Title: A Journey of Separate Hearts

Author: Kat

Rating: PG – PG 13 (I post only the light version of this story here at FanFiction.net.)

Category: Romance Harm/Mac, Humor, Adventure

Summary: How everything can change by the help of a nice old woman. Maybe it's coincidence, but maybe it's all destiny.

Spoiler: Nothing special – but everything that build the relationship between Mac and Harm (especially their difficult relationship after Adrift II and the whole final shows in season eight – but I only deal with their relationship).

Disclaimer: I wish they would, but JAG and all characters especially our all favorites don't belong to me. They belong to Donald P. Bellisario, Belisarius Productions, CBS and Paramount. (If they were mine, the last year wouldn't be such a horror for all the shippers outside. gg)

Author's note: First of all I'd like to thank all the shipper fanfics writers outside, because of you I wrote my first fanfic – especially Pat, Kim and Sandra. Now it's my second one and there're so many talented authors out there and I'm glad your work encourages me to write my own. Thank you all!! Hope you'll like it. No matter if you like or dislike it, please tell me. That'll help me a lot. (I hope the best, of course!)

Part 1: A Journey of Separate Hearts – The Beginning

February 1st 2003, Saturday

1230 Zulu (07:30 hrs EST)

A park next to the apartment "The Washington 2812"

Georgetown, Washington D.C.

Lt. Colonel Sarah MacKenzie enjoyed running at this early time of day...especially on a Saturday morning. It was pretty cold this morning, so cold, that she could see her breath. She liked it – this cold air refreshed her mind. And she liked the silence; of course there weren't many people out yet.

Her mind went to last week. It was really hard, she had to finish the last case and she had to fight against her best friend in court. Her best friend …

'Harm.' Mac thought with a sad smile. 'Why is everything so complicated? Why can't you finally let go?'

February 1st 2003, Saturday

1230 Zulu (07:30 hrs EST)

The same park

Commander Harmon Rabb Jr. didn't know at all why he couldn't sleep last night. Against his usual habit, he woke up early and then he froze. Suddenly Harm felt a deep loneliness inside and it forced him to get out of bed. And now he jogged in a park not far away from Mac's apartment. He knew that very well, but he had to be here, even if this park was still too far away from Mac – his marine.

'Oh, damn. Mac isn't 'my' marine. Oh, how I wish she would be 'my' marine. Mine 'forever'.' Harm shook his head, as if this would rid him of his thoughts.

Neither of them expected to see the other at this very early hour. It was hard enough to deal with each other at work. Both were so involved in their own thoughts that neither Mac nor Harm were paying attention to where they were running or into whom they were running. Suddenly they crashed into each other, and because of Harm's height and weight, Mac was knocked down and fell on her back with Harm on top of her.

"Aaaah," was all Mac could say before she felt a big weight on her and as a result, she could hardly breath.

Harm was totally perplexed to find himself on the ground with a nice looking lady underneath him. It took him a few seconds until he finally recognized that this woman was Mac. He couldn't help but stare at her beautiful face next to his, which made him feel peaceful inside. As he heard Mac moaning in pain, he finally came to his senses. Quickly he moved himself off of Mac's body and knelt next to her. His right hand found its way underneath her neck to support her, while his left hand shifted her upper body into his lap.

"Mac…are you ok? What hurts? Please, Mac…Sarah, talk to me…come back to me!" He couldn't think straight. His thoughts were on a roller coaster ride. He didn't know exactly how badly he had hurt her and that drove him totally crazy. She didn't say a word for a few minutes and that scared him like hell. He softly stroked her cheeks with his left hand then ran it through her hair and then back to her face.

"Please, Marine, wake up…don't scare me like this. This is definitely 'not' funny!"

All Mac could see were nice shining stars and the world around her turning much too fast. Forced by a soft caressing touch on her face, she slowly came back to reality. The voice next to her ear became louder, but she only heard pieces like: "Mac…please…Sarah…come back to me…!"

Then she finally saw the face that belonged to the beautiful voice. She saw his dark, silky hair and his masculine face filled with concern and fear.

'Oh, whoever this is…it feels so right…he feels so right!' Mac thought to herself, and automatically, a soft smile played around her lips. Suddenly, she recognized who spoke to her and supported her.

"Harm! What happened … and what the hell are you doing here?"

Harm had seen the soft smile before Mac regained consciousness completely and it was the sweetest smile he'd ever seen on his marine – so peaceful and relaxed. He wondered what had caused such a smile on Mac's face.

'Maybe it's because of me…maybe she misses us being friends like we were before I went back to flying, before Mic replaced me…and not only replaced me as Sarah's friend. Mic got more than he was ever supposed to get – Sarah's heart. Maybe she misses 'me'? Ah damn it, Rabb. You screwed everything up, so forget about it… But maybe...'

Before Harm was able to finish his thoughts, he heard a soft groan of pain again and saw Mac trying to get to her feet. He helped her up and was by her side supporting her with one hand around her waist and the other one on her right forearm to steady her.

"What the hell are you trying to do here?" she asked him angrily and tore herself away from him.

"Maaaaac…I…I only want to help you. That was a really hard bump and me falling on you made it even worse. So I figured that you might need help…" he retorted while holding his hands up as a protection shield against her anger. Nevertheless, a soft nearly shy version of his popular flyboy grin played around his mouth.

His smile made her grow even angrier and she snapped back at him, "I do 'not' need any kind of 'help'! I'm a 'marine', Commander. I can stay on my feed 'alone' and I don't need support – at least not from you, mister!"

To emphasize her words, she straightened herself and started to walk away. But she didn't expect her legs to feel so weak. She felt a sudden dizziness, everything around was turning black and she would have fallen again if Harm hadn't been right by her side again to catch her.

"Don't be such a stubborn jarhead, Mac. Let me take you to the next bench to sit down for a while! I promise, I won't tell anybody about your weakness!" He tries to lighten up her mood, but the concern didn't leave his face.

"I am 'not' weak! I'm ok. I only need to walk slowly for a few minutes. Then I'll be fine!" she replied, still a little bit too harshly, although she recognized that his concern was real and he 'only' wanted to help her and make sure she was all right.

So they walked quietly for a few minutes side by side. Slowly Mac quickened her steps always followed by Harm until they were jogging in a relaxed manner next to each other, both enjoying the unexpected company but neither felt the need to talk.

They had jogged for a mile when they heard a loud scream…