"One night in Red Rock Mesa" Ch03: "Admiral, we have a problem"
A/N: AU. This is a fictional story, in a fictional Alternative Universe, about fictional characters who entertained us in a fictional TV series between 1995 and 2005. Mike. Characters borrowed with love and appreciation for the great team who brought us "JAG"; may your following careers blossom.
A/N: AU: "they aren't mine: I'm just playing with them - apart from any fictional character created by myself". Feel free to PM me if you spot any typos - my goal is 100% error-free. Feedback and comments are also welcome. Your opinions, critiques (and requests as PMs) are always helpful - and welcomed.
A/N: Published 22-SEP-2023: continuing this additional short story in the "Don't get too comfortable - you're gonna be working together" Alternative Universe. As you will know if you read my stories, I don't usually "ship" Harm and Mac. March 1997 has arrived – along with Mac's unexplained morning sickness…
A/N – link to Canon Episodes: Not really relevant!
Characters from FFNET – Harmon Rabb jr; Sarah "Mac" Mackenzie: and a new surprise!
"One night in Red Rock Mesa" Ch03: "Admiral, we have a problem"
Famous last words: "Harm, there is something you need to know..."
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Saturday 1st March 1997, 13:43hrs
Home of Sarah Mackenzie. Georgetown, Washington DC, USA
*Flashback:
"Sarah, I'm sorry: you've obviously had a few hours, I've had mere minutes."
He paused.
"Sarah, this will obviously affect you in so many ways. So, assuming that you want me, I would want to be with you every step of the way until the end of time."
Her soft chuckle stirred in the earpiece of his telephone handset.
"Steady Flyboy – don't make promises that you can't keep. Plus, it's my right to talk about delivery."
He groaned, smiling at her double-entendre.
"Oh Sarah; darling Sarah: I will commit until there is no breath left in my body – assuming that you want this."
He chuckled, gripping the 'phone and casting around for his car keys. A trip to Georgetown was on the way – and soon. Then he heard her chuckle gently in return before she answered his question. The Sarah Mackenzie chuckle was rapidly becoming one of his favourite sounds.
"Yes Harm, I do. Look, could we meet up for lunch?"
"Stay there, Marine; I'm on my way Let me pick you up."
*end flashback.
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She had tried so hard to hold it together – to be the "kick-ass" Marine whom he had met, saved in the desert and worked with for two months.
But this was beyond her.
For the second time within three years, she recognised the symptoms of morning sickness.
She was pregnant – again.
But she had been chaste for the past couple of years since she had given up Catherine for adoption, the day after her daughter had been born.
Now, history was repeating itself – with this tall, handsome Naval Aviator with the troubled love-life, who had looked at her like he had seen a ghost when they had first met, then subsequently told her that she was the dead-spit image of his slain lover.
"Crap-a-doodle-doo, Mackenzie, you've SERIOUSLY screwed the pooch this time."
She was fearful when he arrived. She couldn't read his expression.
Yet, once he was through the door and they were together in the apartment, he simply took her hands together in his and kissed her knuckles before he spoke.
"Sarah, thank you for telling me this wonderful news. I'm sorry that I wasn't actually here with you earlier, but if you will allow me, I shall be here for the rest of my life."
She looked up into his blue eyes, trying to assuage her uncertainty.
"You mean that, Harm?"
"Hell yes, Sarah. When Diane was killed, I truly believed that the Heavens didn't want me becoming a father. Now, it appears that the Heavenly Powers brought us together, started a family between us and we didn't even realise."
He chuckled: "I have always believed that, when you make love, you would remember it."
She smiled, then laughed and nodded: "Hell yes – and you should definitely remember if you've bedded a kick-ass marine."
They both sobered somewhat, thinking through the next step.
Harm spoke first.
"So, Sarah: it must have been that night in the desert; we've only been physically close – and not fully conscious – in the desert that night. It also fits, I guess, with you suffering from morning sickness now."
She nodded: "You know – and I hesitate to say this – I had the weirdest, most erotic dream that night in the back of that truck, out in the moonlight in the desert."
She looked sheepish before she continued: "I dreamed that I had made love to you. Your pants had split and I just lowered myself on you and took what I needed."
She looked at him, with laughter lines forming around the corners of her mouth. "Oh Jeez Harm, that's a new one for US military history – unconscious coupling!"
He nodded, then continued: "I seem to recall seeing you (or Diane) above me in my dreams that night - and saying something like 'this is a good dream' – then I remember going back to sleep."
He reached out to her: she sighed and then – slowly - she settled into his arms as he relaxed back onto her couch.
He rested his hand on her head as he formed his next question. He felt her almost purring in response to his touch.
This was one incredible woman - and he now knew what to say.
"So, Sarah: the next question: what do we do and where do we go next?"
"Well Harm, I am minded to definitely keep this baby. As in – I *want* to keep this baby."
She sighed, then looked up at him. It was time to explain some of her past history to Harm.
"OK - time for full disclosure; I was pregnant a little under three years ago, after I had left Okinawa. I completed my studies at Duke, graduated and gave up my little Catherine for adoption the day after she was born."
He looked up: "Catherine?"
"Yep, I gave her my middle name – Catherine Deanne (Deanne after my mom, who walked out on my 15th birthday - and she was no loss - but I felt that the name had a good history: hell, things couldn't get any worse!). There was nothing to do with Catherine's father, who never knew that he had fathered a child. I had already said farewell to him, but I left Okinawa with my little passenger on board."
She took his hand: "Harm, I want to keep this one."
Her hand instinctively splayed out over her belt-line as she looked into his eyes for reassurance.
He took her free hand again: "Yes: and so *we* shall, Sarah. I am, believe me, serious about wanting to be a part of this – if you will choose to let me?"
"Hell yes, Flyboy – as your RIOs would say, 'to hell and back', I believe."
For the first time since he had reached her apartment, she relaxed fully into his arms and curled up, completely eliminating the space between them.
He gently stroked her hair again. The purring grew louder.
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Five minutes later, he was amazed to hear, from the gentle snoring, that Sarah had fallen asleep in his arms.
He looked up, tears in his eyes: "Dad, Diane, whoever; please ensure that this is not some cosmic joke; I am serious about this wonderful woman. I may need your help, guys. Possibly until our lives end..."
A lovely warming sense of comfort settled on him.
Just three minutes later, Harmon Rabb jr joined the mother-to-be of his first child, in slumber. Their planned lunch would have to wait.
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They would spend the rest of the weekend together, relating family histories and steadily getting to know each other – as the parents of a child need to do.
Monday morning - and potentially some hard conversations - would come soon enough.
This weekend was time for Harm and Sarah.
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Monday 3rd March 1997, 07:53hrs
Ante-room, JAG HQ, Falls Church, VA, USA
"Tiner, is the Admiral free please? The Major and I need a word – jointly – with him."
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Final A/N 22-SEP-2023: Thanks for the encouragement to take this story further. Naturally, NOTHING will be simple in the lives of our "Dynamic Duo".
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End of: "One night in Red Rock Mesa" Ch03: "Admiral, we have a problem."
Mike: UK, 22-09-2023