| Subject: Some Things are Better off Forgotten 4/ ? |
Author:
CLK
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Date Posted: 21:39:25 11/29/07 Thu
In reply to:
CLK
's message, "Some Things are Better off Forgotten 1/ ?" on 21:30:30 11/14/07 Wed
sorry this took so long - real life gets a bit hectic.
CLK
Part 4
“Thanks, Harriet. You really didn’t have to do this.”
“Don’t worry about it. Bud will be fine with little AJ for one night.” Harriet followed Mac to the sofa. “Besides, I really didn’t want to see the commanders come to blows. According to Bud, it wasn’t a pretty sight last time.”
Mac shook her head. “How can I not remember getting engaged?”
“Well, to be honest, I never thought you had your heart in it. I mean, what woman in love needs nine months to decide whether or not to wear a man’s ring on her left hand?”
“Nine months?”
Harriet nodded. “Mm hmm.”
“I see.” At least something was making sense. She couldn’t have forgotten being in love with Mic Brumby because she never was, but from the looks of it, she did a damn good job of hiding that little piece of reality from him.
“What you need is a nice hot cup of tea and then a soft bed. The doctor thought there was a very good chance with a little rest you’ll remember the few missing details.”
Mac nearly smiled. “I don’t think Mic would like being referred to as ‘a few missing details’.”
“No, but there’s not much he can do about it.” Harriet turned her head at the sound of someone knocking at the door. “That should be Bud with my overnight bag.”
“Hello, Harriet.” Mic Brumby stood in the doorway, smiling as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
“Mic.” She inched the door shut a little. “What are you doing here?”
“Making sure my fiancée doesn’t need anything.”
“The admiral ordered you and Commander Rabb to leave her alone.”
“I’m not in the Navy anymore, Harriet. The admiral can’t order me around.”
“Still. I don’t think this is a good...”
“It’s okay, Harriet. Let him in.” Mac stepped up behind Harriet and pulled the front door wide open. “I have to deal with this sooner or later. Might as well be sooner.”
“I’ll just step into the other room, call Bud, see what’s taking so long with my bag.”
Mic stood by Mac’s side, waiting for Harriet to close the bedroom door behind her then turned Mac around to face him. “Listen, love.”
“Mic. Please don’t.” She pulled her arms out of his grasp and backed up, pointing to the sofa. “Why don’t you have a seat.”
“Sarah.” Instead of taking a seat, he stepped beside her. “Love.”
“Stop calling me that.” Mac took another step away from Mic, her arms wrapped around herself. She wished now she hadn’t told Harriet to let him in. She wasn’t ready to do this. Didn’t know how to do this. “I’m having a hard time remembering.”
“That’s all right, Lo... Sarah. I understand. You fainted, hit your head. These things happen, but you can’t push me away. Let me help you remember us.” He reached for her and she tripped backwards, almost falling over the coffee table.
Where was Harriet? How long did it take to ask Bud about her bag? “Mic.” Mac managed to slip from his reach, strategically stepping around so the coffee table was between them. “I guess I’m not feeling as well as I thought. Maybe you should go home and get some rest too. We can talk about this in the morning, when I’m feeling better.”
“What is it? Your head? Can I get you some aspirin?” Mic headed for the kitchen. “You probably need some water.”
“Mic. I want you to go home.”
He stopped at the kitchen doorway, slowly turned to face her. His expression was so crestfallen Mac could almost feel his pain.
“This is my home,” he said softly.
At first she wasn’t sure she heard him correctly. She watched as he turned back and continued on his quest for water. He moved about the kitchen like a man who had done so before, often. When he reached behind the oatmeal box and pulled out her favorite stash of Pepperidge Farm cookies, her heart sank to her shoes. “You live here?”
He had the good grace to only nod. This time he stopped several feet away from her. “I thought you might like these.”
“It’s true?”
Again he nodded.
She didn’t understand. The need to sit down, now, overwhelmed her. Her knees buckling she sat on the coffee table. She was living with Mic Brumby. And she was in love with Harmon Rabb. How the hell did she get herself into this mess? More importantly, how was she going to get out of it?
“Sarah.”
Mac looked up. Mic was standing only inches away, staring at her as though she were a puppy in a pet store window and he were a little boy with only one wish- to have a puppy.
“I’m sorry that took so long. Little AJ woke up and wanted me to tell him another bedtime stor...” Harriet trailed off when their eyes met. “Are you okay?”
She pointed at Mic. “He lives here.”
“Well, yes, but... oh.”
“I’m sure if you want to go home and be with your husband and son, Sarah and I can manage.”
“You may not be in the Navy, but I am.” Harriet took two more steps into the room. “We have a sleeper sofa. Why don’t you go keep Bud company.”
“That won’t be necessary...”
“You’re not staying here!” Harriet cut him off.
“Harriet.” Mac stood up, not quite as wobbly on her feet as she’d been a few minutes before.
Mic and Harriet both reached out as though expecting her to fall flat on her face.
“I’m okay,” she said a little more harshly than she’d intended. “It’s not fair to put Mic out. Would it be all right if I borrowed your sofa?”
“That won’t be necessary. I was about to explain to Harriet that I’ve booked a room at the Brynmoor. If you don’t mind, I’ll just pack up a few things.”
“No, of course I don’t mind.” Then why did she feel like such a heel? He was being so gracious. The man just lost his fiancée and his home in the course of a few hours and all he was worried about was if she’d had enough water to drink and wanted her favorite cookies. “Thank you.”
Harm's apartment
Near Union Station
Harm stared at the ceiling. Twenty three forty five and he was still wide awake. He had no more chance of falling asleep now than he had when he’d crawled into bed nearly an hour ago. He should never have left Mac’s side. Orders be damned.
The loud trill of his doorbell surprised him. “Who the hell?” Throwing back the covers, he dragged himself out of bed and shrugged into his bathrobe. “It’s not like I was going to get any sleep anyhow,” he mumbled, tying the robe on his way to the door.
The doorbell sounded again. “I’m coming,” he said as he swung the door wide open. “Mac?”
“In the mood for some company?”
“Yes, of course.” He stepped back letting her inside, glancing over her shoulder expecting Harriet to have been with her. “Where’s Harriet?”
“I flew the coup.”
“You what?” The door slammed shut behind him.
“I snuck out.” Mac slid onto a stool by the island. “I couldn’t stand the thought of sleeping in my own bed so I insisted Harriet take the bed, that I’d rather watch TV in the living room.”
“You don’t have a TV in the living room.”
“I do now. It’s still on. Harriet’ll never know I’m gone.”
“Mac.” Harm moved closer, intending to pull her into a hug and thinking better of the idea, he slid onto the stool beside her. “You shouldn’t be out. Did you drive yourself?”
“I’m fine.”
“Then I’m driving you home. Let me get some clothes on.”
“I don’t want to go home.”
The pained expression on Mac’s face made Harm want to pull her into his arms all over again, but right now that was the last thing he should be thinking about. The previous two times he'd gotten anywhere near her tonight they’d wound up wrapped in each other’s arms. Alone in his apartment there was little doubt in his mind three times would be the charm, and he cared too much about Mac to let that happen. “Harriet will be worried.”
“I left her a note.”
“Mac.”
“I can’t do it. Did you know Mic was living with me?”
Harm blinked and nodded.
“And you still kissed me like you wanted me?”
He nodded again. What more could he say? He’d had no business pulling her into his arms like he’d done and kissing her as though she were his and not another man’s.
“Do you?”
“What?”
“Do you want me?”
Harm swallowed the knot that had lodged in his throat. Now what? He swallowed again and answered softly. “Yes.”
“Even knowing that just last night I shared another man’s bed?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
Mac sprang off the seat and walked to the window. “How did this happen?”
“I’m not following you?” Harm resisted the urge to go stand beside her.
“How is it you want me, I want you, and yet, I’m engaged to and, God help me, living with Mic?”
“Timing.”
She spun around to look at him. “What?”
“Our timing is off. When you were ready to give us a try in Sydney, I wasn’t ready. Brumby was.”
Mac turned back to the window. “Did I ever love him?”
“I... I don’t know.”
Mac rubbed her arms, then glanced around the room. “Don’t you ever turn up the heat?”
“Sorry.” In two short strides he was at the thermostat and kicked it up a notch. Not that he needed the furnace for warmth. Just looking at Mac was making him burn up.
“Thanks.”
“Won’t you let me take you home?”
“I want to stay here.” Her eyes met his. “With you.”
He wasn’t sure who took a step toward whom, but within seconds she was folded in his arms. The sweet scent of her hair filled his senses like a fresh country rain. Never had he been so aware of a woman in his arms, or wanted her so badly in his bed.
When her face looked up at him, and his lips hovered a whisper away from hers, he loosened his hold on her.
“I need you, Harm. Don’t let go. Please.”
“Never.” If the admiral found out she was at his apartment, he might find himself facing charges of insubordination, but the risk was well worth it. Without saying a word, he walked to the bedroom, one arm still wrapped around his Marine. "I'll never let go again."
* * *
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