First. Thank you for the reviews! This does have a few chapters to go. Now this one is meh for me because well because. I also upped the time table on To Russia With Love and Dalton is still alive. We'll fix that soon. ;-)

Chapter 7

"Sir? Commander? Uh. Harm?" I pop out from the wheelhouse of the tug boat I've taken up residence in when the voice of my protege wakes me from a restless sleep. There's an old cot that doesn't quite fit my body but I am thankful to have a place to hide at least for the moment.

I won't be in the States much longer. If all goes to plan, a private plane will be flying me towards Europe and then another transport to Russia. I'm nervous about the journey and also the cold hard fact of how it will look the second the Navy realizes I'm gone for good. My heart aches a little for the life I'm potentially leaving behind. It shatters over leaving Mac.

But, it's best this way as it is likely that I won't escape a conviction. If I find my father, it would all be worth it and when I bring him home, I can start to put the pieces of my life back together. The Navy has to have some sort of leniency for bringing back one of its own and shedding light on Russia's involvement. There has to be some sort of saving grace - if I make it back alive.

I don't dare think about the other repercussions, my family, my friends...Mac. In a way I am grateful we didn't fall into bed - er, her sofa - sooner. Being in a relationship with her, I wouldn't have been able to intent this passage to complete the search I began decades earlier. I care for her but, I don't need an impassive reminder of how dangerous this is. I don't want my feelings for her to cloud my judgement so I push them away and ignore the fact that Bud has come here at her askance.

"Hey Bud. Got something for me?"

He's nervous, rightfully so - this is aiding and abetting something no fledgling legal student needs to be involved with. "The Major...Uh, Mac asked me to bring these to you." He hands me a duffle and then holds up a white paper bag smudged from the inside with what looks to be chocolate. Chocolate croissants from that bakery in Georgetown; Mac knows what I like.

He hesitates to give me the patisseries and I raise my brow in question as he seems much more nervous. I lower my hand back to my side and drop the duffle on the deck with a plop. "What is it? Bud? What's wrong?"

"I know you told me to come alone but…I'm sorry."

I hear footsteps moving down the deck and immediately imagine half a dozen MPs racing towards me, pistols at the ready. Chewidden would likely come with standing amongst the armed men, two of whom hold out shiny handcuffs. It would be the right thing to do, to turn me in and let the courts do with me what they will. I feel a sense of pride that Bud would betray me for the sake of justice.

I am more than mildly angry when the footsteps are not from the barrage of MPs but a lone female holding onto a railing with a grip so tight it made her knuckles white.

She's beautiful. Her lower body wrapped in faded blue jeans that seem as if they're painted on. A classy grey blouse swoops down most of which is hidden beneath a black leather jacket. The pearls are gone and I find relief that Dalton's method of claiming her has disappeared. "Mac. No. You shouldn't be here. Either of you."

"I needed to know that you're okay." She looks me up and down frowning to find I'm still in the Marine uniform, unshaved and unshowered. I know I look like hell and hate the distressed look in her eyes because of it. "You can't live like this."

It's only been two days since I last saw her. Two days since I kissed her and...I don't want to think about the rest, I can't. "Parlovsky is meeting me later. Then it's over."

"Turn yourself in." Mac says and that tone of voice which is more Marine than human makes me flinch. She releases her grip on the railing and begins to walk towards me. "I'll defend you. Turn yourself in and I'll defend you. I won't stop until you're free."

"I have a lawyer."

She nods. "You do and she's already been tainted with wrong information about you." I must be staring at her with a confused look because she merely shrugs and steps closer. "Commander Imes came to question me. To use me as a character witness. She's being played. They wanted you to escape. They wanted you to run. Webb's playing both sides."

"Why? Oh." The spookster wants Parlovsky, of course. It would be the ultimate way to shame Russia for their involvement with American prisoners of war. This was a game I walked into and I shake my head that my own anger fueled emotions were used against me. But then, that was easy to do - it was a hot button with me, always had been. I can remember the countless fights as a teenager when others would make fun of those that served in Vietnam. It made me an outcast during my early teenage years and something I eventually wore like a chip on my shoulder through high school and even at Anapolis.

I was fighting my father's war for no other reason than because...and because wasn't a good enough answer for anything. I was fighting a war for a man that I didn't even know was still alive or dead. A man I barely remembered anymore save for letter tapes and pictures. And now I've involved my two closest friends. "Harm. If Parlovsky is going to meet with you it's a cinch Webb will come too. I don't trust him to do right by you."

"Then I won't disappoint him."

"Goddamnit Harm! No!" She yells and its so loud it echoes through the rickety ship. Beside me I feel Bud tense and just a second later Mac's standing in front of me. Her hands frame my face, force me to look into her eyes now brimming with tears. "I know you love him. I know you need to find out if he's still alive but what are you gonna find if you're dead too?"

"Mac."

I don't want to admit that she has a point. "I love you. Do you understand that? I fell for you when we met and I won't lose you to yourself." The tears finally fall and I force myself to look away. I can't see the anguish because it makes my resolve waver. I have to go to Russia, need to settle this. I have to leave Mac behind although I don't want to. "Your father, he wouldn't want you to get hurt over him. He wouldn't want you leaving your mom behind, your grandmother. Your life."

" I can't let it go. I won't. Not when I'm this close, the closest I've ever been." I pull her hands away and take a step back. I can't have Mac touching me because the contact makes me want to stay. "You need to go. Parlovsky will be here soon."

"I got a visit from him, he came to the office yesterday. Please don't tell me you're thinking of leaving."

Damn the Russian. I should have known he would have gone to her because I saw a man that looked just like him when I ran from Mac's place. I don't want her involved, the danger of what we both know could turn deadly and I couldn't live with myself if something happened to her because of me. "All leads point to Russia, I have to go. I have to know what happened to my father."

"Russia?!" I forget Bud was still there hanging on our words and find him staring at me in disbelief. "Sir you can't!"

I feel surrounded, trapped and the only means to protect myself was to defia cross my arms over my chest in a poor sign of defiance. "Get out of here, both of you."

Mac's hands are on me again, slowly moving up my arms until they reach my shoulders. It leaves a tingling sensation and then she pulls me down to kiss her. Soft lips touch mine and my body involuntary presses into hers. Damnit. Damn her.

We break apart and I miss her despite Mac standing right in front of me. "I can't stay. I won't."

"Then I'm going with you."

I sit alone at the airport terminal away from families and friends venturing to Europe. I try to reflect on what happened the last few days and know I'm making the right choice. Seconds after I tried to reason with both Bud and Mac, all hell broke loose.

Parlovsky did show, stating the documents were faked, waving a gun at the three of us and I stood by helplessly watching as he set the dossier on fire with a lighter. My life's mission, my father's life was destroyed in the orange huges that consumed the paperwork. I hoped Mac had saved some information, written it down on that note pad she was using to scribble down words she didn't understand but, I was gone. All of it was gone and with it any proof that Russia had been involved.

Mac did wind up defending me only because she threatened Parlovsky with information that we really didn't have. She claimed to have translated the documents and written down word for word each movement, each city and the prisoner numbers utilized. She grilled him on the stand and he admited to the murder. Why exactly, I didn't understand until I found something on my desk following the trial - a picture.

A picture of several Russian men and between them it was like looking in a mirror - almost. The man looking back was an older, worn down version of myself with a mustache. It was my father. The photograph had a number in the back, one that held new information and reanimated my search.

I told Chegwidden what I had to, that I was leaving to see my parents and take some much needed time off. I never told them that I was effectively leaving the country to find my father.

I hadn't seen Mac because I'd asked her to give me some time to make sense of things, to heal. She understood and I was pleasantly surprised to find her moved back into the office next to my own. I didn't know how much I needed that, to see her there despite my wish for her to keep distance for a while although I didn't want that distance. It was the only way to keep her off my scent.

Once my group is called to board I find my seat, buckle up and stair out of the window. It's raining and gloomy, perhaps a warning that this adventure would turn ominous. A woman speaks to me, in a soft voice but the words are in Russian and as I turn to her I am shocked to see her slide into the spot just next to mine. "I don't speak…No."

"Yes." Mac says and then grabs the seatbelt and begins to buckle and tighten it.

"How?"

"My idea." She states and leans her head back into the headrest and closes her eyes. Mac hates flying and I know for a fact she's saying every single prayer that she knows beginning with the "Our Father". "Chegwidden agreed that someone needed to watch your sorry six. Imagine our surprise to get a call from Webb that you were on assignment to Moscow."

Webb did have some uses afterall, I found because the moment I told him about the photograph it had taken him exactly one phone call to seek approval to send me off. It was perfect for the agency, I was on 'vacation' and no one would believe I had any sort of clearance in the Agency's arena. "I don't know where this is going. I have a lead but, it''s not exactly a good one."

"I know." She turns to me and smiles, seeming more sure that I feel. A hand presses over mine, fingers threading through my own and squeezing. Why does that feel good? Why can she calm me when no one else can? "Which is why I'm coming with. You need someone with a dispassionate plan."

"You're mad at me." I state once we bound into our tiny hotel room in Moscow. She slept most of the flight and I think it gave Mac enough time to recharge and realize that I had left without saying goodbye, without telling her. Either that or she just didn't want to pick a fight amongst the other passengers. Whatever it was, I felt it start to grow like wildfire from the moment we grabbed our suitcases.

Hers was relatively small, along with a carryon. Mine was huge and stuffed because I really don't intend to return until I find him. She had eyed my luggage and then glared at me suspiciously.

Mac tosses the curtains open with a little more force than needed. It makes one of them slide off the rod and she then is on her toes trying to put it back in place. "I'm bristling, yes."

Fuck. "Just how much trouble am I in with you?"

She's pacing now, despite the tiny space that has her turning after just five steps. It's actually rather cute especially when she stops and places her hands on her hips. Yep, an exasperated Mac is so damned adorable. "Whatever we had, even for a few hours, it was something good. Is it gone?"

I don't say a word because we never really had anything just one stolen moment in time. I know what I feel for her, I know I want more of it but, I can't. Not right now. "You have a boyfriend."

"After you left, I went into work and broke it off with Dalton because I knew he would never, ever hold a candle to you." She begins to pace again and then stops to say something but quickly closes her mouth. Mac's face is burning bright red and the finally she gets the courage to say whatever it was she needed to. "You said you loved me… or did I make that up?"

"No. You didn't make that up. And I didn't want to leave you."

She's biting her lip now, all anger seemed to have washed away although I didn't exactly say the words I know she wants to hear. I do love her, that will never go away but, I can't be with her like this. "I know how important this is to you. More than anyone in your life, I know… I've seen it every time you fly, you do it for him...I would never try to stop you from finding your father… but, I have to know what this means for us… You and me. I can wait for you as long as you want but, I need to know what I'm waiting for and that I didn't make a mistake sleeping with you."

"Mac."

"You left without saying a word. You purposely kept me away the last few days so that you can slip away to Russia. Why?"

Damnit. I take a few steps enough so that we're standing face to face and my hand can reach out to touch her. "I didn't want you getting hurt...I didn't want my feelings for you to cloud what I need to do here."

My fingers trace the contours of her face, the ones that I've memorised in the last - almost two years that we've been partners. So much line Diane but then, so different. I move the pad of my finger over her brow, perfectly manicured. She has some light make up on, enough to showcase her features but it isn't caked on like most women I know. Mac is simple, sweet, lovely. She is also strong, fierce, a true friend. My jaw clenches and releases, the urge to kiss her is too great and so I pull her to me and lower my lips to hers.

"Just so you know, wherever you go, I go. I'm invested in this now."

"You deserve more than this." I say as she steps away from me and walks to the head popping her head out to look at me. "I really don't know how long I'll be here."

She shrugs. "I have at least 30 days leave on the books. The heart does what the heart wants. And mine isn't gonna let you go so easily."

I shake my head and smirk. The woman is just as hardheaded as I am.