Harm and Jen turned on their heels and moved towards the door, which Harm opened for Jen. Once out of the office Harm quickly looked around to see if anyone was close enough to overhear anything and when he confirmed all was clear, he said to Jen.

"I'll meet you at my apartrment and have a quick lunch for us ready. It'll give you enough time to get home and change out of your uniform." he knew it would take her longer to get home by car than him with his bike, it being the rush hour.

Her sparkling eyes revealed she had the exact same thoughts when she looked into his blue-green orbs.

"Yeah, I'll have to sit in my car and wait in jams, while you just... zoom by."

Harm started to grin. "You know I would love to take you with my bike, Jen, but you neither have a helmet nor any other protective gear."

Jen's impish smile was turned on full blast, making Harm catch his breath. "Yeah, well, I guess we're just gonna have to fix that. Won't we, hubby?"

With that parting shot still hanging in the air she turned, secured her post and left, leaving Harm to ponder the significance of what she just did.

Not only was it the first time either of them had openly acknowledged their marriage, much less called the other with their new names; but with that single, short sentence she indicated she wanted commitment, perhaps even interest for this marriage to become a real one.

The 'hubby' comment aside, Harm was aware that Jen knew how expensive leather 1 piece suits for racing bikes are, since she accompanied him when he went to buy his clothes. He wanted the female opinion and she wanted to find out more about racing bikes and everything that goes with them. The only bikes that she had come in contact until then were only custom bikes and choppers. Which is a completely different world than racing bikes.

The leather 1 piece suits come up to prices of 1000$. The helmets also aren't cheap, the prices of full-face (called 'integral') helmets of good quality start at around 250-300$, top quality also over 500$. Then there are also armored gloves, armored boots, spine-protector,... A full racing bike gear is a middle to long term investment, especially the clothing and one, if you make it as a passenger and not the rider, only if you are in a long-term relationship with the owner of the bike, like married to him. It doesn't make sense otherwise. It's simply too expensive.

Harm didn't feel the smile forming on his face as he rumaged about these facts, but others sure noticed the big-ass grin that the Commander, whom no-one had seen smiling for quite a few years, sported as he walked towards his office to get changed into his bike-riding clothes.

The Marine guards, who were the ones to have taken his bike under their protection, sure noticed his smile and the bounce in his step. They were right when they speculated that a woman had put the smile there, but they just thought he got lucky last night. But Harm got something much, much better than some temporary release with sex, he got a chance at a life of love and happiness and he was determined, come heaven or hell, he would not screw this up.

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Harm caught up to Jen after only a few minutes on the road. As she predicted, she was waiting in a traffic jam, bored out of her skull.

Feeling playful and a lot daring, he stopped by the driver's window of her car, knocked on it, raised his visor and when she looked at him, he blew her a kiss and waved. Then he cranked the throttle and started carefully making his way through the traffic.

Jen just watched, stunned at his uncharacteristic, playful behaviour, and then shook her head, laughing.

'What did I get myself into? I knew I was gonna pay for what I said to him before I left.' but somehow Jen had the gut feeling that she wasn't going to mind, hell she was going to enjoy, the way she was going to pay for it. Hopefully for the next 40, 50 years.

She knew she could never find a better man and husband than Harmon Rabb Jr. and so she didn't mind that she got married earlier than she had planned.

Hell, if he turned out as fantastic a husband as she expected him to, she was going to regret not knowing about him before she joined the Navy and marrying him, just to get even more years with him.

But one cloud darkened her horizon: she didn't know what he wanted. Nor if he was still in love with Col. Mackenzie.

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HARM'S APARTMENT

NORTH OF UNION STATION

Once again Harm was glad he took the bike to work. The mirror-tinted visor of his helmet hid his face from the few reporters that were already milling about. And, let's face it, no-one expected a highly decorated Navy's pilot-lawyer to ride to work on a racing bike.

He calmly rode past them towards the garage, unlocked and opened the door and then rode the bike inside.

Once inside he closed the door, locked it securely and set the alarm. After that he took off his helmet and gloves, chained the bike to the wall with a chain as thick as his forearm, put another chain around the rear wheel, locked it and set the movement-sensitive alarm that was on the lock.

He knew of a lot of cases where people's bikes were stolen from their garages, right from under their noses and he didn't want that to happen to him. That's why he also set the alarms in both of his cars everytime he parked them in the garage. The door of the garage itself was made of armored metal, with reinforced doorframe. The door leading into the building was the same type, just smaller, also with reinforced frame. The garage itself was solid concrete, with 1 foot thick walls. After all, it's better to put some money in the security than to have your cars and/or bike stolen from you just because you were cheap. And none of his friends knew that Harm actually owned the building, which meant he could do what he wanted with it.

Grabbing his briefcase and the uniform out of the topcase he made his way to the door of the garage, that led directly to the stairwell inside the building. It was a nice feature, just go from his garage directly into the building and it especially came in handy now, when he wanted to avoid the noisy press.

As soon as he came into his apartment he picked up the phone and dialed Jen's cell phone number.

"Hello?"

"Jen, it's me, Harm."

"Yes, sir, how can I help you?"

"Jeeeennnn" the warning in his voice was clear and Harm could just see her rolling her eyes.

"Okay,... what can I do for you, Harm?"

"That's better. Just called to let you know that there are a couple of vultures nesting on the street."

"Huh?" Jen took the phone from her ear and stared at it, wondering if she heard right. He couldn't have been drinking so early in the day, right? Also, he drank only on social occasions and even then only in symbolic quantities.

"What I meant to say, Jen, is that there are some reporters already stalking our building."

"Ohhhh." she was immensely relieved that there was nothing wrong with him. Finding out on your wedding day (since they signed the license today) that your husband has a few screws loose is not a fun prospect.

"They didn't recognize me because of the helmet, but they'll surely recognize you. Besides, how many female POs live in this building?"

"Unless you have them hidden somewhere, only one. You don't have them hidden somewhere, do you?"

"Very funny, wifey." while he was by no means a sexist, he just couldn't help himself but push her buttons. It's not like she didn't do it to him...

"I thought so." teased Jen back "or else I'd be very angry at you. You would be sleeping on the couch for the rest of the year."

"Ouch" winced Harm "It's a good thing I told them to find another place to hide then. I wouldn't want to sleep on the couch, just think of my back!"

Both knew that all this teasing and flirting served just to cover up their anxiety, fear and insecurities. Joking about their new marital status seemed like the best way to face such a big change in their lives. It also helped them get used to being husband and wife by jokingly calling that each other, because if they were to be in denial about it, then when the reality of their situation hit them, it wouldn't have been pretty.

"Any idea on how to avoid them?" asked Jen, deciding it was better to get back on track, as she was only a few minutes from home.

"Hm, you could park in the back alley, climb up the fire espace and I could let you in, but I doubt that would be advisable in your uniform skirt and heels." mused Harm, rubbing his chin in thought.

"That's not a half bad idea. But, you will need to bring down some tennis shoes and shorts for me to change into if I even want to think of climbing up there. You're right, my skirt would just limit my mobility and the heels are not exactly conducive for climbing fire escapes."

"No problem, I'll wait for you in the alley. See you soon."

"Thank you, the shorts are in the 2nd drawer from the top, see you soon." hearing the dial tone, Jen closed the phone when she realized something.

Her eyes got wide when she suddenly remembered what Harm will find. 2 weeks ago, in an attempt to re-decorate and shake up the monotony of her apartment, she switched the contents of her drawers. Previously the top drawer kept her underwear, some of the pieces quite sexy and sensual, it was the only thing she occasionally splurged on and the 2nd top drawer held her shorts, T-shirts,... Well, let's just say it's not that way now. She quickly called him back to correct her mistake, but Harm was obviously no longer in his apartment. 'Oh god, this is going to be bad.'

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AN: UP NEXT: getting into the building is not as easy as one might think. Harm and Jen will find out why, Harm having a few misadventures along the way.