Title: Night Watch
Author:
Jerseygirl353
Disclaimer: JAG and its characters belong to CBS
and Bellisario. No profit is being made from this venture. This story
was written for entertainment purposes only.
Prompt: Deemus
Shortly after Lt. Graves arrives at JAG
headquarters, she comments to Harm -- in Mac's hearing -- about the
kiss Megan plunked on him at the end of Automatic for the People. How
does Harm deal with this?
********************
He
watched.
He noticed her every move, always did. Silly things,
like her morning rituals in the office. The way she poured coffee-one
mug for him, a cup for her. The special way she sugared and stirred
the fresh brew and prepared the breakfast bread-sliced, buttered with
a smear of fruit jam. She shared her “dejour” feast with
him…always with a smile. They discussed the pending cases,
gossiped the latest news and remarked on the proceeding evening’s
events: Mattie’s homework, beltway traffic, the lack of quality
television programming.
He worried.
Ever since the
incidents in Paraguay, Clay’s betrayal and her car accident, he
witnessed her struggle back to normalcy. Her physical injuries healed
quickly, after all, she was a Marine. He was concerned over the
psychological impact left by Sadik’s death and Webb’s
torture. She rarely spoke of her fears or night terrors…even
to him.
He knew about such nightmares…his ramp strike,
his imprisonment in Hong Kong, the loss of those close to him and
more. Hell existed between midnight and dawn.
Still, "Things”
were better between them. He told her he would always be there for
her and she believed him, trusted in him.
Until this
morning….
She exited her office and peeked through
the entrance of his office.
“Hey, Harm. How was
California? The China Lake case?”
“Won a
settlement”
“Calls for a celebration, come on I’ll
buy you a cup of brew”
“Didn’t know Marines
were such big spenders.”
“How did the family take
the news?”
“The daughter was grateful”
Together,
they headed towards the coffee machine. Lt. Graves crossed in front
him, failed to notice the Colonel and blurted out.
“Boy!
Commander. Didn’t think I would see you at headquarters today.
I mean…after that smooch! Figured you would have taken a later
plane” Lt. Graves winked and gave a whoo-whoo look.
He
was shocked at such familiarity by a younger and lower ranked
officer. He planned to chastise the Lieutenant, but first he turned
to see an unexpected reaction from the woman he secretly loved for so
many years.
He saw betrayal-hurt-anger in her eyes. Quickly,
she left the break room and headed towards her office. She gathered
her things and left the building. Caught between Lt. Graves and the
door, he watched her go.
In anger, he proceeded in his verbal
discipline of Lt. Graves and the remarks that created the conflict.
He gave the Lieutenant extra duty, condemned her behavior-all in an
intense voice: low, direct, full eye contact. An effective technique
he learned from NCIS agent Gibbs. Lt. Graves teared in full fright,
apologized profusely.
He needed to see her and explain: ‘It
wasn’t like the innuendos offered by the lieutenant. It wasn’t
like that at all! It was just a sweet little thank-you kiss that
kinda got out of hand. Nothing more, even less implied’
He
headed to his office, grabbed his car keys and gear, and headed out
to the parking lot.
His thoughts random: ‘Too late, she’s
already left.-headed where?’
He headed to his SUV and
drove off in search of her. ‘Try her apartment’
He
drove to Georgetown, afternoon traffic was heavy.
He cruised
by the familiar apartment address, looked for her car and
realized:
‘No car,’ ‘Maybe her car is on
another street.’
He parked his SUV down the
road.
‘Could she be inside?’
He locked his
vehicle and decided to check inside the building. He ran up the
flight of stairs to her floor and knocked on her door-no answer.
Impatiently, He rang the doorbell-no one came to the door.
‘Where
would she go?’
He could have used his key, allowed
himself into her home...but that would have invaded the privacy she
desperately sought. He found a place on the hallway floor and sat
down
He waited.
She arrived
“Harm,
what are you doing here?”
“Mac, I needed to talk,
explain Grave’s remarks”
“I believe her
remarks were quite clear!”
“No, It wasn’t
like that”
She struggled with the groceries and dry
cleaning, with the key in hand she tried open to apartment door. He
tried to help her, grabbed a half-ripped bag. A few more tries and
the apartment door opened. She entered the doorway and
turned:
“Harm, leave…go home…go
somewhere….leave me alone, please”
“Mac…I
need to explain…We need to talk’
Her voice
trembled in anger as she walked across the room.
“WE!
Don’t need to do ANYTHING-GOODBYE!”
She laid
the dry cleaning down on the sofa and proceeded to the kitchen with
the groceries.
He followed her, tried to help with the bags of
groceries. She pulled away, walked to the sofa for the dry cleaning
and headed for her bedroom closet. She had to get away: the hurt was
too much.
He reached for her and spun her around, the
cleaning fell to the floor. Eye to eye, they argued.
“It
was just a thank-you kiss-nothing more”
“Sure it
wasn’t a thanks for the good time, see you later
sailor”
“Graves read more into it. Use her
imagination to embellish ...”
“From the way it
sounded, embellish wasn’t exactly…”
“MAC!
STOP! It was just a kiss….or are you just jealous of
Meagan?
“Me, jealous, What’s her name?… who
only knew you a few days. Grateful…..HA!”
He
looked at her expression: She was jealous!
“Yeah, you
Mac! Jealous of Meagan”
“Harm, how could I be
jealous of a woman who only wants you for…..”
She
hesitated before she continued, the logic of the argument was lost.
“Meagan only wants you, but I ….I love you”
Uncharacteristically, she clasped his face and planted the
deepest, longest kiss on his lips. Surprised by her actions, he
pulled her towards her, she yielded to his embrace.
All the
feelings, emotions and desires were contained in this one kiss.
Deeper, longer-the kiss continued-the need for each other increased.
Quick breaths, increased passion, tender touches all led in one
direction. The bed and a stolen afternoon of romantic mania.
The
sun had set, the three-quarter moon rose in the east. They had
crossed the final barrier in their undefined relationship…
Tenderly,
he stroked her hair and thought:
‘Who would have guessed
that an argument based on misunderstanding would have caused them to
finally confront their relationship.’
He decided to
apologized to Graves, he was too harsh.. But not too soon, let the
Lieutenant sweat it out a bit.-learn to curb words and respect
superiors.
He turned to adjust his position, the woman of his
heart nestled in his arms.
He held her closely while she
slept.
He watched her.
The End