Author: Jaggie 107
Subject: I Have To Go (HBX Challenge - June 2008)

Disclaimer : JAG characters belong to DPB, CBS and Paramount – and I hope all parties will allow me to have fun for a little while, and replace them all when I'm done. Thank you.

Summary : Four little words…

Spoilers : Set in the time of Series 10, Mattie’s accident and the coin toss not included; AU all the way!

(A/N : As with most of my Challenge stories I looked at the lines and went with the ideas that came to mind. This is the result! Short (sorry) but hopefully sweet.)


Mac: Why are you doing this?
Harm: Because it's the right thing to do.
I've stopped trying to stop you.
(What If)


Harm’s Apartment


‘I have to go…’

Four little words…and Harm’s world collapsed.

“Why are you doing this?” Harm’s voice held disbelief as he watched Mac pack more clothes into her holdall.

“Because it’s the right thing to do?” Mac answered, her voice holding a question to which Harm gave an immediate response.

“Says who? Mac, you’re usually the first to tell me what an ass I’m making of myself, and to try to stop me from making rash decisions!”

“Well, I guess I’ve stopped trying to stop you,” Mac replied evenly, reaching behind Harm to pick up the bag containing her toiletries.

“You don’t think this is a rash decision? Leaving in the middle of the night?”

“Not at all. Harm, the decision’s been made for me. I have to go. Now!"

“But…” Harm stopped, at a loss for words. In all their time together, as partners, friends, best friends and now lovers, Mac had never done anything like this!

“No ‘buts’, Harm.”



Georgetown University Hospital

Harm pushed open the heavy door, taking in the silence in the dimly lit room. Mac was asleep, laid on her side, a pillow wedged into her stomach. Ostensibly to help support her, but Harm knew it was a substitute – a poor one at that – for him, as this was how she slept in their bed. Beside him an excited Mattie was practically jumping up and down!

“Are you two going to stay over there or are you going to come say hello?” Mac’s sleepy voice came to them through the dimness. Harm stepped forward quietly and came to lean over the bed, pressing his lips against Mac’s in a soft kiss. Mattie waited her turn to greet Mac.

“Are you okay?” Mac’s voice reached him as Harm’s eyes became accustomed to the low light and he glanced quickly around the room.

“I am now,” he admitted, feeling foolish for his reaction earlier. “You gave me a fright.”

“Harm, you fainted!”

Mattie sniggered, stopping only when Harm glared at her. Turning back to face Mac, he grinned sheepishly.

“I…yeah, I guess I did…” he murmured and then kissed Mac once more, a deeper, longer mating that was only disturbed by the discreet cough behind him and a snuffling sound coming from the other side of Mac’s bed.

“I guess we’re going to have a lot of interruptions from now on,” Harm observed, watching as Mac leaned away from him. When she faced him once more she was holding the latest addition to their world.

Their son.

“Say ‘hi’, Daddy,” Mac murmured softly, looking up at Harm as he looked down at the thatch of dark hair that covered his son’s head. It had been the first – and last – thing he’d seen before he keeled over in the delivery suite.

“He’s supposed to look like me,” Mac added, having realised the moment the baby had been put in her arms at birth that she was holding yet another Rabb male with a killer smile.

“That’s okay,” Harm answered, the familiar cocky grin in place. “This way I’ll get a girl who looks like her Mommy.”

“A girl? You think I’m going through all this again?” Mac’s voice held amusement, despite her words.

“I know actually giving birth is…” Harm began, but Mac reached up and silenced him with a kiss. When she pulled back she was grinning.

“Harm, I’m talking about the fainting…”

“Maaaac…”

“There is one good thing,” Mac interrupted, still grinning, and Harm groaned. He knew that look.

“What’s that?”

“Well, if our son has your looks, it means he’s got my brains, which makes him a Marine.” Mac’s grin held a hint of smugness.

Harm opened his mouth to protest, and then shut it again, a matching grin spreading. Mac tilted her head.

“What?” she asked.

“I guess I’m going to have two Navy girls on my side eventually then…” Harm answered, including Mattie as he put his arm around her and pulled her into a hug.

“Oh well, we could make it twins next time, a girl and a boy, then we’ll be even!”

And next time they were…