Time for fun
They were gathered at Bud and Harriet's house. The party was in honour of the arrival of their twins. Mac was glad to see her friends so happy. Bud and Harriet were practically glowing with joy, and why should they not be. They had all they ever wanted.
It had been a long week and a long year and Mac was in no mood to be social. She was tired after her assignment with Lt. Vukovic in the Straits of Malacca. She had come home late last night and had considered dropping the party to spend the day relaxing on the couch. But she had felt obligated to appear, she was after all the twins godmother. Mac had hoped that Harm would appear, but he had apparently not made it back from his assignment in Florida. Mac was disappointed, she had missed him. They had become closer after her accident at Christmas, and they'd made an effort to spend as much time together as possible.
When she thought about it she had to admit that they were actually dating. And she decided that she liked where their relationship was headed. She made an effort to open up to him and to trust him with her many troubles. He had made an effort to be there for her and to put words on his feelings. It was all working out very well for them, even if they were taking everything very slowly.
Mac was forced out of her thoughts by Harriet.
"I'm so glad you could make it today Mac. You must be tired after your assignment?" Harriet was her usual positive self.
"That's okay Harriet. I wouldn't have missed it." Mac tried to be sincere, but to be honest it took a lot of her strength to be there.
"Well it's good to see you. I haven't seen you much lately." Harriet loved spending her days with the kids, but she missed some grown up conversation now and then.
"I haven't made much effort to be social lately. It's been a rough year, but whenever you need to get a break from the kids and the house we'll do something fun. Or if you and Bud need a night out, I'll baby sit for you." One of Mac's New Years promises to her self was to spend more time with her friends, and other than Harm she had not done a good job with that lately.
"I'll take you up on that." Harriet smiled at her friend and then proceeded to talk about the kids.
After a little while she noticed that Mac's attention had shifted from her to the front door. Harriet turned to see what held Mac's attention and she saw Harm standing there with her husband. She turned to look at Mac and noticed that for the first time that day her friend had a truly sincere smile on her face.
"Excuse me Harriet." Mac walked towards where Harm stood, he had a flirting smile on his face.
"Hey Mac."
The sound of his voice made her day feel so much better.
"Hey Harm, you made it." She was surprised when he gave her a hug. Sure they hugged and even stole a few kisses now and then, but this was their first show of affection in public.
"I came back late..." He was cut off by the General.
"I see you made it back from Florida Commander. I assume everything went all right with the assignment?" The General asked.
"Yes sir, my report will be on your desk Monday morning."
"That's good Commander." He turned to Mac. "I got a call from the Captain of the USS Condon, Colonel. He was very impressed by you and he seems to think that you are more disciplined than most JAG's. I agree. You see now why I put Vukovic with you?"
"I haven't changed my mind about the Lt. if that's what you're asking, sir?" Mac would never trust Vukovic, she would work with him when she had to, but she would never change her mind about him.
Before they could continue the discussion, the General's wife appeared.
"I hope you're not talking about work today honey?" Dora said.
"I'm sorry." The General smiled." Colonel, Commander, this is my wife Dora."
They talked for a while, before Mac excused her self to get some air. She was getting a headache, probably do to lack of sleep. She walked out on the porch and took a deep breath. She was glad that it was Sunday the next day. She was planning to sleep in late and then go for a long run to clear her head before a new week would start. Maybe she would ask Harm to join her for dinner, it would be good to have some quality time with him.
She was startled when she heard Harm's voice behind her. "Mind if I join you?"
She turned around. "Of course not. I was just thinking about how glad I am that tomorrow is Sunday."
"I agree." He leaned on the railing and looked at her.
"Will you have dinner with me tomorrow?" They both said at the same time.
They both laughed. "So I guess that's a date then." Harm gave her a smug smile.
"Yes it looks that way." She leaned to the railing close to him and bumped her side to his. "I missed you."
"I missed you too." He bumped her back.
They were silent for a long while.
"So I assume your assignment with Lt. Vukovic was eventful? You don't seem to like him much." Harm broke the silence.
"I just don't trust him that's all." Mac shrugged her shoulders, it was pretty cold outside without a jacket.
Harm removed the light suit jacket he was wearing and put it on her shoulders. "Well it's not like you to trust anyone very quickly, but this seems different."
"I guess it's different, I can't really explain it. But it doesn't really matter, I'll be a good mentor. That's me, doing my job if I like it or not. Anyway, enough about that, let's talk about something fun." She was in no mood to have a conversation about Lt. Vukovic.
"Fun? I didn't think you were capable of having fun." Harm laughed at the glare she gave him.
"Are you saying that I am no fun Commander?"
"I'm just saying that you are serious most of the time." He crossed his arms over his chest and gave her a teasing smile. "Me on the other hand, can have fun. I'm just fun, fun, fun."
He knew he had asked for trouble the minute he opened his mouth, but he really enjoyed teasing her. He knew he would get a laugh or a smile eventually and it was worth some bodily harm to make her laugh. She was so beautiful when she smiled, well she was actually beautiful whatever she did. She was a work of art really. The most beautiful woman he had ever met, but when she smiled at him he forgot how to breath. He was brought out of his thoughts by something cold finding its way down his back. "Oh my God, that's cold." He yelled and started to pull his shirt from his pants in order to remove the snow.
"You should be careful with what you let slip from that mouth of yours Rabb." Mac was laughing, but when he stopped and turned towards her, she knew she was in trouble.
"You are so going to pay for that Mackenzie." He took a handful of snow and moved toward her. But he underestimated her reflexes, because she jumped over the railing and landed on the lawn. The snow reached her knees, making it hard to run.
"You'll have to get me first squid." She took a few more steps away from the porch.
Harm jumped over the railing too and started to run after her. They were running around the back yard for a while, both laughing hard. When Harm stopped to make some snow balls, Mac ran to hide behind a tree. Harm started to bombard the tree with snow balls and she threw back whenever he had to stop in order to make new snow balls. Harm noticed a big branch on the tree and started to throw at it. It wasn't long before the snow that was gathered on the branch fell down. Harm heard Mac scream when the snow hit her.
"Yes, score one for Rabb." Harm laughed.
"That was so not fun." Mac came running in full speed from her hiding and hit him square in the chest and he hit the ground. He grabbed Mac's hand on the way down so she landed on the ground beside him. They were both laughing so hard they couldn't move or speak. After a while they heard Harriet yelling at them.
"Mac, Harm will you guys get up before you freeze to death. You'll catch pneumonia."
Both Harm and Mac looked towards the porch where all their friend and collogues were gathered.
Mac got up from the ground and reached for Harm's hand. "Come on Harm, Harriet says it's time to go inside." She laughed as she spoke. Harm stood too and he saw that Mac was shaking from the cold.
"I think Harriet is right, you are freezing." He picked up the jacked she had lost during their fight and wrapped it around her.
A while later they were sitting with dry clothes in front of the fire inside the house. They both were wrapped in blankets and Harriet had made hot chocolate for them. Harm was getting warm, but he could see that Mac was still shaking. He took his own blanket and placed it over her.
"Her you go Mac, you need it more than me."
"Are you sure?" She didn't want him to be cold.
"Yes, I'm warm now." He smiled at her. "I'm sorry about having all that snow land on you." Then he started to laugh. "But it was so worth it to make you scream like that."
"I did not scream. I'm a Marine, I don't scream." She glared at him.
"Of course you didn't." He managed to stay serious for about a second before he had to laugh.
Mac punched him in the arm. "Jerk." Then she laughed too. "And you said I couldn't have fun."
"Oh, you proved me wrong." He grinned at her, then he got a serious look on his face. "When you are warmer, we'll go to your place. I'll stop by the store and buy ingredients for my famous chicken soup. There is no way you'll get sick after eating it."
"That sounds good." She smiled at him. "And then we'll watch a movie and relax the rest of the day."
"That's a date."
"Yes it is." They looked into each others eyes and smiled at each other. They were getting somewhere and it was somewhere good.
The End..