Author: Stephjag

Email: Stephrabb@hotmail.com

Disclaimer: I do not own the JAG characters; they are the propriety of CBS, Paramount Studios and they belong to Donald P. Bellisario.

Classification: Romance H/M

Rating: PG

Spoilers: none

Summary: what if Harm's resignation had been submitted?

Author's note: This story is set in season 9. I decided to write the short JAG-story after a little thing I just read about the new season. I hope I'm not wrong about it. The idea just flashed in my mind so I thought I'd better write it down.

This little story is for you AeroGirl. For you and for you Daenar. Your such dear friends to me. You both made me wanted to write stories too and sorry that I'm not as good as you both are.

Many thanks, to AeroGirl for beta-reading!

Feedback: Please, if you would like to express your enjoyment. If my work does not appeal to you for any reason, I have no problem with that, but please, no need to share that with me.

1231 Zulu West Potomac Park Washington DC

It was still early but Harm was already jogging. He couldn't sleep. He had been turning and returning in his bed all night. Why had his resignation been submitted? Why did Chegwidden do it? The last time Mac did the same thing, leaving JAG to work for that jerk Dalton Lowne, he forgot to post it. And this one he did. Why? It hadn't yet been accepted, but what if it was? Harm was running like hell. He was running faster and faster while he was thinking. But nothing was about to change now, all he had to do was wait and pray. Because if his resignation was accepted he didn't what he was about to do then. All his life Harm had been in the Navy.

Oh, God! Help me through this. Don't let my career in the Navy end like this, please. All I did was go to Paraguay to save the woman I've loved for such a long time. Please, God don't punish me for this. You know you let some pretty strange things happen sometimes. I'm not quite sure of the reason of this, but I suppose that I'll have to wait to find out, so I will.

Harm did finally stop when he ran out of breath. Had he worked so hard all these years for nothing? Was life so unfair? He had all these questions in mind and not one single answer. Right now all he could think of was his anger against Clayton Webb. Why in hell was he always doing things like that? Every single time Clayton Webb had appeared in his life something went wrong. First Mac's uncle had stolen the Declaration of Independence. That day had been strange, but the day Corporal Magida had taken the Admiral hostage and he'd had to call Webb himself, everything very nearly went wrong. Since that day every time Clay was somewhere around.

Today was really no different. Harm realized suddenly that his life could be over in a few minutes. If his resignation was approved his entire world would collapse around him and he didn't want that to happen. But how was he to reverse the situation now? How could he make things right? It suddenly occurred to Harm that he could lose much more than his career. He could lose the most important thing in his life: Mac. She was not only his best friend; she was the person who he turned when he had no one else to turn to. Harmon Rabb slowly went back to his apartment, still lost in his thoughts. Life was so strange lately.

1236 Zulu Mac's apartment Georgetown, Washington DC

Sarah Mackenzie hadn't slept much either. She'd been thinking about the same things as Harm. Mac was scared. What if. What if. What if Harm couldn't get his job back? What if he would step out of her life? What was she supposed to do then? Mac decided to take a shower. Maybe then she would have a clearer mind and be able to think about a solution to get everything back the way it was. She suddenly wished she'd never accepted Clayton Webb's mission. He should've asked someone else. Now that every piece of the puzzle was falling into place, Webb had come up with the mission in Paraguay and blew everything up. God, sometimes I hate him. I know he's been tortured for me, and I owe him for that, but still.

Sarah went to the bathroom and turned on the warm water tap, took her clothes off and slipped into the shower stall, letting the water drip slowly off her body and put her hands in her air when silent tears rolled down her cheeks. She felt like someone was about to take back the only gift she had been blessed with and that gift was her partner, her best friend and secretly much more than that. Mac didn't really care about crying right now; she needed it. She slowly closed her eyes and turned and leaned back against the wall.

Harm's face appeared in her mind. "How could this be possible? How could he do this to me? And why in hell did he go after me and Webb to Paraguay? The admiral told him not to do so. So why did he give his resignation and go after all?" Life was so strange lately. "Oh, Harm, why are you doing this to me?" She didn't find any answer to that question, though it was not the first time she'd asked this particular question of herself. Sarah Mackenzie stayed a few minutes longer in the shower before turning the warm water tap off and getting herself out of the stall. She put on her bathrobe, then went into her in the kitchen to put on some coffee.

Sarah observed the coffee trickling for a while before she went to her bedroom and put some clothes on, a pair of jeans and a sweater. After that she got herself a cup of coffee and sat on the couch. Mac was tired, not because she'd worked too much or something like that -- no, she was tired because she'd been crying. Sarah would've given anything to have her friend with her right now. And that was when a thought crossed her mind. Something Chloe had said a long time ago when Harm had come to her apartment to tell her that he wanted to go back on flight duty again. A little while after that when the two 'sisters' were alone again, Chloe had said, "I know why you don't wanna marry my dad. You're in love with Harm." At that moment she repeated the words out loud. "You're-in-love-with-Harm." Suddenly she felt much better. Now all she wanted to do was tell him that but she was scared to death. What if he did not feel the same way about her?

A knock on the door brought Sarah back to reality. Who could that be at this hour? The only way to answer that simple question was to open the door and that's what she did.

"Hey, Mac, can I come in?",

"Hey, Harm, sure -- come on in."

"Thanks."

"So what brings you here at this hour of the morning?"

"Nothing in particular. Just you."

"Me? Why's that?"

Without saying another word, Harm moved closer to her and bent his head down a little before pressing his lips to hers. All Mac's doubts vanished at that moment, and she knew that no matter what would happen in the future everything would be fine because they'd have each other.

***** The End *****