Fixing the scene where Mac hides the engagement ring from Harm

People V. Gunny

The diamond was big, bigger than Mac expected Mic could afford on his salary and it was a weight that had been pressing down on her heart for the past 48 hours.

She hadn't exactly said "yes" to marrying him but, just as Mic had wormed his way into several dates since Harm's departure, she allowed him to push her now as well. And push he did, telling her it was a 'friendship' ring with the promise of a future when the time was right.

"No pressure." Then why did she feel like she was being suffocated? Mac tried to ignore the ring, burying her head in the mountain of paperwork that seemed to grow. She got through half a file and then her eyes caught the gleam of the diamond, the light reflected from her open window.

Slowly Mac pulled the ring free, the curiosity of seeing the diamond glimmering on the proper finger was too much of a temptation. She placed her Marine Corps ring on her desk and slid the engagement ring home feeling all of the butterflies in her stomach that came with a new found engagement.

She'd never been given a ring before although she'd been married. Mac's wedding to Chris Ragel was something of the shot-gun variety just a few days after she turned 18. They both were drunk, laughing in front of a justice of the peace who was only there to take their money.

There was no honeymoon, just a quick tryst in some crappy motel room that was painful and sloppy. Chris had been her first and was too inebriated to realize Mac was still a virgin to take the proper care. He passed out afterwards and Mac spent most of the evening in the bathroom expelling the copious amount of alcohol she'd ingested.

They were together for exactly four months and then his bad boy streak caught up when the Sherif, a drinking buddy of Mac's father, tied Ragel to a slew of automotive thefts in the area. Had it not been for her connection to Joe MacKenzie, Mac would have spent time behind bars as well. It was an ill fated accident and her Uncle Matt which forced her into the strong woman she became.

Strong? "Yeah, right." She snorted and rolled her eyes as it pertained to her current predicament. A strong woman would not have taken a man's ring just because he was infatuated with her. A strong woman would have stood her ground when the man she loved back peddled out of a serious conversation.

A strong woman would have said 'no' and not have lost two days of sleep on would be's and must have's. But then, Mac the Marine was strong... Sarah the woman was weak. As the ring glinted in the light so did the signs of her frailty.

The normaly squared away Marine sat in her chair, shoulders slumped, a sullen expression gracing her beautiful face. 'What have I done?'

She sighed again, this time feeling a solitary tear slide down her cheek.

Shouldn't a recently engaged woman feel happy? Mac was anything but and when a certain male voice echoed in the bullpen, she felt a deep sadness rooting itself within.

Harm. She loved him only it was far more profound that that. Mac was in love with him in the kind of way that made her ache to be loved by him. Angrily, she brushed away the next tear that fell and then another. She needed to stop feeling for him to stop loving him. Harm didn't feel the same, the evidence had been clearly presented from the first moment she'd hinted at a romantic interest.

Each and every time he'd taken evasive maneuvers, a methodology to keep her off his scent only she was too blinded with love and ever hopeful that he'd come around. Mac had hinted and he was either too oblivious or mortified to see her as a suitable partner.

'What's love go to do with anything?' He'd told her before walking out to a new life that Mac wasn't a part of. For weeks her fingers hovered over an un-sent email which resided in her 'draft' folder and a message that stated, in no uncertain terms, that she loved him. Fear kept the message from reaching its intended target, resentment forced Mac from fully accepting him back to the fold when he returned six months later.

And then came Australia, a stupid trip that she never should have bulled her way into. Taking a cruise on the Titanic would have been less harrowing than the ferry ride with Harm. Her approach had been meant to tease a response out of him a reason as to why a certain chemistry lived between them. Unfortunately, Mac's approach had been a bit aggressive, pushy even and Harmon Rabb Junior was not the type of man to be pushed.

Their conversation erected every single one of the barriers which he'd previously brought down before her and raised new ones. He'd looked at her with an expression of pure shock, clearly unable to see her as anything other than his friend. She'd misjudged his past jealous criticism as that of romantic interest, a mistake that Mac wouldn't fall for again.

She wasn't a leggy blond, the type of woman that normally held Harm's interest. It really didn't help Mac's case that she was a dead-ringer for the former love of his life. That scar had long since faded, or so she thought but, what if he'd only learned to live with the pain?

What had she hoped to accomplish in Australia anyway? A change of scenery to clear the fog that had settled between them? A one-night stand that could only add to their growing problems? No. Mac wasn't the one-night affair type of girl and never had been, not even for him.

She craved a life with Harm, a relationship built on trust, love and fidelity. Sighing yet again, Mac stared at the ring imagining Harm being the one doing the asking. There would not have been any trepidation or any pressure simply a mutual agreement to join forever with the man she loved.

Then why wasn't his ring on her finger?

Because such was Mac's life, always settling for something else. With a huff she tugged at the ring, trying to pry it from her finger before anyone noticed the Marine Lt. Colonel was acting like such a girl.

"Shit." Mac cursed and any attempt to release the ring from her finger became futile. She stood up automatically, attempting to get some sort of leverage but, it was like the damned thing had become super glued.

And that was when he came in.

The bastard had the audacity to seem jovial about her predicament, taking pleasure in her distress as she tried to hide her hand. Only Mac hadn't noticed the veiled hurt in his eyes, the regret. "Don't all you girls have hand cream along with 75 other things in your purse?" He motioned with his eyes at the small bag sitting next to her briefcase.

Mac shook her head, staring with confusion as Harm headed out to the bullpen and after a brief conversation with Harriet, returned with a small tube of something or other. He closed the door behind him and sat at the edge of her desk. "Give me your hand."

Perplexed, she did as told watching curiously when Harm took a few sheets of tissue and place them on his leg along with Mac's hand. He then popped open the tube of hand cream and squeezed out a liberal amount onto her finger. "My academy ring gets stuck sometimes when I run. Had a few scares."

Carefully he lathered around the ring, making sure the cream would not touch the diamond. It really was an exquisite peice, he mused. A ring that most women would kill to have as a sign they'd been taken.

It just wasn't a piece of jewelry he could ever envision Mac wearing. It far too gaudy and flashy for her small hands. He expected Mac to pick something smaller, elegant, classy but then, she hadn't been the one to choose. The oversized hunk of carbon was clearly all Brumby's doing, a sign of his arrogant claim on Mac.

"It's not working."

"Give it a minute." Harm wrapped his thumb and index finger around the band and carefully began to twist until the ring began to move. "Hurts like hell if you just yank it over the joint. You need to coax it a bit." And yet, the ring was not moving enough. He applied more cream surprised that Mac hadn't stopped him yet. "I didn't know you'd gotten that serious with Brumby."

Neither had she past a few dinners and only one that she'd constitute as a date. Even then, Mac had taken her own car and gone home alone. She knew Mic was interested in her but, that things would get this far this quickly was another matter. "We didn't, I don't think."

His eyes that were once focused on the task at hand raised to hers. Harm held her gaze for several breath hoping to find the answer he was missing the why she'd go to Brumby 24 hours after propositioning herself to him. Had he missed a sign? "You took his ring, Mac."

Mac's eyes drifted away from his and down to their joined hands resting on his leg. He'd stopped trying to remove the ring and was simply holding her hand in his, squeezing gently as if to remind her he was still there. "You pushed me away. What was I supposed to do."

"Wait."

"Wait for what?" And then he clammed up, much as Harm always did when dealing with messy feelings and emotions. His eyes focused on her finger, again applying cream and using a little more force with similar results. "Harm, what was I supposed to wait for?"

Harm sighed heavily. "It's complicated."

"Tell me."

"We work together. If we became involved any fall out would be disastrous."

She was exasperated. "You're worried about work?"

"I'm worried... I-I don't want to lose you." He said simply and dragged his gaze back to hers. "If we screw up, I would lose you." Harm's thumb brushed over the rough surface of the diamond, a reminder rhat his fear was now a reality. "I guess I lost you anyway."

"No, Harm. You haven't lost me." It was then that the ring slipped off, landing in the palm of Harm's hand. He stared down at it for a moment and then wiped the cream off with a tissue. "I never said yes."

"But you took it anyway." He held the ring out to her. "I just want you to be happy, Mac."

"What if I'm happiest with you?" Mac clasped his hand over the ring and then leaned in to press a soft kiss on Harm's lips.