Mommy Dearest
Chapter 26
Biting the Bullet
Harm debated whether or not to offer his assistance in securing Alexandra's car seat for the journey back to Falls Church. He had gained considerable amusement as well as some measure of revenge for the merciless teasing that Jen and Loren had subjected him to on the drive out to the airport, but the knowledge that they knew just how much amusement he had derived from their struggle to free Alexandra from the seat belt made him leery of offering to help. Fishing in his pocket for the keys to the Lexus, he pressed the fob's de-activate button and watched as the vehicle lights flashed to show that it was now unlocked, and as they approached the car, he lengthened his stride to be able to open the rear door before the women and baby reached the vehicle.
As the two approached, Alexandra carried between them; he coughed cautiously, and asked, "Er, would you like me to have a go at securing her seat?" His voice was as non-committal as the blandest of bland facial expressions he had assumed.
His diffidence brought him only two perfectly matching scowls of suspicion in return, and Jen's comment, "Watch him, Loren, he's up to something!"
"Well, if he is, then tell me what!"
"I don't know... but definitely something..."
"Well!" Loren tutted impatiently, "you ought to know, after all he's your husband!"
"Oh, yes," Jen sighed happily, her smile taking on an appearance of overall contentment, "he is, isn't he?"
"Traitor!" Loren muttered, but her own smile, and the softening of her eyes was enough to show anyone with half a brain cell that she wasn't being serious, and not much to her surprise she found herself handing Alexandra and car seat to Harm and then standing back as she and Jen watched him buckle her baby into securely into place.
Harm decided it was time to make amends for his teasing, well almost, anyway, and letting a full-power flyboy smile light up his face, he said, "Ya know, I figure I'm one of the luckiest men in the world today."
Jen's deep brown eyes met Loren's ice-blue ones and then turning back to meet her husband's gaze she said, "Oh, yeah, do tell."
"Well," he expounded, determined not to stray into anything too profound this time, "I have five favourite women in the whole world, and right now, I'm here with three of them. Life just doesn't get much better than that!" He sighed deeply and beamed at both women.
Loren was about to make a snappy come-back, when she recalled the conversation that had so unexpectedly turned so serious on their way to the airport and reconsidered, the goof-ball really meant it! Well, he was only married a week, so his feelings towards Jen were only right and proper; Alexandra was his niece, so there again that was perfectly understandable, but he'd included her too, and for the life of her she couldn't help feeling pleased that he had!
Still, she couldn't let him get away with too much! He and his family had successfully handled her for the past two months, right down to telling her where to live! Um, no, well, actually, she had been the one who'd made that decision. Yeah, but they'd pressured her into making that decision! So, yes, she did have, or so she reasoned, sufficient grounds for a comeback. But it mustn't be too harsh!
"Sap!" she muttered through her smile
Jen had been watching for Loren's reaction to her husband's declaration and had followed Loren's thought process with a fair degree of accuracy, and if she'd made a bet with herself as to the nature of Loren's reply she'd have won. Climbing into the front passenger seat she allowed herself a grin of self-congratulation, a grin that Harm picked up on as he fastened his seat belt. He said nothing, merely cocking an eyebrow at her. In return she just smiled in what she hoped was an enigmatic fashion and mouthed 'later' at him.
The drive back to Falls Church was accompanied by shared memories of what Trish had said, or what Frank had done, but all in a spirit of good-humoured memory to the extent that when Harm said, "You know, it was great having Mom and Frank here for all that time, but, do you know something? It's actually a relief to get them on their way back to La Jolla..." both Jen and Loren were about to indignantly refute his comment, when they both realised that Harm was right. They looked at each other ruefully, and made the unspoken acknowledgement that with his parents gone home, they could, if not exactly relax, at least not have to take into account their entertainment, or the need to schedule meetings and lunches or dinners with them.
That thought kick-started Loren's memory, "Umm..." she began uncertainly, and then as Jen twisted in her seat to look at her, she caught Harm's eye in the rear-view mirror, "Look, I know we were just saying, how relaxing it is not to have to worry about making arrangements and taking other people's plans into consideration... but..."
"Go on, Loren," Jen encouraged her.
"Well, Alexandra's getting quite good at sleeping through now, and she doesn't usually wake up until the early morning. This morning's wake up, though, was a little too early, wasn't it, you monster?" She gently tickled her dozing baby's tummy as she addressed the last remark to her. "Anyway, she woke up at about oh-five-thirty hours this morning, and by the time I'd fed her, bathed her and changed her, it was too late to go back to bed, so..."
"So...?" Harm asked.
"So, I madelunchforallofusandIhopeit'sok", Loren finished in a slightly red-faced rush.
Both Harm and Jen laughed out loud, which not only made Alexandra stir, but threatened to ignite Loren's temper until a few seconds thought made her realise that they weren't laughing at her, but rather at the absurdity of the situation.
Still chuckling, the three of them and Alexandra de-bussed with no trouble, Harm benignly pointing out just how easy it was to disengage the car seat if it had been installed properly in the first place. He found his observations amply rewarded when he was left to bring the diaper bag and the rest of Alexandra's paraphernalia while the two women - unburdened with the exception of Alexandra - almost raced ahead to the side entrance to the yard and then on down to what they were already calling the ranch-house.
As he trudged after them Harm was struck by a thought. He stopped and looked back at the kerbside, and then across to the far side of the main house to the garage and the gravel apron in front of it, and then at the side gate to the yard. While he had had no problem toting the diaper bag, Alexandra's slightly soggy stuffed duck and the plastic sack with her soiled diaper in it, he reflected that Loren, perhaps tired after shopping, trying to deal with a possibly fractious infant, diaper bag and shopping might not find the walk from kerbside to ranch-house quite so trouble free. The same of course might well apply to Jen firstly as she became more awkward on her feet and then after the birth of their own child. A more than ordinarily sappy grin crossed his face at that thought and almost made him forget that he needed to broach the idea he'd had to both of the women in his life.
Shaking his head at just how sappy he had become, he pushed through the gate and contemplated the length of the back yard, adding that to the distance he had already computed from the kerbside. Yep, that settled it. He might have to check the zoning regulations, but it looked like a car wide strip of the front yard was about to sacrificed in order for access to the gate, and certainly a second mail box needed to be put in place. Well, those were priority jobs for next weekend, after he and Jen had finished moving their goods and chattels from DC.
When he arrived at the ranch-house, he found that his three best girls as he referred to them were already setting up in the shade of the dog-run that connected the two parts of the building. A garden table - and where had that come from? - had been placed between the two built-in benches and Loren was placing a large pitcher of iced tea and four glasses on the table, while Jen transferred Alexandra from the car seat to her porta-crib.
"Four glasses, Loren?" Harm queried, as he slid the diaper bag off his shoulder, and deposited the stuffed duck in the porta crib, "are we expecting company?"
Loren merely nodded over his shoulder and he half-turned to see Mrs Brovo crossing the yard towards them. Harm stood as she approached and greeted her, "Good afternoon, ma'am."
"Good afternoon, Commander, ladies." She surveyed them with dark brown eyes, which somehow also appeared to be bright. "Firstly, my apologies for not being around to welcome you yesterday, dear," she said to Loren, "but with all the fuss and hoo-raw of marching in, I figured you'd welcome at least one less piece of interference. I do hope that all went well, and that you are now comfortable, although I'm sure it will take a little while to get really settled in. So, I took the day and I went to visit an old friend up in McLean." She cast a shrewd look at Harm, "Apparently, he thinks very highly of you, and he had some pretty nice things to say about you too, young lady," she added looking at Jen.
Harm, Jen and Loren stared at Mrs Brovo for some seconds, before Jen whispered, "A J? Uh... I mean Admiral Chegwidden?"
Mrs Brovo then grinned, a positively wicked grin, "I'm afraid I can neither confirm nor deny that supposition, Mrs Rabb," she said primly, but with a devil of mischief dancing in her eyes.
Loren twinkled at Mrs Brovo's teasing, "And can you either confirm or deny that you're ready for lunch, Mrs Brovo?"
"Oh, I can confirm that, dear. After all that's why you invited me, and I accepted!"
xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
Harm briskly dried his head and pulling on a clean pair of boxers, left the bathroom for the bedroom, draping the damp towel carefully over the heater rail. Jennifer was lying in bed, the comforter pulled up over her breasts but her bare shoulders hinting that she was wearing rather less than she normally wore to bed, He stopped just inside the doorway and flashed her his mega-watt smile, "Mrs Rabb, do I detect from what appears to be your lack of attire, that you have some sort of carnal entertainment in mind for the balance of this evening?"
Jen grinned back impishly, but her reply dripped innocence from every syllable, "Well, no, I hadn't really made any sort of plans for any sort of entertainment... well not like that anyway. But, I have been reading this..." she held up a slim pamphlet, "It's all about the mother and baby bonding process."
Harm looked at her blankly as he crossed the bedroom and lifting the comforter slid into bed next to her. He turned on his side and propped himself on an elbow while he waited for Jen to adopt a mirror-image position, and then reaching out, he brushed one of her beautiful, long tresses behind her ear, and said, "Jen, you don't need to worry about bonding with our baby. You are a natural, an instinctive, mother. Anyone has only to see you with Alexandra to know that you are going to be a great Mom."
She kept her grin in place, "Oh, I hope so," she answered him, "but I was looking here at this section on Kangaroo care..."
Harm looked at Jen, half-frowning and half-smiling, not altogether sure that she wasn't setting him up somehow. After a few seconds of his scrutiny, Jen giggled. Harm grinned in reply, confident now that he had if not seen through her trick, at least successfully detected that there was one.
"OK, give. What's the catch?" he demanded.
"No... No, there's no catch, look..." Jen hitched herself a bit nearer so that their foreheads were practically touching, and pushed the pamphlet almost under his nose. Yep, there it was, a bold-printed paragraph heading 'Kangaroo Care'.
"OK. You got me. What exactly is this marsupial mothering?" Despite his flippant words, he was becoming interested.
"Well, it relies on maximum skin contact," Jen explained, "absolutely nothing between the mother's skin and the baby's skin. Apparently it really helps with bonding, especially if the baby is reluctant to take to the mother's breast. Mom can carry the baby round in safety, and if baby wants to feed then it's at his or her convenience."
"So... would that mean you'd be wandering around virtually topless...?" Harm demanded lazily, but with an anticipatory gleam in his eye.
"Ummm... uh... yeah," Jen replied just slightly breathlessly.
"And the baby would have full, total and complete access... here?"
"Ummm" it was no more than a breath.
"And here?"
"Ohhh, yes..." and that, thought Harm with a wicked grin, is definitely a sigh.
"Well," then said Harm rolling on to his back, "I think it's a damn' good idea!"
"Harm!" Jen protested indignantly.
"Yes, dear?" he answered, in all innocence.
"Oh, come here, you infuriating man!"
Much later, as Jen lay with her head on her favourite pillow listening to the slowing beat of his heart, Harm squinted down at her and asked, "All ready to face the lions tomorrow, Mrs Rabb?"
"Grrr!"
xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
The alarm clock woke them at oh-six-hundred hours and Harm bolted into the bathroom while Jen set the coffee brewing and sliced bread for toast. By the time the coffee had brewed, Harm was out of the shower, and water droplets running down his chest and back and wearing only a towel around his waist was busily engaged in shaving as Jen slipped into the shower, again, he noted, with a shower cap covering her glorious hair.
By the time Jen had finished in the shower, he was sitting on the side of the bed, fully dressed and tying his shoe laces. He stopped what he was doing, while he took in what was becoming his most favourite sight in the world. Jen had slipped off her bathrobe, and totally nude was sitting at her makeshift dressing table and with a frown of ferocious concentration was braiding her hair in preparation for going back to work. Catching his expression in the mirror, her frown dissolved into a smile of pure happiness, "See anything you like, sailor?"
"I like everything I see," he retorted, her happiness having its effect on his own mood.
"Yes..., so do I, I think," she said, standing and turning sideways to check her profile in her mirror, "but, I think I'd prefer it if I could see some evidence..."
He crossed the room to stand behind her and wrapping his arms around her, he dropped a swift kiss at the junction of her neck and shoulder and gently spread his hands over her stomach. "I didn't know you were such an empiricist," he teased her gently, "have faith, she's there, she's real. We're just going to have to be patient."
"Oh, I know, I know," she sniffed, 'it's just that I wish she was here now, and I've still got months and months to wait!"
"No, my darling, beautiful wife, you don't have months and months to wait," he corrected her. Jen twisted her head round to see his reflection in the mirror, and he took advantage of her shift to drop another swift kiss on her neck.
"What?" she asked distractedly.
"I said," he repeated, pleased with the effect he'd had,"that you don't have months to wait; we have months to wait."
"Oh, Harm!" she almost wailed.
"Hush, sailor, hush." He rocked her gently until she recovered some of her emotional balance, and then whispered in her ear, "If we don't want to miss breakfast, or get written up for UA, Mrs Legalman Rabb, then I suggest you get some clothes on, or I may go so far as to forget myself, and take some clothes off!"
Her sudden grin was pure naughtiness, "H'mmm, sounds like a plan to me!"
"Just get on it with," he smiled and stepping back gave her a playful swat on her butt.
Jen gave a short squeal of surprise, and rubbing her rump she grinned back over her shoulder, "Oh, you are so going pay for that Harmon Rabb!" And her grin broadened even more when he repeated her own words back at her.
"Sounds like a plan to me!"
Eventually, fed and fully and properly dressed they made their way out into the morning light, and by an act of unspoken communication both made for the Lexus, where in answer to Harm's raised eyebrows, Jen told him, "It makes no sense to burn twice the amount of gas!"
"Well, that's true, but you do realise that once the gate guards see us turning up in one car, the news will be through the whole building in less time than it'll take us to park up and sign in?"
Jen gave him the sort of pitying look that is reserved for particularly dim-witted children, newly wed husbands and new fathers.
"Harm. I am wearing a wedding ring. I have a name tag wit B, engraved on it. Just how much longer did you think we could hide the fact that we are married?"
"Ummm... about five seconds after we hit the bull-pen."
"Oh, well done!" Jen grinned, and looking upwards said in a confidential aside, "See? I knew there was hope for the boy!"
Harm joined in the laugh at his expense and pulled out to join the ever increasing flow of traffic.
While the journey to Falls Church may have been uneventful, their arrival wasn't. The marine PFC at the barrier gave their ID's the usual scrutiny, but it was only after he had handed them back that the significance of what he'd seen registered. Turning to his escort in the guard post, he gasped, "Did you see that?"
"What?"
"That Petty officer - she's got the same name as the Commander!"
"Uh - huh, maybe she's his sister."
"Well, if she's his sister today, she wasn't last month!"
Pulling into his designated parking spot in the area reserved for senior officers, Harm was nearly distracted by Jen's exclamation, "Isn't that Loren?"
Harm applied the emergency brake and disengaged the drive, while eying his wife with an expression of exasperation, "For God's sake Jen, don't squeal like that while I'm driving! I nearly put us into the commissary!"
Perhaps fortunately for future domestic harmony, Jen failed to notice either his expression, his tone of voice, and the very words he had used, but insisted, "It is! It is Loren! What the hell is she doing here, today?"
Loren's answer when Jen repeated her question a few moments later, was stunning in its simplicity, and certainly not one that anyone who hadn't seen the changes in her over the last three or four months would have expected.
Hefting Alexandra's porta-crib, Loren said "Running interference for you two!"
"Oh, Loren," Jen gasped, "you don't have to do that!"
"No I don't, do I?" mused Loren, "But I need to have Tiner update my page two, so I figured I might as well do it today and give you two a spot of covering fire at the same time. Well…" she pretended to consider her actions dispassionately, "Now then, would you look at that, Lieutenant Witch considering other people's feelings! Who'd a thunk it!" she added with self-deprecating irony.
"Well, we didn't!" agreed Harm, "but, d'you know something? We should have!"
"Yes, we should have!" Jen agreed, "and if we weren't in uniform, I'd give you a big hug for being so thoughtful!"
"Oh, no, I couldn't allow that!" Loren protested, and with an assumption of great dignity added, "After all, I do have a reputation to protect!" But the pleasure Harm and Jen's words had given her was evident in the pink tinge to her cheeks and the sparkle in her eyes.
There were definitely raised eyebrows at the reception desk when Jen - who was left handed - signed in with her new, married name, and her wedding band in full view, but any comments the Marine Corps Corporal and Staff Sergeant might have had were kept in check by iron discipline until the three had taken the elevator up to the JAG Ops level, when the Staff Sergeant, fully aware of the JAG interpersonal dynamic puffed out his cheeks and said to his Corporal, "I would love to be a fly on the Ops wall in about forty seconds from now!"
Harm and Loren entered the bull-pen almost side by side, while Jen trailed in the appropriate subordinate position two paces to Harm's right rear and attempted to make her way unnoticed to her desk. Her efforts to escape notice were greatly aided by a startled "Oh ma'am!" from Seaman Julia Morris who was the first of the bull pen's denizen's to see Loren with Alexandra.
Almost instantly the female moiety, with Harriett Sims well to the front, descended upon Loren, and although she had determined to preserve her prior and infamous attitude, the exclamations of pleasure, questions and cries of "ohh… she's beautiful," were a siren song she found it impossible to resist, and it was with great pride and an unexpected feeling of almost acceptance that Loren Singer surrendered to the attentions of her co-workers and for a few minutes the differences between commissioned and enlisted, and even personal rivalries, were swept aside as the newest member of the JAG family was taken to their collective heart. Mac, hearing the uproar stuck her head out of her office, and seeing the blonde head of Loren Singer bent over a small wriggling bundle was unable to resist the urge to join the group and felt a tug on her heart strings as she looked across Alexandra and felt for the first time that an aura of peace surrounded Loren. Meeting her eyes, Mac smiled at her and murmured, "Congratulations, Loren, she's beautiful."
Loren kept her eyes on Mac's face, looking for the slightest trace of mockery or malice and finding none, released a breath she hadn't even known she was holding and replied, "Thank you, ma'am."
Mac, who had been involved in the shipboard investigation into the possible raising charges of conduct unbecoming against Loren, could no longer ignore the sixty-four thousand dollar question, "What are you calling her, Loren?"
Loren braced herself for the storm that was about to burst, and looking around at the ring of expectant faces, gulped and said, "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Alexandra Maria Rabb!"
"Rabb!" Mac was thunderstruck, and spinning around she leveled an accusing glare at Harm. Loren correctly interpreted the glare, and hurriedly said, "No, Colonel, it's not what you think. Her father is Sergei."
Mac looked from Loren to Alexandra to Harm and aid weakly, "Oh… but why Rabb… I mean… Sergei… Zhukov…?"
Loren tried a half-smile for effect. "It's a complicated story, ma'am. Perhaps we could go somewhere a bit quieter, for Sasha's sake?" she added quickly as her baby, unaccustomed to the bustle as the office began to return to normalcy, began to fret.
Mac regained her equilibrium and checking her internal clock said, "Yes, alright, let's go to the conference room, we've got forty-two minutes before staff call!"
Harm watched the two woman walk together along the hallway and breathed a sigh of relief, and seeking out Jen's eyes he dropped a swift wink of relief in her direction before opening his office door and ducking inside.
However, he had barely hung his cover on the tree behind the door, when a cry of "Oh! My! God! Jen!" shattered the newly restored calm of the bull-pen. Wincing under the impact of the voice, he turned around in the doorway to see Jen's desk almost surrounded by her co-workers and unable to see her face, he filled his lungs, about to call the deck to attention and rescue his wife from the besieging forces, but he was forestalled by Tiner's voice raised in command "Admiral on deck!"
Everyone froze at attention as the JAG exited his office to glare in disfavour on the disruption to the smooth running of his department. "Humph!" he snorted as he took in the focus of the disturbance, "I might have known there'd be a Rabb behind all this fuss! Rabb!" he bellowed the last word.
"Sir!" Harm responded.
"Not you, Commander! Legalman Rabb!"
Jen gulped, and turned to face her angry sounding CO, ignoring the startled gasps of the majority of those present who not yet grasped her changed status.
"Yessir!"
"You are out of uniform, Legalman!"
"Sir?" Jen quavered, desperately wanting, but not daring, to check for spills, tears, stains or lost or unfastened buttons.
"Yes, definitely out of uniform." Then his craggy face split in a grin. "The board results are in! Congratulations, Petty Officer Legalman First Class Rabb!"
Jen gasped and felt herself go weak at the knees.
"I'll leave it to you and Tiner to organise your wet-down, and disseminate the necessary information to all hands! Commander Rabb!"
"Sir!"
"I'll see you and Legalman One Rabb in my office in thirty minutes!"
"Aye, aye, sir!"
"In the meantime," the Admiral swept the bull-pen with a gimlet stare, "there has been quite enough disruption in this office this morning. Anyone else who makes so much noise as to disturb me will find themselves facing charges of conduct to the prejudice! Understood?"
The chorus of "Aye, aye, sir!" and "yessir!" seemed to satisfy the Admiral, and with a barely perceptible wink at a still shaken Jen he turned on his heel and retired to the sanity of his office.
Jen thankfully booted her PC and checked her electronic mail and incoming messages, relieved to find that there was sufficient to keep her occupied so that she wouldn't have to respond to the curious and frankly inquisitive glances that were sent her way. She couldn't, however avoid the reproachful look that Harriett Sims gave her as the blonde officer stopped in front of her desk.
"Oh, Jen, did you have to get married in such a secret way? What did you do, elope?" In fairness Harriett was concerned that Jen hadn't had the anticipation and the celebration of the huge formal wedding that she and Bud had enjoyed.
Jen smiled, "Just about, ma'am. We had a small, private, legal ceremony, Harm's… uh… I mean the Commander's parents came out from California, and a couple of his flying buddies stood up for him, and Lieutenant Singer was my matron of honour. Yes, ma'am, it was a small wedding, but for me… for us… it was perfect!"
If Jen had said that Frankenstein's Bride had been her matron of honour, Harriett could not have been more shocked, but with an heroic effort she bit back on her immediate curiosity, convinced that sooner or later she would get the whole tale. In the meantime, "I think you'd better walk with me, Legalman One."
"Yes, ma'am," Jen obediently replied and followed Harriett to Lieutenant Robert's currently unoccupied office. As they approached the office, Harriett called over her shoulder, "Gunny!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Post this door!"
"Aye, aye, ma'am!"
Entering the office, Harriett hastily pulled the blinds closed and said urgently to Jen, "Quick, Jen, give me your blouse!"
"My blouse, ma'am?"
"Yes, your blouse, quickly now," said Harriett delving into the depths of her purse, "Ha! Here it is!" and she triumphantly brandished a Legalman First Class Rating badge and a small sewing kit. Smiling at Jen, she said, "I seem to remember that you complained at one time that sewing wasn't part of your skill set!"
Jen blushed and murmured a stifled, "Thank you ma'am."
"Not a problem, Jen. Not when you consider what you did for Bud, for me."
"Ma'am, really. I did nothing!"
"No, of course not," Harriett told her soothingly, plying her needle in small, swift, flashing stitches, "you just go on telling yourself that, Jen, and maybe one day, you'll end up believing it, but Bud and I won't, ever. There! That'll hold. Get yourself decent and then you've got an admiral to face down!"
Jen couldn't help but smile. Harriett could be a nosey, interfering pain in the butt, but there was no denying that she and Bud had two of the biggest hearts of gold she had ever encountered.
Leaving Bud's office, Harriett dismissed Gunny Galindez with thanks, and as Jen was turning towards the Admiral's office to face his decision, he said softly, "Petty Officer?"
"Yes, Gunny?" Jen wondered why he was smiling at her.
"I sort of figured it out last weekend petty officer, but I figured I'd wait 'til it was official," he nodded at her new name badge, "Congratulations Legalman One Rabb!"
Jen smiled in pleasure. Somehow the plain good wishes of the rather taciturn Gunnery Sergeant conveyed more than the more effusive outpourings to which she had been subjected in those few hectic minutes before the Admiral had… rescued her? Yes, she reflected, he really had rescued her! Buoyed up by that thought, she headed across the bull-pen to join her husband who was waiting for her at Tiner's desk. As she approached, she saw Tiner press the call button on his desk-top interphone and heard him say, "Admiral sir, Commander Rabb is here to see you sir… and uh… so is Legalman One Rabb… sir…"
Poor Tiner, Jen thought, he's never had to deal with this situation before and he is so obviously way out of his depth. Bolstered by that thought she smiled at Harm and drew a deep breath as he rapped on the door jamb. Entering on the word of command they approached the old-fashioned, solid mahogany desk and halted in front of it to hear what the Department of the Navy had ordained for them.
Admiral Chegwidden, removed his reading spectacles and rubbed a hand over his scalp. He looked at his two subordinates and gently shook his head.
"Take a seat you two. Over the last two weeks," he began as they seated themselves, "I have called in every favour I could just to keep you two out of the brig. And I am very happy to be able to tell you that I have succeeded. You will face no charges of any kind. However, as I warned you prior to your taking leave, one of you will have to transfer out, and for the very good reason that I can't afford to lose a senior attorney, I am afraid Legalman One that it is you for whom I have orders." Jen felt the tears begin to prickle her eyes and was astounded when her CO pushed a box of Kleenex towards her.
"However it is not all bad news. Your new duty station will be the five sided fumble factory. You will report to the SecNav's Office at oh-eight-hundred hours tomorrow. You will be working directly for the SecNav and reporting to Lieutenant Commander Manetti. I am sorry Jennifer; it just isn't possible to keep you here in the same unit as the Commander. Tiner has a sealed copy of your orders." He looked away through the window at the cherry trees outside and continued, "If you had both been commissioned, I might have been able to pull Admiral's privilege on your behalf, but…" he sighed and fell silent.
"Sir, thank you for your efforts," Jennifer said in a composed voice, "you have done so much more for us than we had any right to expect."
"I wish I could have done more, Jennifer, but I'm afraid the little I have managed is all I could do. Now dismissed, Legalman, see Tiner for your orders and report to Lieutenant Sims for out-processing. Once that's complete, collect your husband and go home."
"Aye, aye, sir!" Jennifer had risen to her feet and after her drill-field crisp response paused for the obligatory two seconds before executing an about face and marching out of the office.
Chegwidden turned towards harm as Jen left, and said, "Well, that's that, Rabb. I'm sorry to lose her, I had her earmarked for my next yeoman if Tiner should ever pass his law school and the bar exams. But although the new SecNav is still pretty much an unknown quantity, he was shaken by that hatchet job Lindsey tried to pull, so he's being a little more generous than I think he is normally. And anyway, you've worked with Manetti, and she knows Jennifer from her time here. So I've had an unofficial word with her, and she for some reason, has a soft spot for you, so she's promised to keep an eye on your wife for you!"
Harm was astonished; the Old Man really had gone out to bat for them. He had no doubt that the position that had been found for Jen at the pentagon was a new post created especially for her. Then a grin creased his face, the cunning old bastard had just effectually got his revenge on the SecNav, just as Secretary Sheffield had planted Manetti in JAG, Chegwidden had effectively placed his own agent in the SecNav's office!
"Something amusing you, Commander?"
"No, sir, not at all," Harm dissembled, "I'm just pleased and grateful that Jen won't have to move out just as we're getting established."
"H'mmm," The Old Man might not be so convinced Harm thought as he heard the Admiral clear his throat. "You do understand the necessity for her move, don't you, Harm?"
"Yes, sir. It would have been impossible for her after a while. She couldn't really mix socially with the officers when she still has to work with them here, and she would have lost her enlisted friends, they could never be sure that anything they might tell her wouldn't get back at them through me." He shrugged, "It's a tough bullet to chew, sir, but we knew it would have to happen."
"Good, I'm glad I didn't have to spell it out to you, Commander. I'll leave you to explain it further to your wife if you feel you have to. Now, as soon as she's finished out-processing, take her home, and then you take the rest of the day, and we'll see you tomorrow, ready to start work! Dismissed!"
"Aye, aye, sir!"
Harm sat in his office, idly twirling a pencil in his fingers as he waited for Jen to finish the interminable paperwork that the navy, even in the age of computers, insisted on whenever an individual changed their duty station. His ruminations were interrupted by a knock on his door frame and looking around, his heart sunk. This was not a conversation to which he had been looking forward. "Come in, Mac, take a seat?"
Mac entered the office and looked closely at her partner, apart from a certain wariness, he looked more relaxed, more assured and… happier? Yes, she decided, happier than she had seen him for a long time.
"So, you really did it? You really married Jennifer Coates?"
Harm had been braced for an eruption, for scathing sarcasm, for tears, for almost anything rather than this. Mac's voice had been even, slightly interested and replete with the warmth of gentle amusement.
"Yes," he replied cautiously, "We really did it."
Mac smiled, "I've just had a fascinating conversation with Loren Singer… well with someone who claims she's Loren Singer; who is she? And what did she do with the real Lieutenant Witch? I cannot believe how much she's changed, she almost seems human!"
"Yes, she's changed Mac. And," he looked at her quizzically, "she doesn't seem to be the only one?"
"Me? I don't think I've changed, Harm. But what has changed completely is the way we look at each other. I think we enjoyed our stupid little games; we actually enjoyed our dumb dance. But now the dance has ended and the piper has been paid. Can we, do you think, can we now, at last settle down and concentrate on being friends, best friends, as well as partners?"
"I hope so, Mac. I would really like that!"
"Good! I understand why you wouldn't have wanted me at the wedding, but poor Jen didn't even have a bridal shower, so… I'm going to have a word with Harriett, and we can have her wet-down and bridal shower and a JAG reception for her all at the same time."
"Umm… that's a sweet idea, Mac, but let me run it by her first. She's out-processing right now, and reports to her new duty station at the Pentagon tomorrow. So I'll get back to you in a few days and let you know how she feels about it, OK?"
"OK, we'll work it that way then," she looked at him dubiously before changing the subject, "Tell me Harm, just how did you feel when you found Loren Singer hiding in your mother's book-room?"
A few seconds later their combined shouts of laughter burst out of his office and bounced around the walls of the bull-pen, bringing grins, some of pleasure at their amusement, but many more of relief, from the inhabitants of JAG Ops.