JAG - "Ghost" or (Skeleton Crew Pt. 2).

"Ghost" or (Skeleton Crew Pt. 2).

Author: CdnJAGScribe

E-mail:

Rating: M

Classification:

Spoilers:

Summary: Harm is taken into custody by NCIS for the murder of his former girlfriend, Diane Schonke. Animal and Meg have to refute the charges against him and they get some help from an unexpected source.

DISCLAIMER: The characters Harm Rabb, Jr., Sarah "Mac" Mackenzie, Meg Austin, AJ Chegwidden, Bud Roberts, Harriet Sims-Roberts et al. belong (in concept if not name) to CBS/Bellisarius. Animal and all OC characters are the property of Heather and Hugo Chikamori. No profit is being made from this story, nor is any infringement intended

Author's Note:

US Navy Brig, Naval Station Norfolk, Norfolk, VA, 2345hrs.

Turque looked too pleased with himself, Harm noted as he looked over the NCIS agent. How the hell was he going to get out of this one. Admittedly, Harm had not been himself, that day, he hadn't accounted for his whereabouts the night before Lieutenant Lamm's murder and he was certain that Turque was going to turn around and use Lieutenant Lamm's death to railroad him into a murder charge for both murders. It appeared to him that his goose was cooked.

Turque finished typing his report and recommended charges and then smirked at him, "Well, Rabb, I guess, I'm going to have to give you your one phone-call. I'd highly suggest calling a lawyer."

"Just give me my call… Turkey…" Harm growled from behind the bars. "I'm not here to match wits with you…" It wouldn't be a contest. Turque struck him as a guy who would sell his own mother to get ahead and not have a whit of regret about it. In fact Harm thought it smelled very fishy that they could pull latent prints off a gun that had been submersed in sea-water for twenty-four hours. Either it was a plant or it was a fake-out; a John Doe print that Turque was trying to pass off as his own. And frankly, Harm, being held at the brig wasn't going to be able to access any of the investigative tools that he usually had at his disposal.

"Here ya go…" Turque dragged the desk over far enough so that the cord on the desk phone could reach Harm standing right at the edge of the bars. "You know we got you fair and square, I know you did it. Rabb." Harm ignored him.

Harm dialed a number. "C'mon...Meg… pick up…I need your help…" he muttered as the phone rang on the other end...and rang…

Meg's Apartment, Washington DC,

"Do you hear a phone?" Animal looked over at Meg who was happily wrapped up in a blanket with him...enjoying their closeness. They had spent a lot of time heavy petting each other the evening that she'd picked him up from Pier 2 in San Diego, four months before but they hadn't gone all the way around the bases. Maybe they'd gotten to about third base, but a home-run wasn't in the cards...at least yet.

Meg groaned when she heard the ringing. She picked up the phone, "Austin!" she barked.

"Meg, listen to me, I'm at the Norfolk brig."

"What?!"

"Turque thinks I committed the murders."

"Did you?" Meg asked.

"Of course not." Harm sounded outraged that Meg could even think that of him.

"Harm, Harm… calm down...I'm coming down." she tried to reassure him. "I'll get down to the bottom of this." Animal was already throwing off the blankets and getting his khakis. "Service khakis…" Meg cupped the receiver and mouthed at him.

Harm was curious, "Animal with you?"

"Yes, Harm." Meg confirmed wondering what his response was going to be...or the look on his face that she could see since she was well over four hundred miles away.

"I'll drive." Animal stated; Meg getting startled out of her wits by Harm's call was not going to do wonders for her ability to concentrate on the road.

"Don't sign anything…" Meg warned Harm. "Don't say anything more to Turque, Zip lips...until I get there…I don't want Turque knowing anything about what we have planned." She had a bad feeling that Turque had framed Harm with false evidence, but she had no way of proving it and right now, there was no way that she was going to be able to get her hands on whatever evidence that Turque had supposedly uncovered.

Meg hung up, rolled her eyes and muttered, "I swear to God, I'm going to wring that NCIS agent's neck. I have a gut feeling he framed Harm."

Animal nodded silently. This was going to mean a long drive out to Norfolk...and that was at least three hours and twenty minutes one way.

"Tosh, Think we can make it in two and three-quarters?" Meg asked Animal.

"Think we need to inform the admiral about this?"

"Yeah…" Meg picked up her phone again and dialed the JAG's home number. "Sir. Lieutenant Commander Rabb just communicated with me, he was detained by NCIS and is being charged with the murders of Lieutenant JG Diane Schonke, and Lieutenant Lamm."

"What?!" RADM Chegwidden was taken aback. "There's no way that he could have done it."

"Are you sure about that, sir."

"I don't know...but I'm going to look back in the records of Lieutenant Commander Rabb's presence in the office. Lieutenant Austin, I'll let you know as soon as I find something."

Animal looked over at Meg who was nodding while on the phone. "Aye-aye, sir. Likewise, I'll let you know if I find anything on the other end. Commander Nakamura is with me...so I'll be safe, sir. Did Commander Krennick find anything, sir?" It must have been a negative response since Animal saw Meg's lips purse in frustration. When she hung up, she said, "We need to get down there…before Turque has a chance to concoct any more evidence against Harm." Meg had been throwing on clothes as she had spoken to Chegwidden, phone receiver cradled against her shoulder and her head, so she was fully dressed by the time she got off the phone.

"OK…" Animal was already dressed in his service khakis; six rows of ribbons: dressed to intimidate. Meg was wincing. There were still slight headaches from the shot she took from Hemlock. She was lucky that the bullet hadn't done damage to her cerebral cortex and was able to be removed without any more damage involved. Now all that was left were the occasional headaches that the doctor had said would subside. Meg swallowed a Percocet and downed it with some water. "Headache, hon?"

"Yeah…" she said as she grabbed her purse. She was also in service khakis and noted that her boyfriend had five rows and one ribbon more than she had...as well as a set of gold wings.

"You're gonna be OK?"

"We have to get Harm out of there…" Animal nodded at her insistent statement. It was clear that Turque wasn't about to do any more work than he had to. Why should he? Since the apparent murderer was right in front of him. And Meg wasn't about to let that two-bit detective lock up her partner any longer than he had to. Meg's car was a nice red Olds and it was about as big as a boat. "Have you got your ID?"

"Yeah…" Animal said confirming that he did have his Navy ID in his wallet. "Your car or mine?"

"Your car, since you're driving." Animal had decided on a big 1994 Sierra Crew-Cab with what was called a ramming bar. He also had a roll-bar on the back truck-bed beside the cab. He had a lockbox in his rear cab which held his spare M92FS (his personal sidearm, not the issued M9 Beretta which was his service-weapon). His truck was raised up a bit to accommodate some big all-terrain tires. Even Meg had to climb to reach the cab. "Thank God, I'm five-eleven…" she muttered caustically. "Do you plan to jack this thing up any more?"

"Naw...then we'd both need a ladder to get into it." he grinned. "Don't have enough space in the back for a place to put a step-ladder."

US Navy Brig, Naval Station Norfolk, VA

"You know we're going to get the truth from you one way or another, Rabb…" For once, Harm kept his mouth shut smartly and said nothing. It was advice that he always gave his clients. "So why'd you do it? Jealousy? Must've been hard to take seeing your Diane get harassed by Lamm, right?" Harm clenched his fists, but said nothing. Meg had told him to keep his mouth shut and he would keep that advice close to him. He settled for giving Turque a menacing stare.

The more he thought about it, the more he believed that Turque was bluffing. There was no way to get latent prints that quickly off a weapon that had been submerged. Most of the time those prints were unusable. And frankly, the fact that NCIS hadn't been shown to be the most reliable of agencies with regards to efficiency, Harm was going to take that as a bluff to sucker him into admitting something that wasn't true. In fact, Harm was sure that Turque thought he was scared and ready to tell all. Fat chance of that. Because at the time that Diane was killed, he was driving down from DC to Norfolk to stay in a hotel. But how could he let Meg know of that. He'd used his one phone call. All he could do now was trust that Meg and Animal could get down to the bottom of this.

Gate; Naval Station Norfolk, Norfolk VA

"Sir…" Animal showed them his ID...and Meg held out hers to the Marine gate guards who looked them over. "Ma'am, Where to?"

"US Naval Brig." Meg said shortly.

"Yes, ma'am." the guard saluted as the officers saluted them back. Animal drove forward. "Never been here...so you're going to have to guide me." he told her. Meg showed him where the brig was located. Coming to a halt, Animal parked the car. Grabbing his cover, he exited the vehicle. Meg followed him, with her cover on as well.

Entering the main brig reception area, they were met by Commander Krennick and Special Agent Turque.

"...and who might you be? I've met you before, Lieutenant JG Austin…" Turque said.

"What are you doing here? Lieutenant, I thought you were taken off the case." Krennick asked and her tone made it very clear that she thought that Meg was infringing on her territory as far as the investigation was concerned.

"Evidently, I found myself back on the case when Lieutenant Commander Rabb retained me as his counsel." Meg stated raising an eyebrow. Meg could smell something fishy going on and she didn't like the looks of it. Were Krennick and Turque in cahoots to try to get rid of Harm. What would be Krennick's reasoning? Then it clicked. Harm, even though he was junior to her, was in her way. If she couldn't get rid of him by making him do something untoward, then she would frame him to make him see untrustworthy to the JAG and get rid of an irritating speed-bump. What a calculating, cold bitch. Meg thought, I'm going to dig up so much dirt on them, they're going to be buried a mile deep.

"Where's the prisoner?" Animal asked. "Last I knew, he was able to see his legal aide."

"Right back here…only his lawyer can go in."

"That's fine, Turkey. I'm presuming you're the NCIS agent who arrested the prisoner."

"Turque…" The NCIS Agent said pronouncing it with a flair.

"French?" Animal gave him an annoying grin.

"New Orleans…"

"Oh...American French…" Animal was purposefully being annoying.

"So where'd you come from?" Turque asked.

"Oh, Upper New York…" Animal stated then clarified further, "...state…"

"Oh, I meant...Where'd you originally come from?"

"...Brockport, I was born there…" By this time, Animal could see he was aggravating Turque to no end. While he eye-balled the contents on Turque's desk… When one caught his eye. While Turque's back was turned, he picked it up. It contained the latent prints supposedly drawn from the gun that they had pulled from the water. It certainly looked suspicious to him, so he pocketed them to make a copy of the prints. There was also fingerprints pulled from Harm's personnel file and he pocketed those too, while Turque was looking over out the window.

"...I meant where are your parents from?"

"Stockton California…now my grandfather lives in Arlington and my parents are still in Brockport…" he added just for good measure..."...cemetery."

Turque gave up.

Harm's cell, United States Naval Brig, Naval Station Norfolk, Norfolk, VA

"Meg, he's framing me." Harm told Meg as he looked out the window; he could see the bars on the other side that would prevent him from escaping. "There's no way that he could pull prints from a weapon that has taken a swim in seawater."

"Really?" Meg resolved to look that up. "Harm, I'm going to look into this. OK. We're going to find a way to get you out. It may take some time, but we'll do it. Something's not adding up here and I can't tell you what, but I just have this feeling that something isn't right about the whole arrest thing."

It all seemed too convenient that the ducks lined up in a row for Turque. From what Meg first thought, Turque was the textbook view of an incompetent investigator.

"He probably took the prints off the letters too that I sent to Diane."

"I see…" She pushed her chair back, "I'm going to invoke my right as counsel to search his files and do my own investigation. And I'm going to see if what he's saying lines up because something tells me that it's not going to."

"You believe in me, right, Meg?"

Meg looked at him, "I hope I do…" she stated. It all seemed to point towards Harm and the fact that he was down at Norfolk investigating a murder when a second murder happened. And the murder victim was the very person who had been harassing Lieutenant JG Diane Schonke. This did not look good at all. In fact everything pointed to Harm being the one who did it; the jealous boyfriend of the first murder victim but there was only one thing that didn't add up in the death of Lt. JG Schonke; the time of death vs. Harm's travel time to get from DC to Norfolk. So it couldn't have been Harm who had killed her and whoever had killed her, also had a motive for killing Lieutenant Lamm. All she could do was shrug her shoulders, "Harm, I hope I do…" she repeated before she called out, "Guard, I'm finished with the prisoner."

Harm could only slump in his chair...and pray with all his might that he was going to be found innocent in all this.

Reception Area, United States Naval Brig, Naval Station Norfolk, Norfolk, VA

Meg came out, and whispered in Animal's ear, "Harm said Turque had the prints on the gun pinned to him." She stared over at the desk. "I need copies of those prints."

Animal grinned at her...as he surrepticiously slipped a manila folder to her. "Take it to a private office while I give Turkey a headache…" he whispered in her ear then turned to Agent Turque, "By the way, any chance we can see some evidence of those prints?" Animal pigeon-holed Turque, by this time, Animal had changed his stance from happy-go-lucky to intimidating. "I'd like to see if they match-up with the prints you took from Commander Rabb when you booked him. On top of that, I want to see the ballistics reports from the murder weapon matched up with the bullets on the victim." Animal at 5'10" was one inch shorter than Meg, but he was far more intimidating to Turque.

"Sure, I can get them to you...if you give me your number." That was a brush-off and Animal wasn't having any of it.

"Now...Agent Turque…" he said. "You're keeping a United States Navy JAG officer imprisoned after all. You should have all your evidence stacked in a row ready for scrutiny by anyone's request. Now where is the evidence?" He nearly gave himself away laughing out loud as he saw Turque scuttling around cursing, rummaging through his desk trying to find the prints and ballistics reports that Animal had purloined. Frankly if the situation wasn't so serious against Harm's well-being, it would have been comical to see Turque frustrated to see things go missing off his desk.

"They were here somewhere, goddamnit!"

"Losing things, are you?" Animal asked acidly with a sincerely not impressed look while innocently looking around the room. "Really ought to keep a better handle on things especially when you have an investigation to do."

Admiral Chegwidden's Residence, McLean, Virginia

"Major, I have need of a favor from you, I know you don't start until the first of June, however, one of my officers has got himself into a bit of a scrape. Can you go down to the Headquarters, I'll clear it with the Master-At-Arms and he'll let you in."

"Yes, sir."

"I need you to check what time one Lieutenant Commander Harmon Rabb Jr. clocked out the night before May 23rd, 1994."

"Yes, sir. I'll go down and do that."

Admiral Chegwidden's Residence, McLean, Virginia

The admiral was startled a moment when the phone rang, "Chegwidden,"

"Sir, Major Sarah Mackenzie, sir. It appears that Lieutenant Commander Rabb clocked out at 2130hrs. Evidently the Gunny at the security desk stated that the Commander had a lot of paperwork that he was completing, since he had piles of files on his desk when the Gunny was making his security rounds."

"So there was no chance that he left the building."

"No, sir. Because the Commander checked out with Gunny present. And 2130 was when he was starting his journey to Norfolk which was what he told the Gunnery Sergeant, sir."

"Good job, Major Mackenzie. I need you to get the information and have the Gunny print it out. I need you to take this down to Norfolk and make sure that it gets into the hands of one Lieutenant JG Meg Austin."

"Yes, sir...now sir?!"

"Yes, Major...now. That will take care of the initial murder while hopefully the Lieutenant JG will deal with quashing the trumped up evidence behind the second murder."

"Yes, sir. I'll let you know when Lieutenant JG Austin has the information in hand."

"Very well, keep me posted."

"Sir, yes, sir!"

Gate; Naval Station Norfolk, Norfolk VA

Meg slammed the report down on the table, "You tried to frame him by saying that the booking prints were the prints you got off the weapon. The weapon print was a John Doe according to the latent prints report...and the ballistics match on bullets fired by the weapon that killed Lieutenant Schonke were the same as the one fired by the shooter who killed Lieutenant Lamm!"

"So...prints don't match up, do they? Turkey!" Animal gave him an ah-ha glare. "...and just as the Lieutenant JG thought the rounds were fired from a different Beretta than the one that Harm was using on the night of the murder of Lieutenant Lamm. Which means that with no ID of the fingerprints and the bullets not matching the gun that you found that you lied about having the hand prints of Lieutenant Commander Rabb's" He smirked at Turque. "Look like you ~gobble-gobble~ found yourself in a roasting pan bound for the oven for illegal custody of a suspect who was proven to be innocent and falsifying evidence to falsely incriminate. Maybe time to let Harm go before you end up in the oven roasted like a Christmas...uh...Turkey?" His smile was evil.

A Marine Major burst through the door holding a manila folder. Meg recognized her as the captain that she had met onboard the COD coming back from Yokosuka eight months earlier. "Lieutenant JG Austin?" the major asked.

"Ma'am?"

"I have some evidence that will clear Commander Rabb completely."

"Ma'am?"

"Lieutenant Commander Rabb didn't check out of HQ until 2130hrs and he didn't check into the hotel until after 0045hrs which meant that his last call, he was still on the road to meet her at the hotel which meant that he couldn't have been where the investigator says that he was." Major Sarah "Mac" Mackenzie showed her the timeclock sheet she'd photocopied as well as the check-in register photocopy of his room.

Meg nodded with a predatorial grin "And even if he went directly down to Norfolk, he wouldn't have reached Norfolk pier till after Lieutenant JG Schonke was dead."

Animal said, "So there's no way that he could have killed Diane either." He whirled on Turque. "You get Lieutenant Commander Rabb out of that goddamned cell now! Or do you want me to give Rear Admiral AJ Chegwidden, the JAG, a call?"

"No need, Commander Nakamura, I'm already here." the Admiral was standing in the corner of the reception room; he had slipped in silently, "Major, Lieutenant JG, Commander. Agent Turque, I'm going to be looking into this irregularity regarding your investigation. Commander, I'm going to see you in my office in the morning."

"I need to talk to my supervisor." Turque said.

"Oh, I have him on the line…" Chegwidden growled. "Care to speak to him? I heard everything that my officers and Commander Nakamura stated and so did he." Turque turned pale, fumbling for his keys.

Animal stepped into his personal space, "I highly suggest that you unlock Commander Rabb's cell and get his things, including his personal side-arm that you confiscated from his vehicle."

It was a much chastened Agent Turque who hustled Harm from his cell and handed him over his things. "I highly suggest you start looking for the real murderer…" Animal continued. "...and I know you investigate other units in the Navy. If you ever pull this shit with one of my squadron members ever…" Animal leaned in enough since their heights were eye-to-eye. "I will have your head mounted on a board over my fireplace mantel. And your badge will be a paperweight on my desk…" He growled, "Do you understand me?"

As they left the brig, Harm grinned at Animal, "I think he pissed his pants…" For Harm, it was satisfying to see Turque get his comeuppance, since he had been railroaded.

"Yeah, there was a brown stain on the back too." AJ mentioned. "Not bad for an aviator." he nodded.

"Did you see the file?" Harm asked.

"Yeah, I did…" Animal stated. "Unknown fingerprints which he tried to tie to you. We matched up the finger-prints with the ones that he tried to say were yours – a no-match. The other fingerprints he had on his desk; the ones that forensics said that were a no-match...he was going to send them to the shredder. He was going to put you away with false evidence."

"That son-of-a-bitch!" Harm exploded then subsided, "We'll never know who killed Diane."

"We got the fingerprints…" Meg said. "I slipped them into the file containing the evidence that Major Mackenzie found out."

Harm turned around to look at her. "Major?" The last time he'd seen her was as a Captain.

"Lieutenant Commander."

"She did the legwork that got you off the hook with Diane's murder." AJ informed him.

"...so we still don't know who killed her."

Meg stated, "What we do know is that the fingerprints of the John Doe matched up with the fingerprints on the gun that killed Lieutenant Lamm and Lieutenant JG Diane Schonke and they're not yours, Harm. And since we already determined that; there is no way that Turque can come up with more falsified evidence to arrest you again."

"Will he try?" Animal asked AJ.

"Not if he knows what's good for him." AJ responded. "Commander, don't worry, we'll make sure that Lieutenant Commander Rabb is covered."

They drove back up to DC in a convoy.

Office of the Judge Advocate General, JAG Headquarters, Navy Yard, Washington DC. 1000 ZULU

"Sir, you said you wanted to see me." Commander Krennick asked. 0600hrs was early for the JAG to call her into the office.

"You've been given three days…" RADM Albert Jethro Chegwidden stated as he looked at her, "You will be using those three days to pack your things in preparation for a Fleet Forces JAG XO position in Rota, Spain at which conclusion of those three days you will return here and receive your movement orders." His demeanor didn't change, it was foreboding. "There you will be expected to achieve if you intend to work towards your eagles. Commander. Whether you do or not will be determined by you based on your track record while in Rota."

Commander Krennick, as obtuse about certain things as she was, was cognizant enough to know that the boom was being lowered on her. She knew that the admiral had seen through her attempt to get Rabb out of her way. "Yes, sir."

His curt dismissal of her was pretty much a get out of my face.

When she had left, Chegwidden let out a deep sigh. He did not want those who would stab a fellow officer in the back working for him. And Allison had caused enough trouble already in the preceding six months with all the harassment she'd directed at Rabb. If she thought he hadn't noticed, she was sorely mistaken.

"Legalman Peters!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Get Lieutenant JG Austin in here right away."

"Aye-aye, sir."

Picking up the phone, he dialed Meg's personal home number; when Commander Nakamura picked up he spoke, "Commander? Would you like to come down to the office?"

"Certainly, sir."

"There's something special planned for Lieutenant JG Austin today. So if you can make it within the next forty-five minutes…"

"Yes, sir. On my way."

"Sir? You asked for my presence?" Meg leaned her head in the door.

"Yes, I did as a matter of fact." AJ stated, "Lieutenant JG Austin. That was a good job of sleuthing out the devious connivings of Agent Turque and Commander Krennick."

"Thank you, sir."

"Good job on figuring out to match up the murder weapons finger-prints with Rabb's to rule him out as a suspect." AJ looked over at her.

"I wouldn't have been able to piece together the time that the Commander left DC without the help of Major Mackenzie, sir."

"She's good at sleuthing too…" AJ nodded.

"Do you still intend to go back to Weapons?"

"Yes, sir."How could she tell Tosh that she was feeling scared of their relationship, that she couldn't understand how things were progressing so quickly with their relationship and that she needed some time to sort this through in her head before being able to come to a decision? But she wasn't going to leave him until she knew that she was certain that he was progressing in his rehabilitation to the point where he was able to return to the cockpit..and that was yet another month at least. They had given him a tentative return to RAG doing a Category III retraining in type and he'd be well on his way to getting back into the cockpit of his F-14A Tomcat. Weapons meant that she was duty-bound to be no-contact until such time as she requested a transfer out of the Weapons Section. Did she love Tosh deeply? Yes, too much so...so much that it scared her. The fact that she'd met her soulmate had made her wonder if any of the guys that she'd ever been with in a romantic sense meant as much as Tosh did. So...why was she running? Because she didn't know if she was ready to settle down in that way.

"I can put you in for a transfer that takes effect in three weeks." RADM Chegwidden stated.

"Yes, sir."

"You think he'll be ready to go back to FRS by then."

"I think so, sir. He's working out with heavy weights regularly now and well...we just need a little time away from each other to get a handle on who we are as individuals before we make a decision." She lied. He was ready to go back to FRS, and was working out with heavy weights, but she wasn't telling the truth about needing a little time away from each other. She was running away because she was scared. And the admiral could see it too.

"Are you sure this is what you want? Lieutenant JG...there may be no turning back from this. Depending on how he takes it."

"...yes...sir…" she said finally.

"OK...I'll process your transfer request." It wasn't just Tosh, it was also Harm too. Harm hadn't been like himself since he came back from Hong Kong and the fact that he was tense, jumpy and curt made it a downright miserable office to work in. And Meg needed out. With Major Mackenzie coming in, she was just a third wheel in terms of an investigator and well, she needed something that she could really sink her teeth into.

There was a knock on the door. "Enter!"

"Commander Toshio Nakamura, sir…" Tosh stepped into the office, squaring off in front of AJ Chegwidden's desk.

Later that evening, Meg's Apartment

"You got the charges dropped off Harm...and now you got your Lieutenant's railroad tracks? What's next for an encore?" Meg looked up startled as Animal nuzzled her closely. She couldn't tell him. She had to just disappear. Naval Station Great Lakes – Crane made it easy. They would provide her with quarters and she would be able to send some money every month to maintain the suite or get professional packers to pack up her stuff and ship all of it to storage and her uniforms to Crane.

"You get orders to NAS Oceana in three weeks, right?"

"Yup, Category III FRS candidate, retraining in type, the Alpha Tomcat...and then they send me off to VF-41 as XO." he sounded proud. Hopefully he wouldn't hate her when she did what she had to. Their romance had gone so fast that she needed space to figure this all out. "So...RADM Chegwidden put you on leave for three weeks, what happened?"

Meg sighed, "I got news that BuPers transferred me. I'm going back to Weapons." She couldn't hide that. "...and most of what I end up doing is black...so that means no outside communications." Animal knew the term black. It meant top secret and that could only mean one thing. Meg was going away.

"Our relationship…" he started then paused. What Meg's transfer was effectively doing to them was pulling them apart. "You need to do this… right?" he asked. Meg nodded. "I think we both agree that we were moving fast on this relationship."

"...and you need to put your time into your career…you were out of the cockpit over six months and now you have to put your whole mind to getting back into the cockpit of your Tomcat." Meg said, her voice breaking. "I...I can't interfere with your career right when its at a stage where you have command potential. You need to pursue this with everything you have. Do me one thing...don't tell Harm where I've gone. Our friendship isn't going well at the moment and I don't need him to try to hunt for me in the mistaken idea that I'm doing this under protest. And that can get him into serious trouble."

"I understand, Meg…" Animal said… "I may not like it, but I understand." Animal was devastated, but he knew that Meg was right. He needed to have one hundred percent focus on his FRS retraining syllabus and have his nose buried in the NATOPS manual. He stood up looking over at her, "You know...they say that if you love someone, set him/her free, if he/she comes back to you, you know that it's meant to be…" he said softly as he started tossing his clothes into his dufflebag.

"What are you doing?" Meg asked.

"I don't want regrets…Meg…" Animal stated as calmly as he could. "We both have different paths to walk at this point in our life. If I stay…I'm going to want to never let you go...and at this point, you have transfer orders…" He looked at her, "If I stay here, I'm going to end up wanting to take you into my arms, pull your clothes off and make utter passionate love to you...and I don't want the what-ifs clouding my concentration and I don't want to make hash out of your career and mine just so that I can give my libido what it wants."

Meg silently groaned as that was what she was hoping for the last few weeks before she transferred. But Tosh was saying no to that very idea and she was going to end up leaving frustrated, just as he was leaving right now. "Tosh…"

"No regrets, Meg…" He turned in the doorway, dufflebag in hand, "Just remember...I love you…" then he was gone, the door closing behind him.

Meg sank to the floor. What have I done?