Chapter 12: The Short End Of The Stick

Author's Note: Curiouser & curiouser. If anybody feels confused while reading this chapter, you're not alone. Remember, he's a spook! I promise I will enlighten you as soon as I find some illumination myself!


Tuesday, October 28, 2007

Mac tries to disentangle herself from her sleeping husband's embrace without disturbing him. It doesn't work. He tightens his hold. She tries again; this time giving up the effort not to disturb him. She playfully pokes his shoulder with two fingers. He murmurs; only half conscious.

"Harm, let me go. I have to get up now. If I don't, I'll be late for work and Laura will be late for school."

"Ten more minutes." He disagrees with a yawn but does not open his eyes.

"You can stay in bed as long as you like, but I have to get up now."

He opens one eye and flashes a sleepy version of his customary grin. "You… stay… Here with me; ten more minutes."

She smiles languidly but slowly shakes her head. "Not to say that isn't a highly tempting offer Flyboy, but I'm already going to have to rush as it is. It's almost 0600. I haven't showered. Laura's not up and I want to be at the office by 0730 at the absolute latest."

"Stay." He persists. "Ten more minutes. Then, you can shower and I'll get Laura up. I may as well get up anyway. Tomorrow I have to."

"Meh." She thinks it over. "Okay… But only ten more minutes." She settles back in. "Anybody ever tell you that you're a bad influence? She kisses his bare shoulder. "Are you excited about tomorrow?" She can feel the slight flexing of his jaw against the top of her head when he grins in anticipation of taking up his new post.

"Yeah, I'll admit it. I am."

Mac murmurs quietly. "Look out Special Warfare Command. Here he comes!"

It's his turn to poke her as the hazy light of early morning streams through their favorite window; overlooking the water. "I can't tell if you're being supportive, are predicting doom."

"A little of both." She says with equal parts pluck and sass. "Trouble does have a way of finding you Harm. Fortunately for the people around you, you seem to be exceptionally good at getting yourself out of it."

"Years of practice." He admits with ease as memories of some of his adventures flash through his mind like worn out images on an ancient reel of eight MM film in dusty condition. Although many of those memories were made with the woman at his side, not all of them were.

He breathes deeply and she senses the slight shift in his mood. Remembering the heartache and the nearly torrential flow of tears from a few hours before, she gently runs her fingers through his chest hair and snuggles a little closer. "You okay Flyboy?" She asks softly.

"Yeah, I am. I was just thinking about Keeter."

Surprised, she chuckles with the slightest bit of self-deprecation. "I guess it's good that you can still surprise me, but boy did I call that one wrong."

All too aware of her thoughts, he squeezes her shoulder and kisses the top of her head. "Mattie's taking a breather. I don't hear her voice at just this moment."

"Often?"

"Daily. Usually multiple times a day. She's been fussing at me for the better part of two years to come here and…" he forms quote marks in the air with his fingers. "Fix things."

Mac chuckles softly. "No wonder she's taking a breather. Harm, she's exhausted! You are kind of thick-headed; you know?"

Undisturbed by the mild insult, he shrugs. "You're a fine one to talk Jarhead!"

She gently pokes him for the second time and says with a smile. "I didn't say you weren't in good company."

Harm opts to pretend he didn't hear her. "Laura said she saw them yesterday at the gallery; Keeter and Skates I mean. You don't suppose they're here together?"

Mac shrugs. "Obviously they are spending time together, but I doubt they arrived here together. Keeter got PCS'd."

Harm lifts his head off the pillow and raises an inquiring eyebrow. "And exactly how would you know that? Laura didn't say anything about a change of station for him. She only said that he's here."

Mac makes a show of widening her eyes mischievously. "Oh… I have my ways."

Harm eases her onto her back and rolls with her until he is propped on his elbows squinting down at her beneath him. "What aren't you telling me, Marine?"

Mac smiles up at him sweetly. "When he showed up for the wedding, he happened to mention that he was stuck in Germany, through no fault of his own. It took me awhile to put two and two together and come up with four because he couldn't give me very many details, but I got there eventually. I felt bad. So… I cashed in a big favor." She shrugs as if it's no big deal.

Wholly unconvinced by her easygoing manner, Harm asks; "Why should you feel bad if Keeter got himself stuck in Germany?"

"Harm, you aren't listening. I told you, it wasn't his fault."

"Okay, so who's fault was it?"

Mac holds her right hand up for him to see with a ¼ inch gap between her thumb and forefinger. "Maybe it was just a tiny bit my fault… but mostly it was Webb's."

Harm tilts his head to one side and squints doubtfully, and with no small amount of curiosity. "Explain please."

"You won't like it," Mac warns lightly.

He considers this for less than ½ a second and nods. "Tell me anyway."

"January 2006. Clayton Webb showed up at my office unexpectedly one day. I refused to see him. I should've known he wouldn't take 'no' that easily. I just didn't think about it. So naturally, that evening he was knocking on my front door. He said he needed help with an assignment. I stopped him before he could explain any further. I declared myself not to be in the 'need to know' category, and told him I didn't care what he needed or why he needed it. I didn't want to know. I told him to look elsewhere. Turns out he did and somehow the next person he found was apparently Keeter. I don't know many of the details. But I know Keeter wound up on the wrong side of a job that unsurprisingly didn't go well. Keeter told me that much himself. Harm, I know we all make jokes at his expense about his colorful personal life. That being said, he's good. I'd have no problem working with Keeter again. It only it took me a few seconds after he told me about a mysterious job with the State Department to think of Clay and to start wondering if maybe he somehow got a raw deal. He wouldn't say so himself; I asked him and he just shrugged it off. So, I made a few phone calls last month. It had been nagging at me since the wedding. I called Langley. Had to call a few times. After the third and fourth call, I got the sense that Clay was ducking and my calls. I told April, Laurie June's replacement, to tell him that if he didn't call me back within 24 hours I would get on a plane, and camp out in his office for as long as it took. Six hours later Webb was standing in front of my desk at the JLSO demanding to know what the problem was. I have to say, it kind of impressed me. Clay's usual motis operandi is to avoid me when I'm less than thrilled with him… Dealing with me head on really isn't his style, or at least it didn't use to be. We had a rather ominous verbal sparring match… Until I got what I wanted. He finally admitted things didn't go well with the assignment, and he conveniently let most of it fall on Keeter. I promised to make good on an old threat… To hang his ass over a very deep chasm. Then, I made a few new threats. Next thing you know… Keeter's stateside. I hope things are better for him now. I'm sure he'll call to let us know he's here. Maybe he could help you uncrate Sarah. She's at Magellan now; right?" Mac gives him a look of mild uncertainty; hoping he'll take the suggestion lightly.

Harm can't help but grin. "Yes, Sarah arrived at Magellan two days ago. I'm going to go visit her this coming weekend, and nice try Marine! That was a fairly smooth change of subject. Thought you'd slip right passed my questions; didn't you? You not only called but apparently saw Clay last month and conveniently forgot to mention it. Were you going to mention it before you departed for Virginia?"

"Mention it?" She feigns insult. "Hey, I was gonna take you with me… If I had to go! You were back from London by then. I would've filled you in on all of it, at least as much as I know if we needed to go. We'd go down there and rattle his cage just like we used to! It might've been fun." She announces with a wicked smile.

"Fun huh?" he asks skeptically. "Then how come you didn't tell me about it until now?"

She shrugs and explains simply. "Didn't have to go. And anyway, by the time I got home that day; the last person I wanted to talk about was Clayton Webb. As memory serves, you were in a particularly pleasing mood." She flashes a seductive smile. "I didn't wanna distract you. Mention of Clay would have spoiled the mood. I didn't think about him again for a couple of days. And by then, it was over and done. He'd gone back to… wherever he came from. You know Clay. The only thing he does better or faster than showing up at inconvenient moments; is disappear."

Harm watches a slight frown materialize and then vanish from her face. "You could have told me sooner Mac. You probably should have. And I'm not at all sure why you think you might bear any responsibility for whatever happened to Keeter."

"See if you can get Keeter to tell you about it whenever you two see each other; I'm sure it will be soon enough. I felt bad. Clay tried to ask me to go… do whatever it was Keeter did. I wouldn't even give him the chance to explain. The next guy down the list just happened to be one of your best friends. It wasn't technically my fault… But… Let's just say I feel better now. As for Clay, I'm fairly certain he won't be popping by anymore. But if I'm wrong, I'll tell you about it… If you really want me to."

"Please do. What makes you think he won't be coming around again the next time he needs a professional favor?"

"He knows I'm not going to work with him. He also knows I've gotten married. Last month I caught him staring at my rings. He didn't ask. I didn't feel it was necessary to supply him with answers to questions he wasn't going to lend voice to. We are none of his business anyway. I used to tell him that even when he did have the right to ask. Prior to last month, the last time I saw him was almost seven months ago. I can tell he's still extremely uncomfortable with what transpired then. His discomfort keeps him at arm's length. I'd prefer things to stay that way between us; lest he gets the wrong idea."

"What happened seven months ago?" Harm questions boldly and with mild concern.

"He needed a place to dry out again; get back up on the wagon. I did help him with that, but that's all it was Harm. He spent a week here, and then I drove him to some swanky rehab his mother booked him into."

"He was here with you?" Harm looks around the room uncomfortably.

Mac rubs his back affectionately. "Harm, he was never in this room… I promise. Please, don't even go there. I couldn't have been less interested in that. And no one, absolutely no one, is sexy when they're drying out!"

"Okay… But were you safe with him here in that condition? My understanding is that detox is one door away from Hell. Not just for the person going through it, but also for the person or people helping them through it."

"Harm first, realize that, other than Laura's bathroom, our bedroom door is the only interior door in this house with a lock on it. Clay, here and drying out, is the reason that lock was installed. Second, forget the one door away theory. Detox is hell; the seventh ring of it. Clay's life, his work, didn't make it any better for him. It was ugly; for him and for me… I've never seen a week quite like that one; not even when I was drying out. I don't want to see another one like it either. I can't say I'll ever do it again, but I don't regret doing it. I'm actually glad I did, but if he falls again. He has to look elsewhere. He knows that too. After he left here, for rehab, I didn't see him again until last month. I did get a postcard about four months ago though. There were only three words on it. 'I owe you.' He didn't even sign it, but I'd recognize his handwriting anywhere. I decided to cash in… For Keeter. I still don't know what the hell happened in Germany. But, at least Keeter's home. That's good enough for me."

Harm nods thoughtfully. After a quiet moment, he asks "So, how did Webb seem last month?"

"Sober… And better. Don't get me wrong, he still a smug bastard… And not half as smooth as he thinks he is, but he's better."

Harm is a bit surprised when she actually giggles before concluding. "Reminds me of that old saying, You can sober up a horse thief….."

Harm guesses, "But he's still a horse thief?"

Mac's pretty mouth stretches into a wide grin. "That's it!" She declares and gives him a brusque kiss. "Now get off me Squid! I've got to get ready for work, and you've got to wake Laura."