Disclaimer: I own nothing…except for the kids…everything else is up for grabs…
A/N: Wow! I was overwhelmed by the speed at which you all reviewed! It was also wonderful to "see" some friendly faces reading my stuff again. Thanks so much for your support through my sporadic posting and for any criticisms/corrections you may have they make me better. This semester has proven to be just as crazy or crazier than the last! Oh, and I probably should have clarified this earlier, but my little "Harmon Robert Rabb" will go by "Robbie." The next chapter or so are going to be fluffy family moments with some flashbacks and such, but don't worry I will be getting to a dramatic plot eventually. Happy Reading!
Chapter 1:
"Welcome home!" the entire Roberts clan greeted as Nat and Talia walked through the front door of their house. The gathering was hardly a surprise for anyone and was actually part of a tradition. This was the second month-long summer trip to Australia the kids had taken and their fifth overall when they counted their three twelve day winter trips. Each time they came home, the Roberts family welcomed them with a party.
"You never cease to amaze me, Harriet," Mac hugged her friend as she looked around at the decorations that had materialized while they were at the airport.
"I do what I can," she laughed and grabbed Nat for a hug, "Come here you, you've gotten so big!"
"Aunt Harriet!" he groaned as she planted a kiss on his head.
"Hey Dude," Bud offered a high five.
"Don't say 'dude' Dad, " a nine year old A.J. rolled his eyes, "Hey Nat."
"Hey," he shared an elaborate handshake with his best friend, "A.J., you will never believe what I saw."
"You're talking funny," A.J. laughed at the temporary return of Nat's accent.
"Shut up or I won't tell you," he glared.
"Sorry, let's go," A.J. and Nat left the adults for the playroom.
"Wait for me!" five year old Jimmy chased after them.
"Me too!" the just past two year old Colin Michael Roberts toddled behind.
"Boys!" Talia sighed dramatically with her hands on her hips.
"Boys!" Colin's twin, Cassidy Grace, echoed.
"I agree," Harriet gave Talia hug, "How are you?"
"I'm good," she grinned and hugged Bud next, "Come on, Cass, let's go play too."
"And then there was one," Harm looked at his son who was on his hip.
"Me!" he clapped his little hands with glee.
"Hi Moms," A.J. and Nat smiled as they entered the kitchen.
"Hi sons," Harriet and Mac smiled back, immediately sensing that the boys were up to something.
"May I have some chips?" A.J. asked first.
"Yes," Harriet answered.
"May I have some chips?" Nat asked his mother.
"Yes," she answered.
"May I have some cookies?" A.J. asked next.
"Yes."
"May I have some cookies?" the younger boy asked before Harriet could finish her response to A.J.
"Yes."
"May I have a soda?" A.J. continued the rapid fire questioning.
"Yes."
"May I have a soda?"
"Yes."
"May we have a crocodile?" A.J. slipped the next question casually.
"No!" both mothers responded, not falling for their trick.
"But…"
"Don't even think about it," Harriet began putting a plate of snacks together, 'You are not getting a crocodile."
"But Aunt Harriet," Nat gave her an adorable smile, "We want a baby crocodile. You love baby animals; they're cute."
"Not reptiles," she shook her head, thinking how obvious it was that Nat was being raised by lawyers.
"What are your plans for your crocodile when it grows up?" Mac asked the boys, "Crocodiles get pretty big."
"That's why we're going to give him to the zoo," A.J. answered as if it was obvious.
"The answer is no," Harriet handed him the food, "Now bring these to the others."
"Fine," he balanced the plate as they left the kitchen.
"Did it work?" Talia asked the minute the boys returned to the playroom.
"No," they grumbled.
"Aw," came the dramatic response from the other five children.
"You know, Harriet, I hold you responsible for that," Mac laughed at the children's plotting.
"Me?" she shook her head, "You can't honestly believe that A.J. came up with a crocodile without the influence of your little Mr. Australian Outback."
"All I know is that we have Claude the Iguana because 'A.J.'s mom let him get one.'"
"Oh no, you're not pinning that on me," Harriet laughed, "A.J.'s iguana was bribery to get him to stop catching snakes, a skill Nat taught him."
"Which was a result of A.J.'s lessons in frog catching."
"Okay," she sighed, "I'll agree that A.J. started the amphibian/reptile infatuations."
"Thank you," Mac smiled.
"You're welcome, but as A.J.'s godmother you should have kept him on the straight and narrow."
"You're his mother!"
"And I entrusted his moral character to you."
"And Harm," Mac folded her arms triumphantly, knowing that she had found the winning argument, "It's his fault."
"Nice," Harriet smirked, "Then I blame Bud."
"It's our husbands' faults."
"What's our fault now?" Harm asked as he and Bud joined them in the kitchen.
"That the children want a crocodile," Harriet told them.
"Good luck with that," Mac patted Harm's arm as the two women left the kitchen.
"All three children are in bed and asleep," Mac set down the baby monitor from Robbie's room on the coffee table and sat down on the couch next to Harm. Bud, Harriet, and company had left a couple of hours before, and after baths, stories, and lullabies the challenging task of synchronized bedtimes.
"All the dishes are washed and put away," he slipped his arm comfortably around her shoulders, "And I vacuumed the area where the kids were snacking."
"Good," she smiled, "I'm so happy to have them home."
'I know, me too," he kissed the top of her head. Mac always tried to hide how much she missed her kids when they were visiting Mic, but Harm knew that it was killing her to be apart from them.
"It gets so quiet here without them," she sighed.
"Well, that's done for now," Harm laughed at the decibel increase the house had experienced since the return of their oldest two children.
"And you wouldn't have it any other way," she looked up at him with a smirk.
"No," he kissed her, "I wouldn't."
"I would have changed one thing."
"What?"
"I would have given Nat a smaller memory card for his camera," she groaned at the ridiculously long photo presentation Nat had made them sit through.
"It was cute."
"It was over four hundred pictures."
"He's your son," Harm laughed.
"Don't remind me."
"And when I think that about how many pictures are threatening to burst out of Robbie's baby book…" he teased, but trailed off when Mac didn't respond, "You're thinking about Dina."
"No," she lied.
"Mac," he knew that her mind was obsessing about the woman who appeared in a number of Nat's photos from Australia. When asked who she was, the little boy said she was 'just a friend' of his dad.
"I just want to know why he didn't mention it to me earlier," she sighed.
"Maybe it's nothing serious."
"She's in a month's worth of pictures!"
"Maybe it only recently became serious," he told her, "And maybe he didn't think you needed to know right away."
"I don't care, if he's dating Harm," she shook her head, "I care about my children and I don't want them around some woman, about whom I know nothing."
"I know," he said calmly, "And you can ask Mic about it when he calls this weekend, okay?"
"Okay," she answered, even though her mind was clearly not ready to let the issue go.
A/N: You know the drill…please review!
