Chapter Nine

Harm's Apartment
North of Union Station, Washington, DC

Friday morning, Harm was putting on his uniform when somebody knocked on his door. Cursing lowly, he walked to the door and looked through the peephole. Shocked to see his mother and stepfather on the other side, he immediately opened the door.

"Mom, Frank, what are you doing here?"

"Hello, son. Yes, we're fine. And the trip from California was fine, too. Thanks for asking," Patricia Burnett replied sarcastically.

"Now, give your mother a kiss."

Sheepishly, Harm did as ordered.

"It's good to see you, mom. I was just surprised."

Harm turned to Frank and greeted him with a short hug. "Good to see you, too, Frank."

"You too, Harm."

They made their way into the apartment.

"Well, Harm, I guess you are as surprised to see us as we were when we got the invitation to your medal ceremony. Although, I'm sure I was more surprised, because I didn't know you had done anything that warranted a medal, especially the Silver Star. More than that though, the President will give you your medal at the White House. Furthermore, I was surprised to get an invitation to your medal ceremony, especially since it didn't come from you."

Patricia paused for a moment. "Considering all those things, maybe 'surprised' isn't the right emotion I'd felt when I opened the letter."

The look in his mother's eyes told him how pis…, uhm, not amused she was.

Harm turned to Frank who just looked amused. Yeah, now help would come from him.

"Look, I know you're mad at me..."

"You don't know anything about what I'm feeling!" Patricia said exasperated.

Harm had a déjà vu to a few days earlier. "Mom, I'm sorry alright. I… This whole ceremony, I…."

Harm sighed. "Look, mom. I need to get ready, otherwise, I'll be late. And I don't think anybody would appreciate it. Let's talk while I get dressed. I made coffee earlier and there is juice in the fridge."

"All right. Get dressed. Being late to your medal ceremony wouldn't look good, especially when it is at the White House," Patricia agreed.

"Didn't you get an award at the White House a few years ago?" Frank asked.

"Yes, for my first Distinguished Flying Cross," Harm replied from the bathroom.

"What did you do this time?" Patricia asked.

In the bathroom Harm groaned. He knew that most of that day was classified and that the public had only been told parts of the truth. He also knew that his mother would not stop asking questions. Even if it was obvious that he didn't want to talk about it, and even telling her that it was classified wouldn't stop her. That was one of the reasons why he hadn't told her about the medal ceremony. He didn't want to lie to his mother.

"Mom, have you've seen the congressional hearings about the events a few months ago?"

"Yes, well, no. I haven't seen them but I read about them in the papers. Do you mean to tell me that you were involved?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"Most of it is classified. I don't know what the citation will say."

"Tell me what you did?"

"Mom," Harm said exasperated. "It's classified. And even if it weren't, don't you realize that I don't want to talk about it?"

Patricia was about to reply when Frank put a hand on her arm.

"Patricia, let it go," Frank said softly to his wife.

"But…"

"Patricia, he doesn't want to talk about it. We'll learn as much as we can later during the ceremony."

Patricia harrumphed, "All right."

On their way to the White House, Patricia and Frank explained that they had received the invitation a few weeks ago. When they told him about a personal note from the Press Secretary, Harm didn't know whether to be touched or miffed at C.J.

He decided that it didn't matter now and promised to introduce them.

When his mother wondered how he knew her, he explained that he had met C.J. during a meeting and had struck a friendship. The gleam in his mother's eyes told him that he had made a mistake.

Before she could start pestering him with questions again, Harm told her that it was only two professionals who had not much free time and enjoyed talking to someone who was not a colleague. It was only a white lie, as it had really had started that way.

Patricia asked him what Mac thought about that.

"What I do in my private time has nothing to do with Mac," he said curtly.

He was angry with Mac who had reacted as he had predicted after their conversation at his apartment. The few times they had seen each other at work, she had been either been cold or had snapped at him. Anybody at work know that she was pissed at him. It had not taken Sturgis long to ask him about it, but Harm rejected to answer his friend's questions.

Before Patricia could follow up with even more questions, Frank thankfully intervened and asked him about the procedure of the ceremony.

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington, D.C.

When they reached the White House they were shown to their respective places. Harm had hoped to see C.J. before the ceremony, but he had no luck.

Walking up to the JAG group, he was surprised to see Tom Boone and Reverend Turner standing beside Sturgis. He learned that Boone had got an invitation from C.J., too, and had been in contact with the Burnett's.

They talked for a few minutes before an aide told them to get to their places. So, Harm and Sturgis left.

Less than three minutes later, the first speaker, the Secretary of the Navy was announced, then the Secretary of Defense. Both spoke for five minutes before the President was announced. He kept his remarks short, too, before the ceremony began.

"Attention to orders. Person to be decorated front and center."

"The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Bronze Star medal to Commander Peter Ulysses Turner, United States Navy, for meritorious achievement while on T.A.D. to the USS Watertown, in the Arabian Sea, on 21 May 2002. By his courage and effectiveness, Commander Turner reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service."

President Bartlet pinned the medal on Sturgis's jacket. "Congratulations, Commander!"

Harm was next.

"Thank you, Sir," Sturgis said and crisply saluted. He stepped back in line.

"Commander Rabb, front and center."

"The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star medal to Commander Harmon Rabb Jr., United States Navy, for conspicuous gallantry and heroism in an F-14 Tomcat on 21 May 2002. By his superb airmanship and loyal devotion to duty, Commander Rabb defeated a grave threat to the fleet from an enemy missile, reflecting great credit upon himself and upholding the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service."

Harm stood locked in at attention as President Bartlet pinned the medal to his uniform amid the polite applause.

"Congratulations, Commander," the older man formally, shaking his hand. "We really are in your debt."

Harm saw that the President truly meant those words.

"Thank you, Sir."

As the military band played a spirited march, the ceremony concluded, and the half-dozen award recipients dispersed to enjoy the reception with their guests. When Harm noticed C.J. hovering near the back of the crowd, he excused himself from Frank and Patricia.

On his way to her, he was conscious of the many eyes on him.

When he reached her, he simply greeted her with a simple, "Hello C.J."

"Congratulations, Harm."

C.J. said and gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you, C.J." Harm said with a smile on his face. He tried to ignore the various people watching them. "And thank you for your surprise."

It took a moment for her to understand. "Oh my god. Your parents."

She looked behind him as inconspicuously as she could and saw that an elderly woman was watching them intently. She recognized Patricia Burnett from a picture.

"Harm I'm sorry. After what happened last week I simply forgot to tell you."

"I thought so. Though, I gotta tell you, I was really was surprised when they knocked on my door."

C.J. looked at him for a moment. "You don't seem to be too happy to see them."

Harm sighed. "I told you a little bit about them. While I love my mother, I didn't want them to know how close I had come to dying - again."

"So, you're mad at me?"

"No. I'm glad that I could share the moment with them. They weren't invited the last time. However, we have to postpone our date tomorrow."

"Oh, yes, I can see that they want to spend time with you."

"We'll postpone it."

"Okay."

"Talking about family visits, didn't you tell me that your niece would be here?"

"That was the plan. However, when I got home yesterday, I had a message on my answering machine. Turns out that Hogan has the flu."

"Oh. Sorry to hear that."

"Yeah, my sister-in-law told me that Hogan was disappointed. She was looking forward to the ceremony and meeting you."

"Me?" Harm asked incredulously. "She doesn't know me."

"Uh, well, you see, it's like that. When she visited me a few weeks ago, somebody told her about my standing coffee date. She's been pestering me since then with questions."

Harm chuckled. "So did my mother after I explained to her how I know you. And I know that she is watching us intently. I can practically feel her laser eyes focused on us, analyzing our body language."

"Yes, she is. So are a lot of other people. Your colleagues and mine I think. It's probably best we keep this short for now."

"Yeah, you're right."

Then Harm got an idea. "Hey, C.J., do you have plans for next weekend?"

C.J. thought about it for a moment. The weekend would probably be her last free weekend before the last stretch of the campaign.

"Barring a crisis of some source, I have a free weekend. Why?"

"I had plans to go out flying. What do think about coming with me over the weekend?"

"That's very forward, Commander."

C.J. replied with a raised eyebrow.

Harm looked at her aghast. "No, no. That's not what I meant. I thought that we could leave on Saturday morning and stay until Sunday. I would need to do a little pre-flight maintenance before we got to the actual flying. We could fly for a while and have a picnic somewhere. In the evening we could have dinner in a little inn in Charlottesville where I stay whenever I go up there to see Sarah."

"So you want us to stay the night in a cozy little inn?" C.J. asked with a raised eyebrow, teasing him.

Harm just sighed. "Yes, in two separate rooms. Get your mind out of the gutter, Claudia Jean."

C.J. just smiled.

"We could go up for another flight on Sunday morning and then drive back here to D.C. after lunch."

They were both silent for a moment. C.J. thought about Harm's suggestion. It wasn't the typical first date. Normally, weekend vacations came later in a relationship. Then again, they were having friendly dates for weeks until.

"Hm, that sounds good."

"Okay, then I will pick you up at 8 a.m."

"Great, even on the weekend I'm not allowed to sleep in," C.J. said pouting, but with a smile on her face.

Harm laughed at the rather cute look.

"By the way, who's 'Sarah'?" she asked.

"Oh, it's the name of the plane. It belonged to my dad. The original Sarah is my grandmother. She had a farm up Pennsylvania where I put the plane back together after my ramp strike."

She heard the melancholy and understood what he meant when he said 'had a farm'.

"You named your airplane after your grandmother? How sweet."

Harm just gave her the stink eye and C.J. fought hard not to laugh out loud.

"So, is a there a reason, a certain Marine is giving us the stink eye?"

Of course, Harm knew who she was talking about.

"Mac didn't like what I had told her earlier this week. It's… She's angry."

"At least she came to the ceremony," C.J. commented.

"She had to come. It was required."

Before she could reply, she saw Charlie signaling to her, and she looked apologetic. "That's my cue. I'll see you on Thursday?" She asked.

"No, sorry, I can't. I have a trial on Friday."

"Right. I remember you telling me that. That we'll see each other on Saturday."

"Alright. Looking forward to it," Harm said with his full-blown flyboy smile.

"Me too," C.J. said and turned to go away.

"Please apologize to your parents that I couldn't meet them personally."

"Sure, "Harm said.

"Oh, C.J. I nearly forgot, Sarah is an open cockpit two-seater. So you'll need to pack some warm clothes."

"Thanks."

C.J. made her way over to the veranda, where President Bartlet was watching the reception in relative privacy. "You called, Sir?"

"I did indeed," he replied, in a pleasant tone that immediately made her suspicious.

"Come people-watch with me, Claudia. It's fascinating to observe human behavior. For example, I have observed you and Commander Rabb. You looked rather happy. Can I infer from that that you had a good time at your coffee date, yesterday?"

"Yes, Sir. You were right, he came as usual and we cleared the air. And I want to thank you for talking to me. Without your advice, I wouldn't have gone to the café, and I think I would have regretted that going forward."

Jed Bartlet looked at her. "So, what happened if you don't mind me asking?"

C.J. paused for a moment, deliberating with herself if she should tell him more. Normally, she wouldn't, but if the President hadn't talked to her, she wouldn't have gone to Café Maria. And her friendship with Harm would have probably ended. They certainly wouldn't go on a short weekend trip.

"You're really getting into this little melodrama, aren't you?" C.J. said with a smile.

"Well, they say people in high-stress vocations should have hobbies, and since no one wants to play chess with me anymore …"

"All right, I give. Remember what I said about his partner?"

"I do."

"She's standing over there. The dark-haired Marine, that's Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Mackenzie."

The President slowly turned over and looked at Mac for a moment.

"Ah, well I can certainly understand your description of her. She doesn't look overly happy though."

"I think they're having a slight disagreement."

"What makes you think that?"

She considered trying to stall or sidetrack him but thought better of it.

"Possibly the fact that I inadvertently caused it with my visit."

At his look, she sighed. With the skills learned over three years in the pressroom, she gave him the bullet points.

"You seem happy about it?"

"Yes, Sir, I am. Whatever might happen, I'm just glad that I could salvage my friendship with Harm. And to be honest, the more I think about the trip, the more I look forward to it."

"Then I hope you'll enjoy it and wish you good luck with your Commander."

C.J. groaned. She knew that after telling the President about her date with Harm, he would continue calling him 'her Commander'. And this time she couldn't deny it.

"Sir, could you not spread that around too much? The guys did give me a lot of grieve for our platonic meetings, and the events after the State Dinner. If they find out about the weekend, I will never hear the end of it," C.J. pleaded with the President.

"Sure. But you come and talk to Abby. She is very interested in getting to learn more about you and your Commander."

C.J. groaned again, Jed Bartlet just smiled. "I have to get back to work."

C.J. just stood there for a few moments.

"Sir, do you have a few moments to greet Har… uh Commander Rabb's parents?"

The President checked his watch. "All right, but only for a few minutes."

"Thank you, Sir."