Readers, thanks for the comments – I've tried to reply to each of you individually (a response to Leyte's comments is posted as a "review" for those who read the reviews), and am so happy to hear that you're enjoying yet another "Paraguay fix." I do believe this one is a bit original. Janlaw
Chapter 2.
Fort Bliss BOQ
Monday Evening
25 October 2003
1800
Knocking smartly on the room identified by the BOQ's front desk, Harm nearly fell over – again – as Mac opened the door. Clad in workout gear, she had obviously just returned to the room – her hair was curled into damp ringlets around her face and her shirt clung wet to her body, every curve totally exposed. It was somehow more erotic than if she'd been naked. Not that he'd ever seen her naked. Just that he'd imagined it.
"Ma –acc," he stammered. "I thought you said 6?"
"And you've learned to be on time?" The banter was back. The quick give-and-take; t he witty repartee. It was as though they'd never been at odds, never apart…. Mac's easy relaxed teasing voice and smirking smile suddenly crumpled as she choked, "God, Harm, I've missed you so much. So much…."
"And I you." Somewhere deep within his battered heart Harm knew that this was a pivotal moment. Stepping forward decisively, he held out his hands, his arms, curved to hug ….and without a moment's hesitation Mac was hugging him fiercely to her, her whole body trembling damply against him.
"Hey..hey…" Gently he cuddled her against him, resting his face against her head, trying to ignore the steam rising between their bodies, his arousal instantaneous.
They clung together for a long minute that seemed even longer, until they parted slightly. Their eyes met, and finally, each saw in the other what each had denied for so long. There was want, and there was need, and there was love. No words were spoken aloud but the unspoken words hovered between them. Then still without a word, their lips met in a long hungry kiss. Searching. Seeking. Nibbling. Devouring. Speaking words of love without a single sound.
Finally, Mac choked back a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob. "We're something else, aren't we?"
"That we are Mac, that we are."
"And forever will be?" She held her breath.
"Yes." It was said. One word. One syllable. No hesitation or equivocation. Not the way he'd sometimes, in his dreams over the years, envisioned, but no matter. Now if Mac understood ….
Mac smiled tremulously at him, and finally began. "There's so much to talk about, so much I want to say to you …." It was eerily reminiscent of a years-ago conversation and they both knew it as they stared at each other but the next part was quite different: "…and this time, I'm going to find the words."
"Me too Mac. Me too."
From down the hall they heard laughter, smelled pizza in the corridor. Harm glanced uneasily around the tiny BOQ room. "Mac, why aren't you in a VIP suite? You're wearing eagles, I assume your orders say 'Colonel.' This is even smaller than my room."
"I'm on the wait list," Mac explained. "Flag and General officers are in all the suites, this is a junior officer's room." She looked around, shaking her head ruefully. "Actually, it's probably double the space I'll have in Iraq, unless I'm in one of Saddam's palaces. This base is jammed – staff, visitors, students." She looked at Harm, sighing. "I'm starving, I want a shower, and I want to talk to you. And I want …well, I guess it's no secret now. I want you. Where can we go?"
Harm shook his head. "My room is barely larger and I've only been to a few actual restaurants in El Paso, mainly small, local Mexican places. Would you - would you be willing to go to a hotel? We could get a suite, order room service?"
"Sure." Mac smiled happily, though her mind immediately visualized not the living room of the suite but the bedroom! "I'll shower while you find one."
With the sound of the shower greatly interfering with his concentration, and not from the running water but the visuals, Harm reserved a suite at the Radisson.
**********
"So, who first?" Their hunger for each other had overwhelmed them the moment they walked in the door, and they barely made it to the bedroom. The first time ….the last first time for each of them. It was all either had dreamed of and more.
Much later, her stomach finally full, Mac sat back from the table in the tastefully decorated living room, admiring the profusion of flowers – birds of paradise and other less familiar blooms in the garden outside the floor to ceiling window, the pool and spa barely visible along a curving path through the gardens. Darkness had fallen, but tiny twinkling lights lit the paths.
"Mac, what's going on? At noon I called back to JAG – a LT answered the phone in Sturgis' office, she said he and Bud and Harriet have all transferred. And when did you get promoted and what about your name? Are you going into Iraq on a mission, undercover?" Harm's questions spilled out, rapidly following each other.
Mac nodded, acknowledging his need for information. She abruptly stood, crossing to the window to study the view, finally turning back to Harm. "A lot's happened Harm, these last few months. I gather you haven't kept in touch with anyone?"
Harm shook his head, suddenly ashamed of himself. Sturgis and Bud and Harriet had been caught in the cross-fire of his anger and bitterness. They hadn't done anything to warrant his ignoring them, but after trying and trying they finally gave up when email after email and voicemails went unanswered. "Only little AJ; I called him once or twice every week. He never talked about anything but you."
Crossing to the sofa, Mac plopped into the middle, sighing. Gesturing to Harm, he joined her, hesitantly offering an arm.
For over an hour, at times patting his arm, at time gripping it ferociously, Mac talked without stopping. After she talked over his first question or two, seemingly without even hearing him, Harm gave up, and just listened intently. He realized this was something of a catharsis for her. "I got back from the leave I'd asked for – I went to the beach, to Cape May – and found you gone. Part of me was so mad at you for leaving, part of me was glad – I don't think I could have put things right between us then. But the admiral … Harm, he was impossible, just impossible. Since he was obviously mad at you, you'd think he'd be okay with you gone. But if anything, he was worse. He stayed in his office with the door shut or he yelled at anyone for anything ….no one could take it. I tried to hold things together day to day, but it was a losing battle. Coates caved first, she told me she was throwing up all the time, she couldn't sleep; she terminated her shore duty and went back to sea."
"Sturgis was the next to go, he went back to the subs – this time in Norfolk – the SJA billet. He's had it with JAG and with the Navy; he told me he's going to retire the instant he hits 20. Harriet and Bud negotiated orders just last week, she's going to be the Deputy PAO at LANTFLT and Bud's got a Department Head billet at TSO Mid-Lant. They're on PCS leave now, house-hunting in Norfolk/Virginia Beach." Mac considered how to put it: "I think they only waited as long as they did because they didn't want to leave me there alone. They're both pretty bitter at AJ."
Covering one hand with the other, rubbing her knuckles, Mac shifted and continued rapidly, as though she wanted to get it all out as fast as possible. "My monitor called me just as I was ready to call him. Harm, things are a real mess in Iraq. I'm going to be the SJA to the CENTCOM four-star, who's also got the Multi-National Force Iraq. The Army colonel who's been his SJA is being returned stateside early, his two year old son's been diagnosed with leukemia. He's a single parent. It's just starting to come out, but there's been torture or close to it, all kinds of abuses, human rights and Geneva Convention violations, contract fraud, massive theft , maybe some fragging ….but no matter how bad it'll be, I am just so glad to be gone from JAG. It hasn't been the same for a long time."
Her voice was very bitter. "Not like it used to be, with a CO who cared about us, not a jerk who abandoned me to die, who nearly ruined your career, who didn't trust you about Singer and wouldn't help you or let us help you …." Mac's voice slowed and she spoke haltingly, blinking her eyes rapidly. "Harm, I am so, so sorry. You've always given 200% for your friends. You must be so angry at all of us." Tall as she was, she seemed to shrink into the sofa cushions. "I had no idea what to expect. I wouldn't have blamed you if you'd slapped me this morning and told me to go to hell."
"Don't say that!" Harm tried to moderate his tone. "Nothing you did comes close to the way I treated you. I was so jealous of Webb I couldn't see straight; I was so stupid about Singer …." Calming, he insisted, "we both have plenty to be sorry about but I hope you know I meant it this morning. Like the movie said ….But Mac, what about your promotion? You're only a couple of months senior to me for 0-5 and I know I'm not in zone until 2005. AND your name? "
Mac's fingers went to where her collar would be if she were wearing one, fingering the edge of her V-necked shirt. She shrugged. "I was way, way below zone. I was so far below zone I never even thought about it until the Commandant called." She looked at Harm a little timidly. "Are you okay with it, me getting my eagles first? I'm just frocked now."
"I don't know anyone who deserves it more." Harm's tone was sincere, and he really did mean it. Mac would probably be the youngest colonel in the Corps, and she would undoubtedly be on the fast track for stars after Iraq. He'd always been proud of her accomplishments.
Ignoring her immediate retort of "you do" Harm continued. "Okay, you're on a roll, how about the rest? The suspense is killing me."
TBC.
