Author: Nettie
Subject: Feb Challenge - Of Elevators and Engagements

Disclaimer: I'm just having fun, they're not mine.
AN: While this is set at the end of the show it's the earlier version of Sturgis. Enjoy!

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Harm grumbled at the ringing phone which dared to intrude on his Saturday night. True it had only just gone 2100 but he was firmly ensconced in bed and wasn’t appreciative of outside interruptions.
“Rabb,” he mumbled into the phone.
“Hey Harm, it’s Sturgis, just got in from San Diego and thought I’d check in,” his friend said.
“No much happening here,” Harm reported. “How did it go down there?”
“Great, really great. Got the verdict we wanted and um…well, took the opportunity to um…make a few changes myself,” he said, almost secretively.
“And what was that?” Harm asked, only mildly curious.
“Proposed to Verese…and she said yes…” Sturgis’ joy flooded down the line.
“Wow! Congratulations Sturgis…when’s the big day?” he asked.
“Never got to the finer details…we’ll sort all that out in good time,” Sturgis said. “Anything happening with you in that department? You involved with…”
“Sturgis,” Harm said in a warning tone, he didn’t want to discuss this now.
“Talk about denial…I know ‘Sturgis, I’m not involved with Mac’.” Sturgis mimicked and Harm couldn’t help but laugh.
“Buddy, as soon as there’s something to tell you about Mac and I, you’ll be the first to know,” Harm said.

Before long Harm hung up the phone and snuggled further into his bed.
“As soon as there’s something to tell you about Mac and I, you’ll be the first to know?” Mac propped herself up on her elbow and ran her hand over his bare chest. “Didn’t you think the fact we’ve been married for fifty one hours, twenty three minutes and eleven seconds warranted mentioning?” She said, leaning over to kiss his chest.
“Nope,” he said, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her onto him. “All that can wait until Monday. Until then there is only you and me.” He kissed her forehead, before trailing hot kisses down her face and to her neck, smiling when she moaned.
“Good,” she muttered more than happy to spend some uninterrupted time with her husband…her husband. She shook her head, still not quite able to believe the changed circumstances and the speed at which it had all happened.
“What?” Harm asked, noting the tears and faraway look in her eyes.
“Nothing,” she mumbled, dropping her head onto his chest.
“Don’t nothing me,” he said, rolling them both over, easily covering her body with his.
She smiled at his earnest expression. She reached up and kissed his lips.
“I just can’t believe I’ve spent most of the last two days in bed with my husband and I can’t believe that you…” she kissed him again, “are my husband.”
“And I can’t believe, that after all these years, you are my wife.” He kissed her again and again trying desperately to make up for wasted time.
“Do we ever have to get out of this bed?” Mac groaned as he moved down to kiss her breasts.
“No,” he muttered, more than willing to spend the rest of their lives together in this exact position…doing exactly what he was about to do, make love to his wife, forever.

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Flashback
Thursday 1400
JAG HQ

Harm sat in his office; well, not quite sat, more slumped in his chair, the stress of recent times finally taking their toll. His relationships were all suffering, especially the one with Mac. He was extremely frustrated with his life; he knew he would never find anyone he’d love more than Mac, yet she’d made it clear in Paraguay it wasn’t going to happen. Between the million other incidents and events in their nine years together, Harm had finally come to the realisation that it was never going to happen. That realisation shattered what was left of his heart…shattered the part of himself which contained the one vestige of hope that true love existed. All he had to do now was figure out a way to live with it…and the only way he could do that at the moment was to avoid Mac when he could and just remember to breathe when he couldn’t.

“Hey Harm, do you have the…” Mac stopped when she registered his demeanour. “What’s wrong?” she asked gently, intently studying him.
“Nothing,” he said coolly. “What do you need?” He stood up and straightened his files.
“The...um…most recent…Law Journal. Harm?” She tried to establish eye contact but he avoided her. “Harm, look at me?” He glanced up quickly.
“What?”
Mac couldn’t think of the most appropriate response and Harm didn’t want to wait for her to come up with it. He tossed her the journal, grabbed his brief case and cover, muttered some form of farewell and walked out, leaving her bewildered. She watched him for a moment as he stood by the elevator, his head bowed, his shoulders slumped, he seemed to have the weight of the world on him. She threw the journal back onto his desk and went after him, just managing to stop the doors from closing.

There was only the two of them in the elevator as it headed down. Mac stared at him and was surprised when he returned her intense gaze. It was broken when the elevator screeched to an unscheduled stop with a crunching of brakes. Harm forced his eyes from her to the control panel and pressed buttons randomly in an effort to get it to move – nothing happened. He picked up the emergency phone and spoke to the operator, less than impressed when he was told it would be at least an hour wait. This was the last thing he wanted – an hour with Mac.

The first forty five minutes of their confinement was in relative silence, but when the phone rang jolting them both, Harm’ mood deteriorated further.
“The service guy’s up there,” Harm said, gesturing to the ceiling. “He reckons a cable has slipped and it could take a few hours to fix…he thinks it’s a safer proposition for us to stay put than attempt to get us out.”
“Oh okay,” Mac said quietly watching as he sat down on the floor near the control panel. “I’m glad,” she added, “gives us some time to sort this out.”
Harm failed to respond. “Harm…please talk to me, what’s going on?”

Slowly he shook his head; there was no way he wanted to have this conversation with her, not now, not ever. “Leave it, Mac,” he said quietly.
“No, I won’t.” She moved around the steel box until she was seated next to him. “Is it you? Is it me? What?” She watched as his face rose up. Her stomach wrenched when she saw something in his eyes she had rarely seen before – defeat. The sparkle, in his usually self assured blue eyes had been replaced by the cloudy, dullness of defeat. She reached out and took his right hand in his her two, noting how rigid it was, how reluctant he was to have her touch him. Slowly he extracted his hand and folded his arms tightly across his chest.

Her heart broke a little more; she knew there had been many opportunities over their nine year relationship to be much closer than what they were now. She knew she had hurt him in Paraguay and with a myriad of other things which had taken place but she was at a loss to understand why it was an issue right now.
“Harm, talk…to…me…please,” she said slowly, trying hard for it not to sound like she was begging.
“I can’t do this, Mac,” he said quietly, eyes firmly fixed on his shoes. “I can’t be friends with you…not anymore.”
“What?” she gasped, his words totally unexpected. “What do you mean?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know how to have you in my life and not in my life…I can’t do it, Mac…I just can’t.”
“I don’t understand! Where’s this come from?” she said, trying unsuccessfully to establish eye contact. He didn’t reply. “Harm?” Still nothing.

Mac was a marine, she was trained to handle things and she did, successfully. But Harm was a different story…he did things to her she couldn’t handle; he constantly turned her world upside down, like now and it was going to stop. Frustrated with him and his lack of communication she decided for an all out assault.

Quickly she moved to straddle his lap, she placed her hands firmly on his shoulders and pushed him back against the wall, making him look up at her.
“You tell me right now why we can’t be friends, Harm? If you are going to shut me out of your life and treat me as person non grata then I think I have a right to know,” she demanded, using her hand to keep his chin up when he tried to drop his gaze. “No! You look at me and tell me.”
“Don’t make me do this,” Harm said quietly.
“Do what? What am I doing?” she asked utterly confused.
“Don’t make me tell you what we both know…” he replied.
She grabbed his face in both of her hands and forced him back. “What do we both know?” she yelled, her frustration boiling over.
“That this is never going to happen…you are never going to love me like I love you,” he spat out before he could stop himself.
“You love me?” she repeated. “We can’t be friends anymore because you love me?” He nodded.
“You’ve made it clear to me, Mac…it’s just taken me a while to come to terms with it. But now I have I can’t do the friends thing with you. I don’t want to do it.” He closed his eyes and leant his head against the cold steel.

Before he knew it Mac’s lips crashed onto his. Automatically his arms unfolded and wrapped around her pulling her tightly to him, instantly deepening their kiss. When she finally pulled back he went to speak but Mac placed her finger upon his lips.
“I love you, Harm…have for a long time …” she began.
“But in Paraguay…he interrupted.
“Forget about Paraguay…forget about never, forget about Webb and everything else and answer me honestly, right here and now – Harm, are you still in love with me?” He nodded. “Good, because I am in love with you.” She kissed him again and again and again.

After several long minutes Harm put an end to it.
“No, Mac, stop!” he said. “This isn’t going to help matters.
“Why not?” she asked breathlessly.
“Because those doors are going to open and then reality kicks in and then where does that leave us?” he said.
“Those doors are going to open and we are going to pull some strings. You will take me to the registry office and marry me. You’re right, friends can’t work for us anymore…” she said.
“You’ll marry me, today?” he said, surprised. “What about everything else that’s happened between us…what about our careers, being on top…”
“That’s never got us anywhere, has it?” We’ve both left JAG before ...” she began.
“But we both came back...” he interrupted.
“Harm…for once in my life I am prepared to put my heart on my sleeve, put myself out there and say to hell with everything else. Marry me today and we can deal with everything else later…” she begged.
“Are you sure?” he asked, knowing his resignation already sat in his briefcase a mere three feet away.
“I’m positive…unless you don’t want to marry me and I’ve just embarrassed myself greatly,” Mac said, dropping her head. Harm ran his hands from her back to her head and pulled her into a deep kiss.
“I’ll marry you…” He thought about the irony of all the times he’d imagined proposing to her, only to have her do it.

Four hours later the doors opened, the General graciously gave them the Friday off as compensation for their entrapment, Harm called in a couple of favours and not long after they were husband and wife, ready to take on the world together…once more pressing needs had been taken care of.