Halloween

Harm walked in to find Mac in his apartment, his heart swelling imperceptibly from the domesticity they'd fallen into almost immediately. She had a key and he had hers. The exchange occurred a good six years earlier upon her askance when, upon traipsing around the Appalacians, running away from poachers had Mac losing her keys.

He had to break into her apartment when they returned from Blacksburg and once Mac returned to work she'd presented him the key. A day later, he gave her his - just in case - and never questioned why it was so easy to do. She was his partner, he surmised but then Kate never had a key to his place and Meg most certainly didn't either.

Mac did. Mac...Sarah, as he often called her now when they engaged in more intimate conversation...Sarah had his key, kept it despite being engaged to another.

"Hey." Her eyes lit up when she noticed him and Harm chuckled at the fact that for the first time he could have snuck up on a Marine. She was far too absorbed in something that was strewn over his sofa - costumes to be exact for a Halloween party she was dragging him to.

Mac walked up and pressed a hand to the side of his face, a gentle touch to guide him down so that they could kiss. As always what intended to be a sweet hello turned fiery, electric and it was a hand on his chest and a rumble of a chuckle from the back of her throat that pushed him away.

Their chemistry had always been undeniable but Mac didn't realize just how hot that ember could burn until the night after the Jag-A-Thon. Starting at the beginning she figured his asking her to dinner would be to catch up, chat and ignore...Yes, ignite because they did that too well.

She never expected him to kiss her but Harm did. He kissed her for all he was worth and that electric current sparked like a livewire. She felt it, he did too although the electric pulse running between them was mostly due to Harm's cell phone short circuiting while they kissed outside her apartment in the pouring rain.

It was funny, cute and made them jump apart but not for long. She asked him up, the intensity in her eyes conveying that it wasn't just a cup of coffee and small talk Mac was after.

Starting at the beginning never felt so damned good or right and it turned Harm's world upside down. He relished every moment that came after, the unabashed flirting, the hiding their relationship from others which was kind of exciting. The way he'd caught her looking at him at work. Touching her hand in the breakroom. Flowers from a 'secret admirer' that got her called into the Admiral's office.

He was smitten. Wonderfully, happily, insatiably smitten. And in love. More in love than he thought possible. And so he'd agreeded on the Halloween party despite disliking the Holiday. He agreed because it would be the first time they would be out amongst friends as a couple.

The Admiral knew but it would be a surprise to everyone else and Mac had tasked herself with costumes that came as a set.

"Romeo and Juliet. What? They're a couple." He suggested a few days ago only to have Mac glare at him with a horrified expression.

"It's a tragedy. They both die."

"Oh." He saw her point, then suggested Superman and Supergirl which was met with even more resistance.

"They're cousins." She cringed and he followed suit, finally letring Mac to her own devices when tossed Mickey and Minnie into the mix.

She slipped out of his embrace and turned to the costumes studying them as if they were artwork. Quickly, she grabbed an item off the coffee table and glanced at it, mumbling something or other about it being 'too small.'

"What is?"

"Your codpiece."

"My what?"

"Codpiece. You know it's worn over your umm…" She motioned with her index finger to his crotch and for some reason that had him glancing down. "Little sailor…"

"Little sailor?" He tried not to be offended by the comment. "He's not little."

She agreed. "No argument here but…let me see." Mac grabbed the codpiece and moved to his crotch only to have Harm jump away with a yelp. "Oh c'mon, this is part of your costume. It goes with the tights."

"Tights? What tights?"

Exasperated, Mac threw her hands up in the air. "You're Robin Hood and I'm Maid Marion Remember we decided that last night after we...after. You said yes."

Harm scrubbed a hand across his face and took another step back when Mac made to measure his ummm…'Little Sailor' again. He had said yes but then he was exhausted, half asleep and curled up against the warmth of her body. "Stop that!" He swatted her hand away and took the offending object in his hand.

The thing looked like an oversized cup he'd worn while playing organized sports. Those were damned uncomfortable enough so that he often went without praying his jewels wouldn't take a hit. He placed rh3 codleice over his slacks above his 'Little Sailor' and shook his head. It was definitely too small and jutted out awkwardly "Do I have to wear it?"

"Afraid so, flyboy. It comes with the tights."


Harm felt like an idiot as he stood in the middle of her living room four nights later, waiting for Mac to finish dressing. He had dressed up as Robin hood complete with tights, vest, feathered hat and another codpiece that actually fit. The costume was slightly annoying with tights that rubbed up the wrong place, a vest was a bit warm and the boots would likely give him blisters. Yes he hated Halloween and these stupid get ups. Harm had purposely left the silly bow and arrow in his car cor fear of looking like a complete fool.

He hated it all until Mac stepped out of the room.

A ridiculously expensive wig adorned the top of her head with hair fall in dark tendrils over her shoulders. A crown of flowers held it in place, blue and grey ribbons flowing down the back to the tips of her hair. The dress, also blue with grey accents hugged all of the right places of her svelte figure, the bodice pressing her ample breasts and raising them.

Long sleeves with more ribbons in a crias- cross pattern covered her arms and he found himself no longer breathing. She was beautiful, always had been but this was so different, the romance of medieval times. She pressed a soft kiss to his lips and slipped her arm through the crook of his.

"I think I'm starting to love Halloween." Harm said as he led her out of the apartment.