Course of Love Part 3b/9
Disclaimer - See part one for all important information
FLASHBACK
JAG
Thursday June 5, 2003
8:07 AM
"Sir, the admiral would like to see you," Tiner said as Harm stepped out of the elevator.
"Thank you, Tiner," Harm said as he looked into the bullpen to see Mac talking to Sturgis. "Could you put these in my office for me?" He handed Tiner his cover and briefcase.
"Yes sir," Tiner said.
Harm walked into the admiral's office. "Commander, do you have a problem with telling time?"
"No excuse, sir," Harm said as he stood at attention.
"Good. Have a seat." Harm sat down as the admiral started to talk. "I'm sending you to Norfolk. The Seahawk is there for repairs and Captain Miller has two officers that need to talk to an attorney about fraternization charges. The officers have admitted to the charges and would like to know what their options are."
"The UCMJ is pretty clear about their options, sir," Harm stated.
"Yes, but Captain Miller wants to have it better explained to them. He wants to keep both officers on board or at least where he can still use them. According to the Captain they are excellent officers, two of his best." The admiral paused. "Take Petty Officer Coates with you. She might be able to shed some light on the affair."
"Yes, sir."
"Dismissed."
"Aye, aye, sir." Harm left the office. As he walked through the bullpen, he spotted Jen. "Coates."
"Yes, sir," Jen said to him.
"We need to report to Norfolk for a investigation. Can you secure a vehicle for us?" Harm asked her as they walked into his office.
"Yes, sir. I can have the vehicle ready in about ten minutes," Jen said. "May I ask why I'm accompanying you, sir?"
"Deals with two officers on the Seahawk, the admiral said you might be able to add some information about the situation," He explained, then noticed the that she was slightly surprised still. "It's a good experience, Jen."
"I'm just surprised, that's all, sir," Jen honestly said to him.
Harm chuckled at her softly. "You'll do fine. I have a few calls to return and then I should be ready to go."
"Yes, sir." Jen then left his office to secure the car for the day.
After ten minutes Jen knocked on Harm's door. "Sir, the vehicle is ready and waiting for us."
"I'll meet you downstairs in a few minutes," Harm said as he wrote something down on a piece of paper.
"Yes, sir." Jen walked away from the door.
Harm was putting the file in his briefcase when Mac walked over to the door. "Is going to Norfolk your way of getting out of Beltway Burgers for lunch today?"
"No, I was actually going to ask you out to dinner instead."
"I do like dinner better."
"Is that a yes?"
"Yes."
Harm picked up his cover and briefcase. "I'll call you later about picking you up. Oh, I almost forgot, I got the pictures back from the weekend at Grandma's."
"Bring them tonight," Mac smiled.
"Great, see you then." He walked out of his office and towards the elevator.
Norfolk
2:45 PM
"I just don't get it, sir." Jen sat down at a table in the conference room aboard the Seahawk. Harm sat across from her, writing some notes on a legal pad.
"What's there to get, Jen? They serve aboard the same ship, they can not carry on a relationship aboard the vessel."
"He's a pilot and she works in the communications room. The only time they spent together was on leave and they ate together a few times. They even admitted they tried their hardest not to be alone with each other, so they wouldn't get charged. Isn't love more important then regs, sir?"
Harm thought about her words. "In the eyes of the Navy, no. In the eyes of normal people, yes."
"Is there any chance they can get around the regs, Sir?"
Harm took a breath. "Well, we gave them several options. Now it's their decision," Harm said as Jen thought about the two officers who were in love. Harm kept on writing his notes as his pen died on him. "Jen, can you hand me another pen from my briefcase?"
"Sure, sir." Jen opened his briefcase and handed him a new pen. Suddenly she saw the picture envelope. "Pictures, sir?"
Harm smiled, thinking about the pictures when Jen gave him the pen. "Over Memorial weekend Sergei, his girlfriend, Mac, and I went to visit my grandmother."
"Oh." Jen looked at the envelope again. "Have you looked at them yet?"
"No, I picked them up this morning." Harm continued writing on the paper.
Jen decided to take the direct approach. "Can I look at them, Sir?"
"Sure," Harm said, not really thinking much of the question.
Jen smiled and pulled the envelope out of the briefcase and started looking at the pictures. Jen took in each picture, seeing a side of Commander Rabb that normally, no one got to see. She laughed out loud at one picture.
"What?"
"This, sir." Jen handed him a picture.
Harm chuckled as he saw the picture being one of him, Mac, and his Grandmother sitting on the couch. Sarah had a photo album on her lap and was showing it to Mac. She was pointing out one picture that Harm didn't want Mac to see. So he had grabbed Mac by the waist and was trying to pull her away from his grandmother and the picture. He had ended up pulling Mac across his lap, so her legs were on his lap. He then tried to cover her eyes, but found it very hard to do because both of them were laughing. Sergei grabbed the camera and snapped the picture without any of them noticing. "Grandma was going to show a Mac a very embarrassing photo."
Jen laughed. "It looks like a fun picture, sir."
Harm handed Jen the picture back and she continued to look at the pictures. Jen was just about finished looking at the pictures when she found the one of Harm and Mac asleep in front of the fireplace. Harm noticed that Jen fell very still. "What's wrong?"
Jen looked at him and her cheeks started to turn a little pink. "Nothing, sir."
"It must be something. Let me see it." Harm held his hand in front of Jen and she handed him the picture.
He had a smile on his face, but the second he looked at the photo his smile faded. He memorized the photo in a matter of seconds. Making sure he took in the way that Mac's body fit against his. He swore he could remember the feeling of her next to him again, he recalled how well he slept that night in spite of the hard floor. He could feel the softness of her breath on his neck and the light scent of her perfume in the air.
"It's an interesting picture, sir," Jen said, breaking him out of his memory.
Harm then looked at Jen. "Sergei or Grandma must have taken it."
"Sir, a bit of advise. I would be careful of who sees that picture."
"It's not that bad." Harm looked at the picture and noticed the soft smiles on his and Mac's faces.
"It's a really good picture. But someone who doesn't know that you and the colonel are dating might be concerned about your hand placement," Jen informed him.
Harm looked at Jen with a surprised look on his face. "We're not dating."
"Everyone at JAG thinks the two of you are."
"We're not. We're just friends"
Jen looked at him and honestly said, "Sir, you might want to think about those words. I have a close male friend and if he put his hand on my six he would have a broken arm."
Harm looked at the picture again and noticed that indeed his hand was on Mac's six. 'God, I wish I was awake for that', he thought. "Jen, can we keep this between us?"
"It's our secret, sir. Just one question."
"Yeah," Harm said as he handed Jen the picture and watched as she put it back in the envelope with the others.
"What are you going to say to the colonel when she sees the picture?"
Harm looked at her. "Ask her not to break my arm."
Jen laughed at Harm's words.
4:19 PM
En Route to DC
"Do you think they made the right decision, sir?" Jen asked.
Harm looked at Jen briefly. "I think they made the right decision for them. They both love their jobs, luckily there were a lot of options for them."
"What would you do, sir?"
"About what?" Harm asked, hoping that Jen wasn't asking him what he thought she was.
"If you fell in love with someone in the same chain of command. Would you give it up for her? Or ask her to give it up?" Jen honestly asked.
"I don't know, Jen. I'm sure that the two of us would have to talk about it for a while to reach an understanding."
They fell silent, until Harm's cell-phone rang. "Rabb."
{"You never call, you never write," Mac said to him with a slight laugh.}
Harm smiled at her voice. "You picking on me again?"
{"Someone has to, it was in today's memo." Mac smiled. "Are you going to make it home tonight?"}
"Jen and I are about two or so hours out of Washington, but we're going to hit traffic," Harm told her, slightly sad.
{"Why don't I cook dinner instead of going out?"}
"You can cook?" Harm said, chuckling and getting a slight chuckle out of Jen, who had a good idea of who he was talking to.
{"Just for that comment, squid, I'll make you a real burger," Mac warned.}
"Anything but that, Mac. Okay, I take the comment back," Harm joked.
{"Accepted," Mac said, knowing he was smiling. "What would you like tonight?"}
"Whatever you cook is fine, you know what I like."
{"Good, say around seven. That gives you enough time to get home, change, and everything."}
"Seven sounds good. Can I pick up anything to help?" Harm asked, trying to be helpful.
{"I'll handle dinner. Unless you want to watch a movie or something?" Mac said.}
"The 'or something' sounds like a good offer, but I think I'll go with the movie," Harm said.
{Mac bit her tongue at the offer of 'or something' but found herself saying, "Do you think you can handle my 'or something', sailor?"}
"You'll never know unless you let me try, Mac," Harm said, knowing he was getting very close to crossing that invisible line with Mac.
{Mac decided to drop the subject. "I'll see you tonight, Harm."}
"Okay, Mac. Bye," Harm said as he hung up the phone. He placed the phone back into the cup holder by the radio. Then he glanced at Jen who was trying not to smile at the thoughts in her head. "What?"
Jen looked at him and took a deep breath. "Are you sure you are not dating the colonel?"
"We are not dating," Harm informed Jen.
"Because dinner and a movie sounds like a date."
"We're best friends. Friends do things like that."
"How many times a week do you and the colonel get together after work, sir?" Jen questioned, hoping she might be able to shed some light on this topic.
"I don't know, say three or four times a week."
"Does that include weekends?"
"No, you asked after work."
"Do you two get together on the weekends?" Jen asked, now knowing how a lawyer felt while in court.
Harm thought for second. "We go running every Sunday and sometimes on Saturday we go out to the movies or something."
"Do you want to date Colonel MacKenzie, sir?" Jen asked at point blank range.
"Mac and I have been through so much, I don't want to ruin our friendship," Harm stated.
Jen sighed softly, knowing Harm had successfully avoided her question. So she tried a different approach. "Have you ever kissed her?"
"I really don't see the point of these questions," Harm said defensively.
Jen bit her bottom lip, knowing she hit a nerve, "I'm just thinking you and the colonel are dating and neither one of you knows it, sir."
Harm looked at Jen, then refocused on the road for a couple of minutes. "So you think she knows it?"
"I can call and ask her, sir," Jen offered.
"No, thanks, Jen," Harm said with a smile to her.
End of Part 3b