Chapter 5:
Open Hearts
"The human heart at whatever age, opens only to the heart that opens in return."
-Maria Edgeworth
0702 ZULU
17 NOVEMBER 2004
NAVY CAR
ENROUTE TO NORFOLK
Harm glanced over at Mac, concerned by her behavior. They'd been driving for almost three hours, and she had yet to say anything to him past 'Hello, Harm.' He drew in a deep breath, let out and decided to try talking to her. "Mac?" he ventured. "Are you okay?"
He was met with a few more minutes of silence before she said anything. "I guess," she said. Mac picked invisible lint off her skirt. "Harm?" she said finally. "Why are you still around?"
Harm glanced at her and frowned. "What do you mean? I promised I'd be here for you, and I don't break my word."
Mac glanced at him then looked away so quickly that he thought he'd imagined it. She stared at her uniform skirt and continued to pick off invisible lint. "I've been pushing you away since before the whole Singer mess," she began softly. "I've done my best to undermine you, been mean about every case we've tried, flaunted my relationship with Clay because I knew it would hurt you... Why are you still here, Harm?"
Harm looked at her, a terrible hope filled him, but he still couldn't quite bring himself to say the words. "Do you have to ask?" he murmured.
"Yes," she said. "I've known you for nine years, Harmon, and I still don't know how you feel about me. Am I your buddy, your best friend, your sister, or something more? Tell me, Harm!"
Harm drove on for a few minutes, trying to force himself to say it. Somehow it had been much easier to admit how he felt about Mac to Mattie. "I love you, okay?" he said finally. "I've loved you for so damn long that I don't remember what it's like not to love you!"
"I love you, too," Mac whispered.
Harm barely heard her, so he wasn't sure what to think. Now that he'd finally said it, he wanted to shout it from the rooftops. Hell, he'd take out Sarah and sky write "Harmon Rabb Loves Sarah Mackenzie" over Washington if he thought it'd help his cause. It wasn't exactly a secret, anyway. Sometimes he felt that it was tattooed on his forehead for everybody to see.
"What did you say, Sarah?" he asked gently.
"I love you... but I'm not ready," she said slowly. "It's just too soon."
His heart ached at her words as he wondered if there would ever be a time when both of them were ready at the same time. Still, she'd just admitted that she loved him, and it went a long way towards soothing his bruised and battered heart. "Can we be friends again?" he asked wistfully. "It's been a long time since we were best friends and I've missed you."
Harm grimaced as he noticed that she was still picking at imaginary lint. He reached out to still her restless hand, but before he could return his hand to the wheel, Mac grabbed it and laced her fingers through his. "We could rebuild what we had." She suggested, her voice husky with unshed tears. "And maybe work towards something more along the way?"
"I'd like that," he answered. Part of his mind was already planning how to slowly and gently win her over to his side. He wanted to marry her; since he'd met her, he just couldn't see his future without a brown-haired, brown-eyed wife named Sarah Mackenzie. He knew that they were somehow technically married, but a man wanted to ask the lady himself and marry her for real, not because some piece of paper in a bureaucrat's office said it was so.
Mac kissed the back of his hand, and then wrapped her free one around their joined hands. "Good," she said. "I meant what I said, Harm. I never want us to be separated again."
He shot her a flyboy grin. "I'm glad, because you and I being together for the rest of our lives just happens to be something I want to discuss at some later date... when you're ready."
"Whatever happened to friendship first?" Mac asked, a smile hovering around the corners of her mouth.
"Just stating my intentions, Colonel," he said with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "I thought you'd like to know that I don't ever intend to let you walk out of my life again... when you're ready to accept my offer."
"Does that mean I can tell Alicia and any other blonde who comes on to you to back off?" Mac asked, her grin widening.
Harm shot her a mock-shocked look. "And we're only friends?"
"Well, we did say that we're working on something more," Mac reasoned. "And that means that you're taken!"
"As long as you're taken, too, that's fine with me," Harm answered quietly. "And at some future date, I want to go on an exploratory mission to find a certain beautiful Marine's tattoo..."
"Only if you're very, very good." Mac said with a wicked grin.
"What if I'm very, very bad?" Harm asked, leering playfully at her.
"That could work, too," she answered. "But if we start acting differently during the investigation-"
"They'll think we're hiding that we actually did get married three years ago," he finished.
"Part of me wishes that we did," Mac admitted. "It would have saved us a lot of heartache."
"You never would have gone to Paraguay or dated Webb," he said quietly.
"And how would you know that?" she asked.
Harm shot her a dazzling smile. "Because that wouldn't have been a pregnancy suit you were wearing. Even Webb isn't foolhardy enough to take a woman in that condition on an op." His smile got wider. "And as soon as we found out about the endometriosis, not only would I have been there, but we could've tried for another baby to help..."
Mac groaned, freed one hand, and smacked him lightly on the shoulder. "What is this, a plan to keep me barefoot and pregnant?"
Harm gave her another playful leer. "Sure, why not?"
He could see Mac hesitating for a few minutes. "Harm—there's something I haven't told you," she said slowly.
Harm gave her hand a squeeze. "What is it, Sarah?" he asked. "I'm not going anywhere."
She looked down at their joined hands. "The doctors say that there's a less than five percent chance that I'll be able to have a baby," she admitted.
"Then we still have a four percent chance," he said. "We can go the fertility clinic route and try all their options, too. If, at some future date, we decide that we want children and can't have them the natural way, we can always adopt."
"And if that doesn't work?" Mac asked softly.
"Then we have each other... and a teenager that I picked up along the way. We'll-storm that beach when we get to it."
"Thank you, Butch," was Mac's murmured reply.
"Anytime, Sundance." Harm smiled at her, then turned his attention back to the road. They were almost to Norfolk, and he knew that they needed to refocus their attention on the coming investigation. He glanced over at his partner, and watched as she leaned back against the seat. "Butch and Sundance ride again," he whispered.
"Always and forever, Harm," Mac said.
He carefully moved into the correct lane, and got off the freeway. The sooner they got the investigation finished, the sooner they could get back to regaining what they had lost and working out their tangled relationship.
1530 ZULU
17 NOVEMBER 2004
COURTYARD BY MARRIOTT
RALIEGH, NORTH CAROLINA
Meg and Kate pulled into the parking lot in their Navy-issued car. Kate parked it carefully and looked at her partner. "Ready?" she asked dryly.
"Sure anyone here will remember?" Meg asked, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.
Kate raised a delicate eyebrow. "Oh they'll remember," she purred. "I'll make sure of that."
Meg rolled her eyes. "Kate, you don't have to pull that act with me."
Kate gave Meg her most innocent look, which, being who she was, wasn't very. "Me? Try and pull some sort of act?"
Meg just looked at her, and the two women started to laugh. "Okay, okay, I'll behave-unless there's someone in there whose mind I can mess with." Kate grinned and reached for her purse and briefcase.
Meg and Kate got out of the car, pausing as Meg grabbed her own baggage, and hurried up to the door. "Let me handle the questioning, okay?" Meg whispered.
"Unless it's someone that we can use my… talents on, I'm fine with it." Kate answered.
Meg suppressed a smile as they approached the front desk. "Excuse me," she said with a winning smile.
"Yes?" The man behind the desk looked the two of them up and down. "How can I help y'all?"
"I'm Commander Pike, and this is my partner, Lt. Commander Austin, and we're here on a JAG investigation," Kate explained.
"What does JAG want with us?" the young man asked.
"We need to see both your paper and computer records from December 2001," Meg said. "Do you think it would be possible to do that?"
He gulped. "Um, I'll need to ask my manager." He picked up the phone and spoke into it for several minutes.
An older woman came toward the desk a few minutes after that. "Jason said that you needed to ask about some records?" she asked. "I'm the manager, Debbie Carson."
"We're trying to retrace the steps of a couple of our officers on December 18, 2001," Meg explained. "They said that they stopped here, and we just need to confirm that. Would it be possible to see both your paper records and your computer records from that day?"
"Normally, that would require a subpoena," Debbie said slowly. "Do the officers involved know you're here?"
"Yes, ma'am," Meg answered with a smile. "We don't think that they did what they're accused of and now we have to prove it."
"Might I know what they're being investigate for?" Debbie asked.
"Ms. Carson, we can't discuss an ongoing investigation-I'm sure you understand," Kate said.
Debbie nodded, moved behind the desk, and pulled up the file. "December 18, 2001? And who are you looking for?"
"Yes, ma'am. Harmon Rabb and Sarah Mackenzie," Meg supplied.
"Here it is," Debbie turned the screen around to show them. "They got the last suite. In fact it was the last room in the hotel. It says here that they requested extra bedding to make up the couch as well."
"Can we get a copy of that?" Kate asked.
"Sure, honey, no problem." Debbie hit the print button and handed her a copy a few seconds later.
"We also need to see any paper records that you have, and the clerk who checked them in wouldn't still happen to be here, would they, ma'am?" Meg asked.
"With the job market being what it has been after 9/11, yes, he is," Debbie said. "He doesn't come in until noon, though, so y'all will have to wait. His name is Jim." She gave the two Navy lawyers a nervous smile. "If you'll just follow me, I'll take you to the records storage."
They followed her down the lushly carpeted hallway and into a door marked "For Employees Only." She pulled a set of keys out of her pocket, unlocked a nondescript door, and hustled them inside. "The year is written on the boxes and the months are separated," she said. "Now if y'all don't need anything else?"
"This is fine, thanks," Meg said with another smile. Debbie excused herself quietly as Meg and Kate eyed the pile of boxes with dismay.
"Let's hope they're not as dusty as they look," Kate grumbled.
Meg walked over and started examining the boxes. "At least whoever puts these things away is organized," she pointed out. "These two boxes seem to be about 2001."
Kate sighed and helped Meg move the boxes on top of the desired ones until they got to them. After a few minutes of poking around inside, she pulled out a register. "Here's the register they should be in," she said with a sneeze.
Meg took the dusty register as Kate started digging around in her purse for a tissue. "I hate dust," she muttered.
Meg flipped through the register. "Here it is." She frowned and looked closer. "Kate, do you see what I see?"
Kate peered over Meg's shoulder. "Aside from the fact that it says 'Mr. and Mrs. Harmon Rabb,' it's been altered." She said dryly.
Meg's frown deepened. "It doesn't look like they knew what they were doing, either," she said. "And I don't know why they'd alter a hotel register to say that Harm and the Colonel are married, either."
"Why don't we find out if we can borrow it and get out of this dust?" Kate suggested. "We'll find out why later."
Meg nodded. "Sure," she said.
Quickly, they put the files back where they'd been and hurried back to the front desk. It didn't take long to convince Debbie to let them keep the register. They still had a while to wait, so they settled down in the lobby, hoping that their quarry would come to work early.