Name: Amazing Grace
Author Name: Danielle
Rating:PG
Spoliers: None, but uh ya might want to read Finding
Mom first.
Disclamer: No I don't own the JAG characters, or Faith
Hill, Tim McGraw or their children-Gracie, Maggie or
Audrey.  But if I did-Mic would be dead along with
Renee even before they got serious, Bud would have
never gotten his leg blown off, and Harm would have
"let go" on the ferry in Austrailia.
Summery: 2nd in series-read Finding Mom first. You
find out more about Riley and  there are plans made
for Riley and Mac's mom and Harm get's a little jolt
of reality-towards Mac.  

The McGraw Mansion
South of Nashville, Tennessee
2:00 PM EST

'The car ride home was a little nerve racking,' Riley
thought, the crying had stopped and the silence took
over.  'I guess it's hard to talk to someone that's
been your sister for 21 years and you just found out
about it.'  She thought, feeling the tears well up
again.  'I understand the hurt that she's going
through and all, but it's probably harder on her-WHAT
am I saying,' Anger filled her body, 'She knew the
woman for crying out loud,  I didn't even know her,
she was a stranger, she was my mother.  Hell, if she
would have been in  her life a little more, she might
have known about me earlier and we might could have
met under better circumstances!  Wait,' she thought
calming down, 'I don't know this woman's story, and I
sure not going to judge her, I know what that feels
like.'  
Faith and Gracie had prepared some tea for their
guests and got Riley some apple juice.  
"Thanks, this is probably going to hit the spot."
Sarah said weakly as she looked around the spacious
living room.  In the corner was a black grand piano,
an electric guitar, and acoustic guitar; along with
some sheet music.  Then Mac heard a faint crying noise
coming from the floor above her.  It sounded like a
baby, Riley jumped up and headed for the stairs.
"Honey, I'll get her," Faith argued, getting up to
stop her, "Sit down.."
"Please," Riley objected as she looked straight into
her mother's eyes, "please, let me get her."  Faith
reluctantly moved out of the way.  Riley raced up the
stairs.  
The youngest girl in the family was crying her eyes
out wanting something, and that's what Riley had to
figure out.  "Hey, sweetie." Riley cooed," Audrey,
what's wrong? Huh, come on let's get you changed."
Riley said feeling her diaper.

Downstairs Maggie and Gracie were so interested in
Harm's flight jacket.  "What's this stand for?" Gracie
asked pointing to Harm's golden wings.
"Those are Gold Wings, they show that I am qualified
to fly in the Navy."  He said smiling at her.  Gracie
giggled.
"What do you fly?" Maggie asked, trying to sound
sophisticated.  Harm is cute, Maggie thought.
"Well, I used to fly F-14 Tomcats-" 
"Used to?" Gracie inquired, cutting him off.  Harm
smiled.
"Yeah, I used to.  Until, I was diagnosed with night
blindness."
"What's night blindness?" Gracie asked very curios.
"It's were you can't see at night; right, Harm?"
Maggie answered, smiling at him.  She seemed to have
an attraction to him.  Harm got tongue  tied, and
looked like he could use some help.  
"Hey girls, which room is the baby in?" Mac asked
seeing Harm's eyes widen and say 'thank you.'
"Up the stairs, second door to the left."  Maggie
answered, never taking her eyes off Harm.
"Thanks, sweetie." Mac replied.

Riley was just finishing a lullaby to Audrey, as Mac
interred the doorway.  She looked so happy standing
there with the baby in her arms.  Mac wished that she
could be that happy with children of her own someday. 
"Hey," Mac said walking over to Riley and Audrey,"
She's so adorable.  Hey sweetie...." Mac said to the
baby, as Audrey grabbed her finger, "Can I hold her?"
Mac asked.
"Sure!" Riley said, handing the baby to Mac.  She
instantly started crying.  Mac tried to give her back
to Riley, but Riley said, "No, just sing to her." 
"Well, I don't know any lullabies." She said smiling
at Audrey. Mac looked up at Riley.
"Just sing a song you know!" Riley smiled sweetly.
"Ok, um, I don't know, Riley....I mean I wasn't
exactly, well, my parents weren't exactly role
models." she said sadly.
"Don't worry, you're doing a fine job, trust me."
Riley said, growing more curious about her childhood.
"Ok," Mac started and then she paused, "Is 'Amazing
Grace' ok?  I mean it's almost the only slow song I
know."
"It's not up to me, see how Audrey likes it." Riley
smiled at her new sister.  Mac hesitated.


"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a
wretch, like me," 

Mac crooned and Audrey started to sleep.  Riley joined
adding harmony.  Sarah sounds good, Riley thought.

"I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind but now
I see, how precious did that Grace appear the hour I
first believed.  ‘Twas grace that taught my heart to
fear and Grace my fears relieved."  By then, Audrey
was fast asleep. 

"Hey look, she's asleep." Riley realized.  They had
been so caught up in their lullaby, that Sarah hadn't
realized.  "You sounded good, really good.  Have you
ever had lessons?" Riley asked.  She really did sound
good, almost like she had three octaves.  Riley just
barely had five and that was with a lot of work. 
Sarah was a natural.
"Not really, I just listen to music, I guess I picked
it up."  She said blushing and putting Audrey in the
crib. 
"You know you're a natural."  She said motioning to
the door. "Let's go to my room, it's just across the
hall."  They walked into a very well decorated room. 
There was light blue, red, yellow, and green
horizontal stripes following around the room.  The bed
was a huge queen bed with no box springs and no frame.
 It was a royal red satin comforter and huge fluffy
pillows, it was a dream bed, Mac thought. There was a
sheer red fabric covering the wall behind it.  It came
from the ceiling and draped around the top two corners
of the bed.
"I LOVE your room!" Mac said looking around.  She
started laughing.
"You know, when mom split and left me with my dad when
I was thirteen, I always wished I would find foster
parents or that someone would adopt me. To give me a
nice, house a nice room, food and all. But it didn't
happen." She said sadly.
"What did happen?" Riley inquired, "I mean it might be
none of my business, but-"
"It's ok, I tell you, you seem like you've had it
rough, too."  She said smiling.  Mac proceeded to tell
Riley her story.  When she was finished, Riley had a
single tear rolling down her right cheek.  
"Wow, that's, that's.......Oh my God," Riley stammered
and then laughed at her loss of words, "Man, that's
sad," she looked at Sarah, she had a look of worry in
her eyes, "not your story, I mean, yeah it's sad," She
laughed again, and looked at the ceiling to find her
thoughts," OHHHH, that's even worse, I've never
stammered like that since, since law school." 
The woman that sat opposite of her on the bed, just
smiled.  She was so amazed that they had chosen the
same career, and that they had never known each other,
yet they were so much alike. Then it hit her.
"You're done with law school?" She said skeptical. 
This girl didn't look old enough to be finished with
law school.  She barely looked old enough to drink,
which was a good thing, she added.
"Yeah, I get that a lot." She said grabbing a bottle
of water from the dresser. Riley decided to explain
slowly, so didn't stutter. "Ok, let's see, where to
start?" 
"They say it best to start at the beginning." Sarah
said with a laugh.
"Well, that's were I shall start." She said in a
British accent. "I graduated from high school early." 
"How do you do that?" Mac asked.
"Trust me, I'll explain." She said smiling. "I took
classes over the summer and got all the credits I
needed to graduate. So I was pretty much ahead of my
time and it helped that I had skipped the third
grade." Riley said with a laugh. "I was fifteen when I
graduated."
"WOW!  How in hell did you manage that?" She asked,
dumbfounded.
"I was a multi-tasker.  All of my friends were sixteen
and in the middle of their sophomore-junior summer and
I was fifteen in the middle of my senior year.  I
wanted to get out of school SO bad and sing, I put my
mind to it and I did it.  Then, after I
graduated-early-my grandfather, or the man I thought
of as my grandfather, hired an agent for me and I got
a part in a movie call 'This Kiss' it wasn't a big
part at first, but the casting director, I guess, saw
something in me and gave me the lead. He took a really
big chance on me."  Mac tried to remember the movie.
She didn't have the try hard.
"Oh my God, that was you?"  She asked. That was one of
Chloe's favorite movies.  We watched it over and over.
 "You look so different now."
"Yeah, my hair was dyed really blonde and it was
straightened.  I didn't like it like that, but I had
to look like the woman that played my mom."
"And that was Faith Hill, right?" She nodded as Harm
knocked on the door.
"Am I interrupting anything?"  He asked.
"So you were finally able to get away from the little,
sweet six year old?"  Mac asked teasing him. He
smiled.  Riley stared, there was something very
familiar about that smile, she just couldn't put her
finger on it. "And yes, Harm you are interrupting
something, but it's ok." She looked at Riley. "Ok?" 
"Sure, c'mon in." She pointed to a rolling chair at
her computer. "Sit."  He did as he was told. "So you
got cornered by Gracie?" she asked, looking at him
with all seriousness. He wondered what she and Mac
were talking about. Then a look of amusement filled
her face.
"Oh, I thought you were serious." he said laughing. 
Which got them all snickering.
"That was the intention." She said and smiled a
brilliant smile at him. Mac looked at her when she
smiled and her face dropped, just slightly after
Harm's. That was way too freaky, Harm thought, it was
SO familiar. Then, the smiled, too, dropped off her
face. "Is there something in my teeth?" She asked
rubbing her pointer finger across her teeth.
"No, I just had a moment of deja vu..." Harm tried to
explain.
"Me, too." Sarah put in. 
"Ok, you two I won't smile ever again if it's that
creepy!"  She said smiling-again.  Which made the
three-some laugh.
"So what was I interupting?"  He asked. 
"Well flyboy, you were interupting Ms. umm...what's
your last name exactly?" She laughed.
"Hill-McGraw and most of the time I don't need one,
everyone in Nashville knows who I am and that I was
adopted by Tim and Faith."
"Then...you were interupting Ms. Hill-McGraw
explaining how she has already gotten her law degree,"
 Harm was astonished.  She didn't look over
twenty-much less old enough to be out of under-grad
school.
"You have your law degree and your a famous singer and
you've made  how many movies?"
"Three and they weren't a big deal-acting isn't what I
love-singing and dancing and well being in the
courtroom after cross and knowing that I made my case
and the defendant doesn't stand a chance, then giving
my closing argument to a jury of diversty and wining."
"Very well put counsler," Harm said.
"Yes, and she graduated when she was fifteen, made a
movie-that Chloe loves-before she turned sixteen and
has know holds her law degree along with a double gold
record."
"Very impressive Riley,"  He said, plopping down on a
fluffy red chair and relaxing. "You know you two are
doing remarkably well since your mother just died." 
"Thanks, Harm."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound that bad and
um-well-I-"
"Harm," Riley said, his head shot over to look at
her," Shut-up."

The McGraw Mansion
7:06 PM EST
The next day
"Thank you so much for letting us stay here and
serving us dinner,"  Sarah said getting up from the
table, along with everyone else.  This house had the
kind of feel that the family was normal, not stuck up
and hoite-toite like some mega-millionares.  They were
a nice family, with proper values, and a sense of
respect for other people-not as if they were higher up
than those less fortunate.
"Oh no problem," Faith said, clearing off the dishes
and wisping them away to the sink as Mac followed.
"Riley is lucky to have found someone that really is
related to her,"  She said, watching Riley and Tim
fool around with the kids through the open bar window.
"Is she really blood-kind to you, I mean to you
believe your mother?"  Mac hesistated to answer. "Oh,
I sorry I didn't mean to disgrace your mother-I know-"
"She disgraced herself,"  Sarah MacKenzie said
quietly, almost to herself-but the tall blonde haired
woman that cared for her affectionatly even though she
didn't know her heard the tall brown haired,
chocolate-brown eyed woman with a heavy heart and
great emotional baggage. 
"But no," she said a little louder and more cheerful,
"I was just thinking-the last time I spoke with her
was three or four years ago when my father died and
she didn't tell me about her then-I guess she thought
it would be to much for me to handle, not that it
would be,"  Sarah's eyes started to water. Faith
looked at her with questioning eyes.  Sarah sensed she
didn't understand, sometimes it was hard for her to
understand what her mother had done to her, "She left
me when I was thirteen, on my thirteenth birthday
actually.  My father, if he even deserves to be called
a father, was an alcholic and beat her almost daily," 
As Mac wondered where and why she had found the
stregnth to tell her past to two complete strangers,
tears started to roll down her cheeks and Faith's
motherly insticnit took over and she wiped them away.
"He never laid a hand on me, so I guess she thought
I'd be ok."
"That's no reason to leave your own child behing with
a druunken and dangrous man,"  Faith said, she hated
hearing stories like this and not being able to do
anything.
"Yeah I know,"  Sarah said quietly," But I wasn't ok,
he didn't abuse me physical, but emotionally-which," 
she added, "is just as bad.  He called he horrible
names. Which weren't true-most of the time.  One year
before I graduated from high school, my best friend
Eddie and I were drunk and we had a horrible car
accident, Eddie died," Sarah tried to hold back sobs
and tears but it didn't happen, "My father accused me
of being a drunk slut and a crack whore and it pushed
me more into alcohol and after a graduated I married
the first man that could take me away from my father. 
We got married, I was drunk and didn't have my head
straight on my shoudlers and left him after a month." 
That was alot to unload on someone-even someone as
strong as Faith.
"Now he's dead.  I was accused of murder and Harm
defended me."
"Your lucky to have him,"  Faith said, both of their
gazes we set on the scene in the living room.  The
girls were attacking the two defenseless men and they
were wining.
"I don't have him," She said with remorse, she could
have had him, ages ago, on the Admiral's porch, after
Mic left, or even after the JAGathon when they were
back at the beginning.  But no, she had fought it like
a complete idiot.  It was time to stop fighting
it-give in MacKenzie.
"You to seem like a couple,"  This made Mac smile-a
little-lots of their friends said that and now even a
stranger could see it-why not Harm?
"Yeah, our friends say that," She smiled even more and
her tears dried up.
"You said Harm defended you, is he a lawyer?" Faith
asked now drying the dishes.
"Yeah, a very good one at that.  Also the best F-14
pilot I ever met."
"He's in the Air Force?"
"No, the Navy.  He had night blindness and crashed his
tomcat on a storm tossed carrier and was removed from
flight status, but he still flys,"  She said once
again looking in Harm's direction with salty eyes.
"You said y'all are partners, soo.."
"We are, I'm a lawyer, too,"  Mac said looking back at
Faith, when Harm looked at her.  His stare was to
intense.
"Why'd you do that?"
"Do what?"  Mac asked.
"Look away?" Faith said cupping her chin.
"Look back at him,"  Faith said, turning Mac's head
back to the living room. Harm had looked away and now
he was running around with Maggie above his head. "He
feel you looking at him and he'll look at you-DON"T
look away!  Then instint will take over," She let go
of her chin and sure enough, Harm put Maggie down and
looked in the direction of the kitchen.
Mac's smile was beautiful, she look radiant.  Her eyes
were a little puffy.  Harm looked at her with his
ocean green eyes and started to stand up.  He wanted
to talk to her, he needed to talk to her.  
This was it, the moment she had wanted for so long. 
Harm was finally going to give in.  he he comes-
"Harm!"  The sweet little voice cooued.  He looked
down-Maggie. 'Man,' Harm thought, 'that was it-the
time.'
'Man!' Sarah thought, 'that was it-it was time for him
to give!'

Outside the McGraw mansion
4:30 PM EST
The next day

"So you guys are leaving, huh?"  Gracie asked Harm. 
He squatted so he was at eye level with the six-year
old.
"Yeah, but I'm sure I'll see you again, sweetie," she
jumped up and rapped around Harm's neck.
"I'll miss you," came Gracie's mumbled voice from
Harm's shoudler.
"I'll miss you, too.  And you Maggie,"  Harm said
extending his left arm for Maggie to give him a hug.
"Your mom's body being shipped back to Washington D.C.
and it should be there when you get there,"  Tim said.
"Y'all are going to Washington D.C.?"  
"Yeah..." Sarah said not understanding why Riley
didn't understand.
"I thought y'all were in Washington State," she said.
"No, JAG Headquartersis in D.C.," Sarah explained. 
Riley eyes went as wide as quarters.
"Oh, ok," She said smiling. "She ya at the funeral,"
She said, hugging her sister. "Bye, Harm."  And they
were off.  Gone, goodbyes were said, hugs exchanged
and tears fell.
"They work at JAG?"  Riley asked, walking back inside.
"Yeah, they're lawyers," Faith answered. "Why, honey?"
"That's were I'm transferring." Riley said, looking
back outside.


The End