Mommy Dearest

Chapter 25
Leaving on A Jet Plane

"We," he panted as he rolled over on his back "are going to be soo late - and it's all your fault!"

"How does that work?" She protested, rolling on to an elbow to glare at him, "You started this!"

"Two counts," he said as he fought to bring his breathing back under control, "One: You are incredibly beautiful and you turn me on just by being here," she smiled in pure pleasure at his words, "and two: you didn't even try to stop me!"

"Now just why would I want to do that?" she challenged him, her laughter bubbling just under the surface.

He turned on to his elbow, facing her and with a move far too swift for her to counter he pinned her shoulders back on to the mattress and kissed her thoroughly. "Because if you don't start stopping me, then we are not going to make it to Falls Church in time to pick up Loren and Sasha, nor to the airport in time to say goodbye to mom and Frank."

"H'mm, you've got a point… a dumb point… but still a point," she teased as she squirmed free of his grasp, threw the covers off and rolled out of bed, and then standing, walked across the bedroom to the bathroom door.

Harm looked at her, he loved the way she moved, and he loved watching the muscles in her butt tense and relax as she crossed the room, and he loved the way the cool air made her…

"Dammit!" He groaned, "Will you please put some clothes on!"

She looked back over her shoulder, a broad grin plastered across her face, "Oh, but I thought you liked me like this?" she said in a mock-plaintive voice and then thrust her lower lip out in an equally obviously false pout.

"Oh, I do, I do… but you know what effect you have on me… and if we play around anymore, then we won't get to Dulles before mom and Frank get to San Diego!"

Her delighted laughter trailing behind her Jennifer Rabb stepped into the bathroom and in a few moments Harm heard the shower run. Rolling out of bed, he pulled on a pair of boxers and followed his wife into the bathroom, where if he stood at a slight angle to the wash-stand while he brushed his teeth, he could see her, admittedly shower-stall blurred, reflection in the mirror as she twisted and turned under the jet of water.

Jen's time aboard ship had taught her how to shower quickly when she needed to, and out of consideration for how long it would take to dry her hair, she had donned a shower cap this morning presenting to even his non-critical eye a faintly amusing appearance, but he had already learned not to let his amusement at that particular picture become evident; his efforts this morning to disguise amusement being most capably aided and abetted by the working of his toothbrush. Stepping out if the shower and wrapping a huge, blue and fluffy bath sheet around herself, Jen looked across at Harm and with a mischievous twinkle asked him in her most innocent voice, "Shall I turn the hot water all the way off, or just the cold all the way up?"

Harm's reaction to his wife's suggestion was to glower at her silently all through breakfast and the subsequent drive to Falls Church, his disposition not helped by Jan breaking into giggles each time they caught each other's eye. His surliness was readily apparent to Loren, herself no stranger to the mood and cocking her head towards Harm, she raised an interrogative eyebrow to Jen, who grinned in return and mouthed "cold shower time" at her. Loren's outbreak of giggles earned her a menacing glare from Harm, the only effect of which was to cause Jen and Loren to break out into renewed laughter. Harm was further frustrated by the length of time it seemed that the two women were taking over the simple task of buckling the baby seat back into the rear seat of the Lexus, but his somewhat brusque offer to help was turned down by a chilly stare from Loren, and a muttered, "Cheek of it! Anyone would think he didn't trust us to get it right!"

Harm was thinking just that, but, remembering just how awkward an unhappy Loren Singer could be and how mad an unhappy Jennifer Rabb could be, he decided to let them slide on that one, and keep quiet.

Trish Burnett had woken early and with characteristic efficiency and some subtle encouragement - 'nagging' as Frank grumblingly described her process - had ensured that they both were up, showered, dressed and last minute packing completed before she suggested that it was time that they made their way to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. Trish was unusually silent during and immediately after the meal, but after nearly four decades of marriage Frank knew that it wouldn't be too long before she gave voice to whatever was bothering her.

He was surprised however when she'd waited until they had checked out of the hotel and were in the rental car heading out to Dulles Airport, until she spoke, "Frank?"

"Uh-huh?"

"You don't mind about Loren and Alexandra, do you?"

"Mind in what way, honey?"

"Well, when Loren told me that Alexandra's father was a Rabb, I just automatically assumed that it was Harm, and I think," she added shrewdly, "you believed that same thing."

"Yeah… If I thought about it at all - and I'm not admitting that I did… I guess I did."

"But are you alright with it? I mean it was one thing to take them under my wing while I thought Alexandra was my granddaughter, but am I being fair in asking you to put up with a child who is my first husband's grandchild and has nothing to do with me, at all?"

Frank risked a quick sideways look at his wife before returning his full attention to the road, "D'you know, Trish that has never, ever occurred to me? When we went to see Loren, it was so obvious that she was worried sick and at the end of her tether and that she needed help. There wasn't anybody else to help, so you stepped up to the plate for her. I've loved you ever since we first met…"

"Oh, Frank!" she protested with a blush, "please…"

"No, let me finish, Trish. As I was saying, I loved you from the moment we met, and over all our years together you have done so much to me make so very proud of you. But I have never loved you more or been more proud of you than when you turned around in that shabby little apartment Loren was living in, and you said to her, 'You young lady are coming with us!', and no matter how she raged, and stormed, you were so completely together, and so determined, and so logical and dammit, you out-argued a US Navy JAG, a professional attorney! I fell in love with you all over again! And then, Alexandra arrived, and I fell in love with her. It doesn't matter that she's not my blood, there's more to being a parent or grandparent than just biology. So, my darling Patricia, I have no quarrel with you adopting Loren and Alexandra, but I sure as hell will have one if you ever try and stop me looking after them!"

Trish looked across at her husband, and searched his face, but she couldn't be sure he didn't have tears in his eyes; her own were too misty to make out his face with any certainty. But, she consoled herself, if she was still a bit teary when they met Harm, Jen and Loren, and of course, she smiled, Frank's favourite granddaughter, she could always blame it on having to say goodbye.

Harm's ears were burning, Loren and Jen had been totally merciless in their teasing; he was not only outnumbered, but to all intents and purposes he was helpless, having to focus his concentration on the Beltway traffic, the navigation through which was always a nerve-wracking ordeal but even more on a Saturday morning when the weekday commuters were augmented, and even to some extent replaced, by Mom Dad and 2.3 kids burbling along to the next off-ramp to hit the supermarket for the weekly shop. But even though the two women in his life, his wife and his… sister-in-law… no, Loren wasn't that, but she wasn't really a friend, either, then a wicked grin crossed his face, he had the perfect description… if she would go for it. "Loren, what," he interrupted one of Jen's comments as to the magnitude of his cuteness when his ears went red, "would you say was the nature of our relationship?"

He had the immense satisfaction of silencing both women and managed to catch a glimpse in the rear view mirror of a look of astonishment on Loren's face as his question came hurtling right out of the blue.

"I… I… I'm n…not sure wh… what you me.. mean." She stuttered after a good thirty seconds of stunned silence.

"Well, I was just trying to sort out - in my own mind - who you are, how you fit into my, into our, lives," he vague gesture indicated that he included Jen in his 'our'. "Don't get me wrong Loren, I love having you here with us, I love that you're our neighbour, I really love what you said the other day, about Jen being more of a sister to you than you had experienced with your own family. You see, Alexandra's easy to recognise, she's my brother's child, my niece, but I don't know where I stand with you… I don't want to cause you any more pain than Sergei has already done, but he's our only other link. If he'd been a man and stood by you, you'd be my sister in law, and I guess that's somehow still the way I think of you, but apart from that I'd really like to think of us as friends as well." He paused for a few seconds, but before she had a chance to respond, he continued, "Wow! Where did that suddenly come from?" He looked up into the rear-view mirror, to see a slightly shocked expression on her face. "Loren, I had started this out to be a tease, to label you as my sister out law, or something in that order, but somewhere along the line, it stopped being funny. I know you're not really my sister in law, but would you be my friend, please?"

Loren's blue eyes filled with tears and her throat closed; just as Harm has already said, she wondered where that had come from. She and Jen had been teasing Harm and making ever so slightly off-colour double entendres all the way round the Beltway, and when he had started his speech she had been sure that he was about to counter their teasing with some of his own, and the sudden switch from banter to gravity had not only taken her by surprise but had had an emotional impact that went beyond the words he had used. Although they had never been close as colleagues, she had gained much cynical enjoyment from watching the dance that he and Mac had performed, and had known that much of the failure to communicate between Lieutenant Colonel and Commander had been Harm's reluctance, verging on his inability to express his feelings. Now, by asking for her friendship, he had exposed himself, made himself vulnerable to the hurt of a possible rejection, and Loren found herself not wanting to reject him and not wanting to hurt him. Even the few seconds that she needed to unclog her throat had shown how much he had risked, his face had started to assume a defensive mask-like aspect as he fought his own battle to avoid showing hurt.

Loren made a vague gesture with one hand even as she tried to convey a response by means of a water-logged smile, and desperately tried to free her suddenly paralysed vocal cords, "Of… course… I'll be your friend… how could I not be your friend, when you, and everybody, have been such good friends to Alexandra and I? And…" she continued, with a blush, "I very much like the idea of being your sister… it's something that I thought I was when you said welcome to your family… I guess it's something that I should have said a while ago… and I'm sorry that I didn't…"

Loren Singer had built her defensive walls so high and so thick and so long ago, that she had almost become the person that she portrayed to the rest of the world, and she'd had to struggle to admit to herself the feelings of acceptance and friendship and comfort that had developed within herself during her acquaintance with the Burnett and Rabb family and had been subjected to the openness, generosity and yes, even love which had been showered upon her and her child, and now when she so badly needed words to try and explain her thoughts and feelings she could find none.

Jen twisted in her seat so that she could see her husband's face in profile and by looking over her left shoulder she could look Loren squarely in the face. Although she was beginning to know Harm better, she realised that it would take years before she fully understood him, that is, if she ever did, but she already knew that he must be laboring under a tremendous degree of emotion just to be able to come out and ask for… for… for, what exactly? On the surface it seemed that he had asked for Loren's friendship, but he already had that, so what was he asking for? Then the answer struck her, he'd been waiting for Loren to acknowledge that they had, through Trish and Frank's de facto adoption of Alexandra, and so necessarily that of Loren also, become part of an extended family. And that it would be up to Jen to fill her part of the unspoken bargain between Harm and her, and take Loren and Alexandra up to Belleville to meet Grams Sarah. That, she resolved, was something that she would do weekend after next. She smiled as she visualized Harm's protest over the two women making the unaccompanied trek, and then the welcome she was certain they would get from Grams Sarah. In the meantime, there was Trish and Frank to be bidden a farewell.

The Lexus pulled into Dulles Airport parking lot and although it was the work of seconds for the adults to de-bus. extricating Alexandra from the cat's cradle of seat belts in which Jen and Loren had trussed the car-seat took more than just a couple of minutes, and a particularly ripe oath from Jen as she snagged and broke a finger nail.

A plea for assistance addressed to Harm almost made his day, as smiling beatifically, he replied in sanctimonious accents, "Oh, no, ladies; you got this into a tangle all by yourselves, my help - although freely offered was declined, and declined quite impolitely. Nope, you got yourselves into this," and with a wide grin and crossed arms he leaned back against the car and continued, "so you can get yourselves out."

Loren and Jen regarded him for several moments with every sign of deepest loathing, while he continued to observe their activities with benevolent disinterest.

"Men!" Loren exclaimed in exasperation.

"Yep!" Jen's agreement was whole-hearted.

Eventually Alexandra was extricated from her impromptu prison and a broadly grinning Harm and a furiously scowling Loren and Jen crossed the stretch of asphalt as they headed for the departures lounge.

Frank and Trish had arrived before their three well-wishers and had kept an anxious eye on the clock and an ear open for the 'passengers to proceed' announcement, so the easily identifiable figure of Harm as his height loomed over the heads of most of the crowd brought sighs of relief from both.

With their baggage already checked in, there was nothing for the travellers to do but wait to be called forward for their flight so when Frank suggested that they have a final cup of coffee together, there seemed to be no good reason not to go along with the idea. The conversation at the coffee table was, however, somewhat stilted as regret for an impending departure wove its insidious way around and through the talk.

At last, and to some half-ashamed feelings of relief, the PA system called for passengers for San Diego to make their way to the departure lounge gate for final security checks.

A round of hugs and kisses followed and finally ended with admonitory words from Trish, "…and If he gives you any trouble Jen, you get hold of me right away, and I'll be back out here to give him all sorts of hell so fast, it'll make his head spin. And you, Harmon Rabb, you take very good, extra special care of this young lady - do you hear there?"

"Aye, aye, ma'am!"

Frank was not about to be outdone by his wife in the matter of last minute warnings and advice, so folding Loren and Alexandra into his arms, he kissed them both and said earnestly to Loren, "If either of these two give you any trouble, Loren, you just get straight on the 'phone to me and I'll be back on the next flight, to make 'em an offer they can't refuse!"

As Trish and Frank made their way across the concourse, Harm slipped his arm around Jen's waist and silently sighed in satisfaction as she leaned in to his embrace, and then aware of Loren standing at his other side he casually draped his arm across her back and gently squeezed her shoulder. After a startled glance at him, and much to his surprise, she smiled and momentarily releasing Alexandra with one hand, she raised it to cover his and gave it a gentle squeeze in return.

Looking back as they were about to go through the security channel, Trish saw them standing in that position, and with a catch of breath in her throat, she whispered, "Frank, look at them!"

Frank stopped and turned and seeing Jen, Harm and Loren standing united as a family, gave them a half wave and turning back to Trish said, "Yep, Patricia Burnett, you done good!"

At just about the same time as Trish and Frank were saying goodbye to their suddenly super-sized family, Commander Jack Keeter was sitting in the Commissary at the BX at Andrews Joint Air Facility. He was nursing a cup of coffee, uneasily aware that the contents of the pot in front of him were cooling with each passing minute, and making repeated checks of the time as shown not only on his wrist watch, but also on the huge clock hanging on the wall over the server counter. After the twentieth check in ten minutes he breathed a sigh of relief and rose to his feet as Beth Hawkes approached the table.

"Good, morning, Miss Hawkes… er… Commander…"

Skates regarded him quizzically, she had enjoyed spending time in his company yesterday, but spending that time together had been the natural result of Harmon Rabb asking them both for help in moving Loren Singer, and although he was polite and reasonably friendly on watch, or if they bumped into each other off-watch on or around base, he'd never before made a point of calling her room in BOQ and inviting her to meet for a coffee. Although she'd said yes, she had very nearly decided not to come and her dithering had made her at least a quarter of an hour late, yet here he was, welcoming her with what seemed to be a genuine smile and never a syllable of censure for her tardiness… and strangely tongue-tied, it appeared.

She was further surprised and as a result shot him a suspicious glare as he held her chair for her as she sat down, and then re-taking his own seat poured her a cup of coffee. Later she was to think back and realise that while he did those infuriatingly patronizing man-things, he didn't make a song and dance about them, but did them quietly and unassumingly, as if they were the most natural thing in the world.

And then infuriatingly having asked her to join him for coffee he was just sitting there, not only not speaking to her, but not looking her in the eye either, almost as if he were… Oh. My. God! He can't be shy! Not Jack Keeter. Not the scourge of the Zoomies' female BOQ. It was just not possible, no way, no how. But if not that, what the hell was he playing it?

"Commander," she said in severe tones, "Against my better judgement, I've let you drag me away from a personal admin day, just for a cup of commissary coffee?"

"Uh… no, well… I hope not… It's kinda like, I really enjoyed yesterday, an' as we're working together an' we're both friends of Harm an' Jen now of course, I thought it might be not a bad idea, if we got to know each other, a little… er… better, off watch."

"What did you have in mind?" she demanded with a fair degree of suspicion, fixing his pale eyes with her own deep brown ones and idly running a finger-tip around the rim of her coffee mug while supporting her chin with her free hand.

"Oh, I dunno, really, maybe, a drink and a game of pool, or take in a movie, or maybe just get a bite to eat off-base…"

"What? Like a date, you mean?"

"Oh, no! Hell, no! Oh… Umm, I didn't mean it to sound like that," he protested weakly and with the shadow of a sick grin passing over his face while his ears flamed crimson, "No, not like that. We can't go on a date, we're different ranks, in the same chain of command, hell we even stand the same watches, no what I meant was… I'm babbling and think I'll shut up now, shall I?" he stumbled into silence as the same weak grin made a fleeting reappearance, as his eyes took on an expression that she thought looked exactly like that of a rabbit caught in a car's headlights.

Skates almost had to bite her tongue to prevent herself from laughing outright. Poor Keeter, if she laughed at him now, it would be the cruellest thing she could ever possibly do to him, but the bubble of amusement at his predicament would only allow her to say "OK."

"Yeah, well, then… I'll just shut up then…" Keeter drained his coffee and made to stand up but was stopped by Skates asking, as she got her amusement under control, "OK, then when and where?"

Keeter almost fell back into his chair, "When and where?" he repeated helplessly, "Do you mean…?"

"I mean yes, let's go out on a non-date and have a beer and shoot some pool, or go to the movies or eat out at fancy restaurant, or some greasy spoon diner. But where and when?"

"Uh, how about tonight, say a couple of beers at the Rhode Island Rooster, while we check out what's coming up at the movies…?"

"Yeah, sounds like a plan. Pick me up at Navy BOQ at nineteen hundred hours, if that's OK?" Skates said as she stood up, and aware that she was vaguely irritated as he too stood.

"Yes, ma'am," Keeter replied, feeling as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders and the knot that he hadn't even known he had in his stomach unravelled.