Cutting it off at the pass
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I do not own JAG or any of it's characters. If I did, the characters in question would have had this discussion long ago, the ninth season would have been completely different and we would have an entire season where Harm and Mac were married while working in JAG as opposed to the series ending with them getting engaged.
Spoilers: Lawyers Guns and Money, Pas De Deux, A Tangled Webb Parts 1&2
(Fair Winds and Following Seas, if you count the part about getting engaged in the disclaimer)
Outside the Hotel Nuevo Simpatico
Ciudad Del Este, Paraguay
1900 hrs local
The cab carrying Clayton Webb and Gunny sped away leaving Harm and Mac standing in front of the hotel entrance.
Mac sighed, "Alone at last," unsure as to whether she should be happy or not about it.
Not unaware of the disdain in her tone, Harm replied, "Yeah, I thought they'd never leave."
'What's going on?' He wondered, although he had a pretty good idea. Since recovering from the crash in the rainforest, he done a rather poor of distinguishing himself. Ever since they had met up on the highway, he had done nothing, but hurl childish insults at her. And while she had had an equally childish insult for every one of his, he'd made no attempt to stop the sniping back and forth.
"He's a good man." Mac said, referring to Webb.
'Oh, great!' Harm thought as a wave of jealousy hit him, 'We're back to this. She's practically throwing herself at him. Almost as bad as when Brumby was around…Oops, bad thought Rabb.'
Harm's train of thought was interrupted when a second cab pulled up in front of them. He leaned down to open the back door.
"Heh, if you like that kind of guy I guess." The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.
Mac sighed, 'Are we really going to do this again?' She thought.
He stood up and turned to Mac, "Ready?" he asked.
She shook her head, "No…not, not quite yet."
Harm was surprised, he figured that the one thing she want to do most is leave this country behind. Seeing as she was shot at, captured and nearly tortured here.
"Mac, we're going to miss our flight."
"It's okay tomorrow's another day."
'What the hell is going on with her?' Harm thought.
He chuckled, hoping to make light of the situation, "Scarlet, get in the cab."
She smiled a rather unhappy smile, "I don't want to be rushed, I want to remember all of this."
It was true, she did. She had been facing death not too long ago. It had made her want to smell the roses, if only for a little while.
'Okay something, is definitely going on here.' Harm was beginning to worry.
"All of what?" he asked incredulously.
'He really doesn't get it.'
Mac shrugged slightly, "For a few weeks everything was…" She sighed, "larger than life."
"Oh yeah," he replied sarcastically, "The grass was greener, the sky was bluer. Your nto going to break into a song are you?"
'Argh! Was he always this cynical?'
Mac laughed in exasperation, "I never noticed this, but you have a way of just taking the joy out of everything."
"Well is your life that boring?"
'Did I just say that?' He thought, 'Stupid!'
That last remark had hurt.
'What the hell is his problem? Do I really need to spell it out? He's always like this. Honestly, how can we have a relationship of any kind, if all we do is throw insults back and forth?'
She paused, unsure of how to broach the subject. "No…no, but after everything that's happened I am grateful to be alive, and it's made me take a second look."
'Oh, boy, I don't think I can handle where this conversation is going. I was really hoping to talk about this when we got back to the States.' He thought.
'This is it.' She thought.
"Do you remember that chat that we were going to have about…us?" She asked, "Well there's just one problem."
'Uh oh.' echoed through Harm's mind.
"Only one?" Harm joked, for the first time noticing the sadness in his beautiful partner's eyes.
Mac looked at him, straight in the eye. "Things are never going to work out between us." She told him deadpan.
Harm was shocked, but he didn't let it show.
"Why not?" He asked honestly.
"Because we both want to be on top," She told him, "and that's physically and emotionally impossible."
With one last sad look she turned towards the waiting taxi.
'This is the way it has to be.' She thought.
Harm stood there, absolutely flabbergasted. He cursed himself for being such an idiot, he cursed Clayton Webb for taking Mac on the mission that led to this and he cursed the entire nation of Paraguay for every bad thing that had happened to him and his friends since entering this country. As Mac got closer to entering the cab, only one thought went through his mind.
'I'll be damned if I'm going to leave it at this.'
Acting on instinct, he took two long strides towards her and grabbed her arm, pulling her back. He reached forward and slammed the car door shut.
"We'll take the next one." He told the confused driver. As the cab sped away, Harm turned to face Mac, who was now staring at him with a mix of anger and confusion.
"We need to talk." He stated simply.
"I think it's all been said." She told him, her voice betraying thinly veiled anger.
"Well I don't. Now I'm going into the hotel for a drink that I think I desperately need and then I want to talk. So are you coming or not?"
Incensed, Mac stared at him and then defiantly folded her arms, turning her back to him.
'Fuck him. I'm not playing around any more."
Seeing this, Harm felt his own anger rising. He grabbed her by the shoulder and roughly pulled her around to face him. The look of anger on her face was momentarily replaced by shock.
"Look Mac, you don't just get to drop a bomb like that and then walk away." His voice was rising steadily.
Mac sighed, exasperated, "Why should I come in with you?"
"Because damn it, you just basically declared our friendship null and void; and I think I deserve a better explanation than some metaphor. You owe me that much."
For a while, Mac just stood there. Suddenly, something inside her forced her head to nod and she headed for the door.
To be continued…