JAG and it's character's don't belong to me. I'm only playing in Mr. Bellisario's world. Any characters NOT taken directly from JAG or making cameo appearances from other televison shows DO belong to me.


A/N: Thoughts are in *'s



A/N: To all of you great football fans... I love football and love watching the game. I cannot however, write about football. Just can't. Also, since Navy seems to be winning this year and A&M pretty much is not, I'm going to let that be the way the story goes.



Chapter 6


In his hotel room following the yell practice, Harm was restless. Somehow kissing Kate made him feel more than a little guilty. It made him want to talk to Mac. Looking at the clock on the night table he sighed. It was after 1:00 in Texas. That meant it was after 2am in D.C. As his brain decided to wait until a more human hour to call, his hand was already dialing her number.


"Hello?" Mac mumbled. **Somebody had better have died if they're calling in the middle of the night.**


"Hey, Mac... I'm sorry I woke you... I shouldn't have called. Go back to sleep and I'll call you sometime tomorrow, ok?" Harm stumbled his way through the apology. **She doesn't want to talk to you NOW, stupid** the voice in his head told him.


'No, Harm - wait!" Mac tried to gather her wits and jump start her brain. "Are you okay?"


"I'm fine..."


"But..." Mac knew there was more to the story, and by God if he was going to wake her up in the middle of the night, he was going to have to tell it to her.


Harm ran his hand through his hair as he tried to figure out how to explain to her what he couldn't explain to himself. "I don't know. It looks like this could be a fun weekend - we had a good time tonight, the game is going to be exciting, but..."


Mac smiled. "You kissed Kate and now you feel guilty." She was beginning to understand where this conversation was going. This might fun if it wasn't so late.


There was a long pause, while Harm tried to sort out her statement. "Kate told you about it before we left."


"I got the detailed description of all the plans you guys have this weekend. She was still trying to get me to come with you right up until yesterday. She swore she could pick up a scalped ticket and we could sit in her seats." Mac was still trying not to laugh. At least not too obviously.


"I feel like an ass. I'm sorry I woke you up and I guess I owe Kate an apology tomorrow too. I'll let you go back to sleep." Harm was a little short with her, but they both knew it was due to embarrassment rather than anger.


"How was your flight?" Now that she was awake, Mac settled down for a chat. And more opportunities to needle her partner.


"You KNEW and you let me wander out there completely unaware. That was so unfair." Harm heard her chuckle out loud. "It's a really cool jet - not as cool as the Sarah, but it was fun. And the company was alright too. I probably owe Kate another apology for all the bad things I've thought about her. She's ok. She's awfully damned nosy but she's ok."


"She grilled you too, huh? I've been through that several times lately. I think she saw this as an opportunity to see the "other" side. You do realize that you can't lie to her?"


Harm snorted. "And you can't evade either. She locks on like a guided missile."


"Look, Mac, it's late here and I know it's later there. I just needed to talk to you - it feels strange to be here without you. I'll let you go back to bed. Can I come by when we get back Sunday afternoon?"


"I'd love it. You can tell me how Navy get's their butts kicked. Good night Harm."


"Good night Mac."


Harm stripped down to his boxers and crawled in bed. His mind still thinking about Mac. And Kate. They were both strong, bright women. Both single even though in different ways. Harm knew that even though he and Mac had never acknowledge this "thing" they had, that they did have each other. As sassy as Kate put on, he realized that the comment tonight was more than just play. She had her kids, she had the people who helped her run her life, but she didn't have much life outside of her kids and her work. The question was, who did he know that could stand up to a woman with that kind of personality. He mentally ran though the list of unattached males he called friends... Gunny was unattached last check... maybe, the Admiral... nope - we already tried that one and crashed and burned. Keeter? Maybe, he liked Mac well enough and she and Kate were two peas in a pod. Webb. He didn't seem to socialize outside of work much either. The kids would make relationships difficult though. Especially at the beginning. As much as Harm loved kids and wanted his own, he knew he would have to think long and hard about getting involved with a woman who already had four. He rolled over to go to sleep, deciding there was plenty of time to work on this idea. He and Mac could talk about it on Sunday.






"Good morning, sunshine!" Kate breezed into the hotel room at 8:00 in the morning. Harm rolled over and pulled the pillow over his head.


"It's Saturday - can't a guy sleep in?"


"Not THIS Saturday he can't." Kate handed him the coffee she had picked up in the lobby. "We were going to go to the Corps Museum and try to get through the Bush Library this morning. The game starts at 3:00, but march-in starts at 12:00. We'll need to get lunch before we go in too - unless you want hot dogs and nachos at the stadium."


Harm groaned and sat up, making sure that everything that needed to be, was covered. "Give me ten minutes to get a shower and we can go."


As he headed into the bathroom, Kate sat on the second bed, pulled her feet up and leaned against the headboard. **My life is going to hell in a handbasket and there is nothing I can do about it.** she thought. **I just need to find a way to prevent this from killing Sarah.**


______________________________________________________________________________


"Wow, Kate. Thanks for letting me come with you - this has been a great weekend." Harm told her as they walked out of The Zone.


"Yeah, because your team beat mine." Kate wasn't usually such a bad loser but the game had been really ugly, for the Aggies, that is. "If this is an omen for how the rest of the season is going to be, I might just put my tickets up for sale on Ebay. That's a long trip for heartburn."


"It wasn't that bad..." Harm tried to cheer her up.


"NOT THAT BAD?" Kate stopped and turned to look at him. "Harm, the score was 57 to 3. How could it have been much worse?"


"New coach, not a lot of great recruiting the last couple of years. Give Franchione a couple of years and you guys will be back in the rankings."


Kate ignored him and kept walking. Harm trotted to catch up to her. "Did you want to go back to the hotel, get dinner and an early night?"


"You can if you want. I'm going to go visit Northgate for a while." She sounded down and something told Harm it wasn't just the game.


"What's Northgate?"


"It's pretty much a bar and fast food strip just off campus. I'm going to go sit in my favorite watering hole until I can't see straight."


"In that case, may I join you? I would hate to have to tell Mac that I let her best friend down." Harm smiled. It didn't seem to have the same effect on Kate. She'd looked like hell all day. When she had come to his room this morning she didn't look like she had slept. She'd been a little short all day - not quite rude, just a little distant - even though he could tell she was making a real effort to hide whatever was bothering her. Maybe it was time to ask her about it.


They followed the crowd as everyone else seemed to be heading the same direction. Crossed the six lane road that led to the airport to the left and Harm's hotel to the right. They walked up to a dilapidated looking building with a sign proclaiming it to be: The Dixie Chicken.


Somehow after seeing the outside, Harm wasn't surprised at the inside. Wooden floor, Plank walls covered with hunting trophies - deer, bobcat, ducks & pheasants, boar - and old license plates, old advertisements. The tables had seen much better days before who-knew-how-many years of students had carved names and dates into them. He could see a handful of pool tables in the back. The place was already crowded and more people were coming in all the time.


"I'd tell you to go find a table, but I think they're already taken," Harm said looking around. "What do you want to drink, and then we can look for somewhere out of the way."


"Coors Light," was the only response from Kate.


Harm went to the bar, placed their order and they walked through the bar. "This is quite a place."


Kate smiled a little. "Not really your kind of place though. Since you don't eat meat, I'm sure you're not into hunting much."


"Not really. But it all kinda adds to the charm. Hey, look this looks like a good place to stop." The place looked like two building that had been joined together decades before. One floor was slightly higher than the other and had a small ramp. At the top there was a small space along the wall before the tables started.


Kate didn't answer him, she just leaned against the wall and drank her beer. "If you go over that way, you can see the rattlesnakes. I'll wait here."


Harm wandered over, looked at the snakes for a minute, amazed at the construction of a snake pit into the wall. There must have been five of them in there - all sleeping for the moment. When he returned to Kate, he let her be for a while as he watched students, teachers and alumni wandering past. This really was a great place. The college, the town, the bar... they all had this sense of history. It was quite different from any of the places he had ever lived.


Kate walked over to the back bar and ordered another beer. Harm was still working on the first one. When she came back he asked, "Would you like to talk about it?"


Kate sighed. "No. But I don't have a whole lot of choice in the matter." She thought for a while. Harm could see her shuffling through fact as she tried to decide what to tell him.


"This is going to sound presumptuous and pushy even for me. I need to know exactly what is going on between you and Sarah." Kate was doing a serious study of the dust on the floor.


Harm worked that around in his head for a minute and asked, "Can you tell me why?"


That got a small smile. "Not until you answer the question, and only if it's the right answer." Kate stopped for a long minute. "I know I know. It's a circular question. You won't tell me until you know why I need to know. I can't tell you until I know the answer." Kate paused and even as she spoke it was slowly as if she were very carefully deciding how much she could tell him. "I was afraid this was going to come up when I found out Sarah was in DC. I've tried to to talk about contacting her because I knew all hell was going to break loose. I managed to dely it but not indefinitely."


Harm started to ask a question, but Kate cut him off. "Before I say anything else I have to tell you that this whole situation is extremely need to know. And I can't make the decision on who needs to know. Take that up with Sarah when you get home. Go to her - stay with her. She is going to send you away but don't let her. If you love her like I think you do, DO NOT let her make you leave. Don't let her out of your sight for the next couple of weeks - don't say it. I know you work together, I know all about the damned chain of command issues, etc. The only thing I can tell you is that this is something Sarah should have dealt with 17 years ago. It hasn't even been mentioned once so I know that she hasn't. Before she can hope to have a secure, normal relationship she has got to deal with this. And it's about to come back and bite her in the ass."


"Why does it have to be me? It seems like this should be something she would be more comfortable with you helping her." Harm didn't know what to make if this conversation but it certainly was beginning to explain Kate's mood today.


"Because in some stupid backward way, this is going to be my fault. Once the shit hits the fan, so to speak, whatever forgiveness we've achieved is going to be lost. I'm going to lose my best friend again." Kate ended the sentence with a sob and headed out of the bar.


By the time Harm managed to weave his around other patrons and follow her outside, Kate had managed to cross the street and was headed back toward the airport. By the time the traffic had cleared enough for him to follow her, Kate was out of his sight. He sighed. Kate knew this town much better than he did. She knew exactly where she was going, he was just going to have to trust that she was ok. He figured he'd give her about 30 minutes and try to call her cell phone. Besides, he needed some time to think about what she had said. He cycled between feelings of anger and concern.


Harm was halfway back to where they had parked the rental when his cell phone went off. The caller ID showed Mac's number.


"Rabb"


"Hey, what's going on over there. Kate just called me in tears and asked me to give you a message." He could hear confusion in her voice, but also a touch of warning. As if HE might have done something to cause all of this mess.


"I don't know, Mac-Sarah-Mac." **Why did women have these kinds of problems? He didn't have these kinds of conversations with the guys. Had to be an estrogen thing.** "She's been odd all day and a few minutes ago she just lost it. Said I needed to talk to you when we get back. And I'm not supposed to let you out of my sight... for a couple of weeks. She thinks you're going to hate her and something is going to bite you in the ass - her words exactly."


Mac was silent for a minute - Harm thought she might have hung up. When she spoke, he knew she had figured out something about the problem. Her voice was tight. "Yeah, I guess we do need to talk. Tell her I said I won't hate her. It's not her fault even though I can see how she would think it is," she paused. "Kate wants you to meet her at the main airport at 8. You guys can turn the car in and come home. She said to tell you she's ok. I'm sorry, Harm. This wasn't supposed to happen." He heard the call disconnect. And he knew that she was crying.