I don't own them

This is AU as the story will obviously show.

Spoilers from all seasons.

Harm/Other, just a little bit so don't worry, mostly Harm/Mac and will be explained shortly

Thank you Kate for a great beta job with the first half of the story, a major writer's block finally conquered and the story is finished two years later. Any factual mistakes are mine, and some artistic license used.

Burnie, Tasmania, Australia

1515 local

Shannon Collins had just seen a brutal murder committed. It was bad enough she had seen the horrific act, but to her added horror, she cognized the killer as a well-known member of the syndicate. As administrative assistant to the chief of police she was well aware of who the members and suspected members of the syndicate were. Leaving town was imperative; the m.o. of the suspect was that he usually left no living witnesses. She desperately needed to get out of town, but there were only so many placed to hide in Tasmania.

Leaving Tasmania by plane was the quickest option, and about the only option other than borrowing a good-sized boat, but it would quickly get them to Sydney where they could catch a flight to anywhere in the world. She needed to get her son and herself to safety. It meant facing her past, facing a man that she had left fearing she would soon be a widow. A man who had every right to hate her for what she had done to him. She would contact, would face, a man that she had vowed never to see again.

She did not know, as they had no contact in over a decade, that in leaving him, she had emotionally crippled the man when she had not allowed contact him any contact with their son because she was afraid of being a widow.

If she could get her son to his father, he would be safe, Shannon knew that it was the only thing she could do to insure his safety and possible hers under the circumstances. It would prevent her son from being an innocent murder victim. She would have to face her worst nightmare; she would see a man with a very real excuse for hating her.

Her son would be safe with his father, Harm Rabb, Junior, who she'd known as an pilot, and from all she'd hear was a now a formidable solicitor, or attorney as they called them in the States.

Burnie, Tasmania, Australia

Shannon Collins residence

2000 local time Friday

"No, Mum, I've had these tickets for months!" His mother had just informed him of a major change in his schedule, one that would affect his long awaited plans of attending a concert, the first without any parents in tow. The "unfortunate" parent that was driving them was staying at the concert arena in the "parents lounge"

"You are going with me, I know you had plans with your friends in Hobart this weekend, but the plane tickets are non-refundable. Give the ticket to the concert to someone, anyone. To make this up to you I'll let you go to any place the band is touring, I'll even pay for your plane ticket there as well. You can take Jake with you, since I know he isn't going with you to this concert, because of his leg. You know I wouldn't do this to you if it weren't vitally important. Moreover, I met with your headmaster after work; he gave me a list of your assignments for the time you'll be gone. He said you can send them by internet just as easy as turning them in personally. Most kids would like to have a two week holiday unexpectedly from school."

"We leave in the morning; end of discussion. I'll tell you more why and where we are going, when we get to Sydney." She did not want to say anymore, she wasn't entirely sure the syndicate was listening to her plans. Therefore, she kept the rest of the info to herself for now. "It's high time, I deal with this" was all she said to her son, as they headed off to pack.

Burnett Art Gallery

LaJolla California

1415 local Tuesday

The art gallery was quiet; classical music playing in the background, most weekday afternoons seemed to be that way. Frank Burnett just returned from having a late lunch with his favorite person on the planet, his wife. She was currently in her office talking to an artist in Rome, due to have a showing of his works at the gallery. Frank was looking at his favorite picture in the gallery. The subtle door chime indicated a customer had entered. He wasn't paid staff but as the silent partner in the business, he helped when he could. A young woman, Frank thought to himself that to his nearly seventy -year old self that a forty- year old woman was young came into the gallery with a teenaged boy. The woman looked very nervous, and vaguely familiar. Frank walked over to them, trying to remember where he'd seen her before. The odd thing was the teen looked like Harm had at that age. Frank realized just who had walked in. He thought several things at once. The first was how dare you come here, simultaneously thinking, I'm glad you brought Andrew. With an impassive face, he queried, in case he was wrong. "Shannon?"

"Yes, Frank" her accent sounded Australian. The only Shannon he knew with an Australian accent was standing in front of him.

"Shannon, what are you doing here?" he questioned, in shock.

"I need to see Harm, You know it's important, or else I wouldn't be here."

"I figured that Shannon." He said this with only a hint of sarcasm in his voiceHe figured it would take something drastic for Shannon to come begging for Harm's address. "Is this Andrew?"

"Yes, it is."

"He sure looks like Harm did at that age" Frank thought to himself. He sure has Harm's teenaged sullen attitude down pat. Harm and Frank were no longer antagonistictowards each other. Harmrecently apologized for his unpleasant attitude while he was younger after dealing with teenaged Mattie Grace. Frank didn't know therewas a different reason for Andrew's surly attitude. He'd waited months for the concert, he hadn't slept well on the long flight, unlike his father he didn't love to fly and he was bone tired.

"I need to get a hold of Harm, I don't have any idea as to his current address, and I was hoping you would give it to me, I really need to talk to him. It's a matter of great urgency." Shannon stopped talking as Trish Burnett walked into the gallery from her office.

The smile froze on Trish's face, she immediately recognized her former daughter-in-law standing in the gallery talking to her husband.

Frank knew he needed to head off a potential problem so he forged quickly ahead"Shannon and Andrew are here, honey, she really needs to talk to Harm." Frank told his wife, as he went over to her and guided her ata chair she lookedunderstandably, a little shaky. Trish looked a little pale, and he wanted to make sure she was okay.

"Shannon, Andrew, let's go into Trish's office. It'll give us privacy and I'll see if I can reach Harm."

Frank stayed in the gallery and whipped out his cell phone. So far, there was no answer and he knew the answering machine would pick up if Harm didn't answer before the next ring. The ringing stopped and he heard the sound of someone trying to put something down and answer a phone simultaneously. "Harm's there, I hope he had a good day, since it's about to be ruined and make his day at the same time." Frank thought as he waited for Harm to answer.

North of Union Station

Washington DC

1830 local Tuesday

His phone was ringing as Harm opened the door. He had two choices, drop the grocery bag he was holding, it had breakable items, or awkwardly pick up the phone. "Hello" was all he got out before the answering machine picked up. He glanced at the caller id and noted that it was Frank's cell. Worried that it could be something serious, Harm punched at the button on the machine, cutting off the answering machine. "Evening, Frank, I just got in," he put the groceries down on the table where the phone was located with an audible thunk Frank could hear the worry in his stepson's voice.

"Harm, your mother is okay, but I have news, Shannon just showed up at the gallery a few minutes ago, and she wants to talk with you. The aviator/lawyer paled at the mention of the name he hadn't willingly spoken of in over a decade.

"Is she by herself?" Harm's voice was tentative; Frank rarely heard that in Harm's voice. The only time Frank seemed to hear it was when Harm's personal life hit a snag.

"No, Andrew is with her." Harm had to sit down. He landed on the back of the sofa, if hadn't sat down where he did, he would have fallen all the way to the floor, his legs seemed to have lost their bone structure momentarily.

"Frank, do me a big favor, and get them in Mom's office then call me back in five minutes, I want to talk with Shannon even if you have to sit on her personally."

"I've already sent them to your mom's office, and when I back I will put her on speaker phone, that way I can hear everything both of you say." Even though Frank was an executive and not an attorney he knew when there needed to be a third party listening to a conversation. This was one of those times.

Harm realized he needed to get a hold of Mac. He needed to cancel their 'working' dinner tonight because he knew he wouldn't be pleasant company. While he quickly changed out of his uniform, into jeans and a sweatshirt, he called Mac on her cell, only to reach her voicemail. A moment later, there was a knock at his door.

"I know, I'm early, my meeting at the Pentagon, didn't last nearly as long as they thought it would." Mac cheerily, walked into his loft carrying her sea bag in one hand and a large sack containing dinner from the Chinese restaurant down the street. She gave him a quick kiss as he took the bag containing the food.

He and Mac had been seeing each other, dating but not officially, since Christmas time, when Mac had seen how heartbroken Harm was when he was turned down for the guardianship of Mattie Grace Johnson.

"The bedroom's free; I'm expecting a call, so take your time," he told her. While waiting for the phone to ring he took the plates from the cupboard, the chopsticks from the drawer. Mac had brought him some fine wooden chopsticks, months ago when TAD in Japan. "As often as we eat Asian food, we might as well use decent chopsticks instead of the cheap wooden ones that you get with takeout."

"Hey flyboy, hungry Marine here, I won't take long." Mac disappeared into his bedroom.

Harm's phone rang, and he picked up the cordless. "Hello, is everybody in Mom's office? Good, Frank, in your email last week you said you were coming to the hill in a few days to testify regarding new fuel efficiency standards; could you bring Shannon and Andrew with you? Frankly, Shannon I don't trust that you'd come the rest of the way by yourself."

Frank replied, his voice much calmer than his stepson's was. "When the plane is available we can leave, hopefully tonight. I'll call you when I know, if it's too late, I'll call first thing in the morning."

"Thanks Frank. Shannon I want to speak with you, Frank I want you as my witness."

Harm wasn't aware, his tone of voice was glacial, he used this tone on recalcitrant clients and a few people under him in rank when needed. "When you get to DC, we ARE going to talk about everything, and that includes my right to see my son."

Meanwhile Mac had changed into jeans and a red tee shirt; her only focus was on eating supper and then working on her case. She had a couple of ideas she wanted to bounce off Harm and was not listening to what Harm was saying. She headed towards his dining table when he hung up the phone rather abruptly, slamming the phone down. "Harm what's going on? You look like a coiled rattler, about to bite, did you get bad news regarding your Mom or Frank, is it Sergei, did something happen to Mattie?"

They had been friends long enough that Mac knew when he was this perturbed his stepfather Frank was usually involved. Even though they were on better terms than they'd been in the past, it seemed to Mac that Frank knew what buttons to push.

Harm gave her a funny look. "Mom and Frank are okay, in fact they're coming ….tomorrow, with family I haven't seen in close to a decade."

"I thought you'd seen everyone recently?" she asked not paying any attention to Harm's face or body language because she was getting the table set for their meal. With her mind on food Harm's answer floored her.

"My son and my ex-wife and are coming with Mom and Frank" Harm told a stunned Mac.

Chapter 2

Mac turned and looked at him in shock. "My hearing just went; I didn't hear what I thought I heard, you have an ex-wife and a son?"

Harm's tone was anger filled. "My ex-wife, whose sense of timing was always impeccable, the lady who sent papers filing for divorce which arrived on board the morning after my ramp strike, the woman who has prevented me from seeing my son since 1991. She was going to visit her parents so taking Andy seemed like no problem. Andy hadn't seen his grandparents in over a year so I wasn't expecting the divorce. As soon as I was strong enough and coherent long enough to call, I called. Her parents refused to let me talk with her, said she had gone on 'holiday' and no matter how much I begged they wouldn't give me a number to get a hold of her." He slumped down in his recliner and continued.

"I had a setback with my injuries and I couldn't call for a week. When I tried calling a couple of days later, they'd changed their phone number and their new number was unpublished. I soon received papers informing me of a restraining order, I wasn't allowed to call them or see them. I have not had any contact with them since Shannon's cousin was a 'solicitor' fresh out of law school helped her: well let's just say the firm he worked for at the time really helped her. The family decided to use a little financial and political influence and made sure that the judge was in their pocket. The judge, somehow, and I don't know how, stated that I was mentally abusive, as well had abandoned them It was her fear of my being shot down, remember this was about the same time as the first Gulf War, and had abandoned her, I was on board serving my country, The jerk granted sole custody to her. I pay child support for a son I'm forbidden by law to see. Not that she needs the money." During the speech he had stood up and wandered about his living room, there were a few times that Mac was not sure the takeout boxes would go flying but he kept the tension inside, not exploding.

"Her parents had money she eventually inherited. The court decreed that if I had any contact with Andy without Shannon's express permission before he's is eighteen I would face serious jail time. With the injuries I had then, I couldn't travel to Australia. By the time, I was healthy enough to travel, her parents moved from Adelaide and I haven't seen any of them, with the exception of her cousin, since. I give them credit for one thing; it helped me choose my new career. Because of the misdiagnosed night blindness, I needed retraining, since I supposedly could no longer be a pilot. I chose the law I didn't want another injustice to happen to someone. I decided to become the best attorney I could be. I haven't heard anything from Shannon until today, not one birthday card or Christmas card; any school pictures of Andy, nothing." He paused; Mac sat there, shocked, supper forgotten. She nodded for him to continue.

"That was Frank on the phone when you got here. Either Shannon knew where Mom's gallery was or her cousin gave her the address. She and Andy showed up at Mom's gallery about half an hour ago. Frank and Mom were planning on coming for hearings on the Hill so he has use of the company plane. Frank is going to see if they can come tonight, tomorrow at the latest."

"Harm, you never once said you were married. It does explains why you never … with Renee, or anyone else for that matter. No wonder you were so understanding when Chris showed up. Just how old is Andy now?"

"His birthday was in May, he's sixteen." I haven't seen him since he was a little younger than AJ. Let's just drop this line of questioning, counselor. I've been looking forward to this meal all day. If I say any more about it I won't feel like eating or getting any work done tonight."

"Okay let's talk about the Santos case, then. It starts next Monday morning and we haven't discussed had a chance to discuss what I've found out while you were on the Henry, sailor."

"That, counselor, is acceptable dinner conversation" They proceeded to have a pleasant meal. Mac had ordered their favorites and had gotten a side of 'dead cow lo mien' for herself. They were clearing the table to put their work, when the phone rang. Harm answered it.

"Harm, it's Frank. We have mechanical difficulties on this end so we're not going to leave until after midnight. We should be getting in around eleven your time. We'll fly into Herndon."

"Frank, I have court tomorrow so come directly to JAG. Mom has the directions."

Amazingly, they were able to get some work done; Mac attributed it to Harm going into 'pilot' mode. Shortly after ten Mac closed her file and put in her briefcase. "I do believe we will get Santos acquitted, good work there flyboy since your brain is obviously in California. I am headed home. Try and get some sleep tonight, you'll be able to deal everything if you have a decent nights sleep." Mac hugged Harm tightly and reminded him again that she would be there for him, in any way she could help. Then she gave him quick kiss and headed for the door. "You sound like my mom Mac; I'll see you in the morning."

Harm followed her to the elevator, then walked back in his apartment towards the window. She tooted the horn twice, their signal that everything was safe. This was their normal ritual, and somehow tonight it was comforting to him.

Mac left Harm's apartment, realizing that Harm's acknowledgement of an early marriage and subsequent divorce and the loss of his son explained a lot of why he had not remarried and why it had taken so long for them to start dating. Mac was reeling at the new information. How had they met? Why did they marry so quickly, did they 'have' to get married? Why couldn't Harm have ever mentioned his son to her? She had sensed that she wasn't going to get any further details and had not pushed the matter further. She just hoped he would share more in the near future.