Admiration and Love – 9/11
For disclaimer and all other important comments see part one.
7:55
Mac's dining room
Everyone was enjoying the cake and still discussing Chloe's video. "Do you think I'll get an A?" Chloe asked.
"If you don't, Ms. Thompson and I will be having a parent-teacher conference," Mac informed her.
"So, Chloe, the invitation said something about a surprise movie. What's that?" Bud asked.
Chloe just smiled. "My side project."
"Side project?" Mac motherly asked.
"If everyone is done with their cake, we can go view the project," Chloe informed the group.
Everyone got up and went into the living room and sat down in their seats. "This is my side project. While I was taping the other video, I noticed I had some interesting extra footage and I found some other footage. So I decided to put it together into it's own video. The reason for it is described at the start, so I won't say anything else."
Chloe put a different disk into the DVD. But this time instead of sitting between Harm and Mac, she sat next to the Hannah in the chair, which was large enough for the both of them.
The video started with Chloe in her bedroom. "Okay. Here's this second project. It started out being a place for extra footage. Well, a lot of my extra footage has the same …subjects in it. Before I go any further, I need to know from Mom and the Admiral that I and others will not get into trouble?"
Chloe pressed pause on the DVD remote and looked at Mac and AJ. "Well?"
AJ looked at Mac then at Chloe, "Okay."
"Mom," Chloe said, getting Mac's attention.
"Okay, but you have me very worried," Mac said.
Chloe turned to everyone else in the room. "You are my witnesses." She pressed play and the video continued.
"Good. Now I need Harm to promise not to get mad at me or anyone else?" Chloe said in the video.
Chloe paused the DVD again and looked at Harm. "Well?"
Harm looked at Mac then Chloe. "Okay, but I'm with Mac… I'm worried."
Chloe smiled and pressed play. "Every since I've known Mac, she's been working at JAG, so even before I knew everyone, I knew who they were. Harm, Tiner, Bud, Harriet, and the Admiral. But she always had stories and was always going on assignments with Harm. I didn't think much about it until I met Harm. And after meeting him and getting to know a little more about him, it hit me. Mac loves Harm. Well, that was like three years ago. I've grown up since then. I moved to Vermont to live with my grandparents, and in time Mac got engaged and Harm was dating someone. So I thought maybe they were just friends, like she was always telling me. Well….as time passes, everything changes."
"Mac and Mic broke, up and so did Harm and the Video Princess - I mean Renee. Well, then the world went crazy, and I came to DC for Christmas last year. Harm came over to talk to Mac about watching a prisoner. But I could sense something between them, just like in the past. But this time, there was something else with it. But time moves on, and I got into the accident."
Chloe's face fell as she thought about her grandparents. "I came to live with Mac. When you live with someone, you learn things. Like for some reason, there's salad in Mac's fridge. At first I thought it was a mistake. I asked her about it and she gave me some lame excuse about with me here that she need to feed us better. Yeah, right. I also noticed Harm was over a lot for dinner and movies. I'm not complaining, but there was definitely a feeling between the two of them. Then a few weeks later, my dad died and Mac totally changed. I mean, she had to. She's got a kid full time. Harm's not coming around so much, and I noticed. So I asked her why one night. She told me because they were really busy at work. But then, slowly, Harm did start coming over for dinner and movies. In fact, when we moved to the house, he helped us move. But there was no longer that something between them… there was a tension. I don't like tension, but when I was around they acted fine. It was just when I was not in the room. It was like they didn't know how to act around each other."
"The footage you are about to see has been taken by me in the past three weeks or is video from Bud and Harriet. It all supports the same topic. Which, if you haven't guessed already, is that Harm and Mac belong together." Chloe stared intently at the screen. "Mom and Harm, remember you promised not get mad at me."
The video showed Chloe standing in the den. "When I got the assignment, I was ready to record just about anything. However, a few nights ago something happened here. This caused me to realize that at one time, something happened between Harm and Mac. The scene is Harm and Mac working together on a case. He came over after we had dinner to work on a case with Mom. I'll let the footage speak for itself."
Chloe was then seen on the disk talking as she was walking down the stairs in the house. "Okay, lets see if Mom and Harm will let me tape them working together. Today's date: Tuesday, May 5." The next thing the tape showed was the den with Harm and Mac working. Mac was sitting on the floor and Harm on the couch, both working on the case. Mac reached for something off camera and said, "Oww!"
"What?!" Harm sat up quickly and looked at Mac.
"Nothing, just decided to pull my shoulder wrong." She rubbed the muscle.
Harm smiled, stood up and pushed the coffee table away from Mac. "Move forward." She gave him a funny look. "If you move forward, I can get behind you and massage you shoulder."
"You don't have to," Mac said shyly.
"If I don't, you'll complain all day tomorrow. Now move."
"Yes Sir," Mac said, and Harm sat down behind her.
Chloe's voice came over the screen. "I know it looks innocent, so lets go ahead a few minutes."
Harm took his hands off of Mac as she let out a slight whimpering sound. "Give me a second," he said as he moved backwards slightly before he started to massage her again. "Better?"
"If you ever quit JAG, your hands will get you get you a job as a masseuse."
Harm hands could clearly be shown, only gently touching her before he softly kissed the back of her neck. He slowly moved to the side of her neck just below her jaw bone. As he kissed her he softly responded, "But then I couldn't see you everyday."
Mac turned her head towards Harm and gazed at him. From the camera angle, it was very clear that things were heating up between the pair.
"Would that be a bad thing?" Mac's voice softly came over the screen.
"A very bad thing," Harm said as he moved Mac around in his arms.
"Oh, we can't have that, can we?" Mac wrapped both of her arms around Harm's neck.
Harm smiled as his head lowered towards Mac. "No, we can't." Then their lips met.
The tape clearly showed their kisses were soft but passionate. They lightly touched each other. Harm was fully supporting Mac in his arms. Both were enjoying the kisses and their touches. After some time, they both pulled away to breathe. They opened their eyes and stared at each other. Then they softly smiled at each other and continued kissing.
The camera jumped as the phone rang, but it still focused on Harm and Mac in the frame. Harm let go of Mac, who fell backwards over Harm's legs and bounced her head off the pillow that was on the floor next to her.
The tape then showed Chloe standing in the kitchen. "Okay, so I know I was wrong for taping that. But they caught me off guard! I had full intentions of showing them the tape and asking for an explanation, but something happened later. That same night, it was time for Mom to tuck me in. So I thought it would be neat to have a tuck-in on tape. So I set my camera up on my dresser and waited for Mom."
"Okay," Mac said as she sat down on Chloe's bed. "Chloe, is something wrong?"
"Not really. Why?"
"I'm just getting one of my strange feelings. You're not keeping anything from me, are you?"
Chloe smiled. "Well… maybe."
"Maybe?" Mac questioned.
Chloe took a deep breath. "I kind of saw you and Harm kissing in the den earlier."
Mac bit her lip. "I see."
"I think it's cool if you two want to kiss and all. It just caught me off guard. I went down to ask if I could tape you and Harm working together and I find you making out."
"We were not making out."
"Mom, I've watched TV, and that was making out."
"Really?"
"Are you two dating?"
"No."
"Do you want to date him?"
"It's complicated. But I promise, if we decide to, I'll talk to you first."
"Do you love him?"
"It's complicated, Chloe."
"I just want you to be happy," Chloe responded to Mac with a slight smile.
"I don't need a man to be happy."
"What do you need to be happy?"
Mac took a deep breath. "I need to have my daughter get a good night's sleep and for her to know that I love her very much." Mac tickled Chloe.
Chloe laughed and sat up straight in the bed and hugged Mac. "I love you."
"I love you too." Mac lightly kissed Chloe on the cheek.
Chloe released Mac, put her head down on the pillow and pulled the blanket up to her neck. "But Mom, this conversation is not over."
Mac chuckled as she stood up and handed Chloe the teddy bear off of the floor. "It is for now."
Chloe sighed, "Okay."
The footage showed Chloe in her room again. "Well, she said things between she and Harm are complicated. If you love someone, you love him or her. How is that complicated? I don't get it. But the next day I went to JAG, and I went to Harm's office, and I found this." Chloe showed the picture of Harm and Mac standing in front of Harm's plane.
"It's a very nice picture. But the back of it says in Harm's hand writing, 'Two month anniversary. Two down, forever to go.' So that means they were dating at one point and time. I know I can't go to Mom about this. Every time I bring up the dating word she freaks out. So I put it on hold."
Chloe stood up and walked over to the daisy and carnations that Harm gave her when he came over for movies. "On Friday, May 8, Harm came over for movies. As usual he was late he gave me these flowers, and Mac that bouquet." The camera showed the roses which were in Mac's bedroom. "He brought three movies with him, two for the three of us to watch, and a third for he and Mom to watch once I went to bed. Sounds like a date to me, but neither of them would call it that."
"So then I got to thinking… the picture said two down, so I started to watch the videos Bud and Harriet let me borrow and I found this piece of footage. I think Bud accidentally left the camera on at AJ's third birthday party last year."
The footage showed Bud and Harriet's living room. Mac stood in there looking at the pictures on the mantel above the fireplace and Harm walked into the room. "Hey."
"Hey," she said to him. "Look at this picture, AJ looks adorable."
Harm walked right up to her. "He does. He's three today."
"Yeah, he is." Harm turned Mac around and took her in his arms. "Harm, everyone is outside."
"I don't care." Harm passionately kissed her. "I've been dying to that all day."
Mac smiled as she kissed him again. "And if someone walks in?"
"I'll tell them I had the overwhelming urge to kiss my girlfriend." Harm caused Mac to giggle. "I love being with you."
"I love being with you, too." Mac looked into his eyes.
"Two more years."
"Two more years," Mac repeated to him before she lightly kissed him. A noise from off camera got their attention and they let go of each other and acted like nothing happened.
Chloe was now in the backyard. "You heard it! They love being with each other. I still don't understand why they can't be together. It is now officially driving me crazy. So I decided to see what everyone says… of course no one will say anything on camera. Typical lawyers. But Bud, Harriet, Gunny, Tiner, Sturgis, and even the Admiral all said there is something between Harm and Mac. Harriet said they would make the perfect couple."
"Even when they're in court, they look at each other like people in love," Chloe's voice said as footage of Harm and Mac in Captain Sebring's courtroom showed on screen.
"Well, I finally decided that I needed to know about the picture. So last week Harm and I went to lunch, where I got the following. Of course, Harm didn't know I had the camera on. Sorry Harm," Chloe said as the scene moved to he and Chloe at Chinese Café.
"Do you love her?" Chloe asked from off camera.
Harm started choking on his water. "Now what does that have to do with the topic at hand?"
"It doesn't, but I thought it might help explain this." Chloe handed him the picture.
Harm took the photo and just looked at it. "Where did you get this?"
"I found it in your desk, and I knew that Mac wouldn't tell me about it. Are you mad?"
Harm smiled softly at her. "I'm not mad. I'm sad."
"Why?"
"A few months before your grandparents' accident, Mac and I started dating. We didn't tell anyone because we didn't want to ruin what we had. It was great - we did all the things that couples do. We went to the movies, dinner, picnics, and even museums." Harm paused and looked at the back of the picture. "I don't think either of us expected to reach two weeks, let alone two months. But we did."
"What did you do to celebrate?" Chloe asked as their food was set on the table.
"Thank you," could be heard from both of them as the waiter walked away.
Harm looked at Chloe and his eyes smiled at the memory. "We went for a ride in Sarah that morning. We landed in a small field and had a picnic lunch and we talked. That was the best day we had together. We just sat together in this field and talked about anything and everything we could. I planned for us to have dinner at my apartment, so we left. When we landed back at the hangar, I had John take this picture. I wanted something to remember that day."
"What happened at dinner?" Chloe asked as Harm ate his lunch.
"We ate and talked. I told her I was falling in love with her." Harm closed his eyes.
"What did she say?" Chloe asked in a hopeful voice.
Harm chuckled. "She said she was already falling in love with me."
"What happened then?"
"I'll keep that to myself."
Chloe could be heard laughing, "Fine." Then seriously, she asked, "Why did you two break up?"
Harm took a deep breath. "How do I say this? Two months after the picture was taken, your grandparents had the accident. Mac went up to get you and to help Kyle. She came back with you and we knew things would be different. We both agreed to just let things happen and to take a break, so she could be with you. I knew Mac needed you… you were so scared, and so was she. We thought that with Kyle getting stationed in Norfolk, we could get back on track with dating."
"But then there was Dad's accident."
Harm nodded his head. "I couldn't ask Mac to choose. She loves you so much. She had to be with you. I knew it."
"So she gave you up for me," Chloe could be heard.
"Not really." Harm smiled. "I'm slowly trying to convince her to start dating me again."
"Yeah, that's why your makeout session last week in the den didn't work out."
Harm stared at her. "How do you know about that?"
"Please. I asked mom if she loves you, and she said it was complicated. Why is it complicated? You both love each other."
"It's complicated because we have to worry about work, our friendship, and you."
"Why me?"
Harm's hand could be seen holding Chloe's hand. "Because I would hate myself if Mac and I started dating again and I hurt you somehow."
"You'd never hurt me. Mac would kill you if you did."
"True, but I know that Mac never meant to hurt me when we broke up. But I still hurt, knowing that we can't do what we used to do."
Chloe then stood in the backyard. "So that's the story behind the picture, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Harm wants Mom back. Now, to convince Mom that she wants Harm back. That was my plan for the last weekend. I had a sleepover Friday and I knew that Harm was coming over for dinner with Mom. I figured that would give me Saturday and Sunday to ask her a few questions. But something happened Friday night when Harm came over. My friend got sick and the sleepover was over, and Mom came and picked me up. She didn't seem right… something was wrong, and she wouldn't tell me. She said she wasn't feeling good. That night I could hear her crying in her room. I didn't know what to do, and I didn't know what was wrong. So I didn't talk to her all weekend about Harm. I figured he might have a part in her mood."
Chloe then appeared in Mac's office at JAG. "Well, Monday comes and everything seems fine. I asked Harm why Mom was upset and he said he did something stupid. But later, Mom and Harm are invited to the Romanian Embassy Birthday Celebration for Princess Alexandra. How cool is that? Not only a birthday party for a princess, but they're going together. Plus, Mom has to get a gown and Harm has to wear dress whites… which I know Mom loves on him, especially with those gold wings." Chloe gave the camera huge smile.
"So here's the footage of Harm arriving late to get Mom for the party." Harm in his dress whites lit up the TV. "Hello, Chloe. Hi, Tiner."
"Hi, Commander," Tiner said as Chloe turned the camera to show Tiner.
"Six minutes and thirty seconds late, Commander," Mac said from the stairs.
Harm stared at Mac for a few seconds. "Harm?"
"If I knew how great you looked, I would have been early. You look wonderful, Mac."
"So do you, but one of your ribbons is askew." Mac walked over to him and fixed the ribbon.
"I know that was innocent. But I kind of waited up that night for them to come home. I may have feel asleep in math class, but it was worth it. Just watch," Chloe said as Harm and Mac stood by the front door.
Harm closed the door and Mac looked at him. "Thanks Harm. I had fun."
"So did I. Do you forgive me for being late?"
"I'm used to it. You'll probably be late to your own wedding." Mac said with a slight laugh.
Harm grabbed her hand. "Not if I was marrying you."
"I should check on Chloe."
Harm gently pulled Mac into his arms. "I owe you six minutes and thirty seconds."
Mac let Harm place her hands behind his neck. "And how are you going to pay me for those six minutes and thirty seconds?"
"Like this." He leaned over and kissed her.
"Let's fast forward a few minutes, shall we?" Chloe's voice suggested as Harm and Mac kissed each other.
Harm started to pull away from Mac's lips, and he slowly opened his eyes. "Was that six minutes and thirty seconds?"
"No."
"How long was that?"
"Eight minutes. I owe you one minute and thirty seconds."
"I'll collect now." Harm kissed her again.
"Let's fast forward one minute and thirty seconds," Chloe's voice said.
They broke the kiss and Harm still held Mac in his arms. "I promise to not hurt you again. I swear I'll wait for however long it takes you to be ready. I like this and I want this."
"I know."
Harm kissed her forehead and let go of her. "Have a good night, Sarah."
"You too, Harm." Mac held the door open.
Harm stepped outside and looked at Mac before he left. "I still love you."
Mac closed the door, leaned against it and whispered, "I still love you, too." She wiped her eye as a tear fell.
The TV next showed Chloe sitting on the couch. "Okay, they both said it. Of course Harm, being the brave one, said it in front of Mom. And Mom being the stubborn one, said it after he left. I still don't get it."
"But the next day at JAG, they were fighting. Harriet told me that the last time they fought like this was after my Dad died. It's starting to make sense. They've admitted they love each other and they can't do anything about it. Well, that's going to change."
"Mom, you love him, so go be with him. Harm, you love her, so go be with her. It's that easy. You did it for a few months already. You can do it again. Plus, I sort of talked to some people about the UCMJ. You've broken it once… break it again." Chloe fell silent for a few seconds. "Mom, I want you to be happy, and with Harm, you've always been happy. Yeah, there have been times where you've wanted to kill him, but think about those times where you wanted to kiss him. Bet ya, the latter one you wanted to do more than the other."
"I know you're probably sitting there thinking of ways to ground me. But I did this for your own good. He's told you how he feels and now he's told you in front of everyone. The preverbal ball is in your court, for the sports metaphor. And for the lawyer metaphor, if you can't decide based on the evidence in front of you or sitting next to you on the couch, then a jury of your peers will decide for you."
"If you're worried about me and how I'll react to it, I'm all for it, have been for years. I want a happy mom, and if by chance a happy mom can come with Harm, I'll take that even more. Well, that's it. Been nice knowing everyone." The TV turned to black as the footage ended.
Chloe stood up and turned the TV off. Everyone in the room was silent, based on what they just saw. Bud and Harriet were looking at each other, both filled with happiness for their two friends and worried about them. Little AJ had fallen asleep. AJ and Meredith glanced at Mac and were worried about her. Tiner looked at Harm and noticed he'd never seen Harm looked so worried in his entire life, not even the one time AJ yelled at him for 30 minutes straight. Hannah looked at her friend and gave her a reassuring smile.
Chloe slowly turned to Mac, who was entirely too quiet. Mac sat leaning over with her elbows resting on her knees, while her hands were intertwined holding up her head. Her chin was quivering a little. Harm moved slightly, causing the couch to shift.
Mac quickly stood up. "Excuse me." Then she left the room.
End Part 9/11