Que Sera Sera
Part III
In the friendly skies
Enroute to San Diego
Monday, 5 January 2015/0900
For a moment, Harm wasn't sure if it was just a bit of deja vu, or if there really was some truth to Bud's theories about time travel and parallel universes. The same flight attendant. The same breakfast menu offered. The same row in the first class cabin.
"Harm??" Mac tried a second time, then smiled up at Ms. Melton. "He's a little discombobulated this morning," she confided. "Could we possibly have one of each,"
"To share." The flight attendant smiled back at them. "Of course. Congratulations,General," she added, "I saw part of your ceremony on ZNN Saturday evening. Are you going to settle in San Diego?"
The difference was, they were traveling from east to west this trip -- going home! The flight crew member's comment impressed itself on Harm, and he smiled broadly as he turned on the charm. "I'm sorry, Ms. Melton, it was on one of your flights from San Diego that we made the decision to retire. Easter Monday last year. We were eating the same breakfast."
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Several hours into the flight.
Harm stretched, waking from his light doze and shaking his arm, which was 'half asleep' from having been caught uncomfortably under his side. Beside him, Mac, smiled gently. "Hey," she murmured, "did you have a nice nap?"
"Ummmm …what did you do?"
"Watched you nap," Mac chuckled. "Naw, I dozed a bit and read the paper."
"Mac?" Harm's voice was pensive. "Do you miss it? The uniform and work, I mean."
What had brought that on? Was Harm having regrets already? She hoped not. "Harm, it's a Monday morning. Today could be a day of leave or liberty or a holiday. I know what you mean, though …I think it'll really hit home that we're not on active duty anymore when we start our new jobs. In civvies." Mac paused then smiled happily. "Actually," she confided, "it'll be fun to wear any earrings and shoes I want. And clothes. I think I need to do a little more shopping."
"It just doesn't seem real yet. I mean, even after the ceremonies – I was concentrating so hard on my cues and what I needed to say and do according to the script that I barely heard anyone else." Harm tried to articulate it. He chuckled. "I guess I'll have to watch the tape – it'll be a nice souvenir."
"It was all nice, but the best was Saturday night." Mac turned towards him, twisting to rest her head against his chest. "I am so glad you wanted us to renew our vows the anniversary of the day we met instead of waiting for our 10th wedding anniversary. It was ….so special ….it was just perfect."
Harm wrapped his long arms around her back, pulling her tighter to him. "It was special for me too Mac. It's not that I haven't felt married, it's not that the years haven't been great …it's that…well…I've always felt bad that we had to get married in the court clerk's office in Blacksburg, so fast, before we knew what was going to happen…." Harm's voice trailed off.
"Soooo" Mac deliberately lightened the emotion of the moment, " now do you feel "more" married than before?"
Harm smiled, recognizing her intent. "What you said, in front of hundreds of people, meant everything to me Mac. I hope you know that."
"I think you made it pretty clear Sailor and I feel the same." Reaching up, Mac traced his lips with her finger as she continued "it was like …like being kissed with words. It was all just, just perfect …Chaplain Turner, the roses, the music and songs. All our family and friends." Mac smiled dreamily, remembering the fabulous evening.
Holding out her hand, she reached for Harm's and held it next to hers – "I love our new rings, too – rubies and sapphires – the Corps, the sea and the sky." Admiring their new jewelry, her mind drifted back ….
Browsing through an antique shop in Leesburg on a rare weekend in October that they hadn't gone home, they'd decided to drive out a bit to the west, stop for pumpkins and cider, see the foliage. The ring had caught her eye immediately in a tray of estate jewelry.
"Do you want it?" Harm was sure he knew which one Mac was looking at.
"No, not this one." Mac was definite. "I want us each to have the same, well, almost the same. Do you like that one?"
Harm was cautious, not exactly sure what Mac had in mind. The ring she was looking at was definitely a woman's ring in an antique setting. "For you, yes."
Mac explained. "I'm thinking a ruby with a sapphire on each side for mine and the opposite for yours. For the Corps and the sea and the sky. All the stones set flat into the ring, so they won't catch on anything or look big or heavy."
"I was thinking about getting you a diamond." Harm admitted. "A square cut one. You're sure you don't want one?"
"Uh uh – no" Mac shook her head decisively. "The earrings are beautiful," Mac alluded to a pair Harm had given her for their fifth anniversary, "and I love wearing them, but I'd never wear a diamond ring. Never."
"Whatever you want," Harm assured her, kissing her cheek. Without further discussion, he knew where she was coming from in not wanting a diamond. Rubies and sapphires? Fine with him.
"Actually, I do want the ring." Mac changed her mind. "Not for me, though – to give Mahara when she's a little older. And for ours, just leave it to me Harm, I'll have them made."
Trish knew several jewelry designers and by late December, the two rings were custom made to Mac's specifications, with Harm's input and approval. Engraved in Harm's was "For Eternity, M." and in hers "For Eternity, H." A tiny rose was also engraved on the inside of each band.
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"So," Harm's voice brought her back to the present. "Now that we're married, when's the honeymoon?"
"A honeymoon too?" Mac smirked. "I thought we want to stay home for awhile? Take our daughter to school tomorrow morning, pick her up and cart her to everywhere. Remember?"
"I do, we do." Harm defended. "Plus we have to get ready for our jobs. But I'd like to go somewhere – maybe in a few months?" He waggled his eyebrows, eliciting a giggle.
"Okay," Mac smiled sweetly. Mindful of the flight attendant standing in the aisle and the passengers in the row across the way, she contented herself with reaching up and patting his cheek lightly. "Maybe at spring break at Cal Western or during the summer?" she suggested.
"Spring break," Harm decided. "The week after Easter when Mahara's back in school. Cal Western's closed for 2 ½ weeks so it'll work out great. We'll just have to take leave from the Y. Where to?"
Mac chuckled, enjoying Harm's enjoyment. Was this what it would be like, she wondered. For the rest of their lives, this sense of oneness, of total love and contentment. Both of their jobs had been so demanding, for so many years, they'd never had time to just ….be, Mac realized. She felt certain she'd like it. Like it lots.
"Maybe Paris? Or a cruise – maybe the Greek islands? We can get some brochures from a travel agent in La Jolla or go on the internet and decide."
Continuing to admire the rings on their joined hands, she had an idea. "Let's have two more rings made, Harm. Not like ours – like the one we got for Mahara. We can give one to each of the girls on our 10th anniversary."
"Sure, if you want … they'll like that." The view out the window, in the sunlight, caught Harm's eye. The Rockies below the plane, the clouds and the sky, and pictured in his mind, the Pacific Ocean still hours away. He motioned, "that's how it's going to be for us Mac, everything in front of us, a whole life left to live."
"Que sera sera, whatever will be, will be," Mac sang the refrain softly. Slipping her arm around Harm as he leaned forward, Mac turned her head to see what he was looking at out the window. In the aisle, the flight attendants smiled at the joy sparkling on the two faces in profile, turned to the warmth of the sun.
The end.
Author's Note: As promised, a more chronological updating of who's been doing what 2006-2015 for anyone interested in my vision of the JAGverse:
1. Harm. Nov 2006-May 2010: At NCIS' Regional HQ in San Diego. Training and mentoring junior NCIS agents and judge advocates. Prosecuted occasionally in Federal District Court as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney or at court martial. May 2010: transferred to the SW Judicial Circuit as Chief Judge. He was offered several 0-6 billets in San Diego but wanted another chance to be a military judge – to do it better than he'd done when TAD to the bench briefly in S. 8. Selected for Flag Spring 2011, promoted to Rear Admiral (lower half) spring 2012, transferred to the Navy Marine Corps Trial Judiciary, Washington DC as Chief Judge. Received his second star 2013. Retired 1 April 2015, with almost 30 years commissioned service.
2. Mac. CO JLSO SW Nov 2006 –March 2010. Transferred to I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF) (Camp Pendleton) as Chief of Staff. Selected for Brigadier General Spring 2011, promoted late summer 2012. Selected as Deputy JAG June 2012. Selected as JAG and got her second star when the JAG who'd relieved Gen Cresswell died March 2013. Retired 1 April 2015, after completing 26 ½ years active duty.
3. Mattie and Chloe. Graduated from La Jolla Country Day School June 2007, from UCSD May 2011, and got their MBAs in May 2013. Mattie made a fairly good recovery after additional surgery in 2007. They are partners in a lucrative pet and child photography business in La Jolla and with Frank as a partner, also own and run a Horse Ranch/Stables/Riding Academy in Oceanside, specializing in therapeutic riding for children and adults with disabilities. Partner with several "America Supports You" organizations to provide lessons and riding to disabled veterans. About 26 years old in 2015.
4. Mahara (Mara). 8 ¾ in January 2015, Mac and Harm's brilliant, precocious daughter is taking a combination of 8th/9th and 10th grade classes in the IB program at La Jolla Country Day School. Her teachers have told Harm and Mac that they need to be prepared for her to graduate from HS at about age 12. Still skating pairs with AJ, but planning to stop skating competitively when he graduates from HS in 2017. Involved in many activities – the joy of her parents, sisters and grandparents lives.
5. Bud. Deep selected for CDR and CAPT (2012). Completed his XO tour at JLSO SW and relieved Harm at NCIS in 2010. Has been SJA at SPECWARCOM (San Diego) since 2013. He tentatively plans to retire in 2016 with about 23 years service, but is open to "one more tour" for the right billet if the detailer will leave him in San Diego.
6. Harriet Graduated from Cal Western Law School May 2010. Practicing med mal law; on track to make junior partner in one of San Diego's major firms. Of the children, Jimmy is most likely to go into the military, the twins – "horse crazy" - are 10 years old and in 6th grade. AJ isn't sure what he wants to do, but remains "connected at the hip" to Mahara.
7. Trish and Frank. Trish at about 75 still runs her Gallery; Frank at 87 is "retired" but running the horse ranch/stables/riding academy with Mattie and Chloe.
Final Note : Information about the song "Que Sera Sera" was provided by Jeanaz8, and various websites were consulted for the history of Admiral Leutze Park at the Washington Navy Yard. Many details were of necessity omitted from a traditional retirement ceremony, which would have been combined with the change of command ceremony in "real life." I've also used the customs and traditions of a Navy ceremony – a Marine Corps ceremony would be similar.