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Part 2
"Ma'am?" Elaine gave a knock on the open door of Mac's office, "May I have a word with you, for just a minute?"
"Sure," Mac welcomed her, "Just shut the hatch behind you and take a seat."
After Lainey had shut the door, she lowered herself into the proffered chair. When she didn't speak up, but remained sitting with a worried expression on her face, Mac knew she had to make the first step to reach out.
"What seems to be troubling you, Lieutenant?" she asked, "Is it something to do with your case?"
"Yes Ma'am," Lainey swallowed then proceeded slowly, "I believe that I may have come across a piece of evidence that will at least go part of the way towards diminishing my client's role in this case."
"And what is stopping you from just entering this into evidence and proceeding with your case accordingly?" Mac asked, curiously, "Are you finding it hard to find hard evidence or a reliable witness to give testimony as to these facts?"
"You see, Ma'am," Elaine explained, "this evidence first came to me from my clients themselves. However, they refuse to let me follow this lead, for fear of retribution that may befall them if this should become public knowledge. In fact, my clients wish to plead guilty and avoid any further public exposure."
"Are you saying that these men were under orders when they perpetrated these crimes?" Mac asked, to which Lainey slowly nodded.
"And now they won't let me fight the case any further in court, because they're afraid that somebody's going to seek revenge against them, if they implicate this individual."
"Did they tell you who this was?" Mac asked.
Lainey just shook her head, adding, "But I believe them, Ma'am, no matter whether they identify this person. I saw the fear in their eyes when they told me. There was no way they could have been faking that."
"Did you explain that we could get them transfers, offer them protection?" Mac asked.
Lainey nodded, but added, "They still refused, Ma'am. They say they'll deny any knowledge of this if I bring it up in court, even if they'd be lying whilst under oath to do so."
Mac pursed her lips. This was a tough one to make a decision on. Elaine was still such a young officer, still so idealistic about the 'search for truth and justice.' Unfortunately, it looked like she would have to find out that the truth sometimes wasn't able to be brought to light in all cases.
"Did they say anything else, other than how they were going to plead guilty?" Mac asked.
"Just that they'd do so when court reconvenes on Wednesday," Lainey told her, "and that doesn't give me a whole lot of time…"
"Well, why don't you go and see if you can find Lieutenant James," Mac suggested, "Maybe he'd be sympathetic to your case if you explained…"
"But I don't know if I can risk telling him without alienating my clients," Elaine argued, "You know how Andy is, he's going to hear one word of this and go off to play super-hero. If he doesn't manage to get himself into trouble, he'll certainly get me into trouble when my clients find out on Wednesday. There's no way he'll be able to keep from using this information in his line of questioning."
Mac knew this was most likely to happen.
"See if you can't get some kind of offer out of him, first," Mac suggested, "Then, if you think he's not being receptive to pleas bargaining, most importantly, if you think he might agree to be discreet about this knowledge, let him know. He might surprise you."
But Andrew James did surprise her, alright…and not in a good way.
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"How on earth can you say that these two deserve a deal like that?" Andrew exclaimed, angrily, "They blatantly misappropriated military property and that of its personnel. They don't deserve 'a fair break,' as you put it. They deserve the book throwing at them. They deserve more than what the law is allowed to dish out to them…"
"Listen, I know that this is hard to accept on just my say-so alone," Elaine tried again to make him understand, "But I know that these kids aren't as responsible in all this as you think. Once we're done here, it will not be the end of this for them and they'll certainly learn their lesson along the way…"
"Damn straight!" Andy cut her off, "Because they won't just be scrubbing bathroom floors with toothbrushes for this. They're going to be kicked out. The military has no place for blatant renegades like them."
"You're taking this too personal, Andrew," Elaine tried to reason, but Andy cut him off again.
"You just don't get it, do you? I've seen their type all of my life and I'm sick of it; the spoiled brats with the rich Mommy and Daddy who give them everything their stuck-up little hearts desire. But this time it's not their parents they'll have to answer to; it's the military. Mom and Dad won't be able to get them out of this one…And can't you always trust another of their posse to come running to their aid? It may seem fun for the likes of you to come in and waste some time playing sailor, but there are those of us who actually take this to be a serious career path…Go back to Palm Springs, Lainey and stop wasting my time!"
Andrew knew he was going too far by shooting this personal comment, but was powerless to stop it now that he'd begun his rant. He also knew it was far from true, but in his annoyance he was aiming at the only one available, not the actual source of his irritation.
Elaine froze as she took in just what he was saying. When had this become personal? When had she ever let her parents exert any influence in her professional life? She'd been through the recruiting and the hardships of boot camp, just like everybody else, so why was he accusing her like this now? She'd overcome so much in her life and had to work twice as hard to get as far as anybody else did. After all this time, how could he not see that she took her career just as seriously (if not more so, even) than he did? But by far the worst thing about this accusation was not the actual words he had said, but the bitterness that laced them. Did he really believe this? If he did (and Lainey was leaning towards the affirmative, judging by his attitude) then he really knew nothing about her at all. And all appearances of friendship were just that; appearance. And it wasn't just the loss of the friendship that ripped her heart to shreds, but that dim but always present flame that she had always nurtured, the hope that their friendship might one day develop into something more.
She gave him a hurt look and turned to run out of the bullpen. Mac was just in time to see the tail end of Andrew's rant, in this very public arena. She gave a sigh as she caught a glimpse of Elaine's brimming eyes as the young woman ran past her. She shot a look of loathing at the offending party, before she took off after the younger woman. Before she even got to the glass doors into the bullpen, she saw Harm wheel out of the way as Lainey hurtled past him, into the elevator. The young woman pressed a button once, then several more times, more forcefully, until the doors closed over. But most people in the corridor and some in the bullpen had still gotten a good look at the tears that were coursing down her face before their view was cut off.
Mac sighed to herself as she realized that it would take a lot more than a pep talk and some proposed courtroom rivalry to get her junior officer back on track.
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But to Mac's surprise, nothing needed to be said at all.
Despite the fact that James was acting like he had nothing to be sorry for (although he did seem a bit guilty sometimes, specifically when he noticed Harm and Mac turn their beady gaze upon him,) Elaine returned within ten minutes, with all traces of the incident washed from her face. She seemed almost as if it had never happened, but Harm and Mac knew better, because they had both had so much experience at hiding their emotions. They knew an emotional steel wall when they saw one and that was just what remained erected behind Elaine's usually expressive eyes. Now, they were just cold and detached- looking.
"Are you okay, Lieutenant?" Harm asked, from the desk where he and Mac were working together.
"I'm fine, Sir, Ma'am," Elaine answered, robotically, "I just came to apologize for that unprofessional scene out in the bullpen. I'd like to assure you that it will never happen again…"
"We know, because we've had very strong words with Lieutenant James," Mac informed her, "Who, as usual, was the instigator in this incident."
"Still, Ma'am," Lainey insisted, "I'd like to apologize for my own behavior, which was certainly not what the US military has come to expect of it's servicemen and women."
"What gives?" Harm asked, once they had excused Lainey to go back to her duties.
"I don't know what Lieutenant James is playing at," Mac shook her head, looking to where said officer was giving his partner a dirty look, presumably for 'getting him into trouble' with his superiors, "but if he doesn't get his head out of his six, he's going to end up losing his partner."
And nobody could have guessed how close Lieutenant James would actually come to this.
"Y'know," Harm broached the subject carefully, his eyes guarded, "I can remember a time when I had just as good an ability to say hurtful things to my partner…"
"I know you didn't mean them, Harm," Mac didn't even bother to go along with the 'your partner' pretense.
"You're right," Harm nodded, unexpectedly taking her hand in his, "Usually, it was a low, cheap shot and I didn't think before saying it. So many times I've regretted saying things like I did and it kills me when I think about the pain it caused you…"
"I was just as good at firing the barbed comments," Mac replied, giving his hand a squeeze, "I didn't mean any of them either, but I do regret the pain they must have caused. It's obvious that we know each other so well that we know just how to hurt each other. But that needs to stop…"
"It does," Harm nodded, offering his hand so that they could shake on it.
But their handshake was hardly business-like and certainly wasn't friendly. It was more like a caress and it shot right through them both like an electric shock.
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