Title : Melted Ice
Author : Jaggie 107
Disclaimer : JAG/NCIS characters belong to DPB, CBS and Paramount. I hope all parties will allow me to have fun for a little while, and replace them all when I'm done. Thank you.
Rating : T (I think!) Some language!
Spoilers : Series 8
Summary : Mac proves loyal to Harm…and a lot more!
Notes : I'm not sure of actual titles/SOP's in the 'Brig', so I'm pleading insanity and creative license, all at the same time.
Hello from me! As I'm on vacation I don't have my usual database to refer to, so some details may be sketchy… I've tried to find out as much info as possible through the net for this story. The idea came to me while I was out around the poolside, and I just had to write it down. Just an idea on what I would like to have happened if Mac had disobeyed the Admiral's order about visiting Harm in the Brig. There is no Paraguay, and hence no Mattie, in this story. Even better, there's no Webb…
Navy Brig
DC
Detention Building
Images of troubled dark eyes, eyes holding unasked questions, crossed his mind as he lay with his eyes closed. It had only been a day, but already he missed her. From his arrest at NCIS to his having met the defense counsel appointed to him, he had wanted – needed – to talk to Mac. To explain.
"Rabb! You have a visitor."
Harm opened his eyes at the sound of his name being called. Turning his head without actually getting to his feet, he watched as the Brig Detention Officer approached his cell.
"On your feet."
"I haven't been convicted yet, which still makes me a senior officer. Your senior officer, to be exact, Lieutenant."
"Of course, but you're in there, and I'm not. Sir."
Harm bit down on another retort and closed his eyes again, trying to recapture those brown eyes.
"It's a female officer, Rabb."
"My lawyer? I don't have anything more to add to my statement, except that I'm innocent."
"Not your lawyer. This one's a Marine, and…" Before the man could finish his sentence Harm was on his feet.
Mac? It had to be!
Detention Building
Interview Room
"Hi, Sailor."
"Hi," Harm answered. He was pleased to see Mac, but he was also a little disappointed that it had taken her till now to visit.
"I'm sorry, Harm. It took me forever to get the information out of your defense counsel," Mac tried to explain. "I thought Singer was retentive…"
Harm glanced up at Mac in surprise at the comment, and caught the flicker of dismay cross her face.
"Harm, that was insensitive. I'm sor…" she began, but Harm waved her apology off, assuring her it wasn't necessary. There had been no love lost between Lauren Singer and her co-workers, and although her death had been tragic, it would be more of a duty for many to attend her funeral than a desire to mourn a friend. Still…Mac felt she could have been more tactful, and was about to point that out when Harm spoke up.
"I don't understand. You knew I was in the Brig."
"Not initially," Mac began. "All we heard was that NCIS had linked you and Sergei to Singer's death somehow, and then nothing. The Admiral didn't even know, Harm!" Harm relented as he caught the look in Mac's eyes. Those brown eyes that had haunted his dreams long before his night in the Brig.
"Is he likely to come see me?"
Mac shook her head in the negative. "All he did was warn us not to go near you, or this case, until we knew more."
Harm raised an eyebrow, as he asked her a question. "So, you're disobeying orders?"
Mac grinned in response, answer enough for Harm, and he smiled for the first time since his incarceration.
"Do you know Coleman?" he asked Mac, wondering if she had heard of his appointed defense counsel before. As he waited for her response he took a seat at the corner of the conference table. The nearest he dared get. Contact between inmates and visitors was an offence. He shook his head as he realized Mac was speaking to him.
"No, I don't. But her record is supposed to be very good. I can find out more, if you want?"
"Nah," Harm shrugged, shaking his head. "Just the thought that it might be scarier than her briefcase puts me off!"
"Her briefcase?" Mac was puzzled, and it showed on her face. Harm grinned in response.
"She must have a dozen pens in her case and each one is color-coded to a folder. Ugh!" Harm gave a mock shiver, and Mac laughed with him.
"So, Sailor, when do you get bailed?" Mac leaned forward in her seat a little, aware also of the no-touch rules. Harm's cold response left her reeling.
"I don't. No grounds. My fingerprints are on her car, and it's my writing on the bar napkin found in her pocket." Harm paused, closing his eyes as his shoulders sagged. "Jeez, Mac, she was a frigid bitch, but I would never have harmed her!" Harm's tone bothered Mac; it was almost a monotone. No real emotion showed in his voice or on his usually-expressive face.
"I know, Harm…" Mac's tone softened at the bleak look Harm gave her, and then she fell silent, watching him. Silent for only a moment, though.
"Harm?"
"Yes?"
"You said you left your fingerprints. You admit to it?"
"Of course. I had no reason not to. I met Singer at Benzinger's, and then I followed her out to her car. I waited while she rang Sergei."
"NCIS have only one set of prints from the bridge on the Potomac. Singer's. Harm, don't you see?" Mac ignored the no-touch rule without thought as she grabbed Harm's arms, shaking him a little. "You admitted to being with her! You admitted to writing on that napkin!"
"So?" Harm murmured, still not sure of Mac's intent. "It's not much to go on."
"So?" Mac practically squealed in frustration, still holding on to Harm. "Harm, it's enough for reasonable doubt, and enough to get you released on your own recognizance!"
Harm caught on fast, and then wondered why his lawyer hadn't done the same. Mac watched his face as the thoughts raced through his mind.
"What's going on in there, Sailor?" she asked. "You wondering why your counsel didn't say the same?"
Harm grinned at that and pointed his finger at Mac, a familiar gesture she knew meant that he was back on track.
"Hang in there, Harm. I'll be back with your release papers." Mac didn't say it to him, but she also intended to have a 'word' with Harm's counselor while she was on a roll!
Detention Building
Interview Room
Same Day
True to her word, Mac returned with the requisite paperwork, and the Admiral's blessing. As she told Harm, after chewing her out for disobeying an order, the Admiral smiled, said he '…should have known better…', and then told her to 'bring Harm home.'
"He made that an order, Sailor!"
Harm's Apartment
DC
An hour after his release from the Brig, Harm was seated on his couch, facing Mac. There was a stilted silence, following Mac's enthusiastic re-telling of how she tore a strip off Faith Coleman for not having Harm released the day before. As she recounted the tale, she remembered the look of horror on the other woman's face.
Flashback…
"With all due respect, ma'am, I was only doing my duty!" Faith Coleman had tried to defend her actions in the face of one very irate Marine!
"With all due respect, counselor, your first duty is to your client, and you failed Commander Rabb miserably! He spent over 24 hours incarcerated in the Brig! That is reprehensible! He's a decorated Naval Officer!"
"He's charged with murder, ma'am."
"He's innocent until proved guilty, Coleman. You might want to remember that, or there could be grounds for a mis-trial, and you can be sure you wouldn't get a second chance to screw with his future."
"You would have me removed from the case?"
"Without hesitation!" Mac couldn't bring herself to use Coleman's title, as it almost seemed an insult to Harm. "Something to think about, while I go and get the Commander released."
"To your custody, ma'am? Isn't that a little unethical?"
"Commander Rabb is being released on his own recognizance, which is a fact that Admiral Chegwidden has been appraised of. I'd tread carefully, if I were you. One more slip-up in Commander Rabb's defense and it won't just be me you have to face in the courtroom."
With that comment hanging in the air between them, Mac had left the bullpen and returned to the Brig.
End Flashback.
Mac's thoughts returned to the here and now, and she was unsure of what to do next. Realizing her cup was empty, she placed it on the end table and got to her feet.
"I guess I'd better be getting home. You going to be okay?"
"Fine…I…Mac?"
"Yes?"
"How come you're not going back to JAG today?"
"I…ah…" Mac realized she had let slip that the Admiral had let her secure early to sort out getting Harm released. The uncertainty between the two of them, however, had prompted her to leave Harm in peace for a little while, to come to terms with his future. Whatever it was, she wanted so desperately to be a part of it, but didn't know how to tell Harm. Nothing new in that, she thought with a wry smile.
"Mac? " Harm prompted, getting to his feet at the same time, and coming to stand in front of her. Not close enough to be touching, but close enough to be a threat to Mac's equilibrium!
"I don't have to be in the office until tomorrow morning. Same for you. The only stipulation the Admiral has is that you don't antagonize Gibbs too much," Mac murmured, giving Harm an almost-shy grin.
"Would you…stay here? I mean…we could order something. I don't think either of us has had a full meal today, have we?"
"I guess…that would be nice…" Mac agreed, and picked up her cup to take it to the sink in the kitchen. Harm's hand closed over hers as she held the cup, and he pried it out of her hand, replacing it on the end table as he moved to take both her hands in his. "Harm?" Mac's voice was almost a whisper as she raised her eyes to his.
"All I thought about in there…" he began, and Mac knew he was talking about his time in the Brig as he continued to talk. "All I could think about was you, Mac. I saw so many questions in your eyes when I left JAG yesterday, and I wanted to answer them for you. I wanted you to understand what happened between myself and Singer, and her involvement with Sergei."
"Why did you ask Tracey Manetti to investigate Singer?"
"Instead of you?" Harm murmured, touching a fingertip to Mac's chin, yet unaware of just exactly what he was doing. Mac, however, was not so unaffected. "I didn't want to compromise you, Mac. If anything had turned up to implicate either Sergei or myself, I didn't want NCIS coming down on you. Gibbs is a single-minded bastard, and he won't stop until he finds the truth."
"Like you?" Mac ventured, attempting vainly to get her breathing under control.
Harm grinned, but shook his head also. "No. Not like me. At least, I hope not. I don't recall you ever calling me a single-minded bastard."
"I know your parentage, Harm, but as for being single-minded…" Mac let the words trail, and was rewarded with a wider smile.
"Okay, so I'm a little single-minded. Sometimes…" Harm admitted, and Mac smiled in return.
"It hurt some, Harm. I thought you didn't…" Mac began, and Harm finished her sentence.
"Trust you?"
"Want me…" Mac spoke at the same time, and both of them fell silent in surprise at each other's words. Harm was the first to recover.
"Oh, Mac…Sarah…I trust you with my life, and I want you…"
"I don't remember a time when I didn't…" Mac admitted, and then her words faded as Harm spoke again.
"I love you, Sarah…forgive me for being such an idiot…all this time."
"You sure know how to throw a curveball, Sailor…" Mac whispered, tears forming in her eyes as Harm pulled her close, wrapping her in a safe embrace, her head pillowed on his chest, his heartbeat beneath her cheek. A few seconds later she moved far enough back in his arms to take a look up at his face. "I love you too, Harm…"
Harm wondered, in the seconds before he acted on his impulse, if Mac would deck him where he stood, or at least let him live long enough to do what he was about to…until Mac took the impulse away from him, and brought her mouth to his instead! As they parted, for want of oxygen, Mac managed to utter words that echoed the Admiral's sentiment.
"Welcome home, Harm…"
To be continued…
