Title: A Mother and Daughter Hallmark Moment
Author: Gibs
Word Count: 2,275
Category: AU, Vignette,
Rating: K+
Author's Notes: In the continued effort to try and get all my stories finally into one place, I'm posting this old response of mine to an HBX Fanfic Challenge from May 2006.
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. JAG and its characters are the property of Belisarius Productions and Donald P. Bellisario. This story is not intended to violate any copyrights they have and is not intended for profit in any way.
Summary: This is a vignette from the Rabb family I created in the "I Surrender" series which I wrote back in 2005. If you haven't read that, I'll just sum it up by saying the coin toss took them to London and they ended up with 4 kids (b/c where DPB liked to taketh away, I preferred to giveth back ;0) Evan was the oldest, Katie came along next, followed finally by twins Sam and Molly. Shortly after the twins were born, Harm got posted back to Washington as the JAG.
Anyway, this little vignette takes place shortly after their return to Washington – Mac and Katie have a 'moment'. Thanks for reading!
HARM AND MAC'S HOUSE
248 PARK DR N
ARLINGTON FOREST, VA
16 OCTOBER 2016.
"Mommy, where did you meet Daddy?"
Mac sat on the edge of her 8yr old daughter's bed and smiled. "Well, believe it or not, I met Daddy at The White House!"
Katie Rabb took a deep breath in amazement, "Reeeally?" she gasped. "Was Daddy the President?"
Mac laughed and tapped her daughter's nose with an index finger "No Sweetie, he was not the President. However, the President did give him a medal – that's why he was there."
"Was it one of the medals that Daddy got for being brave?"
"Yes sweetie."
"And did you know right away that you and Daddy were going to get married?"
Mac smiled and shifted slightly on the bed. "No," she shook her head sadly "I didn't know right away."
"So how will I know when I meet the boy I'm supposed to marry?"
"Well Katie, maybe you won't know right away – sometimes it just doesn't work that way." She stopped and considered carefully – she didn't want to confuse her daughter too much but she wanted to be as honest as possible. "Maybe if I hadn't had the experiences I had when I was a little girl, I would have known when I first met him – I certainly did feel something when we first met, I just didn't know what it was."
"What did you feel? Did you feel funny?"
"Yes – exactly. I felt funny."
"Like butterflies in your stomach?"
"Exactly like butterflies in my stomach." Mac eyed her daughter suspiciously "How did you know that? Did you meet someone that gave you butterflies?"
Katie looked down shamefully. "Yes." She said quietly. "There was a new boy in class today – Mark Inglis." She looked at her mother and when she did, her eyes were filled with tears. "When he came up to talk to me – he gave me butterflies."
Mac put her hand on her daughter's back and rubbed gently. "Why are you crying Katie?"
"Because," she sobbed "at recess I was walking with my friend Maria and he came out from around the corner of the school and tripped me!" Katie leaned her head into her mother's stomach and cried. "And then he teased me about my accent! Why would he do that to me Mummy? I didn't do anything to him? And… I… I thought I liked him?"
Mac bit her lip to hide a small smile and kissed her daughter's head. "Oh Sweetie, sometimes boys do that." She lifted Katie's head up with both hands. "And do you know why they do that?"
Katie shook her head silently.
"Because they actually like you and they want to get your attention."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Did Daddy ever trip you to get your attention?"
Mac laughed. "Yes Sweetie – lots of times."
Katie smiled through her tears. "Then he must really like you" she teased.
Mac bobbed her head up and down in agreement "Yeah – I think he does. But I didn't always know that. It took me a long time to figure out how your Daddy felt about me."
"Because he kept tripping you?"
"Well, yes. And also, like I said, when I was a little girl, I learned not to trust people so easily. I didn't have a Mommy and Daddy that told me how much they loved me all the time like your Daddy and I do. Because of that, I didn't trust people very easily."
"So you didn't trust Daddy when you first met him?"
"Well…" she considered, "I really wanted to… and I think in a way I did trust him with most things… it's just that I guess I didn't trust him to be the kind of person that I now know he is."
"What do you mean?"
"Well," Mac laughed, "you have to understand that your Daddy is a very good looking man… and when I first met him… although I liked him… I just assumed he was the kind of man that… well… had alot of girlfriends… and I didn't want to be just one of his many girlfriends."
"Why not?"
"Well, because it didn't take long for him and me to become friends – very good friends, and that was something special that other girls didn't have with him."
"So you wanted to stay his friend because then you'd be different from all the other girls."
"Right"
"How many girlfriends did Daddy have when you first met him?"
"Uh… actually, he didn't really have any that I knew of."
Katie eyed her mother suspiciously. "I don't understand, Mummy."
"Oh Sweetie, I know this is kind of hard confusing, but you know how when Daddy smiles, you can't help but smile along with him?"
"Yeah – I like Daddy's smile – Evan has it too!"
"Yes he does," she sighed and shivered slightly at the thought of exactly what future problems might arise from that. "Well, when your Daddy smiled at me like that the first time, I knew right away that he was used to getting whatever he wanted with that smile, and because I didn't know him very well, and because I didn't trust people so good, I told him right off the bat that there was no way he was going to use that smile to get me…"
"So you told him to shove off."
Mac laughed "Pretty much yeah"
"But you still were friends?"
"Yeah."
"Even though you wanted to be more than friends? Why?"
"Because I'd learned that a lot of times, boys respect you more when you're just their friend than when you're their girlfriend."
"So you didn't want to be his girlfriend."
"Not at the beginning. Although I really liked him, I didn't think he was interested in the same things I was."
"Like what?"
"Like someday having a house and a family."
"Why wouldn't Daddy want that?"
"I don't know Sweetie, some people just don't. But I was wrong about your Daddy – he did want those things."
"How did you know?"
"Well, eventually he got a girlfriend. And she had a little boy named Josh who was seven years old."
"And that made you realize that he did want the same things as you."
"Well, I guess you could say I started seeing him in a different way. I saw right away what a great Daddy he would be."
"Was he Josh's Daddy?"
"No Sweetie, Josh's Daddy had died, but he pretended to be Josh's Daddy for awhile, and I could see how good he was going to be at it."
Katie considered her mother's words for a moment and then looked up at her. "So you think I shouldn't worry about when Mark Inglis does mean things to me, because it might not mean that he hates me?"
"Exactly."
"Or it might."
"Well… yes… it could be that too."
"So how will I know which one?"
Mac lifted the bedcovers up and waited for her daughter to settle under them. "Because when it's very important, he will be there for you."
"You mean, if someone else picks on me, he'll be on my side?"
"Exactly."
"Is that how you knew you wanted to marry Daddy?"
Mac smiled a sad smile. "I guess so. Your Daddy always tried to protect me, even when we were mad at each other."
"Did you get mad at each other alot?"
"Ohhhh Sweetheart… you have no idea…"
Katie considered this for a moment. "But how could you like each other if you were mad at each other all the time?"
"Well that's just the thing. If you didn't like someone, then you really wouldn't care much what they thought, would you?"
Katie looked dubious. "I guess not." She said slowly.
"Well look at it this way, is there a boy in your class who you don't really play with?"
"Ummm… sure lots of them."
"Well name one."
"Okay. Stephen MacMillan, I guess."
"And has Stephen MacMillan ever tripped you on the playground?"
"No?"
"Ever tried to put gum in your hair?"
Katie laughed. "No."
"And if he teased you about your accent, what would you do?"
"I don't know…"
"Would you get upset and cry?"
"I don't think so."
"Would you run to me and Daddy and wonder why he'd done something like that to you?"
"No… I'd probably just think he was a daftie."
"Well see, there you go. You'd probably just ignore him, right?"
"Probably."
"See… if you don't particularly care one way or another about someone, then it doesn't really bother you when they do things like that. It's only when you have feelings for someone that you care about what they think and do. That's why your Daddy and I used to get so mad at each other – because we liked each other so much, we couldn't just ignore what the other one was doing."
Katie thought about this for awhile. "So… the reason that I'm upset that Mark tripped me is because I like him… but if he doesn't side with me when someone else picks on me, that means he hates me?"
Mac tucked the covers up under Katie's chin. "Well… it could mean that… or it could mean that he really wants to back you up, but he's afraid of doing it in front of his friends. If that's the case, he's just not good enough for you."
"Really?" Katie bit her lip sadly in an uncanny replica of her mother's habit.
"Yeah… or, you might just have to wait a bit for him to grow up."
Katie squinted her eyes and pursed her lips. "Mummy – this is all VERY confusing!"
Mac slumped her shoulders and blew her bangs off of her forehead. "I know Sweetie – why do you think Mommy didn't get married until she was almost 40 years old?" She leaned over and kissed her on the nose. "Don't worry, Punkin'. You've got LOTS of time to figure this stuff out."
Katie sighed. "Funny, that's exactly what Daddy said too. He also said I can't date until I'm 30. Is that a long time away?"
Mac sighed and turned out the light. "Not nearly long enough, baby." As she quietly exited the room and turned the corner, she ran smack dab into a wall of chest. Arms crossed against his stomach, he leaned against the hallway wall.
"Never mind Mac, thanks for trying."
"Are we even now?"
"Not even close, Marine - I didn't hear her swear not to date before she's 30." Harm smiled and rubbed one of her shoulders as they descended the staircase. "Seriously though, thanks Mac. I didn't quite know how to handle that one when she came to me. I have a feeling I'm not going to be so good with the 'boy problems'"
Mac smiled. "Why does that not surprise me? Well, at least she no longer wants you to bring your sidearm to school and threaten the kid with bodily harm."
"I'm still considering it."
"Great – I can just see the headlines. Navy's Judge Advocate General terrorizes Barrett Elementary School at gunpoint."
"You never let me have any fun anymore."
"I'll show you fun, Squid."
Harm waggled his eyebrows. "Oh yeah?" He kissed her on the nose as she stepped into his embrace, then suddenly sobered and looked into her eyes. "I'm sorry I used to trip you, Mac."
"I'm sorry I didn't understand that it was only because you liked me."
"I guess I was never very good at subtle hints."
"Well…" Mac smiled seductively, "You're getting better."
"Oh yeah?" Harm flirted back. "Are you picking up on one of my hints right now?"
Mac looked mischievously down Harm's front. "Well… it's kinda… hard… not to…"
Harm laughed and flushed red as he pulled her against him. "Oh, you're funny, Marine."
"Hey, I'm a funny girl."
"Yeah, but you're my funny girl." He whispered.
She reached up and ran her hand down the side of his face. "Sure am, Sailor."
The End