I'm going to post this story back one revised chapter at a time. Don't worry, all of it will be back, only better. For those of you who haven't read the story before, enjoy! For those of you who have been reading and following along: good luck finding all the changes. ;-)

1

September 12, 1996

Lt. Commander Harmon Rabb Jr. grabbed her hand just as she wanted to pull away. "Harm," he said. Well, there was a face he'd buried almost three years ago. His late wife had exactly the same features. Same smile. Her passing had left him and their little girl in need of a mother and a wife. To say it was strange to have her standing right in front of him would be an understatement.

Major Sarah Mackenzie narrowed her eyes at the young Lt. Commander and wondered what exactly it was that captured her attention. It wasn't the fact that he didn't want to shake her hand at first, nor the fact that he stared at her with this look that went right though her soul. It was something else.

Even Admiral Chegwidden gave the Commander a strange look. He knew a part of the younger man's history, but not all, and this was certainly something of Harmon Rabb's past. "You two know each other?"

Before either of them could answer, a little girl's voice cut through the air. "Mommy!"

Harm's head snapped to the side, staring at the little girl who came running towards them, her curls bouncing up and down. Mac frowned in surprise. The girl was jumping up and down in front of her, her arms reaching up because she wanted to be picked up.

"Daddy, Mommy's back!" she cried excitedly, turning to her father.

Finally, Harm stepped forward, trying to maintain a straight face. "Honey, that's not Mommy," he whispered, holding the squirming three-year-old.

Tally pointed at Mac. "But… Mommy."

Harm shook his head. Yes, she definitely resembled his late wife. But how was he going to explain to his daughter that Mac and her mother weren't the same, even though they looked like twins? How was he going to explain when he barely understood himself? He looked up to Mac. "I apologize, Major. She… My wife passed away three years ago and you look an awful lot like her… My daughter only knows her mother from pictures and I think that's why she thinks that you're…" He couldn't say it. Mac wasn't Tally's mother.

Mac sympathetically nodded. "Must be the uniform, then."

He shook his head again. "She wasn't military."

Tally looked from her father to Mac. "Mommy?"

It was barely audible but it broke Harm's heart. He pulled his wallet out and showed Tally a picture of him and her mother. "Look sweetheart, this is Mommy."

Diane's hair was shorter and slightly darker than Mac's and Harm prayed that Tally would get the point. Then he pointed at Mac. "And that's Mac."

But to Tally the woman in the picture and the one standing in front of her were one and the same. She stubbornly pointed at Mac again. "Mommy." Then at Harm. "Daddy."

Mac smiled at the little girl. "It's all right, Commander. She's probably not going to get it right now, anyway."

Tally smiled a wide grin in Mac's direction. It was an infectious grin that Mac easily returned. She reached for the girl. "Let me have her."

"Are you sure?" Harm reluctantly gave his daughter over when Mac nodded. The two men looked at Mac, who had casually picked a conversation with Tally. Harm gulped. They presented an image he was sure he'd never get to see in real life.

He and Diane had married in between flight school and his first tour. Diane had been the one who'd stood by him after his ramp strike, who'd pushed him to go to Grandma Sarah's farm to recover. That was when she first told him she'd been thinking about children. At first he was reluctant, but during his recovery, he finally agreed that the timing might actually never really get better.

Ten months later, there was Talitha Samara Rabb, affectionately known as Tally. Harm had never thought he could feel so full of love for such a tiny human being. And their life had been good. For six months, life had been good. Harm would never forget that night when he got a phone call from the hospital that Diane's car had been totaled by a drunk driver. The EMTs did everything they could, but she passed before they even reached the ER.

He'd thought he'd given it a place. But meeting Sarah Mackenzie out of the blue, like this, brought all his memories flooding back. Evidently, even Tally, who only knew her mother from pictures, thought that Mac was exactly that.

"Diane?"

Harm tore his eyes away from the peaceful picture Mac and Tally painted when he heard a familiar voice. His mother. His bit his lip. He couldn't really deal with it. Didn't want to.

Mac's eyes darted up and she smiled. "Major Sarah Mackenzie, USMC."

Trisha Burnett-Rabb looked from her son to Sarah Mackenzie who was holding Tally in a warm embrace. She could've sworn she'd seen her late daughter-in-law. Judging by the look in his eyes, Trish knew Harm had been under that impression, too.

"Grandma! Mommy's back!"

At Tally's excited exclamation, Trish felt the blood draw from her face. She barely registered the hand on her arm. Frank's hand. For some reason she felt anger towards this woman who was holding her granddaughter in her arms, although Tally seemed so at ease with her.

"What do you think you're doing?" She took a step forward. "What are you holding my granddaughter for?" She took a protesting Tally out of Mac's arms.

The Marine Major stood still, but was obviously confused by the older woman's outburst. "Excuse me?"

"You have absolutely no right to make her think you're her mother. What are you even doing here?"

Harm stepped in. "Mom, it's okay. Tally isn't going to understand the difference yet. The Major didn't mind, so I didn't either." He omitted the fact that she was scaring the hell out of him, too. "The Major is here for work; we've been partnered on a case."

"Oh, and you've decided that you've been a single parent long enough, so why not make her your partner out of JAG, too?" his mother sneered.

Harm was taken aback by that and swallowed hard. Well, this was a good day to receive a DFC from the President. Not exactly what he had pictured when he got up that morning. He took a step towards his mother. "We're not discussing this right now. Tally, sweetheart, I'll see you at home tonight, all right? Have a great time with Grandma and Grandpa. I love you." He kissed the top of his daughter's head and turned to the Admiral. "I apologize, sir. I'll make sure this won't happen again."

Chegwidden nodded and the officers started to make their way to the awaiting limousine.