Chapter 3

"Sir, I, um, somehow don't think the UCMJ would allow you to impregnate me even if I would agree to it," Mac finally managed to say.

At the Admiral's startled look, Webb laughed. AJ realized that she had heard his comment through the closed door. "Webb!" AJ growled at him as the spy laughed, then he caught Mac trying to cover a smile too!

"That's not what I meant, Mac. Webb wants us to pose as a married couple, to help break a baby-selling ring."

"Baby-selling ring, Sir? Why would that concern us or the CIA?"

"Because they're running it out of the Naval Clinic in Pensacola Florida and have already killed a CIA informant for getting too close."

Webb took up the briefing at that point, "You two would be posing as a married couple buying a baby. Your cover is a young wife wanting a child her husband can't give her," he paused at the snort from AJ before going on, "We will need to equip the two of you as quickly as you can get free. It may take a few weeks to get a baby arranged for you so be prepared to stay undercover that long. The girls are being brought over here close to their due date and being promised green cards in exchange for giving up the baby."

"That's awful!" Mac exclaimed.

"They want into this country that badly, Sarah," Webb told her. Ever since Paraguay he had called her Sarah instead of Mac. It was hard to believe that all that happened almost a year ago now!

"The girls are usually unmarried, most are victims of rape and while their religion will not allow them to abort the child, it is the same religious beliefs that them make them unclean outcasts among their people. So, it is really escape from persecution that they are buying, and their purchase price is a child that was forced on them to begin with."

"That's horrible!" she declared.

Monday, April 5, 2004

1100 EST

JAG Headquarters

Falls Church, Virginia

It took AJ three days to clear his calendar so he could be gone for the possible two weeks, Webb had predicted, even though he had to work on Saturday to get it done. On Monday he ran through all the things that he felt Commander Rabb would need to deal with while he and Mac were out of the office, and Harm was left in charge.

For Mac, the time was divided between getting her caseload clear and trying to avoid Harm! He kept pestering her for information about the case that Webb had her and the Admiral working on, and every time she tried to tell him that it was need-to-know, he would become even more persistent! Finally she took to avoiding him completely!

AJ had a problem too, but it was not avoiding Harmon Rabb. His problem was allowing himself to fall into daydreams of how it would be to really be married to Sarah Mackenzie! He would find himself drifting into daydreams of her and how that life would be at the oddest times of the day. And the worst part was how those thoughts carried over and invaded his dreams at night! He found himself doing more laundry than normal because of the wet dreams that were a result of these errant thoughts.

He knew that he was not really heartbroken over the end of his engagement to Meredith, like everyone at JAG had assumed, but it was easier to let them think that so they would not want to talk to him about it. However, he knew that the only real sting had been that because of his lack of attention to her she had turned to another man. His heart was not broken because he had never really given it. He thought that he could be happy with Meredith, but he never really loved her, not like he loved…no…regulations would not allow that thought to even be considered.

To really be married to Sarah and to give her the baby that she seemed to want so badly…NO! He could not allow himself to think thoughts like that!

To be continued….