A/N: Since I posted my last chapter, I had a personal even that I'd like to share with my readers and pretty much every other living being on the planet. My boyfriend, my dear Mark, proposed. We'll be getting married in 346 days and I'm so excited. I just wanted to share my good fortune with everyone here. Also, I'm not sure when my next update might be because I'm having laparoscopic surgery tomorrow morning. It may be by the end of the week, but maybe not until next week, just so everyone knows. Then I'll be on to two updates per week, hopefully.

Thanks again for all those who have reviewed and stuck with me. Many of you have made guesses, but no cigar! Sorry. Just stick with me, I hope to finish this by the early part of next year.

Special thanks to Snugglebug in many ways this time. Not only for being my inspiration and a wonderful consultant and partner on this fic, but for being my dearest friend and now my Matron of Honor. Big hugs to you Lady! Thank you for everything.

The following Monday Harm sat in the small law office waiting room or one Ms. Maureen McAuliffe, Esq. He'd yet to see the attorney AJ had raved about but the office seemed to mimic that of a legal aid building instead of a high priced successful family attorney. Still all his inquiries into the girl had proved positive so there Harm sat waiting to be called.

Finally he heard a female voice, "Commander Harmon Rabb, Jr."

Harm looked up to see a short, well built woman in her late twenties. She had what would be long red hair had she not secured it in a twist at the back of her head. She was pretty, very pretty by any standards and smiled softly when she saw him approaching.

"Commander Rabb?"

"Yes," he answered, offering her a handshake.

"I'm Maureen McAuliffe, please come in," she said taking the large hand she was offered. Her inner office was much nicer than her outer one. There was a large oak desk, three comfortable looking chairs, and cases and cases of law books neatly arranged by topic and alphabet. Her desk was covered with photographs of cats, dogs, and children. "Have a seat," she invited.

He took a seat across from her desk. "Did you have a chance to read over my case?" he asked.

"I certainly did, it was very thorough. What you weren't clear on though is what you want to get out of this," Maureen said. "Are you attempting sole custody or do you just want a more open visitation arrangement?"

"I'm going all out," replied Harm. "Sole custody."

"This is going to be rough," Maureen sighed. "Judges usually side with the mother in custody cases so we're going to have to...we are going to have to prove that you are the best person to take care of the children, Lucille and David, is that right?"

He nodded. "That's correct, and I don't think we'll have too much trouble with that. My soon-to-be-ex-wife has some medical issues that have caused nothing but trouble for the kids."

"It says she has endometriosis, Commander, that is not exactly a crippling condition, at least not in its purest form," Maureen replied.

"You have no idea how crippling it can be," said Harm. "She nearly bled to death from it twice, one of those times being at Thanksgiving in front of Lucy. She used to spend more time in bed than anything else, she was always sick... I really think this will play in our favor."

"You say was," Maureen sighed. "Is the condition still an issue?"

"I think it is," he said confidently. "She had surgery for it a few months ago, but I'm convinced she's covering up the pain she's still in."

"Okay, I'm going to have to subpoena doctor's records and reports so I'll need her doctor's name. Also...you said there was an incident related to the condition that occurred in front of your daughter? Tell me about that," she removed a tape recorder from her desk. "On the record."

"I'd gone to the airport, with my son, to pick up my parents for Thanksgiving," began Harm. "While I was gone, Sarah had an episode of very severe bleeding, she almost passed out. My daughter had to call 911 and had to see all this!" He was getting very worked up.

"Did you know this could happen?" Maureen asked.

"I...well I guess I knew it could but she hadn't given me any warning," said Harm. "I never would've left my daughter home with her if I'd known."

"Okay," Maureen nodded. "What effects did Lucy suffer as a result? This is very important Commander. Be as detailed as you can be."

"She was terrified," said Harm. "She was crying hysterically when I got there, the rescue crew was working on Sarah, blood everywhere, it was horrible. Since that afternoon, Lucy has become very clingy to her mother and I, even more so than before. She's asked if we're going to die, she's...she's so afraid that this illness is going to steal her mother away. She acts out now, gets in fights at school and such, we had to send her to therapy. Basically her mother's condition has traumatized her completely, and I for one want that to stop and stop now."

"That's good," Maureen replied. "This is all very good. Do you think it will be beneficial to have Lucy testify?"

"As a lawyer," he began, "I know it would be. As a father, I'm not so sure."

"Lucy is five years old?" Maureen asked.

"That's right," answered Harm.

"Then the answer to that is no. We will not make a motion to have her testify, all I will do is subpoena her counseling transcripts. If they try to put her on the stand we will move to block her testimony. If the judge does allow it, I will not question her," Maureen said. "You are a loving and concerned father now, not a vindictive ex husband."

"I'm hoping not to become the latter," he said. "But it depends on what Sarah does."

"When it comes to custody you can't become the latter," Maureen said. "You have to be like the mother...Did you ever read the Judgment of Solomon?"

He nodded. "Make the judge feel for you by being willing to give up the children if you feel it'll hurt them less."

"Right," Maureen smiled. "The attitude in there is forget about what I want, do what's best for my babies. I only have a few more questions..."

"Sure," he replied.

"Your file mentions the possibility of having fathered an illegitimate child. Would you wish to pursue custody of that child?"

"I'm still waiting for the DNA test results to come in" he answered. "If she's proven to be mine, then yes, but until we know, definitely not."

"Okay...now I have a few orders for you," Maureen said. "We'll meet once every two weeks to go over strategy and the next time I see you I want you looking healthy, well rested...this..." she indicated his present haggard appearance. "Will not get you custody of those kids. Get some sleep, eat, I know its hard but try to do it for them. Okay?"

"I'll do anything I can for them," he said. "I've got to win this fight."

"You do your best and I'll do mine," she replied and rose from her desk. "Take care, Commander."

With that, Harm was on his way back to AJ's, feeling confident that he could do what he had to in order to get custody of his little ones.

Wednesday eventually rolled around and Harm went to his family home to extract his children. He was so excited to see them as they were to see him.

Lucy opened the door with great enthusiasm. "Daddy! I missed you!"

"I missed you too, Button!" he replied, hoisting the child into his arms.

DJ toddled over the Harm and lifted his little arms up, "Daddy!" He exclaimed happily. "Hi!"

"Hey little man," said Harm as he picked his son up and held him close to Lucy. "Where's Mommy?"

"I'm here," Mac said coming out of the bedroom. She was dressed in Marine sweats, and looked tired. "How are you?"

"Okay," he said. "You look tired. You doing all right?"

Mac nodded, "Yeah, um…can you put them down. I need to talk to you for a minute. I won't count it in your time, but please?" she asked.

With a nod, he placed his children's' feet on the floor and followed Mac.

"First I wanted to say I'm sorry about how I treated you the last time we spoke," Mac said. "I was very mean to you and I'm sorry for that."

"You should be," he said softly.

Mac nodded, "More so though I wanted...Lucy, she's..."

"Is she sick again?" he asked. "She looks fine."

"No, not sick," Mac sighed. "Though she did have a nosebleed this week, pretty bad one. She's...despondent, withdrawn, she's having trouble sleeping. Maybe you can get something out of her, I tried, Mic tried..."

"You can't tell me you have no idea what's wrong with her," he said.

"I don't," Mac replied. "She's just upset a lot of the time...I know the divorce has to be bothering her but...Please, at least talk to her. Maybe she'll be more open with you."

"I'll see what I can do," he said. "Anything else I need to know about?"

"Nope," Mac replied. "Have you retained an attorney yet?"

"I have," he stated.

"Who is it?" Mac asked. "Someone from JAG naturally."

"It's a woman," said Harm. "And it's all in the file. He'll be hearing from her soon."

Mac nodded, "Well you better get going. Have a good time. I'll see you around 2130."

"I thought I was bringing them back at 2030," he said.

"Yeah, but...I think they need more time," Mac replied. "Just try to be on time okay?"

"'Kay," he said as he headed back to the living room, amazed that Mac was being so nice about things.

For a special treat Harm took DJ and Lucy to Chuck E Cheese, DJ's favorite place. Lucy loved it too because of all the games she could play. They ate their meals then Harm let Lucy and DJ run in the playground while he watched from the sidelines smiling. That is until he saw his son fall face forward, after being pushed by a boy twice his size.

He hurried to pick up the crying tot, holding him close as hr attempted to soothe him. "It's okay son," he said. "I've got you, you're okay."

When Harm moved the little boy though he cried even harder, a cry of pain, not of fear. Lucy rushed over to her father and her brother, "What happened Daddy?"

"DJ got shoved and fell down," he said, being very careful not to move him too much as he held onto him. "Do you have a booboo, DJ?"

Through his sobs the little boy managed to nod his head as Lucy asked, "Did he get hurt?"

"I think maybe he did," replied Harm. "We better get him home. Go get your drink so we can go."

Lucy ran to go get her drink then came back to Harm, "Does he haft go to the doctor?"

"Maybe," said Harm, carefully holding his son next to him.

When Harm moved the boy to his side he let out another strong wail and recoiled left arm going to hold his right one.

"Okay, buddy," he soothed. "Let's get you to the doctor." He was dreading the fallout with Mac, but he knew he had no choice.

Lucy sat and patted DJ's forehead the entire way to the hospital, a motion that finally got the boy to calm down. Finally they arrived and Harm was told he had to sit with his son and wait until called.

Mac heated herself a frozen pizza after Harm left with the kids and was halfway through it when Mic knocked at the door. She smiled and admitted her friend. "How are you Sarah? Where are the little ones?"

"With their dad," she said.

"How are you?" Mic asked. "Can I join you for a bit?"

"Sure, come sit awhile," she said as she closed the door behind him. "I'm okay, really tired, but I'm not feeling too bad."

"Now tell me the truth," Mic sighed. "This can be a sore point in our case."

"I'm telling you the truth," she said softly, avoiding eye contact.

Mic reached out and made her looked at him, "I dare say not. You seem better, but you are not the Sarah I knew."

"I'm in the beginning of a divorce from the only man I ever loved," she said, raising her voice and tearing up a touch. "I'm allowed to feel kind of bad about that, Mic!"

"Do you miss him?" Mic asked softly, running his hand down her shoulder.

She nodded. "Every day. I'm not sure it'll ever stop."

"He's not worth missing, Sarah," Mic sighed. "If he couldn't see what a treasure he had, he's not worth missing."

"You don't understand," she said. "What Harm and I had together was...it was magical; like we met in the middle of a nightmare and came out on the other side. Somehow though, we made a u-turn and now we're..."

"It's okay to mourn him, Sarah," Mic said softly. "It's okay to cry."

At those kind words from her friend, Mac dropped onto the couch and buried her face in her hands.

Mic reached out and put his arm around her shoulders, bringing her close to him, "Its okay, Sarah. Do you...Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes," she cried. "No, no I don't want to, but there's nothing else to do. How...what will I do once he's gone, Mic? How will I...?" Her sobs once more overtook her.

"How will you what?" he asked. "What? All he did was hurt you Sarah. That's all he did."

She shook her head. "No, he did so much more than that. He took care of me when I was sick, he...he supported me when I said I wanted a..." She choked on her words and sobbed even more.

"What?" Mic asked softly. "What did you want?"

She worked hard to get to a point where she could speak again. "Another baby," she cried. "I wanted it so badly, but he didn't because of me, then he changed his mind and we tried a couple times, but it didn't happen and now..."

"Ssh," Mic crooned. "Sarah, you can still have a baby. You can...there are other alternatives."

"Not for me there aren't," she cried. "I've accepted that, but it doesn't make this any easier."

"I know, but...I'm here, Sarah. I'm always here," Mic meant that in more than one way.

She nodded. "You've been a good friend and a big help," she said, her tears softening a bit.

Mic was about to say something else when the phone rang. "Do you need a minute? I could get it," Mic offered.

She nodded. "See who it is, what's the screen say?"

"It just says pay phone," Mic replied.

"Answer it," she said, suddenly worried about her children for some strange reason.

"Rabb Residence," Mic said into the phone.

"Mic?" asked the caller.

"Harm?" Mic echoed. "What are you doing on a pay phone?"

"Cell phone died," he answered. "I need to talk to Mac."

"She's a bit indisposed at the moment," Mic said, as Mac tried to pull herself together.

"I'm okay, Mic," said Mac. "Give me the phone."

"Hello, Harm," Mac said in the receiver. "What's wrong?"

"DJ got shoved at the pizza place and hurt his arm," said Harm. "I've got him at the ER."

"His arm?" Mac asked. "Is he okay? Is he crying?"

"I think he's okay," replied Harm. "He's favoring his left arm, but I don't think it's broken. He wants you; think you can make it?"

"Certainly, I'll leave now," Mac said quickly. "Which hospital are you at?"

"St. Luke's," he answered. "In the waiting room."

Mac hung up and rushed to get her bag. She quickly told Mic what was going on then headed for the hospital.

Mac arrived at the hospital just as DJ was coming out of X-ray. She rushed to her son and held him close, kissing his cheeks and forehead. "Are you okay? Is he okay?" she asked Harm.

"Nothing broken," he replied. "Just a sprain. They'll wrap it and give him some pain killers and he'll be fine."

"That's good," Mac sighed as she cuddled the fussy boy. "Where's Lucy?"

"Sleeping over there," he answered, nodding towards a stretcher in the hallway.

"How was she?" Mac asked.

"Good," he replied. "She ate her dinner and ran around there like she hadn't a care in the world. I didn't get anything out of her as far as what's wrong."

"No headaches or anything?" Mac asked. "She was just fine?"

"Sure seemed to be," he said.

"Good," Mac smiled. "Harm..."

"Yeah?"

"Its not your fault," she said reading his weary eyes. "He's a little boy; he's bound to break a bone or two before he grows up."

"I know," sighed Harm. "I wasn't sure how you'd, you know, how you'd take it."

"He fell down, it happens," Mac said. "Are you all right?" She asked him, noticing his cheeks were pale, his eyes dark.

He shrugged. "I'm not sleeping much."

"Me neither," Mac whispered. "But your health is okay? How's the cough?"

"Comes and goesm," he said. "I've gotten used to it."

"You should see a doctor," Mac replied. "It's never held on this long."

"Just from all the stress," he said. "I'll be better once..."

"Once?" Mac asked, shifting DJ's weight.

"Once it's over."

Mac nodded and nodded to the doctor, "Why don't you go talk to Lucy. I'll get his script and maybe...you still have two hours left...maybe you can drive behind me and do their bedtime?"

"Yeah," he said, "I'd like that."

"Go see you daughter," Mac nodded towards Lucy's sleeping form. "She's waking up anyway."

Harm walked towards Lucy where she was waking from her nap. He followed her gaze as her big blue eyes settled on a boy of about seven years old with dark circles beneath his eyes, and no hair on his head.

Harm went over to Lucy while Mac talked with the doctor. Lucy was happy to see her father, and even happier when he told her that he'd be tucking her in that night.

"Daddy?" she asked as he sat with her on her makeshift bed.

"Hmm?"

"Why does that boy look like Uncle AJ?" Lucy asked. "Is he sick?"

Harm looked over to the young boy in the corner. "Oh, you mean he looks like Uncle AJ because he has no hair, huh?"

Lucy nodded, "It looks funny."

"Well, sometimes," began Harm. "People get sick and the medicines they have to take to get better make their hair fall out."

"I didn't ever get sick like that," Lucy said. "The medicines I take just make me better."

"That's right," he said. "But some people have to take different medicines that do different things. Are you ready to go see if Mommy and DJ are all set?"

Lucy nodded her head and lifted her arms. She'd missed Harm and wanted to be carried to her mother to stay in his arms.

Mac took DJ with her in her car, but Harm kept Lucy. He asked her about why she seemed sad to Mommy and was told only because she missed him. Then she clammed up and lay her head against the window.

The family went inside and Harm did his "Daddy duty" and put both children to bed. Lucy needed at least three verses of her song, and once asleep still clung to her father's hand. Harm finally extricated himself and joined Mac in the living room.

"Why was Brumby here answering the phone?" asked Harm as he took a seat beside Mac.

"He was visiting," Mac replied. "We were talking and he was closer."

"I get the feeling he's trying to be both your friend and your lawyer," said Harm. "That's not a good combination, Mac."

Mac nodded, "I know. But I think I need him more as a friend than a lawyer. Since you retained civilian counsel..."

"What does my choice of counsel have to do with it?" he asked.

"We can keep this out of JAG," Mac replied. "Keep it in civilian court. That is if you still plan to contest."

"Which I do," he stated plainly. "Unless you plan to change your terms."

"I was considering every weekend and no weeknights," Mac sighed.

"What about a week at a time?" he suggested. "Every other week, and we trade off holidays?"

"I can't go that long without them," Mac said. "And I want Christmas and Easter days."

"And I don't?" he said. "Look, Mac, there has to be some way to settle this between the two of us. I...the last thing I want is to drag this through the legal system. We each know the law; we should be able to settle this out-of-court."

"Harm, you're...I really don't want to do this right now," Mac sighed.

He nodded. "Can we get together and talk? Someplace neutral, just you and me?"

"I don't know," Mac sighed. "I just...Harm I...don't want this to get ugly...but...why can't you just accept my terms?"

"Because they're not fair," he said. "I don't want this to get ugly, either, but it's headed there unless we work some things out. I...I hate the things we said the other night, both of us. I never apologized for my part, but I'm really sorry, and I really do wanna work the terms out with you. I'm through trying to convince you to save the marriage, I know we're beyond that, but for the sake of the kids, let's try and make this as painless as we can."

"I need my kids," Mac said simply. "And let's face it Harm, they need me."

"I can say the same thing," he said. "Listen, let's call it quits for tonight, and I'll check back with you tomorrow to see how the little guy is and we'll figure out a time to get together and talk."

Mac nodded and Harm rose from the sofa. He was about to the door when Lucy appeared in the living room, tears falling, rubbing her eyes.

Mac looked at him and mouthed, "Every night."

"What's wrong, baby girl?" he asked, walking towards his crying child.

"You're going," Lucy whimpered. "I want you to stay here."

He sighed. "I have to go sleep in my bed at Uncle AJ's," said Harm, picking Lucy up. "But I'll come see you soon, I promise."

Mac stepped over to the father and daughter pair, "Lucy come to Mommy, Sweetie. Daddy has to go."

Lucy reached out for her mother, crying as she did so.

Mac held Lucy and took her to the couch, sitting with her on her lap. She began to softly hum as she rocked, then caught Harm's eye, "Go," she mouthed.

With a heartbroken nod, He hurried quietly out the door, waiting until he was outside to let a couple of his own tears fall.