" Harm? You okay?" Mac poked her head round her friend's office door, " Hey, what's the matter?"
" Nothin'." Harm didn't look up from where he sat at his desk, arms crossed, head resting on them. His muffled voice suggested he'd either been asleep or crying.
" C'mon, something's up. How about I take you somewhere for lunch and you tell me then?"
Harm looked up, he had indeed been crying, " Anywhere I want?"
Mac smiled, " Sure."
AJ watched them leave, frowning at the evidence of Harm's tears. Maybe this was worse than he had thought.
Mac opened the door to her apartment and looked around cautiously.
" Checking for Mic?" Harm asked, jokingly.
" Don't even kid about it!" Mac replied, " He's in a bad mood at the moment." She frowned, " I wish I knew why." She half dragged harm into the apartment and sat him down on her couch. She got him a cup of hot chocolate, and sat down next to him.
" Haven't done this for a while." Harm commented, staring down into the chocolate, at the milk swirling round in the top.
" No. So what's up?" Mac asked, quickly changing the subject.
Harm smiled at her, not his usual grin, just a soft smile, " It's nothin'. Just, Admiral Chegwidden."
" How did I guess it was him? You two have got to stop provoking each other, I mean, you're supposed to be friends."
" I guess. He's just so... hard to get along with. Y'know? You can't say anything personal without the man getting on your back. It's just so... annoying!" Harm burst out. He looked at Mac, a slightly embarrased expression on his face, " And he keeps on bringing up that stupid thing with the gun, and the courtroom ceiling..." His voice trailed off as he saw the beggining of a smirk on Mac's face, " It's not funny!" He exploded.
" Sorry." Mac grinned, " It's just, well, it was pretty funny at the time." She explained apologetically, unable to keep her laughter under wraps.
" Well, maybe." Harm conceded, unable to keep a smirk off his face.
They both burst into laughter, then calmed down again, as Mac said, " You're right though. he treats you really unfairly. And he's not exactly nice to Bud and me all the time. But Harm, sometimes, what he's doing is manipulating us so we go and do exactly what he wants us to, what we should do, for our own good."
" Yeah. While making me feel totally crappy."
" Thought about telling him how you feel? Ask him down the bar tonight. That'll get the tow of you talking. In fact, let's have a party, just celebrate being alive, and being together for once."
" Ok. God knows, we could all do with it."
Next chapter will be longer, I promise. Just needed some build up to the party.
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