Rating: NC-17
Spoilers: Nothing too specific
Summary: Mac gets an invitation to her high
school reunion.
Disclaimer: These characters belong to CBS
and Bellisarius Productions. I am simply borrowing them for a little fun.
Notes: All feedback is more than welcome. I
would like to offer special thanks once again to Sylvie for beta reading this
for me. I really do appreciate all your help.
Mac was having an informal dinner party at
her apartment to celebrate the Admiral’s retirement from JAG. Harm went home
with her from work on Friday so he could help her with the cooking. She stopped
and checked her mail, pulling out bills, bills, and even more bills. And one
letter postmarked from Arizona. She froze.
"Mac. What’s up?"
"Sorry, Harm. It’s just this." She
handed over the letter and started to get the kitchen organized.
"Hey! Your high school reunion. You
going?"
"No. High school was a bad time. I think
I was voted least likely to succeed."
"Great reason to go then." He
smiled his flyboy smile at her. "Look how successful you are. You’re a
lawyer, a Marine and,"
"Single," she added.
He looked at the invitation again,
"Damn. I have plans that weekend, my mother’s birthday, or else I would go
with you."
"No."
"Come on. Don’t you think it might be
fun to see all their jealous looks?"
"No because after that they would look
at me as wonder how I could have snagged you. Besides, I didn’t say I’d go
anyway. Put that away." She saw that he was going to say something else so
she grabbed the invitation from Harm and stuffed it in a drawer. "Now
let’s get dinner started."
They worked on dinner for a while in silence.
They had been friends long enough that neither felt the need to fill in the
stillness with unnecessary chatter. At one point they broke the silence to talk
about work and how it was going to be with a new JAG. A few minutes before 8
o’clock, the doorbell rang and the phone rang, at the same time. "Harm,
grab the phone!" The Admiral was at the door. Mac invited him in and
offered him a drink.
"Hello?" asked Harm.
"Sir, this is Bud. We have a problem.
Our car broke down. We’re fine but can you come and get us? We’re just a few
miles away."
"Sure. I’ll be right there." He
hung up the phone and finished up quickly in the kitchen as Mac and the
Admiral walked in. "Who was that,
Harm?"
"Bud and Harriet. Their car broke down.
I’m going to run and pick them up."
"They okay?" asked the Admiral as
Harm reached in the closet to grab his jacket.
"Yeah they’re fine. Gotta run!"
Both Mac and AJ were both a bit nervous being left in her apartment alone
together. She had often wondered why there was this much tension between them.
True, she was attracted to him but she never thought that he realized it.
Trying to break the tension she focused on the oven. She noticed just as the
door closed that Harm hadn’t finished cooking what he had in the oven.
"Damn. He didn’t tell me how much longer this needed." She leaned
down on one side of the oven and looked up and asked, "What do you
think?"
AJ had been staring at her and he swallowed
when he caught her look then peeked into the oven. "I’d give it a couple
more minutes. Should be fine then. Anything I can help with?" he asked
stepping back trying to distance himself a bit from her.
"No it’s a dinner for you. You shouldn’t
have to help."
"What can I do, Colonel?" he
insisted.
Realizing that she wasn’t going to win,
"Could you set the table for me while I finish up here? Plates etc. up
there, silverware in the top drawer there. Thank you, sir."
He opened the drawer for the silverware,
"What’s this Mac?"
‘The damn reunion invitation!’ She groaned.
"Nothing important." She held out her hand. But he held it out of her
reach.
"So you normally keep your mail with
your silverware?" he asked with an amused grin.
"No." Realizing defeat she
continued, "It’s an invitation to my 15 year high school reunion. Harm was
trying to convince me to go but I don’t want to."
"Why not? You’ve changed a lot since
then. You should be proud."
"I am. I just don’t want to show up
alone."
"How about," the Admiral started.
"Harm’s spending that weekend with his
mom."
"I wasn’t suggesting him. I was going to
say ‘how about I take you?’"
"No. I can’t ask you to do that,
sir."
"First of all. I’m retired; you don’t
need to call me sir anymore. Second, you didn’t ask. I volunteered."
"Sir," she began. He raised an eyebrow
at her. "Admiral," she started over.
"Like I said I’m retired. The name is
AJ."
"Ok."
"Can’t do it, can you?" an amused
AJ commented. She turned away to do something, she didn’t care.
"You’ve been ‘sir’ or ‘Admiral’ for
years. I think it might take a while for me to remember otherwise."
"Well if you call me ‘sir’ at the
reunion, people might find that odd."
"I never said I was going."
"Well it might be kind of weird if I
showed up by myself." He smiled at her stubborn look. "Mac, if you
really don’t want to go fine. But think about how much fun you could
have."
"Well…"
"You know I could just ask Rabb
directions and just show up."
She looked at him and she smiled, "He
doesn’t know where it is."
Rubbing his hand on his chin he added,
"Well, I guess I could ask Webb."
She was stunned. Why was he doing this?
"I give up. Do you realize that there is a dress ball on Saturday
night?"
Unfazed he responded, "That’s fine. I’ll
just wear my dress whites," he said with a grin. "By the way, you
going to take the stuff out of the oven?"
"Oops." She reached behind him for
the potholder without thinking how close that put her to him. When she
realized, she lost her balance. He easily caught her and helped her right
herself. He wasn’t sure what to think with her so close. She looked up at him
and froze at the expression on his face. The thought that he was going to kiss
her flashed through her mind just as he began lowering his head to hers.
Suddenly, the door opened letting Bud,
Harriet, and Harm in. Mac jumped back and hid her face by reaching for the
oven. "What, you didn’t take it out yet? Trying to ruin my dinner, Mac?
You finish the table, I finish the food. Now get out of my kitchen," he
swatted at her with the potholder. Mac, happy to be away from the Admiral and
her confusing feelings, didn’t bother to remind Harm that this was her
apartment and quickly slipped into the dinning room. She didn’t see AJ pocket
the invitation.
Dinner was finally ready and everyone sat down
to enjoy their meal and the company. Harriet, sitting across from the Admiral
asked. "So, Sir, what are your plans now that you’ve retired?" Seeing
the look on the Admiral’s face when Harriet called him ‘sir’ Mac murmured
"told you so."
With a smile AJ replied, "I think I’ll
be doing some traveling. I think I might be going out west in a few weeks.
After that, who knows, I might go visit Francesca."
Harm commented "Mac might be doing some
traveling out west too, sir. She has her high school reunion this year."
Mac glared at him. "Drop it, Harm."
She said unsure about what the Admiral might say after the embarrassing near
kiss in the kitchen.
"Why? You said you weren’t going to go
because…"
"Harm!" she interrupted him "I
said drop it." Bud chuckled. Mac stared at him questionably.
"You two sound like an old married
couple," Bud explained. This caused Harm to choke on his drink.
Mac sat back and smiled, "He seems to
have that reaction when anyone says the word ‘married’ around him." It was
his turn to glare at her. AJ was even more curious about the relationship
between the Colonel and the Commander.
Harriet, noticing the tension, suddenly
blurted, "How about those O’s?" Everyone turned and stared at her
then burst out laughing. The tension was gone and everyone began to enjoy
dinner again.
Feedback: astridz55@earthlink.net