Several hours later Mac was finally at home
with her foot propped up on some pillows. AJ had taken Jingo for a walk and
after he returned he said a quick goodbye and left even though that was the
last thing he wanted to do. Mac knew that they would have a hard time getting
past the awkwardness that was sure to be in the office Monday morning but she
knew that they would. They both had a tough time with the near kiss incident a
few years ago but this time they both had something to look forward to, each
other. Just before she lost herself to sleep she wondered how long it was going
to take.
Finally, after nearly two weeks of barely
seeing the Admiral at all, he called her and Harm into his office early one
morning. She had barely managed to save Harm's butt once again from his rash
actions and she was wondering what the Admiral would say about it. They walked
in and stood at attention. The Admiral rose from his chair and walked around
his desk to stand directly in front of Harm, his anger clearly showing.
"How dare you endanger your life and the
Colonel's like that! I would think you should know better than that by now. And
you Colonel, I thought that you knew to come to me if he did anything so
stupid."
"I'm sorry, sir." Harm and Mac said
in unison.
The Admiral dismissed them brusquely as he
turned to look out the window. They both turned to the door but Mac stopped and
shut the door in front of her. "Sir?"
"What is it, Colonel?" he turned,
surprised she was still in the room.
"I…" she looked at him and couldn’t
say anything else. He broke eye contact and began to write something. He
briskly tore the paper off the note pad folded it up and handed it to her.
"Dismissed," he said in a soft
tone.
"Aye, sir," she said just as
softly.
She went back to her office and making sure
that no one saw she read the note.
Sarah,
Dinner. My place. 1900.
We will talk about anything bothering you.
WFM
She read the note a few times, surprised that
he was inviting her over to his house. By unspoken agreement they decided that
they should not call or visit each other. It took her a little while to figure
out the ‘WFM’ in the note, she actually didn’t figure it out until Harm asked
her if she when she was leaving for lunch. "I'll be ready soon,
Harm."
"Wait for me."
Harm didn’t understand her sudden smile as
she suddenly realized the reason that AJ had been so upset. AJ was upset simply
because he was afraid that he would lose her, not to Harm but to the danger
that often times finds him. No longer worried, she gathered her things and went
to lunch with Harm, she even let him pick the restaurant.
Later that night, Mac went to AJ’s and was
understandably nervous. He wanted her to tell him anything bothering her. She
didn't know how to tell him that nothing was bothering her any longer, once she
realized why he was so upset at Harm for putting her life in danger. AJ opened
the door wearing jeans and a navy blue sweater. At first she just drank in the
sight of him then she stepped into his house. She noticed a bouquet of flowers
on the table and looked at him.
"They’re for you," he said softly.
She smiled and pulled out the card.
‘I’m sorry’ was all it said. He walked up behind
her.
"For what?" He put his hands on her
shoulders, then ran them down her arms as he leaned down and wrapped his arms
around her.
"For being so gruff to you today. I
think it is going to be a lot harder than I thought to act like nothing has
happened between us. Can you forgive me?"
She turned a bit in his arms and rested her
cheek on his chest. "There’s nothing to forgive. I realized later you were
just worried about me."
He turned her more in his arms and held her
tight. She felt his deep sigh of relief. "I was so afraid that I had
messed this up before it even got started."
"It will take a lot more than you
yelling at me for me to run away."
"You seem to forget how good I am at
that," he said with a smile as he pulled away slightly to look at her.
"No. I just prefer to remember some of
the other things you're even better at, AJ," she said as she raised her
fingers to his cheek.
"Oh, Sarah. I promise we won't have to
wait much longer."
"That's okay, AJ. I promise I'll wait
for you as long as I need to. After all, how often do dreams come true?"
They smiled at each other before they leaned
together to seal their promises with a kiss.
The End
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