0905 (9:05 a.m.)
JAG Headquarters
Falls Church, Virginia

“Enter!”

Harm walked into Admiral Chegwidden’s office and stood at attention. “Commander Rabb reporting as ordered, sir.”

“Good morning, Commander, at ease. Have a seat.”

“Thank you, sir.” Harm sat down in one of the chairs facing the Admiral’s desk.

“How are the Colonel and Chloe?” Chegwidden asked immediately.

“Much better, sir. The funeral was yesterday, but Chloe dealt with it really well. I think she’ll be back to her normal self before too long. Mac’s up to her ears in legal matters and packing, but she’s doing fine.”

“Good.” The Admiral picked up a small pile of folders that had been resting by his elbow. “Well, Commander, here’s your welcome home present.” He handed the files to Harm.

“Thank you, sir. What sort of case?”

“Fraternization. Thought you’d be especially interested in this one - the officer being charged is a pilot.”

“Oh?”

Chegwidden nodded. “A Commander Brian Clemn is being charged with fraternizing his RIO, Lieutenant Lisa Denner. You’ll be defending the Commander.”

“What prompted these charges, sir?”

“They were seen kissing on the Patrick Henry after a pre-flight briefing.”

Harm’s eyebrows raised. “Really?”

“Mmm-hmm. Have a ball, Commander.”

“Yes, sir.” Harm rose and snapped to attention before leaving.

~*~*~*~*

Harm walked into his office and set the stack of files down on his desk. Collapsing into his chair, he reluctantly picked up the breakfast biscuit that he’d bought on the way to work. He grimaced as he opened the wrapper. There was no way he was ever making a bet with Mac again.

Taking a deep breath, he bit into the sandwich. Still chewing, he picked up the phone and dialed a familiar number.

~*~*~*~*

Same Time
Madison Residence
Outside of Burlington, Vermont

“Chloe, I had no idea you had so much… stuff,” Mac told her breathlessly, setting down the box they’d been carrying. She’d caught herself just before using the word “junk”. After all, a large percent of the items they were hauling were presents she’d given Chloe herself.

Chloe gave her a small grin. “I’m an only child. Therefore, I’ve been blessed with every single imaginable gift known to mankind.”

“I have no clue how we’re going to fit all this inside my apartment. We’ll probably have to get you a storage unit, and -” Mac was cut off by the ringing of her cell phone. She flipped it open. “Lieutenant Colonel MacKenzie.”

“How’s the packing coming along?” Harm’s voice came across the line.

“Don’t ask.”

Harm chuckled.

“Your flight go OK?” Mac asked, sitting down on one of the barstools.

“It was boring. I was stuck in the seat next to a man who must’ve been in his nineties. He slept the whole time, and I didn’t have a single person to talk to.”

“Poor baby.” Mac’s voice didn’t contain one ounce of sympathy.

“Anyway, it sure is quiet around here with so many people gone. The Admiral just put me up against Manetti in a frat case.”

“Defense or prosecution?”

“Defending.”

“Good luck.”

“Thanks.” Harm glanced at his watch. “Well, I better cut this short. I’m meeting with my client at noon, and I need to review the case file some more.”

“All right.”

“You need me to do anything?”

“Actually, yeah. If you get the chance, could you dig up some dirt on a few of the local middle schools? See how many have openings, stuff like that?”

“Sure thing. Talk to you later. Say hi to Chloe for me.”

“Will do. Talk to you soon.”

“Bye.” Harm hung up the phone, gave his half-eaten biscuit one final glare, and tossed it into the trash.

~*~*~*~*

1204 (12:04 p.m.)
Conference Room inside JAG Headquarters
Falls Church, Virginia

Harm entered the conference room a few hours later, briefcase in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. A man who looked a year or two younger than he was sitting in one of the chairs at the table.

“Commander Rabb?” he asked, rising.

Harm nodded. “That’s me. Thanks for coming on such short notice, Commander.”

“No problem.”

“Let’s get right to business.” Harm sat down opposite Clemn and opened his briefcase, pulling out a notepad and pen. “Tell me your side of the story.”

Commander Clemn took a deep breath. “I was assigned to the Patrick Henry four months ago, and that’s where I met Lisa- er, Lieutenant Denner; she’d been signed up as my RIO. We basically hit it off right away, especially when we found out how much we have in common: we like the same type of music, we were both born in Idaho, things like that.”

“Go on,” Harm told him, scribbling a sentence onto his pad.

“For the first two months or so, we got closer and closer. Even though we were attracted to each other, we never acted on it, since that would be against regs - she’s two ranks lower than I am. And then…” Clemn fell silent.

“And then what?” Harm prompted.

“…I got strep throat something fierce about a month and a half ago, just before a mission that she and I were scheduled to fly. It was high priority, so the Skipper assigned a buddy of mine to take my place, with Lis- Lieutenant Denner along as his RIO. And, by either an unbelievable stroke of bad luck or a twist of fate, they ran into trouble in the air.”

“‘A twist of fate’?” Harm questioned, instantly curious.

“I realized for the first time how much she really means to me, Commander. I’d never been so scared in my entire life than when the XO came into sickbay telling me that they might not make it back to ship.” Commander Clemn swallowed hard before continuing. “I said more prayers during the forty-five minutes until they – miraculously - landed on the deck than I ever have before.”

Harm nodded.

“The corpsman tried to convince me to stay in bed, but there was no way in heck I was gonna stay in sickbay until I saw her. I had made it halfway to the deck before I saw her… she was on her way to see me. I gave her a hug - our first ever - but no one really paid attention. They know how close we are. It was a real turning point for me. For us.”

“Did you ever show public displays of affection again?”

“No, Commander… unless you want to include the incident after pre-flight.”

“Why don’t you fill me in on that?”

“Well, we had just been briefed on a mission we were about to fly. It wasn’t highly dangerous, but it wasn’t exactly a walk in the park either. Either way, I wanted to make sure that if something happened up there, we had a chance to say goodbye before…” Clemn let that sentence run off. “So, I quickly kissed her before we headed up to the deck. Captain Ingalls saw us, and well… here I am.”

Harm looked through his paperwork for a couple of seconds, then asked, “How does Lieutenant Denner feel about all of this?”

“The charge?”

“Yes.”

“Upset. Not at me, but at the system. We never did anything except say goodbye in a slightly different way than everybody else.”

“Commander, you did kiss her,” Harm reminded him.

“I know that, and I’m ready to accept full responsibility for it.”

“Are you willing to let me try and make a deal with opposing counsel?” Harm asked him.

“I’d prefer my day in court.”

“All right. Thank you for your time, Commander,” Harm told him, rising to his feet. “I’ll contact Lieutenant Denner this afternoon. Do you think she’ll be willing to help us out?”

“Absolutely,” Clemn assured him. “Commander?”

“Yes?”

“How good a chance do you think I have?”

“I’m not concerned, Commander.”

Relief flooded over the younger man’s face. “Thank you.”

~*~*~*~*

1302 (1:02 p.m.)
JAG Headquarters
Falls Church, Virginia

“0930 tomorrow? That’s fine,” Harm said into the phone. “I’ll see you then. Thank you, Lieutenant.” He hung up, then leaned back in his chair. Things were definitely looking up - Lieutenant Denner couldn’t wait to testify for the defense, and he was already getting an idea of how he could win the case. Life was good.

He picked up his box of take-out Chinese and took a bite of lo mein. Looking at the empty chair in front of his desk, he let out a small sigh. Lunch sure was boring without his partner there to share it with.

A quick knock bounced off his office door, and he looked up as Sturgis entered his office. “Hey! I thought you were supposed to be in Washington.”

“I was.” Sturgis sat down in front of Harm’s desk. “Bobbi unexpectedly called off the hearing this morning.”

“Permanently or just postponing?”

“Not sure yet. Said she’d let me know tomorrow.” Sturgis settled back in the chair and crossed his long legs. “How was Vermont?”

“Beautiful,” Harm answered honestly. “The weather was gorgeous. I could’ve stayed up there all winter.”

“I think you’d be singin’ a different tune when it dropped down to 10 below. How about Mac and Chloe?”

“They’re fine. Mac said they’ll probably start driving back down here on Thursday or Friday.”

Sturgis nodded, and cocked his head curiously as he watched an expression cover Harm’s face that was somewhere between lonely and confused.

“What is it?”

“Huh?” Harm looked up, startled.

“What’s the matter? You look upset.”

“Oh, uh, I’m fine. Just tired.”

Sturgis shook his head, unconvinced. “Spill it, buddy.”

Harm sighed, giving in. “OK. Right after Mrs. Madison and Petty Officer Anderson died, Mac asked me if I’d like to help her raise Chloe.”

Sturgis’ eyebrows flew up. “She did?”

Harm nodded wordlessly.

“What did you tell her?”

“I haven’t said yes or no yet.” Harm leaned back in his chair, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

“But you have made your decision, haven’t you?”

“Stur-gis.” Harm glared at his friend.

“Sorry,” Sturgis apologized, a sheepish grin on his face. “My dad always said I was a little nosy.”

“‘A little’ is an understatement.”

Sturgis felt it was time to change the subject, and gestured at the files on Harm’s desk. “New case?”

“Fraternization. Pilot and his RIO.”

“Defense?”

“How’d you know?”

Sturgis grinned. “That’s where the Admiral places you 95 percent of the time.”

“Yeah, I know,” Harm admitted. “I don’t know why.”

“Probably because of your pull-at-the-heartstrings-and-make-you-bawl speeches,” Sturgis told him, rising from his chair and heading towards the door.

“I guess.”

“See you later, buddy.”

“Bye.” Harm sighed as he watched Sturgis leave his office, closing the door behind him. He rested his elbows on the desk and buried his head in his hands, his mind racing. He admitted to himself the real reason he’d avoided answering Sturgis’ question - since he’d gotten back to JAG and resumed his duties, he’d realized once again how much time his career required. Maybe there wouldn’t be a way for him to juggle fatherhood and his job. Despite himself, he was starting to reconsider his decision.