Spoilers: 'The One that Got Away', and a little from 'Secret Agent Man' AN: This comes after "Following," "Resisting," and "Treading the Shifting Sands." TPTB tried to spoil "Treading" by putting it out of sync with "The One That Got Away," but of course I've got a way to rectify that situation. Since Mac is back in my good graces, she gets her own chapter with Bud now. I'm borrowing two scenes from TOTGA to frame this chapter. I hope TPTB don't mind that I used my artistic license to reinterpret these scenes!

******

1820 EST JAG Headquarters Falls Church, Virginia

Bud flipped through a random file as he covertly watched the door to the admiral's office from a safe distance. He knew that Colonel MacKenzie was in there, and he was going to talk to her while he still had the courage to do it. Since the former Commander Rabb had dropped by his home for a visit the week before, Bud had been trying to find a way to broach the subject of the faltering friendship with the colonel without being obvious about it. Even if the two of them were having problems at the moment, everyone knew that deep down, they cared about each other. Bud was bound and determined to prove it, even if he had to tell a few white lies to do so.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the admiral's door open, and he was immediately on his way to intercept the colonel. He belatedly noticed that Commander Turner was with her, but it was too late to alter his course.

"Well, good morning, ma'am, sir."

"Hey, Bud," was her friendly reply. It was good that she didn't seem to notice that his palms were starting to sweat at the idea of lying to a superior officer. Commander Turner's presence wasn't making things any easier since he was holding a grudge the size of Everest against the junior officer.

"Lieutenant," was the commander's clipped response.

Bud chose to ignore the commander's negative vibes and continue with what he had set out to do. Hopefully Harm hadn't had enough time to keep up with other people around the office so that the presence of his old Academy buddy wouldn't throw a flag into Bud's plans. "I was curious. have either one of you heard from Commander Rabb?"

"You mean former Commander Rabb?"

Bud forced himself not to grimace at her instant reply. At least it didn't seem as callous as when he'd asked if she missed him last week. "That's right, ma'am. It's kind of hard for me to think of it in any other way."

"Some of us are too busy to think of him at all," Sturgis responded to Bud's comment before starting to walk away. Mac immediately fell into step with him, and Bud felt he had no choice but to follow if he was going to finish this.

"I've checked in with him, but I haven't heard back," Mac offered.

Bud thought it was a positive sign that Mac hadn't considered the conversation over when she walked away. He took this as an invitation to continue. "It's weird. It's like he just disappeared."

"Well, that's what they do in the CIA. I'm sure he'll touch base as soon as he can."

It sounded like she had already thought about this topic since she had an answer ready for him. Bud continued playing his part, trying to gauge the colonel's current feelings on the subject of Harmon Rabb. "Well, I guess. I just hope everything's all right."

"Harm and the phrase 'everything's all right' don't usually go together," Sturgis said, throwing Bud off in the middle of the encouraging exchange with the colonel.

Bud tried to pull the conversation back with and uncertain, "Well, yeah, but."

He was too late because the commander was now ignoring him and trying to go about his official business with Colonel MacKenzie. "Colonel, Force Recon is based at Camp Lejeune. We should probably get down there as soon as we can."

"Yeah, of course. You want me to." she replied, seeming only slightly thrown off by the abrupt change in subject.

"That's okay. I'll make the call and set it up."

"Great." Mac said, but Turner had already disappeared into his office. Bud stood by, not sure what to do next. The colonel saved him from having to make that decision. "I take it you two haven't fully worked things out."

Rather than having to make a blatant attempt to get the conversation back on Harm, Bud made a mental note to bring up the subject another time. Focusing on the issue at hand, he sighed, "I don't blame him. It was my mistake, and it was his career that suffered."

"Don't worry Bud, Commander Turner will get over it, and Harm will call."

Colonel MacKenzie left him with a reassuring squeeze on his arm, and he felt that encouragement on two fronts-things could only get better with Commander Turner given time, and Mac hadn't forgotten who they'd been talking about. Hopefully he wasn't reading too much into her parting mention of Harm. Harriet probably wouldn't think that he was.

1918 EST Mac's apartment Georgetown

Bud's inquiries had piqued her curiosity about Harm's disappearance. She'd assumed that Harm was just avoiding her because of everything that had happened between them, but now she had confirmation that it wasn't just her, and that made her worry about him. She could understand why Harm would be less than enthusiastic about returning her call, but to shut out Bud and Sturgis, too.

I just hope everything's all right, Bud had said. Was Harm all right?

Mac stared at the cordless phone on the couch next to her from her position curled up in the corner. She hugged one of her throw pillows while she debated whether or not to call him. She didn't really know what she would say to him, but she needed the peace of mind knowing that he was safe on the ground and not out risking his neck flying some fool CIA operation.

After a moment, she shook her head. This was not high school, and she was not calling the cute guy in math class for the first time. She picked up the phone and hit the speed-dial. Despite their current situation, she hadn't erased Harm's number.

By the third ring, she wanted to hang up, but she knew that the Caller ID had already recorded her call, so she might as well leave a message if he didn't pick up before the next ring.

She heard the machine click on: "This is an answering machine. You know what to do."

"Hey, it's just me. I don't know if you got my message, but I just wanted to see how you're doing." She paused before adding, "Lots of people are asking about you, and I just wish I had something to tell them. Call me when you have a minute."

As soon as she hit 'end,' she threw the phone to the other side of the couch, muttering, "I hate answering machines."

A minute later, the phone was back in her hand, and she was trying to recall a number from her memory. There was no answer after three rings, so she hung up and tried another number.

"Webb."

"Why aren't you at home?" she scolded. Clay was used to her mothering by now, but it didn't stop her from doing it.

"Because you're not there with me."

"Cute, Clay," she said, rolling her eyes. "But really, you shouldn't be working this late. You're still not 100%."

"I'm fine, Sarah," he sounded a little irritated before he thought to add, "And I'd be even better if I could see you sometime."

"We'll see about that later," Mac smiled at his indefatigable devotion to her, but she hadn't called to arrange a date. "Um, have you seen Harm around? Everyone is asking about him, and I just want to be able to tell them that he's still alive at least."

"I saw him about a week ago, but unlike me, he's allowed out of the office to work."

She knew that this was a sore point for Clay, so she tried to steer away from his current working restrictions. "You wouldn't happen to know if he's out on a mission right now?" Or maybe he's just avoiding my phone calls, she added silently.

"Most likely he is, but I couldn't tell you even if I knew," he sounded a little annoyed. Harm was still not one of the favorite topics between the two, even though he had pretty much stepped out of the picture. But now that Clay knew that Mac reciprocated his affections, he easily got over his little bouts of jealousy. "What I can do, though, is pack up my stuff and drop by your place on my way home."

"My apartment isn't on your way home," she had to point out. The Harm matter was effectively closed for the time being she knew from a few past inquiries.

"I'll take the scenic route." He waited patiently for a reply. She didn't give him one, but she didn't say no, so he used the best bribe he'd learned so far, "I'll pick up some chocolate chip cheesecake on my way over."

"Okay," she agreed somewhat reluctantly, "but you can't stay late. I have court in the morning."

1032 EST JAG Headquarters Falls Church, Virginia

Bud walked out of his office only to run into Colonel MacKenzie, who was unenthusiastically shuffling papers. "Ah, good morning, Colonel. How did things go down at Camp Lejeune?"

"Oh, as well as could be expected I guess," she replied.

Something was bothering her, so Bud attempted to alleviate her misery by alluding to his current problems. "I bet Commander Turner was happy to have me out of his way for the day."

"Well, if he was, it certainly wasn't reflected in his mood this morning," she said, walking away.

Bud was curious about this new development. Following her to her office, he had to ask, "Are you on his list now, too, ma'am?"

"Come on, Bud. This isn't high school."

"I know. You're right," he tried to sound chagrined, but he had a point to make about all of this. "But with Commander Turner's anger at me and the admiral's anger at Commander Rabb, this used to be a lot more pleasant place to work."

"Speaking of unpleasant, have you heard from Harm?"

Bud was taken aback for a second. He'd wanted to raise the subject at a later date, but since Colonel MacKenzie had opened the door, he wasn't going to walk away from it. He tried not to sound too eager as he quickly replied, "No ma'am. I tried his cell phone-no luck."

"Hmm," she interjected, but Bud was on a roll. After all, he had tried these very things before the former commander had unexpectedly shown up on his doorstep.

"I tried calling the CIA. They won't even admit that he works there." He heard her try to stifle a guffaw at the thought of anyone not wanting to claim Harm. The humor immediately evaporated, though, the moment he suggested, "Maybe it's time you called Mr. Webb to see what he knows, ma'am."

"If I call Clayton, the last thing he's going to want to talk about is Harm."

"Really?" was all that he could think to say. A few pieces of the puzzle fell into place in Bud's mind.

Before he could think of how to elicit some more information on this subject, she quickly terminated the conversation. "And that's all I'm going to say before this really starts to sound like high school. Look, check with the admiral. Maybe Harm left an email to forward his messages to."

"Ma'am, do I look dumb enough to broach that subject with the admiral?"

"Think of it as brave, Lieutenant," she told him mockingly. Everyone at JAG knew that mentioning the former Commander Rabb in the admiral's presence was just plain masochistic.

Bud rolled his eyes as he walked away, but in the back of his mind, he congratulated himself for accomplishing his mission-it was obvious that Sarah MacKenzie was still worrying about Harm, even though she tried to convince those around her that she didn't miss him. This new information about Mr. Webb explained a few things, too. Now Bud just had to figure out what to do with what he knew.

******

Written October 24, 2003