Chapter Eleven

JAG HQ, Falls Church, VA, 1345 hrs

"Hey, I thought you'd be here…" remarked a voice from the door of Harm's office, about forty-five minutes after Harm had returned from lunch.

Harm grumbled irritably, not looking up from his file, "I know that voice anywhere…"

"Hammer!" Lieutenant Commander Jack Keeter exclaimed.

"Keeter!" The two exchanged bear hugs culminating in back-slaps that rattled each other's bones.

"Harm…I've got a case file…that we need to go over…it's for your out-processing from JAG and transfer to your new PCS on Friday, all the legal particulars" interrupted Meg as she walked into the office. "Oh…excuse me…" she said as she looked over at the red-headed lieutenant commander that was standing in front of Harm's desk.

"Hey, Keeter." Harm spoke up. "You remember Meg Austin, don't you? You two met in Cuba?"

"Of course, I do remember that pretty lady." Keeter grinned, showing a mouth full of white teeth to great effect.

Meg looked back at Keeter. "Yes, I remember Lieutenant Commander Jack Keeter." She remarked wryly, knowing just how much of a playboy that Jack was, and she was about as interested in him as she would be interested in a cow-patty from a heifer.

"Well…" Harm continued, his voice smug. "Jack, you now realize that Meg is now a two and a half striper just like us. Evidently she was deep-selected as a lieutenant commander very recently as a matter of fact."

"So…what brings you here to DC?" Meg asked, curious as to why the secretive Jack Keeter would make his presence known at JAG Headquarters of all places.

"Well, the Cougars, which I'm in, thank you very much, just pulled in from deployment and the Patrick Henry is in for its SLEP at Norfolk. So that's why I'm here."

"Just rattling the cages of us staff pukes?" Harm asked innocently.

"No, just thought we might catch a few drinks at the local bar this afternoon after secure, of course, after you go home and get rid of that monkey suit and change into something more bar-appropriate…" Keeter jabbed.

"Hoo hooo hoo…" Harm sarcastically hooted, one arm under his arm-pit, crossing his eyes, his left hand reaching for a non-existent branch. Meg rolled her eyes.

"Do we have to make arrangements for accommodation at the DC Zoo Park, Commander Rabb?" a rather amused voice from the doorway startled the three officers into locking up into positions of attention.

"SIR!"

"As much as it is amusing to see you imitate Mr. Bananas – the National Zoo chimp, I'd prefer that you stick to being an officer of the United States Navy. And if you start imitating the howler monkeys I'll get the quack to give you a mental exam. Clear, Mr. Rabb?" RDML Morris stated, fixing Harm with a saturnine stare.

"Yes, sir, AYE, SIR"

Satisfied, Stiles turned on his heel and headed back to his office with a perfunctory, "Well, I'm sure that Captain Nakamura will certainly be grateful to hear that he is receiving a chimpanzee for a staff-officer" leaving Harm looking a nice shade of pink embarrassment; Meg was trying desperately to swallow her laughter. Harm rolled his eyes – this week was going to be a hell of a long week.

"Well, Keeter, I figure I'd better tell you where I'll be after this Friday." Harm said after receiving a quizzical look from his friend.

"Yeah, that might help."

"I'm going to be with the Naval Inspector General's office, PCS as of Monday." Harm stated. "It's my staff tour…and allows me to get some experience in a staff-advisor position before my O-5 zone year."

"Well, that sounds good, doesn't it, buddy." Keeter replied, as he looked out through Harm's corner window. "I'm still trying to keep myself feet-wet, but unfortunately a staff tour looks like it's in the cards for me too, just trying to figure out where though."

Meg excused herself from the office, as she left the file for Harm to look over and sign, with a perfunctory, "Good to see you, Commander." As she left, Jack looked around to see her walking away from the office with an appreciative raise of his eyebrows.

"Man, she must be nice to work with." Jack grinned.

"I'm not looking." Harm replied.

"What? Did you suddenly go blind?" Jack was shocked; Harm had always been the lucky one with women always at his feet.

Harm looked more than annoyed. "It just so happens that I have someone whom I'm extremely interested in."

"Not her…" Jack narrowed his eyes as he lifted a thumb and gestured towards Mac's office.

Harm shook his head emphatically. "Someone else…she's a JAG attorney TDY to NAVINSGEN, but she and I are switching places, except that my transfer is a permanent change of station."

"oh…" Jack looked skeptical. "It's just I've never seen you not be interested in Meg before; considering how protective you were of her in Cuba."

"That was because you were wandering around like a horn-dog." Jack looked insulted as Harm jabbed back at him with a verbal barb. "So, when are you meeting with your detailer about a possible staff posting?"

"I don't know, but it's going to have to be soon." Jack said as his expression turned pensive. "I have to make a serious decision in whether I stay with the Navy or if I look for other options. I do want my O-5, but I can't see myself being a lifer, you know what I mean?"

Harm nodded silently. Lately the situation with the Navy seemed more and more like a noose around his own neck. He hated having to jump through various hoops to get promotion credit to even be considered for higher rank, the ass-kissing that one had to do for ineffective COs and the political infighting was getting to him. But the pay was good at least. He wasn't rich by any means, but he was comfortable, but was that enough to warrant staying in till his twenty? Sometime during the course of his career he'd felt like getting the time in so that he could get his pension was more of a pain-in-the-ass than it was worth. But he felt like he could do something as a legal officer and that's what motivated him to stay in.

Animal's Office, Office of the NAVINSGEN, Pentagon Detachment 1645hrs

Knocking at the door, LCDR Liandra Gracen waited for an answer before she entered. Walking to the front of her CO's desk, she squared off two steps from the front and braced to attention.

"Yes, I hear that your TDY will be ending here…" Animal stated, "You have been recalled back to JAG." He said formally. "In any case, your replacement will be Lieutenant Commander Harmon Rabb Jr. who will be PCS to the staff of the Office of the Naval Inspector General here…any questions?"

"Permanent Change of Station? Sir?" Lia asked, her mind reeling in surprise.

"Yes, the Vice Admiral in charge of NAVINSGEN has made the case for the Inspector General Legal Officer position a permanent one, a staff JAG position so to speak."

For all the animosity that Lia had felt towards Animal, she felt a little insulted that considering that she was TDY'd to NAVINSGEN that she wouldn't be getting the PCS orders. But at least, a part of her thought, she'd be going back to JAG where she wouldn't have to deal with Captain Nakamura any longer and the TDY wouldn't put a crimp in her plans for her career. "Understood, sir." She said briefly.

Animal nodded and said. "Dismissed. Please notify LCDR Manetti what you have managed to accomplish so that she will be able to notify LCDR Rabb when he takes over on Monday."

"Yes, sir."

"Dismissed." Was the perfunctory reply.

Lia was met by Lieutenant Commander Manetti in her office. "I see you're lost in the shuffle." Tracy said with a sympathetic smile.

"I'm going back to JAG…" Lia said.

"So, who's replacing you?" Tracy asked, curious as to why there was such a quick change-around.

"The Inspector General made the Staff Liaison a permanent Staff JAG position – they opted to put Lieutenant Commander Rabb in place, permanent change of station." At that, Tracy's eyes widened a slight bit in amazement.

"Oh, is that so?"

"Evidently, it is…" Lia couldn't restrain a bit of anger at the perfunctory way that she'd been treated. Dismissed was all he said, she thought. No thank you for your service for the short time that you were here. I smooth the pavement and Harm gets to slide in here. She didn't know whether to be angry at Captain Nakamura for being perfunctory and rude or at Harm for sliding into a juicy little position here. She started gathering her things to secure for the day, when she heard another voice in the reception area – one that was beginning to annoy her for reasons unknown, but she restrained herself admirably as she gathered her briefcase and cover and headed out the door. "Good night, Commander O'Bannon…" she said, as she looked over at the commander who was, as usual, in service blues with those damned aviator's wings. "'Night, Yeoman."

"Good night, Lieutenant Commander." Commander Maegyn O'Bannon replied as YN1 Carran bade LCDR Gracen a farewell. After a long moment while Maegyn said. "Well, Yeoman 1, was it just my impression or did the temperature take a dip there…"

"I can't venture to say, ma'am." YN1 Carran hesitated. Maegyn nodded, she knew that she didn't want to coax YN1 Carran into saying something that could come back to bite her.

McMurphy's Tavern: 1930hrs

Harm and Keeter grinned as they pulled back on their beers, dressed in jeans, Harm in a white t-shirt and his G-1 leather jacket, Keeter in one of his numerous and disgusting Hawaiian shirts that he always seemed to pick up at what Harm assumed was good-will. "Seems like old times, eh?"

"So, you call your new CO?" Keeter asked. "Was he going to come down and have a drink with us? I still remember him from Reserve Air Group days, used to give me nightmares…he was a hard-ass, didn't make it easy on us coneheads." he muttered as he lifted back his drink.

"Well…turkey! Maybe you should have studied more…" came a stentorian growl from right behind him, while Harm bit back laughter. Jack nearly fell off his chair as he whirled around to see Animal standing right behind him grinning evilly and then scanned his eyes to fix upon a vision, which was standing beside Animal, with red hair and green eyes laughing uproariously; she was dressed in a leather jacket with white top, coupled with a leather miniskirt.

"Irish? Is that you?" Keeter asked, his eyes bugging out.

"Keeter, you horny dog…how are you?" Maegyn grinned at him.

"Not too bad at all, Irish. So what are you doing hanging around with this reprobate?" he grinned at Animal who glared at him.

"Well…he's my reprobate…" she teased, as she slid her arm through the crook of Animal's arm. "…and I think I'll keep him…" Maegyn said as she turned a fond gaze at Animal who smiled smugly.

"Damn…" said Keeter as he drowned his sorrows in his beer. "All the good ones are gone…"

"Oh, there's always good ones around…" Animal said. "You just keep scaring them off."

Animal asked. "So, Maegyn, what do you want to drink?"

"I'll have an Irish Coffee…" she grinned at him.

Animal went up to the counter, "1 Baileys, 1 Irish Coffee." He asked.

"Right away, sir."

"So…what have you been doing? Irish?" Keeter asked. "This lass was ahead of us in the training class ahead."

"Oh, I'm flying with the Black Aces – they're on a TTC (turnaround training cycle) right now in prep for going out in '99 for our last cruise with the Tomcat, then we start training for the Super Hornet." Maegyn stated quietly looking around the bar. The nice thing about McMurphy's was that even though it looked like your standard bar, the atmosphere was of a middle-class after-work hangout that catered to the average working man. It made it a nice little place to relax after a grueling day at the office.

Animal walked back with the drinks in hand. "Here you go, sweetheart." He grinned at Maegyn who gave him a sunny smile back.

"…so, if I hear back from my detailer, I might have myself a nice little cushy CO tour." Jack's eyeballs popped open. "I'm an O-5 heading into my second year in grade. I'm hoping that I'm one of the eight percent selected above zone, but if not, I want to put myself into a position where I can be selected at zone come O-6 selection board." She said matter-of-factly, slightly amused that the fact that she was a full commander came as a shocker to Jack, while Animal draped his arm around her back in mutual support.

"Wow." Harm grinned. "That's great to hear, Irish. So, you hanging out at a hotel around here…"

"Naw…" Irish grinned at Harm, giving Animal a sidelong glance. "I'm bunking with Animal." And laughed as Harm's and Keeter's eyeballs grew round.

"Lucky bastard…" Keeter said as he looked over at Animal.

"I figured you were going to be here." A familiar and disgusted sounding voice caused Harm to turn around. It was Sarah "Mac" Mackenzie. Figures.

"What is it, Mac?" Harm sighed.

"Well…I was just wondering if you would give me a hand with an interview tomorrow that I have to do for a case. The guy gives me the heebiejeebies." Mac asked, looking over at Keeter, Animal and Maegyn sitting at the table.

"You know it's the last thing that I can do at the office. I'm out Friday." Harm's answer was short.

"What?!" Mac's jaw dropped open. "What are you saying?" Animal and Maegyn looked at each other, shrugging their shoulders.

"As of Monday, I'm at the Pentagon, NAVINSGEN office." He tossed his thumb at Animal. "He's my new CO."

"You can't be serious."

"Absolutely serious, Mac. I need to look at my career long and hard and see where I'm going in this Navy." Harm replied…enjoying Mac's discomfiture a bit too much "You know that I can't stagnate at JAG and three years is tops for HQ billets. I have to find myself a staff billet or I don't get promoted."

"Since when did your career become all so important that it overrode seeking out the truth?"

"…since I realized that Admiral Chegwidden was pointing our careers into the dumpster." Harm snapped, finally tired of the repartee that always seemed to be the case when it came to conversations with Mac, as of late. "So I'm giving my career some serious thought."

"I can't believe this…you're leaving me for what?" Mac fumed while Keeter and Animal looked at each other wondering what was going on.

"Mac, you're leaving for RLSO Southwest or did you forget that. By rights, you need to either finish up the case or pass it along to an attorney who is not leaving the office. If you're going down to interview someone, it's a case that can be passed off to an attorney who is incoming."

"Fine…" snapped Mac as she gathered herself up and walked out of the bar.

"Well…that was fun." Animal remarked to the amusement of the rest of the group sitting at the table.

"So tell me again what you're doing bunking with Animal?" Keeter asked eagerly.

"Oh…enjoying every minute of our time together…every single minute" Maegyn said huskily as she caressed Animal's arm and smiled, showing perfect white teeth in a naughty smile at Animal, completely and utterly drenching cold water all over Keeter's hopes of a pretty Irish-American lass at his side.

"I guess, I have naught but drinking left…" sighed Jack disconsolately. "There are many good reasons for drinking, One has just entered my head- If a man doesn't drink when he's living, How the hell can he drink when he's dead?" he said as he downed his beer mug full of Guinness. Harm just about fell out of his chair laughing.

"Crashed n' burned, buddy…" Harm grinned.

Animal's Apartment, 503-4141 Henderson Road, Arlington, VA

Animal and Maegyn got home from McMurphy's Tavern at about 1131hrs. After 15 Jamaican Leprechauns (Irish Crème, Kahlua, spiced rum and warm milk) on Maegyn's part and four Irish Crème on Animal's, Animal and Maegyn were happily pissed out of their minds.

"Oh, yes…" Maegyn said rather tipsily, "I think the room is spinning…"

"I agree with you…" Animal mumbled, his words slurring; the last Irish crème was a bit too much. "A bit too mush…"

Maegyn giggled; something she only did when she was absolutely drunk out of her mind. "Oh…my god…" she started, forgot what she was about to say…and tried to start again. "I can't believe that Major… she comes in, starts haranguing Harm. Was she on drugs or something; because she sure didn't make any sense?"

"Well, that's for poor Harm to iron out." Animal grinned at her…himself feeling kind of light-headed and under the influence.

"Maybe they should just fuck…" Maegyn said laughing… "I sensed sexual tension there…"

"mmmm…" Animal grunted. "I sense sexual tension here…" he said giving her a licentious grin.

"Oh?" Maegyn said. "By the way, did we actually eat anything while we were out?"

"I think eating was the least of the things that passed our minds."…Animal replied. Evidently they were too busy watching Harm and Keeter attempt to drink each other under the table. Well, having four naval aviators, not Naval Flight officers, but Type A aviators, there was bound to cause trouble. Keeter swore up and down that he could drink Harm under the table and then challenged Animal and Irish to do the same. "Think we should order something to eat?" Animal asked. "I don't think we should go to bed and end up with major league hang-overs. Wouldn't look good on our record."

"Yeah…most definitely." Maegyn grinned…her eyes having a little trouble focusing. "Oh my god, tonight was such a fun night…" she said…swaying a little; thinking that she had to sit down before she fell over. "Tonight was like an ethnic joke…what do you get when you get two Irishmen, one Irishwoman and one Japanese in a bar?"

"I don't know..." Animal laughed.

"3 pints, 3 pints, 3 pints and 1 ounce…"

Animal nearly fell over laughing. Of course, Asians found that they couldn't metabolize alcohol as well so they ended up getting drunker quicker. Thank god, they had the foresight to have a taxi bring them to McMurphy's and left their cars at home. "God, that's hysterical…" Animal laughed as he leaned against Maegyn as they fell onto the couch. "Oh, man, the room's spinning…"

"Can you fuc-function…" Maegyn asked then giggled as she realized her mistake.

"I think so…" Animal swayed a bit as he got up off the couch to go retrieve the phone. Somehow they managed to order, pay for the order (when it arrived), and then manage to eat it without too much problem. Other than negotiating the floor while standing up…was a slight problem. Animal notified Maegyn that it might be a good idea to drink a lot of water to rehydrate oneself or they'd wake up with splitting heads to the point where they couldn't function the next morning.

"Of course…" Maegyn grinned as she downed two slices of pizza polishing it off with a tall glass of water, and then somehow managing to make it to the kitchen sink to get herself a refill. When she returned, she grinned at Animal. "Well, we managed to feed ourselves. Anything else that you want to do?" she asked suggestively.

(AN: Suggestive XXX scene between Maegyn and Animal being written for "An Archive of Our Own" – you can read it there – under the same name CdnJAGScribe)

JAG HQ, Falls Church, VA, Friday Morning Staff Call; 0830hrs

Harm settled into the chair in the board room for the last time, as he contemplated the faces around him. Meg, Mac. Mattoni and Imes. Mac looked absolutely disgusted and angry, Meg looked somewhat saddened at the thought that there was such an upheaval in the JAG office.

The latter half of the week had been a hectic blur of paperwork that needed to be filed before the transfer could take place. All cases were to be returned to the JAG pro tem and be apportioned out to other attorneys who would take them over.

"Atten-HUT!" All the officers sprang to attention. RDML Morris walked into the office. "Well, Friday staff call. I just want to thank Lieutenant Commanders Rabb, Mattoni and Imes for their impeccable service here and best wishes in their new postings. Major Mackenzie, the same goes for you in your new posting at RLSO San Diego."

"Thank you, sir."

The rest of the officers at the JAG office who were not being transferred were assigned the cases that were unfinished and the rest of the morning was taken up with briefing the new attorneys who had taken over the cases on what had been accomplished prior to the turn-over.

Harm's office, JAG HQ, Falls Church, Friday morning, 1145hrs

Harm was slowly packing up his office when the door of his office opened. "Harm?" Harm sighed slowly and turned around.

"Mac." He didn't want to go through this again, he was tired and just wanted to have a bit of peace and quiet before he had to transfer to his new place of work.

"Look, I shouldn't have said what I did to you." Mac sighed. "It just hit me hard that you were transferring out and I completely forgot that I was doing the same thing. We're going to be on opposite sides of the continent." She looked absolutely miserable as she looked at Harm, for any sort of feeling from him.

"Well, Mac, maybe it's for the best." He said slowly. "We've put each other through a lot these past two years…and maybe…" he paused for a long moment. "It's best that we went our separate ways, not as enemies, but as friends."

"When were we enemies?" she asked plaintively.

"Well, I couldn't say that we were the best of friends at some stages of our career…" Harm stated. "Good luck, Mac…" he said with some finality wanting to draw the door closed quickly.

"Good luck to you too, Harm…" she said. "…and Harm…"

"What is it, Mac?" he asked.

"I really do hope you find your father…"