Title: Going the distance. By JulieM
Summary: What happens when Harm and Mac see a little too much of themselves in their newest protégés?
Disclaimer: I don't own JAG or any of it's characters, but just borrow them for a while to exercise my overactive imagination! JAG belongs to DPB, Bellisarius Productions and CBS.
Spoilers: None.
Rating: T, just to be on the safe side.
Category: Slightly H/M shipper, but mainly, Harm and Mac get some perspective on their relationship, by watching another partnership.
This is just an idea I came up with in the space of an hour...Not sure yet if I will continue it, but your feedback will help be decide (hint hint!) I'd appreciate anything you have to say, once you've read this. Thanks!
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Part 1
The young man had to walk brusquely to keep up with his senior officer's long stride.
"We talked about this, lieutenant," the older man pointed out, "Were you even listening the last time I told you?"
"Yes, Sir," the young man tried to explain, "but it's so difficult to take what you've told me and use it to intercept any verbal comment I'm about to make."
"Well," Harmon Rabb Jr. replied, "I'd try harder, if I were you, or your working relationship with your partner is going to go right down the head…"
The young lieutenant j.g. only nodded, frustrated.
"She may be a commissioned officer in the United States Navy, but she's like most other members of the female sex, regardless of the rank. Her pride and her self-esteem is a little bit delicate at times, despite the fact that she could easily drop-kick your six. Let's go over this all one more time:
No sand-bagging her in court; that's an easy way to get into a lot of trouble with just a seemingly tiny action. Trust me on this, I know from personal experience.
Stop pressing her damn buttons, no matter how inviting the opportunity might be because that's one way to get your gonads excised with no sedation and
For God's sake, stop calling her 'Podge.' That is a definite no-no…"
"But that was just a joke, Sir," James defended, "I heard from her sister that she was a little chubby while she was still in elementary school…"
"A definite no-no, lieutenant," Harm cut in, emphatically and trying to sound stern, "Understood?"
"Yes, Sir," James conceded.
Lieutenants JG Andrew James and Elaine Hodge were some of the most recent additions to the JAG office at Falls Church and were meant to be partners, but were now just starting to face each other in court, handling petty cases. When they had first arrived, Harm and Mac had tried their best to take these two under their protective wing and guide them, but it seemed that life was never dull when these two were around. They had a funny knack for winding each other up, which led to some pretty intense fireworks around the bullpen. These didn't really disrupt the functioning of the office, so Cresswell tended to either miss it entirely or just let it go most of the time, but the rest of the staff did find it quite amusing. Since they were all used to the past shenanigans of a certain Naval Commander and Marine Lieutenant Colonel, these displays were tame in comparison, but still provided much amusement and sparked off a 'will-they-or-won't-they' betting pool. It was plain to see the sexual tension between these two, but like Harm and Mac before them, they were unlikely to actually act upon it in the formality of such a workplace as this.
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In her office, Mac was meeting with the subject of Harm and Andy's conversation.
"34 television sets, 17 VCRs, 15 Dvd players, various weaponry, assorted technology, including IPod music players, MP3 Players and cellphones, pilfered from the quarters of other recruits and huge amounts of cannabis and cocaine, which they planned to sell!" Elaine 'Lainey' Hodge exclaimed, "How on earth am I going to defend this one?"
"Regardless of the crime the officers are accused of," Mac reminded the young woman, "they deserve a fair and impartial trial, just like anybody else. It is your job to investigate and try to build a case that gives the jury members a good idea about what went on. Look to see if there may be any mitigating factors, something that points to why they foolishly decided to do this, apart from the opportunity to make money."
"I don't see how any factors could fully mitigate the actions of these recruits," Elaine sighed, miserably.
"Then see if you can present anything that would reduce the penalties your clients are facing," Mac encouraged, "If you have to plea bargain, then so be it. But you're going to have to defend your clients to the very best of your abilities."
After a moment of silence, Mac looked over and took in the defeated appearance of her newest apprentice.
"Well, this isn't like you," she commented, "You're usually ready for a good fight."
"Yeah," Lainey sighed, "but today I just can't seem to get it together…This week has been tough enough, without having to face off against Lieutenant James, most of the time. The man has been driving me insane."
Mac took in the gritting of the other woman's teeth and took 'insane' to be literal, rather than 'with passion.' Concealing a grin, Mac stood up from her desk where they had been working, prodding Elaine back into the fight like an expert coach.
"Well, since he's going to be opposing you on this case, I suggest you snap yourself out of it, or he's going to have even more of an advantage over you on this one."
It worked and soon, Elaine was busy at her desk, making phone-calls to set up preliminary meetings.
Harm and Andy soon entered the bullpen, but giving them just one short look, Elaine turned back to her work and gave her partner no more thought.
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"You doing anything for dinner, tonight?" Andrew asked his partner on the way out of the door.
It had been three days since the General had assigned them this case and now that all of the preliminary investigation had been done, they faced full-out confrontation in order to try to come to consensus on a plea bargain.
"I've got nothing planned," Lainey told him, but would later kick herself internally for revealing to him that she had no social life, "just my usual Friday night take-out. You want to do something?"
"I thought maybe we could get together and try to work out some sort of deal on this case," Andrew told her, which sort of disappointed her, but she tried not to let it show.
"Uh, yeah…I guess we could do that," She nodded, "You prefer any particular take-out?"
"The Chinese place east of Union?" Andrew suggested, "They do good food there."
"Sure," Elaine wisely decided not to say anything about this. She knew that Andrew had a particular thing about the take-out he consumed. If it didn't come from the take-out east of Union Square, then he wouldn't eat it. His reasoning was that the layout of the place facilitated the customer's view into the kitchens, so you could see just how clean things were, how the ingredients were prepared and how the food was handled. In fact, Elaine knew that Andrew sometimes refused to eat anyplace where the kitchen staff didn't wear hairnets. It had seemed quirky at first, now it was a little annoying, but she hoped that at some point she'd learn to see the humor in it and allow it to bother her less.
"Seven sound good?"
"Yeah, fine."
OOOO
Andrew was predictably late, that evening, but Lainey was relieved to find that even though she had left the door open for him, he made no comment about how it wasn't safe to do so. Several times, his remonstrations had been met with; "Well, just turn up on time and then I'll know when to expect you."
When he finally arrived, he walked through to where Lainey was already sitting with the cartons out on the table, going over her case notes. He knew his way around her spacey apartment and was now past the stage where he asked her questions about it.
From conversations pieced together, he'd managed to ascertain that it was her parent's apartment, but had been a gift to her for graduating from college. It had been bought as a financial investment and they had intended it to go to their children eventually. Since she now needed a place of her own, it made sense for her to live there, pay off the remainder of the mortgage and actually get on the property ladder, rather than shell out in rent. While they were still getting to know each other, Andy had once asked if she would have to eventually share this investment with any siblings.
"I've only got one older sister," she had told him, joking "But she's off around the world doing the eco-warrior thing, so I'm hoping she'll not be interested."
Andrew had even met her sister once, in a bizarre case that had eventually needed her testimony as an expert witness.
He'd also learned that Lainey had been a very ill child in her first few years, spending many birthdays in the hospital in a serious condition. Her parents had decided that they didn't want to run the risk of having more children who might be born with the same problems and possibly succumb to them, as Lainey very nearly had.
For about forty minutes, they sparred back and forth, but when it became evident that they were not going to reach any agreement, they decided to give up for the evening and just focus on their food. The quiet evening came to an end early and then Andrew left to return to his apartment across town.
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