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Date Posted: 14:59:02 01/21/13 Mon
Author: Cammy
Subject: The Consequences of Suppositions, Chapter 20

The Consequences of Suppositions, Chapter 20
By: Cammy
Disclaimer: Not mine
Rated: R (for language and sexual situations)

Author’s Notes: See Chapter 1.

“Desperate for changing. Starving for truth. I'm closer to where I started, chasing after you.” – Lifehouse, Hanging by a Moment

After catching the torn look in his eyes, Mac pulled back as well, hesitating. “No, that’s okay. I should go. You’re tired. God knows you had a long few days on patrol.”

Harm backed further away from her. “I’m fine. Sit down, Mac. I’ve got eggs and toast coming up.”

Mac was stunned by his coldness, especially given what had happened between them not twenty yards from his kitchen. She moved away from him as Harm pulled eggs from his fridge.

She decided on the direct approach. “What’s wrong, Harm?”

“Nothing,” he said over his shoulder.

Mac knew he was lying and she wondered what had changed in just a few hours.

She watched as he skillfully broke the eggs into a bowl, whisking them and mixing in a couple additional ingredients before pouring the mixture into a pan on the stove. She could see the tension in his shoulders. She wanted nothing more to run her hands over them, soothing the strain. Something told her that wasn’t a very good idea right now.

Mac ran a hand over his countertop. “Look, maybe last night was a mistake.”

“A mistake,” he asked slowly. “Is that what you think?”

“I do if you’re having regrets, and clearly you are.”

“Look, Mac…”

She cut him off. “We probably should have talked first.”

He stared her down before looking back at the stove. “Probably so.”

The memory of the petite blonde CIA attorney they had worked with on the Angel Shark case a year ago came back to her. “Harm, I know you’re seeing Catherine Gale. If you,” she licked her lips, “need some time to sort through all of this, I understand.”

He turned around, leaving the eggs sizzling on the burner behind him. “I’m not seeing Catherine. Webb tell you that?”

She sighed. “Allie did. She overhead Catherine telling Webb a couple months ago you two were in a serious relationship.”

“We’re not. We never even…,” he broke off. “We’re not together. You think last night would have happened if we were? I would never have done that to you or her or to any other woman.”

She backtracked, now regretting that she questioned his honor. If that wasn’t the reason for his demeanor this morning, she wasn’t sure what was. “I’m sorry. It was just what I heard.”

“Maybe neither of us should believe the Beltway gossip coming out of Langley,” he said.

“I agree,” she said, holding his gaze. “If it’s not that, are you going to tell me what’s wrong then?”

“Do you want cheese on your scrambled eggs,” he changed the subject quickly, flipping the egg mixture in the hot pan.

She smiled weakly. “Sure, that sounds great.”

Everything in her screamed to confront him about his Article 32 testimony once and for all, but she remained silent.

~~~ Eternity. Eternity. Eternity. ~~~

Mac went to the dining room table, intending to clear things and set plates for breakfast.

Instead, the only thing she found on the table was a carefully unfolded set of papers; the creases ironed out from when it had been folded and unfolded in her purse across two continents. She remembered having it in her coat pocket last night, it must have fallen out at some point in his apartment.

The reason for his distance was now clear.

It looked she wouldn’t have to confront him with his own testimony; he was confronting her for hiding that she knew about it.

Mac picked up the papers off the table and turned back to him, “Harm…”

His hands were on his hips. “How long did you know, Mac?”

Adrenaline and anger surged inside her. Less than four hours ago she had everything she wanted in the world and now she was once again wrapped in another complicated, untranslatable conversation with Harmon Rabb – the kind she’d always winded up on the losing end of in the past.

“Are you kidding? How long have I known?” She whispered incredulously.

He turned defiant in the wake of her implicit accusation. “Why didn’t you say anything last night?”

“When exactly was I supposed to? At the Wall or in the cab, when you were barely speaking to me? You weren’t even glad to see me.” She looked him straight in the eye. “Or when you had me up against your door, or in your bed?”

“Mac,” he started before she cut him off.

“Since Monday night – that’s how long I’ve known,” she said honestly. “Were you ever going to say anything to me about how you felt?”

He just stared at her, not saying anything. She wanted this stand off to end. She wanted to be in his arms again. She wanted him to tell her exactly how he felt.

“Two whole years, Harm?”

“It’s been a lot longer than that, Mac,” he admitted softly.

Harm’s offensive posture deteriorated before her eyes. His eyes fell to the ground, avoiding her gaze. “I wanted to. I tried…so many times, but it just,” he paused, taking a deep breath, “never seemed like the right time, Mac. I’m sorry. I was getting around to it, but then the Rasul allegations came up and everything went to hell. I was going to tell you the night you left for Italy, but that conversation got so screwed up.”

Hearing him sound wistful, contrite and regretful about their relationship was a first, and it struck a chord deep within her.

When she didn’t answer immediately, Harm busied himself in the kitchen for a few moments. “What time was your flight rebooked for San Diego?” He asked over his shoulder.

“I’m not going to San Diego,” she declared boldly.

Harm finally turned back to her again. “You told me the Admiral ordered you to San Diego.”

She shook her head. “No, I didn’t. I told you I was headed there to meet a JAG officer but I got bumped from a flight.”

He looked confused. “I don’t understand, Mac.”

“Honestly,” she asked. Her hands splayed out on the smooth granite of his countertop.

“Yeah.”

“Webb was the one who sent me the transcript from your Article 32 hearing. I got it earlier this week. Booked my flight to San Diego ten minutes after I read it.”

The eggs hissed behind him, abandoned. “I was the JAG officer you were meeting?”

Mac shrugged, looking at him, wanting him to react. “Hoping to at least. Sturgis said you were going to be in La Jolla for Christmas.”

Harm’s neutral expression finally broke. “Oh.”

“I was trying to find you,” she said quietly.

“Is that true?”

“Yes.”

“Well, then, I guess the real question is when are you headed back to Naples?”

“In a couple days,” she said.

He looked resigned, sad almost, at the news.

She quickly added, “No, I mean just to pack up. I’m leaving and coming back to Washington as soon as I close out in Naples. For good this time.”

Harm’s expression was the same unreadable one she had received a million times. “You turned down the job.” He paused, intentionally it seemed. “Again.”

It was more of a statement than a question. Mac had no idea how he knew about the new offer to stay in Naples, or the original one to transfer there. “How did you know?”

“The Admiral told me. More importantly, you should have told me – the first time he offered it. Why did you turn it down again,” he asked, moving to her.

She closed the distance between them. “You know the reason. Same reason why I turned it down the first time too.” she said, echoing his own words from a phone conversation so long ago.

Any resolve he had disappeared. Harm took a final two steps forward and kissed her. She responded immediately, cupping his face with her hands. Even after the night before they still couldn’t get enough of each other.

He pulled back slightly, studying her face. “Tell me,” he whispered.

“Because I couldn’t stand to be 5,000 miles away from you any longer,” she whispered back, her heart beating quickly.

“Why,” he urged again, nipping at her lips.

“Because I’m madly in love with you,” she said finally, giving in and voicing the feelings she had kept in for nearly a decade.

Harm smiled down at her, his eyes crinkling at the corners. For the first time since she had arrived back in Washington, he looked truly happy to see her. She found his grin contagious. “Took you long enough to admit it, Marine.”

Mac playfully shoved him, which only made him pull her closer.

“Took me long enough? I’m the only one keeping secrets, huh?” she challenged him, running her fingers across the hard planes of his chest. Her voice was light but her look was serious. She was tired of dancing around unsaid things. Tired of wondering what words of love might sound like from his lips.

His smile faded as quickly as it appeared, replaced by a gaze so intense one of her knees threatened to buckle under her. Thankfully his grip around her waist was tight. “No, you’re not, Mac,” he paused, making sure he had her full attention, “I’m – madly – in love with you too. And I’m sorry for ever letting you think I wasn’t.”

Mac threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. It might have been the first truly honest moment of their relationship. They stood like that for long minutes, finally free of the heavy secrets they each had been carrying around for months, years.

Finally, she thought. She pulled back, feeling water pricking at the back of her eyelids.

He studied her, tracing the lines of her face with the back of his fingers. “I forgot how beautiful you are.”

She was shy under his intense scrutiny and her voice was unsteady when she finally spoke. “What now?”

He shrugged and they both laughed, coming down from the emotional high.

“I think I burned the eggs,” he reluctantly moved away from her to take the skillet with burned scrambled eggs off the hot stove.

“Well, at least now it matches the toast,” she nodded at the thick black slices of bread sticking out of his stainless steel toaster on the counter.

He glared at her, tossing the burnt slices in the trash.

“I’ve got a better idea,” Mac whispered, taking his hand and leading him back to his bedroom.

Harm smiled, “Have I ever told you you’re the smartest woman I know?”

She let her head fall back in laughter. “Never once in eight years have you said anything that nice to me.”

With no warning, he picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder. She screeched in surprise and he wasted no time in laying her down in the middle of his bed, before his solid form came down on top of her. She watched as he slowly undid the buttons of his own white dress blouse she was wearing, placing a kiss on her skin as each notch was unfastened.

Serious once again, he asked, “Well I’ve got a lot of lost time to make up for, don’t I?”

It had been a long time coming, but they had both finally come in from the cold.

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Replies:

[> Hurrah finally they got it right thanks Cammy for a great story you got me hooked right from the start i hope there is more to come -- Bev uk, 15:28:21 01/21/13 Mon [1]


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[> YES! FINALLY! THANK YOU! Please post the next one soon! -- yiota, 15:52:03 01/21/13 Mon [1]


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[> Yes, AJ there is a Santa. Thanks!!! -- achaon, 15:54:17 01/21/13 Mon [1]


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[> Yay! Finally. That was awesome. Thanks Cammy, this story rocks! Looking forward to more. -- Dee, 16:21:14 01/21/13 Mon [1]


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[> Yes, thank you Cammy for coming through - they finally said it! -- Ciara, 16:32:59 01/21/13 Mon [1]


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[> Finally , I don't know who was more worked up about the separation & misunderstandings, Harm, Mac or ME! -- usmgrad, 18:03:39 01/21/13 Mon [1]


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[> [> The more i think about it the more I know hthey had better talk soon or there will be more consequences of suppositions going on -- usmgrad, 08:03:26 01/22/13 Tue [1]


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[> Can't express any more joy than all listed above -- is there more? -- carramor, 20:02:27 01/21/13 Mon [1]


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[> AHhhhhh! So worth the wait (which was really not too terribly long). -- FJN, 20:40:44 01/21/13 Mon [1]


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[> FINALLY!!!! Such a great story. I hope there are a few more chapters??? -- Shazam, 21:29:34 01/21/13 Mon [1]


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[> Thanks for all of the kind comments! Yes, there are a few more chapters to come! -- Cammy, 22:33:12 01/21/13 Mon [1]


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[> Cammy, you made us wait, but well worth it, finally can see them happy. Unless Webb or Gale suddenly appear. grrrr! -- JoyZ, 00:37:32 01/22/13 Tue [1]


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[> Great wrap-up! -- KJW, 04:26:29 01/22/13 Tue [1]


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[> Eager to ' see ' what follows ! Thank you Cammy ! -- Laurence, 04:39:56 01/22/13 Tue [1]


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[> Yeah Finally -- mary904, 13:27:41 02/13/13 Wed [1]


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