Disclaimer: I do not own them…I'm borrowing them for my own amusement!

A/N: I've been messing around with my idea for a while now…let me know what you think of it…please!

Prologue:

"Hey," Harm opened the door of his apartment surprised to find Mac in the hallway. Actually it wasn't Mac, she hadn't been Mac for the last five months; she was Sarah Brumby.

"Can I come in?"

"Sure," he stepped aside and she walked in, "What's going on?"

"I'm going to Australia," she said abruptly.

"Now?" he watched her walk toward his kitchen area.

"In a few hours," she perched herself on the edge of one of the stools.

"Why?"

"Mic's mother is doing worse."

"Oh, I'm sorry," he knew that Mic had been in Australia for the past couple weeks, but he didn't realize how serious it was.

"Thanks," she played with her wedding ring, "I need to go be with him."

"How long?"

"As long as it takes."

"Will you be back?"

"Maybe."

"Maybe?" he looked at her in surprise, "Are you giving up on the Marines?"

"No!" she shot back defensively.

"If you stay in Australia…"

"Then I resign my commission," she broke in angrily, "It's changing my priorities, not giving up."

"Then ends are the same."

"Well, it's my decision," Mac looked down at her hands as she folded them in her lap.

"Is it?"

"What?" her head snapped up.

"Is it your decision or Mic's?"

"Both! We make our decisions together, and I resent your implication that we do not," she stood up, "I came here to tell you in person because you're my friend and I felt you deserved to hear it from me instead of the admiral, but maybe I was wrong."

"Mac, wait," he grabbed her arm, "I'm sorry."

"I know," she answered softly, "But I still have to go."

"When did it change?"

"What change?"

"Our friendship."

"It didn't, we did."

"No, you did," he corrected, "You got married."

"Eternity was too much for me."

"It wouldn't have been that."

"Right," she kissed him softly on his cheek, "Goodbye, Harm."

"Goodbye."

That was the last time Harm saw Mac. After Mic's mother died, she went into inactive duty and had what she needed from her apartment shipped to Australia. She e-mailed him often at first with stories of her new house on the beach and her new job as council for a hospital. When Bud stepped on the landmine there were actually phone calls, but other than that she just seemed to fade away from her old life in D.C. And one day, the e-mails just stopped coming.