Title: Flying Away 4: Ship to Shore
Author: Anne Taul, anne_taul@gowebway.com

Summary: A telephone conversation brings lovers even closer together. Part 4 of the Flying Away series.

Disclaimer: JAG, its characters, premise, etc, are the sole and exclusive property of CBS, Paramount and Bellasarius productions. No profit is being made or sought from this purely recreational endeavor. No infringement of copyright is intended.

 

Flying Away 4: Ship to Shore

Sarah MacKenzie walked wearily through her apartment door, then leaned heavily against it. What a day!

Never again would she listen to Mic Brumby when he said they should stay at work a little later to catch up, so they would be ahead for tomorrow.

It was true that their case, going to court soon, was a particularly difficult one, but being this exhausted wasn't going to give her any special insight into how to defend this client.

For two nights they had stayed at the office until after midnight, but not again, she vowed.

Mac kicked her shoes off and dropped her briefcase at the front door. As she strode through the living room, she began undressing. She just discarded the clothes as they fell, too tired to worry about the mess now. When she reached the bed, she just fell into it and pulled the cover up around her.

She had the same thought she always had when she lay in this bed ­ Harm holding her against his chest. With thoughts of Harm, she was quickly asleep.

It had been two months since she had seen Harm. There was a letter in her mailbox almost everyday, and a phone call at least once a week, but these were poor substitutes for the feel of him next to her in the bed. She missed the rough sensation of his chest hair beneath her cheek as she cuddled with him, after incredible lovemaking. But with escalating tensions in the Middle East, again, there was little chance of seeing Harm anytime soon.

The piercing cry of a ringing phone brought her back from dreams about her lover.

She rolled over and grabbed the receiver. If it was Brumby, she would kill him!

The voice on the other end, though, was soothing and made her tingle. It was Harm.

"Hi, Beautiful!"

"Harm, I was just dreaming about you."

"I'm sorry to wake you up, Sweetheart, but this was the only time I could use the phone. The lines have been really long."

"That's okay. It's always nice to wake up to you."

"Mac, you sound so tired, Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, everything's okay. We're just working on a really complicated case, so I've been putting in a lot of extra hours. I guess I am pretty tired."

"What are you working on?"

"Brumby and I are defending a marine doctor from Camp Pendleton. He's accused of falsifying health records and blackmailing some of the higher ranking officers who are trying to hide their medical problems."

"Sounds serious. What strategy are you preparing for the defense?"

"We're going to stick with answering the charges directly."

"Malpractice?"

"No. He'd have to be tried in civilian court for malpractice, which he may be, but we have Œmisappropriation of government data for personal gain' and Œconduct unbecoming."

"Tell me what you've got planned. Maybe I can help."

"Harm, I've spent two days on nothing but this case. Honey, I'd rather talk to you about something else."

"I'm sorry."

"Tell me what's going on, on the ship."

"Right now we're just preparing for some training exercises that will involve the whole fleet."

"Sounds exciting."

"Oh, it is. I can only think of one other place that I'd rather be."

"And where's that?"

"In that bed next to you."

At about that time, Harm's roommate, Commander Derek Murray walked past. In a hoarse whisper, he said, "Wipe that smile off your face, Rabb!" Then he laughed.

Harm pointed toward the flight deck, as if telling him to ŒGet Lost.'

Murray grinned, "No kidding, tell her I said ŒHi.'"

Harm swatted at him, shooing him away. Then into the telephone, "Murray says hi."

"Murray?"

"Yeah, you'll have to meet him sometime, he's a real character."

"Harm, other people aside, when will I see you again?"

He sighed heavily, "I don't know, Sarah. I really don't know."

"I miss you."

"Me too."

"Just to help me make it through, tell me, ŒWhat are you wearing?"

"Nothing."

"Oh god! I do wish I were there!"

"Calm down, Sailor."

Mac, tell me more about the case with the doctor."

"Harm, I can't discuss the cases I'm working on. You know that."

"I just want to help you."

"I know, but why?" She thought for a moment, then continued, "Harm, do you miss the law?"

"Sure I do. I miss it some at least."

He hadn't given it much thought, but he did miss the challenges of practicing law, of figuring out strategies and the like. His mind seemed to enjoy a problem to work on. But he didn't miss it like he wanted to drop everything and go running back. Not yet. He knew there was something more to the way he was feeling than simply missing the law. It knew it must have something to do with missing her. He hadn't held her in his arms in far too long.

He prodded her a few more times about details of her case, but she told him over and over that she couldn't discuss the case with him.

Mac wondered the whole time why he was so interested in her work. Of course, it was the same work that had been such a big part of his life for so long. Could it be that he was discovering that the law was still important to him? Maybe as important as flying Tomcats? She had never quite understood how flying could really have that kind of pull on him. She knew how much she loved being an attorney, and thought that it probably meant that much to him too. Would he eventually be lured back to legal work? She somehow doubted it. If not, why was he so interested in the details of the case? She just wondered.

Harm kept asking. He wanted to know which witnesses she had interviewed and how the defense was being pieced together. He knew her so well that he could probably guess, but he wanted her to tell him. Talking to her like this, about a court case, it was like what they had done together so many times. This is what their life had been like before he left JAG. Harm just couldn't understand why she was so hesitant to tell him about it.

"Well, Honey, what does Brumby think about it?" He hated to ask the question, to even have to think about her working with the guy.

"He keeps looking for some kind of angle that's not there. I don't think Mic's very good with the facts. He tries to twist them into something sensational."

"Be careful doing that. It can be dangerous. A judge'll see through that kind of nonsense immediately."

"Tell me about it.

There was a lull in the conversation.

Then Harm spoke, "Sweetheart?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you know what I really, really miss right now?"

"I hope it's me."

"Yeah, of course it is. But what I really miss is the way your hair smells when you first get out of the shower, when it's still wet. I guess it's the shampoo smell. And... I miss the way your earlobe tastes when it's still wet after your shower."

"Don't Harm! I already can't stand to be away from you. If you keep talking about stuff like that, I'll go crazy."

"I am crazy, Darling. I want to see you so much. In about another six or eight weeks I'll be eligible for a couple days leave. Will you meet me someplace?"

"I'll meet you any where, anytime. Just name it. But Harm six or eight weeks is so long. It's already been such a long time."

"Be brave, Sarah. I know it's hard. We have to keep going for each other. Remember how much I love you."

"Harm, I know we need to be strong, but I want you. I need you."

"So do I, Honey."

"Things used to be so simple."

"That's it, Sarah. That's why I want to know about the case."

"What are you talking about?"

"Mac, before we fell in love, before we went to FIJI, our relationship was different. We weren't always lovers, but we have always been friends. Talking about that case with you reminded me of old times when we worked together. We were a good team, Mac. We were close, and I miss being close to you. I miss that more than the physical stuff, more than the romance."

"Really?"

"Oh, yeah, I guess I realize that I'm not just in love with being in love with you, I'm in love with everything about you."

She yawned.

The conversation wound down in discussion of desire for hugging and kissing each other, and...

After the hung up, Mac hugged her pillow tight against her, whispered his name and fell into a deep slumber.