A/N: This chapter will chronicle some of the events throughout Harm and Mac's Friendship and my personal take on those events. Scenes between the ~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~ are flashbacks to episodes already aired...
~*4: Looking Back, Standing Still, Moving Forward
Two weeks later, Sarah MacKenzie walked through the doors of her doctor's office and sighed as she sat in a chair. The enormous aquairium inset in the wall beside her was tranquil and hummed quietly as the fishe danced and played oblivious to her turmoil. "Sarah MacKenzie." a pretty blonde behind the sliding window called. Mac pulled at the soft knit top she wore over loose fitting linen pants. With a smile, the blonde asked for Mac's insurance card and driver's liscence. Mac pulled the information from her wallet and watched as the woman's brow furrowed. They probably don't see military in here often. With a shrug, the woman copied Mac's information and handed her a clipboard. "Fill this out and we'll be with you as soon as we can."
Mac walked to the chair she'd been sitting in and glared at the clip board for a moment before putting pen to paper. She stopped briefly when she reached the emergency contact information. She'd alwasys listed Harm. He was her closest friend, and with no family in the area, the arrangement had made sense. Mac pursed her lips and thought before entering Harriet's name and phone numbers. With another sigh. Mac worked her way through the paperwork quietly.
A couple of countries and wide expanse of ocean away Harmon Rabb sat relaxed in a fashionably decorated, comfortably lived in aprtment. Ella Fitzgerald played quietly on the expensive stereo equipment. Pulling out a cigar, he sat in an overstuffed chair and stared thoughtfully at the desert scene hung on the wall in front of him. Rather than lighting the cigar, he rolled it between his fingers and let his mind drift into a memory...
~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~
That first meeting had been full of surprises for him. How much she resembled Diane had been the first, but the connection was broken the first time she spoke. Her voice was polite and low, but demanded not only attention but obedience. Her smile had been perfunctory; Harm had the distinct impression that if their superiors hadn't been present he'd had gotten little more than a glance form her. For a man who always turned female eyes it was something of a blow to the ego, but more than that it was a point of interest. They'd only met a few hours before, and he could already tell she was hiding something. She was standing on the road and being perfectly reasonable, but something was off kilter for Harm. Turning his back to her, he'd nodded and let her get in the car. It wasn't two minutes later that he had the helo pilot pulling her over. Her eyes had both aggitation, and though she would never admit it, admiration. He'd caught her quickly and easily. The car ride started with tense distrust, and Harm smiled as he remembered her cynicism and distrust. Playing on his expirience with women, he threw that infamous flyboy grin at her.
"That's a very nice smile, and I'm sure most of the time it gets you what you want, but I don't know you, Commander, so if you don't mind, I'll keep my personal reasons to myself." Somewhere between stung and awed he'd wiped the grin off his face a shrugged.
Despite being "taken prisoner," Harm offered to help O'Hara, and Mac in the process. While considering the offer Matt O'Hara showed his own admiration from Harm.
Where'd you find this sailor, Sarah?"
"In a rose garden, Uncle Matt."
This time when Harm smiled Mac smile back.
~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~
And so it began Harm thought with a mild smile. He shook his head and went to the kitchen to dig up a lighter.
Back in D.C. Mac sat in the waiting room watching the fish and sorting through some memories of her own. Most of them brought her smiles, but those were the early memories. When they were getting to know one another, fostering their new partenarship one built on cynicism and banter—friendship came later.
~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"If you have some evidence I should know about..." She trailed off significantly.
"You'll eventually get it, and then you can plea bargain." He appeared to actually swagger as he siad it she thought.
"In your dreams, Commander." She's responded out of habit never considering the connotation of her words.
"Oh, you don't want to be in my dreams, Major." She'd raised an eyebrow at that, but played it straight.
"Red light, Commander."
"Red light?" Suddenly he'd seemed just a little flustered. And that made her smile. "There was nothing sexual in what I said, and if you think there was, then maybe, I should give you the red light." With a shrug, she invited the scrutiny, but the look in his eyes told her there would be no witty come back this time. She lifted the corner of her mouth and walked on smiled. She like this one; he was fun, intellegent and completely uninterested in her as a woman. Mac sighed deciding his indifference in that department would be help to both their partenarship and their burgeoning friendship.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Sarah MacKenzie." Her name, called from the door leading to the back of the office roused Mac from her reverie.
"Hi." She smiled at the nurse who led her to another, small waiting area.
"Miss McKenzie? You'll wait here, the labtech will be by to take a blood sample then she'll take you to the examination room." The woman was older and kindly so mac smiled at her again.
"Are you all right, Miss McKenzie?" the nurse asked.
"I'm fine, just a little...out of sorts." Mac responded with a smile that didn't smack of sadness.
Mac sat down and watched the kindly nurse disappear around a corner. Looking throught the open door of the lab she caught sight of the scale and couldn't help but groan. She'd been eating like a horse the last few days. Comfort food she supposed. A quirk played at her mouth when another memory of harm assaulted her.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Think you can stand, Marine?" She looked at him incredulous.
"Unless you plan to carry me."
"Well, maybe you should have laid off the Beltway burgers."
"Yeah, and you worked out more."
"I can still bitch about freezing my butt off, can't I?"
"Quit your whining. You've got ten percent more body fat then I do." She just looked at for a second—but couldn't pass it up.
"Are you calling me fat, stick boy."
"Stick boy? Women just naturally have more insulation then men." She rolled her eyes and shot him a look that said 'Just put the shovel down, sailor, or you'll never get out of the whole you're big mouth's dug for you."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
She picked up a magazine hoping to distract herself from thought of Harm, but of course, fate had other things in mind. She flipped the magazine open to a celebrity gossip column, and found a familiar face staring at her.
The dark hair and blue eyes were older now, they held a new maturity and a greater understanding of her status in the world. Her smile was plastered on despite the large crowd surrounding her. Mac nearly chuckled. So much for the image of pampered princess she thought.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harm had naturally handled most of the his assignment himself, so Mac had been just a little surprised when he cam eot her and asked for a suggested plan of action. The formal event that had them dancing together wasn't pleasure, but Harm was being really obvious about it. Trying to lighten the mood and redirect Harm's attention before someone noticed his out of place behavior, Mac pat his shoulder and leaned back from him just enough to catch and hold his wandering eyes.
"Harm, I know this is like dancing with your sister, but maybe you could pretend to like it." She looked around pointedly.
"Mac, I don't think of you as my sister."
"You don't?" She raised a brow doubting the truth of the statement
"I don't." With that they both shrugged and danced until the royals were announced and all hell broke loose.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Mac looked up from the magazine's gossip column and smiled at the labtech who just walked in. "Hi," she nodded at the younger woman. "I don't suppose there's anyway to do this without the needles." The labtech looked at her with smiling sympathy.
"Sorry, Sarah." she shook her head. "I'm Laurie. Unfortunately I have to take several blood samples, but I'll only have to use the one needle she said wrapping a rubbet touniquiet around Mac's upper arm.
"Well, the Laurie, I guess you should call me Mac."
"All right, then, Mac." she sadi and while she had the tense Sarah McKenzie distracted she slid the needle in and was reward with only a slight jump.
Hundreds of miles away Ella Gave way to Frank Sinatra, and Harm drifted out of his memories long enough to check his email and galnce over a newspaper before he picked up his cell phone to make a scheduled check-in.
"Harold's Dry Cleaners." a distant voice answered.
"There's a stain on the cleaning I picked up this morning." Harm responded naturally and easily.
"I'll connect you with the manager, sir." Harm heard a seris of clicks and buzzes before a familiar voice picked up on the other end.
"You're late." the irrate voice answered.
"That's how you can be sure it's me, Webb." Harm commented blandly.
"Everything on schedule?"
"Yep." Harm answered. "I was won--" He trailed off.
"What is it, Commander?"
"I've been doing some thinking, and I noticed my next scheduled drop isn't for another six days."
"And?" Webb questioned.
"There's someone at home I really need to see."
"Not a good idea, Harm."
"It's important, Clay."
"So's her life."
"I didn't say..."
"You didn't have to."
"I need to talk to her. The longer I'm here, the more dangerous this gets and--"
Clay stopped him. "All right. Don't go out. Don't stay long. And tell her no one can know you were there."
"Thanks, Clay."
"Book your flight with the..." the was a puse and Harm heard the shuffling of papers. "O'Neil identity."
"All right I'll leave on the first flight—possibly tonight."
"Call HDC when you arrive back in the apartment." Webb said blandly. "Take care of this, Rabb. There won't be anymore day passes."
"Understood."
They hung up and Harm dialed Air France to book a seat on the midnight red eye arriving in NYC at 7 am, He would board his flight to Dulles an hour and a half later and arrive around nine a.m. Harm checked his key ring as he packed his bag—he couldn't go to his apartment so he'd go to Mac's. He ran a finger over the key and hoped she'd be okay with his being there again.
Harm reached for his pistol, then thought twice about packing it. His passport was that of a professor, this time not an air marshall. With a sigh he released the clip and put the separate pieces in his bedside table. Smiling he remembered Mac's provocation based on a similar weapon.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Do you mind if I strip it down?" She asked with a cryptic twinkle in her eye. Harm's mind took a left turn—straight into the gutter.
"What did you say?"
"Your pistol." She answered, with a straight face.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harm's smile melted into a wry grin. Despite her claims to the contrary he had always been sure she was out to provoke him that day. It had worked better than she'd known. Zipping the over night bag he would carry on with him, Mar situated a wire rim pair of glasses on his nose and dawned a tweed jacket complete with leather elbow patches over his blue shirt and black slacks. He looked almost prozac—if an onlooker missed the sharp sting of suspicion in his cerulean eyes. Laying down on his bed he set an alarm for 2100 and rested as more memories of his time with Mac assaulted him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
They'd been in Austrailia a while, and things were tense between him and Mac and even more tense between him and Brumby. He and Mac stood talking quietly on a ferry when the conversation turned in an intimate direction, and true to for he tried to change the subject.
"That opera house is beautiful isn't it?"
In true Mac
form she wouldn't let him off the hook that easily.
"Smashing. So, what bothered you,
that I went to the beach with Mic or that you thought I was topless?"
"You weren't?"
"Harmon Rabb! You're a prude!"
"I am not! Look, I don't care if
you wanna go topless."
"You do if it's in front of Mic."
"You work with the guy Mac! You
wouldn't go topless in front of me would you?"
"Is
that a request?" They
stared at one another for a long moment. Both seemed to be
considering. Wieghing pros and cons. Harm looked up at the
suspension bridge towering over them, and tried to change the subject
again.
"You know they wrote eternity on
this bridge on New Year's Eve?"
"Is that how long we're going to
wait?" There was a sadness
in her voice that Harm couldn't ignore this time.
"Mac..."
"We're not in Washington any more,
we're not even on the same continent."
"That doesn't change who we are."
"Most men would disagree with you."
"I know, I disagree with me
sometimes too."
"But you still can't let go."
"Not yet."
Why? His mind screamed and her eyes inquired.
"Your just like this with me aren't
you?" She shuttered her
eyes and released a small sigh.
"Yeah, only with you."
"I suppose I should be flattered."
"You should Sarah." He was sincere, and he was thinking. In his heart he knew she was the most important thing in his life, but his brain was having a hard time with the idea of transistion. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harm sighed and turned over in the bed as he drfited seemlessly from memory to dream.
~*5: Between You, Me and the Flyboy on the Wall*~
Mac sat wring her hands together as the doctor reappeared at the door to her examination room. "Sarah, why don't you come into my office." Suddenly Mac was worried, but rather than say anything she gathered her purse and followed the neatly dressed woman to a lushly furnished and warmly decorated office.
"Well, Sarah,"
"Mac, Ma'am." She said hoping to make the meeting alittle less formal and tense.
"Mac, then. It looks like you were right. You're pregnant." Doctor McGovern smiled at her, but when the shell shocked look she receved from Mac penetrated her happiness for the young woman she cleared her features of emotion and continued on with the facts. "Based on bloodwork and my examination I'd said your about--"
"Seven weeks." Mac interrupted her.
"Oh, you know the date of conception?"
"Yes." Mac responded looking up at the doctor. "The exact date. I've only--" she looked down to examine her shoes.
"I understand." Though she hated it, this was part of her job too. "Mac, I take it this is an...unplanned pregnancy?"
"You could say that."
"In that case I'm obligated to be sure you're aware of all your options including adoption and termination." The statement cam off in a rushed blandly gruff manner.
"No." Mac shook her head. "I'm surprised, I'm shocked, but I'm not unhappy." she said just barely holding back the tears stinging the back of her eyes.
Dr. McGovern smiled again. "Then," she pulled out a sliding calendar. "We'll call you're due date November 23."
Mac's smile broke through just as the tears started falling.
"What is it, Mac?" The doctor was concerned.
"I'm just not sure how to tell him."
"Good luck." MacGovern said as the tired young Marine left her office.
Mac walked out of the doctor's office after receiving a small bag of mom-to-be-goodies including prenatal vitamins, The What to Expect seris and her little one's first pair of hand knitted booties. She walked into JAG Headquarters with a strange but contented look on her face. Harriett Sims Roberts noticed immediately. "Ma'am, are you all right?"
"Fine, Harriet." Mac responded and walked straight to her office and closed the door. She broedfly debated the pros and cons of telling the Admiral about her situation, but decided to wait until she had either told Harm or simply couldn't hide it anymore.
Hours later Harm arrived at her apratment after a long day discussing strategy and new intel with Webb. Sighing he rubbed his eyes and put his key into the lock. Before he could get in the door the phone was ringing. He decided to let her machine get it, and went to the bathroom to shower off the grime of travel.
"Sarah, this is doctor McGovern's office...." Harm lost the voice in the noise of the shower spray and shrugged he'd ask her about it when she came home.
Back at JAG HQ Harriet walked into find Mac wringing something between her hands as she read file. "Ma'am," Harriet waited for Mac to acknowledge her before entering the room despite the open door. "Ma'am." she said a bit louder and winced as the Colonel looked up with a pained expression.
"I'm sorry, Harriet. What can I do for you?"
"Ma'am it's nearly 1700." The younger woman glanced at the clock on the Bull Pen wall.
"I'm sorry I'm keeping you too late, aren't I?"
"No, Ma'am, it's all right, but it's also not like you to lose track of time."
Mac chuckled. I guess not." Mac started to pack her things up.
"Mac, if you need to talk..." she left the statement open.
"Harriet, would you like to get a cup of coffee?"
"Sure, Ma'a—Mac." she amended.
They walked out together and headed down the street. The walked in silence until they reached the Starbucks at the corner and both ordered their lattes.
"I know something's up with you, Mac. I just don't know what." She stopped considering her next words very carefully. "With everything you've done for Bud and me and little AJ, I'd like to help you, but I can't unless you let me in on whatever it is." she finished quickly, and breathlessly.
"I'm..." the word hung on the tip of her tongue so Mac started over. "Harriet, I have to know you won't tell anyone..." The silence spread out over their table. "Not even Bud... not yet."
"Mac, you can trust me...and Bud, but i'll keep this between us if that's what you want."
Mac let her first real smile in days sweep over face. "I'm pregnant." she smiled at her friend.
"Oh. My. God." Harriet said slowly, her vocie rising with each syllable.
"I know. You can't say anything, Harriet. I mean Harm doesn't even--" Mac stopped dead and the color and joy drained from her face.
"Mac, I'd assumed that anyway." The blonde smiled wistfully. "I've always known there was something special there."
"There's not, Harriet. It was one night. He was--" Mac stopped herself. "I can't even tell him, and as bad as it sounds that's almost a relief for now."
"Ma'am if there's anything you need, just ask and I'll help you if I can."
"You already have, Harriet more than you can know." The two women stood and exchanged a brief, but warm hug. They parted closer friends than they'd ever been. Mac placed a hand over her flat abdomen. Already something to thank the little life grown inside her for. Her smile returned brighter than ever. She drove to her apartment listening to Ella and Louis duke it out over tomAtoes and tomOtoes.
