In Country Happenings by Becky Love

 

My thoughts on what happened after they escaped the bombings

Harm & Mac interlude

Rating:

Spoilers: In Country

Another pop in my head run for the computer vignette

 

"Mac! What about over here?" Harm called out to his partner, trying to keep from telling her to slow down and rest. They had been fleeing the bombings they were caught in for over an hour, and he knew she was as banged up as he was.

 

"That little hollow? Yeah, I think that'll work. Besides, I think it's stopping," Sarah Mackenzie answered as she headed to where Harm was standing.  Her head ached, hell, her whole body was one big bruise, but she wasn't going to tell her Flyboy that. She was a Marine, dammit, and she wouldn't show weakness. 'Whoa, there, girl... where did that come from? This is *Harm* you're thinking of. You don't have to be macho in front of him.'  "Shut up," she mumbled at the inner voice.

 

"What did I say?" Harm said, taken aback at the biting tone in her voice. Silently, he wondered if she had hit her head harder than she had let on. 'Thank God it wasn't you who hit it... you know what happened last time you bumped your head.' He shook his head to drown out his own inner voice, pondering his growing suspicion that he had been driven mad by this all.

 

"Not you, Flyboy. I'm just having a discussion with myself," she blushed, hoping that he couldn't see her cheeks aflame in the darkness.

 

"Well at least you know you can have an intelligent conversation," he teased, breaking into the smile that seemed to warm the space around them immensly.  "Then again, you can always talk to me.  I have been known to have one of those occasionally. Except, of course..." here he trailed off, biting his lip rather than mention Australia.

 

"Except when? Except when it's a *serious* conversation, Harm? Come on, you can say it. You don't want to talk about it because you don't want what I want."  Had she just said that? 'Brilliant, Marine. Just brilliant.'

 

"What? Mac, I just... I can't put you through it all is all," Harm responded.  Suddenly, he focused on what he had just said. "Oh my God. I finally said what I thought and it came out right. Okay, we're going to have this talk *right* *now* Mac... Sarah, and I need to go first, okay?"

 

Stunned at the use of her first name, much less the sudden turn of conversation, all she could do was nod dumbly.

 

"I'm going to start with Australia, but it goes much farther back than that.  That night, I told you I couldn't let go, and that I was only like this with you. What I meant was that I can't let go of the thoughts that tell me that if I let myself be with you, I'll only lose you or push you away.  I'm only like this with you because you are the only woman, besides my mother and my grandmother, that I have ever loved.  Yes, Sarah Mackenzie," he chuckled as he felt her stiffen from where she was sitting next to him, barely touching his left shoulder with her own, "I, Harmon Rabb Jr., love you with all my heart and my soul. But I can't risk it. I can't risk losing the friendship we have. I want nothing more than to wake each morning with you in my arms and know that you are mine and mine alone, but I know that that can't be.  Wait..." she almost interrupted, but was silenced as his lips brushed hers before she could get a sound out. 

 

It was a small kiss, really.  They had shared three kisses, well, really two, together, and this one was sweeter than all of them combined.  But it was over almost as soon as it began, and he resumed his soulful confession. "Okay, now that you've stopped trying to interrupt, sweet thing," 'Dang it! He said it again! Careful! Deep breath....okay, go on.' "Sorry, Mac, I know that we can't have that. For starters, we're under the same chain of command. If we get together, one of us has to leave JAG, and I won't let you do it for the same reasons you would insist that I not.  Plus, plus...." he trailed off, all his reasons failing as he caught her eyes reflecting the moonlight.  He sighed. "Oh hell, Sarah. I love you. I want you with me every second of every day from now to forever.  Forget everything I just said, just be mine." He dropped his head, waiting for her response, expecting a torrent of questions, disclaimers, and the whatnot.

 

But all he heard was silence.

 

For ten of the longest minutes of his life, Harmon Rabb Jr. heard nothing save the breathing of his beloved at his side.

 

Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. "Mac, are you okay?" He slipped his arm around her, pulling her almost into his lap, dreading finding her unconscious.

 

As soon as she was against him, Mac smiled. She had won. She had finally gotten him to admit his feelings, and more importantly, he had figured out, on his own, what he needed to do about it.  In response to his whispered plea, she turned her head to look at him once more. "No, Harm, I'm not okay." His face fell. "I'm wonderful." She grinned, and pulled him into a searing kiss. This time, she was not going to settle for some sweet as sugar chaste 'I-love-you' kiss. No, she was going to knock her sailor right out of his socks and hopefully into next week.  She brought her hands up to either side of his face and pulled him against her more fully.

 

Marveling at how he could have ever deserved this wonderful woman, Harm let go of his last vestiges of sanity and threw himself wholeheartedly into her kiss.  Their tongues delved deeply into each other's mouths, caressing and exploring all the new territory, as their hands made short work of each other's shirts.  Before he removed her top fully, Harm backed off for a second. "Sarah, despite what may happen when we get home, and you know something will, I want this. Do you? Do you want the first, and unfortunately, possibly one of the only times we can, time we make love to be here? On the ground? In the cold desert?"

 

"Harm, shut up and kiss me! And for the record, yes, yes, though I dispute those odds, yes, and yes! Make love to me right here right now." And with that, she pulled him down on top of her, knowing that he might be right, but not caring. She would have this night, and if never again, she could always look back and remember these in country happenings.

 

THE END