Some Valentine's Day
Summary: Just a little piece in honor of Valentine's Day. I was going to post it tomorrow, but I decided to take advantage of the fact that my internet is currently "up and running" again!
Rating: K+
Disclaimer: No, they aren't mine. I promise to put them back when I'm done playing with them. I only own the typos and other mistakes. ;-)
Short, sweet and to the point. (Or at least I hope so!)
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Outside of
Washington, DC
Valentine's Day
2316 EST
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Mac sat at the window seat, hot chocolate mug in hand, and watched the snow as it continued to fall. It was so pretty, yet she was so sick of it. Everything was covered in a sheet of white. The meteorologists only called for 6-8 inches of snow two days ago, but the district ended up with well over 20 inches. And there was another 10-16 inches estimated for that night. Some Valentine's Day, she thought.
She was about to doze off at the window before she heard a knock on her door. Mac quickly jumped to her feet. She wasn't expecting anyone. She silently walked to the door, and carefully looked out. When she saw who was on the other side, she quickly unlocked the door.
"Harm!" She exclaimed. "What are you doing here?!"
He shrugged. "I was in the neighborhood, and thought I'd drop by." He grinned as he pulled a bag out from behind his back. "And I thought you might be up for some Double Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream."
"Well, in that case, come in," she said as she opened the door wider. Then, she took the bag from him and looked inside.
"What?" He asked. "Didn't you believe me?"
She smiled. "I was just double checking. Why don't you go get the spoons? I'll meet you at the couch."
"Works for me," Harm said before disappearing to the kitchen.
Mac sighed happily as she sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. Now that Harm was there, the end of Valentine's Day was starting to look up.
"For you," Harm said as he handed her a spoon.
"Thank you."
"My pleasure."
Mac took a few bites. "Don't you want any?" She asked.
"No," Harm shook his head. "I brought Sherbet for me," he answered while reaching into the other bag.
"You're no fun!" Mac laughed.
"No fun?" His eyebrows arched. "That's not what you were saying the night before I left for my TAD and we…"
He wasn't able to finish that sentence because Mac shoved a spoonful of her ice cream in his mouth. "That's our secret, remember?"
"That wasn't fair, Marine. I wasn't prepared," he managed to say after he swallowed. "And besides, there's no one in here except me and you!"
"There are spies everywhere," she whispered with a twinkle in her eye.
"Oh, really? What would they say if I did this-?" He kissed the palm of her hand. "Or this," he moved to her neck. "Or what about this?" He continued to kiss her neck and then trailed up to her ear.
"Stop it, Harm!" She swatted him playfully. "That tickles!"
"Okay," he put his hands up. "You have my unconditional surrender." He leaned back against the couch. "So, what are we watching?"
"Some sappy romance movie that I started watching earlier."
"Colonel MacKenzie was watching a sappy romance film? Do your fellow Marines know about that?"
"I was lonely," she defended herself. "It was too quiet, I already cooked and cleaned, and did everything else I could think of and I still missed you...So, I decided to watch whatever was on."
"Likely story," Harm joked sarcastically.
"Harm! If you don't watch it, I'll make you go dig my car out for me right now! I've done that enough already this week."
"You wouldn't make me do that! I just came back to DC after a two week TAD to Miami….I still need to adjust to this harsh weather. You wouldn't want me to get sick, would you?"
"Hmm." Mac shifted on the couch and faced him. "You do bring up a good point. I need you to be healthy for all the things I have in mind. You know," she moved so she was almost sitting on his lap. "I never gave you a welcome home kiss." She tapped her fingers against his chest.
"No, you didn't," he pretended to be hurt.
"Well, it was your fault. You brought the ice cream, and that made me forget about everything else." She leaned in and kissed him. "I really missed you."
"I missed you, too."
Mac pulled away and continued to eat her ice cream. Harm watched as she would slowly take a bite, and then continue to slowly lick the spoon. Harm knew exactly what she was doing. This woman was driving him crazy.
Harm stood up. "Enough ice cream," he said, taking the spoon away and placing it in the carton.
"Funny, I was just going to say the same thing."
"Ssh." He pressed his finger to her lips, and pulled her up so that she was standing as well. "I love you very much, you know that right?"
She smiled. He always, always, always tells her how much he loves her, and it still takes her breath away. "I know," she whispered. "You say it all the time…it's always nice to hear it, too."
He placed his hands on her waist and looked into her eyes before she continued. "You're gorgeous, sensational, beautiful, amazing, ravishing…"
"Oh, Harm," she blushed. "Stop." Who would have known compliments like this from Harmon Rabb, Jr. would cause her, a "kick-ass Jarhead" and Marine Colonel, to go weak in the knees and turn her brain into a puddle of goo, unable to formulate a complete, coherent thought.
Finally, she was able to wrap her arms around his neck. "I love you. I love you. I love you." She showered him with kisses.
They began to head to the bedroom, which proved to be a difficult task in the dark. It would have been easier if either one of them was willing to break contact for more than the amount of time it took to catch their breath.
"Shit." Harm mumbled when he almost tripped over the bookcase.
"Oops," Mac giggled. The giggling quickly stopped when she knocked over the plant stand, sending the glass pot flying before it fell on the hardwood floor, shattering, and causing a loud crash.
"Mmm-ac," Harm started slowly. "We should clean that up."
"I know, but can't it wait?"
"No. I'll go get the broom."
Mac sighed. "Okay. "
With one last kiss, Harm went to get the broom and Mac turned on the light and took the vacuum out of the closet. "What a way to kill the mood," she mumbled under her breath.
"Mommy."
Mac looked up to see four year old Leah standing on the steps. With one hand she was rubbing her eyes, and in the other hand she clutched her blanket close to her. "What's wrong, sweetie?" She asked, concerned.
"I heard noises." She started to step down a few more steps.
"No, don't come down any more steps. Mommy knocked over the plant stand and the pot broke. That's what noise you heard. I don't want you to step on glass, so why don't you just sit on the step right there, and then I'll tuck you in when I'm done cleaning up the glass. Okay?"
"Okay." She sleepily sat down on the step.
"Alright, I got the broom, Mac." Harm said.
Immediately, Leah became more awake. "Daddy!" She exclaimed.
"Leah!" He carefully walked over to where she was sitting and sat down next to her. "I missed you, Itsy Bitsy."
She climbed onto his lap. "When did you come home, Daddy? I missed you lots!"
"I just got home a little bit ago."
"Oookay," she yawned.
He kissed the top of her head. "It's really late. Why are you up?"
"Mommy knocked over that stand thing and the noise made me wakes up."
"Oh, shame on Mommy." Harm looked over at Mac and grinned.
Mac stood up, hands on her hips. "You have just as much fault in this matter as I do, Captain!"
"Maybe. -- Leah's asleep. I'll go put her back in her bed." He stood up.
"Yeah, and you better come back and help me clean this mess."
"Don't worry. I'll be back." And with that he disappeared up the stairs.
This might not have been what she had in mind for a Valentine's Day evening, however Mac couldn't help to smile. There was a blizzard outside, but that didn't matter. She had the two most important things in the world – her daughter and her husband – safe inside their home. Life couldn't really get any better than that.
She was rattled from her thoughts when Harm spoke. "She's out like a light."
Mac looked up. "Thank you for keeping your promise," her voice filled with emotion.
Confused, he answered, "I said I'd come back and help you clean. There's no need to get emotional about it."
"No," she started. "Not that. Your promise. The promise of having a baby with me."
"Oh," he smiled. "That promise." He sat down next to her and wrapped his arms around. "We've talked about that all the time, Mac."
"I know." She wiped her eyes. "I know. I just – I still get so emotional about it, you know? Those doctors said four percent chance…I believed them. I let that take away all my hopes and dreams. And then everything started happening so fast. We got new orders, we got engaged, married, and than what would you know? We ended up pregnant on our own…no infertility treatments or anything. It's still so surreal."
"Yeah, yeah it is," he agreed. "If someone would have told me fix or six years ago that you and I would end up married and with a family of our own, I probably would have told them they were insane."
"I would have, too. I guess those new billets were a blessing in disguise. It gave you your deadline." She smiled and then nudged him. "Otherwise, who would have known how long it would have taken to get things right?" She couldn't help but to tease him about that a little bit.
"I would have made may move soon, Mac. I love you so much and I wasn't going to let you slip away again. I should have stated my intentions after Paraguay, but Webb was in the way."
"If Webb wasn't a factor in the equation, our lives would be so different."
"You got that right."
"Think about it – if we would have had a baby two years earlier than we did, we might not have had Leah."
"I can't imagine life without her. Of course, I would love any child of ours more than I can fathom, but just knowing that all our wrong turns gave us Leah….it's just…wow."
"Hard to put into words, huh?"
"Yes, extremely hard."
"I love you, Harm." Mac sighed contently. This is where she wanted to stay for the rest of eternity – wrapped inside his arms. Life just couldn't get any better than that.