Author: ColieMacKenzie
Subject: HBX Challenge December 2006: Making All The Parts Fit

Disclaimer: I own nothing but an overactive imagination and a complete inability to focus on my thesis paper!

Rating: Huh, I don't quite know... I'd say IM 15, just to be on the safe side.

Summary: Harm and Mac fluff. Set somewhere in mid- to late season 7, when they were in a fun place in their friendship. The story finds them at Mac's apartment, passing their time...

AN: I think these challenge lines just screamed for a little steam, and I'm trying to go for it... I hope I didn't overdo it this time. This is un-betaed, as usual, so all mistakes are mine. If you feel like it, let me know what you think, and please enjoy!!

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Making All The Parts Fit

“How about this way?“ Harm asked, twisting his upper body around and looking up. Mac took a closer look.

“No, doesn’t fit like this.” On her hands and knees, she climbed over his lap. “Maybe the other way around?”

They were cramped under the small glass table and looked up.

“No,” they both dismissed simultaneously. She leaned her upper body out from under the table and came up on her knees. Scrutinizing, she considered the table top.

“Oh yeah, this is it. It fits here,” she happily announced. Meanwhile, Harm leaned over her calves, reaching for another piece.

“Explain to me again why we are doing this?” He grunted. He twisted and held up another piece for inspection.

“Because I refuse to be beaten by a simple puzzle!” She tried to climb back under the table, but Harm was still partly laying on her legs, so she lost her balance and fell over him.

“Uff,” he groaned when the breath forcefully left his belly. Then he grabbed her waist while she clambered off his body.

“Simple? That is the understatement of the year!” He snipped the silly piece over his shoulder and turned on his side, rummaging through the colorful parts scattered all over the floor. She giggled and he glared at her. But then he had to grin as well. Their acrobatics were quite ridiculous.

She had to give him that. This wasn’t just a puzzle, it was rocket science. The ultimate challenge. She had bought it when Chloé was visiting the last time. Then she ended up having to buy a table with a glass top as well. This silly thing had an image on each side, one on top and one on the bottom. 1,500 pieces. To make matters worse, it came without pictures that would show what the finished puzzle images would have to look like. All they knew was there were dogs on one side and cats on the other. And now Chloé was back home, the puzzle was not even half done, and Mac was intent on finishing it, instead of just packing it all back up in its box. That would be defeat. Unacceptable. Of course, by the way things were going, she’d probably be wrinkled and gray before it was done.

She lay down flatly on her back and stared up at the one picture that slowly became visible on the bottom of the puzzle. Grey and dark stripes. A few pointy ears. Pinkish triangle-shaped noses here and there. Obviously the cats. Luckily, it turned out that the dogs were at least a different color, a blondish-brown, maybe Golden Retrievers. It made sorting out the pieces at least somewhat doable. But then there was grass, and blankets, and sky, and it all looked the same.

Harm turned on his back next to her and held up his arm.

“There?” He asked, holding a piece to an empty spot.

“Mmhh,” she nodded, “looks good.”

“You wanna do the honors?”

“Sure.” She took the piece from him and turned to her hands and knees again. She robbed out from under the table, then leaned over it. Turning the piece, she checked out the other side to find where she had to attach it. From under the table, Harm tipped his finger against the glass at the spot where he thought the piece should go. She tried, and it fit. Looking down through the glass, she winked at him.

“Good.” Then she scanned the pieces on the floor.

“Oh, there, next to your hand…”

“This one?”

“No, up a bit… a bit more… now to the right… the brown one there…”

“Mac, half of the pieces here are brown!”

“Don’t move. I come get it.” She scooted back under the table and reached out for the piece she wanted.

“Oww,” she suddenly yelped and deflated on the floor. “Ow ow ow…”

“Mac, what’s the matter?”

“Ow uh, leg cramp,” she pressed out, trying to take deep breaths, waiting for the pain to subside.

“Which leg?”

“Left. Calf.”

He turned and leaned over. Then she felt his hands on her calf. Slowly, he massaged her muscles from the ankle up to the knee. She sucked in her breath when his fingertips reached the cramped area.

“There?” he questioned when he felt her reaction.

“Uh huh,” she mumbled, trying to control her breathing. Tenderly, he dug his fingertips into her flesh until she had relaxed somewhat. He continued massaging up her leg to the knee, then back down, once again paying particular attention to the cramped part. Gradually, her leg relaxed, and the cramp subsided, only leaving the dull ache that would quite likely remain for a few days.

“How does that feel?” He whispered.

“Better.”

Once more, his hands kneaded their way up her calf, but then continued over her knee and up her thigh. He felt the warmth of her skin permeate through her pants. He was up to the middle of her thigh when he realized that his ministrations had no longer anything to do with her cramp. He usually tried to avoid touching her, because any close contact with her brought out emotions he had been trying to curb for years. Abruptly, he stopped.

“Mmhh, don’t stop,” she sighed. Surprised, he gazed at her. She was lying on her stomach, her head cradled in the crook of her elbows. In the cramped space under the table, he felt as if they were wrapped in a small, warm cocoon. Her close proximity was making his head spin. Fully aware that he was entering dangerous territory, he touched her again. Starting at the ankle, he treated her right leg the same way he had her left. Tenderly, he massaged up her calf, his fingertips digging into the pliable flesh with slight pressure.

Up and up his hands wandered. She felt his strokes on the back of her knees, and it took all her self-constraint to remain completely still, while her body screamed to wiggle towards the caresses, her hips ached to move. But then his hands wandered past her knees and up her thigh, higher and higher… Sensations hit her all at once. The warmth of his hands permeating through her clothes, seeping into her skin. His big body looming over hers. The small space under the table sparking with electricity, and heat, and desire.

“Oh, that feels good.” Uncontrollably, the words had just flown out of her, breathless, throaty. She only realized what she had said and how she had sounded when she heard herself, heard her words reverberating around the small intimate space. Immediately, she tensed. Damn, what had she done? All he did was giving her a massage, and she reacted like she was in heat? Oh but wasn’t she ever when it came to him! A simple smile of his made her weak in the knees. A touch of his made her skin tingle. The few kisses they’d shared… oh she better not even be thinking about those at the moment…

Lying completely still, she held her breath, trying to calm down the butterflies in her belly. Gradually, she realized that he wasn’t moving anymore either, his large hands still resting on her thigh. Complete silence surrounded them. Almost palpable. Deafening.

When she couldn’t take it any longer, she lifted her head from the crook of her elbow, trying to get a glance at him.

“Harm?” She whispered. Her voice no longer her own.

And then he moved. Within a heartbeat, she felt his hands around her, and was suddenly flipped over, coming to rest on her back. The shock from the sudden movement ripped her eyes open. She found herself looking directly at his strong body kneeling in front of her. His hands were still on her thighs, which were cradling his legs. Their position suggestive; intimate and sexy. Her gaze wandered up, lingering on his chest, rapidly heaving and sighing, then continuing until she reached his face. His eyes were riveted on her, his look with an intensity she’d never before see. Blue-green pools blazing with desire. Oh God he wanted her! The implication was making her dizzy. She had wished for him so long that the reality of the moment was almost too much to grasp.

Harm couldn’t believe what had come over him. She was his best friend, and he had basically taken advantage of her by touching her thus intimately. But her reaction had taken him completely by surprise. When she had voiced her thoughts in that throaty, suggestive voice of hers, chivalry had flown right out the window. Now she was lying in front of him, in a position that couldn’t be more suggestive if they tried. And she seemed to have no intention of kicking his butt all the way to Timbuktu. Could it be that their feelings were mutual; that she wanted him the way he wanted her? They had gone wrong so often; had they finally reached the point where they could get it right? She was looking at him through half-glazed eyes, her cheeks flushed, her lips slightly opened and glistening. God how he wanted, needed to kiss her. Yet he was no longer capable of moving; frozen in time and space.

Until he felt her move. Slowly, she rose up, holding her weight on one elbow, while her right hand leisurely wandered up his torso. Her fingertips were blazing a trail of fire over his stomach and chest, until they came to rest over his heart. There, her hand remained, feeling his rapid heartbeat. Her eyes had followed the path of her hand, observing his muscles react to her tender touch. Then she finally brought her eyes back up to his face. When their gazes locked, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. A gasp escaped her throat when their bodies came in full contact.

They fit together. From their hips to their shoulders, their bodies fit together. Hard planes and soft valleys. Angles and curves. Every part was a match. Just like the puzzle pieces that they had had such a hard time connecting before. But once the match was found, it would always fit together. There was no other that would do.

For a while, they remained entwined like that, reveling in the sheer novelty of being wrapped up with the other. Immobilized by the perfection that was them. Heat built between their bodies, until Mac felt as if her whole body was on fire. Overtaken by sensations, she subconsciously wiggled her hips.

That did it. In a heartbeat, Harm’s lips descended on hers. Their first touch set off a tidal wave of desire. Lips opened, tongues met, passion flared; secrets were discovered that had been hidden for too long. Mac simply sank into his embrace, whimpering into his mouth by the sheer energy of their union. It was all she’d ever wanted and more. It was unbelievable that they were finally getting this right. And yet here they were, and it was perfect.

Harm pulled her tighter, with no intention of ever letting her go. Kissing Sarah was the answer to all his prayers. His hands roamed up and down her back, learning her form by touch alone. She wrapped her arms around his neck, tunneling her hands through his hair, angling his head, deepening their kiss. He fell into her embrace, basking in the knowledge that she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

No, this wasn’t just about want, he realized. Never had he felt about anyone the way that he felt about her. This was love. He loved her. And her passionate response told him what he didn’t allow himself to believe for all those years he had known her: She loved him, too. He slowed down their kiss, communicating all his feelings to her with tender, loving explorations and gentle caresses.

When their kiss broke, he rested his forehead against hers. She was breathing as heavily as he, but her warm, satisfied smile made his tummy flutter.

“So,” he whispered at her, his voice not quite his own yet, “are we done puzzling?”

“Who cares about the damn puzzle,” she answered throatily, lifting an eyebrow at him. With sudden energy, she moved out of his embrace and got up. When she stood, she stretched her hand out to him, and when he got up and grabbed her hand, she beamed her biggest smile at him and pulled him with her towards the bedroom.

She was right, Harm reasoned. He caught up with her and, catching her by complete surprise, grabbed her around the waist and swung her over his shoulder. She squealed in delight and pinched his butt while he carried her towards the bedroom. After all, they’d have the next fifty or so years to work on that puzzle.


The End