Title : Life Is Good
Author : Jaggie 107
Disclaimer : JAG characters belong to DPB, CBS and Paramount – and I hope all parties will allow me to have fun for a little while, and replace them all when I'm done. Thank you.
Summary : Harm has a visitor.
Spoilers : None, pure fluff. AU and all that!
Rating : Up to T, to be safe. Feel free to use your imagination!
Harm's Office – JAG Headquarters
Harm walked into his office and stopped short. On his chair, dark hair fastened back in pigtails, dressed in pink dungarees and a white and pink spotted t-shirt, sat a little girl. Unaware she was being watched, the toddler was fascinated by the movements of a toy carousel that had been placed on his desk. As the carousel came to the end of its tune dark eyes rose to meet his, and Harm was smitten. With a gentle smile he came around the edge of his desk and hunkered down beside the chair, and its delightful occupant.
"Hi," he murmured.
"Hello."
"What are you doing in here, poppet?"
"I'm waiting on Mommy."
"Oh, I see. Shall we go and see if we can find your Mommy?" Harm watched as the dark head bobbed in answer, and then chubby arms were stretched out to be picked up. Harm obliged, lifting the little girl up into his arms, and smiling as her arms wrapped trustingly round his neck. "Okay, let's go."
Out in the bullpen Harm and his young companion were observed with tolerant humor as they crossed to the break room. As they appeared in the doorway the others in the bullpen smiled at the sound of delight the little girl made.
"Mommy!"
At the sound of the little girl's voice two women turned as one. Harriet Roberts smiled at the cherub in Harm's arms, giving one chubby hand a squeeze as the little girl released her hold on Harm's neck and reached for her mother.
"Hey, careful!" Mac laughed as she caught the dark-haired bundle of energy that was her daughter, even as she knew that Harm would not release his safe hold until the child was secure in her mother's arms.
"So, ladies, I'm feeling pretty outnumbered here," Harm observed with a wide smile. "Time for me to go earn my keep."
"It's a hard life keeping us 'ladies' happy, sir…" Harriet offered, tongue in cheek, and Harm laughed in response as she added cheekily, "Ask Bud."
"I might just do that, Harriet. As for you two…" Harm leaned over and dropped a gentle kiss on the toddler's cheek, and a brief but hard kiss on the lips of her mother. Albeit brief, Harriet still felt the blush rise in her cheeks as Harm kissed Mac. Wow! And she had thought her kiss from Harm as the best man was something!
As Harm raised his head and winked at Harriet, Mac stared dreamily after his departing figure. Harriet noticed the look, and smiled to herself.
"If I may say so, Mac, you've got it bad."
"Actually, Harriet," responded Mac, a smug look now on her face, "I think I've got it pretty damn good!"
"Oh, yeah…" answered Harriet, and both women looked at each other and laughed in shared camaraderie.
A short while later, as they made their way out of the break room and back across the bullpen two of the JAG staff got up from their desks and walked over to Mac and Harriet.
"You're leaving?" asked Bud, moving to stand beside his wife. Harriet nodded in response, adding that both she and Mac were off to 'raid the nearest baby store'. Harm's eyebrow rose at this statement, and Mac gave him a conspiratorial wink as she rubbed her enlarged stomach.
"This one's a boy, remember? We can't have him wearing his sister's cast offs, now can we?" Mac's words raised a laugh between the four adults, but only two of them remembered just exactly how Mac had raised the subject of their daughter's soon-to-be sibling.
Flashback
Rabb Residence
"Harm?" Mac murmured gently, rubbing her hand restlessly over her husband's bare chest as they lay in bed.
"Mmm…?"
"Remember when you said we'd have a daughter with your looks and my brains?"
"Boy, did I get that one wrong," Harm responded huskily, thinking of the dark-eyed child that lay in her crib in the next room. An exact replica of her mother, Cate Rabb was already showing a marked interest in her father's Naval career, choosing to sleep with a toy Tomcat in preference over other toys she had in her collection. When Mac groaned at this development, Harm could only nod and smile.
Now Mac was smiling to herself, thinking of the possibilities. Harm turned on his side and saw the smile for himself.
"What's going in there, Mrs Rabb?" he asked, rubbing a gentle finger against Mac's forehead.
"I was just wondering…if Cate has my looks and your…penchant for the Navy," Mac paused as Harm whispered something in her ear. The movement tickled her and she laughed softly, then moaned as his lips trailed down to the nape of her neck, and the spot he found there that drove her crazy. Like now…
"Harm…please? I…I need to tell you…oh, that's so good…" Mac closed her eyes, and was almost lost, until Harm spoke in her ear again.
"What were you telling me?"
"Um…? Oh, yeah…Harm?"
"Yes?" Harm sounded patient, watching Mac's eyes darken as she focused on his face. He noticed something else too…
"Do you think our little boy will have your looks and my brains?" Mac managed to get the sentence out in full, before closing her eyes again.
"Sarah!"
Harm's tone brought Mac's eyes open, and she smiled serenely at him, having shared the news she had discovered that evening.
"I did a test earlier, and I'll visit the doctor tomorrow, but I just know it, Harm…"
"That it's a boy?"
Mac nodded, her answer in her silence and the look on her face. Without further words Harm folded Mac into his embrace, and then he moved down so that he could run his lips across her stomach. And then lower…
End Flashback
"I know," Harm responded softly, and smiled at Mac. Harriet, and now Bud, felt the heat rise slightly at the exchange between their friends. How two words could say so much more was a mystery to the younger couple, but then they remembered just who they were with, and suddenly it wasn't such a mystery after all!
"Okay, are you ready, Mac?" Harriet brought the moment back to earth and Harm watched as Bud rushed to open the glass doors so that both his wife and Mac could pass through unimpeded. Walking along behind Mac and Harriet, Harm pulled faces at his daughter, over her mother's shoulder, waving his hand too.
"Bye-bye, Daddy."
"Bye, poppet. You be a good girl for Mommy and Aunt Harriet, okay?"
"'Kay,"
Mac turned to say 'bye' herself, and smiled at Harm. "See you at home."
Harm nodded and stood, arms crossed, as the elevator doors closed on his family. Bud waited too, then turned to look up at Harm.
"Life's good, isn't it, sir?"
"Yeah, Bud. Life's very good…"
The End
AN : I came up with this short piece in between ideas for my latest story. Did anyone else think Cate was Harriet's daughter – even for just a moment? - :o)