At Long Last
Disclaimer: Not mine…never will be, but I wish I owned DJE.
Notes: I would like to thank everyone who's reading my stories. I was a bit apprehensive about posting them on such a big site, but now I'm glad I did. Happy to hear that you guys like them so far. Again, these are all old fics I wrote back in high school, but as soon as I post all of them up, I plan to write some more! Enjoy. As always, sorry for any mistakes.
McMurphy's Bar
"The bride-to-be will call it." Bud's statement had everyone on the edge of their seats as they waited for her call.
Mac looked up to Harm trying to relay a silent message. They both knew that no matter what the outcome, they'd always be together from then on. "Tails." Her heart began to beat a tad faster in anticipation. Either way the coin landed both of their lives were about to change. It was a good change, but change nonetheless.
"I've always wanted to do this at the Super Bowl. Here it goes." His thumb flicked the coin upwards. A small action that was about to start the end of one road and the beginning of another. Slow motion, almost. If Newton was alive and present he would stand corrected about his law. It seemed like an eternity before the coin began its slow descent toward Bud's hand.
"Ready?" He asked with a smirk as he held the coin tightly in his hand.
Harm looked down to Mac and wrapped his arms more securely around her waist. She in return cuddled further into his embrace, relaxed at how easily they expressed their feelings to each other without the use of words.
"Yeah." They responded in unison.
Bud looked around at everyone and slowly peels with fingers open to reveal the coin inside. A small smile crossed his face. "Looks like you are headed to San Diego ma'am, sir." Bud smiled at the pair.
Harm couldn't begin to describe how he felt. He was the one to resign his commission, yet he was not the least bit disappointed. It would take some getting used to. Not wearing his uniform or having to take orders from anybody, but he was willing to give all of that up for his marine. Gladly and without a second thought.
"San Diego it is." Harm smiled and cupped Mac's cheek in his strong hand. "I love you Colonel MacKenzie."
"I love you…Captain Rabb." She tilted her head up to meet his waiting lips, not bothered by the fact that her friends and General were all standing there looking at both of them. Everybody cheered and congratulated them once again as they celebrated.
"Well Captain, the Navy will miss you, but look what you got in return." General Cresswell tapped Harm's shoulder.
"I know, sir. I love the Navy, but I love the Colonel even more." He grinned at her. She smiled back and leaned her head on his shoulder.
The gang celebrated a while longer as they chit-chatted and downed their drinks. Music played all around them providing them with a perfect atmosphere. Harm got up from his chair and extended his hand to his fiancée. "Would you care to dance Mrs. Rabb?" He smiled his infamous flyboy grin, something he hadn't done in a while now, and it felt good.
"I like the sound of that. And I would love to dance." She laced her slender fingers with his stronger ones. As they made their way to the small dance floor, eyes from all of the people there landed on them. Everyone could see that they belonged together. It was the tiny details like the way her hand fit in his, or the way she molded to his body when he held her close, or even how their looks for each other spoke volumes, that proved that they were meant for each other.
A slow song flowed through the air as Harm placed a hand firmly around Mac's waist and held her hand in his other. Mac placed her hand around Harm's neck as she gently looked up at him. The look they shared was one that could speak the words that had been hushed and held at bay for nine years. It was one of guilt for having put each other through so much. It was one of pain for having waited so long to admit their love. Yet it was so much more than that. Love could be seen in that look as well. Love that had been residing in their hearts for a long time. Love that had neither faltered nor surrendered.
Harm pulled back enough to stare into Mac's big brown eyes. Her smile penetrated his heart reaching the deepest part of his soul. Right then he knew what he had to do. She let go of his hand when she felt him tug. She saw the gleam in his eye, but she never saw it coming.
He let go of her hand and dug for the tiny diamond ring which he had placed in his pocket earlier at his apartment. She ran her eyes along the same path his hand had taken only to be met by the shiniest and most delicate engagement ring she had ever seen. She was about to say something when Harm interrupted her. That was probably a good thing since Mac wasn't sure she could speak in complete coherent sentences in her current state.
"It was my mom's. My dad gave it to her when he asked her to be his wife." A tear made its way down Mac's cheek. He took hold of Mac's left hand and placed the ring at the tip of her finger. He gazed at her with a loving stare. One similar to the one they had shared at his place earlier.
"I was waiting for the right moment. It felt like this was it." He smiled. We've wasted so much time already, I didn't want to risk another decade." He smiled.
"It feels right to me." She smiled back.
"Then be my wife. Mary me, Sarah MacKenzie." It wasn't a question as much as it was a statement. He was determined to follow through with what his heart had been desiring all along. The one thing that his brain had been denying him of, to share his love with the only woman who understood and knew him to the core.
"Okay." She tried to slide her finger through the band, but he pulled back a little.
"Is that a yes?" He teased.
She grinned at him. "Yes." And without allowing him to do it for her, she slid her finger through the ring. She pulled him to her and captured his lips in a sweet yet passionate kiss. Cheers erupted though the bar as they separated, their faces red and flushed. Stunned from all of the attention they were attracting.
"Let's get out of here." He intertwined his fingers with hers.
"Yeah. Let's."
Six Years Later
Rabb Residence
San Diego, California
"Mommy can you tell me the story again…PLEASE?" Little Catherine Rabb, the four percent miracle, tugged at her mom's skirt. Her blue eyes pleading with her mom's brown ones.
"Yeah honey. In a little while ok. Mattie and I are trying to finish this up. You do want to start your birthday party on time right?" Mac picked her five year old daughter into her arms.
"Yeah! When is daddy gonna get here?"
"He should be here any minute now. Now go on and play in the family room while your sister and I finish up here." She kissed her daughter's forehead.
"Ok." Cathy skipped to the next room.
Mattie turned toward Mac. "Hey mom, what is dad doing anyway?" She was putting the last of the tiny details on Cathy's birthday cake.
"He was just going to close up his latest case."
Harm had found a great job not long after they had moved over to the west coast. He had started off with a small law firm, but it wasn't much later that he began his own on family law. H&S Attorneys at Law. Frank had assisted him with the financial needs at the beginning, but he soon became sort of Harm's financial mentor. Trish was just as helpful. She would baby-sit Cathy whenever Mac was away on some unforeseen assignment. That was the upside of moving to the west coast when your parents live a few minutes away from you.
"Cool."
Perfect timing for a person with a not-so-perfect sense of time, Harm walked in though the door. "Lucy I'm home." Cathy ran straight to her dad. He groaned as he picked her up. "You're getting heavy Miss Cathy." He kissed her cheek.
"Yeah. I'm five today dad!" She was eager as ever.
"That's today?" He teased her.
"Dad!" She gave him a look of disapproval. The same exact one that Mac gave him whenever he did something uncalled for.
He chuckled. "Relax honey. I remembered." He kissed the top of her head as he made his way to the kitchen to greet his two other girls. "Happy Birthday baby."
"Thanks dad. What did you get me?" Mac and Mattie laughed.
"She's got you wrapped around her finger there, flyboy." Mac smiled at her husband.
"Would you behave. Besides, she's not the only one." He made his way to her and gave her a deep kiss. "Hi."
"Ewww. Mom…dad…stop it." Cathy complained as she covered her eyes with her tiny hands. They all chuckled.
"Hey Matts." He put Cathy down next to Mac and made his way to Mattie. He placed a kiss on the top of her head.
"Hey dad. Guess what." He looked at her with a puzzled look. "I got my license today." She smiled.
"Mattie that's great! When are you going to show me what you can do?" He grinned.
"Whenever you want. Just gas up `Sarah' and I'll be there."
He smiled a smile full of pride at his older daughter. "I'm so proud of you Matts."
Mac jumped in. "We all are." Mattie had become as much as a daughter as Cathy was. The love they all shared as a family was a strong one.
"Thanks." She smiled at each of them.
Later that day
Rabb Residence
After the house had been cleaned and all the guests had gone home, the four of them sat on the couch in the family room. "Whoa! And you guys always got the bad guys." No matter how many times Harm and Mac told her the story of how they met and got married, she always seemed to be thrilled as if it was the first time.
"Not always honey, but we always took care of each other." Harm answered as he held Cathy on his lap.
"So you took care of mommy and she took care of you?"
"Yes. That's what we did." Mac smiled as she took one of Harm's hands in hers.
"Ok."
Mattie had sat attentively through the whole story, intrigued by the tiny details she had missed the first three times. She was amazed by their stories. It was nothing like what other's had in their biographies. Harm and Mac's lives were much more exhilarating, it was more than anybody else could claim to have. They were the perfect people to her, despite their mistakes.
"So then your daddy and I decided to let fate decide who would leave their job so we could get married."
"And daddy left the Navy so you moved to here." Cathy finished for her.
"Yes." They both answered.
"Do you regret it dad?" Mattie asked.
Harm was a bit surprised that no one had ever asked him that. "No. Never. Leaving was the best thing that ever happened to me. It brought me all of this." He looked at them with his baby- blues. Mac squeezed his hand a bit more to silently send him her love.
"Then your daddy and I got married here on the west coast. By the beach. Everybody was there." Mac resumed their story.
"I wasn't." Cathy seemed almost sad to have missed out on her parents' wedding. They all chuckled at her reaction. "No honey. You weren't there. But you weren't far from us."
"Where was I?" She never seized to amaze them with her intuition and curiosity.
"You were just waiting to complete our lives Cathy." Mac kissed her daughter's cheek.
"You were waiting to be the next part of our destiny, just like Mattie here." Harm commented.
"What's destiny daddy?" There she went again. Always eager to learn more, a trait common to both of her parents.
"It's what brought us together honey. It's was brought us together." Harm spoke and looked at his family.
The End