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Date Posted: 07:02:52 10/03/16 Mon
Author: Lace
Subject: Nine years after series part 19 Old friends, New friendships

Harm pushed the cart towards the fruit and vegetables. It was Friday, he’d finished work early to do some grocery shopping. He had planned a quiet night at home with the family, making them a great meal and ice cream for desert. They had all been busy lately, a big contrast to the nice vacation they had two weeks ago. The summer had passed in a hurry it felt like. It was already august. He wasn’t complaining. The summer had been wonderful, with the renewing of their vows, the long weekend away just the two of them, then a weekend with the family at Jack and Cathy’s summer house, and then a week with his parent’s in San Diego.
He reached for the carrots and wandered over to the fruit section. Mac had been so busy, and done so much travelling it felt like she was more away than at home. The Judiciary was short staffed, the cases piling up, and more pressure on the senior staff. When she wasn’t away on cases, she was working long days. He knew how she must have felt when he was the one on active duty and she wasn’t. He had made up for all the late nights since he retired, even though his firm was doing well and growing. Having Bud quit his job to partner up with him had really helped with the workload though.
He was pulled out of his thoughts when someone bumped into him. He turned and looked into the most amazing brown eyes he’d ever seen. “Mac?”
“Harm?” she smiled. “Fancy meeting you here?”
“I can say the same thing,” he leaned in and kissed her sweetly.
“I thought I’d make up for the last two weeks by making you guys dinner,” she said.
“Why don’t we do the cooking together?” he suggested. “We can make out while the pizza is in the oven.”
“You’re planning on making pizza too?” she looked surprised. “That was my plan.”
“Pizza it is then,” he said and smiled. “Let’s share a cart, huh?”
Mac nodded. “I’ll return mine and catch up with you,” she said and touched his arm in a sweet gesture. “I like the idea of making out.”
He flashed her a sexy smile. “I’ll make it worth your while,” he promised.

Later while they were busy in the kitchen Mac noticed that Harm looked thoughtful as he steered the sauce. She finished cutting the onion and turned to him, tears running down her cheeks.
“See what happens when you make me cut the onion,” she said and wiped her eyes, which made the situation worse since she had onion on her hands.
Harm shook his head. “Don’t do that,” he reprimanded her and hurried to wet a towel. “Let me.” He wiped her eyes then proceeded to move her to the sink. “Wash your hands.”
She washed her hands and instead of drying them she shook her hands so that the water hit him. “Thank you.”
He laughed. “You’re five years old,” he said before grabbing both her hands and pulling her close. “This is nice.”
“It is nice,” she agreed and kissed him sweetly.
He deepened the kiss and was just about to place his hands under her top when he heard a throat being cleared. He reluctantly released her.
“Sorry, your daughter let me in,” Alicia Montes said, and looked a little bothered. “I thought I’d stop by with the file I promised you.”
Harm looked at his wife. “Alicia approached me today about a case. I was going to talk to you about it but I got sidetracked…” he smiled cleverly making Mac look bothered. “I’m defending Captain John Foley. The investigation is still going on, so the case hasn’t reach the judiciary yet.”
“It’s been all over the news,” Mac said and hesitated. “I can talk to my boss on Monday, make sure he assigns someone else. It’s no problem.”
Harm took the file that Alicia held out for him. “I’ll take a look, maybe we could meet Monday morning to go over the case. The preliminary report should be done by then, and we’ll know if the Captain will be charged.”
“I heard back from NCIS tonight. They seem to think that they have enough evidence to charge the Captain.”
“Looks like we’ll be going to court then,” Harm said.
Mac saw the look on his face, she knew that look. “Let me finish dinner, I’ll let you guys know when it’s ready.”
Harm smiled. “You are the best,” he said and kissed her.
“You can’t focus until you’ve seen through that file anyway,” Mac said and rolled her eyes. “I know that look, I’ve seen that look before…”
Harm looked at Alicia. “You didn’t have plans did you?”
“Take out and a book,” she said and hesitated. “I don’t want to ruin your night.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Mac said and smiled.

After dinner Alicia offered to help clean up, which Mac turned down and told them to get some more work done. She cleaned the kitchen, then she decided it was time for dessert. Claire and Matthew had no disagreements against that.
“Why does Dad have to work?” Claire wondered.
“He’s helping Professor Montes with a case,” Mac explained.
“Will it take all weekend?” Matthew asked.
“We’re still going flying tomorrow,” Mac promised. She arranged two bowls with ice cream and two cups of coffee on a tray. “I’ll take this upstairs.”
“Can I watch TV?” Matthew wondered.
“Sure,” Mac said and looked at her daughter. “Everything okay, honey?”
Claire shrugged. “It’s just boring, I can’t wait for school to start,”
“That’s lame,” Matthew said as he stood.
“Matthew,” Mac warned.
“Sorry,” he said as he walked to the living room.
“Nothing fun happening?” Mac wondered.
“Katie is having a sleepover, but there’s so much drama with everyone, so I just said that I was busy,” Claire said.
“Teenager drama?” Mac asked with a sweet smile, knowing that her daughter wasn’t all that into all the teen dramatics.
“Yeah,” Claire said and stood. “I’ll just spend some time with Matthew instead.”
Mac took the tray upstairs to their office. “Dessert?”
Harm looked up when she entered. “Thank you.”
“I’m really messing up your nice night,” Alicia said apologetically. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Mac reassured as she put the tray down. She put her hand on Harm’s shoulder. “Just make sure you have the time to take Sarah up in the morning, or Matthew will have a fit.”
Harm laughed softly. “There’s no way I’d let anything get in the way of flying.”
“Don’t I know it,” Mac said as she turned to leave.
“You have a very understanding family,” Alicia said after Mac had left them.
“I’m a lucky man,” Harm said with a sweet smile.

JAG Headquarters
One week later Harm walked up to Mac’s open office door, and saw her by her desk very occupied scribbling notes. He loved her concentrated work look, he always had. She was so smart, her brain always working to figure out her next move. He smiled as he stepped into her office. She looked up and her face cracked into a full blown smile.
“How’s it going?”
“Well, the NCIS are playing hard ball, my client won’t talk, and the JAG in charge won’t keep me in the loop,” he let out a sigh. “So, it’s going great. How is your day?”
“Not bad actually,” she hesitated. “But that’s probably not what you want to hear right now. Can I help you with something?”
“Nah, just needed to see a friendly face,” he said with a teasing smile. “I’m actually meeting Alicia and her intern next. We need to figure out our next move.”
“You like working with her,” Mac stated as she stood.
“She’s organized, and she’s a pretty damn good lawyer,” Harm said and hesitated. “She trusts my instincts too.”
Mac smiled. “Have I told you how great it is to see you this way?”
“What way?” he wondered.
“Working cases, going the extra mile. Being your own boss suits you, Harm. You’re right where you belong,” she said and walked closer to him. “It reminds me why I feel in love with you.”
“Did you need a reminder?” he asked teasingly.
She laughed softly. “Not really,” she said and reached out to straighten his tie.
He looked toward the open door, before he kissed her sweetly. “I’m glad I stopped by your office.”
“Me too,” she said and stepped back to a more appropriate distance.
He smiled and turned to leave. “Oh,” he turned back. “I almost forgot. Alicia and Mike are going to his cabin this weekend, and she invited us to join them. I talked to Bud about Matthew staying, and Claire is having the sleepover at Kim’s house tonight and her mother said it was okay for her to stay the weekend. What do you think? The terrain surrounding the cabin is supposed to be great for hiking, and the cabin is big so we’ll have our privacy.”
“Yeah, sounds like fun,” she said and smiled.
“It’s close to Shenandoah actually. Remember that weekend we rented that cabin….” He stepped closer to her again. “That was fun.”
Mac remembered. It had been after a stressful period, they’d been busy with work and the kids, and barely had time for each other, which in turn had ended up in a big fight. They had decided that a weekend away had been a smart move, and they had barely left the bedroom that weekend.
“Are you blushing Colonel?” Harm teased as he took her hand in his.
“It was an interesting weekend,” she said and bit her lip.
Harm kissed he sweetly. “I better go before I make you forget about good order and discipline.”
“I think you should,” she agreed.
“See you at home around 1700?” he said.
“Yeah, that sounds fine,” she agreed.
Harm smiled and kissed her softy.
“Oh, I’m sorry, ma’am. I can come back.”
Harm and Mac both turned to the door. “No problem, Commander. I was just leaving,” Harm said and let go of Mac’s hand. “See you later.
Mac smiled and watched him leave. She switched to work mode. “Commander, what can I do for you?”


Saturday morning after breakfast they had decided to go for a long hike. Mac had to admit that she was enjoying their stay. Alicia and her husband Mike were both very good company, the cabin was nice and the surroundings amazing.
The morning had started off chillier than the weather report had promised, but a little later the sun broke through and the temperature rose. After hiking for a few hours Alicia demanded a break.
“I think it’s too damn hot,” she said as she put her backpack on the ground. “I need water.”
Mike and Harm agreed and remove their own backpacks and reached for the water bottles.
“Where did Mac go?” Alicia wondered.
Harm looked around. “Mac!” he yelled.
“Over here!”
Harm turned towards the water. He saw Mac only clad in her underwear.
“What are you…” there was a splash as she dove into the water.
“Come on Harm, the water is great,” she said when she resurfaced.
“You are crazy,” Harm said with a smile.
Mac giggled and dove under again.
Harm shook his head in amusement.
“That’s a great idea,” Mike said as he started removing his shirt. “Come on guys.”
Harm removed his own shirt and headed towards the water. He took of his shoes and stripped down to his boxers before he too dove into the water.
“See, it’s great,” Mac said as she swam towards him.
“You’re right,” Harm agreed.
After drying Harm and Mike decided that they wanted to see if the fish were biting. Alicia wanted to head back to the cabin, so Mac offered to join her. It was mostly a quiet walk. Mac didn’t really know Alicia that well. They met the few times Harm had worked with her, had dinner and lunch, but always with Harm. In Mac’s mind Alicia had always been Harm’s friend. Harm hadn’t offered much information about his and Alicia’s relationship prior to him marrying Mac, and Mac had never asked about it. There were many things they had never talked about concerning their past, mostly because they didn’t matter anymore.
“Does this feel awkward to you?” Alicia said after about an hour of quiet. “I mean, us together without Harm?”
Mac smiled. “To tell the truth I always saw you as more Harm’s person more than mine.”
“I guess it makes sense,” Alicia said and hesitated. “There was a time when I thought he could be the one….” She smiled awkwardly. “That was until I got the’ get away from my man look’ from you. Twice. I questioned Harm about it, well actually I wondered why he hadn’t made a move on me, and he said that he was in limbo. I asked him if that had something to do with the ‘get away from my man’ look I got from you, and he said he wasn’t sure he was your man or not.”
“I never asked him about your relationship actually,” Mac admitted. “We never talked about it.”
“You thought we slept together,” Alicia stated. “Why would you be okay with us working together if you thought there had been anything between us?”
“I trust him,” Mac said and was surprised by how much she meant it. “It was complicated between us back then. We’d been dancing around a relationship for nine years when we got our new orders. After we decided to get married everything else seemed unimportant.”
“You started with a clean slate?” Alicia asked.
“Yeah, and it went pretty fast from there. We had four kids in the first year of our marriage, and there was no time for looking back. I have never been committed to anyone the way I’ve been to Harm, before we married, and especially after,” Mac said with a warm smile.
“You two were meant to be,” Alicia said and smiled. “It’s so obvious you belong together.”
“It just took us nine years to realize it,” Mac said and laughed softly. “I really don’t have a problem with you working with Harm, and there’s no reason we can’t be friends.”
“I’m glad you said that,” Alicia said and laughed too.


Later that night Harm was in bed when Mac finished in the bathroom. She smiled when she noticed that he was hugging her pillow.
“What are you doing?” she wondered.
“It smells like you,” he said and lifted his head to look at her. “You and Alicia seems to get along very well.”
“Shouldn’t we?” Mac wondered as she took off her robe and got into bed.
“You never made any effort to get to know her before,” he pointed out.
“We never spent a weekend with her before either,” Mac reasoned. “And now we’ve spent some time just us, and I feel like I know her better.”
“Good,” Harm said and lay down on her pillow.
Mac smiled as she snuggled close to him. “Were you in Limbo when you first met her?”
Harm lifted his head and looked at her. “She told you I said that?”
“We talked about a lot of things,” Mac said.
“We never really talked about my relationship with Alicia,” Harm said.
“No, it never came up. I always did wonder though,” Mac admitted.
“I was in Limbo,” he said. “Worst period of my life.”
“I’m sorry,” Mac said and moved her head close to his.
“It doesn’t matter anymore,” he said and pulled her close. He moved his hand down her body, and slid the short nightgown up. “You’re overdressed.”
“Yeah, you think so?” she teased and moved her hand down his stomach to where his boxers began. “I’ll drop mine if you drop yours,” she said suggestively.
“That’s the best offer I’ve gotten all day,” he said as he leaned in and kissed her.

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Replies:

[> Such fun to read! Please keep it going. -- FJN, 17:22:04 10/05/16 Wed [1]

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[> [> Fanfic -- Jen, 01:17:47 10/11/16 Tue [1]

Are you also lacey99 on fanfic.net?

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[> [> [> Yes -- Lace, 12:44:29 10/12/16 Wed [1]

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