Harm didn't rise his head as a knock on the door disrupted his trail of thought. Closing arguments were only two days away for a petty officer accused of sexual harassment, and if he wanted to nail the guy, he needed to get his point across now. Sturgis, the defense counsel, wasn't making things any easier.

"Enter."

"The…uh, General," Mac began, catching herself from saying Admiral, "wanted me to give you this."

Harm pushed himself up and met her at the door. After their confrontation, their behavior had been surprisingly civil, but exceeded nothing more than curt greetings and to-the-point JAG related conversation.

She handed him a file and crossed her arms, taking a step back instinctively. "Minor case for you to work on while I'm gone."

"Gone?" He froze in his place. He was convinced Cresswell wouldn't do anything so drastic like send Mac away. But if she left, Harm didn't know what he would do.

She sighed and wrung her hands together. "Assigned to the Seahawk for an investigation."

"Investigation, not that bad," he sighed, relieved at the prospect. "All alone?"

"All alone," she nodded. "The General stuck me with a few crewmen allegedly stealing supplies from the mess. He must think I'm a piece of work, breaking protocol like that back at Okinawa."

Harm frowned. "At least your six isn't on a plane to Japan. I'm sure he's just getting his footing in the new position. Your whole…thing was fifteen years ago, and he probably didn't even know your name."

She shrugged. "I guess so."

"You know…" Harm brought his hand behind his neck and rubbed it nervously. "I'm sorry."

"I don't need this right now," Mac started to retreat from the office.

"It's like I tried to bully an admission out of you or something."

She stopped just as she took a step out of the door. She crossed her arms and prepared herself for the inevitable conversation. "You did," she frowned.

"Kind of like interrogation of a really difficult suspect," he smiled weakly, attempting to lighten the mood.

She sighed with exasperation. "That grin didn't work on me when we first met, and it sure as hell isn't going to work now."

His face fell immediately. "I know I was out of line…"

"But…" she breathed.

"Why the hell won't you just say it?"

"You're not being fair."

"I'd still appreciate an answer to my question."

Mac swallowed hard and ran her fingers across the edge of his desk distractedly. "You are asking a lot, you know. And whenever I've asked the same of you…"

Harm nodded and busied himself by pulling down at his jacket. "I didn't realize we were running an 'eye for an eye' system here."

"We're not," she sighed. "But you can't expect from me what you could never do yourself."

"It's hypocritical," he admitted, "but I thought we were past all that. Mac, I swear, if I had gotten my head out of my six back in Australia-"

"We don't need any 'if's. There are too many of them to count, and it'll just confuse matters even more."

She was right. He felt like kicking himself in the back of the head for not figuring out anything sooner. She plucked at the material of her shirt and shifted her eyes to the floor, refusing to meet his gaze.

"So," Harm said uncertainly, "what's next?"

"I don't know," she said simply, refusing to further jeopardize the already haphazard ledge upon which their friendship stood. "But I need to be on a helo in three hours and fourteen minutes. I'd better get home to pack."

Harm fell silent and retreated back to his desk. He sat down and studied her as she stood uncertainly.

"I'm just going to ready the NCIS reports for your new case. I'll leave them on my desk." Then, as an afterthought, she added, "Goodbye."

He nodded to her curtly and turned angled his head back to his papers. He could hear the faint clicking of her heels as she left.

"Bye," he whispered to no one in particular in his empty office.

TBC