A/N: Another quickie while I try to recreate the pages of MS I deleted yesterday in a sleep deprived stupor. This ones just for fun and of course based on more crazy spoilers and speculation.
Coin Toss
It was 1907 hours before she cleared the last of the files. She wouldn’t be back. She didn’t want to leave a single thread untied. Finally it was done. One stack for the finished cases, the ones she’d spent most of the day reviewing and signing off. One stack for the well organized open cases that needed to be passed on to the new attorney. He wouldn’t arrive for a week, so there would be no time to brief him. Leaving copious notes on each case, she felt her duty here was done.
It took her nearly forty minutes to drive home, change into something casual, and drive back to Mc Murphy’s. They would all be there in an atmosphere charged with sad camaraderie. Trying one last time to have fun together, taking this one last chance to mend fences, and renew tattered friendships. After all their years together, they just couldn’t leave things the way they were.
As she walked into the soft lighting of the antique tavern, she gazed around the room. Harriet was in the corner throwing darts with the General’s wife. Bud was shooting pool with Sturgis on the other side of the room. Coates was dancing with someone she didn’t recognize. The General was deep in conversation with another strange face. No one looked her way. She knew she could approach any group and be welcome, but that wasn’t what she was looking for. Her eyes traveled the room wondering if he’d just given up, if he wasn’t coming.
The she spotted him at the end of the bar, his long fingers toying with a half empty beer bottle, the stub of a cigar in his other hand. She wished he hadn’t started that again. It didn’t change anything. Her feelings would always be the same, but for his sake, she regretted his choice. It wasn’t healthy.
Less certain of this welcome than with the others; she walked near to him and sat down on the next stool.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey,” he replied. “I didn’t think you were coming,” he glanced at her.
“I had some stuff to finish,” she explained.
“You’ll be leaving soon,” it was a question and a statement.
“In a few days,” she shrugged.
“Looking forward to it, I guess,” he stated flatly. “Your own command.”
“Not really,” she answered.
Surprised, his eyebrow went up. “Really?”
“Really,” she assured him.
“Why not?” He honestly wasn’t fishing, just curious.
“Because….” she hesitated. Dare she open this subject? “Because you won’t be there. You’ll be half a planet away, and that’s not what I wanted. It’s not how I wanted things to be,” she admitted with resignation. It wasn’t that she didn’t accept it, or that she had any control over it, she just didn’t like it.
“Maybe not so far,” he said, glancing sideways then staring into the mirror behind the bar.
“What do you mean?” she looked curious, worried.
“I’m not going Mac,” he said firmly.
“Harm you can’t, I mean you have to,” she stumbled.
“No. I don’t Mac. I resigned today,” his voice was flat.
“You what?” came out in the most deathly whisper.
“I resigned. I don’t want to go to Europe,” he told her defensively.
“Harm you’ll be in charge of all the JAG’s stationed in Northern Europe.” She reminded him unnecessarily.
“I know. But it’s not what I want. Besides, I think I’ve lost it,” he confided piteously.
“What do you mean lost it?” her voice squeaked with astonishment.
“I blew that last case, Mac. Vukovic had it right. If we’d done it his way we’d have won. I’ve lost my edge,” he was wallowing in self-pity now.
“Because Bud won?” she asked flabbergasted.
“Partly,” he allowed. “Partly, because I read the whole thing wrong. Used the wrong defense.”
“Harm, Bud had the truth on his side,” she stated flatly.
He just looked at her.
“Lieutenant Vukovic will win a lot of cases in his career, probably a lot he shouldn’t win. He’ll do anything Harm, try anything, uses any means, foul or fair. He’s about winning Harm. You’ve always been about truth. It’s what you always taught Bud, and it’s why he won,” she told him.
He nodded. “Well, done is done. I still don’t want to go to Europe,” he looked at his bottle of beer stubbornly, stroking the moisture beads away with his long fingers.
“What will you do?” she inquired, a little distracted by his hand motion.
“Don’t know,” he shrugged. “Private practice maybe.”
“Here in DC?” she asked, knowing the town would eat at him. He wouldn’t be happy in these shark-infested waters. Not that he couldn’t handle them. Harm at his best was better than any of them, but it would wear him down, tear him to pieces.
“Where else? This is as good as any,” his tone wasn’t about living, it was only about existing.
She stared at him for a long minute, holding her breath, wondering if she dared. “San Diego,” she barely breathed the words.
“What?” he turned his head, his blue-green eyes penetrating her.
“San….uhm…San Diego,” she said a little more firmly. “Come to San Diego, Harm.”
He stared into her soul trying to fathom the path they’d just stepped on.
“What’s in it for me if I come?” he asked, not recognizing the undercurrent.
She looked up in nervous anticipation, challenging him with a saucy smile. “Why don’t you come and find out?”
Falling deeper into her brown eyes, he saw all the levels of their conversation, and a slow smile dawned on his features. “Are you serious?” he asked softly, barely trusting his voice with this question.
“Never more so,” she breathed in return.
“I mean really, permanently, serious,” he asked now holding his breath. Would she know what he was asking?
“Yes,” was her simple reply.
If there was anyone else still in the room, it was inconsequential as his lips drifted towards hers. She met him halfway and for a very long moment, nothing existed in their universe except the touch of their lips. It wasn’t a lay down on the bar passionate kiss, but it was by no means a simple one as they sampled the taste and texture of each other.
Slowly they broke the kiss, unaware if anyone had noticed, unaware if anyone else existed. “Oh God, Mac,” his voice was soft and stunned.
“Yeah, I know,” she answered in a matching voice.
“Do you want to wait until….?” he asked. Again, she finished the sentence in her head and gave an answer.
“I’ve waited long enough flyboy, and so have you,” she replied, her eyes meeting his in every way.
He nodded and swallowed hard. “Are you sure?” he still didn’t want to pressure her.
She cocked her head slightly and her eyes sparkled. “Are you going to cross examine me all night counselor, or are you going to show me how you feel? You know I’m tired of you holding out one me,” she teased, looking up through her lashes.
With that, he relaxed. “Yeah, I always did play hard to get,” he confirmed with a laugh and twinkle of his own. “Your place or mine?”
She thought for a moment then picked up a coin from his change on the bar. “Call it, Navy,” she said and flipped the coin in the air.
“Heads,” he said and caught the coin, turning it out on his wrist. They both looked at the results, and slowly raised their eyes to smile at each other.
Picking up the coin she pocketed it. “I’m going to have this framed with an important document that will come later,” she told him as she slipped the twenty-five cent piece into her pocket.
Stubbing out his cigar and pushing his beer aside, he confided, “I think I need a shower first.”
“There’s a nice one where we’re going,” she informed him. “Maybe it’s big enough for two,” she added the suggestion.
An eyebrow crept towards his hairline, and he smiled wickedly.
Sliding from their stools in tandem, his arm went around her as they turned towards the door.
“How would you like to take a week and fly across country in a bi-plane Mac?” he inquired as they walked across the old wooden floor.
Grinning broadly, she answered. “A whole week alone with you? I think it sounds delightful.”
Reaching the portal he leaned down and kissed her lightly again. His hand slipped below her waist and rested on her hip, the other hand pushed open the door for her.
Stepping through, they turned to look over the party of their friends. Their smiles lit the room as they moved into the future of their dreams.
End