Title: We're Just Partners…I Swear!

Author: ash9445

Disclaimer: See chapters 1, 2, and 3.

A/N1: Thanks to all of you for such kind reviews! Again, Colie, Staz, you guys still rock. Staz, let me know when you're going to be in the States and we'll see what we can do. Again, this is "ubeta-ed" so all mistakes are mine alone. Hope you all enjoy this chapter as much as I did writing it!–Ash

A/N2: The "junior officer" comment made in AJ's thoughts was referring to how both Harm and Mac were JUNIOR compared to him. Also, let's just say that Mic was at JAG Ops for a "Brumby & Brumby" case.

THE NEXT DAY

0700 EST

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA

Mac was nervous. No, that was an understatement. She was petrified.

((What if someone reports us to the SECNAV? There's no way he'd let us keep our jobs after this! Oh God, why'd I let Harm talk me into this stupid plan! Damn that man!))

She sat in her office, far too nervous to actually walk out into the bullpen. Her hands were sweating more than Bud at a Quantum Leap Convention. She stretched her arms out in front of her and finally decided to get a cup of coffee…at least that would be safe.

The plan was basically to play along with Harm. At first, she was relieved because she was left out of the planning. Her relief turned to immediate panic when she realized she was left out of the planning! Harmon Rabb, left to plan this disaster, on his own? That was a fraternization charge just waiting to be filed.

Mac stood up, let out a deep breath, and walked towards the break room. She opened the door and was about to reach up for a new filter for the coffee machine. Harm walked in, mug in hand and saw Mac going for the filters.

"Y'know, Mac, I could just get a filter for you. They're up pretty high."

"Thanks but I---Ahh! Damn it!" Mac's arm immediately retracted to her neck. The force from the sudden jerk of her arm threw her off balance.

Harm saw she was about to fall and immediately reached out and put his arms around her waist, to steady her.

"Mac? What's wrong? Are you okay?" Harm asked, his voice full of concern.

"I-I'm fine." She quickly escaped his embrace and turned red with embarrassment at both her stupidity and the fact that Harm had been so worried about her. She regained her composure but still kept her gaze away from him.

"… at least, I think so. I just pulled a muscle in my neck. Aw, damn it! This is the second time this week." She replied, scowling and rubbing her neck.

Harm felt bad for her, but chuckled at her misfortune.

She glared at him. "I'm glad you find this to be so funny, Stick boy."

"Hey, you're the one who denied my offer to get it for you. You should've accepted my help." Harm retorted.

"I didn't need your help, Commander. I'm a Marine, remember?" She sighed. "Sorry about that, I'm not that easy to be around when I'm in pain. Lord help the person who pisses me off today."

Harm laughed. "Alright, well I'll finish making the coffee, if you want. Just go back to your office and I'll make sure to bring you a cup of your precious battery acid." He said, remembering how strong "Marine coffee" was.

"I've got plenty of case files to keep me busy. I think I'll take you up on that offer, Flyboy, and thanks. It doesn't hurt so much now, but who am I to pass up free room service?" Mac replied, smiling.

Harm saw that Bud was heading their way and quickly added, "…and remember, Marine, the signal is two pulls on my ear. Just go with it. Oh, and I thought it would be best to do this after most of the staff has secured for the night…y'know to prevent too much scuttlebutt from going around."

Mac nodded in agreement and headed back to her office, grumbling about "Harm and his dumb ideas" and her newly acquired injury.

1000 EST

MAC'S OFFICE

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA

A few hours later, Mac was trying to decrease the size of the mountain of paperwork she had to do. At times she found herself rubbing her neck, despite the minimal pain. But her injury wasn't the cause of her distraction. She could still feel Harm's arms wrapped around her…the heat of his palms on her hips… She shook off the memory and tried to concentrate on her work. ((C'mon Colonel, he was just worried. No ulterior motives there…right?)) She mentally slapped herself for thinking such things and again attempted to finish going over this case. She'd read the same sentence four times already.

Mac was so wrapped up in her work that she didn't even hear Harm's knocks on her door. He entered the room and smiled. ((Mac looks so cute when she's concentrating…whoa! Where did that come from?)) Of course, he knew where it came from, that one part of his heart that he had been ignoring for almost five years. Keeping up his tradition of denial, he told himself that they were "just partners" and proceeded into the room.

Mug in hand, he crept up behind her and began reading over her shoulder.

"P.O. Carson, charged with Conduct Unbecoming, huh?" He asked, in between sips of coffee.

This broke Mac's concentration and startled her, causing her head to jerk up towards him.

"Oww! Argh, damn it, Harm! Don't do that!" She yelled, again rubbing her now throbbing neck. "Of course, now that it was just beginning to feel better, you just had to do that."

Harm smiled weakly and raised his hands in surrender. "Sorry Mac, I just thought I'd come in and check on your neck."

"Hmph." Was all she said, now thoroughly pissed off.

"Mac, I said I was sorry. I'll go get you some Advil, okay?"

Mac was surprised ((Wow, he actually sounded sincere.)) and looked up at him.

"Thanks Harm. Oh, thanks for the coffee earlier, too." She smiled at him in an effort to let him know she wasn't really as angry as she was acting.

"Before I forget, is Mic coming to pick you up today?"

"Mm-hmm, I think so. Why do you ask?" Her eyes went wide as she suddenly understood. "Oh, Harm! Not today!" She whined and put her head on her desk.

"Relax, it's going to be fine. We're only joking around."

"Tell that to whoever files the fraternization charges" Mac said, her voice muffled by her desk.

He smiled over his mug and went out into the bullpen, in search of the pain medication for Mac.

1825 EST

JAG BULLPEN

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA

Harm and Mac, both being overloaded with cases, had worked straight through lunch without as much as a glance at each other. In the backs of their minds, both had their minds on "the plan".

Much of the staff had already secured for the night, thankfully including Bud, Harriet, and the Admiral. Mic strode into the bullpen and, seeing how hard Mac was working, took a seat at one of the office chairs near the copy machines. He felt stupid at the way he'd baited Mac that night at McMurphy's and decided to quietly wait for her, in hopes that he could avoid another fight with her.

Unbeknownst to Mic, Harm noticed him come in and chuckled quietly. ((Great, time to begin Phase One: Bye, bye Brumby!)) He looked up and saw Mac about to leave her office. She hadn't noticed Mic yet and Harm needed to catch her now before she or Brumby left. He opened the door and called out to her.

"Hey Mac!" She looked up and walked to her doorway, in the middle of packing up her briefcase. He walked to her doorway. Harm made sure to speak just loud enough for Mic to hear.

"How's your neck? Does it still hurt?" Mac was about to ask him why he was speaking so loudly but noticed his tugs on his ear. Figuring out that Mic must've arrived, she decided to play along.

"Yeah, it's killing me." ((Oh jeez, where is he going with this?))

"C'mon into my office. I think I can help."

"Okay, hold on a sec, let me get the light."

He let her walk in front of him, his hand at the small of her back. Both tried their best to conceal their smiles and made sure not to acknowledge Mic (make him think that they didn't notice him A/N3: This sentence was a bit sticky).

They both went into his office and Harm drew the blinds halfway, so Mic could partially see what was going on. Mic was worried, but decided to wait…the last thing he wanted to do was piss off Mac again.

"Well, I do know a thing or two about neck injuries…I do own a corvette. (A/N4: I don't know if he'd had it stolen by that point, but for the purpose of this story, he still has it.) And while I can't promise that I'll fix it as fast as Chief Hodge, Harm said referencing to the crazy Chief on the Watertown, but I can promise that I won't try to kill you." Harm said, flashing a Flyboy grin.

"Um, okay." Mac wasn't sure what he meant, but her neck did still hurt. He walked behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. She tensed up immediately, but after a few minutes she realized what he was doing.

"Wow, that feels…really good." Mac closed her eyes for a few minutes and let him continue. Suddenly she realized where she was and who she was with. He must've read her mind and stopped massaging her neck. Mic watched in horror, but still did nothing. ((Nothing's worse than an angry and injured Marine. Sarah just better come out soon, or I'll have to go in there and get her myself.)) He changed their positions, blocking Mic's view of Mac. He discreetly told her to turn around.

Mac was nervous. "Now what?" she whispered, her body still tingling from the contact. Harm motioned for her to come closer to him with his hand. She stepped over to him and saw he had what looked like a makeup kit sitting on his desk.

"Harm! This is not the time for makeovers!"

"Stop complaining and hold still." Harm said, applying some of the makeup to Mac's neck. "I've seen Renee's makeup artist do things like this all the time." He finished his work and held up a mirror to her neck. "How does it look?"

Her jaw dropped. "Harm! Why is there a hickey on my neck! Oh God, Harm. No. NO WAY. I'll never here the end of it if I walk out of here like this!" Mac hissed angrily.

"Just wait, I bet he won't even notice it. Even if he does, I doubt he'll say much about it after how he acted that night at McMurphy's. He won't mess up his relationship with you if he knows how lucky he is…" Harm assured her, the last bit sounding a little sad.

Mac decided that it was better to just go along with it…she couldn't stand to see Harm like that. ((Mic deserves it anyway)) She smirked at him and said, "Fine, Harm. But when he dumps me it's going to be you who has to see me in sweat pants, eating ice cream out of the tub, and watching sappy romantic movies."

Harm smiled and turned so Mic could again see both of them. Mac wasn't sure why she did what she did next…maybe it was how sad Harm sounded, maybe it was this stupid plan going straight to her head, maybe all the Advil she'd taken had killed all her brain cells… but suddenly she put her arms around the back of Harm's neck and pulled his lips to hers for a swift kiss. She didn't care if Mic was watching…but was hoping he was…that was the whole point, right?

Mac stepped back and smiled at him. He smiled back and packed everything up. They both headed for the door, grabbing their briefcases and covers. She turned toward him in the doorway and said, "Thanks Harm, my neck feels much better."

Harm, still a bit shell-shocked from her kiss, simply replied "No problem. See you tomorrow, Marine." He flashed her another Flyboy grin and left. She could've sworn she heard him say under his breath "Phase One: Complete".

Mac greeted Mic with a kiss and a huge grin. They walked out to the JAG parking lot, Mac excitedly telling him about the events of the day and some of the cases she had been working on; obviously excluding the events in Harm's office. Meanwhile, Mic was half listening and half kicking himself for not interrupting what had happened a few minutes earlier. It wasn't until that night at his apartment that it finally hit him, he'd lost her.

Back at Harm's apartment, Harm had already begun planning Phase Two…

A/N5: Another chapter for my faithful readers! Reviews and constructive criticism welcome (just remember this is my first fic). Happy Thanksgiving! -Ash