Name: Man's Country
Author name: Ultracape@aol.com
Rating: G
Spoilers: In Country
Disclaimer: Do people actually think we could possibly make money off 
of this?
Summery: A socio-political discussion of comparative cultural 
prerogatives and interpersonal relations leads to goat herding. You think I'm 
kidding? 


Man's Country
By Ultracape

All feedback welcome.

Usual disclaimers

.
On the road in Afghanistan

It was hot, when it wasn't freezing. It was impossible to keep the sand 
out 
of everything from the driving winds, when it wasn't so deathly calm 
you 
couldn't get a breath. The roads were so bumpy they could cause an 
abortion, 
where there were roads. And to top it all off, if the natives could 
possibly 
figure a way to charge for breathing the air, they would, and at five 
times 
the going rate.

Yet the man sitting next to her had the biggest silliest smile on his 
face 
she had ever seen. "You like it here," Lieutenant Colonel Sarah "Mac" 
MacKenzie accused her partner Commander Harmon "Harm" Rabb, Jr.

Even as they traveled over the odorous deposits recently left by a 
camel 
crossing the road, Harm nodded,

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

How could he explain it to her? How could he explain that for the first 
time 
in a very long time, he felt like the two of them were true partners 
again. 
Their banter was back and yet they were not competing, not trying to 
outdo 
the other, not trying to win.  How could he tell her how great it felt 
to be 
alone with her, where no one, like a video princess or a cocky 
Australian, 
could butt into their growing bond? And most importantly, how could he 
tell 
her that it felt so free to be able to show some affection without the 
fear of 
prying eyes.

Harm felt that Sarah was his true equal, or better, in almost 
everything and 
it was just so great being around her but because of the types of lives 
they 
led, it was only here, in this god-forsaken place that he really got to 
enjoy 
her company without all the pain of regrets. How could he tell her that 
he 
loved her?

"It's man's country." Oh, that was one of the stupidest things he had 
ever 
said. Maybe only that remark about Mac's relationships, or his really 
idiotic 
performance on that ferry, may it sink into the sea with Bugme on it, 
could 
match. She'd get him for that one though, he was sure of it and he kind 
of 
looked forward to it.

"Ah, and there's two of them right there."

Chagrinned at his less than adequate performance in negotiating their 
passage, Harm sat back and awaited with anticipation and enjoyment the 
riposte from his last stupid remark. 

"The problem with Man's Country is that it's governed by men."

"True, but at least we understand each other and with no 
misunderstandings, 
especially those caused by trying to figure out the female species, 
progress 
can be made."

Mac barely forced back a laugh, "Harm, you're talking about one of the 
most 
backward countries in the world."

"But at least men here have figured out how to handle their women."

"You're kidding, right?"

Was he kidding, he really didn't know.  Yet in true Rabb fashion he had 
to 
defend his stupid remark to the last. Besides, the gauntlet had been 
tossed 
and who was he not to pick it up. "No, really. Look Mac, if we lived 
here 
then I could just go to your father or brother or nearest male relative 
and 
say, 'I'm in love with Sarah and I want to make her my wife. And before 
you 
knew it, we'd be married, you'd be barefoot and pregnant and I'd be 
happily 
raising goats and children, not necessarily in that order. And there 
wouldn't 
be any regulations, mores, rules, laws or what have you to come between 
us."

Harm hadn't realized that during his rush of male justification, of his 
stupid remark, the jeep had stopped and Mac was attempting to catch her 
breath while staring wide eyed at him, unable to close her mouth. It 
was only 
the soft choking sounds made by her that brought his attention back to 
the 
here and now.

"Mac, are you alright," Harm immediately moved over to her trying to 
find 
what was causing her such distress. "Mac, Mac, speak to me."

After a few more gulps of air Mac regained some power of speech.

"Would you mind repeating what you just said," she gasped, "ah, just 
for the 
record."

"What did I say?"

"That thing about the goats."

Oh G-d, "Ah, did I say that aloud?" Mac slowly nodded her head.  Unable 
to 
remove his foot from his mouth, Harm realized that by some miracle he 
had 
actually said something that he wouldn't need to apologize for later. 
In 
fact, Mac was starting to smile a really beautiful smile.

"Ah, so, Mac, what do you say when we get back to the states, we, you 
know, 
do the married thing? That is, of course, if you want to?"

Maybe there was an aura, spirit or force that compelled female 
compliance to 
male domination that stigmatized the country, because against every 
cultural 
feminist prerogative Mac had in her, she felt herself continue to nod.

"Okay, good, we'll do that then." Harm settled back in his seat and 
felt his 
smile growing from ear to ear. This was working out better than he had 
ever 
dreamed.

"And, ah Mac."

She continued to nod.

"You know I love you."

"Uh huh."

"Ah, Mac."

"Yeah," she was only just beginning to regain the power of speech.

"You can start the car now. Sooner we get this mission done the sooner 
we 
can, you know, start on the children thing."

"Uh, huh." She turned back to the task of steering the Humvee along the 
very 
bumpy road.

Harm was really starting to like this place. It just made things so 
much 
simpler.

"Ah, Harm."

"Yeah Mac."

"Children yes, goats no."

"Anything you say, Mac, anything you say."


AN: I just felt that the remark about Man's Country was too good to 
pass up. 
I really couldn't see a liberated man who boasted of his unchauvinistic 
ways 
saying such a stupid thing. Then I realized, we're talking about Harm 
here. I 
hope you enjoyed.

AN2:  I don't know why so many fanfic writers have shown Harm to be a 
romantic. To my recollection, Jordan said he was and he spent $60 on 
flowers for Renee, but other than that, nada. He doesn't have a romantic 
bone in his body. So I figured that if he were ever to ask Mac to marry 
him, it would have to be in the same way he has managed to NOT ask Mac 
to marry him, by putting his foot in his mouth.