AN: Well, looks like we've come to the end of the line...Please make sure you lift all your belongings before disembarking...Hope you enjoyed the ride! It's been a blast to post, as always! Thanks for all of your great reviews!

Oh yeah, in my world, Gunny Victor Galindez never left JAG, but remained for all of us to ogle each week!

OOOO

Part Thirteen

Harm headed out of his office and walked over to where Katya was playing in the bullpen. It was a Saturday and Harm was one of very few people there over the weekend, catching up on work. Mac was at the supermarket, shopping for groceries for a little garden party that they were going to have over at the Roberts's, that night. Harm had offered to take Katya with him, so that Mac wouldn't have to watch her on top of all of the errands that she had to run.

"Sweetie, I need to go downstairs for a minute to get something, okay? Don't leave the bullpen, alright?" Harm told his daughter, who was sitting under a desk, playing with her ponies.

Katya looked up with a confused expression on her face.

"Daddy?" she asked, "What is the b…bull…bullp…"

She thought she knew the word he used. It was the English word for an animal with horns and a mean temper. Looking around, she couldn't see anything that could be said to resemble such a creature.

"Oh…" Harm realised that she didn't understand him, "Daddy means, don't go past Uncle Vic's desk, okay? He and Uncle Sturgis are here, if you need anything, but Daddy shouldn't be very long, okay?"

"Okay Daddy," Katya settled back to her game, happily.

Before he left, Harm checked with Gunny that it was okay for him to leave Katya there, while he went to the basement to search out some records that he needed.

"That's fine, Sir," Gunny said, "I'll keep my eye on her, Sir."

OOO

Approximately half-an-hour later, Katya became aware of a disturbing tightness in her lower belly and quickly climbed out from under the desk. She had been having such a good time, playing with her ponies, she hadn't realised how full her bladder was getting. She quickly scampered over to Uncle Vic's desk.

Gunny saw her coming and asked, "Hi, Katya! Are you alright?"

When he noticed the urgent expression on her face, he asked, concerned,

"Are you okay, honey?"

"Uncle Vic," Katya reported, urgently, "I need…I need…"

However, the English word escaped her and she opened and closed her mouth repeatedly, only able to garble helplessly.

"What is it you need?" Gunny asked her, softly and patiently.

"I need…toilet, Uncle Vic, I need to go potty…"

However, Katya could only remember the Russian words.

"I'm sorry, hon," Gunny told her helplessly, "I don't know what that means…"

However, as Katya brought her knees together and jammed her hands between her legs, letting out a soft moan, Gunny realised exactly what she must mean.

"Uh-oh," the marine gunnery sergeant thought to himself, "What do I do now?"

"You need to go to the little girl's room, sweetie?" he asked, hoping his hunch was wrong.

No such luck.

"Uh-huh, Uncle Vic. Need to go now!" Katya told him.

Gunny quickly thought and assessed that he'd have to bring Katya to the toilet himself. There were only two other people were in today, one of them Katya's Dad, who was all the way downstairs. There were no female officers in the bullpen today and Commander Sturgis Turner was just as clueless about little girls as he was. There was nothing for it, he'd have to take her into the bathroom himself. There was no telling how long Commander Rabb would be. Damn him!

An impatient 'Uncle Vic!' snapped him out of his thoughts and he quickly guided Katya out towards the lady's room, before she christened the Admiral's new bullpen carpet.

Outside the lady's room, Gunny gave two quick sets of knocks on the door, before cracking it open and asking, loudly, "Excuse me? Is there anyone in here?"

When he got no answer, he pulled the door open all of the way and guided Katya in.

"Can you manage on your own, sweetie?" he asked the little girl, hoping that she could.

He had grown up in a house full of sisters, but now they all had sons and Gunny had no proper experience at all with little girls.

"Uh-huh," Katya told him and toddled into the cubicle, by herself.

Katya had become toilet trained very quickly and at a very early age because very little patience was afforded for accidents in the orphanage.

"Okay, now don't lock the door, Hon," Gunny instructed her, "Uncle Vic will hold it closed with his foot, then just tug on it when you're done and I'll let it go."

"Okay Uncle Vic," Katya shouted, sounding just as carefree as when she was playing with her ponies.

Gunny sweated it out for the next minute as he waited for Katya to finish, praying that nobody would walk in to find him here. He was not so lucky, as the lady's room door swung open and a pretty, blond petty officer walked in and stopped dead as she saw him.

"Oh…I'm sorry Sir," she stammered in apology, "I…the bathrooms upstairs are out of order, you see…I didn't mean to…interrupt…"

"That's alright, Petty Officer…" Gunny told her, similarly stuck for words, "I just…well, she couldn't wait any, you see…I mean, I had to bring her in…I didn't want to take her into the men's…."

The Petty Officer just looked at him funny as he tried and failed to explain. Just then, he was saved more embarrassment, when Katya tugged on the door.

"Uncle Vic!" she cried, joyously, "I'm all done!"

"Oh thank goodness!" Gunny thought to himself, with equal joy.

Gunny let go of the door and Katya stepped out, holding up her purple overalls by the loose straps.

"Uncle Vic," she told him seriously, "I couldn't do these up again…"

To demonstrate her point, she let the straps go and her overalls fell down around her feet, giving Gunny and the Petty Officer a glimpse of her new 'Saturday' underpants.

Gunny blushed and quickly hoisted the overalls back up, securing the buckles and lifted Katya over to the sinks.

"Time to wash your handies," he told her and she started singing, "Wash handies, wash handies! Wash handies time!"

After she rinsed her hands, Gunny lifted Katya over to the towel rack, where she dried her hands.

The petty officer only just managed to contain her amusement during all of this, but found herself smiling at the heart-warming sight of the little girl grabbing her 'Uncle Vic's' hand as they exited the bathroom.

OOOO

Later on, as Harm made his way back into the bullpen, he stopped by the Gunny's desk.

"Sorry I was so long, Gunny," he apologised to the man, "Time just got away from me while I was down in records. I hope Katya wasn't any trouble for you?"

"No, of course not, Sir," Gunny told him, "But we did have a bit of a bind, a little while ago…Katya needed the bathroom and I had to take her to the ladies…but she managed okay on her own…"

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Harm exclaimed, "I forgot to check with her before I left! I'm really sorry, was she alright by herself?"

"Yeah, she managed fine," Gunny told him, keeping the conversation simple, as he felt himself start to fluster.

"Okay, thanks Gunny," Harm thanked the man and turned to find his daughter and leave Gunny in peace.

"Katya?" Harm asked, loudly, "Where are you, princess?"

"Here I am, Daddy!" she shouted, climbing to her feet from underneath a desk then exclaimed excitedly, loud enough for the whole bullpen to hear, "Guess what Daddy?"

"What, princess?" Harm asked, indulgently as he took a seat and pulled Katya up onto his lap.

"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" Katya exclaimed, bouncing up and down excitedly, "Uncle Vic took me to go pee-pee!"

Harm and Gunny broke out into loud laughter, unable to hold it back. Even Commander Turner made his way out of his office, in a similar state of hysterics.

OOOO

"She did what?" Mac exclaimed, laughing, later on, while she and Harm were packing the food for the garden party at the Roberts's.

"You heard me!" Harm told her, "She told me and the whole bullpen that Uncle Vic took her to go pee-pee!"

Mac just continued to laugh at the thought of the poor gunnery sergeant.

"And that's not all," Harm continued, "Gunny took her into the lady's room. He checked to make sure that nobody was in there first, but somebody walked in while he was holding the cubicle door closed for Katya. Gunny says he must have spent two whole minutes trying to explain to this Petty Officer from upstairs why he was in there. She just looked at him like he was crazy or something."

"My goodness!" Mac exclaimed, quietly, still laughing, amusedly, "The poor guy! At least it wasn't a superior officer! Didn't you check whether Katya needed to go to the bathroom before you went down to records?"

"It completely slipped my mind," Harm told her, holding his hands up in a helpless gesture, "But it didn't end there for the Gunny…"

Mac was silent again, but still fought to contain her laughter as Harm continued.

"When Katya came out of the toilet, she was holding up her overalls up because she couldn't do the buckles up again. She told Gunny, then dropped her overalls to show him what she meant! Gunny and the Petty Officer got a good view of those 'day of the week' underpants that you bought her!

Mac gasped in disbelief and really cracked up as Harm added…

"Then she started singing as she was washing her hands and grabbed Gunny's hand as they walked out of the bathroom. Gunny's never going to be able to look that petty officer straight in the eye again!"

OOOO

The whole funny incident was relayed to the Roberts family as the group sat out in the garden, later that night. Bud and Harriet found it even more amusing than Harm and Mac had, earlier.

Harm was in the garden with the children, playing a game of 'hide and seek.' He was up to his knees in the Robert's hedges, sifting through them for any sign of any of the children. Mac could see her daughter, the source of tonight's amusement, peeping out from behind little AJ's den, watching her Father with delight. Just then, there was a loud, animalistic howl and Harm jumped in shock, falling against the garden fence in an attempt to get away from whatever had made the noise. A large tom-cat scarpered from the bushes and crouched low on the grass, where it set about studying everyone around it, pensively.

"Ooo!" Katya exclaimed, staring at the animal with wonder, "Kisa!"

"Princess!" Harm shouted from his place sprawled in the bushes, "Don't touch the kitty, you don't know where it's been…"

Katya approached the cat and bent down to look it in the eye.

"Hello, kitty!" she greeted it, grinning.

The cat, obviously a stray, looked up at her and let out a loud 'meow.'

Katya laughed delightedly, jumping up and down and exclaimed, "Daddy! The kitty said hello to me!"

"You okay, squid?" Mac asked her fiancé as she helped him climb out of the bushes and brush himself off.

"I don't like the look of that cat," Harm eyed the cat, doubtfully.

"But she's already so attached to it," Mac told him.

"Can we keep him, Daddy?" Katya asked him, her big baby-blues pleading with her Daddy's soft side.

"Uh…" Harm stammered, looking at the cat again.

The tomcat had no collar, was missing half an ear and stared up at him with a similarly questioning gaze. There was no doubt that this cat was a bruiser of a tomcat. He probably terrorised the rest of the tomcats in the neighbourhood and got all of the female cats into trouble. The neighbourhood was probably teeming with his progeny.

"Well…" Harm continued, "If you take that thing to the vet, first thing in the morning…"

"Yay!" Katya and the other children exclaimed, from all around the cat, "Yay!"

Mac just smiled, she'd known her flyboy would cave to his princess's wishes.

"I mean it, Mac," Harm told her, "I want that cat checked over, first thing in the morning, it could have rabies or anything…and I don't want our neighbours coming to us with any boxes of kittens, either…That cat gets done, at the first opportunity."

The cat looked up at Harm and eyed him as if it knew what he had just said.

"So what's your kitty called, baby?" Mac asked her daughter as she went to stroke the cat.

"Mr. Thomas, Mommy," Katya reported, happily.

"Well," Harm noted as he crossed back to Bud and Harriet, "It least the battle of the sexes will be a bit evened out, in our house, now."

"I suggest you take steps to tip the balance in yours and Mr. Thomas' favour, Commander," Bud joked.

"Maybe I should, Bud," Harm agreed, "Perhaps some time in the near future…"

So that night, a happy family went home, complete with new member, 'Mr Thomas.'

FIN