Title : When You're Ready…

Author : Jaggie 107

Disclaimer : JAG characters belong to DPB, CBS and Paramount. I hope all parties will allow me to have fun for a little while, and replace them all when I'm done. Thank you.

Rating : G to PG-13 (Just in case!)


To all the readers/reviewers shown – thanks for the support, and please keep reading! It's nice to see from the reviews given that the 'format' for the story is still working out!

cbw; cool cat; froggy0319; Lisa Brown; ryne'smom; anna7; harmsgirl-03; dana; suz573; Grace; jaggurl; Nikki; Kirsty; kirsten; ss; Arian04; GuitarVixen; iammusic; JennaTripped; JagFan; starryeyes10; Kavi Leighanna; SarahRabb705; BrokenSkye; NavyCB; SailorGirl; moe; katydid13; serendipity112233; Dreamer20715; jtbwriter; joanoa; FoxyWombat; chawkchic; maidenpride21; r; heartandy112; General Mac; jagaddict; ducktapedmoose; lehcar412; laura carr; bluejay742; dansingwolf; Tina Frank; snugglebug; Jackia; The Fiction Spider; Maria; Lisa; aserene; JAGJenni; martini1988; skyefire

skyefire – Thank you for the info on 'MRE's! Much appreciated. Welcome to the story, too, and I hope you like this next chapter. Please keep reading! aserene – I'd heard the news about DJE (sob! ) but I'd also read that he'd had a huge pay hike and was staying on, so I'm not sure what to believe! In the meantime, I'll keep writing. Thanks for your review, and please keep reading! froggy0319 – Thanks for your review. I hope you like this next chapter, and please keep reading! snugglebug – I agree with you – they've got to do something! In the meantime, I'll keep writing! Thanks for your review, and I hope you like this next chapter. Please keep reading! JAGJenni – Thanks for your review. I'm not sure about what's going to be done with the rest of the season either, but we can keep our fingers crossed and hope! In the meantime, I'll keep writing! Hope you like this chapter, and please keep reading! dana - Ooh! I did well, didn't I? Ha, ha! Thanks for your review, and please keep reading! starryeyes10 – Thanks for your review, and please keep reading! chawchic – Thanks for your review. It was a bit steamy, but I don't always 'see' what I've written until after the fact, and by then it's been posted! I hope you like this next chapter, and please keep reading!


What could have happened after the end of Fit For Duty…

Parking Lot – JAG Headquarters

Mac walked across the parking lot to her rental – she still hadn't selected a new car yet, torn between another Corvette, or something that wouldn't remind her so much of her accident – and refused to look around at Harm's car beside hers. As she opened her car door she was aware of him standing behind her.

Harm waited while Mac stowed her briefcase on the back seat and heard her taking a deep breath before she turned to face him. This, he knew, was the first real hitch in their relationship, and he was well aware also of the damage that could be done by Inez's comment about dinner.

"You want something?" Mac asked, trying to appear unfazed by his appearance, but she wasn't fooling anyone, and especially not Harm.

"I want to know what you're thinking right now," Harm replied softly, waiting for her response, which came quite fast.

"What am I supposed to think, Harm? You're going to dinner with another woman."

"I didn't say we were going to dinner; she did."

"You invited me along!" Mac retorted angrily, and Harm could see the fury in her eyes.

"I was joking. It backfired. I'm sorry for that, Mac, but there's more to this than Inez talking about having dinner."

"Oh, so now you're going to play shrink and analyze me? I don't think so, Commander." Mac climbed into the driver's seat and pushed the key into the ignition. Harm stepped back from the door so that she could close it, and Mac looked up at him briefly, and then reversed out past him, heading out of the parking lot. The image of her that stayed with Harm was that of there being tears in her brown eyes.

"Hey, you sure you don't want to take me up on that dinner? It's a really nice place I had picked out." Inez pulled up behind Harm's Corvette, smiling up at him, still hoping that she could break his resolve and find out just what it was that had kept Jordan interested until she took his love of flying as rejection of her, and moved on without him.

"I'm sure. Thanks, for the advice, and your time on the trial."

"What? No raincheck?"

"Inez, it's been great getting to know you, and I respect your standing as a psychiatrist, but there is nothing else going to happen between us. We have a mutual friend, I know, but that is all, and Jordan is dead."

"There's someone else?"

Harm nodded, and then smiled briefly.

"I hope I can call on you in a professional capacity at some other time? Your insight into this last case was productive."

"I'd like that. Don't worry, I'm not going to go out and mope over an empty seat at dinner. There is someone else for me too." Inez smiled at the surprised look on Harm's face before adding, "I just thought it would be nice to find out what Jordan raved about all those times before she died."

"I hope you have a pleasant evening. Bye." Harm turned away, inserting his key into the door of the Corvette, and Inez signed as she watched him. He was already intent on leaving the parking lot, and she was sure he already had his mind on that 'someone else'. Touching her foot to the accelerator, she left the parking lot herself, heading back to her clinic.

Harm didn't see Inez leave the parking lot, and his main intent was to get to Georgetown, and Mac.

Mac's Apartment – late afternoon

Harm didn't use his key to Mac's door, feeling that it would have been the cause of another argument she could have picked with him. Pressing the doorbell once, he waited.

Mac opened the door, and stood looking at him in silence. After what seemed like forever, she stepped back so that he could walk into the apartment.

"What…what are you doing here?"

"I came to take you up on your raincheck."

"Raincheck?" Mac looked confused, and tired, and Harm noticed both right away, giving up on his teasing.

"I came to find out what happened back at work today."

"Nothing happened, Harm. I was just…I'm tired, and I have a lot on my mind."

"You want me to go?"

"Honestly, I don't know what I want right now…" Mac was about to say something else, but Harm spoke instead.

"Good, because I wasn't planning on leaving just yet."

"I…you…" Mac began, and then gave up, lifted her hands up in the air and then dropped them, and walked across to the couch. Harm followed her, stopped to take off his jacket and drape it across a dining chair, and then took the seat next to her, taking her left hand in his and rubbing the pad of his thumb over her fingers. "Harm?" Mac prompted gently, and her eyes met his as he looked up at her.

"We are together, Sarah. As close to being official as it gets."

"Is this a proposal? Because if it is…" Mac began, not quite sure what Harm was trying to say, but her stomach did a flip at his next words.

"No, it isn't a proposal. Not yet. Believe me, I know that we will be together for whatever our future will hold. I need something else right now, though."

"You know I love you," Mac began, and Harm nodded, smiling at her.

"I know you do, and I love you. But you need to trust me, Sarah."

"Trust…you?" Mac's shocked expression was highlighted by the tears that were welling, and spilling over onto her cheeks. "Harm…I…"

"There is absolutely no other woman for me but you!"

"You went to Jordan's friend for help."

"Jordan told me about Inez a long time ago. They were going to set up in private practice together, and the clinic was Inez's way of remembering Jordan. I never intended that Inez cause you any personal qualms about you and I. I thought we were past all that…" Harm paused, and swallowed, realizing that he hadn't thought about Clayton Webb in a long time, and wondering if Mac still did.

"I do trust you, Harm." Mac lifted her free hand and stroked down the side of Harm's face. "I'm sorry I caused you to think otherwise. I don't trust me, that's the problem. General Cresswell…said something today…"

"What did he say?"

"He asked me if I had a resentment against the profession that dealt with mental disease. When I got back to my room, I actually thought over his words, and realized that maybe I did harbor some negative feelings. Jordan was in the profession, and you were involved with her. I was referred to a psychiatrist by the Admiral, and resented the hell out of everyone that was involved in Paraguay! And then you brought Inez into the trial."

"And to top it all, she's blonde," Harm murmured, and Mac looked at him in surprise, before laughing at his words. Nodding her head, she laughed some more.

"Yeah, I guess that didn't help my mood either."

"I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Sarah Mackenzie, and so in a way this is a proposal. I propose that you and I agree here and now that we love each other," Harm leaned over and dropped a light kiss on Mac's lips, before adding, "…very much! Also, we trust each other, and ourselves, to know that nothing nor anyone is going to come between us."

"No matter what?" murmured Mac, sliding up the couch towards Harm, and going into his open arms with a sob.

"No matter what," echoed Harm, wiping the tears on Mac's cheeks, and gently kissing her forehead. When he pulled back to look into her eyes, he smiled at her.

"What?" asked Mac, not sure what Harm was smiling about.

"It's not too late if you want to go out to dinner," he offered, but smiled indulgently when Mac shook her head and reached up to pull at his tie and unfasten a few buttons.

"Nah, I'd much rather eat in. Later."

"Later, huh? So, what do we do in the meantime?"

"Oh, I thought we could discuss the merits of your recent proposal, and maybe add a clause or two."

"Really?" Harm pretended to consider the idea, and when Mac ran her hand down the front of his shirt, as far as the belt at his waist, his eyelids lowered as he leaned over to kiss her. Just before their mouths met, he murmured something, and Mac giggled.

"How many clauses did you say?"


A/N – I couldn't have our favorite couple going home to empty apartments, so they had to resolve this 'issue' somehow. I'm not sure about the ending, but I'm leaving it…I'm sure you'll all let me know if it doesn't work for you!