A Different Future
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Disclaimer: the characters used in this story (with the exception of Cathy) are property
of Belisarius Production. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Harm
and Cathy had been going out together often lately. They weren’t actually
calling it dating, but that was the impression that everyone at JAG
Headquarters had. They had been the best friends since they were children and
had always been there for each other. But lately they both had the distinct
impression that something was changing. That
night they were on their way to Marcello’s, a nice Italian restaurant on Granville
Island. Cathy liked that place particularly because it wasn’t one of those
big crowded restaurants where you couldn’t even have a quiet conversation.
Harm pulled into Granville Market and found a parking space just across the
restaurant. The place was crowded for a Thursday night. He
took Cathy by her arm and led her into Marcello’s. She waited for him as he
talked to the hostess at the front. Harm smiled at the woman and came back to
Cathy to tell her it was not going to be too long to wait. “I
don’t have to be anywhere. Do you?” she asked smiling at him. "Nope.
The only place I need to be is here with you," he said and that was more
than enough to make Cathy shiver. Harm had been her best friend since…she
didn’t even remember since when: he had always been part of her life. In the
past few weeks they had spent a lot of time together and she had actually
started to see him in a different way but she wasn’t one hundred percent sure
how he felt about the two of them. "Are you cold?" he asked calling
her back to reality. "I'm
fine," she said, rubbing her arms. The goose bumps on her skin weren't
from the temperature. "I
have a jacket somewhere in the car. It's a bomber jacket and it is pretty
heavy, but I can go get it for you if you want," Harm told her, looking
over her head towards the door. "You
don't have to do that. I'm sure I'll warm up as soon as we sit down,"
she said, rubbing her arms with her hands. She didn't actually intend for him
to put his arm around her and pull her close to him, but he did. And they
both enjoyed the closeness more than they were ready to admit. The
hostess finally called for ‘Rabb, party of two’ and the couple followed her
to their table, where a waitress took their orders. "That
should warm you up," said Harm flashing Cathy an evil grin, as the
waitress put a Strawberry Margarita in front of his friend. He had talked her
into ordering a drink, telling her he was going to drive and that she should
just go for it. It
was not long until the waitress put their lasagne in front of them, and it
was delicious. Thin layers of pasta and meat sauce, covered with a white
cream sauce. They both loved Italian food and they didn’t mind to cook
themselves from time to time, but sometimes it was just good to enjoy the end
result. "Are
you hungry?" asked Cathy as Harm literally devoured his meal. “Well…I’ve
hardly had time to make a pause today,” replied Harm. He had a hard day
behind him at his law firm: the SECNAV was going to have his head if he
wouldn’t hand in the report for the Madison case for the next morning. He
didn’t want to miss the dinner with Cathy so he had worked hard all day,
barely stopping to eat something. They
just sat and ate quietly for a while and listened to the music playing in the
background. Harm liked to be with Cathy. They could talk for hours or just
enjoy each other’s company without saying anything. He could be himself, no
masks, no pretending, just himself. Since she moved to West Van he had had
time to think about how important Cathy had been in his life and he had come
to a new awareness about the deep bond they shared. "So,
how did your boss take you leaving?" he asked, his mind wanderings
interrupted by the waitress collecting their plates. Cathy had just told her
editor that she was going to stop writing full-time to run a little
book-shop. “Well
enough, I guess…he wasn’t exactly thrilled about my new plans…but he did
understand in the end,” she replied startled by Harm’s insistent gaze on her.
He just couldn’t take his eyes off her. “What?” she asked. “Did
I tell you that you look great tonight?” he replied surprising Cathy even
more. He knew she wasn’t the type to live off of compliments or admiration
but he had told her anyway. “Why
are you being nice to me?” she asked teasingly. “Hey!
I’m always nice to you!” he replied pretending to be offended by her remark. “Thank
you,” she said, a familiar sparkle in her eyes. Every
time she looked at him with those crystal eyes he had the impression she
could read through him. “Anytime,” he replied smiling at her as the waitress
put their desserts in front of them. “What
about you, what do you think about my plans?,” she asked picking on the
tiramisu. “Well,
it’s great! I mean, since you started writing you’ve been dreaming of running
your own book shop,” he replied. Cathy’s mom had ran a small book shop when
they were kids: she used to have fairy-tales afternoons, where she would read
the children’s favourite stories, so it wasn’t really that surprising for
Harm that Cathy had decided to step in her mother’s footsteps. “Is something
wrong?” he asked sensing a certain nervousness. “It’s
just that I’m afraid I won’t make it by myself,” she said putting the little
fork down. “You probably think I’m overreacting…” He
reached over to her hand and covered it with his’. “Cathy, it’s normal to be
nervous about a new job. But you are not alone. I’m not going to let you
down: I never did and I won’t start now,” he reassured her. Cathy
didn’t know what to say but in the end she seemed to relax a bit. “What would
I do without you?” she asked smiling at him. ”You’d
simply be lost!” he replied with his all-too familiar teasing tone. After
dinner Harm drove Cathy back to her place. “Thank you for listening to my
rambling,” she said as she stepped out of the car. ”Anytime,”
he replied as they walked to the front door of the apartment building. ”I
would invite you in for a drink…” she said softly, shortening the distance
between them, “but there’s always that work colleague of yours who lives over
there and keeps spying on us…”, she said referring to Lt. Lauren Singer. ”What
if we give her something to look at?” he whispered hoping that he had not
misinterpreted. ”Why
not…,” she replied leaning in for a kiss. A kiss that freed emotions that
have been pent up for too long. A kiss that marked the beginning of a new
future. ~*~*~*~*~* |
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