Will You Always Be There?

Chapter 62

Disclaimers: I don’t own any of the JAG characters. I don’t own any product or label mentioned for the purposes of telling this story. Any similarities to situations or persons living or dead are purely coincidental.

Spoilers: Anything up to ‘Bridging the Gulf’ is fair game. Any spoiler floating around out there may be loosely referred to.

A/N: Many thanks to aerogirl for her beta reading skills and her excellent input.

Rating PG

2035

Thursday

March 10

American Airlines Flight 732

Somewhere over the Midwest

It had been a grueling four days. Both Mike and Faith were so tired they didn’t even try to make conversation. Mike thought it was another sign of true friendship. They had the ability to be quiet together and still be comfortable. Faith had held up well, he thought. She had a lot more strength than she realized. Faith kept her military bearing but had been intently focused on what the families of the fallen Marines had to say. She’d given them the time they needed to speak their minds and rail against the situation if they wanted to. She hadn’t been emotional at all. It was a time when her rein on her emotions benefited her well.

Commander Turner and the JAG investigators on the ground in Iraq had been able to find the origin of the blast. It was an IED that had been exploded by remote control. It had been attached to a new coffee urn that was to be installed that morning by a civilian contractor. It had been placed near the old one and a mess cook was just minutes from installing it. The device had been placed inside the urn prior to its having been brought onto the camp. SOP was that any type of Iraqi civilian contractor, once inside the camp, was to be guarded by at least two Marines. Any type of working party consisting of Iraqi civilians was also heavily guarded and closely watched. Sturgis did feel that security was lax as far as the civilian contractors outside the camp were concerned. More could have been done to prevent this; protocols had already been changed, just too late for the Marines who were killed. He’d made his recommendations and was returning to JAG.

Knowing the truth did very little to heal the immediate wounds of the families, though. He hoped time would help. Both Marines had taken out additional life insurance, so their families were compensated well monetarily. One of the young men had a wife and child; his widow was only 20 years old, his son only 18 months old. He couldn’t fathom being married at that age, much less being widowed.

Mike was shaken from his thoughts by a touch on his arm.

“Michael?” Faith looked at him, questioning.

“Yeah?” Mike sat forward in his seat and stretched slightly, trying to shake the cobwebs from his mind.

“Are you all right?” He had been quiet for the last hour.

“I was just going over the past few days in my head.” He leaned back into his seat.

Faith looked at him. “It might be better not to dwell on it. We did everything we could, but there was no way to assuage the pain they were feeling.”

“You did a really good job back there, Faith. It was really awkward at times, but you never showed a moment of discomfort. I have to say I admired that.” As he finished his sentence, he looked at her.

She turned her head to look out the window, seeing nothing but the dark night. “Thank you, but it was not easy for me. I’m just used to…hiding my feelings. It was very difficult.”

“What they needed was someone who focused on them and let them have their say without getting emotional. Sometimes that is the best way; let me pay you a compliment, Faith.” He nudged her with his elbow. “You did well.”

She looked at him and smiled. “Thank you.”

“Man, I’m ready to get back, even if it means getting up at 0600 tomorrow morning.”

He just wanted to sleep in his own bed tonight. He suddenly remembered Commander Turner’s invitation for his engagement party tomorrow night. “What are you doing tomorrow night?”

Faith answered automatically, thinking more in terms of conversation that of a date. “Nothing in particular. I’m feeling pretty worn out from this …ordeal. I’ll probably try to lose myself in a good book.”

The commander had said he could bring someone. “Commander Turner invited me to his engagement party tomorrow night. The Rabbs are giving it. Why don’t you come with me?” He didn’t relish the thought of being there without her; Commander Rabb enjoyed ribbing him too well.

“I don’t know, Michael – I don’t really know Commander Turner very well.” Faith really didn’t want to go. He seemed nice enough; he was a very squared away officer as far as she was concerned. She just wasn’t sure she knew him well enough to come to a celebration that personal.

“Come on, Faith. I don’t know them any better than you do, but he did ask me personally, and he also said I could bring a date.” He wanted to take the last part of that sentence back, but it was too late. He saw Faith’s walls go up immediately.

“I don’t know.” How would she get out of this? She couldn’t have people thinking they were dating.

“Look, Faith, it’s just me.” He decided to go for the emotional plea. “I have to go now since the commander asked me – please come with me. They’ve all been friends for years; I want to bring a friend of my own.” He gave her his most disarming smile.

‘Oh, there it is. He’s turning on the charm,’ she thought. She was becoming less and less immune to it all the time. She sighed audibly.

He had won, he knew it. “We’ll only stay an hour and I’ll think of some reason we have to get out of there, I promise.”

Faith was still quiet. She was going to go; she was just trying to be sure that nothing could be read into her acceptance of his invitation.

“All right, I’ll buy you another steak.” He was getting desperate.

She laughed. He had resorted to bribery. She was going to go anyway, but he didn’t need to know that.

0830

Friday

March 11

North Park Muslim Women’s Shelter

Oldham, England

MI-5 agents with police backup were in place at four locations around the women’s shelter, waiting. They planned to move in as soon as Nasiri entered the shelter. Aziz Nasiri walked briskly up the sidewalk toward the building. He carried a backpack with the last component of the bomb he and his mentor al Hundu were building. It would be nine days until he would be allowed to fulfill his destiny and send the British and American dignitaries to hell, where he believed they belonged. He saw some of the women and children getting into a bus in front of the shelter.

Just before he stepped down the curb to cross the street, he heard what sounded like a car backfiring, coming from the street below. He walked to the rail on the small overpass and looked down into the alley. He saw nothing.

The bus was backing out of its parking place in front of the shelter. The driver’s foot slipped from the brake onto the gas, sending the bus backward very quickly. Nasiri was turning around when the bus jumped the curb and hit him, knocking him over the rail of the overpass. Nasiri had to time to react or call out. The driver did not realize he had hit him. He thought the bump he felt was from the bus going up over the high curb. The women who sat in the bus had not looked up or around. They sat with eyes down and hands clasped in their laps. They were being watched closely by Mr. Muehe, who was accompanying them, and from where Mr. Muehe sat he had not seen him either.

A little girl, who sat with her mother, saw him fall. She was terrified and confused. She remembered this man from yesterday. He had struck her mother hard across her face. She had made the mistake of looking directly at him. He had hit her more than once, but the blow to her face had caused her to pass out. The little girl had thought for a moment that her mother was dead. What should she do? Should she tell the man who was accompanying them? What if he became angry and beat her? What if they beat her mother again? She would say nothing. They were on their way to see a doctor. They would help her mother. She would never tell anyone what she saw. The bus started down the street and turned the corner. Two blocks down they were stopped by policemen and government agents. The little girl and her mother were rescued almost before they understood what was happening.

Aziz Nasiri had fallen hard on the pavement. He had broken his cervical vertebra high in his neck. His third cervical vertebra had in fact been shattered. This interfered with the innervations of his diaphragm. He felt nothing from his neck down and his breathing was becoming difficult to impossible. He knew he was dead, his holy task left undone. His last thought was of the little girl he saw as he fell over the rail. He had looked into her eyes and saw the fear and loathing in them.

Mr. Nasiri was dead.

2045

Friday

March 11

Harm and Mac’s apartment

Sturgis and Varise’s party was beginning to break up. The happy couple had left fifteen minutes before. A good time was had by all. AJ had come but Marcella was in New York with Francesca. Harm and Mac were at the door saying goodbye to Bud and Harriet.

“Thanks again for helping me with this, Harriet.” Mac hugged her as she started through the door.

“Oh, I didn’t really do anything. It was just great to get out and be with my friends again.” She took Bud’s arm and they walked toward the elevator.

“Good night, sir, ma’am,” Bud still couldn’t do the Harm and Mac thing yet.

At the same time Harm and Mac said, “Bud,” slightly exasperated.

“I’m sorry.” Bud and Harriet laughed as they closed the gate to the elevator.

Mike and Faith were now leaving and hoping to make a quick exit. They had mingled with the other guests tonight but talked mostly to each other.

“Mike, thank you for coming.” He smiled broadly and shook his hand.

“Thank you for having us…Harm.” Mike was having a hard time with the first names too.

Harm gave Mike a wink when Faith was saying goodbye to Mac. He turned toward Faith.

“Faith, it was nice to have you here tonight.”

She looked at him and couldn’t help returning his charming, though mischievous, smile. “Thank you, s...Harm.” She blushed furiously and followed Mike closely out the door.

Harm started to say something to them but Mac slipped into his arms, distracting him just enough to allow their escape. Mac reached up and whispered, “Stop it, Harmon.”

“What? I was being a gracious host.” He gave her a sly look.

“You know what you’re doing.”

Harm hugged her to him and happened to notice Jen in the kitchen, starting to clear things away. He stepped out of Mac’s embrace.

“What are you doing, Jennifer?” Harm went swiftly into the kitchen, shooing her out. “We have this under control. You’re a guest.”

“You need some help clearing this away. I don’t mind, really.” Jen wanted to help. She had missed being around both Harm and Mac. This apartment felt like home to her even in light of all that had happened in the apartment next door.

Mac stepped into the kitchen. “The night is still young – you should get out and enjoy it. It’s not even nine o’clock”

Just then they heard a knock at their door. Harm looked around, thinking that maybe one of the guests had forgotten something. He opened the door to see Tom and Jack standing in the doorway. “Kind of late, aren’t you?”

“Sorry, has everyone gone home?” Jack spoke in a low voice, leaning in and looking around the apartment. He saw AJ and Gunny talking in the living room. “We probably ought to wait until more of your guests have gone.”

Harm looked slightly confused, then he realized that this must be about Trafalgar Square. “We were just finishing up. Come in.” He nodded toward Tom Boone. “Tom.”

“Rabb, it has been a while, hasn’t it?” He shook Harm’s hand. He couldn’t explain it, but he felt such a sense of relief about the news he was going to share with him tonight. He had made a promise to himself that Trish’s killer would not get by with what he had done. He would see him dead, no matter what it took. Now it was true, and without firing a shot; Trish would have liked that.

AJ looked across the room at Harm and his new guests. He caught Tom’s eye and he knew something was up. He looked back at Gunny. “Excuse me, Gunny, I think I’ll go say hello to the late arrivals.”

Gunny took that as his cue to get Jennifer going. Something was up, and he had the feeling that whatever it was couldn’t be discussed while he and Jen were there.

He walked to where she was standing with Mac. “Are you about ready to go?” He smiled at Jennifer.

She returned his smile warmly. “Yes, let me get my coat.”

He touched her shoulder. “I’ll get it.”

Mac looked at Jen with raised eyebrows. “You and the Gunny?”

Jen folded her arms across her chest and looked away. “Yeah, I think so.” She turned to look at him and saw that he was waiting near the door.

“I hope it works out for you, Jen.” Mac said it sincerely

“Thank you, Mac.” Jen walked to Gunny and he slipped her coat onto her shoulders.

She and Harm bade them goodnight, and they left with Gunny holding her elbow, gently guiding her out. Mac turned around to see AJ, Tom and Harm standing in the living room talking. They kept their voices low; something was definitely up, and this time Mac wasn’t going to be left out of the conversation.

“Please sit down, gentlemen. Can I get any of you something to drink?” Mac figured that was one way to place her into the conversation. They all politely declined.

Harm held his hand out to her. “Come on, this concerns you too.”

Mac breathed a silent sigh of relief. He wasn’t going to shut her out. She still worried about that. This had to be about his mother. The loss and the injustice of it had always been with him. She saw it at times when he thought she wasn’t looking. He would linger over an old photo, or his mother would come up in every day conversation. He would hesitate and move on; not wanting to dwell on what was still so painful to him. She walked over to him and took his hand, and they all sat down.

Tom and AJ looked at Jack, silently giving him the go ahead to tell the story they had kept to themselves for months. He began. “As you know, Harm, we told you we would find out all we could about who was responsible for your mother’s….the incident at Trafalgar Square.”

He could not bring himself to say the word ‘death’; saying it this way seemed to anesthetize the pain of the situation. It did for him, anyway. “We all had our sources and now that the pieces are nearly all together we can tell you what we know.

“The person responsible for the bombing was Aziz Nasiri.” He looked directly at Harm.

Mac knew immediately who he was. “The Holy Land Liberation Crusade? The one involved in the ZNN fiasco?”

“Yes.” Jack waited for Harm to speak; he had been quiet. He was still trying to figure out why.

Harm remembered Ginny Baker, and the hatred she had expressed from the witness stand once her cover had been blown. She had used Stuart Dunston and nearly got him thrown in Leavenworth. She had played her part well. Mac’s language skills had solved that case.

“Why?” Harm asked the simple question.

“The goal had been to detonate the explosives near a group of college students who were visiting from the States. MI-5 got word that something may be up in the area, so the school was notified and the tour was cancelled.”

“But why allow the public there at all if that was the case?” He still couldn’t accept this; in his heart he felt something could have been done. He still felt responsible, although he knew that it was unreasonable to do so.

“The threat had been vague and the intel was not 100% reliable. They didn’t even know the students were the target until after the explosion. The locals thought they needed more to shut down the area entirely.” Jack hoped the fact that Nasiri was dead would be some consolation to Harm. He knew that his old friend was still struggling with this.

“Do they have him in custody?” He wanted a chance to see him pay. Whatever the sentence was, he wanted to be there to see it handed down.

“No.”

AJ and Harm were incredulous and spoke at the same time. ”No?”

“He’s dead,” Tom said quickly.

“How?” Harm had to know. AJ leaned forward in his seat.

Jack continued. “The British authorities were getting ready to close in on Nasiri and another suspected terrorist. They were using a Muslim women’s shelter as a front for their organization. MI-5 had a team waiting for him to return this morning and was going to take them into custody. The thing was... how do I say this?” He looked at Tom.

“He got hit by a bus.” Tom was deadly serious, but the irony of it was making it difficult to stay that way.

“What?” Harm couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“He was knocked off of an overpass and fell into an alley below. The fall broke his neck. He broke his third cervical vertebra and it paralyzed his diaphragm – he smothered to death.” Jack looked from Harm to Tom.

Tom spoke up. “Kind of fitting, I think.”

Harm stood and walked across his living room. He wasn’t sure what he should feel. He thought he would be relieved, but he wasn’t. He was glad to hear that there was one less terrorist in the world, but he knew there were more out there. His eyes welled with tears when he realized what he really wanted was for his mother to be alive. She was never one for revenge, but to his mind, justice had been served.

Jack finished what he knew of the story. “Nasiri had been bringing components for putting another bomb together; the target this time is believed to have been the prime minister and our Secretary of State.” Jack waited a moment. He knew Harm was having a hard time taking all of this in.

AJ had been watching him closely. “Harm, I know this is a lot to take in at once, but we all know you too well.” He looked at Mac. “You wouldn’t have been able to stay out of it. You and Mac had just begun your life together. I know that the small amount of information I gave you in December had you struggling to stay out of this. I think if you hadn’t been so caught up getting Mac through her illness you would have been right in the middle of all of this.” AJ stood and walked over to Harm and folded his arms across his chest. “We just didn’t want to see any more lives destroyed because of this senseless terrorist’s act.”

Harm looked at AJ and then back at his friends and his wife. He nodded, not wanting to speak just yet. He almost had it under control; he had nearly swallowed the lump in his throat when Tom decided it was time for a bit of levity.

“Well… we can take comfort in the fact that…there will be no 72 virgins for our friend Aziz.” Tom gave him a sarcastic smile and raised his eyebrows, hoping this attempt at dark humor would fly.

Harm looked at Tom and the irony struck him immediately. The bastard got hit by a bus. No martyrdom for him, no glorious killing of perceived infidels. He got his by way of a bus. He looked at Mac and she rose to walk over toward him. He couldn’t help but chuckle, and as he did huge tears began to fall from his eyes. Then he began to laugh. Mac began to laugh with him, wiping tears from her face too.

Jack stood and walked into their kitchen. “I don’t suppose you have anything stronger to drink than fruit juices in here, do you?” He opened their refrigerator.

Mac joined him. “Yes, we do, but all we have left is white wine and light beer.”

AJ looked at Jack and smirked. “At least it’s not bourbon.” He didn’t care if he did sound like a scold.

Jack shivered. “It’ll have to do.”

He and Mac set out glasses and poured wine into all but one. Mac gave herself sparkling water. Tom, Harm and AJ joined them standing around the kitchen island. Jack lifted his glass.

“Gentlemen and Lady, a toast… to public transportation.”

2220

Friday

March 11

Starbuck’s

Alexandria, Virginia

Gunny and Jen were sitting at a table finishing their coffee. Jen had once again ordered for both of them.

“I still don’t see the big deal. Coffee is coffee.” Gunny smirked at her.

“You know you like it. It was your idea to come here tonight anyway.” She smiled smugly. He liked his Venti Vanilla Breve Latte with whipped cream. He just wouldn’t admit it.

“I had a good time tonight. Sturgis and Varise make a nice couple.” He changed the subject.

Jen raised her brows. “They seem so different, though.”

“Opposites attract sometimes, Jen.” He winked at her.

She looked down, blushing slightly. “You know, the colonel asked me about us tonight.”

He looked at her directly. “What did you say?”

“She asked if we were together and I said that I thought so.” Jen looked at him, hoping she hadn’t said too much.

He smiled at her and gave her forearm a squeeze. “Let’s go.”

Jen looked at him and stood. He took her coat from the back of her chair and held it for her to slip her arms in. No one she had ever dated had done that for her. The commander had, but that was different somehow.

She followed him out to the car and they rode to her apartment in silence. He would look over at her from time to time but he didn’t say anything. He didn’t seem angry; she couldn’t tell what he was thinking at all. They had gone out twice last weekend and had a great time. He showed a bit more affection Saturday night, but was still pretty reserved compared to other men she had been out with. He acted as though he was trying so hard to be careful, not to make any mistakes in their relationship.

They arrived at her apartment. “Do you want to come up?”

“It’s pretty late – your roommate might not appreciate it.” The old awkwardness was starting to creep into their conversation.

“She’s TAD to Norfolk this week and next week. Come on, Victor.” She looked at him with that expression that could always do him in. “You know you don’t want to go home yet. I know for a fact there is -nothing- in that apartment. You said yourself that you don’t spend a lot of time in it.”

“If you’re sure…” Gunny cut the engine and took keys out of the ignition.

“I’m sure. Maybe we can find a movie we both agree on.” Jen got out of the truck and started toward her apartment building.

“No chick flicks,” he teased, suddenly very glad that he had taken her up on her invitation.

2330

Friday

March 11

Harm and Mac’s apartment

Harm and Mac had just settled into bed. Their guests were gone and their apartment was cleared of the remnants of their party. Harm was exhausted. What a day it had been. He scooted closer to Mac and turning her onto her side pulled her snugly into his embrace. They lay in silence for a few moments, in their favorite spooning position.

Mac rested a hand on his forearm. “Harm, are you all right?”

“Yeah…I think so.” He was still reeling from the news, trying to absorb it all and reconcile it with what he had come to feel about his mother’s death.

Mac knew he still had some things to work out. She had been thinking, almost since they had been told the news, that they needed to get away. She turned on to her stomach and faced him. “How would you feel about taking a long weekend over the Easter holiday and going to visit your grandmother?”

Harm was silent for a moment. He did like the idea. “I haven’t seen her since we got married.” Harm suddenly thought of Mattie. “Do you mind if I ask Mattie too?”

“I’d love it. I’ve gotten pretty attached to her too.”

Harm leaned in and kissed her, giving her that soft look that she loved. She saw pain there too, fresh and sharp – the kind she knew he couldn’t put into words. She reached up to trace his cheekbone with the tip of her forefinger, to caress and comfort him as much as she could, without bringing all the pain to the surface.

“Mac,” he said in a whisper. He leaned in and kissed her tenderly. He knew what she was doing. She finally knew him well enough to know just what he needed and he loved her for it.

TBC