Title: Mine
Summary: Mac has a stalker… (Harm/Mac Romance, Drama)
Part Twelve – Mac
Monday, March 11, 2002
I wake up to the feeling of warmth on my shoulder, a hand on my hip, and my name in my ear. I open my eyes and see Harm, but slowly shake my head and close my eyes again.
"It's early," I mumble.
"I know," he says. "I have to go home and get ready for work."
"No," I say.
He laughs, and I feel the bed shift and open my eyes to see him standing up. "Get back in bed," I say. I reach for him, but he pulls out of my grasp and shakes his head.
"I'd love to, but I'm meeting a witness at 0900." I scowl, and he smiles. "I'll make it up to you tonight."
I sit up and reach for him. He comes closer and sits on the edge of the bed. "I feel like I still need to make some things up to you."
He shakes his head and places a finger against my lips when I start to speak. "It's behind us." I know I look doubtful, and he smiles. "It's behind us; I promise. I know I was mad and hurt, but we're okay now. Aren't we?"
I nod and cover my hand with his. "We're okay," I say. I gently kiss the tip of his finger, and then he moves his hand from my mouth to the small of my back and tugs me close.
"I love you."
God, those words. I smile, and then I kiss him. The kiss is soft, gentle, and heartbreakingly sweet, and I'm overcome with how much I love this man. When I pull back, I have the ridiculous urge to cry and try to force back the tears. I cup his cheek and run my thumb over the indention beneath his bottom lip. "I love you too," I say softly.
He kisses me once more and then reluctantly pulls away from me and stands. "I'll see you at work?"
I nod and slide back down. I still have a while before I need to get out of bed, and a little more sleep sounds really good. "I'll see you there." I watch him grab his wallet and keys, shoving both in his pocket, and then he does a little spin around the room to make sure he isn't forgetting anything else. Then he looks satisfied and comes back to the bed, and bends to kiss me one more time. "Be careful, okay?"
"Always," I say. He lets out a breath, and then he's gone. I wait until I hear the front door shut and the deadbolt engage, and then I close my eyes and try to go back to sleep.
I manage another forty-five minutes of blissful sleep before dragging myself out of bed and into the kitchen. I make coffee first, and once that's going, I take a shower and dress for the day.
Once I'm dressed, I head back to the kitchen, pour some of the coffee into a travel mug, turn off the machine, and contemplate breakfast for a moment before deciding I'm not hungry, and I head to work. I've lost a few pounds, and when I put on my favorite bra this morning, I noticed that I didn't fill the cups as much as I did a few weeks ago. I haven't been trying to lose weight, but the stress of everything has diminished my appetite, and now I have another reason to loathe the asshole doing this to me.
I hit construction traffic on my way to work, which annoys me a little more. There is always construction going on in DC and Northern Virginia. Always. I mean, they don't call the Beltway the world's biggest parking lot for nothing. But it's either especially bad this morning, or it's just more annoying than usual. Either way, I'm running late when I finally approach the gate to Headquarters and dig into my purse for my wallet. Only…
Shit. My wallet isn't here. Which means I don't have my ID. Shit, shit, shit. The guard is watching me, and I puff out my cheeks. "I seem to have forgotten my wallet, Petty Officer."
He smiles broadly and shakes his head. "Not a problem, Colonel MacKenzie. I recognize you. Go on through."
I let out a sigh of relief and say thank you before maneuvering the Corvette around the barricades and the drive to our building. I park in my usual spot, grab my things and hurry inside. I'm a little later than usual, and it looks like I'm the last one to arrive, which I absolutely hate.
"You okay, ma'am?"
I look up at Harriet and force a smile. "Fine, Harriet. Just one of those mornings."
She grins. "Oh, I know how that is. Let me tell you what little AJ did this morning." She follows me to the breakroom and regales me with my godson's shenanigans while I refill my coffee mug. "Can you believe it? I mean, I know kids flushing things down the toilet is normal, but I always hoped it was just some tired cliché and kids didn't actually do it."
I take a sip and force a smile. "But everything is okay now?"
"Oh, it's fine," she says. "I called my dad, and he managed to find a plumber that was able to squeeze me in on the way to another job. Now we have his toy dinosaurs back, the mess is cleaned up, and I still managed to get him to daycare on time."
I force another smile, annoyed that she called her father in Florida rather than handling it herself. I can only imagine how much extra her father paid to make Harriet the day's first call. I try to get rid of the petty thoughts and take a sip of the coffee. "Well, I'm running late this morning, so I better get to work. I'll see you later, Harriet." She beams and digs around in the fruit basket, and I turn and head back to my office.
I settle into my chair, and I'm reaching to turn on my monitor when I see it, and I feel a wave of nausea so strong that I close my eyes and take three deep breaths. I'm hoping it'll be gone when I open them, but it isn't.
There is a box of Plan-B Emergency Contraceptives on my desk and a folded note with my name on it. My hands shake as I reach for the note and unfold it, and I feel sick as my eyes move over the words.
Sarah –
I thought you were done with him. I thought it was finally our turn. Don't you know how long I've been waiting for you? Longing for you? I took the condoms because I thought you were finally done with him, but you're obviously not. I'm so disappointed in you. Don't you know how dangerous unprotected sex is in this day and age? I know you weren't safe because I was with you at the grocery store yesterday. I saw everything you put in your cart. I know you didn't buy more, and I know he's not considerate enough to provide them. I heard you and him last night (your walls aren't that thick, you know). Once we're together, we should spend our nights at my place, and then you can be as loud as you'd like. Isn't that a lovely thought? I can't do anything about any diseases he may have given you, but at least I can make sure we don't get saddled with his bastard child. Take these pills as directed.
I love you, Sarah. I'm disappointed in you, but I still love you.
I feel sick again as the note flutters back down to the desk. I sweep the box and the note to the floor, and then I reach for my trashcan and begin to retch.
Once I've calmed down, I immediately search for Harm and find him in the law library. I go to him and fling myself at his chest, for once not caring who can see us. He's stunned, falters for a moment, and then wraps his arms around me.
"Hey, hey," he says softly. "What happened?" I don't say anything yet, and we stand in silence while he strokes my back. When I pull back, he tilts my face up and pushes a strand of hair behind my ear. "What happened," he asks again.
I pull the note from my pocket and hand it to him. "This was on my desk." He takes the note and begins to read. "Along with the morning-after pill," I say softly. His eyes look up from the note and lock on mine, and I watch as his face goes white. He swallows hard and then turns his attention back to the note. When he's finished reading, he crumples it in his hand. "Don't do that," I say. "There might be evidence on that."
He shakes his head. "Unlikely. Webb said there weren't any prints other than ours on the other note. Any word from the detective?" I shake my head, and he sighs. "We need to talk to the Admiral."
"Harm," I start, but I trail off at the expression on his face.
"We have to," he says. "I know you didn't want to tell him because you didn't want to tell him about us, but we have to. We have no other leads, and he's been in your home. This has escalated, and he needs to know."
"What if he separates us?"
He shrugs. "I'd hate it. I love working with you, and I would miss that. But if I get to come home to you, it'll be fine. We'll always have that." I imagine I still look hesitant, and he pulls me close again and presses his lips against my forehead. "We have to tell him."
I nod and lower my head to his chest. "Okay."
We pull apart, and he places a hand on the small of my back as he guides me from the library to the Admiral's outer office. Tiner beams at us when we walk in, and I force a smile. "Does he have a few minutes for us?"
"Let me check." He picks up the phone and asks the Admiral if he can see us. He obviously says yes, because Tiner nods when he hangs up the phone and tells us to go on in.
Harm opens the door, and we step inside the inner office. There's a baseball game on, and Chegwidden picks up the remote and mutes the game before telling us to have a seat. He looks from Harm to me, then back to Harm, and frowns. "What's going on?"
"It's two things, actually." I manage to speak first, and both men turn their attention to me. Harm's fingers are tapping against his thigh, and somehow, I know he wants to touch me, which gives me a little more courage. "The first thing," I start, "is that Harm and I are dating."
He doesn't react in the way I imagined he would. I imagined wide eyes full of shock and disappointment that we couldn't maintain a professional relationship. But instead, he shrugs and leans back in his chair. "Okay."
"Okay?" Harm and I repeat the word in unison, and the Admiral offers a slight smile. "I've known for weeks. You both are terrible actors."
We look at one another and then back at him. "But sir," I start, and he cuts me off.
"Listen. This is a fucked-up world right now. And not to sound like a Hallmark card, but I appreciate seeing two people who have been through hell and back find their way to each other. You've behaved with the utmost professionalism, and if I hadn't seen you out at Charlie Palmer on Valentine's Day, I never would have known."
"Does that mean we can still work together?"
He takes a deep breath. "I'm trying my damnedest not to have you going against each other in court. But I'm not going to have one of you reassigned. If this moves to a…." He trails off while he considers his words. "We can revisit this when or if your legal statuses change. But as long as you continue to behave as you have been, I don't care."
"Well, that's a relief," Harm says.
Admiral Chegwidden smiles slightly. "What's the second thing you needed to talk about?"
Harm looks at me and reaches over to take my hand. "We need to talk about something less happy that's been going on."
I feel slightly drained by the time we return to the bullpen. Harm follows me into my office and looks around as I collapse into my chair.
"I'm glad we told him," he says, and I nod. I'm glad we did too. Before we even left his office, he had already called maintenance and arranged to have a security camera added to the bullpen. It would be muted for security purposes, and only he would be able to review it, but it was something.
"Me too," I say. I lean back and close my eyes. I just want this day to be over. Finding the note and the pills were stressful enough. But telling the admiral everything was horrible. I hate feeling weak in front of the men that I work with.
"Excuse me."
We both turn our attention to the door and look at the young woman in an Air Force uniform standing in the open doorway. She's pretty, with dark red hair and bright blue eyes, but she looks uneasy. "Can I help you?"
She stares at me for a moment, and it's a little unsettling. But then she licks her lips and nods slowly. "I hope so. The blonde woman out front told me I could find Commander Rabb here."
I look at Harm, and he steps forward. "I'm Commander Rabb."
She extends her hand. "Lieutenant Erin Malloy. We had a meeting scheduled for this morning."
He glances at his watch and nods. "Of course. I apologize, something came up this morning, and I'm running a little behind schedule. Listen, my office is next door. Go on in and have a seat. I have one thing to finish up with Colonel MacKenzie, and then I'll be right with you." She nods and gives me another unsettling look before leaving my office and walking into Harm's.
We watch her settle into one of his chairs, and then he turns his attention back to me. "Witness in the Velez trial." I don't say anything, and he steps closer to me. "I'll see you for lunch, right?" I nod, and he reaches over and gently squeezes the base of my neck. "It's going to be okay," he says. "I promise."
Once Harm is gone, I figure I should finally start working myself. I have to be in court at 2:00, and while I felt confident earlier this morning, I now feel like I can barely remember my name, much less my rehearsed opening statement. I reach for my briefcase and want to cry when I notice the file I need isn't there. I know exactly where it is – in my apartment, on my kitchen table.
Shit.
I don't really have time to head home, but I have to have it and don't have any other options. I grab my purse and the travel mug of now cold coffee and hurry out to the parking lot, saying a quick prayer for lighter traffic than there was earlier in the morning.
Unfortunately, my prayers go unanswered; if anything, the traffic is worse. It takes me nearly an hour to make it home, and I'm flustered and annoyed when I unlock my front door. I spot the file on the kitchen table and let out a sigh of relief. I grab it, shove it in my briefcase, and then turn and go back to the front door.
I reach for the knob, but before I can turn it, there's a knock on the door. I drop my hand and take a step back. I don't have time for neighbors or salespeople today, and I know that if I give them a minute, they'll go away. I slowly count to sixty, lean forward, and look through the peephole. There wasn't anyone there, and I let out a sigh. Perfect; the coast is clear.
I open the front door, step out into the hallway, and then turn to lock the front door. My key is in the lock when I hear footsteps come to a stop behind me. I freeze for a moment and then turn to see who it is. I hope it's Mrs. Hannigan from next door. Or even the pushy salesman who comes by at least once a month with a $2,000 vacuum. I'd love to see either of them right now. But I know it will not be someone I know when I turn around. I slowly turn, and I see that I'm partially correct. It isn't someone I know. Not anyone I know well, at least. But it's someone I've seen at the guard gate at headquarters nearly every single day since last November. He smiles at me, and I swallow hard while my hand tightens on my keys.
"Hello, Sarah."
End Part Twelve
