Title: Harm Leaves JAG
Author: rooster dawn
Classification: Harm/Mac
Spoiler: fifth season
Summary: How does Harm deals with the impending marriage of Mac and Brumby.
Disclaimers: The characters of JAG are the property of Donald Bellisario and Bellisarius Production, Inc. Used without permission. No copyright infringement intended. May be reproduce if unchanged, author given full credit, and no financial transaction is involved.
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part 1
10 April 00
Harm's Apartment
Harm was sitting in his recliner trying to relax and sucking down a few beers. He and Mac had been back from Australia for four months now.
Because he had seen Mac kissing Brumby passionately after the Admiral had told him not to look back, Harm started distancing himself from Mac. He started by dating Renee more seriously.
He was hurt and felt betrayed by Mac when she came back with Brumby's ring on her right hand. How could she have his ring on her hand? A couple of days before she had wanted to start an imitative relationship with him.
He couldn't understand what had happen in those two days. He knew that Mac couldn't love Brumby. She never wanted to have anything to do with him. At least not until now that is. Now she was practically engage to him. Or so he thought.
What had upset him the most was, she hadn't given him the time he needed to think about how she felt, how he felt, and what he wanted to do about it. He needed more time to respond to her request of taking their relationship to an another level.
She had surprised him. He hadn't expected her to express her feelings for him in such a manner. He had been busy conducting a murder trial. All his focus had been on the trial.
He knew she must have been thinking about this for quite some time and was disappointed that he hadn't responded the way she had wanted him to. She never did anything like this on the spur of the moment.
She hadn't realized that he needed some time to think over what she wanted. But then again he hadn't expressed himself clearly either. He hadn't asked for more time. He had assumed she understood and would have waited.
Unfortunately as it turned out he had only that day to respond. And there wasn't anything he could do about it as an officer and gentleman as long as she wore Brumby's ring.
20 April 00
Mac's Apartment
Mac was relaxing on the couch. She was considering whether or not she should accept Mic's proposal. She was ready to settle down, get married, and start a family.
She wanted to do this with Harm, but he had grown more distant the last few months. She could hardly talk to him anymore. As far as she was concern he had his head up his six dating the blond bimbo Renee.
She knew he was doing this to spite her for wearing Mic's ring. She had hoped that wearing Mic's ring would serve as a wake up call to Harm, to let him know what she wanted and needed.
She wasn't going to wait around forever for him to want an adult loving relationship with her. She decided to give him another month to wake up and tell her how he felt about her before she would accept Mic's proposal.
After all Mic did love her and he was a good man. He would treat her right. He could give her the life she wanted if Harm didn't want to.
21 May 00
JAG Headquarters
Mic had returned to DC last month. He had reserved his commission in the Australian navy to pursue Mac more aggressively. He had taken a job as a civilian attorney in a Washington Law firm.
Mac was seeing him more often on a regular basic. She was getting more and more fond of him. Mic was treating her like a queen. Meanwhile Harm still hadn't made an effort to tell Mac how he really felt about her.
She had had enough. She told Mic she would marry him. They set a wedding date for 23 July. She asked Harm out to lunch so that she could tell him privately that she had accepted Mic's proposal.
They were getting married on 23 July and she hoped he would come to the wedding. Secretly she wanted him to tell her not to marry Mic. That he loved her and wanted to be with her.
But instead he said if that was what she wanted then he was happy for her and wished her all the luck in the world. He would always be her friend and be there for her.
She was very disappointed. She thought for sure that this would finally force him to respond, to tell her that he loved her. But such was not the case.
20 June 00
JAG Headquarters
A month later Harm went in to see the Admiral to request leave. He had two weeks accrued. He needed some time to think about what he was going to do next. The Admiral granted him leave.
The Admiral thought that Harm needed the time to deal with the announcement of Mac getting married in a month. That maybe he would get his head out of his six long enough to tell Mac not to marry Mic. That he would tell her that he loved her.
"Sir, request permission to take leave." asked Harm quietly.
"Permission granted Commander. May I ask why?" questioned the Admiral.
"Yes Sir, I need to take some time off to think about my future." replied Harm solemnly.
"Is the Colonel involved in your thoughts of the future Commander?" asked the Admiral curiously.
"I'm not sure Sir." replied Harm wondering why the Admiral was asking so many questions.
"Very well Commander, dismiss." replied the Admiral.
Later that day Harm handed the Admiral his resignation papers. He would be resigning his commission effective 5 July.
He had come to the realization that he didn't want to be just friends anymore with Mac. He wanted her as a man wanted a woman. If he couldn't have her then he didn't want to be here at Jag anymore.
"What is this Rabb? What's the story? I thought that you were going to take two weeks of leave to think about this?" bellowed the Admiral angrily.
"I'm sorry Sir, but I've come to the realization that it's time for me to move on. I'm tired of the travel. I'm tired of putting naval personnel on trial for making simple honest mistakes.
But most of all I'm sick and tired of dealing with the regulations that are designed to make life miserable. I've simply have had enough." replied Harm solemnly.
"What is this really about Rabb? Is it because the Colonel is marrying Brumby?" asked the Admiral.
"It is a big part of it, but it's not the main reason. The regulations say no fraternization. For someone of my military bearing it meant keeping my relationship with Mac on a strictly professional level.
I'm not supposed to have a normal man/woman relationship with her. All it did was force us into relationships the last four years that we really don't want to be in just so we will have a little love in our lives.
We end up settling for what we want with someone else. We could have been married and had a couple kids by now if it weren't for the regulations." responded Harm forcefully.
"We could have worked something out Commander. You two are my best team." offered the Admiral sincerely.
"That's the problem, you shouldn't have to Sir. I want to thank you for being my CO the last five years. It's been an honor to work for you Sir. Please don't say anything to anyone until after my official separation date." requested Harm.
"What about Mac? Aren't you going to stop her from making the biggest mistake of her life by marrying Brumby? Aren't you going to do something Commander?" asked the Admiral.
"No Sir. She's a big girl. It was her decision to get engaged and it was her decision to get married. She's made her bed, now she'll have to sleep in it." replied Harm bitterly.
"Don't you love her Harm? The love of a good woman like Mac doesn't come along every day. It may be a long time before you find someone like her again." stated the Admiral with passion.
"Yes, I love her, but I wasn't ready to start the type of relationship that she was looking for when she asked me. She surprised me when she did. I needed more time to think about what she wanted, but she didn't give me the time to do so before she took Brumby's ring." continued a bitter Harm.
"If that's the way you want it. We're going to miss having you around here Commander." replied the Admiral.
"Thank you Sir. I'm going to miss the people of JAG too." responded a dejected Harm.