Later that Saturday
After spending the morning at the ice rink with Matthew, then hearing him complain that his equipment was getting too small for him, she told him that a trip to the mall to buy new equipment was next on their list. Matthew had suddenly gone through another grow spurt that fall, and that meant a lot of new clothes and shoes for him.
"My new stuff is pretty cool Mom, thanks," Matthew peaked into the bag he was holding and smiled.
"You're growing up too fast," Mac let out a sigh and ruffled his hair as they walked through the parking garage. "What will I do when you move out to go to College?"
"The Naval Academy, Mom," he reminded her. "You have Dad to keep you company."
"I do have him, that's true," Mac reached for her car key as they neared the car. "We better stop by the store and buy some groceries. I think we're out of just about everything."
"Can I have soda and candy for tonight?" he begged.
"Mrs. Rabb?"
Mac turned abruptly and found a man walking towards her. She didn't recognize him and moved in front of Matthew. "Who are you?"
"That's not important," the man said.
The man had an eastern European accent Mac noticed.
"I have a message for you. A warning for your husband," he continued.
Mac felt a chill. "Matthew, get into the car."
"Nice kid. And a good-looking wife," the man continued.
"Matthew, now," Mac ordered.
"Listen lady, tell your husband to stay away huh? Tell him that what he did getting involved was a big mistake. He shouldn't testify," the man stepped closer to Mac.
"You can send a message for me to whomever it is you report back to," Mac pushed Matthew towards the car. "Get inside."
"But Mom," Matthew hesitated.
"Now," Mac didn't take her eyes from the man. "Leave my family alone."
"I don't want to hurt you," the man warned. "But I will, and not think twice about it. Maybe that will send a message for your husband…" the man took a step towards her.
Mac planted her palm into his nose, then kicked him in the groin. Before he could fall to his knees she kicked him straight in the head. The man fell down with a groan. He moved again, reaching for his gun. Mac kicked it out of his hand, then kicked it further away as she reached for her cellphone. The man moved to reach her, and she gave him one last blow and he collapsed on the ground. She called the police.
"Mom?" Matthew looked at her with huge eyes.
"It's okay Buddy, just go sit in the car," she tried to sound calm.
Later
Mac waited in Ben Deidrick's office with Matthew. Ben was trying to gather information. He had originally had the weekend off, but when he got the news of what had happened he went straight to his office.
"Mac," he walked into the office. "Did you call Harm?"
"I did," she confirmed. "And Claire. She was at the Talley's and promised to stay there. Admiral Talley was home, so she's safe. You don't think anyone can go after Mattie? Or Nathan?"
"No, but we should tell them what happened so that they can report back if something out of the ordinary happens," Ben sat down. "How are you feeling Matthew?"
Matthew shrugged. "Okay, I guess."
Ben nodded. "Well, I'm sorry about what happened," he handed Mac a file. "This is the guy who approached you."
Mac opened the file and nodded. "That's him yeah."
"He won't be getting out of the hospital any time soon," Ben hesitated, unsure what Matthew should hear. They were interrupted by Harm and Rose walking through the door. "Harm."
"Hi," Harm walked over and took Mac's hand, then put his other hand on Matthew's shoulder. "Are you okay, Buddy?"
"I'm okay. Mom totally kicked that guys butt," Matthew's eyes were huge.
"I'm sure she did," Harm ruffled his hair. "Listen, why don't you go sit outside with Rose."
Mac stood and walked over to Rose. "Come on, you guys can sit right outside.
Ben rose and moved over to the door. "Patty, can you look after these two?" He followed Matthew and Rose over to a woman, and they sat down by her desk. Then he came back into his office and closed the door.
Mac was impatient. "So, what now?"
Ben hesitated. "Well, you broke his neck, and he's paralyzed" he motioned for the picture on his desk. "He won't be hurting anyone anytime soon. Listen, as scary as this was I am fairly certain that this isn't going to escalate. Igor Jacobi was a hit-man for Robert Wales. His last one. Jacobi's job was to keep Wales girls' in line. I believe we have the whole organization down now."
"You believe?" Mac snapped. "That's what we were told before this incident too. I felt safe. I let my kids go on like normal. What if this guy had gone after Claire? Or Rose?" Mac was furious. "And now I'm supposed to trust you?"
Harm reached for Mac's hand. "Mac…"
"No," she took her hand away from him and wiped her tears away stubbornly. "I had Matthew with me. What if…."
"Hey," Harm reached for her again and drew her close. "It's okay. Everyone is safe."
Mac finally relaxed against him.
"Harm is right," Ben said carefully just as the door to his office opened up.
A female detective walked in. "You have to see this," she reached for the remote and turned on the TV. "Wales was killed in prison today."
The TV showed a reporter talking about how the trafficking suspect Robert Wales had been killed by a fellow prisoner earlier that morning. He had been sitting at Allenwood waiting for his trial to come up.
"I'll be damned," Ben said and stood. "Why wasn't I told?"
"We didn't know. You would think they'd call us, but there must be chaos over there," the detective said as she watched the TV.
Harm ran his hand up and down Mac's back as they listened to the reporter. He couldn't say that he felt bad, because this meant that he wouldn't have to testify in court. There was some sort of justice for the victims of Wales organization, and it would save the state a lot of money on his trial too. "I'm so sorry," Harm whispered into Mac's ear.
She leaned into him, not sure how to respond. In the back of her mind she was worried that he was overdoing it by being there and she turned to him. "We better get you home."
Ben turned the TV off. "I'm sorry about all this, but at least now it's truly over."
Mac nodded. "Come on, Harm."
"Keep me posted," Harm told Ben, then followed Mac out of the office. His shoulder was starting to throb again as the painkillers were losing its effect.
Saturday night
Mac peaked inside and saw that Matthew was sound asleep. She had a long talk with him after they got home from the police station, and he seemed okay with what had happened. Mac leaned on the doorframe and for the first time she allowed herself to feel fear of what could have happened. She watched her beautiful angel sleep soundly and safely in his bed and thanked her hand to hand combat training for it. She turned when she heard a noise behind her.
"Hi Mom," Claire walked up the last step.
"What are you doing home?" Mac walked over and hugged her.
"I just felt like seeing everyone," Claire took her Mom's hand. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, we all are," Mac smiled. "I'm sorry I scared you."
"It's okay, I'm glad you called. I would have been home right away if you hadn't convinced me to stay put," Claire headed for her room. "Are we sure that this is all over now?"
"We are fairly sure," Mac watched her daughter put her bag down. "Your Dad won't have to testify now so it should be over."
Claire smiled. "I'm glad, I really am. This has all been a nightmare."
"I wish you wouldn't be so angry with your father, honey. I know you were scared when he was shot, we all were, but looking at the big picture…"
"I just," Claire hesitated. "I have never seen you so scared before. So upset. He shouldn't have put you through that. Any one of us through that."
"Your father isn't very good at standing by watching people being treated unfairly or being hurt. It's one of the things I love the most about him. Through the years I've seen him stick up for the little guy, go for the truth, no matter what, and help people who needed it no matter how much it could hurt himself. It's who he is, and who I love," Mac smiled lovingly. "I know I was scared and upset. The thought of losing him scares me so much. But let's all be happy now. We're all here, we're all okay."
Claire looked thoughtful. "Yeah, I guess you're right Mom. I'll talk to Dad."
Mac smiled. "Tomorrow. He's in deep sleep after taking the heavy pain medication the Doctor prescribed. I insisted, because he really didn't look good."
"I'll talk to him tomorrow then," Claire smiled. "Do you need company?"
"We could watch a movie and eat something fairly unhealthy?" Mac suggested.
Claire chuckled. "Sounds like a plan."
The next morning
Harm finished in the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist, ignoring the pain in his shoulder as it protested to the movement. He had slept soundly through the night thanks to the painkillers Mac had made him take. He felt a lot better after a pain free night with uninterrupted sleep and was beginning to understand why his Doctor had warned him that his healing would take longer if he ignored the pain and didn't take the painkillers so that he could rest properly.
He looked up when the door opened. "Are you decent?" Mac teased.
"Since when do you care about me being decent?" he wondered with a chuckle. "How was the run?"
"I needed it," she undressed and stepped into the shower, turning on the water and letting the water run over her. "How are you feeling?"
"Better," he smiled sheepishly. "Thanks for making me take the painkillers. I needed a good night's sleep."
"You did," she agreed as she let the water wash away the shampoo.
Harm reached for his toothbrush. "How are you feeling about all of this?"
She finished in the shower and turned the water off and stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around herself and one around her hair "I don't know," she admitted.
Harm spit out the toothpaste. "Hopefully it's all over now," he continued to brush.
"Hopefully," she hesitated. "Yesterday I put a man in the hospital."
"A bad man," he pointed out.
"Yeah, but I had to do it in front of our son," she walked over to the mirror. "Do you think he's okay?"
"You explained it to him," Harm reasoned as he finished brushing his teeth.
Mac nodded and stepped into his embrace.
Harm wrapped his arms around her, sensing that she just needed to be held. "It'll be okay."
She nodded against his shoulder.
Claire had fixed breakfast by the time they made it downstairs. Rose and Matthew were already seated, and Max came running to meet them.
"Did you have a nice run?" Harm patted his head.
"He's good company," Mac crouched down and scratched the dog's ears. "Such a good boy."
"How are you today, buddy?" Harm ruffled Matthew's hair and hugged him.
"I'm okay," Matthew smiled. "Mom has major ninja skills. That's pretty cool."
"She sure does," Harm agreed and offered an amused look in his wife's direction.
"So you better be on your best behavior," Mac ruffled Matthew's hair and kissed his cheek.
Matthew chuckled. "Yes, ma'am."
"Claire walked over to her Dad and hugged him. "I love you Dad. I'm sorry about being so angry."
"That's okay," he smiled. "I love you too."
"Hey guys, listen," Harm sat down and waited for Claire and Mac to sit down as well. "Lately things have been crazy huh? I think we've all been reminded that the world can be a cruel place. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm sorry about scaring you. I scared myself too. I don't want you guys to feel scared, especially after what happened yesterday. I miscalculated, and I really did feel certain that my involvement in taking down those criminals wouldn't present a threat towards us as a family. I was wrong. I won't have to testify now, so I feel certain that now we are all safe. That doesn't mean that you guys don't have to pay attention and take care of yourselves, right? Because we all have to do that all the time."
"We know that," Matthew reassured. "Don't talk to strangers, don't get into anyone's car, always tell where we're going and… I think that's everything."
"That's right," Harm smiled. "I love you guys."
"We love you too," Mac reached for his hand and smiled when all the kids said I love you.