What They Deserve

Spoilers: Boomerang 1 & 2

Disclaimer 1: I do not own any characters from 'JAG'. They are the intellectual property of DPB, CBS & Paramount

Summary: What Harm & Mac should have said during the ferry ride and the ensuing stories after.

February 15, 2000

0800 Zulu

Sydney Harbor

"We're not in Washington. We're not even on the same continent," Mac stated.

She was trying to get Harm to admit his feelings for her. In her heart she knew she was in love with him and she wanted to see if he felt for her the same way. But Harmon Rabb was being difficult. He was always very reluctant to express his feelings. This exasperated Mac to no end. Here was a very well spoken and competent lawyer that got totally tongue tied giving personal expressions.

"I know that. But it still doesn't change who we are, and where we work. We can't do anything while we're in the same chain of command," Harm returned.

"We weren't in the same chain while you were flying. Why didn't you do something then?" Mac asked.

"Well as you recall I was seeing Jordan at the time. And I was seeing her because you didn't give me any indication that you wanted anything. What with just getting over the death of Ragle, Farrow's coming around to complicate things and dealing with the Article 32 after that, you so much as told me that you didn't have the desire to get into a new relationship so soon," Harm explained.

"Well what about before you met Jordan the Christmas before my Article 32 when I asked you what you were doing for the holiday. You just shrugged me off while you tried to make other plans. I practically begged you to ask me to join you for something together. I was feeling so lonely," Mac argued back.

"I didn't have any idea then. Besides why didn't you just come out and ask me then?" Harm almost shouted.

Mac didn't say anything because she knew that they were getting in a roundabout argument and sighed, her exasperation coming through very loudly.

"Okay why don't we just stop arguing about the past? I'll make it easier for you. I'm not seeing anyone right now," Mac declared.

"Not even Bugme? You seemed pretty cozy when I saw you at the restaurant when Rene and I went out or before that when I left to fly. I bet he asked you out as soon as the elevator door closed," Harm said.

"Is that what you call him? That's not very nice Harm. Besides he waited till you were in the parking lot," Mac said mischievously. She was very amused at Harm's expression. If she didn't know better, she would swear he was jealous.

"He did huh. He didn't waste time," Harm said resignedly.

"No he didn't and yes we went out a few times to movies and dinner while you were away flying , but it was never anything more than platonic. We were never intimate, not that he didn't try. I didn't want that from him because he's not the one I want to be with. Hell I was almost delirious with relief when he was recalled to Australia," Mac declared.

"Oh really, then why were you topless with him at the beach?" Harm asked indignantly.

Mac smiled she knew that she was getting to him so instead of answering him she asked, "Harmon Rabb are you a prude."

Red faced Harm said in his defense, "I am not a prude."

To keep him from further embarrassing himself she continued, "For your information I wasn't topless despite what you saw. Underneath that big magazine I was holding in front of me, my top was tied behind my back."

"Then why did you go to the beach with him?" Harm asked.

"I knew you were busy when you were unable to meet me at the airport. Mic was there and after we handed over Kingsley's body to the Australian Navy he asked me what I wanted to do next. I told him that I wanted to lie in the sun for a while to bake off the cold I had. He offered me an escort. He was nice about it and I really wanted to go to the beach," Mac explained.

"Is that why you volunteered to come down here, to go to the beach?" Harm almost whined.

That was part of it," Mac answered, teasingly.

"Well what was the other part?" Harm almost shouted.

"To see YOU and be with YOU stupid,' Mac shouted back. She continued, "And if you don't stop shouting and whining and making a spectacle in front of the other passengers, I just might stay on this ferry and go back to our hotel."

Harm was totally chagrined as one could see it on his face. Then he took a deep breath said, "You know coming down here totally ruined my plans."

"What plans?" Mac asked her curiosity aroused to the utmost limit.

Harm went on as if he didn't hear the question. "I was speaking with my detailer before Chegwidden called us into his office and handed me this case. My detailer told me that there were open postings for someone with my legal and flying talents,"

"Are you leaving JAG and DC again?" Mac asked almost horrified, thinking that she pushed Harm in the wrong direction.

"Well yes and no," Harm said a little too smugly for Mac's liking.

"Go on," she said.

"I want to leave JAG but I want to stay in the DC area. My detailer said those postings were in Eastern Maryland and Northern Virginia. With my record he said I could have the pick of what I wanted," Harm explained. Although still not as fully as Mac wanted.

"But why do you want to leave JAG?" Mac asked.

Because that way I can court you more openly," Harm explained.

Now Mac was totally astonished. "Did you say, court me?" she asked.

"Yes I did," Harm said taking her hand.

Harm waited to see if Mac would say anything. When she didn't he continued, "Look you deserve more than some clandestine relationship. Because we are both assigned to JAG, we can't date openly. That's why I dated Jordan. I could do it openly. But she wanted to date a lawyer, not a pilot, so we broke up. I didn't want to rush into a relationship with you so soon after that because I didn't want you to think that I went to you on the rebound."

As he took a breath Mac asked, "And now?"

"Now I think enough time has passed. Remember when I said that my plans were ruined?" Harm asked.

"Yeah," was all Mac could say.

"Well in case you forgot, Valentine's Day just passed. I HAD plans. I wanted to ask you to start dating. I ordered the flowers, made dinner reservations and everything. Then we ended up flying Qantas and I had to cancel everything," Harm said.

"Really?" Mac said smiling. While Harm was speaking he was gently pulling Mac closer to him. Now he had her wrapped in his arms as he continued his spiel.

"When we go out dating I want to be out of your chain of command, because I want to date you in the open. After our first date I wanted to discuss my choices for my change in assignments with you. I want to experience a whole courtship with you. I want everyone to see that we are together, without the 'sword of impropriety' hanging over us," he explained.

Mac leaned back and looked into his eyes and said, "I want that to."

She was a little alarmed with what Harm said next, "I don't want to have sex, yet."

Now her curiosity took over as she asked, "Why not?"

"Contrary to what you might be thinking, I am not a prude. I just want the first time we make love to be when we are totally committed to each other, whether that be after we get married or any time before that when we both feel totally secure that we are right for each other. You deserve it, we deserve it," Harm explained.

"Then that's fine with me too," Mac said. She shed some happy tears. She sniffled a little then she asked, "So if you're not a prude, why were you so upset when you thought I was topless?"

"I was upset because I thought that Brumby got you topless before I did," Harm admitted.

Mac giggled at his admission and said, "Oh Harm that is the sweetest thing." Then shifting gears to the present, she asked, "What now?"

"Well now we get this stupid case over with and get the hell out of 'Oz' as soon as possible," Harm declared.

Before they could break away Mac had a thought, "What about Rene?"

Harm knew that this question was coming as he answered, "Well after that dinner you and Bugme, (Mac slapped his arm and said, "Stop that, be nice.") saw us at, I told her that it was nice going out to celebrate the commercial, but I said that there was nothing between us romantically and that I had my eye on someone else and that I wanted to see if anything developed."

"What did she say?" Mac asked.

"She asked if it was you and I said yes it was. She told me good luck and let her know how everything worked out," Harm said.

"That was nice of her," Mac replied.

"So now that we got that out of the way, when should we tell the admiral?" Harm asked.

"Well since he's not down here, we can wait until we get back to DC. We can tell him together and see if he'll help us out,' Mac said.

"Well let's hope he doesn't help me out the door," Harm replied dryly.

"Well I wouldn't worry about that. At least you have a very good reason to get out of JAG," Mac said. Then she had another thought and spoke it out loud, "Maybe I could be the one to leave."

Harm was quick to say, "Oh no you've had enough problems with everything else. You should be the one to stay. Believe me I can be very happy where I land as long as I can be near you, even if it's digging latrines," Harm said emphatically.

"That's nice of you to say but let's keep our options open. When we get back to DC, I can talk to my monitor also. The more options we give the admiral the more he can help us," Mac explained logically.

Harm sighed, smiled indulgently and said, "You're always the one with the dispassionate plan."

"Hey if we're going to be together, we should plan our lives together, don't you think?" Mac asked sweetly.

As they held each other tight, they passed under the Sydney Harbor Bridge, Harm looked up and said, "You know they wrote 'Eternity' on this bridge for New Years."

"Is that how long you were going to wait?" Mac asked.

"No, that's how long I want to spend with you," Harm said.

At that Mac captured his lips as they shared a long, deep and slow kiss. They only broke away when they heard the nearby crowd clap and cheer at the desired ending of their show.

They had to good grace to laugh in embarrassment. As they saw the ferry was pulling into the dock, Harm said, "Let's shelve this until we're back in DC. I need to concentrate on this case."

Mac readily agreed. They didn't have to wait till they were back in DC to speak with the admiral. He came down to Sydney. He was there because of the fight Harm and Mic had broken Bud's jaw.

The case progressed somewhat smoothly after that. Harm was able to get his client Lee acquitted due to he and Bud supposedly catching Lee's common law wife having an affair. After court was adjourned and the audience was filing out, Mic got to Mac first and asked, "Sarah would you like to go to dinner with me tonight?"

Mac looked at him with an expression that Mic couldn't quite decipher as she told him, "Uh Mic, Harm and I already made plans to spend our last evening here together. We'll see you tomorrow at the airport when you see us off."

"Okay Sarah if that's how you want it,' Mic said. Disappointed he turned away.

As he walked away Mic held his head high, but when one looked carefully they wouldn't have seen the disappointment on his face. What he showed was a cold rage. No one heard him mutter, "We'll see about that."

That evening Mac was surprised when Harm took her to the ferry again.

Harm explained, "Now that I'm not working, I wanted our first date to be fun. Let's go to the amusement park and go on all the rides we can before the last ferry of the night leaves."

Mac readily agreed, saying, "You're just a big kid you know that."

"Hey I haven't been a big kid with anyone for a long time and I want to start having happy memories with you as soon as I can," Harm declared.

Mac could only pull him in and try to squeeze the daylights out of him, she was so happy.

While on the ride out they saw Kevin Lee, the defendant that Harm just got acquitted, racing by in his boat with his allegedly estranged wife. After they enjoyed themselves at the park and returned to the hotel, they went to see Admiral Chegwidden.

After they completed their report on Lee and decided on a course of action, Harm said, "Admiral there is one more thing."

"What's that commander?" AJ asked, half knowing what Harm was going to say. He had seen the exchange Mac and Mic had after court and how Mac had not strayed too far from Harm after that.

"Well sir when we get back to DC I am requesting a transfer. I've spoken to my detailer and we've come up with some posting options in the Maryland and Northern Virginia area that would have use for my legal or flying talents."

Before AJ could reply Mac spoke up and said, "Sir I also spoke to my monitor and he also came up with some posting options in the same area that I could take advantage of when I request a transfer."

The evening after Harm declared his feelings Mac had jumped on the phone and called her own Marine Monitor to get her own posting options. She wanted to have a head start for when they returned to DC.

"Are you both planning to leave JAG?" AJ practically thundered at them.

Mac spoke up saying, "Ah well sir at least one of us. You see Harm and I want to start having a romantic relationship and we can't do that if we're in the same command."

AJ softened at that as he smirked and said, "I knew when I sent Rabb down here and that you followed him at the first opportunity that something like this was going to happen. So before I was also summoned down here to referee his and Brumby's fight, I started looking at both your transfer options myself. You'd be surprised to hear that I also spoke to your detailer commander and your monitor colonel. When we get back to DC let's have a meeting and see if they came up with the same things you two did, hmm."

Mac and Harm couldn't hide their relief at AJ's pronouncement. It was Mac who spoke up for the both of them as she said, "That would be great sir. We'll certainly look forward to that."

AJ replied, "That's fine as you informed me about your new romantic status, I have no problem with you two being together until one of your transfers comes through. As long as you do it in private and keep it out of the office. Is that clear?"

"Aye, aye sir," Mac and Harm chorused back.

"And at that I will say goodnight. I'll see you at the airport tomorrow. Colonel, see to it that the commander is on time. You know his penchant for being late," AJ said with a smirk.

"Yes sir I'll do that," Mac said as she pulled Harm out the door before he could defend himself.