AN – I'm so sorry for the delay in the chapter. There has been lots going on in my family recently and I haven't found anytime to sit down and do any writing. My dad was up in Cold Lake Alberta (CFB) doing some work there and was actually there during Hockey Day in Canada. If anyone watched that, he was playing against the Flames alumni. My mother has recently been promoted to head of the Ped's unit at the hospital at home, so she has been busy. My one brother was admitted into an outpatient program for soldiers suffering from PSTD, he is also taking classes at RMC in Kingston. The youngest is plunking along playing Jr. A hockey, going to an NCCA college next year. As for me? Work, work and more work. I'm coaching a team of 40 students and our provincials are coming up in March. I hope to be a bit more consistent in the next few chapters, but as always, I can't guarantee anything. I'm on the road all this weekend, so again, I am not too sure there.

Again, mistakes are all mine and as usual, go easy on me. I'm fighting my English at the moment, as I've been translating a 55 page report from Spanish and then one in Portuguese.

Thanks again.

"So how was work?" Harm called into the apartment, his arms full of groceries and his dry-cleaned uniform.

Mac stuck her head out of the bedroom and rolled her eyes. "Only had to defuse two incidents today. That being said, is a good day."

"Singer and Alex?"

"Oh yeah. Got out of a meeting with my client and they were standing nose to nose ready to throw punches. They're against each other on a case, again, and both of them are calling for blood." Mac sighed and bodychecked her closet door to close it. "That was only the first one. Then Singer delivered her stack of potential witnesses and I believe Alex shut her office door in her face and Singer held up the old mantra of 'swearing like a sailor.'" She shook her head. "Those two are going to come together, at ten paces none the less."

"Oh it will be fine." Harm wrapped his arms around her waist as she left her room. "You and the Admiral should be able to handle them." He looked towards his discarded uniform. "Is there any room in your closet for this?"

"Harm…there's no room for ANYTHING anymore." She sighed and turned in his arms. "Harm, we have to talk."

Those five words struck fear into his heart. He stopped and pulled her to the couch. "W-we need to t-talk?" For a lawyer his verbal skills seemed about as strong as wet toilet paper. "B-but Mac…I thought…I mean…e-everthing is g-going so…well." His blue eyes didn't veil the panic he felt.

Mac gave him a small smile. "Harm…I want to talk to you about this. The apartment situation. There's not enough room for one person's stuff in here, let alone TWO people's." She felt him relax against her.

"You had me scared there, Marine." He took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves and shaking hands. "I thought you were breaking up with me." A deep blush rose from his collar.

She took his hands between hers and held them. "Harm, I'm not breaking up with you…but SOMETHING has to be done. I can't even get my clothes out of my closet!"

"And I can't get mine in."

"So we're at a stalemate. At least with my closet."

"My place is smaller than yours."

They stared at each other, neither knowing where the other wanted to go, no one wanting to make the first move.

"So…"

"So…" She looked around her apartment and then back at Harm. "What's our next move?"

"I think that's exactly it. We move. We move in together." A grin crossed her face. "What do you think?"

His grin matched hers. "I think we should start looking as soon as possible!"

--

"Major?"

Alex looked up over her grey and red rimmed glasses and smiled. "Colonel. Come in and grab a seat."

Shutting the door behind her, she took the chair nearest Alex's desk. "May I ask you a question?"

"I swear. I didn't DO anything to Singer!"

Mac laughed. "No Major, it's nothing about that. And really, I don't want to know. Harm and I were talking last night…and we're looking for a house. Who did you use as a reality agent?"

"Umm…I'm not too sure. Cody was down here before and he dealt with the agent, but he's coming for lunch and you can ask him." She brushed a stray lock off her face and smiled. "Big move, hunh?"

Chewing on her thumbnail Mac nodded. "Yeah, it's big." She looked up and smiled. "Harm's coming over for lunch too, maybe we can talk things out."

"Sure. I just have a couple of files to look over. What time is the Commander coming over?"

"1230. Cody?"

"About the same. I think he may be brining Dante and then dropping him off with my mom. He has practice and we haven't found a daycare yet." She smiled apologetically. "Sorry. Last detail we're trying to iron out."

"No, it's okay. Did you guys have a place figured out?"

"I think Cody had said something about 'The Green Spot Café'." She shrugged. "He said it was close by the office."

"It is close by. But you better like your greens?"

"Ma'am?" Alex cocked her head to the head looking thoroughly confused.

"It's a vegetarian café. You aren't vegetarian?"

Alex's face darkened. "No, I'm not." She shook her head, her curls bobbing around. "We rotate turns choosing restaurants and he always grabs the extremely healthy ones. Just to piss me off. He's quite good at it."

"Harm does it to make me eat better."

They shared a smile before Mac stood up to leave. "How about I come by, say 1215 and we walk to the Green Spot Café?"

"Sounds great Ma'am." Alex said opening up her file and replacing the pen in her mouth.

--

"Imagine meeting you here."

Cody looked up from the airplane he was building out of Lego blocks and smiled. "Commander, imagine that. I'm meeting Alex here for lunch. Have a seat."

"MANDER!!!!!" Dante clapped his hands and grinned. "PLANE!"

Harm pulled a chair up to the table and sat down. "I see that you have a plane." He added a few pieces to the plane and smiled. "Mac called and asked to meet me here, which is weird, because she hates anything healthy."

"Alex too, but it was my turn to pick the restaurant." Looking at his watch, he searched the outside. "Not like her to be late though."

"Probably held up at work. Mac is never late either, but she has…"

"2 minutes and 17 seconds." Mac replied coming up behind them and smiling. Alex sat beside Cody and gave him a smile.

"Do you still have the card of the realty agent we used?" Alex grabbed a piece of Lego before it found it's way to Dante's mouth.

"I think so, why? Looking to move out on me already?" Cody gave her a grin.

"You wish, you're stuck with me. No, the Colonel had asked me for it." She smiled towards Mac who nodded.

"Yeah, we were…thinking about looking for a place. And we're really not sure where to start." Mac pulled a menu out of the serviette holder. "Okay, what is 'ham substitute?'"

"Something made out of soy."

Mac wrinkled her nose up and looked through the menu. "Is there ANYTHING on here that isn't made out of soy?"

"Here's the card of our realty agent. Dianne Rusnak. She's the best." Cody passed the card over to Harm who smiled.

"Thanks." He tucked the card in his pocket and turned to Dante. "So little man, what do you like to eat here?"

Dante tilted his head to the side and grinned. "Tees." He went back to building his Lego. "Green tees! Green TEES!"

"Broccoli. He's really an odd child." Cody ruffled his hair and smiled as the waitress who stood by with a no doubt recycled pad of paper. "I'll have the sundried tomato sandwich with the cream of carrot soup and a blueberry smoothie. The little guy here, he'll have a steamed veggie plate with some apple juice." He looked at Alex.

"I'll just have the red pepper and spinach quiche with a soy hot chocolate." Alex threw the menu down and brushed her hands on the front of her skirt.

"I'll have what she's having." Mac said with a small smile.

"I'll have the happy veggie sandwich with the squash soup and a cup of coffee." Harm grinned and passed the menus back to the waitress.

"So, when are you guys staring to look at houses?" Cody asked, fishing a piece of Lego out of his water with a spoon.

"Soon as we can hopefully. Both of our apartments are too small for one person, and I'm…uh…not exactly at my place very much anymore. Makes more sense than for us to pay two rents." Harm explained, his hand shooting out to rescue his water from little hands.

"There are lots of good places out there." Cody rolled his eyes and grabbed Dante who squealed and glared at his dad. "Dianne is great at what she does. Give her your range, the neighbourhoods you want and approximate size. She'll find something for you. She did for us."

Alex took a small bite of her quiche and chewed slowly. "Okay, it's not horrible." She flipped her wrist over and looked at her watch. "I have an interview with a witness in 25 minutes, so I should start heading back pretty soon."

"I'll come with you." Mac finished her meal and leaned over to place a kiss on Harm's cheek. "I'll see you later."

The men watched the two women grab their jackets and hurry out of the restaurant. "They're going to get burgers." Harm conceded.

"Of course they are." Cody shook his head. Dante frowned and mashed a piece of broccoli in his hands. "Dante…don't. We still have to take you to Nanny's."

"No 'ockie?"

"Not for you, buddy." Cody wiped his little hands and turned to Harm. "We let him come to the games, but not the practices. We're just dropping him off with Marilyn until we get childcare." He smiled and spread Dante's Legos on the table again. "This is a big move for you guys, eh?"

Harm smiled shyly. It still amazed him how the younger man could read him when even his closest friends couldn't. "Yeah."

"One step at a time." He sighed and fished the plastic blocks out of his soup with a spoon and glared at his son. "And YOU sir, stop that."

Dante grinned and looked over at Harm for support. "MANDER!"

"You're on your own, buddy." Harm ruffled his hair and took the bill off the table. "I've got it, thanks for the card."

"No prob. Let me know how the search goes." He turned to pick up his son. "Thanks again. Say bye Dante."

"BYE MANDER!" Dante grinned and took off running as soon as his feet hit the ground. He jerked back by the strap that was attached to his little backpack.

"And you see why we make him wear a harness." Cody grinned and waved as they left the restaurant.

--

She was a red haired middle age woman with a wide smile wearing a blue blazer and pant skirt. "Colonel Mackenzie and Commander Rabb?"

"Sarah Mackenzie." Mac extended her hand. "And this is Harmon Rabb." They shook Diane's hand and smiled. "Thanks for meeting us on such short notice."

Diane smiled. "No problem. It's what I do. I have a few different places picked out. There are a few around here in Alexandria that I want to show you, then I have one somewhere else I'll show you at the end."

Harm nodded. "Lead on. This is our first time ever doing anything like this." He took Mac's hand in his and followed Diane into the first house.

--

"Leesburg? Harm, we can't afford a place in Leesburg." Mac looked out the window as the large houses passed them.

Harm shrugged. "Hey, I'm just following the lady." He pulled up behind Diane. She parked in a long winding driveway. The house loomed over them. The brick façade, the double car garage, the old gnarled oak tree in the front yard…the double French doors in the front. Mac's heart stopped as they walked in. The hardwood floors to the high ceilings to the winding stairwell…it was perfect. All perfect.

"How many square feet is it?" Harm asked following a low whistle.

"About 5600." Diane grinned as the couple were obviously taken with the home. "And it's priced to sell." She pulled out the information out of her black leather binder and handed it to Harm. "These don't come along everyday."

"You're telling me." He read through some of the pages. "Wow."

"You'll be saying that a lot more when you see the rest of the house." Diane smiled and led them into the kitchen. "Someone can do some major cooking in here."

The sunlight streamed through the window illuminating the brightly painted breakfast nook. Harm looked at Mac and he knew the answer before he even knew the question.

"There are five bedrooms, four bathrooms…a school nearby and a park just around the corner. Do you two have children?" Diane asked gently.

"Uh…no…" Harm shook his head. "Not…yet."

Mac's head jerked up at the comment, with a look of surprise on her face. "No…not yet." She echoed.

"It's also really close to the Gianinni's, only a few blocks away." Diane led them out of the kitchen. "Would you like to go check out the upstairs?"

Harm put his arm around Mac's shoulders and followed Diane up the stairs. The master suite was something of beauty. Spacious with huge bright windows, a giant walk in closet and a master bathroom, complete with a Jacuzzi tub and a shower.

Diane's cell phone rang, leaving them alone.

"So…"

"Harm, I love it." Her voice was soft. "I know we can't afford it, but I love it. I love the house, I love the area…It's only about a twenty minute commute into JAG…"

"And Alex and Cody are near by if we need to carpool."

"There's plenty of space…"

"For a growing family."

He pressed his lips gently against hers. "We'll talk to Diane."