Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine and belong to Donald P. Bellisario. I am not making any money off of my story and don't intend to.

Rating: PG - Just about the same type of stuff you would see in a normal episode of JAG. There's no swearing, no sexual situations or anything. Just some romance, a little action.

This is my first fanfiction story and I hope all of you enjoy it. Feedback is definitely welcome.

Chapter 5: The Determination of a Marine

JAG Headquarters

Washington, D.C.

The next day - Wednesday, December 3, 2003

0800 EST

Petty Officer Jennifer Coates found herself already extremely busy, and the day had not even really begun. She came into work early today wanting to get some work done before the Admiral came in, but she was on the phone all morning still fielding calls about Commander Rabb's condition. Not sure of what to say, she just took messages, and figured the Admiral would call the people back if he felt they needed to know. In the meantime, she was worried about the Commander herself, but kept her concerns to herself the day before, as she would today. Everyone had eventually made it to the office yesterday except Colonel Mackenzie. Coates knew that the Colonel was where she needed to be.

Coates carried some files into the Admiral's office, thinking about the Colonel when the Admiral walked in. "Petty Officer."

"Sir, good morning, sir. The SecNav sent some files over for you," Coates said.

The Admiral took them, looked through them quickly, and then placed them on his desk. He removed his coat and placed it on the back of his chair. "The Colonel come in yet?"

"No, sir."

"When she does, let her know I want to see her ASAP."

Coates came to attention. "Yes, sir! One more thing, sir, I've been fielding calls all morning about Commander Rabb's condition ."

"Classified, Petty Officer."

"Aye, aye, sir!" Coates left quickly, wanting to see if Mac had gotten into the office.

The JAG office felt comfortable as Mac walked swiftly through the halls. She didn't get any sleep last night, but to be honest she didn't notice. Part of her was insistent on getting back to work, and most importantly to solve Harm's case. Mac knew she wasn't assigned to it, but her need to find the assailant overwhelmed her. If she couldn't help Harm get better, then she would catch the guy that hurt him. It was revenge now, and Marines don't take such a concept lightly.

Walking briskly into her office, she set her briefcase down on her desk and took off her coat. It didn't take long for Bud to notice her arrival and come in and see her. "Ma'am?"

Mac looked up at her friend. "Hi, Bud."

"How is he?"

Sitting down at her desk, Mac didn't want to look at Bud and instead concentrated on getting her computer up and running. "Same."

Bud nodded. He was again lost for words, and decided to offer what he could. "Do you need anything, Ma'am?"

Mac shook her head. "No, Bud, I'm fine." She then looked up at him, stressing her point further.

Bud nodded. "Have a good day, Ma'am." Bud began to leave.

Mac, however, felt a need to stop him. He was only trying to help, knowing that it was tough for her. She shouldn't be taking it out on him. "Actually, Bud ." Mac started to say, and Bud turned right back around. "Yes?" "I could use a cup of coffee," Mac supplied, seeing the expression of Bud's face turn from frustration to contentment. Bud smiled. "Right away, Colonel." Just as Bud left, Coates came walking in. "Ma'am, the Admiral requests to see you ASAP." "Thanks." Colonel Mackenzie left to see what the Admiral might want.

A knock came at the Admiral's door, and AJ swiftly answered. "Enter." Colonel Mackenzie opened the door and began to walk in. "Close the door, Colonel." Mac nodded, turned quickly to close the door, then returned to a spot in front of her CO's desk. "You requested me, sir." The Admiral nodded. "Yes, I did. How's the Commander doing?" Mac knew she would be fielding this question all day and she was content to answer the same each time. "The same, sir." "Right now, that's a good thing. It could be worse," the Admiral offered, in his own way trying to reassure his junior officer. He did consider the Colonel a friend, and knew any comforting words would be helpful. "That is true, sir," Mac acknowledged. However, right now she was already tired of talking about Harm's physical condition and was more interested in finding the assailant. Harm was in a coma, and talking about it was not something high on her list. If at all possible she wanted to push that fact aside and get to work. She only hoped that the Admiral would understand, as she hoped her friends and colleagues would. The Admiral knew this Mac. It was the Mac who kept to herself, who was determined, and who didn't falter. When she was like this, it was difficult to guess what she was feeling or thinking. Her Marine training took front stage. "I'll get to the point, Colonel. I've decided to let you help out with the case." Mac couldn't help but smile. "Yes, sir." The Admiral countered, "But you will neither prosecute or defend. You are only a source of knowledge for Commander Turner and Lt. Roberts. You know Commander Rabb better than any of us. You will help them, but you are not in command of this investigation. Do I make myself clear, Colonel?"

"Yes, sir," Mac replied, knowing that she did have to be careful. But not too careful. As far as she was concerned, the case had become personal. Because of that she wasn't going to be leading the investigation. However, she would be at the center of it, and she would find the assailant.

"I'm putting faith in you, Colonel. Do not take matters into your own hands. This is a JAG investigation, and I expect you to handle it professionally. Dismissed."

Mac came to attention. "Aye, aye, sir!"

Leaving the Admiral's office, Mac proceeded directly to Commander Turner's office.

Sturgis entered his office, getting himself settled. It had been a long couple of days, and already Harm's case was at the top of JAG importance. He and Bud had gone to the crash site, but everything was cleaned up and not much was left for them to investigate. A gun was found at the site, but not much else. Everything still seemed very knew and it would take him some time to begin the investigation. The matter had already caught the attention of the SecNav, and whatever Harm was involved in was going to be revealed soon.

"Sturgis?"

Commander Turner looked up from the files that he had been reading to see Mac looking into his office. "Colonel. How's Harm doing?"

Mac shook her head. "He's the same. You have no idea how many people have asked me that question today."

Sturgis shrugged. "Well, if anyone knew, it would be you."

Mac sighed. "Why is that?"

Commander Turner put his files down and moved to his file cabinet. "Because you two are so close. Didn't we have this conversation in the hospital?"

Mac nodded, finally sitting down in the chair across from Sturgis' desk. "Yeah, something like it. My answer remains the same. It's classified."

Sturgis smiled back, sitting down at his own desk and proceeding to look through his files. "I know that all too well. So what can I do for you, Mac?"

"You and I are working together."

Sturgis then looked up from his file. "On what case?"

"Commander Rabb's," Mac replied.

Smiling, Sturgis stood up and walked to the front of his desk to talk to Mac. "How did you pull that off?"

Mac smiled again. "I have my ways. So, should we start at Harm's apartment? I assume you've already been at the crime scene."

Sturgis just stared at Mac, now even more unsure of what was happening since this started. He had thought the Admiral had decided to not include Mac, but it seems he has changed his mind. Mac portrayed a definite confidence in how she looked, dressed, walked, and Sturgis knew he hadn't seen this in Mac at such a height in awhile. The day before she was a wreck, and now she almost acted as if nothing happened.

"Sure."

Mac countered, "Listen, I don't want to take this investigation away from you or Bud. The Admiral made it clear that I needed to keep at a safe distance, but still help. I can help."

"Yeah, I know. Ok, let's go."

Harm's Apartment

North of Union Station

1000 EST

Mac and Sturgis walked up to Harm's apartment door. Bud stayed behind at JAG headquarters to do some research on Harm's outgoing calls, past case files, among other things. Mac didn't know what she would find, but knew it would give them some clues as to what Harm had been involved in. Her recent dreams quickly reminded her of this atmosphere, of Harm's apartment. However, something seemed different. She couldn't place her finger on it, but she knew they were going to find something in Harm's apartment.

Sturgis took out the spare key he had for the apartment and opened the door. When they walked in, the surprise was almost unbelievable. Mac slowly removed her Marine hat and began walking around the apartment. The site in front of her was shocking, but added a huge piece of the puzzle. Harm's apartment was a mess. Not just a mess, but trashed in a way that indicated a fight had certainly taken place here. Chairs were turned over, papers were thrown, furniture torn apart and everywhere. The case was becoming more interesting by the minute.

Sturgis was the first to speak. "I didn't expect this."

Mac smiled to herself. Who ever does? "Probably should call NCIS."

Sturgis nodded and took out his cell phone to make the call. This was indeed proving to not be just an accident. The gun at the scene had begun those suspicions, and now Harm's apartment made it quite clear. As Mac walked around the apartment, she tuned her eyesight for clues. Anything that might help their investigation. She knew they couldn't remove anything from the apartment because it was up to the NCIS to do that, but she also knew she had to get a sense of the apartment on her own before anything would be touched. It was a rare opportunity to get a chance to see a crime scene first before police invaded it.

After calling the NCIS office, Sturgis looked to Mac. "Anything yet?"

Mac shook her head. "No."

In the moment she said this something broke her view. Looking down on the kitchen floor she saw the one thing she didn't wish to see: blood. Of course, it was to be expected, Mac thought. Harm was seriously injured, whether by the car crash or in the midst of a fight, and possibly Harm injured someone else in self-defense. However, something else entered Mac's thoughts. Harm could've been shot in his own apartment first, and then escaped. She had just assumed he was shot as he was driving.

Staring at the spot of blood, Mac called to Sturgis. "Take a look at this."

Hurrying over, Sturgis quickly got a look himself. "A lot happened here."

"Yeah," Mac replied, stepping away from the blood and continuing to look around the apartment. The last time Harm was involved in something questionable was when he bought information from a Russian Colonel. That had been years before, but the idea was the same. Harm has the capacity, but usually it's for a reason. Mac knows Harm extremely well, and knows that any operations he may have been running or involved in she would know about. However, the rules had changed lately because of their strained friendship, so perhaps something had been going on. It had been when Harm bought the information about his father. She knows Harm, but perhaps not as well as she had thought.

"Mac."

Turning to look at Sturgis, Mac immediately saw the worry on his face grow more intense. He had gone into Harm's bedroom and was observing something on his bed. Mac hurried up his short stairs to see Sturgis looking at a clump of papers sprawled over the blue bedspread. Mac stepped up beside her colleague to look. "A case he was working on?"

"Medical documents. Phone records," Sturgis began to say as he picked up one of the folders. Looking inside, he saw reports from the apparent case that Harm was working on. A Commander Murphy who had gone UA. However, Sturgis remembered talking to Harm about that case being over. Harm had finished it weeks ago. So the question was why Harm was still working on a case that had been over for quite some time.

Mac looked at the case over his shoulder. "What case is it?"

"The Commander Murphy UA case."

Mac had also heard Harm talk about this case for quite some time. "Didn't he finish that case some time ago?"

Sturgis nodded. "Yeah."

Continuing to walk around his bedroom and into his bathroom, Mac became more and more worried about Harm. Maybe he was doing something illegal. Motive for it was still not apparent, however. Certainly Mac hadn't been as close to Harm as usual, but they were still close, and Mac still knew Harm really well. That would never change. She also knew of his need to help people, even if the capacity for doing so might involve him stretching his limits a bit.

Suddenly her phone rang, breaking her concentration. Mac answered it. "Colonel Mackenzie."

"Ma'am?" It was Bud. "I found something you might want to know."

"What is it?"

Bud replied, "Well, I was checking Harm's phone records and he made a lot of calls to a Commander Murphy. Does that name mean anything to you or the Commander?"

Mac sighed. "Yeah, it does, Bud. Good work. We'll be back at JAG shortly."

"Aye, aye, Ma'am." The phone went silent. Mac hung up, and looked to Sturgis. He was already back in the main room checking around the broken and thrown furniture. Mac walked swiftly towards him as he seemed concentrated on observing the scene, walking around it slowly.

"Bud found something," Mac said.

Sturgis didn't look. "What?"

"Harm was making calls to Murphy."

Sturgis nodded, but continued to look at the scene. Mac became more interested into what he was looking at. Before she could say anything, Sturgis answered her question. "Someone was tied up here. There's rope, and a wooden chair. The chair legs are broken, possibly indicating someone used it as a weapon." Mac couldn't believe what she was seeing. The whole episode had been hard to grasp from the beginning, but now seeing Harm's apartment in this way made it really hit home for her.

"The NCIS will be coming soon. They'll be able to help us differentiate even further," Mac noted. So they would wait and hope that more answers were to come soon.