Harmony Elizabeth
Jewel is mine. I also own all not of
the JAG universe.
Rabb/MacKenzie residence
January 29th,
2002
7:33 am
Harmony
Elizabeth Jewel Rabb sighed as she rose from her new bed. In the month since Harm and Mac adopted her,
the family had found a nice house a half hour away from JAG Headquarters, with
three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Mac
had given up her old apartment, but Harm had kept his and sublet it.
Walking
into the kitchen, she noticed Harm up and cooking breakfast, "Well, took you a
while to get up."
"Uh huh."
She replied, "Whatcha making?"
"Pancakes. There's grits and toast too."
"That's a
lot of food."
He looked
at her curiously, "No. What your
grandmother makes for Christmas is a lot of food. This is breakfast."
"Nana Trish
makes too much food – there's a difference between a lot and too much. Anyway, I'm used to being handed toast and
shoved out the door." She said, taking a bowl out of the packing box and
filling it with grits and butter. She
took some toast and sat down at the table.
"Nice." He
mumbled. Even though Carli and Jacob
had been in Leavenworth for close to five months, he still harbored the
thoughts and feelings of hatred toward them.
To treat a child as they had was beyond himself, but he was content to
see the little milestones Beth reached each day.
"What?"
"Nothing."
He smiled at her, "When you're done, why don't you go wake up your mother? I know you two have to go find you a dress
for the wedding."
"Actually,
we saw one yesterday that she wants me to wear, but I think I'd take away from
her and it's not my day to be in the spotlight."
"Did you
like it?"
"That's not
the point."
He sat down
at the table, and looked into her eyes, "Did you like the dress?"
"Yes." She
replied, letting her eyes wander to the window.
"If you
like it, do you really think she's going to let you settle for something else?"
Beth's gaze
fell back to her father's face, "No." She knew he saw the look of
disappointment in her eyes.
"Alright,
we'll talk to her. If she says you
should wear that dress, will you be happy?"
"No."
"Harmony…"
"Dad, look,
it's just her day, not mine. I don't
want to impede."
Mac, who'd
been listening in, walked into the room, and before all else, told Beth, "You
wouldn't impede. And I won't let you
settle for something you don't like as much."
"But…"
"No buts…"
Beth smiled,
"Yes, mom." She stood up, put her dishes in the sink, "I'll go get dressed
now." And walked back into her bedroom.
"Well, that
was an interesting way to start the morning." Harm smiled.
Mac
grinned, the word Secret tattooed across her forehead.
"Spill it,
Sarah."
"I didn't
want to tell Beth, but yesterday, during lunch, I went back to the boutique and
bought that dress." She grabbed some breakfast and sat down at the table,
"That's why I haven't let her talk me out of it."
"I get it
now. When are you telling her?" He
asked, getting his own breakfast.
"Not
now. The dress is purchased, but
I asked the manager if he'd hold it there and act like I didn't buy it
yet. I want to tell her while she's
wearing it."
Harm
nodded, as Beth re-emerged from her bedroom dressed in jeans and a gray
short-sleeve shirt which read 'You think your life's hard? I've got JAGs for parents!'. The two adults laughed.
"Who gave
you that?" Mac asked, laughing.
"Auntie H
and Uncle B." She replied, walking into the living room. She grabbed her backpack and began digging
around for her wallet.
"What are
you looking for?"
"My
wallet. I put it in here last night,
but I think I left it in Dad's office for some reason." She sighed, "I hope I
didn't leave it in the open. I had a
lot of money in it."
Harm
smiled, "If you left it in JAG period, you'll get it back."
"Touché."
"Alright,
you two. I'm gonna go change. Play nice."
Beth
shuttered, but simply replied, "Yes, ma'am." Before taking the cordless, and
walking, once again, back into her bedroom.
"Did she
just shutter?"
"Yes." Harm
murmured, "I guess saying play nice shouldn't be said for a while."
"I'll say." Mac patted his arm
and headed to the bathroom.
-*-*-
"So what
time did Jenn and Louie get home?" Beth asked, plopping onto her bed. She had dialed her friend; a freshman at
Virginia Tech named Lisette, and then had begun talking. In the background, Lizzie's two children,
two-year old Cosette and seven-month old Chauncey, were busily making noise and
playing with each other.
"Well,
according to Jennie, they were home by ten, but Louie says they were home by
eleven." Lizzie replied, "So how're you doing?"
"Well,
Mommy and Daddy get married in a few weeks.
And I'm like so happy that I haven't had a seizure yet."
"You have
your medication, right?"
"Ran out yesterday."
"You had a
year's supply and you ran out in eleven months?"
Beth
sighed, "Yeah. I had to double up for a
few days. I promise I'll tell them."
"You'd
better or I will. I don't want Gio to
call me and say you had another Grand Mal seizure."
"You
won't." She smiled, even though Lizzie couldn't see her, "I think I just heard
the bathroom door open. Mom and Dad are
probably gonna want to get going. I'll
call you later."
"Hold up a
sec. Ann and Chastity wanted me to tell
you they're coming. That makes five of
us. Now I can let you go. Have fun at JAG."
"Thanks. Later." She hung up and placed the cordless
into its cradle in her room. Suddenly,
her head began to throb and she closed her eyes momentarily until it
passed. When she opened her eyes again,
there before her, was the image of Davy.
"Davy? Oh no. Not now." She whispered after realization
set in of what was happening. Her
muscles contracted and Beth fell to the floor with a sickening thud.
And it was
there that Harm found her.
-*-*-
Hospital
8:47 am
"Harm?"
Wendy called into the waiting room.
Hearing his
name, he looked up, "Wendy?"
"Hey." She
reached forward to hug him, "Where's Mac?"
"Calling
Bud and Harriet. I didn't know this is
where you work."
"It's close
to home. So has anyone come to tell you
about Beth yet?" She asked, stuffing her hands in the pockets of her white
coat.
"No. I've been waiting for someone to."
She sighed,
"Well, I can tell you what they'll say." She said, looking at him, "Teddy's
going to be the one who'll come talk to you, but this is the first time he's
dealt with her illness."
"What
illness?"
"Beth had
what's called a grand mal seizure. I
called Lisette."
"The freshman
at Virginia Tech?"
She nodded,
"Yes. Beth woke up a little while ago
and mentioned her name, that's why I called her. She said that Beth mentioned that she ran out of her medication."
"What
medication?"
"She has
epilepsy, Harm. She's had it since she
was a child. It's still unknown what
caused it, but the seizures stared when she was two and half. Davy and I were pretty confident that it was
caused by head trauma. I'm actually
pretty amazed you never noticed. But
then again, when she was younger she had petit mal. It sort of grew into grand mal around the time she was about
ten. That's when she was started on the
meds. She didn't want to tell you. She thought you'd get rid of her then."
Wendy explained, recalling what Beth had told her many times in the last few
months.
"My
daughter has had epilepsy since she was a little girl?"
"Yes."
Harm stood
up and began to pace the empty room, "Will she die?"
Mac walked
in at that moment, "Please tell me that I didn't just hear you ask that question."
She said, stopping dead in the doorway.
"Great
timing, Mac." Wendy muttered, "Harm will tell you the details, but to put it
simplest – she has the form of epilepsy which results in grand mal
seizures. But to answer your question,
no, Beth won't die. She's being treated
for it. At least she was until she ran
out of her meds." She stood up, "I'm
going to see if they brought her down from MRI yet. I'll bring some information for you, but she'll explain it far
better then I. Is there anything else you
want to know?"
"What does
she take for this?" He asked, as Mac was still finding her voice.
"Lamictal."
She sighed, and walked out.
"I can't
believe she didn't tell us." Mac whispered.
"She
thought we wouldn't want her."
Mac looked at
her fiancée, and then walked over to him.
Instinctively, Harm wrapped is arms around her as she buried her head
into his shoulder.
"You heard
Wendy, Sarah, as long as Beth takes her medicine, she'll be fine." He
comforted.
"I know."
She sniffed, "I just didn't think I'd ever have to worry about something like
this." She stepped back and rubbed her eyes, "Bud and Harriet were in with the
Admiral when I called. Bud's staying
behind with little AJ, Harriet and the Admiral are on their way over."
"Okay." He rubbed her cheek,
"It's okay, alright? Beth's going to be
fine. She's had this for a while, all
we have to do now is make sure she takes what ever she has to take, and make
sure she has the Lamictal."
Wendy
reappeared, and grinned at them, "She's back from MRI, she's awake, and asking
to go home. She's fine now so she can
go, but if you'd rather, we can keep her here overnight."
"If she
wants to go home and it's okay, then I'd like to take her home." Harm told her,
as Harriet and AJ arrived.
"I'll go
start the paperwork. While I'm doing
that, you can go up to the second floor and see her weirdness. She's in room 206."
"Thank
you." Mac hugged her, followed by Harm.
-*-*-
When the
group walked in the room, Beth immediately hid beneath her blanket.
"Beth." AJ
smiled as he walked over to her. He
pulled the blanket down, "Why are you hiding?"
"I don't
know." She giggled, "It seemed like the thing to do."
"Really?"
He reached forward to tickle her, and even though she tried to contain her
laughter, she soon burst out laughing, "Alright! Stop! Stop!" She laughed,
looking at her father, "Dad." She reached for him, "Let's go home."
Harm
reached forward, and hugged her as tight as he could, "Don't ever scare me like
that, Little One."
"I know."
She hugged him back, and closed her eyes for a second, "I'm sorry. I should have told you."
"Don't
worry about that now. All that matters
is that you're all right, which you are.
We're just going to have to make sure you always have what you need." He
kissed her hair, "I love you, Little One."
"I love you
too, Daddy."
-*-*-
Chapter two coming
soon!
-*-*-
Cassie Jamie
noahXfiles@aol.com
Family
By: Cassie Jamie