| Subject: Christmas Nigh; Adeste Fi! - Part 24/25 |
Author:
Teacup
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 00:42:01 07/25/07 Wed
In reply to:
Teacup (aka Ever-Xmas)
's message, "Christmas Nigh; Adeste Fi!" on 23:51:19 06/30/07 Sat
Christmas Nigh; Adeste Fi!
A/N: Sorry for the delay. … Real life, and this part is really, really long.
Part 24
Mac decided to busy herself, so she cleaned up by picking up the odds and ends they had scattered about from their s’mores activity. She returned from a trip to the kitchen and was scanning the living room to see if she had missed anything, when Harm came back.
They both stopped when they felt the presence of the other one in the room. Their hearts started racing again as they looked at each other, suddenly unsure how to act or what to do.
Mac finally broke the uneasy silence. “So, what now?” She knew that neither of them were ready for sleeping.
Harm tried the logical approach, “Well, what would we be doing if we hadn’t … uh …” He didn’t know how to describe what had just happened between them.
“Declared out love?” Mac supplemented, feeling a little silly over this nervousness that had overcome them both.
Harm nodded.
“… We’d still be sitting by the fire, I guess, … talking,” Mac answered.
“Well, … then we should probably do that,” Harm suggested, trying to think sensibly. “Nothing’s really changed that much.” As he said it, he thought that did not come out sounding right, because in a way, everything had changed. Life was better now. “I mean, …” he tried to explain, “… we still need to be ourselves.”
“Yeah,” Mac agreed.
They sat back down near the fire, but far apart from each other.
“This is going to be awkward now, isn’t it?” Mac asked with concern, observing the current tension.
Harm made a decision right then, … hoping he could keep control. “No. … Come here.”
Mac scooted close to him and grabbed the blanket, not sure whether to put it around Harm too, as she had done before.
“Here, give it to me,” Harm told her. When Mac handed the blanket to him he stood up and then directed her to sit at a spot that he pointed to about a foot in front of the couch.
This confused Mac, but she did as he suggested. Harm shook the blanket to straighten it. Then he flipped it out above her, and brought it down and around, as if he were a waiter putting a napkin on a patron to be used as a bib, though he did not pull the blanket up to Mac’s neck.
Then, he squeezed himself in the space behind her, leaning himself against the sofa, and he put his legs with his knees up on either side of her. He pulled the blanket up around them both and gently encouraged Mac to lean back against him.
She was somewhat resistant at first, but eased up just enough to have her back against Harm’s chest. Finally, Harm fixed the blanket so that it covered both of them well, with plenty of room to spare.
“See,” he pointed out, “this is more efficient.”
Mac did not respond, and she was still somewhat stiff. Her head remained completely upright and she was not putting her full weight on Harm.
“Relax, Mac,” said Harm “… I won’t bite.” He urged her to really lie against him, and she did, settling against his chest.
As she rested her head up by Harm’s left shoulder, he traced his finger over her right ear. “Of course,” he modified, “… I can’t promise I won’t nibble.” He quickly nipped at her ear teasingly.
A chill ran up Mac’s spine from Harm’s action, and she briefly tilted her head up to smile at him. Then they wanted to get comfy and cozy, so they snuggled as close together as two birds of a feather would be. Harm put his arms around Mac’s stomach, figuring that was a safe place. Mac clasped her hands together and rested them overtop of Harm’s arms.
For a few minutes, neither one spoke. They simply reveled in this new closeness. Mac could feel the ‘rum pum’ of Harm’s heart beating against her back, while Harm felt Mac’s beating heart answering, ‘pum pum,’ against the forearm he had resting below her breast.
Finally, Harm interrupted the quiet. “You know, … this doesn’t feel awkward to me, Mac.”
“No, it doesn’t feel awkward at all,” she agreed.
Harm could tell that Mac was definitely relaxing, so he was surprised when she suddenly tensed up again in his arms. But he refrained from saying anything, hoping whatever was causing her stress would pass.
A minute later, Mac ventured, “Harm?”
“Yeah?”
“Does this mean …” She was not quite sure how to ask this question without sounding like an adolescent, but she managed to continue, “… that we’re an item now?”
“An item?”
“Yeah, … you know, … dating.”
“Dating?”
Mac now turned her head up to look at Harm. “Are you going to repeat everything I say?”
“I just want to make sure I’m understanding you. … I thought you didn’t want to have any serious discussions about you and me tonight?”
“Harm, … I think we let that partridge fly out of the pear tree the minute you said you loved me.”
“Oh. … Is that all it takes to get you to change your mind about something?” If telling her he loved her made her change her mind about things, he should have confessed his feelings long ago.
“About certain things, … yes.” They shared a smile before Mac got nervous again. “… So …? Are you going to answer me?”
“What was the question?” he asked.
“Are we … officially dating?” Mac was not happy about repeating the question. Once was uncomfortable enough.
“Oh, … uh, I don’t think … um …” Harm spluttered, before answering, “Not yet.”
Mac looked crestfallen. She hated those words, … ‘not yet.’ Hearing them from Harm simply reminded her of her heartache from that blasted ferry ride they had shared in Australia.
But this was different, she tried to tell herself. This time he was holding her. This time he had said he loved her. And after all, it had been her who had initially put the brakes on taking things further tonight.
So she wondered what it was he wasn’t ready for. Commitment? Admitting their relationship to others?
“But I’m hoping to remedy that soon,” Harm continued.
Mac almost didn’t listen to what he was saying, she was so consumed by her thoughts, but she did catch it, … barely. And then she looked up at him in bewilderment.
“We can’t very well say we’re officially dating since we have yet to go out on a single date,” Harm explained with a reassuring smile.
Mac sighed with relief. Then she suggested, “Can’t we … consider tonight a date? I mean, … we’ve spent the evening together, and we weren’t working.”
“We’ve done that before, and it was just friends hanging out,” Harm objected.
“But tonight there’s been romance, … ‘I love you’s, … and a lot of kissing,” Mac countered.
Harm grinned. “Which makes it the most wonderful night of my life so far … But it’s still not a date,” he insisted.
“What then, would you consider a date?”
“We have to agree beforehand. … You know, I ask you out, you say yes.”
“… And when is that going to happen?” Mac inquired.
“The date or the asking out?”
“Either. Both.”
Harm thought for a second. “How about tomorrow?”
“You’ll ask me out tomorrow?”
“No, I’m asking you out now. … Come on a date with me tomorrow.”
Mac hesitated. “… Tomorrow is Christmas Day,” she pointed out.
“… Oh, … right.” Harm looked disappointed. “You probably have plans.” He was backing off his idea.
“No, Harm,” Mac corrected. “I don’t have any plans and I would love to go out with you tomorrow. … I was just thinking there’s not much that will be open,” she explained.
“Right,” Harm realized she was correct. “Well, … how about I invite you to my place for dinner?” Before Mac could answer, Harm changed ideas. “Wait, … I should bring dinner over here. … You’ve got the Christmas atmosphere,” he noted.
“Actually,” said Mac, “I think dinner at your place sounds perfect. We can work together to create the atmosphere. … Decorate your little tree.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. … Assuming we’re not snowed in here.”
“I’ll get out,” Harm stated with confidence. “And I’ll come back to pick you up after I get things ready.”
“I thought we were going to set things up together?” Mac asked. “And why would you leave just to come back again to get me?”
“That’s just the way it has to be. We’ll decorate together,” he promised, “but I want to get other things set. And I’ll come pick you up.”
Mac realized then that he wanted to pick her up to make this an ‘official date.’ “Am I supposed to dress up?” she asked.
“No, … casual,” said Harm. “So you’ll be comfortable for decorating … and whatever.”
Mac smiled. “Okay. … So it’s a date?”
Harm confirmed, giving Mac a little squeeze, “It’s a date.”
“And then we’ll be dating?” Mac checked.
“I hope it’s more than just dating,” Harm answered.
As soon as he had said it, he realized that his comment could be taken to imply that he really was pushing the physical part of their relationship, which was not how he meant the comment. “I mean, … I want you to be …”
How could he word this? “… I want us to be … together.”
Mac sensed what Harm was trying to say, and while she delighted in what he was getting at, she could not help teasing him. “It is customary for two people to be together during a date.”
“I know that,” he insisted with frustration. “… I …You know what I’m trying to say here, don’t you? What I’m trying to ask? Uh, …I’d …”
She was pretty sure she did know that he meant he wanted a more defined relationship than just casual dating. So, playing on how their nervousness seemed to befit that of high school kids, she interrupted him and cut to the chase.
“Harm, … will you be my boyfriend?” she asked with a sly smile and sparkle in her eyes. Despite the light-hearted manner in which she asked, her question was quite sincere. And her heart pounded in anticipation.
One of Harm’s famous grins slowly grew on his face, as he realized that Mac had just relieved him of his blundering and got to the heart of the matter. And she was so cute doing it.
He answered back in like form, “As long as you’ll be my steady girl, … then yes.”
With a small, but beautiful smile, Mac replied, “I think I’d like that.”
“So, it’s a deal.”
“You wanna shake on it?” she asked playfully.
Harm shook his head no. “This needs to be sealed with a kiss.”
They shared a sweet, soft kiss, full of promise. And as their eyes met afterwards, they could see the happiness and the love in each other.
Mac turned her head away and started to snuggle back into Harm’s embrace, when she heard him rhetorically say, “So, I guess this means I should cancel the date I was planning with hot blonde for Friday.”
Mac quickly shifted away and snapped back to look at him.
“I’m kidding, Mac …” Harm headed her off, defending himself. He had been being facetious, but now he was a little worried that it was too soon for that kind of humor. “… There’s no one else,” he assured her.
Mac’s eyes narrowed. “There better not be,” she said in a mock-threatening voice. Then she added in her playful tone, but serious nonetheless, “… I’ve got to warn you, Harm. As long as you’re mine, … I won’t share.”
Harm thought for a second. “Normally, I would say that refusing to share is not very in keeping with the Christmas spirit, Mac,” he said in an almost shameful tone. “But,” he relented, “… some things … are not meant to be shared with more than one person.”
Mac smiled softly as Harm caressed her face. They would share their love only with each other. “I agree,” she declared, and then continued their joke, “So, I’ll cancel all my hot dates too.”
“That’s very generous of you,” commented Harm.
“Not really,” she admitted. “The only use my social calendar has had as of late has been crossing off the days until Christmas.” She thought aloud, “I really should have gotten one of those Advent Calendars with chocolate in it.”
Harm figured it was now his job to make sure Mac had fun things to do to fill in that social calendar. “I hope you aren’t canceling every date,” he said, “because I’m making plans for us.”
She looked into his eyes. “Absent unforeseeable circumstances or orders to be elsewhere … I wouldn’t cancel any dates with my boyfriend,” she assured him. “And he’s the only one I’ll be dating.”
“Boyfriend,” Harm repeated, letting that sink in. “Your boyfriend is happy to hear that,” he told her.
“And no more blondes for you?”
Harm shook his head. “Only the beautiful brunette who is currently in my arms.”
Mac smiled. “I like that.”
“What do you like?”
“Being in your arms,” she told him, “… being your favorite girl.”
“My only girl,” he corrected, “… my only woman.”
Mac leaned back against Harm, and they sat for awhile. Harm lightly rested his head against hers, and Mac caressed his enveloping arms. Sometimes she would hold one of his hands or play with his fingers under the blanket.
“Mac …”
“Yeah?”
“I … um …” Harm anxiously began, “I’m okay with waiting and everything, … but, um … we’ll eventually … not wait, … right?”
Mac should have known that Harm would need to revisit that issue.
“… Assuming things go well for us … for awhile, … right,” she cautiously agreed. She still had not convinced herself that this was real. She needed to do that before taking things all the way. She knew she would not survive after that if things fell apart.
“So, …” Harm swallowed nervously, “believing in us, … I can count on not waiting more than … a decade from now?”
“Believing in us, … it should be less than that,” she said, surprised at the long timeline.
“Within five years?” Harm checked.
“… Yeah,” Mac almost laughed, but now expected him to work the numbers down.
To her surprise, he simply replied, “Okay.”
She waited for a moment, but he did not follow up. “That’s it?” she asked. “You’re not going to ask about less time?”
“Before tonight, I wasn’t sure I had reason to hope for anything with you in this lifetime. Now, I’ve got you in my arms, you’ve agreed to be my girl, and we know we love each other. I’m not gonna push my luck,” he told her.
“Okay,” Mac agreed.
There was silence for a moment, before Harm over-casually mentioned, “Of course, if you wanted to give me an idea of when you think … we’ll be ready, then I wouldn’t object.”
Mac was still facing the firelight, with Harm behind her. She smiled to herself at the way he was gently prodding. “I think I can safely say, within a year,” she gave him a timeframe that was still likely too long, and with the added caveat, “… assuming we make this work.”
“We’ll make it work,” he said.
Mac did not reply with words, but since her head was leaning back on his left shoulder looking up at him, she twisted slightly to bring her left hand up to the right side of his face, caressing his cheek. Then she moved her hand to cup his head and bring it to her as she raised her own to meet him for a sweet kiss.
She smiled at Harm and returned to her former position, leaning against him, looking at the fire. Harm smiled too. He embraced her tighter around the stomach and lovingly kissed the crown of her head before gently resting the side of his face on top of her.
They sat like that a long time, not needing to speak. Mac was getting tired, and in Harm’s soothing arms it was not long before she was dozing. Harm noticed her drifting off. He also noticed that the fire was going out, … but he did not want to move. Part of him was afraid that if he let go, … it would somehow not be real any more.
It seemed that he had fears similar to Mac’s. The truth was that he did understand her hesitancy. He wasn’t sure he could believe in this either. Could it really be this simple after all they had been through?
But he wanted to believe. … And for the moment, it was real. She was in his arms. He adored her as she slept.
Harm was also tired, but sleep eluded him. … It was not because of his seated position. It was not because Mac was precariously leaning against him and he needed to be awake to keep her from falling, though that was probably true.
He could not really say why he didn’t sleep. … Maybe because he did not want to miss out on any of this time. Maybe because having her so intimately close was … exciting. It reminded him of Afghanistan. He had not slept well that night. He wondered if it was because of the bombs … or because of her.
In the ever-dimming firelight, he studied her face. She was beautiful. And she looked so relaxed in her slumber. This was all he needed. In the silent night, all was calm. There was only the sound of the crackling fire and her steady breathing.
His eyes traced over her closed lids, her nose, and cheeks. She appeared so tender and so mild right now. But then his eyes made their way to her lips. His heart leapt at the memory of those lips on his own tonight. It had been the most wonderful sensation.
Harm’s right hand, of its own accord, came up and hovered with a finger above her mouth. He had to control his impulse to run that finger over those sweet lips now; … he did not want to wake her. He wanted to let her sleep in her heavenly peace.
He returned his hand under the blanket, putting his arm around her again. He could tell that she was getting colder since the fire was slowly dying, and so he tried to keep the blanket up around her.
Even he had been cold in her apartment with the heat and power out. Although, he had to admit to himself that he had exaggerated his chill earlier that night as more of a ploy to get close to Mac under the blanket. … It was really just her heat that he had yearned for.
In her sleep, Mac began to move and turn. Harm loosened his embrace to allow her to readjust. She shifted to the left but rolled around to her right so that she was back on Harm. She was now half on her side, but almost chest to chest with him, except that she tucked her arms up and sandwiched them between their bodies as she unconsciously sought out Harm’s heat, snuggling against him.
But in the process of all that, her body must have registered that maneuvering was not as easy as rolling in her sleep would normally be on her flat, open bed.
She slowly became aware that she was on top of someone. Prying her eyes open, she pushed herself up slightly, lifting her head to see Harm. Confusion was evident on her face, which scared Harm for a moment. But then Mac smiled sleepily at him, and he knew she remembered everything.
“Hi,” he greeted her.
“Hi,” Mac whispered, before putting her head back down against Harm.
He decided to make use of the opportunity while she was half awake. “Hey, Mac, … you think maybe you should head to bed now?” he suggested. “Be more comfortable?”
Mac was not inclined to move. Harm was stroking her hair, caressing her back. How much more comfortable could she be? But she realized that he was probably not in the best of sleeping positions, and she wanted him to be comfortable.
She lifted her head and then managed to sit up, her eyes only half open. “Okay,” she mumbled. “You mind if I use the bathroom first?” she asked.
“No, go ahead,” Harm answered. Seeing Mac shiver, he asked, “Do you have the extra warm blanket for your bed?”
Standing up, she answered, “Yeah, … I’ll get it.”
“Okay, I’ll make sure the fire is good and out,” he told her. He would have offered to get the blanket, but it was probably easier for Mac to get it, even in her sleep, than him without the lights on and not knowing where to look for it.
“K,” Mac agreed. She grabbed a flashlight and left one for Harm.
Harm made sure the fire was out so that it would be safe to go to sleep. Then he picked up the blanket they had been using all night to make the couch up for sleeping.
A few minutes later, Mac returned to find Harm playing with the pillow formation on the couch.
“Harm, what are you doing?”
“Figuring out the logistics,” he told her.
“You’re not sleeping on the couch, Harm. … You don’t fit.”
“I’ve slept in tighter spaces,” he insisted. “If Santa can pack a zillion toys in a sack on a sled, I think I can manage to fit on your couch.”
Mac was waking up more, and objected, “I told you …”
Cutting her off, Harm said, “You’re not sleeping on the couch, Mac. You need to stay warm in your bed with the big blanket.”
“Why do either of us have to sleep on the couch?” Since she had woken up, she had actually assumed they would be sharing the bed.
“Because …” Harm could not find the words to explain his reason.
“You’re telling me you can’t handle sleeping next to me?” Mac questioned. It did not make sense to her. “I was just sleeping on you, Harm.”
“That was different,” he pointed out. “I was awake.”
Mac was baffled. “You afraid you can’t keep your hands off me in your sleep?” she joked.
“Yes,” he answered to her surprise. “… I don’t want to do something inappropriate.”
Mac was beginning to understand; he did not want to lose ‘control,’ that lifeline he clung to. She decided to help him get over that compulsion.
“I’m a Marine, Harm,” she insisted. “Even in my sleep, I can stop an unwelcome advance.” Okay, so an advance from him would not be entirely unwelcome, but she stuck to her case. “And you don’t have to worry about being bad in your sleep, especially before Santa comes, because you’re not liable for what you do while you’re asleep. … And he knows when you are sleeping.”
Harm laughed at that. “I’m not expecting Santa. … And you’ve already given me my gifts,” he pointed out, showing that he had no reason to be worried about not getting presents.
She walked very close to Harm. “Does that mean you’re going to stop being good to me?” she asked, walking her fingers up his chest.
“I am being good,” he maintained. “You be good.”
Mac dropped her hand off of him. “For goodness sake, Harm, come to bed,” she whimpered with frustration.
“You don’t have to pout about it,” he noted.
“I’m not pouting.”
“You’d better not be.” Changing the topic, he asked, “… Did you find your extra warm blanket?”
“No,” Mac admitted. “It’s too hard to get out tonight.” She figured she could use this to her advantage. “So, … you have to come lie next to me for body heat.”
Harm grinned at her using his past excuse. “Oh, I see. You just want me to keep you warm,” he pretended to be offended.
Mac knew he was playing with her, so she played back. “It’s a little better than sleeping with the yetis,” she said, referencing his comment about scorpions less than a year ago when he invited her to sleep by him in the Afghan desert.
“We’re not out in the tundra,” said Harm, not entirely satisfied by her comparison.
“Feels like it.” Mac really was cold now that there was no fire, no blanket, and no Harm keeping her warm. She visibly shivered.
Harm gave in. “Okay.” He had to keep her warm, after all.
He took a flashlight and went to use the bathroom. He was surprised when he came out to find Mac half-sitting, but half-asleep, curled up on top of the bed.
“Why aren’t you under the covers keeping warm?” he asked her.
With a very sleepy voice, Mac muttered, “’n’case you headed to the couch and I needed to block you and stuff you into bed instead.”
Harm laughed quietly. She was so cute. “And what if I resisted?” he challenged her.
Practically dozing, Mac insisted, “I can take you.”
Harm chuckled again as he made his way to the side of the bed she was on. “I’m sure you can. … But right now, you need to get under the covers.”
“You too,” she said.
“Me too,” he assured her. He helped her up a little and pulled back the covers. This all seemed like such forbidden territory to him. This was Sarah MacKenzie’s bed.
He made his way to the other side, but paused, trying to decide whether to hold her when he got in or just lie close. He took in the view of her in bed, in her teddy bear print PJs. How the woman could make even those look sexy was a phenomenon. Yeah, this definitely felt like forbidden territory.
“So, you gonna let me snuggle with all of your teddy bears?” he asked, trying in a round about way to see if she wanted him to hold her.
Mac smiled, being a bit more coherent since Harm came out of the bathroom and interacted with her. “Well, … I was going to let you snuggle with me. … But if it’s just the bears you’re interested in, … I could take off my top and let you sleep holding that.”
“Haha,” laughed Harm, getting into bed. “… Trust me, if you take off your top, … it’s not the teddy bears I’m going to be interested in.”
Mac laughed this time. Then she rolled over and draped her arm around him after he put the flashlight on the nightstand.
Harm pulled the covers up and cuddled close with Mac. “Do I need to worry about you getting up bright and early Christmas morning?” he asked.
“Mmm, … it’s already Christmas morning,” she told him, based on her innate knowledge of the time. “… And no,” she answered, “I want to stay in bed as long as possible.” She was entwined with Harm; of course she would want to prolong that experience.
“So we can settle down for a long winter’s nap,” Harm stated.
“Mmm-hmm,” Mac agreed. “A Christmas nap.” She raised her head and gave Harm a quick kiss.
He took that as being a Christmas wish from her, so he summed up, in toast format, “Merry Christmas to us.”
Ready to give in to slumber, Mac added, “And to us … a good night.”
Harm’s heart felt so full, as he whispered, “A great night, Sarah.”
---
TBC …
---
A/N: Again, sorry for the delay. And unfortunately, I might not be able to post the next (and last) part tomorrow (later today, I guess) after all. … But soon.
In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed this extra long part. Don’t forget the Christmas references you can be finding. This story is almost over ...
~Teacup
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
| |
Feedback: 