Summary: Just a little idea that wouldn't leave me alone. Read on and see what you think…What if Harm and Mac share more of a past than either of them realize?

Spoilers: None, but this takes place after the events of the series finale.

Disclaimer: JAG and its main characters belong to DPB and to CBS. I don't make any profit from writing any of these fics, but simply get to exercise my overactive imagination every now and then. Please don't sue me, as I'm poor with very little money!

Rating: I don't know…PG-13…T, something like that.

Category: H/M shipper.

A Promise Kept

OOOO

"Hmmm," Mac hummed softly, still half-asleep, as Harm trailed kisses up her neck.

"Good morning," he greeted her and she cracked her eyes open a fraction.

"Good morning," she replied, sleepily, then asked, "What time is it?"

"Are you really asking me that?" Harm paused in his perusal of her body and looked up at her face with surprise, "What happened to your internal clock?"

"As I recall," Mac smiled, "somebody very thoroughly fried it, last night."

"Hmmm," Harm grinned, cheekily, "Good, huh?"

"Uh-huh, I'd say so!" Mac agreed, whole-heartily, "What do you say we get some snuggling in before it's time to get up?"

"I think that is an excellent idea," Harm lowered his head back down to resume the kisses he was liberally sprinkling across her belly.

"Mmmm," Mac again approved, laying her head back down and closing her eyes with anticipation.

She opened them again when Harm ceased his deluge of kisses.

"Mac," he asked, staring at the now-faded scar that ran across the left side of her stomach. He had never noticed it before because it was so light, having faded and tanned to the same degree as the rest of her skin. It couldn't be an appendectomy; that was always on the other side of the body. Besides, this wasn't a straight, measured cut, but a curved, though clean and not jagged-looking one.

"Huh?" Mac had to look up and see what he was talking about. It had been at least twenty years since she had even noticed the scar. After a few years, it just became 'part of the furniture.'

"Oh, that," she told Harm, uninterestedly, "Got that in a bus accident, when I was fourteen."

"A bus accident?" Harm asked.

"Yeah," Mac nodded, "My Mom and I were visiting my friend Valerie in California …well, escaping from my Father, actually and Valerie's Mom Frances said we should come and stay for a while. Valerie's Dad was in the Marines as well, but he really didn't like my Dad, so my Mom and I knew we would be safe there for a few weeks until my Dad's temper had a while to cool off. He had been getting really bad, lately, nearly as bad as when my Mom took off."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that," Harm pulled her into his arms, "when I was in my teens, I took living in a stable home for granted. I had a Mother who loved me and a Stepfather who treated me as his own son and yet, I was constantly searching for ways to get away from home and look for my Father."

"If I had been born into a family like yours," Mac assured him, "I'd have probably taken it for granted as well. It was probably a hard change to get used to after your Father was taken away when you were still so young."

She and Harm cuddled down to get another hour of sleep, since it was a Sunday and they really didn't have much to get up for.

OOOO

Twenty-four years previous…

"I can't believe you talked me into this," eighteen-year-old Harmon Rabb told his friend, Jack Keeter, "This is so not my thing…"

"Hey," Jack replied, defensively, "I don't remember you telling my Mother that. You were all like, 'Sure Mrs. Keeter! I'd love to!' You could have just told her you didn't want to come. I, however, didn't have any choice in the matter…"

Harm rolled his eyes as he thought about what would have happened if he had told Keeter's Mother 'no.' Just didn't bear thinking about…She was a nice enough woman, but she was as adept as his mother in the guilt-trip department. There were just some things that you didn't tell a friend's mother.

"I could have told her," Harm protested lamely, "if she hadn't got my Mom on the phone first and suggested this 'fieldtrip' to her."

After his little out-of-country excursion nearly five years before, Trish Rabb was always looking for ways to keep her son busy during the holidays. And Harm had been getting more and more unhappy about not finding his Father, a fact that his Mother hadn't failed to notice. The fact that he was now eighteen didn't seem to make any difference. And he was still no better at telling her, 'no.'

Harm and Jack Keeter had met during their first year at the Naval Academy when they were roommates and had become firm friends. The seemingly long year of hard work and even harder mischief making had served to bond the young men in a way that would connect them as friends forever, despite few opportunities to meet up.

Jack's Mom was a paramedic who volunteered much of her free time with community youth programs and she always jumped at the chance to get herself and her family 'giving back.' She was not able to make it on this fieldtrip today, but she'd had the great idea of sending her son and daughter along in her place. She was also good friends with Trish and Frank Burnett, after meeting them during the first day of plebe week at the Academy, so had called her friend to see if Harm 'would be interested in coming to take part, too.' Trish had of course said, 'Yes,' so Harm had no choice but to hop on the next greyhound to get to where Jack's family lived in the state.

As the large bus pulled up to the stop, Jack turned to look at his friend seriously and told him, "I really appreciate this, man. It'll be more bearable with you there."

Harm just smiled and joked, "You're gonna owe me big for this one…and don't think I won't collect on it, either!"

These young men trusted each other with all kinds of secrets, plots and schemes. Their circle of friends was small and they would all take most of their shared secrets to the grave with them…well, at least the secrets that they couldn't use as blackmail.

They climbed aboard the bus, still laughing and joking while Jack's little sister Abi trailed along after them. It was understood that she couldn't 'tag along with the boys,' so she settled for a seat reasonably near to the front, clearly noticing the rule that was displayed by the other kids on this trip; 'The older you are, the further back you can sit.'

Of course, there were almost no other boys Jack and Harm's age and none older than them, so they had the back seat of the bus to themselves.

This trip to the fairground was organized by a local youth-club and was for those thirteen and older. At fourteen, Abigail was glad that she was at least not sitting at the very front, that would be a nightmare beyond belief. It was already bad enough that she was on her own, her friends all having dropped out at the last minute.

OOOO

Sarah tried not to let her head spin round and follow the two tall boys as they made their way to the back of the bus. Sure, they were good-looking, even her fourteen-year-old mind knew that, but it was more the confidence that they were exuding that pulled her attention to them.

How Sarah wished that she would someday feel that self-assured. Years of verbal abuse from her Father had inevitably taken their toll; had made her question her own self-worth. She now naturally looked up to individuals who displayed such self-confidence, if only to discover for herself where she should start looking for it. Unfortunately, her search was always interrupted before achieving success, by another of her Father's tirades.

"Wow," she heard Valerie next to her utter, quietly, "Who are they?"

Valerie was a lot more forward than Sarah remembered. It seemed that in the last year Valerie had gone boy crazy. Maybe it was living in California, Sarah knew for sure that none of her friends living back in Arizona were like that.

Valerie hushed up when she noticed the girl that trailed behind the boys. She had dark-blond hair, braces and was slightly chubby, but Sarah thought that she seemed nice enough. Maybe it was her shy attitude that helped Sarah feel she could relate to her.

The girl watched the two boys wistfully as they made their way to the back seat then dropped into the seat across the aisle from Valerie and Sarah.

"Are they your brothers?" Valerie piped up, never one to be shy.

"One of them," Abigail nodded, turning back to point one of them out, "That's my big brother Jack."

Jack caught sight of his little sister looking at him and replied with an obscene hand gesture.

All three girls quickly looked away, so they didn't see Harm slap Jack upside the head.

"Ow!" Jack exclaimed, "What was that for?"

"I promised your mother I'd look out for her today," Harm told him, "Which, for that matter, you did too. So why are you doing stuff like that?"

"She just annoys me," Jack grumbled, although it had been a few years since Abigail had actually annoyed him on purpose. He was not long back from the academy and was still not used to receiving affection from his little sister, after all this time around peers his own age.

At the next stop, the group supervisors got on and one immediately made his way to the back of the bus. He was a no-nonsense ex-naval commander, so in no time at all he had extracted promises from Jack and Harm to keep an eye on the younger children and make sure that they didn't get into trouble.

"I can really tell, now," Harm frowned at Jack, "that this day is going to be just terrific…"

OOOO