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Date Posted: 18:00:39 12/21/14 Sun
Author: Lace
Subject: Part 14 of the nine years after series

Walls High School, November 5
Claire Anne Rabb found her Math books from the locker and smiled when she found a note that someone had slipped inside it. It was from her friend Jackson, asking her to meet him for lunch. They had been dating for a few weeks, and Claire was still surprised that someone as popular as Jackson would even consider her as a girlfriend. He was a year older, one of the stars of the basketball team, and he could have anyone he wanted. Sometimes Claire wished that she could be more like her brother, good looking, confident and popular. Instead, she was smart, shy and not allowed to run with the cool girls at school. She reached for her phone and checked her messages. She had gotten one from her Mom, letting her know that she wouldn’t be late for career day. Claire sent a smile in return.
“Hi, Claire.”
Claire turned and saw her friend Kim approaching. “Hi, Kim. Who did you invite for career day?”
“My big sister,” Kim said as she too found her Math books. “She’s on leave, so I thought she could tell us about life onboard a war ship.”
“I was expecting you to bring your Dad or your brother,” Claire said. Kim’s Dad was an Admiral and her brother a Lieutenant in the Navy. That’s why Claire and Kim had found each other, because they both knew the term, duty first, so well.
“No, I want to show that girls can be soldiers too,” Kim said.
“Not this girl,” Claire said and shook her head.
“And that’s okay with your folks?” Kim didn’t look convinced. Her Dad expected all of his children to attain the Naval Academy.
“Sure, they just want me to be happy,” Claire, said as they walked to class.
“Lucky you. Who did you invite?” Kim asked.
“My Mom,” Claire said proudly. It was no secret that Claire loved her mother. That she was proud to have a smart, independent woman to look up to.
“Great, I can’t wait to hear more about JAG,” Kim said.

Mac was a little late, and the first person had already started talking when she snuck into the room and offered her daughter an apologetic look. She quietly found a seat and sat down to wait for her turn. She had been happy when Claire had asked her to talk to her class. Claire had never been interested in the military, and made it clear that it wasn’t an option for her to serve. Neither Mac nor her husband minded, as long as their kids followed their dreams and were happy, they were happy.
Mac felt bad for some of the speakers, who looked nervous and uncomfortable with the task. The students asked plenty of questions, some of them rude so the teacher had to interfere. Mac was reminded how cruel teenagers could be.
Mac told the class about what she did, how she had managed to work her way up from boot camp and to where she was today, and then the questions came.
“Have you ever killed anyone?” One of the tough guys in Claire’s class asked.
“Yes,” Mac answered honestly and could see the surprise in her daughter’s face. They had never really talked about her past and some of the darker sides of it.
“Really? How many?” The same boy was eager now.
“I’m sure the Colonel don’t want to talk about this,” the teacher said.
“It’s okay, ma’am,” Mac reassured. “I’ve had to take life in the line of duty, and in self-defense. Most of it I can’t talk about, since it’s still classified. Whenever I’m sent to a problem area, where we’ve been an occupying force, it has been to investigate and decide if charges should be brought. In Afghanistan and Iraq for example, I wore full armor just like any other soldier. Once my partner and I drove through an area where we took fire, we returned fire, but I have no way of knowing if one or more of the bullets hit anyone. As soldiers, we accept that we’ve taken a life, but it’s never a good feeling, and it never should be.”
“Can you tell any exciting stories about being in a war zone?” Kim, Claire’s friend wondered.
Mac hesitated. “My partner and I had to abandon our vehicle in a minefield after I drove the Humvee straight through it. The wheels were shredded and my partner thrown into the middle of the minefield. Of course, he had to step on a mine, and we used the amobox to slow down the explosion while he could jump to safety. We had to camp under the stars that night, and had just found a suiting spot.” Mac couldn’t help herself, she smiled by the memory. “Then the sky exploded nearby and we had to run to avoid the bombs. It turned out that a school building nearby was used by the Taliban, and targeted by our own, and we just happened to be close by. We had been reported missing of course, and ran into a convoy the next day and was brought back to camp.”
“Did your partner ever forgive you for running the Humvee off the road?” A blond girl, that Mac didn’t remember the name of, asked.
Mac laughed softly. “Well, he did ask me to marry him three years later so I think we’re good. But he still gives me a hard time about my driving.”
“Isn’t that fraternization?” The tough guy asked.
“We were just friends and partners up until the day they sent him to London and me to San Diego. I gave up my command, followed him to London where we adopted three perfect children and had one perfect baby,” Mac said with a loving smile.
“You gave up your career to have a family? Could you have been a General now?” Another boy asked.
“Probably, but rank was never important to me. I built a great career; I worked really hard and let JAG come before anything else. There was just one thing missing in my life, and that was a family, so I chose that. My husband teases me, because when we were partners I used to say that all I wanted in life was a great career, a good man and comfortable shoes, lots and lots of them. And I have everything now. I’m really lucky.”
“How will you characterize the war on terror? Did we succeed?” A girl asked.
“No, we didn’t. It’s still going on, and will for a long time. What we see now, with ISIS, is perhaps even worse than when we fought Al Qaida and Taliban. I won’t get into a political discussion, because my time is up soon, but I can tell you guys about what I’ve seen when I’ve been to the Middle East.” Mac hesitated, unsure how to describe what was the reality for the people she had met in Afghanistan and Iraq in a realistic way. “There are families. Fathers who want to protect what they love, but who’s so poor they have to marry off their daughters because they can’t afford to feed them. Mothers who are afraid that their daughters will be kidnapped or married off and become prisoners in their own homes. Children who see cruelty every day, maybe even their parent’s being killed.” One of the girl’s wiped her eyes. “The girls won’t get an education; they will be married off, or worse taken by ISIS and kept as slaves. The boys, if they’re lucky, will go to school, but most of them will be taken and trained as soldiers. They are your age, or younger too. Most of the people are peaceful Muslims, wanting to live their lives without war and evil. But unfortunately, evil men has decided to use their religion to justify murder and torture. That’s their everyday life.”
Mac could see shocked faces looking at her. “The best thing you guys can do is to get a good education and figure out how to resolve it. Figure out how the Middle East can be rebuilt, how they can live in democracy and how to avoid war. My time is up, but if anyone wants to know more or have a tour around JAG, just ask Claire for my phone number and we’ll talk.”
The teacher thanked everyone, and there was a round of applause. Claire hurried up to her mother and hugged her. “You are amazing, Mom.”
Mac didn’t know what to say. “Thanks for inviting me.”

That night when Mac came home she found her family in the kitchen. They didn’t notice her presence, so she overheard Harm talking about their time in Afghanistan looking for Captain Jack Ramsey, sleeping in a minefield and riding horses.
“Dad, Mom is very smart and strong isn’t she?” Claire said.
“Yes, she’s the smartest and strongest person I know,” Harm said.
“My classmates were really impressed. And I found out some things I didn’t know too,” Claire said.
“Dad, do you think Mom regret giving up her career to follow you to London?” Nathan asked.
“No,” Harm said without hesitation.
“Do you regret giving up the Navy?”
“No. I love the Navy, but I have no regrets about retiring.”
“Hey,” Mac said as she stepped into the kitchen.
“There you are, I was beginning to worry,” Harm stood and gathered her in his arms. “Hi.”
Mac smiled and hugged him back. “Something smells great.”
“My famous meatloaf,” Harm said and kissed her.
“As long as it’s not meatless,” Mac said as she released her husband and walked over to greet her kids.
“Mom, did you really sleep in the middle of a minefield?” Mathew wanted to know.
Mac smiled. “Yes, we did. But our guide knew where it was safe to walk.”
“But that time when you drove the Humvee into that minefield, Dad could have lost his leg like Uncle Bud did, if the mine had been pressure detonated, right?” Nathan asked.
Mac nodded. “Yes. It was a risk to walk back to the Humvee, but your Dad was adventurous back then.”
Harm chuckled. “More like stupid, right?”
“Your words, not mine,” Mac said and reached for his hand.
“How could you work together for nine years without getting together? Did you just suddenly fall in love the day you were reassigned?” Claire wondered.
“We worked together, and there’s regulations. We went back and forth, but never seemed to be on the same page,” Mac explained and looked lovingly at her husband.
“We were both busy building careers, we were best friends and afraid to mess that up. I guess that eventually the fear of being so far apart pushed us into making a decision. And I think we were both ready to settle down,” Harm explained.
“More than ready,” Mac agreed.

Later that night
Claire stood by the open door of her parent’s home office; she saw her Mom by the compute and knocked.
“Hi, are you busy?”
Her mother looked up and smiled. “Nope, just paying some bills.”
Claire stepped into the office. “Thanks for today. It was cool listening to you.”
“I was happy to do it. I’m glad you asked me,” Mac leaned back in her chair and studied her daughter. “What’s on your mind, honey?”
“Boys,” Claire admitted as she slumped down in her father’s office chair. “Mom, can I have Jackson over after school tomorrow?”
Mac smiled. “Who is this guy?”
“He’s a year older than me. He’s a nice guy,” Claire hesitated. “Actually he’s one of the popular guys. I’m surprised he even likes me.”
“Why wouldn’t he? You’re beautiful and smart, and funny.”
“Smart anyway,” Claire said with a shrug.
“Honey, I know there’s a lot of pressure in High School, but don’t let anyone tell you that you’re not good enough. And I think Jackson might see something in you that you don’t see yourself, so don’t worry about being anyone else than the great girl you already are,” Mac reached out her hand and touched her daughters cheek in a sweet gesture. “How serious are you and Jackson?”
“I don’t know, but I really like him,” Claire said.
Mac nodded. “There’s nothing wrong with having a boyfriend, but I think you’re too young to have sex.”
“Mom, I’m not ready for that,” Claire reassured.
“Good, because there’s so much responsibility with sex. Pregnancy and diseases, then there is self-esteem. But know that you can ask me about anything, okay?”
Claire nodded. “I know. Thanks Mom,” she said and stood. “I’ll head to bed now. Good night,” Claire hugged her Mom.
“Good night,” Mac said and watched her daughter leave the room. She turned the computer off and walked across the hall to the master bedroom. Harm was on the bed with a book, and she crawled into bed and lay down beside him, wrapping her arms around him.
Harm put the book down and wrapped his arms around her. “Hey, baby.”
“Hey,” Mac whispered and lifted her head to look at him. “Our daughter is growing up. She has a boyfriend.”
“We knew it was bound to happen sooner or later,” Harm said with badly hidden worry.
Mac looked thoughtful. “You know, I was her age when I had sex the first time.”
Harm raised his eyebrows. “You don’t think she’s…”
“No!” Mac hurried to reassure her husband.
“Good,” he said in relief. “You were fifteen, huh? I was seventeen.”
“Yeah, John Carter the schools quarterback. He dumped me after two weeks, of course,” Mac remembered.
“He dumped you, what was he stupid?” Harm flirted.
Mac laughed softly. “He’s fat now. I found him on Facebook.” Mac reached for her phone.
Harm laughed. “I bet he’s kicking himself now for dumping you.”
Mac showed Harm the picture. “He could use a shave too.” She noticed that she’d been tagged and found that Harm had changed his profile picture to one of them together. “Aww, that’s a nice picture.”
“I figured I was done bragging about my car and instead show off my hot wife,” Harm teased.
Mac smiled. “It’s what social media is all about, bragging about the perfect life.” She looked thoughtful for a moment. “It’s actually a nice memory too.”
“What is?”
“When John broke up with me I was heartbroken and my Dad actually comforted me. He had one of his dry periods then, trying to stay sober to take care of me. Anyway, he hugged me and bought my favorite ice cream. I was worried that I was pregnant, so he took me to the Doctor and made sure I knew how to protect myself. It’s a nice memory of him. Of course, he fell off the wagon, and then I was his slutty daughter, but for a while he was really trying.”
Harm had one of his speechless moments, as he often had when Mac spoke about her childhood. He was trying to understand the problems that her parents must have had, but he just couldn’t find any reason to treat a child so badly. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Then don’t say anything. It was just a memory,” Mac leaned in and kissed him sweetly. “So, you were seventeen huh?”
“Yeah, Lisa Benson. She moved away and broke my heart,” Harm remembered.
“Want to see if she’s fat?” Mac suggested teasingly.
“Nah, I’ll just remember her the way she was,” he flipped Mac over. “I don’t care; I have the perfect girl right here.”
“Yeah?” Mac let her lips find his.
Harm ended the kiss and rubbed his nose to hers. “I think our kids will be fine.”
“Me too,” Mac agreed. “Have I told you how much I love you today?”
“You could show me,” Harm suggested as he slipped a hand under her shirt.
“Oh, I will show you alright,” Mac said and fused her mouth to his.

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Replies:

[> Wonderful. You are an amazing writer. -- Beth, 00:27:58 12/22/14 Mon [1]


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[> [> Lace, a great read, your words bring the Rabbs to life, happily so! Thanks so much for this visual. -- JoyZ, 10:02:17 12/22/14 Mon [1]


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[> It was indeed a great read. :) -- Laurence, 12:50:27 12/23/14 Tue [1]


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