Taking Out the Trash

Author: Alicia

Rating PG-13 leaning toward the R side of things. (For sexual innuendo.)

Summary: A continuation of TR's 50 Ways to Say I Love You #22 Clearing the Table. What if Webb had second thoughts? Oh yeah and an opportunity to make Webb look like the democratic party mascot.

Pairing: Harm/Mac (Duh! It's one of the rules for continuing a story.)

Disclaimer: I don't own JAG. I just like to play with the characters. (If TPTB would play, nice maybe fan fiction writers wouldn't need to!)

Okay, I'm going to post Clearing the table as a prologue to And Taking Out the Trash. If you haven't read the 50 Ways to Say I Love You series they can be found at


50 Ways to Say I Love You
Way #22 Clearing the table


Mac motioned for Harm to open the door of the hotel room, just as her cell
phone rang.

"Mackenzie." She said distractedly into the phone, as she gathered up the
scattered files on the bed, and watched Harm wheel the room service cart
in and set the food out on the table.

{Hi Sarah, it's me.}

Mac smiled. "Hey, are you back home? Or can you not tell me where you
are?"

{I can't tell you, but I found a minute to touch base. How is the trial
going?}

"It's going well. I think we have a strong case."

{Is Rabb giving you any trouble?}

Mac grinned. "No actually he's not. Right now he's dishing me up a plate
of Pasta."

{He's what?}

"Yeah, he's here having dinner with me in my room." She said, as she sat
down at the table in front of her plate. Harm motioned to the grated
cheese, she nodded and he sprinkled a healthy amount over her pasta.

Harm smirked, "Hi Clayton." He said into the phone.

{Great that's all I need.} She heard him mutter.

Mac frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

{Can't you two go on a mission without sharing a room?} The comment was
supposed to be lighthearted, but Mac could hear the displeasure in his
voice.

Mac sighed heavily. "Clay." She said firmly. "Don't start."

{I'm sorry Sarah. Look, I didn't mean anything by it. It's just…I don't
like you spending too much time with him, he's hurt you before, it'll only
make things worse for you.}

Mac turned away from Harm to gain some semblance of privacy. "Listen,
we've been over this okay. I can have dinner with whomever I please, and
sometime I'd like to actually have dinner with you, but you keep canceling
on me. So why shouldn't I have dinner with someone who actually has the
time to spend with me? And don't try to veil your jealousy in false
concern. Harm and I are friends. We always will be, if you can't deal
with that then…"

{You're right.} He interrupted her. {This was always a lost cause.}

"Clay! What…?" She stopped as she heard a dial tone on the other end of
the phone. She stared at the phone for a moment before she heaved a sigh
and tossed it on the table.

Harm eyed her cautiously. "Everything okay?"

"He hung up on me." She replied, still staring at the phone.

"Why?" He reached out and lifted her chin to look him in the eye. "Is it
because I'm here with you?"

Mac sighed again. "He just can't get past…"

"…this thing with us." Harm finished for her. "Maybe that's because we
can't get past it."

Mac held his gaze for a long moment. "We've had this conversation once
before." She said quietly.

"Only once?" Harm replied with a small smile.

A pained expression settled in Mac's eyes. "It's happening again isn't
it."

"Only if you let it happen."

Mac hesitated, and then said. "Are YOU going to let it happen?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Do you want a choice?"

"You know I do."

"Do I?" Mac asked her frustration evident.

Harm smiled. Mac always did get frustrated when he missed that particular
step in their "dance". Only this time, he could hear the music finally
winding down in his head. He moved to sit next to her and put a hand on
her shoulder. "You know now."

Mac regarded him with wide eyes. "Then you have a choice." She told him
softly.

"I'm not going to let it happen." He stated. Effectively stopping the
music, dropping his hands, and ending the dance all together.

Silence filled the room for a long minute while they gathered their
thoughts. Finally Mac spoke up. "So what now? Since you're deciding not
to let history repeat itself, I'd like to know what you have in mind."

"Well." Harm replied, rolling long strands of Linguine in his fork. "I
say we eat. If I'm going to take this discussion off the table, I'm not
going to do it with you on an empty stomach."

"We're taking the discussion off the table?"

"No, I'M taking it off the table. It's my choice remember? I put it there
in the first place." Harm paused and motioned to the other food items on
the table. "Would you like some salad Mac?"

"No thank you." She replied not taking her eyes off of him. "Why?"

Harm paused with his fork in the air. "Why?" He repeated.

"Why are you taking it off the table? Why aren't you letting it happen
again? Why are you even doing this?" She asked without stopping for
breath.

Harm glanced up at her as he finished his bite of food. "Because I love
you Mac." He said simply. "Can you pass the bread sticks?"

Mac's mouth dropped open. "What did you just say?"

Harm smiled, but remained casual. "I love you, and pass the bread
sticks."

"That's it? You're just going to say it?" She paused, trying to
comprehend. "Just like that?"

Harm chuckled. "Well I could be evasive about it, like I have been for
the last eight years if you'd like. Are you going to pass me the bread
sticks?"

Mac held his eyes, but reached over and handed him the breadstick basket.
"No, I don't want you to be evasive about anything. It's just…I didn't
expect…"

Harm shrugged. "I might as well be honest. It's too tiring to try to
hide it anymore." He told her. "Besides, what have I got to lose?"

Mac smiled. "Absolutely nothing."

Harm grinned back at her and pointed to her food with his fork. "Eat.
You're going to need your strength."

Mac's eyebrows rose to her hairline, even as her face blushed a lovely
pink. "I am?"

Harm winked at her. "Oh yeah."



One week later
Dulles International Airport

"It's nice to be back."

"Yeah, it is Mac. So where are we headed?"

"How about your place? It's closer."

"Sounds good to me."

Harm and Mac collect their luggage and head for the long term lot hand in hand. Both of the enjoying the fact that they can do this, since they were wearing civilian clothes.

They headed for Harm's apartment after a small detour to grab some bagels for breakfast in the morning. While it was early evening in D.C., their bodies were still on European time where it was early morning. The result of this time difference was that their only plans for the evening involved crawling into bed and sleeping.

This was something that they'd been doing together for the past week, ever since Clay hung up on Mac and Harm finally admitted his true feelings. Mac just wanted to go home but Harm knew his marine would wake up hungry and wanted to be sure he had something on hand for her.

It was a little after 2100 hours when they arrived at Harm's place. They slowly trudged upstairs and took turns taking a shower and getting ready for bed. They thought about showering together but neither of them had the energy for that kind of activity.

By 2200 Harm and Mac were ready for bed. By 2205 they were snuggled together in the center of the bed, sound asleep.

0800 Hours
The next morning.

"Harm!"

"What? Mac!"

"I'm hungry."

The look Harm gave Mac caused her to shiver.

"I mean I need food. If you want me to have strength for later, you need to feed me."

"What's later?"

"Depends on if you feed me."

Harm chuckles, "Okay, let's go have some bagels and juice."

Harm rolls out of bed pausing to pull his boxers back on. He grabs his robe from the bottom of the bed and hands it to Mac. Once she was ready, they headed to the kitchen and had bagels and coffee in companionable silence.

"So what do we need to do today, Mac?"

"Well, I need to go check on my apartments and we both need to do laundry and go to the grocery store."

"Okay and where are we going to stay tonight?"

"We?"

"I meant it a week ago when I said that I didn't want to be without you but I also meant what I said about we'll do this at your pace."

Mac smiled at Harm and pulled him to her for a hug.

"So where you want to stay tonight, Marine."

"It doesn't matter."

"How about your place? The neighborhood is better."

"Works for me."

The rest of the day is spent on the sort of mundane chores that tend to pile up when a person spends an extended amount of time away from home.

By 1600 hours the last of the chores were completed and enough of Harm's clothes had been moved to Mac's to guarantee the couple wouldn't need to stop back by until after work on Monday at the earliest.

By 1700 hours the couple was out enjoying a romantic dinner in a quiet, little, out of the way restaurant. Once dinner was finished the returned to Mac's apartment planning on a quiet evening with just the two of them.

~Thud~

Harm managed to get the door closed and Mac backed up against the door without breaking the kiss. He couldn't get enough of her and didn't think he'd ever be able to.
"Uh, Harm." Mac's voice is low and husky with desire.

"Yeah." Harm's voice is even huskier, his eyes are closed and his forehead is resting against Mac's.

"How did the flowers get in here?" Mac knows they can't be from Harm. He'd have chosen roses.

That gets Harm's attention. He turns around and sees what Mac saw. The room is covered in flowers, all kinds of flowers. There's only one kind of flower missing, roses.

"Sarah! Is that you?"

Harm and Mac look at each other in shock.

"I didn't realize he had a key." Harm whispers.

"If he does, he didn't get it from me." Mac hisses back.

"Well go see what he wants."

"All right I'm going."

"Clayton what a surprise!" Mac calls as she heads toward the sound of her voice.

"Clay what are you doing in my bed?" Mac yelps as soon as she stepped into the doorway.

At that comment Harm headed to the doorway. He arrived at Mac's side just as Clay was explaining why he was laying naked in Mac's bed.

"I knew you were coming home I thought we could celebrate your victory." Clay says as he turns to look at Mac, his brain registering the fact that Harm is standing behind Mac with his arms around her waist and his chin resting on top of her head.

"While we thank you for the congratulations, Mac and I have already celebrated our victory and were looking forward to a quiet evening together."

Clay's the same shade of red as a stop sign. "If you give me two minutes, I'll be out of your hair."

Mac and Harm turn and head for the kitchen to fix some hot cocoa. As promised Clay was dressed and ready to leave in two minutes.

"Mac, I'm sorry for thinking we could work things out."

"Clay you hung up on me."

"I know but I never expected Rabb to step up to the plate."

"Well I did."

"Yeah, you did, my loss. Goodbye Sarah."

"Goodbye Clay."

The click of the door is very loud in the quiet apartment.

"You okay Mac."

"How could I not be? I have everything I ever wanted."