Later that night, Harm was sitting in a patio chair by the pool in the hotel. The pool was open all night but that didn't mean that it was a necessarily wise idea to sit out there well into the wee hours on the morning. Still, there he sat, his head propped up on his hands as he looked out on the tranquil water. "You know, you have to touch it with something in order to get it to move right?" Nate walked up behind Harm and took a seat on the chair next to him.
"Hey, I would have bet that the suite that his hotel probably put you in would have had you sleeping like a rock. Or is your little Miss, the reason you're still awake?" Harm joked as he looked over at the man who had become a good friend over the last year.
"I haven't slept through the night since Desert Storm. That and I just had to have a conversation about birth control that I would rather forget." Nate chuckled as he ran a hand through his hair.
"What about you? What has you tied up in knots at two in the morning?" Nate motioned for the waiter at the bar.
"I'm going to a wedding with Mac tomorrow." Harm answered cryptically as the waiter took a drink order from Nate.
"I fail to see why that would cause a sleepless night. Having gone through the experience myself, it's not something that one should worry about and I think you of all people would enjoy it. Seeing as you couldn't be more in love with her if you had her name tattooed across your chest." Nate chuckled as he raised a glass of red wine to his lips. "You really ought to have a glass of this stuff, Harm. It's South African."
"Not this late at night. As for the wedding thing, I don't know, I guess I just see it as representative of everything that I'm missing. I mean Christ, Nate, I'm almost forty, I thought by now, I'd have a wife and kids and a house out in the suburbs somewhere. Instead, I'm still in the same apartment I've been in for years, I'm keeping at arm's length, the woman I want to hold close and my career seems to be the only thing working for me and that's only because both you and Chegwidden have given me considerable leeway in the last year." Harm exhaled heavily.
"You earned it, Harm. You know what's amazing, is how much you sound like I did after I got back form Indonesia with you guys. Granted, you're a few years older then I am but the basic gist of the message was still there." Nate chuckled along with Harm at the age comment. "Listen, none of it's really that hard. You don't like the apartment you live in? Get a better place. You want Mac, go out and get her but Harm you have to realize something, Mac's a Marine."
"I realize it, trust me, she's reminded me." Harm defended immediately.
"Yeah, you know she is. But you still pussyfoot around her like a scared little squid. You launch the little hints of what's coming from a safe distance, just like the Navy. Mac's a Marine, she responds to Marine-like actions. So you've got to break out a different playbook with this one. Storm the beach here, Rabb, look defeat and failure in the face. You're brother's going to the best Military Academy in the world to be a Marine so I know you have it in you somewhere, you've just got to drag it out kicking and screaming." Nate coached as he got up off the chair.
"It's not that easy." Harm started but Nate cut him off.
"Bullshit, it isn't! You think I don't know what you're going through? Right now, you're only looking at seven years of pent up sexual tension and friendship that you're risking, I was looking at nine years a few months ago. But I decided to dos something about it and that's what you have to do. Just get up off your ass and say enough is enough." Nat placed his glass down on the poolside table and got up from the chair. "As for me, I'm going to go upstairs, wake up my beautiful girlfriend and have a lot fun before I go back to sleep. You want to win the respect of this Marine, go to Mac's room and talk tonight for God's sake!" Nate jogged over to the elevator and climbed in.
Harm just sat there, in the chair for a few minutes just staring out at the water again. Some things in life were simple and no matter how willing people were to beat him over the head with the fact that his situation was more simple then he was making it, he still wasn't convinced. So, Harm went to be that night in his own room, alone, without having talked to Mac.
1534 ZULU
CATHEDRAL OF THE NAVY
ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND
"I have never seen that many medical license plates in my life." Harm and the Admiral were talking at the back of the church.
"Yeah, I'm marrying into a weird family. Bev's father's side of the family is nothing but Marines but most of the people on her mother's side of the family are doctors. I don't understand it." The Admiral was surrounded by his best man, two ushers and his daughter Francesca at the back of the church.
"Just wait, the Hendley-Ross clan hasn't shown up yet." General Jack approached the group of men.
"Hendley-Ross clan, sir?" Harm asked slightly fearing the tone of voice that the General had used.
"One of my uncles was with the Army Air Corps near Manchester in World War Two. He fell in love with a local girl and stayed behind in England after the war. Their offspring have since become a rowdy group of Royal Marine soccer hooligans who can sing the club song for Manchester United after drinking a case of beer just to themselves. In spite of all this, Beverly finds them incredibly charming and invites them to every family function." General Jack gave the Admiral a pat on the back. "Have fun with this one, AJ."
"It can't be as bad as the Commandant insinuated, sir." Harm tried to reassure his old CO and friend.
"Yes, sir, I'm sure that General Ross was just trying to scare you." Bud stood in support of Harm's opinion.
"There is a bloody O Club somewhere on this campus right!" A rather obtuse Englishman could be heard coming through the door with bunch of his rowdy kin.
"Where's the bloke who's marrying our beloved Angle cousin, Beverly, I demand to meet the sod." Another one shouted.
"Papa, these are your new in-laws?" Francesca seemed slightly scared after viewing the entrance of the Hendley-Ross clan.
"With any luck, I'll only see them once a year." AJ answered, forcing a smile. On of the Hendley-Ross boys came staggering over toward Harm and Bud.
"Hey, Captain, you look like a pretty important man around these parts. Might you be able to tell me where it is that I'll find Admiral Chuggawagga, he's marrying my cousin you see?" The man put his hand on Harm's shoulder.
"I'm Admiral Chegwidden and who are you?" The Admiral extended his hand.
"Leftenant Colonel Jonathan Hendley-Ross, sir; proud officer of Her Majesty's Royal Marines!" Jonathan fixed a salute and tried to come to attention.
"Colonel, you are aware that it's not quite noon, right?" The Admiral ventured, having smelled the alcohol on his breath.
"Quite true sir, but as my old mom reminded us, it's afternoon back home so that makes everything perfectly smashing doesn't it?" Jonathan stood at ease.
"Colonel Hendley-Ross, sir, you'll be seated on the bride's side so if I could just show you to your seat, sir." Tiner led the Royal Marine through the chapel.
"I see you two met the Royal Marines." Nate came walking over dressed in his Marine Dress Uniform.
"Tell me that they're not all like that." Admiral Chegwidden winced.
"Like Jonathan? No, he's the spokesman for the group, he's the most tolerable of any of them. By the way, AJ, my dad wanted me to be sure, you do want Marines in the arch, and you're okay with that?" Nate had one hand resting on the handle of the Mameluke sword that came with the Marine dress uniform.
"Your sister comes from a proud Marine family; I think it's fair that that fact be represented in some way." Chegwidden shook Nate's hand.
"It's a pity the Gunny's enlisted, sir, we would've loved to include him." Nate fixed a salute as a sign of respect for his soon to be brother in law before heading off to collect the Marines for the arch.
"I'd say you're marrying into the Marine Corps more then Reverend Ross is marrying into the Navy, sir." Harm joked.
"Gee, what tipped you off, Rabb? Could it be the fact that it takes five tables to hold all the white Marine Corps dress covers? Or the fact that the crew cut seems to be the in style haircut at this wedding? I knew that the Ross family was a Marine Corps institution, I didn't think that they took it this seriously." The Admiral watched as the people began to settle down.
"Well sir, look at it this way, you have some of the top Marine brass at your wedding so you'll have some real pull at the Pentagon from now on. It should also make investigations easier." Harm headed off to the back to take his place. He ran into Mac outside the bridal suite. "Remind me why you're the maid of honour, again."
"I believe the bride's thinking was that it was my genius idea to introduce them, so I should stand for her. Makes sense when you think about it." Mac smiled lightly.
"Marine logic." Harm muttered under his breath.
"There seems to be a lot of that in this chapel today, I'd avoid negative jabs at the Corps today if I were you, you might have an entire MEU come down on you." Mac took her place with the bridesmaids at the back of the church. Harm, Bud and Tiner stood at the back with the bridesmaids, ready to lead them down the aisle.
The service was a standard Presbyterian service. Bev looked radiant in her dress; the vows were beautiful and poetic in nature, reflectively their common love of literature. Harm had a difficult time tearing his eyes off of Mac. Sturgis observed and whispered to Nate who chuckled. Nate had been tasked with keeping the Hendley-Ross clan under control, which he did with a very Marine Corps proficiency. When the time came to kiss the bride, Jonathan Hendley-Ross stood to hoot and holler but Nate dealt him a swift blow to the stomach with his elbow, so Jonathan was relegated to sitting and clapping.
When the service was concluded, the church emptied slowly and Harm gathered the eight officers, four Marines and four Navy to take part in the procession for the arch. Nate had gathered up three of his relatives to fill in the Marine side of the arch. General Jack had insisted upon being a part of the procession despite his son's insistence that it really wasn't necessary. The General's exact words were "And Nathan, just how many times do you think I'll be able to raise a sword at my new son-in-law?" it was stereotypical father thinking when he thought of it. The other two Marines were two of Bev and Nate's cousins, both were bird Colonels. Sturgis, Bud, Harm and one of the Admiral's friends from his destroyer days were proudly representing the Navy.
"Officers, draw swords." Harm ordered and eight hands went down to the swords that were fixed to the belts of their dress uniforms. "Officers, arch swords!" Harm drew his sword and it met the General's who was standing across from him. When all the swords had met and formed the arch it was time for Harm to give the final command. "Blades into the wind." The blades of the eight swords turned to the wind. "Presenting for the first time, Admiral and Missus AJ Chegwidden."
The Admiral led his bride into the arch unaware of the gauntlet that the Marines had prepared for him. As he walked past the first Marine, the Admiral was met by a sword across the fanny and a greeting of "Semper Fi!" As he walked past the second Marine, the Admiral was given a second swat across the butt followed by an "Oorah!" The third Marine was Nate who waited until the Admiral almost got to General Jack's sword before swatting him across the butt with his sword and chanting "Welcome to the Corps!" When the couple past through the last set of arched swords, Bev was given the customary tap on the fanny with a sword and "Go Navy!" from Harm. General Jack swatted his new son-in-law across the butt with his sword then uttered "Just remember that little man to man talk we had, AJ."
After the arch, the party was moved across campus to the Officer's Club where a few exceptions to decorum and regulation were made to allow the enlisted guests at the wedding into the O Club. The entire guest list had to suffer through Harm's long agonizing speech which contained more then a few jokes that flopped but it was well received in any case. After Dinner the party became more open and less formal. The bride and groom shared their first dance to Tony Bennett's It Had to Be You and after that, the DJ stuck to a pretty standard playlist.
Harm walked over to a pleasant sight. Clayton Webb had made the party after all. He was bandaged up pretty tight and he looked like hell wrapped in Armani but he was there nonetheless. "I wouldn't have thought that the Admiral liked you enough to invite you to his wedding, Webb." Harm joked as he walked over to where Webb was talking with Gunny and Nate.
"I think Admiral Chegwidden and I have a healthy respect for each other, Rabb." Webb answered with his stiff upper lip tone.
"Didn't he break your nose once, Webb?" Harm reminded as he joined the group.
"Rabb, there's a rule to drinking with this group; you have to have to be drinking scotch, so put down the champagne and drink like a man." Webb motioned to have a member of the catering staff bring over a scotch for Harm.
"So, have you guys officially dubbed yourselves the cool kids of the wedding or something?" Harm joked as he took a drink from the glass.
"No, we were discussing your success in Pakistan. I was pointing out to Webb that if he perhaps hadn't taken so damn long with relaying intelligence, your team would have gotten out of there two weeks earlier." Nate perked his eyebrows with curiosity as he took a drink himself.
"Relaying intelligence, Webb?" Harm asked.
"Nothing that was concrete so I didn't put any stock in it." Webb defended.
"No matter. Your team will be heading out next week for the second target without you, Harm." Nate initiated the conversation.
"Why without me? I thought I was a part of this." Harm's ire rose, the takedown of Ziyda wasn't perhaps the most exciting but it was something to break up the monotony that had become his office at the Pentagon.
"Someone needs to fill in for Admiral Chegwidden while he's on his honeymoon. For the next two weeks, you're the JAG. Have fun with that." Nate gave him a congratulatory pat on the shoulder.
"Who's going in my place? You aren't just going to send in a Marine, spook and SEAL without a supervisor are you?" Harm joked, catching a nasty scowl from both Gunny and Webb who believed that they had done more then their fair share on the last outing.
"I'm attaching Keeter to the team. His experience in doing Black Ops for the Company more then qualifies him. The President, Joint Chiefs and Director of Central Intelligence more then agree with me." Nate placed his scotch glass on the passing tray of a nearby member of the catering staff.
"Keeter and Bax? You can't throw both of them at the enemy at the same time. I'm sure that violates some article of a Hague or Geneva convention somewhere." Harm joked. "Are you allowed to tell me where they're headed next? I mean I have to have the security clearance after going on the last trip."
"You do have the clearance to know, you just don't have the need." Webb replied in an effort to safeguard the operation.
"Yes he does, Webb because if you nearly get the team killed, he's going to be on the team that I send in to rescue your sorry ass." Nate replied with a tone that was meant to firmly placate the cocky secret agent. "They're going to Algiers; it seems recruitment in Northern Africa has been down since that little exhibition with Libya at the UN earlier this year."
"Explains why Mourari would be there, that's what he does isn't it?" Harm asked as he finished off his scotch.
"It's nice to know that someone reads those CIA profiles that they hand out. Yeah, well getting Mourari would be a real feather in our cap and collecting him and Ziyda in such a close space of time would really throw the enemy's whole network into a frenzy. Any slip ups they go through could give us intelligence that could lead us to even bigger fish in the food chain." Nate stuck both his hands in his pockets.
"If you sirs will excuse me, I think I've had about all the shop talk I can take for one day. This is a wedding and there are a few very beautiful members of the catering staff who look like they could use a little attention." Gunny started to head across the hall.
"Give'em hell, Marine." Nate called after him.
"If you gentlemen would excuse me, I believe our good Gunnery Sergeant could use a wingman." Webb pursed his lips as he followed Gunny's patch across the O Club.
"This is a wedding, you should go hook up with someone." Nate coached Harm. "I hear the Maid of Honour's not seeing anyone at the moment."
"Didn't you just tell me that I would technically be her commanding officer as of Monday morning?" Harm asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well that's the beauty of it, Harm. It's only Saturday." Nate smiled and chuckled in a semblance of wisdom.
"You wouldn't be condoning or even encouraging fraternization, would you Mr. Secretary?" Harm's barrister side was coming through.
"Harm, off the record, I always personally thought that fraternization was the most moronic and outdated regulation in the UCMJ and I would strike down the regulation in a minute if I had the authority to do so. On the record, I can't condone the behaviour, but if something were to transpire tonight and I were to catch wind of it tomorrow, I could speak with the President and have him tailor certain orders to fit the situation." Nate tilted his head to the side to insinuate his point.
"I don't know where you get some of your ideas." Harm commented before heading off to talk to Mac.
"What did you say to him?" Sturgis asked Nate as he witnessed the scene that had transpired.
"I just suggested that he and Mac turn up the heat on the stove tonight." Nate chuckled.
"You Marines and your weird analogies." Sturgis rolled his eyes before going over to find Bobbi. Nate stood over against the wall for a few seconds until the sound of a familiar pair of high heels came walking over to his side.
"Hey, I know you; you woke up in my bed this morning and it feels like I haven't seen you since." Peach attached herself to his arm.
"God, I missed you, baby. This has been the longest morning of my life." Nate kissed her quickly on the lips.
"I don't know, you and your Marine relatives looked like you were having a lot of fun during the arch outside of the church." Peach curled into his chest.
"I guess." He heard her sigh. "What are you thinking?"
"Nothing, it's silly, it's just you know how I get at weddings." She wrapped her arms around his ribcage. He bent his head down to kiss her hair.
"Soon, I promise." He whispered into her ear and that brought a smile to her face. At that moment, Nate heard the gentle strains of the introduction to Johnny Mathis' Chances Are begin to echo through the O Club. "Come on, Hon, let's go dance." Peach and Nate walked out on to the floor.
Across the O Club, Mac and Harm watched the scene with a quiet but very interested mean of observation. "Can you believe that they're like that after nine years of just being about as close as two people can get on this planet?" Mac asked.
"He's a lucky man." Harm had moved away from the alcohol and was now on to just straight drinks of Coke from the bar.
"It's like some kind of fairytale." Mac let out a self-deprecating laugh. "I guess it sounds a little silly for a Marine to admit that she still looks at things like that."
"Nothing about you is silly, Sarah." Harm's voice had an injected note of tenderness.
"Every once in a while, I catch you being nice." Mac smiled.
"I guess I'll have to be nice to you a little more often, you deserve it." Harm stepped closer to her.
"What has gotten into you?" Mac was sceptical of this new turn that his mood had taken. "You know, it's customary to dance with a lady if you're going to sweet talk her."
"I never was much of a dancer." Harm laughed.
"Pardon me, mademoiselle, but as far as I've noticed, you are the most gorgeous bird in the whole place, care for a spin on the dance floor, love?" Jonathan Hendley-Ross actually seemed to have sobered up despite the O Club having a very open bar. By now he actually looked like the picture of a Royal Marine. Either that, or someone had slipped something very powerful in Harm's drink.
"I'm sorry, Colonel, my feet are feeling rather sore, you know how heels can be." Mac politely brushed him off.
"Not in the mood for British, Mac?" Harm asked coyly and Mac tossed him a slightly annoyed look.
"After the whole thing with Mic, I can't stand the Aussie bastardization of the British accent and I don't carry any tolerance for the original either." Mac joked, she looked back over at Nate and Peach on the dance floor and mused to herself under her breath. "Nine years."
Harm heard her words and thought to himself for a second before composing a satisfactory response to himself in his head. "No, Sarah, that's not how long we're going to wait." His inner voice repeated the mantra until it was all he could think about.