Title: Answered Prayers
Author: Catch
Disclaimer: I hardly own anything let alone these characters.
AN: I was watching Bruce Almighty and inspiration hit. This is the result.
Mac was in a funk. It seemed as if she'd been having the worst luck in every aspect of her life. The admiral had assigned her to defend a sailor charged with assault towards his wife and he was probably going to get off on a technicality though it was clear that he was guilty. She'd witnessed a car accident in which a young girl had lost the used of her legs. And these were just the major causes of her depressed demeanor. Her car had broken down twice in the past 10 days. Her laptop had crashed yesterday forcing her to completely rewrite a closing argument, and just this morning, her refrigerator had decided to quite working. All in all, she was just plain miserable. She usually kept to herself, hiding in her office until it was necessary to come out. Her smiles always seemed forced and no one had heard her laugh in weeks.
Improving Max's morale had been Harm's main objective since he began to notice her change in attitude. He had tried everything he could think of, some things twice, but her demeanor remained the same. It was killing him to know that he was unable to help the person that he cared about most.
And then it dawned on him. So maybe he couldn't help her. Maybe no one around her could. Maybe the only person who could help her was someone who was above them all. It was not someone he turned to often, but at this point he was desperate and needed all the help he could get. There was nothing he wouldn't try. He owed it to her.
"God," he began, "I don't do this very often, so forgive me if it's not perfect. I need your help. I don't know what to do with Mac, and it kills me that I can't help. I used to think that I should be the one who was making her happy, but I don't know if I can do that. Right now, I don't care who or what makes her happy as long as she smiles again. It's just that I love her so much that I would rather see her happy without me than not happy at all. I can't live without her laughter. Please God, just grant her the happiness she deserves."
Harm sighed deeply before burying he head in his hands. And then from the doorway, he heard a voice say, "I think God just answered your prayers, Flyboy."
His head shot up and he found Mac standing near the door, tears streaming down her face. "Mac! What are you doing here? How long have you been standing there?" he spat out.
"Long enough," she answered.
"So you mean you heard…" he started.
"Every word."
"Wow," he sighed, leaning back in his chair. "That was not exactly how I planned it to happen."
"How you planned what to happen, Harm?" Mac asked, knowing exactly what he was referring to, but wanting to gauge his willingness to talk about it.
Harm, on the other had, saw it not as a test, but as a second chance. Or maybe third or fourth. Here was an opportunity to tell her how he really felt without any pressure from the situation surrounding them. He had let too many of these opportunities pass him up before; he sure as hell wasn't going to let it happen again. Not this time.
Slowly, he got up from behind his desk and walked towards her. Wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close, he whispered in her ear, "How I planned to tell you I love you."
Mac burst into tears with Harm's words, but Harm knew that her tears where the first step in bringing back the true Mac. Harm pulled her even closer, muffling her sobs against his chest. Stroking her hair, he soothed, "Shh, it's alright, baby. Everything's going to be okay."
And the he heard the most heavenly sounds—a soft chuckle emanating from the woman he held in his arms. A huge grin spread across harm's face. He wasn't sure why she laughed, not did her really care. The important thing was that it happened.
Mac had stopped crying and began to pull herself away from Harm's embrace, but not before Harm could wipe the tears from her eyes with his thumb. "Are you going to tell me what I did to make you laugh, Ninjagirl, because I want to do it every chance I get," he said after the last tear was gone from her face.
"I never pictured the great Harmon Rabb to be one to use terms of endearment."
"Terms of endearment? What do you mean?"
"Just a minute ago. You called me baby. You didn't even realize you said it, did you?" Mac smiled.
Harm could feel himself blushing. He didn't realize he had said it. It just seemed like the natural thing to say at that moment.
Sensing his embarrassment, Mac reassured him by saying, "Hey, it's okay. I don't mind. In fact, I'm looking forward to hearing more things like that coming from you."
"You are?"
"I am."
"So that means…?"
"That means that tonight I'm going to take you up on that offer you made a few hours ago of pizza and a movie at your place. That means I won't have to spend an hour trying to find clothes that will grab your attention but don't seem overly provocative. That means I can snuggle up to you during the movie when I get cold without wondering if I've crossed the best friend line. That means I can fall asleep in your arms, and we won't have an awkward situation when I wake up. That means…I love you too."