AN: Thanks for the great reviews as always. The first review to this chapter will be the big 100, I'm excited there have been that many! I also wanted to answer blueangel's question, yes I will be writing about the wedding in this fic. Read on!
Chapter 16
JAG Headquarters
Harm and Mac walked into JAG headquarters and were immediately approached by Petty Officer Tiner.
"Good morning sir, ma'am," said Tiner.
"Good morning Tiner," said Mac.
"Morning," said Harm.
"Commander, the Admiral would like to see you," said Tiner.
"Thanks Tiner," said Harm.
"Here, I'll take your stuff to your office," said Mac.
"I can do that ma'am," offered Tiner.
"That's okay, the Commander has some files I need anyway," said Mac.
"Yes ma'am," said Tiner, before returning to his desk.
Harm stood at attention as he entered Admiral Chegwidden's office.
"At ease Commander. Take a seat," said AJ.
"Yes sir," said Harm, sitting down.
"Are there any announcements you need to make?" asked AJ, smiling slightly.
Harm tried not to smile too much as he responded. "Yes sir. I need to tell you that Colonel Mackenzie and I are engaged."
AJ broke into a grin. "That's wonderful news Harm. Congratulations. I knew Mac would accept," he said, moving from his desk to clap Harm's shoulder.
"Thank you sir," said Harm.
AJ then pushed the button to speak to Tiner and asked him to let Colonel Mackenzie know that he needed to see her.
Mac's office
"Come in," said Mac, as she heard the knock on the open door.
"Ma'am, the Admiral would like to see you," said Tiner.
"Okay, I'll be right there," said Mac, getting up and following him to the Admiral's office.
Mac entered the office and stood at attention, somewhat surprised to find the Admiral leaning on the front of his desk casually. Harm sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk.
"At ease Colonel," said AJ.
"You wanted to see me sir?" asked Mac, as she sat down in the chair beside Harm's.
"I wanted to congratulate you both," said AJ.
Mac smiled. "Thank you sir."
"I know you'll have a very happy life together," said AJ, smiling at his two officers.
Harm and Mac smiled at each other.
"Thank you sir," responded Mac for the both of them.
"Were you planning to make an announcement?" asked AJ.
"We thought that we should announce it before the scuttlebutt did it for us," said Harm.
"Sir," he added belatedly, and unnecessarily considering the personal nature of the conversation.
"A good idea. Would the staff meeting this morning suffice?" asked AJ.
"Yes sir," said Harm and Mac in unison.
"Right then, I'll see you in the conference room in half an hour," said AJ.
Congratulating them once more, AJ dismissed them and they headed to their offices.
"Mac…do you want to make the announcement, or should I?" asked Harm as they got to Mac's office.
"Good question. I think you should, you did ask after all," said Mac teasingly as she sat down at her desk.
"Okay, I can do that," said Harm, grinning.
"So do you think we can get through half an hour without getting the scuttlebutt started?" asked Mac.
Harm smiled and looked out at the bullpen. "I don't know, we'll have to wait and see."
Just then Harriet knocked on the open door.
"Ma'am, sir," she said.
"Hi Harriet," said Mac.
"Harriet," said Harm.
"Ma'am do you have the Owens case file? I'm getting it for Lieutenant Roberts," asked Harriet.
Mac searched through her files. "Yes, here it is. I'll drop by his office and get it later," said Mac, handing Harriet the file with her left hand.
Harriet's eyes widened as she noticed the engagement ring on Mac's finger.
"Uh, thank you ma'am," she stammered, before exiting the office.
Harm looked at Mac with an amused expression on his face.
"So how long was that a secret? Five minutes?" he asked.
"7 minutes 42 seconds," replied Mac automatically.
"How do you do that?" asked Harm teasingly.
"I might tell you one day," said Mac.
"But really, it's just something I've always been able to do," said Mac smiling with a shrug.
"Good enough," said Harm smiling back.
"I'd better get started on some of this work," said Mac.
"You're throwing me out?" asked Harm, a mock wounded look on his face.
"I don't want to, but you'd better before we get ourselves in trouble," said Mac.
"And how would we do that?" asked Harm.
"I'm sure you can think of some ways," said Mac smiling.
"Like this?" asked Harm, giving her a quick kiss.
"Just like that," agreed Mac, not being able to resist kissing him back.
"I'll see you later Colonel," said Harm, winking at her as he left.
Mac smiled to herself and opened the topmost file from the pile on her desk.
Conference room
"Now that the handing out of assignments has been done, I believe the only business left is an announcement two of our number need to make," said AJ, his expression amused.
The others at the table looked at each other and Mac saw Harriet look towards her and Harm excitedly for the tenth time since the staff meeting had begun.
Harm stood from his seat. "Yes, the announcement is from the Colonel and I," he began.
Harriet let out an excited squeak, which quickly turned into a cough, and Harm held his hand out for Mac to take. She took it with a smile and stood up beside him.
"Sarah and I are engaged," said Harm, the smile lighting his face up in a way that made him even more handsome than usual. Mac's smile matched his and the noise that broke out in the conference room at the announcement told them that their friends were happy too.
"Oh and if I hear any sirs and ma'ams in the next few minutes there will be consequences," added AJ.
"I'm so happy for you both!" said Harriet excitedly, as she got up from her seat followed by Bud.
"Thanks Harriet," said Harm and Mac beaming at her.
"Permission to hug…" began Harriet and was interrupted by AJ clearing his throat none too subtly.
"Oh right," said Harriet before hugging them both happily, and examining the ring with Mac, both of them giggling.
One by one their colleagues came up and congratulated them until finally the Admiral called an end to the celebrations so everyone would go back to work. Harm and Mac went to Harm's office and a few kisses later, Mac returned to her office and went back to her files while Harm did the same. Harriet grinned as she saw how happy they were and went to Bud's office.
"Bud, I've got a great idea," she said.
"What is it sweetie?" asked Bud.
Harriet filled him in.
"But Harriet, the Admiral's not going to go for that," responded Bud.
Chapter 17 is coming soon, what is Harriet's idea? Well, you'll have to read the next chapter to find out.