Summary: What will Mac do, when she discovers a secret from her family's past?

Spoilers: None, this is an alternate reality fic that diverts from what actually happened in the series.

Disclaimer: JAG ans its main characters belong to DPS and to CBS. I don't make any profit from writing any of these fics, but simply get to exercise my overactive imagination every now and then. PLease don't sure me, as I'm poor with very little money!

Rating: I don't know...PG-13...K+...something like that. Pretty benign!

Category: Mac-centered fic, but also kind of a H/M shipper fic...At least that is what it will develop into. But to begin with, just Harm and Mac at their classic best!

The Gift That Gives Back

OOOO

It was a day like any other, when Harm and Mac returned from a pre-trial meeting. Things would be full-steam ahead, come Monday of the next week.

"Ma'am," Harriet informed Mac, "You have somebody waiting for you in your office. She didn't have an appointment, but she seemed very tired and looked like she really needed to get off her feet. I made sure that all your files were locked away in your filing cabinet and nothing valuable was lying around...just in case, but I doubt that's really necessary."

Once Mac got to her office, Mac saw just what Harriet meant. The pale, skinny woman Harriet had escorted in looked like her dark hair and scruffy clothes hadn't been washed that week and her sneakers looked like only one more kick would knock them to pieces. The only feature that suggested any type of pride in her appearance; her stocky, well-filled tote bag, which was still hooked over one shoulder, even though she had sat down over fifteen minutes before.

"Good afternoon," Mac greeted her, as she closed the door and the young made eye-contact, "I'm Colonel Sarah MacKenzie…May I help you?"

"Colonel…You don't know me, but I've been told that we have some heritage in common…"

Mac took a second to look at her closer and thought that maybe this young woman was a student looking for her help with research or something. She'd leant her expertise in cases concerning Islam and the Qur'an before and it was a hot topic in many college courses. This woman looked like she might have some middle-east roots, herself.

However, she wasn't prepared for anything that hit as close to home as what this woman told her.

"I recently unsealed my birth records, Colonel, which indicated that my birth parents were a Deanne O'Hara and a Joseph MacKenzie…Searching for both of them has turned up nothing, but I did learn that they'd had another daughter, before I was born…"

Mac was unable to speak for a minute, before she turned and closed her door, to keep this meeting private.

The woman leaned forward over something, after Mac's door closed shut and took a minute before turning back to her. When Mac went to seat herself, Mac realized that she had inadvertently awakened a small child, sleeping in a child's carrier seat in front of the young woman, originally out of Mac's sight. Although the child wriggled, obviously disturbed from her nap, she didn't utter a sound.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Mac apologized, "I didn't realize you had a baby with you…"

"It's okay, Colonel," the woman replied, soothing the child by replacing the pacifier that had fallen out of her tiny mouth when her little body jumped, reflexively, "You weren't to know. She's a quiet little thing…"

Mac could see, by studying the child that this was something else that the woman took pride in. The child was dressed in new, expensive-looking clothes, designer shoes, the cute outfit finished off with an alice-band that matched the material of her overalls.

"Well, you obviously know more about me than I know about you…your name is….?" Mac sat down and watched this young woman with her child.

"Gina," the woman held her hand out and passed Mac a folded piece of paper, "Gina Moreno. I was adopted soon after birth, but I put off searching for my birth parents until after my adoptive parents had passed away. I loved them as much as if they'd given me life, but I've always wondered about my real parents, especially after my daughter was born."

Mac opened the piece of paper up to find that it was actually several all folded together. The first was a birth certificate, containing the names of both Joe MacKenzie and Deanne O'Hara nee. MacKenzie, as well as 'Rachel Lorraine MacKenzie,' which Mac guessed must have been changed after her adoption. The second was a copy of the form where Deanne had signed away her maternal rights and put her daughter up for adoption. The third was the form that Gina's parents, Victor and Angela Moreno had signed, legally becoming parents to Gina Moreno, previously known as Rachel MacKenzie.

"I'm sorry to hear about your parents," Mac sympathized, " and also sorry to give you the bad news that Joseph MacKenzie is…deceased. And Deanne…well, I have little idea of where she is. The last time I saw her, she turned up unexpectedly at Joe's death-bed. She showed up, not wanting anything to do with Joe, but hoping that I'd be there and after some talking, I realized that she hadn't changed much from how I remembered her as a child. My…sorry, our mother…well, she and I didn't exactly part ways on good terms and I'm not sure I can give you any information to help you with your search."

"Our mother and father were separated?" Gina asked, obviously a little surprised, but trying not to make a big deal about it.

"Yes, shortly after I turned fifteen," Mac nodded, then expanded, "very shortly after I turned fifteen, actually…Our Mother left home the very day I turned fifteen…I didn't see or hear from her again until Joe was dying."

Gina looked like she didn't know what to say at this and Mac guessed that the rest of her childhood story would have to be broken carefully, a bit at a time.

"I'm sorry, I know that this is a lot for you to take in…" Mac tried to comfort the woman who she suddenly comprehended was the little sister she had always wanted, "My head is sort of spinning, right now, too! I have very little idea about what happened in Deanne's life after she left Joe and I…I had kinda always wished I had a little brother or sister…It's kind of a selfish wish, but try telling that to a seven year old…"

When Mac looked up again, she could tell that Gina was confused.

Mac gave her a smile and suggested, "Why don't we go somewhere for an early dinner? I just need to get permission from my CO, but it shouldn't be a problem."

After Mac got permission from AJ, she popped in to say goodbye to Harm, then went and collected Gina and her baby, before they left and went to a quiet bistro in DC.

"I'm assuming that the story of our family is a complicated one," Gina commented, as they both tucked into their dinner.

Gina's daughter had fallen asleep in the car, soon after the engine started, which Gina explained was a result of the gentle vibrations.

"More than you could ever guess," Mac nodded, in reply to Gina's comment/question, "I'm sorry to be the one to tell you, because I had very little to do with how it all turned out…But our Father, Joe, was a marine, like me and unfortunately he relied on alcohol to get through his days…I think he was such a fragile, pitiful man that he grabbed whatever crutch he could find. It was a path that I unwittingly followed him down, but eventually I enlisted some invaluable help and managed to get myself back on the straight and narrow and into the marines."

Gina's expression made Mac squirm a bit, but she sat patiently, knowing that it was a lot for her to take in. When Gina spoke up, Mac hadn't anticipated what she said at all.

"I always wondered about that…I had problems myself, in my younger years. Not very intelligent, I know, but I got in with a bad crowd, during my high-school years…"

"I think I'm the last person to pass judgment on something like that," Mac assured her, "I think I must have drunk just about every day after Deanne left. It seemed to work for Joe and at that point in time, I just hurt too much to care what it might have done to me. It was a convenient anesthetic."

"Teenage years are bad enough," Gina sympathized, "I don't know where I'd be today if my parents hadn't helped me. Who was this person who gave you 'invaluable help'?"

"Our uncle, Matt O'Hara. He's Deanne's brother," Mac told her, "He's the only one who ever took any sort of responsibility for me, even though I wasn't his child. He used to take me on days out and camping trips into the desert when I was a kid. He was in the marines too, so he wasn't around that much, but whenever he was there, it made all the difference in my life."

"So was it our uncle or our father who you followed into the marines? Or did you do it for yourself?" Gina asked.

"I certainly didn't want to follow our father into anything, ever again," Mac shook her head, smiling, "As for myself, I wasn't able to do much for myself at that time. I was in a dark, dark place. But Matt was like a hero to me. I respected everything he stood for and those principles had roots in the Marine Corps. I was a wreck and I knew that they wouldn't have to even break me down before they built me back up. They gave me everything I really needed in my life just then and not just the roof over my head and food on the table…"

Gina just listened and before long Mac suddenly realized herself and wound that story up. She was sure that Gina had lots of questions she needed answered.

"I respect you for that, Sarah," Gina smiled, "I know that life isn't all roses and the fact that you've been through so much and still come out on top…God, that speaks volumes about you! But what I really don't understand about our mother…What made her leave her child?"

"You mean me or you?" Mac asked.

"You...I've always wondered why she left me, but you probably have little idea about what happened to Deanne after she left you and our father," Gina answered.

Mac took a deep breath; she had known this would come, but she still had no idea what she'd say. She just let the words fall from her lips.

"Well, the last thing I want to do is upset you, Gina, but…Joe MacKenzie wasn't just a drunk…he was a mean drunk, a very mean drunk. He always was…since before I can remember, I suppose, maybe even before I was born…"

Understanding dawned in Gina's sad, brown eyes.

"Deanne told me, the last time I spoke to her, that Joe had held a knife to her throat that day she left. He told her that he'd kill her and after everything she'd suffered at his hands, she took him at his word. I had stayed at a friend's house the night before, so I wasn't home at the time, but when I came home, I found our father drunk and our mother gone…What year were you born, again?"

"October 18, in 1982."

"That's about seven months after she left…Maybe she knew about you, already…But Deanne wasn't one to take responsibility for the things that had happened in her life. When the going got tough, she ran. I could still see that trait in her when I met her, all those years later. And when things got a bit difficult and she didn't know how to answer my questions and take responsibility for her own part in what happened; she ran again. The only thing she said was that she knew that Joe would never hurt me…Sure, he was a bit mean to me, tough on me, especially verbally, but she didn't think he'd ever hurt me. She said that she eventually stopped calling, because he was always the one who would pick up the phone. But she never tried coming back for me, there were long periods where Joe wasn't aware even what day of the week it was. She just built a new life without me in it, because it was easier. I still don't know how any mother could do that to their own child…I've accepted it and moved past it, but even I have to admit, she wasn't exactly mother of the year."

"So I gather," Gina took a long swallow of her drink, an ice tea.

"You said it was soon after you were born that you were adopted?"

"Yes, I was under two months old. Victor and Angela Moreno were everything a child could ever want or need, as far as parents go. They always encouraged me in everything I expressed an interest in…Sure, that probably wasn't a good idea when I wanted to be a ballerina and a pop star, but they both had hearts of gold, God bless them. I lost them only twelve months ago, in a car accident. I'd only known about Penny for a month or so, I was struggling with the prospect of motherhood as it was and they were the only assistance I had. Of course, it took a while to get back on my feet, but as soon as things began to ease up, I got hit with another blow…"

Mac knew that this would probably not be good news; she wasn't naïve enough to think that Gina had probably only come to see her because she wanted to know her sister.

"After a routine post-natal examination, my doctor informed me that I had a serious blood disorder; acute myeloid leukemia. Right now, I'm about to undergo the first stages of my treatment; my first round of chemotherapy. I've been encouraged to bring along family members, but up until last week, I had no idea how to go about finding my birth family. I knew from my birth records that Joe was in the Marine Corps, so I thought that would be a good place to start. I called up an investigator who had experience with the military and I was so startled when he called me back the same day to say that I had a sister, who had also joined the marines. But he never said anything about an uncle in the Marine Corps."

"Matt was dishonorably discharged, a few years back," Mac told her, explaining, "He was trying to make a valid point, but he didn't think the idea over enough and things spiraled out of control. He's currently serving time in Fort Leavenworth Pen. But his heart is always in the right place."

"I'd never want to impose upon you, Sarah," Gina said, sincerely, "but I don't think I'm going to be able to cope without some help. I know it's a lot to ask, when you didn't even know of my existence even two hours ago, but…"

"If there's anything I can help with," Mac interrupted her, "then you need only ask, Gina…"

Mac was even startled by her own words, she couldn't think how she had come to be so trusting over the last hour. Sure, she didn't have a heart of stone, but she wasn't naïve, either. But something in Gina's eyes told her this was the absolute truth, this woman who had nobody but her child, a child who depended upon her.

Gina seemed similarly overcome. She lifted her still-sleeping child out of the carrier, settling her on her lap, cuddled against her. Her eyes were teary as she spoke up again.

"I just…I don't know what to say…Up until yesterday, I felt so alone. I was so scared when the doctor told me about the leukemia, so worried that Penny would have to grow up without her mother. I knew I would have to follow the doctor's advise, to the letter. And when he told me what I would have to go through, I just thought; 'How am I going to do this on my own? How am I going to care for Penny when I won't even be able to care for myself?"

"You don't need to worry about yourself, or about Penny," Mac assured her, "I will be there to care for her and to care for you. You can't go through this on your own and I would never willingly let you do so. Have you got medical insurance?"

Gina nodded, adding, "My parents took care of that for me, knowing that after I had Penny I would probably be unable to return to work straight away. And she turned out to be a very sickly baby; I wouldn't have been able to manage those first few months without the safeguards they had put in place. Soon after their deaths, I learned that they'd not only set up a fund to continue paying for our medical insurance, but that they'd also set up funds in mine and Penny's names, so that I could afford to stay out of work for at least another year. They'd always encouraged me to spend the first year with Penny, because they said it would be one of the most important. Mom and Dad always did know best…"

"And Penny's father?" Mac asked, gently.

"He wasn't interested in becoming a father," Gina admitted, "He was focused on grad-school and on big things after that, so he signed away all rights to Penny soon after I told him she was on the way."

"How about somewhere to stay?" Mac asked, knowing that Gina might not be able afford somewhere that was in one of the better neighborhoods.

"Once I got referred to a doctor at the Lombardi Centre at Georgetown hospital, the staff there arranged somewhere for me to rent that was affordable and nearby. When I explained my circumstances to my doctor, he even assured me that I would be well taken care of, medically, even if I need some treatments that were not covered by my insurance policy…"

Mac sighed in relief, knowing that the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center had an excellent reputation in both caring for and in treating their patients. Not that Mac wouldn't have done everything she could financially for Gina, had Gina needed it; she now had a young sister who needed her help, like she had once needed help. Somebody had to be there for her and Mac was determined that she'd do a better job than either of their parents had. But you had to acknowledge that Joe MacKenzie probably had never known about Gina.

"Okay," Mac nodded, "how about we get you home and sorted for the night? You look very tired and I'm sure that you've heard plenty today that you need to digest properly."

"Oh, thank you, yes!" Gina exclaimed; her big sister had hit the nail right on the head.

"Okay," Mac nodded, taking care of the check and helping her sister out to the car.

OOOO