Harm, Mac and
another journey through the Afghan mountains…
Authors’
Names: Carol & Michi
Rating: GS - IM15
Classification: Harm & Mac / Romance
Spoilers: The season 7
episode ‘In Country’ but other than that, nothing that would really matter.
This story happens after ‘In Country’ and before ‘Enemy Below’
Disclaimer: JAG and its characters are the property of Bellisario Productions,
CBS, and
Beta-work:
A huge thanks goes out to our beta-god Witchy V!!!
Feedback: Always welcome,
very encouraging and for sure appreciated…
*****
Outside
“Harm stop,” Mac
commanded as they drove through the desert landscape. They were driving for
hours and so far they came across nothing but sand, dust, frightened animals and
even more sand.
“Why?” Harm replied
while he kept driving on. He quickly glanced at Mac who was looking around,
obviously searching for something. “Do you see something?”
Mac took a nervous breath
and slowly shook her head. “No. Nothing. But I’ve got this feeling.”
Harm once more glanced at
her and raised an eyebrow. “The ‘wish I wasn’t here’-feeling or the
‘uh oh, we’re in trouble’-feeling?” He wanted to know and asked with a
more or less neutral voice, not knowing how to read Mac’s behavior at the
moment.
“The last one,” Mac
retorted semi absently just to let a shiver follow. “Will you stop, please?”
She once more asked with a slight tremor in her voice.
Harm saw her shivering
and could hear in her voice that something obviously wasn’t okay. Therefore,
he lightly stepped on the break and the Humvee slowly came to a stop. “Okay,
what’s wrong, Mac?” He asked her in worry while shutting off the engine of
their vehicle.
“Do you see anything
out of the ordinary?” Mac looked around at the still desert landscape, the
upcoming darkness making it nearly impossible for her to discern anything around
them.
Harm sighed and started
to look around as well. “That sand over there looks just like the pile over
there,” he told her half jokingly. “Quite frankly, the only thing that looks
out of the ordinary here is us,” he finished his statement as the distant
sound of fighter planes could be heard overhead.
Mac followed the sound
with her eyes and her face suddenly paled. “Mac, what’s wrong?” Harm asked
her once more as she took some calming breaths. “Mac?” He put his hand
lightly on her left shoulder to give it a squeeze, hoping to get a reaction from
her.
“We need to get out of
here,” she quickly told him.
Harm shrugged and took
his hand from her shoulder. “Okay,” he replied while starting the engine
again.
Mac quickly touched his
hand and shook her head. “No, not in the Humvee.” She reached into the back
and grabbed her pack.
“What?” Harm looked
at her perplexed. “What do you mean? Why not in the Humvee?”
“Move, Harm!” Mac
ordered in a voice that didn’t leave any space for questions as she jumped out
of the vehicle and buckled on her pack.
Harm shook his head in
disbelief and watched her. Then he grabbed his pack and got out of the Humvee as
well, even so he didn’t understand what was going on here.
Mac started to walk away
from the vehicle and Harm started to follow her. “You want to tell me what the
hell that was about?” He asked while trying to catch up on her. “Why do we
have to leave the Humvee behind?” Harm wanted to know but got no answer from
her in response. “Mac!” He called after her, seeing that she started to
quicken her steps.
Suddenly the sound of the
fighter planes came back, this time a bit louder and much, much closer. Harm
looked up and noticed that the planes were Tomcats. The planes got even closer
and Harm at once saw when the missile broke away from the leader. “Holy shit,”
he muttered. “Mac!” Harm screamed, trying to her attention.
“I know!” Mac just
said while they both started to run towards a ridge wall. They were about twenty
feet away from the ridge wall when the missile hit their Humvee. The explosion
rocked the ground and at once sent Harm and Mac towards the ridge. They rolled
to the ground while pieces of debris landed around and onto them.
A few seconds passed
before Harm slowly rolled onto his back with a groan, letting his mind locate
any injuries on his body, just to find nothing alarming. He quickly took a
glance over at the ball of fire that was once their Humvee. Then he brushed off
the dust on him before he slowly let his eyes wander. “Mac!” Harm softly
called her name, looking to his right just to see her about six feet away from
him. She was lying face down in the sand and didn’t move.
Harm slowly scrambled to
his feet, ignoring the wave of dizziness that passed through him. “Mac!” He
ran to her as far as his groggy body was letting him and carefully rolled her
onto her back. He could see that there were some scraps on her face and that her
arm was bleeding, but as far as he could discern there was nothing broken.
“Thank god,” he murmured to himself in relief and exhaled a breath he
didn’t know he was holding before lightly touching her face. “Mac? Come on.
Wake up, Marine.”
Just to make sure, Harm
touched her neck, felt her pulse and then saw, based on her moving chest, that
she was breathing. “Come on, Sarah.” He gently stroked her forehead and then
could hear her lightly moan. “That’s it. Come on.”
“Did you get the name
of that truck?” She quietly muttered and slowly opened one of her eyes just to
let another moan follow.
Harm nervously chuckled
at her sense of humor. “Yeah, but the auto club doesn’t come out this
far.”
She slowly opened her
other eye and closely looked at Harm. “You okay?” She asked and moved her
left arm with the intention to touch his head, only to let it drop at once with
a loud moan as soon as the pain was shooting through her arm. “Damn,” she
groaned out through her clenched teeth and closed her eyes again.
“Yeah, I’m okay. But
you’re not,” Harm softly told her in worry and then helped her to sit up.
Mac moaned again and left
her eyes closed. “You’re telling me. And could you please be still or at
least talk with a lower voice?”
Harm looked at her with
concern. “Dizzy?”
“Yeah, you could say
that,” Mac answered and tried to open her eyes just to close them again while
taking some deep breaths. “Beautiful stars though.”
“Stars?” Harm asked
with a raised eyebrow. “Hmm, that sounds somehow familiar to me,” he
continued, remembering the stars he’d seen a few days ago while sitting in the
middle of a minefield. Then he started to chuckle as soon as Mac did. He
carefully probed her head and felt a bump over her left eye near her hairline.
“Nice bump.”
“Well, it would hurt a
whole lot less if you would stop touching it,” she replied and tried to pull
away her head from his fingers, just to be confronted with another spell of
dizziness.
“Cranky when you have a
concussion, huh?” Harm snidely said to her and gave her one of his flyboy
grins.
“How are you?” Mac
asked in worry as she overrode all her powers of sarcasm.
Harm shrugged and helped
Mac to get her backpack from her shoulders. “I’m probably just bruised. Your
arm is bleeding,” Harm told her as she bent her legs with a mild groan.
Mac looked at her arm.
“It’s just a scrape.” She touched the ripped material to revel a three
inch gash in her upper arm. “And it doesn’t hurt as soon as you get used to
it.”
“You’re going to need
stitches. No, don’t touch it,” Harm ordered when he saw her trying it. He
reached over and grabbed his pack. He opened it and found the first aide kit.
“Always the boy scout,”
Mac muttered behind his pack and couldn’t keep herself from smiling a little.
“I heard that,” Harm
let her know and pulled out the antiseptic wash. “Now hold still, Marine.”
“I hate that stuff,”
Mac complained quietly when Harm poured it on the cut.
Harm grabbed a clean
cloth and wiped the wound. “It’s at least better than pouring bourbon over
it,” he said while both remembered their encounter with a few poachers in the
Appalachian mountains many years ago.
“Only mildly better,”
Mac murmured with a quiet voice and opened her eyes as soon as the pain faded.
“Quit your moaning,”
Harm jokingly told her with a smirk as he wrapped the wound with fresh gauze. He
knew just too well how much this liquor was burning while touching an open wound.
“You have a horrible
bedside manner,” she replied just as jokingly and gave him a little smirk of
her own. “Has someone told you that before?”
Harm looked into her eyes
with a glimmer in his own ones. “Is that an invitation into your bed,
Marine?” He wanted to know and let his question be followed by a big
flyboy-grin.
Mac rolled her eyes and
regretted it immediately when yet another spell of dizziness hit her full force.
“I walked right into that one,” she said and slowly loosened her grip on his
jacket after she’d gripped for it the moment everything around her had started
to turn.
“Probably from the
blood loss,” Harm remarked to her. He gently brushed some hair off her
forehead and got a sweet smile from her in response. “How far do you think we
are away from base?”
“Three hours by Humvee,”
Mac answered at once.
“It’s going to be a
while on foot then,” Harm concluded and started to repack his backpack.
“Let’s get moving,”
Mac said to Harm and started to stand up.
She stood still for a
second and Harm watched as she started to sway. He quickly moved next to her and
wrapped his arms around her. “I’ve got ya.”
Mac took a deep breath
and slowly re-opened her eyes after she’d closed them the moment she’d stood.
“It’s starting to pass.”
Harm didn’t let go of
her. “Maybe we should stay here.”
“No, I’m fine.” Mac
looked at him and saw the concern in his eyes. “We can take it at a slow pace
‘till everything stops spinning.”
He loosened his hold on
her but stayed close enough so he would be able to catch her if she would have
another spell. “You promise to tell me if you can’t handle it?”
“Yes,” Mac said and
fought back the urge to roll her eyes while another part of her was simply moved
about his concern.
Harm exhaled slowly.
“Okay.” He walked over to pick up both packs and guns. Harm shouldered both
of their packs and handed one of the guns to Mac. He watched as Mac opened her
mouth to protest and quickly stopped her. “Once I think you can handle a pack
I’ll give you one. ‘Till then… march, Marine.”
“Thanks, Harm,” Mac
gently said and took the gun from Harm before they started to move and passed by
the smoking Humvee. “I can’t believe this happened again.”
Harm chuckled and nodded
his head. “You’re telling me. At least there wasn’t a goat this time.”
Mac agreed with a nod and
then made a noise which sounded like a snort. “No, just some friendly fire.”
“You think the Admiral
is going to take it out of the budget?” Harm asked her and sounded deadly
serious.
Mac smiled softly and
gave him a wink. “Well, at least a Humvee doesn’t cost as much as a Tomcat.”
“You’re not funny,”
Harm told her and couldn’t hold back a chuckle.
“But I have a point,”
she concluded with a smirk before joining him and his laughter.
*****
Somewhere
in the
“It’s
not my fault the road is moving,” Mac retorted with a quiet voice, the
tiredness seemed to be winning the fight against her.
Harm
lightly touched her arm and made them both stop walking. “Let’s take a
little break.”
“I’m
fine,” Mac lied in all the stubbornness she had in her, but one look at her
was enough for Harm to see just how exhausted she was.
Harm
chuckled since it was easy for him to read her when she was lying. “Then have
your lip stop doing the turn up thing.”
Mac
glared as best as she could at him and then looked defeating down at the ground.
“Fine,” she responded and sighed.
They
took a fifteen minutes break before deciding to continue their walk. By now the
darkness was surrounding them, but other than that it was quiet and both
didn’t know if it was normal or an assumption.
“Favorite
MASH episode?” Mac wanted to know while they kept on moving. For a few minutes
now they were playing this ‘question/answer’-game, trying their best to
distract themselves from the cold and tiredness they were feeling more and more
with each step they took.
“Tuttle.”
“Tuttle?”
“Yup,
Tuttle. Remember? Hawkeye’s imaginary friend that donates the money to the
orphan,” Harm explained a dumbfounded looking Mac.
“Huh?”
“At
the end of the episode, Tuttle is supposed to get an award from the General. So
Hawkeye and Trapper fake Tuttle’s death by saying he jumped out of a
helicopter without his parachute.”
“Oh
yeah, that is a good one,” Mac agreed with a nod and once more looked around
them just to be greeted by the pure silence and darkness of the desert landscape.
“How
about yours? What’s your favorite MASH episode?” Harm wanted to know and
copied Mac’s movement, trying to see or hear anything around them but came up
empty.
Mac
thought for a second and bit her lower lip in concentration. “Umm…. I think
the one where the story is told from the patient’s point of view. The camera
is the patient, everyone talks to him and he is the only one who knows why
Potter is upset.”
Harm
nodded his head, remembering the episode she was talking about. “Yeah, that
was a good one too. It always reminded me of the one with the dead soldier that
was looking for his buddy.”
“Oh
yeah, that was a good show.”
“Yeah,
it was,” Harm softly said before they fell into silence again while feeling
even more tired and cold.
*****
Still
somewhere in the
“How
long have we been walking?” Harm wanted to know after a while, taking a deep
breath while wishing he was home in his cozy apartment and in his even cozier
bed.
“Four
hours, eighteen minutes and forty-five seconds,” Mac answered right away and
closed her eyes for a moment. This time because of the tiredness she felt rather
than the dizziness, which was still bothering her but she didn’t tell Harm,
not wanting to worry him.
“How
do you do that?” Harm asked, still amazed about her talent to tell the time.
“Can
you keep a secret?” Mac wanted to know with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes,”
Harm immediately told her, hoping that he would finally find out about her well
hidden secret.
Mac
smiled before it turned into a smirk. “Good, so can I,” she said and
quickened her steps to get away from him.
“Smartass,”
Harm murmured under his breath before quickening his own steps and caught up
with her.
A
few moments of silence passed through them as they both concentrated on the
terrain, which was getting harder to see.
“How’s
Sergei?” Mac asked, trying to bring up another topic they could talk about. It
was getting harder and harder to keep on walking and each diversion from reality
they could get, they took in the magnitude of the situation.
“Getting
married,” Harm let her know and laughed. ‘Lucky SOB,’ he concluded his
statement in his thoughts, not believing that his little brother took the step
in front of the altar before him.
“Wow,”
Mac only commented, not knowing what to say while being too surprised about this
news.
“Yeah,
wow indeed. She’s nice. But I can’t help but thinking that he’s rushing
into it.”
“Why?”
Mac wanted to know and looked up at Harm. “Maybe he loves her.”
“He’s
asked me to be his best man,” he let her know and met her gaze and smile.
“The
wedding is in
Harm
sighed. “Yes. The only down side to it.”
“You’re
going, right?” Mac softly asked and both stopped their movement midway.
“Of
course I am. He’s my brother.”
Mac
laughed and shook her head. “I’ll call Mark and warn him that you’ll be in
town.”
“Funny.
Very funny, Marine. And here I was thinking about asking you to be my date to
the wedding,” Harm said, trying to sound offended by her statement but failing
terribly while starting to laugh too.
“Me?”
Mac asked, feeling taken aback by his confession and flattered at the same time.
Harm
shrugged his shoulders and then lifted his left arm to softly let his forefinger
run over the soft skin of her cheek. “You know the language and you’ve been
there before. Not to forget that Sergei really likes you.”
“I
can save your six when you get in trouble,” Mac jokingly concluded his
enumeration of reasons why she could and should go with him to
Harm
nodded his head. “Exactly. Plus, how many women do you know who would go to
“You
do have a point,” Mac softly admitted and took his forefinger, which was still
caressing his cheek into her hand to give it a gentle squeeze.
“So
you’ll go with me?” Harm hopefully asked.
“You
need to get our leave approved by the Admiral,” Mac pointed out and let go of
his finger before starting to walk again.
Harm
shook his head with a smile while letting his eyes follow her. “Great. Leave
me with the hard job,” he called behind her before once more trying to catch
up with her.
*****
“How’s
Chloe?” Harm now wanted to know after another period of silence between them.
“In
love,” Mac gave him a short answer while keeping on walking.
“You
sound like you don’t like that,” Harm said after hearing the sound of
disagreement in her voice.
“I
do and I don’t,” Mac replied before continuing to explain as soon as she saw
the look of bewilderment on her partner’s face. “She’s only fourteen. She
doesn’t know what love is.”
Harm
nodded his head in understanding and then shrugged. “It’s puppy love.
He’ll break her heart and then she’ll be in love with another boy. That’s
how teenager life goes.”
“Is
that supposed to make me feel better?” Mac frowned with a raised eyebrow.
“Is
it working?”
“No,
it’s not.”
“Sorry,”
Harm apologized half-heartedly and then smirked. “However, I bet you were at
Chloe’s age when a boy first kissed you,” Harm interposed, trying to make
her see that it was a normal thing of being a teenager, and at the same time it
was his try to find out something new about his partner.
Mac
made a quiet noise that sounded like a snort before it changed to a yawn. “No,
I was Chloe’s age when a boy tried to cop a feel.”
“I
didn’t do that till I was fifteen,” Harm let her know while their steps were
getting slower with each one they took.
“Well,
he didn’t try it again till he was sixteen.”
Harm
raised an eyebrow and stopped midway to look at Mac. “Why?”
Mac
sighed and stopped herself to look up at him. “I broke his arm in two places,”
she professed before letting out another yawn.
Harm
looked around them, trying to figure out if this place was good enough to make
their roost for the night. He knew that they were both walking on autopilot by
now and should call it a night. “Hey Mac, you think that place over there is
comfy enough for our roost for the night?”
Harm
pointed with his forefinger at a space nearby that was surrounded by a few
rocks. Mac looked at the place he was pointing at and only shrugged. “To tell
you the truth, by now even a nail bed would look comfy enough for me,” she
admitted with a little smile and yet another yawn.
“Good,
we’ll camp there for the night and maybe by tomorrow the search party is so
close that we don’t have to walk for a long time,” Harm said between a long
yawn.
“I’m
all for it,” Mac agreed and together they made their way to the ridge.
*****
Harm
gave Mac her pack before placing his own onto the ground with a groan. While he
and Mac settled in for the night he could see in the corner of his eye that Mac
was leaving some room between them and their sleeping places.
“Umm…
Mac?” Harm tried to get her attention.
Mac
stopped midway in her motions and turned her head a bit so she could look at him.
“Yeah?”
“Don’t
tell me you want me to call the front desk just to ask them to send a room
divider,” Harm commented with the same hint of teasing in his voice like
he’d done it the last time, also intentionally using the same words like back
then.
Mac
chuckled softly and shook her head, remembering what happened just a few days
ago. “I thought you’d want your own space,” she gently said, hoping he
would continue their game of ‘Déjà Vu’.
Harm
laughed and looked around, silently thanking the man above for her reaction and
that she was remembering and liking to repeat what happened a few days ago.
“How much more space do I need, Mac?” He asked her with a wink.
“Ahh…
okay, fine,” she said and scooted her pack closer to Harm’s and started to
settle down again. ‘We don’t want to skip a scene,’ she thought to herself
and smirked.
‘Okay,
Marine. If you want it the hard way,’ Harm thought and shook his head with a
sigh. He waited a few seconds just to let her wonder for a while before looking
back at her. “You know, Mac, the temperature is going to continue to drop. So,
if we don’t share body heat, we’re risking hypothermia,” Harm said in all
seriousness, hardly stifling a chuckle.
Mac
knew what to say next and just like the last time she smiled up at him. “You
make it sound so inviting, Harm,” she softly said.
Harm
grinned back at her and quietly chuckled. “You want an invitation?”
“Yes.”
Harm
nodded, knowing exactly what he had to say next. He looked deeply at her and
could see her bright smile. “Why don’t you come over here? It’s a little
bit better than sleeping with scorpions,” he invited her with a soft whisper
while letting his eyes speak too.
Her
smile brightened even more and she remembered that she’d rolled her eyes the
last time and decided to copy it too, bringing out a laugh from Harm in response.
“All right,” she said and pulled her pack even closer to his.
She
scooted in closer until they were face to face just like the last time. Then she
looked into his eyes, letting hers ask him if she should continue and copy her
next move from back then. Harm gave her a short nod and Mac slowly tucked her
legs in between his while he pulled his coat over her. “Okay?” Harm asked in
a whisper.
“Yeah,
very,” Mac replied while they lay practically cheek to cheek.
Harm
chuckled and looked up at the dark night sky with all the stars sparkling
against the blackness, the only sound hearable was the sound of a cricket and
its serenade. He smiled and closed his eyes for a short moment. “Mac?” He
whispered into her hair.
Mac
had her eyes closed, enjoying the closeness between them. “What?” She asked,
knowing already what Harm would say next, at least if he would continue their
‘Déjà Vu’-game.
“Do
you hear that?” He asked, still using his whispering voice.
Mac
sighed in pleasure. “I don’t hear anything.”
“Exactly,”
Harm replied and chuckled again. “Not many places left in the
After
a few seconds they both exhaled the breaths they were holding and laughed.
“Thank God,” both said at the same time, thanking the man above for sparing
them another bombing, and laughed even harder.
“That
was fun,” Harm whispered next to Mac’s ear.
“Yeah,
it was,” Mac agreed with a sigh just to let a moment of silence follow.
“Damn
it’s cold,” Harm suddenly muttered and tightened his arms around Mac.
“Cold
enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey,” Mac concurred at once.
“What?”
Harm asked in surprise.
“Cold
enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey,” Mac repeated her earlier words.
“Okay,
Colonel. Let me repeat myself. What?”
Mac
sighed and turned a little so that she was able to look up and into Harm’s
questioning eyes. “Back in the time that armies used cannons, they would pile
the cannon balls in one pile. The pile was called a brass monkey. When it got
really cold some cannon balls would fall off, hence the saying ‘cold enough to
freeze the balls off a brass monkey’.”
“Where
did you learn that?” Harm wanted to know with a raised eyebrow.
Mac
shrugged her shoulders and moved back into her old position while trying to
scoot even closer to Harm’s solid and warm body. “Just something I picked up
a long time ago.”
“That’s
my Marine, full of useless knowledge.”
“Hey,
at least it got your mind off the cold for a few minutes.”
“Yeah,
but there are many other things that could get my mind off the cold better than
this weird saying you used.”
“Like
what?” Mac wanted to know and asked with a low voice.
“If
I told you, you would flash me a red light.”
“You
never know unless you share,” Mac quietly told him and once more turned to be
able to look directly into his eyes, just to find that they were so close to
each other that they could feel each other’s breaths on their faces.
“Mac,”
Harm huskily whispered and started to move his head a bit forward when they
suddenly could hear a boom off in the far distance.
Mac
raised her eyebrow and groaned. “You got to be kidding me,” she cursed and
raised her head to look around. “Okay, I’m really getting tired of this.”
“Which
‘this’ are you exactly talking about?” Harm wanted to know, not sure if
she was actually talking about their being together.
“This,”
Mac said with a frustrated voice while gesturing with her hands into the air.
“Us being in the desert while listening to another damn bombing run. All the
while wondering if we should move or if it’s better to just stay here where we
are.”
“I
agree,” Harm said and nodded his head. Just then a bomb exploded about a
hundred feet away from them. Harm quickly grabbed Mac and rolled his body on top
of hers as debris and dust were covering them. After a few seconds the air was
filled with nothing but silence again and Harm pulled up from her, their faces
just inches away from each other. “Are you all right?” Harm asked in a
whisper, their hard and uneven breathing was the only sound disturbing the
silence.
“I’m
fine. What about you?” She asked while her arms rested on his sides.
“I’m
fine too.” They both fell into silence and that’s when they finally noticed
that there was no sound to hear around them, none other that wasn’t made by
them. “It stopped,” Harm concluded, keeping a low voice.
“For
now,” Mac said with fear in her voice.
Harm
looked at her face and brushed some hair off her forehead. “We’ll be
okay.”
Mac
smiled softly and looked deeply into his eyes. “I just got a MASH flashback.”
Harm
raised an eyebrow, never breaking their eye contact. “Really?”
“Yeah.
Margaret and Hawkeye are trapped in an old house and there is a bombing around
them.”
“They
both get scared and hold onto each other,” Harm concluded Mac’s review and
suddenly felt Mac’s hands on his back. “Margaret starts screaming and
Hawkeye kisses her. They soon forgot that they were in a war zone.”
“Yeah,”
Mac just brought out before Harm slowly leaned down and kissed her. “Let’s
forget where we are, Harm,” Mac whispered as soon as they’d broken their
kiss and looked deeply into Harm’s eyes.
Harm
looked down into her dark brown eyes and watched as a gaze full of passion
washed over them. He slowly moved his lips down to hers and pressed the emotion
from his soul onto hers. Mac tightened her hands around Harm and held him to
her. They both felt with their hands and lips, heart and soul. The air around
them jumped with the passion that was being spread among the two of them. The
temperature between them grew as the one around them fell.
Before
either one of them realized it they had successfully undone each other’s
jackets and blouses. Harm’s hand moved under Mac’s t-shirt and felt the
smooth skin of her stomach. Mac quivered slightly, feeling his cool hand on her
warm skin. Harm looked at her with mild concern, but before he could ask if it
was alright Mac pulled his head down to hers and gave him a knowing kiss of
approval.
They
both led kissed down each other’s necks and as soon as their shirts were off,
the kisses led down all of their exposed skin. Time stood still for them while
the moonlight was soon the only thing that covered their bodies as they
expressed their unspoken love for each other.
*****
Harm
softly kissed Mac’s temple and smiled when she opened her eyes and he could
see the glimmer in them. “Good morning.”
“Good
morning.” Mac smiled back and rested her head onto his arm, wrapping her arm
around him while Harm moved their jackets over their naked bodies.
Harm
softly brushed some hair off Mac’s face. “I don’t think I told you last
night, but you are so beautiful.”
Mac
blushed at his words, but before she could say anything Harm softly kissed her.
As he released her lips from his a million thoughts passed through his mind, but
he only said three words. “I love you.”
Mac
softly smiled and knew the words he said were coming from his heart and not from
the night of passion they shared. “I love you, too,” she softly told him.
He
gave her a huge grin. “I never expected to tell you that in the middle of the
desert. I thought it would be over a candle-light dinner and dancing.”
Mac’s
smile grew. She gave him a wink and smirked. “Well, there’s plenty of time
to do that once we get home,” Mac told him.
“I
hope there is. I also hope there is plenty of time to repeat last night.”
Mac
gave him a serious look. “No, we won’t be able to repeat last night ever
again.” Harm gave her a look of shock and surprise. But Mac shot him a sly
grin. “We can only improve on last night.”
Harm
quickly gave Mac a kiss filled with passion, desire and love. When he released
her lips he looked down at her. “I like the way you think.”
“That’s
good. ‘Cause I think we better get dressed and start walking towards the base.”
Harm
looked towards the direction of where the base was located. “That might be a
good idea, before the group looking for us finds us like this.”
“Yeah,”
Mac said as they helped each other get dressed.
*****
As
soon as they saw a couple of Humvees coming their way in the far distance, Harm
and Mac reluctantly let go of each other’s hands with a quick squeeze.
They’d at some time intertwined their fingers while they were making their way
through the desert landscape and back to the base.
Harm
didn’t know for how long they were already walking, nor did he care, and
therefore he didn’t dare ask Mac, who seemed to enjoy their time together just
like he was. He could see and read it clearly in her shining eyes.
They
looked at each other and let their eyes speak out the love they felt before
nodding quickly and turning their gazes back to the cavalry. The Humvees came to
a stop right in front of them and a few soldiers got out of the vehicles and
approached them.
“Commander,
Colonel,” the corporal greeted Harm and Mac with a little grin on his face.
“Good to see you…,” he started to tell them before his grin grew and he
continued his greeting. “… again.”
“Likewise,”
Harm and Mac replied at the same time and copied the corporal’s huge grin.
“I
never thought we would see each other again so soon. At least not this way,”
the corporal said and took a canteen from one of the corpsman to hand it Harm.
“Here, I think you know the procedure by now, Commander, and have a seat,”
the corporal invited before handing Mac another canteen he got from the corpsman.
“I hope you two are alright. The helo found a burned out vehicle and we
gathered it was yours. Thought you guys might have been captured or even worse
this time.”
“Yeah,
it was our Humvee, but we’re fine,” Mac told him as she sat down in the
front passenger seat while Harm, just like the last time, perched on the back
seat. “Not being captured or even worse.”
“Yeah,
we were hit by some friendly fire. The Colonel and I thought we should repeat
our last excursion we’d spent out here. You know, just to bring back some old
memories and to improve a few things here and there,” Harm jokingly explained
with a chuckle before leaning over to pour the water from the canteen all over
his head. Then he looked up, met Mac’s look and both could only smile about
their Déjà Vu moment in the Afghan mountains.
“We
already feared that a friendly fire incident happened after you two didn’t get
back to base last night and then the helo found the burned out vehicle. A JAG
investigation has already been ordered and Admiral Chegwidden sent over
Commander Turner to lead the investigation.” The corporal let them know,
taking a quick look at Mac, seeing that the corpsman had just finished cleaning
and re-bandaging Mac’s cut on her arm. “Oh, before I forget. Admiral
Chegwidden wants me to let the both of you know, that the next time you two
leave
Harm
and Mac continued to chuckle at the Admiral’s words. The corporal and corpsman
excused themselves from the two officers to give them a moment to rest before
the trek back to base.
“Hmm,
I guess the next time we leave Washington, we’re having a GPS implanted on
your six then, Flyboy,” Mac told Harm with a wide grin as Harm got up from his
seat in the Humvee to reach into the back for something to wipe his face with.
Harm
looked at her over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow. “Why on my six and not
on yours, Marine?” He wanted to know before he gave her one of his flyboy
grins.
Mac
shamelessly turned in her seat to look at him, mostly his six, which was in
prime view of her. “That’s an easy one, Flyboy. Yours sits higher than mine.
That’s important for good reception,” she told him with a smirk before
turning around in her seat. She was going to add something else, but refrained
herself as the other marines were starting to walk back to their Humvees.
“Very
funny, Marine. Very funny,” Harm said and shook his head with a laugh before
getting back into the Humvee himself. ‘I just hope there will be a switch to
turn the signal on and off. I don’t think I want us to be found too soon from
now on,’ he thought and a bright smile took place on his face as he remembered
their night together, their Déjà Vu moment in the Afghan mountains.
The
End