Title: Flying Away 10: Ships Passing in the Night
Author: Anne Taul, anne_taul@gowebway.com

Summary: Both Mac and Harm try desperately to find a way to get together.
Disclaimer: JAG, its characters, premise, etc, are the sole and exclusive property of CBS, Paramount and Bellasarius productions. No profit is being made or sought from this purely recreational endeavor. No infringement of copyright is intended.

 

Flying Away 10: Ships Passing in the Night

"I talked to the admiral," Sarah MacKenzie breathed into the phone, "But he said he couldn't possibly spare me right now, even for a couple of days."

"Aw, c'mon, Mac. There's got to be some way you could get here, just a quick trip."

She hated telling Harm no. After all, she hadn't seen him since his recent transfer to the USS Coral Sea. His letters had gotten more interesting since he had a new ship and new people to talk about, but that was hardly a substitute for seeing the man she loved.

They had this opportunity. The Coral Sea was going to be laid over for two days in Hawaii at the Pearl Harbor Naval Ship Yard. He could get liberty, but was only interested in seeing her. It was a long trip from D. C. to Honolulu. If she slept on the plane, though, they could spend a couple of days together in Paradise.

But alas, a new case had been dropped on her. Everyone else at JAG was working on a big, time consuming case at the moment, so there was no way to trade it off. When she talked to the admiral, she had said that she was in need of a change of scenery, and that she had a sick friend that she needed to visit. Chegwidden had been sympathetic and supportive. He promised her a shot at leave in the near future, but told her that the office just couldn't afford to let her go right now.

Her case was a nerve racking one. A Naval Master Chief was accused of having beaten his three year old son in the course of routine discipline. Mac hated cases that involved abuse. She was prosecuting this one, which was better. Commander Brumby was the defense, and he seemed to think that he could prove that the Master Chief had done nothing wrong. He contended that the boy's injuries came as the result of an accident in the aftermath of his punishment, but were not directly caused by his client. She really needed to get out of this situation for a little while. And, she needed to see Harm.

The Simpson abuse case wasn't the only thing she was working on, but it was the most time consuming thing right now.

"I'm sorry, Harm." Was all she could say into the phone.

Harm, for his part had been under a great deal of stress lately dealing with a new ship and new squadron. He really wanted to see his lover. He knew that a smile from her dark eyes would make everything seem okay.

He heard something else on the phone, though. She wasn't just upset about their plans. She was hurting. She needed him too. This brief rendezvous would have been the perfect thing.

They ended the conversation with his promise to call on the weekend.

THE NEXT MORNING


Mac and Brumby stood at attention in front of the admiral's desk.

"Major," the admiral addressed her, "You're working on a murder case now. The Simpson kid died last night."

"Oh no." was all she could say.

"Dammit!" Mic Brumby supplied. "That'll automatically prejudice the jury against my client, Admiral."

Mac turned on him with fire in her eyes. "You're regret over the death of an innocent child is very moving, Commander!"

"Just trying to be practical, Love." He answered.

Mac turned her back on him in disgust.

"Admiral," she spoke to her C.O. "Sir, I'd like permission to go to the hospital this morning and get statements from the staff as to cause of death."

"Of course, Major." AJ consented. "Maybe Commander Brumby would like to accompany you. He can tell the child's mother why he thinks her husband is not guilty."

Brumby rolled his eyes.

They were at the hospital for just over two hours, until they felt they had collected all the relevant information.

On arrival back at JAG, Mac went into her office and leaned back in her chair. Just as she closed her eyes, a knock at the door interrupted her.

"What!" she yelled.

A timid-looking Tiner poked his head in and said, "Excuse me, Ma'am, the admiral wants you in his office right away."

"Coming, Tiner."

She rose, reluctantly, and headed out into the hallway.

Brumby joined her as they approached Chegwidden's office.

The admiral looked grim. "At ease, People."

They assumed the posture.v "Well, Major," he continued, "You won't have any trouble proving Master Chief Simpson's guilt in court."

"Wait a minute, Sir." Brumby broke in.

"Simpson's dead." The admiral informed them.

"Sir?" Mac asked.

"He hanged himself in the brig this morning, just after he learned of his son's death. He left this letter addressed to you, Major."

"What does it say?" she inquired.

"It's addressed to you."

"Please read it, Sir."

Chegwidden opened the epistle and informed them, "He did have regret for his actions and he believed he was guilty of causing his son's death. He wanted you to have his confession, because you had been the only one to ask him if he didn't have regrets in the situation."

"Well, it's a moot point now." She concluded.

"Major, are you alright?" the admiral asked.

"Yes, Sir, I guess I'm just a little tired.

"Since this case is over, why don't you draw up the paperwork, then take that leave you had requested.

She brightened, "Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir."

Mac rushed right back to her office to try to call Harm.

She left word with the Coral Sea's communication officer for him to call her. Then she phoned the airline. There was a flight leaving for Honolulu in 2 1/2 hours. If she didn't hear back from Harm before then, she'd just surprise him.

The reservations made, she sat down to close out the file on the Simpson case. She rushed home and threw a change of clothes an her toothbrush into a carry-on and left for the airport.

Harm began his liberty by walking around the streets of Honolulu. If he saw sights, they didn't register in his mind. All he could think about was Mac. It was not just that he wished she were here (though he did), but also that he was worried about her. Something seemed to be wrong.

He wandered aimlessly, then found himself at the airport. It struck him that in his 48 hours, he could get a lot done. If he could get an immediate flight to Washington, he could make this work. If it took 12 hours to get there and the same to get back, he would have 24 hours to spend with Sarah.

He bought the ticket and boarded the plane with no luggage. The idea was that he would show up on her doorstep and surprise her.

Harm had a lay over in L. A. for an hour and 22 minutes. He would rather have continued on and gotten to Washington sooner, but laid over he was.

He walked restlessly around the airport. He was bored. It occurred to him that this might have been fun had Sarah been with him. But as it was, it was just tedious. He was annoyed to notice on his return ticket that he would be there again in three days on the way back to Honolulu.

Once back on the plane, he closed his eyes to try to get a little sleep. In his mind's eye he could see Mac right before him. She seemed to be reaching out to him. Thoughts of her clouded his consciousness.

Harm loved flying. All his life daydreams about soaring through the air had haunted him; but now something else was filling his thoughts -Sarah, his Sarah. He had given up everything to go back to flying because he loved it so much. He wondered now, though, if he could give it up for something else that might even mean more to him. Maybe.

To Mac's credit, she had never even suggested that he would need to choose. She hadn't asked him to give up anything to be with her. He loved her even more for that.

When he landed in Washington, it had turned very cold. The winter wind was howling and snow was falling rapidly. It was a good night for snuggling, he noted, with a smile.

It was almost time for Mac to leave work, so Harm called the JAG office to let her know he was here. She could pick him up on the way home. To his surprise, Petty Officer Tiner informed him that Major MacKenzie was not there. "She's on leave. May I take a message? Or, perhaps can someone else in the office help you?" Tiner said.

Harm was careful not to identify himself. He was only here for 24 hours and he wanted to spend that time with Sarah. It would be better if no one else knew he was here. But he was shocked. She was on leave? Something must have come up suddenly to let her get away. Well, she'd be at home, then. The weather was too bad to be out anywhere. He'd just go to her apartment and surprise her.

He caught a cab to Mac's. There was no answer when he knocked, so he let himself in with her spare key taped under the mailbox. Harm called out her name, but heard no response. It was a small apartment, so he quickly checked all the rooms. Mac was not there.

She had sounded so strange on the phone, he was worried. He sat down in the chair which was already pulled away from her desk, and picked up the telephone. There was no answer when he dialed her cellular number.

Harm noticed some writing on a pad of paper on the desk. Mac had definitely written these notes. There was the name of an airline, flight numbers and two cities with an arrow drawn between them (Washington-> Honolulu). She had gone, at the last minute to meet him! Well, he never expected to find that!

He called the airline and told a little white lie to get them to confirm that she had actually left on this flight. How ironic! She had gone to Honolulu to see him at exactly the same time that he had come to Washington to see her. Well, he had to find a way to get to her! Calling the airline to try to get his ticket moved to an earlier flight, only got him bumped up to leave first thing in the morning. At least it was sooner.

This was a good place to spend the night. It could have been worse. As he climbed into her bed, he could smell her on the pillows and sheets. He breathed in deeply to take in as much of her as possible. Wrapping himself in the blankets, he could almost feel her warmth next to him.

Harm was up early the next morning to prepare for his flight back. At the airport, he learned that the storm had gotten so bad that the entire airport might soon be closed. He knew he should be grateful that he was able to get out to try to get to her.

Mac arrived in Honolulu right on schedule .She took a cab out to the harbor and walked to the pier where the USS Coral Sea was moored.

The information officer, a Lieutenant Evans, informed her that Commander Rabb was on liberty, so not aboard. She then asked for Lt. Commander Morgan, Harm's roommate, whom she'd never met.

Commander Morgan was not checked out, therefore must still be on the ship.

Mac was escorted to a visitor's lounge, while a yeoman went to locate Commander Morgan.

When the door opened, she found herself looking at a tall, good- looking sailor with wavy blonde hair and eyes as blue as Harm's.

She stood, extending her hand, "Hi, Commander Morgan, I'm ..."

"Sarah," he interrupted her, "you've got to be Harm's Sarah. I've seen your pictures a million times."

"Yes, she confirmed, "I'm Sarah MacKenzie. And I've heard a lot about you, Commander Morgan."

"Oh, please, call me Ben."

"Okay, thank you. Ben, do you know where Harm is?"

"Yeah, sure, he went to..." Ben's voice trailed off.

"He went where?"

"Well, Sarah, he was worried about you after he talked to you, so he went to check on you. He had it figured he'd have right at 24 hours. That was better than nothing."

Ben Morgan stopped talking and began laughing, uncontrollably.

"What's funny? Mac asked.

"Harm's gone to Washington to see you, and you've come here to see him!"

"Harm's in Washington."

"Yeah, like I said, he was worried about you."

Mac turned to leave.

Ben inquired, "Where are you going?"

"If I hurry, maybe I can catch him before he heads back. I'll have to get an earlier flight."

Morgan walked her out, and left her with some advice, "Be careful, Sarah, all that back and forth will make you dizzy."

She kissed his cheek and hurried back to the airport. The airline said that she could get on an earlier flight back East, if she could leave immediately. So, once again she was in the air.

They arrived in Los Angeles for her one hour and 36 minute lay over. She checked in for her next flight and just sat down to wait in the terminal. Soon she was told that the D. C. airport had been closed due to snow, so she was stuck in L.A. indefinitely.

Harm disembarked from the plane he had boarded in Washington and rushed to the airline office. He wanted to get a look at the flight manifests for planes coming and going from Hawaii. Feeling that he had no other recourse, he decided to embellish the facts of his search jut a bit. He told the reservations clerk that he had to find his wife, who was a brittle diabetic, to deliver some insulin to her. Her life may depend on it. Soon, he had found flight numbers for all of Sarah's connections.

His own flight back to Honolulu was in three hours. The long lay over couldn't be helped, but he didn't mind. It was hard to imagine going back to the Coral Sea without having even seen Mac. He just walked aimlessly through the airport. He felt very much alone.

Finally, he realized that he needed to picture her, wherever she was, right at this very moment. So, he checked with the reservations desk to see if her flight had landed in Washington yet. It was then that he discovered that the flight had never left. He was also able to find out, once again by claiming to have lifesaving medicine, that passenger Sarah MacKenzie was waiting in the hospitality suite to be rescheduled on first available transport to D. C. He couldn't believe his luck!

Mac had looked at every magazine in the room twice. She was tired, and bored. She wondered where Harm was right now. She hoped he was trapped someplace waiting out the storm which seemed to have a tight grip on the entire Eastern seaboard.

She hear anything. She didn't realize that anyone else was in the room until...

She felt a pair of arms grab her from behind. She struggled against them, but they held tight. Yet, there was something so gentle about them. When she turned, she was face to face with...Harm.

Her arms moved to circle his neck. "Harm, what are you doing here? Where did you come from?"

"Well, most recently from D. C., though it seems like I've been in this airport for a long time."

"I tried to come to meet you, when my case got cancelled."

"Yeah, I know you did. I tries to come to you too. Mac, Honey, don't be mad at me..."

"I couldn't be mad at you. What for?"

"I slept in your bed last night, and I forgot to make it up. I'm sorry, but I didn't remember until I was all the way to the airport."

"That's okay. I'm just so glad to see you."

They held hands as they walked and talked, occasionally stopping for a kiss.

Both expresses how grateful they were for the chance to have gotten this time. Unfortunately, it was limited. They only had until Harm's flight left for Honolulu.

They sat down in a coffee shop and ordered a couple of cappuccinos. Mac looked sympathetically into his eyes, "I'm sorry , Buddy, I'm afraid this is all you get. There's no time to check into a hotel room. There'll be no bedroom scene tonight."

"I don't care about that." He answered.

"Gee," she teased, "and I thought that you enjoyed that part of the relationship."

"Oh, I do. It's just not the most important part. Just seeing you, and knowing that you're alright, is all I need right now. You are alright, aren't you?"

"Sure," she snuggled in close to him, "now I am."

He tightened the arm that was around her and pronounced, "I love you."

"Well, you better." She replied.

Their time together ended all too soon. The call for Harm's flight interrupted their revelry. Neither knew when they would have the chance to see each other again. The kiss was short and sweet, but the parting embrace was lingering. Harm wiped a small tear out of the corner of her eye, then he walked away.

Mac went into a gift shop and bought some stationery, She sat down to wait for a flight and began writing a long letter to her sailor. She planned to mail it before she left L.A.