Chapter Thirty-Three
Marine & Naval Officer Down

WEEK 23-PART TWO
NOVEMBER 6TH, 2001

1245 EST
BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL
BETHESDA, MARYLAND

Finding out who the father was would prove to be a lot more difficult than Melinda had expected. Actually, it would be pretty much impossible until the baby was born and a blood test could be done. No one looked happy when Melinda delivered that news, and Melinda couldn't blame them. She felt especially bad for Mac, who by the end of the appointment looked like one of those cartoon cats that hung upside down from the ceiling by its claws whenever it got scared.

Melinda tried to help her out by making sure to drive the point home that You Shouldn't Stress Out The Pregnant Lady Too Much Because That Could Lead To Many Things, None Of Which Are Good, So Please Refrain From Stressing Out the Expectant Mother. Please. Mac was probably stressing herself out enough; she didn't need other people doing it for her.

Harm and Mic were acting like it was some kind of competition, which Melinda found odd, because there was really nothing left to compete over. Mic had either been one day early or Harm had been one day late; Mac had slept with both of them within 36 hours. It was neck-and-neck, but there would be a clear cut winner in the end. They would just have to wait another two-ish months, something neither of the men seemed to want to do.

It looked like Mic and Harm were more concerned with each other than they were with Mac, which piqued Melinda's concern. Not only as Mac's doctor, but as her friend. She decided to wait and see if the dust settled before she gave her two cents, though.

As it would turn out, noses being stuck into other people's business would be a theme for that day. Melinda was strolling into one of the staff break rooms to get her mid-afternoon cup of coffee, which she didn't need to get, but three cups of coffee in one day wasn't terrible for your health. Nathan, being the heart surgeon with a god complex that he was, would tell her otherwise, but Melinda wasn't too keen on listening to him anymore.

Two nurses were also in the break room, sitting at one of the tables. Melinda noticed they were talking in hushed voices, but she didn't know they were talking about her until one of the nurses-the ironically named Joy-looked over her shoulder at Melinda then turned quickly back around. Joy had unfortunately been the one to take Mac's blood pressure at the appointment that day, and had witnessed the awkward paternity situation firsthand.

For a few seconds, Melinda tried to ignore it. However, before she could stop herself, she was walking up to them. As her father always used to tell her, "Melly, you can never leave well enough alone. You're like a dog with a bone."

So be it. Melinda was going to be a dog. A bitch, to be exact.

"Hi, excuse me. I hate to bother you two on your break, but I was just trying to enjoy my break, and I couldn't help but notice you two were having a very interesting conversation. Do you mind if I join?"

Without waiting for an answer, Melinda sat down at the table's third seat. The other nurse looked between Joy and Melinda, then quickly got up. After throwing away her half-full coffee cup, she scurried out of the break room.

Melinda watched her go. Once the nurse left, her eyes landed back on Joy.

"And then there were two," she said dryly. Joy pursed her lips.

"Yes," she answered. "What do you want, Dr. Gardner?"

"I want to know what you were talking about, Nurse Joy."

Joy shrugged. "It was nothing, just a patient."

Melinda raised an eyebrow. "Is that all?"

"No. It was about a doctor, too. About how a doctor screwed over one of their patients."

"Oh really?" Melinda stirred her coffee. "How interesting. Do you mind saying which doctor?"

"I think you know the answer to that, Dr. Gardner," Joy's tone was clipped.

Melinda shook her head. "No, I don't think I do. And call me Melinda-women who sleep with my husband get to call me Melinda."

"He's not your husband anymore," Joy snapped. "And if you're going by that logic, is that why Sarah Mackenzie calls you Melinda? Did she sleep with your husband, too?"

Melinda's eyes widened. "Excuse me?"

Joy examined the label on her cup of coffee. "Tell me, Dr. Gardner, how is it that Colonel Mackenzie doesn't know who the father of her child is?"

"The conception dates were so close together; it would've been impossible to tell," Melinda answered automatically.

"Could it be because you read the ultrasound wrong and made an assumption on the first appointment?"

Melinda narrowed her eyes. "What are you talking about?"

Joy shrugged. "Oh I don't know. You're in the middle of a divorce, you just moved to a new city, started a new job. It's only natural for you to make some mistakes."

"I know how to read an ultrasound."

"Everyone makes mistakes. I just hope yours doesn't end in a malpractice suit."

Melinda stood up, picking up her cup of coffee so roughly some of it spilled over the side. She ignored it. "I get your point," she told Joy. "For future reference, don't ever question how I practice medicine. I got my degree-degrees while you were still in a training bra."

"Is that all?"

"No, that's not all. Stop fucking my husband."

1310 EST
JAG HEADQUARTERS
FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA

Mac was sitting at her desk, feeling conflicted. That emotion was no stranger to Mac, but now instead of visiting, it seemed to be trying to make itself a permanent resident in Mac's chest. And it was succeeding. Then again, Mac wasn't putting up much of a fight.

Mic showing up was inconvenient, of course, but Mac couldn't bring herself to hate him being there. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't resent him. She didn't hate him, in fact she never did. Not even when he left her in the airport back in June. They were fiances at one point; if she'd ever hated him it would've been problematic.

She just wished none of this was happening. Mac wanted more than anything to wake in an alternate universe where all she got after Gunny's going away party was a foot rub while her and Harm watched TV. She wished she wasn't living out some soap-opera plot. And it was only going to get worse when everyone found out Mic was back and, more importantly, why he was back.

Singer's probably going to call me a whore in front of everyone this time, Mac thought with a heavy sigh.

Suddenly, she felt a flutter. The flutters could now be classified as kicks now, but Mac had gotten so used to calling them flutters that they were going to stay named 'flutters' for the foreseeable future. Mac placed a hand on her bump. She knew, from the moment the first test came back positive, that Harm was the father. She just knew.

But now, she was beginning to doubt herself. Maybe she had just convinced herself Harm was the father because the possibility of Mic being the father seemed unthinkable. Trying to come to terms with that possibility was making Mac's head spin.

And Harm-that was another issue entirely. He was putting on a good front to one-up Mic and prove to him what a great boyfriend he was, but Mac could tell he was angry with her. Rightfully so. She'd told him the night they first had sex that it had been two weeks since her and Mic had sex. Which was believable, considering a wedding was one of the most stressful life events a person could live through.

Harm had no idea she'd slept with Mic the night before he went back to Australia. He'd been completely blindsided by the revelation in the doctor's office. Ever since, he'd been acting frigid, in a subtle way that only Mac picked up on. She was sure they'd hash it out sometime, once Harm was over his cursory brooding period, and she was dreading that time. Mac knew she messed up. Big time.

She wouldn't describe herself as a liar, but that night in June, when Harm looked at her as she undressed in front of her and asked, "Have you Mic…?" Mac answered, "No, not in weeks," before she could stop herself. At the time, it didn't feel like a lie. It was just one of those little white lies that seemed like it would bear no consequence.

Mac had no idea Mic would come back; Hell, she had no idea she would even get pregnant.

How am I being fair to this kid? She asked herself, Dragging them into all of this?

There was a knock at the door, and Mac was dragged out of her spiral. She was expecting it to be Tiner, Bud, or maybe even Harm (him deciding to tear into her at work would be the icing on the cake-probably enough icing to make her go into preterm labor), but who it actually was surprised her.

"Melinda?" Mac cleared her throat, sitting up straighter at her desk. "What are you doing here?"

Melinda stepped into Mac's office, looking a lot more frazzled than she did when Mac saw her at the appointment. Looks like I'm not the only one having the worst day in the world, Mac thought, and the observation made her feel somewhat better. Like the old proverb goes, misery loves company.

"Can I sit?" she asked, and Mac nodded.

"Sure, what's up?"

"I uh-it's nothing emergent, I suppose, depending on how you look at it," she looked up at Mac, her face flushing a little. "Sorry," she tried to smile. "I don't usually make house calls."

"Is this about the paternity?"

Melinda winced. "Was it that obvious."

"Yeah, a little," Mac replied, "I figured you weren't driving all the way out her from Bethesda to have lunch with me."

"You're right. It's about the paternity."

Mac took a deep breath, pursing her lips. "What's the good news? Or is there any good news?"

"Oh no, there is," Melinda assured her. "The good news is that one potential father has more...potential than the other."

Mac frowned. "What do you mean?"

Melinda looked down. "Well, that's where this kind of gets...fickle."

"Fickle?" Mac sat up. "What do you mean, fickle?"

"I just want to preface this by saying that I am coming to you as not only a friend, but a doctor as well. If you want to pursue legal action against me, I completely understand-"

"Melinda, what happened?" Mac snapped, using a tone she usually only reserved for the courtroom. Melinda looked at her with wide eyes before continuing.

She cleared her throat, trying to compose herself before delivering the news to Mac. "Remember back in July, when you had your first appointment with me?"

"Yes."

Melinda took a deep breath. "Right before your appointment, earlier that morning, I had a huge fight with Nathan and I-" she paused, trying to think of how to phrase what she would say next. "I wasn't...in the right mindset. My mind was-I was kind of all over the place that morning. So I might have…"

"Might have what?" Mac asked. She was getting the plummeting feeling in the pit of her stomach again, like she did when she opened her door and saw Mic standing on the other side of it.

"I might have read the ultrasound wrong. So there is a chance that you could be a week or two farther along than I originally said."

"Which means?" Melinda didn't even have to answer that one; Mac knew exactly what it meant.

"If that's true, and I did read the ultrasound wrong, then there's a high probability Mic is the father."

Mac tried to swallow, but her mouth was too dry. Harm had been after her to drink more water but-Harm. Oh god, how am I gonna tell Harm this?

Melinda had made the comment at a previous appointment that the baby was measuring a little bigger than the average for 23 weeks, but Mac assumed that it was normal. Melinda had even corroborated that, saying that 'every pregnancy was different' and 'this is nothing to worry about.' It was apparent now that Melinda didn't know what the hell she was talking about and Mac was in a more fucked-up situation than she had been five minutes prior.

"But you said it was-"

"Normal, yes. But it's recently come to my attention that there may have been some error on my part."

Mac folded her arms over her chest. "Who told you?"

"That nurse, Joy," Melinda answered, pursing her lips. "The one that took your blood pressure today."

"Who would've thought she knew more about medicine than you did?" Mac asked. She worded her question that way intentionally, knowing full well it was going to be hurtful. Mac knew how petty it was, and she didn't even care. Mac was rapidly approaching her wit's end with everything that had happened over the past 14 hours.

Melinda's eyes widened. "Mac, I-"

"I'm not going to sue you, just get out of my office."

"Mac-"

"Melinda," Mac took a breath to compose herself. "Please, leave. Please."

"O-okay," Melinda scrambled out of her chair. "If you have any questions, you-"

"I don't. Please shut the door on your way out."

Mac didn't look up to watch Melinda go, and she didn't look up when she heard the door shut, either. She ran her fingers through her hair, squeezing her eyes shut in the hopes that, when she opened them, the room would stop spinning. On top of everything else, she felt awful. Everything going on was probably what was making her feel awful.

She opened her eyes, and after a few moments the dizzy spell passed. Mac knew all of this other stuff would pass too, but she was having trouble convincing herself that.

1340 EST
BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL
BETHESDA, MARYLAND

"Melinda, we need to talk."

"About what?" Melinda asked as she walked towards the elevators. She had three patients she needed to check on, and didn't have the time for idle chit chat. She wasn't in the mood for idle chit chat, either.

"You know what."

"No, I honestly don't," Melinda said, pressing the call button for the elevator.

"May I remind you of who you're talking to, Dr. Gardner?"

Melinda shook her head, waiting for everyone to exit before entering the elevator. "That's not necessary. We've known each other for almost six months now, Chief."

Charlie Stevenson had been the Chief of surgery at Bethesda Naval for almost a decade. Long before taking the position there, he'd been a medic in Vietnam. He thought that, after that experience, he could handle anything. For the most part, he could. But nothing prepared him for navigating the egos of some of the surgeons who worked under him.

Last year, it was that fiasco with Dr. Gettis possibly being at fault for a Navy Lieutenant's baby being stillborn. Dr. Gardner was actually Dr. Gettis' replacement. Even though he was cleared of any wrongdoing, his reputation took a hit. Suddenly patients were requesting a different doctor-or in some cases even opting to go to a different hospital-out of fear that he would kill their babies. It was around this time that Dr. Gettis conveniently decided to 'take some time off.'

Like some sign from the hospital-managing gods, Melinda Gardner arrived three weeks later and Charlie hired her on the spot. His wife had asked him that night, "Doesn't she seem a little too good to be true?" to which he replied, "Of course, that's why I want her working for me."

Charlie soon found out why, out of all the hospitals, Melinda chose to work at Bethesda Naval when he overheard her and her ex-husband screaming at each other in the stairwell one morning. Dr. Gardner was a much better doctor than Dr. Gettis, but at least Dr. Gettis didn't air out his personal drama at work.

With their egos, it's miraculous they were even married for that long, Charlie thought to himself.

The elevator doors closed. Charlie turned to look at Melinda. "Tell me why you're going around accusing nurses of adultery?"

"Because your nurses are committing adultery," Melinda replied. "Not all of them, though. The vast majority of them are lovely. There's just one in partciular. I don't know if you've heard of her, Joy?"

Charlie sighed. "She's the one who told me."

"I see," Melinda nodded. "She has a very ironic name, wouldn't you say?"

"I didn't come on this elevator with you to discuss names."

"Well then, what did you want to discuss?"

"Joy also informed me that you also have a…" Charlie paused. "paternity issue with one of your patients."

Melinda sighed. "It's not an issue, and it'll be resolved."

"She said it was your fault. That you read the ultrasound wrong."

"It wasn't my fault," Melinda shot back, "My patient lied-wasn't forthcoming about all of her sexual history. There's nothing wrong with my eyesight. I read the ultrasound correctly."

Charlie eyed her for a second, trying to discern if she was telling the truth. Either she was, or she had as good of a poker face as her father. Finally, he put his hands up, conceding. "I'm just trying to make sure another one of my surgeons doesn't end up in a courtroom. We're still cleaning up after Gettis."

"Which I helped with, by the way."

"I never said you didn't," Charlie pressed the emergency stop button on the elevator. The elevator jolted to a stop. "Melinda, your father might be an Admiral, but you're not. I don't appreciate you walking around with this chip on your shoulder about everything."

"The chip I have on my shoulder is my own, not my father's," Melinda said. "He doesn't believe in nepotism anyway." She pressed the button and the elevator slowly started moving again.

"All I'm asking is for you to fix whatever's going on with you and Nathan," Melinda opened her mouth to respond, but Charlie held up a hand. "And before you start, I told him the exact same thing."

Melinda turned back forward, watching the doors of the elevator. "That's good," she said. "I'd hate for him to think he's doing better than me."

"What do you mean by that?"

"He graduated second in his class at Hopkins."

Charlie scoffed. "And let me guess, you graduated first?"

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Melinda stepped off.

"Of course I did."

As Melinda walked away and the elevator doors shut, Charlie sighed and shook his head. And they say lawyers have the biggest egos.

1930 EST
APARTMENT OF SARAH MACKENZIE
GEORGETOWN

Harm finally stopped brooding as they were cleaning up after dinner. He gave Mac the cold shoulder for a lot longer than she thought he would, which only made her more anxious for what he had to say. She tried to avoid eye contact with him as she put away the leftovers, as if he was some animal that shouldn't be provoked. Then Mac realized she was tip-toeing around Harm like her mother used to tip-toe around her. That made Mac angry, so she decided to confront him.

"Do you want to talk?" she asked, placing the leftovers on a shelf in the refrigerator and closing the door.

"Sure."

"Why aren't we talking, then?"

Harm shut the dishwasher with more force than what was necessary. "Why did you lie, Mac?" he demanded. Mac finally met his glance. There wasn't enough anger in his eyes to make Mac feel intimidated, but nonetheless it wasn't one of his more compassionate looks.

"I told you. That night, I didn't think it was relevant to tell you that I'd slept with Mic the night before," Mac kept her tone calm and level, if for no other reason than to follow Melinda's advice and not stress herself out. "We were using protection, after all."

"I don't care about you lying to me that night," Harm said. "I care about how you've been lying to me for the past five months." He leaned against the counter, folding his arms over her chest. This interaction reminded Mac of their working dinners before they started dating, when they would verbally spar over the logistics of a case. However, that time it all only was for fun and games, now it was more personal and decidedly less fun.

"Harm, I know you're the father," Mac insisted, even though she was doubting herself more and more.

"Oh, what told you that? One of your visions?" Harm asked, using air-quotes.

Mac stared at him incredulously. "Might I remind you that one of my 'visions' helped save your life?"

"Says you."

"Excuse me?"

Harm shrugged. "You also told me, that night, that you hadn't had sex with Mic in weeks."

"I'm not a liar, Harm."

"The evidence states otherwise."

Mac rolled her eyes. "Please," she said. "Stop acting like we're in the courtroom. You're being dramatic."

"Dramatic?" Harm exclaimed. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

"It is a bad thing, Harm. You're not being rational."

"Of course I'm not being rational!" he snapped. "It's easy for you to be rational, Mac. You're still going to be the baby's mother, regardless of who the father is. But I can't be rational. I spent the past five months thinking this kid is mine. I want this baby. I want to be a father. I'm excited-hell, I'm over the fucking moon. But suddenly, Mic comes waltzing in, I find out you've been lying to me, and all of this," he gestured around them, "could be getting taken away from me."

"You're making this about yourself," Mac said. "Harm, if Mic is the father, that doesn't mean we can't still be a couple-"

"Mic being the father will change everything."

"Fine, Harm. You know what? If you're going to be this stubborn, I have a solution for you. Why don't you just come by and visit me the day I get home from the hospital after having the baby? You can just fuck me all over again and get me pregnant again so we can start over from scratch. Just treat my uterus like a goddamn Etch-A-Sketch, why don't you?"

"I didn't mean-"

"Or, better yet, why don't I just build a fucking time machine? Would that make you happy?"

Harm glared at her, and the two of them stood in silence for a moment.

"So I'm just supposed to be okay with all of this?" he asked quietly.

"I'm not okay with this!" Mac yelled, her outburst catching Harm by surprise. His eyes widened. "Do you think I wanna throw a party about this?" she demanded. "You probably do think that, seeing as you never bothered to ask me if I was okay. Not once today, did you ask me how I was feeling or anything like that. Mic didn't either. Both of you always have to compete with each other-"

"Mac, I'm not trying to compete-"

"Yes you are!" Mac insisted. "You two were acting like children at the ultrasound this morning. I felt like I was in Sydney all over again. Both of you were too busy having a pissing contest over me like I'm some sort of incubator to even acknowledge that I might be just as upset as you are!"

Harm sighed, walking over to Mac. As he moved toward her, she turned away from him. "Dammit," she whispered, wiping away a tear from her cheek. Harm felt all his anger melt away, and he could've kicked himself. Is it that hard for you not to be an asshole? He asked himself.

"Honey…" he started, but his words failed him. It was hard for him to give Mac comfort when he knew he was the one who made her upset. "I'm sorry."

He reached out to put a hand on her shoulder, but Mac stepped out of his reach. He slowly lowered his arm. "It's fine," Mac told him, even though it wasn't fine. "It already happened, let's just forget it happened."

"That's not going to fix anything. We can talk now. Civilly," Harm smiled, just to get Mac to smile. She didn't.

"I know, but I'm just tired, Harm. I think I'm gonna go to bed," Mac started to leave the kitchen, and Harm found himself scrambling to get her to stay. He was desperate to at least attempt to make some amends that night, even if his attempt was pitiful.

"Mac-"

"Harm, my feet hurt. I wanna lay down."

"I could rub your feet," he offered. Mac did smile softly at that, and Harm got a glimmer of hope.

"Thanks," she said. "But can we raincheck."

The glimmer of hope went out, and Harm's shoulders sagged. "Oh-that's okay."

Mac gave another small smile before leaving the kitchen. Harm sighed, raking his fingers through his hair. "Fuck," he said aloud once he made sure Mac was out of ear shot. He lost count of the time he spent pacing around the kitchen, mulling over his argument with Mac. He was torn with what to do. Part of him wanted to go in there and try again to get Mac to talk things over, but another part of him knew that Mac needed her space when she was upset.

Harm heard the shower stop, and waited another ten minutes after that to ensure Mac was settled in bed. Soon enough, the ticking of the kitchen clock began to drive Harm crazy, so he finally decided to go to the bedroom.

The room was dark, and Mac was already in bed, the covers pulled up almost to her chin. That alone was strange; Mac always watched TV before she went to bed, and Harm's heart sank. He gently knocked on the doorframe. Mac was lying still, but Harm could tell she was awake.

"Listen, Mac, I can spend the night at the loft if you want some space."

"No, that's okay. You can stay here. Unless...you wanna leave."

"I don't wanna leave."

"Okay," Mac reached up, pulling back the covers to make a spot for Harm. Silently he undressed and changed into his pajamas. He climbed into bed, stretching out next to Mac.

"I'm not gonna leave, Mac," Harm said into the darkness.

"Okay."

THE NEXT MORNING

0900 EST
JAG HEADQUARTERS
FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA

As much as Mac would've liked for her personal drama to remain...personal, word soon got around that Mic Brumby was back in town. The one silver lining was that Mic was keeping a low profile. Other than the ultrasound and a visit to Bud and Harriet, he'd barely left his hotel room.

Until that morning. Mac knew that Mic would have to make an appearance at JAG eventually, but she was still taken aback when she walked into the morning staff meeting and saw Mic sitting to the right of the Admiral at the conference table. What surprised her more was that he was in uniform. Mic hadn't mentioned anything about going back to the Australian Navy.

Harm and Mac exchanged confused glances as they sat down, which was the most emotion they'd shown towards each other since their argument the night before. Both of them preferred arguing to the silence, but both of them were too tired to argue, so they had to live with the silence. And neither of them were experts at admitting when they were wrong, so there would be a 3-5 business day waiting period before apologies would be exchanged.

To make matters infinitely worse, Mac was seated between Mic and Harm.

"Mic, what are you doing here?" she muttered. Mic turned to respond, but the Admiral, who had overhead Mac's question, answered for him.

"Commander Brumby's looking to reinstate his position as our Australian exchange officer," AJ said, and Mac felt Harm bristle beside her. She also felt everyone else's eyes land on her.

Mac tried to ignore all those eyes and blinked. "What?" she asked, looking at Mic for some kind of explanation. She looked back to the Admiral, then back to Mic. (she was too scared to look at Harm. "Is this-are you? I've heard funnier jokes than this-"

AJ sighed. "Colonel-"

"You shouldn't scare me like this sir, I'm pregnant."

"Colonel-"

"Mic's in civilian law now, aren't you? Mic? Tell me you're still in civilian law-"

"Colonel," AJ took off his glasses. Mac paused and looked at him with a wide-eyed, almost pleading expression. AJ sighed again. "You tell her," he said, gesturing to Mic.

Mic turned to Mac and smiled. "I decided to rejoin and come back to JAG."

"Why?" Harm and Mac asked together. Sturgis, Bud, and Singer were seated on the other side of the table, watching with interest.

Mic shrugged. "I figured it would be easier if we were both living in the same city. You know, because of the baby."

You could hear a pen drop in the conference room. Everyone almost seemed to hold their breath as they waited for Mac's reaction. At first, nothing seemed to register across her face. Then, without warning, Mac slumped out of her chair and hit the floor, completely unconscious.

Harm and Mic were instantly on their feet. "Mac!" they said in unison.

Everyone else hopped to their feet as well. Bud, however, was only standing for a few moments before he toppled back as well, fainting just like Mac had.

The Admiral's eyes widened. "Bud!"