A/N: lol, reposting this due to minor complications first time (I swear I uploaded this document, but I got something totally different. And I didn't even write it - HP, I think).

Intro

2132

McMurphy's Tavern

Mac's POV

I watched with an almost paralyzing fixation as the coin soared up into the air. I could practically feel the mood in the room shift. What had once been almost carelessly alight with happiness, it was now tense and laden with anxiety. There was an almost paleness to Harriet's usually rosy cheeks as I watched her head tilt upwards to the uncontrollable coin. I could hear the sound of the wheels turning in Bud's head as his mind flew a mile a minute. The General's face was nearly unreadable, and in that split life-changing second, I found myself wondering what was going through his mind. Which one of us he wanted to win. Harm or me.

Harm.

I could feel my heart beat faster. This was it, the end. The end to the playful office banter, the end to the dance or the song or whatever the heck we've called it over the years. We were ending it, right now, right here, this very second. Almost as if sensing the emotional whirlwind that had overtaken my body, Harm's hand seemed to magnetically travel to mine. He squeezed it – not hard, just reassuring. He was there for me, that's what it said. He was there for me whatever the outcome would be. And for that one millisecond – the whip-quick moment before the coin tumbled back to the ground – I was grinning like a maniac.

Whoosh.

The coin landed softly into Bud's outstretched palm, and he clamped it shut before anyone saw the outcome. His water blue eyes met with my chocolate brown ones. He was nervous, you could just tell. My mind flew back to the first year I met him, the raw beginning. I remembered his nervous pacing before exams, the almost light-headed blabbering that he would do to Harriet in their pre-marital days. But this was a different Bud, a wiser Bud. A Bud marked by the cruelty of war, branded by the wisdom of a husband/father, and it was he and his coin that would determine our fate today.

"Okay, guys, this is it . . ." Bud whispered shakily, and Harm – from beside me – flashed him a nervous smile. An encouraging smile. If I didn't know him so well, and it wasn't my hand that he was gripping abnormally hard, I might think he wasn't nervous. That he hadn't a care in the world which side the coin had landed, but I had always been able to read Harm extraordinarily well and I knew the truth. He was scared as hell, both of us were. I just didn't hide it nearly as well as he did.

"Three," I whispered strongly, my eyes connecting with Harm's and forming an instant bridge.

"Two," Harm responded with as much force as intention that I had.

"One," the people around us chorused and Bud released his other hand from the coin as if burned. I was drawn almost magnetically towards the coin, my eyelids shut closed in a sudden turn of fear. I was so mixed up, I was almost passive.

"Colonel," I heard Bud whispered and very slowly I opened my eyes, the world around me suddenly seeming a very rich color. Bud handed me the coin sort of shrugging his shoulders. "It was tails. The Captain won."

A low and deep silence suddenly drowned the room and I looked up to see six pairs of eyes staring at me intently, with an almost profound concern. It was kind of touching, if you thought about it. I looked up at Harm and realized that there was no flush of pleasure in his cheeks, no gleam of victory in his eyes. Only concern for me, and how I felt.

I cleared my throat, my voice seemingly stuck up at the top. I wrapped my arms around Harm's neck, and pulled myself up level to him (okay, I pulled him lower down to me) and grinned against his lips. "Congratulations."

And then the noise began. It was a half applause-half excited muttering mixture. I could just feel Harm's eyes on me, and I knew he was trying to read into me, but to be honest I had no clue what he would find. I didn't even know what I was feeling. I was numb, numb to emotion, numb to the world. All I kept thinking was I'm not a Marine, following by I'm going to London, and then finally I'M MARRYING HARM – the last point being a definite highlight.

Almost instantly after I released Harm from my embrace I was enveloped by Harriet. She squeezed me so hard I thought I would pop. "I knew you'd get together, I just knew it!" she was crying excitedly. She released, her bright blue eyes shining with an overwhelming amount of energy. "My god, Mac, you had me worried today!"

"Well, this was kind of unexpected," I said feelingly. Behind Harriet and I, the room was a jumble of chatter and other noises. "I mean . . . yeah," I trailed off nervously.

"So are you going to have the wedding in London?" Jen broke out from behind me. I turned around to see Harm staring at me intently, repeating Jen's question without words. Just his eyes. I shrugged my shoulders. He cocked his head. I rolled my eyes.

Harm grinned at me and then turned back to Jen. "Yes, we're having it in London."

From beside me Harriet squealed very femininely, my heart thumped rapidly. Alright, I thought almost desperately. At any moment I can regain the feeling of my hands.

"Okay, guys," Harm was speaking loudly over the din so we could all hear him. "It's been a long night – especially for Mac and I – and we have flights to catch tomorrow, so . . ." Harm sort of trailed off.

"We get the picture," Sturgis added to Harm before turning to the rest of the group. "Alright, everyone, clear out. Show's over, Harm and Mac are getting hitched."

"So elegantly put, Sturgis," I rolled my eyes.

"Well, what can I say?" Sturgis shrugged his shoulders defensively as he picked his jacket up off the bar stool. "When you've been carrying secrets so long, sometimes things just slip out not exactly the way you want them to sound."

"Alright, that's enough, Sturgis," I said through gritted teeth. I caught Harm's curious expression from behind me and mouthed 'I'll tell you later' to which I received a quick nod in response.

"Okay, I'll talk to you tomorrow," Harriet grinned, squeezing another hug out of me before she looped herself around Bud's shoulders and swept him out the door. Jen grinned sort of awkwardly at us, not quite sure what to do in the situation. Sturgis clapped Harm in a congratulatory way on the back, and the General shook both our hands. And then finally, we were alone.

Harm breathed slowly, his eyes fixed on mine. It took a split second for the flyboy smile to sweep his face. "Well, we're out of the eye of the public . . ." he whispered in a low voice. "Your place or mine?"

I just couldn't think. I stood there looking at the ground, this far off look capturing my eyes. An internal battle waged within me. On one hand, I was devastated to be leaving the Marine Corps, and on the other hand I was so ecstatic for Harm and I that I could barely speak.

"Hey," Harm whispered softly, touching his hand to my cheek. My eyes leapt up to his. "Are you okay with this? I mean, the decision didn't exactly go in your favor . . ."

"I'm fine," I avoided his eyes. Harm tilted my chin so our vision locked.

"Seriously, Mac, our lives just changed incomparably five minutes ago, you'd be inhuman if you didn't feel something," Harm said, sounding more like a proverb than he did himself. Slowly, he picked up my jacket and draped one side over my shoulders while he put on his jacket and we left the building.

"I . . . I know," I trailed slowly, as we walked along the sidewalk, close together for the warmth we really didn't need. "And I'm feeling a lot of things. I just don't know what they are yet. I'm kind of . . . numb," I stated bluntly, for lack of a better word.

Harm's eyes fell down to the ground. "Yeah, me too," he said after a while. "But I think I'm more excited then anything. Excited about everything. What's happened, what's happening, what's going to happen."

You could see the thrill in his eyes while he spoke too. The sky blue orbs that pierced the darkness around us were dancing with joy. I smiled and leaned on him as we walked, my head on his shoulder. "I'm excited too," I said finally. "I'm just more scared than anything, I think."

Harm stopped walking. "You're not . . . reconsidering, are you?"

"Oh, no," I said quickly. "God, no, Harm. I want to marry you. Honestly, I want that more than anything. I just didn't think all this would be so . . . complicated. I mean, I know if things were simple, this would have happened a long time ago. You and me. So I shouldn't be surprised, I'm NOT surprised, it's just . . . oh, I don't know. I'm babbling."

"If you feel better, it's worth it," Harm offered. He smiled at me, "Honestly, Mac, are you alright?"

I took a long breath of thought, my head leaving his shoulder so I could look at him properly. "No," I said slowly, and them smiled reassuringly at him. "But I will be."

Harm grinned at me, his arm relaxed to my shoulder. "Wow, this happened fast. I can't believe it did. I mean, we took so long just to . . . you know, get a move on. And then this." He stretched the last word to enormous magnitude.

"Hey," I grinned cheekily, "are YOU reconsidering?"

"No, no, no, no," Harm sped through quickly. His eyes flipped up to meet mine. "From this day to my death bed I will never reconsider this."

I exhaled lengthily and slowly, the weight of this moment falling heavily upon my shoulders. "The rest of our lives," I whispered almost incredulously.

"That's right," Harm repeated slowly and grinning. "The rest of our lives."

TBC . . .

A/N: Please review. Reviews are inspiring (in other words, they inspire quicker writing)