Disclaimer: As in chapter 1

U.S. Naval Hospital

Okinawa, Japan

No sooner that they are all in front of Matt's that they heard he yelled. They charged through the door to see what happened only to find Matt still asleep. The nightmare had begun.

"Let's go of him! Trey! Noooooo!" Tears streaming through his cheeks and that made Harm and Mac's heart ached with him.

Mac approach his bed carefully, sat beside him and gently caressed his hair. "Shush, it's ok, Matt. Everything is okay now. Shush…"

Strangely enough Matt, calmed down a bit. Sturgis quietly dismissed their aide and the nurse. He and Clay stood on one corner to give both parents some space with their son.

"Everything will be okay now, Matt." Mac kept saying soothing words to her son while she tried to believe it herself. Harm put a hand on her shoulder and couldn't help but wondered if everything will be fine.

Matt slowly opened his brown eyes only to meet the exact same eyes of his mother.

"Mom!" He jumped to sit and winced in pain.

"Whoa! Slow down there, buddy."

"Dad? I'm not dreaming, am I?"

"No, honey. You are not, we are here and you are here with us." Mac said softly while trying to hold her tears at the bay. Matt blinked his eyes in disbelief, lost in thought until Mac engulfed him in big bear hug, caution of his injured shoulder. He stiffened a little bit before he relaxed and let tears streamed down his face.

"Mom, I missed you", he choked out. It is really out of characters for him to act like a baby put now he is back with his family.

"Matt, it's going to be okay. My boy is back.", Mac tried to control her own emotion but failed miserably. Harm on the other hand couldn't help but to let few of his tears dropped. His boy is back. He put his hand on Matt's good shoulders and squeezed it gently.

"Welcome back, son!" "Thanks, Dad." Matt put his hand over his father's. He couldn't help but hugged his father when he saw a single tear drop from Harm's eyelids.

Sturgis couldn't hold his emotion so does Clayton, but as usual the retired CIA director declined it. "I got dust in my eyes." Sturgis gave a smile but said nothing.

"Mom! Trey! He was at the cell with me. How is he, Mom? He took a bullet for me!"

"Calm down, Matt. He is still in surgery. We will check on him later."

"But, Mom…"

"No buts, mister. You are to rest in bed. Your father and I will check on Trey now."

"I have to agree with your mom, son. Get your rest. We will check on him." As they said their 'good-bye' and about to walk out, Matt asked for Sturgis,

"Uncle Sturgis, could you please stay?"

"Sure." Sturgis said as he walked back and sat next to Matt's bed.

"See you later, son."

"Uncle Clay…" Clayton looked back at Matt.

"Thanks." Clay was actually gave him a brief smile, "Your father, Patrick and John played their part too." And with that he exited the room.

-----

Surgery's Waiting room.

Five minutes of waiting and pacing, finally Captain Thern appeared with a middle age woman trailed behind him. Her facial expression looked solemnly fatigue.

"Admiral Rabb, this is Captain Karen Fox. She is the surgeon for Lt. Rabb. Captain Fox, this is Admiral Harmon Rabb, his wife, General Sarah Rabb and their friend, Mr. Clayton Webb."

Series of handshakes were exchanged before Mac launched the question.

"How is he, Captain?" Captain Fox eyed Clay; not sure if she should said this in front of him. Harm acknowledged her concern.

"Go ahead, Captain. Mr. Webb here is a family and please don't sugar coated Trey's condition."

Captain Fox took a deep breath, "Alright, Admiral. Lt. Rabb was unconscious when he arrived here which make thing a little bit complicate than it should. On top of it, he also dehydrated and suffered from malnutrition. We lost him twice during the surgery." She paused for a second to let the parents digested the information. Harm and Mac instantaneously felt a pit in their stomach.

"Nevertheless, we manage to take out the bullet that lodge on his back. However…" She hesitated a minute.

"But what, Captain." Mac was trying her hardest to keep her head cool.

"When we checked on the wound before we took out the bullet, we notice swelling and judging from the bullet location, which is lodged right on his spinal cord, he might have to spend the rest of his life on a wheelchair. However, that is still premature to make the judgement. We will have to wait until he is awake and we go from there." By now, Harm and Mac were speechless, the usual cool Clay also tried to keep his emotion check but couldn't help to notice the hesitance look of Captain Fox.

He made his inquiry, "What else that you didn't tell us, Captain?" He had hope his answer will not make anymore harder for Harm and Mac as it already had.

Captain Fox turned to Harm instead, "Admiral, Sir. I not sure how long your son was capture by them, but Sir I can certainly tell you that he has been torture the whole time. The whipped marks on his back told the story. He had a broken leg that was not treated properly, that will explain the slight difference in his leg's length. In other word, his right leg is slightly shorter than the left one. He also had a collapsed lung from which I gather it from new beating because the bruise mark is just turn purple. He will had a hard time breathing for a while. We put a breathing tube on him to help him ease up a little bit. Other than that, Admiral, General, we will have to wait until Lt. Rabb is awake before we can make further diagnose. So far, he is stable."

Harm and Mac can hardly utter a word. The long list of Trey's injuries threw them off by a mile. Captain Thern and Clayton stood there rigid like a stone. Nobody said a word until Mac broke the silence.

"Can we see him?"

"Yes. A nurse will come get you shortly. I can only allow two person at the time though. He still need a lot of rest, but he would probably awake in short time. Now, if you all will excuse me and Captain Thern." Harm silently acknowledged it and both Captains leave them alone.

As promised, a nurse came after them shortly. "Sirs, Ma'am, please follow me."

In front of the room, Clay stopped, "You guys, go ahead. I'll see him later. Meanwhile, I need to make some phone calls." Mac gave him a brief hug and a 'thank you' whisper before she released him.

Her attention turned to the nurse. "Sir, Ma'am, don't let the wires scare you. The tubes and wires are to provide the nutrition and keep us alert of his heart activities. It really not as bad as it might look. Take your time. He should be awake shortly." With that the nurse leave Harm and Mac in front of the door.

Harm put his hand on small of her back and gently guided her to the room but Mac stopped her track.

"Mac, what's wrong?"

"I…I am scare, Harm." Harm frowned, he knew what to take to acknowledge her fears.

"I am afraid that he will go away again. The doctor said that they lost him twice." Her voice barely a whisper but Harm listened to every single words.

"Honey, listen to me. He is back. Yes, his condition is not at the best but more importantly he is alive. Our boy is back, Sarah. That's the most important thing. Don't you think?"

Mac looked at Harm and whispered, "Yeah. That's the most important thing. Thanks, Harm."

Harm gave her a brief hug and once again put his hand on the small of her back, with his free hand he grabbed the metal handle and pushed the door open.

TBC…