Neighbors

Author: hermiine (hermiine85yahoo.com)

Summery: What if Mac had moved in with Mattie instead of Jen?

Rating: PG-13 Spoilers: Anything up until A Girl's Best Friend of season 9

Disclaimer: JAG is still not mine, I'm just playing little bit with characters.

Author's Notes 1: Many thanks to Cria and TZ for sticking with me and continuing to beta this story too. I'm very grateful for your effort.

2: There are elements of Mac/Webb in the story, but just stick around and you'll see...

3: I'm ignoring everything that happened and everything we learned after A Girl's Best Friend. The story takes off from the scene in AGBF in the bullpen with Harm, Mac and Mattie.

4: I'm not making any promises concerning how often I will post, but I can say that I'll try to do so as often as possible.

Feedback: Any comments, suggestions, corrections or questions are very appreciated. Just send me an e-mail and I'll see what I can do.

Part 1

Mac walked across the bullpen, the anger was so eminent that everyone who spotted her quickly slipped out of her warpath.

"Why don't you go and wait in my office?" Harm said to his ward Mattie. They had been standing in the middle of the bullpen. He needed to talk to Mac about some things concerning a case and he didn't want Mattie to get in between of the verbal war that it might turn out to be. Not that he had any bad news, he just wasn't sure if Mac would want to play nicely today. It didn't seem that way at the moment.

"Hello Colonel Mackenzie!" Mattie said before she turned around and did as Harm had asked her.

"Hey you," Mac's expression softened a bit, but she still looked really angry and annoyed.

"Who was it this time? Sturgis or Bud? I know I'm completely innocent," Harm said and immediately he wanted to slam his head into the wall a couple of times. This was not what you say to an angry Mac.

"They're innocent too. It's the stupid contractors who built my building that are guilty only they're a bit hard to get hold on at the moment," Mac let Harm slide.

"What did they do?" Harm asked tentatively.

"They just messed the building completely up and yesterday there was some sort of inspection of it which came to the conclusion that it is dangerous to live in it and they have to tear it down. All of the tenants have to move out by Friday. Isn't that just great? Where do you find a new place to live in three days?"

"I know about an empty apartment, but there are certain conditions to it which I'm not sure you'll like," Harm started off. He had been working on convincing Jennifer Coates to move in to that apartment together with Mattie, but so far he hadn't had much luck. This might be another option to consider.

"And what conditions would that be?" Mac asked suspecting Harm was up to something.

"Well it comes complete with a 15-years-old roommate and an annoying neighbor."

"Those two people wouldn't possibly be called Mattie and Harm."

"It's very possible yes."

"Harm, come with me here," Mac said and practically dragged Harm into her office. This wasn't a conversation she wanted to have with an audience.

"You know how things have been between us," she said once the door was closed behind Harm "Don't you think it's risking a lot if I'm to move in with your 'daughter' and live only a few steps away from you. Not just our friendship, but also Mattie's well-being."

"It wouldn't be forever and I was hoping we would be able to behave like adults for her sake. You would still have your privacy. Mattie would spend a lot of time with me at my place and then you'll have your place all to yourself. You said it yourself where else are you going to find a new place to live? Can't we just try it out and if it doesn't work you'll continue to look for another apartment?" he tried to come up with every good reason there was for her to do it.

Mac breathed out slowly. "OK, I'm not making any promises though."

"Will you come over tonight after work and we'll look at it together?"

"Yeah, yeah," Mac didn't sound too thrilled about the whole idea and Harm thought that maybe it had been wrong to talk her into it. On the other hand Mac was more than capable of saying no if she didn't want to do it and he thought that it could work out pretty well for all of them. He knew that Mac would be good for Mattie and he was hoping that she would like having somebody to come home to as well.

Mac and Mattie were standing in the empty two-bedroom apartment. Harm was waiting in his apartment for the jury to come to a verdict.

"So which bedroom do you want?" Mac finally asked Mattie.

"You mean we're going to do this," Mattie said already knowing that she was thrilled with the idea.

"Yes, but we need to talk through some rules of engagement first... Why don't we let Harm join that discussion?" Mac took a last glance all over the apartment. It wasn't as nice, nor as big as her old apartment, but she thought that once it had some furniture, she might actually like it.

Back at Harm's apartment the three of them sat down around the table.

"We'll each pay half of the bills," Mac started up the conversation.

"Agreed," Harm said. "Mattie will have dinner here with me every night when I'm not out on assignment," this was something that he had already discussed with Mattie.

"Yes, but when you're away and I'm here she can eat with me. You and me, Mattie, we'll split the chores around the house. Your room is your room and the living room and kitchen we'll clean up together." Mac turned to Mattie when she said the last part.

"OK," Mattie said slowly and a bit skeptically. It sounded reasonable, but who knew exactly how often this marine wanted her living room to be cleaned.

"She will," Harm said to make sure Mac knew that he would help making sure Mattie did those things they agreed on.

"Harm, you won't walk right into the apartment, but knock and wait until one of us opens," it was just as much a question as a request, but Harm complied without hesitation.

They continued to talk and discuss the finer details of the arrangement. Eventually they were hardly talking about the arrangements anymore, they just talked and tried to get to know each other better. Harm realized that there was still so much he didn't have a clue about in Mattie's life and he was glad that she was willing to share more and more about herself. As they sat there laughing and joking, Mac felt better about moving into the apartment together with Mattie and next door to Harm by the minute.

"So how long ago was it that you were dating?" Mattie suddenly asked.

"I'm sorry," Mac said and put down her cup of coffee so forcefully that the coffee spread out across the table. She looked first at Mattie and then at Harm "You told her we'd been dating?" she asked disbelieving.

"No, I did not tell her that," Harm said embarrassed and shook his head "I did not tell you that. Why would you think something like that?" he asked Mattie and as soon as she started to answer he regretted doing so.

"Well, I mean you obviously have the hots for each other so I figured since you've known each other so long and aren't together now, you'd tried it out and it hadn't worked."

"Mattie we've never dated," Harm said.

"I have a boyfriend," Mac added.

Mattie didn't call them on the fact that they hadn't denied having the 'hots' for each other.

"So how will your boyfriend feel about you moving in here?" Mattie asked Mac instead. There would be plenty of time to torture the two adults about that later.

"Well... I don't know. He's out of the country at the moment. I'm sure he'll be OK with it. It's not like I had a choice... Right Harm?"

Harm smiled back at her. He saw that she was trying to change the subject and he was grateful for that.

"Are you two serious?" Mattie continued to ask. She wasn't ready to drop the subject yet.

"We've been dating for six months or so."

"Ah," Mattie nodded "So it's the same guy as on Christmas Eve. Webb?"

"Yes, Clayton Webb. Do you always ask so many questions?"

"Sometimes. I'll let you off the hook now though."

"How nice of you," Mac said sarcastically, but then smiled to show that she was just joking and wasn't offended by her questions.

Half an hour later Mac had to leave to go home and pack, but she was coming back tomorrow to sign the papers and then she had to start packing. It had all happened really fast.

TBC