Chapter 1

SEE PROLOGUE FOR DISCLAIMERS, ETC.

Harm watched Mac walk away, admiring her backside more openly than he had ever dared before. It had been so easy to find the right words, finally. Maybe he hadn't been joking when he told her he needed a deadline.

"Well, Captain Rabb, the Navy will be lesser for the loss of your skills, but you look content," General Cresswell said, raising his glass.

"I will be, sir. I'll miss the Navy, but with both of us in the JAG chain of command, one of us had to resign to make our relationship legal."

Something Harm couldn't read crossed the general's face before he spoke. "There are times when the UCMJ is less helpful than it might be. But I understand. You do intend to retire rather than resign?"

Harm laughed. "Well, with only a month and two days until I could take my 20, it would be stupid to resign. Not that I haven't done some stupid things in my life."

He could have sworn that Sturgis, Bud, and Harriet each murmured "Renee Peterson" as they gave him copies of a look patented by AJ Chegwidden: "No shit, Sherlock." Sturgis had never met Renee, but he must have gleaned enough from various stories to join the consensus opinion of that particular debacle in Harm's life. He wondered if they meant the double entendre, as well, or it that was just subconscious on his part. Renee didn't always come off as stupidly in public as she had in private.

Cresswell grinned, a look Harm wasn't too sure he wanted to see all that often. It reminded him of CIA Deputy Director Harrison Kershaw's "I've got you where I want you" look. "Stay for six weeks and I'll get you O-6 retirement."

On the other hand, the extra $415.10 a month would be a nice benefit. "What's the catch, sir?"

"Go to London until I can fill the billet with someone else."

Mac would understand. She had even said that if she were the one resigning, she expected to be kept on active duty until a replacement could be secured, and she told him the same thing would happen if the situation were reversed. He said he doubted it. It wasn't the first time, nor, he was sure, would it be the last, when Mac was right and he was wrong.

"Deal, General."

General Cresswell turned toward Sturgis, who put his hands up and shook his head so hard Harm was tempted to give him a new variation on an old submariner's nickname "Bubblehead": Bobblehead.

"No, sir, I'm not interested in London. My girlfriend will be settled in here for about a year with a great gig and I'm not about to lose the best thing in my life for a change in location, even if it means losing out on a promotion."

Cresswell looked back at Harm. "It may be eight weeks, Captain Rabb."

Harm shrugged. Sturgis had learned a lesson the easy way that had taken him nine years to learn; Harm wasn't going to begrudge his classmate any happiness at all.

"Harm, I am so happy for you!" Harriet threw her arms around him and kissed his cheeks.

He hugged her tight, knowing she had been dreaming of this day almost since before she and Bud got married. "Thanks, Harriet. You and Bud will be good role models for us."

Bud chuckled and claimed his wife by draping an arm around her waist. "That's a fair turn, considering all you and the colonel have done for us, sir."

"It won't be 'sir' after the uniform comes off, Bud. Just remember that. Jennifer?"

"Sir!" She popped to attention.

"Relax, sailor. We may be in uniform, but we're off duty. You ready for San Diego?"

"Yes, sir. I won't be needing this, now." She pulled a rolled of copy of what Harm recognized as an Apartment Hunters Guide out of her purse and flung it toward a trash can in the wait station behind her. "I guess I'd better find out about transferring my college credits. I've got all my basics done and five courses in my major, too. I really don't want to have to redo anything."

"Especially not more basic psych courses," Harm added. "Although when you're taking things like abnormal psychology and family systems theory, I'm sure we'll be just as valuable subjects then as we have been all along."

Jen coughed and turned red. "Yes, sir. Um, no, sir. I think I'll go look for Colonel Mackenzie and make sure she's okay." She turned on her heel and marched away.

"I'm going to miss her." General Cresswell shrugged when Harm looked at him. "She's unique. Call me Monday from your new office, Captain, and have your wife-to-be call me on Sunday morning before she departs for San Diego."

"Aye, sir." Harm extended his hand.

Cresswell took it, then smiled that Kershawesque smile again. "She's going to outrank you, by the way."

"Sir?"

"Just don't get used to ordering her around, Captain." He gave a final pump to their joined hands, let go, and turned to Sturgis for a brief goodbye before he strutted out of the bar.

"San Diego couldn't possibly be a flag billet. Could it?" Harm murmured, he thought to himself.

Sturgis heard him, though. "I doubt it. But I did hear a rumor about a delay in reporting the results of the Marine Corps O-6 board because of a records snafu from Southern Command."

"Mac's not due for her first board until next year, and even then she'd be so low on points in the time in grade field that she'd likely get passed over. She said so herself." Her early promotion to lieutenant colonel had accelerated her promotion track, but not by two full years.

"You weren't due for a captain's billet at all, buddy."

Harm glared at him for a moment, then relented. "You're right. Damn, I'll bet she's on the list and I'll bet it's going to be backdated. Corps lists come out 1 April and 1 October."

"Date of rank again, sorry, Harm. But it's only for another six or eight weeks." Sturgis looked like he wanted to giggle, something he almost never did. "Besides, she's always going to outrank you at home, so why even think about outranking her anywhere else?"

"I'm going to tell Varese you said that."

Sturgis grinned. "Who do you think told me?"

"Varese is a wise woman," Harriet said. "You're an even wiser man for believing her, Commander."

It would be a while before Harriet could relax around Sturgis, Harm knew. Too much had happened between Bud and Sturgis professionally to allow for an easy friendship out of the office, but maybe with both of them staying in DC, things would change.

Bud laughed. "Better to know it going in than to learn it the hard way, sirs. Trust me."

Jen came back. "Colonel Mackenzie will be right out."

Harm ordered another round of drinks, mostly sodas, and listened to his friends chat. It would be a while before they all gathered in the same place again. He found himself missing them already.