Rating: GS
Spoilers: Um...I don't know, but don't be surprised if I use any episode as reference.
Disclaimer: Not mine...never will be, but I wish I owned DJE.
Summary: Mac has a reunion to go to.
Note 1: I have to admit I was sort of inspired by the movie "The Wedding Date". Note 2: I don't know any of Mac's relatives. We have never really been introduced to anybody besides her uncle and parents so just pretend.
Archive: Just ask, please.
She watched as Harm moved them around the makeshift dance floor. Her heart skipped a few beats when she saw him look down to Emma and smiled at her. His smile belonged to her, and it cost her more than she thought to admit it. It was at that moment that she knew for certain that her love for Harmon Rabb would never diminish. She would be in love with him first, the most, and always. But sitting there with nothing to do but think about him, was about to drive her over the edge. So she decided to take action.
Mac made her way over to where they were dancing with her head held high. Her marine posture assuring anybody that doubted her that she meant business. She approached closer and she could hear them talking over the music.
"We're close friends." Harm seemed to answer an earlier question Mac hadn't been able to hear.
"But you guys are nothing more?" She could see a grin taking place on Emma's face.
"Um, no. Not yet anyway." He continued to move them hoping she would drop the subject. He barely knew her and she was interrogating him as if she had known him his whole life. It was beginning to not only make him feel uncomfortable, but irritated as well.
Mac inched her way closer to them.
"Not yet?" Emma asked as she tried hiding the disappointment in her voice and face.
"No." He didn't want to go into explaining it to her. So he didn't and prayed that she would just forget about it.
Not likely. "But there's something there? Is that why you want to be more than just good friends?"
Harm let out a deep breath. "Look, I don't know. No there's nothing there. At least not that I can see." Mac chose that moment to stop right next to Harm and Emma. Timing...the story of their lives. She heard what Harm had said. "M-Mac..." She didn't even give him to time to explain. She turned around, walked away, and out the door that led to the front of the house. Her head held high, but her heart heavier than it had ever been. "I-I have to go after her." He let go of Emma and walked quickly after her. Defeat evident in Emma's face.
"Nothing there...ha." She smiled sadly.
People couldn't help but watch as the scene unfolded. Especially Aunt Lidia and Lizzie.
His long legs brought him behind Mac in a short time. Her head was hanging low and he could tell she was crying. "Mac..."
"Go away Harm. Give me some time alone."
"No. Mac...I need to explain what went on back there." He placed a hand on her shoulder.
"No!" She shrugged him off. "You don't have to explain anything. Not to me."
"Mac, please. Why are you acting like this?" He sounded slightly ruder than he first intended.
"Why?!" She turned to face him in one swift move. "I don't know. I hate it that I'm acting like this. Like a love-sick teenager who just found out her crush doesn't like her. I hate it Harm. I hate it." She began to cry more heavily as she swabbed angrily at her tears. "I have never been the one for this. I hate having to feel like a little girl who isn't liked, Harm. This isn't me. Do you think I like feeling powerless? Invulnerable? I don't! I can't stand that the marine in me can't win over the woman that I am. I don't want to cry over you! But here I am!"
His heart broke into pieces. He had managed not only to make her cry, but brake her heart as well. And all because he couldn't get his head on straight. If he could give up anything to take away all the pain he had caused her, he would. He was sure of it. Even if it meant his life. He moved closer to her. "Mac...I...I don't know what to say."
She chuckled with a hint of anger. "Of course not. You never do, right? That's just who you are. It's what you do."
"You're wrong. Mac, I'm a lawyer. I'd like to think that I'm a pretty damn good one." He paused. "I have the skill to deliver impassioned closing arguments, the skill to move a jury to tears, but when it comes to you..." He paused again. "I-I get tongue tied. I run out of words to say. Or maybe my words aren't enough. I don't know. All I know is that it's not because I don't want to tell you everything I feel for you. It's because I can't. I don't know how."
Mac continued to wipe her tears away, but her head dropped slightly as she studied the floor beneath them. What was he trying to do to her? Did he know that she felt exactly the same way? Was he using it against her? "I feel the same thing you do. But that doesn't change or help the situation any."
"Mac...you have to believe me when I tell you this. It's been so long since I have given myself to someone. Diane was the last. After her I...I promised myself I wouldn't. I've been cautious. God Mac! I put a shield around my heart, I masked my emotions so you wouldn't be able to get to me, but you have! You're the only one who has been able to do so. You have broken every damn barrier that I put in place. How do you think I feel? The cocky arrogant fighter pilot goes to hell whenever you're around. I feel defenseless around you!" He turned away from her. He might be a man, but his emotions ran just as deep when it came to his love for Mac.
Mac didn't know how to start. Everything that she felt for this man, everything that he meant to her, was far too complex for any words she could conjure up. But she knew she had to start somewhere. At that point it didn't matter where exactly. "Harm..." Her voice possessed certain strength and yet sounded slightly more fragile than she wanted it to. "Harm, I have never felt like this for any other man. Not for Chris, not for Dalton, not even Mic. You-you have this way about you that makes me feel weak and strong all at the same time. Nobody else has ever done that to me. Not only have you made me fall in love with you over and over again, but you've managed to make me love you more each day. And there's times when I don't want to."
"Why Mac? Why is that such a bad thing? This has always been the issue with us. We don't want to feel. We just want to think."
"Harm do you really think we can make us work! You and me, we're two very different people..."
He wouldn't let her finish that sentence for he feared that it would only convince him further that this was a bad idea. "No we're not! Mac, you and me are the same. We want the same thing...to be loved. Yeah it sounds selfish on both our parts but we do. How many times have we given all our love to somebody else only to have it ripped away?" He paused as he looked at her bedazzled look. The obvious fact that the truth hurt. "Too many times." His voice lowered. "We can make this work. I know we can."
"Harm you said it yourself. There's nothing here. Nothing obvious anyways. When two people love each other, you can tell. And if you and I can't...then it's clear that we don't."
This time Harm wasn't going to back down. He didn't want to. He'd spent so many days wanting to have a life worth living. This was the chance. The Navy couldn't be everything. He took two long strides and came to a stop in front of her with both hands firmly on her shoulders. "Sarah, you didn't let me finish when I said that. You were too stubborn to stop and listen. I was going to say that I couldn't see anything between us. Because there has never been an us. But I can feel it." He emphasized on feel. "I love you. I do. More than anything, and I see that more and more every day."
"Harm your love for me, my love for you, it just isn't enough any more. We have hurt each other too many times."
He puller her closer to him, bringing her face to face with him. "You're right." He inhaled deeply. "But there's one thing that heals all our wounds Mac. Time. And no matter how much time goes by, there's one thing that will remain the same..." He removed his hands from her shoulders and cupped her face. "My love for you. That will never change."
"Harm..." She was beginning to struggle against him. 'Damn her!' Harm thought. She was making it more complicated than it had to be.
"Listen to me Mac! No other woman has been able to fill the void that I feel when I'm not with you. I carry you with me everywhere. Damn it! You're in my heart, you're in my mind, in my skin every day. There's not one minute I don't want to think about you. Even if I did, I wouldn't be able to. My heart belongs to you. It always has."
"Harm, please." She cried freely again. She felt weak. Too weak. She rested her head on his chest. "I can't do this with you anymore. I can't fight it anymore. I love you. I don't want to mess this up. It would kill me."
"I don't either. And we won't I promise." He brought her face up to meet his eyes. "I won't let us."
Time seemed to stop in its tracks. And if it could, it was going backwards. Back to erase all the moments in their lives that had caused more anguish than happiness. And in that time, Harm inched closer to her face. Before either of them had time to think about what was happening, their lips met. They kissed with everything they had. It wasn't desperate; it was just something that showed how much they had wanted this and how much they had missed. It was the kind of kiss that lovers shared after making up. But in Harm and Mac's case, it was pent up emotion caused by a fight that had been on going for nine years. A fight to push aside feelings that were clearly stronger than both of them.
And when the need for air was stronger than their need for each other, they separated. Harm looked into Mac's eyes and she looked into his. Nothing was exactly how everyone wanted things to be, but it was damn near close.
"I love you." Harm spoke softly to her.
Mac smiled a watery smile back at him. "You have no idea how much I love you."
"No, I think I do." He paused to look around them. "Do you think anybody is wondering what's going on?"
"Only my Aunt Lidia and Lizzie." She smiled as she brought him down for another kiss.
He moaned after they finished their kiss. "Are you going to tell them?"
"Tell them what?"
"That I'm your boyfriend now." He grinned. "I'm still not your husband, but this way they won't make a mistake about who I am."
She chuckled. "You know, I think this whole thing has been perfect."
"What? Even the yelling and the screaming...and the crying?"
"Yes. I wouldn't have traded this for anything in the world, Harm. Not as long as it was you that everyone was calling my husband. Or the one that I was fighting with."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Really." She wrapped her arms around his waist bringing in for a huge embrace.
"I wouldn't either." He hugged her more firmly.
"Come on. I think they want details. Do you mind?"
"Not at all. After all, they will be MY family too."
"Is that a proposal Harmon Rabb?" She walked with him toward the backyard. Her fingers laced with his as they had been when they had first arrived.
"Well, not right now. But it will be." He grinned.
"Don't start Harm."
"What? I didn't do anything."
"I know." They both chuckled.
As they stepped into the backyard, Harm let go of Mac's hand and draped his arm over her shoulder, pulling her closer to his side. A move that didn't go unnoticed by Aunt Lidia nor Lizzie and Emma.
"Told you." Aunt Lidia told the two women. "Those two are in love."
"You know what, they look perfect." Emma replied.
"Yes they are." Lizzie finalized her thoughts.
The End.............