PART THREE

The meal passed quite pleasantly–all things considered. Mac and Webb sat on one side of the table, Harm and Mattie on the other. Harm tried to include Webb in their conversations, more because he didn't want to upset Mac than because he wanted to talk to him. Mattie, on the other hand, didn't say more than a few sentences to him the whole meal. At least she wasn't openly hostile towards him, but she wasn't soon going to forgive him for what he had done to Harm.

Pushing her empty plate away, Mac leaned back in her chair. "That was great, Harm. I don't think I have ever had a better ham. Not bad coming from a man who regularly exists on nothing but twigs and bark." Her eyes danced in merriment. It was the Mac that Harm remembered, the Mac he loved. "So, what's for dessert?"

Harm's head snapped up. In all the chaos of preparing the meal, he had totally forgotten about dessert. "I... uh... forgot to fix something." He recovered quickly. "I could go down to the store down the street and get you some ice cream... Rocky Road?" He knew it was her favourite.

"Ooo, you really know how to derail a girl's diet, but you don't have to go out on my account."

"It's alright, really. It's no problem."

Mattie jumped in then. "Harm, how about Mac and I go and get it? Just us girls?" She was up to something, but Harm was quite sure what it was.

Harm wasn't sure that he wanted to spend time alone with Webb. He was sure he wouldn't hurt him, well, fairly certain anyway, but that didn't mean he had anything to talk to him about. He would just as soon they never spoke again. The look on Mattie's face, however, told him that she really wanted some time alone with Mac. Whether it was just for some casual girl-talk as she had indicated, or something more he couldn't tell, but if it would make her happy, he would go with it.

"Mac?" he asked hesitantly.

"I'd love to," she replied, getting to her feet. "As long as it's my treat?"

Harm nodded in agreement, trying to hide his smile. Just like old times.

Mattie shot up like a rocket and raced across the room to get their coats. "Great," she said on her return, handing Mac her coat. "We shouldn't be too long." They both shrugged into their winter wear, and Mattie took Mac's hand and herded her towards the door.

After the two girls had left, Harm turned to the dining room table and started to clean up. It was the only thing he could think of to do to kill time until Mac and Mattie returned that would keep him from having to speak to Webb, which was something that he really didn't want to do. He gathered their dishes and brought them over to the dishwasher.

"Need any help?" Webb asked from the other side of the room.

"No, thanks, I got it." Harm replied without even looking up from where he was bent over the open door of the dishwasher, stacking plates in the empty racks. He hoped that if he ignored him, Webb wouldn't talk to him.

It was not to be. "This was nice, Rabb." Webb said, seating himself on a barstool in front of the island in the kitchen. "Quite surprising really; I never expected to ever see you again. You haven't exactly gone out of your way to see me since you left the Company."

"Do you blame me? You were the person who had me fired." Harm said, shutting the dishwasher door with more force than was likely necessary. "Besides, Clay," he said contritely. "This day is about wanting to see Mac, not you."

"She's gone, Rabb, get over it." Webb said angrily. "You blew your chance with her, and I stepped in to pick up the pieces. The better man won."

Harm spun around to face the arrogant spook. "It was never a game, Clay. She isn't a prize. What the hell happened to you? You know how I feel about her. You were always someone I thought I could trust."

Webb stood and came over to stand in front of him. He would have been trying to stare any other man down, but he would have needed a footstool to do it to Harm, so he jammed a finger into his chest instead. "Oh, come off it, Rabb. We both know you were never going to get off your ass and tell her. I saw an opportunity, and I took it. It was something you were never going to do."

"Why the hell do you think I went to Paraguay in the first place, Webb?" Their voices were getting louder and louder with each sentence spoken, it was a good thing Harm didn't have any neighbours. "It wasn't to save your sorry ass, that's for damn sure. I went for her, Clay. It's always been about her." He took a step back and turned away. "When she went missing, I knew that I had to go find her, not just because I didn't want to see her die, but because if she had, a big part of me would have died with her."

Webb snorted derisively. "Then why didn't you tell her?" You were there, she was safe, and you clammed up like you always do. For God's sake, Rabb, you never even told her that you resigned. She wouldn't have even known if I hadn't asked."

"Thanks for that, Webb," he said icily. "I didn't know how to tell her. Besides, it didn't matter anymore. I was too late, again. She had already chosen you." He turned to face him. "The fact that I loved her..." He paused, surprised that he had admitted that out loud. Why was it so easy to admit that he loved Mac when she wasn't around, but all but impossible to do it when she was standing right in front of him? "...didn't matter anymore," he continued. "And now it doesn't matter how I feel at all."

Harm leaned against the counter. "I tried to tell her when she came to see me before she left, but I didn't say enough. I asked her not to go, I thought I was making my intentions clear, but she wanted more, and I couldn't give it to her."

"And why was that? Were you afraid that she would turn you down?"

Harm shook his head. "No, not really. I think she had been waiting for quite a while for me to move our relationship forward." He glanced up at Webb. "No, I think I was more afraid that she would agree to stay, and that I would fail to give her what she needed. I was afraid that because of my own issues I would hurt her again. And that's something I didn't want to do anymore; I've done it way too often the last few years."

Harm went silent, waiting for Webb to reply. He didn't expect Webb's sympathy–didn't want it–but what he said next was shocking even to Harm. The old Webb that Harm knew was gone, like he had never existed.

"Rabb," Webb said, chuckling. "You are one screwed up S.O.B. But hey, I guess I should thank you."

"For what?"

"Well, you're so messed up it gave me that chance that I needed. Your loss is my gain. You wouldn't or couldn't tell her how you feel, and because of that, she's mine now." A big goofy grin spread across his face, and he twisted the knife. "In fact, I guess you could say that you are the one who helped us get together. It's a bit strange to be set up by a man who loves the woman you are with, but I won't complain." His tone grew serious. "Just as long as you remember that we are together, and that she's mine, not yours."

Harm shook his head in amazement. This was a side of Webb he had never seen before. "Don't worry, Clay, that's something that I can never, ever forget."

"Good," Webb said smugly, "and on that note, I want you to do something for me."

"Do something for you? Don't you think I've helped you enough already?"

"Maybe," Webb said, stepping up beside him to jab a finger into his chest again. "But your relationship with, Sarah, has always caused problems in the past. I saw how it destroyed her engagement to that Aussie fellow, Brumby, and I won't let that happen to me. I won't let you come between us like you did them."

"And just what do you want me to do then?"

"Stay away from her. I figured that when I had you dumped from the Company, it would get you out of D.C. and out of her life for good. Imagine my surprise when the Admiral decided to take you back. The old guy really is full of surprises."

Harm's anger was on a full rolling boil now, but before he could speak, Webb continued.

"No matter, I've worked very hard to convince her that I can give her everything that you can't, and I won't risk you screwing that up." He stepped back, a self-satisfied smirk on his face. "Stop calling her outside of work, stop inviting her over for 'family day' with your newest lost cause. Just stay away from her."

Harm was pissed, very pissed, and wanted to do nothing more than shove Webb's teeth down his throat with his fist, but he knew that he couldn't; it would hurt Mac, and that was something that over-rode all other feelings he might have had. And if he broke the insolent little spook in half like he wanted to, he wouldn't be around for Mattie, either, and she was his responsibility now. That didn't mean he was going to let Webb bully him.

"Look," Harm said, his voice dripping with disdain for the man who used to be his friend, "I know how badly my actions have hurt Mac in the past. I have to live with it every day, and I will do everything in my power to see that it never happens again." Webb tried to speak, but Harm cut him off. "Shut up, Clay, it's my turn to talk." Webb took a step back, and Harm went on. "Don't think for a second that I'm going to let you dictate Mac's and my relationship. Mac is my best friend, and I love her. I love her enough NOT to interfere in her life, but don't think that means I will let you remove her from my life just because you don't want me around. If she doesn't want to see me or be my friend anymore, that's HER choice, not yours, and it would be something that I would have to learn to live with. But I will never, ever, abandon her friendship. She is the best thing that ever happened to me, and if all I can ever have is her friendship, I'll take it. I don't know who you are anymore, Clay. You sure aren't that man I have known for the last seven years."

Webb sat down on the barstool again. "I woke up, Rabb," he said acidly. "I got tired of watch you screw up her life. I saw what I wanted, and when the chance came, I took it."

A thought came to Harm then. "Why did you ask Mac to go with you to Paraguay? Kershaw told me the Op was unsanctioned by the Company."

"Don't you get it, Rabb? After the Angelshark incident, the Company stuck me in the armpit of the world; my career was over, finished. When the Intel about Sadiq came across my desk, I knew it was my chance for redemption–my chance to get back into Kershaw's good books, and get back to D.C."

"But why bring, Mac?"

"Haven't you been listening? I WANTED her, Rabb. I have for years, but the two of you always came as a set." Webb slammed his fist down on the counter top in frustration. "It was like the two of you were joined at the hip, but not this time. You were still not back to full duty after the Singer fiasco. It was my chance to get Mac alone, to tell her how much I wanted her without having you around to distract her.

"I'm not stupid," Webb continued. "I knew that I could never measure up to you in her eyes. I had to get her away from you first, so that I could tell her how much I wanted her without your spectre hanging over my head."

Harm digested this before he spoke. "You've said you wanted her several times, but do you love her?"

"I want her, she wants me. If that isn't love, I don't know what is."

Harm couldn't believe what he was hearing; Webb actually believed that wanting someone was the same as loving them. "You really don't have a clue, do you, Webb? You think that because you want to be with her that you love her. You have no idea what real love is."

"Oh, and you do, Mister I-can't-tell-her-how-I-feel?"

"I may not be able to admit how I feel to her, but I damn well know what it means to love her."

"Grace me with your infinite wisdom, Oh Knowledgeable One." Webb replied sarcastically.

"Loving someone is simple, Webb. Wanting them has nothing to do with it. Love is about wanting what is best for someone, about sharing yourself, and your life with another person, about being happy because they are happy, and being sad when they are sad. It's about two people sharing one soul. You, on the other hand, are so focussed on what you want, you don't even stop to look so that you can find out what Mac needs."

"Get off your high-horse, Rabb. I knew enough about her to tell her what she wanted to hear when she wanted to hear it. That's something that you have never been able to do."

"Your right, Clay," Harm said sadly. "I never could tell her how I felt about her. Never could tell her how much she means to me, and that's my fault. I'm the one who couldn't let her in, even though I wanted to. But at least I know who she is, what she truly needs. You don't even know her. You are clueless, and I can't understand how you two ever managed to get together."

"How we did it doesn't matter," Webb said smugly. "What matters is that we are together, and she is happy with me, not you."

Despite Webb's twisted logic, he was right; Mac did seem to be happy. And that happiness had to be his first concern, regardless of how he felt about Webb. "She does look happy," Harm admitted reluctantly. A huge smile of victory spread across Webb's face, "and that happiness is my first priority." his voice dropped in warning. "But remember this: if you hurt her, after she's through with you, you'll answer to me."

That wiped the smirk off Webb's face. "Don't threaten me, Rabb. I won. She loves me, and wants to be with me. You lost, and the sooner you accept your defeat, the easier things will be for all of us. She's mine, and nothing you can say or do will ever change that."

"What about what I say?" It was Mac's voice.

Both men turned to stare at Mac and Mattie standing in the open doorway.