Title: What A Long Strange Week It Has Been

Chapter/Day Seven

By: Liz D

Normal Disclaimers – Thanks for playing along.

Spoilers: Post-Paraguay / Pre Season 9

Written: September 2003

THURSDAY - 0537 EST

MacKenzie Residence

"Missus MacKenzie. Missus MacKenzie, wake up. Something has happened. Missus MacKenzie." The voice of the manager of the parking lot accompanied by the pounding met her as she exited the shower. She quickly put some clothes on and answered her door.

"What has happened?" she was annoyed.

"Missus MacKenzie, your car – the pretty red one --- she has been stolen."

"What?"

"Yes Missus - Harold – he fell asleep. Your car. She is gone."

"My car was stolen?"

He smiled nervously, "Don't worry Missus – we call you a taxi."

0818 EST

MacKenzie Residence - Hallway

The two officers who had come to take the stolen vehicle report were met by a detective from the warrant division on their way out.

"Joe, what are you doing here?" Officer #1 asked the detective.

"MacKenzie? Sarah J? Colonel in the marines."

"Yeah, we just left her. Upstairs. Second on the left."

"Nut-job neighbor says she's been stalking him."

"She didn't seem the type."

"Probably isn't, but you know how progressive judges are trying to be these days. Anytime a man brings a complaint against a woman it has to be dealt with or people will start screaming reverse discrimination,"

"Have you seen this babe?" Joe shook his head. "Total fox – give or take the uniform – man if she were stalking me I'd have no complaints."

"How do you prove stalking on someone who lives in the same building?"

"Good point … don't think the judge took that into account," he shrugged. "Babe or not – she is gonna have to talk to the judge."

"She isn't gonna like that."

"So what are you here for?"

"Her car was stolen."

"Guess it's not her day." The officers shook hands and each went their own way.

0949 EST

Dunkin Donuts

Georgetown

Colonel Mac MacKenzie covered with hot chocolate, powered sugar and jelly fumbled through her brief case for some change for the phone; she had no idea where her cell phone was. She had run into Dunkin' Donuts to use the payphone to call work and tell them she was going to be later than she expected for court because the taxi she was taking to work broke down and was RUN INTO by some kid on his way out – and now she was going to be even later. Mac had to plug her other ear when talking with Tiner since the kid was wailing at the top of his lungs about his spilled drink and donut. The mother was reading the riot act to Mac.

"You need to watch where you are going. You people in the military think you can just run right over the rest of us. Don't you know that I support our troops? I send care packages. I write letters. I have a flag on my car and I put a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree – and look … you just run over kid and don't even apologize. What kind of example is that supposed to set for …"

1016 EST

Markison Dry Cleaners

"Nothing under the name MacKenzie. Could it be under your husband's name?"

"I don't have a husband."

"Want one?" He eyed her suggestively.

"Look. This is the third order you have lost of mine in the past two weeks."

"I am surprised you came back a second time."

"FIND MY UNIFORM," she demanded.

"Our records show you picked up an order last night. What happened to those?"

"They were in the trunk of my car – LOOK it doesn't matter where they are. What matters is that you have at least two - possibly five blouses of mine and I need one – just ONE."

"What is wrong with the one you have on?" Mac looked down at the chocolate, jelly and sugar mess. "We can clean that, but can't guarantee that we can get the jelly out."

1106 EST

JAG Headquarters

Falls Church, VA

Mac threw some money at the cab driver and started for the stairs. She was still going to be late for the 1130 court time that had been delayed for her. Meredith met her on the stairs.

"Mac."

"I'm sorry I am late, Meredith," she said breathlessly. "Can I call you later?"

"No, no you can't. I will thank you to keep your advice to yourself from now on."

"Excuse me?"

"AJ called off the wedding," she fumed. "Says after the conversation he had with you he doesn't want to make a mistake."

"Meredith – I-."

"Just stay out of my business Mac."

"Meredith."

"Just because you can't catch and keep a man, doesn't mean that everyone else needs to suffer."

"Meredith I'm sorry - ."

"I don't want to hear sorry," she put up her hand. "And I called you a friend."

Meredith stormed off.

1128 EST

JAG Headquarters

Outside the Courtroom

Mac arrived finally but was not expecting to see Caitlin Pike.

"Mac?"

"Kate?"

"Good to see you."

"I didn't know you would be defending."

"It is in the file."

"I must have – doesn't matter. May I speak to you?" Mac pulled her off to the side. "I am going to dismiss all charges. I don't know what Harm saw in this case, but I find nothing that is prosecutable."

Kate smiled and rubbed at the cat scratch on the back of her hand. "Have you discussed this with Harm?"

"He is having a family emergency and is out of -."

"He got home last night. We had breakfast this morning," she said knowing that she would get Mac's goat. But Mac didn't have time to let her comments register. The bailiff came out.

"Colonel MacKenzie? You are here. Good. We have been waiting for you. The judge is ready to begin."

They all filed into the courtroom. Harm was in the back, Mac didn't notice. He was there to watch her work, and then he was going to talk to her and make her listen. The wait for 'eternity' was over.

The judge came in and made her opening comments. "Colonel MacKenzie – I trust we are ready to proceed without further interruption?"

"You honor – I beg for the courts apology, but after careful review I feel that the charges again Commander Keelson should be dropped."

"I OBJECT." Harm's voice filled the room. In a split second his attitude changed. He was LIVID.

"Commander Rabb." The judge directed her attention to him – as everyone else did. "Is this your case or Colonel MacKenzie's?"

"By your leave your honor, this was my case. However I had a family emergency and I have been out all week. May I ask the court's indulgence to confer with counsel?"

"What the hell – it is almost lunchtime anyway. Court stands in recess until 1330. No more delays Colonel, Commander."

"No ma'am." They echoed.

Everyone else filed out of the courtroom. Harm had to give Kate a forceful nod to get her to leave. When everyone had left Harm lit into Mac.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING, COLONEL?"

"Keep your voice down."

"You were going to dismiss this case?"

"This is not a case Harm. This is lover's spat."

"Of course you would see it that way."

"Sanger is in love with Keelson, she didn't return his affections and so here we are."

"She more than returned them Colonel, she used them to her advantage and his disadvantage."

"They are not going to use this office and the UCMJ to resolve their personal differences – I won't allow it."

"You won't?" he scoffed. "These are professional people Mac. People with careers to think of. Do you honestly believe that Sanger would make this complaint because of some stupid lovers spat?"

"Love makes people do stupid things."

"Did you interview Sanger? Keelson? Did you ask any questions? Did you read their files?"

"Are you accusing me of not doing my job?"

"You didn't do it – how is that an accusation – it's a fact."

"Not in evidence, counselor. There is NO CASE, Harm."

"Just because he is in love with her, doesn't mean that she is not harassing him. That fact that he does love her means that she can get away with more."

"You have no evidence Harm. When prosecuting a case they usually like to see some evidence."

"Did you read my notes? Did you see my witness list? Did you bother to look at any of the prep work I did on this case – or did you just take it into your own head to let another ball busting woman off Scott free."

"There were no notes," she pushed the file at him. "No witness list. Nothing. I reviewed both their files and interviewed both Sanger and Keelson. There is no case Harm."

He flipped through the file. "My notes are gone. The list is gone," he shook his head. "This is not the first instance of this Mac. I had a list of witnesses that were going to come forward to give their stories."

"Who?"

"Three other RIOs, a flight deck commander, two pilots and the CAG."

"You are telling me she harassed all of them?"

"To get where she is today – hell yes – and there is probably a dozen more."

"How do you know?"

"I flew with her Mac. I have first hand experience."

"Now you are telling me she harassed you? You can't use your position at JAG to push your own agenda. You know that. If you have an axe to grind --."

"She didn't get a chance with me – she would have – but she came aboard three weeks before my crash."

"None of this was in the file."

"You should have called me," he flips through the file again. "Why didn't you call me?"

She was stumped. "Call you?"

"Yes – call me. Do you honestly think I would file charges if I did not have a case? Why didn't you call me?"

"I didn't – I just didn't," she was embarrassed to say why she didn't call him.

"This is important Mac. Why didn't you call me?"

"What do you want me to say? I didn't."

"I want to know why," he pushed.

"I didn't. I didn't think – I didn't want to - ."

"If what is wrong between us is so big that we can't work together then we have a bigger problem than I thought. This one you can't avoid. We are going to have to deal with this."

"I avoid? Says the master avoider of all time."

"No Mac, not this time. You ran this time and now you are bringing it to work. We can't have this. We can't work like this."

"What are you saying?"

"I am saying that if you can't talk to me professionally then you ought to think about transferring."

"ME!"

"Yes you," he threw his hands up. "I am asking the admiral to take you off this case and then I am going to go as the judge for a continuance so I can get my witnesses here."

"Harm."

"You need to think about whether or not you can be professional – your career is on the line now Colonel," he stormed out.

Mac slumped down into the chair. If a train charged through the room at that moment and ran her over she would not have been surprised. She probably would have made sure to stand in front of it.

"Colonel." Came the voice of the new Petty Officer on staff. "I am sorry to bother you, but there is a man on the phone who says he is your super … anyway, says you need to get home right away … something about the water main braking in your apartment."

X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

2035 EST

JAG Headquarters

Falls Church, VA

Harm was working in is office late. He had not seen Mac the rest of the day. After his meeting with the admiral, she was called in and was behind closed doors with him for about thirty minutes and then she left. He did not ask why or where. He didn't care. He was livid and it was going to take sometime before he would get peeled off the ceiling. Of the witnesses he had, only two could make it, two others would do a deposition and the others including the CAG said that they would not go on record.

"You don't have a case, Harm." Kate said from his doorway.

"Kate you and I both know that this woman is a black widow. She sucks the life out of the men caught in her web."

"What article are you going to charge her with – the life sucking spider article? Is that a new one?"

"You know what I mean."

"She is not a spider, Harm. She is a pilot and the fact that men tend to fall in love with her and act stupidly around her is not against the law."

"There ought to be."

"Look the men acted of their own free will. You cannot prove that she had any command influence nor did she influence their careers – maybe their career decisions but that is also not against the law."

"She influenced them alright."

"Look Harm you can't prosecute a woman because a bunch of men are being led around by their Johnsons saying that she made them do the wrong thing. They were all adults."

"Conduct unbecoming."

"You are reaching here Harm. There is no case. You should have let Mac dismiss it -- cause when you lose – and you will lose – who is going to look like the fool?"

"Mac didn't even read the notes I left."

Turner knocked and walked in. "Hey Harm, good evening Commander Pike," he smiled at Kate.

"Commander," she smiled back. "Sturgis, do you have dinner plans?" she asked coyly.

"Why – um – no," Turner stammered

Harm grinned. He loved to see Kate turn on the charm.

"Rabb here seems pretty caught up in this nonexistent case and I am alone in town. Would you like to join me for a great steak and lobster tail dinner? I know just the place."

"I would love to." Sturgis was wary of her, but still enjoyed the attention. "Harm, found these notes in the Jackson file. They don't belong," he handed a stack of papers to Harm who took them and shook his head.

"The notes for the Keelson case."

"There is no Keelson case, Harm. Come on Sturgis, let's let the magic man here figure out how to pull something out of his hat."

Kate linked her arm in Sturgis' and they left.

"No, I'm not hungry," Harm mumbled. "You don't have to invite me. Or bring anything back for me."

"Are you hungry sir?" Harriet asked. He didn't even know she was standing there.

"No, Harriet. Thanks."

"Bud and I are working on the Brandon case and should be here for a while. We were just about to order dinner."

"What is the Brandon case?"

"He sold just about anything that wasn't nailed down to anyone with money enough to pay – short of another country. He took the Navy for close to six million dollars over the last ten years. He will be going down for quite a while."

"Bud is prosecuting?"

"Yes sir. It is a pretty cut and dry case, but Bud doesn't want anything to slip him up," she shook her head. "Poor, Mac."

"Why poor Mac?"

"She is defending him and there is no way she can win. He was caught red handed; we have deposits, affidavits, video tapes, the works. She can't win. And after the week she had. Poor Mac."

"What about her week?"

"You know that Mic got married right?"

"Married?"

"Yes sir. On Monday. It is strange because when we rode with him to your grandmothers' funeral – I'm sorry sir, how are you doing?"

"I'm Ok. Thank you."

"Anyway he never said a word the whole drive up or back. He was talking non-stop about the colonel. I assumed that he was going to try to see if they could get back together. At least that is how it looked."

"To a lot of people Harriet, not just you," he shook his head. Mic must have been a real bastard to her to show up married after that show he put on. "Married, hmm."

"And Clayton Webb took an assignment in Kabul. He will be undercover for at least a year, probably two or three."

"Webb is gone?"

"Yes sir, left on Tuesday." Harm was surprised. "And you of course have been out all week so she has had more work than normal. I understand that – well it's none of my business."

"Thank you Harriet, your tact is impeccable. I'll say it if you won't: I was pretty mean to her today."

"Yes sir, if you say so sir. Then there is that thing with the admiral and Meredith."

"What thing?"

"The admiral called off the wedding and Meredith blames the colonel."

"Mac? What did she have to do with it?"

"I don't think she had anything to do with it, but Meredith thinks she did." Harriet continued. "And then her car got stolen this morning and she has to move out of her apartment since the water main broke. I think she lost most of her furniture and probably her clothes. And then that thing with the neighbor who has filed a complaint about her stalking him."

"What?"

"Yes sir. I think she is going to need a lawyer sir. A good one."

"Where is she now?"

"She is in Norfolk trying to find character witnesses for Brandon. She will be back tomorrow before the trial."

"Tough week."

"Yes sir," she smiled oddly. "Anyway we are ordering pizza if you would like to join us."

"Thank you, Harriet."

Harm shook his head. Poor Mac.