0105 ZULU
HARM AND MAC'S HOUSE
MCLEAN, VIRGINIA

"Do you get the feeling that Chloe and Martha were claiming to be tired more because they wanted to give us a chance to be alone together and less because they flew in from Hawaii today?" Mac called out to Harm as she turned on the water to fill the tub she was planning to soak in.

"Subtlety never has been Chloe's strong suit," he reminded her. "You know, if we hadn't already set a date for the wedding, she'd probably have sat down with a calendar to find the best date for us to get married."

"True," Mac said, laughing as she stripped off her blouse and tossed it in the general direction of the clothes hamper. She missed the hamper and hit Harm, who had just walked into the bathroom, square in the chest.

"Trying to tell me something, Marine?" he asked with a gleam in his eye.

"Not really," she replied as she stripped off the rest of her clothes while Harm watched her. "Although you're more than welcome to join me. There's still room for two in this tub. At least, I think there is."

"Are you calling yourself fat?" he teased as she tossed her shorts at him.

"No, I don't think I'm fat," she admitted. "At least, not most of the time. Every so often I'll catch myself thinking it, especially when I really want to wear something that doesn't fit anymore." She was silent for a moment, then asked quietly, "Do you think I'm fat?"

"Sarah, have I ever given you any reason to believe that I think that?" he asked.

"That didn't answer the question," she said as she tossed the rest of her clothes in his direction. Harm tossed the clothes in the hamper and quickly stripped off his own clothes and stepped into the tub. Mac joined him, settling between his legs as he pulled her back against his chest.

"Do you need to hear me say it?" he asked. "Then I will. I think pregnancy looks very beautiful on you. Call it a male ego thing if you'd like, but I think there is something very appealing about watching you grow large carrying my children. Anyway, I didn't fall in love with you because you had – what did Webb say? – a twenty-four inch waist."

Mac smiled at that. "You know, I never did kill Webb for announcing my measurements in front of you and the Admiral," she joked. "Seriously, let's just forget about this conversation and chalk it up to hormones or something."

"Is that a smile I see on your face?" he teased as he ran his hands over her belly.

"You're getting really good at that," she commented, "saying just the right thing to make me feel better."

"Good," he replied. "Because happy mom means happy babies. I'm sure I read that somewhere. How does your back feel? You were commenting on that earlier."

"The pillow at my back while sitting on the couch helped," she said. "My shoulders are a little stiff though from hunching over my desk most of the day."

"Lean forward," Harm instructed her as he placed his hands on her shoulders and began to kneed them. "Better?"

"Much," Mac replied. His fingers hit a particularly sore spot. "Oh, right there. That feels so good."

"You are a little tense," he said. "Maybe we should make this a nightly routine."

"A nightly massage?" she said with a grin. "Do that and I'll love you forever. But I get to give you massages in return."

"I can live with that," he replied as his hands moved over her upper arms.

-----

After their bath, they lay together in bed, Mac stretched out on her side beside him, her arm thrown over his chest, her head resting on his shoulder. "I wish you didn't have to leave in the morning," she said quietly.

"I wish I didn't either," he replied, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and pulling her closer to him, his other hand resting on her belly. "Especially since you have a doctor's appointment on Wednesday."

"I'll call you," she promised, "let you know how it went."

"As soon as you get out of the doctor's office," he said. "I don't care if I'm in the middle of a meeting with the base commander, you call me. I'm sorry I can't be there with you this time."

"I was thinking of calling Sydney tomorrow," she revealed. "If she's free, I thought about asking her to accompany me to my appointment. I feel better having someone there with me, especially since I'm having the amnio done. I think if I have another woman - another mother - with me, I won't worry so much about it."

"I feel better if you have someone with you, too," he replied. "I just wish it was going to be me."

"I do, too," she agreed, her eyes drifting closed. "Sometimes I wish we had jobs where we didn't have to worry about going out of town at a moment's notice."

-----

TUESDAY, 22 AUGUST
1320 ZULU
JAG HEADQUARTERS
FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA

Mac and Harriet walked into the bullpen over an hour late, having dropped Harm and Bud off at Andrews Air Force Base before heading to work. Harriet sat down at her desk and Mac headed for her office until Gunny intercepted her.

"Ma'am, the Admiral asked for you to see him as soon as you arrived," Gunny told her as he took her briefcase and cap from her. "I'll put these in your office, Colonel."

"Thank you, Gunny," she replied as she turned for the Admiral's office. She stopped at Tiner's desk in the outer office.

Tiner didn't wait for her to speak before calling the Admiral, "Colonel Mackenzie is here, Admiral."

"Send her in, Tiner," AJ replied.

Mac entered the office to find four other officers, three Navy and one Marine, with the Admiral. She came to attention in front of his desk and said, "Reporting as ordered, Sir."

"Take a seat, Colonel," AJ told her then began the introductions. "Everyone, this is my Chief of Staff, Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Mackenzie. Colonel, this is Commander Allison Krennick, the XO of our JAG office at Pearl; Lieutenant Meg Austin, also from the Pearl office; Lieutenant Commander Kaitlyn Pike, who just transferred out of our office in Okinawa; and Major Jonathan Williams, from the office in San Diego. Colonel, they are going to be handling the prosecution in the Johns and Hodge cases."

"Yes, Sir," Mac replied neutrally. She didn't know any of the lawyers, but she had definitely heard of three of them. Suddenly, a part of her was very glad that Harm had just left town, especially in the case of Krennick. She had a feeling deep down that there was going to be trouble once they saw each other.

"Commander Krennick," AJ said, "anything your team needs, please see the Colonel. She'll make sure you're taken care of. Unfortunately, we are tight on office space, so I'm going to give you conference room two as a temporary office. That will also give you a place to conduct any witness interviews you deem necessary."

"I'd like to spend this morning go over the case files," Allison said, "then start interviewing people this afternoon, as least in the Johns case, since most of the witnesses are here. Colonel, since we don't know anyone here, if someone could draw up an interview schedule, we'd appreciate it."

"Of course," Mac replied. "I'll have Gunny work on that this morning. I should tell you that one of your witnesses has just left for Texas this morning on an investigation and it is unknown when he will return."

"And who would that be, Colonel?" Allison asked.

"Commander Rabb," Mac said.

Allison frowned. "I assume the Commander can be informed that he will need to make himself available upon his return," she said tightly. "I'm sure everyone involved will appreciate these cases going to trial as swiftly as possible."

I'm sure you'd like Harm to make himself available, Mac thought. To Allison, she said, as calmly as possible, "I'm sure he will call in once he arrives in Texas. I'll make sure he's informed."

Kate looked up from a file she was looking over and said, "I see that there are some civilians who are listed as witnesses in the Hodge case. Will there be any problem getting them in here for interviews?"

"Sydney Walden, no problem," Mac said, smiling, "but Clayton Webb might be. He has a job that takes him out of town a lot. I can try to call him and see if he's available."

"I see another witness listed here," Kate continued, "he's military, but there's no duty station listed. Colonel Matthew O'Hara."

AJ jumped in before Mac could reply. "Colonel O'Hara is retired and returned to Kansas two days ago," he said. "I can assure you that his testimony will essentially be the same as mine, Webb's or Rabb's in the Hodge case. His police statement should be in the file."

Kate got the message. "Given that, we may not even need to call Colonel O'Hara as a witness," she said quickly. "I assume he can be contacted if that changes for any reason."

"Yes, he can," AJ replied. "Is there anything else?"

"I don't believe so at the moment, Admiral," Allison replied. "If you have nothing further, then we'll get to work."

"Dismissed," AJ said as everyone rose and came to attention. "Colonel, hang back a moment before you show our guests to the conference room."

After everyone else had left the office, Mac said, "Thank you, Sir."

"Don't worry about it, Colonel," AJ replied. "I assumed discussing your uncle's situation with complete strangers would be a little uncomfortable. I take it from what you said earlier that Rabb is planning to call in once he arrives?"

"Yes, Sir," she said. "I'll let him know about the interview request."

"Good," AJ said. "I'm sure he'll appreciate the heads up about Krennick."

"Sir?" Mac was confused and a bit wary. Surely the Admiral didn't know about Krennick's unwanted advances towards Harm. The Admiral was hardly one to tolerate sexual harassment in his command, even if no complaint was made.

"Let's just say they tended to clash," AJ told her, "especially on the last case they worked together before Allison transferred out of JAG headquarters."

Mac thought for a moment. She wasn't sure, but she believed that last case had been the investigation into Diane's death. Saying that they had clashed on that case was a major understatement. "I'm sure he will do everything possible to cooperate with the case despite that," she said. "Commander Krennick was correct when she said everyone would appreciate these cases being resolved as quickly as possible."

"Agreed. Dismissed," AJ said.

Mac came to attention for a moment before leaving the office to find everyone waiting for her. "Is there anything else you need before I show you to the conference room?" she asked.

"We could use some supplies," Allison said, "pens, legal pads and coffee."

"Tiner can get you any supplies you need," Mac replied with a nod towards the yeoman. "As for coffee, we'll pass the kitchen on the way to the conference room. There are extra mugs in the cabinets and you can help yourselves to the coffee. We only ask that if you empty the pot, you put a new one on."

After getting everyone settled in the conference room and promising to return with an interview schedule, Mac breathed a sigh of relief as she headed back to her office. Meg Austin and Kate Pike seemed like nice enough people and Harm had spoken highly of them, but Mac would just as soon stay as far away from Krennick as possible. She sure didn't need the stress.

-----

1530 ZULU
JAG HEADQUARTERS
FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA

After spending two hours pouring over the case files, Allison had reluctantly suggested they break for lunch. While everyone headed off in different directions, she headed for the file room, determined to confirm the thought nagging at the back of her mind ever since she had first seen Colonel Mackenzie.

As she entered the room, a Petty Officer walked up to her and asked, "May I help you, Commander?"

"Yes," Allison replied. "I'm looking for a case from May 1996. It would have been opened around the third week of the month."

"This way, Ma'am," the Petty Officer said as she led Allison to the correct aisle. "Name of the subject?"

"It was an investigation into the murder of Lieutenant Diane Schonke of the USS Sea Hawk," Allison replied as the Petty Officer looked at the boxes holding the files from May 1996. Pulling a box off the shelf, she searched through it and pulled out a file, handing it to Allison.

"Here you go, Ma'am," she said. "Would you like to check the file out or just look at it here?"

"I'll just look at it here," Allison said as she headed towards one of the desks at the center of the room. Just as she was about to sit down, she saw Meg and Kate enter the file room. Turning quickly before they saw her, she headed for a desk towards the back of the room where she could have some privacy. Sitting down, she opened the file and noticed right on top an addendum to the file, added in April 1998. "So the XO killed Lieutenant Schonke," she murmured as she read the report detailing the discovery of the murderer nearly two years after the fact.

Coming to the end of the addendum, she noted the names at the bottom. "The addendum was signed off on by Commander Rabb, Major Mackenzie and Lieutenant Roberts," she said to herself. So Mackenzie is familiar with the case, she thought as she flipped through the rest of the file, looking for the crime scene photos. Finding them at the bottom of the file, she stared for a long moment at the top photo, taken of Diane before she had been removed from her car.

She was right. The uniforms might be different, but the face was the same. These women didn't just bear a resemblance to each other. Lieutenant Diane Schonke and Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Mackenzie were dead ringers for each other.

-----

Mac rubbed her temples, trying to fight off the headache she felt coming on. Try not to think about it, she told herself. Try not to think about the cases, Krennick or the fact that Harm is gone. "Easier said than done," she muttered as her phone rang. Picking it up, she said shortly, "Colonel Mackenzie."

"Sounds like someone could use some cheering up," Harm said. "Bad morning?"

Mac took a deep breath. "Sorry," she said, "but your call is the bright spot of the morning."

"That bad?" he replied. "What's going on?"

"Hold on a minute," she told him, setting the phone down and getting up to close her office door. She didn't want anyone to overhear this conversation, even by accident.

Picking up the phone again as she sat back down, she said, "Sorry. I've got something to tell you and didn't want anyone to overhear. The lawyers who are going to handle the Johns and Hodge prosecutions arrived today. Commander Allison Krennick is heading the team."

There was silence on the other end of the line as Harm digested the information. "Suddenly, I'm very glad to be in Texas," he said.

"You know what," she said, "me, too. Krennick has already told me to make sure you are informed that you need to make yourself available for an interview upon your return."

"Sounds like her," he replied. "You aren't having problems with her, are you?"

"I've barely spoken to her except in the Admiral's office," she told him. "He even suggested to me privately that I warn you she was here. I thought for a moment he knew about – well, you know – until he commented that you two had clashed on the last case you worked on together before she transferred out. Harm, I hate to ask, but would that have been the investigation into Diane's murder?"

"Yes, it would," he answered. "Both Krennick and Meg transferred out right after that, Krennick to Hawaii and Meg to Great Lakes."

"Now they're both in Hawaii," Mac said. "Meg's here, too, along with Kate Pike and a Major Williams. I guess two of them are handling each case."

"Interesting," he said, laughing. "Sounds like the ghosts of partners past."

"Meg and Kate seemed nice enough," she commented. "Again, I didn't talk to them much, but from what you've told me about them, I think the cases are in good hands."

"Tell Meg and Kate that I said hello," he said.

"Will do. Do you have any idea when you will be home?" she asked.

"Fortunately, the Air Force investigative team seems willing to cooperate with the Navy, so I'm hoping we can get this wrapped up quickly," he replied. "I'll call you tonight, okay?"

"I look forward to it," she said. "I love you."

"I love you," he echoed. "And don't worry about Krennick. I'm not."

"And why is that?" she asked.

"Because I know that if Krennick tries anything, I'll have my feisty Marine fiancée to protect me," he teased, causing Mac to smile at the thought. "I'm sure she is more than capable of handling a pushy Navy Commander."

"Well, dealing with my Navy Commander fiancé has given me plenty of practice," she teased back.

Harm laughed as he said, "Glad to have cheered you up, even if you just insulted me. I'll talk to you tonight. Bye, Sarah."

"Bye, Harm," she said. After hearing the click indicating he had hung up, she hung up the phone, still smiling.

Hearing a knock at her door, she called out, "Enter." She was surprised when Meg and Kate stepped into her office. "What can I do for you?"

"We went down to the file room just now to check out the case file on Chief Hodge's previous conviction, Colonel," Meg said. "A Petty Officer down there said that Commander Rabb had checked out the file a couple of weeks ago and hadn't returned it. Since he's not here, we thought we'd ask you if someone could let us into his office to get the file."

"Come on," Mac said, getting out of her chair and heading for the door. "I'll get the file for you. I have a key for his office."

As she led them to Harm's office, she said, "I just got off the phone with Harm, by the way. He said to say 'hello' to both of you." Meg and Kate both smiled.

"If he calls again," Kate said, "you'll tell him we said 'hello' back?"

"Yes," Mac replied as she unlocked Harm's office and flipped on the light. She searched through the stack of files on top of his desk and found the Hodge file. Pulling it out of the stack, she held it out to them and Kate took it.

"Thank you, Colonel," Kate said, flipping through the file. "I see you worked the investigation with Ha – Commander Rabb. If you'd got time later, we'd like to talk to you about this first case, get a feel for what kind of man he is."

"I should have some time this afternoon," Mac replied. "My case load is a little light right now, since I just returned to work yesterday. I'm getting ready to go to lunch now, so why don't we meet in about an hour?"

"Thank you, Ma'am," Kate said as they left Harm's office and Mac locked it back up. "Why don't we meet in your office, if you don't mind? Krennick and Williams are starting their interviews in the Johns case at thirteen hundred, so the conference room is out."

"That will be fine," Mac said. "I'll see you back here in about an hour."

As Kate and Meg headed out of the bullpen, Kate asked, "Are you okay, Meg? You've been quiet today."

"Sorry," Meg said, "it's just that Colonel Mackenzie reminds me ... never mind, it's not important. Why don't we get some lunch ourselves?"

-----

To be continued…