'It's a Wonderful Life' at JAG
Chapter 1
Disclaimers: I don't own any of these characters. I don't own any product or label mentioned for the purposes for telling this story. Any similarities to situations or persons living or dead are purely coincidental. I don't own the rights to the movie or story, 'It's a
Wonderful Life.'
Spoilers: Any JAG episode is fair game however; Season 3 will be the pivotal season with many of the circumstances changed there after. We will visit other places and seasons, ending with the nearer past. I don't mean to be cryptic; I just don't want to give my story away.
A/N This story is very much AU with a bit of reality thrown in, just to keep it interesting. I've followed the premise that many of the old movies did, when they spoke of heaven and angels, I hope I've not offended anyone, it was not my intention. Brace yourselves folks, were going a little higher than the Starship Enterprise this time.
A/N: This is just for fun and is not meant to take anything away from the movie 'It's a Wonderful Life." I know it's an American institution and I mean no disrespect. It's just a fantasy Christmas story about our DD.
A/N: Many thanks to Karen for her beta read.
2230
December 24, 2004
Falls Church, Virginia and surrounding areas.
In the special stillness that seems to cover the world on Christmas Eve, snow was falling in Northern Virginia. The wind would gust from time to time, whipping around the old historical buildings of the city of Falls Church. It coated the ground at Fairfax Chapel and the Oakwood Cemetery that was just beyond, and then around Mount Hope. The winds and snow traveled past Wrens Tavern, out into Fairfax proper and into the District of Columbia. It blew the snow around the Capital building and the Pentagon, where the strength of a great nation was seated. The snow fell silently on Arlington Cemetery, with its rolling hills marked with the lonely graves of its fallen Soldiers, Sailors and Marines. In all of the surrounding areas, with their many suburbs, most of their inhabitants were reveling in this picture perfect Christmas Eve. The youngest of these were awaiting a certain 'midnight visitor,' all dressed in red.
Amid all the quiet joy of the season, echoes of voices could be heard, pleading and humbly praying, mingling with sound of the winds, as they blew the snow down the streets and seemingly back up into the heavens. The prayers were for a man whose soul felt no comfort or joy tonight. This troubled man stood on a bridge overlooking the Potomac River; his hands were clasped together, with despair evident on his face. What would he do? He had finally reached the end of his rope, he could not imagine the shame of what he would face, his reputation and that of his family, would be destroyed with the morning news. Hell, it was probably already all over ZNN. What would his father think of him now? Maybe it would be better if he had never been born.
In the heavens above this troubled man, the thoughts and prayers of those who held him dear reached the place where prayers are heard and some… are answered.
Office of the High Command….
A sharp knock at the door pulled the Supreme Commander's attention away from the cares of the entire world.
"Enter," he spoke sternly.
XO Gabriel walked swiftly into a room full of light, whose walls had the color and brilliancy of the sparkling seas.
The XO came to attention and was given the order to stand at ease. The Supreme Commander seemed to return his attention to other matters as he questioned the XO.
"What is it Commander Gabriel?"
"Sir, we have a problem, one that I believe requires your immediate attention, sir."
"The Rabb situation?"
"Yes sir, would you like me to handle it personally, sir?"
"No, not this time, send for Lieutenant Clarence."
"Clarence, sir?" The XO stopped short.
"But he hasn't…sir, he's hasn't been able to get his wings since he arrived…and that was decades ago."
"That is true, but Lieutenant Clarence has never given up…He won't allow this man to give up either. Clarence is the perfect one to do battle for the soul of Harmon Rabb Jr. Send for him."
Lieutenant Clarence was summoned and reported immediately. He stood at attention before the Supreme Commander, wearing the aviator's uniform of his time, a worn double breasted olive drab jacket with trousers to match, which were tucked into his knee high brown leather boots. He looked at his Supreme Commander from beneath a leather aviator's cap, which sat on his head slightly askew.
"At ease, Lieutenant, and be seated." The Supreme Commander instructed. "I have a project for you Lieutenant Clarence."
"Will I be able to get my wings this time, sir?' The over eager young man's plain features were lit from within, he knew this was his opportunity and he would not make a mistake this time. Those wings were as good as his, he was sure of it. He was so excited that he hadn't realized that he had interrupted his superior officer.
XO Gabriel started to reprimand the young man, but the Supreme Commander raised a hand to stop him.
Lieutenant Clarence then realized his mistake, "I'm sorry, sir."
The Supreme Commander looked at the young man. "Much of that will depend on you, Lieutenant, but your focus must be Commander Rabb. He is your assignment, he is very troubled and at exactly 2310 Eastern Standard Time, he will try to throw away something that can never be replaced."
Lieutenant Clarence spoke aloud, again, without thinking, "God's greatest gift…his life"
The Supreme Commander smiled as he listened to the Lieutenant, he had chosen the right man. Lieutenant Clarence understood what was at stake and that was the most important thing. He was still undisciplined, but he had the faith of a child.
"That's right, but you, Clarence, will not only stop him, but convince him that his life is and has always been, of the utmost importance in the lives of so many people."
"Yes sir, I will, sir." He looked at his Supreme Commander with an expression of sincerity and admiration. He stood and both he and XO Gabriel came to attention and were dismissed.
Lieutenant Clarence was to be briefed by XO Gabriel before beginning this assignment. As they left, they noticed a man waiting to see the Supreme Commander.
"I have someone waiting, send him in as you leave, will you XO?" The Supreme Commander asked as they left.
'Yes, sir." Commander Gabriel looked at the man seated just outside the door. "He'll see you now Lieutenant Rabb"
The elder Lieutenant Rabb stood and came to attention
"Carry on," the XO acknowledged him and dismissed him.
"Yes, sir," Lieutenant Rabb turned toward the open doorway and entered it.
As Lieutenant Rabb entered the Supreme Commanders office, the XO and Lieutenant Clarence heard the Supreme Commander say...
"Have a seat Rabb. I know why you're here," he chuckled and continued. "This has gotten to be a habit over the years, hasn't it?"
The door closed and they were unable to hear anymore of the conversation.
XO Gabriel and Lieutenant Clarence made their way down a hallway to a vast and open area. They appeared to be standing amidst the clouds. The Lieutenant looked up and the heavens seemed to open. The break in the clouds allowed them to observe a little boy, climbing into the cockpit of an F4 on the deck of an aircraft carrier.
"Hey...That's the guy who was waiting outside the Supreme Commanders office."
"That's right Clarence; I'll get to that, just listen and learn. We don't have a lot of time."
The XO was beginning to understand that protocol wasn't going to be something he had time to focus on either. The young apprentice seemed to have had difficulty with minor protocols since he arrived in 1918. He had come to them as a wide eyed aviator's apprentice, with his head already in the clouds. Now, it seemed, he still kept that part of his earthly personality.
"Yes sir." The lieutenant was embarrassed at his outburst. He never seemed to remember to keep his mouth shut.
As the XO explained to Lieutenant Clarence just who Harmon Rabb Junior was, they observed many of the pivotal moments of his early childhood. The tiger cruises he went on with his father, the fishing trips and their closeness. He ended with the visit from two men in uniform, informing his mother of his fathers MIA status.
XO Gabriel was silent for a moment. As though reliving these moments were extremely sad to him as well.
Lieutenant Clarence could not keep from questioning, even though he knew there was more to come. "Did his father ever come home?"
Again, silence reined…
"Let's move on." The XO chose not to answer at this point, the Lieutenant was too easily side tracked.
The next scene in the life of Harmon Rabb Jr. was that of him as a young man of sixteen, following a man by the name of Stryker, through the jungles of Vietnam. XO Gabriel explained that he was in search of his missing father. They observed Harmon Rabb Jr. looking back and smiling, for a moment, at a young girl who was following him, along with her mother. She returned his smile and then looked back again at her mother.
Automatic weapons fire rang out. They had been ambushed by Cambodian border guards, and he turned to see the girl and her mother fall to the ground. Lieutenant Clarence heard the young man screaming the name "Gym" as he was being drug back into the jungle by Stryker. He had been wounded badly and it was not long before Stryker was carrying him.
Stryker called in a marker from an old friend, Chuck DePalma, who was now a reporter for ZNN. They both knew if they didn't get this kid out of the country he would be dead. It wasn't easy, but they were able to get him out of Vietnam and into Thailand. He was taken to a hospital in Bangkok and before the young man had even had regained consciousness; his mother and new stepfather had arrived and had taken him back home.
"His mother remarried?" Lieutenant Clarence frowned.
"His father had been declared dead."
"Was he?"
XO Gabriel was once again, silent.
"He didn't find his father, then?" Lieutenant Clarence asked. After all that had happened to this young man, he hadn't found him. The poor kid.
"No, not then." XO Gabriel answered.
Lieutenant Clarence watched as Harmon Rabb Jr. grew into a young man, he watched as he entered the Naval Academy. He watched as the loner, became a good friend and even an advocate for many of his friends. He allowed himself to form strong bonds with some of his friends, namely Sturgis Turner and Jack Keeter.
The XO observed, aloud, that Jack had taught him to laugh, sometimes at himself, while his friend Sturgis kept his feet on the ground and his six out of trouble. There was a beautiful young woman, who always seemed to be hovering around him, but never really seemed to be very close to him.
Lieutenant Clarence was going to ask a question about her, but the next scene caught his attention and as he looked on, it took all the discipline he possessed, not to laugh out loud.
The Lieutenant and the XO were observing a very naked Harmon Rabb Jr. pounding on the door of his dorm in Bancroft Hall, while a laughing Jack Keeter held the doorknob. Lieutenant Clarence heard the sound of someone's heels echoing in the hall, fast approaching in the hallway. Sturgis finally wrestled Jack away from the door and allowed the young man in, just in time to keep the Academy's superintendent, Vice Admiral Smith, from observing the young plebe, in all his glory.
Unbeknownst to Lieutenant Clarence, the XO was struggling to remain stern in his expression as well.
They looked on as the young man graduated from the Academy. The next scene was that of a very confident Harmon Rabb Jr. receiving his wings and saluting the Admiral who had pinned them on.
"He's following in his fathers footsteps." Lieutenant Clarence thought that he would love to have lived long enough on earth to receive his own wings.
"Something like that." The XO answered.
The next scene was the complete opposite of the one before, it was horrific and terrible to hear and behold. A jet was landing, and at the last minute, the command "Eject! Eject!" could be heard. The F-14 exploded into a ball of fire. Lieutenant Clarence knew that the young aviator was on that jet and that another young man had lost his life.
The scene changed quickly to that of Harmon Rabb Jr., standing at attention in front of a board of inquiry. He listened, stone faced, as he was told he had been cleared of any negligence on his part, that the crash had been an unavoidable accident. He didn't flinch when he was informed he would not fly again, but Clarence saw the weight of it, coupled with his RIO's death, on the young man's soul.
They observed then, as Harmon Rabb Jr. began to put his life back together. They followed him as he changed his designator and went to law school.
"He doesn't give up, I like that." Lieutenant Clarence was grinning from ear to ear.
"It's a good point to remember, perhaps, one to remind him of." The XO was still wondering what the Supreme Commander had in mind. He couldn't imagine this simple and naïve young man being the 'savior' of a man like Harmon Rabb Jr.
"Yes, sir," his expression turned serious once again.
They both looked again into to the life of Commander Rabb. Lieutenant Clarence watched as he showed his ID and entered the section of a naval base that was JAG Headquarters at Falls Church in Virginia. He noticed that some of the young man's confidence had returned. It appeared that in no time, he had once again become the self-assured young man who had graduated from flight school and received his wings.
Lieutenant Clarence wished so much that he could earn his wings. It was different here, he knew, but also the same. He knew pride was no virtue for an angel, but he had been here so long, he wanted to be, as so many others before him. He wanted to be an angel of the first order, sitting at the right hand of the Supreme Commander.
The younger Lieutenant Rabb stood on the steps, in front of JAG Headquarters. The Judge Advocate General, Admiral Brovo stood beside him.
"Great job, Rabb. You're going to be an asset to this office, after all. You really pulled all our asses out of the fire with that stunt."
"Well sir, I have to admit I wasn't thinking about that, I was just trying to save my own a…six, sir."
"Whatever the reason Lieutenant, you're up for a DFC." He slapped him on the back and said. "We've got ourselves a full fledged hero, right here at JAG."
"Thank you, sir." The younger Lieutenant Rabb smiled, slightly uncomfortable at the title of 'hero.'
Lieutenant Clarence knew that he didn't feel like anybody's hero, which only made him admire him more. Clarence understood that the young man was so glad to have gotten to know his father's best friend, the CAG aboard the Seahawk, Commander Tom Boone.
They both observed another man, Lieutenant Commander Teddy Lindsey, as he watched the exchange from behind them, just out of their line of sight. His expression concealed nothing of the loathing he felt, for the younger Lieutenant Rabb.
"Who is he?" Lieutenant Clarence asked.
"He is one of Lieutenant Rabb's superiors. He is a minor player in this story now, but remember his face, it will become more important later."
"Did he go back to flying?"
"Not to an active squadron, his flight status is limited, because of his night blindness."
"That was the reason for the accident that killed his friend." The story was coming together for him now.
"That's right"
"It looks like things are starting to work out for him now, at least he didn't lose his wings, and he's still in the Navy, like his father was." He gazed happily upon the scene.
XO Gabriel's expression turned grim when he said, "There is more to come."
TBC