Chapter 2

Home is where your best friend is

Wednesday, 0559

Harm's apartment

Harm jolted awake when he heard a loud thumping noise. He listened carefully, but upon hearing nothing more, he assumed that he must have imagined it. He was about to close his eyes and go back to his sleep when he heard it again. It sounded like there was someone knocking on his door. But who on earth would be at his door at.....he glanced at his clock....0600 on a Wednesday morning. He got up and out of bed to investigate and heard the knocking again.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming." He muttered under his breath and he shuffled over toward his door. He looked through the peephole but the light outside in the hallway had broken and all he could see was darkness. Cautiously, he opened the door and was greeted with the last sight that he expected to see.

There was Mac, a bag over one shoulder and her child resting on the other side, dripping wet and standing outside his door. He stood there for a moment before grabbing her and pulling her tightly into his arms, being careful not to squash poor Ali.

"Oh, Mac. I'm so glad to see you." he murmured, stroking her sopping hair with one hand.

Mac said nothing, but instead burst into tears, sobbing into Harm's t-shirt.

"Shhh, Mac. Its going to be okay. I'm here for you whenever you need me."

This only made Mac sob even harder and he the two of them stood there, just holding each other. After almost five minutes, he loosened his embrace and took the bag off her and led her into his apartment. He put the bag at the end of the couch and took Ali from her arms, which were now starting to shake form the emotions and the cold.

"Need, to...get....Ali into.....dry..." she chocked out.

"Its okay, I've got it. You go and take a hot shower and get into something dry and I'll take care of Ali, okay?" Too tired to argue, Mac nodded mutely and fished through the bag for some clothes before heading of to the shower.

"Right then, little Ali, lets get you into something warm and dry." Harm said softly to the sleeping girl. He rummaged through the bag and found a fresh change of clothes which looked like they could be pyjamas, and began to change Ali. He hadn't had much practice with dressing children, however being around little AJ Roberts had helped him a little bit and he did have a little bit of experience at it.

Mac emerged from the shower a mere six minutes later. She would have liked a longer shower but there were two things that stopped her. Firstly was the danger of falling asleep under the lovely hot water, and the second was the desire to be near Harm again. She drew comfort from his presence and right now comfort was what she needed. She entered the living room of Harm's apartment and stopped in the doorway, mesmerised by what she saw. After changing Ali's clothes, Harm had put her on the couch with a warm blanket and a pillow and was now singing softly to her, stroking her cheeks. Mac suddenly found herself wishing that she was the one on the couch. Rob never showed any kind of affection like that to Ali she thought. He never even showed that much to me. Harm has been kinder to me than Rob has been to me in years. Why did I marry him? Can anyone tell me? How could I have been such a terrible judge of character? Mac sighed. Her life was officially a mess.

At that moment Harm looked up and saw Mac staring off into the distance and he get up off the couch and walked over to her. He drew her into his arms and she melted into his embrace, sobbing once more. He rubbed his hand soothingly over her back, relishing the feeling of being close to her once again. He had missed her so much these past three years. He suddenly became aware that she was leaning almost her entire weight on him and he realised that she must be exhausted, both physically and emotionally. He didn't know what had happened yet, but he knew that she would tell him later on. Right now the most important thing was her getting some rest. He scooped her up into his arms and carried her into his bedroom where he laid her down on his bed.

"Huh? Harm...what...?" She asked groggily.

"Shhh, marine. You need to sleep." He told her. A smile appeared on her face when he called her 'marine'. It was something that she hadn't been called in such a long time and she had forgotten how much she enjoyed hers and Harm's friendly banter.

"My...my baby. Where is she?" Mac asked, sounding panicked all of a sudden.

"Shhh, its okay Mac. She's safe in my apartment. Right in the other room. You want me to bring her in?"

Mac nodded against the pillow. Harm left the room and returned a moment later with the sleeping child in his arms. He laid her in front of Mac and Mac's arms immediately went around her, clutching her protectively to her chest.

"I'll just be in the other room if you need anything, okay Mac? I'll just be getting ready for work. After all I'm up, so I may as well do something productive while I'm awake."

Mac became suddenly panicked. "No!" She said. "No, please, don't leave me. Something could happen. Someone else could try to hurt my baby. Please Harm, don't go." she begged.

Harm was shocked by how scared she had suddenly become of being alone.

"Its alright Mac. No one's going to hurt you or Ali. You're safe here. I won't let anything happen to you. I promise."

"Don't make a promise you can't keep, flyboy."

"I haven't yet." He responded quietly.

Harm lay on top of the covers and snuggled up behind Mac, his arms going protectively around both her and Ali, with the intention of comforting Mac until she was asleep and then finish getting ready for work. He was so comfortable where he was, though, that his eyes soon began to get heavy, and it was thus that the two of them fell asleep.

Wednesday, 0715

Harm's apartment

Harm groaned as his alarm went off and hurriedly hit the off button to try and stop it from waking Mac. Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough and Mac groaned and rolled over so that she was facing Harm.

"You have work today." She stated

"Yeah, but I'm planning to call in sick. You need someone to....be here for you." He had been about to say 'someone to look after you' but he changed his mind at the last minute, knowing that a comment like that would not go down terribly well. "You've been through a lot and you're both physically and mentally exhausted. You need to sleep."

"No, don't call in sick just because of me. I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself. And anyway, I plan on coming with you. I miss everyone so much, even the admiral." she added with a grin. "It'll be good to see everyone again. Besides, I have a divorce to arrange."

Harm looked at her. "Mac, what happened last night?"

"I'll tell you later, Harm. Let me get up first."

"Okay. You bringing Ali? Wait, don't answer that. Stupid question. What else would you do with her?" he shook his head "Come on, marine. Lets get ready." he said climbing off the bed "We have a lot of catching up to do today."

Wednesday, 0815

JAG Headquarters

Harm's SUV pulled into a space at the JAG carpark. He got out then walked around to the other side and opened the door for Mac.

"Why, thankyou sailor. What a perfect gentleman." She smiled up at him and stepped out of the car then opened the door behind her and lifted Ali out. The girl squirmed in her arms, so she put her down and let her walk, holding tightly onto her hand.

As they approached the guards, Harm flashed them his military ID. They stopped the two of them and asked Harm who his visitor was, and what her purposes in the JAG office were.

"Ah, she's an old friend. She's coming back to visit everyone in the office."

"Was this visit cleared with the Admiral, sir?" asked one of the guards.

"No. She arrived unexpectedly this morning and I haven't had a chance to clear it with the Admiral. But I am positive that he won't mind."

"Sir, you know the rules. All visitors must be cleared before we allow them in."

"Since when has that been a rule?" Mac asked. "I've never heard of such a rule."

"Since the last breach in security." the guard told her.

"Oh."

"So I'm sorry but we can only let in authorised personnel."

Mac and Harm stood there for a moment contemplating what to do, when Mac suddenly remembered that she had brought her military ID with her.

"Actually, I am authorised, officer." She told the guard. "I used to work here until I got transferred to a place in LA. Hang on a sec and I'll get my military ID" She rummaged through her purse before pulling out her ID and holding it up for inspection with a triumphant 'Ah Ha'. The moment the guards saw that she was a Colonel, they snapped to attention.

"Sorry about the misunderstanding, ma'am." They said, still at attention.

"That's alright. Are we free to proceed?"

"Yes, ma'am, sir. Have a nice day."

"You too"

Harm, Mac and Ali walked to the end of the corridor where they entered the elevator. Mac was becoming more and more nervous about seeing everyone again and Harm, noticing this, took her hand in his and gave it a squeeze to let her know that he was there for her. Mac looked up at him and gave him a grateful look and in return her have her a reassuring smile.

The elevator doors opened and the three of them stepped out into the bullpen. Mac looked around and was surprised to see that barely anything had changed since she had left. The desks were practically in the same positions, all the offices looked the same and the general bustle of activity had a familiar air about it, making Mac feel much more relaxed and right at home.

The one thing that was different though, was all the unfamiliar faces of many of the young ensigns and junior officers. It seemed that many of them had been replaced or reassigned in the three years she had been gone. One face that did catch her eye, however, was that of a blonde woman hurrying through the bullpen with a stack of files in her arms. Mac smiled brightly upon seeing a friendly and familiar face.

"Look, Harm. Its Harriet." she said excitedly.

"Yes, I know that its Harriet." was Harm's reply. She gave him a playful slap to his arm.

"Yes I know that you know, flyboy, but remember that you saw her yesterday and I haven't seen her in three years. I think that I have grounds for being excited, thankyou very much."

"You're right." Harm gave her his best puppy dog look. "I'm sorry, Mac. Can you ever forgive me."

Mac laughed. "All right flyboy, you're forgiven.

Harm flashed her his famous flyboy grin. "Good. Now what say we go and pay a visit to our blonde friend over there?"

While all of this had been going on, Ali had been looking around in awe. The place was very big and noisy and it scared her a bit. She clutched even tighter onto Harm's sleeve and Harm, sensing how timid she was, picked her up. Ali smiled. She had taken a great liking to her 'unca Harm'. Not only was he very nice to her, but he made her mama happier, which she liked because it meant that mama would be more likely to play with her.

The three of them headed over towards Harriet who had stopped to talk to talk to one of the ensigns about one of their cases.

"...and I'll need those DNA results back by 1900 tomorrow. Is that clear?"

"Yes, ma'am" said the ensign.

"Good, I'll also need the files from last week's..." the rest of what Harriet was saying was lost to the ensign as he caught sight of Harm, Mac and Ali exiting the elevator over Harriet's shoulder. He watched them with a keen interest, intrigued my the strange woman who was in the office with Commander Rabb.

"...and you clearly haven't heard a word of what I just said. Ensign!" Harriet barked, making the startled ensign jump and focus his attention back on Harriet.

"I'm sorry, ma'am." He apologised, his face going red.

Harriet's expression softened. It wasn't in her nature to be mad at anyone for very long. "It's alright, ensign, we all lose our concentration sometimes. But I must ask, what was so interesting that you couldn't listen to a word of what I was saying?" she asked him, her eyebrows raised.

"Well, ma'am. It's Commander Rabb."

"Commander Rabb?"

"Yes, ma'am. Its just that, well, he's already here, ma'am, and its not even 0830. He's usually not here until at least 0915."

"Well I do have to admit, that is highly unusual for the Commander, but I can't believe that you spent all that time looking at the Commander just because he arrived early."

"Er, no, ma'am. Its just, there's a pretty woman and child with him. They're heading over here now." the ensign told her.

Harriet turned around and gasped, the stack of files dropping unceremoniously out of her arms and onto the floor.

"Oh my gosh. Mac!" Harriet's joyful cry could be heard throughout the bullpen and they looked up to see that young blonde officer hugging Mac like she hadn't see her in years. Which of course was because she hadn't. Among those whose attention was drawn by Harriet's scream were Sturgis, Bud and gunnery sergeant Galindez. The three of them rushed over to join Harriet in welcoming Mac.

"Mama, why they call you 'Mac'?" came a small voice from Harm's arms (A/N: tee hee, it rhymesJ ). Everyone stopped their questions to Mac and looked at the little girl.

"Its just what they call me, pumpkin. Like how I call you munchkin instead of Alison, they call me Mac." She explained, taking her daughter back from Harm.

"Oh. Okay mama."

The noise grew even louder as Mac introduced Ali to everyone. It got so loud , in fact, that the Admiral came out of his office to see what was going on.

"Attention on deck" he roared.

The entire bullpen froze then immediately snapped to attention, Mac included, her military training kicking back in, despite her working as a civilian lawyer for several years. Although she was at attention, she couldn't be seen behind the crowd of people who had come to admire her daughter.

"What's all the racket out here? And what are you all so busy looking at?" He demanded, glaring at the know of people surrounding Harm, Mac and Ali.

"Uh, that would be..."

"Me, sir." Mac spoke up. The crowd of people moved away so that Mac could actually be seen by the Admiral. His face went from angry to shocked to delighted in less that a second.

"Ma...Colonel!" he exclaimed. "It's so good to see you again. Rabb, I presume that you have something to do with this?"

"Why does everyone automatically assume that anytime anything out of the ordinary happens that I'm involved?"

"Because you almost always are." Mac retorted. "And if you're not, then it'll only be a matter of time before you are involved."

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence, Mac."

Mac smirked.

"Rabb, Mackenzie, Simms, Roberts, Turner, Galindez, I want you in my office, now." He told them. "Oh, and will someone please pick up those folders?"

The six of them, plus Ali, who was still in Mac's arms, filed into AJ's office after him. When they were all in there he shut the door and turned to them, smiling, and asked,

"Where's my hug, Mac?" They all laughed and Mac passed Ali to Harm and gave AJ a hug.

"So, Colonel. What brings you all the way out here?" AJ asked. Mac sighed and began recounting her tale.

Meanwhile, outside in the bullpen, questions were fluing around everywhere, but the question on everyone's lips was; was that woman the Colonel Mackenzie? The one of whom Rabb, Turner, Simms and Roberts all spoke so highly of? The one who they were always referring to and who had left JAG almost three years ago? The one woman who, everyone knew, had captured their favourite Commander's heart? Ten minutes later the door to the Admiral's office opened. They were about to find out.

A/N: Thankyou so much everyone who reviewed last chapter. Please keep reviewing, even if its just to say that you've read it! Thanks to all the people who gave me the time difference between LA and DC, the first chapter has been corrected, and a big special thankyou and an extra big hug to Bekki.
Oh, and if there are any mistakes in there I apologise. Please tell me so that I can fix them.