Disclaimer: JAG is the property of Donald P. Bellisario, Paramount Pictures, CBS Television and Belisarius Productions. I hope I spelled all of that stuff right.

Author's Note: Thanks to everyone for reviewing! I was soo nervous about this, but your reviews have quelled the anxiety. Thanks again to jagchick105 for you input! It helped a great deal! You rock! As a side note, I will also start posting every Friday. :)

"Unfinished Business"

by e-dog

Chapter Four: Spirits Among Us

Manderlee

October 3, 2014

Mac watched the young woman in front of her and saw she was frozen with shock. She cringed as she knew this was borderline between scary and freaky or it could quite possibly be both. Hopefully, Mattie would snap out of it and talk back. She continued to wait for a response, but it took way too long and Mac was being slightly impatient, so she typed another sentence.

Mattie...you with me?

Mattie stared blankly at the screen, her breaths becoming short and rapid. "This can't be real...."

She waved her hand over the keyboard but couldn't feel anything. Nothing was there. She slowly looked around, but still saw no one. If there was no one here, who the hell was typing? She backed up in her chair away from her desk, intending on standing up and walking away slowly. She was going to walk away and pretend it never happened. Then she heard frantic typing.

No Mattie, don't leave. Please, we have to talk. Don't

That was enough! She screamed, jumped up out of her chair and ran out of the her bedroom faster than Mac had seen any human run before! Mac uttered a heavy sigh and raced out of the room after Mattie. So much for trying not to scare her, but what other choice did she have? She was beginning to understand Harm's logic behind starting the car and surprising Jason. They were ghosts; it was the only way they were going to ever make contact. Once downstairs, she spotted Mattie talking extremely fast to Jenn, who wasn't listening at all. Someone was at the door.

"Wait, Mattie, just let me get the door first!" Jenn tried to say to her in between her rambling and squeaking. She opened the door and to Mac's surprise, it was the Robert's family! Jenn smiled and waved them in, "C'mon in, everyone. Jason is upstairs, but he'll be down soon."

"Oh, Jennifer!" Harriet gushed and placed a hand over her heart. "You really made this place shine!"

Bud walked in behind her and was followed by two young boys and two smaller children. He leaned over to Jenn and tried to ask discreetly, "Have you and Mattie been okay....living here?"

Jenn forced a weak smile and nodded, "Yeah. So far, we've been okay. After we found out what happened and learned the truth, we just had to buy the house. We also understood that Clay was never coming back to keep the place. Unlike, our former CIA acquaintance, we're not willing to let their memory fade away."

Bud approved of her answer and wrapped his arm around Harriet's shoulders. Harriet's golden hair now had small traces of grey, making her look slightly older. However, the last ten years had been good to her. Bud, on the other hand, had been a mix of dark and light hairs long before and his head was now a full head of grey. Even still, it appeared his personality was still intact and that pleased Mac. Harriet too, was still very bubbly and all smiles. She was happy to see her friends didn't change much even after what had happened.

Mac studied the four kids now. One was taller then Bud and reminded her of Mikey. She smiled sadly as she realized it was Little AJ, her godson. Well, he definitely wasn't little anymore. He was a tall young man, surprisingly slender and had to be 15 years old by now. Another boy, who was almost Harriet's height and build was right behind him. She assumed this was Jimmy. Both of the young boys looked like their father. The other children she was never given the opportunity to meet, but she knew they were the twins Harriet had been carrying before leaving JAG. They were both girls and very cute ones at that! It seemed as though Harriet didn't mind dressing them up to look alike either for they both wore blue jeans and red tops. Both had blond hair pulled up into ponytails and both wore the same sneakers. While an outsider probably thought it was cute, Mac was sure the girls wanted their own identity.

Jason came down the stairs, hair freshly slicked back from his shower. The twins immediately brightened up and squealed, "Jason!"

"Katie, Erin!" he almost squealed back at them. Then he put on a face of mock bewilderment and questioned, "Or is it Erin and Katie? I always mix you two up..."

"You know who we are, Jason!" they said simultaneously. "Stop playing around!"

He scooped the girls up and they giggled and kicked as he carried them into the family room for a pillow fight.

While Jenn showed Bud and Harriet the kitchen, a very antsy Mattie waited impatiently. Little AJ approached her and smiled shyly, "Hey, Mattie."

"Hi, Little AJ," she said back, with no smile and shakiness in her voice. He looked at her curious, intrigued by her jumpy behavior but shrugged it off.

"Just AJ. Not Little AJ," the young boy pushed and put on his classic annoyed face. "I'm not little anymore, okay?"

"I'm sorry, Little AJ, but I'm 26 years old and I'm still treated like a teenager around here, so deal with it," Mattie complained, mostly referring to the fact that Jenn was and had been ignoring her. Mattie went back into the kitchen to try and again tell Jenn what had happened on her computer.

"Would you rather she call you Albert Jethro?" Jimmy teased and just like that, AJ pounced on his little brother enraged. It appeared the sibling rivalry was still there as well and AJ wasn't going to let Jimmy get away with saying something like that! They dashed past Mac and into the family room, chasing each other. Mac laughed at the memory, when Bud and Harriet had announced they would name their son after the Admiral only to be surprised by what his initials really stood for. And just as Mac thought of how Bud came up with Jimmy's name....

"You're dead, Captain Kirk!" AJ shouted back and pushed him into the couch. Mac watched on with unhappy eyes, wishing she had gotten to know the boys better. Everyone had grown up and changed so much. It was still hard to understand why she had died. There was still so much for her to see and take part in! Harriet finally rushed in from the kitchen in reaction to the ruckus and she was obviously not happy with her sons' behavior.

"Jimmy! AJ! Stop it this instant!" Harriet ordered, her military training still in full force. Her voice was so loud and powerful Mac began to wonder if Harriet maybe had a Commanding Officer position somewhere. AJ hit his brother one last time, before the boys finally calmed down and stopped fighting. Harriet motioned for them to come into the kitchen and she gave each a light warning smack on the back of their heads, "You two will be the death of me..."

Mac watched them leave and wanted to follow. She wanted to listen in on their conversations and try to catch up, but she felt Harm had the right to know what had happened with Mattie. She had to apologize for yelling at him. It took her mere minutes to reach him. He had seen her coming and he turned away so he wouldn't have to look at her. She came to rest next to him on the sand. He was purposely not talking to her so she was going have to be the first to speak, "Harm? There's something I have to tell you..."

"I thought I said I wanted to be alone, Mac?" Harm snapped. "Seeing how I'm stuck with you for all eternity, you would think I could spend at least ten minutes to myself without you joined to my hip."

Mac felt something crumble inside her at those words. Yes, she admitted she had been awful and shouldn't have yelled at him, but did she deserve that? She looked away from him and tried to concentrate on something else, resisting the urge to cry. Harm stole a quick glance at her, regretting the words as soon as he said them. He wasn't really mad at her, he was just frustrated with everything else. He reached his hand over and tried to apologize, "Mac, I didn't mean it like that. I just..."

"You didn't mean it?" she repeated, trying to hold her composure and moving away out of Harm's reach. "Harm, you said it and you meant it. You can't take it back." She rose from the sand and started to head back to the house. She paused for a moment and told him, "I almost forgot to tell you, Bud and Harriet are here with all of their children. I think they are here for dinner."

"Mac..." Harm called after her.

"No, Harm, I want to leave you alone. I don't want to make you feel like we're joined at the hip," she said, using his words on him and sounding very hurt. She was gone before Harm could say anything else.

He covered his face with his hands and groaned inwardly. "Damn it. Just when you think there's nothing worse than death..."

"Ouch, mate. That was just wrong. No wonder you two never shacked up when you were alive."

"Is that all you do? Eavesdrop and ridicule?" Harm rolled his eyes as Simon made himself visible, sitting next to Harm on the sand. Harm didn't wait for an answer and decided to go inside and find Mac. Simon continued to just sit there and saw that the sun was preparing to set. He smiled wickedly, pleased to see that night was coming. Things were so much scarier at night.

He stretched out in the sand and began to hum a familiar song. His deep, chilling vocals became strong and carried across the waves in the water. Mac had been inside, enjoying the sight of her friends laughing and eating dinner, then she heard those dark chords pass through the walls. She noticed that her colleagues couldn't hear it, despite how loud it was becoming with each passing measure. It came slowly, but she finally recognized the tune.

When Simon got to his favorite part he made the words loud and clear, "But the swagman, he up and he jumped in the waterhole. Drowning himself by the Coolabah tree. And his ghost may be heard as it sings in the Billabong, who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?"

Harm was on the porch, listening to Simon's voice carry over the house as well. The song was quite innocuous; simply a song some people chose to sing around Halloween. It even reminded him of the time when Mic Brumby had left for Australia and the JAG crew sang it as their way of saying goodbye and good luck. Then, the song was more lively. However, hearing it now, it was quite different. The words were being sung by a tormented and furious ghost and he made the words fall flat and feel lifeless.

"Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?" Simon finished the song there and as far as Harm could tell, he had disappeared to wherever it was he liked to hide. For the first time, that ominous chill Harm felt every time Simon came around was very pronounced. The air became heavy all around him. Then just as quickly, the breeze picked up and washed through his vaporous body. In fact, it almost literally blew him off the porch. Harm slipped into the house to escape that awful feeling, but even after getting inside, it was still there.

Mac slowly came up behind him and asked, "Do you feel that?"

Harm turned to look at her and nodded yes. He then focused his attention on his friends. For a long time, Harm knew Simon's spirit had been evil, but now he felt there was true danger. The question was, when would Simon finally strike?

One hour later....

"Mattie, please," Jenn pleaded with her. "Can't this wait until after Bud and Harriet leave?"

"No, Jenn, I know what I saw! The letters are still on my screen!" Mattie insisted. "What happened to the Jenn I used to know?"

"She finally grew up and got married and bought a house!" Jenn informed her and sighed deeply. "I know Harm and Mac mean a lot to you. They mean a lot to me too, but it's been ten years! We bought the house to remember them by, but at some point we have to move on with our lives, okay?"

"I bet Jason would believe me...," Mattie huffed and stormed out of the kitchen. Jenn folded her arms across her chest feeling as if she were totally in the wrong even though her mind was telling her she had to be right! She was right....right? It was one thing for Jason to claim his car was started by a ghost, but now that Mattie had mentioned strange phenomenon too, it was beginning to make her wonder if they were the ones actually telling the truth.

Mattie found Little AJ sitting on the floor watching the television. She pulled on his arm and yanked him up off the floor.

"Hey!" he protested. "I was watching TV!"

She pulled him aside and whispered, "What do you know about ghosts?"

"Ghosts? Mattie, I'm trying to grow up and not follow in my dad's weirdo, sci-fi footsteps!" AJ whined. She gave him an insistent death stare and he folded quickly. "I dunno, most ghosts stay around because of something that happened when they were alive."

"What kinds of things?" Mattie pushed. "Please, AJ, this is important..."

He rolled his eyes, "Some seek revenge. Other's weren't buried properly or were never buried at all."

"Maybe it's revenge, but they were given a proper burial...," Mattie thought out loud. She shook her head and asked, "Any other reasons?"

"Uh, maybe they need to tell you something or finish something that was never completed," AJ continued, then paused and looked at her curiously. "Why do you need to know all of this?"

"I think I encountered....a ghost...thingy," Mattie said quietly to which AJ laughed loudly. She hit him and hissed, "Stop laughing! I'm serious. I think it was Mac!"

At this, he stopped laughing and his eyes grew large. He gulped and squeaked, "Aunty Mac?"

Mattie nodded and dragged him up the stairs to her room. She showed him the computer. He asked her repeatedly if she was positive Mac typed it. Mattie insisted no one else was in the room and that it had to be a ghost. AJ shook his head in the negative, "If this is true, we're not dealing with a ghost of Mac."

"We're not?" Mattie asked, feeling slightly confused. "Then what?"

"It's her spirit," AJ told her, feeling strangely excited. An actual spirit! He just couldn't believe it!

"There's a difference?" Mattie chuckled. "I mean, doesn't that mean they're dead either way?"

"Well, yeah, but ghosts are more like holograms," AJ explained, starting to sound like his usual self. When he was little, all he could talk about was Uncle Harm this and airplanes that. He even talked about joining the Navy at the young age of 10. However, pieces of Bud and his love of the sci-fi world started to effect Little AJ's life. After he tired of aliens and Star Trek, he found a new hobby. Studying ghosts. He was suddenly an expert on everything and anything paranormal. Whatever he said, Mattie took as the truth.

He paced the room and quickly spouted off the difference between ghosts and spirits, "Ghosts usually don't speak nor do they pay much attention to the living. They usually show up at the same time, on the same day, making the same motions. A spirit, on the other hand, still has all their mental and emotional facilities intact. They still can retain memory and interact with other living beings. They can most likely move objects, fly around, and in some cases communicate verbally. In other words, if Aunty...I mean, if Aunt Mac were here in this room typing on this computer, she's still maintaining a full existence...as if she were still alive!"

"Impressive," Harm commented with a grin and Mac playfully hit him on the shoulder without saying anything. He glanced at her, hoping they were okay. He tried apologizing again for what he said on the beach, but she either ignored him or pretended that it didn't happen. He sighed and returned his thoughts to AJ's explanation of their existence. They were, of course, intentionally listening in and what the young man said was making total sense to them. It explained why they merely existed and could remember everything from their previous lives and still retain memories from the past ten years as well. It also explained Simon's weird behavior, only showing up once a year to request the same thing over and over again. There was one thing that couldn't be explained: if Simon was behaving as a ghost in the beginning, what made him a spirit now?

"So, how can you tell when she's around?" Mattie asked AJ, her eyes darting around.

He shrugged, "I dunno. Maybe we just call her or get an Ouija board. I have a board, but it's not here. Although, the Ouija board is a very powerful tool and can be quite dangerous. It's said that..."

"Okay, stop while you're ahead," Mattie covered his mouth with her hand. She had all the information she needed now and wanted to hear nothing more about black magic. "Let's just be thankful we don't have an Ouija board. Jenn already thinks I'm weird enough..."

"An Ouija board?" Harriet repeated, sounding displeased with the topic of discussion. "AJ, I thought we talked about all this ghost nonsense? What happened to flying F-16s and growing up to be like Uncle Harm?"

Little AJ just remained silent at the sound of Harm's name and was looking embarrassed he was caught talking about anything phantasmal again. Mattie was aware he was trying to "grow up", so she knew he was going to start talking about football or something to feel more "manly". She took it upon herself to take the blame, "I'm sorry, Harriet. I asked him about it and pushed for answers. I know how you don't like that stuff."

Harriet gave a small smile anyway, "It's okay, Mattie. It's just I never know where his interests are anymore. One day he's talking about sports, the next he's back to the vampires and werewolves!"

"Mom!" AJ whined and stomped his foot. "Enough already!"

"Well, grab your coat, it's time to go," Harriet told him and left the room.

Mattie looked at him and he was clearly disappointed. She patted his shoulder and suggested, "Try coming back for Halloween. I'll convince Jenn to throw a costume party and while everyone else is busy, we'll look for Mac."

His face brightened up at this suggestion and he agreed. Little AJ then looked around the room timidly and asked, "You will be there for the party, right Aunt Mac?"

The two of them were met with silence and Mattie watched her keyboard to see if Mac would respond, but there was nothing. After a few minutes passed and Harriet called for AJ again, they gave up on waiting for an answer. Mattie sighed and apologized, "I'm sorry, AJ. Maybe I was hallucinating."

"I still believe you, Mattie," he said as they walked out and down the stairs together. "Maybe she's not in the house right now or something. We'll find out for sure on Halloween."

"Really?" Mattie asked, feeling better she wasn't the only one who now believed in ghosts and spirits.

"Yeah," AJ smiled. "I have some very effective tools we could use to contact the dead!"

"Oh boy," she said sarcastically and couldn't resist in rolling her eyes as well. "I can't wait!"

"Me either!" he gushed, not aware of her sarcasm and grabbed his coat. After the goodbyes were done, Mattie went back in her room and sat down finally ready to do some homework. She looked up and her heart skipped a beat. A part of her was still very scared, but after talking it over with AJ, another part of her was taking this quite well. New words had been typed on the screen and she smiled nervously as she read them.

I wouldn't miss it for the world. And I'll bring Harm too. :)

"Harm?" she whispered. Harm was a ghost too? Mattie sat back in her chair, amused Mac put up a smiley face after that phrase. Like, Harm was in the doghouse or something and she was "letting" him tag along. She clamped her eyes shut and rubbed them very tired and confused. "C'mon, Mattie! What are you thinking?"

She looked around the empty, silent room. For some strange reason, she felt them. Her mind kept screaming at her, "If you can't see it then don't believe it!" Even still, her heart could feel them in the room with her. She shook her head in disbelief then called out to them, "You do know this is freaky, right?"

To be continued...