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From ch 6...

"There's no way that any of the equipment malfunctioned, Mac," Harm sighed, as they sat at in their temporary office, reading over the report, "The only thing I can think of was that somebody made a mistake while operating it."

Mac sighed also, adding, "Most probably one of the people involved, one who has paid for the mistake with their life…How do we tell their family this? That their loved-one they've lost caused their own death and that of two others? As if they aren't dealing with enough…"

Harm could only nod, ruefully.

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Ch 7

The next day, they were unable to get hold of one of the casualties' families; the drill instructor's wife. That meant that nobody could be told, even though they had come a tentative conclusion. Harm had already decided that they would call all the families in and tell each of them, one at a time…beginning with the drill instructor's wife, since he was in charge of the exercise. It didn't seem fair, since there was no concrete evidence against him, but when all other options had been ruled out and the others involved were just cadets, that was standard procedure. Harm and Mac would do the informing together, so the responsibility would be placed equally on each of them. But once they knew it would be put off for a couple of days, Harm and Mac decided to split up for the rest of the day; Harm to bring the admiral and the general up to speed while Mac finished and filed the paperwork. They had decided to meet up afterwards for an early dinner, back at the hotel. However, Harm's thoughtful idea of leaving Mac with the easier job of finishing off their report was not to be, despite his effort in convincing Mac. Twenty minutes after Harm left to meet for the conference call that Admiral Brinkoff had set up with General Cresswell back in DC, Mac heard a knock on the office door.

She was surprised to look up and find Mrs. Janine Willows, Commander Willow's (the drill instructor's) widow; the one person they had not been able to contact. But what should she do now? She could not all-out lie to the woman and say that their finding had not yet been reached. But she couldn't give the woman their findings, yet, not before the other families were on the base, ready to be informed…Luckily, it didn't come to that.

"Colonel McKenzie, would it be okay if I came in?" the pale, fragile-looking woman requested.

Mac invited her in and helped her to a seat.

"I've been thinking about this, over and over, ever since that last morning that Freddie left for class…I think I finally came to a conclusion, at four am this morning…"

Mac didn't say anything, but listened to the woman, a supportive expression on her face.

"Freddie probably shouldn't have been there, that morning…He was sleep deprived, not just short-term, but long-term. He hasn't been sleeping well, over the last few months, neither of us have and lately it seems to have gotten even worse. Freddie didn't want to take time off, even though he was due it. He said that was for new parents, ones who had kids they wanted to spend time with…"

Mac could tell that here lay the crux of the matter.

"You see, Colonel, three months ago, I went into premature labor with our third child. At the time, Michelle was our only surviving child, her gestation was the longest of all our children. One of our two older children was severely premature and the other was before 15 weeks, so neither of them survived but a few hours after they were born. Michelle was tiny, but seemed to be doing well, going from strength to strength in the NICU. About three weeks after she was born, we…lost her…to pneumonia. Freddie wasn't there when it happened. He had filled in teaching a class because one of his good friends was sick. Neither of us saw it coming…"

"I'm so sorry," Mac could only empathize, squeezing the woman's hand, supportively.

"He didn't take it well. He wasn't sleeping properly and his CO, although he didn't put him on leave, assigned him to administrative duties for a month, unofficially. I don't know what you and your partner have found, so far, but there's a strong possibility that Freddie made a mistake, that day. He loved his students and would never have purposefully done anything to harm them, but he was not a perfect man. He made mistakes and was never too proud to admit it. And I love him even more for it. He'd want it to be known, if that were the case."

Mac nodded and thanked Mrs. Willows for coming, promising to be in touch.

After that, she finished the paperwork and decided that Admiral Brinkoff could wait to hear about this newest development. She had to let her partner know, first.

While she was making her way back to the hotel, Mac had to slow down, as a heavy rain had begun to pour down. Mac ran all the way from the far side of the lot to the front entrance of the hotel (the car park seemed to be more clogged than usual, especially the lots closest to the entrance.) Dripping wet, she shouldered her way through the crowds of guests, most of them dressed in outlandish 'Star Trek' costumes, with full-face prosthetic make-up and even pointy ear extensions.

"Of all the times to be accosted by Trekkies!" Mac huffed, her teeth chattering.

The elevator was predictably slow; it seemed to be stuck on one of the upper floors, so Mac took the stairs, instead. Harm's voice rang in her ears, but Mac reasoned that it was only four floors. She made sure to take them carefully, since she was dripping wet and they were not even carpeted.

Harm caught her as she was trying to get her key in the door to her room. Her hands were numb and shaking.

"Mac, what…You're soaking! C'mon in, don't stand out in the cold…"

Thank heavens he didn't know that she had taken the stairs on the way up here and not the elevator!

He gently took her by the wrist, pulling her inside and towards her own room through the open connecting door.

"That's not what I was trying to do. I was trying to get my door open…" she shivered violently, attempting to explain.

"I'm sorry, I know…" Harm immediately knew just what she was trying to say, as always, "Let's get you into a hot shower, you're absolutely freezing…"

"Harm, wait, I need to tell you some thing first. Mrs…."

"After you get warmed up, Mac. Whatever it is can wait."

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