Woah! This is a little longer than I'd like but the enr is near! This chappie is a little bit of a filler and was supposed to be longer but. It is what it is.

So who's right? Harm for wanting to wait or Mac for wanting to turn Vic in asap? You'll see what I mean. ;-)

Chapter 31

Harm couldn't watch anymore and stopped the video before seeing the final act of sexual assault on an incapacitated woman. Hearing Vic call Mac's name nearly possessed him to drive across town and finish what he started at a pub several weeks ago. He'd kill Vic and happily spend his life incarcerated for it.

Mac ripped the drive out of its port and tossed it on Harm's desk as if it burned. The last image on the screen of Vic hovering over Jess would forever haunt her. "He said my name."

"He thought it was you. Or he wanted it to be." Again he thought back to the pub and the lewd acts Vukovic wanted to unleash on Mac that earned him a trip to the hospital. Now it all began to make some sort of sense - Vukovic wasn't just a rapist, he was delusional as well.

"I don't know what to say."

"I don't either…How many of these have we investigated? There's never been any pictures or videos." Just the victim's account that often painted a detailed image that did not need empirical evidence.

Mac brushed away the solitary tear that ran down her cheek. "Why would you tape that? Lord, he probably gets off on watching it." The idea made her want to vomit.

"He's sick, Mac."

"And he needs to be locked up."

"Or killed." Harm deadpanned.

His tone was serious enough for Mac to stand and move close to him. She couldn't help the look of concern written across her beautiful face.

"You need to promise me you won't do something stupid. No matter how badly Vukovic deserves it… I can't lose you now."

"I won't, no matter how much I want to. And yeah, I want to."

"Promise?"

"I promise." And this was one promise he would try not to break no matter how badly the desire to end Vukovic persisted. "How hard would it be to make a copy of the drive?"

She sat back down and began typing commands. "Depends on how big the drive is but, I'd say about an hour. Why?"

"Make a copy, hide it and put the original back in Vic's office. Hopefully he doesn't know it was missing."

"Why?" Mac eyed him suspiciously. She had every right to search Vic's office - it was government property, not subject to fourth amendment rules and Mac had probable cause of wrongdoing. Other commanding officers had searched offices with less reason.

"It might be good not to tip our hand just yet."

She didn't agree. Vukovic needed to be squashed like a bug the sooner the better before DeLong decided to interfere again. "Harm, he needs to be locked up. He's perverted. Sick. God knows who else he'd hurt if-"

"I know but we still haven't found his connection to Adele DeLong, if there even is one."

"If? Of course there's a connection!"

"We don't know that. Maybe she used this to get back at me. She has the power to make any accusations disappear; evidence or not. We need to sit on this for a few days. Trust me."

Normally Mac would trust him at all costs but this was one topic she couldn't let slip away. Vic had already ruined too many lives including Harm's and that bastard needed to face the consequences. "Fine."

"You promise?"

"I promise." She lied and hated herself for it.

When he'd gone to sleep there was a warm body laying next to him - curves of a woman that fit like they were molded together. In the middle of the night something changed and when Harm ran a hand over Mac's side of the bed he found the sheets cold as if she'd never been there. He propped himself up on his elbows and remained silent to hear any sounds from inside his home. It was the little glow from underneath the door that gave away her location and after using the head, he found her in the living room, sitting on the sofa with the laptop propped on her lap.

"I'd ask you to let it go but, I know you won't." He whispered but the sound made her jump all the same. Harm reached for the laptop and when he did, she pulled away as if his touch would burn her. "Hey, woah." Harm took a step back, a little hurt by her reaction. "I'm not going to hurt you. I'd never hurt you."

"I know. I'm sorry. I guess I'm just a little jumpy, is all." Mac let out a breath and shook her head. She was too involved in searching Vukovic's drive to hear Harm approach. She tried to shut the laptop but hiding was impossible with him hovering over. "I know you told me to leave it."

"I knew you wouldn't." He peeked at the screen, happy not to find any of the content they'd witnessed at the office. The thought of Vic recording such sexual acts had made his sleep restless. "You didn't look at…at those files again, did you?"

"No. I can't. It's too much." Mac avoided the folders labled "baseball", the ones that hid videos and images of sexual assault. It was the other files that interested her, the personal ones that took a glimpse into Vukovic's private life. "I'm doing another encryption." She pointed at the screen and a folder labeled 'bank statements.' "If this doesn't work maybe I can pull a warrant to search those, see if DeLong is some sort of benefactor?"

"Mac-"

"Harm, we can't sit around and do nothing."

He sighed heavily, trying to reason with her on Marine mode was like slamming his head into a stone wall. "Babe, it's the middle of the night. Come back to bed, get some rest…get back to it tomorrow."

She was tired. Exhausted, because the recurrence of insomnia was inevitable given the events of the past week. "I won't sleep. You know how I am."

"I'd hoped that would have changed by now." How she functioned so well half of the time was a mystery given the woman barely slept more than four or five hours a night, if at all. He'd give anything to fix that part of her. "Then just lay beside me. I'm getting kinda used to sleeping next to this pretty incredible woman every night. I missed her."

Mac's smirk erased some of the heaviness. "Pretty incredible, huh?"

Harm used the tip of his index finger to shut the laptop and then helped her stand. He pulled Mac against him with ease, looping his arms around her waist. "Well, I wanted to say 'sexy as hell' but I love you, not just your looks…You're also amazing, sweet, kind, intelligent…a little annoying."

He was moving slowly side to side, swaying to the whirring noises coming from her computer that Mac fell into like a trance. The safety of his arms felt good and as much as she hated to admit it, she needed him so damned much. "Yeah, I guess I can be a little annoying but I learned from the best."

"Hah. Funny."

"I thought so."

Harm pulled her a little closer and noticed the goosebumps on her skin. "Come to bed, I'll get you all tucked in and warmed up."

"I'm not cold." Mac argued when he took her hand and led her back to their bedroom. Of course her traitorous body would shiver as she slipped under the covers. "Okay, I'm cold."

"You were sitting for God knows how long in the living room. It's always colder there." That spot of his apartment always had a draft no matter how well he'd sealed off windows or closed the doors. Something about the brick walls and poor insulation that he hated once the colder weather was prevalent.

Once Harm lay next to her, Mac scooted close and rubbed her nose against his. She sighed happily when he brought her closer, into the safety of his arms. "I love you, you know? I love you so very much."

"I know and I love you, too."

Sixty-four minutes - that's how much time had elapsed and though the bed was warm and cozy, neither occupant was able to fall asleep.

"Why does this happen to me?" Mac said quietly. Her mind had been mulling over Jessica Davis, the innocent young woman was hurt just because she bore a resemblance to her. It was unfair and she couldn't help shoulder the blame. "Haven't I paid my dues for all the bad shit I did when I was younger?"

"Mac-"

"And it really wasn't all that bad except Eddie…I had no business driving and he had no business giving me the keys just because I was 'less drunk.'" She slipped out of his arms and sat up against the headboard. "I guess I'm just bound to make stupid mistakes for the rest of my life."

"I really hope you don't mean me - us - because we're not a mistake." He sounded angry and when Harm sat up and turned on the light, she could see the disappointment in his eyes.

"Not you. You've been the best thing that has happened to me, even when we've been at odds."

He wasn't sure he believed her and that hurt a little. "Eddie is in the past and you're right, it was a stupid mistake that you overcame."

It wasn't just Eddie, her life had been plagued by inappropriate relationships with men, all of which had dire consequences. "I didn't stop Vukovic when I should have. He was flirting and I was so broken; you and me were barely friends…It felt nice to have a guy show interest. I figured the new pup was trying to suck up to the Chief of Staff and I let him…I let him."

"He's sick and delusional… I wouldn't be surprised if he was hitting on you to make Mayfield jealous." The thought of Vukovic even talking to Mac, let alone flirting, was making his violent nature return full force. He took a breath to stop it and the irrational desire to drive across town and cripple the prick.

"I showed interest." She thought back to her first trip to San Diego. His heavy flirting began when the plane touched down and he offered to collect her bags. Vic had said something then, a crass comment about vibrating luggage and it being a bomb or a sex toy. It was a quote from a movie, he said and she laughed off his juvenile behavior. "I didn't tell him to back off until it was too late."

Vic was brought in as his replacement, new blood to take over the reigns while Harm's promotion and billet were approved. He wondered what might have happened if Mac stayed behind. Would Vic's flirting blossom into something more? The notion made him sick. "Did you want to be with him?"

"Oh God no…never. I thought I could mold him, you know? Take a brash kid and make him a better officer and I didn't think being a bitch to him was the way." While a little over the top, she'd seen Vic's behavior before. "I thought it was puppy love. So many enlisted and junior officers give me that same look that Vic did."

He eyed her knowingly, "That's because everyone's a little in love with you." Harm scooted up against the headboard and kissed her shoulder. "You're incredible, you know? Have all these accolades behind you as a lawyer and a Marine. You came up through the ranks when women really weren't given a fair shake and you stuck it out… Plus, you're insanely beautiful - beauty and brains is a lethal combination for us poor, unsuspecting menfolk."

"Menfolk?" She snorted.

"What I mean is that guys like Vukovic are smitten by women who are completely out of their league. So, he finds a replacement, someone much more likely to manipulate and abuse." Or in Vic's case - rape - because that was the only way he could impose his will on someone he couldn't have.

"Which means Jess was attacked because of me. Because, in his sick and twisted mind she was a replacement. That poor girl didn't deserve what happened to her."

"No, she didn't."

"We can't sit on that information, Harm. I know how your mind works and I know you want to gather more evidence but your tack is wrong, sailor."

Harm wanted to agree but he needed witnesses, victims and if Jess or Mayfield didn't come forward, the evidence could easily be rebutted as a mere sex tape. "One of my first cases, my first failure was a lawyer was a rape case. We had the evidence - picture's, one witness and the defense turned it all around. I"m not asking you to wait forever on this, just give me a couple of days, please."

She couldn't. She wouldn't and rather than respond and lie to him, Mac reached across and shut off the light. "Let's try to get some sleep. I need to rest and so do you." She scooted down and heard him sigh heavily like he was considering starting an argument neither of them wanted to have. Instead, he acquiesced and considered sparking up a similar conversation in the morning after they both had sufficient rest.