This week was to be the Admiral's last week working for Nelson on Capitol Hill. There were parts of this job he was really going to miss. He would miss the lobbyists and Senators taking him out to steak dinners to discuss policy. He would miss correcting some young naïve Democrat or some pompous over-zealous Republican. But he missed JAG, at least the people at JAG more.
He missed watching Rabb and MacKenzie dance around each other like pubescent teenagers. He missed the Disney-esque atmosphere that Roberts and Sims brought to the office. He missed having someone like Mac who was consistently on top of every situation. He missed having Rabb do something wild and outrageous only to be proven right. Tiner, there were times on Capitol Hill where he really missed having his competent yeoman around. He was really starting to miss having another old war horse around. On Fridays after every one else at JAG had secured, Jim Grant would come strolling into his office with a bottle of Jameson's Irish Whisky and the two men would drink and talk about the week's events like old friends.
They would talk about baseball, the old days, the days of heroes as the two of them referred to it. They swapped war-stories, they had experienced things they were sure only the other would ever really understand. With the Admiral it was Vietnam, the Mekong Delta more specifically, they were stories no one else really knew, no one else in the office could understand. With Jim it was Somalia, Lebanon and that one winter in Eastern Europe when Parlovsky was hot on his trail. He missed being able to finally talk with someone who, as Jim put it 'could remember all the same Presidents'.
He was happy to be leaving Capitol Hill, happy to be headed back to JAG after Friday, happy that was, until the Tuesday morning issue of the Washington Post crossed his desk at the Pentagon. In his nearly three years as the JAG, sexual harassment cases had always been high-profile and they had been coming fast and furious. When he went before the House Armed Services Committee today he would have to face Hurricane Latham, but not before the current JAG did and that would, at least for the time being, be some consolation. This is one battle that the two old warriors would face together, just on different fronts.
The week since busting Bronco Mendoza had been an interesting one at JAG. Bud had gotten along well at his in-laws place, well relatively well. He'd snuck in a few comments to Harm and Jim about Harriet's mother that were none too flattering. Harriet wasn't happy with how Bud had kept it from her that he was going to be in Florida for the Mendoza investigation and as such she took it out on him in little ways like calling him a 'goof' or saying that she didn't understand him.
By far, the most interesting and easily most comical moments of the week had involved Harm and Mac. On the Friday after Mendoza was by the far the most comical. Mac had beaten Harm into the office and when she saw him walk in the first words out of her mouth were "Morning, Flyboy!"
"Morning, sweet thing." Harm said back, the use of the nickname he'd given Mac had brought the action in the bullpen to a grinding halt. The only person who continued on regularly was Bud who seemed oblivious, having heard Harm call Mac that during most of the Mendoza case. The actions of their co-workers had caused their still-temporary CO to laugh as he tried to drink his coffee.
"Back to work all of you, haven't you people heard of nicknames before!" The gruff Marine voice jarred the office back to reality. If that had been the only incident of the week it would have been forgettable, but it hadn't been. Later there had been the time that Mac was standing at the copy machine and Harm was standing behind her with his arms around her waist, quite absent-mindedly. Then there was the time in the break room when Jim had caught them in the exact same situation except this time with the coffee maker. "And just what is going on in here?" The Colonel said as he raised his empty coffee cup to the counter.
It was amusing to watch the two officers fumble to attention. "Nothing, sir." Mac said trying to repress the mortified look on her face.
"Well let's preventing nothing from happening again shall we? In fact, I want you two to ensure that something is happening by close of business today." The Colonel said with a paternal look on his face.
"Did he just give us permission to…" Harm cut her off.
"Can he even give us permission to?" The two of them looked confused and decided it best not to tempt the Navy gods and just go back to work. Their demeanour had remained the utmost professional for the remainder of the week. It was when the Douglas case came across the interim JAG's desk that it all hit the fan. Harm and Mac were called into the Admiral's office first thing that morning where they saw Jim standing, looking out the window behind the Admiral's desk.
"You two are heading out to the Seahawk, Petty Officer Douglas has filed a sexual harassment complaint against Command Master Chief Sullivan. I believe, that a similar complaint was filed involving the Master Chief last year, the complaint was filed against one Captain Thomas Boone but Master Chief Sullivan was involved, is that right?" The Colonel's gung ho attitude seemed duller right now.
"That's true sir, the Marilyn Isaacs case involved a 'Crossing the Line' ceremony in which the Master Chief was Neptunus Rex." Harm informed the Colonel.
"Crossing the Line huh? Well that's exactly what he's accused of doing this time. If you two can charge him, make it airtight, nail his ass to the wall with a Beretta. The last thing I want is Bobbi Latham or Adele Delong in here on their feminist high horses telling me that I'm another chauvinist male asshole who can't deal with tough women. Because, to be quite honest, Tiner doesn't have enough aspirin in the world for me to deal with those two headaches without letting off a little steam in their direction." Jim set his jaw firm and threw himself down in Chegwidden's chair.
"Aye, aye sir." Harm and Mac came to attention.
"Commander Rabb, your service record states that you served on the Seahawk under Captain Ross as Skipper and Captain, now Admiral, Boone as CAG is that correct?" Jim looked up from the open file on his desk.
"Yes, sir." Harm replied.
"Good, make sure you talk to both of them, they were the senior men on the ship and we all know how fast scuttlebutt travels on a carrier." Jim scanned another piece of paper. "And one final thing. I don't know what's going on between the two of you and other than being very happy for you as a friend, I really don't care, just control your hormones in the office, not that I expect any less of the pair of you."
"Aye, aye sir." The two officers turned on their heels and walked out of their CO's office. The investigation on the Seahawk didn't take long, in fact the case seemed all very straightforward but the oddity came with Captain Ross, there was something beneath the surface there, something Harm hadn't managed to get out of him. As for Tom Boone, the Admiral was somewhere out in the deep blue yonder with the fleet. Harm couldn't get a hold of him and that was another thing that really ate him. He was sure that MCPO Sullivan was guilty but there was just nothing he could find that would solidly affirm that suspicion to six members of a court martial.
When they'd gotten back from the Seahawk it had been as though the clouds were starting to part, it was Tuesday, a good day, a bright sunshine kind of day. That was, until they were summoned to their CO's office. Tiner had told them to go right in - which they did - but they came to a screeching halt when they saw who Jim's company was. "Commander Rabb, Major MacKenzie, I trust you know Dalton Lowne; he's been on the W.H.O's list of highly infectious diseases for the last several years." Jim didn't even seem to look up and acknowledge Lowne's presence.
"Sarah…" Dalton started but he was cut off by the voice of the rather testy Marine Colonel.
"Mister Lowne, I will remind you that this is a place of business. You will address the Major as 'Major', the Lieutenant Commander in a similar fashion and me, well you can just call me 'God'." Jim smiled sarcastically at Dalton before returning to his paperwork.
"Of course." Dalton grimaced, he didn't like being pushed around but there were three Alpha Males in this room and he was going to have to take his place at the bottom of the food chain.
"Mr. Lowne here is going to be representing MCPO Sullivan in his court-martial. It says that every American has the right to a fair and timely hearing, well with Lowne here not being a military lawyer I don't know how fair it will be but I know you two will make this one rather quick and painless. You're at least merciful." Jim said with a look of smug satisfaction. Harm and Mac just stood there and watched him tear into Dalton.
"Colonel are you questioning my legal skills?" Lowne sounded like he'd been hit below the belt.
"Nope, I'm questioning the lack thereof." Jim shot back without even thinking.
"He's got you there, Lowne." Harm sniped.
"Ah yes, the illustrious Lieutenant Commander Harmon Rabb, I had a hell of a time living in your shadow when I was dating the Major." His comment had managed to simultaneously anger Harm and Mac to such an extent as they both wanted to throttle him.
"Dalton, don't turn this into a measuring competition, I'm willing to bet that you won't win." Mac shot back causing both Harm and Jim to repress some serious laughter. Her comment had flustered Dalton enough to make him sit down.
"Nice tactical strike, Marine." Harm whispered to Mac with a sly grin on his face.
"Thanks, Flyboy." Mac whispered back. "Dalton, what exactly are you doing here, I know that a Master Chief doesn't make enough to hire you?"
"I can't tell you who's paying for my services, Major, you know that." Dalton tried desperately to regain the upper hand.
"It's Lane Black." Jim's voice could once again be heard without him lifting his eyes from his paperwork.
"As in the far-right, no-women in combat, chauvinist Lane Black?" Mac asked, the ire in her voice rising to a dangerous level for a Marine.
"The very same, which is why I've given you the express permission to nail Mr. Lowne's case so far into the ground, he'll be the envy of every well-digger in West Virginia." Jim finally looked up from the papers on the Admiral's desk with a tired smile on his face.
"I believe we're done here." Dalton Lowne closed his briefcase and walked out of the office and with a dismissive wave Jim sent Mac and Harm on their way. Mac and Harm followed Dalton to the elevator to get some bartering in on the case.
"Dalton for the sake of professionalism, do you think we could just drop the hostility?" Mac wasn't going to let Dalton Lowne ruin the rather good week she'd been having.
"Fine, friends?" Dalton sounded slightly annoyed as he extended his hand.
"Acquaintances." Mac shot back as Dalton got on the elevator. She and Harm turned back toward the bullpen to work on the case. Since Lowne had left the Admiral's office, Tiner had been scrambling around looking for aspirin for the bellowing Marine Colonel. As Tiner had come out of the break-room, without the aspirin he saw the Admiral walking through the bullpen toward his office and intensified his search. AJ Chegwidden tapped on the door of his old office just for sport.
"Enter!" Jim Grant was rubbing his temples. AJ stepped through the door and smiled, it wasn't just him that this job drove crazy.
"Figured you could use these." The Admiral tossed him the aspirin bottle he had in his coat pocket.
"Thanks." Jim twisted the child-proof cap off the bottle and popped a pill into his mouth.
"I saw the headline this morning. Figured you'd be in the middle of another storm. How many times has the SECNAV called?" The Admiral laughed with some element of concern still evident in his voice.
"This hour? I don't know how you do it; you make this job look so damn easy. Since I started sitting in the chair I've done all I can to keep politics out of this office and maintain some element of my own sanity." Jim grimaced as he leaned back in his chair.
"It's not easy, but hell just think, you deal with Nelson and politicians over the phone, I have to deal with them in person." The two of them shared a laugh. "We were never meant to be desk jockeys."
"No, no we weren't, you should be out commanding a fleet in the Pacific." Jim added and watched his friend smile.
"Yeah and you should be teaching the next generation of Force Recon, or better yet, out in the field where you'd do some good." The Admiral laughed as he pulled over another chair to put his feet up. "We're too old for this, you know?"
"Yeah, I know, but they need us, hell if we left the Navy and the Corps up to the politicians and the champions of political correctness nothing would ever get done right." The two men smiled, somewhat self-deprecatingly.
"I pulled Tom Boone out of the fleet so that Rabb and MacKenzie could interview him. It's amazing what people will do when the DCNO calls. Listen Jim, Tom Boone's old school Navy, just like me and just like you are old school Marine Corps. He's not going to be one of these PC junkies that you can push around, Tom'll push back." AJ sounded paternal.
"Thanks for the warning. You think he'd join us for a drink on Friday afternoon when we normally drink?" Jim perked up; the idea of meeting another like-minded officer was always a plus.
"I wouldn't doubt it. An aviator, a SEAL and a Force Recon Marine. Hell of a trio." The Admiral laughed. "I have to get back to Capitol Hill, I trust Bobbi Latham and Adele Delong are not going to be in the best of spirits when I take my place behind the microphones this afternoon."
"They were screaming at me over the phone before you came in, what does that tell you?" Jim smiled and chuckled under his breath as his friend prepared to head back to work.
"That you should have turned down the volume on your phone. Oh, and Jim before I forget, in a few weeks, I'm having McMurphy's rented out for the night for a little get-together, do you think that you and the Duke Boys could play a new set just for that night? Maybe something more upbeat?" The Admiral smiled hopefully.
"Not a problem AJ, oh and did Tiner tell you? He's our new drummer now." Jim smiled and the Admiral laughed as the two men parted ways.
Mac and Harm's afternoon had been occupied largely by preparing for the court martial of Master Chief Sullivan. They had come up with a sound strategy, it was Harm's firm belief that Captain Ross knew more than he was letting on and it was Mac's firm belief that there were others and that the names Petty Officer Douglas had given them would lead them to the other women.
"You're going to hunt down those leads on the other women, right?" Harm said looking over the transfer orders that Ross had had cut for them to get them off the Seahawk.
"Yep, and you're going to going to prepare your cross-examination of Captain Ross, right?" Mac looked at him maternally.
"Yes Mom, so, is it going to be your place or my place tonight?" Harm dropped the paper and looked at her, it was becoming easier and easier for him to be amazed that he'd gotten her to go along with his crazy plan in Miami.
"Neither, with all the press and Lane Black involved in this we can't show the slightest impropriety or our case will be shot." Mac looked sympathetic. "I could always just call you up and talk dirty to you while you get ready for bed." She had said it so nonchalantly.
"Miss MacKenzie you're trying to seduce me." Harm said with a laugh.
"Is it working?" She asked with a professional tone.
"Maybe." Harm said with a blank look in his eyes and a flippant shoulder shrug.
"Maybe!" She smacked him on the shoulder with a folder.
"Well, if you're going to hit me with a folder then I might have to say no, which be a shame because I'd hate to lie." He tossed her a coy smile and they both finished up what needed to be done for court the next day before securing for the day and heading home. "What're you going to do tonight without your big strong Flyboy?" Harm smiled and she gave him a 'don't-go-there' kind of look.
"Read, what about you?" Mac looked inquisitively up at him as they stood in the elevator next to each other.
"Baby-sit." Was Harm's reply.
"Baby-sit, who could you be baby-sitting?" She looked at him awaiting an answer.
"Our favourite Marine colonel has a date tonight with the Washington correspondent for the BBC." Harm said with a hint of surprise in his voice.
"Jim? Since when did he start dating and why didn't he tell me?" Mac sounded almost offended.
"Actually he didn't even tell me, I had to hear it from his son, that's how I got roped into baby-sitting duty." Harm laughed. "It's also why I was hoping for a little company tonight." He tossed a wink in her direction.
"I think you just wanted to spend the night making out with me, sailor." Mac smiled at him coyly.
"Not a bad idea." Harm laughed as he opened the door to his car. "See you later, sweet thing." The two of them got in their respective cars and drove home. While Harm was trying to wrangle an energetic yet obedient seven year old, Mac was across DC in Georgetown reviewing case files after just having gotten out of the shower. A knock came at her door, she walked over expecting to see her Flyboy standing there with that come-and-get-it grin of his but instead she looked through the peephole to find Dalton Lowne.
"What do you want, Dalton?" Mac said, understandably annoyed as she opened the door in her blue bath robe.
"I wanted the chance to talk you. Listen, I know we're opposing council and I know this is the worst time to do this but I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about the things I said in your office that day and I was hoping we could be friends." He looked at her hopefully.
"Fine, are we through here?" Mac still looked kind of annoyed.
"Actually I was kind of hoping you'd accept an invitation to coffee, as a peace offering or détente or whatever." Dalton was just trying to sound convincing.
"Fine, you've got twenty minutes." Mac stepped aside to let Dalton into her apartment. She went to go change out of her robe and into some clothes for this quick coffee Dalton had planned. While she was changing Dalton had noticed some open files on her desk and quickly wrote down a copy of the pertinent information to his case. When he heard Mac coming, he quickly stuffed the piece of paper back into his jacket. "Let's go."
She and Dalton headed out for a quick coffee wherein he explained all of his actions from that day in her office and made a full apology for each and every one of them. When the twenty minutes was up he graciously walked her back to her apartment and said goodnight.
The next morning, Dalton Lowne had called a press conference to reveal that he had the names of Flag Officers who had been accused of the same offence as Master Chief Sullivan and had not been reprimanded. Back at JAG, Jim Grant was standing in the Admiral's office, his hand open across the his chin and mouth gently stroking the beard that was six days passed a shave.
"Sir, Major MacKenzie is here to see you." Tiner's voice came through the intercom.
"Thank you Tiner, send her in." There was an absent, almost manufactured quality to his voice. Mac gulped and walked in, she had seen Dalton's press conference, and she knew what this meeting was about. She came to attention in front of him. "You want to tell me what happened or you just want me to lay into you because if you don't start explaining Marine, you're going to give me no other choice." She'd known him for a long time, but this was the first time he'd ever sounded disappointed in her.
"No excuse sir. I went out for a quick coffee with Mr. Lowne last night and he must have copied the documents while I was getting ready." This was the first time that there was no friendly fluidity to their conversing.
"I see. Forgive me if I'm wrong, Major, but is there some reason that you didn't feel it necessary to disclose to your boss that you had a date with opposing council while the trial was ongoing?" Jim was trying to hold back his pissed off demeanour.
"Sir, this was no dinner date, it was a twenty minute coffee that wasn't even planned, at least not by me." Mac covered as she persisted with standing ramrod straight.
"It was unethical and unprofessional!" Jim's attitude had gotten the better of him and the last two words had come out in his best DI yell. His anger broke soon after and he looked at her, perplexed and disappointed. "Damnit, Mac, by all means I should have you reprimanded, taken off this case and pulling desk duty for the next three months and to be quite honest the more I tell myself that's what I should do, the more I think that's what I'm going to do." He let out a heavy breath.
She went to talk but he raised a hand to stop her as he sat on the edge of the Admiral's desk. "But I'm not going to do that. Instead, I'm going to believe that this was one very stupid mistake that you will regret and will continue to regret. So here's what I'm going to do. There will be no mention of this on your record, there will be no talking of this in the office, the last thing we need is media scrutiny. However, you will pull Saturday filing duty in this office for the next month."
"Understood, sir." Mac replied.
"Good, now I understand that Mr. Lowne is actually the one at fault here, so if you'll excuse me Major, I'm about to set to work to have his Maryland and Virginia bar memberships revoked for this little incident."
With that, Mac turned and walked out of the office. Over the next two days she worked with added fervour to nail both Dalton and Master Chief Sullivan to the wall. Harm had gotten Captain Ross to admit to the indiscretions that went on under his command and Mac's examination of Admiral Boone on Thursday had sealed the deal. When the members came back with the verdict after closing arguments on Friday, Mac breathed a sigh of relief, thankful to have the event over.
Mac and Harm walked out of the courtroom victorious that Friday afternoon, as close to hand in hand as they could get at work. Dalton chased her out of the courtroom and caught up with her and Harm in the hallway. "Sarah wait!" He called after her. Mac went to turn toward him, she didn't know whether she was going to hit him or just scream at him but she was going to do something. Harm had stopped her though.
"Mac, I'll handle this, you've taken enough grief from him." Harm smiled as he held her back.
"No hitting young man." Mac smiled coyly as the finger she pointed at him flirtatiously ended up on the tip of his nose. Harm walked over to Dalton and put a hand on his shoulder before reaching the other one out and pinching Dalton's cheek.
"You broke her heart, Dalton." Harm gave him a light slap with the hand that was just pinching Dalton's cheek. "You broke her heart." And with a laugh Harm walked back to Mac and the two of them went back up to their offices at JAG ops. It was Friday night, if you were in the JAG office and you were attached to the Duke Boys, you knew that Friday meant music at McMurphy's. Mac kept a pair of blue-jeans and a black shirt in her car just for Friday nights. Harm and the rest of the band had their own civvies along with their instruments in their car, except for Tiner whose drum kit never left the back room at McMurphy's unless it was rehearsal or performance. It was 1700, four hours before the big show, most of the band-mates left either to get some chow before the show or to get the stage set up.
The Admiral loved Friday nights, a quick drink in his office with a friend and then some good music at the bar later. It had been different since he'd been at the Pentagon. This Friday he walked into JAG ops with a forty-seven year old bottle of Jameson's Irish in his hand and Tom Boone striding along next to him. AJ Chegwidden knocked on the door of the office.
"Enter!" Jim Grant's voice was brisk. The Admirals walked in and took their seats on the far side of the desk.
"Jim Grant, this is Tom Boone; Tom, this is Jim." The two men shook hands as AJ made the introductions. "What've we got, Jim?" AJ asked looking at the TV.
"Orioles and Blue-Jays pre-season game in Dunedin." Jim replied. "What've we got in the way of the nectar of the Gods this evening?"
"Jameson's 1951, hell of a year." Tom announced as he kicked his feet up on the Admiral's couch. Admiral Chegwidden poured three glasses of Jameson's and each of the men took their glass and raised it. "What should we drink to?" Tom Boone asked with a smug look on his face.
"How about individual toasts?" Jim suggested, an apparent wise smile on his face.
"Alright, you go first, Colonel, you're the youngest." Admiral Chegwidden's gruffness seemed to disappear.
"To a service we love." Jim raised his glass.
"To old heroes and the legends we'll leave behind." AJ raised his glass.
"To the ghosts of the past, may they help us teach the future." Tom Boone raised his glass and with a loud clink the three men smiled and downed their drinks. "So this is how JAG's senior officers spend Friday night. I should've become a lawyer."
"No, there's too much thrill in being in the air for you flyers. We couldn't keep Rabb here if he was still able to fly. JAG's just a good place for them to stick tired old Special Ops guys so we don't get into trouble in the modern, politically correct world." The Admiral laughed as he tuned himself into the game.
"You two have caused nothing but trouble in the last month from what I've heard. AJ you almost came to blows with two congressmen and a senator and Jim successfully pissed off a foreign country, an important South American diplomat and a right wing think-tank lobbyist. You two are bound to cause trouble no matter where they stick you." Tom's comment created laughter from everyone in the room.
"Yeah but it's tougher to shoot people in Washington." Jim retorted.
"Tell that to William McKinley." Tom Boone fired back.
"I told you this once, we're getting too old for this." AJ looked at Jim and the two friends exchanged laughs. "What are we going to do? I have to take control of this chicken coup again in a few days, you've got to go back to the fleet and you've got to go back to being Chief of Staff."
"Well we could always go down to McMurphy's and hear some damn good music and revel in one of our last nights where we've got more authority and Tom's got no responsibilities." Jim offered.
"Sounds like a plan." Tom got up off AJ's couch.
"Sure does." AJ got out of the chair.
"Well how about this; the DCNO, the JAG and a fleet commander all heading out to a bar, we'd do Nimitz proud." Tom said as they walked through the JAG bullpen.
"Yeah, or we drink him under the table." With that, Jim turned the lights off in the bullpen, effectively ending another week at JAG.