Meg noticed that Harm and Keeter had come into the home gym while she was busy beating the living tar out of perfectly innocent foam boards and paused for a moment to go and talk to Harm.
She waited until Harm turned to her and the first thing out of his lips was, "Did you talk to Animal?"
His eyes were veiled as though he didn't want to hear the result of that conversation. Whether it would provide him an opening that he had wanted for so long.
"I did..." Meg said "I've lost Tosh..." she said with grim finality. "I waited too long...to tell him what was in my heart and I lost him..." she said with tears welling up in her eyes.
She continued on. "Then after our little talk, Kimber comes down and rips me a new one." she complained. "I've let him go...and it's my fault that I wasn't clearer to him about how much I wanted him. But the kicker is...that she blames me for him nearly falling apart...because I got ripped out of JAG with no notice whatsoever and sent to Crane without so much as a see you later.
Harm nodded sympathetically...
"Meg, I know you've been through pain, not knowing whether you were going to be able to live your life without having a veil of secrecy around you, but you have to understand that after he opened up to you and started thinking of you as someone who he could possibly have a relationship with, to have you suddenly go missing nearly broke him." Harm's words stopped Meg for a long moment as she contemplated that revelation.
"And Kimber told you that she was the one who picked up the pieces?" Harm asked her. When she nodded, Harm stated firmly. "She did..." Those two words gave Meg pause. "I know...because I was there. You didn't see how frantic he was trying to look for you. He was like a man possessed. When you gave him your heart, my pain from losing my partner wasn't anything compared to him losing the love of his life. You have to understand it from his point of view. Everything he ever cherished...in you was torn out of his life and with no closure too. He couldn't fall apart, 24 men and women in that squadron depended on him being the Unflinching Leader. He still had to perform his duties whether he wanted to or not and you have to see how much it was ripping him apart."
Meg felt a hint of anger seep over her, "And Kimber was there to conveniently pick up the pieces..." she said.
"Meg..." Harm calmed her down, "You have to understand her point of view. Yes, she loved him, the man that was her squadron commander, but she had to keep on the right side of the UCMJ and she did all that she could do to keep him together without contravening the fraternization regs so that was as far as it went, but she still harbored feelings for Animal all the while that she was in uniform, but she kept that strictly under wraps or otherwise Mac and I would have been dealing with him under Article 133. They kept on the right side of the law. And now that they're out...Kimber saw the opportunity and went for it. She's a naval aviator, after all..." Harm said wryly. "And the funny part of it..."
Meg gave him a look that could melt steel, "I'm not seeing anything funny about it at the moment, Harm."
"Hear me out, Meg..." Harm grinned, "Tosh always taught me that the best opening move in aerial combat was to take the opponent out first...with an aggressive attack." he chuckled wryly. "Looks like Kimber certainly memorized that and adapted it really well..."
Meg stared at him for a long moment stone-faced then responded frostily, "That would have been a whole lot funnier if it wasn't at my expense."
"I'm sorry, Meg..." Harm apologized and said, "Kimber does love him...a lot."
Meg growled ominously, "Is that supposed to make me feel any better?"
"So, what are you going to do now?" Harm asked Meg.
"I don't know...it still hurts to see them together and me with no idea of what I plan to do. Yeah, I'm working in law enforcement, Jack's been a good guy, taking me out to lunch and everything but everything on my creep-radar has been going off. He's a nice guy but he's just not my type, y'see?" Meg said, her mind going on autopilot as she looked up towards the ceiling. (Meanwhile Jack Keeter wondered why his ears were suddenly burning)
In the meantime...suddenly a bit of a painful realization hit Harm (@bekkasan's 2x4) that he was going to lose Meg if he didn't take the chance right there and then. "So...what is your type of guy?" he asked hesitantly.
"Oh...y'know..." Meg hedged for a long moment, as she thought about the kind of guy that she wanted...now that Tosh was unavailable. "Somebody...tall, dark...handsome...y'know anyone like him, Harm?"
All of Harm's alarms were screaming rebound romance danger danger, but Harm thought Dam(n) the torpedoes, I'm going in. and plunged ahead with the lamest of pickup lines, "Meg, did you ever know how beautiful your eyes are?"
"Stare at them every day in the mirror but never really noticed. Thanks for noticing, Harm, you're so sweet..." That earned Harm a hug.
"Meg, I have something really serious to say..." Harm said quietly, "When you went missing, it wasn't just Tosh that missed you terribly. I did too..." he looked at Meg to see if his revelation was sinking in...then forged on, "I needed you and you weren't there...what I'm trying to say...Meg...is I'm available..."
Meg looked at him in surprise... "You knew that I had a crush on you back then?"
"Kinda...but it was kinda hazy back then..." Harm admitted.
"...it was the UCMJ that stopped us too back then...wasn't it?" Meg admitted as she gauged Harm up and down. He was certainly a handsome guy, and was it a consolation prize really, if it meant going back to the first guy she ever had feelings for? Perhaps it was a little bit like coming home to someone who you knew but really never saw for the first time until now.
Harm looked a bit sheepish as he looked away for a brief moment as if he was going to say something...then as Meg leaned in to clearly hear what he was about to say, he popped a quick peck of a kiss on her lips - the contact so brief that she barely felt it, but it still sent an electric feeling all through her entire body.
...and Meg's eyes glazed over and her legs went weak at the knees...all the lights in the room faded to a narrow pipe field of view and everything was all right with the world again...because of one thing: Harm holding her in his arms and kissing her like there was no tomorrow.
They say that you know when love feels right... Well...for Meg...this felt right... (and oh did it feel right not too much later...)
Oh...did it ever...
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