Life is the Flower, Love is the Honey
A JAG oneshot
"Life is the flower for which love is the honey" -Victor Hugo
OCTOBER 25TH, 2004
0930 EST
JAG HEADQUARTERS
FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA
"Happy Birthday, sir."
"Thanks, Bud."
Even though he remembered it was his birthday (he wasn't that old yet), Harm didn't want to make a big deal out of it. He found that-in his experience, at least-birthdays got progressively less and less fun after twenty-one. And now that he was forty-one, his birthday was practically just another day. Only with cards and more people talking to him than usual.
Also, flowers.
Harm paused in the doorway of his office. On his desk was a bouquet of red roses. Big, beautiful, scarlet-colored roses with long green stems in a vase with a golden bow and card attached.
He looked around, trying to see if whoever owned these flowers was standing around, waiting to claim them. They couldn't possibly be for him. Who would get him flowers? Even if it was his birthday.
Sitting his briefcase on the floor, Harm gently plucked the card off the bow and opened it. Inside was a message, written in familiar handwriting.
Harm,
Happy Birthday! Hope you like red. And roses.
Love, Mac
Harm smirked. He looked up at the roses, then back down at the note. He should've known a certain Marine would be behind this. He and Mac had been exchanging birthday gifts for as long as they'd known each other, but this gift felt...different than the others. A bouquet of roses wasn't one of the fancier gifts Mac had given him, but it made up for it with it's intimate nature. Usually you only gave roses, especially red ones, to a lover.
Note in hand, Harm made his way to Mac's office. He had to get to the bottom of this.
Mac looked up as soon as Harm knocked on her door frame. She smiled. "Happy birthday," she greeted.
Harm held up the note. "Roses?"
"Uh-huh. Do you like them?"
"Yeah, of course. They're nice and...hydrated-looking."
"They're fresh, I got them this morning."
"You know," Harm took a step into Mac's office. "Usually it's the guy that gets the girl roses."
Mac grinned. "Flowers are a good gift for anyone," she said. "Plus, I didn't know we were each other's girl and guy."
A blush crept up on Harm's face. He looked down so Mac wouldn't see it. "We've always been friends Mac, you know that."
"We could be more than that. You know that, too. We both know that."
Harm looked up in surprise. Mac was looking him dead in the eye. Not in a threatening way, but in a way that seemed almost...propositioning. They'd been dancing this dance for almost a decade, and they were both getting weary of it. Both of them could feel that their now-or-never moment was coming soon. They weren't going to stay at JAG forever, and neither of them were getting any younger.
Maybe this is that moment, Harm told himself, but he quickly dismissed the notion. He was reading too much into this. It was just a birthday present.
"Yeah Mac, I know that," he said quietly.
"Just checking."
The conversation sort of fizzled after that, and Harm quickly retreated back to his office. He shut the door and closed the blinds. He picked up the roses, gently lifting them from their vase. He hugged them to his chest, being extra careful not to crush them. They smelled amazing, almost heavenly. Harm found himself smiling as he buried his nose into the petals.
No one had ever gotten him flowers before. That never seemed like such a big deal until that moment. Mac was the first person to ever get him flowers.
1930 EST
RABB RESIDENCE
WASHINGTON DC
"She got you flowers?" Mattie asked. She was sitting at the counter, watching Harm cook his birthday dinner. Mattie had offered to cook the dinner for him, but considering she nearly burnt his loft to a crisp trying to bake him a surprise birthday cake, Harm decided it would be best if he cooked dinner.
The bouquet was keeping them both company, sitting on the counter in between Mattie and the salmon that was waiting to be sauteed.
"Yeah, why do you say it like that?" Harm asked.
Mattie shrugged. "Because."
"Because what?"
He looked up from the stove and met Mattie's incredulous look. "Harm," she said. "She's obviously trying to make a move on you."
Harm's eyes widened. "Putting a move on me? Mac? No."
"Ummm, yes."
"You're sixteen, what do you know about 'putting the moves' on someone?" Harm asked. His tone was teasing mixed with some mild paternal concern. To his knowledge, Mattie didn't have a boyfriend, but maybe he should ask-
"Friends don't give their friends red roses. She's obviously in love with you."
Harm's mouth dropped open. Sure he and Mac had feelings for each other...but was Mac really in love with him? Like actually in love with him? And how did Mattie know it?
He decided to find out. "How do you know she's in love with me?"
Mattie rolled her eyes. "Everyone knows, Harm. Everyone except you."
Harm felt a little offended by that. Surely he would know if Mac was that in love with him. It wouldn't take a bouquet of a dozen red roses. He would've sniffed it out long before they got to the leaving-flowers-in-each-other's-offices stage.
Since Mattie had apparently become some sort of relationship guru since he'd last seen her, Harm decided to consult her about his next move.
"So, what do you think I should do?" he asked.
"Return the favor," Mattie replied, speaking like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
THE NEXT MORNING
0730 EST
JAG HEADQUARTERS
FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA
Mac liked to get to the office early some mornings. It was the Marine in her that liked to get a head start to the day. Plus she was way behind on paperwork and needed all the time she could get to get caught up.
Also she would need to figure out what to do with all these flowers. Mac froze in the doorway of her office.
On every empty surface in her office, and on some places on the floor, there was a bouquet of flowers. All of them were roses, in every color imaginable. There was an array of red, pink, orange, peach, pink, yellow, and white. Someone had turned Mac's office into a botanical garden.
She had a feeling she knew who that someone was.
That certain 'someone' left a note on Mac's keyboard. She moved a bouquet of orange tea roses out of her chair and sat down, opening the note.
Hey Mac,
Thanks for the flowers. I decided to return the favor.
-Harm
Mac smiled, looking around at all the gorgeous flowers. Her apartment was going to smell fantastic for the next few weeks, she knew that much. She quickly counted up the bouquets. There were twelve. A dozen bouquets of a dozen roses. Harm got her a hundred and forty four roses. And it wasn't even her birthday.
She went around her office, checking out and smelling each set of flowers.
He finally got a clue, she thought.
"Thanks for helping me with this."
"No problem. I wish you were here this morning to help me carry all these up to your office."
It was the end of the day, and Mac needed someone to help her carry a dozen bouquets to her car. Naturally she enlisted the help of the person who got her the flowers. It took her and Harm three trips, but they finally got all the flowers safely loaded into Mac's Corvette. It was a somewhat tight squeeze, and it would be interesting to see if Mac could make it back to her place without any stems snapping.
Mac was still holding the final bouquet, trying to think of a way to squeeze it in somewhere when Harm placed a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to look at him. There was a specific look in his eye that he got during the rare moments where he chose to actually express his feelings.
Mac turned around fully. She felt like he needed all of her attention for this. The roses weren't terribly wilted, they could wait.
"Thanks for the flowers," he said. "You know, yesterday. For my birthday."
"It's not every day a guy turns forty-one."
Harm smirked, running his fingers through his hair and looking down at his feet. It was something he did in the odd moments where he felt shy or sheepish. Mac smiled. She hadn't gotten around to telling him so, but she thought it was adorable.
"No one's ever gotten me flowers before," he said. Was he-was he blushing? Mac tried not to gawk.
"I'm glad I'm the first."
"Mac, I-"
"I know, Harm. I've known for years."
"Known what?"
"That you love me," she knew that was bold of her to say but dammit, they'd been holding out on each other for so long. Mac's patience was running out, even though there was a time when she thought that her patience for him would never run out.
"Do you love me?" Harm looked at her, nervous for what her answer might be.
"Of course," Mac answered without any hesitation. "I've always loved you, Harm."
"I've always loved you, Mac."
Then they were kissing, but it proved to be kind of awkward because Mac was still holding a bouquet of roses.
"Hold on," she broke away from Harm. "Don't crush these. They're floribundas."
Mac sat the pink floribunda roses down at her feet, and then she was back to kissing Harm. She had her arms wrapped around his neck, and he was hugging her to his chest. It was one of those perfect, rom-com kisses that Mac would've rolled her eyes at if she wasn't the one doing the kissing. They completely forgot that they were in the middle of the JAG parking lot, and that several people were watching them. One of which was General Cresswell, who had barely been JAG a week.
When they finally broke apart, Harm was chuckling.
"What?" Mac asked, looking up at him in confusion. While she was kissing Harm, she'd tangled her fingers in his hair, which had bumped his cover. It was now sitting askew on the top of his head, and Mac reached up to fix it.
"Mattie was right."
"About what?" Mac asked, smoothing her hand over the medals on Harm's uniform. Both of them were still completely unaware that they had an audience. An audience that was still too stunned to move. Everyone at JAG HQ knew about the romantic tension between Harm and Mac but no one, not even Harm and Mac's friends, believed they would act on their feelings anytime soon.
"How about I tell you over dinner?"
Mac smiled. "Alright."
Harm and Mac heard someone clear their throat. They looked up to see General Creswell standing a few feet behind them.
"Do you two have something you'd like to tell me?" he asked. His tone wasn't angry, if anything it was just confused.
Harm and Mac froze, looking at each other with mild panic. There was no way they could easily explain themselves out of this one.
Thankfully Mac, being her usual Ninja Girl-self, was quick to jump into action. She picked up the roses resting at her feet and held them out to the General.
"Here are some roses, sir," she said.
"They're floribundas," Harm added. He actually had no idea what type of roses they were until Mac told him. He just went to the florist as soon as they opened that morning and told them he would take all the roses they had.
General Creswell gingerly took the bouquet from Mac. He looked down at them, having no clue what he was going to do with them. His wife had terrible allergies.
"Thank you?"
Mac smiled. "You're welcome, sir."
Harm snaked an arm around Mac's waist and pulled her in close. "The way I see it sir, flowers are a good gift for anyone."
EIGHT MONTHS LATER
JUNE 20TH, 2005
1800 PST
MACKENZIE-RABB RESIDENCE
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
Mac put her car in park and got out, awkwardly reaching behind her to grab her briefcase from the backseat. Her first week at her new job went well, but it was still stressful. Any first week at a new job was stressful, no matter how good the job was.
The truth was, Mac was in love with her new position. She was also in love with San Diego, and her new house, and her new car.
Oh, and her new husband. Who was standing in their front yard with a shovel.
"Harm, what are you doing?" she asked. General Creswell was in the process of finding Harm a position in San Diego, but in the meantime Harm was Mac's housewife (as she'd affectionately begun calling him). He was having way too much fun with it, too.
"When we have kids, I don't think I'll have to say much to convince him to be a stay at home dad," Mac had told Harriet over the phone earlier that week.
"Surprise," Harm said, grinning.
It was then that Mac saw it. The flower beds encircling their porch were bare when Mac left for work that morning, but now they weren't. Now they housed rose bushes. Huge, beautiful rose bushes with roses in all different colors.
"Oh my God, Harm," Mac exclaimed. "They're gorgeous."
"I figured it was fitting."
It definitely was. As Mac walked up to him, Harm pulled out a single red rose from his back pocket. "Here you go," he said. Mac took the flower, twirling it around in her hand. It was perfect. Everything was perfect.
"A rose for my rose," Harm kissed her on the cheek.
Mac rolled her eyes, smiling. "I knew I shouldn't have told you my middle name was Rose."
I know this isn't technically a Valentines' Day fic, but it feels on brand with the roses theme, so I decided to go with it.
This is one of the first fics I published on here - major shoutout to anyone who remembers when this was first posted. Yeah, summer 2020 was...it was while ago, wasn't it? Or at least it feels that way.
Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed this little throwback! Thanks for reading!
-Harper