Taking A Leap
Disclaimer: Not mine...never will be, but I wish I owned DJE.
Note: This is a sort of epilogue to my other story Accidentally Perfect. I suggest you read that one first. Sorry for any mistakes. Enjoy!
2 Months Later
Harm's Apartment
North of Union Station
Washington, D.C.
The moonlight streamed through the windows, casting shadows around his living room and bathing his furniture in a sea of white. On any other night that would seem normal, almost mundane, but not tonight. Tonight Harm would start a chain of events that would inevitably lead to fulfilling his biggest dream. And suddenly, every little thing that he barely paid any attention to became a bigger part of his life.
Harm crossed the living room over to where the phone sat in its cradle, and dialed the very familiar number.
"Hello." Amazing how a phone could make someone sound so much closer than they were.
"Hi mom." He couldn't hide the excitement in his voice.
"Harmon Rabb, Jr. it is about time you called your mother." Spoken like only Trish Burnette could speak it.
"I'm sorry mom. Life's been hectic."
"I understand sweetie."
"Hey mom is Frank there with you?"
"He's in his office, let me go get him."
"Wait. It's something both of you should hear."
Trish couldn't help but panic. "Are you ok, Harm? Sweetie is something wrong?"
"No mom. Everything's great. I promise."
"Ok. Let me go grab Frank."
A few seconds later they were both on the speaker listening to Harm.
"Hello son."
"Hey Frank. How have you been?"
"Good. Can't complain. So what is the big news?"
"Well, I'd have someone else here with me to share the news, but she doesn't know either."
"Ok, son. You're starting to worry me. Spill it."
Harm chuckled a bit. "I'm getting married. Well, at least I hope I am."
"Oh that's great son!" Trish yelled into the speaker phone.
"That's great news, son." Frank added.
"Yes it is Frank." He stated with pride.
"I knew you and Mac would eventually see the light." Trish spoke. Both men were amazed at her assumption.
"How did you know it was Mac, mom?" He was beyond astonished at how blind both he and Mac had been to the love that had obviously been there for years.
"Oh come on, son. You would talk about her like you never had for any other woman. It was so evident." She smiled and knew her son was, too.
"Well, it is Mac. And I need your guys' help to make this happen."
"Sure son. Anything." Frank assured.
"Mom...I need you to send me grandma's engagement ring. The one dad gave to you. I would like to fit it so it doesn't either fall off or cut Mac's circulation." They shared a laugh.
"Of course sweetie. It will get there in no time."
"She'll love it." Harm said absentmindedly.
"She sure will. Especially when it's you who's giving it to her."
"Thanks mom. And Frank..."
"Yes?"
"I was wondering if you could do me the honor of being my best man."
Silence erupted on both ends and Frank's eyes brimmed with tears of joy. "Of..." He cleared his throat. "Of course, son. I'd be the honored one."
"Thanks Frank. It means a lot to me that you be there." A few seconds of silence followed.
"So how do you plan on asking her?" His mother asked.
"Well..." He explained with meticulous detail how he planned on making his Marine, the happiest Marine alive.
One Week Later
Rock Creek Park
Washington, D.C.
"Harm no!" Mac yelled while she clung to his hand with a fierce grip.
"Come on. Live a little, honey." He turned his head a bit to catch a glimpse of her and threw her a grin.
"Exactly! That's why I don't want to go faster." She laughed. "Harm I wasn't trained to go Mach 3, especially not on roller skates."
"Roller blades. And I was...so fear nothing."
He pulled her along for a while longer until he got to a fork in the path. Right or left? He pondered his options and with true fighter pilot instincts went straight.
"Harm let's stop. I'm tired." She chuckled out of breath.
"Hold on. There's a bench up ahead."
They got to it, but before Mac had a chance to sit and rest, Harm puller her in front of him and kissed her. She clung to him not because she was on roller blades, but because she feared that if she let go of him, her already weak knees would give out completely.
"On second thought, why don't you stand and I..." He got down on one knee. A bit awkwardly due to the roller blades he sported. That made him smile. Roller blades...he never thought he'd wear those when he did this. Probably his white dress shoes to match his dress whites, but what the heck, he planned it this way because it was them. They never did anything the normal way.
"Harm..." Mac sensed it coming. It was about to happen.
"Wait." He took hold on one of her hands. "I know this is not the way you pictured it. God knows neither did I, but just let me finish, ok." He paused briefly. "Mac, you've been my best friend, my partner, and a fountain of courage for me. And now I want you to be more than that. I want to wake up everyday and know that I'll fall asleep with you that night." He paused to get up as he smiled a bit embarrassed. "Too old for the paved road I'm afraid." They both laughed. "Sarah MacKenzie, will you marry me?"
She had to swallow a few times to allow her throat to regain its function. "Yes!" She let tears make their way down her face.
"Why the tears?" Harm moved to wipe them with his thumbs.
"This is really happening isn't it? I'm not going to wake up to a lonely apartment and just a partner?"
"No way. This is real." He moved in to kiss her lips.
"Mmmm..." He smiled against her lips.
"You really know when to pop the question don't you." She pulled back enough to look at him.
"Hey, it was your first time roller blading and my first time proposing. Seemed like the right time to me." He touched his lips to hers again.
"It was." She felt him pull back.
"There's a ring to go with that proposal you know."
"Oh really? I didn't know they still did that now and days. He pulled the ring out of his pocket and showed it to her. "It was grandma's and then mom's. And now it's yours." He smiled as he placed it on her finger.
"It's beautiful. I can't believe it, Harm."
"Believe it." He kissed the top of her hand.
She tried to move closer to him, but with all the excitement, she forgot she was a dummy on skates. She back-pedaled. Went forward without her consent. Flailed her arms in attempt to keep her balance, but before she could, she fell forward.
Harm saw her try to fight against gravity and tried to help her. He reached out to her. Moved back when she came forward. But it was all in vain. And frankly too late. She fell forward and knocked them both down with her momentum.
He'd had his share of falls growing up. Heck he even ejected out of F-14s...twice, but that was during his younger years. If he ever doubted his age then, he didn't anymore. His back protested against the hard paved path he fell on.
"Ow!" Harm managed through fits of laughter.
"Oh Harm! I'm so sorry. Are you ok? Did I hurt you?" She wasn't laughing and couldn't understand why he was. "I hurt you didn't I." She tried to move off of him, but he held onto her.
"You didn't. The ground did." He chuckled again. "I'm ok, though. Don't worry." He kissed her. "But I think we need to get up because it's not very comfortable."
"For you." Mac finally laughed when she knew he wasn't hurt. She got off of him very carefully and slowly to prevent another fall. "I was VERY comfortable."
"Well, I'm glad I could accommodate your fall, your highness."
4 Months Later
Santa Barbara, California
Summer was in full swing by now. The sun was shinning and the slight breeze, what little there was, was blowing with a cool whisper. It was the perfect weather for the perfect event. The altar was perched atop a green hill that over looked the deepest, bluest ocean. Shades of white and green swarmed around everyone present. People sat in white chairs as they faced the front where the action was taking place.
"I have been notified that the couple would like to share their own vows." Chaplin Turner turn to face Mac and nodded, signaling for her to go ahead.
Mac turned slightly and saw the people there. Everyone that meant anything to both of them was there. Even her uncle Matt. She faced Harm and smiled as she took out the paper where she had written her vows. She chuckled. "I know I'm a lawyer and I should be able to memorize these, but this is a little more exciting than a courtroom battle. So forgive me." She paused.
"Nine years. Who would have thought that it would have taken us only nine years to do this?" Everyone laughed. "Through those nine years, though, I have learned so much from you Harm. You have taught me how to love unconditionally and whole-heartedly. And I thank you for that, because without it, I'm afraid we wouldn't be standing here like this. You managed to break down all the barriers that I had around my heart and you not only showed me that you loved me, but that I loved you as well."
She paused to clear her throat as Harm wiped the tears that rolled down her face. "Harm, you have been everything to me these past nine years. I have no idea what I did to deserve you, but I know I will keep doing it because I want you in my life for as long as I can have you. I love you, and I can't wait to see what life throws at us next." She smiled.
Harm moved his hand toward her face again to remove some tears that were insistent and kept trailing her face. "Sarah, I don't know how to start this. You can probably tell that I've had a hard time deciding on what to tell you. I just feel that my words or any words that I can gather aren't nearly enough to show you, to tell you how much you mean to me. You've eradicated any stops that I placed, any walls that I built to prevent myself from loving you and you me. And I think for that I will love you even more tomorrow. And the day after that." He looked into her brown eyes. "I know we have had a really long uphill battle to get to this point. And what better way to show that we survived than to marry each other on top of a hill."
He took a deep breath. "All I know is that through the nine years that we have shared, I wouldn't trade them for anything. Not the hard times, for they have made us stronger, and definitely not the good times. And if anyone was to ask me to do it again...I would. Gladly. Who knows, maybe I would propose to you the first year." Everyone shared a laugh with them. "Mac, I want to live with you as my wife for the rest of forever. Though I doubt forever is long enough. And right now at this instant, I am praying to God and before Chaplin Turner that this is not a dream. I want this to be OUR reality. For as long as I am aloud. I love you. More than anything in this world." He couldn't stop the tears that escaped his own eyes and Mac was there to catch them for him as he had done for her.
The rest of the ceremony went by as if part of a fairy tale. Harm and Mac were the happiest they'd ever been, and everyone could see that. It was a moment no one would soon forget. Especially not as the couple walked arm in arm down the isle, to the officers that awaited them at the end.
"Officers draw...swords...arch swords...blades to the wind." Bud led the Arch of Sabers for the couple. "Presenting for the first time in public, Commander and Mrs. Harmon Rabb, Jr."
Three Years Later
Rabb Residence
Alexandria, Virginia
After a few years of ups and downs and some disappointments, Harm and Mac were able to have that four percent miracle that seemed so far out of reach. The same one that every doctor seemed hopeless about.
"Ma'am he's adorable. He looks just like the Captain." Jen announced as the JAG gang gathered around the couple and the newborn David Andrew Rabb.
"Yes he is, Jen. And he does. Let's just hope that he has my brains and not his father's." They all laughed as Harm kissed the top of her head.
"I think he has your brains, Mac." Mattie stated. "Call it a feeling but I think this flyboy will be a Jarhead." They all chuckled.
"Don't even kid like that Mats. It might come true." Harm looked playfully horrified.
"Well, whatever he chooses, he has us to support him." Mac replied. "Even if he DOES decide to follow in his Squid father's footsteps."
And they lived a happy, yet not perfect life. After all, they were dealing with a stubborn boy. He was surely his father's son. And he had not only his looks, but his brains as well.
"Mac you wanna try for a girl?"
The End