Well, this is it folks! Hope you enjoyed Love On The Run!
Thank you fod reading, it's been fun to emulate 'Jailbreak Lovers' with a JAG twist.
Chapter 17 - Alive
Pacing was nearly impossible on crutches but Mac managed to put in her best effort while balancing her cordless against her shoulder. Her leg still hurt like hell, while the bullet that was pulled from her right thigh hadn't caused permanent damage, healing would take time.
She cursed being on hold for twenty minutes and getting nothing in return but an administrator typing frantically on her computer and coming up empty. "I'm sorry, Major it seems like that inmate was moved."
"I know he was moved. I've been told he was moved for the last three days but no one knows where." Mac was getting a headache or maybe the one she woke up to five days prior hadn't gone away.
Five days earlier she woke to the acrid smell of disinfectant that made her nauseous. Her head hurt in a way Mac only experienced over a decade ago when an eighteen year old version of herself awoke in a small hospital in Arizona after a terrible car wreck.
Mac's body felt just as battered but the burning pain in her right thigh was a new sensation and upon inspection, she found her leg was bandaged. She wrestled with the lethargy, that deep exhaustion that wanted Mac to keep her eyes closed for a little longer. But when the memories slammed into her brain like bad scenes from a movie, she shot up in bed.
Harm. All she could think of was Harm.
The police had taken him and roughly thrown him to the ground. They were gentle with her, believing that she'd been a hostage they saved from a bad, bad man. She was dazed, a concussion had taken away a good part of her faculties and when the police spoke to her, all Mac could do was nod. It was Harm's voice that cut through her mental haze.
She saw him being hit, hurt and man handled. Each strike snapping more of the fog until she snapped and ran. She would run to him, stop them, save him but, as Mac broke past the officer who was helping her, a younger cop saw her as a threat.
Mac felt the searing pain even before she heard the crack of a gunshot. It brought her to the ground in such agony that she blacked out a moment later. Behind closed eyes, she swore she could hear Harm yelling her name but her desire to call out for him vanished the deeper she sank into darkness.
The police chief was kind to her which was surprising given that Mac had pointed a weapon at one of their own before going on the run. They believed her to be a hostage, hurt and confused. She was never happier to see AJ Chegwidden who had her transferred to a military hospital closer to home.
And then he delivered a blow she hadn't expected. "We can't find Harm."
At first she figured he found a way to escape but upon further conversation a frustrated Chegwidden used the word 'lost.' Mac knew what it meant in fact, one of her first cases was to defend a woman who'd been lost in the system for two years.
Her crime meant minimal time locked up but somehow paper was filed incorrectly, prisoner numbers were switched and as a result her eight week stay in the brig turned into 104. "Did you try Raleigh? That's the last major city we were in."
"We're checking, Mac, I promise." They were just coming back empty. Sightings of a man with his description panned out to nothing and the longer Harm was missing, the more concerned Chegwidden became. Part of him wondered if the police in North Carolina had done more than just arrest Harm.
"What about the information I gave you about Crenshaw?" Mac sat up in bed and immediately winced when she was reminded of her healing wound.
"It opens up reasonable doubt but, since he's military, the manhunt went nationwide and even overseas. It was even in the Times." He dead panned and it wasn't difficult for Mac to put two and two together.
"She ran."
Chewidden nodded slowly as if embarassed which he likely was. There was a reason why Alisson was labeled the 'Dragon Lady', her prowess as a litigator was deadly. It amused him to no end that a woman with such potential would be jealous of a jet jock that was too emotionally vested in his cases. He feared that would be Harm's downfall; feeling too much while Krennick was able to shut all of her emotions down - it made her the better leader.
"Yes, someone tipped her off that she was wanted for questioning."
"Shit. What now?"
He stood and helped her settle in. While Mac's prognosis was good, she needed to rest and not worry so much. Unfortunately he was promptly realizing that the Marine was just as stubborn as the Sailor she tried to save. "What you did was incredibly stupid you know? The SECNAV wanted your oak leaves. Hell, the Commandant wanted your ass in the brig too. The only reason you're not in hot water is because the police genuinely think he took you hostage."
"Respectfully, I'd make the choice again, sir. Even if it destroys my career." She sat up as tall as she could, almost at attention, a sign of defiance against her commanding officer. "I don't expect you to understand."
"That you're in love?" He chuckled when her eyes went wide and then pointed at a scar at the top of his head. "My ex. She threw an ashtray at me when I told her I was deploying after learning she was pregnant with our daughter. I loved her enough to let them go to another man who would take care of them like I couldn't. I regret leaving every day of my life."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be." He settled her in again, tucking the blankets around her "I'll do what I can to find him, Mac. But you need to relax and heal. You're no good to him laid up in this bed."
Mac had taken his words to heart, allowing her body to heal enough to be sent home. There would be rehab to get the tendons working correctly again but the overall prognosis was good - she was lucky.
Only one week later, she didn't feel that any kind of luck was on her side. Harm was still missing although information had come to light about an inmate with his description that was moved from a jail in Raleigh to a prison in Virginia. That's where the trail ran cold and the mix up in prisoner names and numbers kept him a ghost of the system.
She'd never been so upset in her life to be part of the legal sector and the more days passed, the more desperate she became. He was probably safer in a normal prison, there weren't inmates that he put away waiting on revenge. Nevertheless, if anyone learned he was a lawyer there would be repercussions.
There were worse things than death and Mac couldn't imagine him bearing that trauma. It would change him and that terrified her so much that insomnia had returned with a vengeance.
"I've been on hold for twenty minutes. It's inmate number 178934 and he appears as Clarence Bell. He was placed in ad seg two days ago. Ugh, yes I'll hold."
Another ten minutes passed before anyone bothered coming on the line and when they did the information was more of the same. Her frustration increased and the want to curse out the woman on the other side was halted by a knock on her door.
She glared at it with contempt, her co-workers at JAG had all come for a visit despite barely knowing them. Mac supposed she should be thankful, the group had brought her enough food to last a week. Chegwidden had stopped by as well, that somber look he wore seemed to be the norm each time he spoke to her about Harm.
"I'll call back ma'am thank you." She hit the off button, tossed the phone on the sofa and grunted as she made her way across the apartment. The door seemed so far away as she hadn't yet mastered how to properly walk on crutches.
The knocking was now incessant and irritating, she thought of sensing the next wellwisher away. Couldn't they understand that she wanted to be left alone and wallow in her misery?
With too much force she yanked the door open shouting a clipped, "Thank you for coming but-" that was cut short when a sudden weakness in her knees almost made her fall. She wobbled slightly on the crutches, grateful that they kept her upright. "It's you."
He stood at the doorway like a mirage, wearing a jeans, a faded black shirt and the bomber jacket Mac saw hanging in the closet of his apartment. He was freshly shaven and smelled so good that all she wanted was to bury herself in his arms forever. "Hi."
"Oh thank God."
Harm caught her, when she let go of the crutches and fell into him. He caught her and carefully raised her in his arms, kicked the door closed and carried Mac towards the sofa where she wound up on his lap.
His hands cupped her face, thumbs catching the tears that fell. When he kissed her it was slow, gentle and Mac sighed as he pulled her closer against him.
God he missed her and if Harm thought he knew the pain of loss, it was magnified the second she was shot. He cried in the back of the van when the police took him. He cried when he was read his rights just before he was taken to jail.
Harm managed to compose himself somewhat when he was processed but the pain that stained his heart had him breaking down in his cell. He hadn't realized how deeply he'd fallen until then when the love he held for Sarah MacKenzie threatened to break his heart.
As a new prisoner and one that was running from the law, he had less rights than most. Promptly tossed in solitary, Harm was not allowed to call anyone and even legal representation was denied as they let him rot in a windowless room.
His screams echoed in his cell. He'd become a desperate man trying to find any information he could about her. Was she alive? Did she survive the gunshot and if not, where was Mac? Was she alone in the hospital? Would she shoulder the blame for his escape if she was still alive?
Harm was moved from one prison to another, not knowing that they assumed he was someone until Chegwidden finally found him amidst a disaster of a paper trail that led everyone in circles. He was found and given a new lease on life.
"How are you here?"
With the pad of his thumb, Harm brushed away another tear. "I escaped again." He teased with a sexy smile and low chuckle that made her slap him on the chest. "Hey! Oww."
"Jerk."
"I've been let out for now; apparently someone in the Navy thought to give me a chance."
Mac frowned, he needed to know the truth, that she'd failed him when her lack of mobility kept her out of the chase. "Krennick ran, Harm. Once she found out about-"
"They found her yesterday and took her in for questioning. She sang like a canary. I just wish I could have seen it, and asked her why. A career isn't enough of a reason to ruin someone's life and then try to have them killed."
"You may never know."
"Probably not. Krennick wouldn't give me that satisfaction."
"At least you'll get some sort of closure." Mac winced when she tried to stand, her injured leg giving out only to find herself back in his lap.
"Woah, easy there Tiger. The Admiral filled me in on the particulars, shouldn't you be on bed rest, Mac?"
"I'm a Marine, Harm. First to fight. We don't do bedrest." With a huff she tried to stand once more and nearly made it, instead Mac wound up on his lap again. "Don't laugh."
He grinned, "I won't."
"Because I got shot over you."
"I wish you hadn't." His finger traced a line on the edge of her bandage and when Harm looked up, he found her eyes fixated on the patterns his digits drew. She was so beautiful and strong and sexy - his Marine. "You're alive."
Her eyes looked up to meet his, the aquamarine no longer held the darkness Mac had witnessed before. There was a light in her eyes that sent a warmth right through her. "You know what makes it better? We both are. We're both alive."
"I love you, Mac."
"I love you too."
Mac threw her arms around his neck as her mouth found his in a slow and sexy kiss that he deepened with a swirl of his tongue against hers. Harm held her tightly when he stood with Mac in his arms and easily carried her through the door to the bedroom.
Making love would have to wait a while and Harm was perfectly content to simply lay in bed and watch sleep. They had the rest of their lives for physical intimacy, now he simply wanted to enjoy his freedom with the woman he loved.
THE END.