Title: Nulla Regula Sine Exceptione

Author: Vesja

Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Friendship

Pairing: Harm/Jen, I guess.

Rating: K+

A/N: Allright, here goes. My first Harm/Jen fic. I'll be writing more fics with Latin wisdoms as titles, but probably with allot of different pairings. I'm in the possession of about 500 wisdoms, but at least it'll keep me busy. ^^

A/N2: Ha! I passed the 1200 words! Yee-haa!

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

Nulla Regula Sine Exceptione (There are no rules without exceptions)

Petty Officer Jennifer Coates was in her apartment. Mattie had gone to a friend's for dinner and would stay there for the night, because there was a big snow storm coming. Today had been hell at the JAG office. For some reason or another Admiral A.J. Chegwidden had been very cranky, and the slightest problems made him erupt. She was exhausted. It hadn't been just the Admiral who had been cranky, Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Mackenzie was having her period as well. Jen had been keeping track, so she would know when to be very careful. Commander Harmon Rabb would return from his TAD-assignment this night, so he hadn't been there to defend Jen when she by accident had taken the Colonel's coffee…

-Flashback

Mac burst into the bullpen, nearly mowing down Bud as she did so. Fortunately, Harriet had seen Mac exiting the break room, so just in time she pulled Bud out of the way.

"WHO STOLE MY COFFEE?!" Mac shouted. You could almost see the smoke coming out of her ears. The only person in the bullpen who even had coffee in their hands, was Jen. She had a coffee pot in her hands. She swallowed. Mac came towards Jen, with the intention to walk through everyone standing in her way. Poor Tiner, he was standing in the way.

"TINER! GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

Jen was trembling with fear. She was frozen to the spot. Mac's eyes seemed on fire.

"PETTY OFFICER! IS THAT MY COFFEE?!"

"Erhm, I don't know ma'am," Jen managed to get the words out of her mouth, but it took her allot of effort.

"Was it in the break room?" Mac asked sweetly. Her sudden change from anger to sweetness petrified Jen.

"Yes ma'am," Jen whispered.

"THEN IT WAS MY COFFEE!!!" Mac shouted in Jen's face. Mac threw her hand backwards, getting ready to slap Jen in the face. Mac's hand came towards Jen's face. But suddenly Mac stopped, as if her hand had been slammed into an invisible wall, and her expression cooled 10 degrees.

"Sir." The Admiral was standing in the doorway of his office. His eyes fired splinters at Mac.

"Colonel. My office. NOW." Mac turned on her heels, and dragged after the Admiral, into his office. Harriet had immediately come to Jen.

"Are you alright, Jennifer?"

"Yes, I think so ma'am." Then Bud stood next to Harriet. He whispered: "One advice: Never get in the Colonel's way when she's, erhm, you know…" He examined his fingernails.

"Yes. Of course. Sir, ma'am, thank you." Harriet had smiled and dragged Bud back to her desk with her. The entire bullpen was still frozen to the spot. And the worst thing was: This had been one op Mac's lighter explosions…

-End of flashback

Jen grunted. Her shadow was enough to drag her down. And she still had to make herself some dinner. When she was thinking about what to eat, she yawned and someone knocked at the door. She had no idea who it could be, she hadn't been expecting any visitors. So, she cocked an eyebrow and went to see who was at the door. She was so tired she forgot to look through the peep-hole, so she just opened the door. She was going to tell her visitor that she was tired and that he or she would have to go home, but one look at her guest made her slam to a stop like she'd been instantly fossilized. She was being studied by her visitor.

"Hi Jen. Do you mind if I come in?"

"I, er… Yes. Come in." He walked past her, into the apartment, took off his coat and hung it on the rack. Jen still stood frozen to the spot.

"Jen? Jen?! Jen! Jennifer Coates!" Jen didn't hear him, she was sill flabbergasted.

"PETTY OFFICER!!!" Jen immediately snapped to. She still wasn't there mentally, but her body still responded to that. Finally her brain decided to help her out of her misery.

"Sir!" she shouted.

"Well, you finally returned to planet earth, didn't you?" Jen forced a smile, but she was too worn out, and she just sunk down on the floor and burst into tears.

"Jen?" He hurried to her side and pulled her into an embrace. She rested her head on his torso and just let it all out. He ran his hands up and down her back, trying to comfort her, and held her shaking body against his own. It took Jen a while to get a hold of herself.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Jen shook her head. She collapsed against him. He grunted.

"Do you want anything?"

"I just want to go to bed," she whimpered. But she didn't make any move. He sighed and lifted her in his arms, one arm supporting her neck, the other supporting her legs. She didn't protest. When he reached her bedroom, he gently laid her down on the bed. He excused himself from the bedroom to allow her to get changed.

A few minutes later he knocked on the door. She told him to come in. He sat down in the chair next to the bed. She was lying in the bed, eyes closed. When he thought she was asleep, he tried to leave the room as quietly as he could and make his way to his own apartment. But she took hold of his hand. He looked at her. Her eyes were begging him to stay.

"Please stay, sir."

"On one condition. You quit the sir, just for tonight. And use my name."

"Okay." He went into the bathroom and came back wearing his undershirt and a pair of boxers. He slipped into the bed. She moved her body against his strong form. He put his arms around her and they fell asleep, together.

--

That morning, the phone rang. He answered it, so Jen wouldn't be woken up.

"Jennifer Coates' apartment."

"Commander?! What the hell are you doing over there at, erhm, 6 a.m.?" Uh-oh. He decided to tell the Admiral the truth.

"Sir, I just came to visit the Petty Officer last night to see how she was doing, and she was totally worn out. I asked her what was wrong and she, just, collapsed. I was going to leave, but then she begged me to stay. I did."

"Well, I did make Coates' day at the office hell yesterday. That's why I called, Commander, to apologize to her." He was impressed. The Admiral didn't like apologizing.

"And the Colonel didn't make it any easier on her," the Admiral continued. Why would Mac have…? Oh God. He already knew.

"Poor Jen."

"Yes, well, Commander, you stay there and make sure she doesn't blame herself for all this, and that she has a nice day today. That's an order."

"But sir, aren't we risking a court-martial there? I mean, the fraternization regalements…"

"I'm your witness, Harm. And, as they say, there are no rules without exceptions."

"Aye-aye sir." Harm put the phone down and went back to check on Jen. He was pretty sure that he would make this day all about Jen. Like, she had to deal with a mad Admiral and a Marine Colonel having her period. Poor Jen!