I apologize for the lack of updates been having a lot of crazy stuff going on with work and I've been a little too tired to write. mistakes are my own as I am currently sitting in my pool on a floatie writing this stuff. This story is wrapping up soon as the muse figures out their future...

Chapter 42

"You look cute wearing glasses."

Normally, it wasn't so easy to walk in on the Colonel. Mac had an awareness about her that was born living in an abusive home and honed by the Corps. Her martial arts background and just being a woman had taught her to always be cautious of her surroundings but, given she was in her office, Mac let her guard down a little.

Perhaps that's how a 6'4" hunk of a sailor happened to enter her domain without so much as a knock to signal his arrival. There was also no call over the intercom from Coates who, instead, stood behind said Sailor with a shit-eating grin on her lips.

Mac lowered her reading glasses and stared up at the two. Said sailor was holding a dozen red roses. It was almost impossible not to blush. "You don't knock, Captain?"

"Door was open, Colonel." Harm said sheepishly as he stepped father into the room with Coates in tow. Had the younger woman been an officer and a few years older, Mac suspected she'd have tossed her hat in the running in order to catch the elusive Harmon Rabb, Jr. The petty officer had always been smitten but, being saved by the man would do that to you, she supposed. "Petty Officer Coates said you have the afternoon free, isn't that right, Petty Officer?"

Coates nodded enthusiastically, "Yes. Colonel, your two o'clock canceled. Admiral Jenkins has the flu and, by my schedule-" She took a look at an empty piece of paper and pointed at nothing in particular. "You're free for the rest of the day." She glanced knowingly between the two officers and then reached for the door, securing the lock from the inside as she shut it. "I'll leave the two of you alone and…ummm congratulations. I always knew...I mean, I'd hoped you two...you know and I think it's wonderful...Uh, ma'am and sir." Coates winked at Harm and then made her exit.

"Did your Yeoman just give us the green light to make out in your office, Colonel?" Harm glanced at the locked door and then took a quick look around Mac's office. It was larger than his with not one but two rather plush looking sofas. All of a sudden, his vast fantasies involving sex at the workplace with a certain Marine were making a comeback. "Nice, sofa."

Mac removed her glasses, set them on the file she was working on and then stood. She rounded the desk and he met her half way, his arms wrapping around her torso and hers around his neck as she pulled him in for a kiss.

The flowers Harm held fell to the floor and were completely ignored once Mac deepened the kiss. Every nerve ending came to life, burst into flames and consumed them. The World may have stopped and neither of them would have noticed.

Six months apart but, they might have been an eternity. Mac was stateside far too quickly once Harm was reinstated and while she actually enjoyed her job and the position she held, coming home to an empty apartment no longer had the therapeutic properties it once held. She was lonely and living on different continents meant that communication often faltered.

They'd made promises to see each other much more frequently but those plans fell through far too often and, at times, she wondered if the long distance thing could actually work. Their relationship was a whirlwind and it seemed that their marriage would be as well.

Even though her time in England was rather short, she missed Harm terribly, more than before. She longed to wake up next to him and feel his body cradling hers. She wanted to see him in the kitchen each morning and share intimate meals around the island. By the way he was kissing her, Mac could tell Harm felt the same.

"I missed you." She whispered into his ear when he somehow managed to back them onto the sofa. Mac sat astride him, her knees on either side of his legs and while both of them were fully dressed, they may as well not have been. His hand traveled up one shapely thigh stopping only when Harm found the elastic of her panties. He traced the hem and would have reached his goal if Mac hadn't sat back and stopped him. "My apartment is ten minutes away..."

Harm groaned, not because of the distance but because of the hand which slipped between them to cup his growing bulge. "Wreaking havoc on my fantasies, Marine."

She bit his ear lobe and practically purred when she mentioned a king-sized bed. "Big...comfortable. Not much mileage on it." A dramatic sigh made her laugh, as did the way Harm dropped his head onto the back of the sofa. The hand that was toying with the edges of her panties pulled away and Mac would be lying if she said she didn't have similar fantasies. Suddenly, ten minutes felt hundreds of miles away. "I'll give you a few minutes to take care of your little problem." She glanced down at his lap and gave him a final kiss as she stepped away.

"It's not so little."

"No, it's not and hurry before someone actually does need me for something."

"Aye, aye, ma'am."

Harm was sure he'd never seen anything so beautiful as his wife, laying naked on her bed with the orange hues of sunlight glistening off her damp skin.

He stood and admired for a moment until her amber eyes met his and her cheeks flushed in embarrassment. "No, don't cover up." Harm gently requested as Mac automatically reached for the flat sheet and began to pull it over her. "You look gorgeous by the sunlight...You look gorgeous without the sunlight too." He grinned and lowered himself down next to her. "Why're you blushing?"

"That's a lot of compliments."

"C'mon, Mac. Don't tell me men haven't showered you with praise." He recalled Brumby using as many terms of endearments as possible, especially when both men were around one another. It made Harm feel inadequate at the time given how easily he'd allowed Mac to slip through his fingers.

"They have." She assured him as she nestled herself against his body. It was different to be so open with another human because she certainly hadn't been with any other. The lights were usually off with anyone else but, with Harm, even watching her own hand slide down his torso was mesmerizing. He might consider her gorgeous but that term was created for him as well. "But, they mean so much more coming from you...for the record, you're pretty gorgeous yourself."

Now it was his turn to blush and reach for the covers that Mac pushed away with one hand. "No, don't cover up." With the gentle breeze coming from the ocean, it was pleasant enough to simply lay in each other's arms without needing a blanket. "Not that I'm ungrateful but, why are you here?"

They weren't supposed to meet again for at least another two weeks when Vukovic's rape trial began. Both of them were witnesses for the prosecution, one that Harm had helped guide when more victims came forward.

After that, Mac hoped to travel to London and spend her leave on a narrowboat, gliding across the canal with her favorite sailor at the helm. She rather liked navigating the locks and the tiny villages with their lush landscape. But what Mac enjoyed the most was the intimacy of being in tight quarters with someone she loved.

She still couldn't believe that one week on the water led to an adventure which would finally heal their broken souls. Now that they were together without a trial or any deadline looming, a narrowboat trip sounded therapeutic.

"Came for the conference."

"Thought you couldn't make it? Wasn't Phillips coming instead?"

Harm shrugged, as a commanding officer, leaving his post to fly three thousand miles to see his girl was preposterous. If it were someone in his command they would be reprimanded and he liked to lead by example. "Hollings planned it. Said he owed us one. Even found a Hornet for me to fly over from DC…The man's trying way too hard."

Mac raised her head up and stared at him. "A hornet?"

"You don't like when I fly."

She didn't. Not one bit. There had been too many variables in the last few years despite the man being an exceptional pilot. The night of her rehearsal dinner would always sting more than Mac wanted to admit. "It's part of who you are."

"You don't have to like it. Besides, that was probably my last flight." His tone was a little melancholic but then flying hadn't been the same since the Navy began phasing out the Tomcat. The Hornets may be more agile but the F-14 was faster, more capable and, in his opinion, far

superior.

Missions had changed and the Tomcat's arsenal no longer fit the Navy's requirements. While it was still enjoyable to pilot the F-18, Harm's body was beginning to protest the long hours and cramped seating.

"Last flight? Why would you say that?"

Harm slipped out from under her and padded to the living room. He returned a few minutes later wearing boxers and holding a folder with the word 'Classified' stamped in red across the JAG insignia. "Open it."

This time Mac did cover her nakedness as she sat up and hesitantly opened the folder. The letter head was from the JAG office in London, one that she knew was being relocated the following year. She quickly glanced over the paper and blanched at the realization that it was Harm's letter of resignation. "Harm, no."

"Yes. It's time, Mac."

"No. Don't do this again." All that came to mind was Paraguay and the job he threw away to save her. Both of their lives had become such a mess and it changed the landscape of their friendship for the worst. She didn't want him to leave, not for her.

Harm grinned. "I hate my job, Mac. I love living in London but I hate the work, the politics and all the crap it entails. I spend more time kissing ass and schmoozing than I do actually upholding the law. I don't know how Chegwidden did it for so long. " The silly balls and overall pretentiousness of carrying himself like the upper crust among the Navy's big wigs. He'd never worn a mess dress as much as he had since taking over the London office. It seemed like every weekend there was a party or some dignitary to entertain. It was exhausting.

He missed the courtroom, the rush of crushing an opponent but most of all, he missed his wife. "It's not a done deal yet. The Navy needs to find a suitable replacement, which can take a while. I also spoke to Cresswell, there may be options to keep me in the Navy in some capacity and-"

"Wait. Stop." Mac had her own surprise, one that she couldn't wait to show him. She crawled out of bed, wrapped a sheet around herself and entered the small office on the opposite side of the apartment. In the center drawer was a rough draft, penned by hand and waiting for the day she'd formally type it onto company letterhead.

The paper was bent in half, creased in one corner. When she handed it to Harm, Mac watched his expression change. The grin he wore vanished and he realized someone else was determined to resign their commission. "Mac?"

"I wanted to come to you in England and I figured, it's my turn to leave the Marines." She sat next to him and saw him reading the letter again. It was surprisingly easy to write, unlike the first time Mac left JAG where her decision had kept her up at night. This time, she wrote it with ease, feeling no remorse or regret. Mac loved her job and all of its challenges but she loved him more.

"You would have left sunny California for dreary London?"

She shook her head. "No, I would have left my job and relocated whenever my husband was serving, which happened to be in the beautiful city of London."

"You're crazy."

"I don't want the long distance thing, Harm. We tried it for a few months and I finally realized why some spouses can't take deployments." She always figured spending time apart would be a good thing, a way to test their relationship and savor the eventual homecoming. But, as the weeks turned into months, it only made her longing far worse.

"So what now? I want to be here with you but you want to be there with me. Maybe we should flip on it? Heads we go to London, tails we stay here in San Diego."

Mac shook her head. Either move was too important for a coin toss and she didn't want to deal with the repercussions if they made a mistake. "Let's enjoy the week. I'll let Cresswell know of my intent and try to find a solution then."

"A deadline?"

"Yes. I think we need it."

Harm placed her letter on the nightstand and then began to pull on the sheet that covered her. "So is this where we continue to make up for lost time?"

"I guess so." His grin was infectious and when his body covered hers. "I mean it, you know? I'm ready to resign my commission and follow you all over the World. I want to be with you, no more distance."

"No more distance." Harm promised. They'd figure out the logistics some other time.

"Vukovic requested to see me." They sat on the sand beach watching the sun descend into the horizon. The weekend had been pleasant but the following week would be a whirlwind for Mac who was appointed to escort their JAG counterparts from three different nations.

It would be public, media influencing for the President to make nice on foreign relations - plenty of ass kissing and she would hate every moment. At least, she'd have a sexy sailor to come home to every evening. Having Harm around for the last two and a half days was nothing short of a blessing.

Harm spit out the sparking water he was drinking. "I'm sorry, what?" The last few months had made him relax some. Witnesses had come forward and he made every effort to provide anonymity for those that requested it. The idea was to keep Vukovic locked up forever if possible and with civilian attorneys trying to appeal under grounds of misinformation, every Jane Doe that stepped up to the stand was a weapon.

"I'm not sure if I should go." She stared at the water, squinting as the setting sun poked out from behind the clouds. The former officer's request came in the form of a phone call to her office two weeks earlier. Vukovic's voice sounded tired, pathetic but it was his pleading that made her consider a face to face meeting.

Mac turned to her husband. "He's in ADX Florence, not too far away from California." Certainly closer than some of the other facilities that were tossed around. The assumption was that DeLong knew someone in the facility that would keep her precious godson safe.

"You've made up your mind." Harm shook his head and stood. suddenly unable to sit next to his wife any longer. "After everything he did to you and what could have happened to me-"

"I didn't ask you to do that." Her interruption was swift and in a poisonous tone. "You took it upon yourself to beat him to a pulp."

"For you." He spat out and began walking away until Mac's voice and hand on his shoulder stopped him. "What?"

"I said, he wants this. An argument, a break up."

"We're not breaking up."

"No we're not but, I want to see him, Harm. I don't know. I feel I need to and if I don't he won't stop hounding us." She didn't dare tell him about the letters, the ones she tossed away each time one arrived at her office. The last letter came to her apartment, her home, the sanctuary away from the rigors of work. It felt like an invasion of her privacy that was then followed by a phone call to her office.

"He's done something, hasn't he?"

God knew she didn't want to lie to him. But she feared the anger that could return; the hatred that almost changed him completely. They both healed in the past few months and she didn't want Vukovic destroying that peace. "Letters. He wrote letters and sent them to the office. One came here."

"Jesus, Mac!" He threw his arms up and kicked the sand as if any of that would help the anger that suddenly swelled up. "Why the hell didn't you tell me?"

"Because of this. Because I don't want to see that side of you that never existed until he came into our lives… I'm not a Damsel in Distress in case you forgot I am a Marine and I am capable of taking care of myself."

"Until someone kidnaps you."

"That isn't fair. And if we're trying to keep score, someone got the drop on you too, remember?"

Harm opened his mouth to say something brash but something made him stop. Instead he stared at his wife who stood before him with her hands on her hips daring him to challenge her. Mac was right, they both had been victims. He sighed heavily, "The only way you go is if I go with you."

"Okay, fine."

"No argument?"

"Nope."

"You sure?"

Mac grinned, "You sound surprised."

"I am." He grinned back. "You normally like to fight me tooth and nail for everything."

"I don't fight with you, I never have. I just present a different opinion."

"Ah. Spoken like a true lawyer." Harm took a step towards her and looped his arms around her waist. As much as he loved their battle of wills, being amicable had its good spots. "I'm gonna try to be less angry about Vicpuke."

"I'd like that. You're too much of a good man to let him influence you that way." Her hands slid up his arms, draping over his shoulders. She came up to her toes to kiss his lips and squealed when Harm tightened his hold and raised her off the sand.