AN: Thank you very much for all the feedback. I hate resorting to blackmail to get it, but honestly you guys are miserly with your reviews. :) Some of you anyway. The rest of you are fantastic.

As always I am writing as fast as I can, but I admit that with each episode being retold so completely, it does take me a while to plot and populate each story and scene. I do hope that it is worth the effort and wait.

This is the final part of the Blind Side episode. So yay!

Episode 4:
Blind Side (Part 3)

0400 ZULU
ACES HIGH BAR
PENSACOLA, FLORIDA

Harm downed a scotch at the bar when Lt. Schiparelli entered. She took the seat next to his. Harm glanced at her.

"Thanks for coming out so late." he said.

"Well, it's not like I haven't had to give up beauty sleep before, sir. I'm sure it won't be the last time." she said jovially, but noticed his dark mood. She quietened, "I'm sorry about the kiss, sir."

That brought Harm's mind back to the present. "Kiss?"

"Earlier? I'm sorry. I crossed the line."

Harm chuckled, his mood lightening for the moment. "You have nothing to be sorry about Lieutenant. It was a nice kiss."

"Thank you, sir. I was worried I was getting out of practice."

"Any more practice and we'd be facing charges." Harm said with a smile and she grinned back. Harm's dark mood soon returned.

"Lieutenant, how well do you know Captain Hockhausen?" he asked.

"We've never kissed, sir..." she began worriedly but Harm waved her off.

"No, I mean day-to-day. Does he use glasses? Or squint when he reads? Or even misreads signs?"

Schiparelli looked at the handsome Lt. Cmdr. strangely. "What are you asking, sir?"

"I'm asking, when was the last time the Captain had an eye examination?"

Schiparelli was no dumb punk. She knew the score, and she knew "I don't have to answer."

"No you don't. But you will if you're asked in court."

She stared at him hard. "What are you trying to do, sir?"

"I'm trying to save the Captain's career."

"Well you have a funny way of doing it, sir, by accusing him of being blind."

"Then give me something to go on, Schiparelli. Something that points that his eyes aren't failing."

She remained tight-lipped, her silence now as telling as any words she could use.

"You can't, can you?"

"Sir, I owe him my career."

"So do I. But there comes a point where gratitude ends and servitude begins. We aren't slaves to him, Tina."

Harm saw a war of emotions fight across her face before her facade finally crumbled and the tears began. She rested her elbows on the bar and held her face in her hands, perhaps in a vain attempt to physically hold back the tears.

"It's not fair, sir. He's given me everything."

"No, he only gave you the opportunity to be everything you are. It's okay to feel loyalty, but do you also have to give up your integrity for him?

"You're not making this easy, sir."

"No, but no one ever said being an officer was easy."

She wiped away her tears before speaking, "I think the Captain cheats on his eye exam." she sniffled. "He's been doing it the last few years."

oxoxoxo

"He told you this?" Mac asked as Lt. Schiparelli testified in open court.

"No. I overheard him on the phone with another senior aviator. They... They trade techniques on how to pass the tests." she said, not daring to stare at Gary Hockhausen who sat behind the defendant's desk.

"Like what?"

"I don't know. I just get bits and pieces."

"I see." Mac replied. "And what else did you notice of the Captain's vision?"

Mac was in fine form, she was methodical and efficient, barely giving the Captain's defense attorney a sniff of an objection.

The defense attorney was probably very good but there was a reason why Mac worked in Falls Church and he was still dotting I's and crossing T's in Pensacola. It was like watching Joe Frazier pummel a rookie fighter.

While Ali watched on from the wings. Harm sat in the back row, not really wanting to be anywhere close to the proceedings.

Next up on the stand was a Navy Corpsman, an optometrist who explained how the continued rigors of supersonic speeds and high-G forces affected aviators after a certain age.

"But there are astronauts older than the Captain and they're subjected to far greater G-loads." Mac asked. "Is age the only factor, Doctor?"

"No, there are other determinants. Diet, exercise, genetics. And astronauts aren't expected to dodge terrestrial objects such as trees and hills. Not the way the Captain has to."

"Thank you, doctor. I've no more questions for this witness at this time, your honor." Mac said, allowing the defense have a crack at the expert witness. There wasn't much there for the defense attorney to play with.

"No more questions for this witness, your honor." the defense attorney finally admitted as he sat.

The judge turned to Mac. "Your next witness, Major?"

Mac stood up and turned to spot Harm. This was it. She turned back to the judge and said in a clear voice. "The prosecution calls Lieutenant Commander Harmon Rabb Jr."

oxoxoxo

Harm stood before the witness chair and took the oath before sitting down.

"Commander Rabb, you were the lead investigator of this case, weren't you?"

"Yes." he answered.

"Explain the methods you used to investigate this case." she asked.

Harm noticed Gary Hockhausen's gaze at him harden with every passing breath. The Captain was trying to intimidate him. Once upon a time it would have worked. Once upon a time.

Harm told the court about his investigation, from talking with Agent Rostock of the FAA, to interviewing Hockhausen's RIO, to the recreated flight.

"Why did you go to such great lengths to investigate this case?" Mac asked.

"The Captain was my former flight instructor."

"Any hard feelings there?"

"No. In fact he's probably the reason why I still have a Navy career."

"So, the flight. What were you hoping to prove?"

"I was trying to prove that the Captain's claim had credence. That the plane might have suffered a sudden dip due to thrust disruption or a downdraft." Harm answered.

Mac submitted the video from the Tomcat's forward mounted camera flown by Harm. The video replayed the final parts of the flight.

"Tell us what we're looking at here, Commander." Mac prompted.

"This was the part where I almost clipped a broken telephone pole at the top of the ridge."

"If it hadn't been broken?"

"I would have clipped it with my engine intake."

"Enough to damage the engine?"

"Yes."

"Enough to bring the plane down?"

"Yes."

"So if the Captain struck the telephone pole..."

The defense attorney jumped in. "Objection your honor. With all due respect to Commander Rabb, he isn't a full time aviator. Frankly he doesn't even have half the flying hours that men ten years his junior have. He's hardly qualified to give expert opinion on hypothetical scenarios."

Mac didn't even flinch. "Commander, what is that tab on your ribbon bar?"

Harm looked down at the tab she was pointing at, "A Distinguished Flying Cross."

"Is it possible to earn one by accident?"

"No."

Mac turned to the judge, "Your honor, the medal proves that the Commander is at least considered an expert aviator by the Navy. I believe the Commander's skills in the cockpit are adequate enough to give such an opinion."

The judge nodded in agreement. "Noted. Objection overruled. Proceed."

Mac rephrased her question to be more aggressive - the defense attorney having opened the door. "Commander, in your expertise as both an aviator and a JAG investigator, what is your conclusion to the facts of this case?"

Harm locked eyes with his old mentor. "It is my personal belief that at the time of the accident, Captain Hockhausen was physically unsuited to be flying Category 1."

"You bastard." Gary hissed loud enough to prompt the judge to call for the defense to control his client.

After order was restored, Mac turned back to Harm. "And legally what does that mean, Commander?"

Harm took a deep breath as his gaze took in the courtroom. Gail was there, Shepard mercifully left with a sitter. Ted Lanier was also there, alone, his wife and son taken from him by the crash. Harm finally turned to Mac.

"It means that the Captain was personally culpable in the accidental deaths of Melanie and Joshua Lanier."

Murmurs filled the courtroom once more. Harm saw the hateful glare in Gary Hockhausen's eyes and Harm couldn't help but feel he had betrayed his mentor. Harm's eyes shied away.

oxoxoxo

Mac and Harm waited in the busy crowd-filled corridor for the jury to return with their verdict. Harm had the same tense look on his face since he testified.

Mac looked to say something when Ted Lanier approached. Harm turned to him with a tired resigned air.

"Commander." Ted greeted him.

"Mister Lanier." Harm greeted back. "What may I do for you?"

It was obvious that Ted Lanier wasn't a man who found apologizing for anything easy. He struggled with the nerve to do so, but he finally managed it. "I'm sorry about... about my behavior..."

Harm nodded. In fact that was all he did. What else could he say that wouldn't shame the man who spat on him? Harm accepted the apology without comment.

Ted left soon after, and soon Harm and Mac were alone once more.

"I'm sorry too." she said.

Harm turned surprised eyes at her. "What for?"

"For slapping you. It was uncalled for."

Harm snorted, less with amusement, more pained. "I'm sure you felt it was justified." he said with a rueful shake of his head.

She felt his bitterness, "Harm..." she tried to soothe their strained relationship but he wasn't in the mood.

"I need some air." he said, walking out to one of the balconies.

oxoxoxo

Harm pushed open the doors to the balcony and found Gail staring at him, the sound of the doors opening having alerted her to his presence.

"Gail." Harm said, before he tried to back away.

"It's okay." she said before turning back to take in the view. There wasn't much of one, this balcony had seen more use as an ashtray than an actual tourist attraction.

Harm nevertheless gave her ample space as he took a deep breath. Guilt gripped his chest tightly and he was hoping to ease it.

"He's going to jail isn't he?" she finally asked.

"I don't know. I don't make that call." Harm replied turning to her, the wind beginning to pick up and whip their hair about.

"So, the pension, the benefits..." she intimated.

"He might lose those." Harm confirmed. "I'm sorry, Gail."

"What am I going to do now? We have nothing." she wailed.

Harm neared her. "I don't know if you noticed, Gail, but you're an excellent interior decorator. I know it's going to be hard, but..." he fished out a card from his wallet and handed it to her. Gail stared at it. Harm explained.

"This is a card to my mother's art gallery. She has clients around the area who could use your skills. I know it might not be what you want, but it's something until you and Shepard can get by some other way."

Gail looked up at him, grief overtaking any other emotion she might be feeling at this moment.

"Do you really think he killed the woman and her son?" she asked almost breathlessly.

It took a second for Harm to compose a reply. With a sigh, he finally did. "I think his stubbornness got them killed."

Gail looked at him a second longer before she nodded and accepted the business card.

oxoxoxo

The verdict when it came was unsurprising.

Harm tried to reach out to his old mentor, but Hockhausen had nothing but contempt left for Harm, his testimony effectively burying the Captain.

For Gary Hockhausen, he had lost more than just his wings. He also lost his commission and his freedom as he was found guilty on all counts, as well as several additional court-martialable offenses.

For Mac, she had added another huge win to her career.

But most importantly, for Ted Lanier, the husband of Melanie and father of Joshua, he had gained closure. Justice had been done.

Harm stared at the sight of Hockhausen as he was led away in handcuffs. He continued glaring straight ahead, the expression on his face revealing his belief that he had done nothing wrong. That he was innocent. That he had just been screwed by the system. The elevator doors closed taking him from view but Harm had caught the final look in the Hawk's eye.

There was no forgiveness for Harm, only anger remained. And for Harm, he had lost yet another tie to his past.

Next Episode: Fighting Chance (original episode)

AN: Yeah, this was not how the original JAG episode went, but I hope you guys liked it anyway. I'm actually hoping that you like it better than the original, but that might be asking way too much. Would still like to hear what you thought of it though. :D