Chapter 1
Harm and Mac's house
Belleville, Pennsylvania
Mac was in a deep sleep, but something was dragging her closer to consciousness. The phone, she realised, was ringing. She reached for it.
"Hello."
"Hi Mac, did I wake you?" Harm was immediately sorry he had called her. He was worried about her and wanted to check up on her, but he hadn't wanted to wake her.
"It's probably time to get up anyway." Mac stretched, but gasped when she felt a stabbing pain in her stomach.
"Mac, are you okay?" Harm jumped up from the chair he was sitting in at the airport. He was waiting on his plane to board so that he could be with his wife.
"I'm fine, I just forgot about my incision from the surgery." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly as she sat up. "When will you be home today?"
Harm relaxed a little. "Not too late I hope. Promise me you'll take it easy."
"I will." Mac promised.
"See you later." Harm waited until she had mumbled goodbye before he hung up.
Mac put the phone away. She looked around the bedroom. It was bigger then the one they'd had in San Diego and she had decided that she liked the new room better than the last. Her new home, Belleville, Pennsylvania. At least for the next six months.
How had they ended up there:
Three reasons:
A rushed wedding. (Although some would argue that it was about time they got married.)
Difficulties in their marriage. (Mostly because of the baby.)
A near death. (Her own.)
We will come back to this as we go.
They had promised themselves to one another for the rest of their lives about a month after they decided to get married. Harm had been in Washington D.C until his request for retirement came through about three months after their engagement. Mac had moved to San Diego as ordered and taken the command of Joint Legal Services, South West. It was during a long weekends leave that Mac and Harm gave their vows in front of their closest friends and family. A two day honeymoon followed in a hotel room, before Mac flew back to San Diego.
Harm joined her in San Diego as soon as he could and he had taken a job at a private law firm. Although he missed the Navy, he found his new job both fulfilling and challenging. He had more time on his hands than ever before and spent most of his free time up in Sarah, he had even managed to persuade Mac to join him a few times. The start of their marriage was a very happy one, but soon the problems started.
The baby.
It was their new mission in life. They wanted to create a baby Rabb/Mackenzie, and they did eventually succeed. In the creation anyway.
Their Doctor made it clear that creating a baby the natural way would never be a possibility for them, but there were options. After a year of artificial insemination, with breaks in between, they were about to give up, both of them tired of all the disappointments and the way they were slowly putting an end to their happy marriage. Harm wanted to stop trying and adopt, but Mac wanted to try some more. Mac had won that argument.
What happened:
They succeeded.
Someone died.
Someone almost died.
They had been married for two years when Harm's grandmother died. She had been out walking one morning, as she did every morning, after all she was very healthy for a woman ninety three at age. She was found by the creek, it looked as though she was sleeping soundly, but the truth was that her heart had just stopped.
Harm was devastated. He loved his grandmother, and even though he knew that she wasn't going to live forever, in a childish way he had hoped she would anyway.
His grandmother's death had made a change in their relationship, they were closer than they had been in a long time. The last time they had visited Grandma Sarah, almost five months before her funeral, they were constantly arguing and they barely talked unless they absolutely had to. At the funeral, ass they watched the casket disappear down into the hole in the ground Harm pulled Mac close and she relaxed against him, whispering in his ear that she loved him.
They had spent a few days after the funeral at his grandmother's farm, before they went back to San Diego determined to stop trying for a baby and consider other options.
They arrived at their house and Harm had carried their luggage upstairs to their bedroom when he heard Mac's painful cry. He found her on the floor, twisting in pain.
As they arrived at the hospital Mac was taken straight to surgery, leaving Harm to wait and see if he would suffer another loss.
He did suffer another loss, they both did.
They were both surprised to hear that Mac's pregnancy had caused a bleeding, a bleeding that would have taken her life had they arrived at the hospital only a few minutes later.
Without them knowing it, Mac had been pregnant. They had been expecting a child. However, they no longer expected that child.
Two weeks after the surgery, Mac was in her new bed, in her new room, in her new home.
Back to a week before this story started
Mac's hospital room
Mac gave Harm a slight smile when he entered her room.
"Good morning." He came over and gave her a short kiss. "How are you this morning?"
Mac shrugged her shoulders. "Better I guess. The Doctor is sending me home tomorrow."
Harm nodded as he sat down in the chair close to her bed. "I just talked to him actually. He will keep you on medical leave for at least three months though, so don't get any ideas."
"About that." Mac hesitated. "I talked to General Cresswell."
"Did you tell him that you'll be on medical leave for a while?" Harm reached for Mac's hand as he spoke.
Mac nodded her head. "I did." She chewed her lower lip. "I actually told him that I wasn't sure I'd be coming back to my position in San Diego."
Harm sat up straight. "You what?"
"I told him that I was leaving the Corps." Mac saw that Harm was about to say something so she tugged his hand. "Let me finish."
Harm hesitated, but decided that his million questions could wait until she had said what she wanted to say.
"I need a break Harm, from work and San Diego. Just some time to get some perspective. I told the General that, but I also told him that I might be needing more time than just my medical leave. He understood and told me to take the three months first, and then I could make a decision about staying or leaving the military after that. Sturgis will be taking over my position." Mac tugged harder on Harm's hand and he joined her on the bed. "What do you think?"
Harm kissed her hand. "As long as your decision about leaving the Corps isn't going to be a rushed one, I support you all the way."
Mac smiled. "Thanks."
"For what?"
"For understanding." Mac pulled him close. "I just need some time."
Harm held her carefully, scared that he might hurt her. "But Mac, what you said about leaving San Diego...
She leaned away from him. "I was thinking about staying at your grandma's farm. I know I can't ask you to come with me, you have work, but you could join me there whenever you can."
Harm nodded with relief, he had been worried that she wanted time away from him as well. "We'll figure something out.
And Harm did figure something out, or his boss did. Harm would work from Belleville as much as he could and he would travel to San Diego whenever he was needed there.
And that was how they ended up in Belleville.
Harm had accompanied Mac to his grandmother's house the day after she had been released from the hospital. Mac's Doctor hadn't wanted her to travel in her condition, but Mac had been stubborn and she got it her way. She hadn't wanted to stay a minute longer in their house in San Diego, it was too suffocating and it held too many memories of the last year. A year which Mac wished that she could change into something more positive, but also a year that she eventually would have to come to terms with.
Harm had left Mac in Belleville, with a neighbour's promise to check in on his wife at least once a day, and gone back to San Diego to arrange their move. He shipped what they would be needing and then he packed up his office. His boss provided Harm with what he needed to keep in touch with the office, mostly electronic equipment. As Harm was about to leave the office, the day before he would travel to Belleville, his boss had told Harm to make work his second priority and come back in three months ready to do good work. After all, he was needed at the office. Harm thanked Mr. Jefferson for helping him and promised to do what he could from Belleville.
Like that, Harm and Mac's healing process would begin.
To Be Continued...