Lifeline Rewrite
By Annmareeca
Standard disclaimer
Admirals Porch
Mic and Mac's Engagement Party
Harm and Mac had been outside on the porch talking for most of the night and after their heated kiss was exchanged they turned to the house and looked in the window and found the curtains open and the Admiral, Mic and Renee standing in front of the other guests all staring at them wide eyed and for Harm and Mac it felt like time stood still. The first person to make a move was the Admiral who moved to open the door, with the door open the Admiral said
" I think the parties over everyone with the exception of Rabb, Mackenize, Bugme and Renee who all have some unfinished business everyone else is leaving now goodnight and sorry for the abrupt ending to the evening"
"I thank you for coming to celebrate with us this evening" announced Mac
"Me too" Mic chimed in
After everyone had gathered their belongings and flied out of the Admirals home and left in an oddly quiet manner
The first thing that was said was from the Admiral to Harm
"Rabb what the bloody hell were you thinking kissing the colonel let alone while shes still engaged to Bugme!"
Harm is trying to think of a reasonable answer for a very pissed off Admiral, very curious Mac and very very annoyed Mic and a annoyed Renee
"Damit Rabb answer me" "why the bloody hell did you kiss the colonel" said the Admiral
Harm just shrugs
The Admiral speaks again this time not in SEAL mode but in lawyer mode "I order you to tell us the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, Commander Rabb"
"Yes sir the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth is that I am terribly hopelessly in love with Colonel Mackenzie and have been since we meet in the rose garden and was in some way trying to make Mac see the side of Bugme we do by asking questions I had no right to and I'm so very sorry for asking"
The last part was said while looking at Mac and she nodded
Next Renee who had been quiet since the others had departed then stood and said to Harm
"Goodbye and goodluck if you're in love with Mac theres no need for me to stick around" she then said to the rest of the room " I hope you all have happy lives"
Mac nodded and Bugme nodded and smiled then Renee turned and thanked the Admiral and kissed Harms cheek
Mic then stood and said "come on Sarah luv lets go home I'm willing to forgive you for being unfaithful to me and sleeping with Rabb as long as it never happens again"
The Admiral then said "I want this talked out tonight right here in this room and yes Rabb and Mackenzie that means I'm ordering you to talk your feelings out I will be here to mediate and Rabb and Mackenzie you will not be charged with an Article 134 and Bugme you interfere in their talk or are no longer engaged to the Colonel at the end of this conversation and you will be deported back down under ASAP"
"Oh and Colonel I believe you should start this talk since their 'fighting over you'" the Admiral added as an afterthought
Mac started with "I have one thing to say to you both what you do with the information is yours" they both nodded
"First Mic I have been faithful to you until tonight and we only kissed once correct Harm"
Harm nodded
"Mic do you have anything to say to that"
"It might just be one kiss but you were still unfaithful then and with your mind and I don't know if a can forgive you for that"
"Sorry Harm that the thing I was going to tell you I'm going to say now to Mic as well is that you don't have to forgive me because I don't love you Mic and I'm calling off the wedding and I love you too Harm" and as Mac said the last part she looked into Harm amazing azure blue eyes and then kissed him.
The Admiral then muttered loudly under his breathe "its about bloody time"
Mic went to say something else but the Admiral beat him to it and said "Bugme you better go back to Mac's apartment and pack because without a 'spouse' in the U.S of A you will be deported back down under ASAP".
Mic looked at Mac for help and she pointed to the door and said "I will not be home until tomorrow night I expect you and your belongings to be gone and all my stuff put back where it was before you moved as if your presence in my life never happened now get out of our lives!"
Then Mic left
The Admiral then said "colonel you're welcome to stay here tonight and tomorrow if you like"
She nodded and moved to give her CO a non-military regulation hug and thank him helping her change her life for the better.
She then turned to Harm and said "I would like to have a relationship with you but I need time to clean my mind and comprehend what just happened here"
Harm responded "I love you Mac and I will wait for you as long as you need and you know where to find me and in the meantime I hope we can still do all the things we did as friends like just hanging out".
"Harm your being too good to me and I will forever be grateful for that"
"Its okay call me if you want to hangout, goodnight Mac" Harm then kissed her cheek"
Harm turned to leave and then as an afterthought turned to thank his CO for a wonderful evening and also thanked him for not court martialing them and for letting Mac stay and bid him goodnight.
Mac then turned to the Admiral and said "Since it was my party and I sort of ruined it and you're letting me stay at least let me help you clean up"
"I think thats fair Mac if you want to talk you know Harm will listen and I hope you know the same goes for me"
"Oh and I'm sorry it didn't work out the way you planned"
"Admiral don't be sorry I'm not now after this a have a shot at real pure happiness with the man of my dreams"
"Don't let JAG get in the way the SECNAV and I have already worked out a way to let both of you still be partners and at HQ"
"Thanks and we won't now we know that"
And they continued to talk about anything and everything
Three hours later
Admirals Home
"Thats it theres nothing else to clean up Mac after three hours were finally finished"
"Sir do you mean to tell me that we have been cleaning and talking for three hours no wonder I'm feeling a little tired"
"Colonel is your internal clock out of order because if thats the case I'm going to tape a sign to back saying 'clock broken' and if you drop the Sirs and Ranks will I Colonel"
"First of all I will leave the ranks at the door and my internal clock is not 'broken' but it is a little haywire after this evenings events afterall I went from being with Mic to being with the love of my life when I'm ready"
"Mac if you're tired let me have your keys and I will go get your seabag from the car"
Mac went to her purse and handed him her keys
When he returned he showed Mac to her room and said good night. Mac went into her room placed her seabag inside and stuck her into the hall and said
"AJ how did you know that I had a seabag in the car?"
"Remember that first case you and Rabb went on involving Colonel O'Hara?"
"Yes"
"Well you told Rabb Marines always prepared and have a packed bag in the car and after six years I didn't think it would have changed much you still have the same Semper Fi attitude you had then except now you drive a cherry red corvette instead of some old ratty jeep"
"Ohh so you were listening that closely to everything we said even back then"
"No I was just surprised that someone so organised a) admitted to being that organised, b) how you were going to deal with Rabb and his semi-sloppy state and c) you were very confident in everything you did even how you stood and spoke to Rabb and it made me listen and watch you a little more to see if I could keep you and Rabb partnered together and you not leave because of his 'flyboy ego'"
"Its in my marine green blood to be like that and thanks for listening even back then, I was just a little surprised that you knew I had a seabag in the car.
"What can I say I like looking out for my officers thats why you're here tonight not at home dealing with Bugme"
"Thanks for having me here" Mac said as she gave AJ another non-regulation hug
"You're more than welcome to stay until Bugmes gone now you're tired go to bed"
"Goodnight AJ"
"Night Mac" said AJ as he turned to go to his own room for the night
The next morning Admirals Home
When the Admiral awoke he remembered that he had a house guest and he decided to make the Major a breakfast of triple chocolate muffins.
Mac awoke to the smell of baking more amazingly the smell of chocolate. Mac then decided to have a shower, get dressed and go downstairs to see what the Admiral was making.
When Mac arrived down stairs she walked to the kitchen to find the Admiral sitting at the kitchen island reading the newspaper with a rack of cooling chocolate muffins beside him.
"Morning Sir" said Mac.
"Morni Mac for the love of god check the rank a the door and call me AJ!"
"Yes Sir-AJ"
"Thats a little better but calling me sir is still part of ranks"
"Sorry AJ I'll try not to do it again"
"Thank you Mac"
"Anyway AJ what did you make?"
"Triple chocolate muffins I thought after last night you can use the comfort food"
"I think you're very much correct about needing comfort"
"Yeah last night must have been very draining for you"
"I'll bet on it"
"Help yourself to the muffins and anything else you know where everything is from social gatherings"
"Yes I do thanks AJ"
After about five minutes silence
AJ asked Mac "Do you have any plans for today?"
"Not really I want to call home and check if Mics left yet and I want to call Harm and make either lunch or dinner plans"
"How about you AJ?"
"Nothing to be honest help you out in anyway possible and thats it"
Just as the conversation ended they both finished breakfast and Mac went to was about to wash her dishes AJ stated in his CO tone, "Mac don't you dare even consider washing up you are a guest here not resident"
"Okay AJ in that case I'm going to get on with my day and I'll contact you later, see ya" Mac said as she grabbed her purse and keys and left the admirals house
Half an hour later
Mac Apartment
When Mac arrived home she saw that all Mics things had been removed and everything he had moved during the course of their relationship had been piled up on and the coffee table in the living room with a note that stated that Mic could not remember where these items had been before he had moved them.
After Mac had put away the belongings she thought its about what else she had to do and realised she hadn't called Harm and stand off with the phone she bit the bullet and speed-dialed Harm's apartment and he answered on the fourth and final ring.
"Hello" Harm said distractedly
"Hi Harm" said Mac
"Mac are you okay you sound weird"
"Yeah I'm fine Mic has packed and left no traces just like I asked"
"Ohh thats good isn't it Mac"
"Yeah it is everything just looks different now but it's arranged in a way that reminds me of our happier moments of our friendship anyway enough of this is was calling to see if you wanted to go to lunch with me?"
"Yeah sure"
"Can you come over and pick up something on the way I'm not up to going out"
"Yeah sure see you in twenty minutes"
20 minutes later
Macs Apartment
Mac was sitting on the couch waiting for Harm and there was a knock on the door
Mac stood and walked over to the door looked through the peep-hole to see it was Harm and opened the door wide as a symbol to come in and as harm came in Mac only one bag and it was from the olive garden Harms favourite restaurant and just groaned with all the stuff going on in her life she wanted comfort food not rabbit food.
As Harm was entering he said "Hi Mac" and she responded in kind as Harm made his way to the kitchen and placed the food on the table he looked at Mac and made a decision he was going kiss her so he took the required steps to Mac and pulled her into his arms and gently kissed her when it was over she asked
"What was that for?"
"Because I love you"
"Well I love you to but I'm hungry what's for lunch?"
"Salad"
A groaning sound filled the room
"Come on mac stop that its healthy"
"Harm I'm stressed and I would have prefered comfort food not rabbit food"
"Well to bad" Harm said as he signalled Mac to sit at the table as he placed a serving of rabbit food in front of her" and she groaned good naturedly
After they finished eating and Mac and Harm simultaneously said "I'm still hungry" and then their was a knock at the door Harm stood and said "I'll get it if you don't mind" and mac just nodded
When harm opened the door the Pizza man was waiting just like he had planned he thought pizza would help cheer up Mac
As Harm re-entered the kitchen Mac turned towards him and smiled at the pizza and stated that "I knew you would get me comfort food"
As Harm placed the box on the table Mac stood and kissed Harm as a thank you. After pizza they washed the dishes and Mac said "how about we watch a movie?"
"Sure you can pick Mac"
"Okay I'll be in soon"
When Mac went into the living room she found Harm had turned on 'A Few Good Men' and was sitting on the couch and Mac made a bold decision to sit on Harms lap which made him smile the whole way through the movie.
After the movie Mac turned to Harm and said "I think we need to go slowly for a while if you don't mind because I don't want to rush into the idea of us does that make sense"
"Okay"
"Harm do you understand what I'm saying"
"Not really"
"I'm in my mind you are it for me and I want it to perfect and rushed into because we know how relationships like that turn out but with you I want it to be different I want the dating, long engagement perfect yet simple wedding and the happily ever after you know to live the good American dream do you understand know"
"Mac I completely understand because it's exactly what I have wanted since the Rose Garden"
Mac was so happy she couldn't put it into words so she just kissed him with everything she had "but right now I think you need to go home before this goes any further and we rush into something" Mac said ruefully