Chapter 16

"Your dad is an American?" Travis asked, obviously the dim bulb of the batch.

"He is," Harm nodded and was about to speak, but Shannon spoke first. She surprised everyone with what she had to say. "In 1991 I ran away, leaving the country I thought I had adopted, and I bolted from my marriage, taking Andy because I couldn't handle being a military wife. This was very immature of me. I've not allowed Andy any contact with his father until a week ago. When we were in DC Harm and I decided it was up to Andy where he wanted to live. It was Andy's decision to go to DC and get to know his father." Andy's friends had always liked how she treated them with dignity. They returned the favor now by not denigrating her past actions.

The teens then introduced themselves to Harm, many questions asked about what he did and what he had done during the war on terrorism. They were impressed that he was a lawyer and a pilot. The teens were finally sent home when parents started to call inquiring after their whereabouts. Andy's friends had quickly taken a shine to Harm.

Monday morning Harm dropped Andy off at his school. Harm went out to pick up several pieces of luggage and boxes to ship Andy's belongings. At lunchtime, he met Shannon and they went to the high school to meet with Andy's headmaster. The headmaster would send Andy's transcripts, school records and medical records to Shaw Academy to complete his enrollment.

Since Andy was leaving his teachers told him he didn't have to do any of the assigned homework, this greatly freed up his time after school to say his goodbyes and to pack. He would take most of his clothing, what he wasn't taking he had decided to donate to Goodwill. He'd gone through most of his belongings on Sunday, putting things into piles for packing or donating. Harm offered to pack what was to be shipped. The boxes going with Andy were set aside. With the extra luggage, they wanted to keep the weight to a minimum.

Chapter 17

Burnie Airport, Tasmania, Australia
1020 local time

Wednesday morning Harm had the "fun" and responsibility of taking Andy's boxes to the airport for shipment. He used his home address but his JAG cell phone number as the contact number, with all the items being shipped it would be easier to pick them up at the airport. He had just finished up at the counter when a police cruiser stopped in front of the building and a young constable entered and came up to him.

"Commander Rabb?"

"I'm Commander Rabb." He felt a pit in his stomach and though it did not show on his face, he was terrified.

The constable continued, ushering him towards the door. There's been an incident in Burnie; you need to come with me."

Harm froze for a second, "Is my son all right? What happened to my son?" he said his voice an octave higher than normal.

"Andy's fine; however, you are needed the hospital. Ms Collins was shot and seriously wounded."

As they went from the airport with sirens blaring towards the school, the baby-faced constable explained to Harm that Shannon had gone during her break to the chemists (pharmacy for us Yanks). While there, the chemist was robbed and both Shannon, and the chemist, had been shot point-blank. The constable said that the chemist had died at the scene.

The police cruiser reached the school quickly. The school had been notified and the headmaster was waiting with Andy at the front door.

The sergeant told the headmaster he could call the hospital to keep him informed of Shannon's condition. Andy was near tears and just wanted comfort by his father. It didn't matter that Andy was almost as tall as his father he hugged his father and broke into tears once they were in the car.

City Hospital
Burnie, Tasmania, Australia
1040 local

When they got to the hospital the police chief was there waiting for them. "Let's go in here." They followed him into what was a conference room just outside of the emergency department. "We've caught the shooters. They'll rot in jail, if I have anything to say about it. They were friends' of the guy she saw a couple of weeks ago."

The doctor entered the room. "Mr. Rabb?" Harm nodded. Andy came close and put his hand on his fathers arm, he desperately needed the support. The look on the doctor's face gave Andy a sinking feeling.

"Chief Petrie, Mr. Rabb, the wounds Ms Collins received are life threatening, she is critical right now. She needs surgery and I will tell you right now, there is a good possibility that she will not survive the surgery. She is conscious and would like to speak with you, if you all would follow me."

Petrie and Andy followed Harm into the cubicle were Shannon lay; shewas attached to numerous machines. She motioned for Harm to come over. He did. "Harm, I might not make it and I want you to do one thing." Shannon said barely above a whisper but all in the room heard her.

"What's that?"

"Harm, marry me. I'll die easier knowing he's with you."

Chapter 18

Harm, and Andy as well, were both stunned. So were all in the room. One of the older sisters had seen this request happen before but the others hadn't.

Harm knew Mac would be hurt, but would also understand why he had to say yes. He flashed back to Paraguay and the kiss Mac had given Webb. He now completely understood why Mac had kissed Webb in Paraguay.

"I will" Harm said, gently taking her hand. Harm had seen critical injuries enough to know Shannon did not look good. If she survived, they'd annul the marriage before he left. Shannon told him after the long flight back to Tasmania she didn't plan on making the trip again unless it was for a graduation, a wedding, or births of her grandchildren. She really didn't like flying.

The police chief left the room as soon as he heard Harm's response to page the chaplain. The current chaplain of the hospital was his pastor and the chief knew today's schedule, he was visiting patients. The young pastor was in the waiting room with another parishioner. After a quick discussion between all concerned, the pastor went to Shannon.

"Let's proceed." This was directed to everyone in the room.

The chaplain knew most of the story between Shannon and Harm as Shannon had attended his church for the past few years. He knew there wasn't time for a full ceremony so he pared it down to the essentials.

After the briefest of ceremonies, Shannon signed the certificate. It wasn't very legible but she signed it, Petrie had called over to the courthouse, which fortunately was only a block away, one of the clerks ran over to the hospital with the license. Petrie told the registrar he'd pay personally as soon as he got there. Shannon was rushed into surgery. Harm signed the certificate, the chief and the sergeant followed as witnesses.

It seemed like days; in fact, it was just two hours later when the surgeon came back. "She made it through the surgery, if she survives the first twenty four hours she should survive."

Harm called Mac, who was at home; all he got was the answering machine. "With the time difference, she should be home from work the night before. I think" he thought wishing he had her sense of time.

He left a brief message, telling her Shannon had been shot and wasn't doing well, he also told Mac he had something to tell her and would call with an update.

Several hours passed. To the people in the waiting room it seemed like decades. Police Chief Petrie called Mic, who was Shannon's emergency contact and informed him what had very recently occurred. Andy's friends came after school to comfort him, they'd been informed of the shooting by the headmaster.

Harm took this opportunity to call Mac again; he'd awakened her only an hour after she had gone to bed. The shooting naturally horrified Mac. Then Harm dropped the bombshell. "Mac, Shannon asked me in the ER to remarry her. It was a brief ceremony."

The news naturally floored Mac, "Are you okay with it, and what will you do if she manages to pulls through?" They had finally gotten serious, and now Harm was married. Married to someone else, and that someone was his son's mother.

"We didn't have time to talk about it. I'll ask for an annulment, I'm seeing a Marine, back in DC, I want spend the rest of my days with, not Shannon."

Harm was understandably distracted enough by all of the events in the past week and the current crisis and didn't realized he'd unintentionally proposed to Mac, while he was married to someone else, no less. Not exactly the proposal every girl dreams of but Mac was sure Harm would soon make the proposal in a more romantic, more traditional way.

Mac muttered a few minutes later after they finished the call, "I'm going to hold you to that Harm". She drifted back to sleep reminding herself to take her cell phone with her to work so Harm could keep in contact and keep in on while she was in her office. With the time zone differential she doubted it but didn't wanted to miss any of his calls if she could help it.