The Only Constant
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By: Anand Rao

Chapter Two
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DAY 2

Harm walked into his office, rubbed his tired eyes, and took a large gulp of coffee. He had left the office right after his meeting the Admiral the day before. He spent the entire evening ignoring phone calls from Mac, Sturgis, Bud, and Harriet. (Thank God no one decided to just drop by,) he thought. Apparently, the Admiral had told them about the reassignments right after he had told Harm. He felt slightly guilty for ignoring them, but what was he going to say?

(I wonder what would upset them more, a resignation or a promotion?) He wondered.

He closed the door to his office, sat down at his desk and put his head in his hands. "What am I going to do. . ," he muttered.

He had thought about retiring for months now. He was just getting so tired of fighting with Mac. And when they weren't fighting, he barely saw her. They were in completely different worlds now that she was a judge. A knock on his door interrupted his thoughts.

"Enter."

Mac stepped inside his office, gently closing the door behind her. "Good morning, Harm," she quietly greeted.

Harm sighed. "Good morning, Mac."

"I tried to reach you last night. Why didn't you return my calls?" Her tone of voice wasn't accusing, just inquisitive.

"I'm sorry about that." Harm ran his fingers through his hair. "I just needed to be alone for a bit."

Mac smiled. "I kind of figured. . . That's why I didn't drop by your place last night."

"Thank you for that," Harm laughed.

Mac sat down in front of his desk, her smile gone. "Bud and Harriet are taking this kind of hard. Sturgis and I went to their place for dinner last night. We wanted you to be there."

Harm chose to ignore the gentle rebuke. "And you? How are you taking this?"

(That depends on where you're going,) Mac thought. "I'm. . . not sure yet. I like being a judge, but I wasn't expecting to make a career out of it. I like investigative work." She sighed. "I suppose it beats any alternative Commander Lindsay could come up with."

"Heh. No doubt about that!"

Mac decided to get straight to the point. "Harm? What's going on? The Admiral wouldn't tell any of us about your status. Are. . . are you being transferred?"

Harm leaned back in his chair, a far off look on his face. "You know, when I first joined JAG, I didn't really have any focus in my career or my life. I was just trying to rebuild things and hopefully find a place in the Navy. Worse than not flying, I didn't want to resign. It wasn't until I served under Admiral Cheggwidden that I thought about the future, perhaps, being the JAG myself, one day." He finally looked at Mac.

"Until you left to fly, I always felt that the Admiral was grooming you to take his spot." Mac smiled. "That's the only reason I could think of as for why he continued to put up with you."

She was joking, Harm knew, but he couldn't seem to find the humor in it. "Well, one way or another, he won't have to put up with me anymore."

Mac's blood ran cold. "Where are you going, Harm?"

"I'm probably going to retire, Mac."

Mac shot up from her seat. "Retire?" This was not a response she was expecting. She'd never mention it to anyone, but her previous night's sleep had been plagued by nightmares of Harm's possible transfer to an over seas office, a carrier, or worse, a change of designation as an aviator. "Was the Admiral's offer *that* bad?"

"Not in the way you're thinking," Harm replied. "He offered me Naples."

(No! That's too far!) Mac desperately thought. "That's. . . a long way from Washington."

Harm smiled a bit sadly. "You noticed that too, did you?"

"Would you be serving under Captain Deyo?" Mac couldn't imagine Harm retiring. The Navy was his life. Naples was far, but it wouldn't be a bad move for Harm, career-wise.

Harm's lips quirked slightly. "No, I'd be his replacement. He retired recently."

"Harm. . . You're not being transferred. You're being promoted!" Mac stared at him in shock. "Why in the world are you considering retirement?"

Harm leaned forward suddenly. "Why do you think?" He demanded harshly.

"I don't know." Mac refused to believe it was because of her.

Harm took a deep breath. "I once told you that what I wanted was to never lose you."

"And I told you that you never would," Mac quickly replied. "That hasn't changed."

"Even if I'm in Naples?" Harm countered.

Mac shook her head stubbornly. "You can't give your career for me, Harm. You can't give up this opportunity."

"If our situations were reversed, would you take the transfer?"

A lie quickly grew in Mac's mind, but one look at the raw pain in his Harm's eyes threw all that away. "No," she replied softly.

"Then how can you expect me to do any differently?" He said gently.

Mac didn't have an answer for that. (This isn't right,) she thought.

"I shouldn't have any trouble finding a position in a private practice somewhere," Harm continued.

"It still won't be the Navy, Harm."

The pain in his eyes grew. "I know."

**************************************

"So, rumor has it you're going to be an aviator again."

Harm rolled his eyes at the man who sat the table adjacent to his in the courtroom. "Sturgis, every time someone sneezes in JAG headquarters someone brings out *that* piece of scuttlebutt again."

Sturgis opened his briefcase and pulled out some files. He was prosecuting a case against Harm's client, but this meeting was a formality, the two of them had already worked out a deal. All they had to do was wait for the judge. "Well, seeing as how you're not telling anyone about your new duty station, it's as good a guess as any."

"Fishing for information, Sturgis? This is hardly an appropriate venue for it," Harm replied teasingly.

"Why not?" Sturgis shrugged his shoulders. "Judge MacKenzie hasn't arrived yet." He grinned. "Besides, I'm sure she's as curious as I am."

"She already knows, Sturgis."

"I see."

"It's not really a secret," Harm said defensively. "I have a couple of options and I haven't figured out what to do yet." That wasn't exactly a lie. Harm knew that losing Mac wasn't worth any promotion or reward, but the thought of turning down his own command. . .

"Lieutenant Simms starts at the OIG tomorrow."

"I haven't to talked to Harriet or Bud since this whole mess started," Harm admitted.

"They understand that you have your own problems to face," Sturgis replied reassuringly.

"A bunch of us were planning on taking Harriet out to lunch today; sort of a 'going away' thing. Are you interested in joining us?"

"I'll be there," Harm replied, just as Mac entered the courtroom.

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Their morning courtroom duties completed, Harm and Mac met once again in his office. "Harm, how long has the Admiral given you to make up your mind?" Mac asked.

"One week. Why?"

"Can you really just retire, without feeling any regrets?"

Harm forced himself to act cavalier. "Life is full of regrets, Mac." He smiled. "The better question is, can I really leave *you* without any regret?"

Mac blushed and turned away. "I can't believe we're having this conversation."

"I didn't think I'd be trying to kiss you senseless at your engagement party." Harm offered a sheepish grin. "Desperate times. . ."

"This isn't a joke, Harm!" Mac glared at him. "Duty has always come first in your life, and all of a sudden, you seem ready to cast it aside at a time when our country *needs* us the most! Can you really leave all that behind and still be happy?"

Several seconds ticked by as she awaited his answer. "I don't know," he finally replied.

"Then you need to find out."

"How?"

"Ask the Admiral if you could go to Naples for a couple of days. Try to experience what it is that you'll be giving up, Harm. And when, no, if, you come back, we can talk about the future then." The suggestion was a difficult one for Mac. In her mind, there was a very real possibility that she would lose Harm, and if she did, it would be from he own doing.

"You want me to go to Naples?" Harm asked flatly.

"You need to find out what you really want, Harm. Our status quo, our little dance, no longer exists."

She was right. In his heart, he knew it. "I'll talk to the Admiral after lunch," he promised.

"Good. I, uh, have to get some paperwork done before lunch, so I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Sure. Thanks, Mac." As she quickly left his office, Harm frowned. No matter what happened, this was going to hard and complex, and for the life of him, couldn't figure out how to make it any easier.

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End Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks for the feedback on the first part. This has been a fun idea to explore!