Disclaimers in part I.
0740 Zulu/2340 Local
Frank and Trish Burnett's House, La Jolla, California
"Why do I ever suggest anything competitive involving trivia when I'm with you?" Harm asked Mac after his mother and stepfather had said goodnight and retreated to the master suite.
"Because you're a masochist," she beamed back at him, holding up her completed wheel of knowledge with glee. "And your mom's not so bad, either."
"It was a lucky guess on her part." There was no other way to explain how his mother knew the answer to the question, "In what game will you find innings, pitches, bats, balls, and bowlers?"
Mac swatted his arm. "That's what you get for asking a Sports and Leisure question. Just the law of averages said she had to get two right during the game."
"Yeah, but the law of averages also says you should have missed a question or two during the game."
"You know, I gave up whine a long time ago, Harm. You might want to think about that before you complain too much. And for the record I missed 11 questions."
He twisted his lips and looked askance at her. "Doesn't seem like it," he mumbled.
A few minutes later, the two stood in what had become the guest wing of the house, somewhat awkwardly trying to say goodnight.
"Okay, well, I guess just knock on my door when you're done in the head." Harm leaned against the frame of the open door into his boyhood room, the sheepish grin on his face indicating his nervousness.
Mac smiled at him from the opposite bedroom doorway with what she hoped was more confidence than he showed. "You sure? You could go first – I might be a while."
She couldn't know the effect of that smile on Harm's knees – and a few other parts of his anatomy, as well. "Why? How could anything you do in there make you more beautiful than you already are?"
"Oh…" The unexpected words brought her eyes to his.
"Where's the ring, Sarah?" He thought he knew but wanted to make sure his guess was accurate.
She reached to the neck of her t-shirt, pulled out the chain with her dog tags, laid the pendants in her palm. "As close to my heart as I can get it," she whispered, maintaining the charged eye contact.
Poise returned, Harm flashed her a Flyboy grin. "I think I'm jealous of the ring."
"Why?"
The grin didn't waiver at all. "Because close to your heart means close to something else, too."
Now she flushed a bright red, understanding at once. "In that case, maybe I should have you carry mine in your front pocket…"
Harm let out a laugh and stepped toward her, opening his arms. When she was safely wrapped in his embrace, he found the words that he'd wanted to say since they pulled up in front of the house. "You know, Sarah, I have a double bed in my room…"
"What would your mother say?" Mac murmured against his chest.
"Mom didn't make up the bed in the guest room until I told her we'd need it. She just assumed…"
"I love your mother, you know that? Frank, too." Neither Mac nor Harm realized the implications of Trish assuming the state of their relationship based on what AJ Chegwidden had said to her when he made "reservations" for them at "Hotel Burnett".
"It's mutual," he assured her, loving that this time their hearts had fallen into a unison rhythm in seconds. "Don't ask me why, but I have the Muppet tape with me."
"Really?" she squealed, and her eyes sparkled in the light as she looked up at him.
"Really." For that look, he'd carry it with him everywhere he went. "I'd really like to kiss you, you know."
Her head came up and her brown eyes held many things as she spoke. "Why don't you?"
Harm read her expression, relieved that he saw in her eyes what he felt in his soul. "Because I still won't stop there, and we're not ready yet."
"Who made you so wise all of a sudden?" Mac's breath drifted along his neck as she spoke with her head tilted up; he shivered and she snuggled closer. "You know, you did say we should try that sleeping together thing again, repeatedly."
"Are you sure it's okay? I don't want to pressure you."
This time, her lips preceded her breath, leaving a trail of kisses along his jaw. "I would sleep with you every night for the rest of my life, even if you never decided we were ready to kiss. Just because I love you."
Astonished to hear those three words from her despite all the time he'd spent praying for exactly that, Harm pulled them into his bedroom and closed the door with a foot. "You do, don't you?"
"Yes."
"I love you, Sarah."
"I know."
And still without even a kiss, the two officers moved a step closer to the happiness that had eluded them for so long, unaware of how close they would come to losing it in a few short days.
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0525 Zulu/0025 Eastern/2125
Pacific/1925 Hawaii
Officer's Quarters, Marine Corps Base Hawaii – 4 December 2002
Sturgis dialed the JAG Headquarters phone number without thinking before he remembered that Admiral Chegwidden's instructions were to call him at home. Grumbling at himself, the faux Marine major scrounged around the desk for the scrap of paper on which he'd written the Virginia number before he located it and used it to make the call.
"Chegwidden," his true commanding officer rumbled after the second ring.
"It's Turner, sir. I have the conference call number."
"Go ahead, Commander."
Sturgis read off the information for the AT&T conference call, a last minute change predicated by something the support team in Washington had discovered late in their working day. "Ten minutes from now, sir."
AJ chuckled on the other end. "I'll be there, Sturgis. At least this way we can have both the Colonel and the Commander on the line at the same time."
"Yes, sir."
Ten minutes later, Sturgis initiated the conference call and within 60 seconds, the other three parties had dialed in. "I'm glad I asked for four ports," Sturgis said to the last party to join.
"I'm just glad this is a conference call," Harm replied. "Mac and I are close, but trying to share her little cell phone would be a bit uncomfortable."
Mac had accurately predicted the scoffs that came from McLean and Honolulu when Harm made the same comment to her; despite that, she snorted just loudly enough to earn a soft round of laughter before the conversation turned to business.
"The reason I needed to be part of this tête-à-tête, Colonel and Commanders, is that Lt. Sims has done her usual extraordinary research and found that our Colonel Waters has a few blemishes on his civilian record that were never made part of his military record."
"Why not, sir?" Mac beat the two men to the question by a fraction of a second.
AJ sighed, the late East Coast hour taking its toll on him. "Waters is from a very small town in rural Mississippi. His father was the local judge."
"Good ole boys protecting their own." Sturgis had seen it often enough.
"Yes."
"Sir, how bad are the blemishes?" Harm asked as he made faces at Mac sitting across the table from him and thanked his lucky stars that this wasn't a videoconference.
Chegwidden heard something in the aviator's voice. "Colonel, is your usual partner annoying you?"
Mac swallowed a laugh and glared at Harm before she answered. "No, sir, not at all. Those blemishes?"
"Try three misdemeanor assault convictions, all of which should have been felonies according to later judicial review, and a felony conviction for arson that was overturned on appeal because of a technical error in the prosecution's case."
"Shouldn't these have been picked up when he applied for OCS, sir?" Sturgis wanted to know.
"And they would have been, Commander, had someone at the county level not forged a false report 20 years ago. There's more: two of the assaults and the arson were committed against African Americans – the arson charge was the result of a cross burning that spread to the victim's house and destroyed it. The third assault was against a Roman Catholic priest who tried to press felony charges but was discouraged by his own diocese. And there were two other felony charges that were dropped – both sexual assault."
"Son of a bitch. So why can't we just yank him out on falsification of sworn statements and be done with it?"
"Commander Rabb, you of all people should know that it's better to get someone on the most serious charge you can rather than on serious but lesser charges. Falsification can be a secondary charge when we nail this bastard." AJ's profanity was almost as surprising as his lack of response to Harm's.
"Sir, aren't you supposed to remain neutral during investigations?"
"I do until the truth comes out, Colonel. Between what you told me the other day and this revelation, the truth has shown that Colonel Waters is a disgrace to the Marine Corps uniform. I want as many substantiated charges as we can level against him and I want anyone who is in cahoots with him, too."
"Aye, sir," Mac answered for the three investigators, glad that none of them would be involved in the actual court case as anything more than witnesses for the prosecution.
The rest of the call concerned the day's events in Hawaii and a few details about which the three officers in Hawaii needed to be clear. The admiral listened, ever amazed at the caliber of the men and women on his staff. "Just be careful but speedy, please. Singer is out on 30 days' leave as of tomorrow and Roberts isn't back full yet. Your in baskets are overflowing. And on that happy note, I bid you all good night." He ended his connection without waiting for any reply.
Three voices chorused together. "Oh, joy."
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0800 Zulu/0000 Local
Frank and Trish Burnett's House, La Jolla, California – 5 December 2002
Harm lay in his bed at his boyhood home holding the woman he planned to spend the rest of his life loving with every fiber of his being. He should have been happy. "Damn her," he spluttered instead, earning a gentle squeeze from Mac before she sat up a little to look down at him in the dimness.
"Harm, honey, there's nothing you can do. Loren won't even confirm that Sergei is the father, and even if she did, you have no legal rights because you don't have any power of attorney."
"I know, Mac." He settled her back against his chest, laying his chin against her soft hair. "Doesn't mean I have to like it."
She smiled, loving him for caring so much. "You don't know that she's actually going through with it." Abortion was such an ugly word that she couldn't bring herself to say it out loud.
A grunt was his first answer; after a moment, he gave her more. "I'd say there's better than a 90% chance. Honestly, can you see Loren Singer willingly going through with a pregnancy at this stage of her life?"
"Harriet was planning to talk with her."
"That woman is a saint, but it won't work."
From his tone, Mac knew Harm didn't get the impetus of Harriet's willingness to confront the selfish, ambitious lieutenant. "Honey, Harriet's been there, remember? In more ways than one. If anyone can convince Loren to carry the baby to term, it will be Harriet."
Harm had allowed himself to forget the entire failed malpractice trial that resulted from Baby Sarah's death two years before. It all came crashing back to him in one wave and he found himself tearing up at the agony his friends endured that autumn. He remembered feeling betrayed at Harriet's revelation of her abortion as a teen and hating himself for feeling that way; he had worked his way out of that ambivalence by adopting Harriet as the sister he never had. Along the way, he'd come to understand that Harriet's decision still weighed heavily on her and that if she could, she would go back in time to change it. But he didn't think that Loren Singer had enough emotional depth to even get to the point of regret; that the child she would not allow to be born was his niece or nephew only made the whole situation worse.
"Sarah?"
"Yeah," she mumbled sleepily.
"If we moved up that five year deal, would that be okay with you?"
She didn't even twitch against him. "Long as you marry me before we conceive."
Harm laughed and kissed her hair, settling into the pillows with a mind far more at ease than it had been ten minutes earlier.
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2050 Zulu/1250 Local
Third Marine Regiment, Marine Corps Base Hawaii
"Colonel Rutter, may I present the staff of Third Marine Regiment." Eugene Waters had only found out about his new XO five hours previously, but he was thoroughly impressed with the record he'd received in the morning FEDEX and with the man who stood beside him at the head of the conference room table.
The ten men around the table already stood at attention; one by one they introduced themselves to their new Executive Officer. Happenstance put the new Intelligence Department head at the end of the list. "Ibrahim Yassin, sir. I believe we met at NMITC."
The new XO examined the major for a moment before he allowed a small, sour smile to cross his features. "Yes, I believe you were a rather tough instructor, major."
Sturgis acknowledged Harm's compliment with a nod of his head. "Yes, sir. Two consecutive commendations as Command Course Instructor of the Year."
"I hate to break up this happy reunion, but we do have work to do. Rutter, please help yourself to a sandwich. We were just going to review our preparations for deployment when you arrived."
Harm did just that, then sat down next to Sturgis, who ignored him as the staff luncheon resumed. It was truly unfair that Harm could look as at home in Marine camouflage as he did in his proper dress whites or his worn Nomex flight suit, the submariner thought as his Academy roommate showed just how much he had learned about his undercover role from Mac. He paid only enough attention to the briefing to contribute constructively when necessary, so when Harm spoke to him at the end of the meeting, he was taken aback.
"Uh, yes, sir, my wife is here with me. She's been back stateside the past few days but will be at the O- Club tonight. I'll be sure to tell her you asked after her, sir."
"Actually, Major, I think I'd like to surprise her, if you don't mind. She was very kind to me when my father died." Thus was the excuse Mac crafted to explain how the supposed affair had begun.
To those who paid attention to the exchange, it seemed that Major Yassin tensed a bit at the last words from the newest addition to the staff.
He did, in fact. "Yes, she was, wasn't she? Please excuse me, sir."
Colonel Waters stepped up beside his new exec. "You've met the major's wife?"
Harm didn't even have to fake the expression on his face when he turned to face the commanding officer. "We're old, close friends, sir." Not even Bud Roberts at his most naïve could have misunderstood the emphasis on the word "close".
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0155 Zulu/1755 Local
Officers' Club, Marine Corps Base Hawaii
"Major, I was beginning to wonder," Colonel Waters said to his Intelligence officer as the younger man escorted his wife into the main dining room. "Azaki," he nodded.
"Oh, it's my fault, Colonel Waters," Mac hurried to explain, taking the man's arm with a smile back at Sturgis and remembering to speak clearly through her accent. "I got bumped from my flight back from San Francisco and didn't arrive at home until half an hour ago." Really, her flight arrived less than half an hour after Harm's and she had spent the afternoon at Honolulu Police Headquarters with the head of NCIS-Pearl and the MCB Military Police Company CO going over the supposedly closed cases of hate crimes and the unsolved murder of the lead investigator.
Waters took her smile, her touch as signals that she would be available to him after Yassin took charge of the duty section at 2000. He returned her smile and patted the hand that lay warm around his arm. "Had I known, I would have delayed the party until you were ready."
Luckily, Sturgis caught Harm's eye and forewarned him with a look before Colonel Waters sashayed into view with Mac on his arm. Good thing; as it was, the expression on the aviator's face would have given even the most ambitious junior officer a fright had there been a single woman involved.
"Michael!" Mac exclaimed right on cue when she saw Harm a moment after he saw her. She smiled at Colonel Waters before she stepped away from him into a full embrace from the new XO.
"Azaki, how nice to see you!" Harm kissed both cheeks and held her just a tad too long. "It's been so long."
"Almost three and a half years since you left Virginia," she concurred, speaking as quickly as she did to her "husband". "I enjoyed your holiday cards."
"And I yours," Harm replied, reluctantly letting her go. "May I get you something to drink?"
"In about ten minutes, I would love an Amaretto and Coke." Which was really going to be a Dr. Pepper, of course.
"Oh, let me get that, Colonel, Azaki," Waters inserted himself back into the conversation.
Mac shot a significant look at Harm, who asserted his right to procure the beverage. He excused himself with a promise to return, leaving Mac with the man they were investigating.
"Given up on the baby, have you?" the man asked with a bit of triumph in his voice as he took her arm again, oblivious to the looks both Sturgis and Harm were giving him, neither invented for the roles they played.
"For now," she admitted, a tinge of sadness in her voice. "With Ibrahim going away so soon and with no projected return date, it just seems too much."
"That's too bad," the colonel answered with no sincerity. "This is a holiday for you, right?"
Mac nodded.
"Then we shall have dancing tonight." And just like that, the night got extended without her proper escort.
Sturgis came to them then, wondering why the two were laughing. "I see you've been entertaining my wife quite well, sir," he snarled just low enough to escape the notice of others standing nearby.
"Oh, yes, Major, I have, and I promise that I will do so in proper holiday spirit after you've gone off to your duty station."
"As will I," Harm added, rejoining them with her drink and a gin and tonic of his own.
Mac knew the fast was officially over by her internal clock, but she made a show of checking her watch before she accepted the supposed Amaretto and Coke from Harm. "To friends old and new," she toasted, and drained the glass in two swallows.
Sturgis grimaced and took the now empty glass. "I'll get you another. Colonel Waters?"
"Draft Sam Adams, thank you, Major."
Mac made the second "Amaretto and Coke" last much longer – all the way through a dinner that Harm found…stimulating. Mac did everything in her power to make the commanding officer jealous as she showered attention on the new executive officer, who decided that he rather liked the sexy vixen side of his partner. Every once in a while, she would deliver a tolerant smile to Sturgis, who as planned looked less and less happy as the evening progressed.
"Too bad you have duty tonight, Major," Harm goaded as Sturgis started to leave. "You'll miss out on the festivities. There will be dancing!" He acted far more intoxicated than he was; the hibiscus plant behind his chair probably wouldn't survive the night after five stiff rounds of Scotch and soda in the space of an hour, however.
"I'm sure I'll have plenty of other opportunities to dance with my wife, Lieutenant Colonel Rutter." He controlled the fury in his voice with obvious effort. "Azaki, I will call you later and see you in the morning for breakfast. Col. Waters, Lt. Col. Rutter." With that, he stalked out.
Col. Waters raised his glass to Mac and Harm. "Let the party start. Call me Eugene."
Two hours later, the party was winding down and Col. Waters was almost falling down drunk. Not so drunk, however, that he couldn't make a pointed and leading observation from his new exec when the woman in question went off to find the ladies' room. "She's not exactly the right color for a wife, but she'd make a damn fine distraction."
"Ooo rah, Gene," Harm affirmed, thinking about the wife part and his evolving Christmas Eve plan.
Twenty minutes – and two more drinks – later, the CO made a very serious pass at Mac. "'zak," he tried, "you're the mosht bootiful wo…wo…girl I every saw. Kissh you?"
Beside her, Mac saw Harm clenching and unclenching his fists. This assignment was going to be very hard on him, so she smiled and put on her best diplomatic smile. "Colonel, that's a really bad idea. You're not capable of making good decisions right now. Let me walk you home."
"'kay."
Waters really was far more drunk than he had been on Monday and it took both Mac and Harm to keep him on his feet for the 50 yard walk to his quarters. Harm had to unlock the colonel's front door, but he drew the line at helping his new commander beyond the foyer.
"Walk 'zaki home," he ordered his executive officer as he staggered to the stairs up to his bedroom. "I'll come when I can."
"Aye, sir," Harm nodded. He ushered Mac outside. "So, how far is it, really?"
"Less than a mile. Nice night for a walk, Michael."
They walked arm-in-arm in companionable silence; it was easier to pretend that they weren't undercover that way. Only after she invited him in for a drink did Harm relax a little.
Mac called Sturgis to warn him about Waters' last words before she turned to Harm. "I love you, squid," Mac whispered to him in her normal voice, unbuttoning his uniform coat.
All but one part of him was fully relaxed now. "I love you, Sarah, and what are you doing?"
"Taking that uniform off of you. You look silly."
She giveth, she taketh away, he thought, enjoying the experience anyway. He sat down on the couch and held his arm out for Mac to slide up against his side as she turned on the television and VCR. "Are we going to watch what I think we're going to watch?"
She giggled and tucked her head into his chest. "I can't help it if I want to watch the Muppets with my man."
