A/N: Hey guys. Delivered right on time. See …? I'm getting better. :)

Feeling a Moment

2256
Room Across the Hall

"Mac, we have never been just friends. We pretended we were. We may have convinced ourselves we were. But we weren't … And I'm so sick of pretending."

A stunned silence befell the group. Harriet blinked, eyes wide with disbelief. Her husband's lips moved reciting the words just heard, an attempt to grasp the scene before him. The admiral voiced their mutual thought. "Holy …"

"Shit," the General finished.

Sturgis cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Harriet, maybe we should, um … sort of … turn the laptop off."

Harriet cast Sturgis an aghast look.

Sturgis shifted in his seat. "It's … getting personal. Maybe we should give them some space."

"Okay, Buddy," Harriet said, tone dropping dramatically. "I know Harm's your good friend, and you have little personal opinion when it comes to the ways of Harm and Mac. But believe me when I speak for everyone here when I say, we've been in the middle of their constant circle for far too long. And we've worked too damn hard to NOT watch this."

And with that, Harriet turned to Tiner and said, "I don't suppose there's any way you could put the laptop image onto the TV, is there?"

Sturgis cast an incredulous look at Harriet, and then around the group for support. All members refused to meet his eye. They quite agreed with Harriet. Sturgis shook his head and laughed. When Harm got out of that room …

Tiner frowned. "I think I know a way I could possibly get the image onto the television … it'll take some tinkering … but I could probab-"

"Shh," Bud whispered, waving at Tiner quickly. "They're talking again."

And instantly, all seven people fell silent. Sturgis surveyed this reaction with a wry smile. It was plain to see that all members of the party were devoted to Harm and Mac in a way that went almost beyond the normal lengths of friendship. Harm and Mac had been there for them through the years, as they had them. Through thick and thin, they'd hung in there. Sturgis smiled. They were good friends, and they loved Harm and Mac a lot.

Nonetheless, he concluded, as Tiner fiddled with the laptop so he could make the camera zoom. He was very glad that his friends didn't love him that much.

Same Time
Conference Room
Harm's POV

"You're sick of pretending?" Mac whispered, a cruel sort of incredulity etched upon her face. She laughed bitterly. "I'm sick of pretending. I'm sure everyone around us is sick of us pretending."

"Mac …" I whispered softly, but she cut me short.

"But what are we supposed to do, Harm?" she half-whispered/half-shouted. She threw up her hands. "What are we supposed to do? You live here in London, and I live thousands of miles away. We wasted away so many years, and now we can't even …" Mac faltered. "We can't even …"

She looked away, and I looked down. She had a good point. I felt a wave of bitter realization wash over me. It didn't matter now. Nothing mattered now. I was here, and she was there. It's where we had to be. I looked back up at her, and absorbed the tears in her eyes, that look on her face. No, it did matter, I corrected myself forcefully. Everything mattered.

"Mac," I whispered, closing every inch of space between us. Her eyes were to the ground, and she fervently tried to wipe the water from her eyes. I tucked some of her hair behind her one ear, grasping one of her hands with my other.

"I know that you live in San Diego and that I live in London," I said slowly. She didn't look up at me. "But," I whispered, wryly smiling. "I also know through past years, that distance has never been able to break us."

Mac looked up, somewhat surprised. "Mac …" I breathed. "If we really want this … and I mean really wants this … we could do it. Me and you. We could have something. I'm so sick of making excuses why we shouldn't. That we work together. That we're friends. That we live a couple fucking thousand miles away. Because in reality, if we really want this and are really willing to try, we could do it."

"But Harm," Mac whispered gently. Heartbreakingly. "We can't. I've only got three more days in London. And what are we supposed to do the rest of the year? Date online? Do you know how pathetic that even sounds?" Mac wiped her eyes, and laughed bitterly. "There was a reason we didn't marry a year ago. There was a reason why we never started once in the last ten years."

"And what's the reason, Mac?" I bit back. "Because right now, I can't think of a single one."

"Not one?" Mac cried incredulously. She eyes me with a look of insanity. "How about our jobs for one?"

"Screw our jobs, I'll give up the Navy for you," I said and then stopped. What had I just said? Mac looked at me, wide-eyed, mouth open. Instant silence befell us, thoughts circling madly in our minds.

"You'd give up the Navy for me?" Mac whispered slowly, tenderly. Her wide tear-soaked eyes drew me in.

I found myself swallowing hard. The Navy was my life. It was the reason for my existence; the reason I got up every morning. I looked back at Mac, her dark hair falling messily over her slightly red eyes, her arms goosebumped until her thin grey shirt. Mac was a better reason to get up every morning.

"Yeah," I said with an emotional conviction I didn't know I possessed. "I would give up the Navy for you."

Mac bit her lower lip as she always did when she was thinking. Her brown eyes shined. "How …" she began, but then stopped herself, turning away. She released a length breath, and turned back. "Why?" she whispered. "Why would you … I mean … why?"

My throat tightened. My mind whirled back to last year, trying to convince her to marry me. The three words I'd never said. That I hadn't been prepared to say. The only three words she'd wanted to hear. I felt my head spin, and my heart hammered so loudly within my chest, I thought it would explode.

"God, Mac," I whispered feelingly, eyes absorbing hers as I leaned in even closer. "Can't you tell I'm in love with you?"

Same Time
Room Across the Hall

"Someone pinch me. Someone pinch me. That did NOT just happen!" Harriet crowed. From her left side, her husband immediately acquiesced to her demand. Harriet scowled and withdrew from him. "Ow," she said, rubbing her arm.

"I can't believe this is happening," Jen whispered, with the air of an excited teenager. She looked back and forth between people, eyes finally settling on Tiner and casting him a thrilled look. "Can you believe this is happening?"

"I can't believe this is happening," he confirmed from his crouching position behind the television. He was still trying to get the video up on the bigger screen.

"Well," the Admiral cleared his throat. "I, for one, can believe this is happening."

All around him, eyebrows rose to the statement. He shrugged his shoulders. "It's Harm and Mac. We all knew they'd figure it out eventually … It just so happens that eventually is now."

"I don't know …" Bud protested. "They beat around the bush so long, one could argue that nothing might ever come of it."

"Ah well, Harm's always been somewhat of an emotion retard," Sturgis added informatively. "But, I would say …"

"Everyone, shut up!" Harriet barked quickly. "Mac's about to say something. Hurry, Tiner, zoom in!"

"I'm coming," Tiner called, leaping up from behind the TV. Mac opened her mouth to speak. Tiner dashed forward, and in one swift motion, his foot caught in the endless web of wires and he fell to the ground.

"Are you okay?" Jen called, instantly by his side.

"The signal," Harriet whispered. She slammed the keys of laptop, frantically as she surveyed the black screen before her. "The video, it's gone!"

Same Time
Conference Room
Mac's POV

"You're … what?" I whispered. My mind seems to be functioning at an incredibly slow processing rate.

"I'm. In. Love. With. You." He punctuates every word by inching a centimeter closer to my face, so that by the time he's finished, his forehead rests on mine. "And I've been for so long," he whispered.

I'm entranced by the sound of his voice and the warmth of his body. He slides his head down so that he's tilted towards me, our noses gently grazing.

"Last year, when I asked you to marry me …" he began.

"About that –" I interjected quickly, but Harm waved me down.

"Let me finish," he said calmly, and I swallowed my words. "Last year, when I asked you to marry me … You were right. I was afraid of losing you." His blue eyes blazed. "Now, I'm no longer afraid of that. I'll never lose you because I'll never forget you. Hard as I tried this past year, nothing could move your memory from me."

His words hit me like a ton of bricks.

"Now, the only thing I'm afraid of …" he whispered brokenly, "Is you leaving in three days. And how I'm supposed to go back to normal, living without you, pretending as though it's okay that you're on the other side of the world. Because it's not okay, and I can't do it, Mac. I just …"

"Harm," I whispered.

"I can't do it. It was hard enough pretending to move on this year. It was hard enough trying to take an interest in another woman. It was hard enough not hearing your voice and seeing you smile but now that you've been here for so many days …" I trailed off pathetically. "I can't go back, Mac. I can't."

"Harm," I said patiently.

"I just don't know what to do," I confessed. "We wasted so much time. We could have … years ago … I mean, we could be married right now. With kids, or something. White picket fence and all … years ago …"

"Harm," I said and grasped his hands, entwining his fingers in mine. "Shut up."

His eyebrows rise in an adorable frown. "What?"

"Shut up," I repeated. I glared somewhat humorously. "Let me talk."

He smiled and resumed silence. I took a deep breath. "Harm, we're not going back to before," I said decisively. "We can't do it again. It hurt too much." Harm nodded in agreement. "But I don't want you to leave the Navy. And I know you don't want me to leave the Marine Corps. We've been through this before."

I saw the look of worry return to Harm's eyes and I knew he was remembering last year. "So," I pressed on. "What we're going to do is figure out something. We'll do it in the next three days. We'll make this work, Harm. Because …" I took a deep breath. "That's what people who love each other do."

I watched the expression on Harm freeze. His eyes absorb me with a surprising intensity. He opens his mouth, but no words come out. He just simply looks at me, his eyes begging an answer to the question his lips are unwilling to ask. He raises a hesitant eyebrow.

I smile and nod tentatively, and the most beautiful grin blesses his lips. He pulls me close and I render my body pliable to his hands. Our mouths meet gently, almost timidly at first, but the kiss grows quickly.

"You," I whisper, breaking from his mouth only to find his lips enveloping mine once more. "Are staying. In my room. Tonight," I stammer between kisses.

"No objections," he whispers thickly, against my lips. "But how are we going to get out of here?"

He poses an excellent question. My eyebrows furrow in thought as we continue to kiss senselessly. "I propose," I said, as our mouths locked once more. "That we bang. And yell. Until someone. Comes for us."

"I like. That plan," he says raggedly between kisses. Harm laughs ironically. "I guess we do actually have to thank Harriet for all of this. If she hadn't locked us in here …"

"Chris, Harriet," I said, breaking from Harm. "What are we going to tell her? All of them? What are we going to say?"

Harm looks at me, slightly confused. "… The truth?" he suggested meekly.

"No, we can save the truth for later," I waved off the idea. "I mean in the next three days. If we tell Harriet, she'll be all over us all the time. We'll get no space to think let alone talk or … do … other things …" I finished with an embarrassed flush in my cheeks.

"So what do we do?" Harm whispered. "Lie to them?"

I bit my lower lip, a large grin quickly growing on my face. "I have an idea …"

Same Time
Room Across the Hall

"Shit, Tiner, DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH DIALOGUE WE MISSED?" Harriet bellowed for the five millionth time.

"I'm sorry, I've almost got the screen back up, I swear," Tiner moaned.

"Harriet," Bud said gently, touching his wife on the shoulder. "It's not his fault he tripped over the wires. That could happen to any of us. He's trying his best to get the video back on."

"We've probably missed a major make out session," Harriet finished miserably.

"Well, look at it this way," Sturgis said, dryly optimistic. "It's not like we missed anything we were supposed to be watching."

Harriet glared at him. "Bite me."

Jen sighed dreamily, from her position on the couch. "What do you suppose they're saying to each other right now?"

"Well, they're professing their love, of course," Harriet said airily. "Or well, Mac is. Harm already did that." She grinned broadly. "And they have us to thank. Because if we hadn't lured then locked them in that room, none of this would have ever happened. And they'd never have gotten together. Trust me, when they come out of that room, they'll be on their knees thanking us."

"I think … I've … got it," Tiner said, snapping the last plug into its socket. Immediately, the laptop screen burst to life.

Harm and Mac's faces hovered simply millimeters from each other's lips. Mac smiled into Harm's mouth, as her lips consumed his. "And remember," she whispered thickly, as his mouth covered hers. "Don't," she broke. "Tell. Harriet."

A/N: Well, I'm figuring you enjoyed this chapter ;) Review, and I promise a speedy update. Perhaps on Thursday, or Friday at the very latest.