TITLE: I Believe

AUTHOR: Vid

CATEGORY: Romance, pure, shameless fluff.

TIMELINE: completely AU from ATW2 on. The quote that starts the fic is in this fic set in August 2003 and didn't happen like it did on the show.

DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. of the TV show JAG are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this fic. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended..

WARNINGS: I don't like Webb. Never have, never will, draw your own conclusions. Several characters are very out of character and/or their nastiness is exaggerated for the purpose of the story. Season 9 was a bad time for JAG and many have lost faith in TPTB and stopped liking some characters. Several characters on the show have become completely unrecognizable and unfriendly, hostile. Except for Webb no other character was bashed, as I've said their nastiness was exaggerated because I wanted to create a tense, depressing, gloomier atmosphere in JAG that would make it's opposite even more obvious.

No squirrels were hurt during the writing of this fic.

Thanks to Agnes for the help with the quote.

And very, very big thanks to Nancy Eddy for beta reading this fic!

I welcome feedback!

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1527 ZULU

AUGUST 2003

JAG HQ

FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA

"Do you miss him?"

"Ahhh, no. Things are working pretty well here. No one is firing automatic weapons in the courtroom."

Bud was astonished that she would still be holding that against Harm "That was years ago."

"The bullets are still in the ceiling." Mac turned and entered her office.

Her statement stunned a lot of people, who never expected the woman, who was supposed to have been the former Commander Rabb's best friend, to utter such cold and unfeeling words for the man who had done so much for her over the years and stood by her all those times, as recently as a couple of weeks ago when he resigned his commission to rescue her and Webb when another one of Webb's incompetently planned missions went south. Again. How that man still had a job with the Agency was beyond anyone's comprehension.

It seemed that the only thing the Colonel remembered from the years of partnership and friendship were only the Commander's mistakes, not the good things he did for people around him, mostly for her. He cherished truth and justice above all in his job and after all these years the only thing his once-friend-and-partner remembered was his few mistakes.

One of the most appalled was Petty Officer Jennifer Coates, who until that moment had believed that the beautiful Lt. Col. was as in love with the Commander as he was with her.

No woman in love could ever say something like that about the man she loves.

'Well' Jen thought 'guess that answers how the Colonel could start dating the spook so soon after coming back from Paraguay.'

Jen had heard about the rumors regarding that relationship, but she did not want to believe them. She had a good nose and she smelled a rat whenever Webb was in vicinity, no matter how few those occasions were. Lies and deceit were his way of life and that transcended into his personal life as well. She knew the type. Every week a new, sometimes even two and always beautiful, woman on his arm, never lasting more than few days, for he was not the kind of a man to ever be able to commit and definitely not the type who would make a good, much less wonderful, husband and father. His career was much too important to him and all that travelling around the world would mean continous absence from home and his wife would essentially be a single parent, with very big chances of becoming a widow.

Jen sighed, sad that the woman she so admired when she first met her was making such a big mistake in her personal life. A mistake that was undoubtebly going to hurt her dearly.

With that last thought Jen spun on her heels and went back to work.

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During the next few weeks the office continued to fall apart.

What was once a strong family that could weather any type of storm became a house of cards, threatening to collapse at the slightest breeze.

Previous harmony among co-workers existed no longer, especially among the senior staff.

Admiral Cheggwidden was becoming worse and worse, snapping at everyone, being a grouchy old bear. Not even his flourishing relationship with Meredith changed his ways.

But he was not the only one with the bad temper. Col. Mackenzie was just as bad, treating everyone coldly, even her friends. Her repeated fights with Commander Turner managed to sour her mood even more. Her comment towards the man Lt. Roberts respected and appreciated more than even the Admiral strained even her relationship with the mild-mannered Lt.. Her behaviour managed to alienate her from the rest of the staff even more. Lt. Roberts and Cmdr. Turner were also at a standoff, making the atmosphere in the office even tenser. Basically the whole senior staff was at each other's throats. And it was becoming increasingly clear to them how much they were protected from Cheggwidden's wraith by Harm taking most of the fire.

It was obvious to any objective observer that the office was falling apart. It was missing the glue that had held it together for the last 8 years.

And it was even more obvious that the missing glue was the former Commander Harmon Rabb. Having been stationed there longer than everyone and with such a charismatic, powerful personality Harm had over the years become the thing that held the family together. The junior staff and the clerks all looked up to him, respecting and truly liking him more than any senior officer and for them he became the unofficial leader of JAG HQ. Admiral Cheggwidden may have the rank and the title, but the heart of JAG was still Harm to every member of the support staff.

They knew little of what was going on with him. It was known only that after having turned down the Agency's job offer, he became involved with politics, becoming one of the main players in the area of Maritime Law and it's application. There were also rumors that he was involved in high-level political and diplomatic decision making, though nothing was confirmed.

Since leaving JAG after returning from Paraguay, Harm hadn't returned to his old haunts.

But no-one dared mention his name with either Admiral Cheggwidden or Col. Mackenzie around in the fear of having their head bitten off, like it happened to Petty Officer Graham when he mentioned Harm, not knowing that the Colonel was in the hearing distance. He was quickly and quite firmly informed that since the Commander was no longer part of the staff his name was not to be mentioned again.

Because of the rift between the senior and the support staff, Jen started spending more time with other clerks.

So it was natural that only they noticed a change in her in late September.

TBC