Lizzie Farrow is April's own creation; everyone else belongs to DPB and JAGPTB.

Old Friends By April & Jessi

Meg Austin looked around. So many faces had changed, but it had been seven years since she'd been back in Washington. It had even been four years since she'd talked to Harm. She needed his help on this; he was the only one she trusted to help her. She found his office and knocked on the open doorway. Harm looked up from his substantial pile of paperwork and his brow furrowed. "Meg?" He blinked. "What are you doing here? I.It's been awhile." His brow smoothed and his face melted into an easy smile. "Come in."
She came in and sat down, running her hand through her short blonde hair. "I know. I'm sorry. I should have called. It just seemed every time you did, I wasn't home and every time I did, you weren't." She smiled slightly. "How are you? How's Mac?"
"I'm doing fine and Mac.well, Mac is Mac." He grinned. "Don't worry about the short notice. The excitement of Navy life is what I live for. What fun would it be if I always knew who's be walking through that door?" Motioning toward her, he asked, "So what about you? How have you been?"
"Good. Really good, actually." She paused, unsure how he would react. "Harm.when I left, I wasn't exactly honest with you."
His brow furrowed again. "How so?" He asked, though he wasn't sure he really wanted to know. Her cryptic admission had caused a small knot to form in the pit of his stomach.
"I did go to Italy, but not for JAG." She paused, got up, and closed the door before returning to her seat. "I'm in the CIA. I have been for the last seven years. I know how you reacted when I was shot and.I just wasn't sure how you'd react if I told you the truth."
He opened his mouth to reply twice and each time nothing came out. Meg in the CIA? He was blown away. "I don't know what to say, Meg." He shook his head slightly as if to clear the fuzz from his brain and then went on. "You were probably right not to tell me though. It bothers me that you felt you couldn't, but I honestly can't say how I would've reacted back then."
She nodded. "And now?"
"Now.now, I would have to say that I don't have a very high opinion for all CIA officials and that how I react to your news will greatly depend on what it is you want from me. I'll help you if I can, Meg, but I'm not promising anything until I know what's brought you back here after all these years."
"I do need help." She paused. "Between Webb being hurt and my taking over for him, I lost an agent, a Marine captain, daughter of a Marine colonel. Harm, I can't leave her down there. I've got three on my team already, the second best pilot I know, a Marine, and myself."
"And you want me?" His eyebrows rose into his hairline. "Meg, this isn't something I can just decide to do or not do. I have orders.you'd have to clear it with the Admiral before I could even consider saying yes."
"Already done. He said that it was up to you."
"Oh," Harm looked a bit stunned. "Well, in that case.I guess it's an offer I can't refuse. I did say that I was in the Navy for the excitement, right? How soon will we leave?"
"We meet the pilot in half an hour."
He couldn't help the smile that spread across his face. "Ah," he laughed, "I missed you, Meg."
She grinned. "I missed you too, Harm." She paused. "You need to tell Mac where you're going?"
Harm sighed, knowing that this would not be a pleasant conversation. "Yeah, you might want to tell me where to meet you because this may take awhile. She was on her way out earlier, I only hope I can catch her before she leaves."