Disclaimers in part 1

No one had gotten much sleep the night before. Mac was talking to Brumby, Francesca and Harm were, well, busy, and AJ kept thinking about Mac sleeping in one of his favorite T-shirts. In the late morning, AJ walked into the living room and saw Mac on the couch. He watched her for a moment and thought about how beautiful she looked, especially in one of his favorite SeAL T-shirts that was way too big for her. He thought again about how different things could be. Maybe it was time. He suddenly realized if Mac were on the couch Rabb was in the other room with Francesca. "I’m not even going to ask where Rabb is," he mumbled. He walked to the window and notice that on top of the ice were several inches of snow.

"Morning, sir."

"Morning, Mac. Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up."

"That’s okay, sir. I was awake. I couldn’t sleep." He didn’t notice how she turned over her damp pillow that she cried into all night.

"Mac, we are snowed in without electricity. I think we can break the protocol in this circumstance. Why don’t you just call me AJ while we’re here." He sat down on the far end of the couch after she sat up but kept her legs outstretched.

"Ok. I hope you don’t mind I borrowed your book, AJ."

He picked it up to see which one it was, "No problem. Good book."

She nodded, "How’s your head this morning?"

"Still attached," he smiled down at Mac.

Just then Francesca came silently out of the bedroom and saw the look on her father’s face as he looked down at Mac while she was looking at the fire. "Papa."

"Good morning Francesca." AJ unthinkingly put his hand on Mac’s foot as he spoke. Their eyes suddenly met in surprise. Neither expected the feelings that such a simple touch created.

"Papa?" He finally pulled his eyes away from Mac’s.

"What?" he asked realizing that she had asked him a question.

"What are we going to do for breakfast?" Francesca repeated her question.

"Well I think it’s closer to lunch time. Mac what time is it?

"10:47," she stated.

"How does she do that?" she asked her father.

"I don’t know, she’s never explained. Let’s go see what we can find in the kitchen." He stood up and followed Francesca into the kitchen. After they left the room Mac went and changed out of AJ’s T-shirt.

"Are you really happy with him, Francesca?"

"Yes. I am. I love him."

"How’s it going to work? You live in Italy."

"I’ve been staying in New York a lot so I am going to move here. It will be easier."

"Well it will certainly nice to see you more often." He gave her a hug.

"So. When are you going to tell Mac about your feelings for her?" He was stunned by her question.

"Don’t try to deny it, Papa. I’ve seen how you look at her."

"Francesca, I am her superior office. There can not be anything between us."

"Do you want to lose her?" At his questioning look, she continued, "Harm told me about Brumby. Do you think she will say yes to him?"

He took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "I hope not."

"Then you should tell her."

"Mac needs to decide that on her own."

"Decide what?" asked Mac as she walked into the kitchen.

"What you want for lunch."

"Cereal will be fine. Thanks."

"So, Papa. What are the plans for today?"

"I’ll have to get in more wood and I think I’ll see if I can clear off the porch and sidewalk."

"I’ll help you, sir," said Harm as he walked into the kitchen.

"Good. I was wanting to talk girl-talk with Mac," said Francesca.

"Francesca?"

"Don’t worry, Papa. I was just thinking about giving Mac a make-over."

"What?" both AJ and Mac asked. Laughing at the shocked look on their faces she continued, "I thought it might be fun. What do you say Mac?"

"Ok. I’m game." They all had their brunch and then AJ and Harm go out to the porch and started bringing in more wood. They worked outside for a while.

On the porch, shoveling snow and ice.

"So get a good nights sleep on the floor, Rabb?" AJ asked with a glint of humor in his eyes.

"I didn’t sleep on the floor," Harm responded before he realized that he just admitted to. Sleeping with his boss’s daughter in his house. He was going to be sent to Alaska for sure.

AJ let Harm worry about it for a while, then Harm go the nerve to finally say, "Sir?"

"Well if you are dating my daughter, I suggest you go ahead and call me AJ." Harm was surprised. AJ got his stern admiral face on and said, "Unless you plan on hurting her."

"No sir. I was planning to propose to her." Now it was AJ’s turn to be surprised. "I love her, sir. I promise I won’t hurt her."

"When are you going to ask her?"

"I was thinking about tonight at dinner. I figure that they are getting dressed up, I might as well too."

"Do you want Mac and me to give you some privacy? We can stay in the kitchen."

"No. You are family, you should be there too. Besides, if Mac gets all dressed up and I tell her to stay in the kitchen, she’d probably kill me," he said with his flyboy smile.

"You know, I always wondered if you and Mac would get together."

"Me and Mac? No, she’s my best friend but that’s it."

"You sure acted jealous of Brumby."

"She can do much better than Bugme."

"That’s the truth." Something in the way AJ said that made Harm look up, but AJ was looking away.

In the guestroom

"So, Mac, tell me about this Brumby person Harm’s told me about."

"What’s there to say?" she said somewhat sadly.

"Are you going to tell him yes?" Mac shook her head. "So?"

"I told him no last night. I just don’t love him enough."

"Well it’s better you realized it now before you got married."

"Yeah, I guess. It’s just that he gave up his commission for me, he moved 10,000 miles to be with me and I told him no. How stupid am I?"

"No. You are very smart. If you don’t love him then it won’t work. No matter how hard you try."

"But he gave up so much for me."

"And you didn’t ask him to. He did it on his own. That was his decision."

"I guess you are right, but it still makes me feel bad. Even if I don’t love him, he was a good friend and I hate to lose that. I don’t have enough good friends."

"Well you will always have Harm and Papa. Do you mind if I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Were you and Harm ever, um?"

"No, Francesca. He’s just my best friend. He would act jealous of any man I would date, especially Mic, because he thought I could do better. Besides we are in the same chain of command, it’s against the rules."

"I always thought it was silly to tell people who they can and cannot fall in love with. What if you hid the relationship?"

"I tried that once and I still got in trouble for it. I don’t want it to happen again. It’s easier to be honest."

"But if you have to hide your feelings how is that being honest?"

"You do have a point there, Francesca. But I don’t have any feelings for Harm I have to hide."

"But you hide feelings for someone else, no?"

"No," she said unconvincingly looking away.

"Why don’t I believe you?" Francesca mumbled but she let the subject drop.

Francesca smiled, "What dress do you want to wear?"

"How about that one?" she pointed out a green dress.

Francesca picked out shoes, make-up, and accessories and they started to get to work. "Well which one are you going to put on?"

"I think I’ll wear the blue. But let me tell the men to come up with something good for dinner."

"This should be interesting. Harm’s a great cook but he usually uses a stove."

"I think the generator will power the stove or the fridge, Papa will just need to switch it over. I’ll be right back." She walked out of the guestroom and out to where the men were. "I just thought I would let you know that we are going to both get dressed up and since there is no place to go, you need to make us a good dinner, Harm."

"Sounds good, but make it on what?" AJ tapped the stove.

"How about the stove? I’ll unplug the fridge while you’re cooking so that the stove can have power."

"Okay. Sounds good." He watched as she walked out of the room. "Let me go run out to the car real quick."

"What for?"

"I picked up my dry cleaning before we stopped over. My dress whites are in the car."

"Sounds like a good idea."

The men started cooking and when it was almost ready Harm went to change first. AJ thought about how Harm’s proposal would certainly change things. AJ found his CD player and some nice CD’s. Then he had to hunt for the right size batteries. Finally finding them he set the CD player on the bookcase in the dinning room. Harm walked out wearing his dress whites. AJ went to his room to change and stopping at the guestroom, he knocked. "Don’t come in!" yelled Francesca. He laughed. "I was just going to tell you that dinner is almost ready." While he was in the room he thought about his daughter marrying Harm. He knew that one of them would have to transfer and since he was the JAG his transfer was not an option. He knew that it would be a set back for JAG if Harm left, not to mention a set back for his career. Also considering that Francesca was just now relocating into the area he didn’t think she would like to move again so soon. AJ realized it was time for him to move on. Since he was approached with an offer to be a judge he had thought more and more about retiring and joining the civilian world. What better time than now? He figured. He picked up the phone and called the SECNAV. He resigned immediately on the condition that he would tell his officers in his own time. He promised to tell them all by Tuesday. He pulled out his dress whites, looked at them fondly and put them back into the closet. He then pulled out his tux. He walked out of the bedroom and saw Harm’s curious look.

"I figure ‘I had to buy it I might as well wear it sometime.’"

Just then Francesca and Mac walked out and the men didn’t know what to say. "Look my two favorite men in my life and they are both speechless," said Francesca. Mac wasn’t sure of what to say. She had rarely seen the Admiral in civilian formal clothes before. He looked wonderful.

"You look very nice, sir," she said.

"You look stunning, Sarah." He reached out for her hand and led her to the candlelit table as Harm did the same with Francesca. The men went into the kitchen to get the food and soon reappeared.

When they all took their seats Harm proposed a toast. "To being snowed in with wonderful company." They talked about Francesca’s job and how she was going to be moving to the States.

Finally, when dessert was done AJ knew that Harm would want to be alone with his daughter so he said, "Sarah, can you help me take these dishes into the kitchen." Figuring that the lovebirds wanted time to themselves she agreed. She picked up the plates and followed him into the kitchen.

Before she could go back and get the rest of the dishes, AJ stopped her by reaching out and taking her elbow, "Sarah, don’t go out there. They want some time." She nodded.

"Why have you been calling me Sarah? I don’t mind, I was just curious."

"Mac doesn’t fit that dress." She smiled a bit embarrassed.

"Why are you wearing a tux instead of your whites?"

"Actually, that is something I wanted to talk to you about, Sarah. I-" It was then that they heard Francesca cry out "Yes!" Her smile turned into a look of curiosity as Harm and Francesca came into the kitchen.

"Harm proposed!"

"And she said ‘Yes,’" he added with his flyboy smile. Mac quickly gave them both hugs then stepped back so that AJ could congratulate them.

He pulled out a bottle of champagne and another bottle of something else. He handed Harm the bottle of champagne who poured his and Francesca drinks as AJ poured for himself and Mac. "Sir. I can’t…" He just turned the bottle so that she could read the label. Sparkling Apple Cider. "Thank you," she mumbled.

"I like this better than that anyway. That was a gift." He said quietly to her.

"I would like to propose a toast. To the happy couple." said AJ. Glasses clinked then he continued "Well since tonight seems to be a night for announcements, I would also like to make an announcement," he paused "I called the SECNAV and turned in my request for retirement." It was total silence. "I can’t very well be my son-in-law’s CO now can I?" Mac quietly slipped out the door into the garage. "I called him a little while ago so effective immediately, I am a civilian."

"But," started Harm.

"Think of it as an early wedding gift. It’s something I have been thinking about for quite sometime now. So I didn’t do it just for you." He looked around for Mac. "Where’s Mac?" he asked. Francesca noticed the worried look on his face. She also noticed the timing of what he said.

"She went to the garage, Papa. Tell her."

"I can’t. She…" He stopped as Francesca hugged him and whispered.

"She told him no, Papa." He pulled away and she saw a look of hope come into his eyes.

"What’s up?" asked a confused Harm.

"Nothing dear. Let’s go sit in front of the fire." They left the kitchen. AJ took a moment before he walked into the garage.

She was standing facing away from the door looking out the window. She had wrapped her arms around herself, as the garage was unheated. She was shivering. Mac was upset that not only was she was losing the best CO she had ever had, she felt she was losing her best friend as well. He had obviously told the Admiral about the proposal before he had even told her how serious he was about Francesca.

When AJ saw her standing there softly crying it nearly broke his heart. He looked at her and felt bad for her. Obviously her heart was breaking. She must really be in love with Rabb instead of Brumby. Too bad Rabb couldn’t feel the same. Sarah needed someone special in her life. He walked up behind her and took off his jacket and gently placed it over her shoulders. "Sarah?" She jumped and wiped her eyes as unobtrusively as possible.

"I’m sorry sir. I really am happy for them. Can you leave? I don’t want anyone to see me like this."

"What’s wrong?" She shook her head. "Francesca told me about Brumby." Her eyes met his and began to tear more. He pulled out his handkerchief and handed it to her.

"I talked to him last night. I realized that I was never really in love with him. I was just lonely."

They just stood there for a few moments before she continued. "So not only did I lose my fiancée today. I feel that I’ve lost Harm as my best friend and on top of it all you are retiring suddenly. The worst thing is, Mic gave up so much for me and I lied to him."

"How?"

"He asked if there was someone else and I said no."

"Is there someone else? Is it Rabb?" he asked in a carefully controlled voice. He didn’t want her to know how nervous he was about her next answer.

"Yes and no. It isn’t Harm. Harm is just a friend. I have feelings for this other man. I have for a while but I can’t say anything about them."

"Why not?" She just shook her head.

He reached out and put his hands on her shoulder and turned her around to face him. "Tell me," he insisted, hoping against hope that she possibly was talking about him.

"I got in trouble for it once, I’m not going to let it happen again." She blushed as she realized what she said. She could tell by the shocked expression on his face that he understood her comment. He looked into her eyes and saw the truth. He was amazed that he could be so lucky as to have her care for him.

"Sarah, did you hear that my retirement was effective immediately? As in, several hours ago. That’s why I wore the tux instead of the whites." He reached down and gently stroked her cheek.

"So, you mean," she started to smile.

"I’m no longer your superior officer," he said as he lowered his lips to hers.

Shortly they went back into the kitchen and grabbing the bottle of apple cider they slipped back into AJ’s bedroom.

To Part 3

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