This Perfect Weather, for a Guest. Four years after she left her wounded war hero boyfriend for another man the day he was discharged from hospital, Nikki runs into Mac…and his girlfriend. 'For what it's worth, Mac, I'm sorry.'

AN: This is set in the Just Another Patriotic Guy/The Roommate Chronicles AU, approximately 3 years after Just Another Patriotic Guy ends. Guest, this is probably not what you were thinking of (I'm guessing that you were probably thinking of one of my mostly-canon AUs/canon-divergence AUs), but this scene has actually been in my head for about a year. I thought about including it as an epilogue to Just Another Patriotic Guy, actually, but never wound up doing so. The title comes from the song Sweeter than Fiction by Taylor Swift (incidentally a favourite of mine).

WALMART

WASHINGTON D.C.

Nikki Carpenter strode along the aisles of the Walmart (not her usual one, but her last meeting of the day had been nearby, and she'd decided to stop by and do a quick grocery run – she and her husband were almost out of several staples), a basket in hand.

She reached the aisle she'd been looking for, the one with pasta and sauces, and started walking down it, only to stop in her tracks.

Standing at the other end of the aisle, examining all the varieties of dried pasta on offer, a hand on a shopping trolley, was a very familiar man.

A very, very familiar man.

Mac selected two packs of pasta, and turned to put them in his trolley, and froze, staring at her.

He looked much better, she thought, than when she'd seen him last. He looked strong and healthy again, a massive contrast to that day four years ago. She couldn't help but let her eyes flick down, noting the clear lack of a pinned-up trouser leg, the most obvious change from that day, aside from the lack of crutches.

As she looked up at his face again, Mac's own gaze flicked up from where it'd been caught on the pair of rings, one a relatively simple band, the other more ostentatious with a trio of sparkly diamonds, on her left ring finger.

They stared at each other for a moment, before the extremely uncomfortable, heavy silence was interrupted by a cheerful female voice, whose owner, a small, pretty brunette, her arms full of a large bag of dog treats, two boxes of paperclips, three bags of red pens and a gallon of cheap, high-fructose chocolate sauce, rounded the corner into the aisle (which was thankfully empty except for Mac and Nikki).

'Paperclips are on special, Mac, and since it's Halloween in five weeks, I thought it'd be a good idea to stock up on red pens and the bad kind of chocolate sauce, they're half-price…'

She trailed off, eyes widening, as she took in the scene in the aisle before her, and froze for a moment, before dumping the contents of her arms into the shopping trolley in front of Mac.

Mac's girlfriend (she could be no-one else, surely – at least given the lack of a ring) then turned and looked Nikki dead in the eye.

The blonde woman was surprised to note that there wasn't a possessive, stay-away-from-my-man look in her eyes.

No, there was a fierce, protective anger there, matched with a slight up-tilt of her chin.

Something that told Nikki, don't you dare do anything to hurt him again.

After a moment, the brunette took a step back, glancing over at Mac, look shifting to concern, before speaking, in a slightly babbling, very awkward manner.

'I'll just go grab some more paperclips, since you can never have enough, and they are 30% off, and maybe we can get Hippocrates some more dog treats…'

She trailed off as Mac reached out and grabbed her hand, looking into her eyes for a moment, and she simply gave a little nod in response to what she saw there, squeezed his hand, and looked back at Nikki, that fiercely protective look back in her eyes.

Nikki swallowed, finally finding her voice.

'For what it's worth, I'm sorry, Mac.'

She didn't regret what she'd done, not at all. She didn't regret breaking up with Mac for her now-husband.

She did, sometimes, regret how she'd done it, even if she'd lost, honestly, less sleep than she probably should have over it.

Maybe she should have broken up with him over email or over the phone or on Skype, while he'd still been deployed.

Maybe she should have done it when he'd first woken up in that hospital bed at Bethesda.

Maybe she should have done it a week or two after that, while he was still in the hospital or the rehab centre, once his recovery had progressed a little more.

But at the same time, it didn't feel like something that should have been done over the phone or over a screen, and how could she have broken up with a wounded war hero while he lay in hospital?

And if she'd done it earlier, how might that have affected Mac? Would he have been in more danger over in Afghanistan, either due to distraction or recklessness? Would it have compromised those early days of recovery?

The answer to both was probably yes, she thought.

And that had mattered to her, it really had.

Just because she didn't love him anymore didn't mean she didn't care about him at all.

Her ex-boyfriend blew out a breath, eyes flickering closed for a moment, before swallowing and opening them again.

'I…I hope you're happy, Nikki.'

That was completely, totally genuine. Of course it was, of course he really did want her to be happy, because he was Mac.

A soft little smile appeared on her face.

'I am.' She really, really was. Never had been happier. 'I hope you're happy, too.'

She meant that, she really did.

He smiled too, squeezed his girlfriend's hand, then replied, looking at her, not Nikki.

'I am. Very.'

They stood there, a little awkwardly, but far less uncomfortable than previously, for a moment more, before they each gave a little nod, then Mac spoke, addressing his girlfriend, as Nikki turned to the selection of pasta sauces available.

'They've got 30% off paperclips, Beth? All paperclips?'

Out of the corner of her eye, Nikki saw the brunette woman nod with a fond smile on her face, then poke Mac in the chest.

'Yes, Mac, their whole range of paperclips. But no buying more than another four boxes; there's not enough storage space at home for more than that!'

He chuckled, and still out of the corner of her eye, she watched them walk off, Mac pushing the trolley one-handed and sliding an arm around Beth's waist.

'Well, actually, I think I have an idea…if I promise to use some of my stockpile to increase our storage space tonight, can I buy more?'

'You never break your promises, almost all of your ideas are excellent, you are exceptionally skilled at paperclip-based construction, and similarly talented at maximising storage…so I think I can definitely be persuaded, Mac.'

AN: Guest, I know this is probably not what you were thinking about, but did you like it anyway? Everyone else – what did you think? This is honestly one of my most sympathetic portrayals of Nikki, methinks…and yes, Mac is going to go home and build a paperclip storage system so that Beth will let him buy more paperclips, as he has filled the allotted storage space (aided and abetted by her purchasing more whenever they're on sale and there's room in the allocated storage space) in what is, at this stage, technically their and Bozer's apartment…

Up next: Constants and Variables. Some things are constant, no matter the universe. Mac and Jack's bromance is one. Their contentious first meeting is another. Jack being scolded by Mac's wife for beating up her husband? That isn't. Or, an AU take on the start of Mac and Jack's relationship.

The next one is set in the universe of A Woman Scorned, so maybe read that before the next post (in two days) if you haven't already?

As always – let me know if you've got a request!