Standard Disclaimer: These characters aren't mine, I'm just taking them out to play. Not profiting from their usage, other than that of my own personal enjoyment. Hopefully, you all enjoy it as well.

This story is a sequel to "Moving On" and it is recommended that you read that story first, just to have an idea of how we got to here. For the series timeline, this takes place after "Back in the Saddle" and the scene of Harm being offered his commission back by Admiral Chegwidden.

January 2, 2004

Force Judge Advocate's Office – London, England

0738 Greenwich/ 0238 Eastern

Captain Harmon Rabb Junior walked confidently into the suite of offices that would be his domain for the next three years. His service dress blues were impeccably turned out, his gold wings glinting in the lights and his four rows of ribbons spoke of a man with courage and experience. Taking a second to look around, he was surprised to see how much smaller the area was than he expected. He suspected that it was due to his long time spent at JAG Headquarters and the bullpen style he'd grown accustomed to.

A petty officer spotted him after a few seconds and after seeing the four rings, snapped to attention. His action caused the rest of the staff to follow suit, yet nobody called out attention. The reason for this became clear as he made his way across the office towards the inner door clearly marked as the Force Judge Advocate's office. He was almost there when the door opened and Harm stopped in surprise.

"Hello, Harm," came a voice from the past, as Alison Krennick came from the office.

"Captain," Harm replied, keeping his tone formal while extending his hand.

Alison shook the offered hand before ushering him into her office and closing the door.

"I was surprised when I got told you were going to be replacing me," she said. "I never figured they'd let you out of Washington."

"Well, I was offered a choice between being the assistant SJA for the Joint Chiefs and the position here. My wife and I decided on London."

"Your wife?! You mean somebody finally managed to tie the great Harmon Rabb down."

"Yes, Ma'am," Harm said with a smile.

"Harm, we're the same rank. You don't have to 'Ma'am' me, you know," Alison told him.

"Sorry. I guess it's a force of habit. So, what do I need to know before I take over?"

"You've got a good staff here. What they need mostly is experience. With the war on terror being CENTCOM's problem, there's not much we have to do with regards to ROE for that. Europe is relatively quiet and so is the Med, meaning our biggest problems are ordinary things like DDOs, assaults and such. All the really complicated stuff gets handled by JAG HQ anyways, so it is reasonably relaxing duty."

"How long have you been here, Alison?" Harm asked.

"Four years. I got this post in January 2000, after I got promoted to Captain. Before that I was an instructor at NJS for three years, which is where Chegwidden dumped me after the whole Lieutenant Schonke murder investigation fiasco. He blamed me for not getting that solved and for the investigation turning into a mess. NCIS was pissed at JAG, JAG was pissed at NCIS and someone got away with murder," Alison said, shaking her head at the bad memory.

Harm just cautiously watched the older woman, wondering if she would mention his part in the investigation becoming screwed up. The years had been less than kind to Alison and her age was showing in her face. Her blonde hair was now streaked with greys and her voice had a raspy quality to it, which spoke of lots of smoking.

"So, where is all the staff?" Harm asked.

Alison smiled kindly at Harm. She'd been waiting for him to say something, as the office was relatively small compared to what he was used to at Falls Church.

"Oh, there's nothing here like JAG Ops, Harm. Our offices are all over the floor, plus the various personnel already sent to Naval Support Activity Naples ahead of the planned move there late next year."

"What?"

"Yeah. NAVFOREUR is moving to Naples in September 2005, because COMUSNAVEUR is also COMJFC and JFC is located in Naples. It's not exactly efficient for him to have to commute between the two offices, so they're moving this one there."

Harm grinned ruefully at that. He had a year and a half to think about where Beth could be assigned under spousal colocation. The problem was, her post in London was for three years and he doubted BUPERs would want to relocate her a second time in two years just to accompany him. Also, there just weren't many positions in Naples that he knew of for someone with her skill set, but maybe it would offer her a chance to expand her horizons. That would be especially important, given that the F-14 was being phased out of fleet service and scheduled for retirement in 2006.

Alison, for her part, was watching Harm. The years had been kind to him, she saw. He looked a little older, but in a good way. She could see a few flecks of grey at the temples and a few more lines around his eyes, but the look screamed "authority" rather than just "old". His career too seemed to be progressing nicely, especially getting to Captain's rank at his age. She had heard rumors over the years about some of the cases he'd won and investigations he'd done, which had only served to confirm her impression of him formed when she'd first met him: this was a man destined for high rank.

Her own career, sadly, didn't have that possibility any more. That one old investigation had effectively ended it for her. Alison had been surprised when she'd been offered the FJA post four years ago. She knew that Chegwidden had placed a fairly damning letter in her personnel file and her abrupt transfer out of JAG HQ to an instructor's position at NJS had hardly been a step forward. Now, she was just playing out the hand and waiting for mandatory retirement.

"The staff in Naples still reports to me, though," Harm said, drawing Alison's thoughts back to the here and now.

"Yes. Your deputy is down there, along with 4 Judge Advocates, 2 Judges and a half dozen enlisted staff. Part of that is staff that was originally based in Naples, attached to the LSO. Keep in mind too, Harm, that almost all of the JAG officers in Europe report to you. The current Staff Judge Advocate for EURCOM is a Navy JAG who isn't in your chain of command."

Harm was slightly shocked by the revelation. The transfer had happened too fast in some respects, without his being given an adequate briefing on all that his new position entailed. Well, that was alright, he would just have to learn as he went and try not to make the same mistakes twice. First, though, would be sitting down with Alison and going over everything currently occurring in the region. Seeing the large stack of folders that occupied her desk, Harm was glad he had a few days before she was due to leave. He figured it would probably take every minute of that time to go through all of this.

The American School – London, England

1602 Greenwich/ 2102 Eastern

Mattie had not enjoyed her day at all. Harm and Beth had arranged for her to attend a highly regarded school while they were stationed in England, so first thing this morning they had all walked from the house to the school. Fortunately, all of the documents that had been sent over before the move had arrived and were in order. The admissions staffer's face had expressed surprise at seeing the two adults in naval officer's uniforms, yet she quickly covered the look while handing over three copies of Mattie's school schedule along with the school handbook.

Mattie had been a little lost and overwhelmed, the number of students as well as the age variation stunning her. That was without the disconnect that came with hearing so many different accents and languages. So, the teen tried to sit in the very back of each of her classes, hoping to go unnoticed. That was not to be, however, since all of her teachers had been briefed on the new student and had her introduce herself to the class. Mattie's face flushed as red as her hair from embarrassment.

Then, there were the classes themselves. She'd been trying, ever since Harm had gotten her back into school, to make up the work that she'd missed. Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to accomplish that before the change of schools. So, that resulted in her being in a strange place, without any friends and lagging behind in her classes. All she could hope for was understanding from the teachers, along with maybe some after school help to get her caught up.

What Mattie didn't know was that the school staff was well aware of the situation, having received the information from both Harm and the Falls Church school she'd briefly attended. So it was that, as Mattie was getting ready to leave her last class, the teacher asked her to stay. Once the rest of the class had left, the teacher had her sit down and spent an hour working with the teen. She also explained that each of Mattie's other teachers would all be willing to work with her, after school, until the teen was fully caught up.

That was why she was leaving the school well after most of the other students had, taking away the chance to potentially make acquaintances on the walk toward home. Mattie shouldered the backpack and began walking. Getting to the house from school as almost ridiculously simple, yet she almost got hit by a car when she tried to cross the street and looked the wrong way. The sound of the horn surprised her and caused her to jump back, only to see a red car pass right in front of her with the driver glaring at her.

With that came the realization that she was in London and not Virginia. Cars here drove the wrong way, or so it seemed to her. She was surprised that she hadn't noticed that when they'd first arrived. Possibly it was the excitement of being in a new place that had caused that to escape her attention or maybe she'd just been more focused and paying more attention, rather than being incredibly distracted like she was today. Whatever the reason, Mattie knew she'd have to pay more attention until she became accustomed to her new surroundings.

Arriving home, she went into the kitchen for a snack. Taking a bottle of root beer out along with some leftovers, she fixed a small plate and carried it to the microwave to reheat. When it was ready, she settled in at the table and ate, while also doing her assigned reading for her history class. After eating, she cleared the table and loaded the dishwasher before carrying her things upstairs and on to her bedroom. Flopping across the bed, Mattie resumed her studying. She knew it would still be hours before either Harm or Beth were home, which should give her plenty of time to get the worst of homework done.

Grove End Road – London, England

1929 Greenwich/ 0029 Eastern

Harm was just finishing making dinner when Beth got home. When he had finished around 1800, he'd stopped at the embassy to see if she had been ready. Unfortunately, she'd been in a meeting at the time, so he had been forced to leave a message for her. The yeoman hadn't known how much longer the meeting was due to last and Harm hadn't wanted to simply sit in the outer office and wait, so he had caught a taxi home.

Once there, he'd checked in on Mattie before going to the bedroom and changing into jeans and a pullover. With that accomplished, he'd gone back downstairs and began the prep work for dinner. Looking through the cupboards, he'd decided on salmon steaks for Mattie and Beth and tomato soup, garden salads and garlic mashed potatoes for everyone. He also made broccoli with cheddar cheese sauce for himself.

The smell of the cooking brought Mattie from her room and she quickly set the table, along with getting out drinks for them all. Beth smiled as she saw all this upon entering the kitchen, having left her briefcase by the front door. Moving quickly, she went up to Harm and wrapped her arms around him before snuggling up to him. Harm took one hand away from his work to rest in on top of hers, before turning his attention back to the stovetop. Judging everything was ready, he removed the mashed potatoes and the broccoli and transferred the pots to the table where hot pads awaited them. The soup he turned down to simmer, to keep it hot. Instead of bringing the pot to the table, he filled bowls and carried them over. As for the salmon, he put the two pieces onto a separate plate and carried them over to the table for Beth and Mattie.

"I was surprised you were in a meeting when I stopped by to pick you up on the way home," Harm told Beth. "I figured the first day would be mostly getting your paperwork sorted out."

"Well, that's what occupied my morning. After lunch, I was getting brought up to speed on all the projects that we have going with the British Ministry of Defense," Beth said.

"Oh, like what?"

"Well, the Brits are interested in the new Joint Strike Fighter that's being developed. They see it as a potential replacement for the Harrier, so the DOD and MOD are in talks about the Brits buying some and I'll be somewhat involved with that."

"Sounds interesting," Harm said, glad that Beth had a real assignment here rather than just a diplomatic post.

"What about you, Harm? How was your first day?" Beth asked.

"Well, I met with the outgoing FJA and got briefed on what the office is currently handling. After that, I met with the Judge Advocates, Judicial staff and the enlisted personnel. You know, the typical meet the new boss shtick. Not a whole lot currently going on, just the usual stuff but that could change by tomorrow. There was one piece of bad news, though."

"And what was that?"

"NAVFOREUR is moving from London to Naples, with the movement to be completed by September of 2005," Harm told Beth and Mattie. "That gives us about 18 months to figure out what we want to do."

"What's there to think about?" Mattie asked. "If the office moves to Naples, don't you have to go, too? I mean, you're the boss, right?"

"That's correct, Mattie, as far as it goes. However, just because the office moves there doesn't necessarily mean that we have to move there, sweetheart. See, Beth's and my assignments are for three years. If need be, you and Beth could stay here in London until January of 2007, while I work out of Naples and travel back as often as I can. Alternately, I could always retire. My twenty years is up in June of 2005, so I'd get retirement benefits if I stayed in that long. We could also start looking at what would be available next for us that June, too, which might have an impact on our decision."

"Personally, I think you retiring should be a last resort type of thing," Beth said. "If you have to go to Naples and I have to stay in London, we'll make it work. Just think of all the deployments I could get sent on in the future. We'd survive those, right?"

"Indeed, we would," Harm told her, leaning in for a kiss.

"Gee, I'm trying to eat here," Mattie said, with a mock sigh. "If you want to make out, could you go in another room or something?"

Harm and Beth both looked at the 14 year old girl and laughed. Obviously, boys had yet to gone from "disgusting creatures" to "things I can't live without" for Mattie, but both adults silently promised themselves that when that change happened and the young woman was caught kissing some boy, these comments would be brought up. Or maybe not, considering that going into another room might lead to other activities taking place.

Harm did decide to tease the teen a little though, so he leaned back in to Beth for another kiss, this one deeper than the previous one. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Mattie roll her eyes before dropping her attention to her food and refusing to raise her head as she quickly finished up and practically raced from the kitchen to go back upstairs and her awaiting homework.

"You are so bad, Harm," Beth said with a sigh.

"That may well be, but it sure is funny," Harm told her. "One day soon, Mattie's thoughts on the whole kissing thing are going to change, so I thought we should provide her with tips through repeated demonstration."

"Oh, so that's what your plan is? Not just that you can't get enough of your wife?"

"Well, that is the primary reason for my kissing you, but why not multitask if you can?"

Beth just looked at Harm and laughed. Only he would view kissing his wife that way. Still, once dinner was eaten, the couple happily cleared the table and put the dishes in the dishwasher before moving to the living room. Settling in on the couch, Beth reached for the remote and turned on the television. Stopping at a channel that looked interesting, they watched a couple of hours of British television shows. The first show was a comedy, judging by the laugh track, but both of them missed much of the humor of the show. Fortunately, the next two shows were dramas and the sense of disconnect was less for the visitors from America.

Still, even mostly understanding the show did not mean that Harm wanted to make watching television a nightly occurrence. He'd gotten along just fine without one for years and didn't much see the need for the device now. His idea of recreation was going for a run or listening to music or playing his guitar. So, he was glad when Beth finally turned the television off and announced that she was going to bed. He simply got up and followed her upstairs, where the couple quickly retired to the bedroom and hurried into bed.

"Have I told you how much I love you, Mrs. Rabb?" Harm asked as he spooned up against his wife.

"Not recently, no. But I'd much rather you showed me," Beth said before turning towards him and claiming his lips with a passionate kiss.

"Yes, Ma'am."