It seems that finally ff. net has done what they set out to do and authors will be able to reply to their readers' reviews from now on. Hopefully.
Not sure if I like these yellow-green bubbles though. *shrug*
As always, huge thanks to Lynnp, byrhthelm, robertwnielsen, Saissa, carolfd, unwittysidekick, fart fart, marye094 and Michi uk.
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"You sure you can handle him on your own?" Harm asked worriedly as he and Jen stood in Mattie's apartment, a textbook example of new parents.
Rolling her eyes in irritation, Mattie let out a huff "Relax, Harm, I've changed his diaper before, know how to prep his bottle and everything, and Jen left some milk for the little guy."
Harm looked at his wife for confirmation and Jen nodded, her own eyes black with anxiety. She'd pumped a meal for him today in case they would be late, so he was covered in that respect and she knew she could trust Mattie, but leaving him was hard for purely emotional reasons.
"Okay, Matts, but don't hesitate to call us, okay?"
"I won't. But you have to go now, otherwise you'll be late."
Reluctantly the two parents got under way, spending the first half hour of the drive in silence until Harm couldn't take it anymore.
"You okay?"
"I feel like the worst mother in the world, like I'm abandoning him." Jen's anguish was plain to hear and Harm squeezed her hand tenderly in support.
"I know what you mean, I feel the same."
"This is the first time I'm away from him since he was born." continued Jen.
"I know." Harm remembered reading about this in that pregnancy book written for men "He'll be okay, Mattie will take good care of him and she has both of our numbers."
"Hm.." murmured Jen, staring out the side-window.
Harm sighed, knowing there was nothing he could do or say that would help her get through, she needed to cope with it herself. In just weeks they would be going back to work and if she wasn't ready by then, then she would have a problem.
Visibly pulling herself together and sending her train on another track Jen bravely smiled and inquired with genuine curiousity "Do you have your toast ready?"
"Uh huh." Harm let through a mischevious grin.
Looking at him expectantly Jen had to sigh in exasperation "Well? Aren't you going to tell me about it?"
"Nope." Harm smirked, invoking an irritated-amused huff from his co-pilot "It's short and sweet and that's all you get to find out ahead of time."
Shaking her head in fond exasperation Jen let herself then sink back against the comfy seat of the Lexus, content to watch the world go by.
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Turning off the engine Harm turned to Jen as she was staring listlessly through the windshield.
"We're here." he said needlessly, but wanting to shatter the oppressive silence.
Jen said nothing, just nodded, but Harm noticed her white-knuckled grip on the door handle.
"You okay?" he asked gently, covering with his hand the one of hers resting in her lep, fiddling with her small purse.
"We shouldn't have come together. People will talk. They'll get ideas and they'll talk and then everything's gonna come out." Jen rambled anxiously, the flood gates opened.
"Shhhh. Everything's gonna be okay. They're our coworkers, our friends. Nothing's gonna happen and no-one will find out anything they're not supposed to until we're ready to tell them."
Smirking good-naturedly he teased "Well, provided you take that ring off your finger, that is..."
Jen's eyes landed on her left hand and she gasped when she realized she still had her wedding band proudly displayed. Quickly taking it off she was about to stick it in her small hand-purse when she stopped, hesitating, then withdrew. Reaching to her neck, she grasped the thin chain of her dog-tags and lifted it over her head. Quickly disassembling the chain she slid her ring onto one end, watching as it fell down to clink against her tags, before putting the chain together and hanging it around her neck again. Tucking the tags under her jumper she pressed a hand over their indentation, her wedding band resting over her heart, missing the smile that curved Harm's lips as she did all that.
"They're gonna be angry at us for keeping it from them when we do tell."
Knowing she was right and it being something he had already thought of, Harm winced, but took her hand in his and pressed his lips to her fingers "Yeah, I don't doubt that."
"Especially LtCol MacKenzie."
"I'll talk to her tonight, make it clear I'm not playing the game anymore. I've moved on, she should too. Hopefully by the time we go public she will already have let go."
Grimacing only now did Harm remember something from the past.
"Oh, man..." he moaned, facepalming himself.
"What?" Jen looked at him worried "What's wrong?"
"I just remembered... Mac hid her marriage from the entire HQ for the first 3 years she was stationed here. How much are you willing to be she'll think I didn't tell her about us just to get back at her for that?"
Jen looked sufficiently scared at the thought as Harm, already resigned to his fate, reached over, grabbed the handle and opened his door.
"What's done is done and we need to get in there before we start attracting attention."
Nodding, Jen followed his example, got out, shut the door behind her and hearing the lock and alarm engage as Harm used his remote, then nervously straightened her uniform as she still stood by the vehicle.
Coming to his wife's side Harm peered down at her.
"Ready?"
Taking a deep breath she nodded "Ready."
"Okay."
Jen moved to go, but Harm stopped her with a hand around her upper arm. Looking up at him inquisitively she was amused to find him a little embarrassed.
"What's wrong?"
"Here."
She looked down at the small piece of tin he'd placed in her hands.
"What's this?"
"It's a thimble."
Staring at him perplexed she wanted to know "Is that some kind of secret message that you have some clothes to fix or something?"
"No!" Harm sighed, exasperated, and looked around to make sure they had privacy. Thankfully he'd parked in a dark corner of the lot.
"Have you never read Peter Pan?"
He could see Jen's eyes unfocus at his question as she went back and tried to remember the correlation between these two things. Suddenly her eyes went wide and a smirk appeared on her lips.
"That's probably the corniest thing you've ever done." Jen giggled, but couldn't stop her eyes from filling with tears.
"Everybody already calls me Peter Pan, so why not..."
Laughter abandoned Jen and her eyes narrowed angrily at that "Ignore them, they have no idea what they're talking about, the idiots. They should just shut their mouths and do a little work for a change."
Sincerely touched by her defence Harm smiled down at her, passing over another small object.
Calming down in the face of his insistent declarations of love Jen rolled her eyes "How many do you have with you?"
"Not that many, there's not a lot of pockets on this uniform that it wouldn't look weird. You'll have to start giving them back eventually." waggling his eyebrows Harm gave her the grin that never failed to threaten the stability of her knees.
Recovering, Jen gave him a saucy smile as she turned and shashayed towards the entrance, making sure to give her hips an extra sway, throwing over her shoulder "We'll see."
Harm shook his head and chuckled before hurrying to catch up with her.
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Reviews are love.