A/N: With Harm and Mac's relationship as it now stands the rest of Season 3 really can't be the same so with a few exceptions (you'll see later) the episodic rewrites will get sparse. Loved the support for the last chapter! I do have one question though? Do we want to see Jim fall in love? Is our widower Colonel finally ready?

That morning's staff call was full of tension all of it seemed to be emanating from the Admiral. Cases were dispensed to Mac, Bud, Imes, Mattoni and Jim but Harm wasn't handed any cases. Not that he minded it was just out of the ordinary for the Admiral not to hand him work. The last few weeks with Mac had been amazing. She'd practically taken up residence in his apartment; in fact much of the last week had been a seemingly endless date.

"Commander, there's a reason you haven't been given any cases this week, you're being temporarily reassigned." The Admiral's gruff voice pulled Harm out of a pleasant recollection of the night before, of course looking across the table at Mac tended to bring those kind of thought into the front of his mind.

"Reassigned, sir? To where?" Both Harm and Mac's eyes opened wide as the Admiral tented his fingers.

"The Teddy Roosevelt. Captains Wellington and Thomas requested you specifically. Seems the CAG lost another pilot and he wants you to fill in, says you fit in well with the squad." The Admiral supplied as he saw Harm's face contort in confusion.

"Sir, I can't fly at night…"Harm started when the Admiral held up his hand to silence him.

"I told Captain Thomas that, the Captain assures me that's not a problem. You leave for the Roosevelt at 0800 tomorrow morning, dismissed." With that the senior staff got out of their chairs and headed for the door when the Admiral turned to face Harm, Mac, Bud and Jim who were all among the last out of the room.

"Commander, Captain Thomas tells me that your new bunk-mate also put in a special recommendation to have you aboard the cruise for the next six weeks. He said that between you and your new bunkmate, he'll no longer be the craziest pilot over the Adriatic." The Admiral smiled smugly as he turned out of the room.

"Why do I have a feeling you're going to get in trouble on the Roosevelt?" Mac put her index finger on Harm's nose.

"Because I'm going to miss you so much that it's going to drive me to go UA?" He shot back as he placed his hands on her hips.

"Well we can't have that; I don't think I could stand limiting myself to conjugal visits." She stepped into him.

"So this doesn't bug you, me going off like this?" He could tell, she was joking, sure, but her voice would break when she spoke, she was laughing so she didn't cry.

"Harm, it scares me, I know it shouldn't but it does. I can't be there with you, to save you if you get in trouble and you can't be here to comfort me when I worry." Her tears couldn't be held back as they embraced one another.

"It's okay, Sarah; I'll come back to you…to us." He said gingerly as he gave her a squeeze. "Come over tonight." He whispered into her ear.

"Of course." She whispered back before they had to part for their day. Harm had to square away all his paperwork before he secured and went home to pack for his tour. Mac was in court during lunch so Jim ordered some Chinese and the two of them sat in Harm's office, leaning back in their chairs, feet up on the desk and digging into their cardboard boxes full of food.

"Don't break anything on the Roosevelt, if you come back here in more pieces than you left Mac will scramble your brains." Jim laughed as he took a drink of his tea.

"Yeah well don't worry about me. Carrier's my home." Harm said as he dug through the rice.

"Sort of like returning a Panther to the wild?" Jim smiled a little as he picked up his chopsticks.

"How long have you been waiting to make that joke?" Harm tossed him a disappointed look.

"About an hour." Jim replied.

"You should've thought on it longer, it might've actually been funny." The two of them laughed as the mood seemed to sombre.

"We're going to miss you around here, you know that?" Jim said with a very serious quality to his voice.

"You going soft on me, Marine?" Harm smiled to lift the mood.

"Me? Never! I'll just have no one to blame when something goes haywire." There was a silence in the room. "Mac's a Marine, she can take care of herself, she'll be okay."

"Yeah I know it's just…we wasted too much time in the first year of our partnership trying to get the feel for each other, if I'd just followed my damn instinct after the Connors court-martial and asked her out…" It was there that Harm was cut off.

"You two wouldn't be nearly as good friends and everything you said or did she would question as to whether or not you were sincere of just trying to get into her pants. That's how Mac thinks." Jim retorted as he reached for his tea.

"So you're saying it's better that me and her have this year of sexual tension to act on?" Harm look incredulously.

"Basically, yeah." Jim laughed slightly paternal as Harm went back to eating.

"What are you two talking about?" Mac poked her head in through the door in Harm's office.

"Harm keeps saying you've got a better body than Claudia Schiffer and I keep telling him that he's crazy." Jim said nonchalantly as he finished his lunch.

"Is that what my flyboy said?" Mac walked over to Harm seductively, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I'll just be going now. Remember to pace yourselves kids; it's going to be a long six weeks." Jim said as he closed Harm's office door behind him. The two of them were given permission to secure early and head home so that Harm could get ready to ship out to the Roosevelt the next day. Harm sat on the couch, Mac gently tucked under his arm as he slowly stroked her hair.

"I've got something for you." She said lightly as she reached into her pocket and produced two pictures. Harm took a look at the first picture, it was of the two of them at the NATO Ball the previous year, Bud had taken the picture at the time. Looking at the picture he wondered how he could be so blind. He had his arm around her waist in the photo and they were both beaming. When he flipped to the second picture though his attention was caught.

"A nudie! Mac, when did you have the time to do this and what photographer do I have to kill for actually taking the picture?" Harm smiled as Mac looked up at him coyly.

"Actually I just used the timer on my camera and took the photo and don't worry, Harm, a female friend of mine did the developing so no man has seen me naked since we started dating." She pecked him on the cheek. "I just wanted you to remember what was waiting for you back at home."

"I could never forget you, sweet thing." He kissed her on the top of her head. "I'll write you letters everyday, I may only get the chance to mail them once a week though. So they'll be mailed in sets of seven." He smiled and she laughed.

"I'm going to miss you so much, flyboy." She kissed him on the cheek.

"Hey let's not talk about tomorrow, let's make tonight worth remembering." He smiled and she looked at him seductively as she licked her lips.

"You read my mind, flyboy." She grabbed him by his shirt and led him to the bedroom.

"Wait Mac, before we do, I just wanted to give you this." Harm reached into his pocket and produced a velvet box. Mac opened it and gasped, it was a heart pendant, elegant with one emerald and one ruby. "The red of the ruby to represent your lips, which I love to kiss by the way and the green of the emerald to go with that Marine I love to watch get all passionate and fiery in the courtroom. As a symbol of my promise to you Sarah."

"Promise of what?" She looked into his eyes expecting a definite answer.

"Anything you ask of me." He replied before the passion she was stemming caused her to push him on to the bed.

0800 EST

ANDREW'S AIR FORCE BASE

Mac stood on the tarmac as Harm boarded a plane that was headed for Naples. Mac waved goodbye from the tarmac as Harm watched through the window of the plane. He had kissed her goodnight, she had kissed him good morning, he had kissed her at breakfast and she had kissed him as he got out of the car to run to the plane. The next six weeks were going to be hell, there was no doubting that, but the twenty four hours before had been a little slice of heaven.

The flight to Naples was long and arduous. Harm hated flying when he wasn't the pilot. He hated leaving Mac behind. The only even remotely appealing part of the whole damn assignment was the thought of a Tomcat on a flight deck.

When the plane landed in Naples, Harm walked down the stairs of the private jet two see a familiar face hiding behind a pair of sunglasses, a flight jacket and a blue 'USS Theodore Roosevelt' hat. "Keeter!" Harm walked over and wrapped his friend in a big hug. "So you're gonna be my bunkmate for the next six weeks?"

"Seven weeks technically, Phoenix had you pulled out a week early so he could fix that problem with your eyes." Keeter said as he gave Harm a pat on the back.

"What the hell are you talking about, Keeter?" Harm looked quizzically at his friend.

"It's all right here in the note." Keeter opened a folded piece of paper. "Commander Rabb, a review of your medical profile has revealed that you were more than likely misdiagnosed with night-blindness and you are in fact suffering from a rectifiable case of retinal scarring. Commander Keeter has been instructed to take you to the Naval Medical Centre at Naples to have you evaluated and if my assessment is correct, to have your retinal scarring repaired. Sincerely, Lieutenant Marshall Fitzgibbon Chief Medical Officer USS Theodore Roosevelt." Keeter re-folded the note.

"So you're supposed to take me so that they can fix my eyes?" Harm looked at his friend with a raised eyebrow.

"Just doing as I'm told." Keeter shot back with a smile.

"Since when have you ever done that?" Harm jostled back as the two men walked over to the Naval Medical Centre.

Harm went in to have the procedure done right away, the CAG on the TR had made the appointment well ahead of time. Keeter paced in the hallway outside waiting for the procedure to be done. When it was, he went in to see the doctor and Harm. "Alright, Commander Rabb, I'm going to have to order you to stay out of the air for the next week and than you can have the flight surgeon aboard the TR check you out before you return to full flight status." The doctor said as he examined Harm's eyes.

"Alright, so does this mean I should be able to trap on a carrier at night?" Harm looked hopefully up at the doctor

"Yes Commander, you should be perfectly able to execute night traps on a carrier. Now Captain Thomas called to inform me that I'm to place you in the custody of Commander Keeter, so that's what I'm going to do." The doctor signed off on the last piece of paperwork. "There you go, gentlemen, have fun and hand these to the nurse on your way out would you?"

Harm and Keeter walked down the corridor to the main administrative desk where they handed the paperwork to the nurse on duty. "Hey buddy what would you say to a little fettuccine? I know this great place a few blocks away."

"You're on, Keeter." Harm shot back as the two men walked out of the building. Harm was a million miles away, sure physically he was walking through Naples with his old Academy buddy but his heart and his mind were fixed on DC, on Mac, on what she might be doing at that exact moment. Whatever Keeter was saying, Harm found himself completely unable to focus on it.

"Buddy, what's on your mind, you look like you're trying figure out the female mind or something." Keeter laughed as Harm looked over at him having only caught the word 'female'.

"Nothing, it's just someone – thing, something I left at home." Harm smiled trying to cover his slip; going soft was a good way for a pilot to tarnish his reputation.

"Oh my God, dare I believe some woman has managed to tame the great Hammer? It can't be true." Keeter said, a great laugh escaping from his chest.

"Shut up, Keeter." Harm shot back with a laugh of his own.

"Oh, you got it bad, buddy. Who is she? Knowing you she's probably a Redskins cheerleader, or maybe a weather-girl." Keeter suggested as the two of them sat down to dinner. Keeter took a drink of his water as Harm deliberated whether to tell Keeter.

"She's a Marine." Harm's statement had caused Keeter to spray the table with water in disbelief.

"A Marine? Your head screwed on straight, buddy?" Keeter couldn't help but laugh.

"Keeter, you've got to meet this woman; she's amazing, she could hit on you and kick your ass all in the same motion." Harm protested.

"Alright, Romeo, just do what normal married pilots do, keep a picture of her in your flight suit and keep the gushing to a minimum. I'll try to ignore the fact that you didn't invite me to the wedding." Keeter was still laughing as he wrapped some fettuccine on his fork.

"We're not married, hell we just started dating." Harm informed his friend and found he'd once again made him laugh.

"And she's got you thinking of her like this after only fourteen hours of separation? Oh buddy, you're in trouble." Keeter raised the fork to his mouth. "I think I should tell all this to the CAG, it could result in a new call-sign for you. How about Lovesick?"

"How about Friend-beater?" Harm shot back.

"Okay, okay, sheesh since when did you get touchy?" Keeter looked offended as the two men ate their dinners and went back to the VOQ to get a little rack time before getting on a helo the next morning and heading for the Teddy Roosevelt.

The next morning came on fast; Harm and Keeter were dragged out of bed at 0600 by a call from Captain Thomas who had called them just to get them out of bed at 0600. They got ready for the helo and were soon over the Adriatic on their way to the Teddy Roosevelt. When the helo landed on the flight deck, there was a crowd gathered waiting for them.

On the deck, that CAG and his Panthers were awaiting the arrival of the helo. Along with them was Captain Wellington who was preparing to conduct a ceremony on the deck. Harm stepped off the helo with Keeter and the CAG shouted at the pair of them, his voice barely audible over the propeller blades of the helo. "It's about time the two of you got here Keeter; you almost made Rabb late for his own medal ceremony!" Harm looked puzzled as Captain Wellington called over to him.

"Lieutenant Commander Rabb, front and centre!" Wellington and Thomas stood side by side at the front while the Panthers stood in formation facing them. Harm stepped between the Panthers and the senior officers, facing Captain Wellington. "For his actions in saving the life of Captain Mitchell Thomas in the skies over Bosnia, after volunteering for flight duty, despite being designated as a JAG Lawyer. Lieutenant Commander Harmon Rabb Junior, it is my honour to present you with this Distinguished Flying Cross on the behalf of the President of the United States and the Secretary of the Navy." Captain Wellington reached out and pinned Harm's second DFC to his chest and saluted him. "Congratulations Commander."

"Thank you sir!" Harm replied, returning the salute. After Wellington shouted 'dismissed!' Harm was practically mauled by Panthers willing to pat him on the back and congratulate him for getting his second DFC.

"Great to have you back aboard, Commander, I'll be sitting backseat for you." The voice was the familiar one of Lieutenant Jeff 'Trapper' McIntyre who had sat backseat for Harm earlier on the TR.

"Nice to be back, Trapper." Harm gave his new RIO a pat on the shoulder.

"Keeter told us about your dad, Rabb and we figured that since you saved my six a few months back, you should probably have this." The CAG tossed Harm a helmet that had the name 'Hammer' written across the front. Harm looked at it absolutely stunned. "Captain Wellington, back when he was known as 'Duke', served with your dad on board the Hornet, he said, you deserved to have that helmet and the Panthers agreed with him."

"Thanks, CAG." Harm said with a note of complete surprise in his voice.

"What did I say back in Naples about gushing?" Keeter looked at his friend trying to pull him out of his trance.

"Shut up, Keeter!" The CAG voiced Harm's very sentiment, even cuffing Jack upside the head.

"Hey! That's abuse!" Keeter said with mock protest.

"Only if someone reports it." The CAG shot back. "Alright, Hammer, the Panthers need an XO, when those bullets tore up Nighthawk's canopy last week and put him in sickbay I lost mine. I need to keep you occupied in the time between now and your check-up with the flight surgeon, so until then and for the remainder of your time on this cruise, you're my XO with the Panthers, you got it?"

"Aye, aye CAG." With that the Panthers headed into the superstructure and prepared for another day in the life of an aviator aboard the TR. Keeter showed Harm to their quarters with something of a rather traditional greeting.

"She ain't much, but she's home." Keeter walked in and stepped off to the side so Harm could join him.

"You saved me the top bunk?" Harm looked at Keeter quizzically.

"You're getting up there, old-timer, I just figured it'd be funny watching you groan as you climb in and out of it everyday." Keeter slugged Harm in shoulder.

"Old-timer, you're just as old as I am, Keeter, in fact you're a few months older." Harm tossed back.

"Yeah but I'm single, that automatically gives me two years on you committed types." Keeter laughed as he threw himself down on his rack. "I got night patrol tonight, so I'm going to hit the rack, have fun with your duties, XO."

Harm walked out of his quarters and toward the CAG's state room to get his duties. He would have to get used to this, being on a carrier wasn't a foreign experience, it was like a home, but that was the Seahawk, this was the TR a Nimitz-class, much bigger and more complex than the Seahawk. Wellington and Thomas were renowned as fleet officers for their inclusion of women aboard ship; the CAG had eight female pilots and four female RIOs under his command and Captain Wellington's male-to-female ratio for the rest of the crew was almost as impressive.

The TR was painted up as the model of the new Navy and for a brief period of time, Harm was going to be one of the most senior men in the Navy's newest model crew. He found the hatch to the CAG's stateroom wide open and the CAG sitting at his desk pouring over flight rosters. "You want to give me my duties, CAG?" Harm came to attention in front of his superior officer.

"Yes, Commander, from what I'm hearing from high command, we're going to have a busy week ahead of us and because my XO isn't on flight status I'm going to be up in the air with every Panther patrol which means I won't have time to file a lot of the paperwork I'm supposed to get done, you Commander, are to spend every Panther patrol on the bridge and cover most of my paperwork, is that understood?" The CAG never even looked up from his desk as he spoke.

"Aye, aye CAG." Harm responded.

"Anything planned for today, Commander? The Panthers aren't on patrol until 2100." The CAG once again never lifted his eyes from his paper.

"I suppose I could write my girlfriend, sir." Harm said cautiously.

"How is the Major?" The CAG sounded so nonchalant that one would think this to be a conversation between old friends.

"You don't dance around issues, do you, CAG?" Harm responded.

"One of the things that's gotten me where I am. How is she, Harm?" The CAG finally looked up from his desk, his demeanour suddenly more friendly.

"Upset that I was pulled out of JAG to be here for seven weeks, sir." Harm replied as he took a seat in one of the chairs in the CAG's stateroom.

"I told you that the Skipper told me she was concerned for you when you flew last time you were here." The CAG was fast becoming a friend.

"Why did you request me, sir?" Harm looked puzzled.

"Part of every great squad is chemistry. They have to be a family. When you flew with us last time, your exchanges with Trapper, Archangel, Temptress and myself told me that you fit with this squadron. When I needed a temporary replacement the first time I understood that you needed to get things back home squared away. But when I needed someone this time I knew there was only one pilot for the job."

"I appreciate it, especially that stunt you pulled to have my night-vision fixed, you must've had to call in some pretty heavy favours for that one." Harm tried to sound impressed and grateful.

"Nothing too laborious, I do have two nurses that require dates on our next liberty now though, so my dance card is full." The CAG heaved an understated laugh.

"Let me get this straight, you get the pilot you want to add to your squadron and you get dates with two nurses for your next liberty?" Harm looked on in disbelief.

"Not just nurses, young, pretty, raven-haired nurses." The CAG added.

"It's great to be the CAG, isn't it?" Harm mocked.

"Fantastic!" The CAG replied as Harm headed back to his quarters. Harm came back to his quarters only to find a sleeping and snoring Jack Keeter sprawled out on the bottom bunk. Harm took out a pen and a piece of paper and started to write a letter home.

Dear Mac,

How you doing sweet thing? You'll never believe it but two amazing things have happened since I got here. When I landed in Naples I found out that my bunkmate for the cruise was going to be Jack Keeter, my old roommate from the Academy. I also got my second DFC for my flying last time we came out to the TR. God, it's barely been more than a day and I still miss you like crazy. I must've looked at that picture you gave me at least a hundred times and no it's not the picture you're thinking of, though I've looked at that one too. It's the one of us at the NATO Ball; you just look so beautiful and happy in that picture Sarah.

Hope all is well back at Falls Church, hope Harriet isn't driving everyone nuts with the wedding plans and I hope you aren't getting roped into babysitting for Jim.

Love,

Your Flyboy

Harm put the letter in and envelope and tucked the envelope under his pillow. He had six more letters to write that week and they were all going home to Mac in the same envelope.

Over the course of the next week, Harm had re-adjusted to carrier life. He loved being on the bridge during the patrols. He loved the cock-and-bull stories that the Panthers exchanged in the Ready Room and in the Officer's Wardroom. He loved being able to go out to Vulture's Row and watch the planes come in and trap the wires. He loved it all but it made him miss Mac all the more. On Saturday, after he'd had his appointment with the flight surgeon in which he was cleared for active flight status, Harm dropped his envelope complete with seven letters off to be mailed home.

When he walked back to his quarters he was greeted by the now familiar sight of Jack Keeter, sprawled out on his bunk. Jack wasn't asleep, just resting, his face covered by his blue USS Theodore Roosevelt hat. "Hell of a thing these last three years, Harm old buddy." Jack's voice rang clear through his cap.

"Sure has been." Harm closed the hatch behind him.

"First Luke…" Keeter started.

"Then Diane." Harm finished.

"You still carry around her picture, I see." Keeter lifted the hat off his face just to make his eyes visible for a second.

"What the hell are you talking about, Keeter?" Harm's eyes opened wide with alarm.

"That picture in your sea-bag with the two of you at some fancy dress shindig." Keeter supplied the information readily. Harm knew he was talking about the picture of him and Mac at the NATO Ball.

"Keeter, that's not Diane, that's my girlfriend Mac." Harm informed his friend. In reaction to Harm's words, Keeter pulled his hat off his face and sat up in his bunk.

"Come again?" The aviator said as he made the motion like he was trying to clean wax out of his ears.

"That picture was taken at last year's NATO Ball; the woman in the picture is Mac, my girlfriend." Harm still couldn't get over how good it felt to say that about Mac.

"You've got to be shitting me. How is it you manage to date two women who look like that in the span of five years? Whatever your secret is, I want in on it." Keeter laughed as he fell back on to his bunk. That Saturday had indeed been a full day. It had been his last day flying a desk as an XO, the flight surgeon and the mail drop-off had all happened right before dinner and now, after dinner it was time to hit the rack.

The lights were out in their quarters as the two old friends just laid in their respective bunks staring at what was above them. "Harm?" The voice came from the bottom bunk.

"Yeah Jack."

"It's good to be rooming together again."

"Sure is, buddy."

"Not quite like the old days, though."

"Better in some ways."

"Let's hope it stays that way." With that the two men drifted off to sleep. Soon, Harm's week revolved around his Saturday mail call. After two weeks aboard the TR, he'd flown patrols and dogfights and written home about them and Mac's letters were always humorous and they kept him up to date on the goings on at Falls Church. There was one mail call that Harm knew he'd never forget though.

It was a week before the TR was to go on liberty in Naples and when the mail bag came, Mac was not the only member of the JAG family at Falls Church who had decided to write Harm.

Hey Harm,

Jim here, I know this may sound like a weird request but can you please sleep with your girlfriend. Hear me out before you kill me. In the last three weeks, Mac has been in one very foul mood, the theory that the Admiral and I have developed is that Mac has been missing you in the biblical sense and as such is wound tighter than a Spanish guitar string. We've brought Bud up to speed on our theory and even though he mostly just nods, we can tell he agrees with us whole-heartedly, even if Harriet thinks we're corrupting him.

The Admiral and I arranged it that Mac could meet you for your liberty in Naples, please do, everyone at JAG a favour and loosen Mac up at little (did not mean that like it sounded). I heard about your DFC, congrats.

Rock'n'Roll!

Colonel Jim Grant

Harm couldn't help but laugh at the letter; he even passed the letter to Keeter so that Keeter could get a kick out of it. He then proceeded to tear open the one he got from Mac.

My Hunk of a Flyboy,

I want you, scratch that, I NEED you. I got leave to meet you on liberty and we are only leaving the hotel room so that I can meet that friend of yours. You want to know how badly I need you? I've started reading books just so I can think of things to do to you when I meet you in Naples. Damn you Flyboy! It's been harder than you can imagine to function these last few weeks, I'm a Marine, this is not supposed to happen, I'm not supposed to miss you this much. But every time I tell myself that, I scold myself for saying it and I miss you even more. Italy will be so romantic, that is, if we can ever get our clothes on long enough to go do something.

Love,

Your Sweet Thing

"I can't let you read this one Keeter." Harm said with a slight stammer as he folded up the letter and slid it back into the envelope.

"Who cares, this Colonel buddy of yours is hilarious!" Keeter responded between laughs. "Harm, you'll never believe who's meeting up with me on liberty."

"Who?" Harm's asked with a boyish inquisitiveness.

"An old friend of ours; Maria Elena Carmelita Moreno Gutierrez." It was the first time that Keeter had properly pronounced all of her names and he was exceedingly proud of that.

"You've got to be kidding me." Harm was once again in complete disbelief. "Sounds like it's going to be one hell of a liberty, Commander Keeter."

"You got that right, Commander Rabb."