JAG Tossup

Disclaimer: Don't own'em.

A/N: Just a lark, and a quite silly one, so don't expect anything serious.

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**Toss-up**

It was an intimate group of friends that had assembled at McMurphy's for drinks and an unexpected announcement, with the friendships among them ranging from twenty years to less than twelve months. One pair in particular had been the best of friends for nine years, and secretly in love for almost as long. It had been a secret to them mostly, but perhaps not so much to their friends. Their friends would have agreed, had they been given the chance to discuss the matter, that for such perceptive individuals Harm and Mac were clueless.

At the moment, however, they were all too busy watching a coin flip in the air above them to discuss the issue. Only on thing mattered: heads or tails?

Seven pairs of eyes followed the coin as it slowed in its ascent, pulled downwards by the inescapable force of gravity. And then seven pairs of eyes widened as the coin flew into the rotating ceiling fan, was hit by one of the blades with a sharp ting, and flew across the room. Seven jaws dropped.

And then seven people moved into various levels of action.

Bud rushed across the room, in the direction he thought - but couldn't be sure - that the coin had flown. He was not about to be held responsible for thwarting a marriage before it even got to the chapel.

Jen rushed across the room, in the opposite direction from Bud, in the direction in which she thought the coin had flown. Did it fall heads or tails, she wondered. Did the throw still count, or would someone call interference?

Sturgis also rushed across the room, in yet a third direction, convinced he knew where the coin had flown. He had seen too much drama in the past few years to fool himself into believing that Harm and Mac would see a diverted coin as anything less than a sign from fate or destiny or some equally large and unwieldy excuse for their own inaction and mistakes over the years.

Harriet looked from Bud to Jen to Sturgis, clearly torn as to whose lot to throw her efforts behind. She didn't know how to process this turn of events. And why the hell did she let Bud stand under a ceiling fan?

The General turned to look at Harm and Mac, trying to decide what was more unbelievable: Harm and Mac's lack of luck, or Bud's level of clumsiness. How had AJ managed this group for so long, without losing his mind?

Harm closed his eyes, squeezing his temple between thumb and forefinger in an attempt to relieve the quickly building pressure. "Unbelievable," He muttered. Fate was an asshole. If the last nine years hadn't proved it, this surely did.

Mac dropped her head, shoulders slumped. It was an expression of defeat that looked oddly out of place on a woman whose happiness a few moments before had blinded more than one gentleman in the bar. Her thoughts were far too confused and frantic to single out any one for mention. At the moment, however, she wanted to crawl under a thick comforter, preferably with Harm.

"Have you seen a coin?" Bud asked anyone who would listen in one corner of the bar. "I'm pretty sure it flew this way," He narrowly missing being hit by a sailing dart as he searched the ground, his head down. He didn't notice the expletives being thrown his way, so involved was he in his search for some sort of redemption for ruining his mentors' evening and possibly the rest of their lives. Harriet was going to kill him.

"I'm looking for a coin," Jen informed a group of three young men, seated at a booth together in another corner of the bar. "Silver and gold, I think it came this way." She smiled at her captive audience of three, not above using her charms to get them to move out of her way.

"I'll help you," One of the young men eagerly replied. He was not the type to turn down such a pretty member of the fairer sex. The other two joined in, scouring the area around their booth, equally keen to earn anything from a smile to a phone number. Really, though, her phone number was the goal.

"If you would excuse me," Sturgis said to a couple seated in a third corner of the bar and who clearly did not want to be disturbed, "Did a coin fly by you?" He searched under their table without waiting for an answer.

Harriet thought all three of them very brave to scrutinize the floor of a bar so thoroughly. She finally decided to join Bud in his search for two reasons. First, he was her husband. Second, the rather burly guys whose game of darts Bud was interrupting didn't seem pleased, and like Jen she wasn't above using her charms to corral their aid and dissipate their anger. And potentially save Bud from a black eye or worse.

The General stared about the room, still not quite sure how his legendary command presence or his multiple years in the field facing down much worse than a group of lawyers would help him deal with this particular situation. But really, how did AJ manage it?

Harm took a breath and told himself he was brave enough to see how Mac was reacting to this. He glanced at her and was shaken to see just how defeated she looked.

"Hey, come here," He said softly, putting an arm around her, pulling her into his embrace. "It's jut a coin," He comforted.

"You said it was fate," She reminded him.

"I say lots of things you never take seriously, some of which actually merit your disbelief."

She couldn't disagree with that.

"I don't want to lose you." She slipped her arms around his waist, holding on tightly.

"I promise you," He echoed her words from years before, "No matter what, you won't lose me."

They shared a smile, their eyes contentedly caught up in each other's.

"Then why do we need to flip a coin?" She asked, eyebrow raised impishly.

"Because you failed to come up with a dispassionate plan." His eyes glinted with mischief.

"Hey!" She laughed, gently poking his side. "Can't blame a girl for getting all caught up in the heat of the moment."

"Are we okay?" He asked, his demeanour turning serious. He traced her cheek with his finger. "I love you," He whispered, not waiting for an answer.

She stood up on her toes and kissed him. "We're more than okay," She replied, her eyes dancing. Happiness radiated from her. It suited her, he thought, and all those who happened to look in her direction at the time agreed with him.

"Let me buy you a drink," He said, waving over the bartender. "We need to discuss our options with the General."

Mac nodded. "Sir?" She turned in the General's direction.

He snapped out of his daze. "Colonel?" He replied, his years of command finally coming in handy: they allowed him to look far more confident and significantly less bewildered than he actually felt.

"What would happen if the Captain and I got married tonight?"

The General wondered how long it would take before he could retire. He also wondered why he'd ordered a martini when clearly tonight called for whiskey. Or a shot of tequila.

Bud and Harriet, Jen, and Sturgis all searched for the errant coin, by now having collectively recruited most of the bar patrons into their SAR operation. Harriet and Jen had done so with a polite request and a smile, Bud by sharing that the results of the coin flip would decide if the striking couple standing by the bar would get married, and Sturgis by eliciting the curiosity of onlookers through his single-minded dedication to the task.

So while almost everyone in the building - with the exception of one exceptionally drunk gentleman who was passed out in the fourth corner of the bar, a shining silver and gold coin lying at the bottom of the glass of beer he was cradling in his hands - searched for Harm and Mac's future, the two individuals in question stood with the general by the bar. The general drank whiskey and discussed the possibility of spousal co-location to his half-attentive audience. Harm stood with his arm around Mac's shoulder, and she leaned into his side, both simply happy. They didn't know what the future would bring, where they would be stationed tomorrow, whether they would be living on the same continent or not, but it hardly seemed to matter. Harm was planning on getting a marriage license in Virginia - where there were no waiting periods and no hassles - at the first possible opportunity. Mac was planning on enjoying life for the next 50 or so years.

Both were very good plans.


End file.

JAG, Humor