AN: Hiya! Now first off, let me say that I'm very very very very – ok EXTREMELY and GROSSLY disappointed with the reviews to Lost In Thought (sequel to Lost In The Mountains), or lack thereof. ::cries:: Three reviews? 3? What did I do? I gave you a friggin' sequel. ::sighs:: ANYway. This fanfic wasn't supposed to be one of the series, but it just so happens that using that story line would help this work better, so.

Spoiler: Up to "Vanished", because that's where the flashback comes from. Dalton Lowne doesn't exist in my universe. ::bashes, just in case. Grin.::

Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN JAG DAMNIT! If I did...fanfics wouldn't be necessary.

1947 Local (I don't get that ZULU stuff. ::silly smile:: )
JAG Headquarters
Falls Church, Virginia

Slender fingers typed rapidly, then one hand moved back to take rough but managed notes and fill out forms simultaneously. Brown eyes strained over tiny print, but little effort was needed anymore. The woman behind this desk was working on autopilot while her thoughts roamed. Papers were neatly labeled and filed away, books stacked, cases prepped for Monday morning. Sarah Mackenzie had her Friday evening work routine down pat, and it helped that none of her cases were particularly strenuous, for now. It also didn't hurt that most of the lack of time – though not work, efficiency or effort – put into these cases was due in part to the fact that she wasn't facing her most formidable adversary in –and sometimes out of– the courtroom, Harmon Rabb. Ah how things always seemed to lead her back to him in such uncanny ways. Mac groaned and strethced, shaking out a cramped hand from writing a few briefs and filling out paperwork. Her other hand reached to the base of her neck, then the thigh which had been shot a couple months ago. It sometimes bothered her just enough to cause discomfort, but not pain. She thought about their little encounter after that when Harm had come over. Nothing else had really happened since then, and she sighed unhappily. Maybe she'd dreamt it ALL up.

/Who knows? I think I'll just grab a quick forty winks before I go home.../

The brunette Marines Major put her head down on her arms and took a few deep breaths, trying to relieve the stress a tough week had placed upon her shoulders.

A killer headache was threatening to overwhelm Harm as he tried to concentrate on the current file, so he leaned back and turned his chair to look out the window. Sighing, he realized his focus wasn't good, so he let his mind wander where it would. His thoughts eventually drifted back a few weeks to when he and Mac had been investigating that 'Bermuda Triangle' nonsense which had gotten Bud all excited when they were aboard the USS Coral Sea. But what invaded his memory the most was Mac finding him watching F-14's trap on deck, from Vulture's Row (AN: is that right?). More specifically, the end of their conversation.

---Flashback---

"I thought for a second there that we were going to have a Hallmark moment!" mac attmpted humor, but Harm was silent for a moment.

"Well, I don't like having to break in new partners," he said.

"Ah," Mac replied, turning to look out at the sea.

"You know, when the Admiral said he was pairing me with a Marine Major, I had this vision of a tatooed jarhead challenging me to arm-wrestle during lunch break." He chuckled and leaned his elbos on the rail, look at the cigar he twisted in his fingers.

"Well, I do have a tatoo, I'm a pretty good arm-wrestler, and thought I don't like the term, technically I am a jarhead." She mirrored his movement and looked at him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..." Harm straightened, a grin twitching his lips while he took the smoke from his mouth. "YOU have a tatoo?!" Mac's eyes widened as she stood up as well, her mouth hanging open when she realized her slip. "And where would one find this tatoo?" Harm took another puff from the cigar and purposefully dragged his eyes slowly over Mac's uniformed body as she fought off a blush. She smlied slightly and laughed nervously, beginning to back down the stairs after saying,

"I'm afraid that's classifed, Commander," trying to escape to the hatch. Harm flashed that Flyboy grin and followed her, calling out teasingly as she backed away.

"You have tattoos, Mac?"

---END---

His pleasant flashback ended but he was still leaning back in his chair, smiling, eyes closed. It was how Mac found him, a silly smile plastered on that handsome face. As some dirty thoughts raced through her mind and vivid, steamy images flashed, she bit her bottom lip. Her brown eyes looked over his tight white NAVY uniform that left almost nothing to the imagination. Sighing, she remembered why she came to his office in the first place. She reluctantly ruined his obviously happy moment with a sharp wrapping of her knuckles on his door and a question.

"What're you smilin' about, Stickboy?" Harm sat up abruptly in his chair, praying quickly before opening his eyes that it wasn't the Admiral about to chew him out for daydreaming. A small smile creeped back onto his face after the previous one had been replaced with a stoic tight lips.

"Uh..."

/You.../ he wanted to say. She just looked at him with warm brown eyes awaiting his answer while he paused.

"Nothing just...um...thinking back. It's nothing." He waved a hand and shook his head as if trying to clear the air and his thoughts. Harm smoothly changed the subject. "You need something?" He nodded towards the file she held in her hand. Mac seemed to just realized that she was holding something herself.

"Uh...yeah. Just some follow up papers that you asked about." She crossed the office and stood next to his desk after he wheel back behind it but remained turned, looking at her. She set the file on his desk, but didn't leave. Mac felt an urge, something that compelled her to stay, and she later concluded it was something in his eyes. He was looking at her differentely, somehow. She waited while a few silent moments passed them by before jerking her head lightly in one direction to move her stubborn bangs. She ended up tucking the offending locks behind one ear as her eyes moved away from his face and back again. She touched the corner of his desk with a few fingers after shifting her weight to the other foot as if for balance.

"Uh...Harm?"

"Close the door." He said it as a command but she chose to let it slide. He leaned back in his chair and raised one hand to his face, pointer finger on his cheek, thumb along the jaw and the other fingers curled lightly slightly hiding his face. It was something he liked to do it seemed, as he used the look to study things, and apparently, her. His eyes narrowed a bit while he watched Mac come back to the side of his desk after complying.

"What time is it?"

"1957," she automatically spat out, and she seemed surprised herself at how late it was.

/8:00?! What the hell am I doing here?/ she asked herself in her head.

/'Waiting on Harm,'/ a little voice in the back of her mind answered.

"It's Friday, right?" His question ended her mental conflict, and she nodded, sighing.

"Thankfully. You know the Admiral's been irritable all week and chewing people out left and right and the workload of cases is just—"

"Have dinner with me." She was cut off and speechless.

"Wh-what?"

"Have dinner with me. My place. An hour. You can get home and back by then can't you?" His face was devoid of mischief and his sea colored orbs held only innocence and something that was comforting, but a name for it eluded her. Mac stumbled over her words – a rare thing – for a minute, walking back around his desk to take a seat.

"Well...it would be...that is...I..."

"Yes? Or no?" He swiveled his chair and looked at her, a small half-smile tugging at one side of his mouth. She met his eyes and lightning crackled while zinging energy rose. Mac's mouth was open and moving as she stalled fro more time to decide, attempting to form words.

"Mac?"

"Yes," she finally breathed, and realized she'd been holding her breath for quite sometime.

"Good." He snapped shut the open briefcase on his desk and turned off his computer in the next movement.

"What're you doing?" Mac stood and backed up a step or two as Harm swung on his cover. Putting on his hat and picking up the suitcase again, he grinned after crossing his office and standing at the door, his hand on the knob.

"If I give you an hour to get to my apartment, that means I only have 40 minutes to get everything ready. I've gotta jet." He looked around the deserted JAG office and daringly placed a kiss on her cheek. "I'll see you in sixty, Sarah," was whispered into her ear before the 6'3" Commander swept out of the JAG building quickly. Mac was stunned, and closed the door to his office absently after turning off the lights. She returned to her own only to grab her things.

2017 Local
Mac's Apartment
Georgetown

Mac's keys jingled in her hand as she slipped them out of her pocket. She juggled the briefcase in her hand and the stacks of files under her arms before practically falling into her apartment. Closing the door with a sigh, she hadn't had the chance to look around her living room. Turning once more, she gasped.

3 dozen roses were set up on her table, already set into beautiful glass vases. She dropped her things by the door and shrugged off her cover. Walking over, she picked up the card.

Mac,
Can't wait until tonight. See you in an hour!
Harm

How did he do that? She completely melted, sinking onto her couch and smiling, her finger tracing his familiar handwriting. Roses always brightened her day, and at this time of the year they must've cost a fortune. He deserved something special, she decided.

/How did even find the time to send me these? He's the only one with a key to my apartment.../

She looked at the clock and rose, she only had an half an hour to become a bombshell in casual dress.

She came out of her steamy bathroom, clad in only a towel. Nice and warm, her skin was silky smooth, and her hair was slicked back from the long and luxurious shower. She glanced casually at the clock and it read 2046. What?! She nearly screamed and ran around, trying to find clothes to put on. She only had 5 minutes and 48 seconds to get ready! Tripping over Jingo, she fell onto the floor.

"Ow..."

Jingo stood over her, and licked her face.

2048 Local
Harm's Apartment
North of Union Station

"Crap."

Harm runs around, trying to keep the garlic bread he has in the oven from burning and pulling on his jeans at the same time. Fumbling, he manages to put the bread on the counter before zipping up his pants. Sighing, he checks his watch and gauges how much time it takes to get from Mac's apartment to his. Turning off the stove and the oven, he looks around the kitchen. The spaghetti was ready --meatball-less, of course— the garlic bread was just finished, Caesar salad prepared. His coffee table was clear enough, and all in all he had cleaned the place up well. Bare-chested, he ran to the bathroom, shaving for the second time that day and spritzing on a dash of cologne. Cursing, he pulled out an iron and board, mad that he'd let the shirt he wanted to wear get wrinkled. He pulled on a white tank while waiting for the iron to heat, constantly checking his watch. Finally when he was finished, a long-sleeved green button-down shirt covered his torso. After one last check, he went to do the finishing touches around the apartment, waiting for Mac.

2109 Local

Mac had been ready in plenty of time, and made it to Harm's only a few minutes late. She took the lift and then knocked on his door. She grinned at the look of surprise on his face when he opened the door. She stood in the doorway, wearing skin-tight black jeans, and a tight maroon turtleneck. Her longish hair was tucked behind her ears, a stubborn strand falling over one cheek.

"You're late, Marine."

"After all the times you've been late! And this is my first infraction, c'mon Harm. You can't punish me...can you?" She gave him the puppy-dog eye look which was magnified ten-fold by the fact that she had those perfect brown eyes to play the part.

/Oh, I could punish you, alright./ Harm had to close his eyes for a quick moment to clear his mind of the racy thoughts in case his tight jeans showed more than he intended.

"Well, I guess this one time." He took his arm off the door where he had barred her way inside. Closing the door behind her, he took her coat and noted the over-sized bag in her hand.

"What's that?"

"What's what?"

"That." He pointed at her bag.

"Oh. Work."

"Maaaaacccc..." Harm looked like he was unsure whether to laugh or pass out.

"Aw, you big sissy. I figured we couldn't waste an entire night."

"So just being with me is a waste of time?" He passed her on the way to the kitchen and her mouth hung open slightly as she realized how her words sounded. He just loved doing that to her!

"No! I mean...uh...Of course not. I just thought we could get some work done."

"Sure."

"Harm!" She dropped her bag and coat and followed him into the kitchen, trying to save face.

2147 Local

"Wow, this is really good Harm."

"Glad you like it. I almost killed myself getting it ready."

"Well I'm glad you didn't kill yourself." She was secretly happy that he would go to all this trouble to make something for dinner that usually takes a couple hours. He must've started as soon as he got home. She took another bite as he rolled up the sleeves to his shirt, and then resumed his eating.

They were both eating spaghetti off one big plate, as well as the salad, each breaking off their own pieces of bread. They were on opposite sides of his coffee table, sitting on their knees. They both stuck their forks into the pile of sauce and pasta. Lifting it to their mouths, they leaned in, looking at the food and not each other. A few shared pieces of spaghetti brought their lips together, and they looked at each other, surprised as their lips remained together. Harm closed his eyes and added his own real kiss to it before starting to break away, Mac leaning forward more to continue it. Opening her eyes, she sat back, and blushed, looking back down at the food. Harm tried to go on as if it hadn't happened, and they both left it unsaid, but thinking about it while they absently talked.

About an hour later, Harm was returning to the living room with a filled coffee mug in each hand, but he stopped at the door, leaning against the wall as he just gazed at her. Some of her brown hair was hanging in her face, and was quickly tucked back behind her ear with a quick motion. She sat at the end of his couch, her legs tucked under Indian-style, with a notebook lying open balanced on her legs. She flipped a few pages of the large book on the coffee table she had pulled close before leaning back and tilting her head down, looking at the pages in her lap. Her hand slid down the side of the paper, the tip of her pen hovering over, making little notes here and there as her dark brown eyes scanned the page. He preferred to watch her as she slept, as the peace that came to her face was unmatched by even an angel in his opinion. Finally, he pushed off the door and returned to the couch.

"Here."

"Oh, thanks." She stopped working and sipped, holding the warm mug with both hands. "You know what?"

"What?" He asked, taking a gulp of his own coffee.

"You need to sit here with me and do some work."

"Is that an order, Colonel?" He asks incredulously, his eyebrows rising.

"Damn straight it is, Commander." She adds in a mocking tone.

"Insubordination will be severely punished, ma'am!"

"Oh yeah? How?"

"Like so..."

Harm leans over and kisses her, forgetting about the papers getting crunched between them. He broke away and grinned.

"Alright then, on to the business of defending my client."

He'd done it AGAIN! He knew how and when to push her buttons just right. He'd melted her twice within a few hours and it seemed like he wasn't even trying. Mac sat, a little dazzled and staring at the same page. They sat close now, and Mac's worst fears were confirmed. Her fingers nervously tried to continue writing and smoothing out the crumpled papers, but soon they would not obey. She simply sat, feeling his body warmth just a few inches to her right. It was the work of moments to break her down as he reached across her for a file and his soft warm breath that she had both been dreading and anxiously awaiting brushed her neck, and she just lost it. She looked up at him from behind a little of her brown hair, and he looked back at her.

"What?"

"Harm...I..." With that, she couldn't hold back any more. She pounced on him, her lips capturing his softly. He let the notebooks fall from his hand with a smack on the table as she moved over on top of his lap. She dropped her pen somewhere along the way and papers were rapidly pulled off their laps onto the floor. Mac straddled harm, slowly unbuttoning his shirt. Within moments, they were deep within a heated make-out session, Harm's shirt open, and Mac's jeans unzipped and inching lower gradually. Gently, Harm pulled back.

"Mac..." he whispered.

"Mmph...what?" She sat up, still straddling.

"I think we should take it easy."

"What?" She asked again, this time with a bit of hurt in her eyes and Harm sat up quickly, kissing her again.

"It's not that I don't want this...you. You're goddamn sexy; I could see that the first day we met. I just don't want to move too fast, ok? I want to enjoy every minute of being with you. And that means pampering you too." She searched his eyes for deceit, but found no trace, and decided it was real; that she could finally trust someone and let her guard down. "You know I care for you right? Are we ok now?"

"Yeah. We're ok. Will we always be?"

For a few long moments, blue eyes gazed deeply into brown ones, and for a moment each was lost in the other's tender stare, and some how each knew that the other cared deeply for the other, but the words weren't there yet, though it seemed the physical/sexual tension was surely so.

"Of course, Mac. Now, where were we?" The Flyboy grin lit up his features once more and she could tell that he really did want her, for every part of her; her mind, her body, her heart, no matter how 'damaged' she might think herself. Smiling, she leaned back and Harm followed, his lips drifting to her cheek, and then the appealing spot right under her ear. She shivered and giggled lightly, and Harm only nibbled further. "Ah, a weakness in the armor, eh?" And he noted in the back of his mind that Sarah Mackenzie melted in his arms if he laid feather-soft kisses on her neck.

Finally Mac pulled away and reached over the side of the couch in her bag, rolling off of Harm after they had done with kissing, many, MANY (::wink wink:: ) minutes later. Harm's brow furrowed until she pulled out a pair of pajama pants and matching tank top.

"I knew there was more to that bag than just cases. It's too damn big for that."

"Oh be quiet Harm. You had no idea, just admit it." He sat up indignantly and defended himself.

"I did TOO! Just because I'm not a Marine doesn't mean I can't figure things out!" He watched her saunter into his bedroom and continue in the direction of the bathroom.

"Will you give me a moment's peace? I've gotta change clothes!" She laughed and shut the door with a light click. Sighing happily, Harm cleared up the mess they had made within the span of a few hours. He changed quickly, finding a pair of sweats by the door to his bedroom. He was just pulling up the pants, bare-chested when Mac opened the door, dressed in her pajamas. She started walking towards her bag when she stumbled, and Harm didn't say anything, just continued to pull on his cut down sweatshirt, now more of a t-shirt with his midriff showing a bit. When she held her thigh for a minute and grimaced, an idea popped into his head. She eventually got to the couch and gratefully sank into the cushions. Harm walked up behind the sofa and put his hands gently on her shoulders and started one of his famous backrubs.

"How's that feel?"

"Ohh, wonderful."

"Yeah?" He dug his fingers in at the base of her neck rapidly, moving in just the right way as she smiled and laughed.

"Ooh! Don't stop! Hey, what gives? I said don't stop." She turns slightly to watch him coming around the couch. He sat on one end and pulled her into his lap backwards, and started up again. She let her body relax and melt into his heavenly massage, closing her eyes and sighing deeply. When he felt the tensed muscles in her shoulders relax, he kindly thumped her lower back for a few minutes as well, and then tentatively, he reached a hand around her waist and gripped her formerly-injured thigh with his large hand and began kneading the knotted muscle.

"Ah!"

"I knew it! This leg's been hurting you ever since...you were shot, hasn't it?" Sighing heavily, Mac nodded and admitted that it pained her every once in a while.

"Let the famous hands get rid of it for ya." Smiling at her, he tickled her neck softly with tender kisses and rested his mouth lightly on her neck while soothingly working the ache away.

Soon she was asleep and he carried her to his bedroom. He first laid her down and pulled the sheets over her, and then he slipped in beside her under the covers without a second thought. Kissing her forehead, he smiled and closed his eyes.

"Goodnight, Sarah."

AN: Wowza I wrote a lot! Well, sorta. I copy/paste/edited from a story I scrapped a while ago, and since this fit so perfectly, I figured what the hell. And now it makes more sense since (hee hee sense since ::words sound the same when you say them:: ) they are sorta dating! ::smile smile:: Ok, you better review otherwise no more of this storyline shall yall get! Review dammit! C'mon...you know you want to. Really yall. I feel all depressed and sad when there are no reviews, that makes me feel like writing is pointless. Apparently I can get very depressed...no, I won't go hurting myself. Just sad for a while. ::sniffles:: Review? Now, now, now. I mean really, three reviews! ::still hung up on it – cries for about ten minutes:: THREE!! ::dies::