Fate's Price
Author: Pixie Rating: PG (GS) Classification: JAG Story Spoilers: Through Season 10 Disclaimers: The ten year roller coaster ride that was the JAG television series belongs (and will always belong) to DPB, Bellisarius Productions, CBS, and Paramount. I'm only borrowing the characters to give them a little exercise, and I promise to rub them down and put them away neatly when I'm done. Acknowledgements: To Aerogirl: I can't thank you enough. You came through for me in a big way, red pen and all, despite my final hour call for a beta read. And to The Captain: You listened to me rant and rave for weeks while I struggled with this one, and yet you never complained. You were there for me every step of the way - shared brain, dust bunnies and all. Bless you. And finally, to the other VS Authors: You folks are an amazing bunch of people. It's been an incredible honor working with you. A/N 1: As is usual and traditional for JAG stories, parts of this have a 'ripped from the headlines' aspect to them. As always, details have been reworked to fit this story, and names have been changed. A/N 2: Just a reminder. Captain's rank in the Marine Corps is the rough equivalent of Lieutenant's rank in the Navy. Summary: Harm and Mac deal with the repercussions
of one fateful night at McMurphy's Tavern. (Episode 1 of the 2005 Virtual
Season)
A small dog flew past her from behind, shattering the peace in a flash of golden fur and a shower of icy salt water. The animal barked excitedly and dashed headlong into a flock of sand pipers and seagulls, sending them into the air in a blur of scolding feathers. Mission accomplished, the dog turned around and sat down, tongue lolling out in a canine grin as it waited for her to catch up. "You're just going to have to wait for me," she called out to it. "I only have half as many legs as you do." The dog barked once and cocked its head to one side as though listening attentively to every word she said. He'd been her running companion almost since she'd arrived in San Diego, and now he waited until she caught up, and then turned and fell into step by her side, tail flying and glossy coat shimmering in the dim morning light. She heard the jingle of metal tags and wondered, not for the first time, where its owner was. Her cell phone chirped, its mechanical sound strangely out of place amidst the roar of the surf and the cry of the birds. She sighed as she slowed to a stop and unclipped it from her waist, watching the dog as it continued on without her. If she had to pick one thing about her new command that she disliked more than anything else, it was the damn cell phone. "MacKenzie." "Good morning." And just like that, the handful of plastic became her new best friend. "Good afternoon," she said softly. "Did I interrupt a hot date with Spot?" His voice held a smile. "Spot?" She laughed. "Surely you can do better than that, Sailor." "Well? You didn't like Rufus, Max, or Goldie, either." "If we ever get a dog, remind me not to let you name it." "If we ever get a dog, our kids will demand naming rights, and you know it." Mac groaned. "That does it. We're never getting a dog." He chuckled. "So how's life in sunny San Diego?" Mac glanced up at the brightening sky, pleased to see the beginnings of another cloudless day. "Sunny," she said. "How's life in rainy London?" "I think I'm starting to grow gills." Mac's lips twitched. "Now there's an interesting mental image." "You wait. You'll have a matching set before you know it." "I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to it," she answered, tongue in cheek. The low rumble of his laughter tickled her eardrum and set off an answering response in the pit of her stomach. God, she missed him. "How's Mattie?" she asked, changing the subject. "She's doing as well as can be expected, I guess. I'll be stopping by after work tonight to visit." "She was a little depressed when I talked to her yesterday," she said. "This is all very hard on her." "The physical therapy's hard, I know. And since she and I are pretty much on our own here, she's alone a lot of the time." He sighed. "She's a strong girl, Harm. She'll make it through this." "I know. I just hate it for her." "You're her dad. I wouldn't expect anything else." "I am now, anyway. Final papers arrived this morning. It's one of the things I need to talk to her about tonight." "How do you think she's going to take it?" "Hard to say. She's still pretty bitter." "It could take her years to forgive him, Harm." "Like it did for you?" "I hope it doesn't take that long," she said emphatically. "Me, too," he agreed. And then, "Speaking of bitterness… How are those two new attorneys of yours getting along?" "You mean Doom and Gloom?" He laughed. "That bad, huh?" Mac snorted. "Let's see… Yesterday morning, I had Davis in my office accusing Gomez of coaching a witness." "Ouch." "Wait. It gets better. When I got back from my lunch meeting yesterday, Gomez was waiting to tell me that he was convinced Davis had been tampering with the evidence." She sighed. "I swear, if those two don't kill each other, I might just have to step in and do the job myself." "Take the easy way out, Mac. Send them TAD on the Watertown for a while. It'll work wonders." She laughed. "I doubt it. I think the skipper would end up feeding both of them to the crabs." "See that? Problem solved." She heard the laughter in his voice and smiled in response. "Mac? Can you hold on for just a second?" "Sure." There was a soft click, and his voice was replaced by canned music. She wandered down the beach, cell phone still pressed to her ear, but her mind busily going over the details of the hectic day ahead. She had three new cases to assign, one of them a rather messy Article 128. She also had to have a talk with Gomez and Davis. Those two needed to learn a thing or two about teamwork. From their behavior, you'd never believe they were working the same side of the case. She shook her head ruefully. It was a pretty safe bet that Admiral Chegwidden would be highly amused by her predicament with those two. There was another click, and Harm came back on the line. "Sorry about that, Mac. Listen. Something's come up here and I need to take care of it." "No problem. I need to get back and grab a shower anyway. I'm due at the office in an hour. Good luck with Mattie." "Thanks. I'll let you know how it goes." "I'm sure it'll be fine. And Harm?" "Hmmm?" "I love you." "I love you, too." The warmth in his voice brought a smile to her face. She was still smiling when she clipped her cell phone to her waist and started back down the beach, and when her four-legged companion splashed up beside her, she laughed and broke into a run, her long exuberant strides sending up showers of seawater in her wake.
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