Sorry I haven't updated in so long. have had a serious case of writers block, coupled with a complete lack of time to do anything! This is a bit of a filler chapter, which actually has no Harm/Mac interaction in it whatsoever, so apologies for that.
I'll get to the H/M and J/D fluff as soon as I can. But for the meantime, I hope you all enjoy this.
Before he set off for the White House Harm stopped into Mac's office to check their lunch plans. She wasn't there, so he wrote her a quick note and stuck it to her computer screen. He smiled briefly at the photo of her, him and Chloe that was sat on her desk and slipped out quickly, his mind already running over the information he had to present.
Josh had been having a crummy day. The entire White House had been in a state of constant uproar ever since Zoey's kidnapping, and that feeling hadn't gone away since the President had reassumed control over the country. The crisis had thrown the Republicans a life raft; one they seemed determined to use wherever possible. Their latest scheme involved doing everything in their power to stop funding from reaching his and Toby's college education plan, and they were running out of ideas to stop them.
He was wandering from the Communications bullpen towards his office shouting loudly for Donna, when a familiar face caught his eye. Harm was standing at the security desk, signing himself in as a visitor. Josh watched as Mark, the security guard, handed him back his military ID and headed quickly over to him.
"Harm" he said as he reached the table, holding out his hand to the tall naval officer, making a mental note to keep Donna as far away from him as possible while he was dressed in his Navy uniform.
Harm turned at the sound of his name, smiling warmly, "Josh," he acknowledged, shaking the proffered hand. "How are you doing?"
At that moment Donna came barrelling out of the bullpen, her long blonde hair whipping
around her shoulders, as she responded to Josh's previous shouts.
Josh groaned inwardly.
"You bellowed?" she said teasingly as she came to stand next to him, noticing Harm a second later.
"Hi Harm! What brings you here?" she asked, smiling brightly at him. He really did look handsome in that uniform. She could only imagine how he looked in his dress whites.
Harm smiled at her, "The President asked for a briefing on legal implications of friendly-fire incidents from someone from JAG. My CO sent me." He replied simply, glancing at his watch.
"Donna, why don't you take Harm to Debbie, I've got to go and grab some papers from my office." Josh said looking from one to the other, "Harm, I'll see you shortly since I'll be in that meeting." At the other two's nods, he turned and headed towards his office, silently berating himself for leaving Donna alone with Harm, even if it was only for a second.
Harm couldn't hide a slight smile as he watched Donna watch her boss' retreating figure with a slightly wistful look on her face. Once he had disappeared through a set of double doors, she turned to him saying,
"Come on through, the President's running a little bit late, but I'll show you through to Debbie's office."
"Thanks Donna." He said, offering her one of his Flyboy smiles. "I hear you and Mac went shopping on Sunday?" he added conversationally as he hurried to keep up with her, following her through a maze of corridors.
Donna grinned at him, a kind of 'I know something that you really want to know but don't' type of smile "We did indeed." She replied as she led him through a door. He followed her in, but before he could carry on the conversation, she interrupted him by addressing a dark haired woman who was sat at a desk. "Debbie, this is Commander Rabb, he's here for the President's next meeting."
Harm smiled warmly at the woman, who was looking him up and down appraisingly.
"Have a seat, Commander." She said, without preamble, "The President is running a bit late today. But he'll be with you shortly."
"Thank you." Harm replied, remaining standing all the same. He glanced around the room nervously, his eyes falling on the door that he presumed led to the Oval Office. Donna smiled at his obvious nervousness. It was a fairly common occurrence for first time visitors to the Oval Office. She often wondered to herself whether it was the room itself that made people more nervous rather than the actual act of meeting the President. She was about to mention this to him, when Josh and Leo walked through the door, ready to join Harm in his meeting with the President.
"Leo, this is Commander Rabb from JAG," Josh said as they joined Harm and Donna. "Harm this Leo McGarry, White House Chief of Staff."
"It's a pleasure to meet you Commander." Leo replied, shaking the younger man's hand.
"You too sir." Harm replied politely, just as the door to the Oval Office and Toby and Will came out followed by several men in military uniform, including Admiral Fitzwallace. Harm automatically snapped to attention, staring fixedly ahead of him.
"Leo, Josh." Fitwallace acknowledged. "At ease Commander." He added, his eyes roaming over Harm's medals, JAG insignia and Wings. "You must be Commander Rabb." He continued. He had heard good things about Rabb, and recognised him from the two insignias he wore with such pride.
"Yes Sir." Harm replied, "It's an honour to meet you Admiral." He added, shaking the proffered hand.
"You've briefing the President on the friendly-fire incidents?"
"Yes sir."
"Good." Fitzwallace nodded to the others, and followed his aide out of the room.
The door to the Oval Office then swung open, and a young black man appeared.
"You can all go right on in." He said, smiling warmly.
"Thanks Charlie." Josh replied, nodding to Harm to follow them in.
"Good afternoon President." Josh said cheerfully,
"Afternoon Josh." The President replied, glancing behind him to the slightly nervous Naval Officer who had followed him in.
"Mr President, this is Commander Rabb." Josh added, "He's here to discuss any legal ramifications of the friendly-fire incidents."
"Nice to meet you Commander," Jed Bartlett said, offering his hand to the man.
"It's an honour to meet you Mr President." Harm replied as he shook his hand.
"You're from the JAG core?" he asked, gesturing for Harm to take a seat beside Josh.
"Yes Sir." Harm replied easily.
"But aren't those Pilot's wings you have there?" Harm went to reply, but the President carried on talking. "See Leo, and you think I don't know anything about the military." He said, with a smirk.
"I never said anything of the sort sir." Leo replied good-naturedly.
"Sorry Commander." Bartlett continued, turning his attention back to the Harm, "But those are pilots wings right?"
"Yes Sir. I was a Tomcat pilot before I joined JAG sir."
"I see. Well Commander, what can you tell me about these incidents that I don't already know."
Harm smiled, and launched into his briefing confidently. The President, it seemed, was a master at putting people at ease with just the slightest conversation.
Harm was just wrapping up his briefing, when Charlie quietly entered the room and handed Leo a small piece of paper. He glanced at it, and nodded.
"Thank you Commander. I'm afraid we're going to have to stop there." He turned to the President. "Sir, Admiral Fitzwallace and Dr. McNally are waiting for us downstairs. They have some news."
"Very well. Thank you for your briefing Commander, it was very informative. I hope the next time we meet, it won't be under such unfortunate circumstances."
They all stood.
"Thank you Mr President." Harm replied, following Josh out to an area where Donna was sat at a desk typing earnestly on her keyboard.
"Donna, when..." Josh started,
"You've got Senior, senior staff and 4 and CJ is waiting to see you about something that cropped up in her afternoon briefing." Donna replied, without looking up from her typing. Harm just looked at her in amusement.
"How do you do that?!" he asked in surprise. Donna looked up and shot a teasing grin in Josh's direction.
"He's pretty predictable." She replied. "Did your briefing go all right?"
"I think so." Harm replied with a smile. Josh cut in quickly, drawing their attention back to him.
"Donna, can you show Harm the way out? Also I need the articles on sugar subsidies and make sure that Will gets the.."
"No problem. Here's the sugar subsidies thing" Donna said quickly, handing him a blue binder. "I'm gonna go down to the mess, do you want anything?"
"A jacket potato please." Josh replied, before turning to Harm, "Good to see you again Harm." They shook hands.
"You too. Bye" Harm replied as he turned to follow Donna through the double doors that led to the exit.
"I'm meeting Mac for a drink tomorrow if you'd like to join us Harm?" Donna said as they moved at light speed down the corridor, "I'll get Josh and the others to come along too?"
"Sure, that would be good. Thanks Donna." Harm replied, flashing her Flyboy grin at her. "See you tomorrow." He added as they reached the door and he slipped his cover back on.
That's it for this chapter. I'm not that happy with it, but i hope you enjoyed it all the same. I'll try and get more chapters up soon, but I can't promise anything. I'm super busy at the moment, and I'm actually finding this story harder to write than I thought I would just due to feasibility issues, and how the characters from different shows would interact.
But anyway, all reviews, good or bad, are welcome!!!!
Thanks for reading:o)