Title : Christmas Comes But Once A Year…
(or, 'How wrong can a woman be'?)
Author : Jaggie 107
Disclaimer : JAG characters belong to DPB, CBS and Paramount. I hope all parties will allow me to have fun for a little while, and replace them all when I'm done. Thank you.
Rating : G to PG-13 (Just in case!)
Summary : Seeing as there was no JAG episode airing last week I took a look through the spoilers list again, and scrolled back to find (shock! horror!) the name of Alicia Montes mentioned! (How could they – it's the 'Christmas Eve' episode!!!)
I just had to do something with this revelation, and here it is – totally unrelated to the current series, and to cheer us (me) up in lieu of the next episode.
Christmas Comes But Once A Year… (or, 'How wrong can a woman be'?)
The Ballroom
Mac sauntered through the guests at the reception. Both she and Harm had been requested to attend, along with their commanding officer, Major General Cresswell, and all three were in full mess dress. As she paused in her mingling, Mac searched for – and found – Cresswell, talking to the SecNav. On the opposite side of the room she felt, rather than saw, Harm. At 6'4", he did stand out in a crowd, but for Mac it was more her extra sensory perception that located him for her. Harm didn't possess her visionary talents, but he had told her on numerous occasions that he 'always knew where she was'. As she remembered, Mac smiled, and then her smile turned down a little as she saw who Harm was talking to. Alicia Montes. Professor Alicia Montes. Mac took a sip of her tonic and lime to give her mind time to process the sight, and at that very moment Harm looked up and across the room at her. Mac nearly choked on the liquid in her mouth, and she managed to swallow quickly without making a fool of herself. Harm waited while she regained her poise, and then he smiled. It wasn't his patented 'I'm a fighter-pilot-stroke-lawyer' smile. It was his 'I know you're looking for me' smile that was for her alone. Mac returned the smile, checked for Cresswell, and then made her way across the room to Harm.
"…and so I thought I would give you a call." Alicia Montes finished her sentence, and then realized that the man she had been speaking to hadn't been listening. At least not to her. Rather, his attention had been across the room, but despite the height of her heels, Alicia was unable to find just who he had been looking at.
"Excuse me?" Harm returned his attention to the woman in front of him, although his senses were on alert for the woman making her way across the room to him.
"You really know how to make a girl feel foolish, Harm. I've been speaking for the last few moments. Where were you?" Alicia pouted, and Harm managed to hide his distaste at the gesture, and the words. Alicia Montes was no 'girl', nor was she capable of carrying off the petulant pout.
"Ah…obviously not where I should be." Harm managed to appear politely chastised, and Alicia smiled up at him.
"You're forgiven. I was just saying that I will give you a call and we can do something, together."
"Professor!" Mac appeared at Harm's side, a wide smile on her generous lips, but the smile didn't reach her eyes, and Alicia felt herself shiver at the sudden chill. "It's been a while since we saw you at JAG. How are you?"
"Very well, thank you, Colonel," Alicia answered, and looked to Harm for some response from him that would excuse the woman who had intruded on their conversation. There was no response. Alicia strove to find more conversation. "Please, drop the title, I'm here merely as a social guest this evening."
Mac answered Alicia's comment, and Harm moved a little closer to her as he heard the soft voice he knew so well. The voice that purred at him when they were alone could also cut glass in the courtroom, and Harm knew well the tone that brooked no nonsense. In fact, the tone that Mac was using right now. On Alicia Montes.
"That's very nice for you, but unfortunately for us, Harm and I, and the General, we are here on duty, and therefore we must excuse ourselves and return to our duties. It's been a pleasure to see you again, Professor…sorry, Alicia. If you ever need a lawyer, you know where to find us. So long."
"Well!" Alicia could only stand and fume as she watched the couple walk away. There had been no raised voices, no scene to speak of, but heads turned as Harm guided Mac through the guests and toward the General and the Secretary of the Navy, stopping a couple of times to talk to others in their path, leaving smiling faces and nodding heads in their wake. Those same heads gave Alicia a cursory look before returning to their own conversations. It had happened again. It always did. The handsome Naval Commander always arrived and left with the Marine Colonel at his side. Women homed in on him and he politely rebuffed them, and while some took rejection in good humor, others didn't. Alicia Montes didn't. And it showed.
Alicia decided that it wasn't going to end here. The reception was almost over, but the evening was still young. There was still time. Harm couldn't be on duty all night, she reasoned. Moving through the guests herself, she made her way to the doors of the ballroom before turning briefly to scan the room for the dark haired officer. As she watched them, Mac and Harm excused themselves from the group of people they had been talking to, and made their way to the doors of the ballroom. As they passed Alicia, unaware that she was there, she heard them talking to each other quietly.
"God, I'm glad that's over for another year! Time to go home, Commander."
"Absolutely, Colonel. After you," and Harm stood back as Mac preceded him out of the door and into the lobby of the hotel. No one saw the small intimate gesture of his hand at the small of her back as Mac passed him. Stepping out of the hotel doors, opened by the uniformed doorman, Harm gave Mac his arm for support as they descended the steps at the entrance to the hotel and walked to the limousine waiting at the kerb. As Harm handed Mac into the vehicle Alicia appeared at the top of the hotel steps.
"Harm, wait!" As she called out, Harm turned to watch Alicia walk slowly down the steps. Without the support of an escort she was left to negotiate the steps in high heels and low ballgown with great care, which slowed her down. Mac hid a smile behind her gloved hand at the incongruity of the woman still 'chasing' Harm. Didn't she know when to call it quits?
Alicia reached Harm and put her hand on his jacket in a possessive gesture, her words were lost however, as Cresswell leaned out to speak to Harm.
"Commander, when you're ready? I, for one, am hoping to call it a night."
"Aye, sir. My apologies. General Cresswell, this is Professor Montes. We dealt with the retrial recently."
"Ah, yes. If you'll excuse us, ma'am. It's been a long day for the three of us, and my officers deserve some rest before I put them back to the treadmill."
Harm glanced from Cresswell to Alicia, noted the surprised look on her face, and tipped his hand to the cover on his head.
"Gotta go!" he murmured, and stepped back to the limousine as Alicia nodded, still speechless. Harm knew instinctively that she had followed them out to either attempt to stop him leaving with Mac, or if she were too late, to find the pair of them together. Cresswell, in his own inimitable style, had put paid to her ideas.
As Alicia stood alone on the sidewalk Cresswell glanced at her through the rear window. Mac and Harm sat together, but decorously apart, on the rear seat, facing their commanding officer, who had an amused smile on his face.
"I take it Professor Montes had other ideas for the evening, Commander?"
"It…would appear so, sir. However, we have only dealt with one another on a professional basis."
"It must be an occupational hazard for you, Rabb, to be the essential 'tall, dark and handsome' of many women's dreams?"
Harm gaped at the words, and Mac grinned at Cresswell. Leaning over to tip Harm's mouth closed, she addressed the General.
"As with many men who are blessed with good looks and height, most are unaware of the effect that combination has on women. The Commander is no exception."
"You are a woman," pointed out Cresswell, unfazed. At that comment Harm re-entered the conversation and waited for Mac's response.
"Absolutely, sir. But I'm also a Marine."
"That you are, Colonel. That you are. Very well, Commander, if Professor Montes shows undue interest in your…er…business, feel free to point her in the direction of my office. I'm sure I can dissuade her from troubling you any further."
"Thank you, sir. I'll consider that a welcome option."
"Good. Now, we're in Georgetown, Colonel. Your home base, I believe."
"Yes, sir. Thank you for the invitation and the safe ride home."
"You're welcome, Colonel. Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas to you too, and goodnight, sir. Harm."
"Goodnight, Mac." Harm watched as the limousine driver opened the door and gave a hand to assist Mac out of the vehicle. Mac nodded at him, and walked away to the entrance of her apartment building. Cresswell settled back into his seat and waited for the limousine to move again. Harm avoided the urge to squirm with great self-will on his part. Cresswell was still an unknown quantity in JAG, and until he got the measure of the man, he was not going to give any insights of his own.
The limousine crossed town and headed for Union Station, and the interior remained quiet. Both occupants of the passenger compartment were keeping their thoughts to themselves. Until Cresswell spoke up.
"You and the Colonel don't celebrate Christmas, Rabb?"
"Sir?" Harm answered, not sure quite what Cresswell was after with his question.
"The Colonel wished me a Merry Christmas earlier, but she didn't say the same to you. Do you not celebrate Christmas, or do you have plans to meet up over the holiday?"
"We…er…are invited to the Roberts' house, sir."
"Really? Why is that?"
"They're our friends, sir. Their oldest child is our godson."
"Interesting. I'm beginning to learn more things about you two, and yet I feel I still know very little. Why is that, Commander?"
"I'm not sure what it is you're asking, sir."
"I'm asking – Harm – why you and Mac have such a convoluted relationship. Oh, don't worry…" Cresswell raised a hand as he smiled at Harm. "This is off the record. I'm curious about the relationship I find between the two of you. You work very well together. You both have less than exemplary incidents in your files, and yet you both have risen above adversity and bounced back to stellar status. Despite scuttlebutt, and the office betting pool, you both act with the utmost decorum in and out of the office, on duty and off, and I can find no fault with either of you. And yet I still know next to nothing about what makes you both tick. That's what irritates me, more than anything. Even more than Coates!"
Harm smiled and Cresswell saw the expression, which in turn caused him to laugh.
"Petty Officer Coates is something else, isn't she? I wonder how Chegwidden retained his sanity around her."
"Jen is very bright, and attentive, sir."
"Yes. Another one of the team that has risen above adversity. I find your little 'family' intriguing, and I'm jealous."
"Jealous, sir?" Harm was astounded.
"Yes, Harm. I'm jealous that you all fit together like a jigsaw puzzle; it takes some figuring out, but all the pieces do fit somehow. However, I don't fit into this puzzle."
"You could, sir. There is a piece missing." Harm addressed the retirement of AJ Chegwidden in the same terms as Cresswell was speaking, but the older man shook his head.
"Nah. Chegwidden fits into your puzzle all by himself. He may be gone from JAG, but he's still there in your family. No, I guess I'll just have to make up a puzzle all my own. It'll just take a little more time, that's all."
"Of course, sir."
The limousine slowed, and Cresswell dropped the interior panel between passengers and driver.
"I do believe you're home, Harm."
"Thank you, sir."
Harm shook hands and stepped out of the limousine, turning as Cresswell spoke once more.
"Commander, if you ever repeat anything of what I've said in here, I'll deny everything, and have your stripes. Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas, sir." Harm stood and watched as Cresswell pulled the door closed. As the limousine pulled away Harm turned and hailed a cab.
Somewhere in DC"Merry Christmas, Harm."
"Merry Christmas, Sarah."
"Do you think we fooled him?" Mac asked pensively. Harm shook his head, thinking back to the conversation in the limousine.
"Not for a second. He's quick off the mark. Even I didn't know there was an office pool going on the pair of us getting together!"
"There is?" Mac sat up in the bed and looked at Harm in shock. He raised a hand and brushed her fall of hair back behind her ear as he smiled up at her.
"Apparently so, along with scuttlebutt, but not to worry. The General isn't fazed by it."
"What else did you two talk about after I was dumped?" Mac asked, grinning as she saw Harm's eyebrow lift at the term 'dumped'.
"We didn't 'dump' you, Mac. The General simply gave you a ride home in his limousine."
"Well, he gave you a ride home too. Didn't you feel 'dumped', especially as that wasn't where you wanted to be?"
"In that case, yes, I felt 'dumped', but considering we travelled to the ball with the General, he felt it only courtesy to offer the two of us a ride home."
"We could have told him we'd take a cab."
"With you in that dress?" Harm looked astonished, and glanced over at the garment in question, draped over the back of a chair. "I don't think so."
"It is a beautiful dress, isn't it?" Mac agreed, wistfully.
"Made beautiful by the woman wearing it," Harm murmured to her, and Mac smiled down at him.
"You say the nicest things, Sailor."
Harm smiled up at Mac as he moved his arm to dislodge her and she fell forward onto his chest with a shriek, stifled by the simple fact that Harm had reached up to her lips at the same time as he had moved to dislodge her and bring her back down to him.
When they found time to breathe again, both spoke at the same time.
"I love you."
As their laughter turned to sounds of loving, they forgot about their commanding officer, their work, and the woman waiting in a car outside Harm's apartment.
Outside Harm's ApartmentHe was home; she'd seen the limousine. What she hadn't seen was Harm hailing the cab while she circled the block to find somewhere discreet to park. Alicia Montes had no idea that while she had seen Mac enter her apartment building, when the limousine had left and she had followed, Mac had simply turned around and hailed a cab herself, but not before she had spied Alicia Montes in her car.
As Mac settled down to sleep in Harm's embrace a knowing smile graced her features. Maybe she would tell Harm. Maybe not. Not! With that decision made, Mac slept.
Alicia Montes was woken later by a police officer knocking on her car window.
"Ma'am, you shouldn't be parked here. I'll have to ask you to move on."
Alicia nodded sleepily and checked her watch, and then the area outside Harm's apartment. His SUV was still parked up, and there were no other vehicles. Feeling somewhat foolish, Alicia started up her car and made her way home. There was some consolation, she believed, in knowing that while he hadn't spent the night with her, nor had he spent it with anyone else.
How wrong can a woman be?
The End!