Wow didn't think so many people would be umm... irked at the last chapter. ;) Cliffhangers are bad? Noooooooo!! They are gooooood. Well, sometimes. ;)

Okay, The next few "ocean going" parts are gonna be up and down Will Harm and Mac face the trauma together or apart? Well, tune in... though you won't find out in this part. ;)

Jackie

PART 8 – Wedding Party Blues

0215 Zulu
Olivia and Juliet's Restaurant
Georgetown

"Your union with Sarah, like any right union on this planet, was a matter of destiny." Holding his glass of champagne up, Bud looked between his beautiful wife and Mic. "May you two live a long and happy life together. . . To Mic and Sarah."

"To Mic and Sarah." The rest of the party mimicked before sipping a bit of the champagne.

Harriet tugged Bud down and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. "That was wonderful honey."

Chloe looked between the adults and gave a half hearted smile. Mic was a good enough guy, but he wasn't Harm. At least, he'd made her a promise, to love Mac forever. She kept reminding herself that if Mac was happy, she should be to. Looking towards AJ, she saw the man on the phone, clearly agitated about something. "Admiral?"

AJ turned his head and with a sad look in his eyes closed his cell phone. "It'll be alright, Chloe." He assured the young girl, before turning his attention to the group. "May I have your attention. . ."

"Would the Admiral like to make a toast?" Bud cheerfully asked, raising his champagne once again. The solemn expression on AJ's face halted the movement.

Clearing his throat AJ looked around at the group and then down at the table. It was his fault this had happened. It was him that send her on that stupid TAD to the Henry. If he had just showed the initiative and said 'no' to the SECNAV, Harm and Mac wouldn't be in the middle of the ocean now. Looking up, he saw the group waiting for him, even the civilians were using the outmost restraint. "Umm. . .I was patched through to Captain Ingles, the skipper aboard the Patrick Henry. Commander Rabb and Colonel MacKenzie, got into some trouble on a bingo to Andrews. They are believed to have gone down at sea." He held his breath, not trusting his voice at the moment, until he swallowed down that lump at his throat.

"Oh God." Mic looked at the Admiral and then towards Renee who was getting out of her seat.

"Why would they be flying in this weather?" Renee asked, her hands strangling a cloth napkin.

"Harm was trying to get Mac home in time for the ceremony." Once again, AJ's gaze lowered down to the table. It felt like Russia again, when word that Harm and Mac had gone down had hit the news. Just like then, he held it together on the outside because he was trained to do so. Inside, he felt broken and torn apart. Those were his kids, or, at least, something close to his children. Though, at one point, he probably would have thought something else about Mac, times had changed. He respected her, cared for her like a daughter and Harm was the closest thing to a son that he ever had.

Angrily standing up, Mic headed out of the room and towards a separate room in the back. Chloe made to follow him, but AJ stopped her. "Let me." Nodding, she let him go.

Harriet noticing Chloe's discomfort and hurt, wrapped her arms around her and held on tight. "They'll be okay." She whispered, trying to comfort her in anyway that she could.

"Harm's Superman, isn't he?" Quickly she tried wiping away a tear, but another just followed suit.

Harriet held back her own tears and sighed. "Yea, and Superman will take care of her."

The Admiral stood at the doorway to the separate room, watching Mic pace like a caged animal. "God DAMN you Rabb! Damnit, he did this on purpose. . . He did this so that she can't marry me!"

"Why would he deliberately hurt her, Mic? They are best friends!" AJ tried to reason with the Australian, appalled at his behavior and accusations towards Harm.

"Because he loves her." Mic growled, coming too close for comfort to AJ. "He loves her and she loves him. . .And now, he's gone out and killed them both!"

Grabbing Mic by the collar, AJ slammed him into a nearby wall and came as close as possible. "Now, listen here Brumby. . . You may not be in the Navy anymore, but I do not give a rat's ass about that. . . You will NEVER disrespect either of them again and you will stop talking like they're dead. . .Understood?" The ex-SEAL faced the younger man, his eyes projecting rage and fury, a lesser man would have run away screaming.

"Aye, Aye, Sir." Mic said, his rage scared away by AJ's own. Once the Admiral let him go, he straightened out his suit, just in time to have Renee walk into the room. Mic walked to her and wrapped his arms around her. "It's alright, they'll find Mac and they'll find Harm."

Trying to ease the situation with some humor, she stepped out of his embrace and managed a fake smile "I hope so, we got Springsteen tickets." The two men chuckled with her and just as quickly returned to their somber moods.

They stood together, unknowing what to say until AJ's phone rang. "It's the skipper, they need to halt rescue attempts until the sea swells die down some."

0210 Zulu
Somewhere in the Atlantic.

Harm knew there was a problem the minute the parachute refused to work properly. He tried to turn his head, only to feel the lines of the chute around his throat. Struggling, he managed to get his helmet off, something that he should haven't done, but procedures rarely worked as written. Regardless of the protection of his suit, the moment his body hit and the cold water splashed his face, Harm went into a quick moment of shock. He tried releasing the chute, hitting hard on the device that should've unfastened it, but he was dragged under, the lines threatening to strangle him. Frantically searching his flight suit, he located a knife and began to cut through the lines. Unfortunately, the cloth of his gloves made it impossible for him to do much, so he tugged them off and reached for the blade. His lungs were screaming for him to take a breath as nitrogen started prevailing in his veins. 'Don't breathe in. . . hurry up, but don't breathe in!' He heard himself say mentally, coaxing himself to be set free. But the urge to take in some sort of breath was overwhelming him. His head felt like lead and just when he was about to give up, the knife sliced through the lines. Inflating his life raft and holding on to it for dear life, he floated upwards.

Harm took a deep, screaming breath when he reached the surface, gave a quick nod of thanks to God and proceeded into survival mode. The waves were rough, rougher than he'd ever seen or maybe it just felt that way because he was in the middle of it all, unsheltered. To top things off, his raft was floating away. He tried to tug the line that should have been attached to him, but found the line to have been cut along with the shroud lines from the shoot. Cursing mentally, he kicked as hard as he could, reached the raft and managed to sit up on top of it, giving him a moment to calm down and catch his breath. Suddenly, out of no where, he got hit with the realization that he was not flying with someone trained in surviving this sort of ordeal. Worse of all, the woman he was in love with was somewhere out in the middle of the ocean with him. Panicking, he looked around, seeing nothing but choppy gray and the occasional lightening bolt that would illuminate the skies. "MAAAAAAAC!" He yelled over the noise, knowing that she probably would never hear him, but trying it anyway. At the rate that they were falling and the fact that he ejected so late, they could be miles apart. "MAAAAAAAAAAC! WHERE ARE YOU?!" He was so concerned with Mac's whereabouts, that he didn't see a massive wave coming towards him. The moment it hit, it was too late for him to hang on to the raft. The water swept over him, sliding him off the raft and into the cold water.