A/N: I have to apologize for not posting last night; I was too tired. I tried posting part of the last part this morning, but was having technical difficulties. (And I didn't have the time then to post the whole conclusion anyway -- I really do take time to format/revise before each post). Anyhow, since I already split the remainder of the story, I decided to go ahead and post part now so that you have something for the time being. Hope you enjoy it!

-- Teacup

I See – Chapter 13

"Tiner, I thought you were going to locate Commander Rabb," stated the Admiral.

"Yes, sir. I did, but was informed that he was busy discussing an important case with Colonel MacKenzie."

A.J. paused, trying to figure out what aspect of work the two officers would consider so important that they would be worrying about it this evening. He didn't recall any pressing cases that they were opposing each other on at the moment.

And Singer had informed him earlier that the Jacobs case, which Rabb and MacKenzie were co-defending, was not going to court. The Lieutenant had been more than slightly upset that she had agreed to the plea bargain when she later found out about the new evidence.

"Where are they?" the Admiral asked Tiner. "I don't believe I've even seen the Colonel this evening."

"I believe they are still out on the porch, sir."

"The porch?"

"Yes, sir. Probably went out there to talk privately about the case."

"Hmmph," was the Admiral's reply. He wanted to know if there was some urgent work crisis that he should be aware of. He considered sending Tiner to fetch the two lawyers, but, in the interest of confidentiality and wanting a quiet place to speak, he decided that it would be better to go outside himself and speak to them there.

As the Admiral was about to head toward the door, Tiner added brightly, "… Maybe they were lucky enough to see the meteor shower while they were out there. I'm afraid we missed it already, sir."

The Admiral gave his yeoman a funny look at that comment, but didn't address it.

When A.J. reached the front of his house, he saw Carolyn Imes just shutting the door.

"Oh, excuse me, sir," she said. "I was just peeking out to see how those clouds are looking. I heard there were showers in the forecast, but it doesn't look like anything has started yet."

"Meteor showers?" asked the Admiral.

"No, sir." Carolyn tried her best to hide her baffled reaction. "… Rain."

"Oh. Right." Trying to forget the meteor showers, he moved on, "… Did you happen to see Commander Rabb and Colonel MacKenzie out there?"

"No, sir," answered Imes. "But I only took a quick look at the sky."

Harriet, who was just walking by, heard the last question, and offered, "It's possible they left already, sir." She couldn't entirely keep the smile from her face.

Earlier, when Gunny was leaving, Harriet had managed to peek out before he shut the door. Even though Gunny's date had been standing in the way, Harriet managed to see enough beyond the woman to catch a glimpse of two figures locked together with passion.

Harriet had then felt very satisfied that Harm and Mac had made some excellent progress, and felt the whole ordeal with Tiner was well worth the efforts from her, Bud, and Sturgis. From what Harriet had seen, it would not surprise her at all if the two lawyers had decided they needed to urgently find somewhere else to be.

The Admiral frowned. It wasn't like Mac to leave without even acknowledging him. "I'll go out and see if their cars are still here," he decided.

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Admiral Chegwidden stepped out onto his porch and was about to head down the stairs when he heard a small and distinctly feminine sound of pleasure from off to the side, behind him. He turned, and what he saw completely stunned him.

His two senior attorneys were involved in actions that lacked any resemblance to professional behavior.

Mac was sitting on Harm's lap, though her one leg was stretched out to the ground, allowing her to pivot much of her body to face Harm without falling. She had one hand running through Harm's hair and her other rubbing up and down his back. Harm's one hand could be found on Mac's rear end, perhaps in part to keep her from falling off of him.

The Admiral couldn't see where Harm's other hand was, and frankly, he didn't even think about it because he couldn't get over the fact that these two seasoned officers were madly kissing each other like a couple of hormonal teenagers!

"What the …?" In complete shock, the beginning of the question escaped him relatively quietly.

Seeing that his presence had not yet been enough to capture the attention of these two, he roared, "Commander Rabb! Colonel MacKenzie! What the HELL do you think you're doing?"

Their Commanding Officer's bellow quickly brought the two back to reality and they each snapped up to their feet, straightening out their clothes, and came to attention. Uniforms or not, they knew they were about to be chewed out.

They were both breathing hard and looked as guilty as sin. They somehow appeared simultaneously devastated at being caught and overjoyed from what they had been doing.

"Never mind," A.J. dismissed them from answering the question as to what they thought they were doing. "… You obviously aren't thinking, … and I sawwhat you were doing," he declared with disapproval.

Harm started, "Sir, I apologize for our indiscretion, …"

"You'd better," the Admiral said with a harsh tone, "because you are highly decorated officers who are expected to handle yourselves with a certain amount of decorum."

"Yes, sir, and to that extent we are sorry," said Harm. "But otherwise, … we're not on duty or in uniform. … And what we were doing, … it's not against regulations."

"No. No, it's not," A.J. agreed. "… But do you have to do it on my front porch?" he demanded.

"Apparently so, sir," Harm said, desperately trying to keep from laughing.

A.J. walked close to him in an intimidating manner. "Something funny, Commander?"

"No sir. … It's just … we have something of a track record out here."

At that, Mac stifled a sound, something in between an amused laugh and gasp of shock that Harm would have said that.

The Admiral looked between them, narrowing his eyes. He immediately remembered how much time the two had spent outside during Mac's engagement party, and he did not even want to fathom what the Commander's comment meant. He approached Mac closely now, seeming to tower over her. "I don't want to know about it, do I, Colonel?"

"No, sir," she quickly answered.

The Admiral suddenly became aware that having Mac stand at attention in that dress, brought a heck of a lot of his attention to her upper female features. He caught himself glancing down, but quickly backed off and looked away. "For god sake, at ease!"

To cover his own feeling of awkwardness, A.J. went on the offensive. "… I'd say 'as you were,' but I recommend you two get a room for that!"

The Admiral stepped away, took in a deep breath and let it out, trying to calm himself regarding this new situation. "How long has this been going on?" he asked.

Mac took a few seconds to re-register her internal clock and made her best guess from the last moment she actually had any sense of the time. "I'd say about 26 minutes, sir."

A.J. looked at her with disbelief. "Colonel, I was referring to how long you and the Commander have had a change in the nature of your relationship, … not how long you were … on his lap."

"As was I, sir," Mac assured him. Her gaze went down to the floor boards for a moment after she answered, and she knew she was blushing. She really couldn't understand how she could feel so absolutely mortified and ecstatic at the same time. She grinned at the Admiral's comment despite herself and knew that Harm was doing likewise.

A.J. cocked one of his eyebrows. This was apparently a very recent development. Maybe this was something that just unintentionally happened and they hadn't even discussed it yet. He had to ask.

"Have you … determined then, if this is … a relationship you intend to pursue?"

Harm spoke up now. "Oh, yes, sir," he said confidently, taking Mac's hand in his. "We're definitely in a new type of relationship. … As a couple."

Mac looked up at him, smiling, and squeezed his hand. Harm smiled too as he glanced back at Mac.

"I see." And A.J did.

He crossed his arms and began to pace. The Commanding Officer said nothing for a long moment. Then finally he stopped pacing and turned to them. "Well, I'd be lying if I said I didn't suspect this was coming sooner or later."

Harm and Mac exchanged surprised glances, which A.J. ignored.

His tone was now gentle. "Speaking personally, … I wish you two every success." He smiled a little and chuckled. "God knows, you two deserve each other."

"Yes, sir," answered Harm. A.J. noted the silly grins that Harm and Mac shared again. Oh, they were lovesick. No question about it.

"Professionally, however, … I don't think I need to tell you that this complicates things."

"We expect it does, sir." This came from Mac. "But, -"

"- But, we're ready to take that risk," finished Harm. It was him who squeezed Mac's hand this time.

Mac didn't miss the significance of him making that statement to their C.O. Harm was declaring his willingness to give up as much control as necessary in the other areas of his life in order to make things work for the two of them to be together.

The Admiral looked at Harm and Mac again, appreciating the devotion he saw between them. "Well, for the time-being, I just ask that you keep it out of the office. … Meaning no lovers' spats affecting your work, and absolutelynodisplays along the lines of what I saw this evening."

"Aye, aye, sir," they responded in unison.

The Admiral started to head back to the door, but stopped short of opening it. He looked back at them, saying, "And I want you to set up a meeting with me as soon as possible after you even start to seriously think about marriage." Almost to himself, he muttered, "… I'm gonna need as much warning as possible to work that one out."

A.J. was not looking forward to that. Not that he didn't want his people to be happy, but he didn't want to lose either of his talented senior attorneys.

"Yes, sir," answered Harm. "We'll set something up first thing Monday."

Mac gave Harm a look of surprise, but that was nothing compared to A.J.'s reaction. Though the Admiral did not say anything at first, his face clearly indicated that he was not expecting anything quite so soon. He grabbed his forehead with his right hand and finally said, "Heaven help me."

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TBC …

A/N: The conclusion (very last part, I promise) to follow! You still enjoying this?