Suz: your wish is my command, so here is the next part. As for the buzzing: you know me, I'm a die hard, hopeless case of a romantic and sometimes I go overboard on fluff. And I can think of nothing more romantic than for them having this kind of connection and being soulmates.
Sammy: I'm glad you like my fics. I think the funniest is The Drabble Series and especially "Beautiful" in particular. You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find the right comparisons to avoid letting everyone know who I'm really talking about.
michelcz: you know, the more I think about it, the more I get the feeling that in reality Loren was in love with Harm.
While she tried to get rid of every other competition on her way to becoming the JAG, she never tried to get rid of Harm who was the biggest threat and had the biggest chances of becoming the JAG. Heck, she even told him of her plans, she trusted him and confided in him. But I don't believe Harm ever wanted to be the JAG, he just wanted to make sure the justice was served. Anyway, the only reason I can think of for her not even trying to get rid of Harm is love. PLUS she tried to get rid of any competition for Harm's heart: Mac, Kate,... And why was she visiting him off-duty when she met Sergei? Nothing work related couldn't have waited until the next day, maybe that was just an excuse. Perhaps she started dating Sergei so she could be close to Harm and not be obvious about it? He was also the only one who could even get close to her or talk to her friendly during all those years, especially in her last year.
Or perhaps I'm just a hopeless romantic and want to see love in her actions and decisions where there was no love.
AN: I recently test rode the new BMW F 800 S motorcycle. What a sweet ride. The acceleration and power of any japanese supersport, 800 cc of german muscle for the price of 600 cc of japanese muscle, bag full of additional optional features, 86 Nm at 5000 rpm and the gas consumption of a scooter at normal speeds, only 3,2 liters per 60 miles at 60 mph. Overtaking cars is childishly easy, the bike just accelerates like a rocket, from 0-60 mph in just 3,5 seconds. At around 130 mph it used up only about 4,8 liters of gas per 60 miles, a record. If I win a lottery, the first thing I'm gonna do is to go buy myself one.
But for now, on with the story!
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"So, what do you think we should do now?" Harm asked, lightly nudging her.
She looked at him in surprise. "Haven't you planned that out, also?"
Harm looked sheepish. "Actually, no. I planned to talk to you, but I didn't dare wish for you to actually agree. So, now I'm all out of great ideas and it's your turn to come up with them."
Loren looked thoughtful for a moment. "We should go apply for a marriage license tomorrow. You should call your mother, she'll want to be in on the wedding."
Harm shuddered at the thought of facing his mother with the news of his upcoming nuptials and fatherhood, without ever having told her about Loren before.
"What about your parents?"
Loren's face fell in sorrow. "My parents have been dead for 15 years. I don't have contact with any of my relatives, not that I ever cared much about them anyway."
"I'm sorry." he knew that the words were not enough, so he took her in his arms, offering support and comfort.
They held each other for a while until Harm thought of something.
"What kind of a ceremony do you want?"
She remained in his arms, turning so she could wrap her own arms around him. "I was thinking a civil ceremony at the Court House. Should we invite our co-workers?"
Harm shook his head. "I don't know. Our wedding is about us after all and not about them. We should just invite the essential people."
Loren face broke out into a truly devious grin. "Let's not tell them at all and have them find out for themselves. I wonder how long it's going to take them. But I think we should invite the Admiral to the wedding, as one of the witnesses."
"Great idea. I think I'll ask Frank to be the other witness. After the crap I've put him through when I was a teenager he deserves this honor."
She looked at him puzzled. "Frank?"
Harm sighed, there were still so many things they didn't know about each other. Well they had an entire lifetime to find out."Frank is my stepfather. He married my mother when I was 13 and had the unfortunate job of taking on a particularily difficult step-son. I never gave him enough credit for how big his role in my personal development was. He's a great guy."
Uncertainty and insecurity permeated Loren's voice. "What will your parents think of me? I'm not exactly the best daughter-in-law material. I can be pretty difficult."
Harm grinned at her describing herself as difficult. He couldn't help but tease her. "Mom will love you. As for Frank... well he had experience with a difficult, unaccepting step-son, so you won't be too big a challenge."
"Hey." she yelled in fake indignation and lightly swatted his shoulder. He laughed again, hugging her closer. But then he grew serious.
"You know, before now I haven't laughed in over a year, not once since I came back from my flight duty."
Loren rested her chin on his shoulder so she could look into his eyes. "I'm glad I can make you happy. I also promise you everything I demanded of you to promise me. I'll be faithful, true to you, stand by you and support you and I'll try to make you as happy as I can. This will be a real marriage, because that's the only way it can succeed. The other option is not acceptable."
She moved so she laid her head on his chest, under his chin, thus allowing them to wrap their arms around each other. They were quiet for a while, enjoying holding someone and being held, not being alone, until Harm's voice shattered the companiable silence. "Look at us, how good we get along. How touchy-feely we are with each other. Someone might think we're out of character. Only a few months ago we barely got along and now here we are, expecting a baby, cuddling, and planning our wedding and the rest of our lives together."
Loren was quiet for a while, thinking about what he'd said. "Maybe. But a lot has happened to us, between us, in these past few months. We are expecting a child together and that often binds 2 people a lot closer. Or tears them apart completely. We have realized that we need to get along, to reconcile our differences, in order to provide our baby with a stable, healthy home. This experience has already changed us, mellowed us, we are not the same people we were 3 months ago, hell, even yesterday. We now have another person to think of and that is a fail-safe that is making sure we won't make this bad between us."
All was quiet for a long time, Harm was almost asleep, when Loren spoke up again. "You know, I like this. Really like it."
"Hunh?" Harm had to shake himself awake.
Loren smiled indulgently. "I said I like this."
This time he was more coherent. "Like what?" Harm rubbed his hand over his face to chase away the sleep.
"This. Us. Just being. Sitting here, in each other's arms, saying nothing and just enjoying the company, the silence and holding each other. I've never had that with Mike. We never were that comfortable. When I think of it, I never had that with anyone, I was never this touch-feely with anyone else. And it's been a long time since my last relationship before Mike, I was too focused on my career to have the time, energy or even the will for it."
"Yeah, it's pretty nice. I've never been the cuddly type, but I like this a lot." With that he slipped his arms under her knees and shoulders and hauled her into his lap. She shrieked at suddenly being moved. "Harm, what are you doing?"
"I'm just getting more comfortable, my back is killing me." he answered and lay back on the couch, with Loren on top of him. Loren stretched, rubbing her body against him, feeling him respond, and then cuddled into his warmth. They were both too tired to pursue that particular venue.
But something was still nagging at her. "Harm?" she mumbled sleepily.
"Hmm?"
"How will you get home? You left your car at JAG."
Harm wanted to just be allowed to sleep and some little matter like his car wasn't worth staying awake for.
"You'll drive me."
Loren raised an eyebrow. "Reeeeally?"
"Sure, after all, you are my fiancee. We are getting married and so we can carpool." Well, she couldn't fight that logic.
"What if someone sees us coming to work together? Wouldn't that defeat the intention of not letting them know?"
"Well, the whole Navy probably already knows I took you home. You know Tiner can't keep a secret. But, you're right so you'll just drop me off a couple of blocks away and I'll take a cab the rest of the way."
"What about our marriage license? We work longer hours than they do. When will we go get it?"
Harm raised his head and glared at her playfully. "You really do intend to keep me from sleeping, don't you?"
Loren grinned impishly. Harm shook his head in exasperation.
"I'm out interviewing witnesses tomorrow so we'll meet up during the lunch hour and take care of it then."
"Okay, you go interview your witnesses and I'll go to the records department and have them give me the blood test results from your last physical. I still have my blood test results. Then we'll meet at the Court House in Falls Church during the lunch hour."
"Agreed."
Loren put her head back on his chest and snuggled in closer, while Harm pulled a blanket off the back of the couch over them. Within minutes they were asleep.
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