OOOO

Part 3

Harm was bent over his desk, completing paperwork on one of his cases, a few weeks later when there was a knock on his door. It was Victor Bell, one of the senior partners of the company.

"Hi Harm," the good-natured Scots man greeted him, questioning, "Will we see you in Sepadan this weekend?"

"I'll be there," Harm promised him, "We've got a lot that needs done this weekend."

Victor nodded in agreement, commenting, "We have all of that new piping to lay down and a ton of bricks to transport from the ferry terminal."

"It'll get done," Harm promised, "even if I'm still there at midnight."

"Good man," Victor encouraged, before leaving to go check on the rest of the law firm's staff.

Harm had to admit, civilian law here was a lot different than in DC. It had not quite been what he had expected. Maybe if he'd practiced some civilian law back home first, the transition might have been a little easier. He'd had some second thoughts about whether it had been a good idea to come out here. Goodness knows he hadn't wanted to leave his Mom and Frank and all of his friends behind, with no idea where he was going. That had been the hardest aspect of it all, although transition to civilian law here had been a close second. Yeah, civilian law had come as a big shock to him. He missed the excitement of military law. He missed being able to travel so much and all of the people he met through it. He didn't particularly enjoy being stuck behind a desk all day, doing paperwork, but it paid well enough and he was able to pay his bills, with just enough left over to live on. And of course there was Sepadan. It was just what he needed, to fill up the time that would alternatively have been spent moping about and thinking about home…About her. But, now that he looked back on it, he saw just how much of a Godsend it was when Vic had mentioned the charity the firm sponsored and helped out on the weekends. Even though he wasn't required to, Harm spent all of his weekends there, helping get basic amenities and the like delivered and installed into the small Malay village which was cut off from the rest of the developed areas of North Malaysia. He had made a lot of friends during his time there, had even started a relationship…well, a friendship, really. Was that quite the word for it, or was it somehow…more? Cate. Cate was a worker with the British Red Cross, who was permanently stationed in the village. Harm had to admit, for some reason he felt so drawn to her, although she was much younger than he was. She was an interesting person and knew what it was like to make an escape, to run off, far from home and start your whole life over again. Harm felt like he could talk to her. She understood how he felt, keeping the truth from his family and friends. She had family back in the UK who didn't know where she was either. Only, she had never contacted them. She was the one who had encouraged him to keep in touch with the people back home. She had even suggested that he let his Mom know where he was. But could he do that? Would that not just open that huge can of worms that he had closed the door on, when he had left?

Harm thought about it some more, that night, when he went home. He could always ask his Mom not to tell anyone else…But that wouldn't be fair. He had friends who where like family to him, back home, waiting for news from him too. He had a godson, whom he still had a great responsibility to…But then again, his godson also had a godmother, the very person whom had brought about his decision to move away in the first place. What was he going to do?

Giving up on the subject for the night, Harm pushed it to the back of his mind. He reached over and picked up the old cellphone that he kept on the bedside table. He had since bought himself a new one for work, but had kept the one he had brought from home. He couldn't bring himself to have it cut off, always made the excuse that people had to be able to contact him in the case of an emergency, but still, he always kept it at home, switched off. Heavens knew he could live a bit more comfortably if he wasn't paying the line rental on it, but it wasn't so bad as he never used it for phone calls. Instead, every night before he went to bed, he checked his answer service to make sure that nobody from back home was trying to get in urgent touch with him. He hadn't received any messages from anyone lately, because they all knew that he wasn't going to answer his phone. Still, he couldn't help but wish that he had but one particular message on there, just the one. Recently, all he had been getting was silent messages. He had tried time and time again to listen for any sign of who had been calling him, but when he had drawn blank, he simply presumed that it must be a wrong number or an accidental call from another cellphone. Still, this didn't settle his nerves any or give him respite from the worries plaguing him.

OOOO

It was a few weeks later, when AJ was sitting in his office that Tiner buzzed through on the intercom.

"Admiral, Sir, it's Comm…it's Harm on line one to speak to you. He's calling long distance."

"Thank you Tiner," AJ told him, surprised.

He quickly picked up the receiver and punched the button for line one.

"Harm? Is that you?"

"Yes, Sir. It's me…"

"You don't have to call me 'Sir,' son, you know that," AJ told him, reproachfully then asked, "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing well, AJ," Harm assured him, "In fact, that's why I'm calling. I think that I've pretty much settled in and I just wanted to let you know that I'm doing fine."

"Thanks for letting us know," AJ told him, genuinely, "We're all going to be resting better knowing it. I managed to speak to your Mom, last week and she filled me in on everything that you'd let her know. You're doing civilian law now, huh?"

"Yeah, that's right," Harm confirmed, "It's pretty different, I'll tell you."

AJ chuckled and they continued to chat for a while. AJ asked nothing about where Harm was and Harm himself was grateful that AJ respected his decision enough not to do so. Before Harm rang off, AJ asked him,

"Have you spoken to your Mom recently? Did she let you know that Mac had been to see her?"

"Yeah," Harm confirmed, "She told me that. She said that she had let Mac know that I'm fine and am getting settled in here. How is she, AJ?"

"She's lost without you, Harm," AJ admitted, adding, "Goodness knows, we all are. I don't think that she understands why you did everything that you did without telling her, but she seems to accept that you need time to yourself, right now."

"And Webb? How's he doing?"

"Oh, he's getting on well. The Roberts are helping him out an awful lot and so are some of the other staff members…"

"That's great, AJ…Listen, I'd better get going, now…I'll call again soon and let you know how things are going. Thanks for understanding."

"It's nothing, son. Just you take care of yourself and make sure that you keep in good contact with your Mom. You know how she must worry, when you're out there on your own."

"I will, AJ," Harm promised, "Goodbye."

"Goodbye, Harm," AJ bid him, putting the receiver down after he was done. He quickly stood up, meaning to go to Mac's office to let her know that he had heard from Harm and that he was okay. However, he walked out into the bullpen and found a crowd of staff members still crowded around Tiner's desk. Try as he might, AJ just couldn't bring himself to be angry that they had been listening in on his conversation with Harm. They were as close to him as he was and he knew that they had only ever been worried about him, while he had been missing.

"Alright, people," he told them, "As you were."

They all quickly made their ways back to their desks and offices and he crossed the bullpen to tap softly on Mac's door.

At her authorisation to enter, he poked his head around the door.

"Sir," she quickly came to attention when she saw that it was him, "Please, come in and take a seat."

He did so and was quick to inform her, "Colonel…Mac, I just had a phone call from Harm…"

"Was he okay, Sir?" she quickly asked.

"Yes, he seemed okay. I get the impression that he's not entirely settled there, but he seemed all right. He admitted that he's finding it difficult getting to grips with civilian law."

Mac smiled, softly, remembering her own time practicing civilian law.

"Yeah, Sir. Civilian law is the pits. I never thought that I'd see the day when he crossed over to the dark side."

AJ just smiled, nodding, then continued, "He's okay, Mac. He just needs some more time."

Mac just nodded, understanding, but still not liking the fact very much.

After assuring her that Harm would come around, eventually, he left her on her own, to get on with her work.

OOOO

When Mac paid a visit to the Georgetown hospital, that night, to visit Clay and see how he was coming on, she was surprised to find him peculiarly upbeat.

After giving him a questioning look, he just smiled and reached over to his beside table, picking up a small sheet of paper.

"Looks like this spook's got his groove back," he told her, "I found him, Mac…do you want this?"

Mac took a deep breath, of two minds of how to respond. She took the paper from him and raised her eyebrows in surprise as she read it.

"Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia?"

"Yep," Clay confirmed, "Seems that Harm has a friend there who told him about an empty position in their law firm, Delany, Chung and Bell. This Barry Delany was a couple of years ahead of Harm at Annapolis, but it took a bit of digging to find that out, because neither Sturgis nor Keeter remember anything about him. He went abroad over ten years ago, so it was hard to track him down. He's been positioned all over Asia and only got his partnership position in KL a few years ago…so, what do you think you'll do?"

"I don't know," Mac admitted, honestly, "He obviously wants a bit of time, so I guess I'll have to give him that…But I don't know how long I can wait. First of all, I'll let his Mom and Frank know. Then I'll let the Admiral know, to see how he thinks we should proceed. But I think that he seems to have the same faith in Harm."

"Yeah," Clay agreed, "but whatever you decide to do, I want you to know that I wish you and Harm all the luck and happiness in the world."

"Thanks, Clay," Mac thanked him, her mind finally at rest.

OOOO