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Part 10

Their first trip out as a threesome was to a family oriented wildlife park. Mac and Kim spent the day bonding over their shared love of and interest in animals and Harm felt the whole day went very well, despite the fact that he'd spent most of it watching Mac and Kim's interactions, not the sights of the park around them.

After a few more lunch and dinner dates, with Kim tagging along, Harm got more confident and one weekend chartered a large powerboat. They spent the day anchored off a small island that was popular with the local water-sports enthusiasts. They even had a driver and picnic lunch provided, so they were able to take it easy and just relax, enjoying each other's company.

"Come here, Kim, let me get a layer of this on you before you go out into the sun," Harm held up a bottle of sunscreen, when Kim emerged from the cabin, after putting her swim suit on.

After rubbing a good amount onto her, he allowed her to go and sit on the back platform of the boat, while he got ready for the water himself. Mac had just emerged from the cabin after donning her own swimsuit, along with a short sarong and he was able to head below to get into his trunks, so he didn't keep his daughter waiting.

"Would you watch her for me, while I get ready?" he requested of his companion, who happily agreed, "She's a great swimmer, but I'm not familiar with the currents here, so I'd rather check out the water before I let her in."

When he emerged, Mac was applying her own sun block, while chatting to Kim about how nice and clear the water was, here.

Mac declined a dip in the ocean when Harm and Kim got ready for their swim, opting to catch some sun first, but promised she'd join them at a later time.

They disappeared to the nearby beach for a short time, before Harm returned without Kim.

"She's met a couple of kids on the beach, so she's going to hang out there for a while and I'll go get her when it's time for lunch…Until then, it's just the two of us!"

Mac happily pulled Harm down beside her on the sundeck and treated him to a deep kiss, before they proceeded to chat comfortably, about all manner of subjects, all of no real consequence. In all, their time together was relaxed, but secluded, the boat's skipper having disappeared somewhere to take care of routine maintenance of the boat.

Before they knew it, it was getting on for lunchtime, so Harm went to get their lunch ready, while Mac went to try out the waters and retrieve Kim from the beach.

When she got over there, Kim introduced her to her new friends, a brother and sister, both a little younger than Kim, who were spending the day at the beach with their parents.

After bidding goodbye for a while, they leisurely swam back to the boat, where lunch was ready and waiting for them.

Kim ate a smaller meal than either Mac or her Father, obviously wanting to get back to her friends on the beach, where they had left a large sand castle half-finished.

Harm was happy enough to indulge her, because he knew that the kids were working against the tide, which would soon be rising to cover most of the beach.

Again, Harm and Mac were left on their own, first to finish their leisurely meal, then to retire back to the sundeck, where they indulged in a few more enjoyable kisses!

Mac was getting ready to venture back into the water, when Kim popped up out of the water and climbed onto the swim platform. The tide had come in by now, reclaiming her and the other children's sand castles, so Kim had decided to come back and pick at the remains of lunch.

"I was going to go have a little swim around the island…Would either of you like to come with me?" Mac asked.

Harm agreed immediately then looked to his daughter, hoping that she'd come along and spend some time with them.

Kim decided to forgo more lunch for a while, glad that Mac and her Dad had invited her to spend some more time with them. They never really excluded her during a day out, unless there was something that the two of them wanted to talk about, for a short time, often to do with work matters. They rarely let it interfere during a weekend day out, though.

While Harm and Mac swam slowly, both remaining extremely relaxed, Kim would take a deep breath and duck under the surface to swim down under the water a ways. She'd bought a small diving mask for the trip, so she could get a good look at the undersea life living at the bottom of the shallow lagoon. She wasn't able to hold her breath for very long, so had to bob up to the surface often.

"She's like a little otter," Mac laughed, when Kim ducked back down with a splash.

"She's either got her head up in the clouds, or down underneath the sea," Harm joked, "where it's a whole other world!"

They both chuckled, loudly, lying back to relax, floating on their backs in the calm water, one of their arms outstretched to make contact with the other's hand.

"See anything cool down there?" Harm lifted his head out of the water, when his daughter stopped bobbing up and down, to allow herself time to get her breathing under control.

Kim shrugged, mentioning, "Some gobies and carnivorous mudskippers…Nothing cool like a sea snake, yet."

"Snakes?!" Mac's head quickly lifted out of the water, "I'm not sure that I like the sound of that!"

They all had a good laugh then headed back to the boat, to get showered, changed and a quick bit to eat before they would have to head home.

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"You're looking very tanned, today, Major!" Ensign Simms commented, when she stopped by Mac's office to drop by some requested files, "Did you have a nice weekend?"

"I had a lovely weekend, Harriet," Mac smiled and her smile showed it, "On Saturday Harm chartered a powerboat and we took a cruise out to one of the islands. Kim was able to play on the beach and in the water and Harm and I got to spend the whole day in the sunshine. He even brought along a picnic."

"That sounds wonderful!" Harriet commented, before leaving the files on the corner of Mac's desk, the area that had become the designated inbox. Harm would tease Mac all the time about her unorthodox filing system, but for Mac, it was as good as having actual in- and out-boxes. She knew where everything was, whether it had just come in, was in progress or had already been signed off on...or so she claimed!

However, Mac and Harriet didn't have much time that morning for anything but a brief chat, because there was so much to get on with, so they suspended their talk until later.

Once lunchtime finally came around, Mac was able to tell Harriet more about her weekend with Harm and his daughter and Harriet told Mac about the weekend she and Bud spent at a beach resort, on an island to the south of Bali.

Mac couldn't help but notice the progress that Bud and Harriet's relationship had made, in the past months. It wasn't that they were taking things particularly fast, but they obviously had less other factors in their lives to consider and plan around. Mac would never resent Kim's influence upon her relationship with Harm, but of course they had to be more cautious than if they were both single and not responsible for anyone else. Mac had quickly come to accept that Kim, as Harm's only child, would always have to come first in their relationship and she held no ill feelings because of it. But Kim seemed to be accepting things well, seemed to accept Mac without reservation or even much pause. That was a relief, at least.

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