| Subject: Trip Down Under part 3 and 4 |
Author:
peter
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Date Posted: 17:56:16 02/09/08 Sat
In reply to:
Peter
's message, "Trip Down Under" on 17:54:51 02/09/08 Sat
part 3
Later that evening after dinner Sarah caught up to Harm on the beach. Harm was sitting on the beach looking up at the stars and watching the waves come up on shore.
Even though he never really liked Frank when he was growing up, he always loved being here on the beach. He could always come out here to think things over that were bothering him.
And what he was going through now with Sarah was as big as it got. He still didn’t know what to do. He heard her walking over to him. He looked up and saw her approaching. She sat down beside him.
She wanted to talk to him about what happen in Australia. Harm wasn’t ready to talk about it with her yet. He wanted to wait till they got back to DC. He just wanted to lay back and relax.
He just wanted to enjoy the beautiful evening with Sarah. For a couple of days he wanted to forget all about what had happen in Australia. But instead they had a big fight.
“Good evening Sailor. It’s a beautiful night. Do you come here often?” asked Sarah with a smile.
“I come here every time I’m in port. It’s a beautiful night. Would you like to join me Sarah?” replied Harm as he smiled back at her.
“I would enjoy joining you here under the stars.” smiled Sarah.
“So what’s up? Did you have a nice conversation with my mother?” asked Harm.
“Yes I did. I need to talk to you about the other night Harm.” replied Sarah.
“Can’t it wait Sarah? I’m not ready to talk about it. I need to unwind.” begged Harm.
“I don’t think it can wait Harm. I think we need to talk about it now.” urged Sarah.
“I don’t think there is anything to talk about. You have made your decision.” replied an unhappy Harm.
“Come on Harm, what decision? You know we need to talk about the other night.” demanded Sarah.
Harm was getting mad now. Why couldn’t she let it rest for a couple of days?
“You lied to me Sarah. You ask me to explore our feelings for each other and then you go out and get engage to Bumblebee.” yelled Harm.
“I’m not engaged to Mic.” argued Sarah.
“I saw you kissing Bumblebee yesterday. That was the kind of kiss you give to someone you are engaged to. You lied to me Sarah. I don’t know if I can continue to work with you. I don’t know if I can trust you anymore.” yelled Harm. He was so angry now he couldn’t see straight.
Tears began to flow from her eyes. She was devastated. Harm’s words were cutting deeply into her soul. The man she loved more then life itself was accusing her of loving another man.
He wouldn’t listen to her. He wouldn’t let her explain what happen. That she loved him not Mic.
“Please Harm, let me explain.” cried Sarah.
“Your actions yesterday said it all Sarah. I don’t want to hear anything you have to say about yesterday. All I want is to be left alone.” demanded Harm.
“Harm, Please! I need to explain to you.” pleaded Sarah.
“Go away Sarah.” yelled Harm.
Harm turned away from her. Sarah started sobbing. She turned around and stood up. She ran down the beach sobbing. She ran for a while before she collapsed a couple miles later.
She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She sobbed uncontrollably. She was in so much pain. She felt like dying.
The man she loved had just rejected once her again. He didn’t want to listen or work with her. She had counted on him for all the little things in her life.
He had helped her raise her self esteem so that she believed that she was deserving of the love of a good man. What was she going to do now? She didn’t know if she could go on.
What would happen when they return to Jag in a couple of days? She only knew that if she couldn’t work with Harm, she didn’t want to be there.
Harm sat there thinking about what had just happened. All he had wanted to do was to spend a quiet evening on the beach with Sarah. To forget about what had happen in Australia until they got back to DC.
He was ashamed of himself. He had hurt the woman he loved very badly. It hadn’t been his intention to do so, but he wasn’t ready to deal with what had happen in Australia.
He knew they needed to talk about it, but he thought it could wait. He thought he would have at least a week to think about it before they would need to talk about it.
He had hoped to take her out to dinner, dance a little, and then talk. But once again she had caught him off guard and he wasn’t prepared to deal with it. She had mature to be a take-charge woman while he was away.
He was usually the one who had to initiate talking about the issues that affected her or them. This was the third time in a week that she had taken the initiative. Again he wasn’t ready for it.
He stood up and decided to go after her. He knew he had to beg for her forgiveness. He needed to tell her he didn’t mean what he had said. That he wanted her in his life.
When he finally caught up to her he saw that she was still sobbing hard. He went over to her and knelt down. He tried to wrap his arm around her shoulder. She resisted at first before finally relenting.
“Sarah, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I know you were right. We do need to talk about what happen the other day. I just wasn’t expecting to do it tonight.
I thought we could just enjoy being here together tonight, away from everybody and everything connected to JAG. I thought tonight could be a start towards what you wanted. To get a little closer as a man and woman, not just as friends.
I know I want to explore our feelings for each other someday. I thought we would talk about what happened last week when we got back to DC over dinner and dancing.
I just wanted to forget about what happen last week for a couple of days. I pride myself in being a true professional. I was anything but professional last week. I did a lot of things that I wasn’t very proud of.
Like breaking poor Bud’s jaw, fighting with Bugme, and saying no to you. I don’t want to lose you Sarah. You are the most important person in the world to me. I don’t know what I would do if you weren’t in my life. All I want is for you to be happy.” whispered Harm.
Sarah had been sitting there quietly listening to what Harm had to say. She had stopped crying and was now leaning back into his arms as he held her. Harm was apologizing to her for hurting her.
She was starting to feel better. He didn’t hate her after all. He still wanted her to be a part of his life. She turned around to look at him. Harm reached up to wipe the tears away.
“Do you really mean what you are saying Harm?” asked Sarah.
“Yes Sarah, I’m sorry that I hurt you. I didn’t mean to act as though I had my head up my six. You hurt me the other day when you went out with Brumby. I wasn’t ready to talk about it.
You caught me totally off guard last week. First I found you with Brumby topless. Then, you wanted to change our relationship. I wasn’t expecting that from you.
I was focusing on the case I was working on. Beating Brumby one last time meant a lot to me. But you showed a side of yourself I wasn’t ready for. Under normal circumstances I think I would have been more responsive to you.
I also thought I would have more then a couple of days to reflect upon our conversation. To try to understand why you were trying to push us to another level Sarah.
Usually I have to force you to open up and face your emotional needs. But this time you came to me expressing your needs to explore our feeling for each other.
I wasn’t prepared for that so I didn’t know how to deal with the changes that you were looking for. I like to be prepared before dealing with something so important to the both of us.” responded an earnest Harm.
“I’m sorry for pushing so hard. But that’s what you usually do with me when I don’t want to talk about something.” replied a determined Sarah.
“I know Sarah and normally you’re right, but you usually would have been stewing about a problem for awhile before I would make you face it.” smiled Harm.
“That’s true.” admitted Sarah.
“You see Sarah, after our conversation on the ferry, I felt really bad about how I handled our conversation. I don’t think I explained my feelings very well.
But if you remember our conversation before I left to fly tomcats. I mentioned to you about getting together in five years to have a child together. I assumed that you understood what that meant.
That even though I loved you, I wasn’t ready to settle down and have a family yet. But later that night while relaxing before I went to bed, I thought about where your life had taken you in the last year.
You were a big sister to Chloe and did a marvelous job with her. You have spent a lot of time with Harriet and little AJ. It gave you a feel of what it would be like to be a parent. Your mothering hormones must have been kicking in big time.
I began to understand why you were pushing a little to move our relationship along. If we were to have more than a couple of kids you needed to start sooner rather than later. We aren’t getting any younger.
But because I have been away for awhile, I’m a little bit behind you in terms of yearning for that life. I need time to catch up to you.
I had planned a special night of dinner and dancing to make up for my insensitivity to your needs. But then you went out with Brumby and came back with that ring.” continued a despondent Harm.
“I wasn’t going to go out with him Harm. But you pissed me off when you decided to talk for me as though I wasn’t there. I can take care of myself, you know that.
That why I went out with him, to let you know I can speak for myself. I don’t need anyone to fight my battles. I really did want to spend the last night in Australia with you.” replied Sarah, who still had tears in her eyes.
But they weren’t tears of sadness, but tears of relief that Harm was talking to her about how he felt about her.
“I know you can take care of yourself Sarah, but I was tired of him always bothering you when he knew you only wanted to be with me. All I wanted to do was to put an end to it.” replied Harm.
“I know Harm, but you can’t always be the knight in shining armor. Sometimes you have to let people fight their own battles. I only went out with him to let you know that I’m the one who gets to make the decisions that affect me not you.
My only intention to seeing him that night was to say goodbye to a friend. It was probably going to be the last time that I would ever see him.” responded a solemn Sarah.
“But you’re engaged to him Sarah.” wailed Harm.
“Harm, I’m not engaged to him. It’s only a remembrance ring.” replied a tired Sarah.
“Ok Sarah. You look like you are getting tired and cold. Are you ready to go back to the house?” asked a concerned but relieved Harm. He knew he wasn’t going to win this argument.
“Yes, I think so Harm.” replied Sarah.
“We can talk about this some more when we get back to DC. Let’s just enjoy being here together the next couple of days.” smiled Harm.
“Ok Harm. I would like that.” smiled a happy marine.
They walked back to his mother’s house with their arms wrapped around each other’s waist. Trish smiled when she saw them walking back up the beach. She had seen them fighting earlier and Sarah running off.
She had been disappointed in Harm. She knew he was a better person then that. She was relieved to see him go after her a few minutes later.
She was happy that they could fight with each other and still be able to resolve their differences. It was the making of a strong long-lasting relationship. Soon she might have that daughter she had always wanted.
Before Harm and Sarah left, Sarah had a talk with Trish. Sarah told her of the big fight they had the other night. How she had run off and Harm had came after her.
That they resolved the problems by sitting down, talking and listening really hard to what the other person had to say and not inferring to think what the other was going to say.
Trish told Sarah that they had taken the first step towards a successful relationship. She told Sarah that all couples fight, but the successful ones find a way that allows both sides to win.
epilog
14 Feb 00
JAG headquarters
A three weeks later Sarah was in her office fiddling with the ring on her right hand. She would take it off and put it on her left, then the right hand, and then repeat the process all over again.
She did this for twenty minutes before Harm walked into her office. He had been watching her playing with her ring from his office through the window. He decided to put an end to it.
“Good morning Sarah. How are you doing today?” asked Harm smugly.
Sarah was starting to glow. Harm had been calling her Sarah, her given name the last couple of months. She always felt so good when he did. She felt so special. She wondered what he wanted.
“I’m fine flyboy. What do you want?” replied a curious Sarah.
Harm was going to put an end to this ring business once and for all. He would confront her about the ring. He would take the ring off her right hand and put it on her left hand.
He would challenge her to either send the ring back or get engage to Brumby. He then went about it and took the ring off her right hand and put it on her left hand.
“Don’t you think this is where the ring belongs. If it’s not then you should send it back to him. You shouldn’t be stringing him along with false hopes.” demanded a resentful Harm.
Now Sarah’s mind was working much quicker then Harm’s this morning. She had baited the trap and Harm had been snared in it.
“I accept your proposal Harm!” said a gleeful Sarah.
Harm was confused now. What had just happened.
“What?” asked Harm.
She got up and walked out of her office to the main office area. She called everyone over together. Harm was wondering what she was going to do. It looked like she was going to make an announcement.
He was sure that he had pushed her into accepting Brumby marriage proposal. What had he done? Was he going to lose her afterall? He was about to go back into his office when he heard what she said. He was totally stunned.
“Everybody, Please! May I have your attention! I have something I would like to share with all of you. Just a few minutes in my office I had a very pleasant conversation with Commander Rabb. He has asked me to marry him and I have accepted.” smiled a very happy Sarah.
She turned and smiled her very special upturn at the corner smile at Harm while everybody came over and congratulated her. Harm’s jaw fell to the floor. What had just happen he wondered? He didn’t remember asking her to marry him.
All he did was move the ring to her left hand and challenged her to either send the ring back or get engage to the man. He did remember her saying she accepted his proposal. She had out foxed him.
There was no way he could deny the proposal to anyone now. It would make her look bad and foolish. It would hurt her deeply. He would have to play along for the time being.
He would have to deal with Sarah later in a more private setting. Before he knew it he was being pull to the center of the office area where Sarah was.
She smiled and said “Gotcha.” He smiled and gave her a kiss. Sarah had outsmarted Harm. She had gotten him to do what she knew he wanted to do but was afraid to do without realizing it.
Later that night they were having dinner at Sarah’s place. They had just finished a nice dinner and were drinking coffee on the sofa.
“You were a very funny lady this morning.” offered Harm.
“How so flyboy?” asked Sarah.
“You know Sarah. About that marriage proposal you know I didn’t ask you to marry me.” questioned Harm.
“You didn’t? After all the talks that we have been having the last few weeks, combined with your demands of this morning. I thought you wanted me to choose between you and Mic.
You did put the ring on my left hand didn’t you? Isn’t that what a man does when he asks a woman to marry him?” smiled Sarah.
“Yeah, but ..... ” started Harm.
“There is no buts flyboy. And you owe me a ring. We can talk some more when you get me one. This doesn’t mean that we are going to get married tomorrow Harm.
It just means we are committing ourselves to exploring our feelings for one another more openly.” replied Sarah.
“I guess you’re right Sarah. I do love you.” smile Harm
“I love you too Harm.” smile a very happy Sarah.
17 Sep 00
Naval Academy Chapel
Annapolis
Seven months later Harm and Sarah got their families and friends together for their wedding. It was a beautiful one. Reverend Johnson asked them to say their vows.
“Sarah, you are the love of my life. I knew you were special the first day I met you in the rose garden. I realized then that I couldn’t just smile and charm you into doing whatever I wanted.
I had to earn your respect. You have always been there for me watching out for my six. You have supported me without questions as I dealt with my obsessions.
Above all you have help me find out what really happen to my father which allow me to move on and love you. I love you Sarah MacKenzie. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
“Harm, I love you with all my heart and soul. I’m a better person for knowing you. You have helped me deal with the demons of my past so that I can move on.
You have given me confidence in myself and raise my self-esteem. I now believe I deserving of all the happiness and love of a good man. I know I can love and be love. These are wonderful gifts you have given to me. I love you Harm.”
The Reverend Johnson pronounced them husband and wife. They shared a wonderful kiss. They held the reception at the officer’s club. They all ate and drank well.
There was a lot jovial activities shared by one and all. Harm and Sarah dance the night away before leaving for their honeymoon.
The End.
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