"One night in Red Rock Mesa" Ch04: "An ultrasound surprise."
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 26-NOV-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. As Spring 1997 moves forward, our Dynamic Duo learn more (much more!) about Mac's pregnancy: Harm realises that Red Rock Mesa was not just a pleasant dream!.
A/N – link to Canon Episodes: Not really relevant!
Characters from FFNET – Harmon Rabb jr; Sarah "Mac" Mackenzie: and (eventually) family.
"One night in Red Rock Mesa" Ch04: "An ultrasound surprise."
Famous last words: "Harm, there is something you need to know..."
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Monday 3rd March 1997, 07:53hrs
Ante-room, JAG HQ, Falls Church, VA, USA
"Good morning Tiner, is the Admiral free please? The Major and I need a word – jointly – with him."
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Monday 3rd March 1997, 07:55hrs
Office of AJ Chegwidden, JAG HQ, FallscChurch, VA, USA
Rear Admiral AJ Chegwidden surveyed two of his leading lawyers over the rim of his reading glasses as he sipped his coffee. He would REALLY have to get Tiner trained on how to make coffee: this thin bilge-water would not even be useful in cleaning the heads!
He took a moment to survey the pair. Something was off.
He had, since taking over the command from old "Clarinet" Brovo, come to trust and depend upon Rabb. In fairness, the two other legal teams in the building were good and very efficient, but there was something about Rabb which – if marshalled, tutored, mentored, managed, motivated and encouraged – could see the current junior officer heading eventually towards Flag rank.
Similarly, although she had only been on board since early January, there were good vibrations (and specific positive feedback) emerging around the Major. Mackenzie had acquitted herself well on the first case (the kudos file from SECNAV was still in the heavily-positive part of the dial).
But something wasn't *quite* right. Mackenzie looked as though she was about to throw up and Rabb looked as though he was short on sleep. Turning his attention back to Mackenzie, she also looked a little tired.
Finally, "AJ" realised what was out-of-kilter.
"Rabb, Mackenzie - do you two even realise that you are holding hands?"
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He wasn't certain who moved apart quickest – but Sarah Mackenzie remained upright in her heels as she sprang sideways away from Harm.
"AJ" took pity on them, waving them towards the wing-backed chairs arranged around the fireplace. "Come on, take the weight off – what's the problem, or is it a cause for joy?"
Harm turned to Sarah with a questioning eyebrow raised. She nodded – giving him permission to speak on behalf of the pair of them.
"Well Admiral, the Major and I have encountered a…" (he hesitated, then ploughed onwards) "...situation which was unplanned."
He winced at the word "unplanned" - and AJ's gimlet glare focussed on Sarah's midriff.
In response, she crossed her legs, tilting her body slightly away from him.
This movement of Mackenzie's body gave, inadvertently, a perfect view of the profile of her waist.
"That skirt waistband is looking a little tight", AJ thought, as he slowly worked his way towards a conclusion which explained everything around the pantomime which had developed since the Dynamic Duo had arrived in his office just three minutes earlier. Then realisation dawned.
"Oh holy crap!"
He smiled and relaxed. "OK kiddies, let's leave the ranks at the door for a moment. Are you telling me that congratulations are in order, Sarah?"
Mac looked briefly at Harm - who nodded - then she replied for the couple.
"Well, Admiral, only if there are congratulations for an unbelievable piece of cosmic coincidence. Harm is probably more-embarrassed about this than I am, although it's been giving me sleepless night all weekend since the morning sickness started."
There – she had said it! Both her appearance and their joint impression of sleep deprivation now made sense.
Suddenly, Sarah Mackenzie felt as though a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Her face broke from the stoic USMC programming and she reached out to Harm; his arm swung across and they met halfway, fingers intertwining. He took up the conversation.
"Yes Sarah: Admiral, we are going to have a baby – in around seven months from now."
"But you only met..."
AJ started working backwards in his mind while looking across at the calendar on the wall.
"Jeez, that was quick work!"
If seven months remained, then the conception must have been in early January. But these two had only met on January 3rd and then headed out to Arizona on that case triggered by the fuck-wit Webb at "State" - and they had achieved the successful retrieval of the artefact…
He sighed; there was at least one CO duty remaining...
"OK, I am going to ask an indelicate question, but as your CO (and also your friend) I believe it is essential. So please call me AJ: here comes the question."
He emphasised the word "Friend" - and Harm smiled weakly, still holding Sarah's hand.
"Admiral, we expected this; yes, it was on our first – and only – night together. Something happened whilst we were both asleep…"
She paused, noting that AJ was smiling.
"Sir, this is hard enough – and embarrassing enough – without my/our CO looking as though he is about to burst into laughter."
AJ shook his head, then stood up. "Major – Sarah – it is a smile of joy. The imminent birth of a child is always an occasion for happiness, assuming that the conception was consensual?" He looked at Harm, whose face suddenly lost colour.
"Oh crap! Well sir, that's part of the problem."
"Uh-oh, what have they done?"
"Oh, do please explain, Commander."
"Well sir, we were both asleep in that wreck of a truck that night, as we pretended that I was Sarah's boyfriend as we tracked down Colonel O'Hara at Red Rock Mesa."
"Hmm, so you played your part to perfection – or over-played it?"
"Yes sir – I mean no sir; ah hell, Sir we were both asleep when the conception occurred".
Harm looked seriously embarrassed as the "interrogation" continued. Sarah was just smiling contentedly, enjoying her partner's discomfort at the questioning.
AJ's eyebrows would have met his hairline had he still retained any hair. His smile continued to develop though, and shortly after all three were laughing.
"OK, that has *got* to be some kind of record for Navy-USMC liaison."
He paused, looking at them both in turn. "What do you mean, you were both asleep?"
His gaze settled upon Sarah.
Sarah looked seriously uncomfortable. "Well Sir, I guess that during the night I cooled off and my body sought warmth. Now, I know from the last couple of nights that Harm is incredibly warm in bed…"
She paused, gulped and looked across at Harm, mouthing "Sorry!" to him.
He smiled proudly and the tension in the room dissipated.
"OK, Major: definitely too much information..."
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AJ walked back around to his desk and triggered the intercom.
"Tiner, please locate and bring me the SRBs for Major Mackenzie and Mister Rabb. Thank you."
"Aye-eye Sir: couple of minutes."
"Thanks Tiner – and please bring a pot of *strong* coffee; the three of us will be in a planning meeting for the next half-hour."
"Understood sir – you have the weekly checkpoint with SECNAV at 0930hrs, Sir."
"Thanks Tiner: I am sure that we shall be finished well before then."
He returned to the armchairs by the fire.
"OK, I am going to have to ask another indelicate (but necessary) question – what do you mean when you say that you were both asleep?"
Sarah raised a hand, halting Harm's intended explanation.
"We have both spent the past eight or nine weeks with each of us believing that this had been a dream up on Red Rock Mesa. Only when my morning sickness kicked in on Saturday morning did I have any clue that I was actually pregnant. Given my complete lack of a social life, I know that the only time I've been near a man in over two years was that night out in the desert with Harm (plus, the dates line up)."
She snorted in derision at her situation: "Hell, I've been celibate since the night before I left Okinawa."
Harm's head swivelled to look at her; she looked back defiantly at him and he dropped his gaze, shrugging.
"Son, *that* one obviously surprised you" surmised AJ. He knew that Mackenzie had a habit of turning male heads, but for her to have been actually "inactive" for several years hinted at a deepen problem – or the result of an experience which had put her off the idea of carnal relationships. He was seeing a whole new side of his recent recruit.
"Apart from one night early in January, obviously?" AJ continued probing gently.
She nodded, then continued her accounting of her recent sexual exploits.
"But I only have a hazy memory - and to be fair to him, Harm probably thought it was his dead girlfriend returning in a dream."
"W-h-a-a-a-t?"
Harm reached for his wallet and extracted a small photograph, which he handed to the Admiral.
"This is my late girlfriend, Lt (j.g.) Diane Schonke; AJ, you will recall her murder last summer."
"Indeed I do."
Chegwidden had never seen the actual picture of Diane, because the main effort had centred around getting Rabb released from the trumped-up charged levelled by that idiot NCIS agent.
"What was the guy's name? Oh yes, Turkey or something. What a clusterfuck of an "investigation". AJ had reamed Tom Morrow out after the fall-out. He'd lost two good officers in the splatter-back from the Schonke case. He recalled the loss of Meg Austin to the "Secret Squirrel" team along with the not-really-lamented PCS of Alison Krennick to Europe.
So what was the similarity between Mackenzie and Schonke?
As he held Diane's photograph in his hands, he looked across at Mackenzie.
"Sh-ee-ittt!"
Yep, this explained why Rabb had frozen, that early January morning in the White House Rose Garden, when he had first been introduced to the Marine Officer who, from the start, had introduced herself as "Mac". Wow, the two women could have been twins…
"OK, I can see the definite similarity. So, we have a conception on active service, based upon a dream and a false memory, without formal consent but no coercion on either side and – I presume – no regrets two months later when the consequences make themselves known?"
Harm reached out for Sarah's hand once again. "Yep, Admiral: that's about the size of it. Which is why we came to you as soon as the 'consequences' which you mentioned had become apparent this weekend."
Inwardly, Chegwidden sighed.
"Ah shoot and crap-a-doodle-doo! This wasn't covered in the Admiral's manual!"
But these were two excellent (and otherwise level-headed) officers, both under his command and at equivalent positions in terms of supervision…
He sighed, as he made his decision. "You cannot fight Mother Nature with every military rule."
He also knew that two USMC NCO positions were being relocated between the USMC guard establishment in Falls Church and the USMC HQ at Eighth &I, for exactly the same reason – two people who had decided (with full counselling and their CO's firm support) to move onwards to marriage (again, in the countdown to an impending "happy event").
Which triggered a further thought.
"Well then people – I shall address this question, Major, to Mister Rabb as this isn't a Leap Year."
"Sir?" Harm was momentarily confused.
"What are your intentions towards the Major?"
Harm smiled as he replied.
"Entirely honourable, sir."
He looked at Mac; in turn, she undid her neck tab, pulled out the chain holding her dog-tags – then removed the Rabb family engagement ring from the chain and handed it to him.
Kneeling in front of her, he offered up the engagement ring once again as she re-tied her neck-tab.
Sarah calmly extended her left hand and he slid the Rabb family ring home.
Chegwidden smiled: "Well people, I believe that our business this morning is concluded. I shall write up this as a counselling session and I shall let Admiral Morris know, as well as Tiner. We shall need to be careful with scheduling but – if everyone knows – I foresee no issues. You may both book time off for ante-natal appointments."
He smiled: "OK kiddies, go tell the world!"
"Thanks Admiral".
Harm shook hands, then AJ turned towards Mac and held his arms wide.
Sarah stepped into his embrace and, as they closed together, whispered "Thanks AJ" quietly in his ear.
She stepped back, then she and Harm saluted as they took their leave.
Entering Tiner's little cubby-hole, Mac handed her SRB and Harm's back to Tiner – who immediately noticed the ring.
"So, ma'am – may I say congratulations and I presume that you have a change notification for Next of Kin?"
"Yes indeed Tiner – as does the Commander".
"Of course ma'am – leave that with me."
"Thanks Tiner."
Back in his office, AJ was confident that Rabb was - now, and for several decades to come - motivated. Now, to plan the younger man's career progression - as well as prepare for a "spousal co-location" request.
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Friday 14th March 1997 14:50hrs
Sibley Maternal Foetal Medicine
5255 Loughboro Rd NW, Washington, DC 20016
Harm and Sarah had booked the afternoon off for the first ultrasound scan.
Harm held her hand as the sonographer got to work, apologising for the chill in the ultrasound gel. Sarah had nodded, accepting what was coming.
After a few minutes, the sonographer grunted, then she leaned in and moved the wand once again around Sarah's gel-covered belly. She looked across at Sarah, then up to Harm with a big beaming smile on her face.
"Well, Sarah, you are definitely pregnant: I also reckon we now also know why your pregnancy hormones are elevated."
Harm gestured for Sarah to respond.
"OK, why is that? I presume that my baby is healthy."
"Oh yes, your baby is healthy"...
She paused before she delivered the next part of the news:
"...and so is their brother or sister!"
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Final A/N 26-NOV-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" Ch04: "An ultrasound surprise."
Mike: UK, 26-11-2023 *minor tweaks 29.11.2023*