but today was just a practice, so they made do with a cassette tape of music played on somebody's portable stereo.
Kim was in a class for children between eight and twelve years old. They learned traditional dances such as the Legong, a dance traditionally performed by girls who had not yet reached puberty. After their class was over, the girls hung around as they usually did, to watch the older class. This was for teenage girls and boys or women and men in their early twenties and was much more advanced than the younger class, performing dances such as the Kecak, the Topeng and the Barong and Rangda dance. Some of these girls, boys and young women and men, the ones who possessed the special talent, routinely performed at local festivals and for tourist parties at the big hotels. Kim very much wanted to go on to become one such dancer. True, she was the only non-Indonesian child in this school, but neither her teachers nor the other dancers ever made her feel like an outsider. They had known her for all the time she'd lived here in Bali, treated her as just another child of the village. However, the skills required of the older dancers were much more advanced. You were required to be very supple, graceful and the facial expressions involved were as important as the skilled body and hand-movements in these dances. There were quite a few more male dancers in the older class, but female dancers would commonly play both parts, both male and female. As she watched some of the older women perform, she felt much trepidation about what lay ahead of her. She was quickly approaching the age where she would no longer be able to perform the Legong. In order to continue at the temple's school of dance, as skilled as she was, she would need to buck down and work hard at acquiring the skills of a senior dancer.
After the senior class was over, as she was about to leave, Kim's teacher approached her and some other girls from the junior class. She explained that there would be an unplanned performance tonight; the Legong, the Barong and Rangda and the Kecak would be performed for a group of tourists. Kim and the two other girls had been chosen to perform their piece, the Legong, while a large number of young women and men would be performing the more advanced dances. The bulk of the men would make up the Kecak choir, while the majority of the women would be performing the Barong and Rangda, or would be assisting with costumes and make-up. They were all told to go and get something to eat and be back at the temple in an hour, to get ready for the performance, scheduled to begin in two hours time.
OOOO
Harm had felt anxious from the moment he stepped out of his vehicle, at the base's airfield. He joined the rest of his colleagues who, like him, were senior officers in the JAG and Inspector General's office. The transport they were meeting had apparently already landed and their incoming officers were in the process of disembarking. At first, Harm believed that his tardiness had been the reason for his nerves, but later events would prove this wrong. He was more cynical than the majority of the people he knew, but Harm would eventually be forced to attribute the whole encounter to fate, as laughably romantic as that sounded.
Once the incoming officers arrived in the main building, Harm threw himself into greeting and introducing himself, working out which officers belonged within which command or office and insuring that all of the luggage was tagged appropriately for transport to the BOQ.
It was Harm's fellow officer, Lt. Commander James Greene who tapped him on the shoulder, as Harm was relaying details to a petty officer, who would drive the minibus that would take the luggage to the BOQ.
"Lt. Commander Rabb?"
As Harm turned around, he barely glanced at Lt. Commander Greene, before falling into pools of deep brown.
"May I introduce you to Major Sarah MacKenzie…The Major will technically be an officer in the IG's chain of command, but her courtroom and investigative skills mean she will be a real asset when she is stationed in our office. Major MacKenzie was telling me that her last duty station was in San Diego. Aren't your parents from near there, Harm?"
The brunette Marine Colonel smiled pleasantly at Harm, reaching out a hand in greeting.
"Mac."
But Harm was still frozen, neither holding out his hand nor answering Greene's question, instead simply looking at the woman who bore such a remarkable resemblance to his ex-wife.
It was the major's hair, braided and pinned up, that snapped him out of his stupor. Dianne had never allowed her hair to get this long, had hated the natural wave that ran through her chestnut locks when they reached a certain length, so had fastidiously kept it trimmed short. As a result, Harm had never seen it long enough to even brush her uniform collar.
Luckily, the Major didn't seem to take offence at his staring. What Harm didn't know was that many other officers from the JAG Office had had a similar initial reaction to the Marine Major. Because Harm's predecessor, (also his former CO in California), had spent much of his time with Lt. Commander Dianne Schonke (formerly Rabb,) many officers on base had also been familiar with the woman. The first person to greet Sarah MacKenzie had been the first to apologize, "Oh, sorry, Ma'am…You just look so much like another officer I used to know…"
"My apologies, Major," Harm tried unsuccessfully cover his surprise, "You just…"
"Yes, I understand I have a twin on-base…" Mac smiled, calmly.
"Well, up until about six months ago, yes…I believe Lt. Commander Schonke has now transferred to back stateside…"
It difficult to find words to reply to this. The situation was entirely too bizarre!
"Ah…okay…Nice to meet you, Lt. Commander."
"Please, call me Harm…Everyone else does."
"Amongst other names which are unmentionable in civilized conversation," Greene joked, breaking the tension.
Once the chit-chat in the terminal building had died down, Greene announced to the group the plans for the evening; their luggage would continue to the base's BOQ, where the newcomers would be staying while they made decisions about whether to stay on-base, or pursue accommodations off-base. In the meantime, they would head to the JAG and Inspector General's offices, to have a quick tour of the facilities, before they continued on to secure something to eat, at a local eating house. They would get a chance to try the local fare, although the eating house also catered to the large number of westerners serving with the US, British and Australian militaries in the area.
"And once dinner is finished, I've got something special lined up for us. I've managed to arrange an impromptu performance by a local traditional dance school, at Ubud's premier temple," Greene announced, "I know from experience that we're in for a real treat!"
Once he was finished, everybody made their way towards the three transport busses that were parked at the entrance of the terminal building.
OOOO