Title : Only You
Author : Jaggie 107
Disclaimer : JAG characters belong to DPB, CBS and Paramount. I hope all parties will allow me to have fun for a little while, and replace them all when I'm done. Thank you.
Rating : G to PG-13
Spoilers : From the pre-launch ET interview, 08-20-04. One clip, where Mac opens the door to Harm.
Summary : Three months after Webb's 'death' Harm and Mac have been in a relationship (A/N – Way too involved to go into right now – another story, perhaps!?) and are at the stage where they want to make it official to their superior officers and to their colleagues. Their close friends already know – Bud, Harriet, Sturgis and Jennifer. But there's a surprise in store!
MAC'S APARTMENT
"Hey, why aren't you at the office?" Mac's question went unanswered as Harm stepped through the door into the apartment. "Harm? What is it?"
Harm turned and dropped a quick kiss on Mac's lips, taking her hand and leading her across the room to the couch. All this without a word.
"Harm, you're scaring me here..." she murmured, and put her hand up to his face, cupping his chin and forcing him to look at her. "C'mon, Squid, 'fess up. What've you done? Got fired?"
"Wha...oh, no...Mac, I don't know where to start..." Harm stopped, fought to find the right words, and then spoke again. "There's no easy way to say this. Webb's alive."
Mac's face paled and her eyes widened in shock. Her mouth opened on words she couldn't utter, and Harm could only sit and hold her. His own reaction had been pretty much the same, until it was quickly followed by anger at the man who had caused his beloved Sarah to have to face death again, and then fear – that the same man who had caused her the anguish and pain of loss would once again take her from him. His thoughts came back to the present as Mac pulled away from him slightly.
"We...went to the funeral," she whispered, as though talking to herself. "How?" The question was one that many were asking.
Harm nodded in response, and then took a deep breath before relating the facts that Sturgis had been able to give him.
"The operation he was on went south, and Webb was compromised. When the other men went missing, it was easy to include Webb."
"His mother...identified his body..." Mac put her hand to her mouth. Her next words were uttered with an almost animalistic howl of pain. "Oh, dear God, she knew!" Harm pulled her back into his arms and held her tight. It was enough for him to know how much pain she was in by the fact that she didn't fight him as he ran one hand up and down her back, his other hand buried in her silky hair as she sobbed against his chest.
When the first wave of her storm of grief abated, (at least Harm believed it to be grief), Mac sat up again and turned to look at Harm. "Where...where is he now?"
"Here in DC. It was Catherine that rang Sturgis. He called me in as soon as he heard the news."
"How...how do you feel about this?"
"How do I feel? How should I feel, Mac? We hadn't spoken since that day in the hospital."
"I think what I'm trying to say...to ask...is what will you do when you see him again?"
"Honestly? I'd like to kill him!"
Mac laughed. It came out as a strangled noise, but it was definitely a laugh. Wiping her eyes, Mac looked hard at Harm, who returned the steady gaze.
"How do you feel?" Harm turned the question on Mac.
"I'm not sure. We've been through this before, when he faked his death. I don't know what to feel, Harm..."
"Do you want me to stay?"
Mac had dropped her gaze to her hands but she looked up suddenly, focusing on Harm's face, her expression surprised.
"Of course I want you to stay! Why would you ask?"
"Mac, you were broken up about Webb when you believed he was dead. It's fair to say that you must have some unanswered questions that only he can answer."
"I...I guess so...but," Mac paused, took a deep breath, and continued. "Harm, you've been there for me the past few months, since his death, and we've moved on with our lives..."
"Yes, we have," Harm acknowledged, nodding his head slowly, but his stormy sea-colored eyes settled on her chocolate-colored ones. "Sarah, I let you go before, to Mic, to Webb, but I won't make that mistake again. I love you, I'm in love with you, and I hope I'm man enough to understand if you now feel unsure of what happens next. I can only tell you that if Webb wants you back, if you want to go back, I will fight for you...for us."
"Harm..." Mac whispered, moving out of his reach. So, it had started. Webb had been out of the picture for three months, and yet he came between them as if he was in the very room. Harm got to his feet and moved towards the door, but he was stopped by Mac's tremulous voice. "Don't leave me...I love you...I'm in love with you, Harm. Please."
That was all it took. They were in each other's arms without either even knowing how they closed the distance between them. Just knowing that they did, that there was really nowhere else they should be but together.
JAG HEADQUARTERS
Mac walked into her office and dropped the files in her arms onto the desk, along with her briefcase and cover. Shrugging off her rain-covered coat she draped it over a chair to dry a little while she went to the staff meeting. A knock at her door made her look up, and a smile lit her features as she saw Harm's tall frame leaning against the door.
"Hi." Harm's greeting was short, but sweetened by the smile on his face and the flame in his eyes.
"Hi." Mac returned, dropping her eyes briefly against that flame, knowing that she had already given into it once this morning when she should have been giving thought to getting ready. Raising her eyes to his once more she let the smile turn into a knowing grin. "You keep that look in your eyes, Sailor, and Sturgis is going to be court-martialing both of us."
"He could try, but I don't think he'd succeed somehow." Harm's retort was lightened by the continued smile, and the exaggerated wink of his eye. Turning from his stance at the door as Jennifer Coates caught his eye and mouthed the words 'staff meeting' Harm glanced back at Mac. "Time to go," he added, and waited while Mac picked up her organizer and files and followed him out of her office.
Sturgis was already seated when Harm and Mac entered the conference room, and he glanced up briefly at the pair of them before returning his attention to the others in the room. Bud was seated at the right of Sturgis, one chair down, leaving room for Harm to take his place, opposite Mac. In the chair next to Mac was Navy Lieutenant Helen Morgan, the new officer recruited to take over Harriet's duties. Seated next to Bud was Harriet, and both Harm and Mac smiled in greeting as they took their places.
"Right, if we're all ready?" Sturgis looked around the expectant faces and then began speaking. "Lieutenant Sims is here to help bring Lieutenant Morgan up to speed as soon as possible. This office is awaiting the appointment of the new JAG, and I hope we will be able to hand over a smooth running operation at that time. For today, I would like Commander Roberts to take the Brandon Article 32, and Commander Rabb, you and Colonel Mackenzie will be dealing with a security matter. I will disclose the details in private after this meeting. If there are no questions, that will be all." Sturgis looked around the room again, and having received no negative response he got to his feet and made his way into his temporary office. Harm looked at Mac, who shrugged her shoulders at him, and they left the conference room ahead of the others, headed for their unscheduled meeting with Sturgis. As they walked by Jennifer's desk, Mac handed her organizer over for safe-keeping while she was in with Sturgis.
"Jen, do you know what this is about?" Harm asked quickly as he passed the Petty Officer's desk, but at Jen's shaking head he knocked on the door frame and entered at Sturgis' signal.
Mac followed Harm into the office, and was brought up short by the simple fact that Harm had stopped in his tracks.
"Harm, what's going...oh," Mac had moved around Harm's immobile form, and came face to face with Clayton Webb.
MAC'S OFFICE
"It's good to see you again, Sarah." Clayton spoke. The first words since Mac had moved around Harm and faced him. From that moment, Clayton had asked for some privacy to talk to Sarah alone, and after a stilted pause Mac had smiled at Sturgis, lay a hand on Harm's jacket and squeezed gently before exiting through the side door to the office and walking across the bullpen, with Clayton Webb following her into her office.
Mac raised her eyes then and looked at the man she had believed herself in love with, whom she believed had loved her, but who had ultimately lied to her – by proxy no less. He hadn't actually said the words that he was in one place when he had in fact been elsewhere, but his actions had shown his deception. Having his assistant pretend that gifts from Clayton were from him in Germany when they were in fact from a store right in the heart of Washington DC. There had been no verbal contact while he had been away, and all his assistant would tell Mac was that he was incommunicado due to the negotiations he was involved in. That his mother had compounded the sick charade by claiming and identifying his 'body' was the seal on the disgust Mac now felt.
"I wish I could say the same, Clay, but I can't."
"I know it has come as a shock to you, but we can get past this."
"Excuse me?" Mac's eyebrows rose in amazement. "You honestly think that's all it will take? You lie to me, you fake your death – again – and then you turn up expecting us to be the same as we were? No!"
"Mac, be reasonable...I had to!"
"Reasonable? Jeez, Webb, you really think you're 'it'. No more...I think we've said all we have to."
"Sarah, we have so much more to say to each other. You told me you loved me, just before I left."
Mac shook her head, remembering her words. Webb moved, attempting to take Mac in his arms. Her reaction had him reeling.
"Get your hands off me!" Mac's yell carried into the bullpen, and brought Harm running across the space that separated him from Mac. Sturgis had admired Harm's self-control in staying in the JAG's office, while Mac was holed up with Webb. It had been hard work concentrating on what Sturgis was talking to him about, and it all went out the window when he had heard Mac's raised voice, but at least he had given the appearance of being interested in what Sturgis had been talking about. For Sturgis' part, he knew he would have to repeat everything again, but as it included Mac anyway, it was something he had expected to do.
"Mac!" Harm pounded once on the door before opening it, finding Mac stood behind her desk, obviously putting it between her and Webb. Without turning around, Webb addressed Harm.
"Get out, Rabb. Sarah and I are having a private conversation."
"Like hell we are!" Mac retorted, and moved around the other side of her desk, just as Harm moved in the same direction, so she could put her hand out to him and touch him for reassurance. Webb watched their actions, and he scowled, making a move himself, reaching between them to grab Mac's arm.
"Ow!" Mac twisted in Webb's grasp, succeeding only in making his grip harder. There would be a bruise, Mac knew, and for that Webb would pay, if only in anguish at pushing her further from him. It was no more than he deserved.
"Let her go, you bastard!" Harm muttered, reaching back and then letting his fist connect with Webb's face, splitting his lip, and causing him to release Mac, which had been the initial intent. The bonus, for Harm, was the pleasure in taking Webb down, if only mildly.
Reaching for Mac himself, Harm touched her face with a gentle finger as she came into his arms.
"You okay?"
"I am now," Mac answered, and turned her head to glare at Webb. "What the hell is wrong with you, Clay? Why on God's earth would you behave like this?"
"I can see how fast Rabb moved in on you, Sarah. More fool me for taking the assignment I did. But I didn't expect you to go to him, not when you're pregnant, with another man's child!"
Mac paled, much as she had at the news of Webb being alive. Harm still held her close, but Webb's words shook him, if only that Mac herself had not said them first. As Webb waited out the effects of his words, Mac looked up at Harm and saw the confusion there. Her own eyes mirrored his, and that threw him. Surely if she knew, she wouldn't be so confused herself...
"Mac? Are you? Pregnant?"
"I...I'm...I only missed last month. I put it down to stress...to everything," Mac mumbled, and then shook her head, trying to clear the confusion. Something important was in amongst the confusion, and she had to remember, to tell Harm.
"I'm...not sure, I could be..." Her words were disjointed, and Harm shook off the cold feeling that perhaps Mac was carrying Webb's child. Webb himself was absolutely sure of it, and in that belief he was moving across the room to claim what he believed to be his. Sarah. As he tried once more to reach out to her, Mac shoved him away.
"Get off me, Webb! I swear, if you try to touch me one more time, I'll make sure you never father anything else!" As Mac said the words, she suddenly smiled, a wide bright smile as she turned back to Harm.
"If I am pregnant, Harm, it's our baby. Yours and mine! When I had the first procedure done, the night of the dining out, the doctor did a pregnancy test as a precaution beforehand. It was negative!"
"Oh, Mac..." Harm bent his head to hers, and Webb stood watching, his own face now pale as he measured Mac's response. If she was correct, the pregnancy he had discovered was not as a result of his time with her. As if reading his mind, Mac faced him once again, feeling Harm's strength at her back as she held his arm around her waist in added support.
"How did you know I was pregnant, Clay?" Mac's words were soft, but intent, and she was waiting for an answer.
"I found out that you had been seeing your OB/GYN more frequently in the last few months, so I checked up your records."
"That's invasion of privacy." The statement was simple, and said in a cold, hard voice. If nothing else, Webb knew he had lost everything at that point.
"Your last pregnancy test was positive. I guess...I didn't check back further than that. I just saw the word on the readout."
"So I am...pregnant?"
"Yes."
"I think you should leave now." Mac spoke, her eyes fixed on Webb's face, but her expression was still cold, and hard, and she had not moved out of Harm's embrace.
"I shouldn't have left you, Sarah. If I had stayed, it would be my child you were carrying."
Mac shook her head. Her next words took all three of them by surprise.
"No, Clay, it wouldn't. Somehow I would have found my way back to Harm. With everything that has happened since you...left, I understand one thing about myself, and that is the truth I never admitted before. If a person truly belongs to someone else, then I belong to Harm."
"Sarah...no!" Webb's voice was anguished.
But Mac had turned to face Harm, her arms reaching up, her hands cupping his face.
"I am yours, Harm. I love you. Only you!"
THE END
(A/N : Creative licence here, I have thought up the name 'Helen Morgan', and Bud has been promoted!)
Not sure about the ending – might change it...hope somebody out there likes it anyway.
Thanks to all who wrote reviews for the last 'epic' WTSMTS! I'm trying to get round you all individually to thank you, so please bear with me! I'm reading your stories as I go along too, so watch out for my name on 'your' review lists! All the best – Jaggie!
