Takes place during Season 6.

No Place Like Home
A JAG oneshot for the holidays

DECEMBER 2ND, 2000

0930 EST
APARTMENT OF SARAH MACKENZIE
GEORGETOWN

If there was one thing to be known about Mac, it was that she would never pass up an opportunity to see her niece. So when Harriet called her at 0600 explaining that Little AJ had woken up with a fever and she needed someone to watch Baby Sarah for a few days so she wouldn't get sick, Mac said yes with virtually no hesitation. Her and Mic had nothing planned for that weekend, anyway.

"Thanks so much for taking her on such short notice. It means so much that you were willing to do this."

"It's no problem Harriet. I really don't mind," Mac said, bending down to take a peek at the sleeping baby still in her carseat. Mac instantly beamed. "Good morning sweetheart," she looked back up at Harriet. "Can I hold her?"

"Sure. Did you wash your hands?"

"I did as soon as I heard you knock."

"Oh-okay," Harriet slid the diaper bag off her shoulder and sat it down on the sofa. "This should be all the stuff you need. Bud or I can always stop by tomorrow to drop off more stuff if you need - again, I'm so sorry."

"It's fine Harriet," Mac assured her as she felt Sarah snuggle and scrunch up against her chest. "You know, you really need to stop having such cute babies, it's making me really want to have one."

Harriet laughed. "How does Mic feel about that?"

Mac gave a hesitant smile. "I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count."

The topic of children had been one of the many sore subjects between Mic and Mac. Mac had thought that she had made it clear, once her and Mic had started getting serious, that she would eventually want kids one day, and she had also thought that Mic was on board with that idea. However, whenever the topic got brought up recently, whenever Mac would bring up how cute Sarah was and how she "couldn't wait to have one," Mic would smile but have that look in his eyes that clearly said he thought Mac was crazy.

It also didn't help that Mic had the paternal instincts of a stick.

"Don't worry," Mac assured Harriet when she noticed the apprehension in her eyes. "Mic won't want to help out; I won't make him."

"Thanks."

"No problem."

"It's not that I don't think Mic wouldn't be a good parent or anything it's just -"

"There's no need to explain Harriet, I get it."

The man of the hour himself woke up a little after nine, proving that he did in fact sleep like the dead. Mic shuffled into the kitchen, bleary-eyed, stopping in the doorway when he saw Mac sitting at the kitchen table, giving Sarah a bottle.

Mac smiled. "Good morning."

"Morning, love," Mic walked over to the coffee pot, pausing once again to look at Mac and Sarah. "Who - whose baby is that?"

"Harriet's," Mac gave Mic an incredulous look. "Your niece. Why?"

"Oh, no reason," Mic shrugged. "I was just making sure I wasn't having a nightmare."

"Huh?"

"Nothing, love," Mic reached up and opened the cabinet, reaching for his mug. He paused again. "I didn't think we were babysitting this weekend."

Mac sighed. Here we go. "We weren't supposed to, but Little AJ's sick and germs and a new baby don't mix well."

Mic nodded faintly. "Right."

The key to any relationship is knowing your partner well, and Mac knew Mic well enough that she could tell when he was in a mood. Whether or not he just woke up on the wrong side of the bed or if he felt that annoyed to be watching Sarah, Mac didn't know. She opted to decide he'd woken up on the wrong side of the bed, because how he could be irritated by someone as adorable as Sarah was beyond Mac's comprehension.

"You don't need to do anything," Mac told him, "I can take care of her."

"I can help, love. Really - I want to."

Mac gave Mic a dry expression. "Mic we both know that's not true."

Mic frowned. "How do you know?"

"You only call me 'love' when you're lying to me."

Despite Mic's insistence that he wanted to help out with Sarah, it only took him a grand total of ten minutes after finishing his morning cup of coffee to find a reason to get out of the house. He wasn't the type of person who ran errands, but that day he decided he would be that person. Mac was tempted to ask if those urgent errands that Mic just had to run that morning included a trip to the golf course with his law firm buddies, but she decided not to.

"I wonder if this is going to be my life in five years," Mac wondered aloud. "Mic's going to be out having fun on a Saturday and I'll be stuck at home taking care of a baby," she looked down at Sarah. "Not that you're not lovely company, though. I promise, you're not the problem here."

Mac sighed. "It's just boys. Boys are dumb. You'll find out soon enough."

There was one boy, though. One boy that Mac didn't think was all that stupid, even though she would never let him know that. He was also someone that she knew would jump at the chance to help babysit his niece.

Carefully laying Sarah down in her portable bassinet, Mac walked into the bedroom to grab her cellphone. Harm picked up on the third ring.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"I have a question for you," Mac said as she sat back down on the sofa.

"What's up?"

Mac smiled. "How bored are you right now on a scale of one to ten?"

"With one being not bored at all and ten being extremely bored, or the other way around?"

"The other way around," Mac said, just to mess with him.

"Very funny," Harm chuckled. "Ummm…I'd say…a four. Maybe a five."

Mac let out a low whistle. "Oh wow, you sound pretty bored, sailor."

"What can I say? It's been a slow weekend," Harm paused. "Why do you ask?"

"There's someone very important at my apartment who wants to see you," Mac explained, leaning forward so she could take a peek at Sarah in her bassinet.

"Oh, is it the Admiral?"

"No."

"The SecNav?"

Mac rolled her eyes. "Nope."

"The President?"

"Harm, you know who it is."

This was true. Harriet had told Mac when she dropped Sarah off that the first person she'd called to ask to watch her had been Harm, but he had been on his morning run at the time and had missed the call. Mac was a little hurt that Harriet would go to Harm first instead of her when she was Sarah's namesake, but then she had to remind herself that she was now part of a package deal with Mic Brumby, and suddenly it all made sense.

Me being a package deal with Mic isn't a bad thing, Mac had to remind herself, chastising herself, stop telling yourself that!

"Gee Mac, I'd love to come over, but I don't want to step on Brumby's toes too much. You know your place is kind of like enemy territory for me now, right?"

Mac rolled her eyes. "Mic's not here. He went out a little while ago."

"Why does that not surprise me? - Sorry."

"Apology not accepted," Mac replied. "Anyway, I could really use the company. Do you mind?"

"Not at all. I'll be there in twenty."

When Harm said that, Mac didn't take him literally. Only one of them had a perfect sense of time, and it wasn't him. So when he showed up almost exactly twenty minutes after he hung up, Mac was a little shocked.

"You got here quick," she commented as Harm walked inside.

"Like I said, I didn't have much going on," Harm turned around to face Mac. "Do you need any help with anything?"

"No, I'm okay."

"I can take over if you need a break."

Before, Mac didn't mind Mic not helping out, and it wasn't tell she had someone offering to actually help that she realized it was a problem.

Mac shrugged. "I mean, she's been pretty quiet for the most part. You can just sit on the sofa and stare at her like I was doing earlier if you want."

"You know you probably just jinxed it," Harm said as he sat down in front of the bassinet. "She's going to start screaming in ten minutes."

Mac laughed. "I'm on break. If she starts screaming in ten minutes, that's your problem."

Taking full advantage of temporarily being off baby duties, Mac left for the bathroom to take a quick shower. About five minutes in, she heard Sarah begin to cry. Her first move was to cut her shower short and go out and see what was wrong, see if there was anything she could do to help, but Mac stopped herself.

It was Harm. Harm was with her; Mac trusted Harm.

She had been thinking about the baby deal a lot recently. Even though she was with Mic and Harm was with Renee, Mac couldn't shake the notion that that…wasn't right. The baby deal wasn't something set in stone, something she was well aware of. It was one big If. If neither of them were in relationships in five years, then they would have a baby together. At that moment, that didn't seem like it would be a possibility.

However, Mac couldn't help but feel like it was something meant to happen.

When Mac walked back into the living room in a fresh set of pajamas (unlike Mic, she had no other place to be that weekend) and drying her hair with a towel, she found Harm leaning against the wall by the living room window, Sarah cradled contentedly in his arms.

"What did I miss?" Mac asked, walking over to them.

"She just needed a diaper change, nothing major," Harm replied. "How was your shower?"

"Refreshing. Thanks for taking over for me," Mac reached up, placing one hand on Harm's shoulder. She finally caught herself when her lips were about an inch away from Harm's, pulling away instantly, cheeks burning.

It just felt so natural; almost like a reflex. It felt so right.

"Sorry," she apologized to a wide-eyed Harm. "It's a habit, I guess."

"Oh-okay."

"Yeah."

Face on fire, Mac turned around and started back to her room. She had to put her used towel in the hamper and recover from that mortifying action.

"You know," Harm said right as Mac was stepping into the doorway of her bedroom. "I've been thinking a lot about the deal we made lately."

Mac paused, her stomach clenching. "What deal?" she asked, deciding to play dumb because she was too scared to do anything else. Vulnerability had never been her and Harm's forte.

Harm chuckled. "You know what deal, Mac."

She turned around, looking at him incredulously. "You really think we could be parents? Together?"

"Sure, why not?"

"And how do you think Mic and Renee would take that?"

"They don't want kids."

Mac frowned. "Speak for Renee."

"Come on Mac," Harm insisted. "If Mic taps out of babysitting for a weekend, do you really think he would want to raise a kid with you?"

Mac didn't say anything, because as much as she wouldn't want to admit it, she knew Harm was right. She walked back into the living room, sitting down on the sofa a few feet away from Harm because after all that time she was still scared of getting too close to him.

"What are you saying, exactly?" she asked. "That we ditch Mic and Renee and have a baby together?"

"You said that, not me."

Mac's eyes widened. "You're ridiculous," she huffed, turning around to face away from him.

No longer afraid of being too close to Mac, Harm walked over to the sofa, sitting down next to her. "Look at her," he said, nodding down to Sarah. "She's cute, isn't she?"

Mac kept her eyes trained on the wall. "Don't bribe me with my own niece, that isn't right."

"She's my niece, too," Harm said, watching Mac even though she was still refusing to look at him. "She has Harriet's nose."

"She does?" Mac turned to look at Sarah, which in turn caused her to look at Harm, before she realized what she was doing.

"See?"

Mac leaned down to get a better look at Sarah's face. "Oh yeah, she does."

Her and Harm were then sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, and Harm wanted to put his free arm around Mac, but didn't want to risk scaring her off.

"You know, I hope our kid has your nose."

Mac wrinkled her nose. "What? "

"I like your nose. You have a nice nose."

"That's a weird compliment," Mac was silent for a few moments. She looked back up at Harm. "But you have a nice nose, too. I like your nose - If our kid had our nose, I wouldn't mind."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Mac sat there beside Harm, realizing that being so close to him wasn't as scary as she thought it would be. In fact, it wasn't scary at all. Mac always got a certain feeling when she was with Harm that she never got with another person. If Mac had had a better childhood, the feeling was akin to what she would imagine coming home would feel like.

"Hey, Harm?"

He looked up. "Yeah, Mac?"

"Do you really think we'd be good together? As parents?"

"Sure. I wouldn't have made the deal with you if I didn't," Harm paused, getting that twinkle in his eye that Mac knew all too well. "Why? Is there something on your mind, marine?"

"Oh nothing," Mac shrugged with a smile. "I'm just wondering if our kid would have my nose or yours."

"We could know by next Christmas, if you want."

Mac eyed him warily. "Don't make a promise you can't keep."

"With you, Mac? I would never."

I had the idea to do an AU where Baby Sarah lived awhile ago, and I didn't have the perfect idea for it until recently. I decided to do my best and try and remedy one of the saddest storylines in JAG, and this fic is a product of that.

Also, while we're on the topic of holiday-fics, I promise 12 Years of Christmas will be making a comeback, I have not forgotten about it...we just might be celebrating Christmas in July :) I was reading over the story and there's a lot I want to fix/add, so that's why it's taking me a little while to upload it again.

I hope everyone enjoyed reading and had a happy holiday season! As always, thanks for reading!

-Harper