TITLE: The Boy is Mine!
AUTHOR: VIDZ
SPOILERS: Adrift 2
DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc of the TV show JAG are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this fic. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
SUMMARY: I decided to release the rest of what I had left and had been working hard these last few days to finish the short fics. Sadly, there's not enough time to finish Let's Ride to fit the vision I had for it.
X-I-X-I-X-I-X-I-X-I-X-I-X-I-X-I-X-I-X-I-X-I-X-I-X- I-X-I-X-I-X-I-X-I-X-I-X-I-X-I-X-I-X-I-X-I-X-I-X-I- X-I-X-I-X-I-X-I-X-I-X-I-X-I-X-I-X-I-X-I-X-I-X-I-X- I-X-I-X-I-
Mac was sitting in the airport's hard plastic chair, still struggling to comprehend what had just happened. Mic had just left for home, after saying some very unsavory things to her.
Things she definitely didn't deserve. That bastard! Pushing all the responsibility on her!
It wasn't true! She was not to blame for any of this! It was his own fault he had moved his life
onto the other side of the world, it was his fault if he couldn't live with the fact that she would always need Harm close to keep an eye on him. It was of course Rabb's fault as well for playing games with her, stringing her along and deliberately irritating her with that annoying blond bimbo! What did he think she would do? Fall in his arms? Hell, no! It was HE who would have to make the first move, he would have to tell her exactly what she wanted to know. It was his fault that she had had to go to Mic, if he hadn't pushed her away on that ferry and told her no, she wouldn't have had to fall in bed with Mic the next night and gotten engaged to him! The last two years were all Rabb's fault! He would pay for ruining her wedding as well.
If he wanted her he would have to prove he was worthy of her, he would have to give up the most important things. And then she would decide whether he had repented enough.
Hearing a slight whisper of clothes broke Mac from her self-pity party and made her turn to her right, where her eyes fell on the slim form of a very familiar young woman. It took Mac about 15 seconds to realize who exactly she was looking at, fully aware of that woman's gaze not wavering from her.
Angry at Mic and at Harm, now having to deal with this little jet-flunky just sitting there and eyeballing her like an ox, Mac ignored whispers of warning in her mind about conduct to a fellow officer and snapped out.
"What are you looking at?"
"Nothing much." said the smaller woman calmly, but Mac didn't miss the subtle insult. Her blood boiled hotter and she gritted her teeth so hard her jaw hurt.
Still, the junior officer's insubordination had surprised her enough to rob her of her wits for a few seconds "Well, go do that somewhere else!"
"I can't. I'm here on a purpose." the other woman's calm tone was like the screeching of nails upon a blackboard.
"What do you want?" she demanded in the hopes of getting rid of her quickly.
"To talk to you."
"How did you find me?"
"Saw you outside of Harm's apartment, so I followed you."
"So talk and leave me alone." she glared, wondering too late to ask just what had the RIO been doing outside of Harm's place.
"That was your fiance, I gather?"
Mac refused to answer, just glared at the smaller woman.
"I'm guessing he's not coming back?"
"What's it to you?"
"Nothing. Just wanting to know that now that he left you, you won't go back to reeling Harm back in to then shove him away again." Skates replied, going from subtle to brutally open.
"I can't see how that affects you, it's none of your business."
The pitying look Skates sent her at that had Mac gritting her teeth again "Harm and I are good friends, that makes it my business. That's what friends do, they care about their friends."
Skates may or may not have meant it as critique and Mac may or may not have somewhere deep down realized it was deserved, but she still couldn't take it lying down.
"Who the hell do you think you are?! Coming here to criticize and insult me. I can have you up on charges so fast you won't even know what hit you!"
"Yeah, right." Skates rolled her eyes derisively "Where are your witnesses, counselor?"
Mac glared, knowing the younger woman was right.
"It would be a matter of she-said-she-said and from what I've read in the Navy Times, you haven't had such a good record of telling the truth under oath. But that's not what I'm here for. It may annoy me how you treat people in general and it's about time someone says it to your face, but I tracked you down for a reason."
"Pray tell what that reason might be. So you'll be gone just as quickly as you came."
"As I said, I'm interested only in the welfare of my best friend. And you throwing your hooks back into him is not conducive to his happiness."
"Who are you to judge what makes him happy? You're not a mind reader and you're not his keeper." snapped Mac, hating the way the other woman had her on the defensive.
"I've known Hammer for years now and we spent 6 months of that as close together as two people can without sleeping together. In any meaning of that phrase." she clarified to make sure Mac would have nothing to use against either Harm or her "Most of that time it was just us, alone in the cockpit. Unless we were in contact with flight control and even on the carrier when not on a mission we had nothing to do but talk and I got to know him pretty well. Even though he put up a pretty good show, I've always known something was wrong, that he was hurting. And the cause of that hurt was you. You had five years to make up your mind and make the man happy, but you didn't. I don't know if anyone else noticed, but I certainly saw how miserable you always make him."
"And how could you have noticed, little girl?" Mac bit back, but Beth wouldn't let Mac deter her from her goal with petty insults about her height.
Yet if Mac continued belittling and underestimating her because of her height, Skates had a good mind to challenge the tall woman to a round in the ring in the near future and show her just how little importance height had. It is the fight in the warrior that matters, not the size of them, something honey badgers that had fought off full-grown lions can well confirm.
"He's my closest friend and we're a team. We depend on each other for survival and trust each other implicitly. 'To hell and back' is not just a phrase with pilot-gibs teams, we live by that motto and are prepared to die with it at any moment. Tell me, Colonel, has he ever come back to life, has he said 'no' to Death when he was at it's door just because you asked him to? No? Well, he did it for me, just days ago."
She emphasised how recently it had been to make sure the other woman knew this was not a past condition, but very much present. Harm had come back for Skates, not for Mac.
That round went clearly to Skates, Mac was forced to admit. Yes, she knew she had Harm in her palm, but not how well and where the limits were. So, she fell back to what she believed was her ace in the hole.
"Harm trusts me more than he does you." she said triumphantly, but Skates looked unphased.
"Does he? Does he trust you not to hurt him? Has he, even after all these years, opened himself up to you completely with no regard for being hurt?"
Mac gritted her teeth. She was losing pretty badly and she knew it, if she could get the other woman finally say why she'd sought her out, the sooner she'd be gone. And then she would go to Harm so he could make her feel better about herself.
"You still haven't said why you're here."
Skates smiled like a shark, the change of topic and reasons for just that hadn't escaped her.
"I'm here to let you know you've run out of time. You had five years to make your move and make Harm happy, but you wasted them. As soon as Harm and Renee are over, I'm stepping in. I will help him heal and move on and I'll be there when he's again ready for a relationship. A real one, not just a waste of time, I'll give him everything you were never willing to. MY intention is to make him happy and among other things that also means to make him forget you. THAT's why I came here, I thought it fair to notify you."
"You're giving me an ultimatum?!" Mac shot to her feet glowering to tower over the impertinent interloper.
"No, I'm not." that confident calmness refused to leave Skates, no matter how much Mac tried to intimidate her, which just served to make Mac even more angry.
"Really? Cause it sure sounded that way..." Mac growled dangerously.
Skates' lips twisted in a sardonic smile "I'm not giving you an ultimatum because that would mean I'm giving you a last chance. Which is the opposite of what I am doing, namely telling you that you've run out of chances and I'm stepping in."
"You?" Mac looked her up and down, snorting inelegantly in derision.
"Yes, me. So, this time in plain English to avoid later claims of misunderstanding: Back off, the boy is mine!"
Mac startled at the forceful and proprietary tone with which the small woman had spoken just as much as the fire in her eyes, her hesitation giving Skates the chance to make her departure. Standing up she smoothed her skirt.
"I won't say "goodbye" because this is definitely not the last time we'll see each other. Being a firm part of Harm's life will make sure of that. Instead I say, until next time."
With a pleasant nod of her head Skates turned and confidently strode away, shoulders straight and head high, leaving Mac fuming after her. Skates' calm manner throughout their conversation and alike departure infuriated Mac as it just made apparent Skates had kept a masterful control not only of the confrontation, but also herself, both things Mac had failed.
The dark woman was not going to let any other woman have Harm. She may not want him, but that didn't mean she would allow another woman have him, let him get away from her control.
Grabbing her purse to go and claim her property she had no clue that after the fierce battle she would have to fight it was the diminutive Lieutenant who would come out as the victor.
Sarah MacKenzie had already lost and didn't even know it.
THE END