Mac furrowed her brow and rolled over to her left side. Her stomach had ceased with the strange noises, but the nauseous feeling failed to go with it. She brought her right hand to her middle and pressed against her abdomen cautiously, silently willing the discomfort to go away. Nothing happened. Instead, she shuffled on her side slightly away from the side of the bed and put left hand under her pillow, propping it up slightly.

"Mac?"

She groaned inwardly, knowing that Harm had heard all the tossing and turning. "Yeah."

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know. I…my stomach doesn't feel quite right."

He chuckled. "Must be that sandwich."

He could here a tiny noise and she brought her hand to her forehead in frustration. That disgusting BLT had slipped her mind. "Never mind. I'm fine." She actually wasn't.

The rain had died down, but the distant cracks of lightning often flashed to room in an eerie blue light. After a moment of silence, the light of the bedside lamp bathed the room; the blackout had ended.

"Yes!" Harm threw off his comforter and swung his legs over the side of the couch. He quickly went around the room and blew out the candles. "No more fire hazards."

As much as she was relieved that things were back to normal, she couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. Although she felt like a teenage girl thinking it, the candlelight did gave the room a cozy feel. She sat up straight and smiled after propping herself up on her elbows as she watched Harm roam around the room like an excited child.

"I really can't fall asleep," she said.

Harm froze in his place and turned towards her, attempting to mask his mischievous intentions with a somber expression. "I believe we had a deal, Colonel?"

She blinked as he stared at her, demanding a response. Instead of indulging him, she fell backwards, shielding herself from him by throwing the comforter over her head.

"Never mind, I'm dead tired."

"Come on, Mac. I'll just weasel it out of you back in Washington."

She rolled over and buried her face into her pillow. "I don't feel like it." She knew she was acting juvenile, but her upset stomach wasn't helping with the situation.

"Alright," Harm whispered. She could detect the slight edge to his voice, which she assumed was anger.

Under the safety of the blankets, she could faintly make out Harm's dark silhouette against the light of the bedside lamp. Mac heard a quiet 'click' as he turned off the lamp and made his way back to his place in front of the bed.

"You don't need to be like that about it," she said softly.

He sighed and adjusted his linens. "I just said 'alright'. I don't understand what else you need."

"You were thinking like…a jerk. Why do you-"

"Don't put words in my mouth," he said simply, controlling the volume of his voice. Harm crossed his left arm behind his head and laid back on the pillow.

Mac made no such attempt hide the annoyance from her voice. "Maybe I just don't feel as comfortable talking about my problems to you."

"Have you ever been comfortable with me?" he shot back bitterly.

She chose her words carefully. "About certain things, yes. Just not now."

"Great excuse."

Harm waited to for her comeback. A smug smile of satisfaction played on his face when he heard none. The expression washed away in a matter of seconds when he heard Mac's feet pad against the carpet as she walked towards him.

"Oh, God," she breathed as she jogged by him to the bathroom. The door swung open fiercely when she reached to the right until her fingers brushed against the light switch and flicked it up. The light illuminated the area where Harm sat upright, uncertain by her actions.

"Mac, close the door for Pete's sake!" Harm turned his head away.

He heard Mac growl in anger.

"It's not that you…squid!" she said, unsure of how to grab his attention.

He peeked through his left eye to see her leaning over the toilet on her knees. As quickly as he could register what she was doing, he bolted up and into the bathroom.

He quickly grabbed a small towel from the stand and wetted it and then hesitantly gathered up her hair and leaned down beside her. She glanced up as he brushed the towel against her forehead with a smile.

"Sorry about what I said," he grinned.

She opened her mouth to respond. Instead, she ended up facing back down towards the toilet and throwing up. Harm frowned as she coughed away the last spasm. Mac blinked and let herself rock backwards as he gently let her hair down. She leaned back against the base of the bathtub and swallowed hard. She closed her eyes shut and squeezed them, slowly letting the relief wash over her. When she opened them again, Harm had cleaned up the area and was standing over her.

"You done?" he asked. He offered her a damp towel and crouched down beside her.

She brushed her hair from her face and laid the towel against her forehead. "I sure as hell hope so."

"See what that damn sandwich did? You spewed you guts out."

"But you ate from the same place, why was I the only one who got sick?" she whispered as he helped her up. She groaned as she took a step forward. "I'm a lawyer…they are totally sued."

He gave Mac a tiny nudge out the bathroom. "Must've been something wrong with all that meat. I remind you that I had a salad."


Mac studied the stucco ceiling as she sorted out her inner conflict. Her stomach had settled down (after several more outbreaks) and just to make sure the problem would not return, she lied on her back, not daring to move an inch. She contemplated over Harm's actions in the bathroom. Although it didn't seem like the time or place to be thinking of their relationship, as she was heaving over the toilet, she couldn't help but find his caring for her incredibly intimate and heartfelt.

"Clay and I broke up, two weeks ago," she breathed hesitantly.

She heard him turn over on the couch and readjust his bedcovers. He was silent for a moment, but broke the uneasy stillness after contemplating his words. "Well…I'm sorry."

"I don't know if I am."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's just say our relationship was a…conflict of interest, if you're all for euphemisms. Conflicting schedules, conflicting ideals, conflicting everything."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Hey," she snapped, "I'll remind you that your split with Renee was unknown to me for a while."

Oh yeah, he thought. He cleared his throat and attempted to lighten the mood. "We're even then?"

No response, which was not good for him; the last thing he needed right now was a pissed off Sarah Mackenzie stuck with him in such a small room.

Unexpectedly, there was a soft chuckle instead. "Will you and I ever be able to work it out with someone?"

"Good question. When you find an answer, get back to me," he laughed.

Mac smiled and brushed her hair back from her face. "We'd better get to sleep. We don't want to be driving half asleep tomorrow."

A wave of disappointment rushed over him as she abruptly ended their deepening conversation. "Goodnight, Mac."

" 'Night Harm."


Mac woke up with a start as her internal clock went off, screaming '0600'. She rolled off the bed, delighted to feel her stomach back to normal. As she walked towards her luggage, she caught a glimpse of Harm dozing on the couch. His back was towards her, and his arm was folded protectively over his face. A smile played on her lips and he subconsciously brought his hand down and scratched his chin, but within a moment, he was back into a deep slumber.

She found her discarded uniform inside her luggage and headed to the bathroom with it in hand. After a quick shower, she did her hair and makeup. As she headed out the door back into the room, she hoped Harm was awake, but saw he had not budged.

"Rise and shine." She awkwardly patted his arm in a feeble attempt to wake him.

Thankfully, it worked when he turned over to face her and furrowed his brow as he squinted in the morning light. He had forgotten to close the drapes the night before, so the sunrays easily intruded the room and woke him from his sleep.

"You're ready…already?" Harm said with a raspy voice. He brought his hands to his eyes and rubbed away gently, attempting to get rid of the cobwebs of sleep.

"Already? It's twenty-one after."

He laughed and got up, adjusting his wrinkled shirt. "Twenty-one after what, 0400? When did we actually get some shut eye, about five hours ago?"

"Something like that."

As Harm's vision adjusted to the sudden light, he let his eyes rest on Sarah Mackenzie as she sat down on the couch after moving away his bed things. She leaned back and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as her muscles relaxed again.

"You're stomach alright? It wasn't a pretty site last night," Harm said. He gathered up his uniform and started for the bathroom.

"Yeah," she said, "I never got to thank you for what you did. I mean, with the exception of your 'close the door' comment…thanks."

He waved off her gratitude. "I didn't do much. I'm just glad you're alright, Mac."

She nodded as he headed in for his shower. After what seemed like a mere three minutes, he was out again, fully clothed and looking quite nice in her opinion. After their belongings were packed away, both sat down on the sofa.

Harm brought his hands together and rested them against his abdomen. He peaked at Mac through his right eye and grinned. She looked as if she had melted, her body was incredibly relaxed against the fabric of the couch.

"I don't want to go either," he whispered. When she looked at him strangely, he quickly corrected himself. "I don't want to get back on that road again and go to work. I didn't mean I liked it here…wait…"

She smiled and chuckled. "Well, I do like it. Sharing a room wasn't that bad, was it?"

"I guess not. We survived it in Russia, and that was when I had that god-awful chair to sleep in. I didn't think my back would ever recover from that, but here I am."

Mac tilted her head to look at him fully and took in his figure resting lazily beside her. She was touched by the closeness of the moment, regardless of the fact there was no physical contact. "But this time, we had more time to enjoy it."


[ A / N ] - lol, great guess serendipity, I hope it wasn't THAT easy to see ;)

TBC