This is a short fic. Please do not sue, I do not own anything except the story line which starts after about a paragraph. Anyways, you will not get
any money out of me, because I am not just broke, I am in debt!

I turn away from the happy scene and begin to walk away.

"Hey, Mac, where are you going?" Harm asks. There is something in his voice that makes me turn around and stop in my tracks.

"Well, I've, um, I've got a date with Webb." I say. Harm's facial expression freezes and he looks hurt. There is another emotion that I can't place. Quickly, I turn away from him and begin to walk towards my car...

I'm driving towards my apartment as the snow whirls around in its tireless dance. Green light..I move forward. *Why was Harm looking at me that way? And why, MacKenzie did you have this sudden longing to just break off your date with the man who loves you? Why, MacKenzie? Why?* I jerk out of my thoughts as I pull in at my apartment. I lock the car door and try to find my apartment keys. After 7 seconds, I pull them out triumphantly and open my door.

"Hey, Mac!"

"Chloe!!" I yell, dropping my keys on the counter and gathering the young teenager in my arms.

"I've been waiting here for a while, Mac! Anyways, I unpacked all my stuff and I'm fully settled in. It really is too bad that I have to go back to my Grandma's. It's so boring there, really it is."

"Ok, Chloe, ok! I know, I don't want you to go back either, but you're gonna' have to."

"Couldn't you adopt me?"

"With your father and grandmother alive? Sorry, Chloe, I can't adopt you. Hey, I've got a date with Clay and I have to be ready. I promise that I will spend all of tomorrow with you, alright?"

"Fine."

"Oh, and, Chloe, when I get back you better be in bed."

"When will you be back?"

"Two or three hours, at max."

"Kay." She doesn't look too happy, I look at her queerly for a moment and then dash off in the other direction to get changed.

I'm ready 16 minutes later, wearing long black pants and a red shirt.

"Chloe, I'm leaving now. Please behave!" I call out.

"You know I will, Mac." She has a devilish grin on her face as she says this.

I knew better than to trust her, but I was in a hurry. So, aloud I said, "Alright." I pulled on my coat and run out the door.

I pull into Webb's house 27 minutes and 5 seconds later. I slam the door behind me and walk up to his door. The lights are on in his house, so I wonder why he hasn't opened the door for me. Nevertheless, I ring the doorbell. A whole 2 minutes and 18 seconds later, it opens. There is this young woman with long blond hair and deep brown eyes standing there in a bathrobe.

"Who are you?" She says, looking me over in disgust.

"I might as well ask you the same. I'm here because I have a date with Mr. Webb."

"Well, lady, you obviously got mixed up with who your date is and where he lives! I happen to have a date with Mr. Webb, and I was enjoying it until you came along!" She shouts.

I push past her and through the door. Webb is lying on his couch looking pretty sheepish. He's got lipstick smeared all over his face. I can only guess that Webb had been getting kissed before I came.

"Webb, this is it! You have another girl here when we were supposed to have a date?! What are you thinking? You would have let me just go on believing that you were double dating behind my back?! You are a double- crosser and a bastard, Webb!" I shout, making my way towards the door.

"Sarah, wait! You don't understand! I forgot that I had a date with you!"

"I'll bet you did, Webb. That's why you scheduled a date with whoever she is." I say jerking a finger at the woman. I continued to yell at him, "You can forget about us. I was a fool to even think that we would work out." With that, I tear out of his front door and open my car. I return home as soon as possible and open the front door.

"Hey, Mac, what are you doing here? I thought you had a date with the spook." Chloe says.

"Never mind that, Chloe. You want to go to Harm's place? There is someone there who you might want to meet."

"That's better than staying here and having to go to bed. I'll be right back, I've gotta get changed." She tore off towards the bedroom.

I found myself looking in the mirror. *Was that piece of hair out of place? My cheeks are an awful color. Do I look too plain?* Things that I hadn't given a thought to when I was going to Webb's were now bothering me when I thought of visiting Harm like this. *Why, Sarah MacKenzie? You're just going over to see your partner? You know, it's just the only guy who can beat your six, the only guy who can make that smile, that Commander Rabb who broke your heart in Sydney, the guy you told off. It's just him. So, what's the big deal? Why are you suddenly so worried about how you look?* I realized that during all this thinking, I had been putting on a gold necklace and some earrings.

"I'm ready!" Chloe sang out.

"Ok, let's go then." We grabbed our jackets and walked out the door.

Fifteen minutes and 6 seconds later.....

I knock on Harm's apartment door. It suddenly occurred to me that I hadn't bothered to call hi and tell him that I was coming. *Oh well. Why not surprise him?* I jerk out of my thoughts as the door opens.

"Hey, Mac! I thought you had a date with Webb?" Harm says, opening the door. I don't have a chance to reply, because Chloe (who ran ahead) has nearly smacked into Mattie.

"Who are you?" Mattie inquires.

"I'm Chloe. Who are you?"

"My name is Mattie. Why are you here with Mac?"

"Um," I break in, "Mattie, this is my friend Chloe. Chloe, this is Mattie. We are hoping that the Judge will decide that Harm can adopt her in 6 months."

"Oh." Chloe said.

"Hey, uh, Chloe, you wanna go fool around?" Mattie inquires.

"Sure. It's fine with me. I can tell you all of Mac's deep, dark, secrets!" The girls run off. I pretend to lunge after Chloe playfully, but Harm calls to me.

"Hey, Mac, I think that we need to talk."

"Harm, I thought that I made it clear. There is no 'we'."

"Yeah, you made that perfectly clear. We still need to talk though."

I decide not to retort, but I give in and follow him over to the couch.

"Mac, back in Sydney Harbour-!"

"You hurt me a lot." I finish for him.

"Mac, I know I hurt you. But, you hurt me too."

"Harm, I know I hurt you. But, you had told me 'no'."

"Mac, I asked you to wait."

~~"Wait for me, Mac."

~~"For how long?"

~~"As long as it takes."

"I misunderstood you, Harm."

"Mac, we really need to sort this out."

"I know, Harm, please say something logical."

"You want something logical then, Mac?"

"Yes. Logical. And don't use the word we."

"Mac, I can't say what I need to say if you want even let me use the word 'we'."

"And what exactly did you want to know, Harmon Rabb?"

"Mac, can we be friends again? Like we were before Brumby, before Paraguay?"

For some reason, I had thought that he was going to say something else. What I had been waiting for my entire life. I felt the joy of hope that had been rising within me destroyed with that one sentence of his. True, I did want to be friends again, like we were. But, I also had wanted more from him than that.

"Can we, Mac?"

I sighed audibly and took a shaky breath. "I don't know, Harm."

"Than I guess that means I've lost you forever, huh?"

I don't answer him. I'm near tears. *Come on, MacKenzie, you're a marine. Marines don't cry, especially in front of Naval Officers.* It's no use. A salty tear rolls down my cheek and lands on the rug.

"Don't cry, Mac." Harm says, trying to sound reassuring.

Two more tears roll down, except this time, Harm wipes them off my cheek.

"Please don't cry, Sarah. Even if I've lost you, I don't want to know that you were crying the last time I saw you."

*The last time I see you?* "What are you talking about, Harm?"

He gets a far off look in his eyes and doesn't answer.

"Harm, you're not thinking of-of suicide?" I say shakily.

"Sarah MacKenzie, life in my dreams is better than life in reality."

"Harm, you can't! You have Mattie! She loves you, JAG loves you, I-!" I break off and start to cry up a storm.

"The point is, Sarah, I can't live without you."

"And what about me, Harm? You honestly think that I can live without you?"

"Do you mean that...?"

I don't answer.

"Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Catherine MacKenzie, I love you. Do you love me?"

My jaw drops open and remains so for a whole 7 seconds, until I regain composure.

"Do you love me?"

"Yes, Harm, I do." My voice was so soft, and so low that only Harm who was listening intently could have picked it up.

"Well then," he says, breaking out into a smile, "...I always wanted to give this to you on Christmas Day."

"Harm, it's not Christmas."

"It doesn't matter, Sarah." He murmurs, slipping the sparkling Rabb Family Ring onto my finger. I start laughing and crying like a school girl all at the same time. I jump up and fling my arms around Harm's neck. He hugs me back and I notice with awe that my Harmon Rabb is crying. Crying.

After 7 minutes of some shameful romantic moments, we pull ourselves apart. Harm calls out, "Hey, girls, it's almost Christmas! Let's celebrate!" He pulls out 2 cartons of ice-cream (one chocolate, one candy- cane), fudge and sprinkles. I grab the chocolate and fudge, making myself a sundae. Mattie and Chloe both grab the other container and start to serve it. I notice with glee that Harm has pulled out a rather cold piece of apple pie.

I sit down at the table and look at my new ring. I twist it around on my finger, it glints in the light and casts a star-like figure around the room. Harm sits down.

"You like it, I guess?"

"Yes, Harm, I love it."

Mattie and Chloe walk over to the table. Mattie sits down, but Chloe looks at the light from the ring. Her face turns a grayish-hue.

"Mac, that isn't Webb's ring, is it?" She says slowly.

"No, Chloe, this is Harm's Ring. Actually, my ring." I smile at the thought of me owning Harm's Ring.

Mattie and Chloe look at each other and stand up. Then, I start laughing as Harm wraps his arm around my shoulders and the girls break into that infamous little song:

"Harm and Mac, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in the baby carriage!"

A\N:

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