Chapter Seven

Liandra's Apartment, 614-2475 Virginia Avenue, Georgetown, Washington DC. 2045hrs

"So, do you think that the NAVINSGEN review was what sealed the deal for RADM Chegwidden to get fired?" Lia asked quietly as she gazed intently into the fireplace watching the embers going up the flue. Harm and Lia had talked over what possibly was going to happen in terms of the JAG office managing to make some changes.

"I think that probably was the catalyst" was Harm's response as he subsided into silence joining his friend in watching the fireplace.

Lia after a long silence, spoke up, "So who do you think is bound out of the office."

"Well, Mattoni was here before I was, so I think that Mattoni's on the RLSO transfer list. I'm not even going to be considered for commander until I get an RLSO billet so I have to be on the transfer list or I may even have to ship out of the JAG Corps to some other staff billet to be even considered for commander. It's a tough decision." Harm replied to Liandra who grumbled….

"…and just when I was getting used to the people…" Lia looked over at her friend who grinned.

"Well, thus goeth life and thus commandeth the Navy." Harm quoted.

"You sound like a dime-store bible. Thou's, blessed…etc…" Lia stated. "Now, you fed me…and hung around denting the couch cushions. I think we've pretty much talked over what we can talk about with regards to what's going on at JAG. And frankly, I think it's getting late. My dear friend…so you should amscray your way out of here so that you can get some rest before work. I'll call you about transferring the Emmonds case to Bud as I'm shuttling between the Pentagon and Falls Church."

"Awwww…" Harm whined, pretending to lean his head down on Lia's lap. "But it's so comfy here…"

"Git…you're going to eat me out of house and home…" Lia grumbled.

"Aye aye, ma'am." Harm said as he got up, gave her a jaunty salute and headed out the door. Leaning back into the doorway he said. "Hey, Lia, don't forget to lock the door after me." Lia managed to haul herself out of the comfy couch and did as he suggested, after he shut the door behind him. Setting both deadbolts, she grinned at Harm's behavior.

"One would think he can't even get himself a date the way he wants to hang out here…" Lia said quietly to herself as she roused herself long enough to grab a book and read before bed. She'd get up early in the morning to shower and get ready, but looking at the rest of the empty bed beside her sort of brought her spirits down. As much as she joked about Harm being the perpetual bachelor, she was living it. And there really wasn't a significant other in the works. Harm was the ever-present bachelor who enjoyed a bevy of women hanging around him; she thought, and he certainly wasn't partial to her even though he teased her all the time. For Harm, there was Mac and the partners that came before her, like Meg and Kate. She didn't even rate in the picture and for that, Lia uttered a deep depressing sigh as she curled up in the bed, picked up her book and tried to ignore the solid ache of loneliness in her heart.

Animal's Apartment, 503-4141 Henderson Road, Arlington, VA 2100hrs

Animal grinned at a thoroughly drenched, naked and clean Maegyn O'Bannon who grinned back at him unabashed by her nudity. One of the reasons why Animal had bought the apartment was the size of the shower installed in this two bedroom three-bathroom apartment. It was large enough for two people to shower comfortably and the main bathroom was a wet-room which allowed for quick showering and getting out without stubbing toes and tripping over things. And all it required was a quick mop every so often so that mildew wouldn't grow. Animal was finding out that it was useful for other things too of the more intimate sort, but that wasn't originally what he had intended. Having Maegyn there was a pleasant reason for using the bathroom intimately.

"So…hungry yet?" Animal asked after they both laughed following a grumbling from Animal's stomach.

"I think so. What's open around this time of night that we can order from?" Maegyn looked demurely at him.

"DC doesn't have much, but there's always Chinese food." Animal said referring to a place called China Express just down the road. It was a hole-in-the-wall eatery that had a decent selection of Chinese dishes that were done well and good enough for dinner, he thought. And they delivered relatively quickly.

"Remember we always used to eat that when we were on shore-duty?" Maegyn said as she dried off with a fluffy towel and then grabbed a second one for her hair as she tousled it to a slightly damp state. Looking at him, she leaned into him. "Yeah…I think I'm still hungry. Better feed me…" she said huskily as she fastened those lambent green eyes on him.

Animal gave her a wicked grin. "Well, sweetheart, you'd better get some clothes on or you might be giving the delivery boy a show."

"You've got a point there…Animal." She replied, as she bent over, firm well-exercised butt in the air, while Animal whistled appreciatively, and pulled open his dresser drawer to pull out a Top Gun t-shirt of his, pulled it over her shoulders and pulled it down past her butt. Then reaching into her seabag she pulled out a pair of panties and slipped them on. In a throaty voice she said with a wink, "Enjoying the show?" she asked, evilly knowing that this was arousing the hell out of him.

"Oh, yeah…but I'd better order if we want to eat." Animal croaked; evidently his mouth had gone dry and his tongue felt about two sizes too big for his mouth. Maegyn grinned as she knew exactly what she was doing to him and didn't stop. Brushing a light finger down his abdominal tensor muscles, she laughed lightly when she saw his body tense up; as well as a certain other part too. Looking down she noticed she had him right where she wanted him.

Whispering softly. "You'd better get dressed too…or you might be giving the delivery person a show…even though I'm…enjoying it…" and then lightly brushed her hand across said part.

Animal sucked in a breath of air as her hand went south and said. "You are so evil…"

"I know…" Maegyn whispered in his ear.

"Now I'm going to have to wait until this reaction goes away…" Animal grumbled piteously while Maegyn laughed.

Maegyn reached into his top drawer, pulled out a set of underwear, a t-shirt and some sweatpants and tossed them over. "…and I'll enjoy watching…" she winked at him, as she grabbed another pair of sweatpants and drew them over her legs, pulling them up.

After Animal made the call, he looked over at Maegyn who was happily browsing Animal's collection of DVDs. "Shall we watch a movie while we're waiting?" she asked as Animal hung up the phone.

"We'd only get through less than half the movie." He replied and then informed her that it would be about forty minutes for the Chinese food to be delivered. "Instead, why don't we just enjoy the closeness and snuggle on the couch."

"Sounds good, flyboy…didn't know you men were into that sort of thing…" Maegyn said as she reached up an arm to bring Animal close to her as he sat down. "You smell good when you're clean." She teased as she leaned in enjoying the comfortable closeness that the two of them always seemed to share.

It had always been an easy relationship and there had been an enjoyable physical side to that too, but they knew that as long as they were in the Navy, getting married and having a family was out of the question; especially with Maegyn being an active duty naval aviator flying fast jets. So they knew that their time together was a blessing and enjoyed the close physical contact for what it was – just two friends with benefits. Of course Animal wondered what it would be like with Maegyn if she did opt to finish up her flying career, but she had a promising career as a naval aviator and as a squadron XO, then she would have her command tour, then a possible position as a Commander, Air Wing (CAG), but after that…but how many years would that be? He realized that he was out of the running as anything other than a staff-puke. But at least at the Office of the Naval Inspector General, he wasn't going to lose his line-stars nor would he ever have to hang up his wings and take them off his uniform. He had worked too damned hard for that and the Medal had pretty much sealed the deal that he could wear anything he damned well wanted provided he had earned them.

"You still hang around Harm?" Maegyn asked; that tall drink of water of a former naval aviator was always a good solid friend of Animal's. She hadn't seen him around since the two of them were still former naval aviators when the VF-41 and VF-241 were flying joint CAP over the Med. That ramp-strike had been a bad one and Harm was lucky to have survived.

"Yeah, he's around." Animal replied. "He now works out of Falls Church. He's a JAG."

"So, I'm the only one still flying out of the three of us, huh?" Maegyn said.

Animal glowered at her, trying hard to be angry, but he couldn't; not with her. "Yeah…evidently so." He said shortly. But not flying did hurt. But it seemed like that was destined to be his fate; a glorified staff puke till his twenty five; maybe thirty was up.

Maegyn sensing his quietness for what it was, reached an arm around him and nestled in to try to comfort him, "You hate it, don't you?" she said softly. "You feel like the CNO yanked the rug out from under you." Animal nodded quietly.

"Nearly had an altercation with the JAG this morning. Called into the office to witness him get shit-canned. Then nearly had a fist-fight with him in the CNO's waiting room. He was standing there, kindly put, wanting an explanation for why I jammed a knife in his back." Animal muttered. "I don't know if I can keep doing this."

"But you don't have your twenty in, do you?" Maegyn commented as she leaned in and rested her head on his cheek. "…if you quit, where does that leave you?"

"No retirement, nothing to fall back on…" Animal replied; "I'd have to start over from scratch, see if the airlines are hiring and you probably remember what you said about that. Can't get ACM out of my blood."

"So…like it or not, you're going to have to stick it out-" Maegyn replied then a knock on the door indicated that the delivery was there for their food. As Animal opened the door, a hint of chow mein smell came wafting into his apartment. Animal paid for the food, shut the door and locked it and they brought the dinner over to the dining room table. Pulling out the chow mein from the bag, there were several other Chinese food aluminum trays. Animal looked over at Maegyn who was opening up the trays. In the first circular one there was chicken chow mein as was in the second, the third contained beef and bean chop suey, the fourth contained deep-fried prawns and a fifth contained egg-rolls. "mmmm…this is a feast." Maegyn murmured as she looked over at Animal.

Animal's Apartment, 503-4141 Henderson Road, Arlington, VA 0545hrs

The alarm clock went off, waking Animal out of a deep sleep; nestled in his arms was Maegyn, naked again under the covers. Animal groaned softly as he nuzzled Maegyn. "Hey…beautiful, time to wake up."

One green eye opened, eyed the clock with a malevolent jade glare and Maegyn growled. "Do you know what time it is?" It seemed like a rhetorical question at the time, but Animal figured he'd better answer it.

"I have to report at 0700hrs and you know what the traffic's like in DC."

"Luckily you live close to the Pentagon…" Maegyn said archly.

"You're on leave, right?" Animal asked.

"That's right." Maegyn replied and then commented "You do realize that with morning traffic, you're still only fifteen minutes from the Pentagon. I don't know how you lucked out on this place, but it's really close. I do need to swing by Joint Base Andrews today…to pick up some uniforms. Some of my shipboard peanut butters are getting a bit frayed and I should replace them before I look like a reject from McHale's Navy." Animal grinned at that. "Well, you know where I'll be…"

"Yeah, good thing…since I'm staying over." Maegyn grinned, giving him a kiss on the lips. "You got a spare key?"

"Sure…just so long as you don't invite the rest of the reprobates over…"

"Of course not." Maegyn looked insulted. "Those guys would probably turn the music up too loud and trash the place. And it's my nice little home away from home…" she winked at him. "Now you'd better hustle if you're planning to head in to work. You gotta take a shower or anybody getting any will know what you've been doing last night…and early morning…" she teased.

JAG HQ, Falls Church, VA, 2 days later, 0700hrs

"Good morning, Lieutenant Commander Austin, I see you've been recently promoted. Two years minimum time in rank is quite the achievement considering you were only selected for Lieutenant two years ago." LCDR Meg Austin knew that she was frocked, she still drew the pay of a Lieutenant, but was frocked to wear Lieutenant Commanders two and a half stripes on her service blues and RDML Stiles Morris was looking at her with his usual unreadable gaze.

"Thank you, sir." Meg replied.

"It seems that we lost your services for a few years. You were shuttled to NAVINTEL, were you not?" Morris asked.

"Yes, sir. Other than that, I am not at liberty to disclose…" LCDR Austin replied.

"Understandable." Morris continued. "However, the office dynamics have changed from the time that you have been there. Commander Krennick is now in Naples, Lieutenant Commander Rabb is still here, but there are other staff who have just come in and you will have to work with them on a regular basis." In there was a silent warning that he expected Meg to fit in. "Now Lieutenant Commander Rabb is wrapping up his three years at Falls Church, however he may end up having to move to another Region Legal Services Office or he may as a matter of fact be pushed into another segment of the staff officers corps all together. Right now, we have a JAG officer alternating duties with NAVINSGEN office however we will need to recall her as she has been slated for other duties requiring her presence to be here. And one of our people who has been needing a full-time position in another staff corps office, will go over on a full-time basis for a three year term before rotating out to command an RLSO. You will fit in to cover the litigation slate."

"Yes, sir." Meg replied wondering just how she was drawn into the logistics end of the restructuring of the JAG office.

"It's good to see you back. Lieutenant Commander Austin. We'll see you at Staff Call at 0800hrs and then we will see if we can assign you an office." RDML Stiles Morris welcomed her.

JAG HQ, Falls Church, VA, 0800hrs.

Harm and Mac walked into the board-room where the staff-meeting took place every weekday morning to go over the cases that they were working on. Lia was at the Pentagon till the end of the week and then she would be back at JAG rotating every other week to the Pentagon; at least as far as Lia had disclosed to Harm.

They took their seats beside Mattoni, Imes and Bud. Lia's seat was noticeably empty. When the door opened, they looked up to see RDML Stiles Morris walking in, Taking the seat at the head of the table, he said. "Good morning. It's quite the change from RADM Chegwidden, but I will try to keep the dissonance down to a bare minimum. We have had our first replacement attorney come in. She was in transit from Naval Station Yokosuka. Welcome…" he greeted the person who entered the office, a tall Lieutenant Commander with blue eyes and slightly longer blonde hairstyle than what she wore when she was last at JAG.

Harm's jaw suddenly fell open.

"Thank you, sir." The familiar Texas twang of her voice sent shivers down his spine. He barely noticed the glare that he was getting from Major Sarah Mackenzie beside him. "Morning, all…Excuse me, I was late, my apologies."

"That's quite all right." Morris replied. "We take into account how long you've had to travel and realize that you're fighting jet lag."

"Well, thank you for the consideration, sir."

"Would everyone welcome Lieutenant Commander Austin from Naval Station Yokosuka. She is transferring into JAG and will be PCS to us from her former billet." RDML Morris smiled. That'll throw the office dynamic into turmoil. He thought smugly.

"Lieutenant Commander Liandra Gracen will be recalled from the NAVINSGEN and she will be replaced by Lieutenant Commander Harmon Rabb. LCDR Rabb, you will PCS direct to NAVINSGEN for the next three years until we can get an XO post for you at an RLSO." Harm's jaw dropped open. "Major Mackenzie, you will be posted to RLSO Southwest as a PDO (Personal Development Officer). Lieutenant Commander Mattoni, you are to be JAG on board the USS Patrick Henry. Lieutenant Commander Carolyn Imes, you are posted to RLSO Northwest as PDO. All of these posts take effect with one week transit time slotted in for travel and housing. You have two weeks to finish up your duties here or return them for reassignment of legal counsel. Are we all clear on those? Now, shall we go over the status of our cases? There will be other officers coming in over the next few weeks so there will be a ton of upheaval in this office, however none of that should affect the completion or reassignment of your current case load. Am I clear on that?"

"Yes, sir." The officers chorused.

Harm and Mac looked at each other. This was shocking. Meg looked just as shocked. Most of the people in the room were slated to be assigned to other locations just as she was moved in. She would have to talk to Harm to find out what was going on that caused that major upheaval at JAG. And RADM AJ Chegwidden was conspicuous with his absence. Could Stiles Morris be the new JAG? She shook her head to try to clear it because this wasn't making any sense at all. The familiarity of her former post was just blown all to hell.

JAG HQ, Falls Church, VA, 0900hrs.

Walking through the bullpen, Meg walked over to the office where Harm was ensconced in a file folder with the door shut. She knocked quietly on the door – she could feel the hostility coming from the office next door since the Marine Major had been glaring daggers at her all staff meeting.

"Hey, you there?" She asked softly.

Harm looked up and motioned her to enter. "Shut the door." He said briefly before returning his eyes to the folder.

"Harm…"

Harm looked up at her and said quietly "You left…without saying anything…"

"Harm…" Meg replied barely able to be heard, "I had no choice. Krennick was asking too many questions, and Turque was planning on bringing up our involvement when they tried to nail you for the Schonke murder. So I put in an expedited transfer out of JAG."

Harm said bitterly. "all the way to Yokosuka…and it left me hanging wondering where you left and why…" He snorted caustically. "Now you're back…and now I'm leaving…but at least you know where I'll be…"

"Harm, I can't take away the hurt…" Meg said. "But…at least maybe we can try to see what we missed..." she paused for a long moment "…having…"

Harm sighed deeply; "…and what happens the next time you get cold feet, Meg? Are you going to run again?"

"That's not fair, Harm." Meg said as she sat down in the chair in front of his desk. "The case with Diane Schonke's murder was circumstances beyond our control. Krennick was out of control and she was going to take both our reputations and smear them beyond repair. She was going to insinuate that we had a closer relationship than just partners."

Harm looked at her, his eyes colder than Meg remembered. The last time she had seen his eyes that harsh, he was going after Dirk Grover. "So…Meg…" he said "What do we actually have?" the bitterness in his voice was dripping.