A/N: Did you enjoy Three Wise Men: Season 1? Hope so. Here's what's on tap for Season Two:
someone's death has major consequences
another character almost dies
someone starts a hot new romance
we learn more about Nate's screwed up past
there are some real close calls
and, oh yeah, a lot more angst
"Hey Mac, who do you know that went to Penn State?" Chloe called from the bedroom and Mac froze on the spot in the kitchen.
"Why would you ask that Chloe?" Mac called back as she watched the popcorn in the microwave bounce erratically Chloe came back in holding a pair of Penn State sweatpants on her index finger.
"I know that you went to Minnesota and Duke and that Harm went to the Academy and Georgetown so who do you know that went to Penn State?" Chloe questioned once again.
"Just a friend of mine. I had to stay over at their apartment one day after I sprained my ankle running. I needed something to change into. Guess I never returned the sweats." Mac smiled weakly, slightly impressed that she was able to explain without mentioning gender which would to a Chloe style interrogation that would make the Gestapo proud.
"Does this friend have a name?" Chloe asked with a slight taunt to her voice.
"Nate." Mac admitted reluctantly.
"Your friend is a guy? Now is this a normal friend or is this guy a friend." Chloe hinted with an obvious insinuation.
"Chloe Madison!" Mac practically screeched.
"You can't blame me for caring, Mac. I've seen you get hurt a lot, so I worry when I find out about new guys in your life. I mean Mic hurt you the night he left and Harm's hurt you a few times so yeah, men around you make me nervous." Chloe explained.
"I know, sweetie, men around me make me nervous too." Mac joked right back.
"So, when am I going to meet him? I need to make sure he's a stand up guy and not about to hurt my big sister." Chloe asked, awaiting an answer from a very nervous Mac.
"Chloe, he's really busy. I mean with work and all…" Mac started, she was compensating, she knew that if she wanted to, she could drag Nate Ross away from work on a weekend. Heck, she'd done it every weekend for most of the last two months.
"Well, maybe we can hang out with Harm then." Chloe suggested.
"Actually, Chloe, Harm's been pretty busy with Sergei and his friend Meg. Mac's voice left no question as to what she believed the nature of Harm's relationship with Meg to be. She'd seen Meg kiss him on the cheek in the JAG bullpen earlier that week.
"Oh, well, I'm sorry Mac, I guess I just thought that with Mic gone and Harm no longer working at JAG…" Chloe started but Mac cut her off.
"How did you know that Harm wasn't working at JAG anymore?" Mac questioned with an evident shock in her voice.
"Oh, I had to do news presentation in history class and I picked an article about that presentation that Harm gave at the UN a few months ago. It said that he was working at the Pentagon." Chloe informed her big sister.
"Chloe do you remember the guy who was in that picture with Harm on the cover of USA Today?" Mac asked, trying to steer the conversation away from a place where she might have to explain her recent confrontations with Harm.
"Yeah, the girls in my class thought he was a hottie." Chloe smiled broadly.
"That's my friend Nate." Mac offered simply and she watched as Chloe's features lit up.
"I hope I have your kind of luck when I grow up." Chloe remarked with a tone that portrayed a great deal of awe.
"What makes you say that?" Mac asked.
"Mac, think about it, you always end up with these gorgeous male friends. First Harm, now Nate, you're one lucky pup." Chloe laughed slightly.
"Alright Chloe, why don't you call Nate and see if he wants to do something tomorrow, since you're so anxious to meet him." Mac offered and Chloe went running off to the phone. "He's number three on the speed dial." Chloe hit the button and the phone rang.
"You got Nate." The voice chirped up on the other end of the line.
"Hi, um, this is Chloe." Chloe started talking.
"Right, Mac's little sister. What can I do for you, Chloe?" Nate asked, his smile almost emanating through the phone.
"We wanted to know if you wanted to hang out with us tomorrow." Chloe stated and waited for Nate to respond.
"That depends on what you and Mac want to do. If it involves nail painting, weird facial masks or reading Cosmo, I'm out." Nate joked and Chloe was forced to laugh.
"How about shopping and paintball, Nate?" Mac questioned as she walked into the living room.
"You want to take a sniper paintballing?" Nate questioned.
"Yeah, there are always some little punks around those places, we could screw with their minds and egos by giving them a Marine style whooping." Mac taunted her friend.
"Come on, Nate." Chloe added in a pouty tone.
"Hey, who would I be to pass up the opportunity to spend the day shooting pimply teenagers with paint?" Nate admitted. The phone conversation continued for a few more minutes before Mac hung up the phone.
2417 ZULU
HARM'S APARTMENT
NORTH OF UNION STATION
"Captain, Commander, we can't thank you two enough for taking little AJ off our hands this weekend so that I could go meet Bud for his liberty." Harriet handed her son over to Harm's outstretched arms.
"Not a problem, Harriet. This little guy's a lot of fun." Meg responded as she tickled little AJ under his chin. This caused the young man to giggle uproariously. Harriet left Meg with a few more instructions on nap times, when to feed him, what to feed him etc. Harm just stood off to the side nodding his head and catching about every other word of what Harriet was saying in her frantic pace.
"Alright, now you have my cell number if there are any questions and you know AJ's paediatrician's name, right?" Harriet double-checked as she walked out of the apartment.
"Yes, Harriet, now go or you'll miss your flight." Harm coached her out the door but not until she smothered little AJ's forehead with kisses. Harm closed the door behind her and then turned back toward Meg who was still holding little AJ in her arms. "Alright buddy, let's wash your mom's lipstick off your forehead, huh?" Harm ran over and got a rag from the kitchen and wiped the red marks off the little guy's forehead.
"Harm, where's Sergei tonight?" Meg questioned as they took little AJ over to the couch.
"He's got that interview with General Ross tonight." Harm answered her as he set AJ down on the couch before running over to check on the Mac and Cheese that was on the stove.
"I still can't believe he's going to Annapolis next year. How do you think he'll do?" Meg questioned as she tickled little AJ on the couch.
"Well, his English proficiency is coming along so I think he'll be fine. I just can't believe that a Rabb is going into the Marine Corps. I'll never here the end of it from Keeter or Sturgis or Mac for that matter." That was the first time that he'd really ever brought up Mac while in conversation with Meg. He decided to cover quickly. "And if word ever reaches the Gunny, my reputation will be shot to hell."
"It could be worse, Harm." Meg offered.
"How could it possibly be worse?" Harm laughed slightly as he strained the water out of the pot with the noodles.
"He could be a zoomie." Meg stated plainly.
"You're right, that would be worse." Harm nodded as he continued preparing dinner. A few minutes later, dinner was laid out on the plates in front of them. Over the next few minutes, Harm watched Meg spoon-feed little AJ and clean up his cheeks when he got a little messy. He got up from the table and walked into his bedroom for a second. Harm wasn't normally one for talking with God, but this seemed like a pretty good time to open the lines of communication.
He looked out into the living room and saw Meg playing with little AJ, both participants coincidentally having blonde hair. "I know what you're doing." Harm directed his words toward the almighty. "You're showing me, in a roundabout way, what life would be like with Meg. Why now and not six years ago when doing something about it would have made a lot more sense? If I was meant to be with Meg, why put Mac in my path? You know, Chaplain Turner always said you had a sense of humour, all though at this point, I'm not laughing. And what's with the whole Nate thing? If that's your subtle way of telling me that I don't have forever to get my shit together before a decision is made for me, mission accomplished." Harm was sounding sarcastic.
"Well you didn't exactly listen with that Brumby thing, we had to do something." An Image of Diane appeared in his mind's eye.
"You know, you always had this tendency of knowing when to smack me upside the head." Harm retorted.
"You gonna pick a fight with me too? Just remember who scored higher on those IQ tests we took in plebe year. Normally God doesn't let us visit, but he got sick of your self-pity and whining. Did you know that you are the only person on earth with three guardian angels and so far you've managed to piss off all three of us?" Diane's spectre lectured. "Your Dad and Luke say hi by the way."
"You always used to like lecturing me too." Harm commented absently.
"Are you even listening to me? Okay, we're not going to go all It's a Wonderful Life and show you what life would be like with Meg and then with Mac so that you can make an informed decision. Life doesn't work that way for anyone else so why should you be any different? Listen, you got lucky in life. There were different points in your life at which you could have ended up marrying anyone of two possible people. God actually had plans worked out for any one of the two possibilities. Then I had to go and die on you, sorry about that." Diane laughed heartily.
"You're forgiven, do you know what I'm supposed to do?" Harm questioned.
"The suggestion has been made that you pick a wife already, damn it! You sure are taking your sweet fucking time. Your dad was supposed to give this talk but we couldn't get him to promise that he wouldn't physically beat you about the head." Diane joked. "Listen, we don't care who you pick, we just want you to stop moping and start being happy. Oh and listen to that old, bald Admiral, he's a pretty wise man." With that, Diane's spectre faded from his mind.
"Harm! Harm!" He heard Meg's voice rousing him back to consciousness.
"Unca Harm take nap." AJ climbed on to Harm's bed and lay next to him.
"Did you decide to conk out on us there, Harm?" Meg asked as she lay on the other side of Harm on the bed.
"Yeah, I guess my week at work was a little more exhausting then I gave it credit for." Harm offered a weak smile.
"Come on, the little guy wants to watch that Disney movie that Harriet brought over." Meg tapped Harm on the upper thigh before climbing out of the bed and toddling off into the living room with little AJ.
"Decisions, decisions." Harm murmured aloud into the darkness of his room.
1832 ZULU
WHITE TIGER PAINTBALL ARENA
WASHINGTON, DC
"You really shouldn't spoil her, you know. She's my little sister, she's not supposed to be using my friend as an ATM." Mac protested as they walked into the large old warehouse that was now serving as a paintball arena.
"Nonsense, it's fun to spoil kids, especially when they aren't your own kids. That's why grandparents do it." Nate set the pace as they walked through the front door to the large complex. Chloe walked off in the lobby and Nate and Mac paid for everything that they would need for their little excursion today.
"I'm not sure I like the idea of Chloe getting shot with one of these things, I hear that they can really hurt." Mac voiced as the guy behind the counter handed Nate their firearms.
"She'll have a protective vest on and a face shield Mac, she'll be completely safe." Nate assured her as he handed Mac her vest and mask.
"Hey guys, those boys over there say they want to play a Red versus Blue elimination round. But they don't think you guys aren't up to the challenge." Chloe looked up at the faces of Mac and Nate who were trying not to laugh. Nate evaluated the clan of five boys, the oldest was maybe fifteen and the youngest probably twelve. Mac leaned in and whispered into Chloe's ear.
"Tell them we'll play but don't tell them that Nate and I are Marines." Mac whispered and Chloe walked cheerily back over to the boys. "What's a Red versus Blue elimination round?"
"Two teams; once you're hit, you're out, the last person standing, their team wins." Nate explained. A few seconds later, Mac and Nate walked over and flanked Chloe's sides.
"You guys are short a player." The tallest boy said. "You want one of ours? It'll even up the teams."
"No, that's fine you guys'll need all the help you can get." Chloe trash talked and one of the younger boys stuck his tongue out at her.
"Your parents must be pretty good if your old man is that confident." The tall boy returned. The kid obviously had no sense of genetics. Two dark haired people were unlikely to have a blonde child. Mac's mind turned to wonder at the supposition that the young man had made while Nate's face remained expressionless.
"Right, come on, Mom." Chloe took Mac by the hand and led her through the heavy dark steel doors into the arena.
"You coming, Dad?" Mac questioned looking back at Nate.
"Coming, dear." Nate said laboriously as he followed them into the arena. The whole layout of the place made it look like an urban warfare range. This of course made Nate's experiences in Kuwait City a great asset. As the ref was explaining the rules, Nate leaned into Mac's ear. "I'm going to find a post, you and Chloe go patrol. Just trust that my eyes are on you."
Mac nodded quickly in apprehension of the plan and then listened to the remainder of the ref's instructions. After the ref was done, he sent the teams to opposite ends of the arena but by the time Chloe and Mac had gotten to their end, they found that Nate had already disappeared. "Where'd he go?" Chloe asked Mac, her eyes searching frantically for the third member of their team.
"Chloe, Nate's a Marine Major and an expert sharpshooter, he's off finding a post. He and I came up with this plan, don't worry, if all goes to plan, this game should be over in under five minutes." Mac laughed slightly. The shrill sound of the whistle was heard and the round was started.
In a post, at least twelve feet off the floor below, Nate Ross was hunched over his paintball gun looking down into the arena below. This was actually a pretty nice set up. There were miniature building constructs and stairs. Of course the whole thing was made out of wood instead of steel so an experience shooter could hear an enemy approaching before ever needing to see him. From where he was, Nate had a pretty unobstructed view of the Red team's half of the arena. Whenever Nate saw a red vest, the grin on his face grew just that much wider. The tall boy stood out like a sore thumb.
Nate took aim and caught him right in the middle of the vest. "Red 1, you're out." The loudspeaker called and the ref escorted the tall boy off the field. Nate's eyes scanned the arena until they came across a red team member on a second level parapet about thirty feet across the way. The boy was running so Nate's skills were tested a little more sharply. Still, with Marine Corps accuracy, Nate's next shot found the young boy's side. "Red 4, you're out." The loudspeaker chimed again.
On the floor below, Chloe and Mac were doing their best imitation of a Recon patrol. Mac's time with her uncle Matt had served her well. She was able to navigate the labyrinth of wooden walls with relative ease while always keeping her eyes and ears peeled for the other team. Mac heard unsteady breathing coming from around a corner and knew that it had to be one of the other guys. Mac whipped around the corner and fired a shot hitting the boy right in the middle of the back. "Red 2, you're out." The loudspeaker called and the ref escorted another young man out of the arena. Both Mac and Chloe gave silent cheers as they realized that their team now outnumbered the other side. Mac could hear the running on the planks above her head. She motioned for Chloe to be silent. Mac slowly climbed the steps in the dimly lit arena and she peeked around the bend to see the young man setting up a position on the parapet to fire at Chloe below. Mac turned and fired a quick shot into his side. "Red 3, you're out." The loudspeaker chimed again and Mac scampered down the stairs back to Chloe.
Mac hit the floor of the arena only to have a gun barrel pressed against her back. "You're now a prisoner." The pubescent voice announced. Mac dropped her gun to the floor. "I have your team-mates prisoner so come out and surrender." The young man announce. No sooner had he finished talking, then a paintball came down and caught him on the visor, right between the eyes.
"Red 5, you're out. Winner is Blue Team." The loudspeaker announced. The action in the arena stopped so that everyone could see where Nate had been hiding. Sure enough, a few seconds later, he came sliding down a fire-pole in the middle of the floor with his gun over his shoulder.
"The only way up into that lookout is via that fire-pole. How'd you get up there?" The ref asked.
"You learn a few things in the Marines." Nate answered and gave the guy a pat on the shoulder.
1947 ZULU
HARM'S APARTMENT
NORTH OF UNION STATION
Harm awoke that morning on the couch with his arm around Meg and little AJ lying across both of their laps. After a little bit of oatmeal that morning, something that both Meg and AJ complained about, the three of them went down to a nearby park where they fed the birds, Harm tried to teach AJ how to play catch with a Nerf ball and Meg pushed the little fella on the swings.
Harm had at least five elder ladies compliment him on his beautiful family. It wasn't a presumption out of left field. AJ was becoming a strapping young man and if Meg were his mother, that would certainly explain his blonde hair. There time at the park was, in other words, an approximation of what one would expect from a typical American family with a young child on a Saturday morning.
Soon, they were walking back from the park. Meg stopped a hot dog vendor on the corner and then something caught her eye. Harm was staring back at her from the newsstand except, he was dressed in his Navy blues. Meg paid for the hot dog, then ran over to the newsstand and paid for the magazine that Harm was on the cover of. She ran back over to Harm and AJ waving the magazine wildly.
When she got back over to them she handed Harm the magazine. He read the front page. "Washington Life's 10 Sexiest DC bachelors." He read aloud and looked over at Meg. Harm flipped through the magazine until he came to the page with his profile on it. Meg took the magazine from him and read the profile aloud.
"Captain Harmon Rabb Junior. Listen up ladies because it's not everyday that a real life American hero walks amongst us. Captain Rabb is an alum of both the United States Naval Academy and Georgetown Law. In addition to being top flight litigator, this Naval Captain has two Distinguished Flying Crosses both of which were for saving the lives of fellow aviators Terry Medwick and Thomas Boone respectively. Sources tell us that the Captain is a health food fan and an avid runner. His star is on the rise after recent reassignment to the Pentagon and an appearance at the United Nations Security Council that landed him on the cover of USA Today and on the tongue of every journalist in the western world. While a member of the JAG Corps, Rabb was a top litigator and investigator often tackling some of the Navy's most challenging cases. Add all this to the way he looks in his dress whites and move over Tom Cruise!" Meg mimicked fanning herself off with the magazine.
"That column means nothing." Harm protested trying to prevent all the words from inflating his ego.
"I don't know, Harm. All the high society women read Washington Life, you're going to be dancing through the fantasies of quite a few of them tonight after they read this article." Meg waved the magazine in front of Harm as if to taunt him.
"Come on, Meg, get real. Washington Life, is just a gossip rag for the upper-crust, no one puts any stock in anything they say." Harm's protests were starting to lack conviction.
"Why shouldn't they? It's all true. You're brilliant, a health nut, courageous and sexy." Meg tried to cover her slip. The air suddenly hung heavy with tension. Harm and Meg just looked at one another, their eyes never breaking the magnetic pulsing stare.
"Annie Mac!" AJ shouted and pointed at the magazine. Harm stood over Meg's shoulder as she flipped to the next page and the picture that they found there was enough to shock them. As another layer of tension was added to the scene, Harm's phone rang.
"Rabb……you're sure?...alright, I'll be there as soon as I can." Harm closed his cell. "Meg, could you take little AJ back to my apartment, there's and emergency at work?
"Yeah, sure, Harm." Meg answered cautiously. She then watched as Harm flagged down a taxi that sped him off.
1949 ZULU
PIZZA HUT
GEORGETOWN, DC
"Hey guys, look what I found!" Chloe raced over to the table with a copy of that week's Washington Life magazine. "You're on the cover, Nate. With Harm." Chloe handed Mac the magazine and Mac read the title aloud.
"Washington Life's 10 sexiest DC bachelors." Mac read aloud. Chloe pulled the magazine and flipped to Nate's profile which was on the page opposite Harm's.
Chloe read the profile aloud. "Never has the State Department looked so good. Assistant Secretary of State Nathan Ross is a combination of brains and brawn that's just as deadly in an Armani suit as it is in a pair of Marines cammies. The son of former Marine Corps Commandant Jack Ross, Nathan is a graduate of not only NROTC but also Penn State and Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of International Affairs. Nate served a tour in the Gulf as a premier Marine Corps sniper during Desert Storm earning a Silver Star for his escapades before putting his Masters degree to work for the State Department. As the ranking official on North Africa and the Middle East, Nate speaks seven languages and is the administrations most important diplomat in the War on Terror. He keeps his reserve hours up to date and sources say his passions include practical jokes, reading and archery. There's a lot of talk in the Democratic Party about him sitting at the cabinet table one day in the near future. But Nate may not be on the market for very long if the picture in the bottom right is any indication. Mr. Ross has been spotted out and about Washington with Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Sarah MacKenzie. The photo seen here was taken at a friend's wedding last week, the two were sharing what sources claim was a dance that could boil the mercury in your grandmother's thermometer. Two Marines? Looks like the Ross family tradition of service to the Corps is going to extend to the next generation." Chloe handed Mac the magazine.
Mac examined the profile. Sure enough there was the picture of that dance. Nate's one hand running down her leg and her head lulled back against his shoulder.
"Now that's what I call damning evidence." Chloe joked and she caught stares from both Nate and Mac. "What? A picture that racy would be illegal in several Midwestern states!" Both of them hated to admit it, but after examining the picture, both Mac's eyes and Nate's were black with the a kind of passion-induced, lust-driven craze that had spurred on their actions for those four minutes on the dance floor. "Anything you two would like to tell me? Like the truth?" Chloe tapped her foot impatiently.
Nate and Mac looked up from the magazine in front of them and into each other's eyes. A diplomat and a lawyer, two professions where you made your bread and butter by talking and neither of them could string together a coherent sentence by that point. Nate just looked at the limp rose colour of the lip gloss on Mac's lips. Mac just studied his eyes like they were windows to his soul. Of course, his phone would pick that moment to ring.
"You got Nate……yeah, I'll be there in a few minutes……yes, you interrupted something important but you're talking about an emergency here……see you then." Nate closed his cell. He turned to face Mac to explain, but their gazes locked again.
"You have to go into work?" She questioned breathlessly.
"Yeah." He replied. "I'll call later to tuck you girls in." His sense of humour was slowly returning.
"See you, Nittany Lion." Mac pulled him into a hug.
"Take care of yourself, Golden Gopher." Nate chuckled slightly before slipping out of the hug. He turned to Chloe. "Take care of your sister, okay?"
"You got it." Chloe replied before Nate jogged out of the restaurant. "You two were totally about to kiss before his phone rang!" Chloe screeched.
"We were not." Mac protested weakly.
"The photo disagrees with you." Chloe pointed at the open page of the magazine. "And what was with the whole animal pet name exchange?" Chloe questioned.
"It's a Big Ten thing." Mac responded with a wise smile.