AN4: Language warning! Harm's stint the CIA and having to deal with that bullshit has made him different, besides how Mattie has affected his life.

AN5: Certain people need to learn the difference between accept/except and affect/effect

Next Week

1325 GMT

USS Reagan near the DMZ in Korea

Flight deck

Mac stood on the flight deck with Sturgis waiting for the COD to land. She saw it coming around on final and smiled as she saw Harm and Keeter's jets do a quick flyby as they headed around before turning down leg. Mac and Sturgis met Admiral Chegwidden at the back of the Cod and came to attention and saluted him. The Admiral returned it, "At ease. Where's Commanders Rabb and Roberts?"

Mac grinned and pointed at the first jet coming in to land, "There is Commander Keeter and behind him are Harm and Bud sir."

The Admiral smiled, "So Bud finally got to go up then?"

"Yes, sir. They made sure the planes were good and ready for the extra passengers. Admiral Boone went up yesterday with Commander Keeter, but decided to wait on board for your arrival sir."

Admiral Chegwidden smiled. "Well, I'm going to go check in with Captain Ingles. I'll see you two in the ready room."

"Yes, sir," replied Mac and Sturgis.

With that, the Admiral headed inside the island. Mac turned to Sturgis, "Sturgis, I'm going to go ahead and go inside. I'll see you guys in a few."

Sturgis watched her for a minute. "You ok Mac? You've acting kind of funny this past week."

"Sturgis, I'm fine."

"Ok, well if you wanna talk to anyone, just let me know."

"Ok." Then Mac too headed inside and walked down to the ready room.

Sturgis watched Keeter taxi to his parking spot and then Harm coming in for a landing. As he saw Harm catch the third wire, Sturgis shook his head and muttered, "Buddy, what have you done now?"

20 minutes later

After spending the last twenty minutes signing the plane off to the crew chiefs and making sure they understood what needed to be done, Harm, Keeter and Bud, were finally heading down to the ready room. They walked in soaked in sweat, from both the hot afternoon sun and the adrenaline rush they got from dog fighting. Mac was sitting in a chair in the back of the room. She had been thinking about their kiss and wondering why he had never mentioned it. Of course she was also quietly cursing herself for not having the balls to bring it up herself. She watched as Harm was the last one in and he immediately pulled his arms out of his flight suit, tying the sleeves around his waist. Mac quietly admired his muscular arms and sexy ass. She couldn't help herself when Beth plopped down beside her in another chair and elbowed her in the ribs. They cat whistled at Harm simultaneously. Harm immediately turned around and blushed. Skates then came up behind him and pinched his ass, causing Harm to jump and yelp. Keeter, Sturgis and Bud laughed at the girls' antics. Harm scowled at the other men and walked up to the front of the room and plopped down into his chair.

He kicked back in his chair and ran his fingers through his hair. He quietly sighed and tried to not think about kissing Mac. He noticed Sturgis turn towards the door and stiffen. He was on his feet before Sturgis called, "Admirals on deck!"

Everyone stood up at attention. Admirals Boone and Chegwidden went to the front of the room before Boone said, "At ease." He waited for Chegwidden to sit down next to Harm before saying, "Harm, you ready for the debrief?"

Harm stood up and waited for everyone to sit down in a chair. "The first dogfight…"

A couple of days later, Harm and Keeter were preparing the Admiral for his first flight. Mac grabbed Harm's arm and pulled him into the ready room for some privacy, as everyone else was in the gear area. Harm looked down at Mac surprised. "Ok? Now that you have me alone, what did you want?"

Mac grabbed Harm behind his neck and pulled him down and kissed him hard. Harm couldn't help but kiss her back. When they finally pulled apart, Harm asked, "Where did that come from?"

Mac smiled softly, "What I can't kiss you?"

"No, I was just wondering why you did it all of a sudden." He kissed her again and slowly pulled apart after a few minutes.

"Well, where does this leave us?"

At that moment, Bud popped his head into the room, "Ma'am, Mr. Webb is on the phone for you."

Mac turned to him, "Thanks, Bud." She went over to the phone and talked to Webb for a few minutes. Harm tried not to ease drop, but it was kind of hard. The more and more he heard of the one sided conversation, the more pissed off he became.

"Hey Clay."

"Hey Sarah."

"How are you doing?"

"I'm doing good. How are you? Is Rabb behaving himself?"

Mac grinned, "Well Harm's behaving as best as he can be. So when do I get to see you again?"

"I don't know baby. You know I'm very jealous that you get to spend all that time there with him."

"Clay, there's nothing to be jealous of, Harm and I are just friends. That's it." She heard someone talking to Webb in the background.

"Baby, I have to go. I've got to go to a meeting. I'll see you soon, ok? I promise."

"Ok Clay. And I better get to see you soon."

"I love you Sarah."

"Love you too Clay. Bye."

"Bye."

With that, she hung up the phone and turned around just in time to see Harm storming back into the gear locker. She was pissed that he didn't hang around for them to talk. She followed him into the gear locker and heard him, Sturgis and Keeter talking in the back corner. She jumped when she heard a fist hit one of the lockers. She peaked around the corner of the lockers to see Beth grab a cold pack out of her locker and put it on Harm's hand.

"Alright everyone, lets go up to the flight deck and get this over with," said the Admiral leading the way out of the gear locker.

Mac grabbed Harm's arm before he could slip out of the room.

"What do you want Mac?"

"Why did you leave the room before we could talk? Running away again Hammer?"

"Why the fuck do you think I left?"

"I don't know, I'm not a damn mind reader!"

"Oh, so that whole conversation with spy asshole was just a show?"

"No!"

"Oh, ok, so you're trying to get in my pants, while still remaining with him?!"

Mac looked slightly shocked, but more pissed off. "I am NOT a whore!"

"Then stop acting like one!" Mac was too shocked to move or speak, he'd never talked like this to her before. "You kiss ME! Then as soon as he calls, you run off to go speak to the asshole and act like I'm not even there to listen! You want to know where the kisses leave us? NOWHERE! Not if you're going to string me along while you fuck around with that prick! I want absolutely nothing between us if you're going to stay with him!"

Mac finally came out of her shocked state and walked up to Harm. She didn't know if she wanted to kiss him to shut him up, or punch him for the awful things he said. Instead she attempted to slap him, but Harm caught her wrist and turned around heading out of the room. He barely heard her whispered, "I fucking hate you," as he was walking so fast out of the room.

He stopped and turned around with fury in his eyes, which was hiding the pain he felt. "Good because I hate you for what you're trying to do to me. I hate how you think I'm so fucking stupid, that'd I never figure it out that you were just trying to fuck both Webb and me. I hate how you've had my fucking heart since the day we met. But most of all, I hate how he's turned you into a selfish, heartless, bitch." With that, he turned around and walked out the door. Mac could only stand there for a few minutes before she finally followed everyone else up to the flight deck.

USS Reagan
Flight Deck

Mac stood back and watched Harm and Keeter prepare their jets for flight. Mac could see the tension in Harm's shoulders and back and that along with how hurt and pissed she still was, she decided to not attempt to talk to him. They could always just talk later.

Harm saw her come up on the deck and quietly snorted at her audacity and gall. When Bud looked at him questioningly, he just shook his head at the younger man. "All right, climb on up Bud, time for cockpit pre-flight checks."

"Yes, sir."

Harm walked over to Keeter and the Admiral. He shook both their hands. "I'll see you both up there."

"See ya Hammer."

Harm turned to the Admiral and had a mischevious glint in his eyes, "Sir, try to not eject yourself this time."

The Admiral smiled, "Yea, yea. I won't. I'll just keep my hands up on the rails, away from the handles. I don't want to go through that again unless I have to."

Harm grinned and walked back to his jet. He climbed inside and began his cockpit checks. He could feel Mac's eyes on his back, but didn't turn around. Bud waved to her and everyone else on the deck.

After the cockpit canopies were closed and the pilots started taxiing to the catapults, the group of friends walked to the ready room to watch a video. Once seated, Mac turned to Beth and Skates, "Why aren't you two flying?"

"Both of our jets are getting their computers upgraded right now," said Beth. She watched Mac for a few minutes. "You ok Mac?"

"Yeah. I dunno, I never really have liked Harm flying, especially not this close to hostile environments. You know how he is, he tends to find trouble."

Everyone laughed at that. Skates turned to the group, "I think everyone would agree that that's an understatement!"

Again everyone laughed, but Beth remained watching Mac. She had heard part of Harm and Mac's fight and was worried how much it was affecting them both. Mac because she had to deal with her now, and knew how Mac acted when Harm flew. Harm because she knew he'd have a hard time concentrating while running their fight through his brain.

Mac just sat there silently, thinking about everything that was said. It only made her more pissed off, wondering how in the hell he figured he had the right to say those things.

It was with these last thoughts, that all hell broke loose.

Same Time
In the air near the DMZ

Harm and Keeter steered their jets toward the practice area. They were maybe only a couple of minutes away after having just refueled, when Harm noticed something on his radar screen. Harm radioed to the AWACS in the area. "Galaxy this is Superman 1. We have 4 unidentified blips on our radar. Can you confirm?"

"Roger sir. We were just about to radio you. We followed them out of North Korea. We don't know what their intentions are, but your previous orders are hereby cancelled. New orders are to intercept unknown aircraft and follow."

"Roger Galaxy. Previous orders cancelled. New orders, intercept." Harm sighed and pulled on his mask before radioing Bud, Keeter and the Admiral, "All right guys, you heard them. Masks on and hold on." They kicked in the afterburners and raced off to intercept.

USS Reagan

Mac was lost in thought, when the ready room phone started ringing. Beth went and answered the phone. Mac knew something bad was happening when she saw Beth's face pale. She got up and went over to the other woman and waited for her to get off the phone.

Once she hung up the phone, Beth turned to the group. "We need to get up to the bridge. Our infamous trouble maker is intercepting what seems to be 4 unknown aircraft that origined from North Korea."

Mac paled too and immediately headed out the door, up to the bridge.