AN: So this story takes place 2 years After "Adrift Pt 2." Unfortunately Mac married Mic and Harm decides he's better off leaving JAG. Unfortunately the paths they chose both have consequences. Mac's marriage is a mess (duh) and Harm has gotten himself into a bit of trouble.

Title: Tension and The Spark

Author: Radiorox

Summary: Chosing the wrong path has its consequences. A failed marriage and a botched assignment finds Harm and Mac reuniting in the oddest of places.

Chapter 1

Fall 2003

JAG Headquarters

Falls Church, VA

Monday was once her favorite day of the week. A fresh start of sorts to start the week off right. Of late the weekday became synonymous with what felt like a week long prison sentence. Monday's meant mandatory meetings, a weekly conference to update the state of affairs and assign new cases. All the drivel which was expected as an officer in the JAG Corps that she currently hated.

This particular Monday felt a little heavier for some reason and as Lt. Colonel Sarah MacKenzie stepped into the elevators; her annoyed groan resonated in the confined space.

Work was work. She always excelled in complicated situations and finding logic where there was none. Being a lawyer was exhilarating at times but, of late, she'd been on the tail end of all the high profile cases, settling for simple slap on the wrists that could be resolved with one quick phone call. That was her fault, she knew but her requests to be reassigned had been denied and the ghosts of her mistakes haunted her like some real-life horror movie.

Even the sounds of her footsteps on the tiled floors made her cringe as she walked through the empty bullpen, making a beeline for the breakroom and a much needed cup - or three - of Marine grade coffee. Early mornings had always been her Zen, a way to relax in her darkened office and quietly catch up on emails until the rest of the office stumbled in. But, for the past two years, early mornings meant an escape from a man she never should have married.

This Monday, something was definitely different. She suspiciously eyed the legal sized manilla envelope in the center of her desk along with the wilting remnants of a bouquet of roses she'd heard had been delivered on Wednesday after Mac had taken medical leave in order to escape Washington for the weekend. Her name was scribbled across the top in handwriting so familiar it made her stomach churn a little.

With great trepidation she took a seat, holding the steaming mug of coffee between her hands as if it could offer insight on the envelope's contents. "Please, God. I never ask for much." And she really hadn't. Besides most of her prayers had been exhausted when a silly flyboy dumped his plane into the Atlantic Ocean two years ago. She sighed, let it out slowly and placed her mug at the corner of the blotter that covered the center of her desk.

For such a short marriage and so little property split between them the size of the document was still substantial. She didn't read through a single page only flipped through until reaching the spot where her signature was required. This would be the third set which passed through her hands and the only one with Michael J. Brumby's signature that would finally dissolve their marriage both in court and in the "eyes of God."

The annulment from the Catholic Church had been Hell to come by as it required multiple steps with witnesses, not all of who were keen to help destroy a marriage. She hated involving her "friends" and the need to give more details than a private person like her was willing to offer. Then there was the accusations of adultery, the private investigator who Mic had hired to wrongfully accuse his wife of wrongdoing. It would all be for naught, she was never unfaithful, not once but her ongoing investigation into her former partner's whereabouts had been suspect.

Yes, former partner because Mac hadn't seen or heard from Harm in nearly two years. She didn't think he'd be so petty to leave during her honeymoon but a proposed CIA offer that would reinstate his flight status was the carrot Clayton Webb used. Temporary. It was supposed to be temporary until she found that Harmon Rabb Jr no longer lived North of Union station and all of his assets, including the Lexus and loft had been sold.

Grieving his loss was irrational but seeing his office dim and eventually given to another officer felt like a dagger through her heart. Emails were never returned and though she'd considered contacting Harm's parents, her conscience couldn't go through with that move because it wasn't her place to ask certain questions. In truth, although she hadn't acted on any adulterous acts her thoughts were rarely with the man she married. Yes, he occupied her time, her bed and her life but in the quiet moments, as irrational as it was, her mind was consumed by Harm.

Beneath the divorce documents was a handwritten note from her now ex-husband, his final blow that made her want to scream. He wanted her car and whatever was left of their joint bank account that he set up without Mac's consent.

Of course, she would give in because when it came to Mic Brumby, all she'd ever been was a trophy wife, a pretty thing to dangle in front of his peers and then abuse when out of the public eye. The reminder of his brand of love meant having to wear long sleeved shirts to hide the cigar burns that wouldn't erase for some time. But, if Mac were honest, she should have left the second they returned from their honeymoon and never tried to make herself believe the lies.

As she entered the conference room the smell of freshly waxed floors and lemon scented wood polish was particularly nauseating that Monday morning. Compounded by lack of sleep, poor nutrition and three cups of Marine grade coffee, Lt. Colonel Sarah MacKenzie was a little irritable.

She sat in her new spot at the opposite end of the conference table, far away from Admiral Chegwwiden and the rest of her co-workers who'd been dragged into her messy little divorce. It was a self-imposed exile but given the past few months, she didn't really feel like socializing with any of them, especially her commanding officer.

Chegwidden disappointed her the most, the man who walked her down the aisle was also the first to cast the first stone. Her checkered past reared its ugly head and damage control had been the Admiral's primary concern but with it came an investigation with answers Mac never wanted to admit. It hurt her pride to be considered a victim of spousal abuse and have most of her dirty laundry aired out yet again adding another chink to the Marine's already dented armor.

He didn't defend her although Mac knew his reason was to cast an unbiased approach to his investigation because any sense of impropriety could cause a landslide Chegwidden couldn't stop. All the same, it hurt her and her ire against her commanding officer was palpable.

The Admiral was on a roll that morning. Gruff as can be his voice felt like nails on chalkboard and her stomach turned as he went on and on and on and on. He dispensed cases like he was giving out candy. She drowned him out after several minutes and fixated her attention on the pencil she dragged across a legal pad, a hobby that served to be the only thing keeping her sane these days.

A request to relocate elsewhere had been denied twice and although Mac couldn't be sure, her intuition told her that was also Chegwidden's doing. There were no posts available for an officer of her caliber, nothing until a promotion would eventually send her to some sort of command. So she was stuck in Washington with bad memories and a laundry list of errors she was destined to make. What hurt the most wasn't the situation with Mic even though it made her feel like a failure. It was the loss of someone she loved so much their absence was like a ghost that haunted her life.

At one point she would count down the details to the very last second of Harm's departure, an exercise that was futile. Twenty-three months, five days and… and the man disappeared like he never existed except for a postcard sent from Spain with the word "Goodbye." No address, no method of communication, nothing. Harm was a ghost and nothing more.

It was Clayton Webb who eventually filled in the details - the CIA needed an expert pilot to fly top secret aircrafts in Europe and Harm was available. Nothing more, nothing less. At least it offered a little consolation that the former Navy pilot was doing something he loved. But her contentment was short lived as a month later Harm was taken off that project and sent to work as an attache for the FBI at their international branch in Germany. And yet, there was little information, no way to contact him or so Webb had said.

Something was wrong, she sensed it but couldn't get a fix on what had happened. That was why she spent long hours at headquarters rather than spending time with her husband. She was trying to use her own government clearance to find any path that led to Harm - an endeavor that would doom an already destructive marriage.

Unfortunately, her most loyal ally became an immovable wall that blocked her path at every turn - AJ Chegwidden. He wouldn't help, simply stood in her way stopping any progress and ultimately stripping Mac of the security clearance needed to find her former best friend. With his actions any respect vanished for a man she saw as a father figure. He claimed it was part of his investigation, a way to keep her safe from Mic's adultery claim but Chegwidden's change was abrupt, absolute and it made her feel so insignificant that it manifested an infantile side of her.

Mac was flippant, insolent and assumed it would get her shipped out of JAG but Chegwidden never budged. And so she did her best, or as little as needed, occasionally showing off to remind him that she was still a force to be reckoned with. Today, her mind wandered elsewhere and as she used her fingers to rub in the pencil marks the World around her ceased to exist.

Drawing Harm was unintentional, especially the version that manifested between the lines of the yellow pages. He had a five-o'clock shadow, longer hair and eyes darkened with a lonely expression. He actually looked sad and as Mac let out a heavy sigh, the sound forced the Admiral to focus his attention on her. "Am I boring you, Colonel?"

Mac stopped caring about his judgment or the anger in his eyes that worsened as the months ticked by. She was quite ready to be shipped out of his command, off to the infamous Aluetians or even the smallest corner of the World the Navy could find. Instead, she sat at the end of his table, doodling on a yellow notepad.

"Are you ignoring me, Colonel MacKenzie?" Chegwidden's voice was stern, harsh even but she no longer feared any repercussions and that made her dangerous.

Mac sighed once again, this time a little louder than before while she continued doodling on her. notepad. She'd become an expert at drawing, a talent long forgotten until she found herself scribbling on a hotel notepad in the middle of her honeymoon two years prior. "No, sir. Just waiting for you to finish."

Chegwidden's annoyance was evident in his own heavy sigh and the chiseled way his jaw set.

He said nothing because there wasn't a damned thing he could do about the wayward Lt. Colonel only to wait for the dust to settle after the divorce - if it even settled at all.

AJ had exhausted his reach and even baited the Marine to one of those rare one-on-one conversations where he invited a subordinate to his home in an effort to air out whatever grievances went beyond the scope of their duties. What he got was an atom bomb and accusations of wrongdoing the likes he'd never understood could come from one of his most favorite officers.

In turn, he relied on punishment, demoting the Lt. Colonel from Chief of Staff and giving the job to his newer litigator - Commander Sturgis Turner, a former bubblehead who had the correct temperament for the job. AJ knew the submariner would cause waves as an academy mate of Rabb's and the officer that would take over the golden boy's office adjacent to the Marine a mere two weeks after Harm had left.

The Marine held it together for several months although Chegwidden saw her change. At first she was polite with her new partner, gave him professional courtesy and was even friendly until she wasn't.

Her temper became explosive and the mild-mannered Marine would often remain after hours instead of going home to her husband. She requested a transfer which he denied as a way to mitigate whatever catastrophic condition was causing her actions. What AJ didn't know and couldn't see until a late night when he found Mac asleep at her desk, was how tumultuous their marriage really was.

There were signs, of course but he couldn't imagine Mic Brumby hurting his wife. What he assumed was that Mac's failed attempts at finding Harm had caused an irrational anger - something he witnessed before when then Lt. Commander Rabb returned to a squadron. The gap between them started then and, if he were honest, it never really closed or had a chance to heal. Like a fault line, the crack spread until the earthquake that followed threatened to swallow all of them.

Damnit, hadn't he warned them not to get too close? Was he so stupid to believe that the initial spark wouldn't grow into something so strong neither of them could resist. He wondered now, as he had for years, if anything other than friendship had manifested between the pair to cause the impetuous acts of scorned lovers. Or was this something different? A lack of resolution to their sexual tension that eventually cast the partners into the arms of another.

Chegwidden sighed again. It was none of his business and nothing he did seemed to ease the Marine's volatile feelings on the matter. He'd jokingly stated she'd taken on Harm's traits, especially the petulant brood he'd often manifested when feeling indifferent about a cause. It was an off-color comment that only deepened the divide between the commanding officer and his most senior litigator.

"Colonel MacKenzie, the SECNAV is still waiting on your analysis on the Phillips report. I suspected that an officer with your experience could finish a simple investigation by now. Do I need to remind you how to do your job?" He hated being gruff with the struggling Marine but good order was paramount in the military and her attitude was anything but that of a seasoned officer.

His tone actually made her wince this time but her fingers kept gripping the pencil, moving across the page with a delicate purpose. His eyes were almost perfect now, almost because there was still much shading to be done, a requirement to capture the hurt from the last time Harm looked at her.

Angrily, Mac swiped at a lonely tear thankful that it slid down the cheek that no one could see. "No, sir. But there are parts of that investigation that I require more information to complete. You wouldn't want to present the SECNAV with inadequate intel, would you?"

Her tone was icy which was why everyone else was dismissed except for Mac. "Snap to, Marine."

The command would always make her flinch because the Marines had drilled into her the correct form of military decorum. She hated that her response was a quick snap of her heel and a stance of attention that only a jarhead could perfect. In her mind, Chegwidden didn't deserve her respect but his uniform and the bars on his epaulets did.

The way he slowly walked around her judging her countenance while making sure her appearance was perfect made her feel inadequate. "Nothing is ever out of place is it? Your uniform is immaculate and your physical appearance is also up to military standards."

Mac stood still, eyes locked onto a small scratch on the corner of a frame against the side wall. She hated when commanding officers played this little waiting game although she'd played it as well with enlisted personnel that needed to be reminded she was an officer to be feared.

Chegwidden wanted to grab the Marine by the shoulders and shake some sense into her. This downward spiral was unexpected and his biggest concern was that it would eventually cause her to fall off the wagon if she hadn't already. "But I see through you. Mac, your eyes are bloodshot. Your skin is pale and I can see you've dropped a little bit of weight, muscle too. I've avoided stepping into something I shouldn't because the last time we spoke privately-"

"The last time we spoke privately you accused me of adultery and insinuated that Harm and I were having an affair."

That wasn't his intention but a rumor had been spread by Brumby and the last thing Chegwidden needed was a repeat offender in his ranks. He dealt with Mac's adultery charge years ago and managed to mitigate any real damage to her record. This time he'd have no options, the SECNAV didn't believe in second chances. "It was not an accusation, Colonel. It was a private investigation."

"You know me better than that, AJ. You know I'd never-"

"Lock it up, Marine!" Mac acquiesced and immediately regretted it when Chegwidden sat at the edge of the table with a look of defeat on his face. "I'm sorry that I doubted you for even a fraction. You're right, I do know you better than that but it's past, it's over. And I need you to accept my apology."

"Accepted."

She didn't mean that and he couldn't fix it, so AJ tried a different approach. "Anything on those divorce papers?"

"Found them on my desk this morning with a bouquet of dying flowers. Very romantic." She said dryly.

Chegwidden held his breath for a moment, "And? Did Brumby sign this time?"

"Yes but he wants my car and whatever is in our bank account. Thankfully he was never able to put the apartment under his name."

He handled a few divorce cases in the past and while not all were amicable, this was the first time a man requested so much from a woman. "Surely you objected?"

"No, I didn't." Off his questioning glance, Mac stepped out of attention and sighed. "He'd just drag this on and on. Freedom has a price and if this gets him the hell out of my life, so be it. He can have all of my things."

"So that's it?"

"Yes." And it felt a little anticlimactic and that was a good thing. "That's it and he'll rescind the accusation of adultery which means it's safe for you to transfer me away from Washington."

"And give you time to find Rabb. Did you ever think that he doesn't want to be found?"

She did but, that really didn't matter when there was so much she needed to tell him. "I have to find him because I know, in my gut, that something is wrong."

"It'll destroy your career, if you even care about that anymore, Mac."

She didn't and couldn't even understand why her life had shifted drastically so. Two years ago she was a woman on a mission with a plan to ascend as far as possible in the Corps. She had a best friend that supported her and a fiance that relocated from his native land just to make sure she'd succeed. Now both were gone. "I'm not sure that I do, Admiral." Without being asked, she walked off, never looking back.