Finally! Found the ending. g My beta readers have the last two chapters, so it may take a little while, but there is an actual ending! Woohoo! Thanks for sticking with this, y'all.

Chapter 23:

Dark Times

"In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost."
--Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321), "The Divine Comedy"

2300 Zulu
10 February 2004
Rabb Farm
Beallsville Pennsylvania

Harm glanced back up at the house before using his crutches to get away as fast as he could. He was sick of them hovering over him. He was a grown man and he could take care of himself, dammit! He hurried to the far side of the farmyard, making for the swing that had been hanging under his favorite tree for as long as he could remember.

He stumbled a little on the high roots, but managed to steady himself while he brushed the snow away, and then levered himself into the swing and propped his crutches within easy reach of it. Harm briefly considered climbing the old tree, but there weren't any leaves to hide behind and it'd make his broken bones hurt too much.

He sighed and stuffed his hands into his coat pockets. It was a nice idea, but in his current condition, it just wasn't feasible. Besides, the way Mac had been protecting him, she'd probably overreact and call the fire department out to get him down.

Harm hated the way she treated him now. It was as if she thought he'd break if she looked at him wrong. Mac kept assuring him that she wouldn't ever leave, and he didn't need it. In fact, it was getting on his nerves. He loved her. Heaven knew that he'd tried not to, but it was an irrevocable fact. The only problem was, she was driving him up the wall.

So what if he still had nightmares about Colombia? He'd dealt with his Paraguay-induced nightmares by himself, and he could damn well deal with the memories of Colombia alone, too. That was just life. Harm figured if you didn't get kicked in the teeth every once in a while, then something had to be wrong.

He used his good foot to start the swing in motion. The fact that his grandmother had been subtly and not-so-subtly pushing them together hadn't helped, either. She'd dropped the sweetness-and-light routine to start behaving like herself, but he could see that she was angling for a great-grandchild. Maybe it would have been better if he'd gone home to California.

Then again, his mom had been saying for years that he ought to marry Mac. She'd probably be worse than Grams. Harm looked up when he heard the crunch of footsteps coming towards him. "Mac," he said with a tight nod.

"Harm, it's freezing out here," Mac said, rubbing her hands together. "Come inside before you get sick."

"Go away, Mac," Harm said. "I'm fine, and I don't need you hovering over me like I'm an invalid or something."

"Harm," Mac began.

"What part of 'leave me alone' do you not understand, Marine? I handled my ramp strike, China, my crash into the Atlantic, and a whole lot of other crap by myself. Hell, I even handled Paraguay and you telling me that we were through before we ever really got started alone. I can handle this." Harm started making the swing go faster.

"I just want to help, Harm. I worry about you," Mac said softly.

"You don't have to," he said curtly. "I'm a big boy. I don't need anybody to take care of me." Harm felt a twinge of guilt as Mac drew back, hurt. She probably was still hanging around because she felt guilty, anyway. It wasn't like she'd still be there for him after he was healed, anyway. She'd leave, too. They all left. It was the one constant in his life; he had only himself to rely on.

"If you feel that way, I'll go, but I'm sending Grams out to get you," she snapped. "I won't leave you out here to freeze!"

"Fine," he said. "Send her; I don't care."

"If you come back in, you can sit in front of the fire in the living room; both Grams and I will leave you alone," Mac promised.

"All right," Harm capitulated with a scowl. He grabbed his crutches and started to make his way through the snow up to the house. Sooner or later, Mac would leave, and he'd rather that it be on his terms. Nobody ever wanted to hang around him for long.

2335 Zulu
10 February 2004
JAG Headquarters
Falls Church, Virginia

Harriet dropped the phone into its cradle and ran towards the Admiral's office. She nodded to Jen and burst through the door. "Sir, I'm got to secure immediately; Little AJ is missing!"

AJ shoved his chair back and grabbed his coat. "Where was he last seen?" he asked as he pulled it on and reached for his cover.

"Sir, you don't have to come with me," Harriet said, then turned and hurried towards the door.

"That's my namesake that's missing, Lieutenant, of course I do." AJ followed her out the door. "Hold my calls and reschedule my appointments, Petty Officer," he ordered.

Barely registering Coates' answer, AJ followed Harriet out to the parking lot and motioned for her to get into his car. The silent ride to the Roberts's house seemed as if it took forever.

It was Harriet who spoke first. "Thank you, sir," she said finally.

"Don't mention it, Lieutenant. We just have to find Little AJ. Now where, exactly, was he last seen?" AJ turned into the driveway and cut the engine.

"Bud sent him to his room, sir, because he'd picked up the baby, and it looked like he was going to drop him." Harriet slid out of the car and slammed the door shut.

"Then you go talk to Bud, and I'll start checking the neighborhood," AJ ordered. "Is there anyplace he likes to go?"

Harriet paused from her flight up to the house. "Yes sir; his favorite place is the creek at the end of the block." She pointed out the direction and started running towards the door.

AJ nodded. "I'll check there first." He turned and hurried down the street in the right direction. If anything happened to that child, he knew that Harriet and Bud would never forgive themselves.

AJ reached the end of the block, closed his eyes, and listened hard for the sound of running water. Hearing it, he set off into the woods and crossed the creek. He smiled as he caught sight of small footprints on the muddy ground and started following them farther into the woods.

He followed the footprints for a little while, then found the other trail that Little AJ had left in his wake. It wasn't hard to follow the freshly-broken branches that the child had left behind him, and it wasn't long before he found Little AJ curled up in a nest of leaves, fast asleep.

AJ picked the boy up and made his way out of the woods and back up the block. Just as he reached the driveway, Bud and Harriet met him coming the other way. "Admiral, thank goodness you've found him!" Harriet said.

Little AJ chose that moment to wake up. "Am I in Penn-penn-Pennsylvania yet?" he asked sleepily.

Bud reached out and took him from the Admiral. "Thank you, sir," he said softly before turning his attention to his son. "AJ, why did you run away?" he demanded.

"Because you love the dumb baby more'n you love me," Little AJ said with a pout.

"No we don't, sweetie," Harriet said.

"Then how come you never pay 'tention to me no more?" Little AJ asked.

"I'll leave the two of you to it," AJ said. He looked at the child sternly. "You are not to run away again, sailor. And that's an order."

Little AJ stuck his lip out farther. "I wanna go see Uncle Harm and Aunt Mac. They love me. I runned away to go see them, and I'll do it again."

AJ crossed his arms over his chest. "No, you won't, sailor. If you did that, you'd be disobeying a direct order, and then you'd get into big trouble."

Little AJ thought for a minute. "That would mean no TV?" he asked.

"Worse," AJ said, biting back a smile.

Little AJ slumped against Bud's chest. "Okay. I won't run away no more. But I still wanna see Aunt Mac and Uncle Harm, 'cause they still love me. Mommy and Daddy don't."

"I think that this is something the two of you have to work out with him. Harriet, you can have the rest of the day, and I'll see you both bright and early tomorrow." AJ gave the trio a sharp nod and headed back towards his car. "I'll get Coates to bring your car by, Harriet."

"Don't worry about it, sir. I'll go in with Bud," Harriet said.

AJ acknowledged her with a wave of his hand, climbed in his car, and drove off.

"We'll always love you, AJ," Bud said. "But right now, you're in trouble for running off like that."

"We were worried sick!" Harriet picked little AJ up and walked towards the house, Bud following behind her.

"We're going to have to have a talk about running away, and I think that you won't be able to go to visit Uncle Harm after all." Bud said.

"But I WANNA see Uncle Harm," Little AJ exclaimed.

"Tough, kiddo," Harriet said. "We were going to let you, but that was before you ran away. Now, I'm taking you upstairs and giving you a bath because you're filthy."

Tears began to stream down Little AJ's face. "NofairnofairnofairNOFAIR!" he yelled.

"Yes it is, AJ," Bud said. "You can yell and cry all you like, but that won't change the fact that you're staying home. You ran away; it's the consequence of what you did wrong."

Little AJ's screaming grew exponentially with each minute that passed. Harriet and Bud hurried into the house, closed the door, and headed upstairs. "AJ, it looks like you're going straight to bed after your bath," Harriet set him down outside the bathroom and started stripping off his muddy clothes.

AJ continued to scream, balled up his fists, and stamped his feet. But went into the bathroom and turned on the water. "I think that's a good idea, sweetheart." Before he could say anything more, the baby started crying, adding to the general din.

Harriet and Bud exchanged a look. It was going to be one of those nights when a bottle of Tylenol™ was their best friend.

2003 Zulu
10 February 2004
CIA Headquarters
Langley, Virginia

Webb sat as his desk and started searching through yet another database for a sign of Sadik's organization. He hadn't come up with much so far, and he was under orders to keep looking until they found something. He sighed. If he'd known beforehand that his time with Jack would be the last mission he'd ever go on, he might've tried harder.

Scuttlebutt had it that if he survived the last encounter with Sadik's remaining goons, he'd be flying a desk for the rest of his career. Maybe it was time to get out. Perhaps he should start to consider settling down; he could start courting Mac seriously, Jack be damned.

Sure, Rabb loved her, but he'd waited too long. Mac had been dating him, not Harmon Rabb, Jr. She was worth a few broken noses. He jerked out of his reverie as intercom buzzed.

"What is it, Laurie?"

"Colonel Mackenzie's on line one, sir."

"Thanks, I've got it." Webb picked up the phone and pressed the blinking button. "Hey, Mac!"

"Hi, Webb. I know I should probably do this in person, but you've been so hard to catch lately--"

"Mac, what's wrong? Please, Sarah, don't do anything rash…"

"This isn't rash, Webb. We're not working. We haven't really been for a long time, and I think it's time we stopped kidding ourselves."

"Sarah, what are you saying? I love you."

"Webb, stop. We're over. I'm not sure we really ever started."

"But Sarah--"

"I'm sorry, Webb. I think this is the best thing for both of us, but I'd still like to be friends."

Stunned, Webb dropped the phone back into its cradle and buried his face in his hands. He pressed the intercom button. "Hold my calls unless it's an emergency, Laurie. I need some time."

"Yes, sir."

Maybe Jack was right; he needed to find a nice schoolteacher to raise more little Webbs with. Military types obviously weren't working.

TBC...