Author: mkim
Subject:
Nothing- - - - January 07 HBX Challenge
Nothing
Disclaimers:
I don’t own any of the JAG characters. I don’t own any
product or label mentioned for the purposes of telling this story.
Any similarities to situations or persons living or dead are purely
coincidental.
A/N: This fluffy little story takes place in the
fall of 2003 between the episodes ‘The One That Got Away’
and ‘Touchdown.’ Keep in mind that the period of time in
my little universe, for the purposes of this story was longer than
one week between the two episodes. This is just another way to think
about those two smiles at the end of ‘Touchdown.’
A/N:
This is a little play on words for me to get my creative juices
flowing again and an attempt to write something entirely from one
characters point of view.I don’t think I’ve ever done
that before. I’ve put the January 07’Challenge words in
this story but they are in another tense and blended into the
narrative.
Mac: Harm?
(Harm reaches out and tentatively
touches her arm)
Mac: What are you doing?
Harm: (shaken) Making
sure its you.
It was nothing.
To Mac’s
mind, they had decided with their words, spoken and unspoken, that
this thing between them was, what it was and….
It was
nothing.
She was past the point of believing that what she
felt when Harm walked into a room, the flutter in her stomach, the
increase in her heart rate, was anything other than admiration and of
course, normal attraction between two mature adults of the opposite
sex. She had to admit that she missed that feeling but that was to be
expected, they’d worked together for a long time, after all.
And so, all things being equal…other than that…
It
was nothing.
She would glance at what was his office from time
to time, during her workday, forgetting for just a millisecond that
he no longer occupied it. The pain in her heart was sharp but brief
and of course…
It was nothing.
When she had been
tasked to meet with Marine JAG’s on the ground in Afghanistan,
in order to monitor their progress in training the ANA with their own
form of the UCMJ, she had known she would see him. She wasn’t
sure how she would see him; she only knew he was there. Shortly after
her arrival at Forward Operating Base Bravo, a flurry of activity
surrounded the Commandant’s office, indicating some type of
trouble with operations in the field, her instincts told her Harm was
involved. She shook it off; trying to make her self believe that…
It
was nothing.
When she began walking toward the
Commandant’s door, seemingly before the thought even occurred
to her, it seemed perfectly natural to do so. And when she neared the
door and heard muffled voices through the closed door, she could only
discern one name. Rabb. It was a name familiar to her and so Mac
thought…
It was nothing.
When, against her
better judgment, Mac knocked on the Commandants door and fairly
barged into the situation that was causing such urgency at FOB Bravo,
she thought nothing of it. Harmon Rabb and his partner Jack Keeter
were missing and without really knowing why, she knew where they
were. It was simple to Mac, after a quick phone call to Admiral
Chegwidden, he explained to the Commandant Mac’s ability to
find Rabb in the past. When the Commandant understood, she’d
been allowed to go. She only told the Commandant that they were
connected, she and Harm, and that they always had been….it
wasn’t anything special, really…
It was
nothing.
They located them more quickly than anyone on the
patrol believed and when she’d come upon them, Harm and Jack in
their hiding place, she’d known Harm was wounded. She found him
leaning against the wall of the cave, when she said his name he
opened his eyes for the first time in two hours. Jack told Mac that
he couldn’t believe it, he hadn’t been able to get him to
respond to him for some time. Mac only told him that her voice was
familiar to Harm, she’d said, more than likely, her voice was
probably an irritant and chuckling to herself, told Jack….
It
was nothing.
As Jack and the other Marines in their patrol
helped get Harm into the all terrain vehicle, he heard Harm say the
word Sundance. When he asked Mac what Harm meant by that, Mac would
only say it was a private joke, from a long time ago, and so….
It
was nothing.
As they were being driven back to base camp, Harm
steadied himself by holding onto Mac, his right arm braced around her
shoulders. When fatigue and pain caused him to lean heavily on her,
he seemed to try to sit more upright, pulling himself back from her.
She told him to relax that he wasn’t going to hurt her and that
if he kept struggling, he might reopen the wound on his left
shoulder. Harm glanced at his wounded shoulder and then rolled his
head heavily back toward Mac, their faces nearly touching. With eyes
that spoke to her and told her how much it meant to him that she was
there, his words said only that he would be okay, that…
It
was nothing.
When he seemed to have difficultly focusing, his
head lolled to the side and into her neck. She felt his body go lax,
she quickly checked his carotid pulse, and though it was strong, she
barked an order for the Staff Sergeant to get them to base camp
quickly. She knew they were moving as fast as they could. When a well
hidden fear of truly losing him forever gripped her, she reasoned
that this was concern for a friend and former partner, it was
perfectly reasonable and therefore…
It was
nothing.
While Mac waited for the corpsmen to tend and
stabilize Harm, the Commandant asked again what her real connection
to this spook was. She told him they’d been friends and
partners for a number of years at JAG, nothing more. Jack was
standing a few feet behind the Commandant and at her words he would
only shake his head. It seemed to Mac that he believed he knew more
about her and Harm than she did. She decided he was mistaken; they’d
never been more than friends. It was an assumption that was made by a
lot of people who knew them. They were all wrong, she decided for
what seemed to be the millionth time….
It was
nothing.
After what seemed to be an interminable wait, the
corpsman came to let her know that Harm was stabilized and that she
could see him, but only for a moment. The corpsman explained Harm had
been sedated and he wouldn’t be awake very long. When she and
Jack walked into the cubicle, she felt slightly disconcerted that she
didn’t seem to be able to see anything the room but him, his
eyes more specifically. They spoke to her as they always did but
there were no questions this time and no recriminations. He was only
asking her to come closer to him. When she reached his bedside, he
lifted his hand and tentatively touched her arm and then closed his
fingers gently but firmly around her forearm. Harm’s eyes never
left hers as he began to gently pull her toward him. When she asked
him what he was doing he said only that he was making sure it was
her. From what seemed to be far away, she heard Jack asking them what
was going on with them; they did not turn to look at him, but both
softly answered that….
It was nothing.
Jack
excused himself from the cubicle and Harm asked Mac to come closer
still. When she leaned down, her face just inches from his, she asked
him why. He told her, just before he tasted her lips… that it
was time and this time…nothing and no one would separate them
again. Mac felt her ancient fear of opening her heart to the man she
loved most, leave her, and for the first time, she knew that she
could let it go because, after all...
It was
nothing.
FIN
A/N And so shippers, that beautiful smile
on Harm’s face as he walked toward the camera on that carrier
deck and Mac’s secret smile as she stood in the bullpen
watching him could be about a remembered kiss and anticipation of a,
soon to be, homecoming.
A/N: You may have noticed that I
didn’t mention Webb in this little story and there is a reason
for that…in my mind…he was nothing.