The first taste of coffee in the morning. The newspaper on the kitchen aisle just waiting to be read. Mac dangled her feet from her seat on the barstool, and smiled when she heard movement from the bedroom. He was so not a morning person. She sipped her coffee again and reached for the newspaper. It was time to see what was going on in the world, what political disasters had occurred, what was going on in the war, what celebrity had a baby or taken an overdose and died. The world going even crazier perhaps.

It took another ten minutes before he tumbled out of bed and came to join her. She felt his arms encircle her waste as she was reading an article about four former drug addicts running a marathon for addiction awareness. At least the newspapers found something nice to write about among everything bad.

"Why are we up at 0800 on a Saturday?" he mumbled after kissing her good morning.

"It's 0809."

He offered an amused look as he took her mug and sipped her coffee. "I thought weekends were for sleeping in."

She gave up the article and turned her focus on him, knowing that this discussion could go on forever. "After sharing an apartment with me for eight months you should know that I don't sleep in."

"Marines need some down time too." He smiled cleverly as he put the mug down and pulled her close.

"Not this Marine." She relaxed into his arms, again having this overwhelming feeling of happiness due to the fact that they finally got it right.

"What are your plans for the day?"

She smiled and leaned back to look at him. "We could go out for breakfast. Drive out of town and go for a hike maybe?"

He nodded thoughtfully. "That sounds nice. Or we could drive out to Blacksburg and take Sarah up for a spin?"

She wrinkled her nose and shook her head.

"Come on, Mac. Where's your sense of adventure? We haven't been flying together since Paraguay," he said pleadingly.

"I rest my case," was her dry response as she moved out of his embrace and stood.

"I promise you it'll be fun. And we can stop by Mattie and make plans for when she's coming home. School will start in two weeks," he reminded her.

"I know." Mac hesitated. "Let's compromise. We go out for breakfast, drive out to Blacksburg, where we visit Mattie and go for a hike."

He watched her go to the bedroom, when she reached the upper step she turned to him, and he was again struck by how beautiful she was.

"Hey, maybe when we've done all that, maybe I'll let you take me up in that death trap you call an airplane."

His face cracked into a full-blown smile. "You will not regret this."

She opened the robe and turned as she let it slide off her shoulders and to the floor. "I'm taking a shower," she said and walked to the bathroom.

Harm had temporarily forgotten how to use his brain. How could she make such a simple maneuver look so unbelievably sexy? He decided that a shower would be an excellent idea.

Monday morning JAG Headquarters

Harm knew that when they got married one of them would have to change duty stations, they had been lucky when Admiral Chegwidden had let them both stay after they had gotten together. They had gotten together while he was out of the navy, after he had resigned his commission to travel to Paraguay to get Mac home. Harm had been surprised when the Admiral had welcomed him back to JAG even though he knew about their relationship. The Admiral had said that he expected them to behave professionally, and he also made it clear that since they were both senior attorneys with more responsibility, they wouldn't work as directly together anymore anyway.

Eventually they had set a date for their wedding and the Admiral had decided to keep Mac at JAG while reassigning Harm to another command, but kept him on TAD to JAG. He never really had to change duty station to the Pentagon, but he did spend a considerable amount of time there. Harm found the shared responsibility quite satisfying, this way he wouldn't just be a paper pusher at the Pentagon, but he actually got to investigate and try cases too.

"Harm, you're going to be late."

He looked up from his work and smiled. "No problem, I have the Marines covering my six."

Mac smiled. "What's keeping you so busy anyway?"

"I have to be at the Pentagon by 1200, and I'm just trying to do some research into the Saul Wainwright case that Professor approached me with." He stood. "We better get to the morning staff meeting and see what our thankfully temporary JAG has in store for us."

"You know, when the new JAG's appointed, you might not be here anymore at all," she reminded him. "Maybe none of us will."

He shrugged. "No problem, as long as I'm with you I'll serve wherever I'm needed." He walked up to her and put his hand on the small of her back in a short, but sweet gesture.

She smiled sweetly and they started walking towards the elevator. They were all excited to see who would be appointed. They had been lucky to get to serve for so long under Admiral Chegwidden, and they had been able to do a lot more than what was usual for a JAG lawyer, mostly because the Admiral had so much trust in his people. A new JAG could change things.

"Sir, ma'am," Bud said as he too slipped into the elevator.

"Busy Bud?"

"No more than usual," Bud said with a clever smile.

"How's Harriet doing?" Mac wondered.

Bud hesitated. "Well, ma'am, she's doing well, I on the other hand… This is my fifth pregnancy and I still find a way to put my foot in my mouth."

"Have you tried ice cream?" Harm suggested as the elevator doors opened.

"It'll make her fat, sir," Bud said and shrugged. "Or so she told me when I suggested it last night. That was when I told her she'd get fat anyway so it wouldn't matter."

"Ouch, Bud," Mac said as they walked into the conference room.

Harm laughed softly. "Talk about shooting yourself in the leg."

"And I only have one, sir," Bud said.

"Should we start?" Turner asked from his seat by the table.

They all sat down. "How is the bigamy case coming?" Turner wondered.

"We have a pretrial meeting this morning," Mac said.

Turner looked at Bud. "How many wives so far?"

"Four," Bud said.

"He's obviously guilty, so the case shouldn't take too long." Turner looked from Bud to Mac.

"The Warrant officer doesn't think he's done anything wrong," Bud said.

"The Navy doesn't agree with him. The case shouldn't take much time," Mac reassured their temporary commanding officer.

"What about you?" Turner turned to Harm.

"I only have one wife," Harm said with laughter. "But I do have a possible retrial brewing. I have to see where it goes after I've talked to Wainwright. I have a flight to Kansas tomorrow morning with Professor Montes."

"Alicia Montes?" Turner asked.

"Yeah," Harm confirmed.

"I sat in on a lecture she gave last year. She's quite a brilliant lawyer. And she really thinks this guy is innocent?" Turner wanted to know.

"She was approached by some of her students, they were investigating Wainwright's case and looking into similar murders in that area in the same period. They felt his claim had merit, so they brought it to the Professor and she approached me with it."

"Why you?"

"I play basketball with a colleague of hers and my name came up, I promised I'd look into it. It is my duty as a Judge Advocate, isn't it?" Harm wondered.

"It's no harm in looking into it, as long as it doesn't consume all your time," Turner warned.

"I can multitask," Harm said with confidence and leaned back in his chair.

"I'll remember you said that," Turner warned.

The meeting ended thirty minutes later and Turner left them in a hurry.

"The guy should ease up a little," Harm commented as he stood. "If this Wainwright is innocent, someone should make sure justice is served."

Mac gathered her files and stood. "Well, Professor Montes did find the right man for the job. But you do have a lot on your plate, Harm, are you sure you have time for this?"

"I'll make the time," he said and smiled. "Most likely there's nothing to spend time on, but at the very least I want to hear what Wainwright has to say."

"Well, I have a bigamist to interview," Mac said and turned to leave.

It was past 1900 when Mac heard the lock in the door open. She turned from her place by the kitchen aisle and smiled when he walked through the door.

Mac stood and gathered her dishes. "Mattie called to make sure we remembered that she's coming back tomorrow."

"It'll be nice to have her back." Harm headed for the bedroom to change out of his uniform. "What's for dinner?"

"Pasta," she said after putting her dishes away and following him to the bedroom. "I would have waited for you, but I was really hungry."

He finished removing his shirt, and hung it up. "Mattie will be back tomorrow."

Mac looked confused. "I know."

Harm pulled her in for a kiss. "That means more traffic in and out of the apartment, and no spontaneous newlywed sex whenever we want to." He put his hands on her behind and lifted her up. "God you're beautiful," he said and kissed her again. He lay her down on the bed and moved over her, moving his hands on the inside of her sweater.

Mac had to admit that their spontaneous moments had happened a lot more since Mattie had been with her father, and that she did enjoy them very much. They had only been a couple for a year, the turmoil after Paraguay had forced them to make some choices. Then in the middle of their new relationship, Harm had met Mattie and she had become his ward.

Mac had spent most of her nights in his apartment with him, and it was after a very heated love session that Harm had begged her to move in with him, because he hated when they had to be apart, and she had agreed without even thinking about it.

They had married two months ago, just after finding out about Mac's fertility issues. It had left doubt in Mac if she should marry him, because she might not be able to bare his children. Harm had been so scared to lose her, fighting so hard to make her understand that he only wanted her and that anything else they could deal with together. The wedding had been small and intimate, just the way they both had wanted it, just the two of them and their closest family and friends.

"You are so good at this," she mumbled as she was catching her breath after their union.

"I love you Sarah," he whispered against her mouth, and kissed her softly. "So much."

She smiled. "I love you too, Harm. And I love it when you're like this."

"What? Naked?" he teased as he looked into her eyes.

"Well, yes, that too," she said and laughed. "But I like when you're all mushy and soft and you say all these sweet things. I've had a lot of men tell me that I'm beautiful, but when you say it I really believe it."

"Well, you are beautiful." He cupped her face. "Sometimes you take my breath away, and sometimes I can't concentrate because you do something that makes you even more beautiful, and I think about you way too much, especially when I am at work. Like today when I was by my desk, and I looked up and you were walking across the bullpen, and I thought 'Wow!' that's my wife."

"Really?" Mac looked unsure. "Because you don't see the bullpen from your office."

"No, but I was using my old office, because my computer went all insane today," he offered a pout. "Here I am totally romantic, and you mess up the moment because of a technicality."

She laughed. "Sorry."

He let her go and lay down, pretending to be hurt. "That's what I get for being romantic."

This made her laugh even harder. "I'm sorry, honey, really." She moved over him and started kissing all over his face. "I love you."

Suddenly he grabbed her and moved them around so that he was on top. "You better love me," he said between kisses and giggles.