Everything is Going to be Okay

Author: PreppyPrincess5103

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Summary: Harm & Mac struggle with a long-distance relationship after his return to flying.

Notes: Because I really loved Sturgis in the beginning, I'm introducing him early. Also, this story is going to be more Mac heavy simply because I have no idea what life is like on a carrier, and other than what I learned during a quick Google search, I have no idea what life is like for a pilot on a carrier.

Part 2

Harm: How did you know I might need these?

Skates: My fiancé works for SECNAV's office. He was telling me about this aging retread.

Harm: Aging retread?

Skates: Those were his words, sir.

-Goodbyes

"How's the aging retread?"

Harm looked up from his dinner and grinned. "Skates! Good to see you. When did you get here?" She hovered over the spare chair at his table. He moved the papers he had spread over the majority of the table and stacked them neatly. "Please, join me."

"Thank you, sir." She pulled out the chair and sat. She looked his plate with barely disguised disdain. "I got here last week. You know the fries on board are actually pretty good."

He rolled his eyes and speared a piece of steamed broccoli with a fork. "Apparently I'm destined to work only with women who mock my eating habits."

She laughed and unwrapped her sandwich. "Are you settling in okay?"

"Other than the fact that I think some of these people are technically young enough to be my children?" She raised an eyebrow and he shrugged. "Okay, maybe not my children. But at least a much, much younger sibling. Or a niece or nephew."

She grinned at him. "Well, besides that."

"It's fine. I miss my old life more than I thought I would."

She nodded. "Is someone waiting for you back home?" He blushed, and she instantly felt uncomfortable. "Sir, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked. It's none of my business."

He waved her off. "It's fine, Skates. I did leave someone behind. It's new though, and she wants to be discrete so I'm not used to talking about it."

Skates nodded. "Major MacKenzie?" His eyes widened and she smiled. "Pretty easy to guess. Discretion means it's likely someone you work with." She took a sip of her soda and glanced at her engagement ring. "I won't lie and say the distance ever gets easier. But it does become easier to deal with."

"Good morning, Mac."

She looked up and inwardly groaned when she saw it was Mic Brumby standing in her doorway. Harm had been right. In the two weeks since he had been gone, Mic had been absolutely relentless. No one but the admiral knew about her and Harm, but Brumby was acting as if Harm's presence had been the only thing keeping her from going out with him.

"Good morning, Commander."

He came into the office and perched himself on the corner of her desk. "Has your client given anymore thought to my offer? It's a good deal, Mac. Much better than the 15 years he's facing otherwise."

She glanced at the file on the top of her towering stack and wanted to scream. Harm's leaving had put all of them in a bit of a bind. Bud had even had to return from paternity leave early to help with some of the caseload. In all actuality she would love for her client to take Mic's deal, but it wasn't happening – no matter how damning the evidence. "I already told you he's not taking it." She turned her attention back to her computer screen, hoping he would get the hint. When he didn't, she sighed and returned her attention to him. "Is there something else?"

"Have dinner with me tonight."

"Mic, I've told you I'm seeing someone. The answer is and will continue to be no."

He lifted an eyebrow. "Come on. It'll be fun. You seem like you could use a break. You're not still mad about the murder trial, are you?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not mad. I'm glad you defended Colonel Farrow so vigorously. But the answer is no, Mic. And I shouldn't have to give you a reason, but even if I wasn't seeing anyone, the answer would still be no."

"Are you seeing Colonel Farrow again?"

"Out. Now." She glared at him and pointed to her door, not breaking eye contact. After a minute he nodded and walked out of her office, shutting the door behind him. "Jackass," she muttered.

"Major Mackenzie?"

She jumped at the sound of Tiner's voice on her intercom. "Yes, Tiner?"

"The Admiral would like to see you in his office ASAP."

She used her thumb and forefinger to rub over her eyes and squeeze the bridge of her nose before pressing the button. "I'm on my way." She secured her computer and hurried through the bullpen to his office.

"You can go on in, ma'am."

She smiled at the young petty officer and entered Admiral Chegwidden's office. He was sitting behind his desk and an attractive man sat in her usual chair. She took the other seat and noticed the stranger was staring at her with a curious expression on his face.

"Morning Major. I'd like to introduce you to Commander Sturgis Turner. Commander Turner just came to us from Pearl and is going to be taking over Commander Rabb's spot."

She turned towards him and extended her hand. "Sarah MacKenzie. It's a pleasure."

He blinked and then shook her hand firmly. "Likewise, Major. I've heard a lot about you. I look forward to working together."

She smiled and nodded, and they both turned back to the Admiral. "Mac, I believe you have the largest case load right now, so I'd appreciate it if you would unload some of those on the Commander and get him up to speed. He's going to be in Commander Rabb's office, so maybe you could show him around and help him get settled?"

"Absolutely, sir."

Once they were dismissed, they walked back to the bullpen together and stopped in front of Harm's old office. "Here you are. I'm right next door," she said, gesturing at her own office. "Once you've settled in come get me, and I'll give you a tour and give you some of these cases." She returned to her office and glared at the stack of files.

Sturgis sat his briefcase on the desk and took a seat. He scanned the office and was satisfied. It may not have palm trees outside the window like his previous office, but it was a decent size and at least there was a window. He opened a desk drawer to see if there were any office supplies remaining and found an assortment of pens and a few legal pads. He took one of the legal pads out and moved to the next drawer. It wouldn't open all of the way and he bent over and saw a piece of paper caught in the track. He tugged it free and examined it. He realized it was a photograph and studied it curiously. The timestamp on the bottom was dated earlier this year, and it was his old friend with Major MacKenzie and two other people – a pretty and very pregnant blond woman, and a short, stocky man with a friendly smile. He tucked the photo in the legal pad and headed over to the Major's office.

He tapped on the open door. "Is now a good time?"

"Absolutely. Come in, please."

He came in the office and shut the door behind him. He took a seat in front of her desk and pulled the photo out of the pages of the legal pad. "I found this in Commander Rabb's desk." He handed her the photo, which she timidly took.

She looked at it and forced a smile. It had been taken the night of Bud's wet-down a few months earlier. The night everything had changed between her and Harm. She studied the photo and could see the tension in both of their faces, having been forced together in a photo when both had been trying their hardest to avoid one another. "Thank you," she said simply.

"Major MacKenzie- "

"Please, call me Mac," she interrupted.

"Mac," he said with a smile, "earlier when I said I had heard a lot about you, I didn't mean from anyone here. I meant from Harm. He and I were at the academy together."

She leaned back in her chair, and the earlier expression on his face suddenly made sense. "You knew Diane Schonke."

He nodded, "I did. Harm never mentioned the resemblance when he spoke of you. It was a bit of a shock."

"The first time we met was a little unsettling for both of us. I kept catching at him staring at me with this odd look on his face. Once I finally saw a photo of her it made a lot more sense." She glanced down at the photo and then back at him. "Anyways. Let's get to work." She slid the photo in her own desk drawer and pulled the stack of files to the center of the desk. "If it's alright with you, I'm going to give you the cases I inherited from Harm. I haven't had much time to do anything with them yet, so I'd rather give those away then the ones I've done actual legwork on."

"That makes perfect sense." He studied her as she flipped through the cases, putting one in a separate stack every so often. Her hair was shorter and a bit lighter than Diane's, and he wondered it that had been intentional. It had to be difficult to work closely with someone every day and knew they were seeing someone else when they looked at you. He cleared his head of thoughts of his deceased classmate and watched as she finished dividing up the files. After another minute, she finally extended a medium sized stack to him.

"Harm made notes on some of these already. If you need any help deciphering his handwriting, I'm fluent in Harm." She smiled as he laughed. "You can leave your things in here if you'd like, and I'll show you around."

He nodded and he followed her out of her office. Her first stop was the other man in the photograph, Bud Roberts. She introduced him to Commanders Imes and Mattoni, and then Mic Brumby. She showed him where office supplies were kept, and apologized for the mess. Harriet Sims, he learned, was the person who ran the office and she was out on maternity leave. She showed him the courtrooms, and conference rooms, and along the way introduced him to other staffers and even one judge they ran into in the elevator on the way back to the bullpen.

"And that's that." She said, opening the door to her office.

He picked up his briefcase and the stack of files. "Thank you for the tour, Mac. I appreciate it."

"Happy to help. And I'm right next door if you need anything." She smiled as he nodded and made his way back to his office. When she was alone, she opened the desk drawer and pulled out the photo Sturgis had given her. She stared at it for a moment before shaking her head and returning the photo to the drawer.

Mac had packed up her briefcase and was waiting for her computer to power down when the phone rang. She groaned, and then reached for the receiver. "Major MacKenzie."

"Hey there, gorgeous."

Hearing his voice sent warmth throughout her body and she sat back in her chair with a smile. She switched the phone to her other ear and leaned back. "Hey there."

"Did I catch you at a bad time?"

"Perfect timing. I was just getting packed up to leave for the day. How was your day?"

He sat back in his chair and used his thumb to spin his Academy ring around. "It's been a long one. I got to fly for a few hours, but then I was in briefings and meetings for what feels like forever. And now I'm settling in for a few hours of legal work. How are you?"

"I'm good, actually. Your replacement arrived today. I gave him all of the files I inherited from you and showed him around. Now my workload is manageable again, so that makes me pretty happy."

'Your replacement.' He couldn't help but grimace at those words. "My replacement, huh? What's he like?"

"You tell me. Apparently, you went to the academy together. His name is Sturgis Turner."

Harm's eyes widened and he sat up straighter. "Sturgis is there? No kidding. He's a good guy. A lot more of a rule follower than I am, so you two should get along great."

She smiled. "Yeah, I could tell that after about five minutes with him." She took a deep breath and forced her next words out. "My appearance startled him."

He winced. "I imagine so. I'm sorry if that was awkward."

"It was fine, it just made me wonder something. Harm, am I – Well. Am I a replacement for her?"

His intake of breath was sharp. "God, Mac. No. Not at all. I stopped seeing her when I look at you a really long time ago. My feelings for you have absolutely nothing to do with her."

"Okay." Her voice was soft, but steady.

"I don't see Diane when I look at you. And I don't think about Diane with I'm with you. And I didn't love her the way I love you." He was quiet for a minute. "Mac, what I feel for you is so powerful and overwhelming. Please don't ever think that you're a substitute for anyone."

"I miss you, Harm."

"I miss you too." He looked at the clock on the computer and frowned. "I guess I should get back to work. I just wanted to hear your voice. I'll email you more about my day tonight before bed."

She smiled and straightened in her chair. "I'm glad you did. I love you."

"I love you too."

Mac hung up the phone and sighed before standing up. She grabbed her purse and her briefcase, and shut the door behind her.

End Part 2