AN: The new part is finally here much thanks to Cria and Dor who beta-read
this and the coming two parts. Enjoy!
Lost
May 8th 2003
Mac was walking through the corridor towards the room where her daughter was kept. Elena was still in an incubator, but the doctors had said that she would probably be able to be taken out of it soon. It had been two life- altering days for both Mac and Sturgis. As soon as Mac was allowed out of bed she had gone to see her daughter and nothing she had ever felt before had prepared her for her emotions at the sight of Elena. To be able to love another human being like that was totally incomprehensible.
She was getting daily reports from Bud regarding Harm's trial. She hadn't tried to call him or send him any sort of message yet though. It was just too hard at the moment. She wouldn't know what to tell him. To say that things hadn't ended well between them was an understatement; she had practically broken up with him. Part of her was still devastated about Harm's arrest and part of her just wanted to ignore that and enjoy these first days with her daughter.
Mac opened the door and went over to Elena's incubator only to find it empty. She looked around to find the nurse and ask where she was, but she couldn't find one anywhere in the room and it worried her since she had been told that there should always be one there.
She went back to the door to see if there was anybody she could ask in the corridor and that was when she saw one of the nurses, Mac couldn't remember her name right in that moment, lying beside the door in a pool of blood. Mac pressed the alarm button beside the door and bent down to take the nurse's pulse, but she couldn't find any. Soon the room was filling up with nurses and doctors, all responding to the alarm. They all went for the nurse and Mac had to grab one of the doctors at the arm to get him to listen to her.
"My baby isn't here. I don't know where she is," she now screamed at him in absolute fear. She was no longer worried about the nurse at all and only thought about her baby. The doctor realized he had to get the worried mother out of there.
"What is the name of your baby?" he said and walked with her over to the chart where you could see where all of the babies were if they were signed out of this ward. He was sure that once she realized that her baby wasn't supposed to be here she would calm down.
"Elena," Mac searched the chart and saw that Elena hadn't been signed out of the room. The doctor turned to her a lot more worried than he had been before. At this moment security also showed up in the already too crowded room. All of the babies were screaming and it was getting impossible to get some order into what was happening. One of the security people took command and saw to that the injured or possibly dead nurse was taken out of there and only so may people that were needed to take care of the children stayed. The rest of them went out to the corridor and some back to their duty stations.
The doctor who had been talking to Mac got hold of one of the security people and told them there might be a baby missing.
"Are you sure?" Mac nodded. 'Couldn't these *** people just start looking for her baby instead of standing there discussing it?'
"We'll send out a message over the hospital and hopefully your daughter will show up. Twenty minutes ago we discovered that one of the patients wasn't who he had said he was. There's a warrant out for this man, a Mustafa Fahd because of some suspected involvement with terrorist organizations. Before the police could arrest him he fled and we still haven't found him. Personally I'm suspecting he's behind injuring that nurse, that was found in there."
"What if he has taken my baby?"
"I'm sure we will find her somewhere around her. Someone probably just forgot to sign her out for an examination or something," he was still talking very calmly to her and Mac was getting more and more upset. She had a deep feeling there was something wrong. The security person went to send out a message on the hospital loudspeakers to find Elena.
When Sturgis got to the hospital for his lunch break that day. There were a large number of police cars parked in front of it and all of the people going in and out were thoroughly checked for identity. No one who didn't have important things to do in the hospital was let in.
Sturgis showed his identity card to the police officer and explained his business. As soon as the police officer saw his name, Sturgis was taken into the hospital and a conference room where there were a lot of people including Mac. Mac jumped out of the chair where she had been sitting and threw her arms around Sturgis.
"Someone has taken Elena." The horrible statement caused Sturgis world to spin around. He couldn't understand what was happening.
One of the police officers started to explain what had happened to him. The hospital had now been searched thoroughly and neither Elena nor the suspected terrorist had been found. Everyone now believed he had taken Elena with him as a shield against the police. The terrorist had counted on them not firing at him when he had an innocent baby in front of him. So far his escape had been a success and he hadn't really needed Elena at all. He had possibly been spotted by one of the receptionist, but so far he hadn't encountered any police. The search for both of them was of highest priority.
The concerns weren't just for what the kidnapper might do to her. The doctors couldn't make any promises on Elena's chance of surviving without medical treatment and that might be the biggest threat to her right now. They did say she had a chance, even though it was very little, and everybody was at this time working on the assumption that she was still alive.
Back at JAG HQ Harm was relieved when he was acquitted of all the charges, since the real murderer, Commander Lindsey, had confessed. He thanked his lawyer and turned around to see who was there, that he could share his happiness with. None of his friends, not even Bud, was there. He was finally a free man again and he decided to go to the bullpen and see if anybody might be there.
In the bullpen almost all of the people were gone. He found Tiner at the desk outside the admiral's office. Tiner glanced at him and returned to the work lying on his desk.
"Where is everyone?" Harm asked. He was a bit disappointed in the reactions to his release
"Everyone who didn't have to stay here has gone to the hospital, sir. I had to stay here until we close down for today," Tiner didn't look up at Harm when he answered him and didn't seem affected at all by the fact that he was freed of all charges. The baby was of course important and he understood that everyone was happy and wanted to share that joy with Mac and Sturgis, but for everybody to ignore him and all that had happened to him lately. It still felt quite devastating to him.
"Oh," Harm said and turned around to go home. 'There apparently isn't place for me in anybody's life anymore.'
He took a cab home since his car was still in custody of the NCIS and hadn't been returned to him yet. Well at home he turned on his television to watch the news and see what had happened in the world the last two weeks when he had been in the brig. The first story to come up was about a little baby girl, who had been kidnapped from the hospital. The identity of the parents wasn't disclosed in the story, but Harm still somehow knew that it was Mac's baby who had been kidnapped. Suddenly it made sense why everybody was at the hospital. He felt so guilty about feeling so sorry for himself that he hadn't thought about it logically. They were there to support Mac and Sturgis and help with the search not to visit with them. How could he have been so stupid and make all about himself. He went for the phone to call another cab and get to the hospital as fast as possible.
At the hospital the people involved in the investigation and search for Elena were starting to leave and relocate to the police station instead. Some of the people from JAG were going to go home to their families and some were going to continue to stay with Mac and Sturgis. It had been determined that Elena had only been a random victim of the terrorist and who Mac and Sturgis were hadn't influenced him taking her. He probably didn't even know that they were in the military and the decision had been made to not go public with that fact. The police were worried about how it would affect his treatment of Elena, so their identities would stay a secret.
At the hospital he found the conference room where Mac, Sturgis and the rest of them had gathered. Mac was sitting on a chair tears still coming down her cheeks. Harm had never seen anybody so miserable in his whole life before. He wanted to go to her and put his arms around her to try to comfort. Mac had noticed him and said something to Harriet. Harriet got up and went over to him.
"Sir, I don't think she can deal with you right now," she said.
"I just want to help her," Harm started to get a bit anxious.
"We are happy that you were released, but right now the most important thing is to find Elena and Mac is under a lot of pressure now and doesn't need any more added to that. I understand that you want to support her, but she doesn't want to see you right now. You need to respect that, "Harriet wished that she could have let Harm see her, but she also knew she had to respect Mac's wishes. There was so little they could control in this situation that it didn't seem fair not to respect Mac's wishes when they could.
Harm was devastated. There was nothing he could do about it. Not a single thing. He turned around and left the hospital to go home to his apartment.
TBC
Lost
May 8th 2003
Mac was walking through the corridor towards the room where her daughter was kept. Elena was still in an incubator, but the doctors had said that she would probably be able to be taken out of it soon. It had been two life- altering days for both Mac and Sturgis. As soon as Mac was allowed out of bed she had gone to see her daughter and nothing she had ever felt before had prepared her for her emotions at the sight of Elena. To be able to love another human being like that was totally incomprehensible.
She was getting daily reports from Bud regarding Harm's trial. She hadn't tried to call him or send him any sort of message yet though. It was just too hard at the moment. She wouldn't know what to tell him. To say that things hadn't ended well between them was an understatement; she had practically broken up with him. Part of her was still devastated about Harm's arrest and part of her just wanted to ignore that and enjoy these first days with her daughter.
Mac opened the door and went over to Elena's incubator only to find it empty. She looked around to find the nurse and ask where she was, but she couldn't find one anywhere in the room and it worried her since she had been told that there should always be one there.
She went back to the door to see if there was anybody she could ask in the corridor and that was when she saw one of the nurses, Mac couldn't remember her name right in that moment, lying beside the door in a pool of blood. Mac pressed the alarm button beside the door and bent down to take the nurse's pulse, but she couldn't find any. Soon the room was filling up with nurses and doctors, all responding to the alarm. They all went for the nurse and Mac had to grab one of the doctors at the arm to get him to listen to her.
"My baby isn't here. I don't know where she is," she now screamed at him in absolute fear. She was no longer worried about the nurse at all and only thought about her baby. The doctor realized he had to get the worried mother out of there.
"What is the name of your baby?" he said and walked with her over to the chart where you could see where all of the babies were if they were signed out of this ward. He was sure that once she realized that her baby wasn't supposed to be here she would calm down.
"Elena," Mac searched the chart and saw that Elena hadn't been signed out of the room. The doctor turned to her a lot more worried than he had been before. At this moment security also showed up in the already too crowded room. All of the babies were screaming and it was getting impossible to get some order into what was happening. One of the security people took command and saw to that the injured or possibly dead nurse was taken out of there and only so may people that were needed to take care of the children stayed. The rest of them went out to the corridor and some back to their duty stations.
The doctor who had been talking to Mac got hold of one of the security people and told them there might be a baby missing.
"Are you sure?" Mac nodded. 'Couldn't these *** people just start looking for her baby instead of standing there discussing it?'
"We'll send out a message over the hospital and hopefully your daughter will show up. Twenty minutes ago we discovered that one of the patients wasn't who he had said he was. There's a warrant out for this man, a Mustafa Fahd because of some suspected involvement with terrorist organizations. Before the police could arrest him he fled and we still haven't found him. Personally I'm suspecting he's behind injuring that nurse, that was found in there."
"What if he has taken my baby?"
"I'm sure we will find her somewhere around her. Someone probably just forgot to sign her out for an examination or something," he was still talking very calmly to her and Mac was getting more and more upset. She had a deep feeling there was something wrong. The security person went to send out a message on the hospital loudspeakers to find Elena.
When Sturgis got to the hospital for his lunch break that day. There were a large number of police cars parked in front of it and all of the people going in and out were thoroughly checked for identity. No one who didn't have important things to do in the hospital was let in.
Sturgis showed his identity card to the police officer and explained his business. As soon as the police officer saw his name, Sturgis was taken into the hospital and a conference room where there were a lot of people including Mac. Mac jumped out of the chair where she had been sitting and threw her arms around Sturgis.
"Someone has taken Elena." The horrible statement caused Sturgis world to spin around. He couldn't understand what was happening.
One of the police officers started to explain what had happened to him. The hospital had now been searched thoroughly and neither Elena nor the suspected terrorist had been found. Everyone now believed he had taken Elena with him as a shield against the police. The terrorist had counted on them not firing at him when he had an innocent baby in front of him. So far his escape had been a success and he hadn't really needed Elena at all. He had possibly been spotted by one of the receptionist, but so far he hadn't encountered any police. The search for both of them was of highest priority.
The concerns weren't just for what the kidnapper might do to her. The doctors couldn't make any promises on Elena's chance of surviving without medical treatment and that might be the biggest threat to her right now. They did say she had a chance, even though it was very little, and everybody was at this time working on the assumption that she was still alive.
Back at JAG HQ Harm was relieved when he was acquitted of all the charges, since the real murderer, Commander Lindsey, had confessed. He thanked his lawyer and turned around to see who was there, that he could share his happiness with. None of his friends, not even Bud, was there. He was finally a free man again and he decided to go to the bullpen and see if anybody might be there.
In the bullpen almost all of the people were gone. He found Tiner at the desk outside the admiral's office. Tiner glanced at him and returned to the work lying on his desk.
"Where is everyone?" Harm asked. He was a bit disappointed in the reactions to his release
"Everyone who didn't have to stay here has gone to the hospital, sir. I had to stay here until we close down for today," Tiner didn't look up at Harm when he answered him and didn't seem affected at all by the fact that he was freed of all charges. The baby was of course important and he understood that everyone was happy and wanted to share that joy with Mac and Sturgis, but for everybody to ignore him and all that had happened to him lately. It still felt quite devastating to him.
"Oh," Harm said and turned around to go home. 'There apparently isn't place for me in anybody's life anymore.'
He took a cab home since his car was still in custody of the NCIS and hadn't been returned to him yet. Well at home he turned on his television to watch the news and see what had happened in the world the last two weeks when he had been in the brig. The first story to come up was about a little baby girl, who had been kidnapped from the hospital. The identity of the parents wasn't disclosed in the story, but Harm still somehow knew that it was Mac's baby who had been kidnapped. Suddenly it made sense why everybody was at the hospital. He felt so guilty about feeling so sorry for himself that he hadn't thought about it logically. They were there to support Mac and Sturgis and help with the search not to visit with them. How could he have been so stupid and make all about himself. He went for the phone to call another cab and get to the hospital as fast as possible.
At the hospital the people involved in the investigation and search for Elena were starting to leave and relocate to the police station instead. Some of the people from JAG were going to go home to their families and some were going to continue to stay with Mac and Sturgis. It had been determined that Elena had only been a random victim of the terrorist and who Mac and Sturgis were hadn't influenced him taking her. He probably didn't even know that they were in the military and the decision had been made to not go public with that fact. The police were worried about how it would affect his treatment of Elena, so their identities would stay a secret.
At the hospital he found the conference room where Mac, Sturgis and the rest of them had gathered. Mac was sitting on a chair tears still coming down her cheeks. Harm had never seen anybody so miserable in his whole life before. He wanted to go to her and put his arms around her to try to comfort. Mac had noticed him and said something to Harriet. Harriet got up and went over to him.
"Sir, I don't think she can deal with you right now," she said.
"I just want to help her," Harm started to get a bit anxious.
"We are happy that you were released, but right now the most important thing is to find Elena and Mac is under a lot of pressure now and doesn't need any more added to that. I understand that you want to support her, but she doesn't want to see you right now. You need to respect that, "Harriet wished that she could have let Harm see her, but she also knew she had to respect Mac's wishes. There was so little they could control in this situation that it didn't seem fair not to respect Mac's wishes when they could.
Harm was devastated. There was nothing he could do about it. Not a single thing. He turned around and left the hospital to go home to his apartment.
TBC