Part 5

Disclaimer: I do not own the JAG characters nor do I receive any money for doing this.

The next morning….

1014 Local time

Bethesda Naval Hospital

Bethesda, Maryland.

Harm had arrived at work that morning exhausted. He couldn't remember the last time he had actually had a full night's sleep and it was catching up with him. Couple that with the disaster that was his love life…anger welled up inside him. In response, he slammed his coffee cup down on his desk, which at the time just happened to be full of coffee.

"Damn it!" He cried out as the hot brew slopped all over his hand before splattering all over the top of his desk. He grabbed some tissues from the tissue box and dried his hand, which still throbbed from the burn. He gave his hand a quick once over and decided that it was nothing more than surface burn before wiping up the rest of the mess on his desk. "I really need to get out of here." He said to himself as he grabbed his jacket, keys, and cover and walked out.

He had driven around for a while but in his mind, he wanted answers and he was so damned tired of having to wait around and do nothing. Next thing he knew he was pulling up in front of Bethesda, Naval hospital, waiting in the valet parking line. He needed to talk to Teresa. She had a way of calming him down as no one else could.

Once inside the hospital, Harm took the elevator down to the morgue. When he reached his desired department, he knocked on the door.

"Yeah…" Teresa said, not bothering to look up from whatever it was that she was doing.

"You busy?" Harm asked, stopping just under the doorframe.

"Come in, Commander." Teresa replied with a smile before turning to the man that was working beside her. "Commander Harmon Rabb." She said by way of interdiction. She then turned to look at Harm who had walked in, closed the door behind him and then walked over to where they were standing. "Bruce Gasdon, Hospital Toxicologist."

"Oh, Hi Bruce." Harm said as he extended his hand towards the man.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Bruce said, extending his own hand to shake Harms.

"What brings you here?" Teresa asked, after the formal introductions where made.

"Well, I haven't had a chance to catch up with you so…"

Teresa gave him a crazy look as if to say, we just talked yesterday what more could you want. Her southern upbringing, however, prevented her from being that rude so she quickly interrupted and said, "So you want to see where we are."

"Yeah, I do." Harm answered truthfully. When it came to Teresa Coulter, he didn't know why but he found it very difficult to lie. Maybe it was because she was one of the few people he knew that had a unique ability to see right through him. It was hard as hell for him to put up a false façade around her…maybe it was one of the things that attracted him to her.

"NCIS discounted evidence we think might be relevant."

"Like what?" Harm asked, lighting up like a dog at the prospect of a new bone."

"Well, some of the blood collected from the crime scene if from an animal." Bruce added.

"How would they know that?" Harm asked.

"It's standard to check for antibody derivatives."

Harm sighed. It was something but he wished they would have found something more substantial, "Well maybe she had a pet?"

Teresa smiled, "No, there's no indication that there was one on the premises."

Harm nodded. He didn't think it was likely that Jordan had either a cat or a dog. She was deathly allergic to cats and in her opinion, dogs required too much attention. Something she didn't have a whole lot of time for given her career choice. "Conclusions." Harm said, half hoping for some big breakthrough.

Bruce looked up from what he was doing before saying, "They felt it was a dead-end. We're going to stay with it."

This time it was Teresa who spoke, "I also revisited the gunshot evidence. The residue appears to be evenly distributed on both of Jordan's hands. If she had shot herself there would be more coverage on the top of her shooting hand."

Harm sighed. What they had wasn't much but it was better than nothing he supposed, "Where does that put her hands when the gun was fired, Teresa?"

"Away from the weapon…"

"What about her finger prints on the weapon?"

"Her finger prints on the metal parts indicate handling not shooting. We weren't able to get anything off the handle because it was textured. There was a smeared partial print on the trigger that we couldn't positively identify. Harm, I feel this was a murder." Teresa said, trying to put her friends mind at ease.

Harm smiled, "Then that's what we will assume until we investigate further."

"You're on the team?" Teresa asked.

"I am now." Harm reported and then turned to leave. He had hope now that he was at least not as responsible or Jordan's death as he had once thought he was. There was still that lingering doubt in the far corner of his mind that he just could not let go of–it was the gun that he had helped her purchase that had ultimately caused her death. In that there was no denying that, he was responsible.

Harm drove back to JAG Headquarters only to step out of the elevator and see Mac, Bud, and Major Lynch meeting in Mac's office. At first he as angry that Mac had thought so little of him to exclude him from their little party. His eyes still on Mac's office he darted across the bull pen to drop off his cover and Jacket. After that, he was going to head over to Mac's office and crash their little party before he missed too much of the good stuff. He pulled open his office door only to find Renee sitting in his chair.

What the hell was she doing there? "Hey." He said plastering on a fake smile for her benefit.

"Hey." she replied back as she watched his drop his cover on the book shelf before hanging his jacket on the coat rack in the corner.

"What's up?" He asked, hoping that he could get rid of Renee sooner rather than later so he could get back to Mac's office and see what was going on there.

"I thought we could extend your lunch and catch that movie."

He didn't have time for this…not today. "You want me to play hooky?" he asked, giving her a look that indicated that she had to be out of her mind for suggesting such a thing.

"Try it, you'll like it." Renee said, batting her eyes hoping her over-the-top suggestive body language would get her what she wanted.

Harm was in no mood however to be receptive so he ignored her all together, "I'm about to jump into the investigation."

Renee sighed, "See it's about this guy who keeps his job above his girlfriend. She leaves him for George Clooney."

"Sounds good." Harm said, not really paying attention his eyes still glued towards Mac's office.

"Then he's so miserable…" Renee continues. "He ends up babbling to himself in subway stations."

At that point, Harm wanted nothing more than to ditch Renee, "You know, let's do it tonight. I'm late for an interview. Put the information on my desk and I will meet you there. Okay." He said trying his best to try and appease her.

"But she can't live without him so she tracks him down and buys him soup…"

Ignoring Renee's drivel Harm steps out of his office, walks across the bullpen, and into Mac's office without giving Renee a second glance. "Excuse me…" He says as he pushed open the door and walks in. "Permission to sit in Colonel?" He asks rather coldly taking up position in the far corner on an empty chair that happened to be sitting there.

"I'm not sure that's necessary, Commander." Mac says returning Harm's cold stare with one of her own.

Harm looked over in Lynch's direction and said, "Hi."

Not feeling as if she has much of a choice at this point. She could either demand that Harm leave and cause a scene or include him and hope against hope that he behaved himself and didn't cause on. She took one last look at Harm whose body language told her that he wasn't going anywhere and quickly chose the latter. "Major, this is Commander Rabb."

The room was quiet while Lynch gave Harm the once over, "I preconized you at the funeral pulpit from a picture that Jordan had shown me." He finally said.

"Would it make you uncomfortable if I sat in, Major?" Harm asked.

"No." The Major answered.

"Consider me a fly on the wall."

That will be the day, Mac thought. "The Major is aware that our investigation is ongoing and focuses on a murder scenario." Mac said trying to fill Harm in on what he had already missed.

"What do you believe happened, Major?" Harm asked already forgetting his status as the fly.

"I'm open to all theories Commander."

At that moment Bud decided to bring Harm up to speed, "The Major was telling us about one of Commander Parker's clients. An Assistant Dispersing Officer by the name of Lt. George Fontenot. The Major was present when the Lieutenant called the Commander in an agitated state."

"What did Jordan say about him?" Harm asked

"Only what you just heard, Sir." Lynch answered. "Jordan was bound by the ethics of her profession."

Somewhere deep down in the far reaches of his mind he knew that he was supposed to sit back and let Mac take control but something in the forefront of his mind over-rode his sensibility's and his mouth began to engage before his brain had time to sensor what was coming out of it.

"Did you tell NCIS about Lt. Fontenot?" He was like a dog with a bone, now and could barely hold back long enough for Lynch to answer before barraging him with another question.

"They had already concluded it was suicide before it occurred to me."

Harm was beginning to see red, "You didn't consider it your responsibility to inform NCIS?"

Lynch, reacting to Harm started to become defensive. Mac sensing that this meeting was about to unravel sat back and began to wonder how long she should let this go on before stepping in and putting a stop to it. "I'm not sure what you are implying here?" Lynch replied.

"Do you ever get into an agitated state?" Harm asked, the volume of his voice rising with each word.

Lynch turned to Mac, "Ma'am I'm wondering about objectivity here."

"Where were you the night Jordan was murdered?" Harm demanded.

"Excuse me." Lynch shouted.

"Do you have an alibi?" Harm interjected.

Lynch looked straight at Harm when he spoke, "I know you don't have one, Commander."

Mac looked from Harm to Lynch. Deciding it was time to step in before things really got out of control, "We will check on Lt. Fontenot, Major. Thank you for your time." She said effectively ending the meeting.

"Colonel–Commander." Lynch said to both Bud and Mac. He then stood up and walked out the door.

Harm stared after him in disbelief, "Why would you do that?" He asked Mac–anger evident in his voice.

"I'd ask you the same thing." Mac retaliated, with just as much anger in her voice. "You are not an official part of this investigation."

Bud just sat back looking like a child whose parents were engaging in a heated argument and had totally forgotten in the heat of the moment that he was standing there.

Harm was seeing red and he didn't care at the moment if the President himself was there to witness, "I'm an official part of Jordan's life, okay, and I expect to be notified when something breaks."

"Common sense demands that you stay out of this, Harm." Mac warned.

"Is it common sense to allow him to walk out of here without telling us where he was when Jordan was killed?"

Bud already had the answer to Harm's question. Sensing that he needed to step in and be the voice of reason he said, "Sir, we already asked him that question. He was shopping for an engagement ring for Commander Parker at the time of her death. He planned to propose that night. He told the same story to NCIS and they confirmed it."

Deflated by Bud's statement and torn by his less than stellar actions, Harm got up from the chair he was sitting on and walked out of Mac's office. He spent the better part of the next three hours in his office wallowing in a lake of self-pity. He was about to give up and go home when Mac of all people walked into his office and sat down. He wasn't expecting her or the smile that graced her face.

"Hey, you still want to be part of the investigation?" She asked.

"I'm surprised that you would want me."

Mac sighed, "Jordan was an important part of your life. It's unfair of me to leave you out. Just try and stay objective." She playfully warned.

"I'm sure you'll remind me if I'm not." Harm said, sitting up a little straighter in his chair.

"Bud tracked down George Fontenot, the man who made the troubled call to Jordan."

"Is he a serious lead?" Harm asked, suddenly all ears.

Mac smiled, "You tell me. Last night Quantico's Commanding General had him committed to Bethesda Naval Hospital for a special evaluation."

"Why?" Harm asked.

"He attacked a fellow officer with a baseball bat."