A/N: Thanks a lot for the great feedback, that I had received from you! It feels so nice to read your comments! As always, thanks to byrhthelm for correcting my mistakes. And here we go with another chapter! :)

CHAPTER 4

The flight to DC definitely wasn't the best Mac had ever taken. Because of the early hours, she felt quite sleepy but the almost non-stop turbulence made it impossible for her to sleep longer than fifteen minutes at a time. She almost resented Major Johnson, who dozed off the moment the plane took off the ground, and when Mac woke her up shortly before landing, she was surprised that they were already in DC and completely unaware that there had been any turbulence.

After four and a half hours in a sitting position, without the opportunity to take a short walk or even simply stand up, Mac's back was starting to hurt and one glance at her was enough to tell even a casual observer that she wasn't in the best of moods. And it definitely didn't improve when she and Major Johnson entered the arrivals area to find no-one waiting to meet them. She actually started to wonder if such a person was supposed to appear but yes, the General told her quite clearly that he would send someone. So, using the opportunity, both women made their promised phone calls, but Mac only managed to get Harm's voice mail.

"Hi Harm, it's me. You wanted me to call you, so I am but you're probably in court as it's half past nine in San Diego. I've just landed and well, in my opinion the flight was horrible but you would probably tell me, that it was nothing… Anyway, I'll call you later or in the evening…"

There wasn't much more to say, so she finished the call and just when she glanced up from the screen, she noticed a very familiar person in a Navy uniform approaching them with a huge smile on his face.

"Colonel MacKenzie!" he spoke, when he stopped in front of them. "It's nice to see you again, Ma'am! Harriet and the kids really can't wait for you to visit us!"

"And I can't wait to see them!" she smiled, and turned to the Major, who stood by her side with a slightly uncomfortable expression on her face. "This is Major Andrea Johnson, one of my JAGs from JSLO. Major, allow me to introduce you to Commander Bud Roberts; he worked with me in JAG."

"It's nice to meet you, Major." he spoke, his smile growing even wider if it was actually possible, when he extended his hand in her direction. She smiled and shook it.

"I just hope I didn't keep you waiting for too long, Ma'am." he said after he had seen them safely into his car. "There's been an accident on the road and I got stuck for some time…"

"Don't worry about that. Is everything okay, though? You look like something happened."

"Oh, no, nothing serious, Ma'am. I had a rather eventful beginning of the day. James fell onto one of his toys and started to cry, and of course, that woke up the twins up and they joined. Then, AJ started yelling to do something so the other three would stop crying and when we finally managed to calm them all down, I had a huge headache and I only miraculously managed to get to work on time."

"That definitely sounds like a difficult morning." commented the Major and although Mac was amused by Bud's domestic story, she needed to focus.

"Bud, do you know anything about the case that we shall be working on?"

"Actually, I know a bit. Commander Turner is defence counsel and I'm second chair, Ma'am. It's a horrible case…" he sighed. "We were looking through the crime scene photographs… But I wasn't able to look at them all in one go…"

Mac nodded her head. Her curiosity was raised really high from the very beginning, but Bud's comment about the pictures bothered her a little. During all these years, that she spent at JAG, they saw a lot of crime scene evidence, including dead bodies and other things that no-one wished to have to see. But uneasiness made her wonder about the nature of the case. She had General Creswell's comment in mind, that it was a high-profile case, and she was sure that it would already have attracted media attention. She was also certain that she would have known about it if she had been able to convince Harm to buy TV. Yet, none of her arguments worked and all she heard was: "Don't you think it's enough that you're eating all this unhealthy food? I'm not going to buy you a TV just so you can do it lying on the couch in front of a TV!"

"Have you seen any media coverage of this case?" she asked the Major, remembering the way she reacted when she had mentioned the case to her and Commander Watson for the first time, and the blonde woman shrugged.

"Not much, Ma'am. My knowledge is limited to the fact, that Commander Wards is accused of abusing and neglecting her children, one of whom is dead now."

The smile, which she had on her face when they walked into the JAG building, faded. If that was the case, she suddenly started to understand why it was public. All cases like this were covered prominently in the media. A part of her also started to wonder how could a mother treat her children like that, but it wasn't her place to question whether it was possible. She was supposed to prosecute, so she should focus on that.

It felt good to be back in JAG. This place was like a second home for her for a number of years and it felt like she had come back home after a long absence. She knew every corner, every little nick and scrape in the building, and had memories connected to most of them, both good and bad. Those bad memories, however, didn't change the fact that she really liked the place. It wasn't that she didn't like San Diego; that place was completely different from this; it was newer, sunnier and warmer, she was still finding and exploring new places every time she walked around. And, as much as she liked the San Diego office, she remained very fond of the office in DC.

"The place seems very empty..." said the Major, when they left the elevator and saw barely a few people inside.

"It's the time, Major. Most of the people went out for lunch." said Bud and continued. "I promised Harriet that I'd tell you to call her when you have a moment, Ma'am. You can leave your things in the conference room. And now, if I may excuse myself, Ma'am, I have a stack of work waiting for me. Ever since you and Captain Rabb left, we're lucky if we find time to go home."

"Was Commander Roberts talking about the same Captain Rabb as the San Diego Judge, Ma'am?" asked the Major, looking somewhat confused, what made Mac smile a bit.

"Yes, the very same."

She could see Major had more questions on the tip of her tongue, but never got the chance to voice any of them, as just at that moment, that they heard the General's voice right behind them bringing them both to attention.

"It's nice to see you here, Colonel." he said, walking up to them. "As you were." he gave them the sign to follow him and they went to his office. "I see you decided to come with another Marine officer, Colonel."

"That's right, Sir." spoke Mac, when they stopped in front of his desk.

"When we talked, I asked if you liked San Diego... I was wondering what is the Captain's opinion about his work…?"

"I think he is happy with it, Sir."

"Good; after what I had to do to find this position for him, I don't want even to hear that he is not. Now, these are your case files." he said, handing the files to Mac. "You have three days to get to get up to speed before the court martial is scheduled to begin. Use the conference room as the office, and please, nothing to the media – leave all that to the Public Affairs people… There are already too many versions of what happened and we don't need any more of them. I think that is all. Dismissed."

"Aye, aye, Sir," both women replied and left the office.

They made their way back to the conference room, where their things had been left. They settled down and divided all the documents into two piles, as they agreed it would be faster go to through them this way. They spent a better part of the afternoon, reading everything they had very carefully, taking a break only to eat lunch, and before they realised it, it was almost time to go home. Mac, reading the witness statements, noticed that every one was different and it was difficult to conclude anything from them. The only thing present in all of them was that all the neighbours heard shouting, although nobody was able to say what was being said. Still, in the morning, when the children's father came to take them for the weekend, one of them was dead and the second was in a very bad state. Some claimed that the Commander was drunk, when she returned home in the afternoon, others that she was high on drugs and the rest that she was completely sober; some said that she was alone, but three people informed them that she did bring home an unknown guy.

Mac sighed heavily; it was difficult to make out anything with such contradictory information and she glanced up, when she heard the Major gasp. Andrea was pale, and she was covering her mouth with her hand.

"I-I think I know what the Commander was talking about, Ma'am…" she explained, when she noticed Mac's questioning look. "Excuse me, Ma'am, I need some fresh air."

She sped from the room and Mac, curious about her behaviour, reached to the photographs. She could see a living room in them, but it was in a complete mess. Everything inside the room was lying on the floor, most of the things shattered and some also covered in blood. Mac's heart jumped, when she noticed two lighter shapes on the dark carpet, which she had no doubts were the children.

Finally, she found the two pictures which the Major had looked at before leaving, as she had shoved them to the bottom of the pile. On one of them, she saw a body of a seven, maybe eight-year-old boy. His dark hair was matted with congealed blood, his eyes wide open in terror, his arms and legs buckled strangely to all sides, probably broken, his whole body and clothes covered in his blood. The second one showed his younger sister; her hair was in a complete mess, it looked like some of it had been torn out of her head and there were cuts and bruises visible all over her body. It was an absolute miracle that she survived after losing so much blood.

Mac had never believed herself to have a weak constitution, but this view was a little too much even for her. She immediately understood the Major's reaction. She quickly stood up and went to the window, opening it to get some fresh air. She breathed deeply and after a moment, the nauseous feeling disappeared. She didn't move from the spot, though; the pictures were still right in front of her eyes. Everything she read, other than the testimony of Commander Wards, who claimed that what her neighbours heard was her fight with the kids' nanny and that she was drugged, negated the truth of her statement and indicated her fault.

She wasn't a mother and she was very aware that she might never be, at least biologically, and it was rather difficult for her to understand the bond, which mothers shared with their children, especially since she had never been truly close with her own and any degree of closeness between them had dissipated completely after the woman left. Still, she couldn't imagine how anyone would be able to hurt the children. Of course, all of them had their moments of uncontrollable tantrum and it could be absolutely infuriating for the parents, but it still didn't seem enough. In fact, nothing seemed enough and whoever did that deserved a strict punishment. And now, that all pointed out that it was their mother, Mac actually felt glad that she had been handed the role of a prosecutor.

"It seems so…" she heard the Major's voice, when the woman returned. She was still quite pale, but generally she seemed to be a little better. "I can't believe any mother could do something like this to her own children…"

"Everything indicates that she did that…" spoke Mac, turning around to look at her companion. "And remember, you're working for the prosecution."

"Of course, I know that, Ma'am… But, I know it's not my business, but do you have children, Ma'am?" she asked, looking at her CO and Mac was silent. The answer seemed obvious, although there were kids in her life; she wasn't sure, though, if she could offer Mattie, Chloe or the little Roberts as an answer.

Major Johnson just nodded, when she didn't get any answer and continued, "Being a mother myself, I just can't imagine that a parent could hurt their child. My daughter has her days of being a little angel, but also those when she turns into a small devil, but no matter what, I would never let anything happen to her, I'd be ready to tear apart anyone, who would even try to do anything to her… I would never, ever, be able to hurt her, no matter what."

"I understand you, Major. But sometimes people do things that for us are completely unimaginable." Mac sighed, and started to gather the documents and pictures back into the small box. "I think that just like me, you don't feel like you can look at the rest of this for now… I think it'd be best to take a break and return to it later… I don't know about you, but I can still see those kids right in front of my eyes…" she wasn't surprised to see the Major nod in response. "Let's take it home, look through it there and tomorrow, we'll think about our strategy. Now, Major, go to the hotel, call your daughter, get some rest…"

"I will just…" started Andrea, but Mac didn't plan to let her finish.

"Do you want me to make that an order, Major?"

"It's not necessary, Ma'am."

She left and for a short while, Mac stayed alone in the conference room, looking out of the window. She was watching all the people walking in front of the building, recognising some of their faces. Finally, she gathered her belongings as well as her half of the work and left. She took a taxi to Harm's old apartment and went inside, looking around. It wasn't at all the way she remembered the place; there was very little furniture, only those things that they decided not to take to San Diego, either because hers were better or they had wanted to buy new.

She sighed, sitting heavily on the couch. She could now understand even better, why the media was interested in this case; it was horrible and most of the people couldn't imagine it could happen, but also demanded justice. She felt flattered, that while he wanted the best people working on this case, the SecNav had chosen her but she knew that it definitely wasn't going to be an easy case.