*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Yeah," AJ agreed with Harm, his grim facade still in place.

"Allison Krennick, Sir?" Mac stated in disbelief. She had only heard about the illustrious Commander from stories that Bud and Harm had told her. Well, Bud more than Harm. Harm seemed almost...embarrassed at Krennick’s ‘attraction’, for lack of a better word, to him. He only talked about her when he absolutely had no choice.

Now it didn’t look like he was going to have a choice at all.

As if on cue, Harm sighed loudly, seeming to deflate right there in his seat.

The Admiral heard him and immediately spoke up. "Do you have a problem with this assignment, Commander?"

"Well, Sir, I...well, the Commander and I had a somewhat...colorful past," Harm answered, looking extremely uncomfortable.

"You and half the Navy, Harm. So what?" AJ countered, completely unsympathetic.

Briefly looking out of the corner of his eye at Mac, he cleared his throat and continued. "I just don’t know if I would really be the best person for this assignment, Sir." Harm wanted to wince at Mac’s immediate bristle. He’d have to explain later that his reluctance to work this case had nothing to do with her, a conversation he was *not* looking forward to having.

"Look, I’m well aware of your past...disagreements with Commander Krennick, but at the moment it can’t be helped. This one is really messy. I need my best people on it and that, unfortunately, happens to be you two. There are some very...rough aspects to this case, and the Navy’s reputation is going to take a huge punch right in the gut when everything finally comes out."

Nodding in understanding of what he was not saying, Harm answered crisply, "Aye, aye, Sir."

Mac was somewhat confused, and slightly frustrated, by the silent conversation the two men seemed to be having. After another moment with still no one speaking, Mac tentatively asked, "What, exactly, are the ‘aspects’, Sir?"

Taking a deep breath, AJ laid it out for them. "Miles and the Commander were...engaging in some, shall we say, extracurricular activities."

At Harm’s arched eyebrow, AJ held up a hand to hold off the question he knew was coming. "Yes, that means exactly what it sounds like. When the MP’s arrived on the scene they found not only the murdered body of Allison Krennick, but several videos of an extreme sexual nature. Seems that the Commander had quite a busy personal life."

"How, exactly, does Miles connect with Krennick," Harm asked curiously.

"As far as we can tell, Krennick and Miles met in the NLSO branch office, there in New Orleans. Gunny Miles was her legal services chief."

"So, not only was Krennick and Miles engaging in fraternization, but this little "side business" was...whose idea?" Harm asked, though sounded as if he’d already drawn his own conclusions.

"That, Commander, is what you and the Colonel are going to find out. You leave for New Orleans in two hours."

Both standing up at attention, simultaneous shouts of "Aye, Aye, Sir," rang out through the office.

"Dismissed." Just as they were almost at the door, AJ’s voice stopped them. "Also, an aside from this case, the dinner with Meredith, on Friday, has been canceled," he informed them, never meeting their curious gazes.

Trying to gage the situation, and their CO’s mood, Harm very carefully asked, "Canceled? Or just postponed, Sir?"

"I said canceled, Commander. Ms Cavanaugh has decided her romantic interests lie elsewhere. There will be no dinner and no goddamned wedding," he stated firmly.

A eerie calm descended over the shocked officers at the Admiral’s outburst. Both Harm and Mac looked at AJ Chegwidden, a mixture of shock and pity written all over their faces before Mac finally found enough of her voice to speak. "Sir, may I ask..."

"No, you may not, Colonel. You are dismissed."

Again, with a joint "Yes, Sir," they both beat a hasty retreat.

An hour later found them on the road. The ride to the airport was stilted and awkward, and Harm hated it. There had once been a time when he would have relished the idea of being alone or on assignment with Mac. Now, all he felt was the unease and distrust between them, something that had never been there before. It made for lousy working conditions, but in the stillness of their joint cab, it was almost unbearable.

"So, what do you think happened between them?"

Mac’s voice was so small Harm barely heard her, but still it startled him. "I don’t know; he said her romantic interests had changed. Hell, maybe she cheated on him."

Mac blanched, leaving her skin a pasty color. Turning away abruptly, Mac never saw his eyes narrowing in suspicion. Studying her carefully, the unease apparent in every tense muscle of her well toned body, Harm came to an instant conclusion. "You know what happened. Don’t you?"

While his voice was slightly accusing, it was also genuinely curious, and Mac was torn whether or not to share her knowledge with him. "Not exactly. But he might have mentioned something," she mumbled.

"So, spill it. What happened?"

With great reluctance, Mac launched into a brief explanation of the Admiral’s initial involvement in their diamond case, and his concern over Meredith’s involvement with the Italian professor.

"So, that could be it then? She could have cheated on him?" Harm asked, incredulous.

"Yeah, I guess. But why, Harm? Why would she throw away everything they had together just for a few stolen moments with another man?"

Unable to believe she, of all people, would make that statement, Harm snorted in disgust. "I’d say you’re more qualified to answer that one than I am, Mac."

Her glare was murderous, but Harm didn’t even flinch when she fired back, "Excuse me?"

"I think you heard me," he answered, feeling mutinous.

Turning in her seat to face him, she scoffed, "You’re going to make this about me?"

Harm shrugged his shoulders, feigning nonchalance before looking away out the window. "You have to admit, the scenario fits."

"Do I?" she asked, her voice low and calm.

That voice scared the hell out of him. And, so it seemed, the cab driver as well.

"You folks okay back there?"

Trying in vain to control her temper, Mac spoke slowly, "No, I guess we aren’t."

"No, we’re fine. Even if we’re not, let’s just act like we are, Mac. That’s what we’re good at, right?" he said sarcastically, still watching the blurred scenery through the foggy window of the cab.

"That does it! What the hell is wrong with you?" her voice echoed in the enclosed space.

After months of nothing but pain between them, something in Harm finally snapped. He turned on her so fast she physically had to back up in her seat. "What’s wrong with me? How about what’s wrong with you. Answer your own question, Mac. How could you do it? How could it be so easy for you to just walk away from everything we could have been, after a few stolen moments with Clayton Webb?"