Part 29

The bride and groom turned to see that everyone was applauding them, with more than a few "It's about time" heard from several of their long time friends.

Grinning, the couple walked down the aisle, with the Burnett's, Grandma Sarah, Riley and Shaylee following them. This had been decided for the express reason they didn't want to confuse the little girls. The rest of the wedding party quickly followed suit.

An hour later

Hotel Coronado Ballroom

They could have had the reception at the fellowship hall of the church, but decided to have it at the ballroom for more than one reason, the main being room. There were several who could not make the service due to commitments earlier in the day, and despite the size of the fellowship hall, they wanted to allow people to move around.

When they arrived at the building, the party seemed to be getting underway; they had several pictures taken at the church after the guests left. To make things easier on the little ones in attendance, Riley and Shaylee included, they had booked a couple of rooms for naps.

Harm had hired a friend of Mattie's from school to be the babysitter, the teen was not a close friend, but Mattie knew the quiet teen would be the right person for the job. He knew that the parents who would use it would likely give Sherry Sandoval a chance to go to the reception, therefore a win-win for everyone.

In the parking lot they saw NCIS SAC Leon Vance and his wife, there was something Harm didn't like, feeling that the man was too politically motivated to be an excellent agent. As much grief as he'd had from Gibbs, that man had been willing to take a closer look at the evidence. Otherwise, he might be in prison today. Mac hadn't had that much time to get to know the man, as she'd been busy with her new position and trips to the Middle East. She'd told Harm that he was a very competent agent, doing his job as required, but she felt he was using his time in San Diego as a stepping-stone for a higher position; to one day take over as director of the agency.

They didn't want to make waves, and walked in with the Vance couple. However, they made a detour to the room set aside for them, to freshen up, and change Riley's into a diaper, the toddler was not quite fully potty-trained, and knowing how excitable she could be, Harm decided to be safe.

A few minutes later, the new family walked into the ballroom. Mattie had the girls with her, allowing Harm and Mac the freedom to be the stars of the show. Jack Keeter was the emcee for the festivities, a job usually for the best man, but Sergei had reminded his brother, "Jack has known you for much longer, let him have the honor, brother".

"The happy couple has finally arrived. Let the festivities commence."

Mattie and the girls walked over to where Sergei and Galina stood to allow Harm and Mac the room for their first dance. "Say You, Say Me" was the song Mac had wanted to dance to at her wedding. With Chris, they hadn't had a reception and Mic had insisted they dance to another song and she'd acquiesced. Harm had confided to her that he felt the same way about the song. Because Mac didn't have any family attending, they did things differently, as Frank danced the dance normally reserved for the father of the bride. Harm danced with his mother. Many of the songs that were danced during the reception were from Harm's academy days, which happened to be Mac's high school days.

Both Mattie and Chloe commented about dancing to the oldies, Harm's comment, and in twenty years when you have your school reunion, your children are going to say the same thing", and took both of them out on the dance floor as it was a fast tune.

At four in the afternoon, the couple went to say goodbye to Riley and Shaylee who were playing in the room set aside for toddlers, as they had already departed from the reception. Trish and Frank would watch Shaylee and Riley while Harm and Mac were on their honeymoon, however, AJ would be in town the next day and take his granddaughter during the time. Harm had agreed to this readily. He wanted Riley to know her grandfather therefore AJ had unrestricted access. Marcella on the other hand did not, as she'd threatened to take her granddaughter with her to Italy. Harm had written orders that Marcella could only visit Riley with AJ present if he and Mac were not there.

Mac was surprised at how hard it was to leave the girls behind, a small part of her wanted the little girls to join them, but knew that she and Harm needed the time alone together. She was entering a marriage that included children, and young children at that. Harm was feeling the same way, as this was the longest he'd been apart from his daughter since Riley's birth. He was glad that his cell phone had an international plan or his phone bill might have rivaled his hotel bill.

They went to the room they had set aside and changed out of the clothes they had worn for the wedding. It took all their self-control not to use the room for other uses, but they knew that if they did, they would easily miss their flight. They had decided they would take a taxi to the airport so they wouldn't need to pay the outrageous long-term parking fees. When they got to the ticket counter Harm gave the agent both their passports and the ticket information, and had written a separate note

We are on our honeymoon, Sarah doesn't know where we are headed, so could you not say our destination please.

The agent smiled at both, Mac was surprised at the grin the short blonde was giving her.

"We need to get to the gate, if we don't have any troubles at security, we shouldn't have to wait very long before they call for our flight."

"Harm, why are we flying Air Canada?" Mac had wondered why her husband, what a nice sound that was, had gone to that desk.

"Because we are, you'll find out where we are going, in a few minutes, let's get to the gate, and then I'll let you know more details."

Harm replied. Thankfully there was a short line at security, and the gate they were headed to was not far.

"Toronto?" Mac was surprised. She had expected another location. Like Hawaii. "I sure didn't see that coming, Toronto for our honeymoon."

"Actually we are headed to American Falls, but the best connection was to go through Toronto."

They had only sat for a few minutes before the gate attendant called for first class passengers to board the flight. "That's us."

The boarded the flight and Mac sat next to Harm. The events of the past few days caught up with her and she was asleep before the flight even started. Harm knew he needed to sleep as well; he wasn't planning on having any sleep once he reached the hotel.