Title:		The Baby Pact Revisited
Author:		"Beatrice"
E-Mail Address:	jennifer_ruger@hotmail.com
Rating:		PG
Classification:	Best Shipper Fic 20K and Under;
Best Harm Characterization; Best Mac Characterization
Spoilers:		Yeah, Baby; Lifeline; Adrift II;
Measure of Men; Port Chicago
Summary:		Early in S8, Harm and Mac have a
conversation about family planning.

Disclaimer:  I don't own JAG or its characters.
They are the property of Donald Bellisario and
Belisarius Productions.  No copyright infringement
intended - I'm not making any profit from this!

***
1935 Local Time
Mac's Apartment

Harm and Mac sat at her dining room table, poring
over the files in front of them.  They were working
on a case together and had decided to begin
preparations over a working dinner.  However, they
were having trouble focusing on the task at hand, and
the conversation had drifted to more personal topics.

"I'm just glad to see Bud out of the hospital and
doing so well," Harm said.  "He and Harriet deserve
to have their lives return to some degree of
normalcy.  You know, before all this happened,
Harriet told me they were thinking about having
another child."

"Really?" asked Mac, wondering briefly why Harriet
would have confided such a thing to Harm.  "Well,
that's great, I mean, hopefully after they've had
some more time to adjust to their situation, they'll
go ahead and do that, if it's what they want."

"Speaking of which," Harm said, "there are less than
2 years remaining before our little contract goes
into effect."  He wasn't exactly sure why he was
bringing this up, but after what had happened to Bud
and their own brushes with death overseas, his
relationship with Mac and the future of that
relationship had been on his mind more and more.

"You're referring to our joint childbearing
agreement?" Mac inquired, making sure to keep her
voice as even and devoid of emotion as possible.  Not
that she really needed to ask.  She knew exactly what
he was talking about.  In fact, her internal clock
could tell her the precise number of days until their
deal would come to fruition.

"That's the one."

Mac could tell Harm was trying to appear nonchalant,
but he was watching her rather intently for just a
casual exchange.  Refusing to let him rattle her, she
took a deep breath and continued in a serious tone.
"Maybe we should start ironing out the specifics of
this contract now."

Harm looked puzzled.  "Such as, custody, child
support?"

Mac shook her head, her face still impassive.  "No, I
was thinking a little earlier in the process.  The
creative phase."  She met his gaze steadily.

Harm shifted uncomfortably in his seat, realizing he
might have bitten off more than he could chew with
this conversation.  "Oh, O.K.," he mumbled.  It was
all he trusted himself to say at the moment.

Mac was all business.  "So, are we going to use in
vitro, artificial insemination, or were you planning
on doing this the old-fashioned way?"  Once again,
she stared at him pointedly, her eyebrows slightly
raised, awaiting his reaction.

Harm swallowed hard, looking even more uncomfortable.
His eyes darted from her face to the stacks of paper
on the table and back.  "Look, Mac," he began
somewhat defensively, "we're not going to do anything
unless we're both 100% comfortable with it.  I mean,
I'm not going to force myself on you.  But in vitro?
Doesn't that sound awfully... sterile?"  He was
starting to gain momentum and feel as though he was
on more solid ground at this point, so his voice
became more confident.  At the very least, he
thought, he'd hit on a plausible position from which
to argue his case.  "Besides, those procedures cost
thousands of dollars.  That money would be better
spent starting a college fund."

Mac placidly sipped her drink, tilting her head to
study him.  "That's a very clinical analysis," she
said.

"And you're not being clinical?"  Harm's voice went
up in pitch and volume much more than he'd intended,
so he modulated his tone before he went on.  "Do you
honestly want to tell your kid he or she was
conceived in a petri dish?"

Mac was getting annoyed.  She had meant to put him on
the spot and make him squirm a bit, but in one of his
classic legal maneuvers, Harm had turned the tables
and made it about her.  "What's the alternative?" she
spat out.  "Telling the child he's the result of a
couple of one-night stands between friends?"

Harm looked straight into her eyes and replied
solemnly, "That's not all it would be, Mac."

"Oh, really?" she countered sarcastically, her gaze
challenging his.  She was unable to contain her anger
any longer.  "So, what, you'll take me out to dinner
before you take me home and screw me?"

Harm's eyes widened in shock.  "Mac!" he exclaimed.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Harm," she said with mock compassion.
"Are you offended by my terminology?  Is it not
clinical enough for you?  What term would you prefer?
After all, if we're going to do it, we ought to
figure out what we're going to call it."

Why couldn't he just say it? she seethed inwardly.
If he wanted this as much as she did, why couldn't he
just tell her so?  Unless, to him, this really was
just a business arrangement between friends.  In her
heart of hearts, she didn't want to believe that.
Though he had never expressed them in any language
resembling plain English, Harm had hinted that he
harbored deeper feelings for her:  on the Admiral's
porch, when Mic left, on the Guadalcanal.  While she
still clung to hope, the fact remained that he had
not shown any clear signs of being ready to let go.
She stared at him, chest heaving and eyes flashing
with pain and bald anger.

Harm opened his mouth but could not bring himself to
speak or even to look at her.  He couldn't quite
fathom how this conversation had gone so horribly
wrong.  How could she think he would just use her?
Didn't she understand what she meant to him, that he
cherished her above all others on the planet?  He had
held himself back from her for so long to avoid the
pitfalls of a casual affair, to ensure that when they
were finally together, it would be for the right
reasons.  It would be for keeps.  And they would both
be sure.

Mac's harsh glare was bearing down on him, and her
words pierced the mental fog in which he swam.
"Harm, how can we possibly think about having a baby
together if we can't even have this conversation?"

Harm responded quietly, his voice full of emotion.
"I'm sorry.  I thought this was something we both
wanted.  Evidently I was wrong."  With that, he rose
from the table and started walking toward the door.

Mac squeezed her eyes shut, and her hands
simultaneously curled into fists.  A small voice
inside her head was urging her to stop him,
not to let him leave.  For if he walked out that
door, this was one misunderstanding from which they
might never recover.  By force of will, she relaxed
her tensed muscles and exhaled.  Then she opened
her eyes and, in a clear voice, uttered a single
word:  "No."

Harm froze, his hand poised on the doorknob, afraid
to hope.  He slowly turned to look at her, then
cautiously asked, "No, what?"

Mac turned to face him and replied, "No, you weren't
wrong."

"Then, you do want to have a baby?"  Harm's gaze
dropped to the floor.  "I mean, of course you do, I
know you want to have children."  Tentatively, his
eyes traveled back up to meet hers.  "But," his
words came out haltingly, "you... still want to have
a baby... with me?"

The blue eyes were staring at her, wide and
vulnerable.  Mac knew how utterly terrifying it must
have been for Harmon Rabb to ask her such a direct,
and loaded, question.  Instantly, she felt all of her
former anger and frustration drain out of her.  In
her mind's eye, she had a momentary glimpse of how
tender he would be with a baby, and her heart melted
even further.  She knew how dangerous it was
for her to risk her heart with Harm, but she could
not deny her love for him.  This was the man she
wanted to be the father of her children.

As if drawn to him, she stood and walked toward him
until she was close enough to reach up and caress his
cheek.  Then she let her hand fall to his shoulder,
the corners of her mouth tugging into a smile.
"God help us.  Can you imagine how stubborn this kid
is gonna be?"

Harm released the breath he'd been holding.  He
smiled at her, chuckling softly as he pondered her
question.  "Yeah, that could definitely come back to
bite us in the ass."

They both laughed, the earlier tension between them
dissipated.  As Mac started to withdraw her hand,
Harm grasped it and held it over his heart.  A fierce
wave of emotion, made up of love, protectiveness, and
desire, crashed over him as he pictured her carrying
his baby.  She was the mother of his children.  In
his daydreams of future joys, she was always the one.

Almost without thinking, Harm tipped his head
forward, moving closer to her.  He glanced briefly at
her lips, then back into her eyes.  She had made no
move to stop him or back away, so he closed the
remaining distance between them and pressed his lips
against hers.  Her arms slid around his neck, and he
pulled her to him as he deepened the kiss.  When they
parted, they just stood for a moment, gazing into
each other's eyes, their expressions speaking volumes
of their devotion to one another.

Mac shyly averted her eyes as she disentangled
herself from Harm's embrace.  A little breathless,
she said, "Perhaps I, uh, underestimated the old-
fashioned method.  I'll have to consider the issue
very carefully."

A slow smile spread over Harm's face, and he raised
an eyebrow suggestively.  When he spoke, his voice
was low and smooth as velvet.  "If there's anything
more I can do to persuade you, just let me know."

The End