Title: Warmth
Author: JAG Junkie (rondayoung@yahoo.com)
Rating: PG
Category: Romance (H/M)
Disclaimer: They are (sadly) not mine. If they were, Harm and Mac would have gradually grown closer in the latter half of season 10.

Summary: Harm has the flu and Mac takes care of him. This is set not long after “The Four Percent Solution”, but for the purposes of this story, nothing we saw on the show after “4%” happened, because I like to think that much better things happened (see my disclaimer above).

A/N: This is my response to Cece’s HBX challenge for January.




Harm’s Apartment
North of Union Station

“But Ma-ac, I’m not hungry!”

“That doesn’t matter, Harm. You’re sick and so you need to eat, whether you’re hungry or not.” Mac insisted. Harm was in bed and she had brought his dinner to him on a tray. She refused to take it away until he had at least made an attempt to eat.

Harm tried a different approach. “I know that, but…it’s just that nothing tastes good!”

“Of course not. That’s one of the downsides of being sick. Now, I left JAG early today so that I could make this soup just for you, so I expect you to be a good little sailor and eat it!”

Harm stared at her stubbornly.

“Don’t make me force-feed you, squid!”

“Well, the *last* thing I need is a jarhead force-feeding me, so I’ll humor you and eat it. But *only* because you made it yourself. It’s not that often that I get a home-cooked meal out of you.” Harm winked. The stubborn, whining little boy was gone in an instant and had been replaced by a playful, flirty man, much to Mac’s relief. She had seen a lot more of this side of him since Christmas and things finally seemed to be going somewhere with them.

“I *do* cook sometimes, when I want to!” Mac put her hands on her hips in defense, but it was hard to act mad when he was wearing that flyboy smile.

“Hey, this actually isn’t half-bad.” Harm said with over exaggerated surprise.
Mac chuckled. “I’ll take that as a compliment. It’s probably as close as I’ll get. And just to prove that my soup’s not toxic, I’m going to eat some myself.”

Within moments Mac returned to the bedroom with her own bowl and sat down on the bed next to Harm. She leaned back on the pillows and crossed her ankles. When she looked over at Harm he was grinning.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You’re awfully comfortable in my bed, Mackenzie.”

Mac’s eyes flashed. “Harm, if we weren’t both holding bowls of hot soup, you’d be paying for that comment!”

“And if I weren’t sick…” Harm’s voice trailed off.

“If you weren’t sick what?” Mac cocked her head to the side.

Harm decided that the thoughts in his head were better left unsaid. “If I weren’t sick, there’d be some serious retaliation!”

“Hmph! You’d think that by now you’d know not to mess with a marine!”

Harm just shook his head and continued eating. Even though Mac had had the last word, the smug look on Harm’s face left her feeling like somehow she hadn’t won this round after all.

When they had both finished eating, Mac took Harm’s bowl with hers and started to get up. Harm reached out and touched her arm to stop her.

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For coming here tonight. For making soup just for me. For being so good to me.” Harm looked deep into her eyes and she could see that he was sincere.

“You’re welcome. That’s what friends are for.” Mac smiled warmly and put her hand on his shoulder. “Now you get some rest while I put everything away in the kitchen.”

Harm rolled his eyes playfully. “Yes, mother.”

-----

A couple of hours later Harm woke up suddenly. Mac had been in the living room reading while he slept. But now she was climbing under the sheets and slipping into bed next to him.
“Mac, what are you doing?” Harm asked with wide eyes.

“It’s time for bed, Harm,” Mac stated matter-of-factly, as if it should be obvious what she was doing.

“I know *that*, Mac. But you’re getting into *my* bed!”

“So? It’s not like we’ve never slept together before.” Mac shrugged.

“But--”

“Harm, you’re sick. You have a fever. You need to stay in bed. What if you need something during the night? What if you get up to go to the bathroom and you get woozy and fall down? The last thing you need is another bump on the head or sprained limb. I’m here to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“Mac, I appreciate your concern for my safety, but don’t you think you’d be better off going home and getting a good night’s sleep?”

“I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I was home. I seldom do.” Mac spoke softly. She blushed and turned her head away when she realized what she had revealed.

Harm stared at her intently and when it became clear she wasn’t going to say anything else, he spoke up. “Mac, you can’t just make a cryptic statement like that and not elaborate. You want to tell me what’s going on?” He put a finger under her chin and turned her face towards him.

“I…uh…” Mac shifted her weight into a better position. If she was going to finally talk to him about this she might as well be comfortable. “Well, for a long time now, I guess since Paraguay, I’ve had periods where I couldn’t sleep. Sometimes it’s not as bad as others, but it never seems to go away completely.”

Harm gave her a look of concern. “Go on.”

“It never bothers me except at night. I’m fine all day long, but when I get into bed, I’m overcome with this feeling of being cold and alone. And I’m nervous and anxious for reasons I can’t explain. I just can’t seem to relax and calm down enough to sleep.”

“And this has been going on *how* long? Mac, why didn’t you tell me?”

“Well, I *did* try to tell you once, but you had a guest and I didn’t want to interrupt.” Mac looked away again.

Harm was momentarily confused, then realization dawned on him. “*That’s* what you wanted to talk about that one evening Alicia was here?”
Mac nodded. She couldn’t help but notice his use of the word ‘one’.

Harm ran his hand through his hair. “Mac, I had no idea it was so important. I would have sent Alicia home. We were only discussing a case, nothing that couldn’t have waited until the next day.”

Mac was dying to ask a question, but was too scared to find out the answer.

Harm searched her eyes and read her mind. “Mac, there never was, is, or ever will be anything going on between Alicia and me. You should have told me how much you needed to talk to me that night. I would have been there for you. You’re my closest friend.”

“I guess I thought I could handle it. But I’ll admit I haven’t been doing a very good job of it.”

“Well, if you think you will sleep better here, you’re welcome to stay.”

“Thanks, but you know that’s not the real reason I’m here.”

“I know. You’re here to take care of me.” Harm searched her eyes. “Why are you being so good to me? I don’t deserve it.”

Mac took a deep breath. It was now or never. “Because, Harm, you are the most important person in the world to me. I promised myself at Christmas that I was going to start treating you that way.”

Harm smiled and Mac lowered her eyelids shyly. When she looked back up, he was laughing. She suddenly felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“I don’t believe you, Harm! I pour my heart out to you and you *laugh* at me?” Mac cried as she started to get out of the bed. Harm grabbed her arm holding her in place.

“Wait, Mac! I don’t think you understand. I’m laughing because I made the *exact same* promise at Christmas.”

“You did?” Mac sniffled and looked up at him, hopeful.

“Yeah, I did. And I made that promise to myself because I feel the same way.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, I do. It’s mutual. You are the most important person in the world to me, Mac.”

“Really?”

“Really. So let’s just lie back down and get the sleep that we both need so much. Okay?”
“Okay.”

Harm put his arm around her and brought her back down to the mattress. Mac snuggled up to him and put her hand on his chest. Harm, in turn, drew her even closer and wrapped his arms around her. They continued to shift their positions in an effort to get more comfortable, and in doing so, found their lips mere inches apart.

“Boy, do I wish I wasn’t sick.” Harm spoke in a low voice.

Mac’s breath caught in her throat at the way he was looking at her. She could only whisper, “Why?”

“Because then I could do what I want to do so badly.” Harm looked down at her lips briefly. “But I don’t want you to get sick as well.” His expression was a mixture of regret, longing, and desire.

“Is being sick the only thing that’s stopping you?” Mac licked her lips.

“Yeah.”

“Well, I’m willing to take that risk.”

Slowly, they closed the distance between them. Their lips met in a short and tender kiss that spoke of love and desire. Both reluctantly pulled back before it could get out of control. Their eyes locked and the look that passed between them was one of promise. In that moment, they both knew that this would be continued at a better time.

“Goodnight, ninja-girl.”

“Goodnight, flyboy.”

Mac buried her head in his neck. She breathed in his scent and marveled at the release of tension she felt. She had finally found the warmth and security she needed to relax enough to fall asleep. Within moments and with smiles on their faces, they both quickly drifted off into the first of many nights of peaceful slumber.

*****