A/N: Hey guys, long time no see. Okay, so I haven't updated in an eternity. I know. But then I got a review the other day asking for an update, so I took a look at TLWL and realized … god, I was so fucking close to finishing this. How the hell could I stop?

So here I am. Four months later, asking you for your forgiveness. Because, it's been two years since I started this story. And I'm officially sick of the guilt of not finishing it. So will you hang in with me?

Cuz we have a story to finish.

P.S: Might be a good idea to read the last chapter over again, just to refresh your memory … I would do my normal flashback thing, but the last chapter was all emails, so I think you can read it on your own.

Brighter Than Sunshine

2228
Hotel Conference Room
Mac's POV

"Hey."

"Hey."

We stared at each other, rooted, and uncomfortable. He was at the far entrance across the room, hands in his pockets, eyes nervously cast down to the floor. I was at my entrance, with every square inch of me hating Harriet Roberts.

"They've locked us in here," Harm said.

Quite the taste he has for stating the obvious.

I uselessly jiggled the knob of the door beside me. It didn't budge. I sighed. "Yes, they have."

A thick suffocating silence drowned the room. Neither of us moved. I cast a fleeting look at Harm, whose eyes were inspecting the floor as though the invisible words written on it were of intense interest.

"They want us to talk," he said finally. His words resonate painfully. He looks up at me, our eyes catching for a second. "And it's not such a bad idea, Mac."

I felt my throat tighten. "Not such a bad idea?" I choked hoarsely. "Harm, we're locked in a room. You've got a seminar to give tomorrow. I'm sleep-deprived. We both want to be anywhere but here …"

"Mac," Harm said gently, effectively cutting my would-be rant short. "Why are you so opposed to talking to me?"

I felt a stab of guilt at the heartbroken sincerity of his question. Opposed to talking to him? I loved talking to Harm. Honestly. I did. Sometimes talking to him was the only thing that could make me feel good.

It was also sometimes one of the only things that could make me feel as if I'd hit rock bottom.

And I knew that feeling all too well. Every time I felt that I was coming even close to reaching Harm, that we were getting close to something real, his words just pulled the rug from under my feet. That was how powerful they were.

And that power scared me.

"I'm not opposed to talking to you, Harm," I whispered. My eyes were downcast. "It's just so much easier not to."

Somewhere outside, thunder rumbled and the sound of heavy rainfall on gravel drowned the silence between us. My eyes were trained on the dark green carpet beneath my feet. For being feet apart, Harm and I seemed miles away.

Same Time
Room Across the Hall

"Come on, guys," Harriet whispered savagely at Tiner's laptop. Beside her, Bud sat squished into the same arm chair, and around her the rest of the JAGs circled, eyes trained on the image before her. A live video feed. A live video feed of Harm and Mac locked in the next room. To anyone else, locking two people in a room together against their will and then monitoring them on video might seem unethical and arguably a bit cruel. To the JAG crew, it was an obvious display of their love for Harm and Mac.

"It's not that I'm opposed to talking to you, Harm … It's just so much easier not to."

"Oh, fuck this," the Admiral spat, forfeiting his spot on the sofa to pace around the room.

Or well, at least it displayed their frustration with them.

"What are these guys doing?" Harriet stretched. Her blue eyes looked shiny and desperate. "Why can't they see they love each other?"

Bud rubbed her shoulder sympathetically. "You know, Harriet, maybe we've all been seeing a little too much into this. We all know Harm and Mac are good friends, and sure, they've sometimes let on they might want to be a little more, but at some point, we just have to accept that whatever happens is up to them. If they really want a relationship, they will make one."

"I just can't believe that after all this time they aren't together," Jen said dully. All around her, eyebrows soared. She rolled her eyes. "Okay, I know you've known them a lot longer than I've known them. And I know you've been saying this longer than I've been saying it. But whatever. I'm right, aren't I?"

Harriet nodded her head tiredly. "You're right. They should have been together years ago."

Sturgis wiped his eyes. "Ladies and gentlemen, I hate to break it to you, but it's getting late, Harm and Mac aren't doing anything. There's no admission of feelings, no verbal introspection. This was a bad idea. Let's just let them out and all get some sleep, okay?"

Harriet looked down. "Fine," she mumbled, getting up.

Bud stood as well, kissing his wife's hair gently. "It was a good idea, Harriet. But no matter how hard you try, you just can't make two people see when they refuse to open their eyes."

"Bud's right," The Admiral said. He scratched the back of his head, walking towards the doors. "Now shall we release our prisoners?"

"Yeah, I've got the keys right–"

"Wait!" Tiner shouted.

Six heads all turned simultaneously.

Tiner's eyes were glued to the laptop. "They're talking again."

Same Time
Conference Room
Harm's POV

"You kissed me."

Her words resonated loudly against the silence that the room had developed. I looked up from sitting against one of the desks. Her eyes were no longer cast at the ground. Rather, they faced mine. Boldly. Defiantly.

"I kissed you," I repeated.

Her eyes soaked me in.

"You kissed me and you have a girlfriend," she whispered. Her voice held no anger. No underlying resentment. Instead, there was a tremble of something quite like insecurity. Something quite like fear.

"I kissed you and I have a girlfriend," I said slowly.

She looked down, pushing a stubborn strand of dark hair from in front of her eyes. She suddenly seemed very small. Mac had always seemed relatively small to me. She was a lot shorter than me, and a lot thinner. But now she seemed small, even by Mac-standards.

"Why?" she whispered. Her voice quivered with an emotion I couldn't place. Her eyes didn't meet mine.

"Why what?" I asked slowly, buying time. My mind had gone alarmingly blank.

She tilted her head up, and her wide brown eyes bore holes into me. "Why did you kiss me?"

Why had I kissed her? The question echoed in my mind. I closed my eyes, the memory of it washing over me and leaving my body tingling. I'd kissed her with absolutely no thought in my head. No thought of Jean, no thought of our future, of its meaning. With no though, I'd kissed her with more feeling than anything in the world.

"Because," I said slowly. My blue eyes stayed transfixed on her. "I needed you to know."

Her eyes refused to leave mine, voice dropping to just above a whisper. She shifted against the desk she was leaning on. "Know what?"

I closed my eyes. This was it, I thought dully. My heart pounded. This loud buzzing sound overtook my ears, and my mind seemed to glaze over, as though giving up processing all thoughts currently running through my head. I bit my lip, and fought to keep my voice steady.

"How I feel about you," I whispered.

Same Time
Next Room

"Oh. My. God."

Harriet punctuated every word by slamming her palm to the table. From her right side, Bud's hand tightened around hers. "I can't believe this is happening," he whispered, his eyes on the screen with an almost morbid fixation. "I just can't believe this is happening."

"Shut up," the General snapped at the pair, earning an approving nod from the former JAG. "They're still talking."

If at all possible, the seven people cinched closer to each other, and to the laptop. Tiner turned the volume on full, and complete silence descended upon the group as they watched Harm and Mac cinch towards each other.

Same Time
Next Room
Mac's POV

How I feel about you.

The same five words raced through my mind with amazing speed. How I feel about you. How I feel about you. How I feel about you. How I feel about you.

How did he feel about me?

I fought the urge to scream the question. I looked into his eyes, trying to find some trace of a familiar emotion. What I met was far too large and far too deep to put into words. And the intensity both thrilled and scared me.

My throat tightened and I looked up at him, grasping at confidence. "And how do you feel about me?"

The question hung in the air, falling upon us with every ounce of grace imaginable. He moved closer to me, eyes glued to mine. "More than I could ever verbalize," he whispered.

The intensity of his gaze and the passion in his voice suddenly made me acutely aware of the fact that I was clad in nothing more than a loose t-shirt and pyjama bottoms, not to mention the fact that I was fucking trembling in them.

Harm, as though sensing I was at a loss for words, moved towards me once more. "Mac," he whispered tenderly. I relished the sound of my name on his lips. "We have never been just friends." His eyes followed mine. "We pretended we were. We may have convinced ourselves we were. But we weren't."

His words ring with a painful sort of truth.

His eyes are deadlocked on mine as he finally comes to stand before me, taking my hand in his. His dark hair falls gently before his eyes, blue eyes searing into me with frightening passion.

"And I am so sick of pretending," he whispered.

A/N: Okay, so that's where I'm leaving off right now. A kind of romantic cliffie (you know you enjoy them). So review! You can look for an update either Monday or Tuesday, since I'm busy all weekend. And this time I really mean I'll update either Monday or Tuesday. I'm through with lying about updates. I'll tell you if another one's not coming for a century, okay?