Just some fluff! ^_^

Trampoline

He could hear her laughter - the gentle sound that was so melodic it made his heart stop the first time he experienced it seven years ago. Between that sound were those of springs stretching and tightening, the moaning of metal between a percussion staccato of thuds. There was other laughter too, the squealing sounds of their godson enjoying the early birthday present he and Mac had given him.

Harm had built the trampoline with Sturgis' help, the two men buried between poles and mesh and instructions that made little to no sense. It was a miracle the thing actually worked and he marveled at how his partner was the first to hop inside and 'test' the mechanism. Mac had been 'testing' it with little AJ for the last few hours. He stood on the Roberts' back porch nursing a beer while admiring her from afar.

Sturgis had long gone and Harriet was helping Bud with something or other. It allowed him to stare unabashed, his eyes fixated on the way she pushed off with the balls of her feet and landed so effortlessly. Little AJ kept cheering her on, sitting on the trampoline while Mac bounced and made him jostle around. It made Harm chuckle and feel a lightness in his heart he hadn't known he needed.

She wore faded blue jeans and a red top made out of thin t-shirt material that was snug in all of the right spots. From his vantage point he could see the way her breasts would rise and fall with each bounce and Harm had to shake his head out of the wicked thoughts that raced within. Mac was beautiful, that was obvious but something about seeing her with a fine sheen of sweat and so blissfully carefree made his heart squeeze tightly.

Damn did he want her. He wanted her more than he ever wanted any other woman and this waiting game was starting to drive him insane. Maybe it was the Indian Summer heat or the two beers that he'd consumed but, a force had him crossing the yard not stopping until he stood just outside of the safety mesh that covered the trampoline. "Hey buddy, mom wants you to go inside. It's getting dark."

"Okay Uncle Harm." Indeed there was only a bit of daylight left, the sun would fully set in about half an hour. The little boy looked up at the skies and then over at his godmother which stopped bouncing to help him out of the hole in the mesh. "Thank you Auntie Mac." He squirmed to kiss his godmother, gave a big hug to his godfather and ran across the yard and into the home.

The noises from the trampoline began seconds after the back door closed and Harm was surprised to find Mac still bouncing. "Getting your workout in, Marine?"

"I didn't realize how fun this could be." She purposely fell on her butt and the momentum pushed Mac back to her feet. Once. Twice. Three times, each of which the same move was executed with such grace Harm couldn't help but watch. She had a dancer's body, lean and tone and he wondered what it would feel like wrapped around him. "You should join me."

"Ha. Funny." Under their combined weight the thing would probably collapse or fold over onto itself. "Do you want to kill me?"

She stopped bouncing and glared down at him. "I just might after that stunt you pulled in court but, I'm in the mood to put our differences aside." Mac came down on all fours crawling to the opening on the mesh where she stuck her arm through to grab his forearm. "C'mon Navy or are you flyboy's all chicken?"

Harm wouldn't have taken the bait but she looked so damned cute that he toed off his shoes and scrambled onto the soft deck. It groaned even louder beneath their weight and that fear of it collapsing around them seemed much more likely when Mac began to bounce as he lay on his back. "Ummm. Mac, you should stop."

"Why?" She bounced a little harder and he swore he heard a spring pop. "It's rated for 500 lbs and if our combined weight got that high, I will shoot myself."

"I'm pretty sure that limit is nothing but a lie, this barely fits one adult." He sat up and as he did Mac grabbed a hand and pulled him up in effort to get him to jump. "C'mon, Mac. We're too old for this."

She stopped moving and gave him a pointed glare. "Speak for yourself. I haven't felt this good in years and God knows I needed a good laugh. Live a little, Harm. Sometimes you're too...uppity."

"Uppity? I am not uppity."

She shrugged. "Whatever."

"I'll give you 'uppity'." Harm took one small jump, a simple bound on the balls of his feet. Then came another and another and before he knew he and Mac were bouncing. He laughed the way he hadn't since he was a kid - carefree and light as if the rest of the World didn't matter anymore. When Mac reached for him, he took her hand and moved about the enclosure together until her ankle swept his and sent them both falling onto the soft material.

He fell first, landing on his back and she fell on top of him. They were both sweaty and sticky but something about the way she fit in the circle of his arms felt so right. In the near darkness he could still see the colours of her eyes, the specks of amber that made them so wonderful to look at. He wanted her - he'd always wanted her and for the first time Harm took that final jump that was needed when his lips met hers.

It was soft at first, tender and tentative for all he knew she would likely smack him for being so brazen. But when her body relaxed against his and her lips parted, he knew she wanted the same. Somehow, he rolled them over, the metal creaking as they moved so that he lay between her parted thighs. Mac gasped as she felt the evidence of his desire against her leg, moaned as each kiss made her feel something she tried to bury deep inside. This was good and it was real and it was Harm that kissed her with the same intensity that he put into everything he desired the most.

They only broke apart when the back door opened and Harriet stepped outside to see where her son's godparents had gone. "Commander? Colonel?"

"Here. We were ummm… testing the springs." Harm called out stifling Mac's laughter with another series of kisses. "We'll be right in." He waited for the door to close and then kissed her deeply once again, laminating that they would need to separate soon.

"I don't want this to stop." Mac confessed when he rolled off of her and onto his back so that they lay side by side. "And I don't want to push you away anymore either." She felt his hand over hers, fingers threading together in an act that made her feel such peace.

His opposite hand pointed upwards to the now starry skies, tracing out the pattern to one of the constellations. "Remember the last time we lay together looking up at the stars?"

"I remember us nearly being blown to pieces."

"I almost told you then."

"Told me what?" Mac rolled her head to the side in order to look at him. He was still tracing out constellations although the hand that held hers tightened.

He sighed. "That I loved you. That I've loved you for a long, long time."

"Oh." The words took the breath out of her and in the corners of her eyes Mac could feel the sting of tears. He loved her. Harmon Rabb Jr. loved her. "I love you too. I've loved you for longer than you can imagine."

"Then be with me."

"Yes." She said and another press of his lips against hers sealed their future.