A/N: Another little update that I hope you enjoy… but before you do, I'm just going to make a few comments about fanfic and its readers. I LOVE fanfic. I love reading it, I love writing it, and I love the creativity behind it. It's neat to see what people can do with the characters that have developed into something that we love…

On that note… I love reviews. I have NEVER and will never be a writer who threatens updates on the number of reviews or whatnot. I also like getting some criticism. When people say that something is OOC, I'll try to fix it. When they point out that I get the ZULU time wrong in the first chapter, I will figure it out. When they say that they want something to happen, I'll try to work it in somehow.

What I did not appreciate this past week was a review I got from someone that said the fic sucked and that Mac and Clayton Webb had more than a one night stand and that she loved every minute of Clayton Webb. I have watched the show and DO realize that she and Webb were together for nearly a year if not more. Fanfiction is FICTION though, so we all take our liberties.

So… to "beth" who not so anonymously wrote an anonymous review… I am okay with you thinking that my fanfic sucks. However, I would like to point out that in my fanfic I DO use correct punctuation, complete sentences, capital letters for the start of sentences, and I can correctly spell the word "legs". So, I at least have that going for me. ; )

To the rest of you… read, review, and enjoy! Review with ideas if you've got them, and just have fun in fanfic land!

Three Days Later

0623 ZULU

North of Union Station

My heart is pounding as I wait in the elevator after making the long trip home.

She wasn't there. She wasn't in her bed.

Clayton Webb got to me before we had made the final move on the complex that housed what we now know to be a group of Sadik's men and a few smuggled weapons. No Sadik. He was in Washington and that was all that I was told. Then the jackass got pulled away before he could give me any more information, but did somehow arrange for me to get home… for which I was grateful.

After this last attempt at finding the man that I know still haunts Mac's nightmares, I needed to see her. I needed to know that she was okay more than ever for some reason. Before I got onto the plane I was able to listen to a message that she left yesterday telling me that Sadik was dead, and she was okay. She didn't fill in any of the blanks. The blanks were what worried me.

The worst was that it all happened while I was away, and I couldn't protect her.

I walk into my apartment and immediately notice that something is off. The light above the stove is on, the lamp in my bedroom is on… and a pair of Marine heels were kicked off at my door.

Since it's late, I assume that she's already sleeping and creep up the stairs to find a very awake Sarah MacKenzie.

"You're here." She says with a wonder that I've never heard before, letting a small smile grace her beautiful features.

"I'm here." I reply, sitting down at the foot of the bed, placing my hand on one of the knees she has pulled up towards her as if wrapping herself in a cocoon. "What happened, Mac?"

"I killed him."

When she says it, I can actually see all the walls being built up around her. All these years that we've built walls and torn them down between each other. These were made of brick and mortar… not so easily broken back down.

"Mac…"

"I'm fine. I did what needed to be done."

She did. I assume it was all by herself. I also assume since she's here, that it happened in her apartment too.

"You did." I say cautiously because I feel like when she said it the first time, she didn't really believe the words that were coming out of her mouth.

She looks up at me and the walls are still holding true. She's such a strong woman, but there are times that I just want to shake her and remind her that while she is a Marine, she is also a human being. She is a caring and wonderful woman. When something like this knocks at her door though, she becomes all Marine.

I realized a long time ago that I have this fierce need in me to protect her. I also realized a long time ago that the last thing she wants is to be protected. My need comes not from thinking that she actually needs it though, but just because I want her to need me there. After all that's happened these last few months, and especially the last few weeks… I assumed. I assumed that we had gotten past the wall building stage.

"He used you against me, you know? At first he made it sound like he was going to get back at you for coming to get me and Webb from the compound. He said he could touch a hair on my head and it would torture you, but it would only leave me with the physical scars. I was the love of your life, and he could use that to torture you."

"You are." I say simply, and she registers it for a second before continuing.

"But then he told me that he wasn't after you, but after me. This is why he set the trap for you. He knew you were on this mission to find him. He wanted to watch me wait to hear that you were dead. He told me that it was the only way to tear my heart apart bit by bit because you were the love of my life as much as I was yours…" she pauses for a moment and looks up at me for a minute before continuing. "you are."

"Mac."

"No… I have to get the rest of this out." She says, standing from the bed and starting to pace around the room frantically like the night she yelled at me for everything I had ever done wrong. "Then he started talking about how he knew me and how he knew you. I was just another girl to you though, once you got what you wanted, you would move on. You wouldn't commit yourself to me, and that was my biggest fear. He knew it. He played on it and finally said that it would be better if I was his forever, because I wouldn't be yours. I got up, hearing him still in my head, prayed that he didn't know everything, grabbed my gun… and I shot him…. I don't even know if he had a gun or a weapon, but I shot him. Maybe he was just there to screw with my head, it was part of his game. He was going to make me think that you were gone and leave to watch in the shadows as I unraveled. But I shot him before he even got the chance."

By the end, her pacing had stopped and she was standing near me, looking above me into some fixed spot in the room.

When I put a hand up to her shoulder and stood next to her, she flinched instinctively. "Mac… Sarah, you did what you had to do. You can't fault yourself for that."

The looks she gives me tells me that was clearly not the answer I was supposed to give, "Harm, I'm a military officer. I'm not supposed to just shoot and think about the consequences later. I look at a situation from all angles and work around the last resort. It wasn't self defense, it was revenge."

The way she says it brings me back to all our times in the courtroom watching her prosecute against me, presenting the facts in such a way that would make any panel scream guilty. Only this time she was prosecuting herself in front of me.

"That man had plotted numerous crimes against our country and other innocent people in his own. He murdered two people in cold blood in front of you. He tortured a friend of yours for days while he knew you could hear. He strapped you to a table and was about to inflict the same on you. He found you alone that night because he hunted you ever since you left Paraguay. He deserved any bullet you could give him."

"Then why can't I get past it?"

"Mac, it's fresh, it just happened. No one is going to fault you killing a man they have been trying to capture for the past few years. And you're a good person… if it didn't affect you, I'd worry more."

With another quick look, she sits down on the bed and glances toward the pillow before tucking herself under the blankets. "Not the best homecoming…" she says sarcastically, looking up at me from the blankets.

"I come home to a pretty Marine in my bed… best homecoming I could have ever dreamed."

"I'm so tired, Harm."

I look more carefully and note the exhaustion in all of her features. She still makes tired look gorgeous, but I can see the toll this whole ordeal has taken on her.

"Sleep."

"I can't."

I nod, walking into the bathroom to brush my teeth and change out of my clothes from the trip.

Coming out, I see her in the exact same position, watching me from the bed as I move around the room to climb into the empty space next to her. Hesitantly, seeing some of the brick and mortar still in place, I put my arms around her and pull her closer to me. "Is this okay?"

I only feel her nod before realizing that more may need to be said, "I know you came here to feel safe…" I start and hear a sniff in response, "And I'm here now, and even though I know that you can handle it all on your own… that you want to try… know that the safest thing you've got is me. I love you, Mac, and I'm not planning on going anywhere. Find safety in that."

The breath I let out after that confession shudders against her shoulder, and she turns in my arms.

"Harm…"

I shake my head slightly, "Sleep."

She looks into my eyes for another minute before leaning forward and putting a short but sweet kiss to my lips, and turning again to lean into my embrace.

"Sleep." Is the last thing I hear her say before finally allowing her body's exhaustion win the battle that has raged for the past few days.