Title: Mountain Adventure
Author: rooster dawn
Rating: G
Classification: Harm/Mac
Spoiler: none
Summary: Harm and Mac go flying in the mountains to see the fall foliage. They get snowed in with unexpected results.
Disclaimers: The characters of JAG are the property of Donald Bellisario and Bellisarius Production, Inc. Used without permission. No copyright infringement intended. May be reproduce if unchanged, author given full credit, and no financial transaction is involved.
Feedback is greatly appreciated and welcomed.
part 1
Saturday
9 Sep 00
Labor Day Weekend
Robert's Residence
It was the Labor Day weekend, the last holiday of the summer. The Roberts were planning a cookout on Labor Day at their place for the JAG staff and their families. They wanted everyone to have a good time.
They were very concerned about two friends of theirs, Commander Harmon Rabb and Colonel Sarah MacKenzie. They were Bud's mentors and godparents to little AJ. They weren't getting along as well as they had in the past. They always seemed to be at odds with each other now.
It looked like to Bud and Harriet that Mac was seriously considering marrying Mic Brumbry. Bud and Harriet like Mic. He was a nice friendly guy, a barrel of laughs, a person who valued their friendship, but they did not like the idea of him as Mac's future husband.
Ever since Bud and Harriet had asked Harm and Mac to be little AJ's godparents they expected Harm and Mac would some day to get together and settle down as husband and wife. They were the perfect couple.
Harriet had spent many nights talking to Bud about her dream of Harm and Mac getting married and having a family together like they did. They could do the married couple thing, get together, have family picnics, and generally socialized.
Harriet wanted them to be as happy as she and Bud were, but it didn't appear as if that was going to happen now. Harm and Mac weren't very happy right now. Harriet asked Bud to invite Harm over to their house to spend the afternoon with them.
She hope Bud could somehow talk to Harm about the possibility that he could lose Mac if he didn't do something real soon to prevent it. Harriet wanted to help Harm and Mac see the light.
There was a knock on the door. Harriet was busy in the kitchen so she sent Bud to answer it. Bud went over to the door to let Harm in. He hoped this intervention would work. He was tired of listening to Harriet whining about something they had no control over.
"Good afternoon Sir. Harriet and I are glad that you could join us today." chirped Bud happily.
"Good afternoon Bud. And it's Harm outside the office, especially since we're in your own home." smiled Harm wondering if Bud would ever get it right.
"Yes Sir, errr Harm. Why don't you come in and sit down. I'll let Harriet know that you're here." replied Bud nervously. Here goes nothing he thought.
"Thank you Bud. It's nice of you to invite me." smiled Harm.
Harriet walked into the room with little AJ. Little AJ was extremely excited to see Harm. It had been a couple of months, Fourth of July was the last time to be exact. Harm had taken him to see the fireworks.
"Nice to see you Harm. Thank you for coming." greeted Harriet.
"Unci Harm, unci Harm up." pleaded little AJ. Harm bent over and picked up little AJ. AJ gave Harm a big hug.
"How are you doing little fellah?" asked Harm.
"Good, wanna play with me?" replied AJ.
"Sure little fellah, after I have a talk with your parents." smiled Harm. "They seem a little befuddled today."
"Can we talk to you Harm?" asked Bud nervously.
"Sure Bud, you know you can talk to me about anything." smiled Harm.
"Are you sure Harm?" asked Harriet anxiously.
"Yes, I'm sure. Is everything alright? You've got me a little worried here." replied Harm wondering what was wrong with his friends.
"Oh! I'm sorry Sir, it's nothing like that. We wanted to talk to you about the Colonel and ... you." replied Harriet wringing her hands with the dishtowel.
"What do you mean Harriet?" asked Harm.
"You and the Colonel don't seem to be getting along as well as you were before you went to Australia." wailed a concerned Harriet.
"She's with Bugme now and I'm with Renee." snapped Harm defensively.
"I know that Sir, but you've had relationships with other women before, but you were still able to have a good working relationship with the Colonel." whined Harriet.
"That's because we are in relationships with people right now that the other doesn't like. I don't like Bugme and he doesn't like me. Same thing with Mac and Renee. It makes it hard to socialize together outside of work Harriet." responded Harm shaking his head.
"I know that Sir, Bud has told me how you and Mic don't get along, but don't you love Sarah? You two were so happy together before you went back to flying F14's." wailed Harriet.
"Harriet, I was dating Jordan before I left to go back to flying, not Mac." replied Harm shaking his head again in disbelief.
"We weren't exactly getting along all that well back then either. We were fighting even worse then. Only difference was we kept it private."
"I know that Sir, but we all know it was Mac you really wanted. Commander Parker told us you really wanted Mac." whined Harriet.
"She did huh. I guess maybe she was right. I've been in love with Mac for a long time. Maybe since the day I first met her in the rose garden. We had to work through a lot of issues before we could be together." sighed Harm in realization.
"We still have a few more to work through."
"Like what Sir?" asked Bud.
"She has built up so many walls Harriet." replied Harm.
"Walls Sir?" asked a confused Harriet.
"Mac doesn't trust men Harriet. Her father was an abusive alcoholic who abused her and her mother. Her mother left when she was fifteen. She married a man name Chris Ragel to get away from him. Her husband Ragel kept her drinking and drunk while they were together.
The fact that she's a marine in a man's world, she knew she needed to work extra hard to get ahead and to be accepted. That's the reason she wanted everyone to call her Mac.
She wanted to make sure all her promotions were earned and not part of some program designed solely for the advancement of women in the military." explained Harm.
"She always seems to be happy to be here Sir." wailed Harriet. She thought that if Mac married Mic, she would leave JAG.
"I'm sure she has been Harriet. She has flourish here. She's one of the best lawyers I have ever known. She knows the law better than I do.
But she was still suffering from low self esteem when she first got here. It took a long time for her to become the person we all know, love, and respect today." replied Harm.
"But you did work through those issues Sir." implied Harriet.
"Apparently not Harriet. When I returned from flying she was working with Bugme and she was distant to me for a long time afterwards." moaned Harm.
"That's because you hurt her Harm." replied Bud quickly.
"How's that Bud?" asked a confused Harm.
"She missed you a lot while you were gone Harm. She confided in Harriet that she would cry herself to sleep the first three months you were gone. She was so happy when she heard that you were coming back to JAG." answered Bud.
"So what happen to make her so distant until we were in Australia, where she expressed her feelings for me? I was taken completely by surprise by her openness. I wasn't ready to talk to her about her feelings or mine." moaned Harm.
"She heard you talking to Commander Parker's answering machine the day you came back. She heard you asking Commander Parker if you could start seeing her again." continued Bud.
"You hurt her a lot Sir. She was very disappointed. I think she thought it was her turn to be with you." added Harriet.
"I never meant to hurt her, but I thought I owed Jordan the courtesy of a call to see if she wanted to get back together. The reason we broke up in the first place was because she didn't want to be involved with a naval aviator. She wanted me as a lawyer." explained Harm.
"But you did hurt her Sir. It took a long time for her to get over the hurt. It was the fourth time in the past year that you had hurt her." wailed Harriet.
"What? I've never hurt her before then." replied a puzzled Harm.
"I'm sorry to say Sir, but you have. She showed you how much she loved you when she went to Russia with you to cover your six. The Admiral was totally against it. She convinced him that you had a better chance of finding out about your father and returning safely if she went along with you since she spoke the language.
She thought the two of you bonded while you were in Russia. The second time was when she went to talk you about her husband showing up, you were with Congresswoman Laythem having dinner and who knows what else.
She really needed you that night and you weren't there for her. I think she expected you to go after her and make her talk about it." wailed Harriet.
"She said she would talk to me the next day. Bobbie and I were only having dinner to talk over the Serine gas trial." argued Harm.
"That was because she was hurt. It hurt her to see you having dinner with Congresswoman Laythem and discussing the trial. That was something that only you and she did together. It was her special connection with you.
It was a special way for her to spend time with you. She felt you were replacing her with Congresswoman Laythem. You should have gone after her. Then the next day you took Congresswoman Laythem phone call instead of getting to the bottom of what was bothering her." continued Harriet.
"At the time I didn't know how serious what she wanted to talk to me was." explained Harm.
"She followed you to Russia Sir, because you needed her and she loved you. All you had to do was follow her out the door." argued Harriet.
"I know Harriet." sighed Harm acknowledging that Harriet was right.
"Then last Christmas when she was hoping that during the holidays you would spend some quality time with her and maybe get a little closer, instead you started seeing Commander Parker.
She was really looking forward to the holidays for the first time in years. She was ready for a relationship." wailed Harriet.
"I didn't know, she was spending a lot of time with Chloe back then." sighed Harm slumping his head.
"When you left JAG it totally devastated her. She was depressed for a long time. She was very quiet and didn't socialize with anyone. When she came back from seeing you on the Patrick Henry it was the happiest I had seen her in a long time.
She was almost her old self again. When she heard that you were coming back to JAG she was so happy. Then the first thing you did when you returned was to call Commander Parker again. She thought that when you came back it would finally be her turn to be with you if you know what I mean." explained Harriet.
"I didn't know. I always thought it was wrong to be involved with someone you worked with. I enjoy working with her so much that I didn't want to give that up again. I missed being with her. I didn't realized how much I missed her until I was left.
I figured that if we got together one of us would have to leave JAG. I didn't want to leave JAG again and I didn't think it would be fair to ask her to, even though I'm sure she probably would have.
I didn't want her to leave. She has established herself quite nicely here. I was being selfish, I enjoyed all the time we spent together at work and away from work. I didn't want to give it up." reasoned Harm.
"So what happen Sir? Why did you let her get involved with Brumbry?" asked Bud.
"I didn't Bud. She made that decision all by herself. She took his ring." replied Harm.
"With all due respect Sir, As you commented when you first saw it, you said it was a friendship ring and she agreed with you." argued Bud.
"But you didn't see the kiss between them." rebutted Harm.
"You know she was only trying to make you jealous and to get you to respond." countered Bud.
"She was trying to let you know that if you weren't interested in having a relationship with her then there was someone who was. Why didn't you talk to her when you got back? She was expecting you to confront her about the ring." wailed Harriet.
"She hurt me when she went to dinner with Bugme and came back with his ring. Then there was the kiss. Well I wanted a little payback. So I decided to go out with Renee.
I thought she would wear the ring for a short while and then she would take the ring off when she saw that wearing the ring wasn't working. Then I would dump Renee. And everything would go back to normal and then we could talk."
"But she didn't take off the ring. You know she can be as stubborn a you when she thinks she's right. Although you two were getting along better." informed Bud.
"That's because I love her Bud. I can't stay mad at her for very long. I wanted to be with her. Everything was okay until Bugme came here after reserving his commission.
He began to occupy all her free time after that leaving none for us. We didn't have any time to socialized together like we did before so we became more distant because we weren't able to talk." replied Harm.
"So what are you going to do about it Harm?" asked Bud.
"If you wait much longer she may just move the ring over to her other hand." added Harriet.
"I had been sort of hoping that the longer it took her to move the ring, the more likely she never would." answered Harm.
"You know you can't rely on that Sir. You know Mic will continue to push her to move the ring over to her other hand until she finally does." argued Harriet.
"You're right Harriet. Well I guess I could invite her to go flying in Sarah for a weekend. She really likes flying in my old plane. She also loves looking at the different colors as the leaves change.
I could show her the fall foliage from the air. I know she would really enjoy that. We could have a picnic for two and talk about happen to us." mused Harm.
"She would love it Harm. I'm sure she also would love to spend some quality time alone with you too. I know she loves you." chirped Harriet happily.