Title: JAG Baby

E-mail: astridz55@earthlink.net

Rating: PG

Spoilers: This takes place sometime in season 7 but Bud was not transferred to the Seahawk.

Summary: Mac realized something is missing in her life.

Disclaimer: These characters belong to CBS and Bellisarius Productions. I am simply borrowing them for a little fun.

Notes: Constructive criticism is welcome, so is glowing praise.

Harriet's cousin, Melissa, stopped by to visit JAG with her baby, Christopher. Bud was holding the baby when Melissa started to cry. “You keep an eye on him, please,” she said before she ran off to the bathroom.

Harriet looked at Bud sadly and said, “Her husband was killed on September 11th. The baby was born a week later.” She then followed her cousin to the bathroom. Bud stood in the middle of the bullpen not quite sure what to do with the baby. He was due in court in a few minutes. He really didn't want to upset Melissa anymore by barging into the Ladies Room but he didn't know what else to do. He could not be late. He looked around the office and spotted Harm in his office. Unfortunately, the colonel was nowhere to be found. Bud knew that she did so well with young AJ she certainly wouldn't mind watching this one for a few moments.

“Sir, could you do me a favor?”

“Sure Bud. What’s up?” Harm said as he looked up and spotted Bud holding a baby.

“Who’s the baby?” Harm asked with his flyboy smile.

“Harriet’s cousin stopped by and, well, she is a little upset.”

“What’s wrong?” asked Harm.

“Melissa’s husband was killed in the World Trade Center and then a few days later Christopher was born. I guess she was upset seeing me holding the baby since his father never saw him,” Bud said sadly.

“That’s terrible. The poor kid,” he said thinking about how he was lucky enough to at least have had the letter tapes from his father. “What did you need?”

“Well, I have to be in court and Harriet is with Melissa and I don’t want to interrupt them,” Bud explained.

“Go ahead to court, Bud. I’ll watch him.”

“Thank you, sir. I doubt that they will be too long. He’s been feed and changed so you shouldn’t have to worry about that, sir.” He set down the diaper bag and handed the baby to Harm and took off. Harm was doing fine for a little while then the baby started to fuss. Knowing that he couldn’t be hungry already, Harm checked his diaper. It was dry. Now he had run out of all possible ideas as to what could be wrong. Not knowing what to do he tried to find Mac, but not being able to find her Harm took the baby to the Admiral’s office. He didn’t know that the Admiral was having an informal meeting with Mac. “Enter. What is it, Rabb?” he asked before he looked up. “Who is that?” once he spotted the baby.

“This is Harriet’s cousin, Melissa’s baby, Chris. Bud was watching him but he had to go to court. And well, he’s really fussy and I can’t quiet him down” said Harm.

“You know Rabb one of these days you are going to have to do this for yourself.” The Admiral went to reach for the baby, amused at the look of sheer terror on Rabb’s face.

“Actually sir, I was going to give him to Mac.” He grinned as he handed the fussy baby to the surprised Colonel. “I have the Sampson case to review before tomorrow. Gotta go.” Harm took off before Mac could say anything to him. Seeing the shocked look on Mac’s face the Admiral couldn’t help but smile, which earned him a glare.

“Sorry, Mac. Want me to take him?” he asked.

“No. I’m just not used to holding someone this tiny.” She said with a smile. She held the baby in her right arm and began rocking back and forth. “Here, have a seat,” he said while pulling out his chair for her.

“I don’t want to kick you out of you own chair, sir.”

“Not a problem. I offered, so sit.” She stood up and he stepped aside so that she could sit in the chair. She gently rocked the chair back and forth while the Admiral leaned against the edge of his desk just next to her. The baby stopped crying immediately. She looked up at the Admiral in delight. He lightly smiled back at her and without thought, he reached out his finger to the baby’s hand. His smile widened as he said, “Good grip. You are a natural. You’ll make a good mother,” he said without meeting her eyes.

“Nah. Too much of a bad past. I would have to find a good husband first anyway,” she said turning her attention back to the baby.

“Not necessarily in this day and age. There are a lot of single moms out there.”

“I guess you would have to call me a bit old fashioned, besides I don’t like the idea of an non-existent father. Since meeting Harm and seeing how much he missed his father, I don’t think I could do that to a child on purpose. Besides, I would prefer to know what kind of person he is before I had a child with him.” She paused a moment, thinking about that pact that she and Harm had made at Young AJ’s birth. “But if I knew him and we weren’t together, would it be awkward between us afterwards?”

“If you both are adult about it and discuss it before hand it shouldn’t matter, right?”

“That is true but how does one ask that sort of thing?” The door quietly opened and PO Tiner walked in to hear Mac ask the Admiral, “Excuse me, sir, but would you care to be the father of my child.” Mac smiled up at him and they quietly laughed as a stunned Tiner walked out as quietly as he walked in, unnoticed.

Several moments passed quietly as the little one fell asleep. “They are so cute at this age. I bet you missed this with Francesca.”

“Yeah, I did. It wasn’t the popular thing then for the father to be involved and helping with the children.”

“Look at Bud, that will show you how much times have changed,” she paused. “Have you ever thought of having more?”

“Kids? Dear Lord, no.” A look of horror similar to Harm’s crossed his face. “I’m too old. I’m old enough to be a grandfather.”

“That doesn’t mean you’re too old to have kids. I’ve known lots of people who have children and grandchildren very close to the same age. Grocho Marx was in his seventies when he became a father.”

He looked amused as he crooked one eyebrow. He met her eyes briefly before she lowered hers with some embarrassment, she hadn’t meant to call him old. His smile widened.

“You would be a great father, you deserve that chance if you want it,” she almost mumbled.

“Like you said, I’d have to find a good wife first.” He didn’t think that he would mind having another child but how possible would that be? He knew that he would want to be there for another child but would that be possible with the fact that he was so much older now than he was when Francesca was born.

Her arm was beginning to get tired so she tried to switch but she wasn’t quite sure as to how. He spotted her dilemma as she asked, “My arm is getting tired, how do you switch?” AJ leaned down in front of Mac and tried to take the baby without touching her. He placed the baby on his shoulder while she shook out her arm.

“Sure you don’t want me to take him?” he asked with just a touch of hopefulness.

“If you want to,” she said somewhat disappointed, standing up to leave.

“Where you going?”

“I thought I would let you get back to work.”

“That’s okay, I’m enjoying our talk. Here, sit down I’ll give him back. Besides, how can I work with this one here?”

She sat and he squatted in front of her to hand the baby back. She saw him smile tenderly at the child and thought ‘he should get his chance to be a daddy. He is so loving. Now where did that thought come from?’ She reached out for the baby avoiding his eyes. He placed the baby in her arms and seeing the look of longing on her face he stopped from pulling his hands out from under the baby. When she noticed she had trapped his hands she looked up and he said quietly, “The past doesn’t really matter with kids. It’s the future that counts, Sarah.” He looked into her deep brown eyes and noticed that they were starting to tear up.

“Thank you,” she whispered, surprised that he had called her Sarah.

Harriet and Melissa walked through the open door to get the baby and they were somewhat surprised at what they saw. Mac was in the Admiral’s chair lovingly holding the baby and looking almost tearfully at the Admiral who was squatting in front of her with his hands trapped under the baby. Before the Admiral noticed them, he pulled one hand out and cupped it over the baby’s head and stopped when it was at her elbow. They looked like a family. Harriet stopped for a moment before she could continue.

“Admiral, I am so sorry.”

AJ squeezed Mac’s hand that still trapped his before he let go and said, “Not a problem, Lieutenant. Lieutenant Roberts had to be in court and then Young Chris here got too fussy for Rabb to handle.”

“Thank you both for taking care of Christopher. I’m sorry but I still get a bit emotional these days,” Melissa said as she took the baby from Mac’s arms.

“That’s perfectly understandable. I remember those days,” he said while absent-mindedly rubbing a scar on his head. Mac saw Harriet’s lips twitch into a smile but knew better than to ask what that was about. With one last glance at the departing baby, Mac put all thoughts of him out of her mind, once again focused on the meeting that was interrupted some time before.

Mac thought about what the Admiral had said for several days then she took Friday as a personal day so that she could think about it some more and visit her doctor. She wanted to find out what it would all entail if she decided to have artificial insemination. The doctor suggested that an anonymous donor would be the best as she had seen problems otherwise. Mac was insistent that she had to pick the donor and that it would all work out okay. Her only problem was how to ask.

A week later on Friday, Sarah knocked cautiously on the Admiral’s door, “Enter!”

“Sir. Permission to speak freely,” she asked somewhat nervously.

“What is it, Colonel?” he asked concerned.

“Remember the conversation we had last week?”

“About the Ayers case?” he said as he sat on the edge of the front of his desk.

“No, about Harriet’s cousin.”

“Yes,” he answered cautiously remembering the conversation now.

“Well, I’ve been thinking, sir, and, um, I’ve decided to, um…” The admiral quirked one eyebrow. “Have a baby, sir.”

“What!?” he was incredulous.

“I thought about it for nearly two weeks and I’ve talked to my doctor, she doesn’t think there should be any problems.”

“That’s good,” he said, not sure of what else to say.

“I might be needing some time off, for doctor visits and stuff,” she said, still a bit nervous about asking what she intended.

“Of course, just let me know. Dismissed.” He walked around to the back of his desk. She didn’t leave.

“Was there something else, Colonel?” He leaned on to his desk and placed his hands on the top of his paperwork.

“Well, sir. I don’t know how to say this, but, uh.”

“Spit it out, Colonel,” he said gruffly.

“Let’s see, how did I say it, ‘Excuse me, but would you be the father of my child?’” The look of shock on his face was worth her momentary embarrassment. He was so stunned he sat down quickly, as if his legs had gone out from under him.

She walked around his desk to stand next to him as he finally recovered his voice, “Why?” he whispered.

“Because I think you would be a great father.”

“I’m your CO. We can’t…”

“I know. But we don’t have to tell anyone. It wouldn’t have to change anything between us here at work. I just thought,” she stood at attention. “I’m sorry, sir. Please accept my apology. I’ll leave.”

He grabbed her wrist and said “No.” He blew out a deep breath, “Damn Mac, you sure know how to make a man stop and think,” he grinned a little half grin. “When I was talking to you about this, I was implying Rabb, not me.”

“Why?” it was her turn to be speechless.

“He’s young, good-looking, and I always thought there was something between you two,” he admitted for the first time.

“No. I did think about it for about five minutes but then I realized Harm would be a bit freaked out. You saw the look on his face when you suggested he would have some children of his own someday. He was terrified.”

“That’s true. But still, why an old man like me?”

“Like I said you are not old. I saw the way you looked at little Christopher and what you said about Francesca. You looked like you would love another chance. I thought I could help you with that. Besides you said that if both parties were adult about it and discussed it, there should be no problem.”

He took a deep breath and paused before he said, “Dinner at my place tomorrow. Be there at 1700, don’t tell anyone. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Dismissed,” he said already lost in thought.

Mac somehow managed to make it through the day. She said good night to everyone and went home to think some more of how she could convince the Admiral. She got up early the next morning like always and went on a run. She happened to run into Harm on the run. He asked her if she had any plans for the evening. She seemed embarrassed as she answered, “Yes, I do.”

“Oh, hot date?” he asked teasingly.

“No just dinner with a friend. Gotta go.” She took off.

At exactly five o’clock she knocked on the Admiral’s door. He opened the door wearing black jeans and a navy blue polo shirt. “Come on in, Mac.”

“Hi,” she said a little nervously.

“Can I get you something to drink? Soda, tea?” he said just as nervously.

“Water would be fine, sir.” He led the way into the kitchen.

“If we’re going to discuss this, call me AJ.”

“Ok, AJ,” as she accepted a glass of water.

“First, we need to discuss some of the details,” he said as he leaned against the kitchen counter.

“Like?”

“Well, first of all, what exactly do I need to do?” asked AJ.

“Well, my doctor said that she usually deals with couples. The woman would be checking to see when she ovulates and when that happens her and her partner would need to come in. He would well, make a donation, then they will do the insemination procedure,” she explained a bit embarrassed.

“I doubt that I would be able to go with you.”

“Oh, I know that. The doctor will also freeze the donation until the time that it is needed.”

“Okay. Now that is settled. The next thing is, how involved would you want me to be?” he looked into her eyes.

“You’ve probably never really had the chance to be part of a pregnancy. Neither have I, so I really don’t want to go through it totally alone. I would like you to be as involved as you want,” she said meeting his eyes.

“Ok. Good. If I am to be that involved then I guess that you won’t be too offended if I offered to help pay.”

“No. I have enough saved” she insisted.

“Still, I want to help with that.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I know, but I want to. This will be my last chance at this, I want to do as much as I can, Sarah,” he said.

“Ok,” she agreed without really intending on accepting any money from him. “Well, regarding custody. I will have full custody; my name will be the only one on the birth certificate. But you are welcome to visit or baby-sit or whatever anytime you would like,” she said.

“Speaking of baby-sitting, is the child going to be in day care or what?”

“There is the day care that Harriet uses for Little AJ. It seems very nice and the prices are reasonable.”

“What are you going to tell people about me being around so much?” he asked.

“You’re Uncle AJ,” she said simply. She realized then that he must have done a lot of thinking in the time since she dropped her little bomb.

“What about you being pregnant and not dating anyone?”

“That my biological clock was ticking and well, I was tired of hitting the snooze.”

“That’s one way of putting it,” he grinned.

“People can guess what they want. I would just prefer that it isn’t the truth.”

“Sarah, that is one thing, we have to be careful so that no one suspects the truth. It could mean both of our careers,” he said honestly.

“If you are worried about that then I don’t want to do that to you, AJ,” she looked down, not wanting to see the rejection in his eyes.

“It’s my decision too, right?” he asked softly.

“Yes.” She looked up at him, “And your decision would be?” she asked nervously.

He took a deep breath and crossing his arms he said, “Ok.”

She stepped across the kitchen and gave him a quick hug, “Thank you.”

“Now you know you can’t do this at the office,” he joked and hugged her back. He didn’t think it was at all appropriate but this entire conversation was inappropriate anyway.

“Yes, sir,” she sniffed. He pulled back and noticed that her eyes were filled with tears.

“Here,” as he handed her a paper towel. He said nothing else but he just stood there for her. He knew that they would need to talk about this more but his mind was made up.

“I’m sorry. I’m just really happy.” She was sure that he was going to say no so she was surprised that he had agreed. She was going to be a mother.

AJ went in the following Monday for his part of the procedure as Mac was taking vitamins and checking to see when she would ovulate. About three weeks later she asked Tiner if she could speak with the Admiral. Tiner asked through the intercom and then told her to go on in.

“What do you need, Colonel?” he asked without bothering to look up.

“Sir, I need to leave for a long lunch.”

“Why?” he looked up finally. Seeing her expression, he realized suddenly why. “Your doctor’s appointment, I guess?”

“Yes, sir. I’ll be back soon. It shouldn’t take too long,” she said.

“Why don’t you take the rest of the day off?” he suggested.

“That won’t be necessary, sir. My doctor said that there are no physical limitations after the procedure.”

“Yes, I read about that but it can’t hurt to be on the safe side. Take some files with you and work on them at your apartment.”

Knowing that there was no way for her to win, she reluctantly agreed, “Yes, sir. I will see you tomorrow then.” She turned and walked to the door but was stopped by his soft voice.

“Mac? Let me know how it goes.”

“Of course.

Mac was actually surprised at how easy the procedure was. Her doctor assured her that it was no problem for her to go back to work but thought it was a good idea for her to relax for the rest of the day. Mac went home debating on if she should call the Admiral or not. Deciding to wait until tomorrow when she saw him, she pulled out the files she brought and got to work.

Mac went back to work the next day surprisingly refreshed after her relaxing day. She went into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee but decided to stick with some bottled water instead. On her way back to her desk she saw the Admiral.

“Morning, sir.”

“Morning, Colonel. How are you doing today?” he asked.

“Doing just fine, sir,” she answered with a smile. She knew what he was asking and was pleased that he did but in a subtle way. That was the only mention that was made at the office for the next two weeks.

The Admiral got to work early one morning but still not earlier than Mac. He was wondering when he was going to find out how the procedure went. His curiosity was answered when he found a note on his desk. He couldn’t resist the small sigh that slipped out when he read it, “Not yet.” It was simply signed with an “S.” AJ knew that Mac was going to be upset but he was pleased when she seemed in good spirits. He wished that he could call her and ask her how everything was going but he knew that calling her was not appropriate, maybe he could arrange something else.

AJ expected to hear from Mac when her next appointment was but she didn’t mention anything until after she had the procedure done. At first, he glared at her until she assured him that it was done over the weekend and she made sure she went home and relaxed afterward. He waited until she walked out of his office and made a small note on his calendar. He wanted to know when she should be finding out.

Once again, two weeks passed with nothing overly unusual happening. AJ noticed that Mac was taking things a little easy but he didn’t think that anyone else noticed. Mac was going about her business, amazed that she was able to keep this secret from everyone, especially Harm. It just didn’t seem right not telling him or Harriet. She was happy that she was able to talk to the Admiral about it though. She just wished that they could talk without worrying about their careers.

Mac counted down the days until she could take the test but she tried very hard to not be too anxious. Her doctor had told her that it may very well take several tries before she becomes pregnant. Finally, the test day arrived. Part of her was sure that she was pregnant and the other part remembered that she felt the same way last month so she shouldn’t get her hopes up.

She took the test early in the morning and set it aside trying to wait the five minutes for the result. She stood waiting in front of the mirror, silently counting the seconds. Finally, the longest 300 seconds of her life passed and she looked down to see two little lines staring back at her. She looked at the box again just to verify that two lines meant pregnant even though she had already memorized the entire set of directions. She was going to be a mommy.

Later that day, AJ found a ‘while your were out’ note on his desk. The top was folded over and paper clipped. As he noticed that, he saw that the simple message of a smiley face and a plus sign on it signed with an “S”. He smiled. He was very happy for Sarah and himself too. ‘Wow,’ he thought as he started to remove the paperclip, ‘After all this time. I’m going to be a...’

Then he saw that the note was addressed to “Daddy.” He was amazed. He had never really thought that he would have a chance be a father again. But he never thought that he would ever be a ‘daddy’. After Marcella had taken Francesca back to Italy he thought that he would never have had another chance to actually be a father. He didn’t know what to think or do. He was in shock.

Somehow, he managed to stay in his office all morning and do his work, but at lunchtime he left the office. He purchased a nice bunch of flowers and two cards. On the first card he simply wrote, “Congratulations.” On the second card he wrote “Mommy,” and at the very bottom he put an e-mail address that he had gotten recently. He then sealed the envelope so that the “mommy” card was behind the other. As he was paying in cash he asked for the flowers to be delivered to her.

When Sarah got them at work she was thrilled, she had been a little upset that the Admiral hadn’t said anything to her all morning. She was afraid that he was regretting his decision to help her. But once she got the flowers she figured he had just been busy. Harm was curious about the flowers and so were Bud and Harriet, but she never explained where they came from. She just smiled and said that they were from someone special. That just got more questions until luckily the Admiral solved that problem for her about gruffly commenting that her personal life is her own and not theirs. That shut them up, unfortunately it also made Harriet start to think. Starting that night Mac and AJ talked online about the baby. They were able to keep work the same as it had been, but AJ was a bit more worried about when people found out and when she began to show.

Four weeks into her pregnancy, she went home sick, morning sickness, or in her case afternoon sickness had finally hit. Hard.

Harm was worried and asked, “What kind of flu do you have? Sounds like what Harriet has. I hope it isn’t catching.”

Harriet walked in to hear part of the conversation and the response, “I promise there is no way you can catch this. I just want to go home.” Harm and Harriet both offered to drive her home. Somehow, Harriet insisted and won that honor.

“May I speak freely, ma’am,” Harriet asked, keeping her eyes on the road.

“Of course. Just don’t hit any bumps.”

“Are you okay? I’ve noticed that you haven’t been feeling yourself lately and I was wondering.”

“Wondering what?” Mac asked knowing that Harriet suspected something.

“Well, I heard you tell the Commander that there was no way he could catch this and I started thinking…”

“You’re too smart, Harriet. I haven’t told anyone else yet so you can’t even tell Bud. Ok?”

“Of course.”

“I am four weeks pregnant. If you don’t mind, I would love to ask your advice as I go along.”

“Of course. I’ll be right along with you actually.”

“What?”

“I’m eight weeks along. I was planning on announcing it shortly. When are you going to tell everyone else?” she asked with a smile.

“I was thinking about in another two weeks if you can keep a secret from Bud that long,” she said with a smile, glad she could talk to a woman who had experienced this before.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Out of the office, call me Mac. I’ll be having lots of questions for you, I’m sure. We can even have fun with Harm. He’s already afraid that this is catching.”

“That might be fun. I’ll bring in some of my books for you if you would like. I just have to come up with some way to sneak them past Bud,” Harriet said looking forward to the challenge. They pulled into Mac’s parking lot and Harriet commented, “Here you are pregnant and I didn’t even know you were seeing anyone.” Seeing the look on Mac’s face she apologized, “I put my foot into that one, didn’t I?”

They walked upstairs and sat down on the couch. Mac explained it all to Harriet, well all except AJ’s part in it. “Harriet, am I just being selfish? Shouldn’t children have a mother and a father?”

“Mac, if you love that child then it doesn’t make that much difference.”

“I want to make sure that my child has a good male role model, especially if it is a boy.”

“You are worried about that surrounded by all those Navy men we work with? The Admiral and Harm will probably fight over which one gets to baby-sit,” Harriet said as Mac walked into the kitchen to get a glass of milk.

“Would you like anything, Harriet?”

“No thanks, but speaking of Harm. I’m surprised you didn’t ask him.”

This, of course, caused Mac to choke on her milk. “What?”

“Sorry, ma’am. I just thought that since you two were rather close that you would just ask him to be the father.”

“To be completely honest, Harriet. I thought about, it but how could I really ask? Think about it,” Mac said with a grin.

Harriet laughed.

“Besides he would probably have wanted a ‘relationship’ with me more than one with a little cup and I just don’t see anything but friendship between us.” The phone ringing interrupted them. “Hello?”

“Sarah, are you okay? Rabb said you went home sick.”

“Yes, sir. I’m fine, Harriet drove me home.”

“Will we chat later?” he asked referring to their nearly nightly online chats.

“Of course. See you first thing in the morning, sir. I’ll send Harriet back now.”

“Will you need a ride in the morning?”

“Just a moment.” She tuned to Harriet and asked, “Can you have Bud drop my car off later tonight?”

“Sure.”

“Bud will drop my car off but thanks for the offer anyway, Sir.”

“Good night, Mac.”

“Good night, sir,” she said as she hung up the phone.

“Thanks again, Harriet. I’ll see you in the morning. Thanks for the ear.”

“Not a problem. I’ll try to bring some of the books tomorrow.” Sarah gave Harriet an extra set of keys for Bud so he wouldn’t have to come upstairs.

When Harriet left, Mac turned on her computer just to check her e-mail. But not yet, she would have to wait for AJ to get home. She thought that she would take a nap and when she woke up she was surprised to see that it was time for her to go to work. She walked into the office feeling much better than when she had left. Until she heard “Colonel, my office now.”

She smiled at Harm and walked into the Admiral’s office.

“Yes, sir.” She stood at attention.

“At ease. Where were you last night?” He waited until the door was shut.

“I went home and fell asleep and I didn’t wake up until 0700. I can’t believe I slept so long. I told Harriet about the baby.” She noticed his shocked look so she continued, “Everything but your part in it.”

“When will I get the official word about the pregnancy?”

“I think about two weeks, unless Harm gets too worried about catching my flu.”

“Or until Harriet tells Bud,” he said with a smile.

“She says she won’t, but I am wondering how she will be bringing me the pregnancy books she has.”

AJ smiled as someone knocked on the door. “Enter!”

“Sir, Mac. I just wanted to check up on Mac if you don’t mind.”

“I’m fine, Harm. I was just over tired, I had a good long night’s sleep. I’ll be fine.”

Tiner’s voice came over the intercom, “Sir, Lt. Simms needs to see Colonel MacKenzie in her office.”

“Thank you, Tiner. Dismissed, Colonel. Keep me posted,” the Admiral said in his usual business like tone.

“Aye-aye, sir.” Mac went to her office to find Harriet, a stack of books, and a box of saltines.

“Hey, Harriet. What all this?” Mac asked.

“Here are some books for you.”

“Patriot Games, The Brethren? Harriet I don’t understand.”

“I didn’t think you would like my romance novels, so…” she said while removing the dust jackets to revel the pregnancy books.

“That’s so clever, Harriet,” she said with a smile. “How long did you think about that?”

“Not too long. I used to do stuff like that in high school. I thought I would bring you in some saltines for you also. They are great at settling your stomach.”

“Thanks so much, Harriet.”

The next six weeks passed almost like normal. Mac had her first Ob appointment but she had to go alone, AJ wasn’t able to make it. At the appointment, Mac heard the baby’s heartbeat for the first time. She was amazed. What an incredible sound. While she was at the doctor’s office she asked if there was a commercially available microphone, so she could hear it whenever she wanted. She was told to go to the baby store just a few blocks away.

Mac slipped in and made her purchase along with some other baby stuff. She put the microphone and headphones and one other little purchase in a plain bag and hid the rest of it in her trunk. She walked back into the office and found a message from the Admiral on her voice mail. He needed to see her about the Clements case. It was ironic because Clements was the name of her OB/Gyn.

Mac grabbed the fake file she had made and her bag and went to see AJ. He asked her a few questions about the ‘case’ until Tiner was out of the room, then he asked about her appointment. She handed him her bag. He opened it and pulled out the microphone, he looked confused.

“May I?” she asked while she stepped around his desk.

AJ hit the intercom, “Tiner. Hold my calls and visitors. I need to review this case with the Colonel and I don’t want to be disturbed.” He turned off the intercom, watching her with some confusion as she hooked the microphone to the headphones. She turned on the mike, held the headphone to her ear and put the mike to her stomach. She moved the mike around until he saw her smile and hand the headphones to AJ.

He put them on and heard the heartbeat of his child. He sat speechless for a few minutes while he listened. Finally he looked up into her eyes and suddenly thought ‘this woman is the mother of my child. My God how lucky am I?’ He started to reach his hand out to her stomach before he realized what he was about to do and he stopped. She turned off the mike and he wordlessly removed the headphones and handed them back to Mac. She placed it back into the bag and she removed another small bag. She picked up the larger bag and her file, but left the little bag.

After she left, he opened it when he was along and saw a little tiny bib that said ‘I love my Daddy’. He smiled and said to himself, “Now, where am I going to keep this?”

Mac and Harriet finally told everyone when both their morning sickness got bad, about two weeks later. Harm would hardly come near her because he was afraid he would get the flu. She finally got fed up with it when she went into the Admiral’s office for their normal meeting and Harm sat as far away as he could from both Mac and Harriet. AJ had to hide his grin because he thought this was rather amusing.

“Harm is there something wrong?” asked an annoyed Mac.

“No. I just don’t want to catch what either one of you has. It’s like the damn plague going around.”

Bud looked at Mac surprised and said “Colonel?”

“Yes Bud,” she smiled.

AJ looked at Harriet and said “Again Lt.?”

“Yes, sir,” beamed Harriet.

“Okay since everyone else seems to know what it is, does any one want to let me in on it?”

“Not really, Rabb. Bud tell him your news.”

“Harriet is pregnant again.”

“Congratulations you two.” He hugged Harriet and shook Bud’s hand. “But that doesn’t explain what’s wrong with you.”

“Actually, yes it does,” Mac said calmly.

He looked confused until he finally figured it out, “You’re pregnant?!!” Everyone, but Harm, laughed at the shocked reaction.

“Talk about it in you office Rabb. I have work to do. Dismissed.”

“Aye-aye sir.”

“Just how did this happen, Mac?”

“I thought you knew about the birds and the bees, Harm.”

“I’m not amused. Did you forget to mention that you were seeing someone?”

“No, I didn’t. I just figured that I was tired of waiting for someone to come along.”

“So you just…”

“I had artificial insemination.” He was momentarily speechless.

“Mac. What about a father? Trust me, it’s hell growing up without one. I should know.”

“I know Harm. I thought about this for a while and this is something I want to do. I was hoping you could be happy for me.” She turned to leave.

“Mac, wait. You have to admit this a bit of a shock.”

“Yes, it is, I’m sure.”

“How are you going to raise the child and work?”

“I’ve discussed that with the Admiral, I’m going to take some time off then when I come back to work, the baby will be in a day care center that is just a few blocks away.”

He turned to look out his window before he spoke again “I still think a child needs their father. If you want, I’ll accept the child as mine and…”

“Harm, are you proposing to me?” she said with a smile in her voice. She saw the look on his face and realized that he was serious. She walked up to him and put her arm around his waist. “That’s very sweet of you, but I don’t think it would work. We don’t love each other.”

“But the child…”

“Will have two of the best uncles in the world, you and the Admiral.”

“Why did you tell him before me? I thought I was your best friend.”

“You are. But I had to tell him because I needed time off to go to the doctor’s office. I told Harriet because I needed to talk to a woman about being pregnant. I probably would have told you sooner but you were thinking I had the plague.” He smiled at her.

“I am happy for you Mac. I had better get back to work.” He gave her another hug before he let her go. She walked to the door and heard him say, “If you change your mind, the offer stands.”

“Thanks Harm,” she said honestly touched but not willing to take him up on his offer.

To say that people in the office were surprised was an understatement. Mac let people assume what they wanted in regards of the parentage of her child. The office was divided, some of the office thought it was just an anonymous donor, but most thought the father was Harm. It didn’t help that Harm was acting like the proud papa. He even offered to go with her to her doctor appointments.

“Thank you, Harm but no,” Mac said. “I need to do this alone.”

PO Tiner didn’t say a word about it, but her knew when the Admiral was taking off and that it was for doctor’s appointments that were not his. Was it a coincidence that the Colonel had the same times off each time?

A few months later, in an informal meeting with Bud, Harriet, and Harm the Admiral asked, as casually as possible, “So Mac, how are things going?”

“I have the ultrasound tomorrow, sir. And I do have a question for all of you about it.”

“What’s that?” AJ asked.

“I can’t decide if I want to find out the gender now and let everyone know, find out the gender and not tell anyone or just wait until the baby is born.”

That of course had everyone but the Admiral speaking his or her own mind, he just smiled in amusement.

Bud and Harriet thought she should wait, since they decided to this time, but Harm thought that she should find out now if she could. While the noise level was still loud enough she looked at AJ and mouthed, “Well?” He thought for a moment, then he nodded to her and tapped two fingers on his desk. She smiled.

The next day, AJ was able to go with her to the appointment after all. She introduced him to the doctor as a friend and her coach. She said nothing about him being the father or her boss. The doctor began the ultrasound and started a video. She noticed that Sarah took AJ’s hand when the picture came on the screen.

“Baby is growing well. Baby is now about 1 pound and almost 8 inches long. There is the head and the spine. Did you want to know the sex?” They both nodded. “Well now let’s see how modest this little one is going to be. Some of them just don’t want to let you find out.” The doctor smiled. “Well, this little man has no modesty at all.” She pointed to the screen to show that it was a boy. AJ smiled down at Mac who smiled back.

After her appointment was over they drove back to work in their separate cars both lost in thought. He drove straight back to work while she stopped for lunch. When she walked back into the office, Harm went right to her office.

“So, Mac. Am I going to have a niece or a nephew?”

“The appointment went fine. There don’t seem to be any problems. I found out the sex…”

“Well?” he asked impatiently.

“I think I’ll wait to tell you when the baby is born.”

“WHAT?!” Harm bellowed just as the Admiral was walking by.

“Rabb!” Harm jumped. “It’s not nice to yell at pregnant women. Leave her alone.” Mac started to laugh.

“Sir, after that discussion yesterday about finding out the gender, she found out but won’t tell me,” Harm whined.

“She’s probably just trying to pull your leg, Rabb. Deal with it. And get back to work.”

Harm glared at Mac as he left her office and went to sulk in his.

The entire trip back to JAG, AJ was lost in thought. He had been thinking more and more about leaving JAG. He wanted to let the world know he was going to be a father. AJ also wanted to see if there was a chance of a real relationship with Sarah. During their nightly chats he found himself falling more and more in love with her. He tried to hide it, even from himself but he knew that was impossible after one simple touch.

One day Mac came quietly into his office and without speaking placed his hand on her belly. He felt a movement under his hand and his eyes met hers. That was his child moving around inside her. AJ knew then that his heart was hers. And he knew that he would never say anything.

AJ knew that if he told her his feelings now she would assume that it was simply because of the child. He also knew that wasn’t true but he wasn’t really sure how to explain. Even though he was a lawyer and often good with words he accepted the fact that he wasn’t as eloquent when it came to his feelings. They just stood there, eyes locked, when there was a knock on the door. She stepped around the desk as he took a breath and managed to say “Enter!” PO Tiner walked in with some papers that needed his signature.

“If that was all, sir?” Mac asked.

“Yes. Colonel” As she turned to walk out of the room she heard him say, “Thank you for letting me know.” She nodded and continued out of his office. Mac wanted to tell Harriet but she thought she would tell or show Harm first though. She popped her head into his office and asked if he was busy. He nodded but looked as if he would welcome a distraction. Mac walked in, shut the door and checked to see if the blinds were closed. He was rather curious about her actions but when she realized that no one could see in, she said, “I have something I want to show you.”

“What is it?”

“Give me your hand.”

He did, hesitantly, then was rather surprised when she put it on her belly. He had wanted to feel her newly shaped stomach but he hadn’t been sure how to ask. Harm was speechless as Mac took his hand and placed it on the side of her belly. He felt uncomfortable touching her and was about to pull away when the baby suddenly kicked. He looked up to her eyes and with his traditional flyboy smile, he said, “Feels like a little football player.”

Right then the Admiral walked in, causing Harm to become totally embarrassed to be caught touching her in such a fashion. Mac wasn’t worried though. “Admiral, the baby is trying out for the football team I think.” AJ smiled and tried to control himself from touching her again by putting his hands behind his back.

“You better make sure no one see that, the betting will go wild.” Mac looked confused and Harm ignored her look. “We have a meeting with the SECNAV in 15 minutes. Be ready with the files.” AJ walked out of the room as Harm quickly gathered his files.

End part 1 of 2