Okay, this update is coming almost two months later than planned, but my JAG muse abandoned ship and then both my grandfather and my step-grandfather were hospitalized, and, the final blow to my emotional psyche, my dog, Shadow, died. Then, of course, I got sidetracked with other fandoms, and, unfortunately, my JAG stories got pushed aside and forgotten on my hard-drive. However, I was updating my website and I was hit with a little glimmer of inspiration, so this story found a new chapter. GENTRY will be updated shortly as well, as I am almost finished the next chapter of that story. Please be patient with me, though. It's been a rough few months and I'm just now getting back into the swing of things.

Roberts Residence

0615

Roslyn, Virginia

The phone rang loudly, stopping Bud as he loped toward the coffee maker. He turned and grabbed the phone off the table where it had be left the night before. "Hello, Roberts residence," he said sounding entirely too chipper for someone who hadn't even had a cup of coffee yet.

"Bud, hey, it's me."

"Commander! How was Miramar?" Bud asked. Sometimes he still felt like he had back when Harm was flying off the Patrick Henry and he and Mac had gone to investigate the hotshot pilot, Lieutenant Buxton. Legal Weenie. Even now, years later, he still felt the same almost high-school-ish inadequacy that he had during that investigation. And with his leg, or, rather, lack thereof, holding him back from sea duty, Bud had found himself in serious need of some vicarious thrills. A couple of good flying stories should tide him over until the next time Harm and Mac did something stupid yet equally brilliant.

However Harm didn't volunteer any stories. In fact, he was alarmingly blunt.

"Good. I'm in San Antonio now."

Bud poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at the kitchen table. "How are Colonel MacKenzie and Commander Austin?" he asked.

"They're both good. Look, Bud, I need a favour. It's kinda a big one. Is Harriet around?"

"She's just feeding Jimmy," Bud said.

"He's fed and changed," Harriet said as she came into the kitchen with Jimmy in her arms and AJ trailing behind her. "Who's on the phone?"

"Commander Rabb," Bud said. He found the base for the phone and put Harm on speaker. "Harriet's here, sir."

"Drop the ranks, Bud. This is more of a personal favour than anything else."

"Unca Harm!" AJ said excitedly. He hadn't seen his godfather in far too long. "You gonna come over an' play wif me?" he asked. He was still holding out hope that he would get to go flying in 'Sarah' but according to his mother he was still too little. AJ hated being too little. He was a lot bigger than Jimmy but that didn't seem to matter to anyone.

Harm's warm chuckle carried through the phone line clearly. "Not today, buddy. I'm in Texas with Aunt Mac."

"Oh," AJ said sadly. He wasn't quite sure of where Texas was but he knew it wasn't anywhere close. "Mommy, can I go watch Pooh?" he asked.

"Just while we talk to Uncle Harm, then you have to get ready for school," Harriet said. "Go pick the one you want and your daddy will come set it up for you in a second, okay?"

AJ smiled and ran off to the living room where the big TV lived. Bud went after the precocious child while Harriet settled little Jimmy in his carrier that was sitting on the table and, after making sure he was set, she sat down at the table.

"So what can we do for you, sir?" Harriet asked. She doubted she would ever be able to just call him 'Harm'. Bud returned and sat down next to Harriet as he alerted Harm to his presence.

"I don't want to go into the details, but this investigation has gotten completely out of hand. There's a little girl, Lily, who has been targeted by a serial killer. We need to get her out of town as fast as possible."

Harriet gasped. She hated knowing that there were people out there who took pleasure in taking away the lives of others. She wasn't exactly privy to most of the details of the cases that were tried at JAG, but she knew enough to know that the capacity for evil in some people was overwhelming. In her mind she saw Dar-Lin Lewis, scared and alone, terrorized by someone who was pretty much family to her. She had to force herself not to envision Dar-Lin's twin sister, Annie, who hadn't been lucky enough to get away from Charlie. The crime scene photos that Harm had tried so hard to keep her from seeing had been etched into her mind's eye and had left her crying and shaking for weeks after.

The thought of the girl, Lily, meeting the same fate as Annie Lewis, or even that of Dar-Lin, was unconscionable.

"What can we do?" she asked without giving it a moment's thought.

Harm explained the plan and told them to think about it and call him back as soon as they made a decision. They chatted for a few minutes after that and then they hung up. Harriet had already decided that she was going to do anything she could to help, and she prayed that her husband wouldn't put up a fight.

"We have to help that little girl, Bud," Harriet said firmly.

"I don't know, Harriet," Bud said softly.

Harriet looked at her husband with watery eyes. "We never got the chance to protect our own little girl from the people and things that want nothing more than to inflict pain. We couldn't save Sarah. But we can save Lily," Harriet said passionately.

Bud took a moment and then nodded. "Alright. But I'm talking to the Admiral about getting a protection detail while she's here," he said, and Harriet knew there was no arguing with him on that point. She nodded and Bud smiled softly. "It's going to be okay, Harriet. Remember, the Commander and the Colonel have an amazing track record when it comes to murder investigations."

"Not the claim to fame I'd wish for," Harriet muttered sadly, reaching out and taking Jimmy's tiny hand in her own. He was so tiny and innocent and it pained her to think about how quickly he would become tainted by the world that he had come into. "Sometimes I really hate this world, Bud," she confessed tearfully.

"I know, sweetie," Bud said softly, reaching over and smoothing his hand over her hair tenderly.

JAG Headquarters

0700

Falls Church, Virginia

It wasn't often that Jen was asked to sit in for conference calls regarding investigations—unless the Admiral needed her to make notes for future reference, and so when Bud had poked his head out of the Admiral's office and asked her to join them she had been intrigued. Slightly concerned, but mostly intrigued.

"Take a seat," Chegwidden said to Jen. She sat in one of the Admiral's old leather club chairs and waited patiently for further instruction. "How much do you know about the investigation Colonel MacKenzie and Commander Rabb are on?"

"Not much, sir," Jen said. "I know that the Colonel flew out to San Antonio and the Commander joined her later. A vehicular manslaughter case, if I remember correctly.

AJ nodded. "That was what it started out as. But, as usual, nothing is as simple as it seems," he said. He massaged the muscle between his eyes the way he tended to when he felt a headache coming on. "Long story short, there is a little girl who they believe is the next target of a serial killer. We're going to put the girl…"

"Lily, sir," Bud prompted.

"Lily," Chegwidden nodded, "into protective custody. She will be staying with Lieutenant Roberts and his family. However, with Harm and Mac gone we need Bud here, and Harriet can't travel because of the boys…" he trailed off, knowing that Jen got the picture. She always seemed to have a good grasp of what he was thinking. "Of course, this is entirely voluntary—"

"I'll do it, sir," Jen said before Chegwidden could finish covering his six by making sure that she knew this wasn't him giving her an order. "When do you want me to leave?"

It was only then that Harm spoke, making Jen jump a little. She had completely forgotten that she had been called in for a conference call. "There's a helo leaving Quantico at 1000. If you can get there in time there's a seat for you, Jen."

"I'll be there, sir," Jen promised. She wondered if she could convince the Admiral to loan her one of the JAG fleet sedans since her car barely managed to make the trip from her apartment to Falls Church and back every day.

"Good. Either Mac or I will pick you up when you arrive here and you'll have a ride to the school to pick Lily up tomorrow morning before your flight back to Dulles," Harm said. There was a soft beeping in the background and Harm sighed. "That's the hospital. They've finally been persuaded by a court order to hand over the Wade boy's medical records. I have to get over there, sir."

"Keep in touch," AJ said before hanging up on Harm. He turned his attention back to Jen. "Lieutenant Roberts will drive you to your apartment and then to Quantico." Jen opened her mouth to protest, but the Admiral spoke again before she could get the words out, and her military teachings forced her to refrain from trying to talk over her CO. "He has an interview to conduct out there anyway. He'll just be a few hours early. Now, you have a long day of travelling ahead of you, Petty Officer, so I suggest you get your desk squared away so you can pick up something to eat on your way to the base."

"Aye, aye, sir," Jen said, standing.

She and Bud headed for the door. "And, Jennifer?" Chegwidden said, calling her by her first name for the first time that Jen could remember—and her memory was excellent.

"Yes, sir?" Jen said, turning to face her CO.

"Be careful," Chegwidden said compassionately.

Jen smiled softly, basking in his fatherly concern for her. She had never gotten that from her own father, which had been part of the reason she had turned to her days of the five finger discount. Sometimes Jen wished that she had had a different life, but then she looked at her current life and realized that she never would have joined the Navy and never would have found a home at JAG if she hadn't had the life that she did.

Hopefully I won't have another run of shitty luck coupled with writers block, but it might happen, so be forewarned.