Disclaimer: dude, do you really think I'd be writing this if I owned JAG? Anyway I don't, it belongs to a bunch of people I don't know.

AN: The story starts on November 2014.


Chapter V

"Hey dad, how many people live there, huh?" Sam had noticed the four pizza boxes and thought it'd be a little too much just for three people.

"Just Mac and her daughter, why?" replied her father while pulling over next to the indicated address. It was a beautiful, two story house. Not too big, but not to small either. He got out of his SUV and headed for the house's entrance. He stopped in front of the door.

"Well, isn't this a lot of food for just 4 people?" Wait- her daughter? she thought getting out of the car. Her father didn't hear her, he was too focused on staring at the doorbell.

"Never mind dad. You forgot the pizzas." Harm snapped out of it and went to retrieve the food from the car. Meanwhile Sam walked to the door and knocked.

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Mac was standing in front of her mirror, fixing her hair. It was way past shoulder length now, quite a lot longer than it had been when she worked at JAG. Would he notice? Wait, why did she care if he noticed? And why was she so stressed about the way she looked? She had tried several changes of clothes before settling for a pair of jeans and a black sweater.

"I'll get it, it's probably your friend," she heard Sweet yell. She had been so focused on getting ready that she hadn't noticed someone was on the door. She took a deep breath and headed downstairs. Come on Mac, it's not so hard. Just go for it.

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"Good evening," Said Sweet as she opened the door, "my mom will be down in a sec…" she abruptly stopped when she saw the girl on the other side of the door.

"What are you doing here?" Sweet asked to the equally shocked girl. Her voice raised, "It's not enough to mess with me at school, you had to follow me home? What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me! What's wrong with you? Why are you here anyway, I'm supposed to have dinner with my dad's friend… oh…" realization suddenly struck both of them.

Just then, Harm stepped in front of the door holding their dinner. "Good evening," he said. "You must be Delara."

The girl nodded and he saw how much she looked like her mother. Same brown hair and skin tone. She could have been a miniature Mac except for her eyes. They weren't as deep as her mother's, but they had a look that he had never seen on his best friend.

Delara's eyes showed security and calmness, while Mac's were always alert and restless. Had Mac's eyes ever been this way, had she ever been as happy as this girl obviously was? He was sure that the child of Sarah Mackenzie would never have to know the pain that she had. Mac would make a great mother, heck, she probably already was a great mother.

There was a time when he had wondered what their kids would look like. Would they look like Delara? Or maybe like Sam…your looks, my brains... Wow, he did not want to go there…

"Are you okay sir?" Harm mentally kicked himself for staring.

"I'm sorry. It's just that you look so much like your mother."

"Thanks sir, everybody says that. Would you like to come in? You can wait in the living room, I'm gonna go check on my mother, I don't know what's keeping her." Del motioned for them to follow her, smiling at Harm and ignoring Samantha.

She ran up the stairs so fast that she almost crashed into her mother. Mac had been standing at the head of the stairs for a while now, frozen in place. She couldn't bring herself to move.

"Mom your friend is here, aren't you coming down?"

"Um yeah, let's go..."

They walked to the living room together but only Delara actually went in, Mac stood at the door, looking at Harm and his daughter She looked a lot like him, but her features were softer, and her eyes a little darker than her father's.

Harm noticed her and started to walk her way. He opened his arms and hugged her. She responded timidly at first, but then hugged him back. "Hey," he whispered into her hair. "Hey back," she answered in a small voice.

"What about some food?" He said, breaking the embrace.

"Well, you know this stomach of mine..." said Mac. Harm turned to the coffee table where he had previously left the pizzas and suddenly realized that he hadn't introduced his daughter to Mac.

"Uhm Mac, I want you to meet Samantha. Sam, this is my friend Mac, uh, Sarah Mackenzie and her daughter Delara."

Up to this point, both girls had been royally ignored by their parents. Witnessing the scene between the two, they both felt like outsiders. Sweet couldn't believe what she was seeing, her mother hugging a guy that, according to what she had told her daughter earlier, she hadn't seen in over 10 years. She was shocked, but in a good way.

Sam on the other hand was starting to get annoyed with how things were going. Her father wasn't one to get cozy with people he didn't usually see, or with people he saw every day for that matter. She had the feeling that this woman was more than just an "old friend".

"Hello Samantha, this is my daughter Del," Mac rested a hand on Sweet's shoulder. "You can call me Mac." She extended a hand to the girl but she didn't take it.

"Hello Sarah," was all Sam said.

Who the hell does she think she is? Sweet was not too happy with the way this girl was disrespecting her mother. She had decided that she was gonna try her best to ignore the way Sam had treated her at school that day, for her mother's sake. It was pretty obvious that she cared for this man, and, Sweet knew, that didn't happen easily.

"Sweet, this my... um, friend Harmon Rabb." Spoke Mac.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Rabb. You can call me Sweet." She gave him a lovely smile and offered her hand.

"You can call me Harm." After shaking hands, Sweet stood up and headed to the kitchen to bring plates. Whenever she and Mac had pizza, the food went from the box to their mouths. But that would probably not make a good impression on this Harm guy.

When she returned she saw her mom and Harm talking animatedly and Samantha sitting in a chair looking at them with a sour expression. They didn't seem to mind. From what she caught they had been pseudo-arguing about which was better, vanilla or chocolate.

Both Harm and Mac knew what they were doing. Joking around, talking as if nothing had happened. As if she hadn't picked up her things and left without a word to him. But denial works. It had for the 5 years they spent ignoring their feelings anyway.

They also knew that at some point they were gonna have to talk about it. About all the things they said and didn't say the things they should have said. For right now though, this was enough. This friendly banter, pretending everything was ok, that they were still the same people, best friends and partners.

Harm stood up to help his best friend's child and for the first time he noticed her clothes. He smiled at the sight of the daughter of a proud, semper-fi marine wearing a Navy sweatshirt.

"Nice," he said, pointing at Sweet's chest. "You've gotten soft Marine." He directed at Mac.

"Thanks Harm." Sweet answered with a smile, stealing a short glance to Sam. Yes, using her father's first name had had the desired effect. She wasn't one to hold grudges but when it came to her mother…

"Is any one else getting hungry, cause I sure am starving." Mac quickly changed the subject. The next logical question concerning the sweatshirt would have been "Where did you get it?" and she didn't need Harm to find out about that yet. Never would be even better.

"Okay, then. Sam what are you having, meat lover or veggie?" asked Harm.

"Are you actually gonna let me eat dead animal dad?" Okay, so she didn't like this woman or her daughter, but there was no reason not to take advantage of her father's extremely good mood. "I'll take the meat." She added quickly before he changed his mind.

"Somehow I knew you were gonna say that. What about you Sweet?"

"Are you kidding, we've been eating so much junk food since moving that I doubt I'll get another chance till my birthday. Bring it on!"

"Mac?"

"I'll have…"

"…the veggie." Interrupted Sweet, with a do-I-know-my-mother-or-what look. "She's obsessed with healthy food." She added. That last comment didn't sit well with Sam, this woman and his father already seemed so connected, they didn't need another thing in common.

"Oh really?" smirked Harm. "Well that sure is news to me. Does that mean you haven't introduced your daughter to Beltway Burgers yet?"

"There's nothing wrong with eating healthy. You of all people should know that." Mac knew her daughter, and if Harm was still his annoying self and they joined forces, she'd be teased non-stopped for the next decade. "Now are we gonna eat or what?"

"We do have to fill that bottomless pit you like to call your stomach."

The rest of the meal went by without incidents. After everyone was filled with both kinds of pizzas, Harm offered to go to the store for ice-cream. Apparently, he knew more about the place Mac lived in than she did. He asked if the girls wanted to go with him Sam had promptly accepted it, maybe if he spent a little time away from "Mac" she could convince him to go home. Unfortunately for Sam, Sweet had also wanted to tag along, ruining her plans. Hey, people didn't call Delara Mackenzie smart for nothing.

This left Mac alone in the house. She thought about Harm and his daughter. The girl didn't seem to like her at all. She seemed like a good girl though.

She had often imagined what Harm's family would be like, always thought that he'd have a couple of kids, young boys who would look just like him, maybe an obnoxious little blonde, blue-eyed girl like Rennee. The last thing she had heard about him, before tonight that is, was that they were having a baby. She had guessed that they'd get married, this was Harmon Rabb Jr. after all. At the time that knowledge had been about everything she could tolerate. Still, it was somehow reassuring to know that he was fine and happy, even if it wasn't with her.

How, in all the years they had both been in the military, had they not bumped into each other was a mystery to her. Bull, it wasn't a mystery. She had wanted it that way. First in Australia, she was almost sure she'd never see him around there. But after she had gotten pregnant she had requested for yet another transfer. Given two choices, Rome or D.C. she went for Rome, if only she had known…

When Sweet turned 4 she was to be reassigned. Mac remembered how much she had hated moving around as a child every time his father was relocated, how hard it was to make friends, how she couldn't call anywhere home.

She realized then that they were more important things in life than a career in the military. So, instead of accepting the assignment, she resigned her commission and retired a Lt. Colonel. Mac and Sweet moved to Boston, where an old acquaintance had offered her a position on his firm, it specialized on dealings and transactions between American and foreign companies.

In the eight years she had worked there, Mac's language skills had made her a key element in all international affairs. She spoke Russian, Farsi, Japanese, Spanish, a recently learned Italian and French (she learned that one while on maternity leave, just for kicks).

And then the firm had been absorbed by a bigger one. The senior partners had decided that her abilities would be of great help in their D.C. office.

After a long talk with her daughter and with AJ, she accepted and here she was. She hadn't been in the city in years, and even then schools had not been in her mind. The closest she ever got to the matter was when she went with Harriet to see Nursery Schools for little AJ, so she had gone to AJ for help and he had found the perfect school for Sweet. They were gonna have a very long talk when he got back from Italy.

The door bell rang interrupting her thoughts. Sweet had probably forgotten her keys again. Would that girl ever learn? Suddenly, she remembered exactly how she had learned to never forget her keys, and the first, and only, person she had told about it. A bittersweet smile crept to Mac's face, almost against her will, as she walked towards the door.