Season 9

The characters are not mine and all that...

Chapter 1

The room was quiet and their breathing had returned to normal. It occurred to Mac that she felt better than she had in a long time, the stress had left her body and she felt relaxed for the first time since she had set foot in Paraguay. What had possessed them to do it? The stress of the situation? Was this the reason he had come after her maybe, to get the girl? He hadn't said anything since he kissed her nineteen minutes and thirty seconds ago, but their activities weren't meant to be done while having a conversation. What was he thinking? Why didn't he say anything? Mac felt the need to move her head, so that she could see his face, but she didn't feel brave enough. This wasn't the way she had imagined their first time to be like, not that she had really imagined them having sex, but she had always thought there would be a more romantic setting. She took a deep breath and released it slowly, before turning her head to the side. He was staring at the ceiling, his attitude relaxed, but it did look like he was dwelling on something. Should she talk first?

She cleared her voice. "So?" Was all she could say.

He didn't turn towards her, only continued to stare at the ceiling.

Mac gave him a minute. "Aren't you going to say something?"

Finally he turned his head in her direction; he was about to say something when they heard a key in the door lock. Both sprung into action, finding their clothes from the floor before grabbing their guns and rushing to the door.

"Did your wife follow you down here?" Mac asked with sarcasm.

"No, it's your husband." Harm answered in a snide tone.

Mac rushed over to give Clayton Webb a hug. "Clay, thank God you're okay."

Clay winced at her hug and she hurried to step away from him. "How did you get a key?"

"The doorman remembered me; he said you were here screwing another man." Clay slowly moved to the couch to sit down.

"That rat." Mac said as she helped him sit down.

They shared information until Clay started questioning Harm's presence.

"What are you doing here Rabb?"

"I came for Mac." Harm answered, glancing at Mac as he spoke.

Clay rolled his eyes. "Well off course you did, I wasn't expecting it to be for me. How did you get the Admiral's permission?" Clay questioned.

"I resigned my commission." Harm didn't have the nerve to face Mac as he said it.

Mac was surprised. "Are you insane? Why didn't you tell me?"

Harm shrugged his shoulders. "There wasn't any time."

"You found the time to tell Webb." Mac snapped.

"It's no big deal Mac." Harm tried to act like it didn't matter.

"No big deal! Harm, this job is your life, it's all you've got." Mac didn't buy his act.

Harm felt like someone just ripped his heart out and stamped on it. "I had to find you." He snapped. "I'm starting to think that was a mistake." He mumbled.

Mac was about to respond, but Clay rose from the couch and walked towards the bedroom. "This is where we spent our wedding night Sarah." He passed out and Mac and Harm grabbed him and led him to the bed.

"Must have been a nice wedding night." Harm commented as they helped Clay off with his clothes. "Maybe you should take his clothes off Mac, after all you have the experience."

Mac gave him an angry glare. "Go to hell Harm."

"I think I might have preferred to be there." Harm threw back."

A little while later

They arranged for an extra room and Mac left Webb in Gunny's care for the night. Why she wanted to stay with Harm, she didn't really understand. She would have preferred to be all alone with her thoughts, but decided that it wasn't all that safe to get a room by herself at the moment. Who knew where Sadik Fahd was or when he would show up.

Mac and Harm didn't say another word to each other, neither of them knew what to say. They went to bed and Mac turned her back to him. She couldn't sleep though, too much was going on in her head. She turned in bed and tried to get a larger part of the sheet.

"What's on your mind?" Harm asked without moving his body to help her get more of the sheet.

Mac gave up her hunt for the sheet and turned towards him. "Oh, I have a lot on my mind."

"Well, spit it out." Harm was very interested in her thoughts at the moment.

"You resign your commission and travel all this way to come find me, then you act like you aren't even glad to see me. You have been acting like a complete jackass since I first saw you at the Hacienda." Mac accused.

"Is there a question in there somewhere?" Harm knew he was throwing fuel on the fire, but frankly he didn't care.

"Why?" Mac sat up in bed and penetrated him with her eyes.

"I told you; I came here to find you." Harm got out of bed. "I was a little occupied with getting us out of there alive, or I might have stopped to give you a hug." The last part was added with irony.

"You aren't even glad to be here with me right now either, you've been awful." Mac ran a hand through her hair in frustration. She felt the urge to cry, but bit back the tears.

"You didn't think I was awful when you slept with me about an hour ago, in fact I'm pretty sure I remember you screaming my name." He barked.

Mac got out of bed and walked away from him, she sat down on the sofa in the other room.

Harm followed her. "But maybe my name isn't the only one you've been screaming in that bed?"

Mac felt like someone had just slapped her across the face, she felt a tear escape her eye and she hurried to wipe it away.

"Mac." Harm's voice was calmer now. He stepped closer to the sofa and touched her shoulder. "I'm s..."

Mac slapped his hand away from her and stood. "Just leave me alone Harm."

Harm followed her back to the bedroom again. "Can we talk about this?"

Mac shook her head. "No, not now."

Harm nodded. "You're right, let's table it until another time and let's get some sleep."

Mac threw a pillow at him and stripped one of the sheets off the bed. "You can use the sofa." She lay down on the bed and pulled the sheet over her before turning away from him.

Harm picked the pillow and sheet up from the floor and turned away from the bed. He walked over to the sofa and sat down. Running a hand over his head in frustration, he took a deep breath and released it slowly. "That didn't go so well." He mumbled to the empty room. "Not well at all."

The next day

They were standing outside the hotel, Mac and Webb had stepped away from Harm and Gunny and Harm was curious as to what they were talking about. He couldn't help but to feel jealous by the way Mac was around Webb, she was acting like a concerned wife. When she hugged him, Harm had to turn away. He couldn't help the sting of jealousy that he felt.

Eventually Webb and Gunny left in a cab and another cab drove up to them. Harm opened the door for Mac, but she didn't step into the car.

"Time to go home, Mac." Harm said.

Mac looked around. "I want to remember all this."

"All what?" Harm questioned.

"For a few weeks everything was larger than life..."

Harm cut her off. "The grass was greener, the sun was brighter. You're not going to break into a song are you?"

"You always take the joy out of everything." Mac accused. "I want to remember this because in a way it has changed the way I look at life. I'm glad to be alive and..." She hesitated.

"And?" Harm asked, eyebrows raised

"I just... I'm just happy to be alive." She finally said.

Harm nodded. "Okay then. Ready to go?"

Mac hesitated. "Tomorrow is another day, I really don't want to be rushed."

Harm chuckled. "You want to stay for a few days in this charming place? I can think of many better places for a vacation."

Mac nodded. "You're right and one of these days I'll take one of those vacations." She let out a slow, nervous breath. "You know that discussion you said we would table for another time?"

"Now isn't the time Mac." Harm warned.

Mac ignored him and continued. "We won't work Harm. You and I both want to be on top and that's not possible. I can't do this anymore, I just can't continue this dance."

Harm felt a chill down his back. "Mac..."

"Let's go home." Mac got into the cab before Harm could say anything more.

He decided to let the discussion wait until they were back in D.C, but there was no way he'd let Mac give up on them.