Disclaimer: JAG belongs to DPB, Paramount, CBS et al. This is for fun, no copyright infringement is intended.


August 2007, Friday

- Parking lot of JAG headquarters, later

"All right." Mac headed for her car, juggling her full briefcase, a handbag and the keys. "I'll drive to my apartment, pack a few things and..."

"What happened to the Marine who always had a bag in her car?" Harm cocked an eyebrow.

"I still always have a bag in my car," retorted Mac slightly irritated.

Harm smirked and opened the passenger door of his corvette. Mac looked at him.

"Harm..."

"Humor me."

Mac huffed but took the bag out of the trunk of her car and walked up to him.

"Why are you doing this?"

Harm shrugged. "Old habit?"

"I will not stay at your apartment."

"Your decision."

"This is ridiculous."

"Maybe."

Muttering darkly Mac got into the car. Harm closed the door, shook his head and slipped quickly behind the steering wheel. They left the parking lot.

"Slow down, I've got to think about where I'm going," ordered Mac.

"We could ask Sturgis."

"No. I'm judge in a case he's prosecuting for heaven's sake!"

"Bud and Harriet?"

"Harm, first you insist that it's too dangerous for me and then you suggest dragging them and the kids into this? Besides, I will not drive all the way up to Canada just for this weekend."

"Well, you could take a plane but you're probably right."

"You know damn well that I'm right. And don't even try and suggest Coates."

"I'm sure Jennifer wouldn't mind helping."

"Jennifer maybe not but her husband. Newly-weds can be a bit strange about things like that. No, I've got to think of something else..." Mac's cell phone rang and interrupted her. "Hello? Chloe! What -? What? Chloe ... Chloe slow down. Slow down, I can't understand a single word!"

Harm stopped at a crossing, looked left, right and hesitated. His gaze flickered over to Mac. She pressed her cell to one ear and a hand to the other and listened with forced concentration to her "little sister's" newest relationship crisis. Involuntarily he chewed on his lip. Then he turned abruptly to the right. Glancing at his passenger again he speeded up a bit more. Mac kept talking and listening, ignoring her surroundings. Harm took some more turns, nearly got lost once but recognized the right road in time. It had really been a while since his last visit here. Mac was trying to persuade Chloe that one day without a call from her boyfriend wasn't the end of the world even if the boy was the sweetest, nicest and most handsome guy of her high school and "that Penny Parker" was having an eye on him. He started counting the gates.

"... maybe his father has taken him for a short trip or something. Yes. Yes, I do believe that. Yes. Love you too. Bye." Sighing Mac finally put the cell down and shoved it back into her handbag. She looked up and around. "Sorry, Harm, I really don't know...," she trailed off and her eyes widened. "What? W-Where -? H-Harm?"

"The perfect place. Secured, safe and probably with dogs in the garden."

Harm pulled up at the gate and rung the bell. A security camera was watching them. Thank God Mac was speechless for once and just sputtered. It gave him time to call "Commander Harmon Rabb for Mister Webb" into the intercom.

"No. No! Harm, you can't... I can't... Stop! Stop!"

Driving a little bit faster than appropriate towards the house Harm held the steering wheel tighter. He kept his eyes straight ahead.

"This is really the best solution, you must see that. Knowing Webb he's got a security system like Fort Knox. Besides, he agrees with me that the sealed file is highly suspicious."

"But I can't - we can't... Agrees? Agrees? You've talked with Clay about... You talked with CLAY?"

"He's checking out his sources."

"You - you - you-" Mac slammed her hand against the dashboard. "You - WHAT? I can't believe this! What have you been thinking?"

Harm stopped in front of the stairway to the entrance and got out. Looking up he found an older version of the man who had let him in eight years ago standing in the door. The man's face was like made of stone. Sighing he walked around his car and opened the passenger's door.

"Mac, please."

Mac practically clung to the dashboard and shook her head violently. Heat colored her cheeks.

"I can't. I c-can't. I can't ask this," she whispered. "What must this look like? What must I look like...?"

Oblivious to the arguing couple a dog jogged across the lawn and over the driveway, climbing up the stairs.

"Mac... Someone is threatening you life and you think about-"

"Dammit?"

"Oh, yes, maybe, damn it!" Harm exploded. "Get killed if you are that stubborn! Get-"

"No, no, I mean: Dammit?"

"Huh?" Harm turned just in time to see the dog slip past the butler's legs into the house. He blinked. "Was that...?"

"Looked like it." Mac swung her legs out of the car.

They exchanged a disbelieving glance. Chegwidden's dog ... in Webb's house?

Lifting his shoulders an inch Harm started up the steps and Mac followed. The man in the entrance awaited them with a slight frown on his face. Mac immediately blushed again. She really didn't know what to expect from the old, loyal Webb employee, considering. She didn't know how SHE would treat her if positions were reversed.

"Harrison," she greeted hesitantly.

"Colonel Mackenzie, Commander..." Harrison's gaze swept the driveway. "Someone is threatening your life?"

"Yeah, she's managed to attract the attention of a stalker. Again," muttered Harm and rolled his eyes.

Mac spun around; her embarrassment of being here instantly forgotten.

"What did you just say?"

"Uhm..." A little bit late Harm bit his tongue.

"So now it's my fault again? Well, that's just typically you! Mister I'm-so-infallible! All right, let's talk about Clark Palmer then! Or would you prefer Theodore Lindsey?"

"Mac, I didn't mean to-"

"No, you didn't mean to! You never mean to! That's exactly the problem, Harm, you NEVER mean to!" Mac screamed angrily and wiped tears from her eyes. Too many things had happened today, putting her nerves on edge. With rising panic she felt a sob well up in her throat.

"I - ah - go and inform Mister Webb that you are here," Harrison announced and turned. But not without giving them a strange look.

The silence in the hallway was heavy. Mac brushed a hand over her face. Now more angry with herself that she had allowed the tears to show than with her former husband. Taking a calming breath she looked around to distract herself. The only time she had been here she hadn't paid much attention - she had really had other things on her mind. But she was sure the elevator attached to the rail up the stairs hadn't been there. Porter Webb seemed to have become more fragile with the years.

Harm noticed the direction of her look and jumped. He suddenly realized that he had forgotten to mention a small but important detail. But well, what could he say? Mac still managed to ... confuse him.

"Uhm, Mac, there's something I should tell..."

Just this moment the dog reappeared from somewhere in the house, licking its mouth and sprinkling drops of water on the floor. It considered them with a look that could be only described as mildly uninterested politeness and wagged its tail twice. This time there was no doubt that it was really Dammit, the dog of Harm and Mac's former superior. She trotted off in the same direction as Harrison.

"What the heck is going on here?" Harm asked no one in particular.

"Good question," replied Mac. "Let's find out."

They followed the dog. Looking at each other they accelerated their steps as a familiar voice drifted out of a door Harrison had just opened.

"... all right, one more. Come on, one more. Yes, come on, you can do it..."

They stopped in the doorway. Harrison sensed their presence behind him and turned in surprise, unintentionally clearing their view as he did. They stood stunned, staring into a room that was equipped like a small gym. Big windows overlooked the rear garden.

"Ah, Mac," Harm started once more, "What I wanted to tell you was..."

Webb was doing slow pull-ups at a bar - his eyes closed from the effort to lift his body only with the strength of his arms and shoulders - and just brought his chin over the metal. Admiral AJ Chegwidden, retired, former SEAL, former Judge Advocate General, stood in front of him ready to assist if necessary. His still broad back was to the door as he encouraged the younger man to go on.

"Good, Clayton, good. And down again."

Webb grimaced, started to lower his body then blinked. His eyes fell on the group at the door and widened in shock. Involuntarily his grip slipped.

"Whoa!" Chegwidden quickly wrapped his arms around Webb's waist. "Whoa. I've got you. It's all right." He felt the other man tremble as he eased him down into the wheelchair. "Hey, it's OK, you should have told me that you..." Then he saw Webb's face. He spun around. And for the first time his body wasn't blocking the view.

Mac cried out and clapped her hands over her mouth. Any color drained from her face.

"... that Webb has had an accident," Harm finished rather late into the sudden silence.

If looks could kill he would have been dead already. The heat of Webb's glare made the temperature outside almost chilly. Then the former spy grabbed abruptly into the wheels, opened the brakes and turned away.

"It - it's an emergency," Harm added contritely.

Chegwidden's eyes wandered back and forth between the door and the man in the wheelchair - running shaking fingers through his hair - and heaved a sigh. Grabbing a towel he threw it into Webb's lap then crossed his arms in a well known gesture.

"Colonel, sit down before you'll faint on us. Commander, I suggest you explain."

"Yes, sir. Of course, sir." Involuntarily Harm relapsed into old habits as he hastily obeyed the order and related the events of the day, including their search for a safe place to stay for Mac. At this point he risked a nervous look at her but she was still too shocked for her usual sharp comments. In fact she seemed more confused than he had ever seen her and hadn't said a single word since she had practically fallen on the next chair.

"Wait a minute, when did this thing with the letters start?" Chegwidden frowned and glanced critically at Webb who was still looking in the other direction. The sudden tension in his shoulders didn't escape AJ's attention but he said nothing. Instead he listened carefully as Harm repeated most of what he had told Webb yesterday then asked some quick questions - proving that his retirement had impaired neither his ability to cut down to the point nor his knowledge of JAG's internal ways.

"So the investigation is up now. Good, it's always difficult to decide how to handle this kind of threat best," he stated at last. Once more he looked at the man in the wheelchair. "Any results so far, Webb?"

The former spy shook his head.

"Well, uhm, yes, and that's why I thought Mac could stay here..." Harm offered an uncomfortable shrug and trailed off.

For the first time Mac lifted her head. She swallowed.

"I-"

"Of course she will stay here for the weekend," Webb interrupted sharply and turned the wheelchair back around. "Anything else is too dangerous. Harrison, please prepare a room."

"But I... Will not Porter have a say in that?" Mac protested half-heartedly.

Dead silence.

"Clay?" She glanced around. Harrison and Chegwidden were looking extremely uncomfortable. "Sir?"

"My mother is in a special facility since she had a stroke last year," Webb explained without any expression in his voice.

Mac inhaled sharply and Harm closed his eyes for a second.

"I'll prepare the room." Harrison not directly turned on his heel but it was close. "Colonel, do you need anything for the night? Clothes, shoes, a toothbrush?"

Webb and Mac started at his words and their eyes met only to dart away immediately.

"I - I've got her bag in my car. I'll get it." Harm tried to hide his relief to get away. Without much success.

Watching his abrupt retreat Mac slowly got back up. Her hands kept unnecessarily smoothing the front of her uniform shirt down. She cleared her throat, gulped, cleared her throat a second time, shuffled her feet.

"I - ah - I guess I'll ... get my briefcase then."

She gestured over her shoulder, nodded to herself, made a step backwards, gestured again, turned and practically run from the room in her haste to follow Harm. No doubt with the intention of doing some serious damage to her former partner.

The former JAG and Webb remained behind. For a long moment none of them spoke. Finally Chegwidden picked up a towel for himself and brushed it across his face then flung it over his shoulder. Turning he crossed his arms again. Webb pretended not to see it, rubbing his fingers and staring blankly into space. AJ pursed his lips.

"Well? Why didn't you tell me that you talked with Rabb yesterday?"

Webb pressed his lips together and avoided his eyes. "I'm actually surprised Harrison didn't inform you. Normally he can't keep his mouth shut around you."

"Lack of time I guess. Don't try to distract me."

"Why didn't you tell me that they got divorced?"

Chegwidden breathed slowly. He took his time to reach for a pot of iced tea standing on a table and pour a glass before he answered.

"Might have had something to do with the fact that you usually nearly bite my head off whenever I mention her?"

Webb grimaced. Then he searched AJ's gaze. "I'm sorry."

Chegwidden sipped his tea. "Water under the bridge, Clay." He smiled lightly. "Now get into some dry clothes before you'll catch a cold."

Webb snorted and rolled his eyes. "Yesss, sssir."

AJ grinned at the rebellious tone and finished off the rest of his tea before he started walking out of the room.

"AJ?" Webb fiddled with the towel. "Why - why don't you stay too for the night instead of going home? That way ... that way you wouldn't have to drive by and drop Dammit off tomorrow."

The former admiral turned in the doorway and looked back. But the younger man's eyes were glued to the towel in his hands. For a moment Chegwidden glanced down the corridor then he nodded gently. His face was unreadable.

"Sure, Clay. No problem."