Chapter 26

Five o'clock could not come fast enough for Bud, Harriet and Sturgis. Harm was the only one who was glad the afternoon seemed to go by slowly.

"All right buddy, you said after work. Sturgis' stance told Harm he'd figured it out. Bud and Harriet were clearly curious. Mac was privy to most of what Harm would to tell his friends.

"Why don't the three of you go home and change clothes, get your boys, let's meet at my place for pizza. "I'll explain everything and frankly it'll be easier to do elsewhere." They agreed, knowing it was the only way Harm would tell them.

"Mac, why don't you join us for pizza?" Mac came over to the group. His eyes pleaded for her to say yes. He knew he needed the emotional support she'd give him to tell his story.

"Why not, as long as it's not veggie pizza." Mac was razzing Harm. "I'll walk with you to the car."

"Mac, if you have a change of clothes with you, why don't you just come with me now. Please." He begged as soon as the others left.

"Sounds good sailor, Andy going to be there?"

"No, Lydia dropped his stuff off at the apartment and then she's going to take him out for supper. She has a flight at eight so she'll bring him home before she leaves. I think I'll break the news to people before we eat, if I'm going to tell them before Andy gets home."

They got in their respective cars and drove to Harm's apartment. Mac noted a flaw in Harm's plan while driving over. She told him this while they were taking the notoriously slow elevator to the apartment.

"I think doing all the extra paperwork has fried my brain," Harm chuckled ruefully." I need to get his stuff into my bedroom. We're going to have to find a bigger place. He has several boxes coming next week. It's just too small a place for two people."

There were several indications of another person residing in Harm's apartment. Moving the suitcases into his bedroom cleared most. "Harm, Harriet will likely want to put Jimmy down, so we need to keep some room free on your bed."

"Good idea." They rearranged the boxes and suitcases to keep a clear path to for the infant.

Harm let Mac change first; while she was changing, he cleaned up some of the mess from breakfast missed in the morning. The only obvious thing left out was Andy's skateboard. It was lying below the table next to the front door. He hoped no one would see it. Mac came out of his room with her sea bag, looking more relaxed now that she was out of her uniform.

Harm quickly changed into jeans and a short-sleeved chambray shirt. From his bedroom he called his favorite pizza place, since it delivered free of charge, they had what he thought was the best vegetarian pizza in town. He knew from experience who liked what on their pizza so he ordered accordingly. He ordered a small Hawaiian hold the pineapple for AJ. For the rest he ordered a giant pizza with the works. He had the feeling that Andy would probably want to eat a few slices for a snack and for breakfast so he added a medium to the order. They said they would deliver in about 45 minutes to an hour. Sturgis arrived shortly, he didn't live far from headquarters so it didn't take him long to go home and change.

"Harm, is Andy that Ms. Metcalf talked about the same Andy I met years ago in Pearl?"

"Can't get anything passed you, can I Sturgis." Harm quipped. The light dawned on Sturgis face and he asked to confirm his suspicions.

"He wasn't just Shannon's son. He's yours isn't he?" Sturgis grilled his friend.

Chapter 27

Harm nodded, he was going to say more but the doorbell rang. It was the Roberts. They'd decided to change clothes at Harm's when they arrived to speed up the process.

"Hiya, Uncle Harm." AJ came at Harm wanting a hug; it had been nearly a month since he had seen him.

"AJ, I think you're taller than when I saw you last. You're getting to be a big boy." AJ just beamed. To the preschooler it seemed Jimmy got all the attention. He missed being the focal point of attention of the grown-ups in his life. Harm noticed Bud and Harriet were still in uniform; Bud was carrying a bag that obviously had changes of clothing.

"Bud, Harriet, come on in. Change in my room. The pizza should be here in about 45 minutes."

"Commander, I mean Harm; there are a lot of boxes and suitcases in your room. It looks like you are getting ready to move." Harriet asked Harm after she had changed, knowing his apartment, she opted to change in the bathroom. Bud was in the bedroom, changing Jimmy's diaper.

"Harriet, we're going to move, there's not enough room in this apartment for all our things."

"Our things, you have someone living with you now?" Harriet looked disappointed, she wanted Harm and Mac to get together, but Mac was here…"Are you two?" She asked this her face looking a happy and puzzled at the same time.

"No, we're not living together" Harm burst Harriet's bubble, and looking at Mac he continued. "We are seeing each other though. We're keeping it under the radar at this point so please keep this to yourselves."

"For us it's a major improvement. If we back were in high school, I could almost say we're going steady. Right now, Harm needs to concentrate on things here so we can't say steady." Mac said taking a sip of cola.

"Why do you have to concentrate on things here?" Harriet asked

The door opened at this point, surprising most of the room. To most, the only person besides Harm who would just walk in was Sergei, or so they thought. To their even greater surprise, the young man that had entered the room was the same young man they had briefly seen in the bullpen a few weeks previous.

"You got back early, Andy." Mac said. "How was dinner with your aunt Lydia?"

"Pretty good, but we went to a salad bar --- I'm still hungry." He then noticed the amount of people in the room. "Dad, sorry about the mess, I didn't know we were having company tonight. I just wanted to get some of the stuff Aunt Lydia brought."

"We weren't ---this was kind of last minute get together, pizza should be here shortly." Andy just grinned, he'd not had pizza yet, so far his father was a stickler for healthy meals

"Dad, I hope you got something besides veggie," he groaned."

Harriet and Bud and for that matter AJ were astonished to hear the teen call Harm dad. Sturgis just looked satisfied, he was right. Andy was Harm's.

Chapter 28

"Andy there's several people I would like for you to meet. You know, Mac. This is Sturgis Turner; he is a commander in the Navy and was my unit mate at Annapolis."

"I have a few stories I could tell you about Harm that he would probably pay me not to tell." Sturgis told his good friend's son, his eyes twinkling. Harm just smiled at the commander's comments. The look on Andy's face said he'd get together with Turner later.

"Here are the Roberts. Bud's a lieutenant in the Navy, like the rest, he's a lawyer. He lost part of his leg while in Afghanistan. Harriet's also a lieutenant at JAG, but she's actually with the Inspector General. You can see that they have two little boys. This is their youngest Jimmy, and the young man with them is AJ. He's named after Admiral Chegwidden."

"It's nice to meet all of you; Dad told me all about you AJ"

"Yes" he was curious why this teenager was talking directly to him.

"My initials are the same exact as yours AJR. But I bet yours don't stand for Andrew John Rabb." I was named after my mum's granddads.

"No, I was named after the admiral. Uncle Harm really your daddy?" AJ thought it was cool there was someone else with his initials and young enough to play some of the games he liked. The admiral didn't play with him very often. He was really old.

"Yep, he is."

The doorbell rang at this point with the delivery of the pizzas. Harm paid for the pizzas giving the college student who delivered them a nice tip. "Let's eat."

While they ate, Harm, with Andy's help, explained Andy's history. AJ had taken a real shine to the teen and after they had eaten, Andy took AJ into the bedroom to play one of his hand-held video games. This Andy knew, would give the adults a chance to talk, with a bit more privacy. Andy had wanted a little brother, and for the time being AJ would fit the bill.

Harm and Andy left the following morning for a quick trip to Beallsville to see Sarah Rabb. Mac said this visit to the farm would be better without her. Harm allowed Andy to drive part way, once they were off the Interstate. Harm agreed before they left DC Andy could drive, until Harm felt comfortable with Andy's driving he wanted Andy to drive in isolated areas. Since he had a driver's license from Tasmania Harm would let him apply for a driving permit.

Andy found a rugby team he could join. It took him a couple of weeks to get his permission, until he took his father to a rugby match. To his amazement, Andy found people at JAG often took the time to come to his games. He missed his mother and keeping busy helped. He started seeing Stacy Douglas, it was more as friends than dating but it was still early in their friendship.

Spring break came quickly; Andy spent the time in LaJolla, getting to know his grandparents. Because of his resignation, Harm lost all his accrued leave. Besides, he wanted to take time off when they moved.. Harm had seen that Frank and Andy developed an instant rapport and was glad his son was not going to be bored. Andy didn't know many people in DC so he quickly took his grandparents up on their offer.

Mac and Harm continued to date. They talked about the future. Harm knew with his resignation he'd likely never advance beyond captain, if he actually reached captain. He decided to put his twenty years in, and then decide what to do. Harm would gladly move wherever Mac was. A law school classmate Harm ran into had made partner in a small firm and had told Harm when he left the military to give him a ring. Harm was considering the offer, but that would work only while Mac was in the DC area. Harm made an appointment to see the admiral, stating he was going to propose to Mac, if she said yes, it would cause chain of command issues.

Chapter 29

The admiral looked into several options, one would have Mac on the judiciary, taking her out of the admiral's chain of command and clearing either of any conflicts of interest. The main sticking point with that was Harm couldn't face his wife in court. Congresswoman Bobbie Latham, even though she and Sturgis had stopped dating nearly a year before, reminded Harm they still needed a liaison between Congress and the military. It would keep Harm in town, when he wanted to resign from the military; he'd have all that many more people to network for an opening in a firm. The third option had Harm working with the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the White House as military advisor. With this option his legal acumen and aviator experience would be an asset, it would also be a way for the black marks on his record to be erased. After a great deal of thought and long talks with Mac, he decided to take the military advisor position. He would start the job June 1.

May 7th, 2004

Callahan's

Washington DC

1830 local

It was nearing the end of the school year, the first few weeks at Shaw Academy were tougher than Andy expected and he'd had to put his nose to the grindstone to keep up his grade point average. Andy still had plans to attend medical school. He knew he had to keep his grades up, if he wanted to have any hope of getting into the school of his choice.

With Mother's day just around the corner, Harm decided to take his son out to dinner, it would be a tough day on Sunday, the first since Shannon's death. Andy didn't have a date that night; he did, have plans with Stacy the next day. Mac ribbed Harm many times during her frequent visits to the apartment that his son had a more active social life than he did. Harm countered his social life was with her. Mac planned to join them for dinner but had been sent to Norfolk earlier in the week and wasn't expected back until late that evening.

They ordered and while waiting for their food, they talked over plans for Andy's trip back to Tasmania. He planned to leave for Tasmania for a couple of weeks of seeing friends and the few remaining family members, like Mic who lived in Australia. After what seemed like months of searching, they'd finally found a home in their price range. Escrow had closed and Harm and Andy planned to move into the house the next weekend. Harm signed the papers just that that afternoon. There was room for everyone, and if Harm had his way, room for a growing family.

"Harm, I didn't expect to see you here." A blast from the past. Harm looked up to see Renee and her husband Cyrus Fortney standing there. Renee had appeared to put on about ten pounds, but Harm wasn't about to say anything about that.

"Renee, Cyrus, I could say the same thing, what brings you two to DC?"

"Cyrus is here for a convention. I thought I'd show him the sights and get away for a few without the twins. You're looking good. Last time I heard about you was a blurb on the news a few months ago. They had their information wrong, said you were former Navy.""

"It's been a crazy year." Harm said coolly. He didn't want to have this conversation with his ex go down the tubes; as he knew how Renee could be when things didn't go well in her personal life.

Andy was watching this conversation with interest, Mac had filled him in on the "video princess" and he just couldn't see what his father had ever seen in the woman standing in front of him. Mac was much better suited to his father. Even Uncle Mic was better suited for his father. Not that he'd ever tell his father that particular thought.

"Andy, I'd like for you to meet an old friend. Renee and her husband Cyrus the Fortney's". Andy shook their hands like the polite young man he was.

"Cyrus, Renee, I would like for you to meet my son, Andy."

Andy had heard of the term 'you could have knocked me over with a feather' but until that instant never had seen the look in person.

"Your son y-y-you never said you had a son" Renee squeaked, she looked as if she might faint. She gripped the chair in front of her so that she wouldn't.

"Nice to meet you both" Andy said smoothly, the innate Rabb charm coming to assist him once again. Privately he wished he could've talked to Renee, telling her the way she had broken up with his father was greatly unappreciated. He decided to be an imp. "Uncle Mic told me about you, Mrs. Fortney."

"Uncle Mic?" the light dawned as she realized she only knew one person who went by Mic. "Mic Brumby is your uncle? How's that possible?" Renee sat down hard on a chair next to the table. She'd had one too many surprises in the span of two minutes.

"It's quite possible Renee. Shannon and Mic were cousins. Andy has always called Mic Uncle since Shannon and he grew up together. Shannon was Andy's mom and my wife. Mic and I didn't get along when Shannon and I were married, which was mainly why Mic and I never got along when we were assigned to JAG or later. It wasn't just because we both wanted Sarah." Harm used the same voice he did in court pleading his case.

With that information, Cyrus led his dazed wife to their table, she was clearly in shock, and Andy could barely contain his laughter but managed to keep the merriment to his eyes. "This is not the time or the place, let's enjoy our meal and we can go somewhere where you can split your gut." Harm told his son while looking as he might he might be having some trouble containing his own laughter.

Their food soon arrived and they started eating, Harm seemed to be picking at his. "Dad, aren't you hungry? It wasn't like Harm to pick at his food from what Andy knew."

"I am, I have something to ask you, and honestly, I'm nervous."

Andy had the feeling what was coming.

"I'm going to ask Mac to marry me, and I want your blessing. I know I was only married briefly to your mother a few months ago."

"Mom told me there was no chance for the two of you to get back together, what happened in February was done for my benefit. So you could take me out of the country easier. You have my blessing, I've seen you two together and you're perfect for each other, Uncle Mic told me that he could see that and it was why he didn't try to reschedule the wedding. Besides I think Lydia is good for him."

Harm relaxed and started to eat with zest. He wasn't sure how Andy would take the news. Andy realized his dad hadn't gone into the relationship with Mac lightly, after all, it had taken them close to a decade before starting to start to date, and he missed his mom but knew his father had finally found happiness.

The prom was the next evening; Harm knew he needed to talk to his son about how he expected his son to conduct himself. He knew Shannon had raised Andy but there were things Andy needed to hear from a father's perspective. Andy knew his father and Mac hadn't slept together yet, and his father, as his mother had, was urging abstinence. Andy liked Stacy and asked her out only two weeks before when she and her long time boyfriend had broken up. Besides his best friend was Steve, Stacy's twin brother. Steve had told Andy if he tried anything with his sister, and it got back to him that Andy would be beaten to a pulp,; kicked from DC to Sydney and back. Andy knew Steve could and would be true to his word. Stacy's former boyfriend had come to school with a shiner soon after the break-up.