If Only the Dead Could Talk

rooster dawn

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 seven

1800 hours

Saturday

24 Dec 2005

They talked for an hour before Mac told everyone to go upstairs and get ready for dinner. They were having company tonight and she wanted everything to go right. There was a knock at the door.

"Sturgis! What are you doing here? I thought you were out of town." greeted Mac as she invited him in.

"I was, but I got back in an hour ago. I called Bud. He said they were coming over here for dinner. I hope you don't mind that I sort of invited myself." he hemmed and hawed.

"Of course not Sturgis. You know you're welcome to stop by anytime. Dinner is going to be ready in a half hour. Why don't you go sit down in the family room. Harm will be down in a few minutes. I'll get you a beer." ordered Mac.

"How was his trip?" he asked.

"It was long and tiring. He's glad to be back. Tory brought back a friend with her." Mac replied smiling.

"A boy? When did she find the time to find a boy? I didn't know which way I was going for two years. Even then I was too busy trying to get through all the hard work to have much fun." he replied.

"Harm said pretty much the same thing. But like I told him Tory is more intelligent and gifted. She's also very beautiful. I know from personal experiences that it doesn't take much to attract a squid's attention." she explained.

"How did they meet?" he asked.

"She literally ran into him and landed on her six. He gave her a fish story about her looking like someone he knew. He took her sailing." she replied further.

"Sounds like something Harm would have done back then. In fact now that I remember he and Diane use to go sailing every week the last year when the weather was nice." he mused.

"Interesting Sturgis. Here's another tidbit for you. Her young man wants to be a pilot and fly jets. He's very excited to talk to Harm about it. They spent a half hour looking through Harm's academy photo album.

It seems Sturgis that you knew his mother. If you're game, we won't tell you his full name. I think you will be able to figure out who his mother is." she almost said was, but that would have made it too easy for him.

Ten minutes later Bud and his family arrived along with Jen and Jason. AJ and Jimmy K took off when they got in the house searching out little Tommy Frank. Bud sat the babies down in the playpen.

"Hi Mac, thank you for inviting us to dinner. With four little ones it's hard to plan a dinner for family and friends." greeted Harriet.

"We're happy to do it Harriet. With Tory home it's not hard to get everything done. She loves to cook." smiled Mac.

Speaking of Tory, where is her friend? I scrounged around through some old albums and found some photos I think he'll be interested in." chirped Bud.

"How in the world did Tory find the son of someone Bud and Harm both knew over ten years ago? It doesn't seem possible." asked Harriet excitedly.

"She literally ran into him and went flying. He's a pretty big boy. Think someone about the sized of Harm and Keeter put together. They are upstairs looking through Harm's old academy photos.

Harm has a lot of photos of Diane as you can imagine. They also have been discussing flying jets. He wants to be a pilot. It's something he and Tory have in common." replied Mac.

Jen and Jason also thanked Mac for inviting them to dinner. They both appreciated the idea that they were part of the Jag extended family and were always included whenever some special event occurred to one of its members.

Harm heard noises coming from the family room. He went out and greeted everyone and thanked them for coming. He saw Bud walking over to Sturgis to talk to him. He quickly walked over to tell Bud not to tell Sturgis who Henry was.

"Hi guys, thanks for coming. Bud, Sturgis doesn't know Tory's boyfriend. He's suppose to guess who his mother is. So don't tell him." he ordered.

"Mac, we're going to eat in ten minutes. Can you get everyone and have them take a seat in the dining room. I want everyone settled."

Jen went up the stairs to get Tory and Henry while Harriet went after the young ones. The door was open when Jen reached Tory room. She saw them playfully looking through the album having fun.

"Dinner is ready guys!" she chirped.

They looked up at Jen before standing. Jen almost fainted when she saw Henry. He looked just like Harm. She couldn't believe it. How come Harm never told her he had a son? She thought they were close, at least as close as they could be considering he was an officer.

"Hi Jen! I'm happy to see you. Jen, I would like you meet a friend of mine from the Naval Academy. Jen Coates, this is Henry Schonke. His mother went to the Academy with Harm." greeted Tory.

"Hi Henry, you look like a certain officer I know." she began.

"Hi Jen, I guess that has been the topic of conversation here for the last few hours. We can't say for sure if it's true, but Tory has been gathering a lot of info that says it's a distinct possibility.

I have never known who my father was. My mother never told me before she died and my grandparents didn't want me to know either. I think it had to do my mother never marrying my father." he replied.

"Just my luck, the two most gorgeous men I know are unavailable. One is too old and the other is too young." grinned Jen.

"Let's go eat, I'm starving." chirped Tory.

They walked down the stairs to the dining room. Everyone was seated and talking up a storm. When Harriet saw Henry walk into the room behind Tory, her mouth stopped moving. She sat there stunned. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"What is it honey?" asked Bud.

It wasn't often she ever stopped talking when she had a head of steam going. Harriet didn't say anything. All she could do was point towards Henry. Bud turned to look. He too was surprise to see Henry.

The whole room looked towards Tory and Henry. They became very quiet waiting for someone to explain.

"What? He's just a friend." asked Tory wondering what was going on.

"Everyone, I would like you all to meet Tory's friend, Henry Schonke. His mother was a good friend of Harm's at the Academy.

Henry, this is Sturgis Turner. He knew your mother at the academy too. Here we have Bud Roberts and wife Harriet. Bud served two years on the Seahawk with your mother. He's brought some photos of your mother with him tonight.

And finally we have Jason Tiner, a newly anointed officer and Jennifer Coates, the lady who drives the General nuts." grinned Mac as she introduced everyone to Henry.

They whispered among themselves about how much Henry looked like Harm. He had to be his son, he just had to be. They quietly ate dinner and retired to the family room for dessert and coffee.

They finally got around to talking about the possibility of Harm being Henry's father. Harriet had been disappointed that he hadn't told anyone he had a son. Harm reassured everyone he never knew about Henry.

Mac pointed out they weren't one hundred percent sure Harm was the father. They still had to do DNA testing to confirm he was Henry's father. When they were done discussing that point Bud brought out his photos.

Tory got Harm's photo album. They all looked through the photos and reminisced about their friendship with Diane. Bud told Henry about her carefree personality. She loved having fun and playing jokes on anyone who took themselves too serious.

Sturgis mentioned that she learned that trait from Harm and Keeter. They were always cutting up when they attended the academy. There wasn't anything they wouldn't do to get a laugh. Diane fitted right in with them.

Many of their feats were legendary and stilled admired today for their creativity. Sturgis told them about some of them. Tory and Henry looked at Harm as to ask if it was true. Harm nodded his head to acknowledge it as being true.

Harm came out and told them that Sturgis bore the brunt of many of their pranks. Sturgis had come along when the academy was just beginning to accept blacks among their ranks. Sturgis was one of those guys who was too serious for his own good.

They needed to loosen him up if he wanted to be part of their group of friends. Their favorite was the bubblehead. Keeter had a special headwear made of clear plastic with holes for eating and breathing.

Sturgis had worn it for a week one time when he mistakenly crowed too loud that he wanted to be a submariner around too many jet jockeys. Tory's eyes lit up.

She and Henry had come across a large plastic bubble like contraption earlier today while they were looking for something in the garage. She winked to Henry who got up and retrieved it.

While Sturgis was busy talking Henry slipped it on Sturgis and fastened it shut. Everyone shared a laughed including Sturgis who remarked 'I wondered what happened to my bubblehead.'

THE END