TOPSY-TURVY

Harmon Rabb and Sarah Mackenzie never did do things in the conventional order. He met and won the approval of her family less than two days after their first meeting. They spent the night together before they had even had their first date. Granted they were stranded in the woods and being hunted down by poachers. Not a romantic night by any means but still they had slept in the same bed (err, cave). Within a year of meeting they had shared their first dance. It was more than seven years later that they began their romantic relationship. Harm brought up the possibility of them having a kid together before either of them even suggested the idea of a romantic relationship. Together they had discovered long lost family members. They followed each other halfway around the world, repeatedly. They saved each other over and over again, sometimes over great distances. By any measure the relationship between Harm and Mac had been anything but typical.

Now eight years after they met, they were engaged and raising teenagers without ever going on an official date. Teenagers?, you ask, as in plural? How did they end up with teenage children so quickly? Considering neither Harm nor Mac has a biological child, the situation becomes even more unusual. Yet here they are not even married yet and raising three teenagers. It was not a conventional family, but since when were they ever conventional?

Matilda "Mattie" Grace Johnson was exhausted but encouraged as she made her way over to her family after her rehab session. She had a smile on her face that rivaled even Harm's famous grin as her "parents", "brother" and "sister" all hugged her and told her what a great job she had done. "You'll be walking by yourself in no time," Harm told her.

"Do you really think so?" she asked hopefully.

"In this family anything's possible!" her "big brother" pointed out laughing.

Harm and Mac had just gotten engaged when Harm received full, permanent custody of Mattie. Her father had signed away his parental rights after Mattie's accident, when he realized he just wasn't capable of being a proper parent for the injured girl. The newly engaged couple responded by immediately starting the process of legally adopting Harm's ward. They were about a month into the adoption process when Mac received a phone call. "I don't see it being a problem, but I'll need to talk to my fiancé and get back to you," she told the person on the other end of the line.

"Sarah?" Harm addressed her questioningly after she hung up.

"You remember Chloe." Mac said.

"Chloe Madison?" he asked for confirmation. She nodded.

"That was her grandmother. Chloe's grandfather died a few month's ago and her grandmother is not well. With her father being deployed most of the year, they need someone to be her legal guardian while he is at sea…" she explained.

"And they wanted to know if you would be willing," Harm finished for her, smiling. She nodded. "Do they realize that we are moving as soon as Mattie's adoption is finalized?"

"Oh, they know. I told Chloe as soon as we knew. I couldn't avoid telling her, she was our biggest fan!" Mac laughed. "They're all fine with it. Her father can request that his next assignment be based near us, so they can see each other. No guarantee that he'll get it, of course, but I think he's got a fairly good chance. Besides other than her dad and her grandmother, we're the closest thing she has to family."

"I think that we should tell Mattie before we agree. It'll take a bit of adjustment, but were all fairly good at that." He grinned.

"I'll call her back and tell her we agree as soon as we've told Mattie."

The next morning Harm and Mac told there future daughter that she was going to have a new foster-sister. "Where are we going to live while we wait for the adoption to go through?" the girl asked. "We won't all fit in "Dad's" apartment! Think Jenn wants another roommate?" she laughed.

"Well we need to stay in Virginia until the adoption is finalized." Harm told her. "I guess we'll just have to rent a house."

Mattie's eyebrows shot towards her hairline in surprise. "How are you going to do that in a hurry?"

Harm admitted that he wasn't sure how he would pull it off. Mattie then suggested that maybe "Papa Frank" (Harm's stepfather) might be able to help. After all, Papa Frank and Grandma Trish had plenty of money and Frank had connections across the country. Harm had never been thrilled to ask his step-father for help, but if Frank could help him find a place for his new little family to live, a place that would be accessible for Mattie as she recovered from her injuries, he was more than willing to ask. "Good idea, kiddo. I think you're right; this is just the time to give Mom and Frank a call."