Chapter 29

The day before his first anniversary, Harm had gotten the opportunity to renew his flying qualifications. He promised without fail that he would be home for the special dinner that Diane had planned for them. What he hadn't planned on was the storm that came up and landed both he and his REO in the ocean.

When Mac heard, she insisted that she wanted to be involved even though AJ wanted just the opposite. She insisted that just because she was five months pregnant, it didn't mean that she couldn't help find him. As it turned out, it was her tip that led the search teams to him. Diane expressed her undying gratitude before catching the first flight out to be with her husband.

Matthew Albert Chegwidden was born on September 4th, 2001 much to the delight of his two and a half year old sister who looked on him as a new baby doll to play with. AJ hadn't been happy about his name being used. But, he had learned early on in their marriage that he had a very hard time, no, make that impossible time, denying Sarah anything.

One week later, as the world was glued to their televisions watching the devastating scenes of 9/11 unfold, the JAG family was undergoing the event in a much more personal way. Not only were they emotionally in shock because they were Americans, but they were also affected professionally because of the Pentagon attack. The personal reason they were invested was that they were frantic for news of Diane Rabb. Harm's wife had been working there since coming back for the trial and had been on duty on that fateful morning. Harm's repeated calls to her cell phone at first went unanswered for some unknown reason, then when so many others were trying to reach their loved ones, his calls didn't go through was because the lines were so over loaded.

Everyone did what they could to help in the search for Diane. The JAG office practically shut down and anyone that was free was involved in whatever way they could with the search and rescue at the Pentagon. Only cases that couldn't be put off were heard and the term 'skeleton crew' was being generous.

Mac wanted to be involved in helping to find her sister, but she was trapped at home with a week old baby. It wasn't that she didn't love her newborn son, but she feared for her sister's life, and the more hours that went by, the worse that fear grew.

AJ held her in his arms as she spent that first night in tears. She'd had her sister in her life for such a short time and now to lose her like this was a fear that tore at her heart. Sleep born of exhaustion and tears is rarely restful and waking twice during the night to nurse a baby was not conductive to rest either.

Waking with a start, at exactly twenty hours (9+11) after the plane crashed into the Pentagon at 0537 on the morning of the 12th, Mac knew where her sister was trapped in the building. She called Harm to tell him right after explaining to AJ what her abrupt waking had meant. Armed with what area to search in, Harm headed to back to the sight and four hours later was on hand to help unearth his wife from the debris. As soon as he could, he called Mac to let her know Diane had been found and that they were airlifting her to the hospital. He promised to call again when he had news of her condition.

It was touch and go for several days, but Diane was finally pronounced out of the woods. She would recover, but her injuries were extensive enough to rule out her staying in the Navy.

When Clayton Webb came forward to offer a solution, it surprised everyone. He offered Diane a job in the CIA. Desk work until (or if) she ever became able to do field work. Although the JAG crew had little good to say about Webb, Diane was over the moon to think she would still be able to contribute in a useful way. She began her new job on the same day she found out she was pregnant. It seemed that all the celebrating she and Harm had done when she got home from the hospital had paid off.

To be continued….