Title: You Don't Always Leave with the One Who Brought You Author: Sheila Disclaimer: As If Pairing: Webb/Mac Rating: R Summary: Blind dates can turn out well, if you can find someone else to go
home with. A/N: In Response to a challenge.

Clay's POV

Monday, 0900 Hours CIA Headquarters Langley, Virginia

The invitation to the Wolf Trap Associate's Ball arrived in the mail as it did every year. My mother insisted that I attend; I was a benefactor after all. To avoid an all out assault by my mother's matchmaking team of well meaning friends I once again used my fallback: my thirty-two year-old assistant Lynne, to be my date for the evening.

Lynne's mother was as bad as mine in trying to get her married and producing grandchildren as soon as possible. Lynne, however, was still interested in playing the field and finding Mr. Right. So, several years ago we came to an understanding, if I was in need of a date, she would be said date and vice versa. I would provide any formal wear and jewelry needed. She could keep the dresses, but the jewelry would be returned. An additional understanding was added one evening, if she found someone interesting, she could abandon me to my own devices and not face an irate boss the next morning. All in all it was a good arrangement. I just hadn't found anyone to go home with.

"Lynne, time to go shopping," I said as I flipped my AmEx card to her.

"Where, when, how formal, and how demure do I have to be?" Her standard questions when we set up one of our 'dates'.

"Wolf Trap Associate's Ball; Saturday, 8 p.m.; Black Tie; My mother will be there." I answered.

"That leaves out anything see through or with nipples showing. Damn, there goes the Versace I was dreaming about. So I'll settle for the Vera Wang number at Neiman's." She said with her usual sarcasm. I had hired her after going through over ten experienced assistants in three years. She held me in the palm of her hand from the moment the interview started when she answered my first question with a familiar sarcasm and smirk on her face. When I realized I was looking in a mirror I knew I had my assistant.

"Just be ready at 7:15, I'll pick you up. What color is the Vera Wang and what jewelry do you want?"

"Oh, the emeralds, or diamonds will work. Nothing too gaudy, Mother will be there." She smirked at me.

"You can be fired, you know." I threatened.

"No I can't. The DCI has assured me that no one else will work for you and that I have employment for life. I have martyr status around here." She countered.

"Tell me why I put up with you?"

"I'm cute, loyal, make you the best coffee, I type well, fill out your expense reports, of which no other assistants do, by the way; I am you standby date; I take care of you when you are sick, and I am one of your best friends. And I'm going to find you the girl of your dreams." She enumerated one by one with her fingers.

"OK, I give. I'm going to JAG to let them know about the resolution of the McMurdo Sound incident with the Chinese. The JAG lawyer on that destroyer talked them out of a bad situation just in time to avoid a major international incident. And good luck on finding me the girl; I haven't had any luck on my own."

Sarah's POV

1000 Hours JAG Headquarters Falls Church, Virginia

"Harriet, I'm sure he is a nice man, but a blind date? I'm thirty-four years-old. I just don't do blind dates." I said as I poured coffee for the two of us.

"Ma'am, Mac, please. It's just one date. It is a night of dinner and dancing out under the stars, and it is supposed to be a lovely night. You have to get out and it won't hurt. Since you and the Cmdr. have decided to be 'friends' you haven't dated anyone have you?" At my look of agreement she continued. "Meet him for lunch, and if it doesn't work out don't go to the ball. OK?" She pleaded.

"Have him call me, and we'll do lunch. We'll see how it goes." I reluctantly caved in to her overwhelming persuasion. On the way back to my office we met Clayton Webb entering the bullpen.

"Webb, hello, what brings you to JAG?" I asked with a big smile. He hadn't been around in a while to ask favors. Now that I saw him I realized how much I missed him. He answered my question with a broad smile that showed very cute dimples.

"Good to see you Colonel, Lt. Simms. Just dropped in to thank AJ for some help a shipboard JAG provided. If you'll excuse me?" He gave us another devastating smile and continued on to the Admiral's office.

"Harriet, I don't know what's got into me, but all of a sudden that smile is making me tingle, Harriet, Harriet?" She had a dazed look on her face.

"Tingle, Mac? If I weren't married to Bud, I'd check out what's under that three piece suit. That smile, ooohhh, and it was aimed at you." She gave me a quizzical look.

"Don't look at me; all I did was say hello. But I agree those suits have to be hiding something." I waggled my eyebrows at her and we broke into giggles.

Saturday Evening Wolf Trap Farm Park

"Eric who is the young lady you have been eyeing for the last several minutes?" I teased my date for the evening. He was a very enjoyable date but there was no spark and we both knew it. She and her companion were seated at the far end of our banquet table and I could only see her.

"I don't know. I'm sorry Mac, she keeps catching my eye and returns my looks like she wants me to go over there and talk to her. This is unforgivable. I've been taught better." He looked very embarrassed at his confession. I patted him on his hand.

"No apologies needed, Eric. She is very attractive, and she has been giving you come hither looks." He turned red then chuckled.

"Maybe when the dancing starts we'll switch partners?" He queried.

"We have a deal, only if her date isn't a loser!" He looked too pleased, but I had to laugh. The lady in question really had been giving him the 'I'm really interested look' for the entire meal.

Clay's POV

"Lynne who are you ogling?" I almost had to pull her chin around to face me.

"Clayton Webb, I think he may be the one." She said dreamily.

"What do you mean "THE ONE"?" I said using my fingers for quotation marks.

"Your days of relying on me as the fallback are over if things go right tonight."

"Lynne you haven't even met the man, and he is here with a date I would think."

"Not a problem, we switch partners when we dance. Remember the pact."

"You've only done that once, and remember what a disaster that was. You cried on my sofa for two weeks." She had been a basket case because the gentleman in question had turned into an octopus in the car and then turned violent when she wouldn't 'pay for their evening'. If I hadn't insisted on her taking self defense classes the only bad thing that happened was that her dream man hopefully would never father children. She had been shaken and very angry when she showed up at my doorstep later that evening.

"I'm older and wiser now Dad." She said with exasperation.

"I won't let you leave with him unless you can prove to me that he is trustworthy."

"You are not my keeper." We were approaching stand off mode, which was common territory for us. We averaged 50/50 on who gave in.

"But I am your friend." She rolled her eyes. I had used the trump card and she gave in grudgingly.

"Be nice. I really like his eyes, they're beautiful." The dreamy look came back into her eyes.

The orchestra had been tuning up for the last several minutes and the master of ceremonies for the evening invited the guests to begin dancing. Mother and her cronies were deep in conversation as Lynne and I stood and went to the dance floor. When we had first started our mutual dating service Lynne didn't know a waltz from a foxtrot and I had spent several hilarious hours teaching her ballroom dancing. One thing about her once she had a skill down pat, it was hers for life.

They started out with several show tunes and she literally dragged me around the ballroom floor looking for Mr. Right. After the end of the fourth song she came to a sudden stop, she had found her man and was making a bee line for him. His date's back was to me, but her back was to die for. Her dress had no back and the skirt was a sparkly midnight blue. Her short brown hair just brushed the gorgeous shoulders revealed by the halter neck. When we were within just a few feet of them, the woman turned to see who her date was gazing at, and I saw the lovely face of Sarah McKenzie. A glorious smile lit her face and I'm sure a matching one was on mine.

"Sarah."

"Clay."

"Colonel McKenzie? The three of us all spoke at once. Sarah and I were lost in each other and ignored Lynne and Sarah's date.

"Clay, Clay!" I turned to Lynne with a questioning look.

"I'm going to dance with Eric. Don't wait for me. I'm sure you'll be occupied." She gave me a knowing look and waltzed off with Eric of the beautiful eyes.

"Would you care to dance Sarah?" I said with bemusement.

"I thought you'd never ask." She placed her right hand in my left, and our other arms wound around each other's waist and we began dancing to "The Way You Look Tonight." We didn't say a word for several minutes, I led and she followed like we had been dancing together for years. We simply smiled and looked at each other until we both began chuckling.

"Have we dumped our dates or have they dumped us?" She asked between laughs.

"Well, since Lynne came with me with the express purpose of dumping me tonight, I'm going to say that we definitely dumped them." I practically gloated.

"Why did you smile at me when you came by JAG earlier this week and again tonight? They were great smiles, but totally unexpected."

"I don't know. All of a sudden you were there, you were absolutely beautiful and I had to smile. You haven't met Lynne before. But she had told me just before I left the office that day that she was going to find me the girl of my dreams. When I saw you, you met my criteria." I was afraid I'd said too much and looked away.

She reached up and turned my fact to her. "You should have stayed a few minutes and overheard the conversation that Harriet and I had. That smile made my tingle and it still does." The bandleader announced a break and I led Sarah from the dance floor along one of the many paths lit by the fairy lights. Other couples were strolling about but we managed to find a deserted one and came to a stop near a small pond.

"Look, Black Swans." She said and pointed to two magnificent animals swimming in the moonlight.

"Swans mate for life." I whispered. I was standing behind her with my arms wrapped around her as we watched them glide back and forth, then we noticed four cygnets paddling madly trying to keep up with their parents.

"Are you suggesting anything?" She turned in my arms and placed hers around my neck.

I looked into her eyes and saw my dreams reflected there. Lynne had always said that I would know by the look in the eyes when I had met 'the one'. It seems I had known my 'one' for several years but had never looked before.

"I am; are you willing to take a chance?" I held my breath, not really knowing how she would respond.

"Then let's go home and continue to dance there." We kissed softly as if sealing a sacred pact and turned and walked slowly back to the sounds of the band.

"Tell me, is Eric trustworthy? I don't want to leave Lynne with just anyone, even though she was having fits to meet him all through dinner."

"Trustworthy? Clay he's a Military chaplain at Quantico. I think he'll pass your muster." I almost fell over laughing; Lynne had met her match, finally!

We made it back to the dance floor where I spotted Lynne and Eric; we gave each other a thumbs up and a wave goodbye. Sarah and I said good evening to Mother and her friends and made a quick exit. Mother couldn't quite figure out why I was leaving with a different woman than the one I came with, but the explanation would wait until another time.

Sarah's POV

Clay's mother was giving me interesting looks the entire time we were taking our leave. The looks were not hostile, just very curious, I have a feeling that when I met the formidable woman again that I would be in for quite an interrogation.

While we waited for the limousine to arrive we embraced and slowly swayed to the music still playing in the background. I'm sure if anyone else were standing close to us the heat we were generating would have burned them to cinders. We traded soft kisses and touches not daring more knowing we wouldn't be able to stop once we started.

After we were seated in the back of the limo Clay raised the privacy window and inserted a CD of soft romantic ballads. He pulled me into his arms as I straddled his lap and the kisses and caresses began in earnest. The drive home would be at least forty-five minutes and we were going to spend it very enjoyably. As he began kissing my shoulders I began untying his tie and unbuttoning his embroidered formal vest and shirt. I wanted to feel what was under this tuxedo.

"A little anxious are we?" He smirked.

"Not anxious, just very curious, I want to see the body that you have been guarding like a state secret beneath these suits."

"As you wish, Buttercup." The smirk got bigger.

"You've seen the "Princess Bride"? I asked giggling, and then stopped trying to get him out of his clothes when I realized what he said.

"Yes, several times. It's a great comedy, adventure, and love story all in one."

"And thus you know what 'As you wish' means." I was almost frightened of his answer.

"It means I love you." He said simply and sincerely. I started crying, the tears running silently down my face.

He pulled me to him and kissed my tears as they fell. "I didn't mean to make you cry, but I did mean what I said. I have liked and respected you for years, and suddenly there was love." Then he kissed me with all the love he must have had in his heart, and I felt it all through my body.

"I still haven't seen the chest." He laughed and tore open his shirt. It was everything I dreamt it would be; the man had a chest and then some. He quickly unhooked my halter top.

"Now that is what I call a chest." He groaned as he placed both hands on my breasts and slowly rubbed them avoiding my nipples until I grabbed his hands and placed them where I wanted them. I couldn't help but move and wiggle in his lap in pleasure and feel how I was affecting him.

"Would you mind if I removed a bit more of your clothing?" He said fingering my panties.

"As you wish." I smiled as I moved from his lap. He stopped moving his hands over my bottom, and pulled me against him for another kiss. He looked at me seriously and started to ask, but I placed my hand over his mouth.

"Yes I mean it. Now help me off with these." He practically ripped the panties from my legs and pulled me across his lap.

"Didn't you forget something?" I reminded him. At his puzzled look I added, "The pants are sort of between you and me, don't you think?" He looked down and laughed and I helped him remove his offending clothing.

I knelt up and slowly lowered myself down on his impressive shaft and we began moving languorously at first moving our hands over each others exposed skin. I found that he particularly liked to have his nipples pinched and he found the spot behind my ear that made me shiver; we were both highly trained investigators. The tension between us had been building up between us all evening and we didn't last very long, as we both began reaching orgasm he slipped a hand between us and circled the excited bundle of nerves he found then pinched it until I screamed and came calling his name. He followed me over the edge a moment later. He rested his head against my chest breathing deeply.

"If we are this good in the back of a limousine, I think we'll set a bed on fire." He said between gasps.

"Better increase your fire insurance then! I intend on trying out that bed quite a lot this weekend and in the future." I smiled into his hair.

"I'll get a fire extinguisher just in case." He said as he looked into my eyes.

"Oh, I almost forgot about Lynne. You did say Eric was a chaplain. I hope he didn't take a vow of chastity!"