Disclaimers in part I.
The Same Moment
Outside Colonel Waters' Quarters, Marine Corps Base Hawaii
Harm was screaming into Captain Warren's face when his world shattered with the sound of six rapid gunshots from inside the colonel's house. His scream became the aching, echoing moan of a name that only he understood as the MPs battered down the front door.
A moment later, a shout from the porch roused the lawyer into action and he leapt up the stairs even as the senior member of the MP unit was finishing her order. "Call the paramedics! We've got a gunshot wound and probable rape victim in here!"
"Take me to her," he demanded of the gunnery sergeant.
The sergeant, seeing the silver oak leaf on Harm's uniform cap and the fear in his eyes, motioned for him to follow. "It's not pretty, sir."
Harm didn't even notice the gore; he was focused on his Sarah. He moved toward her.
"I'm really sorry, sir, but we can't let you do that. This is a crime scene." The gunny grimaced in further apology. "That's Mrs. Yassin, right, Colonel Rutter?"
It took him a moment to realize that the woman was talking to him about Mac; he was, after all, still undercover for at least a little while longer. "Uh, yes, Gunny, it is. Someone should go get Major Yassin and take him to the hospital to meet her."
"Aye, sir." They watched as the paramedics came in and began to work on the now unconscious woman. "I think he was the one who pulled the trigger, sir, if it helps."
Harm finally noticed the body slumped between the couch and the coffee table. It had no face, nor was there much left of the center section of its neck. "Waters."
"Yes, sir."
"Where is her wound?"
One of the paramedics spoke up. "Just a scratch, sir, maybe worth a stitch or so on the back of her hand. She's got some pretty severe internal bleeding, though, and I'd lay odds that she's got some serious illegal drugs in her." He heard Harm inhale and continued before the officer could blister him for the assumption. "I don't mean those kind, sir. I mean Rohypnol or GHB, maybe even both. And a lot of alcohol."
It was too much. Harm slid down the wall before the sergeant beside him could catch him, tears streaming down his face unheeded as he watched the competent medics stabilize Mac as best they could.
"You want to ride with us, sir?" The senior paramedic put a hand on Harm's shoulder a few moments later.
"Yeah," he growled, all thought of anything related to the investigation and the ghastly events on the Island of Hawaii gone from his mind when he saw Mac's pale, bruise-mottled face between orange head blocks on the gurney.
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1135 Zulu/0135 Local
Trauma Center Waiting Room, Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, Hawaii
Sturgis was waiting for Harm and Mac when the ambulance pulled up, and in fact had already told the trauma surgeon the real identity of his incoming patient. Connor Lukas was with him, as much because he needed to see that his friend and colleague from Bosnia was okay as to provide support for the man he now knew was Sturgis Turner.
"Dear God, Commander. What the hell happened to her?" the Marine major asked when Harm was shunted away from the treatment area to the nearby waiting area.
"Eugene Waters," was all Harm managed before he broke into angry tears.
Sturgis had heard from Mac how their friend had cried on hearing that Bud would live; these tears surprised him not at all. "Harm, she'll be fine. They're the best," he soothed, patting a hunched shoulder.
"She killed him, Sturgis. He was going to rape her, and she emptied the pistol into him." Despite the MP squad leader's assessment, he was holding on to the worst-case scenario.
Connor rocked back on his heels. "That's um…damn, sir," he tried. "One or two shots are self defense…"
Harm looked up at Lukas. "He pumped her full of alcohol and God only knows what else and her clothes had been ripped off. She was laying in his blood in her underwear." That vision would take a long time to fade. "It's nothing short of miraculous that she had the wherewithal to fight with him, never mind hang onto the gun long enough to pull the trigger."
"Alcohol?"
Lukas knew, then. "There was an empty liter of Smirnoff's in front of the couch," Harm confirmed.
"They'll do a complete tox screen, Harm. We'll know what he did to her soon, and then we can worry about any investigation. Given what you've said, even if anyone wanted to press charges, it's self defense and you and I could defend her in our sleep." Sturgis sat down beside his former roommate. "The admiral is coming out. He thinks this is going to blow up big."
"He's probably right," Lukas admitted. "Sure as hell Third Marine won't be ready to deploy in February."
The lawyers' eyes met. Now, it wasn't just about criminal acts; it was about National Security, too.
=====
1915 Zulu/0915 Local
Intensive Care Unit Waiting Room, Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, Hawaii
Sturgis had been able to run only a miniscule amount of interference before the lead agent of the Pearl Harbor NCIS office threatened to hold Harm and him on contempt charges. That was at 0600; by 0605, he and Harm and Mac were well and truly outted as JAG officers. That fact wasn't calculated to make the man happy, but there was nothing the civilian could do about it; he groused about the way his own office had been deceived and tried to make Harm talk while the Naval officers and their Marine companion sat in the surgical waiting room hoping for word on the woman who had fatally shot the victim.
Harm had bristled when the agent phrased the question just that way. "Agent Lee, you need to back off right now. She's in surgery probably having her spleen removed because the men we have in custody beat her senseless and she has both GHB and Rohypnol in her bloodstream. We won't even mention her BAC."
"So she was drinking?"
Connor Lukas answered that one before the aviator could strangle the investigator. "Not willingly. She's a recovering alcoholic."
"So she slipped off the wagon and – "
"BACK OFF." Sturgis stepped into the man's face. "NOW."
That had ended the questioning; Agent Lee had given up and gone off to pursue another part of the investigation when it became clear that none of the three military officers would speak with him at that time.
The waiting continued after the surgeon came out with mixed news at 0650. "We didn't have to take out her spleen; we did some suturing of a few medium-sized blood vessels that weren't clotting closed fast enough to make us happy – all laparoscopically, so there's no big incision to worry about. We also did another CT scan; there's no change there, which means the bleeding in her brain has stopped, but it also means that we'll have to keep watch for pressure in case the blood isn't absorbed. I'd expect her to be out for at least 24 hours, maybe 36 or even 48 mainly due to the drugs. We're going to keep her sedated until we can get the concentrations down to much safer levels." The Army major looked tired, but hope shone confidently in his eyes. "She's a fighter, this one, isn't she?"
The three men who knew her – two colleagues and one much, much more – all nodded. Harm asked the question. "Can I see her?"
"You're Commander Rabb, aren't you?" the doctor smiled. Sturgis had been quite explicit in his details to the admitting nurse.
"Yes."
"When we get her out of recovery and settled in ICU, I'll give you five minutes with her. After the first few hours, you can have more time, but short of a flag order to do otherwise, I have to follow procedures."
AJ Chegwidden strode into the ICU at 0910 after four and a half hours in the backseat of an F-14 – mostly traveling at twice the speed of sound – to cover the 4800+ miles between Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland and Barbers Point Naval Air Station in Hawaii. One look at Harmon Rabb's face told the flag officer everything he needed to know and his first action was to speak with the charge nurse, who paged the surgeon. Two minutes later, Major Jensen arrived at the nurses' station and after another minute, he came to stand with Admiral Chegwidden in front of Rabb, Turner, and Lukas.
The three officers came to attention with less than their usual military crispness. AJ waved them off with an easy, "As you were."
Sturgis rubbed his tired eyes and sat down before he furrowed his brow at his commanding officer. "Didn't I just talk with you at home about 8 hours ago, sir?"
"I'd have been here an hour and a half ago if it hadn't been for flight regs keeping the pilot out of the cockpit until 0900 DC time," the admiral replied with a shrug. "Major Jensen, if you would."
"Cmdr. Rabb, if you'd like to come in and sit with Col. Mackenzie, you're welcome to do so as soon as we've finished drawing the blood we need."
Harm jumped up and started for the waiting room door, only stopping when his friend and mentor called to him. "Harm, hold up. They aren't ready for you yet and I need to speak with you."
"Aye, sir," the handsome aviator replied, sitting down in the chair closest to the door.
The Army surgeon smiled and went on. "Mac is a very strong woman, both physically and mentally, I can tell. We're beginning to see signs that the blood in her cranial cavity is reducing, so we aren't as worried about swelling as we were earlier – but that could change, too. Her pulse is still weaker than we'd like, but it's steady and her blood pressure is coming up slowly. We'll have the next blood levels in about an hour and that will tell us how well she's metabolizing the drugs. With any luck, that will be a good fast number and we'll be able to hold on to our hope of bringing her out of sedation early tomorrow morning."
"Doc, if you'd ever seen her eat, you'd know how fast her metabolism is," Connor Lukas laughed. "She's the only person I know who would eat three MREs at a sitting."
Jensen made a face. "Well, that tells me a lot about how we'll need to care for her later in the week."
"Week?" Harm broke his silence.
"Oh, yes – she'll be here for at least 72 hours after she regains consciousness, maybe even 96. And I don't advise travel under any circumstances until at least 4 full days after she's back with us, even if I let her go after 3."
AJ winced, but neither of his officers nor the Marine with them noticed. He was now seriously worried about a repeat of the incident on the Seahawk with one of his senior attorneys disobeying a direct order. This time, though, if it happened there would be no question as to who was DDO.
Harm sighed. "So we're talking Saturday to go home."
"Yes. At the earliest. Now, Admiral, Commanders, Major, if you'll excuse me, I really need to go check on my patient so you can get in there, Mr. Rabb." The surgeon turned on his heel and returned to the ICU nursing station.
The admiral sat down in the chair next to Harm's new seat and leaned back against the cushioned frame. "My God, Harm, how do you aviators do it?"
"Saddle sore, sir?" The somber face cracked a bit of a smile.
"That's one way of saying it. We tanked five times and those were the only times we weren't supersonic. But I got to see the sun come up for almost three hours of the flight." He stretched before he settled on the first bad news of his agenda. "Gentlemen, I had to make a few deals in order to get here this quickly, even with all the favors the CNAO owed me."
"Excuse me, Admiral, sir, but am I included in these deals?" Lukas had the typical "no-fear" attitude of Marines.
Startled, AJ lifted his head toward the voice and realized that he hadn't even really noticed the third man sitting in the waiting room with Sturgis and Harm. "I am so sorry, Major…"
"Connor Lukas, sir. Mac and I served together in Bosnia. It was a company in my battalion that suffered the casualties – two of my Marines are still in recovery." He sighed. "I'm here with Sturgis and Harm until they're released up here, then I have to go make…bereavement calls."
"I'm sorry, Major Lukas. Any is too many, and I've had to a few more than one. You can feel free to ignore us." He turned his attention back to his staff members. "As I was saying, I had to make a few deals to get here this quickly."
"We aren't going to like this, are we, sir?" Sturgis asked a beat before Harm could.
"No, Commander, you aren't. Turner, you and Lt. Cmdr. Manetti will be going TAD to Tokyo to deliver new command structure, Rules of Engagement and Intelligence reporting protocols to the Far East command and will proceed from there to Bahrain to provide the same briefing to the Persian Gulf task force. Manetti will be here at 1230 and your MAC flight to Tokyo leaves at 1330. She can brief you in on the flight."
"Joy. All the way to Tokyo on a military jet. Not even a chance at a good stiff drink," Sturgis moaned, only half in jest.
"Sorry, buddy," Harm nodded, his face clearly showing the expectation that he would be allowed to stay with Mac.
AJ hated to deny him that chance – his conversation with Trish Rabb after Harm and Mac's visit had been a relief to both mother and commanding officer – but neither work nor war waited for any man, and this was both. "Well, don't get your hopes up, Rabb."
"Sir?"
God, it's like I'm taking away his reason to live, AJ thought, knowing that in a very real way Harm's life would end if something even more serious ever happened to Mac. "I'm sorry, Commander, but you're on your way back to Norfolk on a commercial flight at 1430 with the new command structure and Rules of Engagement for LANTFLT. I'd imagine that you'll be spending a few days leapfrogging across the Atlantic briefing the task forces after that."
The battle was painful to watch, both AJ and Sturgis noted. The United States Naval Academy graduate would go without question; the man, however, had a greater purpose in his life now – one to which he would finally admit, that is – and that purpose lay behind the doors of the ICU. The only saving grace, Harm's closest friends told each other with a look, is that the man's greater purpose would chew his ass down to bone if he did something as idiotic as disobeying a direct order because of her, and never mind that she would be just as likely to do the same thing if positions were reversed.
The USNA alumnus won – barely, and obviously conditionally. "Who will be here when Sarah wakes up?"
Not Mac. Sarah. "I will. I have to explain all this to PACFLT and I get the feeling that the colonel is the only one who knows one significant piece of the puzzle."
Harm nodded. One more condition. "Christmas Eve, sir?"
"You'll be home in time for dinner at Bud and Harriet's. And I promise that National Command Authority himself couldn't get me to send you away from headquarters overnight between Christmas and New Year's."
"Aye, sir." Harm relaxed a little, but then Mac's assigned nurse appeared at the door and motioned for him to follow her.
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2215 Zulu/1215 Local
Bay 4, Intensive Care Unit, Tripler Army Medical Center
"I don't want to leave you here like this, Sarah," Harm whispered against Mac's ear as he leaned as far across the bed as he could. He wished he could stretch out alongside her for a few minutes to cradle her still form, to reassure himself that their hearts could still beat in unison, but the medications necessitated an IV line in each arm and one even in her neck, although currently nothing dripped through that particular Heparin lock. "It's just not fair."
His only answer was the steady, rapid beeping of her heart monitor. At least she wasn't on a ventilator; he didn't have to listen to the click and hiss of a machine doing that most precious of functions for his beloved. "I have to go now. But I promise – Christmas Eve at my place and New Year's Eve at 1789. I've never made a promise I couldn't keep, and I don't intend to start now."
AJ, watching from the door, blinked back tears as he watched the man he had adopted as a son saying goodbye to a woman they both loved, though in very different ways. Hearing Harm make his promise to Mac, something that had been bothering the admiral for more than a year and a half snapped into place: why Harm was so determined to be at Mac's wedding to another when it would have been the single most difficult thing he'd ever done. She'd made him promise to be there…
Something else hung at the edges of the older man's mind, but it didn't come into focus before Harm turned and smiled his lopsided, self-conscious "you caught me with my emotions showing" grin. "I'm sorry, Harm. I didn't mean to eavesdrop."
"It's alright, sir. Just saying my goodbyes." He rose from his chair but took hold of one of Mac's limp, unresponsive hands.
"I'm sorry, son," AJ repeated. "I wish I could have…"
"I know, sir. Just promise me that you'll be with her when they bring her back."
It was the admiral's turn to smile. "I promise you that, as I told you before. Any messages for her?"
Harm thought what to say without embarrassing his CO. "Well, sir, I guess the first thing is that you're here because you sent me away and that I actually love her enough to have obeyed the order."
They both laughed, knowing she would appreciate the story AJ would tell her about the war of emotions on Harm's face before he relented and agreed to go to Norfolk.
Harm continued after a moment. "And as for the rest, sir, just hand her cell phone and tell her to check her messages."
"Thank you, Commander," AJ sighed, relieved that he wouldn't have to pass along too much mushy stuff. It was bad enough talking to Meredith by phone, which he had now done three times; to have to relay the admittedly welcome romantic sentiments of Harmon Rabb, Jr. to Sarah Mackenzie would be a little too much even for someone who thought of them as family. "Your ride is waiting at the main entrance." He stepped back into the hall and pointedly turned his back.
Harm smiled again at the action of his mentor before he took the brief opportunity to place a gentle, loving kiss on Mac's faded lips before he let go of her hand and backed out of the room, watching her for as long as he could before he had to turn and walk forward away from her for his own safety. Along the way, he reached into his pocket and pulled something out.
With a soft smile of his own, and a twist of his teddy-bear heart, AJ watched as his subordinate lifted his dog tags over his head, but then he disappeared from sight. Only then did he take up his own vigil at his favorite Marine's side. He wasn't at all surprised when a moment later, From the Halls of Montezuma tweedled softly from her cell phone in her purse on the shelf beside the bed, and that was when the rest of the pieces fell into place. Mac had made Harm promise to be at the wedding because he would be the one to stop her from marrying a man she didn't love.
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1720 Zulu/0720 Local
Room 245, Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, Hawaii - 17 December 2003
"Admiral!" Mac responded to the timid knock on the half-closed door with surprise, her voice strong and confident. "Come on in, sir."
AJ stepped into the room and pushed the door closed behind him. "I'm sorry to have come so early, Mac, but I've got a full day of interviews and depositions to take and a lead prosecutor to bring up to speed."
She pushed a lock of hair back behind her ear and smiled at her commanding officer from her bed. "And then you're going back to Washington, aren't you, sir?"
"That's it," he groaned, moving in the rest of the way and settling himself into the bedside chair. "I am never playing poker with you." When she laughed, it was close enough to her normal delightful gale that he relaxed a bit, feeling better about leaving her here in the care of Connor Lukas and the chaplains. "Did you check your voice mail?"
Mac didn't blush very often; it became her tremendously. "About a dozen times, sir, and I actually just got off the phone with Commander Rabb before you came in."
She had been conscious for about 20 hours and, according to Major Jensen, whom AJ had just seen at the nurses' station, she was making remarkable progress. "And how is the commander this morning?"
"Do you want the real answer, sir, or the one that's appropriate for the chain of command?"
"That's about what I figured. Dr. Jensen said last night that he'd consider letting you leave Hawaii earlier if you flew in stages, so I've had Tiner book you a flight to San Diego on Thursday afternoon with overnight accommodations at the Burnett Bed and Breakfast before a late morning flight to Dulles on Friday. I'll meet you and take you home." That was to placate Harm, who had been AJ's first call after he left Mac awake, alert, and hungry at the hospital at 1300 the previous day.
"I can't impose on the Bur – "
"You don't have a choice, Mac." SEALS could fake Flyboy smiles when they had to, and this was a time to turn on the charm. "First of all, I'm telling you that you're staying with them Thursday night. Secondly, Trish is meeting you at the gate by special arrangement and the plane does turnaround service, not continuing service elsewhere, so you have to get off the plane. Thirdly, I'm sure that you'll have at least one call from Harm telling you that you don't have a choice after he reads his e-mail later today."
"Yes, sir," she all but saluted, and AJ could tell she was tickled at the attention. "Will it be alright if I write out my report and have it for you on Monday, sir?"
Chegwidden shook his head in confusion before he realized what she meant. "Hell, Colonel, I don't expect your report until the last working day of the year."
"So, yes, you'd be delighted to get my report that soon or no, don't I dare work on my report while I'm here in the hospital?" She reached out for the glass of water and took a long sip through the straw.
"Oh, what the hay. If you want to give me your report on this cluster – um, on this melee a week earlier than necessary, then go for it. Just don't over do it."
"Aye, sir!" This time, she did toss him a real but off-kilter salute. "Thank you, sir."
"For what, Colonel?"
"For being here when you couldn't let Harm stay."
He gave her his best smile and took the hand she offered him. "Mac, I'd have been here even if he'd been able to stay. You know that, right?"
She nodded and answered as his softer tone told her she should. "I do, AJ. I also know that if it had been in your power to make it happen, Harm would be here now, and that's why JAG is and always will be home."
