To Hell and Back
Chapter 10
Harm dropped Mattie off at school, as was becoming his normal practice, allowing Beth to make the shorter but more awkward and slower drive from Fourth NE to the Pentagon. It also allowed Harm to get to Falls Church consistently earlier than had been his usual practice in the past, an occurrence that had not gone unnoticed by some, at least, of his colleagues.
"H'mm… Either Coates's coffee is getting better and is magically summoning you across the miles, or living with two women is at last having some effect on your time-keeping," Carolyn Imes teased him gently as he entered the galley.
Tease him she might, but she also poured him a mug of coffee, choosing with a smile, to interpret his answering grunt as one of thanks, rather than of disgruntlement at her remarks.
Carolyn wasn't the only other attorney that had noticed his new earlier than usual arrivals, "You're in early, Harm, bucking for promotion?" Alan Mattoni asked sardonically as he crossed paths with Harm halfway across the bullpen.
Another Harm originated grunt this time was interpreted as his usual pre-caffeine fix not so sunny attitude to the world, so Alan contented himself with a brief chuckle as he saw Harm's discontented scowl.
Harm didn't quite slam the door to his office behind him but he certainly closed it firmly enough to attract the attention of Lieutenant Harriet Sims and Gunnery Sergeant Victor Galindez, reporting back to JAG for his first day after his lengthy TAD to the CIA.
Victor grinned, "Looks like we need the Colonel to get in and soothe the savage Navy breast," he chuckled.
Harriet looked at him in some surprise, it was not like Gunny to comment on or gossip about his superior officers, and Harriet suddenly realised that as buttoned up and as squared away as always, Victor Galindez had changed in the months he had been away from JAG, and of course, also as a result of that absence, he was unaware of the disaster of the train wreck that had once been a promising romance between Colonel Sarah MacKenzie and Commander Harmon Rabb.
Harriet really didn't want to discuss the lost relationship between Mac and Harm, but she felt that a word of caution to the Gunny, just so that he wouldn't inadvertently say the wrong thing at the wrong time, was justified. The blonde Lieutenant shook her head, "Gunny, I don't know, nobody knows what went on between the Colonel and the Commander while they were in Paraguay, but when they came back, they weren't speaking with each other, and after the Commander resigned, well… things went from bad to worse. Even when his commission was reinstated things weren't much better. Now, he's living with another female officer and they are in the process of adopting a teenaged girl together."
The Gunny pursed his lips in a silent whistle and shot a swift glance at the closed door to Harm's office, "Thanks for the heads up, ma'am. I knew about the Commander's resignation and reinstatement of course, and I knew they'd had a fight in country, but I didn't realise that things had gotten so bad between them, I really could have put both feet in my mouth, couldn't I!? I would have thought though, that they would have ironed out the kinks in their relationship – the way they normally do!"
"Well," Harriet said drily, "You can't really expect the Commander to be loving and giving when the Colonel is dating Mister Webb."
"The Colonel's dating Webb?" the Gunny demanded incredulously, "What on earth is that woman…" at that point his brain finally caught up with his mouth, which he shut with an audible snap of his teeth.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, I was out of line! If you'll excuse me, I need to reacquaint the enlisted personnel with what is required of them!" he said stiffly.
"Yes, go ahead, Gunny," Harriet smiled while thinking, 'Yeah, just what were you thinking, Mac!?'
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The Gunny's hope that Colonel MacKenzie's presence might soothe the savage Navy beast may have been ill-founded, but the large mug of near Marine grade coffee worked almost as well as the Colonel's sunniest smiles of better days, so it was with a better attitude to life and the result of an hour's uninterrupted work tucked in a pair of file folders under his arm that Harm strode briskly along the hallway towards the conference room and the Tuesday morning staff call, even managing to respond with a friendly smile and a "Good morning!" to the young Legalman Three who had shyly offered him a "Good morning, sir," as he passed her in the corridor.
The effects of his caffeine intake were long enough lasting to see him through the unpredictable events of Staff call.
Jennifer Coates, ringing, "Admiral on deck!" brought the assembled officers to their feet, where they waited until Chegwidden had drawn his chair out from under the table and growled "As you were!"
The usual short-lived disturbance of chairs being pulled back under butts subsided and Chegwidden glanced around at the Monday morning faces of his officers. "I hope you all had a relaxing weekend," he said genially enough, but none of the officers sat at the table were naïve enough to think that he really had any interest in whether they were relaxed and refreshed or not, but was merely paving the way for what came next. They were not disappointed.
"Because it looks like we have a busy week ahead of us…" he nodded at the stack of files that Coates had been cradling in her arms and had now placed in a neat pile on the table in front of her.
"Legalman One?" he queried with a touch of impatience in his voice, holding out his hand for the first air of files. A cursory glance at the file title and he slid one file towards Lieutenant Roberts and the second of the pair towards Lieutenant Burns.
"A nasty one," Chegwidden commented as he handed out the files, Aviation Mate Second Class Jasmine Whittington, Article One One Two A, wrongful use, possession and distribution of controlled substances. In this case a quantity of Marijuana. Lieutenant Roberts you are Trial Counsel, Lieutenant Burns, you have the defence!"
Cathy Burns took a quick glance at Bud Roberts but both brought their gaze back to the Admiral as they chorused, "Aye, aye, sir!"
Commander Mattoni, two for you to prosecute…"
"Lieutenant Commander Forsyth, Article One One One, recklessly hazarding a vessel, Commander Imes to defend. And Master Chief Petty Officer Alan Slocum and Ensign Judith Wainwright, three charges each under Article One Three Four, one each of fraternisation, wrongful co-habitation and adultery. Commander Rabb, you've caught the defence for this one!"
Harm considered he already had quite enough work awaiting his attention on his desk and allowed himself a silent groan.
And so it went on, cases were handed out to prosecution and defence, and seeing the number of minor cases that the junior attorneys collected Harm breathed a sigh of relief that he only had the two new cases to deal, horrendous as they might seem. Until at last the Admiral sat back, the table in front of Jennifer Coates now devoid of new case files, "Anyone got anything for me?" Chegwidden demanded.
Yes, sir! I'm about to leave for Norfolk, so I shall probably be out of the office for the rest of the day," Harm replied, "I have to interview a Seaman on cruelty to animal charges, one of the cases I inherited from the Colonel, sir!" he hastily added as the Admiral's brows began to knit together in a frown.
"Today, Commander? Is that really necessary?"
"I think so sir. Time is running out on the permissible ninety day delay, and the kid… he is only nineteen, sir, is for some God unknown reason, in pre-trial confinement at Norfolk Brig. And I had intended to make the journey yesterday, but couldn't get away."
"H'mm… What are the specifications of the charges?" Chegwidden demanded.
"Seaman Bander is assigned to the Norfolk Marine Mammal Deployment Centre, on desk duties. He was caught on the night in question in one of the dolphin pens, attempting to scare the dolphins out of their pens and out into the open sea. He had succeeded in 'frightening' two of the animals away from the pen, when he was seen and ordered out of the pen by Chief Anson, one of the dolphin handlers."
"Cruelty to animals?"
"Yes, sir. The promulgating officer's rationale is that dolphins are highly intelligent, so deliberately frightening them is a cruel act."
Chegwidden shook his head, "And this seaman is so dangerous that it was necessary to put him into pre-trial confinement?"
Harm nodded, "Apparently so, sir."
"Very well, Commander, go to Norfolk and speak with your client. I'll speak with Judge Morris and get this case pushed up the docket!"
"Uh… Thank you, sir!" Harm replied while wondering if pushing the case up the docket would allow him time to prepare his case.
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Sarah MacKenzie took a deep breath and pushed open the door to Commander Elgin's waiting room, where she was greeted by a different Corpsman Petty Officer Two. "Colonel MacKenzie?" the young redheaded woman asked as she rose to her feet.
"Yes, I'm here for my thirteen thirty with Commander Elgin…" Mac replied somewhat self-consciously and although she knew she was smartly and conservatively dressed she felt ill at ease in the tailored skirt and the black V-neck sweater she had chosen to wear under her grey hound's-tooth 'Ike' jacket.
"One moment, please, ma'am." The Petty Officer said with a smile, and hurried across to the door to the inner office.
"Come in, please, Colonel," Inez Elgin appeared in the doorway while she spoke and then stepped back to allow Mac to enter the inner office, which the Marine did so with a half-smile of acknowledgement to the Corpsman as she too stepped aside from the entrance.
Mac marched into the office her head high, and without waiting to be asked took a seat in one of the chairs. Inez Elgin merely smiled as the Lieutenant Colonel did so and merely suggested, "You… ah… might be more comfortable, if you took your jacket off, it's not that cold in here."
And it was true. It wasn't cold, and Inez Elgin wore only a white lab coat over her blouse and service dress skirt. Mac would far sooner have kept her jacket on, but had the feeling that if she said so she would be challenged as to her motive, and she could just hear the soft voice of Inez Elgin, identifying that wish as being part and parcel of Mac's need to keep up a defensive shield, so reluctantly she unzipped the jacket and folded across her lap, feeling strangely exposed as she did so.
"Now…" Commander Elgin was all business. "Yesterday I suggested that you faced several issues, among which were worries about abandonment, anger, resentment and hostility, and that you were wearing uniform as a means to shield yourself. You replied that my suggestion was preposterous, yet you couldn't come up with an answer to my question as to why it was such an outlandish suggestion.
"Because it was so unreasonable, that no reasonable person could have answered it!" Mac struck back.
"Indeed… so, tell me, Colonel, given that you said yesterday that you felt it was fitting to wear your uniform to a Navy Hospital, why is it today that you chose to wear civilian clothes?"
"What do you want from me?" Mac retorted. "Because from where I'm sitting, it seems that if I wear uniform I'm damned, and if I don't wear uniform I'm damned!"
"Not at all, Colonel, but I do find it interesting that you have gotten so angry so quickly over such a minor point.
"I am not angry – just exasperated!" Mac snapped back.
"And still very hostile, but that's alright, I'm used to that," Inez smiled, "But we are going to have to start working with each other instead of against each other." Inez paused, "That is of course, if you want to return to duty anytime this century?"
Mac looked stunned, "Of course I want to return to duty – and ASAP!"
"In that case Colonel, you are going to have to start trusting and confiding in me."
"I would and I will, as soon as you start asking me pertinent questions, instead of all this rambling down dead end side streets!"
Inez knew it was time to back off, when someone circled their wagons, so she smiled, and said, "Okay, let's approach this from a different perspective. You told me on your first visit that your CO had sent you to therapy because you had had a very public and very noisy argument with one of your fellow attorneys, Rabb, I believe you said his name was?."
"Yes, that's right, Commander Harmon Rabb - Junior!" Mac almost spat out the name and the added 'junior' came out as a definite sneer.
"So tell me about the argument. What started it?"
"Oh God! Where do I start?" Mac asked despairingly.
"So… there wasn't an immediate cause? It was a culminating moment, maybe just a minor moment, in a long series of provocations?"
"Yes… No! No… I don't know... We've always argued, even when we were best friends…"
Inez said nothing at this point made a quick note on her pad.
"Best friends?" she asked.
"Yeah, we used to be…" Mac paused thinking back over some the highlights of the past nine years.
"So… as best friends what did you argue over?"
"Oh… almost anything and everything… Squids and Jarheads, my boyfriends, his girlfriends…"
Inez made another note.
"Our cases… sometimes I swear if I said something was black he'd turn round and swear it was white!"
"And these arguments never got personal? You know the really knock down drag out and stomp on type of personal?"
Mac shook her head, "Not until this last one…" Once again she paused, "I've never seen Rabb the way he was that day." Mac gave a little laugh, "I know it's stupid, because I know he wouldn't, but for a second, for just a moment I really thought he was going to hit me!"
"And these arguments never got physical?"
"No! Of course not! I just told you that no matter how maddening that… that man is, he was never… he never raised a hand to me. I'd have killed him if he did."
Again Inez made a note.
"What about you? Did you ever strike him?"
"No! Oh…" Mac hesitated and blushed.
"Go on," Inez said gently.
"He really got to me one time, he'd been involved in a hostage situation in Groton Brig and I'd been so frightened – for him – that when he turned up with that fat stupid grin on his face, I let him have it verbally, but he just kept laughing at me, and… and… and I…"
"You hit him?"
Mac blushed, "Yeah… I slapped his face…" she admitted shamefacedly.
"M'mm… and what did he do then?"
"He stopped laughing, looked at me, touched his face and turned and then walked away."
"So… even when you struck him, he didn't offer to retaliate… but when you had this latest argument with him, he got so angry with you that you feared – even for just a split second – that he might turn violent?"
"No! It wasn't like that… well, not exactly…"
"So what was it like… exactly?" Inez asked.
"Uh… I don't know… I know I was really mad at him, so mad that I can't remember exactly who said what and in what order."
"That does sound like a doozy of an argument, so what sparked it off. If we can get to the bottom of that, then maybe we can make sense of the rest of the argument."
Mac sat in thought for a couple of minutes while Inez waited patiently. At last Mac drew a deeper than normal breath.
"He'd been away from the office all morning, and I needed to speak with him about a pending case. He's been spending a lot of time away from the office, ever since Christmas… securing early in the afternoons, and dashing out of the office at irregular intervals… always he said to interview clients or speak with witnesses – except for securing early – that was to go and collect his latest obsession from school! And I was sick of it, of having to have others pick up the work that was piling up while he was slacking off."
"His latest obsession?"
"Yeah, that damned kid!" Mac spat out.
"Kid?"
"Yeah… He resigned his commission at one stage and after getting fired from his new job, he ended up flying crop dusters for a kid down in Charlottesville. A kid who was running an illegal aviation company and who should have been in school!"
"And this 'kid' was his obsession how, exactly?"
"Oh… Well, it seems that when he found out her circumstances, he didn't inform CPS or the FAA, as he should have done, but he took her under his wing, and then sued for legal custody. He even had the nerve to come to me, after weeks – months even – of practically not speaking to me, and asked me to be a character witness for him at the guardianship hearing!"
"And you said?"
"I said no, of course!"
"Of course?" Inez' eyebrows rose slightly, in the first sign of emotion of the day, even if that emotion was only curiosity.
"Yes, of course. I pointed out to him that he wasn't a very good son… it had been weeks since he had last spoken to his mother, and that his grasp of family – as a concept - was weak, he knew nothing of teenaged girls, and would be a failure as a father."
"I see, and how did he react to that?"
"Uh… he swore at me and stormed out of the apartment."
"And the next time you spoke to him, how was he?"
"Uh… that would be the day we had the argument in the office – he was hostile, arrogant, uncivil… Just like he's always been!"
"Hostile, arrogant and uncivil, just as he's always been… yet he was for a time your best friend, you say?"
"Uh…" Mac looked taken aback. "Yeah he was…"
"So, you didn't mind him being hostile, arrogant and uncivil while he wasn't directing that attitude towards you?"
"No… it wasn't like that… He was, he used to be, good company, charming, polite, with a killer smile, that generally got him anything he wanted…"
"Including you, Sarah?"
Mac started at Inez's use of her name but shook her head, "No, we were never physical – in any sense – with each other…"
"Uh-huh… so, evidently at one point he changed?"
"Oh yeah!" Mac agreed fervently.
"So the atmosphere in the office must have been difficult if he was being arrogant and hostile towards his colleagues?"
"Uh… no… he… he didn't seem to have any problems with anyone else except for me…" Mac said slowly, as if she was just realising something, or was perhaps, Inez thought, trying to deny the thoughts that had just come into her head, and that would certainly fit the Colonel's psychological profile.
Inez glanced at her watch, "Okay…Sarah, believe it or not, we've made some progress today, but we've still got a fair bit of work to do. So I'm going to book you another slot, for thirteen thirty tomorrow, and we'll pick up where we left off today. But, overnight, I'd like you to do some homework. I need you to write down a history of your interactions with Commander Rabb, and for every negative I'd like you to find a positive, okay?"
Mac looked as if she was about to rebel, but finally and grudgingly acquiesced, after all, she did so badly want to return to duty.
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Harm felt that his choice of the Lexus, rather than a motor pool loaner. for the drive to and from Norfolk was entirely justified. He had finally gotten out of JAG HQ at about 09:45 hours, arriving at Norfolk Navy base at lunchtime. He had grabbed a sandwich and a bottle of water from the commissariat before driving across the base to the brig. The interview with Seaman Bander had taken about an hour by the time Harm had gotten through all the formalities and security procedures required by interviewing an inmate of the brig. And now the three hour drive back to DC meant that he wouldn't be arriving home until nearly 18:00 hours but because he was driving his own car, he would be able to drive directly back to Fourth NE without having to go via Falls Church and switch out the cars.
He shook his head at the memory of the interview, Bander was very young, and the mere experience of being in the brig had severely shaken him. Harm had there and then made up his mind that if Bander was found guilty then he would push for 'time already served' as being adequate punishment. The youngster had admitted that he had encouraged the dolphins to seek their freedom, but as far as Harm was able to judge it hadn't been with any malicious intention, and certainly he wondered how the convening authority could construe the Seaman's actions as being cruel.
Wool gathering on the I-95 at any time of the day, let alone the beginning of the late afternoon crush hour, was likely to be a non-habit forming occupation, so Harm determinedly shoved Seaman Bander, his problems and his dolphin freeing exploits to the back of his mind and concentrated on the task in hand, which was driving competently and safely enough to get him back home in one piece.
So it wasn't exactly with relief, but certainly with a feeling of 'I'm glad that's over!' that Harm finally turned into the alley off Fourth NE and pulled to a stop outside the old warehouse. Hastily scanning the array of vehicles belonging to the other tenants, Harm noted with a degree of concern that Skates' rental was not among them, and glancing at his watch he raised an eyebrow in surprise that Beth wasn't yet home, and that thought deepened his frown, if Beth wasn't home, then where was Mattie? He knew that he hadn't yet, as indeed he had meant to, provided the teenager with a pair of building and apartment keys. Not from any feeling of distrust, simply that he had already given the duplicate set of keys to Beth, and he hadn't yet had the opportunity to have a further set of keys cut. Which, he decided wryly, as he stepped into the elevator was pretty dumb considering that he had instructed Mattie's return straight home from school, at a time when neither he nor Beth were likely to be in the apartment to let her in. That, he decided firmly, would change this evening, just as soon as he had found out where Mattie was, and had changed out of his uniform.
Much to his surprise, as he approached the apartment door, he could hear music. Trying the door handle he found the door unlocked and it swung open, obedient to his touch. His nostrils were immediately assaulted by the pungent smell of wood stain he and Beth had been using on her new bedroom floor and with a feeling of concern he hurried through to the new wing of the apartment, worrying that Mattie had taken brush in hand and had, although well-meaning, spoiled his and Beth's handiwork of the previous day.
To his relief, however he discovered that the source of the music was a small radio perched on one of the kitchen stools just outside Beth's bedroom, and that both she and Mattie, the latter with a cloth tied over her nose and mouth, were both on their knees, with brushes in hand, while Beth showed Mattie how best to apply the stain to the wooden floor boards.
Switching off the radio so that he wouldn't need to shout, Harm waited the short second when the sudden loss of sound caused both faces turned towards him. It was difficult to tell, with the cloth covering the lower half of her face, if Mattie smiling, but the delighted grin on Beth's face was unmistakable. Carefully placing her brush in the tin of stain, Beth leapt to her feet, breathed, "Hi Harm…" and careful not to touch his uniform with her hands, locked her wrists at the back of Harm's neck, obliging him to bend his face towards her. Mattie, who had sat back on her heels, allowed herself an indulgent grin before she twitched the cloth off her face and groaned quietly, not too quietly, just quietly enough for Harm and Beth to be not quite certain that they heard her.
But heard her they had, and both grinning broadly against each other's lips, they broke off their kiss, Beth twisting slightly to face Mattie as Harm asked with pretended concern, "Are you sick, or something, Squirt?"
Mattie groaned again, this time silently, she knew… she just knew that Harm had some sort of trick up his sleeve and she was about to be hoist on her own petard, but when Harm asked a direct question she also knew that he required an answer. "Um… no… not sick… just… just…." Mattie floundered for a couple of seconds and then came a flash of inspiration, "I… ah… I just got a bit of an ache in my legs… from kneeling down, ya know?" she finished hopefully.
"H'mm… leg pain from kneeling down? Maybe we'd better get you checked out at the ER," Harm said, dropping a wink to Beth, a wink that was totally hidden from Mattie by the brunette's position, still wrapped in Harm's arms.
"No… no need for that!" Mattie said hastily as she scrambled to her feet. "But maybe if I was to go and lie down for… oh… I dunno… maybe for an hour, or until dinner's ready?"
"Volunteering to go to bed?" Harm asked, the laughter dancing in his eyes, "Wow! Maybe you are sick after all, and the leg pains are just a side symptom. No… I really think we ought to take you to the ER…"
"No! Uh, no, no thanks, I'm fine… look…" Mattie danced a couple of steps and smiled up at Harm, "See? No problems with my legs, now I'm stood up… but maybe I ought to give staining the rest of the floor a pass…" she suggested.
"H'mm… Maybe… Okay, if you go to your room then, and if you don't need to lie down and rest, maybe, just maybe, you could make a start on your homework?"
"Yeah, yeah… I'll do just that!" the harassed teenager agreed with a frantic nod of her head and then incontinently fled to the haven of her bedroom.
Beth and Harm watched her go and as soon as Mattie's bedroom door had closed behind her, Beth turned sparkling eyes towards Harm. "That was cruel!" she said through her grin.
"Oh, yeah, but it was fun!" Harm acknowledged.
Beth giggled, "Poor Mattie, done to a turn! Completely rolled up, horse foot and guns!"
"M'mm," Harm agreed, still with his hands on Beth's waist and her wrists crossed at the back of his neck, "But there is something that concerns me… How did Mattie get into the apartment? Or was she waiting at the door when you got home? And how did you get home? Where's the Toyota?"
Beth smiled and reaching up kissed him gently on the lips, before she settled back on her heels, "You remember a few nights back, when we had to work late?"
Harm nodded.
"Well… I managed to parlay those extra hours into a few personal hours for this afternoon. So… I went shopping, and I was about to head for home…"
Harm's heart warmed as he took in Beth's words. She was already beginning to think of the apartment as home.
"…when I remembered that Mattie didn't have a key! So I detoured via her school and got there just as the building was emptying out. It was a good job I was in uniform, otherwise I'm pretty sure that we would have missed each other! But anyway I brought her home and we came in together!"
"Yeah, okay," a mightily relieved Harm allowed, "but how did you get home?"
"Oh, the shopping I did was for a new car…Well, it's not exactly new, it's a showroom demo, it's less than a year old, and it's only got eight thousand on the clock. But the salesman said this particular mark and model is being updated this year, so as a demo, it's not much use to the showroom anymore. Anyway, I saw it on Friday, and did a recon. The salesman promised to hold it for me but only until today… so I went for it."
"What did you get?" Harm asked, frantically trying to think of which manufacturers had gone public about replacing any of their current vehicles, and his thoughts complemented with horrifyingly vivid mental images of Beth behind the wheel of a Mustang or a Camaro or a Viper…
Beth grinned up at him, "Cool your jets, hotshot. I know exactly what you're thinking! No, I did not buy a stupidly high performance car, I went practical and bought a slightly used Ford Focus. It's in Navy blue, and it's parked next to the downstairs neighbours' Impala. Oh… which reminds me… About twenty minutes before you got home, Mister Tomasko… the building super?"
"The owner, he lives on the first floor." Harm corrected her gently.
"Oh… yeah… well, anyway he called to ask how much longer the renovations were going to take. Apparently one of the couples downstairs, the Woodhouses?" Harm nodded, "Well, apparently they complained about the amount of noise and disturbance over the weekend."
Harm nodded, Mister and Mrs Woodhouse were in their seventies, and like a lot of older folk were set in their ways, liked their peace and quiet and barely left their apartment, having most of their necessaries home delivered.
Harm nodded again, "H'mm… I might have to go down and make nice with them. They're pretty good neighbours, they don't make any noise themselves, and they have always been willing to help out in the past."
Beth smiled, "I think it's okay, I showed Mister Tomasko what had been done, and what still needed to be done, and assured him that most of the noisy work had already been completed. You're not going to make a liar out of me are you?"
Harm grinned, "I shouldn't think so," he told her, "but what I am going to do, is get changed, and then get down to the hardware store and get some keys cut for Mattie! We got lucky today with you taking a half day, but that can't happen every day, not even if we were to switch out the job between us!"
"A spare set would come in handy too," Beth suggested.
"Good thinking!" Harm agreed as he finally let Beth go and turned towards his bedroom, stopping and turning back as another thought struck him, "Um… If I cook this evening, then dinner's going to be late, so while I'm gone, why don't you order in something for us all?"
"Oh… I could make a start on dinner while you're gone?" Beth suggested, and then saw the expression on Harm's face, "Or I could just order in?"
"Good call!" Harm approved.
"What did you have in mind?" Beth asked.
"Anything!" Harm replied as he disappeared into his bedroom, but then his head reappeared around the edge of the door, a bit like a jack-in-the box, Beth thought with a stifled giggle.
"Except pizza!" he said firmly before disappearing once again.
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Harm put his chopsticks down and watched with an indulgent eye as Mattie gamely persevered in what was her first encounter with them. Beth had taken Harm at his word and had ordered Thai food, a mixture of fish and sea-food dishes as well as a double order of vegetable fried rice. Ham had taken a portion of the Pad Thai Noodles with shrimps, with a side of Thai fish cakes and lime dip, leaving Beth and Mattie to divide the remainder of the noodles, the fish cakes and the green fish curry, all washed with bottled water from the fridge.
"That's cheating, Mattie!" Beth laughingly scolded the teenager as Mattie gave up on picking up the last chunk of fish on her chopsticks and herded it on to them with the index finger of her other hand.
"Don't care!" Mattie retorted with a grin, "I've been chasing that… that… lump of fish around my plate for the last half hour!"
"Or two minutes, anyhow," Harm remarked mildly.
"Oh… was it as long as that?" Mattie asked with wide-eyed innocence.
"Yep… the shortest half hour in recorded human history!" Harm grinned. "And talking of history, what was your homework this evening?"
"Start a book report on 'The Plague Dogs', and some basic exercises in trigonometry… learning to use the tables to solve simple problems."
"The Plague what…?" Harm asked.
"How was the trigonometry?" Beth inquired at the same time.
"Whoa, people!" Mattie giggled, "The math was fine, Skates, I just wish I'd known about logarithms in grade school, they would have made long division so much easier! The book? The Plague Dogs… it's by a British author and it's about two dogs who escape from an animal science lab, where they've been experimented on, and their adventures in the world once they escape."
Harm's brow furrowed, "Sounds a bit kitschy to me."
"Nuh-huh, no way. There is no way this book is kitsch. In fact it's pretty dark, and pretty moving!" Mattie said emphatically.
"And you're okay with that?" Harm asked.
Mattie shrugged, "Yeah, I guess. I mean I've already learned that the world isn't all handsome princes and beautiful princesses where everybody lives happily ever after!"
Beth was quick to pick up what she thought was a touch of bitterness in Mattie's voice, and reaching out she gently laid her hand over the girl's, "It's not quite as bad as all that, Mats, it's just that you may have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince."
"Eeww!" Mattie enunciated in a voice of the deepest disgust, only to provoke laughter from both Beth and Harm.
Harm despite his laughter, shook his head, "One thing you can depend on Mattie, is that one day your prince will come!"
Mattie looked at him curiously, a half-frown and a half grin on her face the same time, "that sounds like a quotation," she observed, "Where's it from?"
Harm held up his hands in surrender, "You got me there! I know I've heard it somewhere, but just where I've got no idea!"
Beth chuckled, and grinned broadly, looking at Mattie and then at Harm, "I know," she said brightly.
Harm gave her a sour look, "Go on, then, genius," he invited her.
Beth could barely restrain her giggles by this stage, "Um… It's from the Disney classic, 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarves'."
Mattie gave a shout of laughter, "Oh man, and you accused me of being kitsch!"
Harm dearly wanted to glower at the two women in his life, but their laughter was too infectious, and all he could do was grin of his hands up in surrender, "I guess I did, so the last laugh is on me!"
Beth smiled, "Now you're wasting time, Mattie and I finished the second coat on the bedroom floor, so what we really like to see now is all that brick work nice and smoothly covered over with plaster. So if Mattie and I clear up the kitchen, you can get started on the plastering."
Harm nodded, "Good thinking, but what are you and Mattie going to be doing for the rest of the evening while I'm up to my elbows in wet plaster?"
"Well, that book report wouldn't hurt with a bit more work on it," Mattie conceded with a discontented pout.
Beth weighed in with "And I've got a uniform skirt that badly needs some wrinkles pressed out, and shoes to spit shine. I might even find it in my heart have a look at your shoes too."
"That's out and out bribery!" Harm declared.
"Oh, yeah, but did it work?" Beth grinned.
"Yeah, dammit," Harm answered.
"Wow, Beth! Way to go!" Mattie chortled.
xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
It was much later than he'd hoped when an overall-clad and plaster besmeared Harmon Rabb finally smoothed the last six square inches of plaster over the exposed brickwork of the archway in what had been the wall dividing the former two apartments.
While he'd been working Mattie had finished her homework, showered and gotten ready the bed. She now, in pyjamas and Terry cloth Bath robe sat curled up, with her feet tucked beneath her butt, and with her nose buried in her book while she waited for what was rapidly becoming a nightly ritual of a mug of hot chocolate.
Beth had not only pressed her skirt, but when she saw that Harm was going to be busier for longer than they had thought she had also sharpened the creases on Harm's service dress pants and ironed a blouse for herself and a fresh shirt for Harm, and was just finishing off spit shining the toes of his uniform shoes.
With a groan of relief Harm stood back and surveyed his handiwork. Despite the time it had taken him, there was more than just a measure of satisfaction in the contemplation of a job well done. He scraped the last of the plaster out of the bucket and into a plastic bag, taking care to squeeze the air out of the bag before he used a zip tie to seal the mouth. The plastering trowels and hawk, found a home in the bucket which he filled with warm water and left them to soak.
Five minutes later saw Harm back in jeans and T-shirt and warming a pan of milk on the stove, ready to fill the line up of three mugs with hot, sweet chocolate as soon as the milk had boiled. Then, when the mugs were duly filled and carried across to Beth and Mattie Harm found himself ambushed by the two women and a furniture catalogue.
"We've already decided on my bed," Beth reminded him, "but we do need a proper dining suite. Looking at the floor, and the existing colour scheme, Mattie and I figure that something in light oak, or maybe beech… Something like this…" Beth flipped over a page in the catalogue to show Harm a picture of what she and Mattie had in mind.
Truth be told, Harm was quite content with the present arrangement of four stools arranged around the breakfast counter, but he was wise enough to realise that what suited a bachelor, wasn't necessarily ideal in the eyes of the two women who had become such an important part of his life.
"Oak is more durable than beech, isn't it?" he asked
Beth looked doubtful, "I'm not sure, but yeah, I think so."
"In that case, if you like that design, go for it in oak." Harm took a sip of his chocolate, with the air of someone who had made an irrevocable decision.
Beth eyed him curiously, "That's it? No arguments?"
"No, no arguments. Why should there be any? We agreed we need a dining suite, and this one looks good as well as looking practical, a decent sized table and four chairs, what more do we need?"
"Um… What about the price?" Mattie queried.
Harm cast a quick glance over the other dining suites listed in the catalogue and nodded, "Well it's not the most expensive suite on offer, but neither is it the cheapest. And it comes with a warranty. So I say for what it is, the price is right." He looked at Beth, "So go ahead and order it tomorrow, or would you rather I did that?"
Beth shook her head, "No, no need for you to do that, I'll place the order first thing in the morning and try for a Saturday delivery date?"
Harm grinned, "Good luck with that! And now, completely changing the subject, Mattie…" He looked up and across at the teenager, "We all got very lucky today, Beth was able to take a personal afternoon and pick you up from school. Otherwise, you would have been left sitting outside in the cold, or in the hallway outside the apartment, if you would have persuaded anyone to let you in. And that would have been entirely my fault. In all my plans, there was just one little item I failed to take into consideration."
Mattie peered over the rim of her mug, "Yeah, I know. Keys – Beth and me already had this conversation."
"Beth and I," Skates interrupted her.
"Sorry…"
"Well, that won't happen again," Harm said as he fished in his jeans pocket and pulled out a pair of keys on a simple metal ring. "Outside door, and apartment door," he explained as he extended the keys towards Mattie.
Mattie looked at him seriously, "Thank you, Harm, I'll take good care of them, and I promise I won't lose them."
"Don't make promises you can't keep." Harm cautioned her.
Beth put down the now empty mug, and wormed her way into the circle of Harm's arm, resting her head against his shoulder. "That's not a bad principle to live by, Mattie."
The teenager nodded and smiled at Harm, "Yeah, I've already seen that." Then her face split in a grin, "And I can also see into the future…"
"Do tell," Beth invited her.
"I can foretell that in less than a minute, Harm is going to tell me it's past my bedtime, and what's more, the second my bedroom door closes behind me, you two will probably start behaving inappropriately."
Beth grinned, "I've never believed in fortune-telling, but this time, I so hope you are right!"
Harm chuckled, "She's half-right at least… Mattie, it's past your bedtime and it's a school night!"
Mattie, however, was already on her feet and scooping up the three now empty mugs, smiled, "I'll just put these by the sink and then I'm gone!"
Thirty seconds later trailing a, "Good night, people," Mattie fulfilled her own prophecy and closed the bedroom door behind her.
Harm smiled down at Beth, "And is the second half of Mattie's prophecy likely to be fulfilled?" He asked gently.
"Oh, I do hope so," Beth murmured as she once again lifted her face to his.
Despite the opportunity afforded to them by Mattie's more or less precipitate retreat Harm and Beth had restricted themselves to no more than a few kisses. Still adjusting to the shift in their relationship neither was yet prepared to take the physical aspects of that to the next level. Consequently most of the twenty minutes they spent together on the couch were taken up just by each enjoying the physical closeness of the other.
Harm had eventually murmured into Beth's ear, "Bedtime, for me, at least."
"M'mm… Me too," Beth had whispered back.
A last kiss and then Harm and reluctantly disengaged from their embrace and with a murmured, "Good night, sweetheart," Harm forced himself to cross the couple of yards of floor to his bedroom.
Beth sat motionless on the couch for a few more moments before she sighed and headed for the second bathroom, careful not to make too much noise just in case she woke Mattie stop
xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
Harm almost bounced out of bed in the morning, heading straight for the bathroom to brush his teeth, before scrambling into his running gear.
"You ready?" he asked Beth as he entered the living room.
"As ready as you are!" The brunette answered as her head popped through the neck hole of her T-shirt.
Harm grinned, "Not from where I'm standing, but you'll do!"
"Yeah? Well let's see if you can keep up with me this morning, old man."
"Old man, huh? Well, we'll see!"
Beth was relying on her past middle distance running experience. Her forte was the five thousand metres, and she was pretty confident that over that distance that she was faster than Harm, but a greater distance would soon see his reserves of stamina wearing her down.
The cold of the January morning dictated that both start with a gentle jog to loosen up en route to Gallaudet University, but once through the campus gates and both were breathing easily Beth grinned up at Harm, "You ready, old man?"
"Set out your stall!" Harm challenged her stop
Beth nodded, "A figure of eight around the campus and the cemetery, finishing back here. Loser buys dinner at the weekend; winner's choice of restaurant and menu!"
"Anytime, baby!" Harm crowed,
"On a count of three… One… two… three!"
xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
Harm stood, his hands on his hips, and a puzzled frown on his face. "How the hell did you beat me?" he demanded, his breath steaming in the morning chill.
"Natural ability, honed by hard work," Beth smirked. As her breath too streamed away in the light breeze.
"BS! Come on, give!"
"No, I don't think I will," Beth teased him as she opened the door to the warehouse, "But let's get inside before we get chilled!"
"I will figure it out, and when I do, just remember what they say about payback…" Harm growled through his own grin.
"Anytime, baby!" Beth threw the old challenge right back at him.
Beth was still grinning when she opened the apartment door an Harm still had the remains of a frown on his face, and that was all the clue that Mattie, busily engaged with a mug of coffee at the breakfast counter needed, "You won?" she asked Beth incredulously.
"Uh-huh," the grinning brunette nodded and held her hand out.
Mattie sighed and dug a hand into her jeans pocket and pulled out a crumpled one dollar bill which she handed over to Beth. "Tell me she cheated!" she commanded Harm.
Harm could only shrug, "I don't how she did it, but it looks like she beat me fair and square!"
"You didn't give her a start, did you?" Mattie asked – Harm had previously told her the story of the infamous Jagathon.
"Nope, once in a lifetime was enough of that foolishness…" Harm thought for a moment and then shrugged, "I think what happened was she took off a lot faster than I thought she would, and then instead of burning out like I expected, she just kept going at that same pace, and I left myself too much to do."
"Ah… tracktics," Mattie nodded wisely.
"Huh?" Harm asked.
"It's an old track running tactic, set out fast, then no-one thinks you can keep it up, so they don't try too hard at the beginning, and by the time they've realised that you can keep up that pace, it's too late for them to do anything about it," Mattie explained. "Beth was banking on that, knowing you'd never run track."
"Sneaky!" Harm declared, half admiringly.
"I try, I try," Beth said smugly.
xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
"So… you bet on me, and lost?" Harm asked Mattie as he made the left turn onto N street.
"Yeah," Mattie grinned, "I sure won't bet against Skates in a running contest again!"
"So… you've learned your lesson?"
"Darn straight!" Mattie agreed fervently. "There's not much point in you giving me an allowance, and me paying it straight back out again, is there?"
"Good point!" Harm said approvingly, as he pulled up to the kerbside.
"Don't worry, Harm," Mattie said, suddenly serious, "I know gambling can be as damaging an addiction as alcohol, and I ain't about to fall into either trap!"
"Well, there's nothing intrinsically wrong in either, you know, Squirt, but like everything else in life, it's knowing when to stop is the hardest. Look at Beth and me, we sometimes have a glass of wine or two, or a beer or two with dinner, but you don't see us settling down for the evening with a bottle of bourbon and a glass, now do you?"
"No… but I don't see you going to the track either," Mattie pointed out.
"Well, I don't. It doesn't appeal to me, but," Harm grinned, "You got off lightly, Beth bet me a dinner, her choice of restaurant that she could beat me. So it looks like I'm going to be out more than just one dollar!"
Mattie couldn't resist, she let out a peal of laughter, "Oh, you guys!" she said despairingly as she opened the door and slid out of her seat onto the sidewalk. "I'll see you when you get home!" she said by way of farewell.
"You got your keys, alright?" Harm asked suddenly anxious that she might have forgotten them.
"All safe and sound on a cord 'round my neck!" Mattie assured him patting her upper chest just below the last button on her shirt, and then with a sunny smile she shut the car door and with a last half-wave, half salute, she headed up the walkway to the school steps.
Harm sat still for a couple of minutes watching until Mattie was swallowed up in the throng of students clustered on the steps, before he knocked the gear lever into drive, and pulled away from the kerb.
xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
"That's an improvement on yesterday's face," Carolyn said approvingly as she once more slid a mug of coffee towards Harm.
"Thanks, for the coffee, and a compliment – if it was one. But don't push your luck," Harm grinned, "and not a word to anyone, remember I've a reputation to keep up!"
"Aye, aye, Sir!" Caroline gave a mischievous grin and a parody of a salute. Harm merely shook his head and raising the cup of coffee in a silent farewell and a gesture of thanks, he turned to his own office.
Carolyn watched him go and shook her head, soft smile on her lips, "All bark and no bite," she mused.
"Who's that, ma'am?" Gunnery Sergeant Galindez asked as he stepped into the galley.
"Did I say that out loud?" Carolyn Imes asked in surprise, when the Gunny nodded she added "Commander Rabb."
Gunnery Sergeant Galindez inclined his head in pursed his lips slightly, "I wouldn't be too sure of that, ma'am," he said as he poured himself a mug of coffee while at the same time remembering Commander Rabb as the cold warrior who had unflinchingly killed at least six of Sadik Fahd's mercenaries in Paraguay.
"Do you know something the rest of us don't, Gunny?" Carolyn asked.
Galindo's looked the blonde Commander straight in the eyes, "if I did know something ma'am, it would almost certainly be highly classified and only to be disseminated on a need to know basis."
"And I don't need to know, do I, Gunny?"
"No, ma'am, you don't."
With anyone else Carolyn might have tried further, but everyone at JAG quarters knew that the Admin non-com was notoriously tight lipped, and previous efforts to get him to unbutton had all failed miserably, so she merely nodded and asked, "How's the coffee, Gunny?"
"Better than Tiner's," he agreed, "Who made it?"
"Legalman One Coates, I believe," Carolyn Imes replied, "She's generally one of the first to arrive in the morning."
That will change, the Gunny promised himself, but he merely asked, "That's the Admiral's Yeoman?"
Carolyn nodded.
"But she's a Legalman?" the Gunny persisted in some surprise.
Carolyn nodded, "Yep, but she'd damned good at her job as Yeoman, as good as Tiner, even, although she pushes the boundaries with the Admiral far more than Tiner ever dared!"
"And she makes pretty good coffee – for a squid!" Galindez endorsed Carolyn's praise of Jen with an appreciative smile as he took a further sip of his brew. "It's not Marine grade of course, the only swabbies I ever met who could drink Marine grade coffee were Seals!"
"And aviators!" Harm's voice cut through the conversation from the doorway, "Any more left in that jug?" he asked Carolyn. "Morning, Gunny!"
"Good morning, sir!" Galindez replied, not quite assuming a brace.
"Sure… but it's Coates's brew, the same as last time. The Gunny hasn't gotten around to brewing a fresh pot just yet!"
"I'd love to wait, but I've got a couple of urgent phone calls to make…" Harm said suggestively passing his mug to Carolyn, who was now the nearest to the coffee jug.
"Coming right up!" Carolyn said cheerfully, as she poured the requested coffee, and handed the mug to Harm, who nodded his thanks and turned to leave the galley.
"Wait up, I'll walk with you. I wanted to discuss the Forsyth case with you, you have defended against that charge in the past…" Carolyn said, following him out of the galley and across the bull pen, and then seeing the blank look on Harm's face reminded him, "The recklessly hazarding a vessel?"
"Oh… Oh yeah. To be honest Carolyn, I was tied up all day yesterday at Norfolk, and I haven't even opened the other files on my desk yet. The calls I've got to make are to do with that multiple charge Article one three four case, the Master Chief and the Ensign…" he took a breath, "Look, can I get back to you this afternoon on that one? I can't promise, but if I can squeeze a quick ten minutes then I will."
Carolyn frowned, but realised that Harm was under just as much pressure as every other attorney at Headquarters, maybe even more so, as Chegwidden did seem to hand him more cases than he gave to others. "Okay, but do try to get back to me today, please, Harm? I could really do with an insight into this one."
"I will!" he confirmed as he sought the refuge of his office.
Dropping into his swivel chair, he reached for the Slocum/Wainwright file in his in-tray and read again the charges and the specifications of each. Once he'd finished reading, he reached for his phone and carefully dialled the Navy Yard extension in the address block of the covering letter.
"Sea Systems Command. Senior Chief Yeoman Mendoza, how may I help you, sir?"
"This is Commander Harmon Rabb at HQ JAG Corps. I need to speak with Captain Armbruster…" Harm said, naming the officer whose name appeared
as the officer originating the charges.
"The Captain's not at his desk this morning, sir. May I help you?"
"You can if you can tell me where I can find Master Chief Slocum and Ensign Wainwright?" Harm said hopefully, but not really expecting a result.
"I'll have to call you back with that information, sir. Give me five minutes, please?"
"Certainly, Senior Chief, thank you."
Harm put the phone back in its cradle, fully expecting a lengthy wait, but to his pleased surprise, the phone issued its summons not quite five minutes later.
"Rabb!"
"Sir, this is Senior Chief Mendoza. I have the information you wanted…"
"Thank you, Senior Chief, please go ahead…"
"Both have been relieved of duty, sir. Ensign Wainwright is in the restricted barracks at Anacostia. Master Chief Slocum has an apartment at… One Three One Four K Street South East, apartment Two Bravo."
"Thank you, Senior Chief!" Harm said emphatically.
"Is there anything else I can help you with today, sir?"
"Not today, Senior Chief, thanks, but I may need to call back at a later date."
"Aye, aye, sir!"
Harm once again replaced the phone in its cradle and glancing at his watch, hastily grabbed his briefcase and strode across the bull pen and down the hallway, barely sliding into his seat in the conference room before Jennifer Coates threw the door open and following the daily routine announced, "Admiral on deck!"
Once again there was the clattering of chair legs on the parquet floor as the assembled officers stood, and once again the Admiral's growled, "As you were!" occasioned a further clatter as seats were re-taken.
And again, as usual, all eyes switched to Jennifer Coates as she sat at the Admiral's right hand, trying to guesstimate the number of files in front of the Legalman One.
"First case… Lieutenant Commander Singer, you can prosecute this one…" he held out his hand for the first pair of files to be handed to him by Coates, "Article Ninety Two, Fire Controlman Two Eleanor Jacobs, Dereliction of Duty and Article One Oh Eight, Damage to US Government property." The Admiral snorted, "Seems she set the wrong parameters on a Sea Whiz and pumped a dozen rounds into an Amtrac carrying a full load of Marines. Fortunately, she was a little high and no-one was hit. Commander Imes, you defend!"
"Aye, aye, sir!" the two female officers replied in chorus, but Harm noticed that they each had a troubled look in their eyes. He wasn't the only one, and Harm had to fight down a wry grin, it seemed that nothing much got past the pebble hard gaze of Admiral A J Chegwidden.
"You have a problem with this case, Commanders?" he challenged each if the blondes in turn.
Loren and Carolyn exchanged glances, and then Carolyn as the senior of the two spoke up, "Uh… yes, sir. I do… I'm concerned about the impact on the court."
"How do you mean?" Chegwidden rasped, not liking being second guessed, especially in public, but, he told himself, he had brought this on himself.
"Well, sir. We have a female accused, and two female attorneys. It might strike the panel that we have some sort of feminist agenda going, and could jeopardise the FC Two's chances of a fair trial…"
"Commander Singer?" Chegwidden turned his attention to Loren.
"About the same thoughts that crossed my mind sir," she admitted.
"You two were damned quick to reach that conclusion!" Chegwidden scowled.
"I know Tailhook was a long time ago, sir, and that the Navy has come a long way since then, but maybe not as far as we would like. These are the sorts of circumstances that any thinking female officer has to take into consideration practically every day of her professional life, sir."
"H'mm… point taken… very well… Commander Singer you will still prosecute… that won't smack of a feminist agenda, I take it?" he challenged her.
"No, sir, I'm quite happy to prosecute the case."
"Good… in that case, Lieutenant Barlow, you can defend!"
"Aye, aye, sir!"
"Right, moving perhaps not so swiftly on…" the admiral said with heavy irony, "Commander Imes… You can prosecute Bosun's Mate Three Halloran of the Gainesville, assault consummated with battery on a seaman in his watch. Commander Mattoni, I'll let you defend this one!"
Two more files were slid across the deck.
The admiral looked at his watch, "Nothing else, Legalman One?"
"Not this morning, sir. Well, at least, not so far, sir!"
"Good! Well, I know you all have enough work to keep you busy, people. Dismissed!"