Harmon Rabb's Apartment – North of Union Station

2043 Eastern

Harm sighed as he let himself into the apartment. It had definitely been a long day, but also a very rewarding one. Harm had been incredibly surprised when he looked over the Grace Aviation accounts, not expecting the level of depth and sophistication from a teenager that he saw there. When he had said something to Mattie, she had told him that her mother had taught her how to run the business. The detail and accuracy made it very easy for Harm to see that the business was doing well and, if not for those loans, would have been in good shape.

What Harm now needed to do is figure out where he was going to find the money to help Mattie rescue the business and her home. If the loans weren't already in default, he would have advised Mattie to just make the payments. However, the bank wasn't likely to be receptive to that approach at this stage, not to mention the potential legal issues involved, especially if Mattie ended up suing the bank for giving the loan out in the first place.

It was while Harm was thinking about the situation that something strange started demanding attention from the back of his mind. Yet, for some reason, it wouldn't seem to come completely into focus for him. Giving his head a shake, he walked into the kitchen and started the oven, having decided to go with a vegetarian lasagna for dinner. While the oven heated, Harm went into the bathroom for a quick shower. He had found over the years that when something was bothering him, it helped him focus if he just simply let him mind concentrate on doing other things.

It was while he was showering that it hit him and Harm started to laugh. When his father had died, Harm's mother had taken the government life insurance and put it into a savings account for Harm and his education. Then, after she had remarried, Frank had taken the money and invested it for him. Because he had gone to the Naval Academy, the money had never been touched. Harm wondered if it was still just sitting there or if Frank and his mother had used it for something else, not that either of them needed the money.

Jumping out of the shower, Harm hurriedly toweled himself dry before throwing on a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt. Making a quick stop in the kitchen to put dinner in the oven, he then crossed over to the desk and picked up the phone. Judging it to be early evening in La Jolla, Harm hoped that his mother would be home.

"Burnett residence," came Frank's voice over the phone.

"Hi, Frank. It's Harm."

"How are you? It's been a while since your mother and I have heard from you."

"I know, Frank. I've been gone for a while and when I got back there was a lot to get caught up on," Harm said.

Frank could tell Harm wasn't telling him everything but he let it go. He and Trish had seen the news footage of Harm landing that C-130 on the carrier and had wondered what the story behind that was.

"Well, it's nice to know you're back home. Your mother and I worry about you, son," Frank said.

"Thanks, Frank. Look, the reason I called is I have a stupid question for you and mom."

"Harm, how many times have I told you, the only stupid question is…?"

"One you don't ask. OK, then my question is, what ever happened to that college fund you and my mother started for me?" Harm asked.

"It's still sitting there, son. I think your mother is hoping it will become her grandchildren's college fund," Frank said with a teasing note to his voice.

"Do you know the balance in the account?"

"Well, I got a statement last week. Hold on while I dig it out and see. Oh, and your mother wants to talk to you."

"Darling, how are you?" Trish asked as she grabbed the phone from her husband.

"I'm fine, Mom," Harm told her. "Busy with work, though."

"Too busy to call your mother every once in a while? I know you're better at keeping in touch with your Grandmother than with me."

"I know, Mom. I just worry more about Grandma Sarah, with her being all alone. You and Frank have each other and I know the gallery keeps you busy," Harm said, trying to explain the unexplainable.

Trish, for her part, just smiled as her son started to become tongue-tied.

"How's Mac?" she asked once Harm had stopped talking.

"We're not really talking much, right now."

"Why ever not, Harm?"

"Well, she told me there would never be an 'us' and she's seeing someone now and I've been gone for a while, ever since I resigned my commission," Harm replied, then sat back for the explosion he was certain was coming.

"When, exactly, did you resign you commission?" Trish asked, a hard edge coming to her voice.

"In May."

"You resigned your commission in May and this is the first I'm hearing about it? Harmon Rabb, why didn't you say something? And why did you resign your commission?" 'As if I don't know,' Trish thought, wondering if her terminally stupid son would admit it.

"Mac was missing down in Paraguay and when I found out, the Admiral refused to let me go after her. So, I resigned my commission to go find her. When I did, all she could do is question why I'd come before telling me there wasn't an 'us'."

"Well, what are you doing now, darling?" Trish asked, hiding her irritation with both her son and with Sarah MacKenzie.

"I've just been involuntarily recalled to active duty, so I'm back at JAG for the time being. And I've been flying, do some crop dusting," Harm told her. "And I've met someone…."

"Oh, you've started dating again?"

Harm couldn't help himself, he had to laugh at the hopeful tone that had taken over his mother's voice. He knew she was hoping for him to settle down, get married and have children.

"What is so funny, Harmon?!" Trish demanded.

"Oh, mom. No, I'm not dating. No, the person I met is Mattie, a 14 year old girl. Her mother owned the hanger where I keep 'Sarah'. After her mother was killed, she took over running the business while her father crawled into a bottle. I'm going to family court to try and get guardianship of her."

"Is that what you need the money for, Harm?" Frank asked, letting Harm know that he'd joined the conversation somewhere along the way.

"In a manner of speaking. You see, Mattie's mother left her the business and the house, but her father has taken out loans against them and isn't paying them. Now, we have until the end of the month to find 400 thousand dollars or she's going to lose both," Harm told them. "While I doubt there'd be enough in the college fund to cover that, I was hoping to use it to lessen the amount I would need to borrow from the bank."

Hearing only dead silence on the other end of the phone, Harm pulled the receiver away from his ear and looked at the display. The call hadn't been dropped, he could see, before putting it back to his ear. He was just in time to hear both his mother and Frank chuckling.

"What did I say that was so amusing, mom?"

"Harm, didn't you ever wonder how your mom was able to afford the gallery and I could retire early? Or even how I could just give you that money when you went to Russia," Frank asked, still laughing.

"I just assumed you'd saved well and I know you made very good money at Chrysler, Frank," Harm replied, feeling slightly defensive.

"Oh, you're right about that, but I was also smart enough to invest well too. I did that with both our retirement money as well as your education funds. Your mother and I have never told you exactly how well we did that."

"Come on, Frank, just tell me, please?"

"Harm, there is over 65 million dollars' worth of stocks in the college fund now," Frank said with a smile, wishing he could be there to see the look on Harm's face. "The trust fund is in your name and the money is available any time you want it."

Now it was Frank and Trish's turn to hear silence from the other end of the line. Harm was simply stunned by the magnitude of this disclosure. Certainly, he had always been aware that his mom and Frank were well-to-do, but nothing could have prepared him for an announcement like this.

"Harm, darling, are you alright?" came Trish's nervous voice over the phone.

"I'm just stunned, Mom. I never expected something like this. I was hoping there would be maybe 100,000 dollars in the fund," Harm replied, choking up a little at the sheer relief he felt. It was as if a huge weight had been taken off his chest. Harm's mind was a complete whirl of thoughts and emotions as he tried to absorb what a life-changing event this conversation was turning out to be.

"I'm sorry we kept this from you, Harm," Frank said. "Your mother and I wanted you to become the person you were meant to be, without this money acting like a drag on you. We've seen so many young people who are lazy and ambitionless because their parents left them large sums of money. We didn't want that future for you. So, we decided not to tell you about it unless or until you needed it. Now that you do, I'll have my financial advisor set up a money market account for you to have access to the funds. He'll send you a checkbook and debit card to use."

"Thank you, Frank," Harm replied. The three of them spent a few more minutes talking about other matters before Harm realized how late it was. While tomorrow was Sunday, he still had a full day ahead of him and with the news that Frank and his mother had given him, there were definitely a lot of things that he would need to talk over with Mattie.