A/N: And here is the next installment! Thank you for the reviews!

An Unlikely Angel

Chapter 15: Because You Weren't There

"No, that can't be…"

"I'm sorry, Sarah."

"Whatever it is, I know he didn't do it. He couldn't have." Sarah, in denial of course, grips my upper arms, but at least she doesn't shake me. "I know it," she repeats. She sounds so sure, but there's just one problem…

Harmon Rabb is, in fact, guilty of murder. In the first degree.

Sarah lets go of me and starts pacing back and forth, her arms wrapped once again around herself. She looks so small, huddled against a cold she shouldn't be able to feel, and I hate what I'm about to do.

"Sarah," I say, repeating her name a bit louder when she doesn't respond to me the first time. "Sit down. Please." I think she sees something of the truth in my eyes and her whole body seems to crumple as she sits down next to me.

"Tell me," she whispers, and I find myself taking her hand.

"He's been in since April 1998. At Leavenworth since February 1999 for murder."

She thinks for a moment, and then she sits up straighter, her eyes widening. "The Russian? It's because I wasn't there to defend him, isn't it?"

I tighten my grip on her hand. "No, Sarah, it wasn't the Russian." Her brow furrows as she tries to think of who else it could have been.

I know I am only drawing this out and I just need to tell her and get it over with, but the words get caught in my throat.

"But who else…no…Harm wouldn't have…he wouldn't have actually done it…"

"But he did, Sarah." I know her mind has come to the correct conclusion.

"No!" Sarah wrenches her hand from mine and jumps from the bench.

"Sarah…"

"No! Harm didn't do it…he—he couldn't have! Someone framed him…"

"Sarah, there were witnesses…Bud—"

"Bud saw? Why didn't he stop him?"

"He couldn't."

"But—"

"Sarah, there was only one person who could have stopped him that night."

Sarah's hands come up and cover her ears as she shakes her head. "No…he fell…he was crushed…"

"No, Sarah. He was shot."

"Then it must have been an accident." She's starting to sound desperate and it's heartbreaking. "Who—who defended him? Was it Carolyn Imes? She never passed the Bar. He could appeal!"

"Sarah, the admiral himself defended Harm, but there was only so much he could do. It was a slam dunk case."

And it was a slam dunk. Two dock workers and a homeless man saw it…and Bud Roberts watched as his mentor shot the man who killed his academy sweetheart…

Commander Benjamin Daniel Holbarth.

Sarah hasn't said anything for several minutes.

She's shut down, the pain of learning that her Boy Scout killed a man out of vengeance is apparently too much, and it's made even worse by the fact that she could have stopped it were she alive in this reality. I've been sitting beside her, my arm around her shoulders, hoping she'll snap out of it before I have to take us out of here, but thus far she hasn't even moved. She stares straight ahead, and I can't tell if she's even aware of her surroundings.

I know what happened the night Sarah showed up at that shipyard, how she came running out of the mist, dressed in Harriet's spare uniform. Holbarth thought he was seeing Diane's ghost and in his fright backed up and fell into the water. He ended up being crushed between the dock and the hull of a ship, and when Mac asked Harm if he really would have done it, he told her that now they'd never know.

Well, she knows now.

Bud had no choice but to tell the truth and things went downhill for him after that. He was already floundering, and the guilt and loss he felt over his mentor tipped him over the edge into mediocrity.

Do you see, Sarah, I want to ask her, the impact you've had on Bud and Harm? The impact you've had on so many? And think what impact you could have in the future!

"I need to see him."

Her quiet voice is firm, resolute when it finally breaks the silence, and I know I'm about to lose a battle. But I still have to try…

"Sarah…that's not a good idea."

"Loren, I need to…I have to see it for myself."

"But why, Sarah? Isn't it enough to know that you prevented that?" After all this, does she still not see her worth?

Sarah closes her eyes for a moment. "No. I need to…" Her eyes open again, and they're pleading with mine.

I'm about to give in, because I always knew I would, when she asks something that throws me.

"And I want to talk to him."

"Absolutely not!" She can't possibly be serious.

"Loren, please. I—I just have to do this. I need to tell him I'm sorry."

It's my turn to jump from the bench, and I loom above her. "For goodness sake, Sarah! Why would you want to put yourself through that? He won't know who you are! You never lived past the age of eighteen! And this Harm is nothing like the one you remember. The one who'd be devastated if you killed yourself! Can't we just go back to your life? Or have I still not convinced you that your life is worth living?"

A shadow passes over her face and she doesn't answer my question. She just continues to beg. "Please, Loren…just take me to him. I know you can make it so I can talk to him. Please!"

"Sarah…I honestly don't know if I can do that…"

"Then ask Joseph…that's who you keep talking to, isn't it?" She looks Heavenward. "Joseph! Let Loren take me to Harm. Please. Please…" Her words end in a sob but before I can say anything, there's a familiar whoosh of air and everything goes black.

I'm stunned for a moment, so I can only imagine how Sarah feels when we arrive at wherever Joseph has taken us. I look over at her and she looks a little green, sitting there with her eyes closed. While she regains her equilibrium, I take the opportunity to evaluate our surroundings.

Although I was only ever here once, I recognize this place. We're sitting in a sparsely furnished visitor's room in the US Army Disciplinary Barracks, and I would guess that in her original timeline, Sarah visited her uncle in much the same way. The knowledge comes to me that they're bringing Harm here to meet his visitor soon, so I'd better get Sarah up to speed. I also know that I'm invisible to everyone else here.

I feel her tense beside me as I tell her that Harm is on his way, but she merely nods and stares at the door across the room. It's another five minutes before the door opens. A guard enters first and then another guard walks the prisoner in. Even knowing the fate of this Harmon Rabb, I'm thrown at his appearance. Sarah gasps next to me and my heart clenches in sympathy.

This Harmon Rabb has aged considerably in the time he's been here. He spends most of his time isolated from the other prisoners; it's because of him that many are here. That hasn't saved him from the occasional scuffle, and I see he has jagged laceration down the right side of his face. There's bruising around it, and the sutures holding it together were not done with any particular attention to cosmesis. He's bulkier than I remember; having spent much of his time in the gym here, but his bearing is no longer that of the strong naval officer he once was. There's a subtle hunch to his posture and his face sports more than a five o'clock shadow, with over half of the rough hairs grey.

"Harm?" Sarah whispers, and his head snaps up in shock.

His already pale face whitens further as he slowly sits across from her. His fingers reach forward and caress her cheek, and I see tears forming in his eyes.

Sarah's tears are already falling as she lifts her hand to hold his against her. "I knew you would remember me." A single tear falls down Harm's weathered cheek. "I'm so sorry, Harm."

"Di-Diane?"

Her whole being crumbles at that single word, and the look on Sarah's face is one of grief and despair.

"No…it's me. Mac."

"Mac?" Harm yanks his hand away from her face and stares hard at her.

"Yes. Mac…from JAG." I see the desperation in her expression and hear it in her words and it's tearing" me apart.

"JAG?" Harm leans back, a growing fury clouding his features. "What the hell is going on here?"

"H-Harm?"

Harm stands up so abruptly his chair falls over and he's suddenly looming over her. "Look lady, I don't know who you are, but if this is some sort of sick joke…"

"No, Harm!" she cries. "I'd never do that. You know that!" Sarah stands then and reaches out to touch his arm.

It's a mistake.

"Don't touch me!" he shouts, and I wonder where in hell his guards are. It's clearly time for us to leave and I reach for Sarah's arm, but she evades it. She goes around to Harm's side of the table, moving with a speed that I didn't know was possible, and where are the guards?!

"Harm, Harm, please. I'm sorry!" Sarah sobs and the horrible scene plays out in front of me as if it's in slow motion. She grabs Harm by the arms, but he throws her off of him like she's a mere rag doll. She lands several feet away, hitting the concrete hard with an audible smack. Harm isn't done yet though, and he lunges for her. He's enraged and finally the guards are pouring in as I rush to Sarah's side. Harm fights the men who now have hold of him and he nearly breaks away, lunging once again toward the woman who now cowers on the floor. I kneel beside her and wrap her in my arms, quickly assessing her for injuries, knowing full well the worst injuries will be emotional rather than physical. Harm is shouting nearly incoherently, but what I can make out are horrible, hate filled words. Sarah flinches in my arms, still sobbing, but then suddenly she's screaming at the guards. She's begging them to stop as they begin to violently subdue Harm. They really don't have a choice, for Harm's struggling equally violently, and when I get a glimpse of his eyes, I'm horrified to see murder in them.

I know without a doubt that if Harm manages to break away from his guards, that he'll kill her. She's hysterical now, crying and screaming out her devastation. We have to get out of here. Joseph! I scream in my mind. Help! Get us out of here. Joseph! Joseph! Oh, god, Harm's broken away and he's nearly upon us.

JOSEPH!

End Chapter 15