Author: keru
Subject: HBX Challenge August 2008 - Stuck in an Elevator

Disclaimer: Don't own'em.

A/N: I've had this crazy tough week, consider this my form of stress relief. I really enjoy all those 'stuck in the elevator' fics. So you can also consider this as my tribute to those stories and their writers. I don't know anything about elevators except that they usually get me to my floor so this is probably completely unrealistic, but that's okay: I don't mind if you don't. Also, the song is "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" by Jefferson Starship. I wasn't about to use Flo Rida's "Elevator" – that's just too nasty, regardless of the suitability of the title...

I hope to have the sequel to 'Conversations' done in the next couple of weeks, fingers crossed.

--

Stuck in an Elevator

Mac breezed through the doors of JAG, with a smile and a thanks for the young Ensign who held the door for her, and walked right into a waiting elevator. She pressed the button for the third floor, and gave a satisfied sigh.

This had been one of those mornings where everything was going her way. The cute barista at the coffee shop near her place had offered her a free muffin with her coffee. She'd hit only green lights at every traffic signal she'd crossed. Traffic on the beltway had been mercifully light. She'd had a fat tax refund direct deposited into her bank account, just waiting for her when she'd logged in this morning. And her cell phone company had actually admitted to overcharging her in an early morning message on her answering machine. And now the elevator was just waiting for her, when usually the morning rush meant at least a four minute wait.

And how could she forget the very warm, very ... Mac sighed dreamily, and decided there was no word to describe how very very the man she'd woken up to was...

To think, she'd told herself years ago that she was no longer the kind to take a guy home just because he asked—

The elevator jerked suddenly, wrenching Mac from her thoughts. She grabbed for the railings behind her, trying to find her balance. She felt her previous good humour fade somewhat when the elevator simply stopped moving, and the lights flickered for three seconds before deciding to do her a favour by remaining lit.

Figures, Mac thought as she picked up the emergency phone. She gave whichever god was pulling the strings today points for execution. Her morning truly had been too good to be true.

The emergency phone rang for eight whole rings before it occurred to Mac that the phone wasn’t being attended to.

Mac counted to ten, and tried not to lose that wonderful mood she'd been in just moments ago.

She hung up, waited a beat, picked up the receiver, and tried again.

Ten rings, and still nothing. She hung up. Mac checked her cell phone, but there was no signal.

"I would've sat through a few red lights, if I'd known the trade-off," She muttered.

She picked up the phone, and tried again. At the eleventh ring, mercifully, the line connected.

"Maintenance."

"I'm stuck in the elevator," Mac said, figuring preamble was not necessary at this point.

There was a pause.

"Which elevator, Ma'am?"

Mac rolled her eyes. "First one on the right, when you face the doors."

Another pause.

"Just a second, Ma'am."

It took him a lot more than one second, but Mac kept that to herself. She leaned against the wood paneled wall, and tried not to tap her foot with impatience as she waited.

"Ma'am," Another voice came on the line. "My name is Barry. Are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine, Barry."

"Great, great." Barry said. "Can you see a number on the top left corner of the elevator, just above the door?"

Mac squinted up in the direction he was indicating. "Yes, number three."

"Alright, I'm going to have a team come take a look."

"You can't tell if there's a malfunction from where you are?"

"Sorry, Ma'am. Everything seems to be in order here."

"How long will this take?" She crossed her fingers.

"I can't say, Ma'am."

"Educated guess, Barry." Exasperation was winning out.

"At least a half hour, Ma'am."

"Wonderful." She muttered, then added, "Can you call Admiral AJ Chegwidden, he's the JAG. Extension 4228. Please tell him Colonel MacKenzie is stuck in the elevator and might be late for our meeting. My cell's not working in here."

"I can do that for you, Colonel."

"Thank you, Barry."

"You just ring if you need anything."

Mac hung up the phone, and sat down on the floor, leaning back against the wall.

Just great.

If she'd known she would've been stuck in an elevator for thirty minutes, she would've just stayed in bed a while longer this morning ... Mac lost herself for a little while thinking of what she could've accomplished in that bed in half an hour, given the man in bed with her, before bringing herself back to the present.

Oh, well. Might as well make the most of this. Mac opened her briefcase and took out the paperwork she'd intended to work on last night before she'd been given a much better offer. In a bar, of all places. To think she'd also told herself years ago that she was no longer the kind to pick up guys in bars. Mac bit her lip to contain her grin, and put her mind to work.

Fifteen minutes and fourteen seconds later, the emergency phone started ringing, startling Mac out of the file she was reading. She reached over to pick up the phone.

"Yes?"

"Colonel MacKenzie, this is Barry. I'm just checking in."

"Hey, Barry. I'm doing fine, thanks." She idly wondered what Barry looked like. He sounded ... solid. "Did you have a chance to call the admiral?"

"Yes. He was fine with it once he was sure you were okay." Barry answered.

"Thank you, Barry. Do you have an update on the situation?"

"My crew is taking a look. They're not quite sure what the problem is. Which floor were you heading for?"

"Third floor."

"Hm." Came the unhelpful response. "I just got a page on the other line, Ma'am, from my crew. I'll let you go."

"Nowhere to go to, Barry." She sighed. "I'll be right here."

With that, they both disconnected.

Mac picked up the file in front of her, signed where it was required and slid the file back into her briefcase.

That was all the work she had on her. Mac looked around the elevator, but distraction was hard to come by in a rectangular box. Mac stretched her legs out, and wished she'd worn pants instead of a skirt. But who dresses for the eventuality of being stuck in an elevator?

Mac looked up at the ceiling, and remembered how Chloe had hidden up there once. Worse come to worse, she did have an escape route. She debated pushing over the ceiling panel just to see what was up there – it had to be more exciting than what was in here – when the elevator jerked downwards, and then came to a halt. Mac braced herself against the wall, and then stood up. She smoothed her skirt with shaking hands, and picked up the emergency phone.

Barry picked up after six rings.

"Colonel?"

"Yes. Everything okay there, Barry?"

He hesitated, which was enough of an answer for her. She consoled herself with the fact that the building only had three floors. She couldn't plummet to her death from such a low height, could she?

"Fine, Ma'am. Just a minor ... hiccup."

Mac almost laughed, except her worry won out. "Your crew does know what they're doing, right?"

"Of course, Ma'am," He was quick to defend.

"Just making sure, Barry." She placated.

"Well, Ma'am." He faltered. "Since you are the one inside the elevator, you should know we have this new guy..." He trailed off, and Mac actually felt the blood drain from her face.

She looked down at the floor, and tried to imagine how far down the bottom of the elevator shaft was. JAG HQ did have a basement after all. Four floors? That didn't kill people, did it?

This was not something they covered in Marine training.

"I'm just kidding, Ma'am." Barry said, following Mac's extended silence. And she realized that he was actually chuckling.

"Christ, Barry," Mac started breathing again, immeasurably relieved. She decided Barry in Maintenance had a dysfunctional sense of humour. "Did you miss the day they were giving sensitivity training?" She laughed weakly.

Barry laughed merrily. "Don't worry, Ma'am. Have to entertain myself somehow. There is a failsafe mechanism installed. The elevator won't drop more than five feet before the gear kicks in and stops it."

"Good to know. You know where to find me." She hung up the phone, and sat back down. Mac waited for her heart beat to normalize, before searching out some form of diversion in her little cage.

Her gaze drifted back to the ceiling. Were security cameras installed in these elevators, she wondered. She wasn't sure, so Mac amused herself for the next ten minutes by trying to see if she could detect any telltale signs of camera presence.

It was a very long ten minutes.

She was about to pick up the phone just so she could cut through her boredom by chatting with Barry, when Mac remembered that she had her nail file and buffer in her purse.

No time like the present. She removed the items and started filing her nails.

Sixteen minutes later, she was filed and buffed – she could admit that she'd never spent so much time on her nails before – and once again a bit bored. And fed up.

Just then, the phone rang.

"Barry," She said, picking up the receiver. "Please give me some good news."

"At your service, Colonel," He replied with good humour. "We don't know what's wrong with the elevator, but my crew finally managed to override the system. We're going to take you back to the ground floor, and you can get off the elevator. Someone from my crew will be there to block off the car, so no one else can get on. You can use any of the other cars to head to the third floor, Ma'am."

"I'll take the stairs, thanks." Mac answered. "And thank you, Barry, and your crew."

"Sorry for the inconvenience, Ma'am."

Mac hung up the receiver and stood up, just as the lift started moving downwards. She quickly straightened her clothes, picked up her things, and readied herself to get the hell off this stupid box.

The elevator light dinged, the doors slid open.

Freedom. Fresh Air. Finally.

Mac nodded at the technician standing off to the side.

"You'll block this off," she asked, holding the door open with a hand.

"Yes, Ma'am. At the control box." He nodded towards a grey panel on the far wall of the elevator lobby. "If you could just hold the door for me, for a moment?"

"Sure thing." She figured she should also make sure no one else got in; the technician seemed rather disinterested in his work.

Mac held the door as the technician unlocked the control box. She admired her nails while waiting.

Her attention was drawn to the front lobby when the doors to the building suddenly swung open, and a flash of white whipped through the entrance, heading straight for her.

It was Harm and – Mac checked her internal clock – he was running late.

"Hold the elevator!" Harm called, running at a quick clip towards her, flashing her his grin. He was too fast for either her or the technician to react, and he jumped into the elevator, pulling her hand away from holding the doors as he did so.

"Thank for holding the door, Mac. Would hate to be late for the staff meeting." He winked, hit the button for the third floor, and then impatiently and repeatedly jabbed the close door button, before she could even get in a word edgewise.

"Harm!" She yelled as her wits finally found her. "No!"

She dropped whatever was in her hands, lunged forward, and put a hand out to stop the door. To her utter surprise and frustration, the automatic sensor wasn't doing its job, and door kept sliding shut. She tried to push the door open with both hands and the entire strength of her body, while Harm – useless lout – just stood there and stared at her. She finally had to concede defeat to the damn can of steel and wood, and removed her hands just before the door shut.

She was pretty sure she was going to cry.

She should have stepped out of the elevator to hold the doors. She was such an idiot.

Despair was replaced with anger as she remembered that Harm was the reason for her current predicament. She ground her teeth, and turned to face him.

--
Harm could only stare in wonder as Mac stared at the elevator doors, looking like her world had just ended. He would've laughed at the sight she made, if not for the fact that he was really confused.

Before he could ask after her, she turned on him with a really, really terrifying scowl in place.

"You." She said, full of menace.

Harm frowned. He was trying to think of what to say, when the elevator jerked to a sudden stop. Mac shut her eyes, and hung her head in defeat.

What on earth was wrong with her?

"It's okay, Mac," He soothed. "There's an emergency phone in here. I'm sure it's nothing."

Instead of appeasing her, the menace in her expression increased tenfold. Harm took a step backward, purely out of self-preservation.

Just then, the emergency phone rang.

Harm picked up the receiver, only because he was closer.

"Hello?"

There was a silence on the other end, before a male voice tentatively asked, "Is Colonel MacKenzie there?"

Harm stared at the receiver, and then at Mac.

"It's ... for you?"

She grabbed the phone from him in a violent jerk, and put the phone to her ear. The ferocious glare she was directing at him did not abate.

"Yes, Barry?" She ground out.

Harm was now most definitely confused. She was on a first name basis with the emergency phone guy?

She listened intently, and then shut her eyes. Her fingers reached up to massage her temple.

"I tried, Barry. I tried to get out. Your technician was opening the control box for the elevator, and I was holding the door to make sure no one got in while he did it, when," Here, Mac took a deep breath, and once again glared at Harm. "When..."

She seemed to be at a loss for words, and gave up trying. She listened as Barry said something to her.

"Thanks, Barry," She heaved a dejected sigh. "And Barry, can you call the admiral again? Tell him I'll be further delayed. And tell him it's the Commander's fault. He'll know exactly who you're talking about."

She walked up to Harm, standing toe-to-toe with him. She looked him straight in the eye as she replaced the receiver into its box.

"You are a moron." She said, and then turned on her heel and sat down heavily against the opposite wall of the elevator, as far from him as he thought was possible.

He tried disarming her with a smile, not exactly sure how it was his fault that the elevator malfunctioned.

"C'mon, Mac. You, me, an elevator..." He trailed off, and raised an eyebrow suggestively. He took a step towards her.

She made a sound that was alarmingly like a snarl, and it stopped him dead in his tracks.

"I've been stuck in here for 42 minutes and 18 seconds, Harmon Rabb. They just got me out. And you," She jabbed one slender finger in his direction, "Got me stuck again."

"42 minutes?" He asked, alarmed.

"And now 26 seconds." She crossed her arms over her chest as she looked up at him. "And counting."

"Mac, geez." He sympathized, and took another step towards her. "That's terrible."

"You are not allowed to talk to me." She warned, straightening up where she sat.

He laughed at her bluster.

"And wipe that smile off your face. Why the hell are you in such a good mood? We're stuck in a damned elevator." She was all bristly and irritable.

To his credit he did stop laughing, but he could not hide his amusement at seeing her so put off.

"Well," He decided to needle her even further. This mood of hers had always been a weak spot for him. "I'm in a good mood because I had this really hot date last night."

Her scowl deepened, and her jaw tightened. There was a clear warning in her eyes.

"Want to hear about it?" He asked conversationally, ignoring her reaction.

She didn't say anything, so he sat down next to her, by her left side.

She shifted away from him, and turned her head to stare at the wall on her right.

He was having such fun with her, he thought happily.

He slid closer to her, and she moved again still not looking in his direction. He again followed her. They continued this until she was sidled up against the wall with nowhere to go, and he was sitting close enough to her that their hips and shoulders were touching.

He grinned. She ignored him.

"So ... my hot date," He nudged her shoulder with his. "You should've seen her."

She emitted a very unpleasant huff, and he chuckled.

"I picked her up at a bar," He watched her reaction, and thought that he'd never before smiled so much before noon. "And asked her if we could go to her place."

"She shouldn't have said yes." Mac said petulantly. She was still looking in the opposite direction.

"Actually," Harm gave free reign to his arrogance, and leaned in towards her ear. "I didn't give her reason to regret it."

She turned to face him, at those words.

"You didn't," She bit her lip, and he saw a range of very satisfying emotions flicker in her eyes. His ego was patting itself on the back, until he realized just how close he was sitting to her.

His gaze dropped to her lips, then flitted back up to her eyes. Her breathing was shallow; she was waiting for his next move. He gave in to the devil inside him, and leaned in to kiss her when she suddenly turned away.

"But I'm still stuck in this damn elevator – again – because of you." She declared, and went back to ignoring him.

Well, they didn't call him Charmin' Harmon in flight school for nothing.

He wondered if Mac had ever been serenaded before. He hoped not: he was taking out the big guns.

He hummed a bar. When he was sure that he had Mac's attention, even though she wasn't looking at him, he leaned forward to catch her eye, and began singing.

"Looking in your eyes, I see a paradise. This world that I've found is too good to be true..."

He heard her stifle her laughter when she recognized the song, and his grin widened uncontrollably.

"Sitting here beside you..."

She rolled her eyes at the word he substituted in the original.

"...want so much to give you this love in my heart that I'm feeling for you..."

That got her attention, just as he thought it would. Did he know how to melt a woman, or what. She turned to look at him with an expression of awed tenderness, and he knew at this moment she was wearing her heart on her sleeve.

It was irresistible. He swallowed heavily, and took a deep breath trying to level himself.

It was no use.

He leaned forward to kiss her.

"Harm!" She exclaimed, stopping him midway. Her eyes darted around the car. She looked distinctly uncomfortable, as she pointed towards the ceiling. "There might be cameras in here."

He seriously doubted that, what with all the budget cutbacks.

"Let'em say we're crazy," He sang the next verse, and threw a dismissive glance up at the panelled ceiling even though he was sure there were no cameras, "I don't care about that," He waggled his eyebrow at her. "Just put your hand in my hand, baby," He held out a hand, and waited for her to take it.

She didn't, instead glancing up at the ceiling with worry.

She could be so stubborn he thought, laughing.

"Put your hand in my hand, baby," He repeated. He nudged her, and shook his hand slightly in front of her.

She slowly put her hand on his, and he saw the smile she was trying hard to contain. Her eyes sparkled with a slightly self-conscious amusement.

He wrapped his fingers tightly around her hand, pulled her closer into him, and looked her in the eye. He was having so much fun with her.

He belted out the next line with renewed vigour. "Don't ever look ba-a-aack."

The elevator jerked suddenly, and he could only laugh as he sang the next words.

"Let the world around us," He indicated the elevator walls with a sweep of his hands, "Just fall apart. Baby, we can make it if we're heart to heart."

She finally laughed out loud, without reserve. He felt her body relax next to his.

"Alright, alright." She said, one hand up in surrender, the other still held in his. "You win."

She favoured him with a warm, teasing look.

"Hot date, huh?" She tugged his hand.

"You know it." He answered, and tried really hard not to give in to the urge to kiss her. Holding her hand in the JAG elevator was one thing, but they both knew making out was an altogether different matter.

He placed their clasped hands on his lap, and leaned back against the wall. He turned his head to look at her, and continued singing since there really wasn't much else to do when stranded in a JAG elevator.

"And we can build this thing together, standing strong forever, nothing's gonna stop us now..."

She joined him in the chorus, laughing as she did so, and his heart swelled. They're words were almost unintelligible as they tried to contain their amusement.

"And if this world runs out of lovers, we'll still have each other!" They sang merrily. "Nothing's gonna stop us!"

She burst into gales of laughter, while he couldn't wipe the grin off his face.

"Thanks," She told him, a hand on his thigh. "I needed that. This morning was going great until I stepped into this damn box."

His response was cut off by the phone ringing. He stood up to answer.

"Yes?"

"Sir, this is Barry with Maintenance."

"Hi, Barry. What's the status?" He watched Mac straighten her skirt as she sat against the wall. He imagined what it would be like to slowly remove that uniform, one layer at a time. Maybe tonight...

"We're looking at another 45 minutes," Barry said.

"What?!" Harm exclaimed. "That long?"

"Sorry, Sir."

Harm put his hand over the mouthpiece.

"45 minutes," He told a questioning Mac. Her face fell, and she swore richly.

"We'll do our best to hurry it up, Sir."

"Thanks, Barry," He hung up the phone, and turned to look at Mac.

"I really am sorry, Mac." He apologized.

She shrugged, giving him a sweet smile.

"Don't worry about it, Harm: I got my first serenade out of it."

He watched her, and couldn't help but feel bad about this predicament. He glanced at the ceiling, and a rather brilliant solution occurred.

"We're stuck between the first and second floors, right?" He asked, and waited for her nod. He again looked up at the panelled ceiling. "So we can get out through there and use the manual override to open the doors."

"Are you kidding?" She asked, following his gaze.

"If Chloe could get up there, I'm sure two trained military officers can."

He reached up and pushed the panel aside.

She joined him, and they both looked up through the hole.

"The elevator is hardly stable." She cautioned.

"It'll be fine, Mac." He dismissed her worry. One jerk did not an unstable elevator make.

She wasn't convinced. "Barry said the elevator could drop up to five feet before the safety mechanism kicks in."

"You seem to on pretty good terms with Barry," He commented.

She gave him a withering glance. "He doesn’t trap me in elevators."

"That's because he doesn't recognize a good opportunity when he sees it." He teased her, to prevent her from going back to ignoring him.

She gave a low laugh he recognized from last night. "Thank god for the cameras. Otherwise you'd have peeled this uniform off me ages ago."

"Don't tempt me," He laughed nervously, if only to cover how close that was to his earlier fantasy. She really wasn't playing fair, and from the look on her face, she knew it. He cleared his throat and went back to solving their quandary.

"I think the best way to do this, is for me to give you a boost, and you to pull me through." Harm said, after a few moments deliberation.

"Alright." She said with resignation, as she removed her pumps.

She hesitated as he laced his fingers together and crouched down to offer her a lift.

"You're not going to look up my skirt are you?" Her lip curled in a mischievous smile.

He grinned, and gave her a roguish wink. "Nothing I haven't seen before."

They laughed as she put her foot on his joined hands, and her hands on his shoulders.

He liked how delicate her hands felt there. And even her feet were soft; he noticed how shiny her toenails were, and wondered if that was natural.

"Ready?"

"Ready." She confirmed.

He pushed his hands to give her a boost, just as the elevator heeded her fears and gave a sudden jerk. He ended up missing his aim, and sent her into the elevator wall.

"Harm!" She cried, as her shoulder connected with the wood that covered the four sides of the carriage, and her hip with the railing.

They both fell to the ground at opposite ends of the elevator, though she looked like she was in more pain.

"Ouch," She said viciously, as she tried to catch her breath. She rubbed her shoulder.

"You okay?" He asked, contrite.

"Maybe it works better if you put your arms around me." She said, after they sat recovering for a few moments.

"Are you sure you want to try again?" He asked, re-evaluating the merits of his brilliant plan.

"This was your idea." She glared at him. "I said it was stupid. So we're going to follow it through."

He wondered if she actually saw some logic in her statement, somewhere. And he didn’t recall hearing her say it was a stupid idea.

"It'll work better if you put your arms around me," She insisted.

He broke into a grin when he realized how apt her words were.

"Put your arms around me baby, don't ever let go-oh-o." He sang another line of the song that had worked such wonders on her before.

It did the trick yet again, and she laughed. She shook her head at him, but her eyes were full of a contented affection.

"Maybe we should just wait," They both said at the same time, and then chuckled.

He moved to sit next to her.

"How much time left?" He asked.

"39 minutes, 13 seconds and counting." She answered.

That long.

He glanced at her, as she made herself comfortable next to him, and remembered how gorgeous she'd looked when he'd caught sight of her at McMurphy's last night, how amazing she'd felt while they'd danced together, how sweet she'd smelled when he'd kissed her, how she'd made those incredible sounds when he'd...

"So, hot date," He turned to face her, flyboy grin in place, "Want to come to my place tonight?"

--
end.