Author: lisa
Subject: Coming Home - HBX February '07 Challenge

Author’s Note: Yes, I already did a story using this month’s Challenge lines, but I couldn’t let Valentine’s Day go by without a little lovin’ for Harm and Mac - and the lines seemed to fit with this little scene. By the way, this story does not follow show canon. I didn’t like the idea of Harm and Mac moving away from DC, so I left them there.

On another note, I’d like to thank all those who have given me such gracious feedback and encouragement for my first few stories. I feel very amateurish next to the awesome authors from this site who have brought me so much enjoyment over the years. This is a great community!

Disclaimer: I don’t own JAG, it’s characters, or the magazine mentioned in this fictional story.


Coming Home
~ by lisa

Twenty minutes. I’ll be home in twenty minutes and I can hardly wait. The traffic is fairly light at ten o’clock at night as I make my way back from Norfolk. I press down a little harder on the accelerator, risking a ticket in my anticipation of getting home.

Funny thing is, coming home has always been commonplace for me. As a JAG lawyer, it seems I spend as much time away as I do in DC. And it’s never bothered me. But that was before. Before Mac became so much more than my best friend and partner. Before Mac became my wife. Mac is the great dividing line of my life. I see my life as two distinct eras - B.C. and A.D. – ‘before commitment’ and ‘after domestication’. I grin, thinking about how whipped I am. I’m one of those guys I used to razz in my independent, commitment-phobic days. Now I’m the one is who is so hopeless smitten I hate the thought of being away from Mac for a night. Sleep does not come easily when I don’t have her in my arms. And I have been gone two endless nights!

I’m getting home early. Mac’s not expecting me until tomorrow, but I wrapped things up sooner than expected. I had great incentive - one more restless night without Mac snuggled up against me or drive home after a very long and tiring day. The decision was a no-brainer. We really haven’t been a couple that long. Knowing each other as long and as well as we did, once we finally crossed that divide, our courtship was brief and now we’ve been married just three months. Maybe some day I’ll be able to be away from home without aching for her, but I highly doubt it. And I hope that day never comes.

I finally arrive home and park the car. As I enter, all in quiet. I hesitate to call out Mac’s name for fear of waking her if she’s already asleep. While I’d love to spend some time making up for two lonely nights, almost as good will be sliding into bed behind Mac, spooning my body around hers, burying my nose in the sweet scent of her hair.

There’s a light coming from the bedroom doorway. I stand around the corner sneaking a peek at Mac stretched out on our bed. I love watching her when she is unaware. She is so luminous! My eyes take in her long, luscious legs; travel up her incredible body - covered only with some short, little satiny thing; and finally focus on her beautiful face. She isn’t asleep, but seems engrossed in some magazine. Probably some law journal or military periodical if I know my marine. She’s a voracious reader, and while she does read for pleasure, her reading material of choice is often something that is selected to stimulate her thinking and improve her mind. Not that her mind needs improving, in my opinion. Just like the rest of her, she is absolutely perfect. I stick my head around the doorway, grinning just from being in her presence once again. “Hi honey, I’m home!”

Her reaction is immediate. An answering smile spreads across her face as her eyes light with happiness. It makes my heart swell at the thought that I generate such a response. That I do for her what she does for me. She drops her magazine on the floor as she jumps up to greet me “Hey, you’re home early!”

I pull her firmly against me, greeting her with a brief, but meaningful kiss. “Miss me, sweet thing? Or are you disappointed that I interrupted your alone time?”

“Oh definitely missed you. That bed’s awfully cold and empty without you.” She snuggles even closer, nuzzling her nose against my neck.

I tease, “Well, there better not be anyone else helping you keep it warm!”

“No one could ever hold a candle to you, baby.”

I roll my eyes at the “baby”, but we both know I really like it. My response is to kiss her again. This one longer and more passionate. I feel her unbutton my shirt and I let go of her long enough to allow her to push it off. When I feel her hands on my zipper, I pull back before things get out of control. “Give me a few minutes to get cleaned up, and I’ll see what I can do about heating up that bed for you, ma’am.”

Her smile turns sensual, as she coyly responds, “Don’t take too long, sailor. I have some body heat I need to share.”

Grinning, I move past her, stopping to remove my pants and drape them over a chair. Heading towards the bathroom, I spot the magazine she’d dropped on the floor. Stooping to pick it up I ask, “What’re you reading, Mac?”

She leaps to try to rip it out of my grasp. “N-Nothing. I’ll just take it and put it away.”

Arching my eyebrows at her nervous response, I know she is hiding something from me. I hold the magazine away from her reaching hands and turn it over to look at the front cover. I would never suspect her to read what I discover. “Cosmo, Mac? I can’t believe you read this type of stuff! Isn’t this a little tawdry for you? Come on, it’s nothing more than a sex manual for pathetic women.”

Now she’s indignant as I smirk at her. Trying to defend herself, she stammers, “It’s about fashion, and make-up tips, and... besides, how do you know what’s in the magazine? Do you read it yourself, Harm? Studying the ‘opposing sex’?”

I continue to goad her. I love to get Mac all worked up; it’s one of my favorite games. “Nice diversion, Mac. But I don’t have to read the magazine to know what it’s about – and it’s not fashion and beauty. The headlines stare me in the face every time I buy groceries – what was it last week, something about ‘Wild Sex Tips’ and ‘Hot Booty Calls’. By the way, when we have kids they are wearing blindfolds when we take them through those checkout lanes – I don’t want them exposed to that kind of stuff. But, back to the point, have you always been a ‘Cosmo girl’, Mac? What other secrets are you keeping from me?”

I inwardly gloat as I see the signs of defeat in her expression. “Well, I just happened to pick it up for a little mindless reading.”

“Mac, there’s a mailing label on the front. You subscribe to this!” Ha! Gotcha, marine!

“Okay, the truth is, Harriet bought me a subscription a year ago as a joke. Before you and I were together. She said that I might find some tips to help catch your interest. I just read it for kicks once in awhile.”

“Sarah Mackenzie-Rabb” (I love calling her that! – especially the ‘Rabb’ part) “I think I learn something new about you every day. My squared away little jarhead, who reads every elite professional publication there is, also reads sleazy women’s magazines. And for the record, you didn’t need a magazine to catch my interest. You had it from the start.”

“Well, maybe I used tips from Cosmo to get you to finally commit!”

I cross my arms across my chest and raise my voice in mock offense. “Are you saying you manipulated me into proposing? I’ll have you know that no one made me commit, Mackenzie. I did that all on my own.”

“You keep telling yourself that, Harm.” She smiles knowingly as she gets the last word once again. Still holding the magazine, I pick her up and toss her onto the bed. Following her down, I hover over her, my arms framing her gorgeous face.

I stare into her eyes, sparkling with laughter, and can’t come up with a witty retort. So my only response is to ignore her last comment and lean down to kiss her. As I do, she once again tries to grab the magazine.

My reflexes are quicker. “Not so fast, sweetheart. I want to know what my wife was reading.” Pulling away I sit up beside her and open the magazine to a dog-eared article. “Let’s see, ‘101 Naughty Sex Tricks and Positions that Will Drive Your Guy Crazy’ - well, Marine, which of these were you going to use on me?”

Sitting up beside me, her voice takes on that sexy quality that makes me forget my own name. “Oh, I had several in mind. One of my favorites is number 51.”

I quickly turn the page to find out what pleasure she had in store for me. Before I can find it, she leans over and whispers in my ear what number 51 entails. I find myself becoming aroused just from the description and fight to keep from blushing. “Wow, uh, I might have to give you a yellow light on that one, Colonel.”

Mac laughs, “Oh come on, Harm! After three months of marriage haven’t we reached the point where we can drop the traffic signals? Besides, can you even give traffic signals to your wife? What, is it too kinky for you, Commander Prude?”

I retaliate by pushing her back down on the bed and tickling her senseless. I was delighted to learn that Sarah Mackenzie is incredibly ticklish in several locations, and I have now discovered each and every one. “Cute, Marine. For your information, I’m not worried about it being too kinky. I’m just worried about the kinks in my back afterwards! Is that position even possible?”

Mac pulls me down to her and that sexy, mesmerizing voice returns. “There’s only one way to find out. Want to try it?”

Does she really have to ask? I am a guy, after all. There can only be one response. “Absolutely!”

Grabbing the magazine I turn to number 51, studying the directions and the stick figure diagram as if it were a flight manual for the space shuttle. Turning the magazine upside down to get another view of the drawing, I direct, “Okay, Mac, you have to turn this way and put your legs…”

She interrupts my directions. “Harm! This isn’t rocket science.” Taking the magazine out of my hands she tosses it to the floor. As she pulls me to her she murmurs, “I think we can figure this out on our own.”

In a split second I’m out of ‘strategic planning’ mode and focused on ‘making love to my woman’ mode. Her feminist sensibilities would be offended that I think of her as ‘my woman’. But I can’t help it, she is all mine. And I’m hers. She’s right, we don’t need directions. Her body calls to me and soon we are caught up in one of the most passionate expressions of our love I have ever experienced.

All too soon we lie panting, with Mac draped over my chest. “Wow, Mac that was fantastic! I stroke the smooth skin of her back, trying to catch my breath.

She looks up at me and I must admit that her satisfied smile fills me with a rush of male pride. “It certainly was, sailor. I think you could teach Cosmo a thing or two.”

I pull her up to give her a light kiss. “You are the one who amazes me, Mac. By the way, did I ever tell you, Marine, how you’re like...”

Mac interrupts, rolling her eyes. “I know, the Energizer Bunny. I’ve heard it from you before.”

I can’t help grinning at a memory from years ago when I used that analogy – one of the few times that she didn’t have a comeback. “I wasn’t going to say you’re like the Energizer Bunny, Mac. Even if it is so true.”

She ignores that crack. “You weren’t?”

“No, I was going to say you’re like a Slinky.”

“A Slinky? You mean the toy?”

“Yeah. You must be like a Slinky to do what you just did. I never knew how flexible you are! That really was something, Marine. I still can’t believe we did that!”

Mac’s voice turns suggestive, “You want me to demonstrate my flexibility again?”

Despite the fact that my heartbeat has not yet returned to a normal rate, I’m definitely intrigued. “What do you have in mind?”

“Well, I thought we could try number 63.”

Warily I ask, “And what does that involve?”

As she describes the acrobatic feats of number 63, I envision myself in traction afterwards. Groaning, I pull her against me, snuggling down in the bed. “On second thought, let’s not.”

The End