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Part 6

Kim was sitting in her room, reading her favourite book of traditional folk-stories, when their house-keeper Melissa came in.

"What are you doing inside, Kim?" she asked, "It's a beautiful day outside. Why don't you go and find your friend, Yan?"

"I don't feel well," Kim shook her head.

The kindly woman ran her ran over Kim's head affectionately then felt her forehead for signs of a fever. Satisfied that Kim didn't have one, she suggested, "How about I make you a special batch of my vegetable soup? That'll have you feeling better in no time!"

Kim agreed with a smile, but mostly just so she would be left alone again…She didn't much feel like company, just now. She wanted to be left alone to sort through the feelings that were battling inside of her.

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The next few weeks passed quietly at JAG and Harm, Mac, James and their colleagues all settled into a comfortable routine. While many of the individuals Harm had worked with previously had been of a lower rank, Harm found himself very thankful that Mac had a rank equal to himself and James. It meant that they could be a lot less formal around each other and this leant itself to them all forming something of a friendship. Every Friday they would knock off a couple of hours earlier than Harm usually did (at 1730hrs, instead of 1930hrs or later,) and they'd go out for a meal, together.

The first couple of times, Mac found herself wondering why Harm would stay out so late, when he had at least one child and a wife at home waiting for him, but it was a while before she felt she could ask.

"Don't you have somebody waiting for you at home, Harm?"

"Kim will be fine for a while longer…She usually plays out with the neighbourhood kids and the area is generally very safe, but our housekeeper is around, just to keep an eye out."

Mac noticed he didn't mention anything about a spouse or partner, so assumed that Harm was probably raising his daughter on his own. Of course it wasn't unheard of, in this day and age, but it was still a little unusual and her opinion of him went up, as a result. There seemed to be much more to Lt. Commander Harmon Rabb Jr. than she'd previously realized and it only served to intrigue her.

OOOO

It was actually Lt. Commander Greene's wife who provided to answer to most of her questions. Mac had had a particularly challenging day in court and Harm was out of the country on investigation, so Mac and James went out for something to eat themselves and James's wife Pamela joined them.

"You should have seen the way this judge looked at me," Mac told them, describing her first-time meeting with a local judge, "I'm really getting very tired of all of the funny looks…I've been here for months, now…"

"It's just a huge surprise for many people," Pamela attempted to explain, while James excused himself to use the restaurant's bathroom facilities, "Lt. Commander Schonke left things in a somewhat…awkward state, to say the least…"

"But I thought she reserved her commission before she came to Bali…"

"Yes, but with Lt. Commander Rabb in such a large, busy office branch, it was like a stage production when she served him with the divorce papers…"

"Divorce papers!? She served Harm with divorce papers?"

"You didn't know they were divorced?"

"I didn't know they were married…"

"Lt. Commander Schonke dropped her married name when she left California…"

"She came here with Harm?"

"No, she came here with Baker…Harm had no idea where she was, until he heard whispers that she'd followed Baker to his new post, here in Bali."

"And Harm came here right after her?"

"Well, he did when he found out; four years after her disappearance…up until then, he had no idea where she was, even if she was alive or dead…"

"How awful!"

"Even worse, Baker was Harm's former CO. And Kim wasn't even a year old, when Dianne disappeared."

"She just left her and Harm? Her own child? To go after her husband's CO?"

Pamela just nodded, her expression indicating that she couldn't understand it, herself. Neither could Mac, but she had a good idea just what it was like for Harm's poor daughter. Her own Mother had left her with her alcoholic Father when Mac was just fifteen. The child's reaction to her now made total sense.

"It was an uncomfortable couple of years, until she served him with divorce papers, in front of everyone at the office. After that…I don't know; it was like all the fight in the poor man died. He became very quiet, threw himself into his work. About a year after the divorce was finalized, she and Baker announced to the few friends they still had that they were taking positions back in the States, somewhere…It was a very strange situation…"

When James got back to the table, he was mildly concerned to hear his wife talking about his fellow-officer's personal life to Mac, but he knew that he could count on Mac to be discreet about her knowledge…And after all, she did deserve to know exactly why people were reacting to her this way.

"It was a huge shock to Harm, both when he learnt that Dianne was here with Baker and when she handed him the divorce papers," James explained, "but he's managed to provide a decent life for Kim, considering how they had previously poured so much of it into searching for Dianne. He's not the happiest person I've ever met, but he loves his kid and his job and that's something."

'It's more than I have,' Mac thought to herself. But then again, every relationship she'd ever had seemed to turn into something of a disaster. For now, she was content to focus on her career and put her wish for a family on hold.

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