Lieutenant Colonel Sarah Mackenzie stood and walked over to the filing cabinet. She opened it and found the right place to put away the file. It had been a long week, and she was tired and wanted to go home and sleep. A long soak in the tub wouldn't hurt either, but for that, she'd have to get a hotel room for the weekend. It was something to consider.
A knock made her turn her focus towards the door. "How about dinner, Colonel?"
Mac smiled. "Two nights in one week, people will talk," she joked as she rounded her desk and started gathering her things.
Commander Sturgis Turner chuckled. "I was thinking pizza."
"You know, I'm beat so I'm just going to go home," she smiled. "Raincheck?"
"Sure," Sturgis offered a sweet smile. "Have a good weekend, Mac."
"You too, Sturgis," she watched him leave. They were still figuring each other out. The last case they had worked on had really frustrated him. Her connection to the victim of murder had made her so-called psychic ability strike a high. Sturgis had been frustrated with her investigative techniques. A tall frame stood in her doorway as she shut her briefcase. "Harm?"
"Hi there," Commander Harmon Rabb stepped into her office. "How's it going?"
She looked curiously at him. "Have you talked with Sturgis?"
"Well," Harm hesitated. "He called me while I was away."
"He did?" all color left her face. "What did he say?"
Harm chuckled. "You looked panicked now. What have the two of you been doing while I've been away anyway?"
"Just this case," she hurried to say.
"I hear you're using your psychic abilities to solve cases now," he teased.
She relaxed. Sturgis hadn't told him about her slip, or Harm would be a lot less comfortable around her. "I'm not psychic, Harm."
He noticed how uncomfortable she looked. "Okay, but at least it's a sixth sense. Or I'd be standing here dead now."
"Please don't come back to haunt me, Harm," she teased.
"Please, if I die, I'll be too busy flying around, I won't have time to haunt you," he joked.
She sobered up. "Don't even joke about that."
He hesitated. "Are you okay?"
"Tired," she admitted. "I haven't been sleeping well this week. With this case, and you being away…"
"Do I keep you up at night?" he asked in a dirty tone.
She reached for her cap and rounded her desk. Ignoring his question she stopped as she neared him. "I'm heading home to eat and sleep."
"Are you sure you're okay, Mac?" he was worried now.
She offered a sweet smile. "Yes, I just need some rest."
He nodded. "You know, I'm heading out to see Grams and Sergei." Harm's brother had been living with Grams for a while now. Grams wanted to get to know her grandson, and Sergei didn't feel as lonely as he had done while he lived with Harm."
Mac smiled. "Good for you. Tell them I said hello."
"Tell them yourself," he suggested.
Mac looked confused.
"Come with me?" he offered.
"Come with you?" Mac wasn't so sure.
"Yeah, Grams has been asking about you, and you look like you need a weekend away," he smiled. "She has a tub."
Mac chuckled. "You know me so well."
"I do," he studied her. "So? I have a report to finish, I'm done in an hour, and I'll swing by and pick you up at your place. Can you be ready in an hour?"
"Can I be ready in an hour," she was amused.
"Okay, Marine, that was the wrong question," he laughed softly. "Do we have a plan then?"
She hesitated.
"Come on, Mac," he pleaded. "I'd really like you to come. We'll stay through the weekend, eat good food, have a few laughs, get some good hikes," he smiled. "What do you say?"
She smiled. "Okay, fine. I'll come."
"Good," he moved back towards the door. "See you in about an hour then."
She nodded. "Okay." She smiled when he winked at her then followed him out the door.
Later
Grams met them when Harm drove the car up to the house. The older woman greeted Harm with a big hug, then turned to Mac.
"This is a surprise," she then hugged Mac too. "A good surprise."
Mac offered a less than amused look in Harm's direction. "You didn't tell her you were bringing me?"
"Grams loves surprises," Harm defended himself.
"It's perfectly fine, Sarah. I have room," Grams smiled widely. "Dinner is ready," she motioned for the house."Sarah, is my grandson behaving?"
"Most of the time," Mac smiled in Harm's direction.
"That's good to hear," Grams put her arm around Mac's shoulder. "Come on; Harm will bring your things to your room. Come say hi to Sergei."
"Yes, ma'am," Harm grabbed their bags and followed them.
Later that night
Harm opened the door and let Mac walk into the room.
"You have to share a bathroom with Sergei and me," Harm said from the doorway as Mac looked around.
"I can handle that," she smiled teasingly as she looked out the window. "Look at this view, wow."
"It's something," he agreed. "We'll go for a hike tomorrow. Sergei wants to come."
She turned her focus to him. "He seems to have found his place here. It's a really nice thing your grandma is doing."
"She wants to get to know her grandson," Harm reasoned. "And it gives me a better conscience knowing that Sergei isn't alone most of the time."
"He's not your responsibility, Harm. He's a grown man," Mac smiled.
"I know," Harm smiled. "Well, good night."
"Thanks for this, Harm," Mac let out a contented sigh. "It's just what I needed."
"Any time," he hesitated. "Well, I should leave you to it. You want the bathroom first?"
"Actually, I thought I'd take a bath, so you should go first," she suggested.
"Okay then," he smiled. "Good night."
"Night," she watched him leave, then turned back to the window. She definitely could relax here.
Later that night
Mac let out a contented sigh as she slipped into the bathtub. She had been dreaming of this all week. She found her book and settled down to read. It was twenty minutes later when she wondered about getting up that the door opened. She covered herself with bubbles.
"Oh, sorry," Harm stopped in his tracks. "I thought you'd be done by now."
"I was just getting up," she smiled hesitantly as he stared at her. "What?"
"You're just beautiful, that's all," he turned to leave. "I'll come back when you're done."
She watched him leave, then pulled the plug on the tub. She showered off the soap and wrapped the towel around herself. She was still confused by Harm's behavior. Sometimes he acted like he wanted more than what they had, and then other times he was completely oblivious what she was concerned.
She knocked on his door when she finished. She could hear the bed creak, and then the door opened.
"The bathroom is all yours."
He smiled. "Thanks. I forgot my watch by the sink."
"You could have gotten it before," she reminded him.
"I didn't mean to intrude," he smiled sheepishly. "There's a key somewhere; I'll find it tomorrow."
"It's no problem," she turned to leave. "See you tomorrow."
"Yeah," he walked past her. "Let me know if you need something. There are extra blankets in the closet if you get cold."
"Thank you," she opened her bedroom door and slipped in. She removed her robe and slipped on a pajama. The bed felt amazing, and she fell asleep straight away.
Harm got his watch and went back to bed. He lay awake thinking about what to do about her. It was getting harder and harder to find reasons to be just friends with her, at the same time as he had no idea how to make the first move. The JAGathon seemed so long ago, and he wasn't even sure about what they had agreed on. To start back at the beginning, but how? He turned to his side and pulled the sheet around him. He let out a sigh and closed his eyes.
Saturday was used to relax. They went for a hike, but when the rain set in, they headed back to the house and spent the rest of the day inside. Grams decided to start a project, and they all went up to the attic to get it cleared.
"Grams, why did you save all this?" Harm held up a few old coats.
"Back in the day we didn't throw away anything," Grams chuckled. "Those were your grandfather's. Put them in the clothes pile, and I'll bring them to charity."
Harm did as she said.
"This is beautiful," Mac stood in front of an old trunk.
"That old thing?" Grams put a few more items in the clothes pile and walked over. "That one you can have if you want it. I have so many trunks around the house; I never found a place for this one."
Mac smiled. "I couldn't take it. This is worth a fortune if you find it in an antique store."
"Not in this antique store," Grams waived her hand. "It's yours."
"We can fit it in the SUV," Harm added and held up a book. "This is a first edition of The Great Gatsby. It's worth a lot of money."
"You can take it," Grams waived it off. "I have all the money I'll need in this lifetime."
"I wasn't going to sell it, but it's cool to have," Harm put it in the keep pile with some old aviation magazines and his father's uniform.
"I can bring those clothes downstairs," Mac offered and walked past Harm. He handed her a picture. "It's your plane, right?" she asked.
"My grandfather," Harm pointed to the man standing by the plane. "And my father," he pointed to the boy sitting in the plane.
Mac smiled. "Wow, you Rabb men all look alike."
"Very handsome men," Grams agreed. "All the girls were after your grandfather. We grew up as neighbors, argued all the time. I thought he was arrogant, he thought that I argued too much," Grams chuckled. She noticed the knowing look between her grandson and the woman she knew he would marry. "Finally, we realized that we were in love and decided that we would be together forever."
Harm held up another picture. "Your wedding picture."
"You were a pretty couple. What a beautiful dress," Mac leaned closer to Harm to see better.
"My mother made that for me. She was so good with the needle. I felt like a princess that day," Grams remembered. "We made a good life for ourselves here at the farm with three beautiful children. Then Pearl Harbor happened, and everyone mobilized to take part in the war. I left the children with my parent's and went to the city to work at a factory. Your grandfather crashed his plane and never made it home. The Hornet sunk later in the war. Still, we were part of it for three more years. There wasn't a single person I knew who didn't do something for the war effort."
"It must have been hard, raising three children alone," Mac commented.
"They grew up working hard to keep the farm going," Grams smiled. "They all turned out great. But yes, it was hard. I had my family and David's family. Life goes on, even though I never could move on from my David. He was the one and only. Harmon was the spitting image of him, and he was so determined to be an aviator. It was hard for me to support that decision, but I knew I couldn't stop him. He missed out though. He never got to see what an amazing son he had," she looked at Sergei. "Well, sons, actually." She turned to Harm. "If only he had been alive when you went to find him. He would have been proud."
Harm studied the picture in his hand. Mac was right; they had been a pretty couple. They looked so happy. Maybe one of these days he'd get to feel like that too. He noticed how close to him Mac stood and turned his focus on her. Their eyes met, and they smiled.
Grams turned back to her task of looking through a box, but not before noticing the look between his grandson and Mac. Their children will be beautiful she thought.
Sunday
Harm made sure the trunk stood steady in the back of his SUV. Mac had helped him carry it outside as they were preparing to leave the farm.
"I guess that's it," Mac let out a sigh and turned to look around. "I can see myself in a place like this. When I retire maybe."
"You think about that?" he wondered.
"Of course I do," she turned to him. "Don't you?"
"Here and there," he shrugged. "But I guess I have a couple more years in the Navy. Until they throw me out," he chuckled.
"No settling down yet, then?" she assumed.
"I didn't say that," he argued. "I can still settle down, just not out here. I do think about it you know."
"House, kids, minivan," she studied him with curiosity. "A wife?"
"Yeah," his eyes met hers. "When you're in the middle of the ocean, splashing around, you tend to get some perspective."
She turned fully to him. "We never really talked about everything that happened."
He nodded. "Mic, Renee…" he let it hang.
"We decided to start back at the beginning," she shrugged. "I don't know what that means."
"Me neither," he admitted. "We never really talked about the future."
"We didn't," she noticed Grams and Sergei walking towards them.
"Come back soon," Grams demanded and hugged Harm. "And bring Sarah," she added and hugged Mac. "I had a lovely weekend."
"I did too," Mac smiled. "Thank you so much."
"For what? I made you clean my attic," Grams chuckled.
"I enjoyed it," Mac looked around. "I love this place."
"You are welcome here any time, Sarah," Grams patted her grandson's arm. "You drive carefully now."
"Yes, ma'am," he promised.
Mac hugged Sergei, and Harm shook his hand. "See you back in town in a few weeks then."
"Yes, I'll let you know when I schedule that meeting," Sergei promised.
Grams and Sergei stood by and watched as they drove off. Those two are meant to be," she told Sergei.
Sergei nodded. "I think so too. The Colonel is beautiful. My brother is a lucky man."
"You'll find someone, son," Grams promised.