A/N: Hey people, I'm back! Woohoo! More chapters! Oh yeah, and school's out so you'll be getting way long chapters in way faster time (so now for all of those who don't review, you have no excuse not to). But never mind that, I'm back and better than every, coming at you 24/7.

Major thanks to: Bite Beccy, Bail's Other Daughter, Steelo, Starryeyes10, Kitty X, martini1988, QueenOfAces, froggy0319, alix33, mjag, moonlight, nursejay80, AnMaDeRoNi, snugglebug, jaggurl, Anne, ficchic, dansingwolf, Radiorox, cbw, wishwaters, Rocket Rain, sgcgirl52, tlk29, JJScottishGirl, Blueangel, aj, French-navy girl, Marge, Jane, Tina Frank, highplainswoman, mac AND harm fan, Ali Baba, super ducky, tumblebuttons, AB, Abigiale, macandharmlover, jazzy, vhosek malacath, your fan (or is it my fan?), Britainy, MartiniMac, HighHeel Shoe Lover, Sirus 745, Fan, Pissed off Poet 1, southernqt, BrittanyLS, sugar230, K, and Ilovemyselftoday!

Note: this chapter starts off in Special Agent Vera Azhad's point of view. So . . . bear with me here, we will get to the Harm and Mac stuff! I promise.

One to Walk With

0232

Vera's Room

He stared at me, his eyes almost undeservingly passionate, and the only slightly detectable wrinkles of his cheeks broken freshly into a long awaited smile. His dark hark hair was cut roughly but clearly taken care of with only small lines of grey detectable through the majority of black. By his side was a slightly smaller woman with a comfortably thin frame and flaming red hair that danced idly around her neck. She wore a soft smile with a – what I imagined to be – soft voice and a look of content tiredness. Below them was a small girl, not quite six years old, with auburn hair – a perfect blend of both her parents' colors – with a slight dribble of freckles sprinkled across her fair skin. She was smiling.

And then just like that, the picture broke, shattering the beautiful image into a thousand pieces. Fire licked the edges and I could smell the smoke, the thick burning smoke, entering my throat and lungs. My insides burned. I stumbled along, my hands drawn out in front of me, my feeble legs carrying me only so far before collapsing pathetically to the ground, sobbing and coughing at the same time.

Rough hands grabbed me and pulled me to my feet, at the same time pushing me roughly in front. I moaned and squinted through the thick blackness of the smoke, my eyes watering in pain and my nose heavily congested in the thickness of the air. And then a loud roaring noise – an explosion – rocked the floor throwing me to my knees. I was shoved along the wooden surface.

There was screaming, breaking, the roaring of the fire. All of it echoed in my ears. Pain numbed my legs and seared through my chest. My breathing was ragged, my vision distorted. And then – very suddenly – rough arms seized me underneath my armpits and shoved me hard through the window at the same time as a loud noise exploded within the house. I fell hard, the wind knocking the senses out of me. And then . . . the pain.

I hit the ground with such force that all limbs of mine went flying, my body laying crumpled on the ground. The screams never died, the scene behind me was a blaze of light. And I lay on the slightly damp grass, my face pressed against the dew and my body shaking with painful sobs. And then I saw him, through the distortion of my vision, through the blaze of the fire, his face fell before me.

And strong hands took hold of me, pulling me gently but quickly up. Footsteps echoed, my voice cried out harshly against the ripping of the wind. "Madre! Padre!" My small voice was lost against the cruelty of the fire. "Mother! Father!"

"It'll be okay," a young man whispered to me, his blue eyes aglow in the fearsome fire. "My name is Lieutenant AJ Chegwidden, and you're going to be just fine."

My body gave into the nervous wracking. I sobbed, I coughed, I cried out, and I was carried off in an ambulance, its shrill siren piercing the dead silence of the night. I clung to the man's chest, my small and uncut nails clinging to the thick fabric of his shirt and the picture of my parents forever burning in the early morning light . . .

I woke up sweating, the blackness of the Venetian sky engulfing my vision. My heart pounded wildly within my chest and freshly-cried tears flooded my face. My body shook and I grabbed at my white sheets, clutching anything that could provide even the smallest comfort. I tried my best to calm my ragged breathing but only succeeded in turning it into gasps. Slowly, on shaky weakened limbs, I raised myself and climbed off my bed and out onto the balcony, savoring the night air. I wrapped my arms around my body in a sort of self-hug and shivered against the cold wind.

"Vera . . ?"

I turned around, my auburn hair coiling around my neck and my arms trailing up and down each other in a futile effort to keep warm. Clayton Webb walked towards me, moonlight playing softly against his hardened features, his grayish eyes glowing.

"Here," he whispered softly, wrapping one arm around me and pulling my thin figure to his chest. Our bodies lingered there for a minute, our eyes connecting and our breathing building between us. And then, so slowly, I tilted my head to his shoulder and wrapped both my arms around him in a heartfelt embrace. His arms covered my body, one hand entangled in my hair and the other trailing circles on the small of my back. And I broke down.

My tears flowed down the back of his neck and he tightened his hold on me. We stood out there for a long time, the night wind biting against our half bare skin. I loosened my hold on Clay and stood there for a minute, staring into his eyes inquisitively. "How come we broke up?" I whispered, my eyes magnetically drawn to his.

Clay rested his forehead on mine and entwined our hands together. "Because you were in Iran and I was in America," he whispered, his voice painfully stretched. I tilted my head up to meet his and we stayed there for a minute, just letting our eyes wander over each other's bodies. "And you met Khalid Safar," Clay whispered, a terrible note of truth in his voice.

A long breath on my part. "Right," I whispered, nodding to myself. The memory of his handsome face stretched out in front of me and I winced suddenly. I've had my share of bad men. "Khalid."

Clay smiled sadly – painfully. "And Khalid made you happy."

"Khalid never made me happy," I whispered in quiet disagreement. "I just thought he did."

Clay and I stood there a long time, our bodies glowing under the light from the moon and the twinkle of the stars, our arms wrapped around each other to salvage any heat possible.

"Clay?" I whispered, the intensity of his name drawing out upon my lips.

"Vera?" he whispered back, his grey eyes falling upon me so innocently and sort of – I realized right then – sweetly. He put his arm around me and steered me into my bedroom carefully, sensing my fatigue and my longing for a good comfy bed.

I leaned my head against his shoulder as we walked, closing my eyes delicately, and yawning into his t-shirt. I thought of the fire that had left me orphaned so many years ago, I thought about the deaths that have happened in my life, the people that have gone, and Abbas who was now trying to take someone else away from me. "I'm scared," I whispered.

Clay gently eased me onto the bed, wrapping a sheet around me before covering me with a quilt. "I know," he whispered gently across my face, his breath playing against my stray auburn hairs. "I am too."

My eyelids closed and I snuggled in deeper into the quilts. He watched me as he sat at my bedside, tucking long hairs around my ear and whispering words of comfort to me that I couldn't always understand. I wiggled within the covers and then stayed still, slumber taking its hold of me. Clay leaned forward, planting a small but delicate kiss on my forehead and looking at me – if I could have even imagined it – almost fondly. "Goodnight, Vera."

He sat up and turned to walk away but then something stopped him – my eyes. He turned back and I sat nestled beneath the covers, my eyes resting solely upon him. He looked at me and I looked at him and then he walked towards me, lifting up the covers almost gently as I rested my head on his chest, my small figure fitting in perfectly with his. And we stayed like that all night, my body seeking the comfort it needed from his, as we both dove into the world of slumber, protected by each others warmth. And I only truly realized right then and there, that I'd never slept better in the past few years.

0246

Harm's Room

Mac leaned her head against my shoulder, her eyes almost immediately succumbing to the sleep of the night. I nestled my chin in her hair, immediately inhaling a fragrance so alluring it could only belong to Mac. I watched as she kissed my neck, the moonlight through my open window casting a beautiful pallor upon her skin. I trailed my hand up her bare back.

"Mac," I whispered her name slowly, savoring the taste of it which I knew I'd be shortly deprived of. I closed my eyes, keeping this memory eternally within my grasp.

"Harm," she whispered in return, her mouth turning up to meet my own. Our eyes connected before our lips plunged into one slow sensual kiss. "Harm," she repeated fervently, breaking apart our connection for air. "Harm I need to say something."

"I need to too," I whispered, the urgency clearly thick in both our voices. I stared at her quickly, my mind trying searching for the words that she so desperately wanted to say but coming up dry. "You can go first."

"No, no, that's okay," Mac whispered in return, her eyes pleading with mine to understand what could never be put vocal. "You can go first."

The magnitude of this moment had dawned on us both. The little time we had left, the things that we could never say, the complexity of the emotion between us flooded the gap that had been left when I'd "died".

"Mac, we only have a few minutes . . ." I trailed my voice rushed.

"And I really need to tell you something," Mac interjected.

"Yeah," I whispered fervently, as our lips met each other once again, waiting ages before parting.

"It's almost three a.m.," Mac whispered quickly, trailing kisses down my shoulder.

"Which means we have an hour," I finished, containing a moan of pleasure. Jake was going to take her to the train station to catch the four a.m. carriage to Rome. The plan was Mac would stay there until the end of the week and then take a plane back to JAG. I was already missing her and here she was, her body practically melting with mine.

"I've wanted – to say this – for a long time," Mac interjected between kisses.

"Me too," I struggled with my words. "But I never had –"

"The perfect moment –"

"To say it," I nodded, my mouth infusing with hers. I caressed her face, my eyes alive.

"And what I wanted to tell you –" Mac continued.

"Before you leave," I whispered.

"Is that I . . ." she began and then my lips plunged into hers, our tongues dueling. Not another word was spoken that night, but a whole lot more was said.

That night four people found each other like never before. They found what words never could. They foudn someone to walk with . . .

A/N: I'm sorry this chapter was so short! I've been kind of pressed for time but I guarantee you the next chapter will be twice as long and now that summer vacation's started, way quicker! And I'll get more action and everything into it, okay? I hope this was good enough romance. But don't worry, there'll be more to come . . . lol, please review and let me know what you think (I'm always open to suggestions)

Ilovemyselftoday: so you finally checked out the site, huh? Well what do you think? And my socks don't stink nearly as bad as yours do. lol.

HighHeelShoeLover: let me know what shoes you buy (and you could pick me up a pair of converse shoes while you're at it!) lol. Read whenever you get around to it (we have all summer . . .) And I'll see you in camp, but I'll email you before that!

Snugglebug: Well, Harm and Mac are going to have to go through a whole lot before they can get together, but that's what'll make this story interesting – you know, once we really get into it.

Dansingwolf: I know, weren't those looks that they gave each other in the series finale just so deep? It was really really touching. And don't you think they made the most of what time they had together in this chapter? lol

Southernqt: Ahh, you guessed my story line! (oh well, I hope you still read anyway). And now that you know what I'm doing, if you have any suggestions, feel free to post them in a review.

Bite Beccy: Wouldn't you just love if life always had the perfect solution? Oh well, Harm and Mac'll have a great ending anyway . . . (or will they . . ?)

Radiorox: I know, I just love cliffhangers. Keeps a person really hooked. And I will start Vera and Webb's tooth and claw in the next chapter. That'll be fun. But I'll still keep a lot of Harm and Mac.

Sugar230: Oh, Calgary was awesome! You live in such a brilliant place. I wish I could live there . . . I wish I could have stayed longer. Our trip just didn't seem to last long enough (though I'm sure all you people waiting for me to post thought I took long enough, eh?)

Vhosek malacath: I'll continue with a lot more H/M in the next chapters too, but did you get enough this round? lol

AB: Yeah, I love the way Vera keeps Webb annoyed and frustrated, but sort of emotional at the same time. I'm definitely gonna keep them in the story (but I'll have a lot of H/M stuff too . . .)

Abigaile: so did you make it through the agony? I'm sorry I couldn't post Thursday but my flight got in at 9:30 in the night. I was just so exhausted that I slept through (see, my little sister was having a party last night) their screaming, three kids falling down the stairs, the burglar alarm going off (yes, they actually set off the burglar alarm) and etc. And yes, my evil plan is to TORTURE YOU ALL! Heh heh, I'm very dramaqueenish.

Bail's Other Daughter: Sorry, they have to be split up. But it'll all work out for the better . . . you'll see (wink).

Roxruffin: um, thanx, and I had a really great time in Calgary. It's an awesome place.

K: Thanks, I'll keep the chapters coming for you!