Author: Jaggie 107
Subject: Appearances Can Be Deceptive - HBX Challenge - February 2008

Harm:(sotto voce) I'm not involved with Mac.
(Touch and Go)


Summary : Imagine if you will that this little piece is set in Season 10, Harm and Sturgis are friends once more, and Mac is as distant as ever. Reading between the lines, sort of two stories in one…


APPEARANCES CAN BE DECEPTIVE


JAG Headquarters

“C’mon Harm, I know that look! You’re involved with someone…” Sturgis poked fun at his friend as they rode up in the elevator to JAG Headquarters.

Harm watched as she climbed out of his bed and turned to face him. Her face bore a smile that got him every time. Alluring, yet mysterious. So many layers to her personality, and one by one he had the pleasure of discovering her…

Harm wore a smile that hadn’t moved off his face for the better part of a week. Bud had noticed but wisely kept his thoughts to himself. The General had noticed also, and took stock of one of his three senior attorneys. When he had first taken command of JAG he had read Harm’s jacket from start to finish, and having interviewed Harm himself he had reached the conclusion that there were many facets to the emotion-driven officer but he still somehow managed to remain inscrutable; not only the consummate lawyer and skilled aviator, but a puzzle as a man. Mac had remained aloof, showing no emotion whatsoever – which bothered Sturgis somewhat – and Sturgis himself, who recalled quite a few women who had targeted Harm in his younger days.

‘So,’ she murmured as she rounded the end of the bed. ‘Does this mean we’re involved?’ Harm nodded silently, watching her graceful movements as she approached him slowly. ‘I can consider myself your girlfriend?’

“If that’s what you want to believe, Sturgis…” Harm trailed off as he strode across the Bullpen and pushed open the door to his office. Sturgis followed him, dropping his own briefcase on the filing cabinet inside the door as he walked across the room to stand opposite Harm, over the desk.

‘Is that all you want to be?’ Harm countered, watching closely as she considered his question. Slowly she shook her head. ‘You want more?’ he added, and she nodded silently, a lone tear escaping to slide down her cheek.

“I know you, remember? Annapolis? The Four Musketeers. You, me, Keeter and Diane? I know that look,” Sturgis reiterated, and then paused as a memory came to mind. Harm and Diane. Diane had been a best friend to them all, but to Harm she had been something special. Someone that could have been more. Sturgis snapped his fingers. Diane was gone, but there was another…

Harm reached out a hand to her face, wiping the tear with his thumb as he drew her down to him on the bed. And the loving began again…

“Mac!”

‘Harm!’ The cry of his name left her lips as he once again brought about her surrender to him. In the privacy of his apartment they shared their own world, abound with laughter and intimacy, of novelty and flirtation, of trust and promises.

“What about Mac?” Harm kept smiling.

Since the first time they had made love Harm had worn the smile he now bore when in the company of others. It simply meant all was well in his world, and his world was now her…

“That’s who you’re involved with! C’mon, Harm, ‘fess up.”

‘Will you be teased at work?’ she asked, idly running her hand over his bare chest, lifting her gaze to his as she waited for an answer. Harm shrugged, not really caring about the world outside his door.

Harm raised his glance from the notes on his desk to his friend’s face, and the smile was still in evidence.

‘Probably,’ he murmured, ‘but I’ll get over it. What about you?’

“I’m not involved with Mac,” he stated firmly, and then took pity as Sturgis’ face fell a little. “Look, Sturg, you’re right. I am involved with someone, but it’s new, you know? I just want to keep her under wraps for a while longer. It’s been a while, and I don’t want to jinx anything…”

‘I think I can keep a straight face,’ she responded softly, smiling up at him as her hand grazed his chest a little harder, watching the expression on his face change as he reacted to her actions. It was evident his thoughts had been elsewhere, but he was here with her now…

“Hey, that’s great news, and I do understand,” Sturgis reached out and put his hand on Harm’s shoulder in a gesture of camaraderie. “I felt the same way when I first dated Varese.” Sturgis turned slightly to glance into Mac’s office next door, and Harm followed his gaze.

They had met at the Memorial, at a time when he didn’t usually visit the site but he had felt drawn there in the tumult that dogged his life at that point, looking for answers he wasn’t sure he would find. But hopeful nonetheless. And he’d found her…

“Does…um…does Mac know?” Sturgis asked, his voice dropping along with his jovial tone, becoming serious. Harm nodded, not saying anything as both men took in the woman seated at her desk, back straight, focused on the files in front of her. Sturgis sighed. Obviously Harm’s involvement with someone new had not bothered Mac at all. Or if it had, she wasn’t showing it.

Harm reached for her at the same time as she pushed herself up to meet his mouth with her own. The kiss was both an affirmation of commitment and passionate, a mixture of emotions so potent that nothing could come between.

‘So, when do we get to meet your mystery lady?’ asked Sturgis, turning away from Mac’s adjoining window, unable to bear looking at the Marine’s stoic expression for a moment longer. Given what he knew and had held secret for a few years now, he believed Mac must be hurting badly. As Harm had made no immediate response, Sturgis reached for his briefcase with one hand and the door handle with the other.

‘What do you suggest I say if they do ask me about you?’

Harm’s grin faltered as Mac glanced up and caught his gaze, before he turned to face Sturgis.

‘Give them a cryptic clue,’ she suggested, teasing once more. ‘Tell them what my name means, rather than my actual name. It will keep them guessing…’

“When you do meet, you can call her ‘Princess’,” Harm offered, and Sturgis’ surprised expression was comical.

“You’re joking, right?” Sturgis studied Harm’s face. “Omigosh, you’re serious! She’s a princess?” The door to Harm’s office was barely open, but it was open enough and with that statement the scuttlebutt went into overdrive, and many recalled the young Romanian princess who had taken a liking to Harm.

Harm’s Apartment, That Evening…

“So now everyone thinks I’m dating a Romanian princess,” Harm grouched good-naturedly as her arms came around him from behind, and she plastered herself against his back.

“Are you disappointed?” she asked, a hint of uncertainty in her tone. Harm turned around immediately, shaking his head as he took her back into his arms.

“Never!” he answered without hesitation, and she was assured by his tone and his actions. “However, Sturgis is getting very persistent. I told him I wasn’t involved with Mac,” Harm paused, the smile coming back into force, and she reached up to place a soft kiss against the smile before letting him speak again.

‘I’m involved with Sarah…’