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The Most Magical Place

By:  slick

JAG-a-thon Challenge Fiction

Characters:  Harm, Sturgis and one JAG-a-thon character (don't write anything mean about them).

Items:  A laptop, a hotel receipt and a pair of Mickey Mouse ears

Rating:  GS (Guidance Suggested - Contains some situations unsuitable for children).

Summary:  Harm and Sturgis need some special intervention to repair their relationship.

Spoilers:  Through Season 10 is fair game, except for the last two episodes.

Disclaimers:  JAG does not belong to the author.  I only wish it did.

Author's Note:  I've never been to Disney World, so I'm pretty vague about the attractions.

Thursday Morning

JAG Headquarters

Harm and Sturgis stalked into the bullpen.

"If you were any kind of human, you'd ..." Harm began.

"... if you were any kind of lawyer, you'd ..." Sturgis interrupted

"Gentlemen!" General Cresswell stepped between Harm and Sturgis. "Last time I checked, you were officers.  Unless you want me to change that, I expect you to act that way."

Harm and Sturgis subsided, still glaring at each other.

"Come with me," the general ordered.  The two men followed him into his office, where he indicated they should take seats.

"Commanders, I'm ordering the two of you to take a long weekend and work out your problems, whatever they are.  I don't want to see either of you until Tuesday morning." He leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers.  "And that means work them out together."

"Sir, I don't think ..." Harm began.

"That was obvious from your performance in the bullpen," the general interrupted.  "Go through your cases and give them to the Colonel.  She'll hand them off to Vukovic and Roberts as appropriate."

Sturgis tried this time. "Sir, I don't understand what you're expecting this to accomplish."

"By all accounts, you two used to be friends.  Now, you can't even be trusted to be in the same courtroom.  You're disrupting the discipline here at JAG and I won't have that.  If you can't figure out how to at least be civil, then I will have no choice but to reassign both of you." The look on his face told them that if they were reassigned, their new duty stations would be very unpleasant indeed. "Do I make myself clear?"

Both men responded, "Yes, sir!"

"After you review your caseloads and meet with Colonel MacKenzie, you are free to leave for the day. Dismissed."

After they left the office, General Cresswell picked up the phone and called Bud Roberts. "I have a favor to ask you, or more to the point, of your wife ..."

Later That Morning

JAG Headquarters

Harm and Sturgis had finished their separate meetings with Mac and were preparing to leave when Harriet Sims walked into Harm's office.  "Commander Rabb?  Can I have a moment?"

Harm snapped his laptop shut. "Of course, Harriet."

She stepped outside his office. "Commander Turner, can you come in here, please?"  She shut the door after Sturgis came in, the two officers obviously uncomfortable in such close quarters.

"Sirs, General Cresswell asked for my help in making arrangements for a 'retreat' for you two." Harriet blushed.  She knew of the tension in the office between the former friends, even before General Cresswell had called upon her expertise from working on the USO tour last year in setting up travel arrangements for Sturgis and Harm.

She pulled out a folder. "I've arranged for you to fly to Orlando this afternoon and spend the weekend at Disney World." She handed each of them an itinerary. "You'll be staying at the Coronado Springs Resort, which is on the Disney property.  There are shuttle buses to all of the attractions, so you won't need a rental car."

"Disney World?" Sturgis questioned.

"Yes, sir.  You'll need to leave now to have enough time to pack and get to the airport.  The weather there is pretty warm, so pack shorts." With that, Harriet left them.

"Orlando it is, I guess," Harm commented.

Thursday Evening

Coronado Springs Resort

"May I take your bags, sir?" A bellhop asked Harm as he and Sturgis got out of the bus that had brought them to the hotel.

"Yes, please," Harm replied, "And his bags, too." He pointed to Sturgis.

They walked into the lobby of the hotel, which had the feel of a Spanish marketplace, with a large fountain in the center.

"I guess we should check in," Sturgis suggested.

"I guess." Harm was unenthusiastic.

"Hi, ma'am, we're checking in - last names are Turner and Rabb."  Sturgis handed over his ID and Harm followed suit.

"Yes, checking in tonight and departing on Monday?" the clerk asked.

"All right, I've got you staying in a two-bedroom suite in the Casitas."

"A suite?!" Harm exclaimed.

"Is there any way you can change that to two single rooms, ma'am?" Sturgis asked.

"We'd appreciate it greatly," Harm added with a smile.

"Of course," she replied and began typing on her terminal. "Oh. Oh, my."

"What's wrong?"  Harm wondered what was up.

"I'm sorry, sirs, but I'm not allowed to change your room.  The person who reserved and paid for the room left specific instructions."

"Damn it!" Sturgis muttered, to which Harm added his wholehearted agreement.

"The suite it is, I guess." Harm tried to put a positive face on it.  "At least she didn't make us share one room."

Friday Morning

Walt Disney World

"And on your right, you'll see ..." the bus driver's voice droned on.  The hotel where they were staying had a bus that took them to the park; however, it took the scenic route to get there.

Finally, they arrived at the destination for the day - the Magic Kingdom.

"Let's get this over with," Harm said.  Sturgis nodded.

They saw the crowd of Disney characters at the entrance.  They tried to avoid them, but were overtaken by a large furry blue creature, Harm wasn't sure who it was.

"Do you want a picture with Stitch?" a perky teenager in a Disney uniform asked.

"No.  Thank you." Sturgis walked on. "Let's head to Space Mountain, Harm."

They struggled to get past the scrum of oversized Disney characters to get to the line for the ride.

"I can't believe I'm in this hell," Harm said, his teeth gritted.

"Don't look at me," Sturgis replied curtly. "You're just as responsible as anyone else.  If you could have kept your emotions in check, we wouldn't be here."

"Emotions?" retorted Harm, his face reddening. "At least I have them!"

"I have them, too, Harm.  I just know how to control them, unlike some other people."

Harm rolled his eyes. "Here we go again.  You're the good student and I'm the class clown.  Get over yourself."  Their voices started getting louder and people started staring at them.

"You know, I'm tired of your crap.  Ever since the Admiral named me acting JAG, you have had a bug up your ass about me.  You second-guessed every decision I made, and heaven forbid you ever admit you were wrong about anything." By this point, Sturgis and Harm were inches apart from each other and screaming.

"Excuse me!" A distinctly Australian voice cut in. "You're about to ruin Disney World for a bunch of kids - do you really want to do that?"

Harm and Sturgis looked around and realized they were the center of attention.  Several families were standing nearby, their children open-mouthed at the display of Harm and Sturgis' anger.  A short woman was standing next to them, a disapproving look on her face.

"Since you're clearly not in the right frame of mind for going on rides, why don't you come with me?" She took Harm's right arm and Sturgis' left arm and led them to the Guest Services building. She spoke quietly with the man behind the counter, who smiled and gestured for them towards a closed door.

They went in, and found a room with chairs and a table.  They sat down and Harm asked, "Just exactly who are you?"

"Just call me TB," the woman replied. "I was here on my holidays with friends, but couldn't help noticing the spectacle you were making of yourselves.  But enough about me, what's going on with you two?"

"Apparently I have too much emotion for Sturgis' tastes," Harm spat out.

"And I'm the Tin Man, according to Harm, the loose cannon," Sturgis said.

TB rubbed her temples. "I can see this is going to take a while.  You're worse than my sons ever were.  If you can't work this out before lunch, well, we might have to stick you on the It's A Small World boat.  For the rest of the day."  She eyed both of them.  "Do you want to start over?"

Harm replied meekly, "I'm sorry."  Sturgis nodded in agreement.

So they talked and she listened - how they had been friends at the Academy years ago, then had met back up when Sturgis was assigned to JAG four years ago.

Sturgis talked bluntly about doubting his own abilities after being tried for dereliction of duty and then racial bias. And until the Admiral had made him acting JAG, he never fully regained confidence in those abilities.

In that same time, Harm left JAG, joined the CIA, and later returned to JAG - with no seeming effects on his career.  He was the golden child, everyone's hero, or at least it seemed that way to Sturgis.

As they reminisced about the early days, Harm realized how close they had been.  And how trivial his reasons for being angry at Sturgis really were.  And he hadn't made Sturgis' job as JAG any easier, continually testing his authority.

"So, I think we can safely say you both acted like babies," TB commented when they had wound down. She pointed at Sturgis. "You were mad at Harm because there never were consequences for his actions and errors in judgment." And then at Harm. "And you were jealous because the Admiral put him in authority over you.  Never mind that he was probably the best man for the job.  And for that, you ended a friendship?  Was it really worth it?"

Sturgis looked at Harm and he did likewise. "No."

"I miss hanging out with you," Harm added. "Just hanging out, playing ball, working on the car - things I don't do with anyone else."

Sturgis confessed, "I miss it, too."

"Well, you've got this weekend.  Make the most of it.  Just hang out, like old times," she suggested.

"I like that idea." Harm stood up. "How can we thank you, TB?"

"Just remember me to the Major General when you get back to DC."

"You know him?!" Sturgis was shocked.

She smiled and winked. "We go way back." TB held out a hand. "It was nice meeting you, and I hope you enjoy your weekend."

"Thanks so much." Sturgis shook her hand.  "I can understand how the general got you here to help, but how did you arrange this room?"

"Easy. I just told him you two were having a lovers' spat." And she left the room.

"Lovers ..." Harm's voice trailed off.

"I don't think we want to come back here for a while." Sturgis opened the door and they quickly left.

Tuesday Morning

JAG Headquarters

Harm and Sturgis walked into the bullpen together, laughing.

"Bud, here's some Mickey Mouse ears for your kids." Harm and Sturgis each handed Bud a bag. "We thought they'd get a kick out of them.  And here's a pair for you."  Harm dropped the ears on Bud's head, chuckling.

"Thank you, sirs.  I'll give them to the boys tonight." After they continued towards their offices, Bud did a double take at the two, actually speaking to each other.

Petty Officer Coates caught them before they entered their offices. "The general would like to see you, sirs."

"We'll be right there.  Oh, and Jennifer, here's the hotel receipt from this weekend." Harm handed her a folder.

Once inside the general's office, Harm and Sturgis sat down.

"I take it things went well?" he inquired.

"Yes, sir, Commander Turner and I had a good talk."

Sturgis continued, "We realized there are more important things than our egos, sir."

"That's good - so that means fewer fireworks here, I trust?"

"Yes, sir, I believe so." As the general dismissed, Harm had one more question. "And sir?"

"Yes?"

"Who is TB?"

A smile spread across the general's face.

The End.