AN: Hi guys, thanks for your kind words. As another fanfic writer here has stated, feedback is good for the soul, and my happiness. :)

This is the 2nd part of the episode. I hope you find my retell / complete reimagining of it as much fun as the original JAG episode.

Episode 4:
Blind Side (Part 2)

0420 ZULU
HARRIET'S APARTMENT
WASHINGTON, D.C.

Ensign Harriet Sims loved her new job at JAG, that of office administrative assistant, replacing the old assistant, Ensign Nestor. She loved it for many reasons, for one, the proximity to an actual metropolis instead of being based in Norfolk automatically ensured more variety in day off activities, and for two, she was closer to the one person she actually liked spending her days off with.

Such as tonight's date. She turned to the man driving the old VW Beetle.

Bud Roberts was a happy camper, a happy, if nervous and slightly sweaty camper. He had to admit he was lousy at dating. The planning of it he was good at. He was even decent during dinner conversation.

He however had huge problems with the end. How much was too soon too fast? He wished girls came with instruction manuals... or better yet, cheat codes.

He turned to his what he hoped was his girlfriend, "I had a lovely night, Harriet." he said.

"So did I." Harriet sighed, tucking a stray strand of blonde hair behind her ear while giving him a come hither stare. She hoped Bud found her sexy, because she was hoping to be sexy tonight...

"So, I guess good night?"

That was so not what she planned. Harriet stopped her flirting and stared at Bud.

"Bud, is there something wrong?"

"No, why? Is something wrong?" he asked worriedly.

"It's just, we've been going out for sometime now, and well... we've had quite a few dates." Harriet reminded him.

"Twelve. Wait, does the one when we went to dinner with Commander Rabb count? Because that would mean thirteen..." Bud started to count.

"Bud. We've been together for a while, but you don't... you know..."

"I know?" Bud asked her not quite sure what she meant.

Harriet tried to intimate her message. She motioned with her head at her apartment upstairs. "We're together... but not... together?"

"Oh." Bud didn't get what she was trying to say, before he finally did. "Oh! Er, well Harriet..." he stammered.

Harriet realized belatedly that maybe Bud was perhaps very religious. Perhaps even puritan. "If you're saving yourself for someone special..."

Bud waved his hands and shook his head in negation. "Oh no, no no, I'm not... I've been with a woman before. Lots of them. Plenty of times." Bud boasted.

"I see." Harriet said warily.

"Not that I'm in the habit of sleeping around." Bud was quick to reassure her.

"Just not with me?"

"Yes! I mean no. I want to yes, god yes but..."

"But?"

"I... I don't want to rush you."

"Bud, sex after three dates is a rush. Sex after four months and twelve dates..."

"Thirteen..." Bud corrected her.

"Thirteen dates is making me wonder if I should be calling a nunnery in the morning." Harriet said with a smile, though she was not finding it very funny.

"No, Harriet. I want to, I just... I just..." Bud stuttered.

"Just?"

Bud was nervous, in fact, he was downright terrified. Not of sex, no, he liked sex. But... he'd never actually liked a girl well enough before to actually care about whether she liked it as well. What if he was inept? Or worse, inadequate.

He clutched at straws and said the first thing that he thought of at that moment. Unfortunately he was looking at a safe sex poster in the window of a clinic across the street. "I think we should get tested first."

"What?!" Harriet practically screeched.

"I mean, its been a while for either of us... I think." Bud didn't want to assume.

"You think?!" Harriet went beet red, and it wasn't from embarrassment.

"I'm not saying that you're very active... though if you were I'd understand." Bud said sincerely. That was the final straw.

"Bud Roberts! I've never been so insulted in all my life! I'm sorry if I can't be like your other girlfriends, but I sure as hell am not some hussy that needs to get tested!" Harriet couldn't get out of the VW fast enough.

Bud didn't know what just happened. He called out after her. "Wait, Harriet! I didn't mean..."

She didn't care what he meant as she slammed the car door shut in his face and stormed into her apartment building.

oxoxoxo

THE NEXT DAY
1400 ZULU
PENSACOLA, FLORIDA

Mac stared at the initial reports she had gotten from the crash investigators and the interviews with them she had conducted at the crash site. The evidence was stacked heavily against Captain Hockhausen, making him the prime suspect in the case. Actually the Captain was the only viable suspect - none of the dots connected otherwise.

However she couldn't help but feel something was missing. Aside from all the data recovered from the crash site, there was no way to refute Hockhausen's claim that during the flight, the plane 'wigged out' under him and nearly put him and his RIO into the ground.

Mac was now on the phone with Bud, who had come up with the idea of cross checking the black box time data with weather conditions - anything to paint doubt in the Hawk's testimony.

As Bud waited for the data to be faxed to him, he asked Mac. "Ma'am, may I ask you a personal question?"

"Shoot." Mac replied absently, not really paying attention.

"Well, it's Harriet ma'am. She is... well..."

Mac's interest was suddenly sparked. "Well?"

Bud tried to frame it in his mind. "She wants to know why I'm not sleeping with her ma'am." Bud realized he just said that out loud. "Oh god, I'm sorry ma'am, I didn't mean to..."

Mac was glad she hadn't put the phone on speaker. Mac tried to recover from the shock of Bud's confession. It took her a few attempts before speech was even possible.

"I think that's an issue between you and Harriet, Bud."

"I know ma'am. It's just... she's not even speaking to me now."

"Why?"

"I don't know. She got mad after our date last night and then told me she never wanted to see me again."

"What did you do?"

Bud related what he'd done and Mac couldn't fault Harriet. "Oh, Bud."

"What do I do, ma'am?"

"Pray?" Mac said in an attempt to lighten the mood. "Seriously though Bud, what were you thinking?"

"Well, ma'am... I guess I got nervous and stuck my foot in my mouth, didn't I? What do I do?"

"You know what, Bud? Sometimes the truth is the only recourse. Tell her the truth."

"Ma'am, she's not gonna believe me."

"What have you got to lose? It's not like she's gonna talk to you any less as it is."

"I guess so, ma'am." Bud said not entirely sure she was right. Maybe he'd ask Commander Rabb - women loved him. His thoughts were interrupted when the fax machine behind him kicked to life. It was the report he'd been waiting on. "Ma'am, I got the fax from weather control."

"Anything I can use, Bud?" Mac asked.

Bud's face lit up as he read the report. "Oh yes, ma'am."

oxoxoxo

"You lied to me." Harm confronted Captain Gary 'The Hawk' Hockhausen, shoving the copy of the fax he'd been given by Mac at him.

Hockhausen was having none of it. "You come into my house and accuse me..."

"Can it, Hawk. You said that the plane suddenly pitched forward as you were climbing up over the ridge. The black box recorded no significant pitch variations."

"Then it must have been a downdraft. I included the possibility in my report."

"Except there was an updraft that day. So you wouldn't have pitched forward unless of course you're leaving out something important."

"Such as?" the Captain eyed his former student.

"Such as you were upside-down."

"Hah!" Gary stared at Harm as if the JAG attorney had lost his mind. "Yeah, you try flipping the 'Cat belly up at 50 feet above the deck. I'm good, but I'm not God."

"Doesn't mean you didn't try it. And it's not impossible."

Hockhausen remembered what Harm was talking about. "High-noon."

"It was the only way to get the last target." Harm said recounting the day that exact feat had been accomplished - the High-noon competition which Harm won.

"You know, you almost lost your wings that day." Gary fired back.

"What?"

"The judges were gonna kick you out of the program. You endangered your bird and your RIO with that maneuver, and damn hell nearly erected a $40 million headstone for your own grave. I had to talk to the judges to save your windswept butt."

Harm hadn't heard this story before.

Gary continued, "Had to talk fast too. But then again, seeing how you wrecked another bird on a simple night landing, maybe I shouldn't have bothered."

Both men glared at each other, before Gary decided to soften his stance, "Look, Harm, that's one of the reasons why I didn't send you to Miramar. TOPGUN would have eaten you alive. You're a little wild in the saddle and Keeter... well, he's textbook perfect. Seriously it's like you two are different people up in the air than on the ground." Gary looked at Harm, "I could use a little outside of the box thinking right here on the ground now."

Harm was still reeling from the shock that his mentor had stepped in so blatantly to save his Navy career. And all the Captain was asking for was the same favor in return. Harm knew he had to be creative now. He just wished that the first creative idea that came to mind wasn't the one most likely to get them both killed.

oxoxoxo

"So this is your idea of helping my defense?" Gary asked as he admired the view.

Two Tomcats were fueled on the tarmac and ready to go, both primed to take on recreating the conditions of the crash. It had taken Harm and the Captain a lot of talking to convince both their COs that this was a good idea. But convince them they did.

"Problem is, you're down one RIO and I'm down another." Harm said as they ran a final check over the planes.

Gary looked up and saw a figure approach from the hangar. "I wouldn't worry too much about me. And I don't think you're out a partner either."

Harm looked behind him and was surprised to see Mac in a flight suit, all ready to go.

"Didn't think you could ditch me, could you, flyboy?" she asked.

"Mac, this is not a joyride."

She hummed her agreement, she knew that. "You're trying to recreate the flight without hopefully recreating the results." she said, before she turned to address Captain Hockhausen. "Captain." she greeted.

Hockhausen nodded at her, "You must be the JAG sent to crucify me."

"Sir, I'm here to prosecute the parties guilty for this crash. Are you admitting culpability?" she asked with a steely voice.

Hockhausen fixed her with a cold gaze, "Does it even matter what I admit to, considering Navy brass have already made up their mind?"

"A woman and her child are dead, Captain. If you aren't guilty of causing that, I would be wasting my time pursuing you. And I don't like wasting my time." she returned fire.

They glared at each other for a second longer before the Captain chuckled. "Harm was right, you are one tough nut to crack. Well, I hope I can do enough to prove my innocence with this fly-by." he said before heading to find himself a RIO.

Mac turned to her JAG partner. "You called me a nut?" she asked.

"A tough nut." Harm replied before pulling her aside. "Mac, are you sure you wanna do this?"

Was she sure, no. But was she going to give up a chance to gain valuable insight as to what happened, hell no. "What's the matter, Rabb? Rusty or scared." she sassed him.

Harm never could back down from a challenge. "Alright, Marine. Don't come running to me if you lose your lunch." he said before helping her strap into the rear cockpit.

"Hey, I'm a tough nut, remember?" she grinned. "Just try not to get me shot in the leg this time, flyboy."

oxoxoxo

The Tomcats blasted through the narrow valley, their engines emitting high pitched screams as they ripped past - the second Tomcat playing follow the leader perfectly. Harm threw the plane into a roll, following Gary Hockhausen's flight path to the tee.

"We're coming up on the ridge where the plane lost it." Harm heard Gary say on the radio.

"Roger that, Hawk." Harm replied before turning his head slightly to talk to Mac behind him.

"Hey Mac, you alright back there?"

"No." Mac replied as her stomach rebelled and her head tried not to explode. "Can't you fly steady?"

Harm chuckled, "This is steady, Mac. I warned you this wasn't a joyride."

"You could have warned me it'd feel like sitting inside a washing machine."

"Only the first few times. You get used to it." Harm called back when his radio crackled to life once more.

"Okay, this is it. The ridge." Gary said as the lead Tomcat peeled away quickly.

Harm saw the broken shaft of a telephone pole just a millisecond before his hand jerked up automatically, making the plane miss it handily. Pure adrenaline filled Harm's veins at the close call.

"Hawk, did you see that?"

"See what?"

"The..." Harm began then realized that Mac was in the backseat, capable of hearing every word. He would discuss this with the Captain back on the ground. In private.

oxoxoxo

The flight had been revelatory in that neither Harm's nor Hockhausen's jets experienced the same phenomenon that afflicted the Hawk's first flight.

Harm had proven that while he was a little rusty, some skills never diminish. He matched Hockhausen easily, maneuver for maneuver, roll for roll.

Mac though checked out sometime during the flight, her stomach lacking the ability to handle Mach speed and high-Gs. Instead of talking with Hockhausen, Harm decided to make sure she got some rest in her room and fluids to combat her G-sickness before he looked over the data he recorded today.

That was the main reason why they had gone up in two planes. Harm's 'Cat had been fitted with a forward mounted camera and had captured the Captain's maneuvers. Harm had the AV guy go over every square inch of tape looking for what could have possibly gone wrong with the plane.

And found nothing.

Frustrated with his lack of progress, Harm leaned back in his chair and looked up into the face of Lt. Schiparelli.

"Lieutenant." he acknowledged her.

"Tired, bored, hungry, frustrated or sleepy, sir?" she asked.

"All of the above?" Harm said with a grin before righting himself. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, sir. Figured you could use a ride in case you wanted a little chow or a little time on the rack. Or if you'd like me to deliver, I'd be happy to, though I don't think I could deliver a bed at this time of night sir, but I could try."

Harm laughed, "You know what? A little chow sounds great. What you got planned?"

"Thought you'd never ask sir." Schiparelli smiled.

oxoxoxo

They found a cool, loud and popular place just off the base, but it was lousy with Navy and Marines, even at this time of night. Most of them were off duty, though there were still plenty of uniforms in sight.

Harm had to admit that the veggie platter was everything Schiparelli promised it would be - chicken-fried and swimming in grease, but Harm was too hungry to complain. He'd worry about the calories and heart attack potential tomorrow.

Sometime during the night, Schiparelli got to playing pool with a couple of guys giving her some grief. Harm stepped in.

"Her and I against you two, if that's all right with you." Harm offered and Schiparelli jumped at the chance.

"Can you play?" she asked.

"I'm alright." Harm replied.

"The question is, do you fly?" one of the guys hustling Schiparelli asked.

Harm took stock of the two men with their jarhead haircuts - Marines. "Sometimes." he replied.

"What's your ride?" the other one spoke now.

"Tomcats." Harm replied with pride, and noticed the sneer on the two men's faces. "Hornet pilots." Harm guessed.

"But of course."

"Well, then we have to play." Harm said.

The Marines whispered to each other before laying out the stakes as Schiparelli racked up. "Not for drinks."

"Money?" Harm asked.

"Your boots." one of the Marines pointed at Harm's shoes.

Schiparelli looked at them incredulously. "What's a jarhead want with Navy boots?"

"In or not?" the Marine asked Harm, ignoring her comment.

"My boots against your pants." Harm added his own stake.

Schiparelli looked at the Navy Commander, "What do you want with his pants?" she asked.

"Add her bra and we've got a deal." the other Hornet pilot said, pointing at her.

"Hey, now." she folded her arms protectively across her chest. "They won't fit you."

Ignoring her, the Marines gave them first "Break."

oxoxoxo

Schiparelli and Harm were in the jeep, laughing as they shared a celebratory stogie. In the back were the pants of two now half naked Marines.

"Think we could have taken their shirts too sir?"

"Nah. Let's leave them with some dignity." he laughed. "And the name's Harm."

"That's an interesting first name sir." she said ignoring the subtle hint to drop the sirs.

"What's your first name by the way?"

"Tina." she replied.

"Pretty name."

"That's nice of you to think so, sir. You have a girlfriend, sir?"

"Getting kinda personal there aren't we, Lieutenant?"

"Well we did just pants a couple of Marines, so I think that gives us a bond, sir."

"I guess it does. No, I'm not seeing anyone at the moment." he smiled sadly and noticed that she was suddenly staring at him in all seriousness. "What? Something wrong?" he asked.

"Nope." she said as she leaned in.

"You sure? Because you're not..." and suddenly he wasn't talking much either as her lips descended on his. Harm was surprised, with it falling somewhere between very and pleasantly.

He knew he should put a stop to it, but for a second he could imagine that she was someone else, anyone else and not feel guilty. He sought to deepen the kiss when he noticed that they had an audience. He pulled back slightly and was stunned when he saw Mac standing next to the jeep. He pulled away quickly.

"Hey, Mac. How are you feeling?" Harm asked shakily.

"Not as good as you, it seems." she said before turning her attention to Schiparelli. "Lieutenant." Mac nodded at the young woman.

"Ma'am, here for a drink?" she asked, unaware of Mac's history with alcohol. Mac shot a glance at Harm.

"No, but I assume you two were?"

"We were here for dinner." Harm explained. "The Lieutenant gave me a ride."

"Apparently." Mac said and the snide barb was not missed by the young woman.

"May I ask you what you mean by that, ma'am?"

"Mac, we played pool tonight. Beat the pants off a couple of Marine airjocks."

Mac didn't move her gaze from the young Lieutenant's, "Is that what you do in your spare time, Schiparelli? Hustle Marines?"

"No, ma'am, I usually prefer a challenge."

Harm saw the flash of fire in Mac's eyes and knew Schiparelli's career in the Navy was in far less danger than her physical health.

He quickly stepped in and walked Mac aside.

"Mac..." he began but she cut him off.

"Glad to see you're working hard on the case, Commander."

"She just kissed me."

"She's either much stronger than she looks or you weren't putting up much of a fight."

"Mac, it was just a kiss." Harm explained, not like he owed her an explanation anyway.

"For now." she said with a voice full of ice. Mac felt like a fool. He obviously had no problem kissing women and here she was mooning over him like some lovestruck teen. It hurt too, knowing that he'd probably choose someone else over her.

"Forget it Harm. What you do in your spare time has nothing to do with me. Besides I was here to discuss a deal."

"A deal?"

"I drop all charges if the Captain retires immediately. He has his twenty, his pension is guaranteed."

Harm frowned, "Mac, you saw it today. The man can still fly."

"I don't care if he invented flying itself, Commander. Take the deal to the Captain."

"He won't take it. And frankly I wouldn't recommend him to take it either."

"Then I guess I'll see him in court."

"Mac." he tried to reason with her but she wasn't having any of it.

oxoxoxo

Harm rubbed his tired eyes as he looked at the video of the Captain's flying he had recorded today once more. Something about it kept bothering him - even though he found nothing, something gnawed at his gut.

More than that, he didn't know what got Mac's goat. Sure, maybe he shouldn't have kissed a junior officer, but Mac acted like he'd committed adultery or something. He knew she could be a rather by-the-book Marine, but she didn't have to act like she never took the uniform off.

"That's the end of the flight, Commander." the AV guy said, breaking up his thoughts and Harm nodded at the man, before something caught his attention. He physically stopped the AV guy's hand from ending playback.

"Hold on. This is the landing right?" Harm asked.

"The landing approach, sir. Why?"

"Let it run." Harm said and they watched the Hawk's landing.

And that's when he noticed it, the Hawk's mistake. He almost screwed up his landing by misjudging his approach. A rookie mistake. Or the mistake of a man whose eyes were beginning to fade.

"What's wrong sir?" the AV tech asked as Harm stared at the screen.

"Everything I thought I knew." Harm said cryptically. And suddenly Mac's deal wasn't so outlandish.

oxoxoxo

Captain Hockhausen glared at Harm angrily. "You're telling me to give up my wings, on what? What you saw in a sketchy video and your judgment?"

"There was a broken telephone pole up on that ridge when we flew it. I almost hit it."

"That speaks more of your lack of skill than mine. I didn't even come close."

"Or maybe you knew it was there and were extra cautious this time."

"Are you accusing me of something?" Hockhausen glared at his former student.

"No." Harm replied, before adding, "Everyone else is though. I just want to make sure that there's nothing more there."

"I didn't hit the pole, I didn't even come close to hitting the pole. The plane just shuddered and went into a spin. Just because the plane cost 40 million dollars doesn't make it infallible."

"You know, there's no shame in giving it up. You could take up a command..."

"Don't sell me the T-shirt, Harm. I'm not a desk jockey, I'm not built that way. Hell, if it was that easy to put down you wouldn't be flying every chance you got."

"There are other ways to fly."

"Not for me. Damn it, you're supposed to be on my side."

"And I'm trying to save everything else in your life. Flying's a part of you, it always will be, but what about Gail? What about Shepard?"

Gary glared at Harm with all the disdain he felt. "I've given the Navy over half my life. I never complained, I never questioned my orders. All I did was get in that plane and teach young punks like you how to do my job one day. Maybe I'm not a combat pilot like your father, but I earned my right to stay in that cockpit just the same. And I'm not about to give it up without a fight. No deal, and you and that Marine colleague of yours can go shove it."

"Gary." Harm hoped the older man would reconsider but there was no negotiation. Gary slammed the door shut in Harm's face.

oxoxoxo

Harm knocked on Mac's office door, prompting her to look up at him. "No deal, Mac." he said sadly.

"Why am I not surprised?" she replied tiredly. "Did you even try?"

He frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"What's it sound like, Harm?" she asked snidely as she started packing up for the day. "Every time there's a crash you're adamant that it's not the pilot's fault. It's bad luck, it's mitigating circumstances, the sun got in your damn eyes!"

Harm was surprised by her outburst, "Hey, Mac. What the hell is eating you?"

How could she explain what was eating her? How could she explain that they were a problem. Not them together, but them... the truth was, Mac didn't know, and what she didn't know she couldn't explain. So she explained what she did know.

"A woman and a child are dead, Harm. And from the looks of it, your Captain was responsible."

"You can't prove it. If you could, you wouldn't have offered a deal." he argued back.

"Maybe if you weren't so busy covering his ass instead of finding me answers, I could!"

"What?" Harm was incredulous.

"Forget it." she said with a shake of her head as she tried to move past him. He stood in her way, blocking her.

"What is it, Mac?" he asked more forcefully.

She looked up at him, her expression as hard as his, "I'm interested in finding the right person to punish. I get the feeling you're more interested in making sure it isn't the Captain."

"Are you saying I'm not objective?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying, Harm."

"If you had a problem with me leading the investigation, you should have voiced your objections back in the Admiral's office."

"Really? So you want me to accuse you of bias in front of our CO?" she eyed him.

"It's far better than the crap you're trying to pull on me now." Harm said, his tone getting increasingly lower, increasingly threatening.

"And what crap am I pulling, Commander? That I want you to investigate to the best of your abilities and not be blinded by some misguided sense of loyalty?"

"You're a fine one to talk." he growled.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Farrow."

"What's he got to do with this?"

"You were pretty convinced he was innocent when we investigated him."

"He didn't kill a young woman and child!"

"No, he only gave the orders."

Her hand moved on its own accord and slapped his face, surprising the both of them. He looked surprised. She looked horrified.

Harm recovered first. "Don't talk to me about mixed loyalties, Mac." he said. "Do your worse in court."

She wasn't sure if he meant his parting words literally, though he probably did. Mac stood rooted to the spot as he walked away.

Continued in Next Chapter

AN: Feedback or you'll have to wait a long time for the next chapter. ;)