Okie dokie smokies. Here's Part 6 and they finish the convo about the dream. Mac's analyzation was pretty cool methinks. I might stretch out the torture and wait another chapter before we get to know who the bad guy is. I have a few ideas on something they were going to do, but that might get scraped for another story... So once I flip a coin I'll decide. :)

Until then, heres the next dose. . .er, I mean chapter. ;)

Jackie

Thanks to: joanoa, smithknk, mariarita, xobabygurlxo, Brittany4445, starryeyes10, jnp, dansingwolf, LiseGirardi, Martini, JadeAlmasy, Dessler, BiteBeccy, aserene, LtjgMegAustin, cbw, southernqt, froggy, harmfan, Judy, jtbwriter, Abigaile, XBlueShadowX, jaggurl, Lurkz, alix33, Nix707, echorage, aserene, chantelmac, Ink, and anyone else I missed for the feedback :) - If you left feedback and are not in this list, lemme know please!

Part 6 – Conversations Of All Kinds

0310 Zulu
Sunset's Peak Cabins
Wytheville, Virginia

Mac's fingers ran slowly over Harm's cheek and the slight stubble that made him look that much more sexy. With a content sigh, she leaned forward and kissed him deeply. "I love you so much." She couldn't remember a time in her life when she felt like this about anyone. So complete and hopelessly in love. She never wanted to stop feeling like this.

One of Harm's hands was running under the covers, over the curvature of her hip, then right up her spine. He felt her shiver and knew it wasn't from the cold, but from his touches. It gave him a smug grin of satisfaction. "You know I've never felt like this about anyone. . .not even Diane. . .It's sorta weird."

"Weird? How so?"

It was hard to verbalize this thing he felt inside for her. Something that was awakened even more after their walls came down. He wanted to love her with his heart, his mind, his soul, his body. He wanted to pour all of these feelings into her and to take away all of the pain she felt in the past. He wanted to be her everything. "I. . . feel so much for you. . .It's so strong I can't put it into words. . . I'd die for you. . .I'd do anything in my power to make sure you are safe."

There was something in his tone, a way that he spoke and instantly Mac was aware that this was the opening she needed in order to figure out what was wrong. She had let him stew, mainly because, after their hike, they'd decided to just enjoy the time they had together without things getting in the way. Besides, how did you actually get into, what she knew would be an odd conversation? From past altercations between them, she knew that going head on might not be the wisest decision. But now she saw the opening. "Is that what's bothering you? Do you think I am in danger?"

"Yes." He said without thinking. Angered, he got out of bed, pulled on his boxer shorts and jeans and proceeded to pace. "Damnit. . .Why is this happening to me?"

Mac watched him pace, noticing, for the first time, the desperation in his posture. "Harm, calm down. . .Sit down and talk to me."

With a sigh, he conceded, taking a place next to her, just not close enough for Mac to touch him. He glanced down at the floor, shaking his head slightly. "I keep. . .having nightmares."

Mac let go of a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Tell me about them." Nightmares, okay, she'd dealt with those, many of those. At least it wasn't one of the millions of bad scenarios that had run through her mind since earlier that day. "Is that what caused the problems with your quals?"

Harm nodded. "The throttle did get stuck. . .but, in mid-air I started having flashes of the nightmare. . .I started to panic, lost my cool." He buried his face in his hands, scrubbing slightly then turning to her with a slight smile. "I just realized this must sound ridiculous to you."

Placing a hand on his, she squeezed gently. "No, it doesn't. . .I've had many nightmares of my own, Harm. . . some were so real it scared me to death."

"Have you ever had a nightmare where something bad happens to someone you love?"

"Yea, I have. . .some of you." With a shrug, she decided to let him in on a few of her nightmares in hopes that he would share what was troubling him so much. "When you were in the CIA, I kept. . .having this nightmare that you'd been captured and I just couldn't save you. . .My greatest nightmare was for something to happen to you and me to have to live life without you knowing how I felt."

"This is a bit different. . .mostly because it feels so real." And that was the problem, he could literally feel himself being held back as he tried to reach her, to save her. The image of himself was, by far the most disturbing. Though his shrink had tried to sway his thoughts of it being nothing more than his fear of hurting Mac, there was something more he couldn't put his finger on. The figure was him, but it wasn't him, Harm wasn't a monster. He looked up noting that Mac was quietly waiting for him to continue, she squeezed his hand again for reassurance and Harm took a breath. "You're in the dream. . .so are Tanveer, Ragle, Sadik, Coster and Temir."

Mac tensed as he mentioned each man, especially those that bared a significance to her. She furled her brow as she tried to make heads or tails of that piece of information. "Everyone who's ever tried to hurt me?"

For the life of him Harm couldn't figure out why she didn't phrase that differently. Those men didn't try to hurt her, all of them had gotten away with it. For that matter, so had he. "I'm in the dream too."

"Harm, I know where this is going. . .You aren't going to hurt me." She was sure of that, positive really, especially seeing how much care he took when they'd first been together. "And they are out of our lives, it's all in the past."

"Damnit Sarah, shut up!" He said angrily because he was trying so hard to work up the courage and tell her the full dream, the new, horrifying version that had haunted him during his quals. The one that not even Dr. Sexton knew about. Glancing up, he instantly knew his outburst had hurt her. Then, just as quickly, her appearance changed back into that comforting and caring one. "I'm sorry. . .Just please, let me work up the courage to tell you."

Mac nodded and held a breath. It was obvious this was more than just a nightmare. This was affecting him greatly and was probably the reason why, in the middle of the night, she found him sitting at the small table nursing a bottle of water. She was sure, had they had alcohol in the cabin, he would have taken a few swigs.

"It was simple at first. . It would start with me being held back by two goons. . .You were tied to some sort of post and you kept asking me to save you. And each time I tried, the guys would hold me back so tight it felt like my arms would rip out of my sockets." Moving off the bed, he headed towards the fridge and pulled out a bottled water. He drained half of it, then took a seat on the small table by the window. "Then I saw them, Chris, Temir, Coster, Sadik and Tanveer. . .they were all describing things they were going to do to you. . .bad things. . .and I kept trying to get to you and I kept begging them to take me. . .then out of the shadows comes this guy with dark hair." That was the part that was doing him the most damage.

"It was me. . . only it wasn't me. . . it's hard to explain, it's like he looks like me, but it isn't me. . . and he has this dagger which he uses to carve the side of your face. . .and I tried to save you, I did, but I couldn't get free. . .He tells me that he's going to do to you what they, meaning the other guys, couldn't do. . And you kept screaming. . .you kept pleading with me to help you. . ." He could still hear the screams, even as he sat there, looking at her, knowing she was alive and well, he could still hear them. Part of him could actually feel them. "When they finally let me go, I run off blindly and find you laying in pool of blood. When I lift you up to see what he did to you. . .I stare at a blank face with no features. . .I keep hearing your voice asking me to save you. . .but I can't tell where it's coming from and then the. . .woman I am holding takes a gun and shoots me, that's when I wake up." As he ended, he couldn't look into her eyes for fear of what he'd find there. Harm didn't want to worry her needlessly and all in all, it was only a dream, something that he'd woken up from. But what if there was more to it? "Therapy isn't doing shit, just making me analyze it all to death. . ."

Hugging herself the entire time he spoke, Mac finally released her arms, flexing her hands slightly to get feel back in them. His appearance, his lack of looking at her was breaking her heart. It was a dream, just some stupid, bad dream, but to the person having them, they could feel so real. She knew of that and her own fears of falling asleep because the night would bring the terrors and force her to deal with things that she just wanted to bury. "Okay, so stop analyzing it. . .I wish I could tell you that I know why you are having that nightmare. . .who the hell knows what part of our psyche brings shit like that up. . .But I do know, and feel it in my heart that you wouldn't do what they did to me." Noting he was about to object, she raised her hand and silenced him. "Yes, you've hurt me. . .you've broken my heart, you've made me feel un-feminine, you've hurt my pride. Emotionally, dealing with you has sometimes made me a train wreck." Harm stared up at her with a look of disbelief. Was this supposed to be making him feel better? "But I know I've done the same to you. . .and I know we've learned. . .well, sorta learned from our mistakes." She grinned.

Harm sighed. "But, give me one good reason why I keep having them then? Why I keep seeing those bastards trying to hurt you again? And why I am the one with the blade?"

"I don't know. . ."

"Maybe it's cause I couldn't help you. . ." He thought back through all of those men, through each and every trauma that she lived through. Tanveer and Temir were the more benign of her attackers. He could still see her wince in pain when the rouge agent dropped her to the floor in Manderlee. Temir had simply wanted her and she'd luckily managed to get away. "With Tanveer, damnit Mac when he tossed you like a rag doll I wanted to kill him. . .And Temir, what if he would have touched you? I couldn't have done a damned thing."

Mac sighed. "Neither times you could have done anything. . .Damnit, Harm, you warned me about Tanveer, I didn't listen. And Temir, unless you're one of the X-Men, specifically the one that can walk through walls, you couldn't have done anything. . .Not to mention, I thought he'd killed you." She frowned, recalling Harm lying on the ground after Temir had taken a shot. "As for Coster, he took us both by surprise. . I never, in a million years, would have figured that out."

Okay, so she was right about that. Though Harm disliked Coster, it didn't mean that he knew he would hurt her. Then there was Sadik, an evil that he managed to save her from only to be taken out of the game when she really needed back up. "What about Sadik. . .I should have tried harder to get rid of him in Paraguay. If I wasn't so busy playing the jealousy card. . ."

"And if I wasn't so busy trying to make you jealous."

He glanced up at her. "You were trying to make me jealous?"

"Buttering Webb's toast?" She nodded. "I was trying to get some damned emotion out from those walls of yours. . .Something that was real. . .I needed to know that you were there because you loved me, not because of your comic book-like sense of duty."

Harm chuckled at the last part. This was twice in a conversation that she'd brought up comic book references. Thinking about it, maybe it wasn't too far fetched, people had called him Superman before. "And what do you make of me with the blade?" He said, after managing to get his amusement under control.

"You said that when you finally were let loose and you got to me, that it wasn't me. . .I basically didn't have a face, right?" At his nod, she continued with a deep breath. "What if it's all a metaphor?"

"Huh?" Maybe the whole analyzing the dream thing was a bad idea. The more he got into it, the more confused things were.

Mac grinned and rolled her eyes playfully. "You said it was you, but it wasn't. . . And it was me, but it wasn't. . .well, maybe that part is about our paths. You were hurt because you couldn't rescue me. I was hurt by you. . .But then, when you got loose, it wasn't me anymore. . .So, one could deduce that it's all about the past. . .Me shooting you could be like. . .an eye for an eye. . .You hurt me, I've hurt you, it's past, it's over, it's done. . . check please." Her attempt at a jovial ending had Harm laughing with earnest.

As much as he hated to admit it, Harm was feeling better. Maybe she had a point? Maybe he just needed to talk to her and let it all go? "So how much are you going to charge me for this little session?" He made his way to the bed and plopped down next to her evidently drained from the discussion.

Mac's arms wrapped around him tightly and for reasons unbeknownst to him, Harm broke down. The sobs wracked through his whole body as her hands soothed his back. "It's okay. . .let it go Harm. . .let it go." That night, after the tears were dried, he fell asleep in her arms.

September 10, 2005
1725 Zulu
Roberts' Residence
Virginia

"Daddy! Mommy! Uncle Harm and Aunt Mac are here!" An overly enthusiastic AJ Roberts yelled as he bounded into his godfather's arms. "Uncle Harm, are we gonna play with my airplanes?"

Harm glanced over at Mac who was chuckling. "Hey buddy, you aren't opening the door without permission are you?"

AJ stared at him and Mac with a sad, puppy dog expression. "But I saw you and Auntie Mac get off the car." He pleaded his case. At Harm and Mac's unified look of disapproval, he sighed, "I won't open the door without mommy or daddy telling me to."

"Good." Harm said, placing the boy back on his feet.

Immediately, AJ grabbed Mac's hand, tugging her through the house and towards the kitchen. "Aunt Mac, wanna see the picture I drew for school?"

With a sigh, Harm watched them walk away and was soon tapped on the shoulder by Bud who brought with him two beers. "Commander, nice of you and the Colonel to drop by."

"It's just Harm, Bud. . .Thanks" He said, taking the beer from the younger man. They walked their way through the house and out back to the porch where Harriet was sitting, feeding the twins.

"Harm!" She said, standing to give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Harriet studied him for a moment, as if seeing him for the first time. He was different, she wasn't sure yet if that was a good or bad thing. "Where's Mac? Bud told me she was coming with you." There was a twinkle in her eye, the matchmaker in her that was planning to work overtime in getting her two friends together. Little did she know. Bud caught on and headed inside to find Mac and little AJ, chuckling at the surprise his wife was going to get. . .He hoped.

"She's here." Cracking a grin, he pointed towards the kitchen. "AJ hijacked her so she'd look at his pictures." Harm watched Harriet as she sat down and resumed feeding the twins. It was the fourth time he'd seen them, but he never got tired of the sight. In his minds eye he imagined Mac with the same, happy grin feeding their kids. Shaking his head, he brought himself out of his reverie when Mac and little AJ rushed passed them.

Laughing, Mac chased AJ through the backyard, pretending not to be able to grab him. "You're too fast, AJ!"

Harriet grinned, "You know, if I didn't know better, I say you have the look of a man in love."

Thankfully for Harm, the moment was broken by a pat on his shoulder. Turning around, he found Sturgis and Varese. "Hey, buddy!"

About two and a half hours later, when lunch was over and Harriet managed to put her three youngest to bed, the adults convened outside under a retractable awning over the back porch.

Harm and Sturgis stood together glancing at their significant others, who were having an apparently funny discussion. "You think they're talking about us?" Sturgis asked with a slight grimace.

"Ooooh yea." Harm nodded. "So she managed to warm the tin man's heart?" With a smirk, he turned and nudged his friend. "I bet your pop loves her."

"He does, just not as much as I do." Grabbing Harm's arm, he tugged him into the house and over to the kitchen table where the two sat down. "So, you and Mac. . .that's nice."

Harm paled slightly. "Okay, so it really is that obvious? I thought Bud was screwing around." With a sigh, he took a long gulp of his beer then placed the empty in the recycling bin. "Yea. . .it is nice, very nice."

"So I guess you two had the talk?" Sturgis said more to himself than anything. The talk he was referring to was Mac telling Harm the truth about her feelings, that she was in love with him. And by the look of confusion on Harm's face, it was apparent that he'd overstepped some boundary. "I mean, have you told her? That you love her?"

"Yea, and she told me she loves me, too." It was sweet really, amongst the hell that was their trip in Canada, he finally managed to tell her what they both needed to hear. And he did love her, more and more each day if possible.

Sturgis grinned smugly. "Then I guess there is no point in holding my secret anymore. . .Years ago, the first case I worked with her, we were bumping heads a lot. Somehow we got around to talking about the two of you. . .and she let it slip that she was in love with you."

Harm's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "She told you that?"

"She didn't really want to tell me, it just slipped."

"And you never told me? Some friend you are." He teased, chuckling at the mock-hurt look Sturgis shot him. "Kidding. . .but maybe you should have told me, would have avoided a lot of heartache."

Sturgis chuckled. "Oh yea, tell you and then risk getting killed by a female Marine. Who, if the stories Bud told me are true, could probably dislodge my arm with a flick of her wrist."

"Oh, I've seen her in action, she could probably kill a man with her pinky." The two men shared a good natured chuckle when the person they were discussing walked in. "Speak of the devil."

Mac raised her eyebrow at him and shook her head. "Sorry to break up the boys club reunion, but your fiancé, Mr. Turner is wondering where my partner has whisked you off to." Sturgis stood and quickly moved out of the kitchen and out the door. "Ah, love."

Harm remained sitting on the chair by the table, drumming his fingers against the wooden top. He stood up only to have Mac purposely rub her body against his as she made her way to the fridge to grab another bottle of soda. "Playing with fire, Marine." He groaned, his voice was low, teasing and only made Mac want to tease him even more. With a wicked grin, she passed by him again, rubbing her body against his much slower than before. "Ugh, that's it." Turning, he took her in his arms fusing his mouth to hers in a deep passionate kiss. Her arms wrapped around his neck, holding his head close so she could deepen the kiss further.

The sound of someone clearing their throats brought them back to reality. Harm and Mac jumped apart as if they'd been burned. There, standing with an overly amused smirk was non-other than AJ Chegwidden. "Pigs must be flying." He said with a grin.

The next sound was a squeal from Harriet who stood with AJ, Jen and Bud. "Oh, my God! You're together!"

Sturgis and Varese chose that time to walk in together, finding Harm and Mac glancing at each other with a cheesy grin. "Well, I guess we don't have anything to hide anymore." Mac said, then threaded the fingers of her hand through Harm's. "Yea, we're together."

It never occurred to either of them how many people were pulling for the two of them being together, that included Chegwidden who then proceeded to tell them that he'd been waiting years for them to get their head out of their sixes. "I think you two were oblivious to each other." He said as they sat around in the living room as bad weather had brought the get together indoors.

"I wouldn't call it oblivious, I noticed Mac, I just didn't realize she harbored similar feelings." He chuckled slightly, shaking his head at the absurdity of it all, of how his friends were now grilling him over the if ands or buts about their relationship. "Besides, I was just worried of wrecking our friendship. . . I told myself that if we could just stay friends, I'd take that over not having her at all."

Jen grinned, remembering the first time she met Mac and how she and Harm seemed to have this spark between them. The evening she spent at Mac's apartment, she'd asked Chloe about the two of them, the girl had conceded that they loved each other, but just didn't know it. But now, it was apparent that the walls came down and things were right for her two favorite people. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
froggy - Yer mind, outta de gutter. I am saving my good smut for a story I can't post here. ;) Ain't that a bitch? ;)

Britanny - Isn't it nice? Like they are learning to TALK through things. Well, it won't be nice for long. ;) Every relationship hits a bad argument, they are about to hit theirs.

Lgjgmeg - No betting! And it just MIGHT be Palmer! Muahahahaaaa! He's evil, he's cool, he's. . .well he's got a lotta flo, course JAG seemed to have forgotten about him stealing $$$ from Harm. NUts, really. Duh.

XBlue - Oye! Coño! Calm down! Breathe! Breathe:::breathed too much and passes out: Woah, envermind. Wow, I am in a weird mood tonight. ;) BTW - WRITE DARN YOU WRITE! Iwant stories, missy! Today::Taps foot: Else. . .else. . :thinks up a good threat: I'll ummm. . .yea! I will!

moonlight - Who do you think the bad guy is? I have nooooooo problem if you say it over here, you might be wrong. ;)

Ink - LOL! I CAN write smut, just not on here. . .I do that off of my site or group. Hehehehe. I am working on a good smut story, once it's done, I'll advertise. ;)

Harmfan - Hey! I wasn't too brutal! Sheesh! Ye a little faith!

Alix - Oooh DJE. I think hot as hell in Force Recon that Marine haircut :thud: And the bad dood is not from Temir or Steele or Levine. We've seen the last of them.