TITLE: A Married Man
AUTHOR: Vid Z.
PAIRING: Harm/Meg
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.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: built solely on what happened on the show, supported with canon as proof, understroked with episodes from the show that testified to the incredible spiritual connection between our favorite partners and lawyers.
IMPORTANT: I would just like to take this chance and sincerely thank the support team of this fantastic website for fixing the drop-down-character-list for this show by changing "Coates, A." to it's rightful "Coates, J." and especially for putting in Loren as "Singer, L.". It's been sorely needed. I've already updated my fics and all H&S fic on this site can be now found by just putting them both in the menus. Thank you, ff. net support, you're doing an amazing job with this site and this just made it better.
SUMMARY: Today Harm realized he's a married man. However, he has never gone through a wedding. So, how can he be?
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Today, I realized I'm married.
Well, not married with a ring and marriage certificate and so on, but married spiritually.
To my partner, my best friend and now, obviously, my life partner. One LTJG Meg Austin, the most amazing and wonderful woman I've ever met.
Some of you probably think I'm off my rocker. Two fries short of a happy meal. Bonkers. Around the bend. Nuts, gonzo and the other oh so lovely words.
The others probably wonder how I came to this brilliant conclusion.
It's simple.
The first fact is it hit me out of nowhere.
I mean, there I was minding my own business, when Meg came through the door. I passed her an apple without even giving it a thought, which earned me a bright smile and an affectionate squeeze of my hand. It's when it hit me I was behaving like a married man (well, a married man in the best times of a marriage).
I also have several pieces of proof for this theory and I will present them to you.
Proof #1 for the marriage thing... I know exactly what she wants in the morning and do it automatically, without thinking. Hell, I know what she's like in the morning and how she looks like just after she's woken up, all mussy hair, cheeks pink from sleep and so adorable I could just eat her. I'd of course like to see her mussy haired, pink-cheeked, sweating and breathing hard from making love with me. And everytime she smiles at me it's like sun is shining.
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I'm pathetic, I know, but for the last year I've been living for her smiles, doing and saying anything that comes to mind just so I could bring one out of her. With some other woman I would prepare a pot of coffee, but since Meg had read somewhere that apples are even better at waking a person up, not to mention healthier, she gave up coffee altogether. And dragged me with her.
Proof #2 for the marriage thing... How many friends do you know who influence each other in such a significant manner and rub off on each other, taking over the other's habits, making new joint ones, like we do? I can't think of any friends, personally. But I can sure think of plenty of married couples I know who do that.
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I can't help but remember when I met Gym again. No, not the time she'd drugged me and almost killed me, Meg has some pretty serious moves by the way the way she knocked the mad Vietnamese out, but mine and Meg's conversation over the phone.
I'd guessed correctly that she was wearing a red dress. She claimed she wasn't. I didn't believe her of course. Later, during a cross-examination, she confessed to having worn a red dress and openly admitted that I really knew her that well already.
Only 2 weeks after we've met...
And she was the same, she knows me so well, I swear she can read my mind. When we were involved in that divorce case of that Colonel she truly read my mind. I was bluffing when I told the Sheriff about the videotape, yet she stood with me and, not only supported my bluff, but also built on my story and created a better story, more believable. She knew the moment I opened my mouth what I was gonna say and try to do and she completed my sentence and gave credence to my claims.
Proof #3... we have a spiritual connection, a connection that goes beyond physical, emotional and psychological, a connection that defies rules of biology and physics. We can almost read each other's minds and we know exactly what the other is thinking and what the other wants.
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Proof #4... when we were investigating the case of a possible code red and the marine squad jumped us on the beach Meg jumped into my arms for protection as an instinctive reaction. It's ingrained in her to seek me out, as is ingrained in me to seek her out when I am feeling vulnerable or need someone to take care of me and protect me emotionally. Or when if I'm sick I call her. I know only married couples who do this all without thinking, only married couples that have that ingrained in them as a part of their beings.
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She was fidgeting in her chair for a couple of minutes, then stood up and made her way out of the office, down the corridor and I could hear the heavy sound of the bathroom door swinging shut.
I already knew the answer, but I still mentally checked the calendar and did a few calculations to verify it. I don't keep a track record or mark the days anywhere, even in an effort to make our lives easier by knowing on which days to avoid doing anything to upset her. She's more emotional then, quicker to either get angry or burst into tears. When I still didn't know this I intentionally scared her when she entered the office with a surprise "Booo!" from behind the door and she burst out crying. While trying to apologize and hold her, comforting her, at the same time I made a solemn vow not to upset her during those days ever again. Even though it gave me the joy of holding her tight in my arms. Now I just know when it's the time, it's a constant knowledge at the back of my head.
Proof #5... how many male just-friends and just-partners do you know who know their female friend's body's calendar so well, without it being for some freaky reason?
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People would find it creepy, but it's a natural thing. Okay, I'm not happy that she hurts or is bitchy (though very rarely, usually she's just the opposite), but it makes me happy because it bodes only well for my future plans. My future plans for us. To me it means that, when the time comes, she'll be able to have our baby. Make that babies, because I want a small army of them with her. And all with her blond hair and blue eyes.
Proof #6... How many male partners and friends do you know who are happy about the fact that their female partner and friend is capable of getting pregnant and are already thinking of them making those children in her?
I personally know of none, but I do know of married men feeling like that.
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When she came back I already had a glass of water and Midol ready for her. She blushed a very pretty pink, but nonetheless rewarded me with a kiss on my cheek.
Which is another way how I know it, she's always very affectionate then.
Kisses on my cheek or affectionate squeezes of my hand are a regular and once I even managed to get away with a real, though very quick, kiss on the lips. She'd been about to kiss me on my cheek when, at the last moment, I turned my head so she hit my lips. It took her a couple of seconds to pull back and after she did she was blushing furiously. After that I caught her looking at my lips several times and, whenever our eyes met, she looked away with a shy look on her face, blushing and smiling. Thankfully, because it told me she's not averse to kissing me for real and, considering she was looking at my lips, she wanted to repeat it.
Our relationship is progressing at a steady pace, maybe too slow, but I can't help thinking that with this slow pace we are building a very strong foundation for our future.
Tomorrow I'm having a talk with the Admiral. I'm going to tell him that I think Meg is ready to be an equal partner, not just a junior one anymore, and will ask him to relieve me of my supervisory role, taking it himself. As long as I'm her senior partner and supervisor nothing can happen between us, but when we're equal we will be free of the regs. And the day after tomorrow I'm gonna ask her out on our first date.
However, this is not just a way around the regs, Meg really IS ready for the next step in her career. She's an amazing lawyer and an investigator and I can't wait to let her loose on her own. Poor criminals, they don't know what's about to hit them.
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You're saying you need more?
Well, how about this: I know what she eats and can obviously order her meal without getting a protest out of her, I know her blood type, her shoe size, her clothes size, her bra size (didn't check it myself, I swear! she once let it slip in a conversation), her social security number, her ATM card PIN number, her bank account number, I know she squeezes her toothpaste via a plastic apparatus so the tube is squeezed efficiently, I know her family and am good friends with her brother, while her mother treats me like her own child, I know she bites her lower lip when she's nervous, I know she wrinkles her nose when she's thinking hard about something or is digusted by something or just acts like she's disgusted (I even know the difference), I know she sleeps in the nude (due to one unfortunate incident when our motel had caught fire and I had to break into Meg's room to wake her up...), I know she only has an apple for breakfast and salad for dinner, I know she has bodice-rippers in her seabag to read on off-duty time while out of town, I know she uses body lotions on her entire body before going to sleep to make her skin so soft and supple and sweetly-smelling, I know which brands she uses and I know where she buys them, I know where she buys her groceries, that she always fills her Mustang's tank when it's still a quarter full,... and I know she knows the same stuff about me.
Is it enough?
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Then I remembered I have heating pads in my desk for the days when my back is giving me problems. I took them out and approached Meg as she observed me questioningly. Then I plugged them in and, leaning over her from behind, strapped them to her belly, with her trustingly giving me full access to her body to do what I intended. Even though she hadn't known what the hell I intended to do she still let me do it and this show of unconditional trust warms my heart even when thinking about it now, hours later. When she realized what I did any why I did it she looked up at me and I received something light-years better than a mere kiss. All her love for me was shining in her teary, luminous ocean-blue eyes, revealed for all the world to see.
Proof #(I don't know how many by now)... she trusts me even when I have the most weird, foolish and daring plans. She trusts me when she doesn't know what my plan is. She even trusts me with herself, with her body, with her heart. Just as I trust her.
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And the final proof...
I love her and she loves me and we both know this.
I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I want to marry her. Hell, I'll drag her to the nearest Justice of Peace right this second if she's willing. I want to have kids with her. I want to experience with her the pleasure of the process of making a baby, I want to see her grow large with our children, give birth to them, raise them with her, share happy and sad times with her, grow old with her,...
And, if my plan comes true, by this time next year I'll be wearing a wedding ring for real and will be working on making all these dreams a reality.
Looking at Meg sitting just a few paces away, giving me a smile when she catches me looking, I know it will.
THE END
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