Disclaimer: They belong to DPB, CBS and PARAMOUNT.
THE NAVY LIEUTENANT AND THE SPY
Meg and Clayton were different.
People who heard about their relationship didn't believe it. Meg was a person with a flaring temper, spunky and stubborn. Clayton seemed to be cold and distant.
They were like fire and ice.
They had their fair share of arguments like every other couple.
At the moment they were fighting about Meg having to attend one of his mothers bridge-parties. She hated bridge, she never understood why it was so important for a proper wife to know and play such a game. She was good at poker, for her this was enough.
"I am not going to do it."
"Why?"
"Because. . . Because. . . Clayton Webb you won't tell me what I have to do. I am grown up.
I am able to make my own decisions! I am neither a child nor your wife!"
"Not yet" he said.
"WHAT?"
"My wife. You aren't my wife, yet."
"But this still didn't mean that you or your mother can decide what I have to do."
Clayton was silent for a moment. Sure she had made a point. But on the other hand, when she married him, she married his name too. The Webbs were an ancient family in Virgina. Their name symbolized power, etiquette and good manners were provided.
"What do I have to do next? Learn knitting? The cross-stitch?" Meg added.
"That would be a good idea" he answered and ducked when Meg was throwing a vase his way.
"Damn you Clayton Webb! I won't be the good little wife your mother wants me to be" she said, turned on her heels and left the room.
Clayton Webb flinched as he heard the door slamming. Meg was pissed. He knew it. She had been mad before. But this time this was the worst by far.
Two hours later
Chesapeake Bay
Perhaps there had been a time when Meg had wanted to be a dutiful wife, like her mother or Misses Webb, but these days lay behind her. She had learned that love and marriage would end one day.
There was an old pain in her chest, one that she wished would leave her. Painful, humbled first pangs of love, buried deep inside. She was going to lose everyone she loved sooner or later. Meg had lost her father, her brother, Ollie and one day she would lose Clayton too.
Angrily she brushed some tears out of her eyes. She hated to cry, she hated to be weak.
Today had hurt. Clayton had hurt her but more important she had hurt herself. She knew that he tried hard to show her what love was like, that he tried to make her happy. Clayton didn't know about love. He knew ettiquette and manners, but not love.
And she - she knew that love hurt. To love someone meant that losing him would hurt, would cause pain more intense than she could bear. Maybe it would be for the better when she left him. After all they both would be better off without each other, they were always fighting and this couldn't be love.
She sighed.
"Care to share with the crowd?" a voice behind her asked her.
Surprised, Meg turned her head.
"Clay."
"I thought I'd find you here."
He sat down in the sand next to her. Taking her hand in his, staring at the ocean.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing."
"Meg, I am sorry for what I said earlier. I love the way you are. I don't want you to change. I fell in love with the spunky, hot-tempered woman you are. Don't change, not for me, not for my mother" he said.
Meg sighed again.
"It's always the same. We're fighting, me running away and you apologizing. Clay, it can't go on like this."
"I promise I will never ask you to do anything you don't like. I promise."
"Don't make a promise you can't keep" Meg reminded him.
"I haven't yet."
In the evening
Clayton Webb's Residence
Meg stood in front of the mirror. She looked good in her blue strapless dress. She was lost in thoughts. Later she would met the JAG staff, JAG, that was the place she once left without saying goodbye, now she would face them again.
One moment later two hands encircled her waist.
"Geez Clay, you scared me to death" she laughed.
"Meg you are the most beautiful woman in the world. You look stunning."
"It is only the dress. I am not beautiful."
"Believe me, you are beautiful", Clayton answered honestly, kissing her right shoulder, then her left shoulder and up to her neck.
"Clayton Webb stop it," Meg stepped out of his embrance.
2330 Zulu
Admiral AJ Chegwidden's Residence
The trip to Admiral Chegwidden's house was spent in silence. Something was wrong with Meg. Clayton knew that something was bothering her.
In front of the door both stopped for a moment.
"Meg, are you sure that you want to meet them? If you don't want to, we can still go to the opera or somewhere else," Clayton asked her.
"No, I want to meet them," she explained, smiling.
"Okay, sweetheart."
Harm opened the door.
"Meg Austin?"
"The one and only" she answered, forcing a smile.
"Come in. How have you been?" he asked, ignoring Clayton Webb.
Harm was surprised to see his old partner again. Three years ago she left without saying a word. No one knew where she went, what had happend to her and now she appeared out of the blue, in the company of Clayton Webb, spy extraordinary.
Later Harm had the possibilty to talk to Meg, alone, outside on the Admirals front porch.
"Webb and you a couple?" he asked in disbelief.
"Yes."
"Does he makes you happy? Does he love you?" Harm asked. She once was his partner and he still cared a lot for her.
"I am going to marry him" she answered.
"That's not the answer I want to hear."
Meg looked away.
"We love each other in our own way. Something you can't describe. You know, opposites attract."
"Yeah. But it's not easy to believe that he is capable of loving" Harm told her.
"I never believed that Commander non-commitment Rabb would be engaged and about to get married. But I guess taming you always was a job for a Marine. I hope that she makes you happy and that she isn't a replacement for Diane" Meg said.
"She isn't."
Clayton Webb walked out on the porch.
"Can I have my fiancé back?" he asked.
"Sure."
Harm left them alone.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Nothing. I am just a bit possesive when it comes to you" he told her.
"A bit?"
"Very."
Meg rose and took his hand in hers.
"I want to show you something" she said.
Half an hour later when Harm walked out on the front porch again Meg was giving Clayton an impromptu astronomy lesson. He had his chin resting on the top of her head; his arms encircled her waist while she pointed out different constellations.
Silently he retreated back in the house, not wanting to interrupt the couple.
Clayton Webb's residence
One week later
Meg and Clayton were having a heated argument again. But this time it seemed worse than before. Meg didn't throw things at him, for Clayton a sign that she took her anger out on him, not on something one could easily replace like a vase, a glass or a plate.
"I hate you Clayton Webb! I never loved you!"
"I always was your second choice, Rabb couldn't be your best friend, so I had to be your best friend. Rabb wasn't able to be your lover, so I had to be your lover" he said quietly.
"You are such a looser! Sometimes I ask myself why I returned your kiss! I never loved you."
Clayton looked surprised at his fiancé. She said mean things to him before but now it was too much. This time her words were hurting him deeply.
"Meg, I . . . you . . ." he stuttered.
"Now you are out of words! Go, call your mommy! Maybe she can help you! Talk with her about our problems!"
"She is taking our problems serious!"
"Oh yeah I forgot your mommy is superwoman!"
"Don't say things like that about my mother. I love my mother, I love both my parents! But you, you hate your father! You left everything behind because you couldn't cope with the fact that you are his daughter! The daughter of a man who never came home from Vietnam, who had been fighting for the CIA like my father. Newsflash Meg, my father hasn't returned either and I don't pity myself. I accepted this fact. Face it Meg, your father is dead!"
Meg walked towards Clayton and slapped him in the face hard.
"Don't mention my father again ever" turning on her heels, she stormed out of the house.
This had happened many times before. Fighting, running away and apologizing.
But this time Clayton couldn't apologize. Meg wasn't at her usual place at Chesapeake Bay. She didn't even return the next day or the day after.
She didn't return.
Clayton Webb tried to find her, he contacted her family, her friends, he looked everywhere but it seemed that Meg had vanished.
One night, he sat on his couch in his livingroom, a bottle of beer in his hand, two empty bottles on the coffee table in front of him, framed of two empty bottles, he had set up the picture of his Meg.
"I love you" Clayton said to the picture and took another sip of his beer.
He had lost the woman he loved more than life itself, the woman he loved with his heart and soul.
It was worthless to tell her that he loved her. He didn't know where to find her.
Yes he had made a mistake, more than once. He tried to change herself and her life. He wanted her to be like her mother. Her mother was perfect.
But that wasn't what he needed, nor what he wanted. Clayton Webb wanted a woman who was different than him, he wanted someone with flaring temper. He wanted Meg. He wanted her back.
Six months later
Naval Academy
Chapel
Everyone was gathered in the first five rows of the chapel. Today was Harm's and Mac's weddingday.
At first, nobody noticed the blonde woman cladded in a black trenchcoat in the last row.
She listened to the ceremony. It might have been her and her fiancé standing in front of the altar if she hadnt left him.
A single tear ran down her cheek as she watched her former colleague getting married.
When the weddingparty moved out of the church Clayton Webb noticed the woman sitting in the last row.
Clayton sat down next to her, he recognized Meg the second he saw her.
"Hello Meg" he simply said.
"It was a beautiful ceremony" she said.
"It could have been us."
"Yeah."
"Why are you here?"
"Harm's wedding" she answered.
"Where have you been?"
"Nowhere and everywhere"
"And now?"
Meg stood up and moved out of the row. Clayton was right behind her.
"I have just stopped by to say hello but I know when I am not welcome" she said.
"Its just" he started.
"What Clay?" she looked him directly in the eyes.
"Have you ever realized how it would be for me . . . Its just that I dont know what to think about you here. Where are you going, now?" he asked.
"I dont know, somewhere, nowhere" was her cryptic reply.
"Ok, spill it."
"Clay, there is nothing left to say. I can't continue our relationship like this. We were always fighting. I am sick of it. For me it is time to move on" she told him, without turning around and looking at him.
Clayton stood there in frustration, running his fingers through his hair. He ran a hand down his face, over his mouth, his eyes searching a spot on the wall for answers.
Deep in thought, he sucked his lower lip into his mouth.
"Do you know what I want? I want you. I love you Meg Austin and I want you to stay forever. I'm willing to do anything to show you that."
"You think life is that easy?" she asked and turned around to look at him.
"Maybe not this easy but love is all we need" he told her.
"No Clay. We cant go on like nothing had happened, it has been a long time. Six months can change everyone. We both have change for better or for worse. I am sorry I caused you so much pain. I guess it's better when I leave again. Goodbye Clay"
"I love you" he desperatly said.
They looked at each other in silence. Her shining blue eyes, the way he remembered them and that smile he fell in love with had disappeared.
Meg was the first one to break the eye contact.
"Do you mean it?"
"Yes" he answered.
"You are just saying it. You never meant anything when you talked about your feeling towards me. Clay, I don't love you, not anymore. I haven't for a while" she said without looking at him.
"You are lying" he stated.
"Who cares?"
"I do because I love you. Please Meg, rethink your decision."
She laughed. Clayton would never understand her. They were different, their love was never meant to be. Sure their relationship didn't lack passion but they had a problem with communication. They could never really talk without fighting in the end.
"You hurt me. Everytime you tried to change me. I can't be the woman you want me to be. I can love you but I can't be a carboncopy of your mother."
"Meg, I am sorry for hurting you this way" he said, moving towards her, he tried to close the physical distance between them.
"NO, you stay there" she said and held up her hand to stop him.
"Ok."
"It's time to talk" she said.
"Here?"
"Yes."
Both were silent for a moment.
"Let's take a walk" he suggested.
Meg nodded and followed him outside.
"Remember the first time we met?" Clayton asked.
"Yes" Meg smiled at the memory of their first encounter. That day he had learnt not to mess with an Austin. Meg's temper took the better of her and he ended up with another broken nose. She had invited him to a drink in her favourite bar and in the end this day had been the beginning of their relationship. Both their families hadn't approved. His mother disliked her. She wasn't the person Porter Webb wanted for her only child. But Meg had made him happy.
"Or the day at Chesapeake Bay?" he asked.
"Which one?"
"The day I asked to marry you?"
A million thoughts and memories were running through her head. Clayton had done something really romantic. He had surprised her with a picnic at her favourite beach. Later that specific evening he had gotten down on one knee, asking her the important question. Meg still remembered his words.
"My love, you are my anchor in my troubled life, your are my sunshine, my little piece of happiness. I love you with my heart and soul" Meg whispered the words he had once said to her.
"I have your trust and your friendship and you have my heart. You always have. I need you. Megan Austin,make me the happiest man on earth,do me the honor and become my wife" he finished for her.
"You still remember?" she asked.
"I never forgot it. It had been one of the most wonderful moments in my life. That very day you agreed to become my wife. I love you, I still do and I still want to marry you" he said.
Meg looked into his eyes. They spoke volumes.
He pulled her into a deep embrace. When he released her, he leaned down and kissed her for all she was worth. Not trifling little kisses, but deep ones, full of passion and desire.
"I love you" he whispered once again as he captured her mouth in a passionate kiss.
This kiss was long and loving, and it had shades of the future written all over it. A happy future, a future together.
THE END