Chapter 12

A heavy downpour of rain and lightning had forced Harm to abandon his morning run in favour of the gym and a treadmill. He hated the machine and felt that it ruined his stride when he was so accustomed to pounding pavement. Nevertheless, he kept a hard pace and then pushed the buttons on the machine to speed up the belt as he sprinted through an interval. His muscles were tensing, aching and he found it a welcomed distraction from the thoughts that had been running through his head for the last few days.

Mac. It was always about Mac and he was getting tired of the constant barrage from his warring emotions. Part of him wanted to call her, to tell her that he was an idiot and beg for forgiveness. He would have to grovel, a lot. He hadn't exactly acted like the same guy that loved her.

The other part just couldn't forgive her for going to Webb in the first place.

Webb. That name also had been thrown around his head for a bit as he too had received a message on his machine at home, work and on his cellphone. They all combined to form a series of numbers that he had no clue how to unravel. So, he'd given the numbers to Bud in a 'for your eyes only' type of assignment with no real mention as to what they were for or who may have contacted him. The younger officer knew better than to ask.

Harm nearly threw the paper away and ignored the messages from the grave only, he couldn't. Mac had been right, Webb was a friend and a man that had safely brought Harm's brother out of Chechnya alive. For better or for worse, Webb was also the man that had kept Mac relatively safe in Paraguay. Had it not been for the spook, Harm would have never met her. Despite his anger at the moment, he couldn't think of living in this World without her. As much as he didn't want to, Harm felt indebted and if spending some time figuring out a number or two would help, so be it.

When his muscles could no longer hold the pace, he dialed back the treadmill. "Morning, Commander." Harm was surprised to find he was so much in his head that he hadn't noticed General Cresswell had taken the machine on his left. The Marine was walking briskly, warming his injured knee before he could put his body through the paces.

"Sir." Harm nodded and ramped up the belt again, grinding out another full on sprint before easing off into a slow jog to cool down.

"Do you box, Commander?" Creswell increased the speed on the treadmill just enough to begin a slow jog.

Harm nodded. "I've been known to spar a time or two." He slowed the machine even more and began walking before placing his feet on either side of the belt as it stopped completely. "Respectfully, sir, I know you'd kick my ass. I've heard about your boxing career in the Corps."

Cresswell chuckled. "Heard how it ended?"

"No sir."

The General pointed down to his left knee which was wrapped in a brace. "Tore a meniscus from pivoting. Tore the other one during the helo crash that got me here."

Harm had heard about the crash and how the Marine had pulled others from the wreckage. Creswell wasn't just some legal weenie, the man was a hero. "Sorry to hear about that, sir."

"As long as I'm not sedentary, it's fine… A body in motion wants to stay in motion and so forth." He placed his feet on either side of the belt and stopped the machine as well. "So what ya say, Harm? Indulge an old Marine." Harm cringed as he followed the Marine to the boxing area.

The second Cresswell's glove wrapped hand landed a punch on Harm's midsection he wished he'd never agreed. "Ooof. Little hard there, sir." He went to cover his ribs only to get jabbed in the jaw which sent Harm back against a wall.

"You're not afraid to hit your CO are you, Commander?"

Although Harm was much taller than Creswell, the old man knew how to box and over take a taller opponent. Because they were boxing and not kickboxing, Harm couldn't revert to other methods to disable Creswell So, he took the punches, trying to find a way to strike. "No sir!" He managed to land a blow on Creswell's chin and although both men were protected with headgear, each punch still hurt like hell.

"At the risk of sounding like a matchmaker..." The General ducked when Harm attempted an uppercut and danced around the officer before he could get another shot in. "Are you having problems with the Colonel?"

The question took Harm so off guard that he dropped his hands at the wrong moment and was punched on the chin hard enough to make him fall to the ground. "Ugh." Christ, he really couldn't get away from her, not even in the gym. "Keeping it out of the office as requested, sir."

Creswell grinned down at the Commander and reached a gloved hand down to help him up. "Not exactly, the Colonel seemed fit to be tied a few days ago."

Harm brought his hands up to block a punch to his midsection and was able to get in a few hits. "We've hit a bump in the road… or a complete derailment. I'm not sure. Oooof." He doubled over when the General landed a solid punch at his midsection, taking the wind out of him. "Jesus, sir, I never want to face you in real match."

"Quitting on me so soon, Commander?" Creswell said, moving backwards and waiting for Harm to compose himself before bringing his hands up to block a punch or two. He allowed Harm to land a few and quickly wound up jabbing Harm's chin a few times. "Oh, come on Harm. Hit me, I'm letting you."

"You asked for it." He straightened then, shook his head and hurled himself at Creswell knocking a few solid blows to his midsection and chin. Winding up again, he hit Creswell with an uppercut that sent the older Marine stumbling backwards. He recovered quickly and began stalking Harm landing a blow that nearly knocked the Naval officer out.

"You have a tough chin." Creswell moved to the side, avoiding a punch but not one that came to his chin and made him stumble. He pulled off the headgear and conceded to a tie which Harm gratefully agreed too. "So you and the Colonel are through then?" He said casually as he pulled off the gloves and tucked them into his gym bag. "I really do not want a pissed off female Marine in my command. I am all for women in the military but, from experience from when I've pissed off my wife, it's not something I want to deal with."

Harm sighed and sat against the wall as he worked on getting his gloves off. "We're used to being pissed at each other. It shouldn't be a problem. We can be civil at work or she can just run away again."

"Is that what you think happened? She ran away?" At Harm's blank expression, Creswell shook his head. "I gave her the assignment because it looked like she needed time away. I guess I was right." He began unfurling his hand wraps and rerolling them. "Relationships aren't meant to be easy, if they were they wouldn't be worth fighting for."

"With all due respect, sir. You know nothing about Mac and me just whatever scuttlebutt landed on your doorstep." He stared up at his CO with a confused expression. Never had he had a commanding officer take such interest in his thing with Mac. Chegwidden had, mercifully stayed out of it although he'd often dropped a few hints here and there. Creswell seemed to actually be invested and it was disturbing.

"I once asked you if you loved her - has your answer changed?"

Harm sat there for a moment, floored by the question that he had been asking himself for the last few days. Did he still love her? "Yes. I love her and I probably always will."

"Then you have the answer you're looking for."

He raised his brow in question and snorted at the older man's answer. "Who says I was looking for answers?"

"A man who knows a thing or two about almost losing the love of his life." He took a long drink of his water bottle and then placed it on the floor so that he could use the wall to stretch. "We're military. I'm a Marine, you're a fighter pilot. We're prepared for the contingencies of war and treat relationships as such, always preparing an offense."

Harm digested that piece of information for a bit and sighed. "I've fucked up… pretty bad." He admitted.

"Fix it." Creswell said and then grabbed his bag. "From what I read on your service record, you were born in La Jolla."

"Yes sir. My mother and step father still live there."

"Stones throw from the Naval Base in Coronado, isn't it?"

"Depending on traffic.. it's a about a."

"Colonel MacKenzie is TAD to Legal Services South West for another week or so." The General interrupted. "If memory serves that's in Coronado."

"It is." Harm grinned at the general. "Thank you sir."

"Oh, Commander? She's a Marine, groveling does not work on Marines."

Of that he was sure. "I'm open to suggestions."

Creswell thought for a moment. "Be prepared to spar." He punched Harm hard on the shoulder and disappeared into the locker room.

Mac sat in the conference room and pinched the bridge of her nose. It's not that she wanted to hate Lt. Gregory Vukovic but, it was becoming insanely easy. The younger officer was a brash alpha male kind of attorney which, at first, had reminded her of a young Harmon Rabb Junior. Only Harm wasn't disrespectful to a senior officer and knew his place in the pecking order. Yes, Harm could be an arrogant jerk and had used some tactics that she disliked to get to the truth but, Vic was just despicable.

She was more than certain that the Lieutenant had planted information in order to best his opponent in the case earning him a win that Mac wouldn't acknowledge although the members had sided with him. The last few days she'd spent more than enough of her personal time trying to discover the truth with the intention of bringing him up on charges.

And then there was something else that, at first, she found slightly amusing - Vukovic was hitting on her. It was something that she'd been used to as a woman in the military. The old guard didn't think much of the fairer sex and she'd had to dodge enough unwanted male attention to last her a lifetime. With Vic, the flirting was cute at first until he mentioned something about the way she filled out her uniform.

He had tried to take the comment back but, Mac had him snapping to attention. His words made her feel dirty and cheap, hashing out her past with Farrow and a mistake she would never make with a junior officer. It also upset Mac greatly that the man was trying so hard to make a name for himself by treating a senior officer in such a fashion."I'm here to clean up the mess you made Lieutenant. So knock off the jokes and the grabass before I personally scuttle your career. You are an officer, act like one. Dismissed."

"Ugh." She groaned and began to massage her temples and a headache that was trying to form. The paperwork in front of her was starting to blur and become hazy. Consulting her internal clock Mac realized that she'd been researching for the better part of three and a half hours. Only it wasn't a JAG case that she was working on. On the table she had the paper that Laurie June had given her with the numbers she still couldn't make heads or tails out it.

Mac was very intelligent and usually had no issues deciphering codes. She had a knack for numbers and most scientific things. Why the hell was this code so hard to break? And why was Porter Webb avoiding her like the plague? She had made no less than three calls to the Webb family matriarch only to be told she was either away or busy.

It was the tip she needed to realize that Mrs. Webb knew so much more that she'd lead on. The whole thing made Mac a little desperate and she despised the feeling. She needed to know the truth in order to move on with her life.

And if he was alive… what then? A knock at the conference room door brought her out of her thoughts and Mac looked up to find Vukovic standing on the other side of the table. "May I help you, Lieutenant?"

"Ma'am there's a Commander Rabb on phone for you." He raised a brow when Mac's face went white.

"What?"

"Commander Rabb, he's on line two."

Mac pinched the bridge of her nose again and sighed. "Tell The Commander that I left for the day." She grabbed the paper with the code and stuffed it into her briefcase as she stood.

"I may have told him you were here… Uh, ma'am." Vic watched as she hurriedly grabbed the files from the table. "Ma'am, where you going?"

Mac rushed past the junior officer and made her way to the door. "To the gym. Tell the Commander whatever you want." She was still more than a little upset with him.