Part 3
"I…I think Coates might be a better choice…" She stammered.
"Coates isn't here," Harm pointed out, "and besides, you know Russian, maybe she'll calm down if she hears it."
Harm passed the crying toddler to Mac and rushed to grab a bottle and her milk formula from her changing bag.
"I like the bag," Sturgis commented, laughing, "It's just your colour!"
"I'm looking into getting a more masculine one," Harm told him, dryly, "With airplanes or something on it!"
At first, Mac stood rooted to the spot, then managed to ease into her new role, somewhat. It had been a while since she had been this hands-on with little AJ. She hadn't had too much experience with Harriet and Bud's new son, James, but the times when she had babysat for them, James was already sound asleep in his crib by the time she got there.
"Shh, shh…" She tried to soothe the little girl, in Russian, "Don't cry honey, it's alright."
She had to admit, she actually enjoyed the time she spent with the little girl, while Harm was away making up the bottle. It may have had something to do with the Rabb eyes staring intently back at her, but Mac felt her heart beating just that little bit faster.
"You look pretty good at that," Sturgis noted then moved to amuse the little girl, "Hey, there! What a pretty little girl! Yes, that's what you are!"
By the time that Harm returned from the kitchen, there were several staff members in his office, all cooing over the little girl.
Mac was sitting in his desk chair, bouncing Ana on her knee, trying to get the little girl to smile for them. However, Ana just continued to stare intently at the pretty lady, who had dark hair and spoke just like her Mama did.
Harm jumped as he realised that the Admiral was standing behind him.
"I'm sorry, Sir," he quickly apologised, leaning over and grabbing the files from his desk, "I just finished with these. I'll get them copied, straight aw…"
The Admiral just took the files from him and handed them to PO Coates, then made his way to where his Chief of Staff was sitting, smiling.
"I believe I have the right to invoke Admiral's privilege, Colonel."
"Of course, Sir," Mac stood up and passed the little girl to him. As soon as Ana caught sight of him, she immediately broke into tears again.
"Oh, no!" the big tough Admiral exclaimed with exaggeration, "We can't have you crying, no we can't."
He tried and failed to get her tears to stop over the next few minutes, so had to pass her back to Harm, who then fed her.
"Back to work, I think, everybody," the Admiral ordered his staff then left to return to his own office.
"Thanks, Mac," Harm told his long time partner as she went to leave.
"No problem, Harm," she told him then asked, "Shall we go over that desertion prosecution in a while?"
"Yeah, okay," Harm agreed, "Give me ten minutes to get her back to sleep?"
Mac nodded then made her way back across the bullpen to her own office. After she had shut the door, she sank into her office chair and pondered the last few minutes.
"That was kinda nice," she thought to herself.
For just a second, while she had been holding Ana and looking into her blue eyes, she had allowed herself to make believe that she was holding her own baby, hers and Harm's.
"Whoa there, Colonel!" she quickly stopped herself, "That's a slippery slope that you're going down. You can't let yourself think that way."
But the mere thought of those piercing blue eyes and that cute little face was enough to make her ovaries skip a beat.
"Oh man!" Mac exclaimed, dropping her head to her hands on top of her desk, "I've got it real bad!"
Three hours later, Harm and Mac were still trying to find a way in which to proceed with their case. It seemed that the Marine Major may have a way to escape justice, thanks to a legal loophole that Harm and Mac just didn't see a way around.
"I just can't figure it out, Harm," Mac complained, "He's going to walk this and there doesn't seem to be any way we can stop him."
They continued in deep discussion for the next few minutes then Harm listened intently while Mac began to explore another option. However, she trailed off a minute later when she realised that Harm wasn't actually listening to her. She followed his gaze to the sofa behind her.
"Well look who's awake!" Harm exclaimed, softly, "About time, sleepy-head! Did you have a nice-long sleep? Yeah, you did, didn't you?"
Harm and Mac both smiled as they realised that the little girl had been so silent all of this time because she had been intently listening to Mac speaking.
"I think I should have you over more often," Harm joked, "Are you doing anything tonight?"
"I knew you only wanted me around for my language skills!" Mac jibed back.
They laughed for a minute then Harm went over and lifted the still-sleepy toddler, bringing her back to the desk and cuddling her on his knee while they continued to go over their case.
They had still made no headway by the time that the Admiral arrived. He poked his head inside Harm's office and commented, "You two look like you're busy at work. Or should I say 'you three?' "
"Yes, Sir," Mac told him, "But we're having some difficulty with this case, Sir. Major Tulving is using a legal loophole as his defence and the Commander and I just can't seem to find our way around it…"
The Admiral came around and stooped to take Ana from her place on Harm's knee.
"First things first," the Admiral told them with determination, "I have got to find a way to make this child smile again!"
"If it's any consolation, Sir," Harm told their CO, "The only person I've seen her smile for is her Mother."
"She'll smile for me, won't you, Pumpkin?" AJ turned the little girl to face him.
She quickly burst into tears again, looking to Harm to take her back.
"It's okay! Don't cry, honey!" Harm told the little girl, "Uncle AJ just wants to see you smile. Don't you want to give us big smiles today?"
Mac repeated this in Russian, but the girl shook her head and reached out to Mac.
AJ tried solidly for a whole ten minutes and managed to succeed in getting Ana to stop crying, but she was still not happy about being so close to the man who had frightened her.
"I suppose she's just tired and cranky, Sir," Mac supposed as she took the little girl, who had again reached out for her.
"Nope, it just looks like I'm becoming one of those scary old men that I used to hate when I was a child," AJ resigned himself to his status, "Anyway, shall we see if we can make some progress with this case?"
They all sat trying to note down some ideas. Ana just sat quietly on the desk, Mac holding her securely. She didn't seem to be too bothered by the Admiral's presence anymore.
Harm had just suggested another idea, but the Admiral spoke up, pointing out that the Marine Major had some friends and family in high places.
"So basically, that means that none of these ideas will work, doesn't it, Sir?"
AJ sighed, nodding. In frustration, he took the sheet of paper they had just been writing on and ripped it off the notepad.
"Looks like all this is no good," he observed, taking the sheet of paper and ripping it into half, then into quarters.
Suddenly, much to the surprise of everyone sitting across from her, baby Ana burst out into a radiant smile and giggled loudly.