A/N – I'm so sorry but between work and planning my trip to Ireland, I totally forgot to post this part yesterday -blush-. Anyway, here it is. Once again I want to say thanks for all your comments and kind words. I really appreciate it. Take care and enjoy… I hope.
The Need to Feel Free Again - Part 11
Disclaimer - See part one for all important information
May 30, 2004
Anderson's Farm
The Cottage
Brattleboro, Vermont
2:23 PM
Mac and Toby had lunch with the Anderson's and were now back at the cottage. On their way back it had started to rain lightly. The occasional burst of vivid lightning in the fast moving purplish clouds followed by the faint rumbling of thunder made it obvious that a thunderstorm would soon be upon them.
Mac let her eyes wander to the window. She wistfully watched the raindrops run down the windowpane as another bolt of lightning illuminated the otherwise dark sky. 'This would be so utterly romantic, if I wasn't alone here in the cottage with just my four legged friend. I hope Harm was spared this nasty weather on his drive back,' Mac thought, closing her eyes and sighing. 'Harm.'
The walk and swim in the lake she had planned earlier were definitely not going to happen today. Only Toby's needs could get them out of the cottage in this weather. Mac lay on the bed with Toby right next to her. She rubbed his ears and read her new book 'Without Remorse' by Tom Clancy.
She could have read a romantic novel, but the last thing she needed right now was reading about a steamy romance. It would only cause her to miss him even more, if that was even possible.
Mac tried to concentrate on her novel, but she couldn't help noticing the look Toby kept giving her, and it had nothing to do with the thunderstorm since she knew that the puppy wasn't afraid of it anymore.
At the first clap of thunder, he'd quickly run under the bed with a yelp. Mac somehow was able to make the little guy see that there was absolutely nothing to be afraid of. So after a while he meandered from under the bed and once again joined his master on the soft comforter, his eagle eyes watching her intently.
But Toby's big sad eyes weren't giving her the 'I'm scared of the thunder'-look anymore. No, it was more like the 'I'm missing him'-look accompanied by a whine whenever she looked at him.
Sighing, Mac closed her book with determination and looked at Toby. "This is not what we want, is it?"
"Woof."
"Yeah, I thought so," Mac murmured as she got up from the bed. Toby watched her every move as she got a few things out of the bathroom and put them into a bag. Then he followed her in the main room to watch her grab a few other things.
When she finished her work, happy with her decision, she searched the rooms one last time. With a glint in her eyes and a smile on her face she looked back at Toby, who was once more lying on the bed. "What would you say about a ride in my corvette, Mr. Toby?"
Mac then sat next to Toby on the bed, pointed her index finger at him, looked him straight in the eye, using her best drill sergeant voice and began. "Before we go, we need to have a little chat. I'm happy to be taking you back to DC with me, but we need to lay down some ground rules. You have to remember that I'M the boss. I will accept nothing but your perfect behavior… do you understand? There will be no chewing on the seats of my car, or on my furniture and most of all not on my shoes. You got that? You will come when I say come, and you will go when I say go. You will take care of business outside when we go for walks and not in my apartment. You abide by all of the above and we will be just fine. Are you getting all this, mister? I certainly hope so, or else you will be back here so fast..," Mac inhaled deeply ending her tirade, and reached out to pet a now anxious Toby who sat patiently in front of her.
"Woof, woof," was the prompt response she got from a very excited Golden Retriever. It seemed like he knew exactly what was in store for them.
Mac shook her head in delight and laughed while rubbing his ears. "I'm glad we're in agreement," Mac responded. "Well then, let's get going."
Her little friend didn't need to hear that twice. He jumped from the bed and ran right to the door. To see him so impatient and eager to go made Mac laugh even more. "You got that right, Toby. You got that damn right."
x
Harm's Apartment
North of Union Station
8:03 PM
"Home, sweet home," Harm muttered when he opened the door to his apartment.
He had made better time on his drive back home than he had on his drive up to Vermont. The main reason had been the upcoming storm behind him. The last thing he needed was to be driving his motorcycle through a thunderstorm. He also had made fewer stops in between and was lucky to ward off the storm until he had reached DC so that he didn't have to drive too far in the soaking rain.
The first thing that caught his attention when he entered his apartment was the red light that blinked on his answering machine. Harm took off his drenched jacket, walked over and hit the play button. "You have three new messages."
The first message was from Harriet and Little AJ. They were inviting him to Little AJ's birthday party, which would take place next Saturday because AJ had come down with the flu on his birthday and couldn't celebrate then as originally planned. 'Saturday,' Harm thought with a smile. He knew Mac would be home by then and that she would never miss one of AJ's birthday parties.
The second message was from Sturgis. Varise was still out of town and Sturgis wanted Harm to join him in a basketball game. During one of his breaks on the drive back, Harm checked his voicemail to hear three messages form Sturgis. He remembered thinking 'poor Sturgis totally lost and bored without Varise,' and couldn't wait to tease him about it.
Harm had to laugh over the last message he heard earlier. Sturgis was very curious about his whereabouts, and he would make sure to find out on Monday who the woman was that was making his friend one lucky man. "Oh if only you knew, buddy. If only you knew." Harm chortled, thinking about his curious friend.
When the third message started to play, Harm stopped laughing and turned somewhat somber.
"Hey Harm, it's Mattie. Dad and I just finished breakfast and we're on our way out to take part in a Mountain Bike tour through the Valley. I just wanted to let you know that I'm okay and we're having a lot of fun. Most of all I wanted to tell you that I miss you, Harm. I wish you were here with us. But hey, maybe next time. Perhaps, Mac could come too? I'm sure you two would like it here. It's so beautiful. Well, I have to go, Harm. Dad's waiting. I'll see you soon. Love ya, bye."
"You have no more new messages," brought Harm out of the trance that Mattie's message had put him in.He had a weird feeling. On the one hand, he was happy to hear Mattie's voice. She sounded so excited and happy about spending time with her father.
Nevertheless, on the other hand it made him sad as well. It once again gave him the feeling that he would eventually lose her. However, Mattie did tell him she missed him and that only served to reinforce Mac's statement when she said he would never lose Mattie completely.
Harm took a deep breath and looked down at himself. "Well, I should get out of these wet clothes, take a shower and make some dinner. I need to work on the case anyway or Bud will have my six when we meet in court next week," Harm said aloud before he walked into his bedroom sheddingthe soaked clothes that had left a wet trail of rainwater through his apartment. He was looking forward to a nice long hot shower.
x
May 31, 2004
Harm's Apartment
North of Union Station
0:03 AM
It was a little after midnight and Harm was blurry eyed and exhausted. He just wanted to curl up in bed and get some much needed sleep. He had spent the last few hours working on his case by candlelight. His 'torture' had begun with a loud bang from outside shortly after he had finished his shower and was preparing his dinner.
The electricity in his apartment went off, and apparently the whole area was in darkness as well. It still wasn't back on a few hours later and Harm had to work by candlelight. 'It would be romantic, if I wasn't sitting here alone preparing a case,' Harm thought with a sigh while the thunderstorm continued to rage outside.
He had to forgo his dinner and was forced to search through his fridge. He did find three yogurts and a banana. Not what he wanted, but it would have to do. It wasn't the loss of his home cooked dinner that bothered him, it was the fact that he couldn't use his home phone to call Mac.
Sometimes cordless phones were a pain, especially when power was out, like now. The happiness about having at least his cell phone was gone in a heartbeat when Harm noticed the low battery flashing on his phone and he had no way of charging it. 'Could this day possibly get any worse,' was the thought that kept coming back to Harm throughout the evening. Looking down at the case that had been his company for the evening he got his answer. No. Absolutely… positively… definitely… a great big NO.
"This is pointless," Harm muttered defeated closing the folder that contained the case. 'Maybe in the morning everything will look better.' He had to laugh at that thought. "Well, with the case anyway… I hope."
Harm put the folder and the notes he made into his briefcase. He blew out the candles and made his way to the bathroom to get ready for the night. After brushing his teeth, he exited the bathroom and started to get undressed.
Clad in only his white boxer briefs Harm made his way over to the bed when a familiar sound made him stop dead in his tracks. "Harm, you are pathetic and apparently hearing things," he muttered to himself as he shook his head and started to move again.
The moment he sat down on his bed, he heard it again and this time it was loud and clear.
'Woof.'
"It can't be," Harm thought aloud.
'Woof, woof.'
This time it was even louder and mixed with a noise, which sounded like someone was scratching on his door.
'Woof.'
'Woof, woof.'
In one swift motion Harm was out of his bed sprinting across his apartment to tear open his door.
"Woof, woof."
"Toby, what are you doing here?" Harm asked the Golden Retriever as he got down on his knees to address the puppy. Toby was standing on his back paws and his front paws were against Harm's chest wagging his tail, obviously happy to see Harm again.
"Woof, woof."
Harm had to chuckle when Toby gave him a slobbery kiss on his left cheek.
"Where is your Mommy, buddy?" Harm asked curious, since he couldn't see Mac anywhere.
"She's right here," came the soft and somewhat breathless answer from the stairway. "He apparently couldn't wait for me and found your apartment on his own. Don't ask me how he did that though."
"Woof."
Harm slowly got up from his knees unable to take his eyes off her.
Toby seemed to sense that he was in the way and walked inside Harm's apartment to inspect the new and interesting place.
'She's here. She's really here and she looks like an angel,' Harm thought and slowly moved to Mac. "You look like an angel," Harm whispered his thought.
"I'm drenched from head to toe," Mac whispered back meeting Harm halfway while attempting to blow her wet bangs off of her forehead.
"Then you are the most beautiful soaked angel I've ever seen," Harm said softly and took her head in his palms and gave her a long tender kiss.
When they broke their kiss, they both looked deeply into each other's eyes.
"We better go in, before we wake up Coates and you give her a show," Mac told Harm with a smile.
"Huh?"
"You do know you opened the door wearing only your boxer briefs, don't you?" Mac asked tenderly as her hand lingered on his waist clutching the band of his boxer briefs, playfully pulling on it letting it slap back against his body. She couldn't hold back her giggle. "Please tell me you don't normally walk out into the hallway that way. But damn sailor, you are one sexy squid."
Harm always enjoyed seeing her playful side, which had sadly disappeared for awhile and was now finally re-emerging.
Looking intensely at Harm, she launched herself into his waiting arms. At that moment, she didn't care that she was soaked and resembled a drowned rat. All she cared about was kissing him passionately. Together they walked into his apartment, never breaking their kiss.
When the need for oxygen made them break apart, Mac got serious again. "I'm sorry if Toby woke you up. My plan was to sneak in so we wouldn't disturb you," Mac said innocently as they fell onto the couch. Mac landed on Harm's lap and he held her to him not caring that her clothes were all wet.
"Don't be sorry. I would have been terribly disappointed if you had let me sleep through your arrival. I missed you, Sarah," Harm told her gently and gave her another long kiss. He had to break the kiss when he yawned. "Sorry."
"I missed you too, Harm, and don't be sorry. We can talk more tomorrow when you come home from work," Mac told him gently. She then stood up from his lap and took her wet jacket off. She took his hand and helped him up from the couch. "Come on, Sailor. You need your sleep, and I'm tired from the long drive through the rain. We both need some shut-eye," Mac said with a yawn of her own and together they walked to his bedroom.
"You'll stay, right? Toby has already made himself comfortable, so I'm hoping the answer is yes," Harm said looking at Toby, who was already sound asleep at the end of his bed.
"That was the plan, yes," Mac answered quietly.
"Mac."
"Yeah."
"It is okay for Toby to be sleeping on my bed isn't it… I… I mean he won't do anything, will he?" Harm asked.
"Harm, I already read him the riot act before we left Vermont. He knows who the boss is and what he is supposed and not supposed to do," Mac replied with a wink.
"Okay, just asking," Harm responded with a smile.
Harm disappeared in the bathroom thinking 'boy I must really be in love with Mac and even with Toby to be letting him sleep on my bed. I always knew I wanted Mac to share my bed some day, but I never thought I'd see the day when I'd let a dog share it too.' He looked at himself in the bathroom mirror musing 'you sure got it bad.' But he knew he wouldn't have it any other way.
Harm returned with a towel. "Here, you look like you could use one of these. I'm sorry that you can't take a hot shower, but the power is still out and it's still lightning out there. How come you're soaked from head to toe anyway?" Harm curiously asked as he helped Mac dry off.
"Toby needed a walk so we did that before we came up here. Do you have a t-shirt I could wear?" Mac asked Harm when she finished drying her hair.
"And why do you need a t-shirt?" Harm asked huskily and started to unbutton her shirt.
"You really don't need an answer, do you?" Mac replied moaning when Harm dropped her shirt to the floorand proceeded to kiss and lick the valley between her breasts. She knew sleeping naked next to Harm would meanno sleeping at all and they both needed sleep badly.
"Top left drawer," Harm answered as he started to kiss his way from her breasts down to the waistband of her jeans. He then started to unbutton them, while Mac took off her boots and socks. When her jeans were off Harm gave Mac another sweet kiss on her lips before he let go of her. He left her to change into his t-shirt as he made his way to the bathroom again.
When Harm came out, Mac had already changed into the t-shirt. Harm laughed when he saw her model for him. She had chosen one of his 'Property of the NAVY'-shirts.
"Does it mean you ARE mine?" Harm asked Mac softly, taking her head in his palms so he could give her another gentle kiss.
"Always and forever," Mac answered kissing him with all the love she had for him.
Harm couldn't stop the moan when Mac's hands found their way to his boxer briefs. They teased him through the fabric, before her thumbs hooked into the sides of them pulling them down slowly.
"I got you all wet, Harm. You should change into some dry boxers. We don't want you to get a cold," Mac said with a seductive voice. She licked his right ear before sucking his earlobe into her mouth, making him moan.
Harm's hand was just as eager finding its way under the large shirt, wanting to tease her through the fabric of her panties as well. "Mac, where are your panties?" Harm croaked finding himself getting more aroused than he already was.
"They were wet, so I had to get out of them." Mac smirked.
Harm let go of Mac with a groan so he could get changed and attempt to get himself under control again. Mac chuckled as she watched Harm turn around and walk to his dresser. She watched as he pulled a dry pair of boxer briefs over his taut bottom. She turned around and smiled as she walked into the bathroom.
"I put a toothbrush out for you," Harm called after her when he walked to his bed and got under the covers. He was extra careful so he wouldn't disturb Toby's sleep. "Where is your bag, Mac?" Harm hollered and quickly chastised himself for speaking so loudly. He quickly looked down and exhaled when he saw Toby hadn't woken up.
"It's still in the car," Mac answered when she came out of the bathroom again. "I had to chase after Toby when I opened the car door. Then he ran through the open door downstairs and up the stairway to your apartment, so I forgot all about my bag. I'll get it tomorrow. Oh, and I hung my soaked clothes on the towel bar, hope that's okay," Mac told him as she walked to the bed.
"No problem. My dryer is your dryer, you can use it for your clothes tomorrow," Harm said and lifted up the covers. Mac quickly slipped under them and right into his arms. She immediately received a delicate kiss before she turned to lie on her side and Harm spooned up against her back, holding her tightly to him.
"I love you, Sarah. Goodnight, Angel," Harm softly said into her ear, before he kissing it gently and closing his eyes.
"I love you, too, Harm. Goodnight, Darling," Mac whispered back and closed her eyes as well.
They both fell asleep immediately with smiles on their faces. They were together and simply feeling free.