OOOOOOO

Part 3.

After dinner at McMurphy's bar, Harm and Mac nervously sat avoiding the subject that they had been thinking about, ever since their departure from the USS Watertown. At first, avoiding the subject hadn't been a conscious thing for Harm, because his larynx had been bruised, making any speech impossible. Now, as he sat opposite Mac, he could see that she was thinking the same thing as he was, that they had to deal with in at some point. Catriona was over by the bar, playing on the pinball machine, having great success if the bells and sirens going off at regular intervals were any indication. It was just he and Mac, now, Harm supposed. But as he opened his mouth to speak, Mac beat him to the punch.

"I know, Harm, I know. We need to talk about this, don't we?"

Harm just nodded, starting, "Mac…" at exactly the same time as she said, "Harm…"

"Sorry," he apologized then gestured for her to go first.

"Harm, I know what you've been wanting to say, all this time, but a fact is a fact. Yes, the Watertown was awful, but being in our line of work, we're likely to go through that again and maybe even much worse…"

Here, Harm went to object, but Mac silenced him with a wave of her hand.

"No, let me finish…However, whatever we go through and whenever it comes, I know that we'll deal with it the same way we always deal with these sorts of events."

They both locked eyes over the empty dinner plates that the waitress had yet to clean up.

"Together," they both finished in unison.

Harm and Mac held their locked gaze for a few seconds, then Harm brought his hand across the tabletop, to place it on top of Mac's, giving it a comforting squeeze. At that moment, Mac realized that the bells and sirens from the corner had ceased. Both officers looked over to see Catriona smiling silently to herself, watching them.

"Sorry," she told them, "I ran out of quarters."

"You want some more?" Harm offered her, starting to take the change out of his pants pocket.

"Oh, no thanks, I've already taken up all of the places on the top ten score board."

Both Harm and Mac looked over to the machine to see that this was true.

"How did you manage that?" Harm asked Catriona, "I've been trying to get onto that thing for the past three months!"

Catriona just giggled, while Mac smiled, amused.

"So, Mac tells me that you're going down to Florida for Independence Day. Are you looking forward to meeting your relatives?"

"Oh yeah, I've got ten cousins on my Dad's side and a lot of them are around my age. My parents don't get to see the family a lot, but since this is my first July 4th back at home, they've arranged a big get-together."

"What about your Mom's side? Are they going to be there?" Mac asked.

"My Mom only has one brother who lives about four hours away from us, but she hasn't seen him in years. He's kind of the black sheep of the family. Mom sent him an invitation, but she doesn't expect that he'll be there."

"I'm sure that you'll still have a great time," Mac assured her.

Catriona nodded emphatically.

"I'm sure that I will."

"Hey, you guys know what'll make this great night even better?" Harm asked

Catriona and Mac. They both took one look at him and laughed, "ICE CREAM!"

0255 Zulu

Mac's apartment

Georgetown.

Mac sat bolt upright in bed as the scream reverberated in her ears.

"Wow," she thought to herself, "What a nightmare!"

As she waited for her heart to stop racing, she took a gulp from the glass of water that was on her bedside table and then finally settled back down in bed.

"It's alright," she told herself, "It was just a dream. Catriona's just fine in Florida with her parents."

Mac closed her eyes again and went back to sleep.

OOOO

The Third of July dawned surprisingly overcast and chilly as Mac pulled her coat tighter around herself before daring to climb out of her car and brave the early morning drizzle. After she had made her way into the bullpen, she gladly accepted the cup of coffee that Gunny offered her as she rushed towards the meeting room. She would be late as it was, but it would not do for the Chief or Staff to look disorganized as well, which is why she had forgone the usual news reports on the TV and radio that morning and settled for sorting through all of her current case files, to make sure that everything was in order. As she entered the meeting room, she scanned the places around the large table, to see that the Admiral had still not arrived.

She took her usual place at the table, beside Harm and discussed the case they had just finished together, while remarking how unusual it was for the Admiral to be late to work.

"Well, it's probably just the rainy weather that's holding him up," Mac dismissed, "I just narrowly missed getting caught in the huge back-up on the beltway."

A few minutes later, the Admiral swept into the room, looking extremely flustered.

Before anyone could get to their feet and salute him, the Admiral interrupted, "I've got some rather important matters to deal with, right now. Agent Clayton Webb is on the phone, so I'm going to have to postpone our staff meeting until another time. Commander Rabb, Major MacKenzie, please would you follow me to my office, I'm afraid this is very serious."

At the grim look on AJ's face, Harm and Mac quickly followed him to his office, asking no questions. The Admiral paused, not exactly sure how to proceed.

After picking up the phone and putting Clayton Webb onto the speakerphone, he continued, "Harm, Mac? Webb called me after it happened…I assume that neither of you has happened to tune into the news this morning?"

Both officers paled after hearing their CO use their first names, answering him with a simple shake of their heads. At this point, AJ could not speak, so Clay took over, tentatively.

"Harm, Mac, I'm so sorry…At three o'clock this morning, Miami was hit by an unexpected, grade 5 hurricane."

"That's where the Carters are!" Mac gasped.

"Has there been any contact from the family, Webb?" Harm demanded.

"The whole area has been devastated, there are hardly any houses left standing. So far, the entire Carter family has been declared either dead or missing."

At this, Mac visibly flinched, swaying slightly. Harm stepped in to steady her. Once she had recovered from the initial shock, the Admiral continued in a gentler tone,

"Mac, Harm. Admiral Carter is dead. So are 18 members of his family. Catriona, Mrs. Carter and Catriona's cousin Randy Carter are still missing, but so far, it doesn't look good."

"As soon as I hear any news, I'll let you guys know," Clay promised them before hanging up. Harm did his best to comfort Mac, who by this time was sobbing in his arms, regardless of their Commanding Officer, who was buzzing through to Tiner to get some coffee prepared. After bringing the coffee through and being informed of the situation, Tiner made his way through to the conference room, where the rest of the staff was still seated. After learning of the terrible news, all of the staff members joined hands around the table to pray for the safety of the remaining members of the Carter family and all of those families affected by the hurricane.

OOOOOOO