Title: Better Never Than Bad
Chapter Two
By: LizD
Spoilers: Sometime before the ruination of Harm (prior to mid-season 7)
Notes: Sexual Innuendo done for fun.
Written: September 2003
Disclaimers: No disrespect to JAG's cast, crew or creators. With love and thanks.
Chapter Two - The MAC VersionMac arrived at JAG late in the afternoon. She actually had gone to Quantico, got there before 0600 and was done with what she needed by 0650. So where was she all day? Building up her courage to show up to work no doubt. She had been replaying the chain of events over in her head – not all of them – not the main event – ok, she thought about it a little – but mostly just what led to the main event.
It seemed innocent enough. She accepted a dinner invitation from her friend – a working dinner invitation. She had done that many times in the past. They had to work late and he offered to cook.
WHAT?
It was not a red-letter day; there would have been no notation in her diary:
Dear Diary,
Having a working dinner with Harm tonight.
He's so cute when he cooks.
Well at least she didn't think it was DIARY WORTHY at the time, it would have been after but she wanted no written record of the disaster.
Dinner was actually very good. He had taken to making fish for her, since his strictly vegetarian dishes were a little too un-carnivorous for our girl. They got a lot of work done and actually agreed about a strategy without too much debate.
It was nice.
After the dinner was over they were cleaning up. Mac was washing the dishes and Harm was putting the food away. It was all so normal. He stuck his hands in the running water as she was washing a dish and splashed her – it was an accident.
She laughed.
He laughed.
She splashed him back with a lot more water than was required for playful pay back.
He laughed.
She laughed.
Then, he – not being one to be one-upped, took a glass of water and poured it down her back. Now the battle was on in earnest. She won of course since she was at the source, but he got a few licks in. Eventually he had to oust her from her spot by the "armory" and did so by physically wrestling her down to the ground – taking on a lot of water in the process. That was when it happened. He had pinned her on the wet floor, well pinned her as much as she would allow herself to be pinned and as much as a wet floor, hands and body can pin anyone. She was struggling to regain her position of power when her lips brushed accidentally against his.
It was the shock that was felt around the world – at least in their world.
The struggle stopped.
He sat up.
She sat back.
He was soaked.
She was soaked and her degree of wetness left little to the imagination.
He excused himself and went to get her a towel and t-shirt to wear. When he came back, his shirt was off. It didn't occur to him that being wet and shirtless might be considered enticing …seductive … a come on.
Mac thought all of those things as she kept her arms across her chest.
He handed her the towel and shirt and restrained himself (as much as any man could) from not looking at what was right there in front of him to see and close enough to reach out and touch, caress, fondle.
She got to her feet and started to walk by him to the bathroom to change, when their hands touched – accidentally or otherwise was hard to say.
He grasped her hand and prevented her from leaving and turned her toward him.
She stepped up and gave him a little kiss on the side of his mouth.
He turned his head and returned it tenderly.
It sent a bolt of desire through both of them.
She studied his lips, his mouth for a long moment. It was familiar and new at the same time. He had kissed her before, but never like this. She vainly tried to free herself from his grasp, but he still would not let her go.
She looked up into his eyes; they were boring wholes through her resolve. She felt a warmth in region of her body that hadn't felt warm in a very long while.
He brushed some of the wet hair off her face back behind her ear curling his long fingers behind her neck.
She resisted her own desire and leaned back.
His other hand went to her face, caressing her cheek, letting his thumb edge her lips causing them to part.
Her breath caught, her eyes averted and closed at the sensation of his hands on her and she leaned in.
"Mac?" whispered out of him from somewhere behind those lips.
She opened her eyes and met his. She was immersed in the liquid blue of his desire. Still fighting her own; she lost the battle.
Their lips met, their mouths opened and tongues caressed. In that one moment, there was an inaudible click and all was right in the universe. They finally understood "desire fulfilled". It was sensual, it was loving; it was perfection.
Then the moment passed and something needed to happen next. They were at a crossroad with a decision to make: go back they way them came, or veer left or right. Going back – again – was not possible, not after that kiss. Without discussion, they took the easiest road: the road that lead to sex. They let desire, need, hunger for more over take them. Hands were groping, grabbing and pulling at wet clothing and they moved toward the bedroom. It looked more like a wrestling match than a seduction.
The rest you know.
So that's how it happened. There were no candles or soft music. It wasn't some major seduction scene out of a movie or Harlequin romance novel. There were no dramatic protestations of love and desire. It was two people playing. Period. Sometimes when adults play – adults of the opposite sex (but not always) – one thing will often lead to another. It was no one's fault. Neither one was more responsible than the other. But that kind of thing could happen when two people share a small space – particularly a small emotional or social space. It was bound to happen. Particularly when the history was considered. So it was done. Sadly it was not done well. But – it was done.
So now, Mac had to face the day after. She slipped - virtually unnoticed - into her office.
I say "virtually" because Harm actually saw her drive into the parking lot. He hid out in one of the empty courtrooms until she was safely tucked away in her office (actually he was waiting to see if she would come looking for him – she didn't).
She was trying to focus on what she was writing up from her interview at Quantico, but her mind kept wandering. The fact that every person walking by her office had the potential to be him did not help. It sent her stomach into knots. What she would say to him? What he would say to her? How they would deal with the new development? Would he see is as a DEVELOPMENT or would it be ignored? She found herself wondering how she could have prevented the incident. Could she have stopped it? That kiss, that first tender kiss given and returned was the pivotal point. She could still taste him; feel his sweet desire. If she had found herself in the same situation again, even knowing what she knew – she would have done the same thing. How could it have turned out so rancid?
"So you did it?"
What? Mac looked up. It was Sturgis.
"You did it. Was it everything you expected it would be?"
"Excuse me?" Mac asked.
"I mean you have been thinking about it for some time – and finally you did it."
He couldn't be talking about what she is thinking about. Harm would not have said anything to him and if he did, Sturgis would never say anything to her about it, at least not so matter-of-factly. He had better not.
"So you know what a mistake the whole thing was," Sturgis pressed onward unchecked.
"I'm sorry - what?"
"Quantico – you talked to the CO," Sturgis pushed. "The case? When can we make a deal? We have court in the morning if we can't come to some resolution tonight."
"Have you talked to Harm?"
"He said that I needed to talk to you."
"Is he here?"
"Right here," Harm stepped from around the corner.
Was he listening? Did he set Turner up to say those things to her? No. She was just being paranoid.
Harm clapped his friend on the shoulder. "Sturgis – let's meet in an hour. Mac and I have some things to discuss first."
Uh Oh . . .
Turner walked away and Harm came in and took the chair in front of Mac. He left the door open. That was a good sign. It meant that there would be no discussion about IT.
"So?" he asked. Talk about an open-ended question.
"It was a mistake," she averted her eyes.
"A pretty big mistake – one that comes with a heavy price," he stated.
"Does it have to?" She couldn't help but notice his mouth: the movement of his lips, his teeth, his tongue. Were they the same ones she felt last night? Had to be.
"He is not a child Mac."
He licked his lips. Why did he do that?
"He knew what he was doing," Harm continued. "And he knew what the consequences were when he threw caution and his better judgment to the wind."
His mouth moved so smoothly. Like he had been using it for years – for more then just litigating. Why had she never noticed before? Why did she have to be so captivated by it now?
Harm kept talking unchecked. "There has to be some penalty, some punishment, some re-action to his action."
His lips pursed and pulled and came back to center with an elegance, a grace, a lustiness that she had never noticed before. Did he know how his mouth moved? Were these conscious movements on his part? Did he practice in front of a mirror?
"Mac?"
She shook herself back to reality. "So it was a mistake. We have all made mistakes – at one time or another," she looked back down at the file on her desk. Watching his mouth was not helping.
"That is true – at one time or another – but is it our responsibility to give him a free pass because we can appreciate a mistake?"
"You don't think he learned from it?" She looked back up at him.
"Well . . . ," he grinned – sort of.
There it was. That smile, only not really a smile this time, more of a facial expression as his mouth pulled back to for the word 'well.' Damn. His whole face changed when he did that.
"Well?" she asked. She need to see him talk more – talk about anything, read a phone book, anything just work those lips.
"He very well may have learned from it. But who is to say that he will not do it again, especially if he is not penalized for it this time?"
"Do you really think he would try it again?" It all of a sudden occurred to Mac that maybe Harm wasn't talking about their client. "Would you?" she asked tentatively.
"Without any consequences what would prevent him … or anyone from doing something … anything … again?"
"Desire to not repeat an unpleasant experience," she stated as if it were obvious.
"Maybe next time it would not be so unpleasant," he offered a little too suggestively.
"What if it were?" She was getting annoyed at this word play.
"What if it weren't?"
"What if it were worse?" she snapped.
"Worse?"
"Not out of the realm of possibility," she leaned back in her chair taking back her upper hand. "The regret, the remorse, the complete and utter embarrassment, shame and humiliation – not to mention the repercussions of being caught in the same position – er – um - situation again. That should have to give a person pause enough to NOT repeat the same mistake."
"It should, but not good enough."
"Shouldn't it be?"
"I suppose it should be. It would depend on the level of his remorse right now."
"I believe he is very remorseful," she stated emphatically. "Apologetic – down right penitent."
"When did you speak with him?"
"I haven't – I guess I am just surmising from all that I heard."
"Assuming facts not in evidence counselor – I will need to object."
"Is this my case or your case?"
"It is OUR case," he corrected.
"Fine – well my 50 votes say that we should deal."
"Deal? Seriously? You want to deal? Has it come to that already?"
"Be reasonable?"
"Why …why do I – do we need to be reasonable?"
He didn't want to deal. He didn't want to be reasonable? What was he saying? He couldn't be referring to the case. Was he saying that their situation couldn't be or shouldn't be resolved reasonably? What their mistake too big to be resolved reasonably? Was it really such an embarrassment for him to have left a woman so unsatisfied that he was going to have to find a way to make it her fault and make her pay? Was his ego really that big?
Puh-lease Mac, we are talking about Harmon Rabb. His ego would over flow the walls at the Grand Canyon.
"I think we should," she stated flatly. Maybe he was talking about the case.
"Fine," he eased himself out of the chair. She hadn't noticed before but he was moving rather slowly. Hmm, did he pull something last night? Don't know how – there was no acrobatic display. NO – DON'T GO THERE. Don't ask. Don't deal with it. Don't even acknowledge it, Mac. Just let him go.
"I'll see you in thirty minutes in the conference room."
She nodded and watched him limp from the room. "It was a stupid mistake," she said softly to herself. She told herself she was talking about the client, but … not so much.