Chapter Four - "Let's Hash This Out"

"Let's Hash This Out"

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VA

TUESDAY 1330 HRS

"Did you see that?" Mac hissed venomously to Harriet as she stalked through the bullpen to the break room. "He had his arms around her! Almost as if he was trying to rub it in!"

"What did you say to him, ma'am." Harriet's eyes flashed. "When he saw you, it seemed as though his eyes were absolutely cold. I've never seen him like that." She paused a moment. "What did you say?"

"I told him, that there would never be anything between us. Quote - Things are never gonna work out between us. Because we both want to be on top and that's physically and emotionally... impossible." Mac grit out, working her jaws as if she was grinding her teeth. "I should never have said that."

Harriet muttered. "No, you shouldn't have. And it's no wonder that he turned to the next person that would be able to give him what he wanted."

Mac's eyes flashed in anger, but she knew that what Harriet was saying was true.

Harriet continued. "You drove him away from you. Ma'am, so what are you going to do about it?"

Just then she saw a Navy rear admiral (lower half) dressed in blues with the one thick gold stripe around his sleeves standing near the bullpen looking a bit lost and confused. Excusing herself from Mac for a moment, Harriet went over to the admiral. "Admiral, sir, may I help you."

He grinned. "I was just looking for Rabb, he said he had a meeting here with his two former attorneys…and I was also here to pick up my wife from judiciary, but I think I'm a little early."

"Commander Rabb went out to lunch, sir, with Commander Meg Austin, the new attorney. Evidently his meeting was finished so he decided to grab a late lunch." Harriet said, while Animal noticed that Mac gritted her teeth; "And, sir. Commander Gracen-Nakamura is still in court hearing an Article 32 case."

Just then Rear Admiral (upper half) Albert Jethro Chegwidden stepped out into the bullpen. "I knew I heard a familiar voice. How are you, Admiral."

"Not too bad, sir." Animal grinned. "Just returned from deployment about a month ago. COMBATGRP2. 6 month cruise in the Med. Lots of sun, lots of water."

"Just the way we liked it…in SPECOPS except we got the lots of sand too." AJ finished off. "So what's it like not being around aircraft as much due to regulations against admirals taking the controls?"

"Hell…" Animal said. "Walking around the smell of jet fuel all the time sucks if you can't be at the controls."

"No abusing admiral's privilege?" AJ responded with a grin. "Thought you'd get in a flight or two somewhere with those stars."

"You forget the leash I've got at home, Admiral." Animal grinned. "Unless I want to be in HER courtroom explaining my actions, I got to toe the line. She's not a three-striper at home, sir. She's the Fleet Admiral."

"I think Commander Nakamura may be in court for a while longer. What do you say we go grab a bite to eat. Talk over old times." AJ grinned. "I'll go grab my cover." Admiral Nakamura grinned back. "Agreed…?" AJ said. "Good."

Harriet and Mac watched the two flag officers exit the JAG office.

SMALL RESTAURANT

NEAR FALLS CHURCH, VA

"Harm, I wasn't expecting this promotion." Meg said as she pondered her newly bought combo cap with the commander/captains scrambled eggs on the underside of the USN Officer's cap insignia. They had stopped by the Navy/Marine Corps PX to pick up the thing before they headed out to eat. "So, now that you're away from JAG…" she sighed. "Where do we stand. I mean, I loved the movie on the weekend, and the chance to hang out together. But where does that put us?" She picked up her burger and took a bite of it while Harm winced. As a vegetarian, he wasn't too keen on having anything with meat on it. "Mac was pretty mad, y'know. The door may need to be repaired by building services. Wonder if the glass pane is still intact?"

Harm's brain was listening to the repartee like it was a tennis match. He wasn't sure if he could keep up with the rapid subject switches. Firstly there was his and Meg's relationship, if they could call it that yet. He was free to pursue her since he wasn't in the chain of command, hell, he wasn't even in the Navy any more. Then she mentioned that she enjoyed the time that they were spending together, then she mentioned Mac and how pissed off she was at the sight of both Meg and him together. He actually kind of felt sorry for Meg and the fact that she would end up being a target of Mac's enmity while he skipped away free from any fallout. "So which of those do you want me to answer first?" He looked into Meg's eyes and grinned.

Meg reached out and held his hands. "So…where do we stand, flyboy. I mean it's been fun."

"I sense a 'but' there." Harm said looking deeply into Meg's eyes.

"Harm, I'm almost 38." Meg said. "By now I thought I'd be having a family. But the Navy has taken up the majority of my career and I don't want to have no chance at a family any more. That's one of the reasons I came back to JAG; to see if I could get into judiciary." She looked out the window with a dreamy look on her face. The unspoken part of it was "if you were still at JAG."

"Are you seeing someone." Harm asked, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer if she was.

She looked at him as if he was insane. "Harm, do you think I'd have gone with you to the movie or have spent time at your place last weekend if I was seeing someone? There is someone, but he is oblivious or has been, since I left JAG and had no contact with him." He almost swallowed his ice water down the wrong way. Harm didn't have a mirror, but the look on his face nearly made Meg burst out laughing. "You're not in the Navy anymore." She said trying to make a point with him. "You don't need to worry about the UCMJ." Then she said. "Or…is it because you haven't settled things with Mac, yet?"

"The problem is…Meg, that I was in love with Mac, or I thought I was." He sighed. It felt a relief to say that.

"And she didn't reciprocate?" Meg said, wondering why the guy that she wanted so much was always unavailable.

"Like I told you…" Harm said. "She drove me insane." Meg resolved to find out what was going on there by talking to the people that Harm used to work with and finding out just exactly what went on there. Because if there was one thing for certain that pissed Meg off was how Mac was toying with Harm's affections. And if Meg was able to, she was prepared to take Harm off the market for good. "I don't know if I'm over that, yet." Harm said.

"Well." Meg said. "I'm coming over tonight and we're going to have a good long talk about Mac and you and where we stand."…and that statement damned near floored Harm. Meg resisted laughing, as Harm was still fragile from whatever LCOL Sarah "Mac" Mackenzie had said to him. Meg knew what she wanted and how she was going to get it. The only thing that remained was whether Harm was ready for it or was he going to stand there and get steamrolled.

MAC'S OFFICE

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VA

Mac looked absolutely sour looking up with a glare as Commander Meg Austin strode back into the JAG office. "Lieutenant Sims. On my six." Meg snapped out as she headed into her (she still considered it Harm's office despite the fact that Building Services had replaced the nametag on there and it now read Commander Megan Austin). "You stand there at attention!" Meg snapped as she shut the door then walked over to Harriet and stood nose to nose with the Lieutenant.

"So…" Meg said coldly. "I want to know one thing…Lieutenant." Each syllable of her spoken rank dripped icicles and Harriet knew that she was dealing with someone who wouldn't hesitate to do what she intended. "Just what did Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Mackenzie do to Harm?"

"I'm not sure what you're asking…" Harriet began.

"You know damned well what I'm asking." Meg cut her off, her blue eyes flashing dangerously. "I know about the relationship between LCOL Mackenzie and Harm; how she strung him along and made him suffer."

"Well, ma'am. He did the same with Renee." Harriet snapped. "As far as I'm concerned; she went to him when she needed help and he waved Renee Peterson in her face. They've been doing this to each other for years."

Meg saw red. "I don't believe it…I really don't believe it. Lieutenant Sims, you are going to tell me every damned thing that you remember about what's gone on between the two of them. Because I can't do my job if I'm deflecting verbal bullets from the Marine Lieutenant Colonel in this office and I don't have the time nor the patience to deal with a Colonel who can't understand that she killed her relationship with Harm and…" Meg hissed the last sentence at Harriet. "resents me for a former partnership with him. Because the first time that she goes off on me, I will return the favor."

Harriet looked into Meg's eyes and saw for the first time just how dangerous Meg could be to Mac's relationship with Harm. And she didn't see a Commander that was guileless as the Lieutenant junior grade Bud remembered on the Seahawk. Commander Meg Austin was every inch a commander in rank as well as in demeanor and she was also as canny as a strategist and she was prepared to use every bit of her guile to achieve her objective. Above all she saw the brief twinge of softness in Meg's eyes when she mentioned Harm's name and alarm bells went off in her mind as her mind processed the information that this commander was in love with Harmon Rabb Jr. and that she would be prepared to give Mac a run for her money. And quite possibly Commander Meg Austin would come out the winner. So Harriet sat down and told Meg everything that she could possibly remember. When Harriet was finished, she felt frozen by the commander's cold stare.

"Dismissed." Was all Meg said.

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VA

"Good to catch up on old times." AJ said as he walked back into the JAG office with Rear Admiral Lower Half Toshio Nakamura. "We need to do that again sometime. Next time I'll pick the restaurant."

"You got it. Admiral." Animal said.

A redheaded, blue-eyed Commander in navy blue tunic and skirt was stepping down the staircase looking over at the two flag officers. "Do I hear somebody I recognize?" Commander Liandra Gracen-Nakamura smiled as she came over to the two flag officers. "Sirs."

"Well, Admiral, permission to usher my lovely wife out of the office for the rest of the day?" Animal grinned.

"Permission granted. Admiral." AJ grinned. "And Commander, your husband is welcome anytime in the JAG office." At this Lia raised an eyebrow. "And no, he isn't greasing your skids to higher rank. Commander, your performance on the bench is doing that for you. When you achieve Captain, it will be because you earned it, not due to your husband's rank."

"Thank you, sir."

HARM'S APARTMENT

NORTH OF UNION STATION

WASHINGTON DC

TUESDAY EVENING

1830 HRS

Harm was looking through his refrigerator going over what was said today during the course of the lunch date that he had with Meg. The fridge contained enough to make a vegetarian lasagna. It was be done by the time Meg would arrive at his apartment.

JUST OUTSIDE HARM'S APARTMENT

1910 HRS

A soft knock on the door sounded just as Harm had pulled the vegetarian lasagne out of the oven. "Just a minute!" He called out. He set the lasagne on the counter to cool as he pulled off his oven mitts and headed for the door. Opening the door, he grinned finding Meg on the other side of the door. "Hey."

"Hey, yourself." Meg grinned. Dressed in a nice blouse and a pair of jeans, she made her way into his apartment. "So…that smells good."

"Sorry, it's vegetarian lasagne."

"Oh, I can tolerate no meat for one night." Meg replied.

Sitting down at the table; she looked up at Harm as he doled out the portions onto the plate. "I hope that your afternoon wasn't too affected by Mac." He ventured.

"Oh, no…" Meg affirmed. "I put a stop to that by grilling Harriet on a hot platter." Harm's eyebrows went up at that. "She coughed up some interesting information."

"Oh?" Harm said shortly.

Meg reached out her hand to take his as he sat down. "I can't believe you'd keep chasing after her after she went with Mic after you showed her just how much you despised him. Then she goes and dumps him, tries to find herself, pushing you away while she then resents you for 'not being there' then to top it all off she goes out with that CIA spook after she came back from that mission that you said was CIA classified. If some guy treated me like that, I'd dump them within two seconds."

"Never could keep a secret from you, Meg." Harm sighed, a sad look in his eyes.

"I'm too determined to find out things." Meg laughed. "Plus…" she whispered softly. "I have a vested interest."