EPILOGUE (of sorts)
"Exit 142?" Mac whispered to herself as she eyed the passing sign.
Harm shuffled through the papers within the file that was perched precariously on his knees. "What?" he said without looking up.
He didn't know if she had ignored him or failed to hear him, but was surprised when she suddenly shifted the car to the right-most lane on the highway. His files nearly fell to the floor, but he managed to hold them in place.
Mac led the car out the next exit and he watched in confusion as they went through the looping street up to the overpass ahead. As they journeyed down the solitary road, which was peppered with only a few buildings, Harm squinted through the foggy glass to see where they were going with no avail.
"Where are we?" he asked, trying to get her attention.
"Wait," she said, "keep an eye out."
"For…? You haven't even told me where we're going."
"Never mind, got it," Mac said confidently as she took a left turn into another two-laned road that took a straight path through a small town.
Harm tried to pick out any landmarks that stood out to find every sight as monotonous as the rest. "Would you mind letting me in on your itinerary…"
Before he could finish his trail of thought, Harm finally picked out a familiar signpost amongst all of the old billboards and small shops. The Downsview, said a large sign on top of a tall metal pole. The light blue letters were written in a soft, cursive hand and stood out against the white background of the display.
"Why are we…"
Mac wordlessly pulled into the lot and parked the car in the nearest available space. Unlike the other time they were there, the lot was virtually deserted, except for two pickups and a large green van. She opened the door and stuck her leg out to exit when she saw Harm had made no move to join her.
"Harm?"
His brow was creased in thought as he tried to sort through how they had wound up here. "I thought you wanted to go home…"
"Do you?" she asked.
"I'll...follow you wherever you want." He made a face at his choice of phrasing.
Mac fought the urge to smile at the sheer cliché about his words. "How about here?"
"Alright," he said hesitantly. After swinging the door open, he removed his long legs from within the car and stretched his limbs before pushing himself from his seat and yawning.
Mac sighed and briskly walked to the entrance of the gray bricked building. Harm followed in suit and came inside the lobby a few seconds after. The familiar bell rang out as the two came inside, and Molly Lane's head snapped up from her billing paperwork at the front desk.
"Commander, Colonel," she smiled and moved her items aside. "What brings you here?""You remember us," Mac laughed and took a few steps forward, leaning against the tall counter.
Molly shook her head and grinned. "You two are a bit hard to forget…no disrespect of course."
"Ah, she gets that all the time," Harm said, motioning towards his partner.
Molly realized the pair in front of her were acting much calmer and happier than before – last time was unnerving. "You need rooms?"
Mac nodded. "I think we need a bit of rest. We only need to be back at work by Monday, so we have a some time to spare."
"No storms, hail or rain this time. Two rooms…" Molly breathed. She turned around to get the two closest room keys when Mac's voice stopped her.
"Actually…just one."
Molly's hand stopped in mid motion. She smiled and grabbed the nearest keycard, spinning around to see the Commander staring at the Colonel openmouthed. Mac, however, looked unperturbed except the fact she was nervously chewing her lower lip.
Harm prodded his partner in the arm when she swung her head in his direction. He snapped his mouth closed and stood up straight, trying to ward off the strange look from Molly. Mac accepted the key and led Harm upstairs to their room after a quick thank-you to the hotel owner. Inside their room, Harm prodded Mac in the arm again nearly the moment they got into the room.
"What?"
"What are you doing? I thought you wanted to wait…"
"I…I thought we could spend some more time together. I liked it last time," Mac hissed back. "What, you don't want-"
"I never said that," Harm muttered, "I just don't want you to do something you're not one hundred percent sure."
Mac looked at Harm with a flabbergasted expression. "We don't need to do anything. I just wanted to talk or something, like we did before."
"You mean you don't want to do anything?" Harm suddenly asked, trying to hide the sudden disappointment from his voice.
"Harm…"
"Sorry, sorry," he said with more confidence than he felt.
She put her hands on her hips and tapped her toe impatiently. "You know…let's just get home – it's only a few more hours."
She turned around to say re-exit the room when he grabbed her arm and pulled her back towards him. "No, I want to stay."
Mac searched his face for a sign of faltering and saw the uncertainty writ all along his tightly pursed lips. She brought his hands and placed them firmly at her hips. "When I said we don't need to do anything…"
"I was stupid."
"No," she said, providing no room for argument. She leaned in and firmly pressed her lips so his. She pulled away slightly, but was still close enough to feel his breath against her cheek.
"It's just I want this so badly," he whispered. She could feel a slight pressure at her sides as began to pull her closer.
"I want you, don't ever doubt that."
Harm let go of her and too a step back, closer to the couch where he crossed his arms. "So, where does this leave us? The end of all that bickering?"
"And the beginning," she reminded him. Her mind had wandered, for some unknown reason, to the end of the JAGathon where they had a similar line of conversation.
"A better one, this time," Harm grinned.
She decided that he was right. He reached out for her and she put her arm up to put their hands together. She came to his left and intertwined their fingers with a sheepish chuckle. There was no fighting with the fire, no hurt anymore. She didn't want that, and the marine in her would be damned if she'd let them screw it up again.
THE END...
A/N -- Really, the end this time. Thank you again for all the reviews.
