Tuesday...

Harm poured a generous amount of creamer into his mug and whistled slightly. If he just casually mentioned to the Admiral that he and Elizabeth just 'weren't meant to be', it would be done. No one would be the wiser. He would simply have to do this next Monday morning, after the 'trip', and the Admiral would never bring it up again, in fear of opening old wounds.

"What're you so happy about?"

The idiotic grin that sat on Harm's face broke instantly and he cleared his throat as Sturgis stared at him with an arched brow. He busied himself by wiping away at a bit of the coffee that had dripped on the counter with the white paper towel, and watched as the small brown drops of liquid stained the material.

"Nothing," he replied a bit too quickly.

"Could it be that new woman?" Sturgis smiled crookedly and pried the creamer from Harm's hands. "It's been a while for you, buddy. I was afraid you were getting rusty."

"What?" he snorted. "First of all, I would never get rusty, and about her-" He would hold his friend to the highest secrecy, he decided. It would do no harm.

Chegwidden marched into the break room and reached over the fridge to the cupboard with a gruff, "At ease," in their direction. He paid no specific attention to either man, and Sturgis continued watched him expectantly.

"Elizabeth Vandelay?" he prompted with a nudge in Harm's side. The submariner sounded so dead serious about the ridiculous name that Harm had the urge to laugh.

Harm's face fell and he glanced at Chegwidden, who was taking the utmost care in bringing out a slice of bread from the loaf. He dipped a knife into the large plastic jar of peanut butter and smeared it over the slice painstakingly. Then, he smoothly overlapped it with another layer. He seemed to be moving in slow motion and gave no signal that he was leaving anytime soon.

His arms fell to his sides and he conceded with a long, drawn out sigh. "Yes, I cannot wait until our next date. Our last one was a week ago," he recited with robotic precision before taking a long, drunken swig of his coffee and leaving his cup on the countertop.

"Where'd you go?"

Harm could not believe the persistence that Sturgis showed. "Dinner at…The Lotus. You happy?"

"Go get 'em," his friend laughed without picking up the frostiness behind Harm's words.

"Who told you about her?" Harm asked finally.

Chegwidden chose that precise moment to leave the room as he took a bite of his sandwich hungrily, not caring to maintain that pristine Navy Seal exterior in front of the two men.

"Mac, after court. Says you're quite taken with her," Sturgis said as he peered at Harm over his mug, "in fact I'd say she's jealous. She was very reluctant to tell me Elizabeth's name. I mean, you both haven't been involved in a while, and since you're taking that first step…"

"I'm sure she was," Harm snapped and left the room in a huff in the direction of Mac's office. He nearly ran into Harriet, but whizzed around her in a flurry of frustration and anger. He didn't bother to knock on the door, and blew in breathlessly.

"Come on in," Mac sighed as she propped her head up on her open palm. He decided if she wanted to, she could kick his ass right then and there. This was not a good idea.

He closed the door behind him carefully and shut the blinds. "Why'd you tell Sturgis about Elizabeth Vandelay?"

"We were talking about your predicament with Meredith, and it just slipped. I said 'Well, he won't have to worry about it anymore, he's got a woman now'. He asked for her name and everything, and seemed so eager." She got up and met him at the door as she crossed his arms. "So I just told him what you had planned out, but never had a chance to tell him it was all a…carefully planned out ruse. Anyway, we don't want two contradicting stories in the office scuttlebutt."

"No, we don't," he said with a sigh. "Just do me a favor and avoid any further questions regarding my date with Ms. Vandelay this weekend, regardless of who asks you."

"Will do," she said with a hasty salute in his direction. "I'm sorry about convoluting everything further."

"I'm not satisfied." He thought back to their conversation in front of the car and decided that at least some good would come from the mess. "You owe me my money back."

"Oh?" Mac said as she put her hands on her hips expectantly, just as he anticipated she would.

"I know this great veggie place. Even you might convert from the dark side after tasting their butter fried tofu with teriyaki sauce," Harm said.

Mac scrunched her face up slightly at the thought and waved him off. "Fine. But I highly doubt this is worth it. When?"

"Tonight," he smiled and slipped out of the door. "Thank you."

TBC