Title: Do You Believe in Surprise Endings
Author: rooster dawn
Pairing: Harm and anyone who was around at the time
Alternative Universe : Harm and Mac don't work together. They meet at pivotal times in Harm's life.
Disclaimer: JAG is property of Belisarius productions, no copyright
infringement intended.
Summary: Harm is a Naval Aviator. With it comes a cocky attitude and the makings of an international playboy. Will his actions catch up to him?
Author's note: Harm and Mac look back on their lives that have gone in opposite directions. They meet again and come to a surprising conclusion.
Author's note 2: Many of the chapters are a reflection of what happened in the character's lives over the last ten years.
Good feedback is good for one's soul and everyone's happiness.
part four The changing of the guard
Friday
12 May 2006
Harm thought about the past year. It had been very long and trying time at headquarters as everyone at Jag was questioning the mental health of the Admiral. He was no longer the strong quiet leader and stern disciplinarian.
He seemed tired and exhausted all the time. With the new SecNav's coming on board his will to be at JAG seemed to begin to wane. He seemed listless, he seemed to need to be elsewhere. It didn't come as any surprise when the Admiral finally retired last year.
Unfortunately during their search for a new JAG they decided to push the envelope. They wanted someone completely different who would shake up the status quo at headquarters.
They decided to replace him with a Marine, a marine so small he didn't come up to his navel. How was he going to be able to work for a midget? He guess the old saying was true, Respect the Uniform not the Man.
Harm could see the handwriting on the wall. There was a new JAG in town. He would want to form his own staff. Why would he want to keep him around? He wasn't anything special to anyone anymore.
Sure he had had a great career as a naval aviator and as a trial lawyer, but he had inadvertently severed several key connections when he returned to flying. He had stayed with the fleet too long to repair the damage.
There had been many people who weren't happy that he had dropped everything to fly. That had really puzzled him. He had heard about the last Captains board the Admiral had served on last year.
All the line officers who spent a great deal of their careers in the real Navy aboard ships were all highly received, praised and recommended for promotion.
Those who had spent many years behind a desk were overlooked and looked down upon like Commander Lindsey. Why was it then, was he being penalized for returning to the fleet, to the real Navy? Why had his promotion to Commander been delayed for so long, for too many years?
The General hadn't been too bad to work for. He pretty much let Harm do his own thing, but he wasn't getting the high profile cases anymore, they were going to the younger jags. It seemed like the General was developing a new breed of jag.
It burned his six too as he would read through the transcripts of the trials and see how poorly they had done knowing he could have done so much better whether it be prosecuting or defending.
There were a few times when he felt or knew the defendant was innocent, he would contact them about appealing their verdict. He would tell them how badly their defense attorney had done.
Most of them were happy to have him appeal. Not surprising he got most of them off and those he didn't, he got them a greatly reduced sentence.
Of course there was a price to be pay for doing all this. The General wasn't very happy that he kept getting involved, but if they weren't going to find the truth, then he would. It wasn't fair to those men who had been convicted because their lawyer didn't do their job properly.
Yep, there wasn't a future for him in the Navy anymore as he continued to ponder. Sarah MacKenzie, three years his junior, was getting her own command. He was only good enough to assist her in setting it up. He wasn't good enough for a command of his own.
He had been passed over for a younger, less experience officer. He would be lucky if he wasn't sent to Timbuktu afterwards. Guess it was time to call Mom and let her know he was coming home for a visit, may be it would be forever.
Sarah is offered a command position in San Diego
1100 hours
10 May 2006
Hawaii
Mac opened an envelope that read 'From the Office of the JAG'. She carefully read through the packet before looking at the orders. What she read surprised her to no end.
She had been afraid that her future in Jag was very limited when Colonel Creswell took over the position of JAG, becoming a two star general. Her history with him was limited, but it wasn't very good.
He had been the Jag officer who had investigated her misconduct with her former CO, Lieutenant Colonel John Farrell. She had gotten off lightly, but the stigma had remained with her ever since.
She was surprised to see that she would be taking over a new command comprised of navy and marine personnel. In the past it was very common not to see many Navy and Marine lawyers working together.
She was told she would have the choice of anyone she wanted to be in her new command. She knew she wanted to take along Lieutenant Commander Meg Austin who had been working with her in Hawaii the last three years.
She was a decent lawyer, a very good investigator, excellent with computers, and very good with paperwork. She would make a good chief of staff. It would be a big step for her career.
A second lawyer she thought of was Commander Caitlin Pike. Mac had worked with her in Los Angels for a couple of years before going to Hawaii. She was an excellent lawyer, decent with paperwork, and another computer whiz.
She was a great investigator after working with NCIS for five years. Mac saw her as being a great mentor for the younger lawyers she was sure she would need to fill out her staff.
They would all be in need of training in all aspects of the job. She knew ethics and investigating skills weren't the driving force for many young lawyers. They were more interested in winning than in finding out the truth.
Finally her thoughts made their way around to Commander Harmon Rabb Jr. No man had ever made such an impact on her life as he had. He was tall, strong, and gorgeous. He had swept her off her feet the first time she had met him.
All he had to do was smile and she would lose control. He made her feel like a teenager again. He gave her the feeling that he had known her all her life. No other man had made her feel that way before or since.
She remembered the first time she saw him. He was to be awarded a medal from the President himself. Since she had arrived late she had stayed back near the car. She spent her time while waiting for him in the White House Rose Garden.
It was so beautiful. There were so many different color roses. They varied in sized and texture. The fragrance of all the different roses was intoxicating. It left her drunk with delightful memories.
She was feeling very good emotionally when she saw Harm walking towards her with an older man, Admiral Chegwidden. He had given her a looked that said 'I know you, what are you doing her?'
He had looked deeply into her eyes as if he was searching for her soul. He found her soul, a soul that she had thought was lost forever.
They spent the night together and made passionate love. She knew and thought he knew, that it would be the only time they would ever make love to each other. It would have to last them for the rest of their lives.
It had been a night of glorious lovemaking that had resulted in the creation of her first child, a son named Henry. He was the spitting image of Harm. He was getting so big and at the age of nine was just shy of five feet tall.
She remembered the next time she saw him. It was four years later. For some reason she was sent to investigate an incident where a tomcat made a bombing run on a Russian Patrol.
Usually Jag-European Headquarters or Jag Headquarters in Washington would have handled the investigation. She usually handled the Pacific, Australia, and Indian Ocean Theater.
She was surprised when she saw Harm there in a flight suit. He had led her to believe he couldn't belong to a fighter squadron anymore. Besides, he was considered the rising star in Jag, the Navy Poster Boy.
She had wondered what had happened. One thing she knew for sure, his career had stagnated. He had been flying for a year again and he was still a Lieutenant Commander. He should have been promoted to full Commander before she was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.
He didn't seem to mind at all. He was flying tomcats, his first love, the reason he had joined the navy in the first place or so others had told her.
It had been a very difficult week for her with him being so near. He always seemed to be close. He was always smiling at her. It was a smile that left her breathless and weak-kneed. She couldn't think when he smiled at her like that.
To make matters worse the idiot pilot she was prosecuting decided to have Harm defend him. That meant she couldn't do what she wanted so badly to do, sneak away to his cabin each night and make hot passionate love.
She had to wait until the trial was over before she was able to. The trial was a real education. She had presented a great case. The pilot was guilty dead to right, but somehow Harm gave a mind blowing closing argument that persuaded the board that the pilot was only doing his job, doing what he was trained to do.
She didn't think it was possible, but Harm had gotten the pilot off. She had to admit after that Harm was probably the best lawyer in the Navy, because only the best could have beaten her that day in a open and shut case.
She had thought about telling him about Henry, but decided not to. Harm was happy doing what he was doing, flying tomcats. Nothing else seemed to matter to him. Well, not completely, he did seem to want to be with her. But in the end it didn't seem right to take that all away from him.
It wasn't like they had a relationship. It technically had been a one-night stand. She didn't know him that well. She didn't know what he wanted out of his life other than to fly tomcats. Did he even want a wife or children?
Then she remembered what Meg had told her. Harm had in fact been married. There was a young boy involved, but he gave it all up to fly tomcats. Flying tomcats was more important than having a family.
She had made the right decision, it was better to leave things as they were. Let him fly his jets. When or if he ever decided to stop flying jet and rejoin the human race, then maybe things could be different. If he wanted a life with her, he would have to find her. Then she would let him know.