drabble nine
Title: The Long Way Home
Fandom: JAG
Characters: General + (Harm/Mac)
Prompt: #25 - Strangers
Word Count: 386
Rating: PG
Info: Season 9 or 10-ish?
A/N: uggh.. uber crap. But I guess I can live with it.. barely.
"Friendship with oneself is all-important because without it one cannot be friends with anyone else in the world." - Eleanor Roosevelt
It's been a while since she could honestly say she was happy with her life. She's made choices that were completely out of character for her, and that went against everything that she believes in. She can see that somewhere along the way, she's lost track of herself, and for the life of her she can't figure out how to start putting the pieces together, to connect the dots and find some semblance of a person she can live with. Or one that the people who matter the most to her can live with.
This is how he finds her a few minutes later, obviously thinking about something in front of the reflecting pool. There are tears in her eyes that are stubbornly refusing to fall, and occasionally a stranger will cast a curious glance at her and she'll ignore it. He isn't even sure why he wanted to be here tonight, usually he comes to the National Mall on Christmas Eve, and Christmas it is not. Winter is losing its grip on DC now, and soon he knows the days will be growing longer and warmer. But that still doesn't explain why she's fighting herself in the dark, especially here.
She knows he's there, but it's cold. Everything's felt that way lately and she's not sure where to start to change that, only that she has to. She meets his eyes for a moment when he moves closer, but only for a minute. She's still trying to find all the words that will make up the things she needs to say. It's not a fun feeling to be helpless, not knowing what to say, or even how to find the words to ask for help, and to ask the one person you can always trust to help you find your way back.
So when she makes a noise that is a mix of impatience, frustration, and sadness, he understands sits down without a word. And when his just being there seems to make a difference, she knows what she's known all along, that as the old saying goes, 'this too will pass,' and that once she does find herself again, she's not letting go.