A/N: Okay, well . . . um, here's the next installment. Hope you enjoy it. Uh . . . yeah, not much to say about it (I've never been good with words) so . . . yeah, just read on.

Thanks go out to: Bite Beccy, Bail's Other Daughter, Steelo, Starryeyes10, Kitty X, martini1988, QueenOfAces, froggy0319, alix33, mjag, moonlight, nursejay80, AnMaDeRoNi, snugglebug, jaggurl, Anne, ficchic, dansingwolf, Radiorox, cbw, wishwaters, Rocket Rain, sgcgirl52, tlk29, JJScottishGirl, Blueangel, aj, French-navy girl, Marge, Jane, Tina Frank, highplainswoman, mac AND harm fan, Ali Baba, super ducky, tumblebuttons, AB, Abigiale, macandharmlover, jazzy, vhosek malacath, Britainy, MartiniMac, HighHeel Shoe Lover, Sirus 745, Fan, Pissed off Poet 1, southernqt, BrittanyLS, sugar230, K, Ilovemyselftoday, eggy weg, xobabygurlxo, Reni-Maniac, Cille, ForensicsFreak1988, HMtogether4ever, MaritzaCarmichael, Lara783, janessab, tizy, June, vrbinkaCZ, Cherise, DD2, Bekka, Lani-LoveNPain, Dessler, mommie, daisymh, Laura, confused, basketball babe8, Strawberry Kittens, rainydays502, S, Broesel, ady, Kristie, writingismything, TV Angel 711, TaTe.ArI.Obsessed.Writers, and MiDushiNoSushi for being the great reviewers that you are!

Note: this chapter starts off in Vera's point of view.

Pulling the Plug

0826

Vera's Room

Vera's POV

Sunlight filtered in through the flimsy white curtains that hung idly above the window, inviting the light in without a word of protest. I rolled over in my bed, pulling the sheets along with me as I turned in. I opened my eyes softly to the light, momentarily blinded from the blaze of my window.

"Hey."

I turn my body to meet Clay's stare head on and I sigh. "Good morning."

"Isn't it?" Clay replied lightly, sitting up in the bed and wiping his eyes wearily with his hands. He looked over at my bedside table where my digital alarm clock sat. "Oh god, it's late – I've got to get to work."

"Kovac?" I asked, my head on the pillow and my gaze falling idly upon the cream colored ceiling above me.

"He wanted me there fifteen minutes ago."

I smiled to myself. Yes, that was Clay, three steps ahead but fifteen minutes behind. I buried myself farther within the covers as Clay walked into the bathroom, shut the door firmly behind himself, and then began to shower.

"What does he want you for?" I asked loudly over the rush of the water and the sound repelling solidity of the door.

"I haven't a clue," came Clay's rather muffled response from the other side of the door.

I laid back easily onto the bed, shutting my eyes against the downpour of life from the open window. "Well, when you come back could you have bought groceries? Between Catherine and Harm our fridge is completely bare."

"And you're sure you had nothing to do with that?" Clay asked from the other side of the door, a grin in his voice.

I scoffed, "of course not. Just take a trip to Zehrs, okay?" (A/N: where I live, Zehrs is VERY popular – it's like one gigantic . . . supermarket).

"Officially on my To Do list," Clay remarked as he opened the door and came out with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. His chest was still wet and dripping. I grinned at him from overtop of the many sheets and quilts wrapped around me. "Very impressive, Agent Webb, have you been working out?"

Clays grins at me as he slips on a blue button down shirt, "yeah, I've been trying to impress this girl . . . but so far she doesn't seem to be biting."

"Hmm," I muttered, my lips pressed together in thought. "Anyone I know?"

"I don't know," Clay retorted with a smile on his lips, "do you know a girl who's so stubborn she refused to talk to me for a month, kicked me out of her house only to invite me back in with open arms several months later, and at one point soaked my bathroom towels in ink?"

"Huh," I said, my expression that of the completely clueless. "It sounds like someone I know . . . I just can't place it . . ."

Clay smiled down at me as he placed a quick and rushed kiss on my lips before disappearing down the hall. "That's a shame."

Same Time

Mac and Jake's Apartment

Mac's POV

"Jake, is it frustrating?"

My question lingers in the air as I pour some milk into my cereal before handing the carton over to Jake who was having scrambled eggs. Jake toyed with the strips of bacon on his place before, "what do you mean?"

I rolled my eyes. "I mean, you're a CIA agent and all you get to do is sit around here babysitting me. I mean . . . don't you want to go back to your old life?"

"If you're asking whether you're an inconvenience or not," Jake said casually, pouring himself a glass of orange juice, "then the answer is no. There are some aspects of my old life that I would rather like to have at the moment, but there are advantages to this life too."

"Such as?" I probe.

"Like the fact that I get to take it easy for once in my life. I can spend more than 72 hours without wearing a Kevlar vest. And besides," he remarked, pulling out two slices of toast out of the toaster, "this is kind of . . . homey, you know? It's like the family life." Jake winked at me. "Besides, who's going to believe the fact that Webb's the father?"

I rolled my eyes. "Well, Clay's been doing a pretty fine job of making everyone think so."

Jake nodded in agreement, "I know. But when they take one look at me, I mean – come on – there's no question about it." And he flashes me his most charming grin.

I shake my head laughing, "Dammit, Jake, there's so little to do around here! What do you DO all day?"

I had officially started my maternity leave, and needless to say, I was getting testy. No, nix that, I was down right impatient to have this kid and get back to work. And I was taking it out on Jake, the poor guy.

"Well, most of the day I don't usually STAY here," Jake replied shrugging his shoulders. "I do . . . other stuff."

"What kind of stuff?" I asked in interest.

"Work stuff," Jake replied bluntly, taking a bight of his toast.

I sighed discontentedly. "That's all I'm going to get out of you, isn't it?"

"You called it, babe," Jake replied smoothly, gulping down the last of his orange juice and getting up to put his dishes in the dishwasher. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go out for a little jog."

"Oh, I'll join you," I said briskly, also putting my dishes in the dishwasher. Jake stares at my swollen stomach, his eyebrow cocked up. I sighed, "Dammit."

Jake looped an arm lazily around my shoulder. "Just three weeks more. Until then . . ." he dug into his backpack and pulled out a boxed DVD. "All you can watch Friends."

I rolled my eyes, but nonetheless slipping the disk into the DVD player. "Go run."

Jake grinned at me as he opened up the front door, "I expect this kid named after me."

"Go!" I exclaimed exasperatedly and watched him scramble down the front steps. And I shook my head to myself. Yes, Jake would never change. Not in a million years . . . and on some level, I guess I didn't want him to . . .

Same Time

Same Place

Jake's POV

652 – 8409.

I punched the number into the keys almost rhythmically, jogging very lightly until I came to the house at the end of the street where I sat down and leaned against the fence, my hand holding my Virgin cell phone. I held it to my ear, listening to the ringing and then –

"Hello?" his voice broke out over the line.

"Clay," I whispered quickly as a bunch of school kids passed me by on the street, the mother chaperoning them giving me a withering look that clearly addressed me as some bum on the street and ordering me to go take myself to some appropriately deemed place.

"Jake?"

"Yeah," I said, laying my head back against the fence. "I was just checking our schedule for tonight."

"Meet me at the house, eight o'clock," Clay's voice carried clearly.

"But what am I supposed to do with Mac?"

Clay's tone was no one of the mildly annoyed. "Did you buy her that Friends DVD like I told you to?"

I sighed exasperatedly. "Yes, but that's not the point. What if she goes into labor while I'm at the house?"

"Three weeks early?" Clay asked, clearly disbelieving.

"Not uncommon," I defended. "Besides, you yourself said Mac's always early for everything."

"I wasn't talking about pregnancy then," Clay replied through what I'm sure was gritted teeth. "Mac'll be fine for a few hours. Good god, you're becoming as attached to her as Harm is."

"Hey, if I do recall, Webb," I grinned, "there was something that you and Mac . . . wait, what was it called? Paraguay, if I do remember?"

"Was there an actual POINT to this call or did you just get lonely and want to chat?" Webb's voice is cool and controlled.

"Are you still planning on informing the Admiral tonight?"

A long pause on the other end of the line and then, "yes."

"And the others? Keeter, Turner, etc?"

"Yes."

"And how, may I ask, are you going to rope them all in?" I asked, my voice tense. "Are you just going to call them up and say, hey – it's Clayton Webb. I need you to come to my house tonight at eight."

"Of course not," Clay's voice is brisk. "Harm's going to do it."

And then the line disconnects.

Same Time

CIA Headquarters

Clay's POV

I put my cell phone back in my pocket, shutting my eyes for a brief moment of rest. I leaned back against the bench outside Kovac's office. Okay, sure, I didn't get much sleep last night, and yes, it was my fault. But dammit, if Kovac calls me in early in the morning to his office, shouldn't he at least BE there? I stuff my hands in my pockets and position my head at the rim of the bench.

"Webb?"

I jerk up. "Sir," I said standing up and following Kovac into his office. Charles Kovac annoyed the hell out of me, but if this was anything serious, I needed to commence major snowing. And seeing as I didn't know what he wanted yet, it was better to be on the safe side.

Kovac motions for me to sit and I take a seat in one of the leather chairs facing his desk. Kovac looks at me almost . . . concernedly. "Did you get any sleep last night, Webb?"

I do my best effort to keep my eyelids open. "Not much, Sir."

"What kept you up?"

Ah, such a simple question . . . but what a complicated answer. "A little unfinished business." And I left it at that. "So why am I here, sir?"

Kovac leaned back against his desk, his dark eyes meeting mine strongly. "I'm here to . . . deliver you some news. Now, Agent Webb, as you know, it has been nearly fifteen months since the Rabb case was brought to our attention . . ."

"And a well-served fifteen months it was," I interjected quickly.

Kovac looked at me almost considerately, but with an underlying firmness. "Webb, I don't disagree that in the beginning it was warranted. But . . . it's been fifteen months. There are new projects, we need more agents, and you, Azhad, and Holter are my three best. I can't have you manning an unfounded case."

For a minute my mouth opens but no sound comes out. He can't pull the plug. Not now. "Sir, if you just give us a few months more we can catch Abbas. We've got it all planned out. We just need a little time to – " I begin but Kovac cuts me off.

"Dammit, Webb, I've given you fifteen months," he exclaimed exasperatedly. "Now we've got word of a possible terrorist attack down in Bangkok. I need a few agents to go and catch the word, scout out the area. And my agents are being used to the absolute limit," Kovac stressed. "And out of all the cases . . . Rabb's the least severe. I'm sorry, Webb, but we've got to let go of this one."

"No!" I've sprung out of the chair and onto my feet. "You throw him back into the real world and Abbas will KILL him, Kovac! He's on Rabb like a hunter to it's pray. He's WAITING for this. Waiting for the moment you'll take us off his guard. And then he'll strike, dammit." I flash him a pleading look. "And we don't know who else he'll go after then!"

"Webb." Kovac spoke my name calmly. "You're working off pure theory. And that's not enough for me to dispatch three of my best agents. I'm sorry. I'll leave a guard on Rabb's place, but you HAVE to pull out of your ongoing . . . whatever you want to call it." I refuse to meet his eye. "Dammit, Webb, do you hear me? Pull out. No more – enough. This has already gone too far."

I stood there rooted on the spot, my mind racing. "Sir, this is a matter of life and death," I said slowly, but strongly. "You just NEED to trust me on this. Give us a few more months, and we can catch Abbas. Please . . ."

Kovac shook his head. "I'm sorry, Webb. I've already let this go five months too far. Remember? At the beginning we agreed on ten months, with just Azhad watching him. What happened to that?"

I looked down at the ground. "Things got complicated," I muttered.

Kovac sighed. "Things ALWAYS get complicated, Webb! They always WILL be complicated, and there's not a damned thing we can do about it. But we can't keep clutching to everyone and everything. It won't serve you in life. Just . . . let go, Webb. Let go."

I stood rooted on the spot. "I'm sorry," I whispered. "I can't do that."

Kovac stared at me long and hard. "Well, I'm sorry to hear that, because if you don't – I don't think there will be a spot left for you in the CIA." I lift my head up to meet his eyes. "Nor Holter or Azhad. Which would be a shame," he added. "Because as I said, you are my best and brightest." He looked me in the eye. "Just do me a favor, Webb. Think about it before you make a decision."

And with that he left.

A/N: yes, I know I said this chapter would be 'Team Member 3' but I got a little side tracked, okay? LOL – I will try my best and hardest to get another chapter out by . . . Friday? Yeah, Friday sounds good. And maybe one of TLWL out tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed.

marineJAG: lol, lots of character dynamics in this story, aren't there? I've never been particularly good at writing that sort of stuff, so I'm glad you're enjoying. LOL – and the plan will be put into action . . . very soon . . .

starryeyes10: thank you

ForensicsFreak1988: omg, I swear when I wrote Jake and Jane I did not intend for them to be anything like Tony and Kate but ever since you said that . . . I can't stop thinking about it! They ARE like Tony and Kate . . . lol, I watch WAY too much DPB stuff! Rohan . . . hmm, that sounds like an Indian name. But of course, I'm wrong on the time so . . . yeah, whatever.

Bite Beccy: lol, good girl for Jake – okay, officially on my To Do list. By the way, when are you updating your story! We're all waiting in anticipation here!

Alix33: omg, you don't know peanut butter cups? Now, I'm not a big Hershey fan. Never have been and probably never will be – but peanut butter cups aren't bad, you know. My favorite chocolate, however, happens to be Smarties (in number one place) and in second and third are Crispy Crunch and Caramilk bars. Now please tell me you've heard of those! (oh, and as for the Harm/Mac/Jake interaction, that'll all be answered in the next chapter).

Snugglebug: LOL, but glorious suspense is the best! I mean, honestly, where would JAG be if they didn't keep us in suspense every episode? Ah well, your suspense will end soon . . . pretty soon.

Radiorox: hey, at least you had a laptop to TYPE on! You could come home after two weeks and post to your little heart's content! I had NO LAPTOP, no device of any kind on which I could type. And I know I could have started writing on a good old fashioned note book, but then I would have had to write a lot, then gone home and typed it all out, and that's all together too much work for me.

MiDushiNoSushi: yeah, I guess the more you get to know a character, the more you DO sympathize them. And because each of them very obviously has their own distinct past, everything seems to collide with each other making a . . . well, very complicated world. Bud I hope you'll be happy with the ending . . . I've had it in the making for quite a while.

xLovexNxPainx: well, here's the next chapter! And I promise, that if it's a girl, and I name her Catherine, I'll spell it with a C.

Pissed Off Poet 1: yeah, isn't Taylor an awesome name? I love neutral names. I guess I'm kind of weird that way, but I do. I mean, for a boy – either boys names or neutral names are fine, but for girls – I just really like neutral names.

Kitty X: thanks, and don't worry – you'll get your HM scenes . . . just . . . it's coming, okay? It'll take me a little while to get there, but it's coming.

TV Angel 711: lol, ya – cliffhanger rock. I don't see why a lot of people complain about my cliffhangers. Honestly, some of them are so small, they're practically hillhangers (my new made up word!). And omg, this chapter was soooo short.

Jaggurl: thanks – I enjoyed my trip very much, and I hope you liked this chapter.

JamieAKAclassyone: alright, Shaniqua's not exactly "normal" but I made a list of all the girls names and one of all the boys names, and I listed off the first few girls names mentioned on the list before I cut off, okay? LOL – and I'm jam packed with names now. I don't need a bunch of 'semi-unusuals' right now! Seriously, I must have gotten like a hundred suggestions . . . ah well, the name's already picked out, anyway. No stressing at the moment. (But that won't last for long . . . if until this morning)

Southernqt: ah, I see you're not exactly a Webby or you? LOL, no – not many shippers are . . . in the ninth season, I personally internally vomited whenever I saw him. Of course, after Mac broke it off with him, everything between him and I went back to being normal. And I'm thinking, if I were to combine their last names it would be either – Rabenzie or MacRabb. And you've got to agree with me here – that's pretty sad.

Dansingwolf: lol, you ask so many questions – and all I can see is I WILL answer them . . . eventually. Yeah, I know that's not the answer you wanted but believe me . . . it'll all come soon. LOL, I must be infuriating to talk to . . . yeah, the HM situation at the moment is rather depressing. All I can say is – read on . . .

Sugar230: okay, next chapter! The Admiral's reaction is in the next chapter – I promise.

Tizy: omg, gone a week? Yeah, that was me last week – I got on the computer for like fifteen minutes just to check my email in the middle of the week and I was swamped by reviews! LOL – I've never seen them in such massive amounts. Usually it's like five here and there. I hope you have fun on your internet free week and I'll try my best to get out as many chapters as possible for you to get back to!

Froggy0319: lol, no spoiling . . . that would ruin the wonderful surprises to come! As for our little Clay/Vera situation . . . I'll take care of it. Same as Harm/Mac . . . just trust me . . . LOL, it's all going to work out . . . eventually.

Eggy weg: don't worry, no webb bashing here. You're safe. I can see you're a real Webby . . . that's hard to come across these days, considering what happened in the ninth season. But don't worry, I'm Webb-bash free.