Title: Name Change - Chapter One

Author: TZMaverick
Classification: None Yet

Rating: 13 (Adult Situations, Language)

Spoilers: Up to Persian Gulf
Feedback: Welcomed But Not Expected
Feedback email: This is for entertainment purposes only. These characters belong to CBS, Paramount and DPB.

Author's Note: This is story can be found at http/dangerzone. after it has been completely sent out in message formats.

0800 Local
Saturday Morning
Jen & Mattie's Apartment
North of Union Station

"Hey Jen, I'm fixing to head over to Harm's place. Do you need anything?" Mattie yelled through the bathroom door.

"Nope. What are you two going to do today?"

"Harm's realtor called and left a message that she has a few new houses that she thought he might like to look at. So it looks like we'll be doing that this morning."

"Ok, have fun."

"See ya later." Mattie said as she closed the front door and locked it.

Jen sat down on the commode with tears running down her face. 'What am I going to do if they find a house to move into? Why can't things remain as they are now? I guess I better get dressed and go downstairs to get the mail.'

She walked into her room and quickly threw on some clothes. Jen grabbed her keys and headed downstairs to get the mail. She used her key to open the box and pulled out the mail. She quickly scanned the letters. 'Cable bill…letter from Erica…return to sender, figures that he doesn't want to do anything with me. I knew it was too much to hope for. Now I'm fixing to lose my new family when they find a new place to live.' Tears started flowing again from Jen's eyes as she walked down the hallway towards her apartment. She slowly started to unlock the door when it was jerked open from inside the apartment.

"Hi Jen…" Mattie looked up and saw Jen crying. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing my foot. Now spill!"

"It doesn't concern you Mattie…just leave it alone."

Mattie turned and ran down the hall towards Harm's apartment. She opened the door and yelled, "Harm, something is wrong with Jen! She's crying. Hurry please!" She turned and headed back to her apartment.

Harm threw his coat over on the bar and hurriedly headed for the girl's apartment. As he walked into apartment, he saw Mattie holding Jen trying to comfort the older one.

"It's going to be ok Jen…Harm's here…he's great at fixing things."

"Mattie, tell me what you know?" Harm asked his ward.

"You asked me to come here to see if Jen wanted to go with us to look at houses. When I opened the door, she was standing there fixing to lock the door with mail in her hand and crying."

"Was she crying before you came over this morning?"

"I don't think so. She was in the bathroom when I left and she sounded fine like she normally does."

"Hey guys, I'm still here in the room…so you don't have to talk about me like I'm not here!" Jen snapped at Harm and Mattie.

"Jen…" Harm knelt down beside the couch beside her. "We're just concerned about what's gotten you so upset to make you cry. Was it something we did or something in the mail that has gotten you so upset?"

"Both."

"What did we do?" Mattie asked.

"Nothing yet…but as soon as you find a house, I will lose what I consider to be my family again."

"You're not going to lose us, Jen." Mattie said as she looked over at Harm. "Harm, tell her that she's wrong."

"Jen, one of the reasons why we're having problems finding a house is because we're looking for one that will allow you to live there as well. We have seen some very nice houses but they were all great for a single family."

"So that's why you keep turning down houses that I thought would work great for us. Why can't Jen live in a house with us?"

"Because M, the Commander and I are not related. He's an officer and I'm enlisted, which almost makes what we're currently doing almost illegal. If we get a new commanding officer, he/she might not be as understanding as Admiral Chegwidden has been about it. We had to get his permission before I was allowed to even move in this apartment with you."

"What would have happened if he hadn't given his permission?" Mattie asked.

"I was going to take a leave of absence until we could have located a place to live since I don't have been able to save up many leave days after returning to the Navy. Fortunately or unfortunately depending on how a person views it, Jen was having some serious roommate troubles and had brought some of her personal things to store at work. The Admiral saw this as a very good opportunity to get her personal stuff out of the office and to prevent me from taking a leave of absence."

"Oh! Is there any legal ways for you two to live together?"

"M, the only ways two non-related military people can live together are if they are married or if they are the same rank. Since the Commander and my relationship is purely friendship and platonic, that's completely out of the question because there is no way either of us would bust the regulations that severely. I'm two to three years away from finishing college even if I wanted to become an officer."

"Can't Harm just adopt you like he is trying for with me?" Mattie asked.

"M, I'm a little bit too old to be adopted even though the Commander would be a better father than what my real father ever was."

"Huh?" Mattie voiced.

"My father never ever has wanted me. He wouldn't do anything with me since all he wanted was a boy. My mother died trying to give him the boy child he wanted. I had to find a job when I was twelve in order to buy clothes or anything else I needed other than food. He didn't care about what I did or whom I was around until I got into trouble with the law. The justice of the peace got so tired of seeing me before him that he gave me an ultimatum of joining the military or going to prison. I chose the military and stayed in trouble until I met the Commander a couple years ago.

"Harm was the only person that I had met in my life who actually cared about what I did or what happened to me. He didn't want me to spend the Christmas holidays in jail, so he tried to find someone he felt responsible enough to watch me until my trail date. I tried to trick him into allowing my friend, Tiny, to watch me but he saw through that fib. He thought that my father would be a good choice since he was my father but as soon as my father opened his mouth, Harm saw that he would not be a good choice either."

"So what happened next?" Mattie asked.

"Harm took me over to Colonel MacKenzie's apartment and asked her if she could watch me during the night. He would drop me off at her place around nine and pick me up about seven in the mornings. That was the best Christmas holiday that I have had since I was eleven and every Christmas since then has been better than what it was last year. I owe this man so much that I will never ever be able to repay him for what he has done for me.

"The only reason why I hesitated when he first approached me about living here with you is because I didn't want him to get into trouble with the Admiral and the Navy since I'm enlisted and he's an officer. We just got him back home in the Navy and I didn't want to be the cause of him having to leave it again. I was very relieved after we had a meeting with the Admiral about the situation he was facing with his custody of you and that neither one of us would get in trouble because of my living here with you."

"Harm isn't there anything else we can do? I know that you can come up with something to solve our problem. I really, really like having a big sister."

Harm sat down on the floor and started running his hand in his hair…trying to think of another way to solve the dilemma they were talking about. It finally came to him but wasn't sure if Jen wanted to go that route.

"There is one way…" Harm stopped as both girls suddenly lifted their heads and looked at him."

"There is…" Jen quietly asked.

"It would involve the legal system."

"How?" Mattie asked.

"You would need to petition the court to change your last name to Rabb. As for how long that process would take will depend on how busy the family court system is."

"How long will it take us to close on a house if we found one today that we like?"

"I'm only to give the realtor a ten-day window that out bid is good for when we do make a bid on a house. So, it could be as soon as two weeks and as long as a month before a house would be turned over to us to start moving in."

"Commander…Harm can you help me fill out the needed paperwork to get my last name changed?"

"Are you sure, Jen?"

"Yes."

"What about your father and other relatives?"

"You know what my father is like…I wrote him a letter after I moved in here with Mattie and it was returned unopened in this morning's mail. I don't have any grandparents left alive. Both my father and mother were only children. As far as I know, my father and I are the last of this line of Coates and when he passes away then the line passes as well. It is why he wanted a male child in order to keep the line alive. He might have already remarried someone by now to do that."

Ring, Ring, Ring

"Rabb."

Hi, this is Elizabeth. I'm running a little late and just calling you to let you know that I should be there in about an hour or so. I hope that I haven't kept you waiting at my office waiting for me to arrive there.

"No problem Miss Elizabeth…I was just fixing to call you to see if we could postpone our meeting for another hour myself." Harm heard her sigh and slightly laugh.

Can you and family make it in two hours then? That way neither one of us has to rush what we're currently doing.

"That would work out great Miss Elizabeth. We'll see you in two hours then. Bye!"

Harm closed the phone.

"Jen, why don't you go and fresh up. All three of us then will go get something to eat before going to met Miss Elizabeth."

"Ok."

Jen got up from the couch still looking like a lost puppy. When the bathroom door closed, Mattie turned to Harm.

"Harm, don't you have any contacts to make the process of changing Jen's last name quicker since you're not adopting her." Mattie whispered.

"Yes, I don't want to say anything more about it until I talk to someone first."

"Who Mac?"

"No, Catherine. She owes me a favor."

"Oh!"

1600 Local
Harm's Apartment
North of Union Station

Harm unlocked the door and they walked in.

"So, tell me your opinions on the houses we saw today?"

"They all work for me Harm. But that five bedroom, three and two half bathroom house in Rosemont was the best one."

"Jen?" Harm saw that Jen was hesitating on answering the question and he pulled out his wallet. "Mattie, take this twenty…go to your apartment and order a pizza for you two to eat for supper while Jen and I talk."

"Ok." Mattie left the apartment while leaving Jen and Harm alone.

"Talk to me Jen."

"Are you really prepared to live with two females in the same house?"

"Sure. I don't see a big problem with that."

"You do realize that we will be running around the house with little clothes on."

"Yes, I sure that at some point that I may see either of you accidentally in your birthday suits. I may not have seen either of you naked but I've seen other women naked before. Now, this is just between us…but if I can sleep in the same bed with Mac and control myself. I surely can control myself with you two."

"Honest?"

"Yes, Jen. I would never ever lie to you about that."

"The house in Rosemont was the best one we saw today."

"Ok. I'll call Miss Elizabeth and put in our offer on the house. I'll let her know that she has an extra day and eight hours on it. I would join you two this evening but I got a previous engagement this evening."

"Who's your date tonight?"

"It's not a date. Catherine called and wanted to get together this evening about something. I'm not really sure what she wants to talk about since she turned down my marriage proposal."

"Huh? I didn't know you were serious about anyone enough to propose to."

"She's the person who helped me get to the right person in the CIA when I was trying to locate Mac. We had a few dates after I got back from Paraguay. I guess she though that I was offering to marry her because I wanted a ready-made family since she's pregnant. So in the long run, it was the best thing for both of us when she turn down my marriage proposal."

"You just proposed the wrong person then. I would have dragged your six to Vegas the instant those words came out of your mouth if you asked me when you were out of the service." Jen flipped her hair and headed for the front door leaving Harm standing by the bar with his mouth wide open. "Night Dad…see you in the morning for waffles."

Harm had a little less than an hour before Catherine Gale would arrive. He hoped that getting her to do Jen's paperwork to have her last name chanced wasn't too big of a favor.

1700 Local
Harm's Apartment
North of Union Station

Knock, Knock, Knock

Harm got up from the couch and answered the door.

"Hi Cat. Come on in."

Harm helped her take her coat off and he hung it up.

"Hi. How's life as a father?"

"Pretty good. Thank goodness that Jen is living with her. I don't know what I would do if she wasn't since the Admiral and the Navy has kept me out of town a whole lot lately. She's the only person as JAG that I can really ask to watch her when my work takes me out of town."

Harm helped Catherine sit down on the couch.

"Anyway, I didn't feel like cooking tonight…so I ordered Chinese to be delivered in about twenty minutes or so. I hope that is alright with you."

"Sure, I love Chinese. How are you getting along with the rest of JAG?"

"As you know that I'm stuck in the office away from operations. I've stopped asking anyone to grab a bite with. They all have turned down all the offers that I have made to them and none of them has even hinted about grabbing a bite to me. So, I normally eat alone or in my cubbyhole if I take my lunch in with me. I've got more work to do than what a man does in a one-legged man six kicking contest. Right now, all I'm doing is getting as much work done as I can while I'm a work. I've stopped bring work home since Mattie moved here."

"Is it really gotten that bad there for you?"

"Yes. If I hadn't promised that little girl down the hall that I would always be here for her. I would have located a new place to work even if I had to take another career hit for changing jobs just to get away from here. I have enough contacts now that I wouldn't have to ask the Admiral for permission beforehand. Some days, I wish that I hadn't ever been 'fired' from the agency and accepted the Admiral's offer to return to JAG. At least there, I was happy doing what I was doing…now I'm just putting my time in and counting down the days until I can retire."

"I'm so sorry that things aren't going well for you. I wish there was something I could do to make your life easier."

"There is."

"Tell me."

"Well, I didn't start this process of becoming Mattie's guardian to have her live down the hallway from me. We have been looking for a house. But I wanted a house that had an apartment built in so that Jen could move there as well since it doesn't sit well with me if we pulled up stakes and leaving her here by herself. This isn't the safest neighborhood in the district to live in. You know that the Navy regulations will not allow Jen and I become roommates since we're not related. We can't get married due to those same regulations either. Anyhow, we discussed it this morning after we found Jen bawling her eyes out after getting a returned letter she had wrote to her father. The only way we can legally become a family is for Jen to petition the court to change her surname to Rabb."

"Ok, I see. Now where do I come into the picture?"

"I'm wondering if you can use your pull in the Agency to speed the process up. We found a house in Rosemont that all three of us like and I'm just put a bid on it this evening right before you got here."

"I ca…"

Knock, Knock, Knock

"Foods here." Harm assumed the delivery boy was at the door to deliver their food order. He got up and answered the door.

"Darling!" Trish Barnett said as she hugged her very surprised son.

"Mom…Frank! This is a surprise. Come on in."

Trish and Frank Barnett walked through the door and before Harm could close the door, the Chinese deliver boy was getting off the elevator. Harm paid for the food and shut the door. He sat the bags on the table before rushing over to the couch to help Kat get off it to make introductions to the three strangers in the room.

"Mom…Frank…this is Catherine Gayle. Kat, this is my parent's. Before you ask Mom, the child Kat is carrying isn't mine. We are just having a business dinner."

"Where is our soon to be granddaughter?"

"She's down the hall having pizza with Jen."

"Jen who?"

"I told you mom, that I asked Petty Officer Coates to move in with Mattie since I only have a one-bedroom apartment. We had a two-bedroom apartment open up in this building a few days after Christmas. It's the best way to show the court that I'm not interested in Mattie any other way than to just be her guardian since it really would appear to be very bad if she lived here in this one-bedroom apartment with me. We have been looking at houses and until this afternoon hadn't found one that met out needs that we both liked. I put a bid in with my realtor about a hour or so ago and we are hopeful that it will be accepted."

"I remember now about Jen. What's going to happened to her if your bid is accepted?"

"That's what my business dinner with Kat is all about."

"Oh!"

Harm knew that oh from his mother and knew that she would keep up until he told the whole story.

"Let's sit down and eat. I know that I ordered enough for everyone if Frank and you haven't already eaten yet."

"No, we haven't eaten yet. I'll go in the kitchen and grab a couple more plates for us."

Harm helped Kat sit down at the table.

"What would everyone like to drink?" Trish called out over the bar.

"Water is fine for me, Ma'am." Kat said.

"Water for me Mom."

Ring, Ring

Frank's cell phone rang.

"Frank Barnett."

Mr. Barnett. This is Elizabeth Holt. I just got a great offer on your house in Rosemont this evening.

"I see…tell me about it."

It's from a very nice and polite family. The husband is very handsome…the wife appears to be a number of years younger than him…they have a 15-year-old daughter…I'm guessing she's from a previous marriage of his since the wife really looks too young to be her mother.

"Hummm." 'This is too much of a coincidence…we decided to come to Washington to show Harm the houses we own here to see if one of them would be suitable for them as well as close on another house that's suppose to close Friday.' "Do you remember their names?"

Yes, the man's name is Harmon Rabb Junior…the woman's was Jennifer or Jen…and the daughter was Mattie.

"Ok…I'll get back with you shortly about it…bye." Frank closed his phone. "Harm, tells us what you have come up to solve the problem for Jen."

"The only legal way without getting us in trouble with the Navy is for her to petition the court to change her last name to Rabb…so we then would be related if someone doesn't look to closely at it and I had just asked Kat if she could help us speed up the process right before you two arrive this evening."

"How can Catherine help you? Everyone knows that you're a lawyer, so that isn't what she could help you with the process."

"Mr. Barnett…"

"Call me, Frank please."

"Ok, Frank. What Harm didn't tell you is that I work with him when he was working for another government agency after he had returned from South America last year. Harm thought correctly with his thinking that I could help speed up the process a whole lot."

"CIA huh?" Frank said. "No, Harm didn't tell us he work for the CIA. A very dear friend of the Rabb family told Trish that he worked for them. She told me that she had never ever heard him so angry as he was on hearing that Little Harm was working for them."

"Mom?"

"It was Tom, darling."

"Oh. Thanks for the warning for whenever I see him again."

"You know that you will have to tell him why you were out of the Navy and working for the CIA."

"I know and he still has enough pull to so something stupid."

"Yes, so tread very carefully."

"May I ask you a question Catherine?" Trish asked.

"Sure."

"What is easier for you to accomplish? Adoption or name change?"

"Adoption is easier if I can get the natural parent's signature and it would be better in the long run for Harm and Jen anyway. IF that happens, it would be a matter of hours before it could be finalized especially in cases like this since the adoptee is already the legal age."

"Darling, there's the easy solution for everyone. Would it be hard to get Jen's folks to sign the needed documents?"

"No, I don't think her father would be a big problem since he has never wanted her in the first place."

"Why don't you call the girls and have them come here to see what they think about this?"

"Sure but it will be quicker if I just walk down the hallway and get them."

"Ok. Hurry back."

Harm walked out of the apartment to get Jen and Mattie.

"Trish, you know why we came to Washington in the first place for?"

"Yes."

"That call I just got was from Elizabeth Holt…the house the Harm put a bid on was one of ones we own in the area."

"Which one may I ask?"

"The new five bedroom and three full bath two half bath one on Rosemont Circle in Rosemont."

"Rosemont Circle?" Catherine asked.

—TBC—