Disclaimers in part 1
"Sure. I think we need to talk
anyway." They walked quietly to Mac’s apartment and she pulled out her
keys. He took them from her and opened the door. They walked into the
apartment, he took her jacket and then she hung it up. "Can I take your jacket,
sir?"
"AJ."
"Sorry," she responded somewhat
embarrassed. She took his jacket and hung it up also. "Make yourself
comfortable," she said while gesturing toward the couch. He untied his bow
tie and unbuttoned the top button.
"Damn monkey suit," he murmured.
"I’ll make some coffee." She walked
into the kitchen and once she thought she was alone she reached down and took
off her heels and sighed.
"I never did understand why women always
wore heels," AJ said almost directly behind her. She spun around and lost
her balance; he reached out and caught her arms to steady her. He held her for
a while staring into her eyes.
She finally regained her balance, literally
and figuratively and said, "Let me get that coffee started. Decaf or
regular?"
"Whichever you prefer," he
responded. She turned around trying to avoid his eyes. Her hands were too shaky
to really fix the coffee even before his next question.
"Can I ask you a personal
question?" he asked while leaning against the counter staring at his feet.
"Okay," she replied, knowing he was
going to ask about the kiss at the party.
"What exactly is your relationship with
Rabb?" he looked up at her and her eyes flew to his. She looked surprised
and he looked a bit, well, hurt was the only way to describe his eyes.
"We are just friends, honestly."
She casually touched his hand that was next to hers on the counter. "To
tell you the whole truth, we tried to go out several times, but it ended up
being business dinners instead. Or he’d be late, or he would just plain forget
I was his date and go off dancing with someone else. But I guess I can’t say
too much about that." He looked a bit confused by that statement so she
continued. "Tonight was supposed to be another try at the date thing but I
left without him," she smiled. "He will always be my best
friend." She turned away again.
"Harm also knows I’ve been thinking
about someone else a lot lately." His heart plummeted. "I won’t tell
him who. It drives Harm crazy. He calls him my mystery man. But I don’t know
how he feels about me. I thought he was attracted to me. I mean we’ve kissed,
an amazing kiss, but he’s never said anything, just acted like it never
happened. I get nervous and flustered anytime I’m around him. I think he’s out
of my league. I’m so confused. I just don’t know what to think." She took
a deep breath. "Sorry to bother you with this, sir."
He pushed himself off the counter and took
the two steps to cross the kitchen to stand directly behind her. She tensed up,
knowing he was that close and she couldn’t touch him. He somehow managed to
control himself from touching her. "I think I know how you feel. I thought
that I had found the perfect woman for me a few years ago but I also thought
that she loved someone else. I never guessed that she could ever be interested
in an old navy salt like me."
"You’re not old."
"Well," he said with a half smile,
"I never said anything, because I couldn’t, but I wanted to, very badly.
She made me feel more like a man than any other woman I’ve ever met. She lets
me be myself, not just the Admiral. She reminds me that I am human after all.
She is such a generous person and very special. I figured that she would be way
out of my league. She needs to find a person who will tell her how special she
is."
"I kind of thought I would find that
with Harm, but I realized shortly after we met that it wouldn’t work. I mean,
I’ll always care for him, but I think of him kind of like a big brother. We’ll
always be there for each other but that’s about all it will ever be. Why
couldn’t you tell her? If you have feelings for her you really should tell her.
You have to follow your heart."
"Not according to the UCMJ. I always
thought you and Rabb would get together. So who is this mystery man? Do I know
him?" She nodded. "I hope he realizes how special you are. Another
Flyboy?" he tried to say with amusement. "You know you gotta watch
out for those jet jocks."
"What about retired SeALs?" she
said quietly with a somewhat tearful smile, not really meaning to speak out
loud. Her body stiffened when she realized she actually said it and she wrapped
her arms around herself.
He could no longer resist touching her. He
cupped his hands on her shoulders and ran his hands down her arms to her
elbows. He pulled her back to his chest and laid his head next to hers. He
whispered her name, "Sarah?"
She placed her hands on his, and feeling a
tingle run up her spine, she leaned her head back to his shoulder, "AJ,
I…"
He gently pulled her around and tipped her
face up so that he could look into her eyes, "I like it when you say my
name, Sarah."
He cradled her cheek into his palm, "I
like it when you say mine too, AJ."
She leaned in to his kiss and just before his
lips touched hers he whispered, "Thank you for letting me be myself."
His lips caught her surprised ones.
When the kiss finally broke, she asked,
"How long?"
"Since the day I met you," he
responded with a smile. "But like I said, I thought you were in love with
Rabb and I was your CO. But that can’t always stop a person’s feelings. I tried
to hide it but I guess that if I made you uncomfortable then I didn’t do too
well at that. Also that sneaky little Harriet must have figured it out,"
he said with a grin.
"What?" she asked with a smile,
still not letting go of AJ. So happy to be in his arms finally.
"She tricked me into that dance and then
purposefully switched with Rabb. Don’t tell me you didn’t see that pleased
little grin when she noticed we were under the mistletoe."
"I was a bit preoccupied thinking about
where I was at that moment, just about here, I believe," she said moving
closer. "Is that why you said ‘Damn’ then, upset that you got caught under
the mistletoe with me?" she asked with a smile.
"No. I was rather happy about that, any
reason to kiss you but I was a bit upset that I was having a, uh, ‘slight
reaction’ to you being in my arms. I mean, I’m a grown man, one would think I
could control myself. But you just seem to make me lose control." He slid
his hand down to the small of her back to pull her hips towards his so that she
felt how she made him lose control. "So wh…" Ring. "Damn
phone."
"I have an answering machine for a
reason, AJ," she said with a little smile. She leaned in to kiss him…
"Mac, it’s Harm. Pick up the phone. I
know you’re home, so if you don’t pick up the phone, I’ll come over. I just
want to make sure you’re okay, you disappeared from the party. I was worried
about you. So was Harriet." AJ nodded and Mac picked up the phone. Not
wanting to let her go AJ pulled her back to his chest wrapped his arms around
her and unashamedly listened to the conversation.
"I’m fine, Harm. I got a ride from, um,
my mystery man." AJ smiled and squeezed her a bit tighter and kissed her
on the ear.
"He was there?"
"Yep. Why was Harriet worried?"
"Well I had said something to her about
your mystery man after you disappeared and she got worried that you might be
upset by her commenting about the mistletoe when you were dancing with the
Admiral."
"That’s funny. I thought she knew,"
she said mostly to AJ.
"Knew what? What’s wrong?" Harm
asked.
"Nothing. There is nothing to worry
about Harm. A., the Admiral made sure I was home safe and sound."
"Were you actually going to call him
AJ?" Harm asked with a smile in his voice.
Mac responded with a smile and said,
"Well he is a civilian now, besides he told me to."
AJ couldn’t help himself and said, "He
just doesn’t get it, does he Sarah?"
"Mac, was that the Admiral? Why did he
call you Sarah? Hold on, you said your mystery man drove you home. What’s the
Admiral doing there?" Harm questioned.
"Well, it’s a good thing you’re quicker
in the courtroom, Rabb," said AJ. Mac smiled at AJ.
"Are you saying that the Admiral is your
mystery man?"
"Yes," she said looking into AJ’s
eyes and giving him a quick kiss.
Hearing the kiss over the phone, Harm
suddenly got flustered and said "Well, um, I just wanted to check on you
but I can tell you are in safe hands, uh, no I didn’t mean that, I um…"
"Good night, Harm," said both AJ
and Sarah just before she hung up on him.
"So, Sarah, where do we go from
here?"
"I’m not sure. I never really thought
this would happen. The logical Marine part of me says to lead you to the couch
so that we can discuss our feelings and what is going on."
"Sounds reasonable, but what does your
heart say? Didn’t you say earlier you should listen to your heart?"
"It says the bedroom is over that
way," she said shyly while pointing to a closed door.