PART 7

CHEGWIDDEN RESIDENCE
MCLEAN, VIRGINIA
0320 ZULU

Mac leaned forward and grabbed her glass of soda water off the table with an unsteady hand. Harm was eyeing her warily, but luckily no one else seemed to register Mac’s sudden mood change. Mac knew that storming out now would only bring suspicion and awkwardness to everyone… she just needed to get some liquid into her suddenly parched throat. Harm felt that awful knot of terror begin in the pit of his stomach and just wished everyone would go away so he could make sure Mac was alright. He hoped that soon everyone would tire of this game and he would get an opportunity to talk to her alone. Unfortunately it didn’t look like that opportunity was going to come soon.

“OK Captain,” Bud spoke up, “But what we’re all dying to know is, what did you do to finally win her over?!”

Harm looked at Mac questioningly but Mac only returned a forced smile. “Ummm…” Harm ventured, “I’m not quite sure… I think I just kissed her.”

Gunny had to jump on this one. “You mean you’d never tried kissing her before, sir? I mean… other than the time you'd kissed her when it wasn't really her…”

Everyone snickered at Gunny’s comment while Harm turned slightly red. Mac decided to come to Harm’s defence. “Actually, he *had* tried kissing me before… but it uh… didn’t work out so well.” She dropped her eyes into her lap with a smile.

“I thought you were the one that kissed me?”

Mac laughed a sad smile, “Well, I think it started that way… but you definitely kissed back.”

“So what happened?” Harriet asked hesitantly.

Mac had to look away from Harm when she answered. “Well,” she tried to joke, “I was sort of on the verge of getting married…” she looked up at the group “I’m sure you all remember my engagement party?”

Tiner slapped his leg with a shout and turned to Gunny “HA! You owe me twenty bucks Galindez! Ha, ha! After all these years I get my vindication! I *knew* you guys were making out on the porch!”

“Rabb!…” The Admiral would have been all over him if his mother hadn’t beat him too it.

“Harmon Rabb, Jr! You kissed a woman at her own engagement party?”

“What’s everybody ganging up on *me* for?” Harm stammered, “She just admitted she was the one that kissed me first!”

Mac couldn’t help laughing as she covered the sides of her face and put her elbows on her knees. Now it was her turn to blush.

“Besides *Tiner*, we weren’t out there ‘making out’ the whole time, it was just one kiss… one rather…*intense* kiss…” he reflected with a smile at Mac who was just barely managing a sideways glance at him from behind her hand.

Turner was shaking his head with an amused smile, “So, you were actually able to kiss her passionately, and then walk back in here and give her back to her fiancé?”

In exasperation, Harm fell back on the one phrase he thought he’d probably used the most in paraphrasing his relationship with Mac, “IT WAS COMPLICATED!”

This time both Harm *and* Mac were the intended target of a new barrage of snack food. Mac just shook her head slowly in her hands. Harm couldn’t tell if she was alright, but he thought she looked like she might be laughing. He hoped to God she was.

“You know, sir” Gunny smiled as he handed Tiner a $20 bill, “I heard a very interesting bit of information that night, and now it has me pretty confused.”

“Oh yeah?” Harm said cautiously. “What was that?”

“Well,” he smiled with obvious glee, “Do you remember the girl I brought to that party?” he looked over at Tiner with a glare. “The one that the good Ensign kept hitting on…”

Tiner looked offended “I wasn’t trying to hit on her…!”

“Well,” Gunny just talked right over top of him, “You two probably don’t realize this, but there were a few of us here running interference for you guys that night – because you were out there for so long…”

Harm shot Mac a guilty glance. “That obvious, was it?”

“Ummm… well, let’s just say, you had a certain couple of people pretty worried there for awhile. Anyway, during one of our attempts to ‘divert attention’ shall we say, my girlfriend had quite an interesting conversation with Renée…”

“Uh-oh” Harm was pretty sure he didn’t want to hear this.

“…During said conversation, Miss Peterson divulged that…” Victor couldn’t stifle his laughter, “… well, let’s just say that *you* had… at a very inopportune moment… once called her ‘Mac’”

The entire group exploded with screeches and laughter and pummelled Harm with more food. Harm just curled his head into his arms and rested them on his knees. He was wondering if there was any possible way he could be swallowed up by the floor, if there was he would definitely be in favour of it.

“Yeah!” the Gunny allowed his voice to rise over the commotion, “I always assumed your slip had been out of ‘habit’ rather than ‘fantasy’ though, sir. Now after hearing about what really happened *or didn't happen* between you and the Colonel, I’d have to say I’m quite disappointed – I assumed you to be much more of a … ‘man of action’…’

It was now Harm’s turn to launch his own ‘snack assault’ on Galindez with a threatening gleam in his eye.

Mac just gawked at him with an amused, but stunned, expression on her face. “Oh my Gaaawwwwwd?” she questioned him for the validity of this statement.

Harm turned to look at Mac and was suddenly more red than anyone could have ever attested to seeing him. This state only verified the Gunny’s intel and sent everyone into further peals of laughter. Harm thought the Admiral was going to fall of his chair he was laughing so hard.

“If you’ve all finished having a good laugh at my expense… I can explain… it’s NOT what you all are thinking.”

Sturgis was wiping the tears out of his eyes, “Yeah, buddy… I’m sure it’s not.”

“It’s NOT! I had hit my head!”

“I guess you *had* dear!” his mother feigned an indignant attitude. This just sent the group into more peals laughter.

Harm looked at Mac for support but she was still just staring at him, stunned. “C’mon Mac – you remember! When I was acting JAG and I fell out of the Admiral’s chair?”

“You *fell* out of my chair???...”

A knowing smile crept across Mac’s features. “That’s right! You kept acting strange toward me all day!” Her eyes narrowed as she stretched for memories. “If I recall, you called me ‘Sweet Thing’ and then tried to cop a feel…”

Bud didn’t think he could breathe he was laughing so hard “Oh my God – I remember that day!”

Harm was almost indignant now “I wasn’t trying to ‘cop a feel’ – I was just… testing… to see if what I was seeing was right…” he started to stammer, “… it was just the strangest thing – I kept seeing you wearing these very…” even he started to laugh, “… well very sexy outfits let’s just say. That night at my apartment, I had fallen asleep on my bed going through a case file I guess because I hadn’t even realized Renée had come in. Well I guess she took a shower and then came out wearing a towel…” he turned to Mac shyly, “… only I didn’t see *her* at all – I totally saw you. You can imagine my shock at seeing *you* coming out of my shower wearing nothing but a towel…”

The group broke into peals of laughter again.

“Good God Rabb,” Creswell seemed genuinely concerned, “Did you ever get that checked out by a doctor? I mean, that’s some pretty serious hallucinating!”

“OK – I have one last question for Colonel MacKenzie,” even Coates – as much as she was loving this game – acknowledged the need that they had to let up on these two. “So, what was different about this last kiss? I mean, if he’d kissed you before and it hadn’t resulted in you two getting together, what was different this time?”

Coates couldn’t have known it, but she couldn’t have asked a more vicious question of Mac if she’d tried. This same question had been haunting Mac for months but she’d refused to address it. Now she had no choice. She attempted a smile and looked at her hands folded in her lap. “Nothing.” She looked over at Harm but couldn’t meet his eyes. “I think we both just finally… well, stopped trying to force…” she sighed and regrouped, “… I guess we both just realized that we were facing the end of ‘us’, and that there was one over-riding factor here that we needed to acknowledge… that in the end, all the other stuff… work, our fears, expectations, egos, whatever… well they didn’t really matter anymore. It was finally time to just… surrender, and let our feelings for each other take us wherever they were going to lead… instead of trying to force our feelings into doing what *we* wanted of them….” She struggled with her voice and then felt Harm pull her into his side and kiss the top of her head. She was trying desperately hard not to cry.

The group gave them another collective “Awwwwwww…”, and then started to disperse good humouredly, still chuckling to each other about the Renée Peterson story.

Harm whispered into her ear “You OK, Marine?”

Mac didn’t look up, “Yup” she replied into his chest.

“You know, it doesn’t matter how we got together… or when. What matters is that we’re together now.”

“I know.” She pulled away and looked at him, but again didn’t meet his eye. “Harm, uh… would you mind getting me another drink? I seem to be a little dry after all that.” She pretended to laugh.

Harm didn’t really buy it, but agreed nonetheless. “Sure, I’ll be right back.”

Harm walked into the kitchen, grabbed a beer out of the fridge and immediately held it to his forehead. It was only now registering to him how out of control that situation had almost gotten. It was suddenly really warm inside this house. He still had the beer bottle to his head while he was pulling out a can of soda water for Mac.

“Hit your head again, Rabb?”

Harm looked at the Admiral sheepishly as he walked in. “No, I didn’t. Although I’m almost positive I would have preferred it to what you guys just put us through out there.”

“Hey – you’re getting married! It’s the only time people are totally fair game for that kind of stuff.” He winked.

“I knew there was a reason I’d never gotten married before.”

“Yeah… well don’t sweat it. You waited for the right one.”

Harm gave him a knowing smile and walked back out into the living room. He felt a slight surge of panic when he couldn’t find Mac, but he wasn’t surprised to find her where he did.

“Finding it a little warm, were you?” he asked amusingly as he stepped onto the porch and closed the door behind him. He looked around, “It seems everything always comes back to this porch…”

She was leaning on her elbows on the railing, looking out into the dark. She gave him an amused smile, but no answer.

He put the drinks down, walked up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist. “Are you OK, Mac?”

“Yeah,” she leaned back into his embrace, then dropped her chin to her chest, “No” she sighed.

“Mac, tell me what’s wrong.”

“I don’t think I can.”

“You can’t or you won’t?”

Mac didn’t answer that either.

Harm didn’t want to go where this was going, but he needed to know. He turned her around in his arms so she was facing him. “Mac, don’t you want to marry me anymore?”

Mac pressed her face against his chest and closed her eyes. “Oh Harm… I want to marry you so much… it’s just that… I don’t think I’m good for you… you deserve more than me…”.

Harm grasped her shoulders and forced her to look at him, “Stop it.” He said a little more forcefully than he’d intended – he’d almost felt like shaking her. He looked away for a moment, composed his thoughts, then took a breath. “Mac, do you remember what we were talking about in there a few minutes ago? About the night we kissed out here on the porch?”

“Yes?”

“Well, that night as you can imagine… I was torn up inside. I desperately didn’t want you to marry Brumby, but at the same time I knew I couldn’t talk you out of it. Not because I wouldn’t have been able to had I tried, but because it wasn’t up to *me* to decide. I tried every way I could to make sure you understood how I felt about you without coming out and saying it, because I knew it was the best I could do – try and show you how I felt and then let you make your own decision.”

“Interesting tactic, but I almost made the wrong one…”

“… but you didn’t Mac – that’s the whole point. I let you make the decision that time because it was you that was getting married – I couldn’t make that decision for you, no matter how badly I wanted to. Now it’s your turn to let *me* make that decision too. You just told me that you want to marry me, now let me make the decision about whether I want to marry you – you’re not allowed to make that decision for me.” He held her even more firmly and looked her in the eyes. “You are all I’ve ever wanted Mac. I want to get married and spend the rest of my life with you – you’re the only one I’ve *ever* imagined doing that with – you have to believe me…” he stopped only because he realized he was making her cry. “Mac, I think this time it’s important that we just allow our love to ‘happen’ for once. You said it yourself in there – that’s how we got where we are right now.” He pulled her into an embrace. “Do you understand?”

Mac nodded her head in the affirmative and sniffed. “I surrender”.

“… and do you still want to marry me?”

She nodded her head again, “I do”

“Hold that thought” he laughed, and then kissed her hair.

Just then Harriet tentatively peered out onto the patio. “Sorry to interrupt…”

“That’s OK Harriet,” Harm didn’t release Mac from his embrace. It felt good to be ‘caught’ by their former co-worker and not feel the knee-jerk reaction to pretend there was nothing going on. “What’s up?”

“Well, it’s just that the party’s pretty much breaking up and Bud and I are going to take off – we have to rescue the sitter. That means we’re going to have to take Col. MacKenzie with us.”

“I’ll be right there Harriet” Mac didn’t move her head from Harm’s chest.

Harm breathed a sigh into Mac’s hair as Harriet retreated. “I knew I was going to regret this idea.”

Mac looked up at him with a smile “Hey, it’s tradition apparently.”

Harm put his forehead against hers and continued to look into her eyes. “Yeah, well if you ask me, it sucks. This will be the first night we’ve spent apart since… well, since we’ve been together. I kind of got used to waking up with you in my arms…” he smiled at her seductively.

“Well, think of it as being our first and last.”

“I’m going to hold you to that.”

“You can hold me to anything you want…”

“OK, now you’re *really* making me regret this idea…”

Mac reluctantly pulled out of Harm’s embrace but held onto his hand as she started to walk toward the Robert’s car. Harm allowed himself to be pulled along with her to the steps.

Before she got much further, Harm spoke up tentatively “So… we’re OK then? I mean… uh… you *are* going to show up tomorrow, right?” He tried to smile jokingly, but he more than half meant it.

Mac sighed and smiled “Yeah… I’ll be there Flyboy.”

Harm would have been relieved, but there was an element to her voice that was almost not convincing. “Good, because you know I’d have to hunt you down and kill you if you didn’t show.” He flashed her his best Flyboy grin – how could she resist that?

Mac smiled sweetly, leaned in and gave him a soft kiss. She tried to pull away, but Harm followed her lips and caught her behind her neck with his hand. She fell into his embrace and the kiss turned briefly passionate. They broke apart and looked at each other meaningfully.

“I guess some things never change, eh?”

Mac never broke the gaze “…and some things just keep getting better and better.”

Harm smiled and hugged her closely. “OK Ninja-girl – see you tomorrow.”

“Bye” she breathed sweetly. She started to turn away, then she changed her mind. “Harm? I love you more than life… don’t ever forget that.”

Harm almost froze. “Are you going to give me a reason to?”

“I’ll try not to.”

Suddenly all Harm could feel was frustration, ‘Try?’ he thought. ‘There is no try… there is only do!’ He dropped his head and stifled a laugh. Great, now he was hearing the voice of Yoda in his head. He had definitely been around Bud for too many years.

“What’s so funny?”

Harm thought for a second that she was going to get angry and panic shot through him. “Nothing!” he stated defensively, then he softened his tone and smiled. “I’ll uh… I’ll tell you later. It was nothing.” He waved his hand dismissively.

She turned to go again and suddenly he had so much he needed to say to her, “Mac!” She turned back and looked at him expectantly, but there was so much he wanted to say he didn’t know where to start. He realized there was nothing more he could say so he just said “I love you too”.

She smiled sweetly at him again. “I know.” Then she was gone, down the steps and into the Robert’s awaiting car.

Harm watched the car disappear, then turned and walked slowly back across the porch. He let his chin fall to his chest and scrubbed the back of his head with his hand while he recovered his beer from the railing.

The Admiral emerged from inside. “Everything OK with you two?”

Harm looked up, but didn’t smile. “Yeah… I think so.”

“Don’t tell me you’re getting cold feet?”

“No! No… it’s uh… it’s not me I’m worried about.”

“Mac? Really?” AJ seemed genuinely surprised.

Harm tried to be evasive. “Well… it’s probably just nothing…”

“…but?”

“No, it’s just that… well, she seems to be a little … ‘off her stride’ lately.”

The Admiral crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Meaning?”

Harm took a swig of his beer, looked at the Admiral for a second and then looked away. “I don’t know… she just doesn’t seem… like her old self lately. It’s like she gets down in the dumps a lot… you know… blames herself for things that are not her fault…” he hated talking about Mac this way in front of *anybody*, even AJ, so he cut himself short.

The Admiral suspected how Harm was feeling so he saved him the need to elaborate. “It’s probably just a little bit of cold feet.” He tried reassuringly.

“Yeah” Harm feigned a smile, “Yeah, that’s probably just it.” He didn’t look convinced and AJ knew it.

“You don’t think she’s going to call it off, do you?”

Harm shot a sharp glance at AJ, but couldn’t respond right away. “I…” suddenly his mouth felt very dry. “I hope to hell not”. He couldn’t take his gaze off the Admiral as if he was suddenly going to hold all the answers.

AJ walked over and clapped Harm on the shoulder. C’mon Harm, I’ve got a box of Cohibas and 20 year bottle of Dalwhinnie I’ve been keeping for a special occasion.”

“Uh… I think I’ll pass on the cigar if it’s all the same to you Admiral.”

-----------------------------


CHEGWIDDEN RESIDENCE
MCLEAN, VIRGINIA
HARM AND MAC'S WEDDING DAY

25 JUNE 2005
1350 ZULU

Harm was just finished shaving when he heard the Admiral’s doorbell ring. As if he wasn’t nervous enough already, it gave him a sudden feeling of dread as he wondered who would be there at this time of the morning. His fear was confirmed when he looked through the Admiral’s window and saw one of the Roberts’ cars parked in the driveway. He immediately strode out of his room toward the living room and came to a sudden halt when he saw Mac standing there looking at him. The Admiral was just closing the door behind her and he gave Harm a grim look.

“Harm, I need to speak to you.”

She looked serious - this was not going to be good. He nodded out toward the porch. It was true – everything was always going to come back to this porch. She immediately crossed to the other side and didn’t turn to face him.

Harm stepped out of the door slowly and closed the door gently behind him as if somehow being quiet would stop what was going to happen next. He stared at her for a moment and then couldn’t take it anymore. “Please tell me you’re not, Sarah.” He wasn’t quite sure if this was his own voice.

She turned quickly and stared at him. “I’m not what?” she said – almost with a look of panic on her face.

He swallowed and then forced the unfamiliar voice to speak again. “You’re not… going to… call off the wedding.”

Mac hesitated only a moment for the words to sink in before she crossed the distance between them and fell against his chest. “Oh God no, Harm.”

Harm was almost stunned by her actions, but then recovered and held her to him. He stroked her hair. “Then what’s wrong?”

Mac looked up, almost stunned. “Wrong? No, nothing’s wrong…” she broke free of the embrace and then turned away from him, “…it’s just that… I have some news.” She waited for a moment for Harm to speak but he didn’t. He was almost too afraid to break the silence. She spun around to face him “… I think I figured out what’s wrong?”

“You did?” he didn’t know whether to be relieved or scared, he opted to be afraid seeing as she felt the need to come immediately to him on the morning of their wedding day to tell him.

“Yeah” she finally smiled tentatively at him and took both of his hands. “It seems that… well… that we’re… going to have a baby.”

Harm just stared at her like a deer in the headlights. “What?” he barely choked out.

She smiled fully now, “Harm – that’s why I’ve been so emotional lately – it’s *hormones*. Harm, I’m pregnant!”

Harm couldn’t breath. “Are… are you *sure*?”

“Well I took the damn test 3 times – I’d have to say yes!”

Harm picked her up in an embrace and spun around in a complete circle. “Oh God, Mac – I can’t believe it!” He put her back down and looked at her. “We really did it?” He put his hand to her middle gently. “We made a baby?” His voice was almost a whisper.

Mac couldn’t believe it but there were tears in his eyes. She had seen Harm cry so few times – she was almost overwhelmed that this would be one of them. She unsuccessfully fought back tears herself and nodded “Yup – Harriet figured it out. I was telling her this morning how moody I’d been lately and…” she laughed, “…well, seeing how many times she’s been pregnant… I guess she should know…”

Harm cut her off by clamping his mouth down on hers and trying to prove how in love he was with her. He finally let her go, “Screw the wedding – let’s just go off into the bushes and celebrate…” he gave her that look with his head cocked over to one side and a seductive smile.

Mac couldn’t help laughing. “Well I’d be all for that, Sailor – but I don’t think our guests would be too impressed. Besides…” she ran her finger down his chest and leaned in as close as she could. “… we can celebrate later…” She leaned up to meet his lips and did her best at showing him how much she was in love with *him*. When she broke off the kiss, she looked at him sadly. “We probably shouldn’t tell anyone about this just yet OK?”

“Sure, that’s probably best.” He hesitated for a second. “...but seeing as Harriet knows, do you mind if I tell the Admiral?”

“Sure – I’d like that” she smiled. “… and you know – if you’d like to have a celebratory cigar… well that would be perfectly fine with me.”

Harm smiled shyly. “Thanks.”

“I’ve got to get back now and get ready.”

Harm groaned.

She started to walk away but wanted to add one last thing. “I just… well… I just needed to let you know – you know… in case you were afraid you were marrying a crazy person.”

Harm smiled as he watched her walk towards the car. “Hey, I’m marrying a Marine – I already *knew* that.”

“Ha, ha – very funny.” She turned to open the car door.

Harm walked down the steps from the porch. “Mac?”

“Yeah?” she turned to him expectantly.

“Be careful driving…. I’m serious. Concentrate on what you’re doing. I don’t want you wrapping yourself around another tree…” he took another step towards her hesitantly and looked painfully serious. “You… well my whole world’s in that car.” His voice trailed off emotionally.

Mac ran swiftly back into his arms and held him with all her might. Tears streamed down her face. “I promise Harm. I’ll be careful…. God, this all feels so right finally. How did we get so amazingly lucky all of a sudden?”

“I don’t know,” he breathed into her hair, “But it’s starting to scare me.”

“How about we just sit back and enjoy our happiness for once?”

He pulled back and looked her in the eyes with a smile. “I’m all for that, Marine” and he kissed her gently. When they broke apart he gave her a playful pat on the bottom. “Now get going – we’ve got a wedding to get to. I’ll see you soon.”

“Your damn right you will”.

He watched her in awe as she climbed into the car and backed out of the driveway. ‘Damn her backing into traffic like that’ he thought with a slight smile and a shake of his head.

When her car was out of sight, Harm walked back up the steps to the porch. He was still in a fog when the Admiral came out to check on him once more.

He took one look at the stunned look on Harm’s face and his stomach dropped. “Awww Harm… tell me she’s not…”

Harm recovered from his daze quickly and stared at the Admiral. “She’s not what?”

“Tell me she’s not going to… cancel the wedding.”

Harm just slowly shook his head. “No… uh…” he ran his hand through his hair. “… she just had some news.”

AJ looked at the tears welling up in his friend’s eyes and his heart constricted, but suddenly he thought he saw the trace of a smile creeping onto Harm’s face.

“Well, it seems that…” now he was definitely smiling. He took a deep breath. “It seems that I’m going to be a Dad.”

It all suddenly seemed clear to AJ. “HA!” he suddenly slapped his thigh, “Damn it Rabb – I should have known! It was the HORMONES!”

Harm smiled and wiped one of his eyes with the back of his hand. “Yeah”.

AJ gave Harm a congratulatory slap on the back, “Congratulations ‘*Dad*’” he was beaming from ear to ear but was clearly disappointed in himself for not recognizing the signs. “Damn it, I should have known that.” He tipped his head down to show Harm the top of his head. “Do you see this scar? Marcella clocked me with a can opener in her second trimester…”

Harm smiled “Why don’t you tell me this story over that cigar you offered me last night.?”

END PART 7