It was Friday morning and Mac was running late. She barely slept the night before, tossing and turning all night as she tried to figure out the mystery of the roses. I wasn't Harm, she decided although female intuition had him as the main culprit. Then again, that just wasn't the type of thing he would do.
So her investigative mind began to wander and wander to the point where Mac threw the covers off in the middle of the night and sat in her living room with a notepad. She went through all of the men at JAG, cringing when some of the younger enlisted came to mind.
Oh, she hoped he wasn't enlisted although she knew there were a few that, as Harm put it, would 'take a bullet' to date her. Gunny in particular who was a good man, good looking and a Marine. He'd protected her with a similar intensity as Harm but then, the man was too by the book to make a move.
It reminded her of a few cases she'd worked with Harm when enlisted and officers crossed the line. The fallout had been a career ender.
So, after hours and pages of notes it all came down to Harm again who was the first person she bumped into that morning. "Hey you okay? You missed the meeting."
Mac sighed, "Didn't sleep well… didn't even hear my alarm and my internal clock hates me this week."
"Well, these came for you." Harm presented her a vase with five purple roses. "Purple is for love at first sight...Looks like Don Juan is a romantic." When she didn't take them he followed her into the office and placed them on her desk.
She watched him for a moment as he fluffed the flowers and fixed the arrangement. "Is it you?"
His eyes went wide as saucers and Mac wasn't sure if it was a tell or not. "Mac...Can't you just enjoy it and be happy?"
"Are you happy?"
"This Isn't about me…"
"You know we never talked about what happened between us." Or didn't happen, as was the case. She ran away and although their friendship was mended little else was.
"You wanted to go back to the beginning…I guess we have, haven't we? Things are less tense."
"It's a different kind of tense, actually…. We've just mutually decided to ignore it because emotions are too messy."
Harm opened and closed his mouth, trying to formulate a rebuttal. "Mac...look."
"Do you believe in love at first sight?"
"What?"
She took the card and raised it up for him to read again "The card said the purple roses were for love at first sight." Which was something Mac didn't believe in until she met a certain Lt. Commander in a rose garden.
Smitten was an understatement, was the most attractive man she'd ever seen. Those piercing blue eyes, the way he carried himself so confident and strong. He was a good guy too, noble, loyal, honorable to a fault.
"Yes." He stepped towards her, closing the space between them. "It's easy to fall for someone at first sight, it's making it work afterwards that's the problem."
"Sounds like you have experience." Harm's eyes drifted to her lips taking interest when she swept her tongue over to moisten them.
He nodded. "I didn't know that's what it was." His hands came up to frame her face and just as she thought he would kiss her, Harm didn't. "What are you doing tomorrow?"
"It's Saturday. I didn't have plans."
"The weather is supposed to be perfect, come fly with me."
She cringed at the thought of going up on his plane. The scar on her leg from a madman's rifle still remained as a souvenir. "Harm, last time things didn't go so well."
"Let me make it up to you."
"Okay." Mac conceded and then his lips brushed the corner of her mouth before he stepped away.