JAG Continues Book II: Volatile Matters
Ch. 3 - Visiting Gale
Part A
Catherine Gale opened the door holding a toddler in her arms.
“Dada,” the little girl said, pointing to Harm.
At the look of shock on Harm’s face, Catherine quickly apologized. “Sorry. She’s started calling all men that. Something she picked up at daycare.”
“That’s okay.” He glanced at Mac, who was looking at him and badly trying to suppress a grin. Her expression actually relieved him since it was only worrying about her reaction that had Harm horror-struck anyhow.
“Please, come in,” said Catherine. Harm gestured for Mac to go ahead of him.
“Colonel MacKenzie,” greeted Catherine.
“I’m not in uniform today. Please, call me Mac.”
She nodded and turned to her other guest. “Harm.” Catherine hugged him with her free arm and gave him a kiss on the cheek as he came in.
“Catherine. Sorry about bothering you so early on a weekend,” Harm apologized.
“Please. I have a sixteen-month-old. I’ve been up for hours.”
Harm smiled at the little girl, and then asked, “What’s her name?”
“Emma.”
“Hi Emma,” said Harm.
“Dada.”
“No,” Harm shook his head. Then he pointed to himself, “Harm.”
Emma looked at him, but did not say anything. A moment later the little girl became interested in Mac and pointed at her. “Izzat.”
“That’s Mac,” Catherine answered what she knew to be a question. “It’s her way of asking ‘who is that?’” Catherine explained to the inquisitive looking marine.
“Of course,” Mac replied, acknowledging that the baby’s phrase made sense.
Catherine looked back down at Emma, and pointed respectively, “Emma, Harm, Mac.”
Emma looked up at her Mom, pointed to her, and said, “Momma.”
“That’s right. Emma, Mommy, Harm, Mac,” she said, again gesturing to each.
“Mac,” repeated Emma as she looked at the new woman in front of her.
“She’s certainly not shy,” said Mac, smiling at the little girl.
“No, she’s not,” said Catherine. “And she seems to like you. She’d probably let you hold her, if you want?”
Mac got a little nervous. “… Oh … she’d probably rather run around.”
“Maybe, but if I’m putting her down, it will only be in her play area, because I can’t keep track of her running around right now. What do you want, Emma? Play area or do you want Mac to hold you?”
“Mac,” Emma said.
“See?” said Catherine.
“Okay,” Mac said and opened her arms to take the child.
Once she had been handed over, Emma proclaimed again, “Mac.”
“That’s right - Mac.” Mac looked up at Harm. “I think she just likes saying my name.”
Harm smiled. “Hey, who doesn’t?”
“Why don’t we go have a seat?” offered Catherine. “And you can tell me what you’re doing here.”
As they made themselves comfortable in Catherine’s living room, Harm couldn’t help but admire Mac holding the child. It was so natural the way she held, looked at, and spoke to the little girl, who was interested in the pink, toy dog she held.
Mac seemed to be quite happy for the moment, but Harm hoped that this wouldn’t make her feel bad later, as a reminder that their chances of having a child were small. But more than anything, he hoped that they would be able to beat the odds and share a baby of their own.
“So, I’m guessing this is not really a social visit?” said Catherine.
Harm focused on the issue at hand. “Unfortunately, no. Clayton Webb didn’t happen to tip you off that we might be contacting you, did he?”
Suddenly, Catherine became noticeably agitated. She switched her gaze to Mac and asked her directly, “What does this have to do with Clay?”
Mac, stunned and uncomfortable at the way Catherine unexpectedly eyed her with concern, opened her mouth to speak, but didn’t say anything.
Harm jumped in to answer the question. “Just that after the visit we got from Webb last night, I figured he might realize that I would want to verify some information. And since you are one of the few Agency contacts that I trust, I thought he might have anticipated our talking to you.”
“Oh,” Catherine relaxed some. “No, I haven’t spoken with Clay in weeks.” She smiled at Mac, giving her renewed approval. “So what’s this about?” Her focus shifted back to Harm.
“I need to know what, if anything, you know about Omar Howrani. He’s apparently spent some time in Beirut,” Harm said.
Catherine frowned in thought. “Doesn’t mean anything to me without looking up some files. Why are you interested?”
Mac supplied the answer. “Because according to Webb, this guy has a hit out on Harm,” she said. “But we don’t know anything about this man or if he really is a threat.”
“Clay didn’t mention why this man would want you dead?” Catherine asked Harm.
“Just that I extracted one of our guys - Joseph Spinnaker, from Beirut during my time with the Agency. Apparently there is a photo with me getting Spinnaker out, and since it seems that Spinnaker has recently been killed …”
“- Clay thinks you’re next?” Catherine finished.
“That’s what he told me,” said Harm.
“Do you have reason to doubt Clay’s information?”
Harm and Mac looked at each other. “There are some things that are suspicious,” said Mac. “And, I guess we do have some reason to question Clay’s … Hey!” Her attention suddenly diverted to the little girl on her lap, who had just found a new object of interest. Mac tried to gently take Emma’s pulling hand off of her necklace.
“Purdy,” said Emma.
“Pretty?” Mac asked Catherine for confirmation.
“Yes. Sorry,” apologized Catherine, “she likes shiny things.”
“Purdy,” repeated Emma, again trying to grab at the necklace.
“It is pretty,” said Mac. “But let’s not touch it, okay?” Mac covered the necklace with her hand. It didn’t take a second for Emma to notice the new shiny thing in front of her.
“Purdy!” She touched the ring on Mac’s finger.
“Yeah,” said Mac, smiling. She shifted the little girl on her lap to face directly out from her and put her left hand in front of Emma. “Pretty,” Mac repeated. She felt it was safer for the girl to admire the ring firmly on her finger than the necklace, which was in danger of being yanked off.
Catherine noticed the glinting article on Mac’s hand for the first time as well. “Colonel, is that an engagement ring?”
“It is,” Mac said proudly, glancing over at Harm.
Catherine smiled. “May I take it that the silly grin on the Commander’s face means that he is the one who put that ring on your finger?”
“You may,” answered Harm. “But watch what you’re calling silly,” he warned.
“Well, congratulations to both of you,” said Catherine happily. “I’m glad it finally worked out.”
“Tell me about it!” said Harm.
“Thank you, Catherine,” said Mac, who was struggling to keep Emma from turning around and getting hold of the necklace again.
“Hey, little girl,” Harm decided to intervene. In a very easy manner, he spoke to the toddler. “I just bought that pretty necklace for Mac, and I’d appreciate it if it stays on Mac’s neck instead of going in your mouth. How about I hold you for a while?”
Emma allowed Mac to hand her off to Harm, but she immediately started pointing and repeating. “Mac … purdy … Mac.”
“Yes, Mac is also very pretty,” Harm said.
“That’s not what she means, Harm,” said Mac, knowing that the child was still referring to the forbidden jewelry around her neck.
He calmly protested, “Hey, I’m allowed to interpret her language however I want.”
“No wonder you’ve always had such trouble communicating with females,” Mac playfully noted. Harm narrowed his eyes at her in response, but he could not cover up his smile.
Emma started to reach back over to Mac and fussed at Harm’s not letting her go.
“I think it’s time I take Emma to her play area,” said Catherine, getting up and taking Emma from Harm. “It’s nothing personal, Harm. But as long as Mac is wearing ‘pretty’ and you’re not, she’s not going to be happy with you. Now, if you were wearing your gold wings today, it might be a different story.”
“I’m not so sure,” said Harm skeptically. “I understand some girls think gold wings are overrated.” He and Mac exchanged amused looks that Catherine noticed before she set Emma down with a colorful toy.
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To be continued in Visiting Gale, Pt B
*A/N: As far as I recall, we never met Catherine’s child on the show or learned what gender the child was, so details about her baby are completely made up by me.