Author: keru
Subject: HBX Challenge August 2007 - Live a Little

Disclaimer: I don't own the character, show, etc.

A/N: This is my first time responding to a challenge, so do bear my lack of previous experience in mind when reading this. The fic takes place after Paraguay and Webb and Mac's accident, but before Mattie's injuries or the news of the transfers. Not related to any fics I've written before. Just hammered this one out so it is a bit rough. I do hope you enjoy it.


Live a Little

Mac observed as a nervous looking man entered the diner and sat in the booth across the aisle from where she and Harm were seated. He was dressed too well for lunch at a diner and his hair was copiously gelled. She watched him with undisguised curiosity.

"He's going to break up with his girlfriend." Harms words cut through her musings. She gave the man a closer look. No way was he here to break up with someone.

She looked at Harm who was still considering the stranger, "he is not. He's waiting to tell a friend or co-worker that he's crushing on her."

Harm was skeptical and amused. "Crushing on her?"

Mac rolled her eyes. "Have you spent any time with Mattie recently? It's the cool thing to say." She emphasized the 'cool'.

She almost laughed when Harm answered with a raised eyebrow and a disbelieving smile. "The cool thing to say?" he mimicked her words and tone.

"Yup," she nodded knowledgeably. "If we were in high school, I'd be at the cool table and you'd be sitting all by yourself, eating your soy."

Harm laughed, his smile wide and his eyes bright. "Is that so?"

She nodded again while dipping a fry in ketchup. She popped the fry in her mouth and grinned, "definitely."

"Care to make a wager on that," he nodded toward the man in the booth across the aisle from them, "Dr Phil?"

Mac laughed with glee, "I knew you were a closet Dr Phil fan!" she teased him as she dipped another fry in ketchup. "Has it given you any insights into the human psyche?"

Harm shook his head slowly while keeping his eyes on hers. When he spoke his voice was soft and steady, it held nothing of their previous levity. "I'm still working on that, Mac." She could see the hope and wistfulness in his expression. She watched him carefully for a moment, considering his words and the meaning behind them. She knew he was waiting for her, but she did not know if she could jump in with him now. She still felt raw and vulnerable and exposed. She had nothing to give him, not anymore. She looked down at the fry she still held, half covered in ketchup. She took a deep breath and returned her gaze to his. She would let this pass.

"Alright," her tone was light and teasing, "I'll take you up on that wager."

"Terms?" He smiled with only a hint of regret lingering on the edges of his tone. So she was letting this go, another opportunity that they would let escape from their grasp, another missed chance that they would remember on days when they felt lonely and empty, another moment that would coalesce with all those in the heavy gray cloud that followed him like a shadow whenever he was anywhere near her.

"I'm willing to negotiate," she said this between mouthfuls of her burger, before absently licking the ketchup from the side of her mouth. He shook his head and smiled at her. She could be so...herself sometimes. He wondered if this unassuming, casual comfort she at times possessed when they were alone was a sight he only was privileged enough to witness. Did she eat burgers and fries while trying to divine the life history of her fellow diners with Dalton or Brumby? Or anyone else, for that matter? He somehow didn't think so. He suddenly wondered why she was still brushing him away as she had been doing ever since he had seen her for the first time in that godforsaken pregnancy suit. And, more importantly, why the hell was he letting her brush him away? Since when did he give Mac an easy time about anything? Especially about retreating into that damn shell of hers. Well, that out-of-character behaviour was going to stop. Now. Harm cursed Webb, Fahd and the entire continent of South America for good measure before diving in with both eyes closed and his hands tied behind his back. Naked.

"You know what, Mac? I think we need to live a little." His eyes were on the opposite booth, but somehow she felt that all his attention was focussed solely on her.

She eyed him curiously. What could he mean by that? "Like bungee jumping?"

He looked at her and her mind flashed to the scenes in old black and white movies, where suspects were interrogated under a bright light. He was not going to let this go. The walls of the diner seemed to close in on her.

"No. Not at all like bungee jumping."

She felt compelled to ask the next question, despite her better judgment, "Then what?"

"If I win, I get a kiss," he couldn't believe he had just said that to her, of all people. He had not felt this alive in a long time.

Mac felt her breath catch in her throat. She thought she ought to reply in some fashion but she actually had no idea what to say. She had, in those too few times in the past, really enjoyed kissing him. But he was expecting more than a kiss, wasn't he?

"A kiss?" she thought she ought to clarify.

"A kiss," he responded, watching her for a moment before turning to study the man in the booth across the aisle.

Well, that hardly cleared things up. She glanced at the stranger.

"Harm," once again, his gaze locked with hers. She couldn't do this. "I'm not what I, who I used to be. You're expecting something that I can't give."

"A kiss, Mac."

"That's not all it would be, would it?"

He slowly shook his head, just as he had moments earlier. "It could be so much more if we let it, Sarah."

She looked at her hands which were clasped above the half-eaten burger on her plate. "Could it? Still?"

"Still." He gently placed his hands over hers. "Always." She looked at him, surprised by the candour in his words. His sincerity was evident and she remembered that, no matter what had happened or would happen, she had always felt safe with him. It was time, maybe, to stop letting things pass. It was time to live.

She smiled, mischievously, "and if I win?"

He wanted to tell her that she already had everything he could possibly give to her. All there, just for the asking. Instead he pulled his hands away and crossed his arms, "if you win, I'll take you out for a burger every day this week."

"Beltway?" She looked adorably hopeful.

He sighed dramatically, "As if there were any other option."

The chimes above the diner entrance rung and they both turned to see a young, attractive woman make her way towards their stranger.

Harm looked back at Mac, "this is it."

She felt strangely nervous, "what?"

"One of those moments, Mac, where lives intersect," he turned his attention back to the booth next to theirs and she followed his gaze, the nervous flutter not quelling. A giddiness overtook her, she couldn't decide if she would rather have a burger in his company every day of the week, or kiss him. The former was definitely less terrifying and, she reasoned, she really did love eating burgers. But to kiss him...Maybe it was a toss-up.

She grinned, "and we have front row seats." She heard Harm's chuckle but continued to observe the couple in the booth next to theirs. She did not want to miss a moment of this.

The woman sat in front of the man who looked around nervously before taking her hands in his. She looked surprised, but as he spoke - he was whispering so despite their best efforts, Mac and Harm could not hear what he was saying - her surprise was replaced by a soft look of pleasure. She looked decidedly flattered and pleased.

"Ha!" Mac turned to Harm to find him already looking at her, crestfallen and obviously displeased. She was going to revel in this victory, "burgers every day for a week, Harm! I can't wait. When's the first date?"

His demeanour brightened at her choice of words. They smiled warmly at each other and he pulled out his wallet. "Consider this the first one," he winked and she rolled her eyes good-humouredly, feeling lighter than she had in months.

As they exited the diner he suddenly grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him. He looked down at her, feeling both daring and apprehensive. "I still think we need to live a little. So I'm going to kiss you anyways." He raised in eyebrow in question.

She looked up at him, his heart was shining in his eyes and she knew instinctively that she could never refuse any request of his when he asked her in that way. Slowly, she made a show of looking beyond his left shoulder and then his right shoulder before arching an eyebrow at him, "not a traffic light in sight."

The End.