Season Nine, Take Two.
All italics are actual show script.
HOTEL NUEVO SIMPATICO
CIUDAD DEL ESTE, PARAGUAY
Mac lays a towel on the side table and lifts the covers to get into bed.
"What would your new wife think?"
Harm chuckles as he winds his watch, "She's pretty broad minded."
"Okay, you're not really married," Mac smiles as she settles on her side to face Harm.
He tosses his watch on the night table and crosses his arms as he looks at her, "No, but I do now know what it means to make a commitment like that. I went through the ceremony."
"There's gotta be a story there."
"Hmm. No."
"Why'd you do it?"
"I did it to find you."
"That true?"
"Mostly."
"So, um... How do you like the married life?"
"Don't know yet. I had to postpone the honeymoon."
"But you got to kiss the bride?"
"Oh yeah."
They share a short laugh.
"You are just full of surprises."
"Well, right back at you, MacKenzie."
They lean in transfixed on each other.
Their lips collided lightly and a jolt of electricity surged through them. Harm rolled to his side, placing his hand gently on her face, savoring the feel and taste of her lips.
She pulled away slightly, "Harm, should we be doing this?"
"You're the one who pointed out, all those years ago in Sydney harbor that we weren't in Washington. I think the same applies. We're thousands of miles from home."
"And you said location doesn't change who we are. Harm, you and I are complicated, always have been. What happens when we get out of here? When we're back in Washington and have to work together, when all of the little hurdles come back into play?"
"Mac, don't worry about complications and hurdles. Just be here, now. We just survived terrorists, planes falling out of the sky, and driving through a dangerous, obstacle laden country. Everything else can be worked out as it comes."
He leaned in, recapturing her lips yet again in a slow, smoldering kiss. Giving in to the magnetic pull, she responded, returning the kiss and rolling to her back, drawing his body closer. Finally letting go, even if momentarily, the duo surrendered to all of the desires and feelings that had been building last eight years of their lives.
A rattle of the door knob brought them out of the light sleep they'd fallen into. Thanking all of the higher powers that they'd had the forethought to freshen up and replace their clothes after their ardent, though fairly short, bout of love making, Harm jumped up out of bed, drawing his side arm from the table beside the bed. Mac quickly threw back the covers, following him closely with her own weapon.
"Has your wife followed you down here?"
"Its your husband." Harm lowered his gun.
"Clay! Thank God." Mac rushed over to help lead him to a chair.
"How'd you find us?"
"I remembered I left a suitcase here."
"How'd you get a key?"
Mac eased him down into the arm chair, then moving to sit on the adjacent sofa.
"Doorman remembered me. He also remembered you, Sarah. He told me you were upstairs two-timing me with another man." Clay looked pointedly at Mac.
Covering the light blush and sharing a short look with Harm, she quipped, "That rat."
"Well, I told you to tip him a little better," Harm poured Clay a drink as Victor drew the curtains shut.
"Any word on Sadik, sir?" Victor sat down, peeling the banana he'd picked up on his way back from the window.
"Not yet. But we did take care of the Stinger missiles, though."
"Yeah, we got a lead- maybe," Mac shifted on the couch.
Clay leaned forward, "I need to know everything."
"Well, we live to be of service to you, Webb," Harm replied sarcastically as he handed Webb the glass of amber liquid.
Clay glanced up quickly, "What happened to your head, Rabb?"
"I keep bumping into brick walls."
Harm capped the bottle of alcohol, placing it back on the table. Internally chuckling at the banter between Harm and Clay, Mac smiled.
"Look, Hardy believes Sadik will try to contact his secretary-"
"Why?" Clay cut in abruptly.
"Information, a passport, ticket out of the country. She's the best shot we've got," Mac supplied.
"It's pretty thin." Webb replied.
"What would you suggest, Mr. Webb? Victor asked between bites of banana.
"Right now, I don't have a plan."
"Well, that's refreshingly modest, Clay," Harm responded, hands on hips.
Clayton drew in a deep breath, "The problem is, not a lot of people know anything about Sadik. Between the three of you, you've killed most of Sadik's most known associates. And he' like a chameleon; he can look Mediterranean, or Saudi, or South American. All we know for sure is that he's on the move. By the way, Rabb, what the hell are you doing in Paraguay?"
"He's honeymooning. Alone." Mac retorted.
"I came here looking for Mac," Harm inserted.
Harm began to look visibly uncomfortable with the change in subject.
"How'd you get the Admiral's permission?" Clay continued his interrogation.
Harm looked away, "I resigned my commission."
All eyes were suddenly on Harm. Mac looked at him incredulously, feeling deceived and slightly betrayed, "Are you insane? Why didn't you tell me?"
Harm shifted uncomfortably, grasping for words, "There- there was no time."
"Oh, well you, you found time to tell Webb," she attempted to make eye contact, though he tried his best to avoid it.
"Its not a big deal, Mac."
"Harm, this job is your life. Its all you've got."
He finally looked at her, incredulously. After everything that had transpired that evening between them, she was now insisting that all he had was his job? That work was his life? A look of sadness fell over his face.
"You did it for me?"
He gave her a small nod accompanied by a minute half smile.
Clayton ended the moment by cutting in, "Sarah, this is the same room we spent our honeymoon."
He stood up, unsteadily, as she responded quietly, "Yeah."
"As I recall, that bed was quite comfortable."
Clayton would have collapsed to the floor, had it not been for the group's quick reflexes. Harm and Victor half dragged him over to the now vacant bed, as Mac followed behind.
"We should try to get a doctor," Harm grunted, as they hefted Clay's dead weight up onto the bed, "Let's get his shoes off."
"You want to take off his pants?" Mac asked as she unfastened Clay's sandal.
"That's your job, Mrs. Webb," Harm shot back.
"Fine, we'll each take a leg." she rolled her eyes as she tossed the shoe aside.
"Gunny, see if you can get us another room, huh?" Harm requested.
"Gladly, sir."
"Then you can decide who you want to sleep with," he turned to Mac.
"Do me a favor, shut up."
Room arrangements were made quickly, Mac deciding to move with Harm to the new room. They silently unpacked a few necessities, and climbed reluctantly into bed. Laying mutely next to each other, though as close to their respective edges of the bed as possible, Mac stared at the ceiling, tapping her fingers. Harm closed his eyes, and settled in with a hand behind his head. Finally, she turned away from him, letting out a heavy breath and yanking the covers over.
"What is it?" he turned his head to look at her.
"Nothing!" she answered shortly, biting her lip.
He sat up slightly, shifting his body to fully face her, "Clearly, there is something on your mind."
"Oh, I have a lot to say."
"Well, spit it out."
"Okay, I have a question for you," she turned to face him again, "You resign your commission, and you travel 5000 miles to find me and damned near get killed. Well, riddle me this Flyboy, why?"
Looking her dead in the eyes, he responds with a shrug, "I think you know why."
"Do I? When you found me at the hacienda-"
"When I saved your life?" he interrupted.
"You weren't even glad to see me."
"I was kind of busy trying not to get us killed."
"You're not even glad to be here with me right now. In fact, you've been awful. So, is this really about Webb?"
"You know, I'll say this, I did a hell of a better job protecting you than Webb did."
"Where did that come from?"
"Well you and him seem awfully damned close."
"We've been through a lot together."
"Yeah, I noticed the tender goodbye at the hacienda."
She looked away, as the anger built. Anger at him for acting so belligerent, and anger at herself for finally feeling comfortable enough to let go earlier, only to have him turn on her as soon as Webb and Galindez showed up.
"And just how many times have you taken his pants off, anyway?"
"I hate it when you're like this."
"You hate everything that I do."
"You're jealous."
"I'm not jealous," he practically jumped up off the bed, heading over to the table where he left the bottle of liquor from the other room," Its your life, you do whatever you want, okay? I just didn't realize you had a thing for him."
"I don't have a thing for him."
"I have a thing for you, you idiot," she thought inwardly, "And, God, do I feel like an idiot for even thinking anything would change."
"Yeah, how'd you two get so close, then?" he began pouring, thinking it would take his mind off the complicated feelings building in his chest.
"It just happened."
"Like Stockholm Syndrome?"
"Yeah, maybe on my part. Turns out Clay has always had a thing for me."
"Well, he kept it pretty well hidden."
"Well, that's Clay," she continued the little game of goading him on, hoping he'd finally slip up and admit what he wanted, "You just never know what he's thinking."
"What were you thinking?"
"It was nice to have someone who..." she stopped, feeling anger well up.
"Someone who what?" he stepped closer.
"Who states his intention. Who's willing to follow through."
Scoffing, he turned to the window, clearly this talk was not going in the direction either of them wanted it to go.
"You can have him. I just hope to hell for his sake, he fares a little better than your other various husbands and boyfriends," he took a sip from his glass.
She looked down, dejected. So much for working through everything later. He'd gotten what he wanted, and now she would just be tossed to the side over something that was really nothing. Putting the glass down on the table, he looked at her over his shoulder. Immediately, he knew he went too far.
He shook his head, "I'm sorry."
"No, point taken. At least I actually managed to make it to the altar, not just in a sham wedding," her hurt feelings were finally beginning to spill out with her words, "How long have we known each other?"
"Eight years."
"Feels like a lot longer than that."
"Yeah, I guess so."
"And this is where we end up?"
"Mac, can we, uh, table this until some other time?"
"Yeah, sure. Sure, sounds like a great idea. But you know at some point, we're going to have to take this conversation up, because the way things are now, neither one of us can move on and neither one of us is getting any younger," she blew out a heavy breath, shaking her head, "Did I just say that out loud? Maybe I do need therapy."
She sighed again, then the phone rang, mercifully cutting the conversation off.
After returning from the scene of Maria Elena's murder, they climbed into bed for seemingly the millionth time that night. Mac fell asleep just about as soon as her head hit the pillow, Harm on the other hand, couldn't seem to turn his mind off. He lay there staring at the ceiling, replaying all of the nasty words volleyed back and forth between him and the woman beside him. Why couldn't anything go right with them? They shared a couple of incredible hours together, exploring, tasting, feeling... then Webb shows up and he falls into a pit of jealousy. She was right, he was jealous of Webb. Jealous of the uninterrupted time they had together, even though he knew it was time they were working and in tremendous danger. He was especially jealous of how easy it seemed for her to just assume the role of Clayton Webb's wife and... His thoughts were interrupted by Mac turning over in her sleep and molding her body to the side of his, resting her head on his chest, and sighing contentedly. Why couldn't it be this easy for them when they were both conscious?
Clayton Webb, Victor Galindez, Harmon Rabb, and Sarah MacKenzie were all gathered at the taxi stand, saying their goodbyes.
"So, what now, Gunny?"
"Mr. Webb and I need to report in at Asuncion before we fly back to the US."
"You ever think about coming back to JAG?"
Victor shakes his head smiling, "Not as long as there's men like Sadik on the loose. What about you?"
"I guess I just gotta hope the Admiral will have me back."
Mac steps forward to hug the Gunnery Sergeant, "I owe you my life, Gunny."
"I wouldn't be standing here if it weren't for you, Colonel."
She sighs and pulls Clayton aside, "I hope things work out, Clay."
"They always do."
She gives him a look and smiles as he steps away to the waiting cab. The red minivan starts up as the door closes and pulls away from the curb. Mac drapes her coat over her arm and gives a little wave at the departing vehicle, then Harm steps forward.
"Alone at last."
"Yeah, I thought they'd never leave."
"He's a good man."
"If you like that kind of guy," he said reticently as he opened the door to the next cab in line for her, "Ready?"
"No. Not- not quite yet."
"Mac, we're going to miss the flight."
"That's okay, tomorrow's another day."
He chuckles, "Scarlett, get in the cab."
"I don't want to be rushed. I want to remember all of this."
"All of what?"
"For a few weeks, everything was... bigger than life."
"Oh yeah, grass was greener, sky was bluer. You're not going to break into song, are you?"
She grinned and laughed, "I've never noticed this, but you have a way of just taking the joy out of everything."
"Was your life that boring?"
"No. No, but... After everything that's happened, I'm grateful to be alive and its made me take a second look. Do you remember that chat that we were going to have about us? There's one problem."
"Only one?"
"Things are never going to work out between us."
The light went out in his eyes, and he could physically feel his heart shattering, "Why not?"
"Because we both want to be on top and that's physically and emotionally impossible."
She turned to get into the taxi, and he stared silently for a few seconds before he was able to force out four words, "But I love you."
She turned to look sadly over her shoulder, a small smile playing on her lips, then turned again to climb into the cab.
