A/N: This is my second foray into writing. International time
zones screw me up, so there may be some time errors. (Mac will know
what time it is as always!)
Webb Household
McLean, Virginia
1800 Hours
Spring, 2006
I sighed as I dropped my case and keys off in the foyer. I
was tired but exhilarated to be home after five days in Diego Garcia
getting the Jag Office there in shape after Ted Lindsey had decided
to 'reluctantly' retire. He made such a mess of the situation there
that the Jag had to send his Top Dog to fix things. The new Jag at
the base was now in control of the situation.
Lord help us. Things had changed so much in the last few years.
Admiral Chegwidden had gotten his third star and was a top assistant
to the CNO. Harm was creating chaos and havoc as a legal advisor at
the Pentagon, and Sturgis was the JAG. And Tiner, unbelievably, was
now the head of the JAG office in Diego Garcia. And this was not
even the half of it.
I walked into the den, and the sight I saw brought a smile to
my face and tears to my eyes. He was lying on the couch. Their
three-month-old daughter asleep on his chest, and their two-year-old
son tucked to his side, sound asleep. The love of my life was
sleeping too. No one would ever believe the pain in the ass spy was
such a loving father and husband. I certainly hadn't when I first met him.
I hadn't known that the facade he hid behind cloaked a heart
afraid to be hurt, a man resigned to be alone for the rest of his
life. We had fallen in love much to the surprise of both of
us. My past had also built walls to guard against the pain of
loss. We had bridged our walls and let the other in. The rest
was history, as the cliché goes. The journey to this point
hadn't been easy, but well worth everything we had gone through to
get here.
Three years earlier:
JAG Headquarters
1200 Local
"Mac, the Admiral wants to see us when he gets back from the
Pentagon. Tiner said he should be back in about an hour," stated her
friend and partner Harmon Rabb.
"OK, you want to go grab a bite to eat in the meantime?"
"Sure, wouldn't want your stomach to be growling during the meeting!"
"That's enough about my appetite. Hey, everyone needs to eat, I'm
just more vocal about it."
"That you are", said a grinning Harm.
They drove to a local deli and ordered. They had been getting along
better in the last few months, and their friendship was
progressing. They were learning to become friends again. It had
been difficult between them since Mic and Renee had exited their
lives. They were uncertain where they stood. Were they going
to be friends or was there potential for moving to the next level,
whatever that might be. Mac truly didn't know, but wanted some
resolution to the dance they were having. What's the expression -
time to fish or cut bait? It was past time for the talk. She
didn't know why but the talk had to take place now.
"Harm, this may not be the ideal time, or place, but we are going to
have "THE" talk. Here, now".
Harm looked up with a startled expression on his face. "Here, now?"
"Yes, Harm. We are never going to find the right time, the right
place, the right situation, when we are both ready. So why not
here, now?"
"Mac, are you sure, I mean we have to get back to the office in.."
"Forty-three minutes. Harm this talk should have taken place long
ago. But the time, the place, when we were both willing to open up
never occurred. I don't know why I feel we have to have this talk
now, but something is telling me we have to, no matter."
"Who goes first?" asked Harm warily. Just then the waitress
delivered our sandwiches. Suddenly I wasn't hungry.
I shoved my lunch aside. "Well I brought it up, so I guess it's me.
Harm, do you love me? Really love me, as in 'in love' with me?
I've known you love me as a friend and I treasure that, but IN LOVE
WITH me, I don't think so. I mean if you were in love with me this
talk wouldn't have taken this long to happen."
"Mac, yes, I do love you, and certainly as a friend. And I've been
hoping that being 'in love' would come. But it hasn't. Not like
it has to for us to be together. So, I'd say I'm not in love with
you. I'm sorry for taking so long to admit it. But it feels good
to say it".
"Thank you Harm for being honest with me. I have to say the same thing.
The 'in love' thing had potential before, but too much time has
passed. We've said some harsh things to each other, trying to hide
what we didn't want to admit. Lord, it feels good to get this out in
the open".
Harm had a sad smile on his face. "What's wrong friend?" I asked.
"I don't know Mac, what's going to happen now? I don't want to lose
you, and our friendship."
"That's one thing you won't have to worry about. We're Batman and
Robin aren't we? They've been friends forever, and so will we.
Just not lovers."
"Batman and Robin are lovers? Another illusion shot to hell!" Harm
said with laughter in his voice.
"Oh man, not an image I want to keep," I said with a smile. "Come
on partner let's eat, we have to get back and see what the Admiral
wants. Maybe we have to get the Batmobile warmed up for action!"
The drive back to the office was quiet. We smiled frequently at each
other; glad that we had talked and finally put to rest the anxiety
we had felt. I can't express my relief. We would remain friends
but now we could both move on with our lives. I know what I wanted
out of life. Being alone wasn't it. I wanted a husband and
children. I knew that Harm wanted a wife and children. We just
wouldn't be sharing the future together as such. I felt so
unburdened that I was almost giddy with anticipation of the future.
Jag Headquarters
1300 Hours Local
When we arrived back at the office the Admiral had just arrived. We
proceeded to his office. Harm spoke for us. "Reporting as
ordered, Sir." Bud walked in just after we entered. "Sirs, M'am."
"At ease, Harm, Mac, Bud. Have a seat. We have quite a bit to
discuss. We are waiting for Commander Manetti." The Admiral looked
troubled, as if he didn't know how to approach the discussion. This
had both Harm and I puzzled. The Admiral was usually very hard to
read. Just then Tracey Manetti entered. "Reporting as ordered
Sir". "At ease Commander, have a seat."
"I don't know how to begin. I've spent the morning at the Pentagon
discussing an operation that is to begin immediately. As you know
yesterday several service men and women died in a bomb blast in
Indonesia. The joint chiefs want whoever planned this bombing
caught. So far the information gathered has lead us to believe
that it is a faction of Al Queda operating out of Southeast Asia."
Harm spoke up, "Sir, what exactly does this have to do with the
three of us?"
An exasperated AJ glared, "Harm, I'm getting to
that. Information has come through an unusual source."
We looked at each other, wondering who. "Who Sir", I asked.
"Clayton Webb", the Admiral stated with a grim smile.
"Clayton? Sir, he's in Suriname. How could he have come up with the
information?" I asked.
"Well, Webb may have been banished to the hinterlands of South
America, but it didn't stop him from keeping up with his contacts.
There is quite a large Moslem population in Suriname. A contact
from Afghanistan gave him a lead about a possible Al Queda cell
there. He began investigating and monitoring movements of possible
suspects and their communications. Two weeks before the bombing he
began seeing patterns of movement that became suspect. He was able
to tie the Suriname cell with a cell in Jakarta. He reported this
to Washington, but because he was on the outs with the Director he
was ignored. He began making noise, and a lot of it. He still
couldn't tie what he found out with possible outcomes. And for that
he was ignored. Two weeks ago he took it on himself to fly to Indonesia to continue investigating. He was 5 minutes too late. He was injured
in the blast."
The Admiral's statement left us stunned. "How badly was he hurt
sir?" I managed to say. My heart stopped, and then went into
overdrive hearing that Clay was injured.
"He was concussed and hit by shrapnel. He is in a US military
hospital and will be released in two days. His wounds won't keep
him from following through with this investigation. The Joint Chiefs were impressed by the work the three of you did in Afghanistan and want
to team you up again. Marines are guarding him. Nothing is going to
happen to him until we get to the end of this."
"The DCI is going to hang for this one. Military personnel were
killed and injured because he was pissed off with Webb, and wouldn't
listen to him. Mac you are being sent as directly as possible to
Jakarta. You are to assist Webb with whatever needs to be done. Your
flight from Dulles leaves in two hours. Harm, you and Commander
Manetti will be going to Afghanistan to interview Webb's contact and
follow up any leads he may give you regarding the cells in
Afghanistan. If nothing pans out there you will proceed to
Jakarta. You will leave from Andrews this evening at 1900."
"Mac I know you keep a travel bag in your trunk. I want you in
civilian attire when you arrive in Jakarta. There is too much anti-
American sentiment there for you to be in military attire. If you
need anything use Webb's CIA credit cards. This whole mission is
going to be funded by the CIA and I don't want anything left to
chance. You will be supplied with the latest in satellite phones
and any thing else you will need. Most importantly I want you to
cover Clay's back. Even though the Joint Chiefs thinks he can do no
wrong, the CIA has more or less left him out to dry. He has
sacrificed his career for his country more than once; I don't want
him sacrificing his life."
"Good Luck, now get on your way. Tiner will drive you to Dulles. Homeland Security Staff will meet to help speed you through Customs and baggage check. Bud you and the Colonel will discuss what she and Webb will need for communication and research. You be the intermediary between the two teams I want them to be able to contact us at any time from anywhere. Dismissed."
Saluting, we said "Aye, Aye Sir." I added, "I will do my best to get this job done and our spy home in one piece." As we left the office I heard the Admiral continue to give orders to Harm and Tracy.
"Tiner, I want to talk with Bud briefly then I want to be on the
road."
Tiner returned a swift "Aye, Aye, M'am" as he accompanied us
to Bud's office.
"Bud, I'm going to need you to requisition theequipment and have it ready for me to pick up. Tiner what are the details of the flight?"
"M'am you leave Dulles at 1600 hours, arrive in Los Angeles at 1800
hours PST. You have a forty-five minute lay over, then on to
Honolulu. There you have another 45-minute layover then the last
stage to Indonesia. By the way you'll be flying first class all the
way to Jakarta." I smirked at this. This alone was going to cost
our friends at the CIA a pretty penny.
"As price is no object, I would get a high end laptop that can use a
satellite uplink and . ." Grinning, I said, "Wait Bud, just get
what you think I need and have it ready for me to pick up in Los
Angeles. Have them meet the plane at the gate. As long as you are
available for a little education I'm sure I'll be fine."
Grinning, Bud began writing out my list. I recognized most of the
stuff, but raised my eyebrow at a few. "If you don't know what the
item is, don't worry. I'll talk you through everything. You're
good with technology and I'm sure you won't have a problem.
Remember, call me anytime day or night. I'm available for research,
or an ear to bounce ideas off of."
"Thanks Bud. You help will be a Godsend I'm sure. I'll try not to
disturb you too often."
"M'am I said call anytime, and I meant it. Tell Mr. Webb that we
are here for him too. Take care of yourself and him."
I gave him a goodbye hug. "Tell Harriet goodbye for me an give
Little AJ a kiss. Tell him Aunt Sarah will be bringing him home a
gift when I get back into town."
Bud said he would and called "Bye M'am" as I walked out of the
office. I turned and gave him a wave and signaled Tiner that I was
ready to leave.
As we were walking towards the elevators I heard Harm yell, "Hey Mac,
wait up."
"Harm, please make it quick I'm on a tight schedule."
"Yeah, I know. Listen take care yourself and Clay. If he is
anything like either one of us when we're injured he won't stay in
bed as long as he needs to. You've both got to be 100% to get this
thing done. Keep Bud posted. I'll let him know what we find out in
Afghanistan from Clay's contact. You keep him up to date on your
whereabouts. Without me there the two of you are bound to get
lost."
From the grin on Harm's face I knew he was kidding about our
possibly getting lost. But there was also a true concern for Clay's
condition. "Thanks for your confidence in my sense of direction!"
His grin only got wider.
Tracy was standing next to Harm. "Listen, don't let him bully you, stand
your ground if you think you're right. Every once and a while he listens."
Tracy smiled at this, "I'll keep that in mind Mac. Take care."
With that Tiner and I were off, finally. My heart had been pounding
since the Admiral's initial announcement of Clay's injury. It
hadn't abated even with all the discussions that had taken place. I
know I needed to get my emotions under control by the time I reached
Jakarta, but that was 18 hours away. This was going to be a
miserable flight. Between the length of trip and my worry about
Clay, I hoped I would be able to get some rest. That was very
highly unlikely.
zones screw me up, so there may be some time errors. (Mac will know
what time it is as always!)
Webb Household
McLean, Virginia
1800 Hours
Spring, 2006
I sighed as I dropped my case and keys off in the foyer. I
was tired but exhilarated to be home after five days in Diego Garcia
getting the Jag Office there in shape after Ted Lindsey had decided
to 'reluctantly' retire. He made such a mess of the situation there
that the Jag had to send his Top Dog to fix things. The new Jag at
the base was now in control of the situation.
Lord help us. Things had changed so much in the last few years.
Admiral Chegwidden had gotten his third star and was a top assistant
to the CNO. Harm was creating chaos and havoc as a legal advisor at
the Pentagon, and Sturgis was the JAG. And Tiner, unbelievably, was
now the head of the JAG office in Diego Garcia. And this was not
even the half of it.
I walked into the den, and the sight I saw brought a smile to
my face and tears to my eyes. He was lying on the couch. Their
three-month-old daughter asleep on his chest, and their two-year-old
son tucked to his side, sound asleep. The love of my life was
sleeping too. No one would ever believe the pain in the ass spy was
such a loving father and husband. I certainly hadn't when I first met him.
I hadn't known that the facade he hid behind cloaked a heart
afraid to be hurt, a man resigned to be alone for the rest of his
life. We had fallen in love much to the surprise of both of
us. My past had also built walls to guard against the pain of
loss. We had bridged our walls and let the other in. The rest
was history, as the cliché goes. The journey to this point
hadn't been easy, but well worth everything we had gone through to
get here.
Three years earlier:
JAG Headquarters
1200 Local
"Mac, the Admiral wants to see us when he gets back from the
Pentagon. Tiner said he should be back in about an hour," stated her
friend and partner Harmon Rabb.
"OK, you want to go grab a bite to eat in the meantime?"
"Sure, wouldn't want your stomach to be growling during the meeting!"
"That's enough about my appetite. Hey, everyone needs to eat, I'm
just more vocal about it."
"That you are", said a grinning Harm.
They drove to a local deli and ordered. They had been getting along
better in the last few months, and their friendship was
progressing. They were learning to become friends again. It had
been difficult between them since Mic and Renee had exited their
lives. They were uncertain where they stood. Were they going
to be friends or was there potential for moving to the next level,
whatever that might be. Mac truly didn't know, but wanted some
resolution to the dance they were having. What's the expression -
time to fish or cut bait? It was past time for the talk. She
didn't know why but the talk had to take place now.
"Harm, this may not be the ideal time, or place, but we are going to
have "THE" talk. Here, now".
Harm looked up with a startled expression on his face. "Here, now?"
"Yes, Harm. We are never going to find the right time, the right
place, the right situation, when we are both ready. So why not
here, now?"
"Mac, are you sure, I mean we have to get back to the office in.."
"Forty-three minutes. Harm this talk should have taken place long
ago. But the time, the place, when we were both willing to open up
never occurred. I don't know why I feel we have to have this talk
now, but something is telling me we have to, no matter."
"Who goes first?" asked Harm warily. Just then the waitress
delivered our sandwiches. Suddenly I wasn't hungry.
I shoved my lunch aside. "Well I brought it up, so I guess it's me.
Harm, do you love me? Really love me, as in 'in love' with me?
I've known you love me as a friend and I treasure that, but IN LOVE
WITH me, I don't think so. I mean if you were in love with me this
talk wouldn't have taken this long to happen."
"Mac, yes, I do love you, and certainly as a friend. And I've been
hoping that being 'in love' would come. But it hasn't. Not like
it has to for us to be together. So, I'd say I'm not in love with
you. I'm sorry for taking so long to admit it. But it feels good
to say it".
"Thank you Harm for being honest with me. I have to say the same thing.
The 'in love' thing had potential before, but too much time has
passed. We've said some harsh things to each other, trying to hide
what we didn't want to admit. Lord, it feels good to get this out in
the open".
Harm had a sad smile on his face. "What's wrong friend?" I asked.
"I don't know Mac, what's going to happen now? I don't want to lose
you, and our friendship."
"That's one thing you won't have to worry about. We're Batman and
Robin aren't we? They've been friends forever, and so will we.
Just not lovers."
"Batman and Robin are lovers? Another illusion shot to hell!" Harm
said with laughter in his voice.
"Oh man, not an image I want to keep," I said with a smile. "Come
on partner let's eat, we have to get back and see what the Admiral
wants. Maybe we have to get the Batmobile warmed up for action!"
The drive back to the office was quiet. We smiled frequently at each
other; glad that we had talked and finally put to rest the anxiety
we had felt. I can't express my relief. We would remain friends
but now we could both move on with our lives. I know what I wanted
out of life. Being alone wasn't it. I wanted a husband and
children. I knew that Harm wanted a wife and children. We just
wouldn't be sharing the future together as such. I felt so
unburdened that I was almost giddy with anticipation of the future.
Jag Headquarters
1300 Hours Local
When we arrived back at the office the Admiral had just arrived. We
proceeded to his office. Harm spoke for us. "Reporting as
ordered, Sir." Bud walked in just after we entered. "Sirs, M'am."
"At ease, Harm, Mac, Bud. Have a seat. We have quite a bit to
discuss. We are waiting for Commander Manetti." The Admiral looked
troubled, as if he didn't know how to approach the discussion. This
had both Harm and I puzzled. The Admiral was usually very hard to
read. Just then Tracey Manetti entered. "Reporting as ordered
Sir". "At ease Commander, have a seat."
"I don't know how to begin. I've spent the morning at the Pentagon
discussing an operation that is to begin immediately. As you know
yesterday several service men and women died in a bomb blast in
Indonesia. The joint chiefs want whoever planned this bombing
caught. So far the information gathered has lead us to believe
that it is a faction of Al Queda operating out of Southeast Asia."
Harm spoke up, "Sir, what exactly does this have to do with the
three of us?"
An exasperated AJ glared, "Harm, I'm getting to
that. Information has come through an unusual source."
We looked at each other, wondering who. "Who Sir", I asked.
"Clayton Webb", the Admiral stated with a grim smile.
"Clayton? Sir, he's in Suriname. How could he have come up with the
information?" I asked.
"Well, Webb may have been banished to the hinterlands of South
America, but it didn't stop him from keeping up with his contacts.
There is quite a large Moslem population in Suriname. A contact
from Afghanistan gave him a lead about a possible Al Queda cell
there. He began investigating and monitoring movements of possible
suspects and their communications. Two weeks before the bombing he
began seeing patterns of movement that became suspect. He was able
to tie the Suriname cell with a cell in Jakarta. He reported this
to Washington, but because he was on the outs with the Director he
was ignored. He began making noise, and a lot of it. He still
couldn't tie what he found out with possible outcomes. And for that
he was ignored. Two weeks ago he took it on himself to fly to Indonesia to continue investigating. He was 5 minutes too late. He was injured
in the blast."
The Admiral's statement left us stunned. "How badly was he hurt
sir?" I managed to say. My heart stopped, and then went into
overdrive hearing that Clay was injured.
"He was concussed and hit by shrapnel. He is in a US military
hospital and will be released in two days. His wounds won't keep
him from following through with this investigation. The Joint Chiefs were impressed by the work the three of you did in Afghanistan and want
to team you up again. Marines are guarding him. Nothing is going to
happen to him until we get to the end of this."
"The DCI is going to hang for this one. Military personnel were
killed and injured because he was pissed off with Webb, and wouldn't
listen to him. Mac you are being sent as directly as possible to
Jakarta. You are to assist Webb with whatever needs to be done. Your
flight from Dulles leaves in two hours. Harm, you and Commander
Manetti will be going to Afghanistan to interview Webb's contact and
follow up any leads he may give you regarding the cells in
Afghanistan. If nothing pans out there you will proceed to
Jakarta. You will leave from Andrews this evening at 1900."
"Mac I know you keep a travel bag in your trunk. I want you in
civilian attire when you arrive in Jakarta. There is too much anti-
American sentiment there for you to be in military attire. If you
need anything use Webb's CIA credit cards. This whole mission is
going to be funded by the CIA and I don't want anything left to
chance. You will be supplied with the latest in satellite phones
and any thing else you will need. Most importantly I want you to
cover Clay's back. Even though the Joint Chiefs thinks he can do no
wrong, the CIA has more or less left him out to dry. He has
sacrificed his career for his country more than once; I don't want
him sacrificing his life."
"Good Luck, now get on your way. Tiner will drive you to Dulles. Homeland Security Staff will meet to help speed you through Customs and baggage check. Bud you and the Colonel will discuss what she and Webb will need for communication and research. You be the intermediary between the two teams I want them to be able to contact us at any time from anywhere. Dismissed."
Saluting, we said "Aye, Aye Sir." I added, "I will do my best to get this job done and our spy home in one piece." As we left the office I heard the Admiral continue to give orders to Harm and Tracy.
"Tiner, I want to talk with Bud briefly then I want to be on the
road."
Tiner returned a swift "Aye, Aye, M'am" as he accompanied us
to Bud's office.
"Bud, I'm going to need you to requisition theequipment and have it ready for me to pick up. Tiner what are the details of the flight?"
"M'am you leave Dulles at 1600 hours, arrive in Los Angeles at 1800
hours PST. You have a forty-five minute lay over, then on to
Honolulu. There you have another 45-minute layover then the last
stage to Indonesia. By the way you'll be flying first class all the
way to Jakarta." I smirked at this. This alone was going to cost
our friends at the CIA a pretty penny.
"As price is no object, I would get a high end laptop that can use a
satellite uplink and . ." Grinning, I said, "Wait Bud, just get
what you think I need and have it ready for me to pick up in Los
Angeles. Have them meet the plane at the gate. As long as you are
available for a little education I'm sure I'll be fine."
Grinning, Bud began writing out my list. I recognized most of the
stuff, but raised my eyebrow at a few. "If you don't know what the
item is, don't worry. I'll talk you through everything. You're
good with technology and I'm sure you won't have a problem.
Remember, call me anytime day or night. I'm available for research,
or an ear to bounce ideas off of."
"Thanks Bud. You help will be a Godsend I'm sure. I'll try not to
disturb you too often."
"M'am I said call anytime, and I meant it. Tell Mr. Webb that we
are here for him too. Take care of yourself and him."
I gave him a goodbye hug. "Tell Harriet goodbye for me an give
Little AJ a kiss. Tell him Aunt Sarah will be bringing him home a
gift when I get back into town."
Bud said he would and called "Bye M'am" as I walked out of the
office. I turned and gave him a wave and signaled Tiner that I was
ready to leave.
As we were walking towards the elevators I heard Harm yell, "Hey Mac,
wait up."
"Harm, please make it quick I'm on a tight schedule."
"Yeah, I know. Listen take care yourself and Clay. If he is
anything like either one of us when we're injured he won't stay in
bed as long as he needs to. You've both got to be 100% to get this
thing done. Keep Bud posted. I'll let him know what we find out in
Afghanistan from Clay's contact. You keep him up to date on your
whereabouts. Without me there the two of you are bound to get
lost."
From the grin on Harm's face I knew he was kidding about our
possibly getting lost. But there was also a true concern for Clay's
condition. "Thanks for your confidence in my sense of direction!"
His grin only got wider.
Tracy was standing next to Harm. "Listen, don't let him bully you, stand
your ground if you think you're right. Every once and a while he listens."
Tracy smiled at this, "I'll keep that in mind Mac. Take care."
With that Tiner and I were off, finally. My heart had been pounding
since the Admiral's initial announcement of Clay's injury. It
hadn't abated even with all the discussions that had taken place. I
know I needed to get my emotions under control by the time I reached
Jakarta, but that was 18 hours away. This was going to be a
miserable flight. Between the length of trip and my worry about
Clay, I hoped I would be able to get some rest. That was very
highly unlikely.