Author: Nid
Subject: HBX Challenge May 2006: It's Elementary, My Dear

Hello! This is my first fic posted on the HBX. I have written other fanfics before, including JAG, but not very frequently or recently so I'm kind of rusty. I wrote this when I should have been studying for a chem exam, so it has not been edited and stuff and I apologize for any mistakes. I hope you enjoy it!

Also, this doesn't take place in a specific season/storyline/episode. It's angsty as well.


It’s Elementary, My Dear

She always remembered why much too late. Too late for it to do any good, anyway. She couldn’t back out now, couldn’t feign sickness in the middle of their walk to the restaurant. Besides, Marines did not retreat without putting up a hell of a fight first. Mac just wasn’t sure how much fight she had left in her.

Every day gnawed at her defenses. Every look, every playful slap, every time his eyes would shift from her own picked at the lock which held back her demons. They were dogged insecurities and fears, making their presence known even while she managed to squeeze them into captivity. When they kicked inside the box she felt as if a tiny knife was twisting in her heart. Or maybe that was when he would look at her suddenly and smile, as if to reassure her he was glad she was there. But she didn’t want his pity.

She wanted his love.

Or at the very least, she wanted him to want her in a capacity greater than that of friends. A romp in the hay would not have satiated her heart in the least. But for one night, she would feel as if she was somewhere she was supposed to be. With him.

Not with him and his date. Ha! His date. Her friend. She had introduced them. Although they weren’t actually dating, Mac didn’t need a vision to tell her where this was headed. They were falling for each other. What woman wouldn’t fall for Harm? Right now they were three friends going out to dinner. Soon she would be left out in the cold, another door to happiness slamming in her face.

Of course, if Harm had his way, she too would be accompanied by a friend-who-just-might-be-a-date. He had mentioned that his friend from Annapolis was in town and they had hoped to meet tonight, sharing stories and making introductions all around. It wasn’t until Harm had stopped by her office this afternoon with an apologetic look on his face that she had realized his intentions.

“Mac,” he knocked on her doorframe.

She looked up from the witness testimony she was taking notes on. “What brings you by, Harm?”

“I just wanted to let you know…Matthew called…” he paused, which only piqued her curiosity even further. “He’s sorry to cancel on the dinner, but something came up and he can’t make it tonight.”

It took her a few moments to piece everything together. Her first thought was that it was a pity the two classmates couldn’t get together. That was followed by a “why are you…” she blinked as she read the look in his eyes, as if he was sorry he disappointed her. “Never mind, Harm,” she continued. “Thanks for trying.” Mac even threw in a weak smile.

He seemed relieved at her reaction and smiled ruefully. “Yeah, well…I just wanted to...we’re still on for tonight, right?”

The apparent responsibility he thought he had towards finding her a companion, one she didn’t even know she needed, should have been her first clue. Or hell, her first excuse, reason, the trigger for a sudden flu bug in the middle of April. But as she was still wrapping her mind around what had just happened, and why it had happened, she couldn’t think of any incentive not to come. “Sure. You still owe me dinner anyway.”

A real flyboy smile graced his features. “You have a knack for calling in favors at the most opportune times,” he said, referring to the pricey restaurant the four had made reservations at. “Are we even now?”

“More than.”

“See you tonight, Mac.”

Belatedly, as in halfway to their meeting point tonight, she realized the expensive restaurant should have been her second clue. Everything about this night screamed ‘date’ and ‘romance’, and it would have been fine except she was taking part in neither.

And now, as they walked along, a happy couple that was not yet a couple, and a friend who was not yet a third wheel, she remembered all the reasons she shouldn’t be here, if only to spare herself the pain. But now it was much too late and she didn’t have any choice but to dig in and hold her ground until the night was over. She averted her eyes from all the little ways they managed to touch each other. She ignored the tiny stabs in her heart and the rattling of her own version of Pandora’s Box.

This was not where she was supposed to be tonight, on the fringes. Not even close. There weren’t even supposed to be fringes. She had been blindsided even though she had been watching from the start. Maybe this was what Watson felt like at the end of every Sherlock Holmes mystery. Minus the all-encompassing jealousy and the heartache that didn’t seem to disappear.

THE END