Déjà Vu Moment In The Afghan Mountains – Part 2
Disclaimer - See part one for all important information
Somewhere in the Afghanistan Desert
6:16 PM
"You're starting to sway," Harm reported to Mac, keeping a hawk-eye at her.
"It's not my fault the road is moving," Mac retorted with a quiet voice, the tiredness seemed to be winning the fight against her.
Harm lightly touched her arm and made them both stop walking. "Let's take a little break."
"I'm fine," Mac lied in all the stubbornness she had in her, but one look at her was enough for Harm to see just how exhausted she was.
Harm chuckled since it was easy for him to read her when she was lying. "Then have your lip stop doing the turn up thing."
Mac glared as best as she could at him and then looked defeating down at the ground. "Fine," she responded and sighed.
They took a fifteen minutes break before deciding to continue their walk. By now the darkness was surrounding them, but other than that it was quiet and both didn't know if it was normal or an assumption.
"Favorite MASH episode?" Mac wanted to know while they kept on moving. For a few minutes now they were playing this 'question/answer'-game, trying their best to distract themselves from the cold and tiredness they were feeling more and more with each step they took.
"Tuttle."
"Tuttle?"
"Yup, Tuttle. Remember? Hawkeye's imaginary friend that donates the money to the orphan," Harm explained a dumbfounded looking Mac.
"Huh?"
"At the end of the episode, Tuttle is supposed to get an award from the General. So Hawkeye and Trapper fake Tuttle's death by saying he jumped out of a helicopter without his parachute."
"Oh yeah, that is a good one," Mac agreed with a nod and once more looked around them just to be greeted by the pure silence and darkness of the desert landscape.
"How about yours? What's your favorite MASH episode?" Harm wanted to know and copied Mac's movement, trying to see or hear anything around them but came up empty.
Mac thought for a second and bit her lower lip in concentration. "Umm…. I think the one where the story is told from the patient's point of view. The camera is the patient, everyone talks to him and he is the only one who knows why Potter is upset."
Harm nodded his head, remembering the episode she was talking about. "Yeah, that was a good one too. It always reminded me of the one with the dead soldier that was looking for his buddy."
"Oh yeah, that was a good show."
"Yeah, it was," Harm softly said before they fell into silence again while feeling even more tired and cold.
xoxoxoxoxox
Still somewhere in the Afghanistan Desert
8:14 PM
"How long have we been walking?" Harm wanted to know after a while, taking a deep breath while wishing he was home in his cozy apartment and in his even cozier bed.
"Four hours, eighteen minutes and forty-five seconds," Mac answered right away and closed her eyes for a moment. This time because of the tiredness she felt rather than the dizziness, which was still bothering her but she didn't tell Harm, not wanting to worry him.
"How do you do that?" Harm asked, still amazed about her talent to tell the time.
"Can you keep a secret?" Mac wanted to know with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes," Harm immediately told her, hoping that he would finally find out about her well hidden secret.
Mac smiled before it turned into a smirk. "Good, so can I," she said and quickened her steps to get away from him.
"Smartass," Harm murmured under his breath before quickening his own steps and caught up with her.
A few moments of silence passed through them as they both concentrated on the terrain, which was getting harder to see.
"How's Sergei?" Mac asked, trying to bring up another topic they could talk about. It was getting harder and harder to keep on walking and each diversion from reality they could get, they took in the magnitude of the situation.
"Getting married," Harm let her know and laughed. 'Lucky SOB,' he concluded his statement in his thoughts, not believing that his little brother took the step in front of the altar before him.
"Wow," Mac only commented, not knowing what to say while being too surprised about this news.
"Yeah, wow indeed. She's nice. But I can't help but thinking that he's rushing into it."
"Why?" Mac wanted to know and looked up at Harm. "Maybe he loves her."
"He's asked me to be his best man," he let her know and met her gaze and smile.
"The wedding is in Russia I assume."
Harm sighed. "Yes. The only down side to it."
"You're going, right?" Mac softly asked and both stopped their movement midway.
"Of course I am. He's my brother."
Mac laughed and shook her head. "I'll call Mark and warn him that you'll be in town."
"Funny. Very funny, Marine. And here I was thinking about asking you to be my date to the wedding," Harm said, trying to sound offended by her statement but failing terribly while starting to laugh too.
"Me?" Mac asked, feeling taken aback by his confession and flattered at the same time.
Harm shrugged his shoulders and then lifted his left arm to softly let his forefinger run over the soft skin of her cheek. "You know the language and you've been there before. Not to forget that Sergei really likes you."
"I can save your six when you get in trouble," Mac jokingly concluded his enumeration of reasons why she could and should go with him to Russia.
Harm nodded his head. "Exactly. Plus, how many women do you know who would go to Russia with me for my half brother's wedding?" Harm asked with a raised eyebrow and smiled down at her, getting immediately a smile from her in response.
"You do have a point," Mac softly admitted and took his forefinger, which was still caressing his cheek into her hand to give it a gentle squeeze.
"So you'll go with me?" Harm hopefully asked.
"You need to get our leave approved by the Admiral," Mac pointed out and let go of his finger before starting to walk again.
Harm shook his head with a smile while letting his eyes follow her. "Great. Leave me with the hard job," he called behind her before once more trying to catch up with her.
xoxoxoxoxox
"How's Chloe?" Harm now wanted to know after another period of silence between them.
"In love," Mac gave him a short answer while keeping on walking.
"You sound like you don't like that," Harm said after hearing the sound of disagreement in her voice.
"I do and I don't," Mac replied before continuing to explain as soon as she saw the look of bewilderment on her partner's face. "She's only fourteen. She doesn't know what love is."
Harm nodded his head in understanding and then shrugged. "It's puppy love. He'll break her heart and then she'll be in love with another boy. That's how teenager life goes."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Mac frowned with a raised eyebrow.
"Is it working?"
"No, it's not."
"Sorry," Harm apologized half-heartedly and then smirked. "However, I bet you were at Chloe's age when a boy first kissed you," Harm interposed, trying to make her see that it was a normal thing of being a teenager, and at the same time it was his try to find out something new about his partner.
Mac made a quiet noise that sounded like a snort before it changed to a yawn. "No, I was Chloe's age when a boy tried to cop a feel."
"I didn't do that till I was fifteen," Harm let her know while their steps were getting slower with each one they took.
"Well, he didn't try it again till he was sixteen."
Harm raised an eyebrow and stopped midway to look at Mac. "Why?"
Mac sighed and stopped herself to look up at him. "I broke his arm in two places," she professed before letting out another yawn.
Harm looked around them, trying to figure out if this place was good enough to make their roost for the night. He knew that they were both walking on autopilot by now and should call it a night. "Hey Mac, you think that place over there is comfy enough for our roost for the night?"
Harm pointed with his forefinger at a space nearby that was surrounded by a few rocks. Mac looked at the place he was pointing at and only shrugged. "To tell you the truth, by now even a nail bed would look comfy enough for me," she admitted with a little smile and yet another yawn.
"Good, we'll camp there for the night and maybe by tomorrow the search party is so close that we don't have to walk for a long time," Harm said between a long yawn.
"I'm all for it," Mac agreed and together they made their way to the ridge.
TBC