A/N: I just need to say that snow days and construction delays suck! Between the two my school has 8 days to make up which means school doesn't get out until June 8 (9 for teachers), a full week and ½ after everybody else! (Yes, I'm whining.)

A/N2: I'm assuming that all the victim's from the last chapter were taken to the same hospital. I'm making some major assumption about hospital policies but they seem logical to me.

Harm's hospital room, Baghdad
0725 hours
08/31/2004

The first thing I become aware of as I wake up, is my whole body hurts. The second thing I become aware of is why. I fell asleep in the chair by Harm's bed. Why can't they invent a comfortable hospital chair?

A nurse comes into the room and stops short when she sees me.

"They didn't say anyone was in here with him."

"I didn't want to leave and go back to our hotel." I tell her.

"I guess I can understand that. There's some coffee at the nurse's station if you want a cup. Go ahead, this'll take me a couple of minutes." She smiles, checking on Harm.

"Thanks, that sounds good." I stretch before heading that way.

The coffee's not half bad, much better than the stuff they served at Yel-la. By the time I return with the coffee, Harm's starting to stir.

"Easy there, flyboy." I say, hurrying to his side.

"Mac," he groans.

"Who else would it be? Sturgis?" I laugh.

"What happened?"

"What do you remember?" I ask while gently restraining him from sitting up.

"Meeting the courier at the Embassy and handing off the disks. Let me up, Mac."

"No way, Harm. You've got twenty-seven stitches in your side. Let's move the bed rather than you, okay?"

"Okay, but you still didn't answer my question."

"A suicide bomber blew himself up in front of the hotel. He killed three and injured twelve."
I tell him as calmly as I can.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Harm. I wasn't with you. I found you afterwards and it scared me half to death." I shudder at the memory. I'm not surprised he asked about me though. Harm's always been one to worry about others before himself.

"Come here, Mac." He pulls me close in a hug. I just relax against him until we hear a throat being cleared.

"I see you're feeling better Commander Rabb." The Captain says.

"Well, I don't know about better." Harm responds.

"You're definitely a lot more coherent than you were during the night."

"I'm going to have to take your word for it since I can't remember last night." Harm tells the doctor.

"I'm not surprised. Your IV cocktail included some of our best painkillers." The Captain chuckled.

"I guess that explains it." I interjected. I really was a little worried about the fact that Harm couldn't remember last night.

"Trust me it does." The Captain reassured me with a smile.

"So how long until I can get out of here?" Harm asks.

"Shouldn't be more than a day or two but I don't want you back at work right away."

"I'm not here on vacation." Harm interrupts.

"I didn't think you were, Commander, but you're still going to need some downtime until those stitches can be removed in a week or so."

"Sorry, Captain. I just want to get home." Harm mutters.

"Don't we all. Breakfast should be here in a little bit, followed by a nurse with your medicine."

"What medicine?" Harm asks.

"Just an antibiotic and a mild painkiller for now." The Captain responds.

"What do you mean for now?" Harm and I ask simultaneously.

"We may need to add some other medications but we're waiting for some test results first.

"Tests for what?" Harm asks.

"In an attack like this everyone's blood gets everywhere. Standard procedure is to run HIV tests on everyone, start medication if needed. The tests should be done by 0900." The Captain tells us.

"So, are you saying I could have been infected with AIDS?" Harm asks.

"No, what I'm saying is we run these tests just as a precaution. In the year I've been here, I've treated several victims of terrorist bombings and never had HIV be a problem. It's a policy we adopted from the Israelis. They've had this happen before, comma and have a lot more experience dealing with these kinds of attacks and their aftermath. Please try not to worry about it until we get the test results back, it really is just a precaution.

"Then why did you tell us about the tests?" I ask in a very unsteady voice.

"Honestly? Because I forgot I'm dealing with two lawyers who would pick up and jump on the littlest things. You'd think I'd know better."

"Why's that?" I'm starting to relax a bit.

"Both my mom and dad are lawyers, and so is my wife."

"You're right, you should have known better." I laugh and Harm joins in. I think we're both feeling better about what we've been told. I'm still terrified but I believe the Captain when he says the tests are only a precaution.

"I'll see you later, Commander." With that the Captain leaves and Harm and I are alone.

"You okay, Mac?"

"Honestly? I'm terrified but I trust him."

"Me too." Harm smiles.

"So what else don't I remember about last night?" Harm asks.

"Well, I talked to your Mom and Mattie." I know he's not going to like hearing that.

"Mac!" Sounds like I was right.

"The attack was all over ZNN so it seemed smart to call them." I smile at the look on Harm's face at my comment. He can't argue with my logic but he wants to, I can tell.

"I talked to the Admiral, he's working on getting us shipped home. How about: He insists it would be a conflict of interest for us to prosecute because of our previous involvement with Webb and the CIA."

"I never thought I'd be thankful for the Company!" Harm laughs.

"Me either." I admit.

At this point breakfast arrives. I'm a little startled when two trays are brought in. The surprise must have shown on my face.

"I figured you could also use some breakfast, ma'am." The young nurse tells me.

"Thanks." I smile.

"You're welcome. There's also some ibuprofen on your tray. I know how uncomfortable those chairs are." She tells me before leaving the room.

Harm and I each take the lids off our trays and start to eat.

"This isn't half bad." Harm remarks in the middle of his eggs.

"I know. I can't decide if it's really that good or if the food at Yel-la was just that bad." I respond between mouthfuls.

Harm chuckles at my comment. We continue eating our breakfast and chatting, just trying to kill time until we can find out about those tests.

tbc.

and relax folks, I'm not going to do anything drastic. I promise!