To all my dear readers and beloved friends around the world, since I'm uncertain as to whether I will be able to post another part of HIWYLI before the Holidays, I want to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May it be a good one without worry or fear and maybe it will even be a year of world peace! We can still hope, right?

I would also like to take this time to thank you all once again from the bottom of my heart for your support and kind words both on and offlist throughout this tale and especially for your condolences regarding my Gram's passing recently. Today would have been her 85th birthday, and I can't think of a better way to celebrate her life than to post part 12. My thoughts were constantly with her when I wrote this part. Happy Birthday, Grams! I love you and you will always be in my heart. And now, I hope you all enjoy this part. Until I post again…Love, Michi

Home Is Where Your Love Is Chapter II - Part 12

Disclaimer - See part one for all important information


Sunday

May 20, 2001

Mac's House

Rock Creek Park

Washington, DC

7:40 AM

The thunderstorm was long gone and the early morning sun filtered through the wall of windows, bathing the entire bedroom in warm sunshine. Harm had been awake for over an hour just watching Mac sleep, admiring her beauty. Her head was nestled on his shoulder, her arm draped across his chest and her left leg crossed over his right one. He gently ran his hand along her arm all the way up to her shoulder and caressed it softly. He closed his eyes, inhaling her sweet scent. Harm was perfectly content to just lie there watching her. He was tired - after all, they hadn't slept much. He was still remembering how they had shared their love passionately - several times. Even when the thunderstorm outside had calmed down, the wild storm within these four walls raged on. He smiled in spite of himself. 'Not bad for a guy of my age… I never would have thought myself capable, but this is Mac,' he mused. They had both been insatiable after all the years of pent up passion. Now, he was pleasantly reveling in the afterglow.

Mac woke slowing feeling the warmth of the sun and sensing she was being watched. She was so happy being in Harm's loving arms that she refused to open her eyes just yet. She wanted to lie there, basking in the glow of the most wonderful night of her life. His stubbly chin tickled her shoulder as he kissed it gently. She re-played in her mind the events that had her feeling so euphoric and smiled. She had literally passed out totally exhausted from their ravenous lovemaking. 'I still can't believe he had all that stamina,' she thought as she snuggled a little closer to the object of her happiness.

She felt Harm's breath on her face and opened her eyes – warm, chocolate brown meeting dazzling blue-green. "Hi," Mac said softly running her hand up and down his arm.

"Good morning," Harm whispered, wrapping his arm firmly around her small waist, then placing a sweet kiss on the tip of her nose. "How was your first night in your new house?" he asked, looking like the cat that swallowed the canary.

"Hmmmm…," Mac sighed. "It was like a dream come true. I wish we could stay like this forever. Just you and me."

"Woof, woof," suddenly echoed through the room as Jingo reared his head from the foot of the mattress.

"I don't think Jingo likes being left out of the equation, Mac," Harm stated with a laugh.

Mac snickered before lifting her head to look down at Jingo. "Oh, I'm sorry, Jingo. It's okay, boy, I didn't mean to exclude you."

Jingo let out another bark of approval before returning to his sleeping position at the foot of the mattress. All was right in his doggy world.

Harm quickly pulled Mac back to him, placing sweet little wet kisses on her neck before moving up to her chin, and then settled firmly on her enticing lips. The kiss quickly turned passionate as tongues dueled and hands roamed, and they once again gave into their unquenchable passion and made love again.

*

They were completely sated, lying peacefully in each other's arms when Mac's stomach rumbled. Harm shook his head as he laughed out loud. "That reminds me. I left a note for Grams and told her that we would swing by this morning and pick her up on our way to breakfast. So… as much as I hate to say it, we better get a move on. I bet she's already waiting and sitting on pins and needles."

Mac laughed back as she sat up, patting her stomach as it gave another rumble. "Sounds great. I'm starving."

"Yeah, yeah, what else is new?" Harm bantered.

"Well, Flyboy, my shower is new… at least for me. Feel like sharing?" Mac asked with a sexy come-hither look on her face as she held out her hand for him to take.

"Mmmaaaaccccc," Harm whined playfully. "If we share the shower, we will be doing more than showering and then we will never get out of here."

"What if I promise to keep my hands to myself and off your sexy body, Sailor?" Mac acquiesced batting her eyelashes playfully.

"Does that mean I have to keep my hands to myself, too?" Harm questioned, waggling his eyebrows.

"You are incorrigible. Come on, Sailor, let's get the lead out and get cleaned up so we can go pick up Grams."

With that they threw the covers off and headed to the bathroom with the promise to behave themselves while showering so that they wouldn't keep Grams waiting.

It was the first promise they weren't able to keep.

*

They drove back to Harm's in companionable silence, each savoring their thoughts of what had transpired between them. Needing the physical contact, and as if on cue, they both reached out to hold the other's hand at the same time. They gazed at each other and exchanged a quick smile.

Within minutes they were pulling up in front of Harm's apartment. Before exiting, Harm raised Mac's hand to his lips and placed a gentle kiss to the back of it. Mac then raised her hand to caress his cheek tenderly. "Love you," she whispered sweetly looking deep into his eyes.

"Love you, too," he echoed before they exited the car and headed up to his loft holding hands.

*

Grams was sitting on the couch and reading the morning paper when they walked in. She looked up as they entered. "Good morning, you two," she said cheerfully. "I was just about to send out the National Guard to look for you. What kept you? This old lady is getting quite hungry," she quipped.

Harm and Mac shared a quick glance before they blushed, looking like they had just gotten caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

"Ah… uummm… there was a ton of traffic out there this morning," Harm stammered.

"Yeah, Harmon, and I have a bridge for sale," Grams answered, smiling at the two lovebirds standing in front of her. "And why are your clothes wet? You better get them off in a hurry. I hope you haven't been in those wet things since last night, young man, because you will end up with a death of a cold."

She looked at her grandson grinning from ear to ear, knowing full well that the clothes he was wearing had been sitting in a heap somewhere as they were not only wet, but also very wrinkled. "Go on now, go…," she said, nudging him in the direction of his bedroom. "We can talk more about this later if you want," she added with a laugh.

"Ah… no… that's okay, Grams," Harm quickly said, feeling himself blush again before heading off to his bedroom glad to be getting away from Grams scrutinizing yet happy gaze. He felt bad to leave Mac behind, but thought 'she's a Marine and can certainly handle anything Grams has to dish out.'

Mac watched Harm walk away and wished she could follow him, as she didn't quite know what to say to Grams questioning gaze. She paced around the living room, looking down at her feet and was about to say something when Grams broke the silence.

"Sarah, I think you better get yourself a dryer soon. Wearing wet clothes sure doesn't look like fun," Grams said smirking. When Mac didn't reply and looked even more nervous than before, it was Grams who continued. "It's okay, Sarah," she said getting up from the couch and walking over to where Mac was still pacing. She put a comforting hand on Mac's shoulder before she spoke again. "I was young and in love once myself, and I know what people in love do. So please, you don't have anything to explain or feel ashamed about."

Mac looked at Gram's with tears in her eyes.

Grams saw the tears and immediately became concerned. "Hey, what's this all about?" Grams asked, wiping away the first tear that fell. "Why are you sad?"

"Oh, Grams," Mac sighed. "I'm not sad. These are hap… happy tears," she concluded with a little smile. "I have never been this happy in my entire life. I never thought it was possible for me to feel like this and I guess it scares me a little." Then she let out a watery chuckle. "Geez, look at me. I'm supposed to be a Marine for heaven's sake."

"My dear girl," Grams said, pulling Mac into a great big bear hug, before backing away enough to look into her eyes. "First of all, you're a woman, a woman in love, and you deserve all the happiness life has to offer and so much more. And I know my grandson feels the same way and he will do everything in his power to ensure your happiness. So don't be scared, welcome the feeling and embrace it."

Mac thought about what Grams said and nodded. "Thanks Grams… for everything. Without you, I'm not sure if…."

"But I am sure, so no need to thank me. Now, dry those tears before my grandson thinks that I read you the riot act." They looked at each other at that remark and laughed.

Harm heard their laughter as he came back into the living room after changing his clothes. "Hey, what are my two girls laughing about?" he asked, walking over to Mac, embracing her from behind. He and his grandmother exchanged an expressive look over Mac's shoulder.

"Nothing much, Harm." Mac answered. "Grams was just telling me one of her funny stories."

"Oh no, not another one about me," Harm uttered.

Grams and Mac shared a special look between them and smiled knowingly at each other.

"Okay, Harmon, you promised to feed me breakfast. At this rate we are going to be having lunch," she joked. "Let's get a move on, shall we?"

"Yes, Grams," Harm stated, ushering his two ladies out the door and down to the car for the short ride to IHOP.

*

They were quickly seated in a booth, enjoying their coffee while they waited for their breakfast. The conversation was light and pleasant. Mac and Harm were seated on one side with Grams across from them, watching them intently. Harm had captured Mac's hand under the table and put it in his lap, gently rubbing her knuckles with his thumb. Mac continued conversing even though her insides were turning to jelly at his delicate touch.

"So… tell me, did you two get much sleep last night?" Grams asked innocently with just a hint of mischief in her blue eyes.

Harm had just taken a large gulp of his coffee and what didn't spew out he nearly choked on. Mac quickly rubbed his back as he started to cough uncontrollably. "Easy, Harm," Mac comforted smiling.

Once he was back under control, he looked at his grandmother wide-eyed. "Grams?"

"What, dear?"

Mac contained her amusement to a slight snicker. She had all she could do to not laugh out loud at the looks on both their faces. Harm with his deer in the headlight look and Grams with a look of complete 'gotcha' satisfaction. 'Harm could be such a prude,' Mac couldn't help but think to herself as her smile widened.

"Exactly what are you asking?" Harm asked shakily. He was so uncomfortable with this whole line of interrogation that he was actually squirming.

Mac couldn't help but take pity on him and in an attempt at sympathy, she put her hand reassuringly on his thigh. Harm was so tense, the minute her hand landed on his thigh, he jerked, causing his knee to hit the underside of the table and everything on the table to rattle.

"Harm, what in the heck has you so jumpy?" Grams asked with just a glimmer of amusement in her voice. "I may be old, but I'm not stupid. Anyone looking at the two of you this morning can tell that you did not get a whole lot of sleep last night, and I'm not talking about any dark rings under your eyes," she added with a twinkle. "Honestly, I couldn't be happier. It's about damn time the two of you finally figured it out. Now enough said. I don't think you could handle any more of this particular conversation. Who would have thought that a six foot four, naval aviator would have such a hard time talking about s…."

"Ggggrrrraaaaammmms!"

"I was just going to say sleeping arrangements," she said chuckling.

Harm snorted, giving her his 'yeah, right' look without daring to make any comments.

"Okay, okay," Grams replied her hands up in front of her. "I'm done." She looked over at Mac who was ready to burst from holding in her laughter. The look of total gratification on Grams face was her complete undoing and she let out the laughter she had been containing.

"Well, Mac, I'm glad you find this so amusing," Harm chortled. "It does involve you as well, you know." Then he leaned into her ear and whispered. "My grandmother knows we had sex last night."

Mac slapped him on the arm. "Harmon Rabb, you are such a prude."

"Am not!"

All three of them took a minute looked around and then laughed whole-heartedly.

The waitress smiled at the sound of their laugher, putting their breakfast down in front of them. They were all completely famished so the chatter ended as they dug into their meals with gusto.

Grams finished first and sat back relaxing before digging into her handbag to retrieve an envelope. She waited until Mac put down her fork, signaling that she had finished her meal. She then slid the envelope over to Mac.

Mac looked at Harm who shrugged his shoulders in response to her questioning gaze. She turned her gaze to Harm's grandmother. "What's this?" Mac asked bewildered.

Grams was sitting back in the booth contentedly with her hands in her lap. "Something for you. Open it, dear."

Mac took the envelope hesitantly and opened it. What she saw inside took her breath away. "Oh my…." She quickly closed the envelope and slid it back towards Grams. "Thank you, Grams, but I can't accept this," Mac explained.

Grams intercepted the envelope before it reached her, pushing it back towards Mac. "Yes, you can… and you will."