Harm held Mattie's hand as long as he could and then she went to go for some tests. He went to the waiting room and sat down. He just began to sob he had held it together for Mattie, but he had so many emotions built up inside of them he just collapsed. He just cried and cried not knowing how long it had been… he felt some one rubbing his back.
Mac just sat there rubbing his back. Knowing that he new who it was, but knowing that he needed to let it out. Harms cell phone rang so she decided to answer it.
"Mackenzie." Mac said.
"Hey Sarah its Trish." Trish said.
"Hey Trish!" Mac replied. Harm lifted his head up and wiped his eyes. He felt a little bit better after get some of his emotions out.
"How is Mattie?" Trish asked.
"Well there was an accident. Tom crashed the plane so we are waiting for some tests to come back. She was alert and stable when we got there. So if there is nothing wrong with her CT or the one on her back then we should be able to take her home after she gets stitches in her head." Mac said.
"Ok well Frank and I will have some dinner ready for you guys when you come home." Trish said.
"Thanks Trish and we will have a guest with us tonight." Mac said giving John a smile. They had a great conversation in the car on the way over. She definitely approved him as someone her daughter could date.
"No problem there is always enough food to go around." Trish said.
"Ok mom we will see you hopefully soon. We will give you a call when we know more.. Hopefully it will be when we are on our way home with Mattie." Mac said.
"Sounds wonderful i'm glad you found her." Trish said.
"We are too.. Thanks for making dinner." Mac said.
"No problem. Talk to you later." Trish said.
"Thanks again." Mac said.
"Send Harm and Mattie my love." Trish said.
"I will.. Bye.." Mac said.
"Bye.." Trish replied.
"Your mom sends her love." Mac said to Harm as he gave her a kiss on the lips.
"Thanks." Harm said.
"Your welcome." Mac said.
"I didn't know what you guys wanted, but I brought back some bottled water." John said as he came back into the waiting room.
"John thank you so much and I mean more than just the water." Harm said.
"I guess I don't feel like I should be thanked. I mean if I would have gone with my gut instinct maybe she wouldn't be in the position." John said. "I'm sorry Harm.. I should have known better."
"John I don't blame you for what happened… I mean you are the reason that Mattie is ok and that she is back with us again." Harm said.
"I know it's just when we talked and she handed me the note I wanted so much to grab her hand and run her away to safety." John said.
"Well that would have been kind of hard which is why she probably told you not to. She was in an accident and is paralyzed from the waist down. She was slowly getting her feeling back in her legs so hopefully this did not hinder that at all." Harm said.
"I had no idea." John said.
"Yeah it was another accident." Harm said.
"Oh Wow." John said.
"Yeah it has been a rough road for her. I know she is happy to see you again though." Harm said.
"Yeah it's good to see her again too." It was hard being transformed to a new place, but still do the same job. "We had lost touch for a while I did not even know that you guys were out here now. I mean we have been working for a long time now under a new manager. The job is a little bit different now, but it's still enjoyable." John said.
"So are you going to high school out here now?" Harm asked.
"Yeah I sure am." John said.
"Totally moved out here with my parents and everything. My dad is actually working Tom's old job. They had gotten really close and when he went to get "help" supposedly my dad took over." John said.
"That's great John.. Mattie didn't tell me any of this. She used to talk about you all the time and then it just kind of stopped." Harm said.
"Yeah I think we were both trying to live our own lives for awhile, but now after talking to you she has been kind of busy with different things the move." John said.
"Yeah we are here to stay." Harm said.
"So what are you doing now. It good to see that you and Mac are finally together." John said.
"I am actually working at Top Gun." Harm said.
"Oh wow do you think we could go flying sometime?" John asked.
"Ill see what I can do." Harm said with a smile.
Mac just smiled seeing the two boys interact. She thought he was handling it well for the man who was probably going to be his daughter's boyfriend in a couple of days.
"Mr. Rabb" The doctor said when he came in.
"Yes and this is my fiancée Sarah and a friend of Mattie's John." Harm said.
" Hi I am Dr. Berk." Dr. Berk said shaking all of there hands.
"So how is she?" Mac asked.
"Well considering the crash she had she is fine. Her CT scan and the scan or her back came back clear. Well her back one did not show any setbacks which is very good. We sent her X-Rays to Dr. Martin and he wants to see you guys sometime this week. So as soon as we get her head stitched up she is free to go home." Dr. Berk said.
"That is great news." Harm said.
"Yeah she is really lucky. She will need to take it easy and should probably stay away for most of the day. Keep an eye on her to make sure a concussion does not develop or anything, but other than that she should be fine physically." Dr. Berk said.
"Can we see her?" John asked. Harm and Mac just smiled.
"Certainly she should be done getting her stitches and her discharge papers should be done soon." Dr. Berk said as he led them to her room and showed them in.
"Mom….Dad…John!" Mattie said excited and then shocked to see John there.
Mac went up and gave Mattie a big hug. "I'm so glad to have you home. I missed you so much." Mac said.
"I missed you all. Especially at night when the pain was bad and I had no one to cry out to." Mattie said tears coming to her eyes.
"It's ok Mattie. It's going to be ok" Harm told her, but he could tell by the look in her eyes that things were far from ok. Her heart was broken and it was going to take a long time to heal.
"John you didn't have to come." Mattie said.
"I know I guess I just wanted to make sure you were ok." John said.
"Thanks." Mattie said with a smile and motioned for him to come closer. She gave him a hug. "Thanks for giving me my family back." Mattie said looking at Harm and Mac.
"Your welcome I just wish th.."John said and Mattie put her finger to his lips.
"I already told you that you did everything I asked you to… You have nothing to feel bad about." Mattie said.
Knock…Knock…
"Come in." Mattie said.
"I have your discharge papers." Dr. Berk said.
Harm signed the papers and then they gathered there things and headed home. They had a nice dinner and now Harm and Mac were sitting by the pool talking with Trish and Frank and John and Mattie were in the hammock.
"Your dad told me about the accident." John said as he was running his fingers through her hair.
"I'm sorry that I lost track with you. Things just got really crazy with my dad and then the accident and then our move. I actually totally forgot you were out here. How is school going, the air field sight looked like it was going great. Sorry my dad just kind of shut down the one in VA and moved it out here. Is you dad doing ok?" Mattie asked and by now she new she was rambling. He just made her so nervous, but in a good way.
"Yeah Mattie everything is fine. School is fine…The family is fine.." John said.
"You know they should come over. I want Mac to meet them and Harm." Mattie said.
"I think that could be arranged." John said with a smile.
"I missed you so much." Mattie said.
"Yeah your dad mentioned that to me." John said with a smile.
"What all did my dad tell you?" Mattie asked.
"He just filled me in from when we stopped writing each other." John said. "And I missed you too." John said. "Mattie…."
"Yeah John…"Mattie replied.
"Can I kiss you?" John asked.
"Yeah.."Mattie said. He leaned his head down and there lips met. It was short but sweet and all Mattie could do after was smile.
"John I heard what you said back at the air field. I feel the same way.. I think i'm ready to try something more but we have to take it slow.. My family is really important to me.. And it's going to take me some time to be able to trust you fully. My heart has been broken to many times.. But i'm ready to give it a shot." Mattie said.
"We can go as slow as you want. Just promise that you will always be honest with me. As we go along I can only help you if you allow me to." John said.
"I know I will do my best not to push you away." Mattie said yawning a little bit.
"You should probably get some rest. I should probably get home to." John said.
"Yeah.. I will call you tomorrow." Mattie said.
"I would like that." John said.
"Ok thank again John for being there for me." Mattie said.
'Always.."John said as he gave her one more kiss and slowly got off the hammock. "I will let Harm know you are ready for bed on my way out. Its good to have you back again." John said.
"It's good to be back." Mattie said.
John walked over to Harm and the adults sitting by the pool. "Thanks so much for dinner and letting me stay the day.. It meant a lot." John said.
"Thanks for being there for Mattie.. It's good to see you again." Harm said.
"Thanks its good to see you again and much happier I might add… Mattie dreamed of this day for a long time.. I can see feels really happy and safe here and is very excited about having a mom and a dad… I was worried about her for a long time… thanks again for the night and Mattie wanted me to tell you that she is ready for bed." John said.
"Thanks…I'm sure we will see you tomorrow." Harm said as he gave John a hug and walked him out to the car. "I really mean it thanks for being there for her today just like you were in VA. I know it wasn't you fault you had to come out here and I know it was hard, but it looks like true love waits and can reappear when you least expect it." Harm said with a smile.
"It's nice to know I have your approval.. I'll take good care of her. But we have a long way to go. We are going to take it nice and slow. She is pretty broken. Worse then when she was going through it the first time… i'm kind of scared. I don't want her to be moving to fast." John said.
"She's a smart girl she'll take her time. We as a family and you are very much apart of that. We will get her through this. Maybe we will get the folks over here to. Have a cook out or something." Harm said.
"They would like that a lot. They miss Mattie and you too." John said.
"Alright John talk to ya soon… Just be there for her and take it slow like you said. You already do wonders for her." Harm said.
With that John got in his car and drove away. It meant so much to him that he had Harms respect. He knew that it was going to take the whole family to get Mattie through this. She needed to learn again what it meant to be loved again. She had never really had that in her life and was very broken in a lot of ways because of it.
Harm walked back in through the outside gate and walked over towards the hammock. Tears just filled his eyes and he could not stop them. He walked over and laid down in the hammock with Mattie. She had tears in her eyes too.
"I'm so glad to have you home Mattie." Harm said.
"I am glad to be home again. I was so scared. He was different yelling at me like he never used to." Mattie said.
"It's all over now.. He is not going to hurt you anymore." Harm said.
"He's still out there dad." Mattie said.
"Nope they found him.. And he is going to get locked up and get some real help." Harm said.
That made her feel a little bit better.. "So seems that you and John got a little close today?" Mattie said.
"I'm sorry Mattie if you didn't want him to know, but he was beating himself up about wanting to take you and run when you are handing him the note and I wanted him to know why you told him no." Harm said.
"I'm not mad. I think it's great. I'm glad you guys still get along. It's just like old times except we are in CA now and I am your daughter officially." Mattie said with a smile.
"That you are and your dream is going to come true. You are in a loving family and have a mother and father who love you more than life itself." Harm said.
"You two did get close today." Mattie said.
"Yeah we had some time to talk. I like him Mattie. I told you that a long time ago. It broke my heart when they had to move. You were so brave, but I know it was hard on you." Harm said.
"Yeah, but fate has brought us together again. I'm going to learn and heal because I have the most amazing people to help me." Mattie smiled as she saw Mac coming towards her.
"Hi Mom." Mattie said with a smile.
"Hi Mattie. Jen is on the phone and I think she would like to talk to you if you are up for it." Mac said as she handed Mattie the phone.
Harm picked Mattie up as she was talking on the phone and brought her up to bed. Mattie talked to Jen a bit and then quickly fell asleep for what she hoped would be a long restful night sleep.
Harm walked back down stair and saw his mom and Frank going to bed. "Mom Frank thanks so much for dinner and everything tonight. It was so nice to come home to dinner being made and everything." Harm said.
"Your welcome and we are glad that Mattie is safe at home. We have decided that we would like to take you up on the offer to stay the summer. I would like to get to know Sarah and Mattie more." Trish said.
"Oh mom I know Mattie will be very excited to hear that and Sarah too." Harm said.
"Good night mom… Frank.." Harm said.
"Good night.." They both replied as they went into there room to sleep.
Harm went out to the hammock and laid down next to his bride to be. "How perfect to end the day just as we started." Harm said.
"Yeah and what a happy ending it is.. I love you so much Harm." Mac said.
"I love you too.." He said as he gave her a kiss.
"You know you are amazing with Mattie." Mac said.
"She has given me so much Mac….She taught me how to love again…She brought to my attention how much I was in Love with you. I am lucky to have her as a daughter.. Now I get to help her heal." Harm said.
"We all do… I really like John… How come you never mentioned him to me before." Mac asked.
"I don't think I have told you fully about that part of my life. It was such a broken time." Harm said yawning..
"It's been a long day Harm lets go and get some sleep.. I do one day when you are ready want to hear about that time in your life. Especially how Mattie helped you fall in love with me." Mac said with a smile.
"I will tell you one day when the time is right." Harm told her.
They both got off the hammock and walked arm and arm to there bedroom. Got ready for bed and wrapped in each others arms fell asleep.. So much to look forward to, but so much healing still in the works.