If Only the Dead Could Talk

Peter

Disclaimer: The characters of JAG are the property of Donald Bellisario and Bellisarius Production, Inc. Used without permission. No copyright infringement intended. May be reproduce if unchanged, author given full credit, and no financial transaction is involved.

Spoiler: None

Pairing: Harm/Mac, Victoria/Henry

Alternate Universe

Summary: When the future meets the past, strange things happen. The son of a lost love of Harm meets Mac's daughter at Annapolis with interesting results.

Author's note: This is a continuing story of an "A Special Child" Mac's daughter, given up at birth, reunited with Mac, is now attending Annapolis.

part two

"So tell me about yourself Tory." he began as they walked towards the marina.

"What would you like to know Henry?" she asked. She sighed to herself. He must like me, why else would he want to know about me.

"I don't know, where were you born? Where do you live? You know, things like that." he replied.

"I was born outside Phoenix, Arizona. My birth mother gave me up at birth, but remained in contact with me through most of my life as a distant aunt. I saw her once or twice a year when she was in the states.

She was in college when she had me. She said she was too young and too poor at the time to keep me. She was battling a lot of problems of her own at that time to be a good mother.

When I was thirteen I began to notice I looked a lot like my aunt. I asked my mother why I looked so much like my aunt and nothing like her. She finally told me that my aunt was my real mother, that is my birth mother.

I lived with my adopted mother until I was sixteen. Then I decided I wanted to live with my birth mother. I wanted to get to know her before I went away to college. She's a lawyer in the Marine Corp.

Two years ago she married a man whom I consider to be my real father now. He's in the Navy. He's a lawyer too. He used to be a naval aviator. He's taught me how to fly in his biplane. We would go flying once a month when the weather was good.

He's the reason why I chose to attend the Naval Academy. I want to become a pilot like he was, though my mother is totally against it. She said she gets sick every time she ever flew in a jet," she sighed.

"They live outside Washington DC. They just had a baby boy six months ago name Tommy Frank."

"Wow! That's quite a tale Tory. I want to be a pilot too. From the limited information I have about my own father, he was a navy pilot too. But I've never had the opportunity to meet him.

He and my mom were never married, but they were academy sweethearts. She got pregnant with me the last month they were together. She didn't see him very often after that, but they did keep in touch over the years.

My mother was adopted, but I don't think she ever found out who her birth mother was. I don't even think she wanted to know. She was happy with the parents she had.

My grandmother told me a few years ago that my mother was going to talk to my father after her last cruise. Unfortunately she was killed before she had the chance to talk with him.

It's my understanding that they were going to spend the week together to discuss their future. They were talking about getting married." he moaned.

"I'm sorry Henry. It must have been really hard for you." she felt sadness for him.

"It was a long time ago Tory, nine years ago now. I felt the loss at the time, but then again it wasn't so bad. With her being in the Navy, she was gone a lot of the time. I just imagine now that she's on a long cruise. It's a way to keep her alive in my heart." he explained.

"My new dad was in the academy, class of 86." she offered.

Henry looked liked Harm. If his mother and Harm were at the academy at the same time, it was possible that Henry was Harm's son. How else could one explain why Henry looked so much like Harm. She needed to know.

In such a short period of time she knew Henry was a wonderful guy. He deserved to know who his father was just like she deserved to know Mac, her mother. And if Henry was Harm's son, then he deserved to know he had a son too.

"Interesting, my mother and father were in the class of 86." he replied.

They continued their walk to the marina talking about flying. They were both so excited about the prospect of flying for the Navy.

For Tory it was a more recent dream borne out of her love of flying in Harm's biplane. She had also come to love him as though he was here real dad.

For Henry flying had been a life long dream. It was his only connection to his father that he knew of. He imagined that some day he would find him on an aircraft carrier. Maybe he would still be flying.

Maybe he would be the CAG. Maybe he would be running the ship. It didn't matter what he would be doing because he would know him because he would look like him.

Henry had a surprise for Tory when they reached the marina. He had arranged to take a sailboat out for the day. He thought it would be a nice way to get to know her better. He thought it would be a new experience for her.

"I've arranged for us to go sailing today, that is if you don't mind." he informed her.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea Henry. I love sailing. My father likes to take my mother and me sailing during the summer. It's a great activity to do together. Thank you Henry." she replied cheerfully.

"I was hoping to expose you to a new experience Tory. I wanted to share with you something I've loved to do since I was a small boy." he pouted.

"It will be a new experience Henry. All my previous sailing experiences were family outings on a much larger sailboat. This experience will be entirely different. Beside the fact that the sailboat is much smaller,

you're sharing with me a part of who you are. You're sharing with me something you love, something you have a passion for. It makes me feel special." she replied trying to make Henry see that she truly appreciated his efforts.

She only hoped she didn't make it sound too much like they were on a date. She didn't want him to feel self conscience about their time together.

They were spending time together as friends who were getting to know each other. They weren't dating. They weren't going to be lovers.

"Thank you I think." he looked at her a little weirdly.

"You're right about the idea that I wanted to share with you something I love to do. I also figured that you've been working hard trying to learn how to fit into the rigors of military life. I thought you deserved a break.

I thought you might appreciate a day of fun and relaxation. I packed a lunch for us. It's inside the boat. We can stop off at one of the islands later to eat lunch." he smiled nervously.

He was beginning to become aware that his totally innocent act of going sailing with her could be construe as a date by many. Though he argued to himself isn't that what dating is about, getting to know each other better.

Wednesday

23 Nov 2005

Rabb Residence

Victoria was able to go home for the long Thanksgiving weekend. She wanted to talk to her mother about Henry, but not openly. Even after two months he still occasionally mentioned to her that she looked like his mother.

She found this quite hard to believe. She looked like her mother, not his. And as far as she knew Mac didn't have any sisters or cousins, at least not in the states. Who knew if she had any in Iran.

She wanted to talk to her mother about whether or not anyone had ever told her mother that she looked like anyone else. It was too much of a coincidence that Harm graduated the same year from the academy as Henry's mother did.

Henry never knew his father, but he looked a lot like Harm. As far as she knew Harm didn't have any kids besides Tommy Frank who was born only last year. Was it possible that Henry's mother and Harm were involved back in their academy days.

She pulled the car into the driveway. Mac was sitting on the front porch with Tommy Frank. They seemed to be playing some kind of game. As she got out of the car and walked up the front walk, she heard Tommy Frank cry out with glee at her arrival.

He waved his two chubby little hands with excitement at seeing her. He tried to get down from Mac's lap to waddle over to her, but Mac hung on to him until Tory reached the porch. Tory bent over to pick him up when he reached her.

"How are you doing little man? Are you happy to see me? I'm happy to see you too Tommy." greeted Tory as she hugged him, kissed him, and finally tickled him.

He squirmed in her arms as he tried to get away. Mac took him from Tory and put him in the house and into his playpen. She then came back out onto the porch to sit with Tory.

"So how's my girl doing? Is the academy everything you hoped it would be? Have you met anyone?" asked Mac after she had given Tory a hug.

She had missed her little girl. She had gotten quite used to having her in her life everyday. Not seeing her everyday was hard after all this time.

"I'm doing fine Mom. I love it there. There are so many boys." she smiled.

She was hoping to get a reaction from Mac. She wasn't disappointed.

"You're not there to fantasize about boys Victoria, you're there to get an education." scolded Mac.

"You're the one who asked me if I met anyone Mom. I assumed that you meant boys. I did happen to meet one guy who seems to like me alot." she continued.

"Who is he? What is his name? How did you meet him Tory?" asked Mac. She saw the look Tory gave her when she mentioned the boy. It looked like she really cared for the boy.

"His name is Henry. He's a second year cadet. I ran into him one day when I was running late for class. It was like running into a brick wall." she replied.

Mac smiled as her girl told her about the boy. "Henry ... sounds like a strong name. You ran into him? Just how big a boy is he? You weren't hurt were you?" asked Mac.

"He's almost six foot six inches tall. He wants to be an aviator." she began to explain. She stopped when she heard Mac moan in resignation. History was beginning to repeat itself.

"What? ... You married an aviator. You know how much I love flying. It gives us something in common to talk about Mom. He's very good looking. I'm sure you will love him when you meet him." she argued.

"Harm doesn't fly very often any more. It actually kept us from getting together for a long time. Harm didn't want me to worry about him. ... Am I going to meet this man-child of yours?" Mac's interest was peaked.

"I was thinking about asking him to come here for a few days during the Christmas break, ... that is if it's alright with you Mom." replied Tory pleading with her eyes to say yes.

"You know your friends are always welcomed here sweetie. Though I have to wonder why he wouldn't be going home. Does he live far away?" asked Mac.

"I think he said he's from Pennsylvania. But he lives with his grandparents. His mother died about ten years ago. He doesn't know his father. I just want him to meet you and Dad." she explained.

Mac lit up with a smile. It amazed her how her girl accepted Harm into their lives. That Tory loved him as much as she did and that she considered him her father.

"Like I said before he wants to be an aviator. I thought he might get a kick out of meeting Dad and talking about what it's liked to be a pilot and living on an aircraft carrier." she continued.

"Well I'm sure Harm would be more than happy to talk to your young man about flying jets and anything else he might want to know. Why don't you go inside and get clean up for dinner." smiled Mac.

"Is Dad going to be home soon?" she asked Mac.

"He's been conducting an investigation on the Patrick Henry the last five days. He expects to get home late tonight." replied Mac.

Later that night Tory walked into the living room where there was a fire going in the fireplace. Mac was sitting there reading a book. Tory had two mugs of hot chocolate with marshmallows.

It was a quiet time of night. An ideal time to talk about what was on her mind. She wanted to know if it was possible for Harm to have known Henry's mother. She also wanted to know if it was possible that his mother looked like her or her mother.

Harm and Mac had always kidded about how the other knew them better than they knew themselves. If anyone knew about Harm's time at the academy, it was her mother. Somehow it went back to the day they met.

"What's up sweetie?" asked Mac.

"How did you and Dad meet?" she asked.

"You know how Tory, I've told you the story a few times before." Mac replied wondering if it had something to do with Henry.

She had been attracted to Harm from the beginning, but was leery of getting too close to him. She had heard stories about pilots thinking they could bed anyone while they were wearing their dress whites and gold wings. All they had to do was smile and they got what they wanted.

"I know Mom, but I always like hearing the story. It's so romantic." she sighed.

"Well I don't know about romantic, but we did meet in a rose garden. He was stunned to see me. He was speechless, he couldn't move. He told me later that day I looked like his academy sweetheart.

She had been killed a few months before. It happen right before they were going to get together to discuss their future. I think he was going to ask her to marry him." replied Mac as she sighed.

Perfect thought Tory. She looked like Mom and was Dad's girlfriend. Mom's story is similar to Henry's. Just maybe Harm is Henry's father. I need some more information. Something to prove it or shed more light on the subject.

"Dad wouldn't happen to have a picture of her somewhere? I can't believe he knew someone who looked just like you before he met you." asked Tory. She realized she almost blew it, but recovered quickly.

"You know where the photo albums are. It's the navy blue one with the Naval Academy Class of eighty six written on it. Why don't you bring it over here and we can look through it together. I can identify most of the people in it.

"Okay Mom." she replied as she quickly moved into the family room and retrieved the album. She sat down next to Mac on the sofa.

They looked through the album for thirty minutes. Tory couldn't believe how young they all looked. Mac pointed out Diane as if she had to. Tory could see that Diane did indeed look like her mom. Which meant she look like her too.

There was an old photo of Mac in the album. She was of course a few years older than Diane and Tory. She couldn't believe that they all look that much alike. It was only the differences in their hairstyles and age that set them apart.

"Wow Mom! No wonder why Harm thought you were Diane. You could be twins." she declared.

"I was surprise too when Harm first showed me her picture a couple of years later. I had wondered if what he was telling me was true, though I kind of believed him.

He wouldn't have stood there speechless and looking into my eyes as though he was searching for my soul. I've always wondered if he saw her or me when he looked at me. But he always said he saw me, never Diane after the first time we met." Mac agreed.

"I think I understand why I would look like you and maybe look like a cousin if I had a cousin or an aunt, but to look like a total stranger, it just blows my mind away." commented a bewilder Tory.