Disclaimer: They belong to DPB, CBS and PARAMOUNT.
Thanks: Thanks to my wonderful beta reader Sabrina.
ADRIFT AND NEVER COMING BACK
Mac placed the cover on her head.
One last look in the mirror.
She was ready.
It was time to go. It was time to say goodbye.
Today was her best friend's funeral.
Harm's Tomcat had crashed into the ocean the night of her rehearsal dinner. His corpse was found two weeks later.
Today she had to attend to his funeral.
The last time she had seen him alive they had argued about his not being there at her rehearsal dinner because he had to go flying. Now he would never be able to attend anything that happend in her life - he wouldn't be at her wedding, her children's christening. He wouldn't be the godfather of her first child. He wouldn't walk her down the aisle. He was dead.
Mac never had the possibility to apologize for her harsh words.
Now she regretted them. She had been jealous. To Harm flying was first priority. Flying had always been the only thing that had bound him with his dead father, but now it had cost his life, too.
His father had died on christmas in Vietnam, Harm had been killed nearly four decades later.
There was a knock at her door and a moment later Mic Brumby walked in.
"You ready, Sarah?" he asked.
"Never" she answered truthfully.
Mac sighed. No one could ever understand how much Harm had meant to her. They weren't meant to be together as lovers but they had been more than best friends. They were like brother and sister. Now it felt like her other half was missing.
Mac still couldn't believe that Harm was dead. She had even twice called his cellphone, hoping to reach him, but the moment she realized what she was doing she had fought the urge to cry. She couldn't cry. She had cried a lot when she had gotten the news about Harms crash into at sea. Now it was like she had no tears anymore.
At the funeral
Arlington National Cemetery
Harm's funeral had something of a reunion, old friends, former colleagues, family, ex-girlfriends, everybody came together to pay their last respects, together with his colleagues at JAG.
Mac sat, wearing her mess dress, together with Mic Brumby under the canopy.
Neither of them spoke a word.
There was nothing to say.
Admiral Chegwidden was at Harm's funeral and Lt. Singer, Gunny, Commander Imes and Mattoni, Bobbie Latham, Keeter, Clayton Webb, PO Tiner, the SecNav, Bud and Harriet Roberts.
His family, his Grandma Sarah, his mother and stepfather, his brother, they all were sitting in the front row.
The casket was set on the platform above the open grave .
A priest stood at the head of the casket, a bible in his hand.
"We're here today to mourn the loss of Lieutenant Commander Harmon Rabb junior. He was a wonderful man, a fine officer, a good friend. He was much loved by his friends and especially his family. We all will miss him. We are here today to remind ourselves that we shall all meet again in Heaven some day. Lord make me an instrument of your peace, Where there is hatred let me sow love; Where there is unjury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy. O Divine master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; To be loved as to love; For it is in the giving that we receive; And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen."
There was silence, the wind, and then Carolyn's soft sobbing, which Harriet also added to.
21 shoot salute sound over the cemetery.
A lone soldier standing on the nearby hill played his song.
The flag was folded by the Marines and given to Admiral Chegwidden who handed it over to Harm's mother Trish Burnett.
"In behalf of a thankful nation" he said and gave Trish Burnett the flag who silently accepted it.
She clutched the flag to her chest. Trish had lost so much in her life, first her husband, now her son. How much more pain could a woman take?
After the funeral Mac walked towards the open grave, standing in front of the coffin.
She stood at attention, saluting.
"It was a honor for me to know you. It was a honor to serve with you and it is a honor to love you, always and forever." she said, tears running down her cheeks.
THE END