Chapter Twelve - Epilogue

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2100 ZULU 1500 EST

JAG HEADQUARTERS

CONFERENCE ROOM

Following the verdict and the closure of the Board of Inquiry, the doors to the conference room finally opened. Frank and Patricia Burnett entered with Connor, slowly making their way toward Sarah and Harm. Sarah touched Harm's arm, "Are you okay?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, I guess we cannot expect much more, can we?" Harm answered with a small, sad smile.

Sarah looked up at her in-laws as they approached and gave a sigh of both relief and frustration. Harm's mother first pulled her son and then her daughter-in-law into a hug, "Thank heaven." Connor looked up from his grandmother's arms, "Dada!" he called with a bright smile as he reached toward Harm.

"Hey buddy, daddy missed you," Harm mumbled into Connor's hair, as he kissed the top of his head, after taking Connor from his mom.

Frank announced, "We reserved the banquet room of Benzinger's for 6 pm for everyone to sit down and have a nice, quiet informal dinner. It is just to relax and enjoy some time with family and friends. You can invite whomever you wish."

"That sounds really good," Harm smiled, the tension from the past several days slowly receding, leaving him a little tired.

"Follow us back to the hotel and we can change and hopefully get Connor to take a little nap before 6," Sarah suggested.

"Yes, and we have the room adjacent to yours," Harm's mother agreed.

Harm and Sarah made their way out of the conference room and into the bullpen stopping to invite the Robert's, the general and family, and Jen to the gathering at Benzinger's.

2245 ZULU or 1745 EST

BENZINGER'S BANQUET ROOM

FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA

As the friends and family gathered, there was a great deal of the usual banter and ribbing. Everyone looked up when the door flew open and Karissa ran into the room. "Oh no," Harm murmured under his breath to Sarah. Karissa was soon followed by Annie and Paul Harrison.

"Karissa, I know you are excited but you must not run in the restaurant someone could get hurt," Paul admonished.

"Paul and Annie, and of course Karissa welcome," Frank Burnett said as he swiftly went to greet them. Sarah and Harm looked at one another, more than a little confused and stunned. "Harm, Sarah, everyone, I should explain: I spoke to Paul after the inquiry, when most of you were busy in the bullpen. I invited them to come and join us. We decided that maybe it was time for Karissa to meet her extended family, while we were all in one place. Especially since Harm and Sarah will be flying back to England in a day or two," He announced as he ushered the Harrison's into the room.

Harm was watching Annie intently, Paul sensed his confusion and hesitancy. He put his hand out to Harm. "After I spoke with Frank and your mother, we all felt it was about time that we all started to deal with the realities of this situation, isn't that right Annie?" Annie mutely nodded her head in agreement.

Karissa tugged at Harm's hand to get his attention, "Hi, I'm Karissa and you are my real daddy."

Harm reached over and pulled a chair out from the table and sat down to get himself on Karissa's level, "Hi, Karissa . . . it is really nice to meet you." Harm shook her hand and Karissa giggled. ". . . and this is my wife, Sarah and she is holding your little brother, Connor.

"It is really nice to finally meet you." Sarah added, as she put a fussing Connor down. As Sarah held him up holding onto his arms, he immediately toddled his way over to Karissa and smiled up at her.

"I think he likes me. I have a baby brother! Wait 'til I tell Hillary and Katie at school" Karissa exclaimed and giggled some more. Suddenly she became quiet and looked slightly distraught, "my mom said that you live in England and that is real far away, across the ocean."

"Yes, it's pretty far. I bet you studied about the pilgrims and the Mayflower in school, right?" with Karissa's nod Harm continued. "Well, they came from England across the Atlantic Ocean to settle America. Did your teacher ever show you the route on the globe?" again a nod, "Well both Sarah and I work in England so that it where we live now," Harm explained.

"But that's not fair, I'll never get to see you, if you live so far away," Karissa pouted.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that, right now your sister, Mattie is going to school here in Virginia. So I'm sure we will make more than a few trips back and forth and I will make sure that we take time out to see you. And we are not going to live in England forever, we have plans to come back to the states to live. And I am sure you have email and we can set up webcams, so that you can see us and we can see you, and we can talk. Does that sound a little better."

"I guess so. . . can I come to see you sometime?" Karissa queried.

"I am sure if that is okay with your mother that could be arranged. Actually your grandmother, right over there likes to go on cruises and vacations to see other countries. I am sure she would love to bring you over to England to spend some time with us. Now how about I introduce you to the rest of the family? Over there is your sister Mattie," Harm continued. "Mattie get over here and meet your sister."

Karissa watched as Mattie quickly came over to her, "Hi, did you get hurt that you use crutches?" Karissa asked.

"Yes, I was injured in a plane crash, and these are called forearm crutches. They help me balance and get around as my legs do not have the strength and feeling to hold me up, so they make it easier for me to walk. . . And by the way it is really nice to meet you. I saw you in the bullpen at JAG a few times in the last few days."

"I saw you too. It is really, really going to be neat having a big sister. Josh takes really good care of me, but he will be going to the special navy school. I'm really going to miss him. Can you come and see me sometime?" Karissa asked.

"Sure, I think it would be a lot of fun, maybe we could even go shopping or go to a theme park some weekend, we will definitely have to make some arrangements, like getting dad's credit card," Mattie added.

"Oh, great," Harm whined.

Soon all the introductions were complete and the waitresses took orders for meals and drinks. Everyone was enjoying the conversations and camaraderie. Frank motioned Harm over, as he was speaking with Paul, "We are sorry we did not explain this earlier, but Karissa was really upset that she was not getting the answer, she felt she deserved. Paul convinced Annie that it was actually doing her more harm than good, by keeping this secret," Frank supplied.

"I also believe Mrs. Goundie's report on Karissa, following Karissa's own testimony helped to open Annie's eyes. She is starting to realize just how much she was hurting the kids by trying to hold on to them too tightly. We had an impromptu session with Dr. Herbster this afternoon. Annie is trying Harm, give her some time. But all that aside, when we told Karissa that you truly were her father. She insisted on being the one to tell you herself," Paul added smiling. "

Harm looked over at Annie, who was busy talking with Sarah and Trish, Sarah met his look and gave a warm smile. Then the corner of the room behind them garnered his attention as Karissa, Connor, AJ, Jimmy, and the twins were having a blast, all of them playing together, with Mattie and Josh supervising and/or refereeing, all adding to the fun.

"Harm I also wanted to ask, who do I call, to make them aware of how Wagner handled this case? I feel he is nothing more than an ambulance chaser, unfortunately he had Annie's ear and filled her full of falsehoods. I should have realized what he was doing and put a stop to it sooner." Paul inquired.

THE END

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And it is complete, ha! I hope that I kept everyone's attention. This is the longest story I have written to date, with many-a-multitude of mistakes, but I am learning. I actually took a look back at my original idea of the story – this is soooo much better. Although, I kind of painted myself into a corner with the inquiry, as I didn't want to even give a hint of impropriety to Harm's character. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. The character was/is a protector of children and those in need.

Please PM or email me and let me know what you thought and/or how I can improve. Constructive criticism is always welcome. Also any and all reading suggestions are welcomed.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, guess who got called into jury duty right before we left for my niece's wedding, yep mwah. Is that a type of poetic justice or something?

Thank you all, you have been too kind,

Lyn