Harmon Rabb was having a good evening. His Mother, Frank and Sergei were over for a few days and they had just finished eating dinner. Being the good son and brother he was, Harm offered to do the washing up. He turned on the radio and smiled. This was a good evening. Ten minutes later the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it!" Sergei called out in his Russian accent. He wandered over to the door and opened it without checking who it was. What confronted him left a shocked expression on his face.
"Colonel!" he greeted.
"Hey Sergei!" Mac answered trying her best to smile which god knew wasn't easy at all. "Umm, is Harm in? I need to, umm, speak to him" she continued, her voice getting ever quieter. The pain was even obvious to Sergei, even though she was doing her best to hide it.
"Of course!" he answered. "Harm, Mac is here. You had better come to the door."
"Just a minute!" was the commander's immediate response. Harm came out of the kitchen, a towel carelessly swung over his shoulder.
"Hey Mac!" he casually greeted "What brings you…"
The rest of the sentence was left unspoken. Mac, his Marine, was standing in his doorway with the most pained, hurt and betrayed expression on her face. She still had her "I'm-a-Marine-I'm-fine-expression pasted on her face, but it took him all of half a second to see straight through it.
"Jesus Mac!" was the only thing he could say.
Mac's eyes were red from crying, her lip was split, her left eye was swollen as if it had been hit and she had various other marks on her face and hands. But what was worse for him than her physical appearance was the expression in her eyes. It was as if she were scared that at any moment someone was going to jump out of the shadows and grab her. She immediately looked into his eyes and saw the immense hurt he was feeling for her.
"Hey Flyboy!" she greeted half heartedly. "Sorry for butting in like this but I sort of didn't know where else to go." The last few syllables came out in what seemed to be a sob.
That was all he needed. It took him all of two strides with his long legs to reach her where he immediately gathered her up in his arms. To his surprise she didn't fight it at all. It didn't take long for him to feel sob racking her body. She held onto him as if he was all she had left.
By now Trish and Sergei had become aware of the situation and were now all standing in the living room. Trish carefully looked between her son and the woman in his arms. She instinctively moved closer in order to put a comforting hand on the woman's shoulder and asked what the matter was.
Mac visible stiffened in Harm's arms and said: "Harm, I'm sorry! I.. I shouldn't have come here. I didn't know you had visitors! I'm sorry!"
With this she tried to pull away from him but he kept his arms securely around her. "Shh, it's okay! I'm always here for you."
He slowly guided her to the bedroom and shut the door behind them. He wanted so badly to know what happened to her but there were more important things at hand, like the fact that she was shivering badly and sopping wet.
"Mac, you didn't walk all the way here did you?"
"No, I sort of, umm, ran…" She couldn't look him in the eyes while admitting this.
"You didn't happen to bring any clothes with you, did you?"
"Actually, I did. I think I left them outside the door."
"Okay, this is what you are going to do," Harm started, holding her out at arms length to get a better look. He noticed her hands were bruised and cut, as if she had been in a fight defending herself.
"You are going to hop into the shower and warm up. I'll go get your clothes and put them on the bed. I'll be waiting for you in the living room.
He quietly exited the bedroom and made his way through the living room. Trish asked: "Harm, honey, what happened?"
But it was as if he was in his own world, taking notice or heed of anyone. The only thing she heard as a response was: "If I ever get my hands on the god damn bastard I swear I'll…"
When he reentered the room, Mac was out of the shower sitting on the bed, knees drawn up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them.
"Mac," he said quietly, trying to get her attention without startling her, "What happened?"
"I don't know how it happened; I should have been able to protect myself."
He gently traced one of the bruises on her face as he asked: "Who did this to you?" When she didn't immediately answer, he pressed on: "Was it Robert?"
She couldn't answer. Instead she just looked away from him and nodded. "I came home from the gym and he was already there, drunk. He started accusing me of cheating on him and stealing from him. Then he just started hitting me." she couldn't continue. Instead, a sob escaped from her throat.
Harm did the only thing he could think of and took her into his arms, trying to soothe her. "You're okay now, I won't let anyone hurt you."
"Oh God Harm, he said all these things to me. The same things my Father and Chris would say."
He hated seeing her this hurt. He hated anybody who would put her through this much pain. Hadn't she been through enough already? He kept her in his protective embrace and whispered to her: "I swear I won't let him anywhere near you. You're safe now."
Hearing the broke the last barrier she had. She couldn't control the tears that were now streaming down her face. Harm was the only person she would let herself show any emotion in front of. He was the only person she trusted. And the only person you love, her mind added.
They sat there like that for about twenty minutes. When Mac stopped crying and her breathing had slowed down again, Harm thought it was best to try and cheer her up a bit.
"Hey Marine," he started "bet you haven't had anything for dinner. C'mon, I have some dead cow left over from dinner."
At her startled look at his mentioning red meat, he quickly added: "Sergei, Mom and Frank are all carnivores." At this she smiled a little and let herself be led to the kitchen where he served her some leftovers from dinner. While she ate, Harm sat next to her and kept her company.
After she had finished, Sergei came over to them and Mac instinctively turned away from him, not wanting anyone to see her face like it way. "We thought it would be a nice ending to the evening to sit down and watch a film, umm movie together…" he started, not sure if it was a good suggestion. Harm smiled reassuringly at him. Maybe it would get her mind off the events of the evening a bit. "What do ya say Ninja-girl, up to it?"
"Yeah, sounds good." she answer quietly.
Trish and Frank sat down together on the loveseat, Sergei on the right side of the sofa and Harm on the left with Mac next to him. As soon as she sat down, he placed his right arm around her shoulders and pulled her into him. Surprisingly she didn't protest, but gladly took his invitation.
Trish looked over to see her son with the woman she knew he loved in his arms. He would go to the end of the world for her, that she knew. But why are they both so blind to the fact? She asked herself.