Mommy Dearest
Chapter 36
Homeward Bound
"Now, you be sure and drive carefully, Jennifer Rabb!" Sarah warned her grandson's wife as Jen closed the cargo hatch on the Lexus.
"Oh, I will be absolutely careful, Grams," Jen smiled, "but I'm still not sure that the suspension is going to take the weight of everything you loaded us down with!"
"Oh, hush, now, child. A couple of sandwiches and a piece or two of pie, just to keep you fed on the road. It isn't much at all!"
"You are a wicked old woman," Jen told her, giving Sarah a hug and a kiss on the cheek, "and you're also a terrible liar! I swear I won't have to do any baking for at least a month!"
"Oh, you're the one telling fibs now, Jennifer! You told me the last time you visited with me that you don't bake, at all; you just buy in!"
"Oh, damn! I am so busted!" Jen admitted with a laugh and then stepped back to allow Loren and Alexandra to make their own farewells.
Sarah smiled as the blonde , cradling her daughter in the crook of her arm stepped in to give her an awkward one-armed hug, "Thank you, Grams," Loren smiled, although she had tears in her eyes, "Thank you for welcoming Alexandra into your family."
Sarah shook her head, what was it going to take to convince this young women that she, Sarah Rabb, welcomed her for herself and not just because she was Alexandra's mother. "Now, you listen to me young lady," she said in mock severe accents, "any welcome is for you just as much as for this little one here, and whether or not you do what we talked about, you remember that you are always welcome in my house. Do you understand me?"
Loren nodded, "Yes, ma'am. Uh… Grams."
"Good. Now let me kiss this one goodbye," Sarah added holding out her arms as Loren transferred Alexandra to her Great Grandmother's hands, the movement sufficient to upset the infant who started to grizzle.
"Now, now," Sarah crooned in gentle tones, "Just you hush up that nonsense, and you be a good girl for your mommy and auntie Jen." Whether it was the words, or just the tone of voice, the effect was instantaneous, the threatening tear storm dissipated and Alexandra blew a huge bubble and gurgled, her eyes seemingly locked on the bright blue eyes in the lined face looking down on her.
Sarah smiled and gently wiped the drool from Alexandra's face before she handed the infant back to Loren who turned and secured her daughter into the car seat and after a final hug with Sarah the two young women climbed into the Lexus and with Jen driving slowly and cautiously on the unpaved surface, headed off down the dirt road towards town and the highway to the South.
Sarah Rabb watched them go, and as her vision blurred, she dug into her pocket for her handkerchief, and dabbing at her eyes muttered, "They shouldn't drive so fast… kicking up all this damn dust!" before she turned and leaning on her cane walked across to her battered pick-up to drive to church for Sunday Meeting.
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Harm leaned against the counter while he waited for the Air Force Corporal to process their travel orders, and grinned at his companion, "Well, Beth, it could be worse," Harm joked as he saw Beth's cheeks beginning to turn pink, although he did feel for her predicament.
"And just how do you figure that out, Hammer?" she snapped, already unsettled by the attention that she, as the only woman in the air transport section was attracting.
"We could have been travelling in service dress; you'd have been in a skirt." Harm explained not unsympathetically, although he had to admit he was deriving some amusement from Beth's embarrassment, "Just think about it, if you're feeling uncomfortable now, how do you think you'd be feeling with a hundred plus Jarheads leering at your legs?"
Beth winced, "Thanks, Hammer! I really needed that mental image!"
"Well we won't be here much longer, and we'll soon be rid of them!" he tried to console her.
The 'them' to whom Harm was referring were about a hundred and twenty Marines, all laden down with sea-bags, personal equipment, helmets and weapons.
"Uh, excuse me, sir, ma'am?" the Air Force Corporal interrupted them.
Harm turned back towards the younger man, a quizzical eyebrow raised, "Yes, Corporal?"
"Your orders check out, sir, you are cleared to board when the Loadmaster calls you forward.
"Thank you Corporal, which flight?"
The Corporal, who had overheard the two officers' conversation, seemed to have developed a sudden inability to look either Harm or Beth in the eye, "Uh, there's only the one flight out this morning, sir..." he admitted reluctantly.
Beth groaned and raised her eyes to the heavens, "And I suppose all these... Marines are on the same flight?"
"Uh... yes, ma'am."
"Perfect, just perfect!" Beth muttered between clenched teeth, and then as Harm barely managed to restrain a snort of laughter, she glared at him, "Something funny... sir?"
"No, nothing funny, at all Lieutenant," Harm snickered in reply, and then taking pity on her suggested, "Come on, Beth, I'll buy the coffees."
Beth grinned weakly and nodded her appreciation, "But that doesn't get you off the hook for enjoying all this!" she retorted, glaring at one obviously over-appreciative Marine.
"Oh, c'mon Beth, it's not without its funny side. Suck it up, sailor!"
Although the vending machine coffee may have been the usual low quality beverage, it did much to restore Beth's mood, although she wasn't quite prepared to forgive and forget, well, not just yet.
"You were much nicer when you were my driver!" Beth grumbled as she swallowed the last of the bitter brew, just as, and fortunately for the state of her temper, and composure, the C-17's Loadmaster picked up the microphone at the MCCP Desk and clicked the pressel switch twice before speaking, "We are now ready for you to board. Would Commander Rabb, Lieutenant Maartens and Captain Philips, please come forward and make yourself known."
Harm and Beth picked up their carry-on bags and walked towards the Air Force NCO, where they were joined by a Marine Corps Captain.
"Sirs, ma'am," the Loadmaster greeted them, "We're ready to board, so if you sir," indicating Harm, "and ma'am, go right ahead, right up to the front of the aircraft, and if you sir, can get your men ready to board, then we can get this show into the sky!"
Harm and Beth nodded their appreciation to the Loadmaster and walked across the stretch of asphalt and then on up the ramp into the cavernous interior of the giant transport aircraft, while behind them they could hear the Marine Corps captain calling for his First Sergeant to get the company saddled up and ready to move.
Taking their seats at the forward end of the C-17, Harm and Beth settled themselves as comfortably as they could on the palletised seats, Harm at least grateful that there were no other seats in front of him to cramp his long legs. Beth laid her head back and closed her eyes, but in response to Harm's, "You think you're going to sleep all the way from here to Andrews?"
She grinned wearily and answered, "Nope, this is my version of the ostrich sticking its head in the sand. If I can't see them ogling me, then I won't get ticked off with it!"
Although Beth's eyes were firmly closed Harm smiled in sympathy but as the noise of the Marines filing on board and seating themselves grew in intensity he felt compelled to add, "With all that racket going on, you're not fooling anyone, you know that, don't you?"
"Yeah, well... what can I say?" she shrugged with a half-grin.
The other seats in the row were quickly filled by the Marine Company Commander, his XO and platoon leaders. The Captain introduced himself as Mike Philips, and explained that his company, Bravo Company of the 1st/6th Marines were headed for Iraq, or as he described it, 'the sand box' as part of a reinforcement programme. Harm looked across at him, to his eyes the Captain hardly looked old enough to be in uniform while his platoon leaders two 1st Lieutenants and two 2nd Lieutenants looked absurdly young, as did he discovered, when he craned his neck to look around, a lot of the Marines sitting in rows behind him.
He was distracted from his thoughts as he became aware of a figure standing over him, and looking up he saw a young man in an Air Force flying suit embellished with aviators' wings and Captain's bars, "Commander Rabb?"
"Yeah, that's me."
"Good morning, Sir. I'm Captain Edwards, the second pilot, Major Andrews' respects, sir, and once we're airborne she would like to invite you to come up into the cockpit if you wish."
"My compliments to Major Andrews, and I'd like to accept her invitation on behalf of myself and my RIO, Lieutenant Maartens." Harm finished his sentence with an inflection that clearly said that if Beth wasn't included in the invitation, then he wouldn't accept it.
"Of course, sir," Edwards replied, "I'll come back and let you know when the Major's ready for you."
Harm nodded his acknowledgement as the Air Force pilot returned to the cockpit.
Eventually the uproar in the aircraft's hold subsided as the last the Marines took their seats and the last of the loose gear was tied down. The Loadmaster made a final walk round and at length satisfied, he powered the ramp closed and spoke briefly on the intercom. The engines, that had been quietly idling, increased revolutions and decibels and the lumbering airplane taxied to the runway before the pilot pushed the throttles wide open and the C17 rumbled down the runway at ever increasing speed until its wings generated sufficient lift for the airplane to haul itself off the ground and into the air.
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Jen sighed with relief as she turned off the street and on to the gravelled area in front of the garage, "Just short of seventeen hundred, not bad, at all," she remarked to Loren.
"Not bad for you, maybe," Loren replied with a sigh of resignation, "but the little monster here slept practically all the way from when we hit the black-top in Belleville, and she's only just beginning to wake up now. She'll never sleep tonight!"
Jen winced, but not entirely in sympathy; a sleepless Alexandra tonight meant a tired and cranky Loren Singer tomorrow. And tomorrow's date on the calendar had a big red ring around it as a reminder that it was the day for interviewing the three child-minders that had survived Loren's first cut. Jen could only hope that by the time the women arrived in the evening that Loren had had the chance to rest, perhaps while Alexandra took her afternoon nap!
"OK, let's keep the disruption to a minimum then," Jen fumbled in her pocket and dredged out her house keys, "Take Sasha straight in to the living room while I make a start unloading everything that Gram's piled in here. I figure we can just load it all into the fridge and sort out what's what later. And while I'm doing that..." she tilted her head to one side and looked at Loren with puppy dog eyes, "you could perhaps put the kettle on to boil - I could cheerfully murder for a cup of tea!"
Loren chuckled, "Nice try, Mrs Rabb, you open up and let us in and then you put the kettle to boil while I carry the stuff in. If I let you unload the car, Harm would cheerfully murder me!"
"Loren, I'm only pregnant, I..."
"You won't break, I know. And before you say anything else, I was even more stubborn and pig-headed and independently minded that you are, than you could ever be... but Jen... there were times I wished I had someone to help out, yes, even with the little things..."
There was just enough of a hint of sadness, or regret in Loren's voice that it tugged at Jen's heart, and impulsively she leaned across and drew the blonde woman into a hug. "You know that you've got someone now, don't you? You've got two someones... me and Harm and it might just be..." Jen's voice took on a teasing note; "there might just be three someones..." she ended mysteriously.
Loren sat upright and stared across at Jen, "Who's the third?" she inquired with a baffled yet suspicious expression on her face.
"Why, that nice Lieutenant Medwick," Jen grinned.
"Jen!" Loren exploded, torn between indignation and amusement, "It's no such thing! He doesn't even know me and we barely exchanged more than a dozen words!"
"And whose fault is that?" Jen riposted, still with a grin on her face.
"Well, if he hadn't been so damn pushy..."
"Oh, Loren! What you mean is if you hadn't been so damn prickly! You never gave the poor man a chance!"
Loren glared at Jen and then said defensively, "Well, if he can't take a hint, it's hardly my fault! Besides, he did push himself on us!"
"Oh, Loren..." Jen sighed, "he was at my wedding reception. How was he to know whether I recognised him or not, and if I had recognised him and he hadn't offered to help us, what sort of an officer and gentleman would he have been?"
"Oh, God! That damn film is responsible for so much crap and so many misconceptions..."
Jen grinned even more broadly, "Nice try at deflection, counsellor! But... nope, not working!"
"There are times Jennifer Rabb," Loren pouted, as she swivelled around to get out of the Lexus, "When I hate you!"
"That may be true. But there are times when you love me too!" Jen countered.
"Assuming facts not in evidence!" Loren snapped back but with a grin on her own face.
"True, but facts, nevertheless!"
Loren breathed a silent sigh of relief, as she lifted Alexandra out of the car seat, despite Jen's recognition of her diversionary tactics, it seemed that they had worked after all!
Loren transferred Alexandra into her porta crib and carried her into the living room while Jen made a bee-line for the kitchen and lit the burner under the kettle, and by the time the kettle had boiled and the tea had been brewed - in accordance with Gram's method - Loren had unloaded the car, although apart from Loren and Jen's sea bags which lay at the foot of the stairs, the multitude of containers that contained Gram's baked goods were still piled high on the kitchen table. The two young women looked at heap and then at the tea-pot and almost in chorus decided aloud, "tea first!" and then looked at each other and giggled.
The tea poured they both headed for the living room where Alexandra was beginning to shows signs of waking, Loren sighed in resignation and nearly scalded her mouth as she took too big a sip of the too-hot tea, while her hands went almost of their own volition to her blouse buttons.
Jen watched in fascination as Loren placed Alexandra at her breast, and in response to the blonde's cocked eyebrow, she gestured with her tea-mug, "I can't help it, it never gets old, and I..."
"Yeah, I know," Loren replied softly, returning her full attention back to her daughter. Jen watched for a minute or so more and then at the prick of a guilty conscience she picked up the 'phone and dialled.
"Burnett."
"Frank, hi, it's Jen, do you know what time..."
"Oh, thank God! Trish! It's Jen. Jen where are you? Are you alright? We've been going mad out here!"
There was a click as Trish picked up the extension, "Jen, darling, where have you been. We've been so worried about you!"
Jen was taken aback as the two voices clashed with each other, "Oh, wow! Hold it, please people, I can only understand one of you at a time! What's happened? Is Harm alright? Why didn't you call?"
"Oh Jen, darling..." Trish's voice became clogged with tears, scaring Jen.
"Trish! What is it, what aren't you telling me? Frank? Please, you're frightening me?"
Loren who could only hear Jen's side of the conversation looked up, and seeing the arrested expression on her face felt a stab of fear and could feel her own face drain of colour, leaving her white and looking shaken.
Frank took up the reins of the conversation, his voice deliberately soothing, "Nothing's wrong here, Jen. We've just been a bit worried about you, Loren and Sasha. Harm spoke to Grams on Friday evening, and you hadn't arrived at Belleville, then we got word of the storm, and we were concerned about you. We, or rather Harm, had a call from a guy called Tuner saying that he'd seen you Friday night and that you were OK and were continuing on to Gram's on Saturday. And we've been trying to call Gram since Friday, but all the lines are down."
Jen swallowed to clear her throat before she asked, "But Harm's OK?"
"He was worried, darling," Trish cut in, "we all were, and I'm afraid you're probably in for a bit of a scold when he gets home." Jen heaved a sigh of relief and the colour returning to her cheeks, glanced across at the still-pale Loren, giving her a reassuring grin and a 'thumbs up' gesture. Loren took a breath and then relaxed back against the squabs of her armchair and transferred Alexandra to her other breast.
"That's why I was calling," Jen admitted, "To find out what time he left?"
"He had to report to Miramar for ten o'clock this morning," Frank said, "He and his RIO were booked on a transport to Andrews, he reckoned to get home at about six o'clock this evening - our time, so that would be..."
"Twenty-one hundred," Jen automatically calculated the time difference and translated Harm's ETA into military speak, sneaking a glance at her watch as she did so.
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Harm pulled up the cuff of his flight suit and checked his watch, giving an exasperated sigh at the lack of speed with which the hands were circling its face.
"At a rough guess," Beth said, "I'd say it was only three minutes later than when you last checked, three minutes ago, and looking at your watch every two to three minutes doesn't make the time go any faster."
"Ha, very funny!" Harm responded but mentally acknowledged that his RIO was right. He had been obsessively checking his watch at ever more frequent intervals.
"It's just that I hate being a passenger, and I really hate not being able to see where I'm going!" he told her by way of explanation.
"Hey cool your jets, Harm. We're here; we can't go anywhere until we go wheels down, so we might as well make the best of it." Beth couldn't resist teasing him a bit, after all, she thought, it was only payback for his crack about her being lucky not to have to wear a skirt on this flight.
Before Harm could think a suitably crushing response to Beth's sally the two of them became aware of the shape of the second pilot looming over them. "Major Andrew's respects, sir, Lieutenant, but she suggests that you might like to visit the flight deck now?"
Harm nodded his appreciation and had his lap strap undone almost before Edwards had finished speaking. Turning to Beth, he raised an inquiring eyebrow, "Oh, yes," she said in answer to his silent question, "wild horses wouldn't keep me away!"
Making their way up the ladder to the flight deck they were welcomed by the airplane's captain, who introduced herself as Kendra Andrews.
"I figured that an aviator would be getting pretty bored just sitting back there," she grinned, "What do you fly?"
"Tomcats, normally" Harm replied.
"OK," Kendra Andrews drawled, "Well... this baby is a little bigger than an F-14, and maybe not quite so agile, but it does what it was designed for!" Major Andrews grinned and indicated two fold-up seats behind the pilot and second pilot's positions. "I invited you up so you could share the highlight of the flight," she announced. "We have an RV to make - we'll be refuelling from a KC-135 out of Tinker AFB. Thought you might like to see how the professionals do it."
"Flying boom?" Harm asked, his interest piqued.
"Yeah, delivers more gas and quicker than drogue and probe, and when you've got gas tanks the size of this bad girl's then speed in delivery is a good thing."
"Uh-huh, but isn't manoeuvring a bird this big into position a slow job?" Harm asked.
"It can be," Andrews admitted, "That's why we try to get it right first time every time!"
Harm nodded, he could see the sense in that, and as he and Andrews stopped talking he could hear that Captain Edwards was speaking on the radio. Finishing his conversation, he turned to his pilot, "He's at Angels three-five, forty miles ahead of us and on the same course, so all you have to do boss-lady is keep this thing straight and level and fly right on to his boom."
It wasn't many minutes before a speck in the sky ahead of them turned into the shape of the tanker aircraft, and the second pilot started to call the range and closing rate.
Although Harm had frequently disparaged the flying skills of Air Force pilots, especially those that fast jet pilots dismissed as 'bus drivers' he was forced to admit to himself that Major Kendra Andrews had skills - different skills maybe - that placed her in the top flight of fliers as with miniscule adjustments of the stick she guided her huge charge into position below and behind the tanker and then held it steady, allowing the tanker's boom operator to make the connection, and then with further tiny adjustments to the controls, she compensated for the constantly changing weight of her aircraft as the fuel gushed into its enormous tanks.
As the fuel tanks reached capacity and the tanker's boom was withdrawn, Kendra Andrews breathed a sigh of relief, "It's not quite as tricky as drogue and probe," she admitted, "But it still takes a bit of concentration!"
"More than a bit, Major," Harm agreed with a smile, "that was some pretty damn' good flying." He paused for thought for a few seconds, before his grin became broader, "Of course, if you ever tell anyone I said that, I shall deny it."
"Of course!" Kendra Andrews laughingly replied.
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"So what happens now, Major?" Harm asked as he and Beth watched the marines deplane, noting that their baggage remained tied down on the pallets that occupied the rear third of the aircraft.
"Well, while the Jarheads are stretching their legs, and chowing down, we refuel, load 'em up again and then head out into the wide blue yonder. Ultimate destination: Iraqistan."
Harm nodded, "Well, good luck and clear skies, Major!"
Kendra Andrews drew herself up into the position of attention, "Thank you, sir!"
Harm adopted the same position, "No, thank you, Major." He waited for a couple of more seconds before turning and with Beth Maartens on his heels he headed or the Flight Operations building for his debrief.
The board was being run by a Lieutenant Commander he didn't recognise, but who introduced himself as Tom Findlay, and in answer to his query as to the whereabouts of Keeter or Skates, told Harm that they were still in Florida, there was nothing due in from Pensacola until the morning at the earliest, and they hadn't yet received the manifest, so although it was probable that Commander Keeter and Lieutenant Commander Hawkes were scheduled for that flight, he wasn't yet in a position to confirm their ETA.
Harm nodded his acknowledgement and then he and Beth produced the signed receipts for the F14 they had delivered to Miramar and left Ops, Harm escorting Beth on her way to the female BOQ, before he returned to the parking lot to find Jen's escort and head for Falls Church.
As they reached the door to the female BOQ, Harm turned towards his temporary RIO and extended a hand, "Beth, it was a pleasure flying with you," he told the young woman, "I'd be more than happy to have you as my back-seater at any time".
"Thank you, sir. The pleasure is mutual, sir, but the privilege was all mine."
Harm nodded and grinned, "Well, any time I'm flying, I'll let you know! Goodnight, Lieutenant!"
Beth snapped to attention, "Goodnight, sir!"
Harm waited until she closed the door behind her before turning away to look for the Escort. Throwing his sea-bag in the trunk, he seated himself in the old Ford before he fished his cell 'phone out of his pocket and scrolled down to the speed dial menu and called the first number on the display...
"Rabb residence..."
"Jen, sweetheart?"
"Oh, Harm...!" Jen cried in a cross between a sob and a wail.
"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" Harm asked in alarm.
"No, nothing... I just missed you, and I'm just so happy to hear your voice again!" Jen sobbed.
"Hey, hey, hey, power down, beautiful... if you're so happy, why are you crying?"
"These are happy tears, stoopid!" Jen sobbed, and this time Harm could hear the smile in her voice.
"Well, surprise, surprise, I'm on my way home. I'm at Andrews and I should be back in Falls Church in about..."
"Forty-five minutes," Jen sniffled, finishing his sentence for him.
"How...?"
"Did I know?" Jen asked with an audible gulp, "Simple; as soon as I got in I called Frank and your mom to find out what time you left, and then did the math. Besides, I know how long it should take to get from Andrews to here. So just hurry up and get home... and drive carefully, OK? I love you."
"Oh, not as much as I love you, sweetheart!" Harm grinned and closed the 'phone with a snap, before turning the key in the ignition and peeling out of the parking lot.
The forty minute drive back to Falls Church was sufficient to convince Harm that he and Jen really needed to talk about getting her a replacement car - among other things, and that Loren needed to replace the Miata might just make it easier to persuade Jen of the necessity of trading in the Escort.
The front door opened just as he pulled in alongside the Lexus and he had barely stepped out of the car when Jen's arms were around his neck, her body moulded against him and her mouth devouring his. Harm returned her kiss with interest until finally the need to breathe broke them apart.
"Wow," he murmured, as Jen buried her face in his shoulder, "If that's the sort of welcome home I get, maybe I should spend more weekends away from home!"
"Don't even think it about it, sailor!" Jen admonished him, "If I had my way, I'd never let you out of my sight again!"
"Yeah... but given the sort of welcome home I just got, what sort of incentive could you offer that would make me not want to repeat the experience?"
Jen reached up, and balancing herself with her finger-tips on his shoulders, she rose on tip-toes and kissed lightly, "That demonstration will have to wait until after lights out, sailor! In the meantime, there's pizza keeping warm in the oven, and Alexandra's waiting to say goodnight to her favourite uncle."
Harm kept his hands on her waist for a moment and looked at her levelly, "Nice try, Jen, but we need to talk, seriously. You just about scared me out of three years' growth!"
Jen dropped her eyes, "I'm sorry about that, Harm, really. But it wasn't totally our fault."
"No, I know it wasn't," he admitted as he dragged his sea-bag out of the trunk, but I was so scared when I couldn't get hold of you, and I was so mad at you!" he added as Jen closed the front door behind them.
Jen and Harm walked through into the living room, where Loren had put Alexandra back in her porta-crib, and standing, walked across the room to stop and hold both her hands out to him, "Welcome home, Harm," she said calmly, but carefully watching his reaction.
Harm took both her hands in his, "I am so glad to see you all in one piece!" he told her, as he released her hands and sank down onto the couch, snagging Jen around the waist as he did so and pulling her down onto his knee.
"We're just as glad to be home safely, too!" Loren declared, "Almost as glad to be home as we were to reach Grams' place on Saturday!"
"Grams, huh?" he questioned with a lift of an eyebrow, but then he felt the sense of relief that was still in her voice. "Was it that bad?"
Loren nodded, "I went through some bad weather when I was deployed on the Tarawa, but that was in the open sea, with nothing near us for hundreds of square miles, but that road... scared me" she admitted frankly.
"Why didn't you turn round, and come home?" he asked his face creased in honest puzzlement.
"Well..." Jen said uncomfortably, "the storm was moving north to south, so if we'd turned round, we'd have been travelling with it, and I thought it would be over quicker if we travelled through it..."
Harm nodded, yes, that did make sense, but Jen hadn't finished, "And then when we couldn't get any cell reception, we couldn't get hold of Grams to say we... we weren't coming, and I figured we'd be able to make it that evening, except that the State Troopers closed the roads, and besides..." she hesitated.
"Yes, go on..." he encouraged her
"I didn't want anyone to think that I might be afraid of a bit of bad weather," she finished lamely.
"Were you afraid?" he asked.
"Not really... there were one or two scary moments, like when the car was hit..."
"The car was hit?" Harm almost yelled.
"Sssh," Loren hissed, indicating the porta-crib, "I've only just got her back to sleep!"
"Sorry, Loren," Harm apologised, but continued to glower at Jen, "What do you mean the car was hit?"
"We were just driving - well, crawling along the road - and something, maybe a bit or broken branch or something else caught by the wind just knocked into the side of the car. It was a bit scary, but there's only some paint scraped..."
Harm looked at them both in turn, "H'mm..."
"It's true, Harm," Loren confirmed Jen's story, "it did give us a fright, but there's no major damage to the car, and none at all to us!"
Harm sat in thought for a moment or two. Given the circumstances he knew he would have done the same as Jen and Loren, it was just unfortunate that the same bad weather that had put them at risk had made it impossible for them to tell anyone that they were alright. By their own admission, they'd had a scare or two, and it might be that was enough to teach them a lesson.
He pulled Jen in a bit closer, and planted a soft kiss on the side of her neck before he let her pull back, "OK, you did what you thought was best. I wasn't there, so I shouldn't try and second-guess you! Now, did someone mention pizza in the oven?"
By mutual consent they move through to the kitchen where they split an extra-large roast vegetable pizza and a wheel of garlic bread between the three, and Jen and Loren brought Harm up to date with things in Bellville, while he, to an accompaniment of their somewhat shame-faced giggle explained the telephone watch that he Frank and Beth had shared on the Friday night.
Jen shook her head in mock-sorrow, "So you inveigled this poor Lieutenant to La Jolla under the pretext of being able to enjoy herself on the sun-deck only to make her stand watches! You ought to be nearly as ashamed of yourself as Loren!"
"Me?" Loren exclaimed indignantly, "What did I do?"
"Oh, Harm, you should have seen her!" Jen declared, her eyes dancing with laughter, "Poor David Medwick, she sighed, "It's a wonder that Loren didn't give him frostbite!"
"It was no such thing!" a furiously blushing Loren protested over Jen's laughter, "I was perfectly civil to him!"
"Yes, you were so civil that you nearly bit my head off when I gave him our number!" She turned to Harm, "He was very good to us, and looked after us all night in that church, so I told him to call sometime this week when he found out what his schedule was, and I said we'd invite him to dinner!"
"Yes, of course we must!" Harm enthused, "Did I ever tell you that he and I shared the same cabin on the Henry?"
"Can we please change the subject?" a still red-faced Loren interrupted.
"What, getting all embarrassed, Loren?" Jen teased her and then started to chant, "David and Loren sitting in a tree..."
"Jen! If you finish that, I will kill you. And," she paused for emphasis, "there's not a court in the country would convict! And there is actually, something serious that I need to ask."
Harm and Jen exchanged looks and then turned their attention back to Loren. Jen reached out a hand to cover Loren's as it lay on the table.
"Go on, sweetheart," Jen encouraged her.
Loren nodded and drew a deep breath, "Saturday night, the shooting woke me up too... and I did go downstairs..."
"Shooting?" Harm interrupted his voice alive with worry.
"Ssh. Later!" Jen told him.
Loren smiled, "Thanks Jen. anyway, Grams and I had a bit of talk, and then..."
"Then what, Loren?" Harm encouraged her.
"Then she asked me if I would consider legally changing my name to Rabb," Loren finished with a rush of breath.
Harm blinked, "Wow!"
Jen sat looking, open-mouthed, between her husband and her friend, while the silence grew and Loren dropped her gaze to the table top while she drew aimless finger doodles on the surface and fretted silently.
"Wha..." Jen cleared her throat and tried a second time, "What did you say?"
"I... I said that I'd have to run it past Harm and Trish, and if they had no objections, then, yes, I'd change my name..."
Jen gasped and tears sprung to her eyes, she looked once at Harm and read his expression and then turned back to the blonde officer, "Oh, Loren, sweetheart," she choked out.
Harm silently stood and looked Loren, his face unreadable, but Jen could tell that he was fighting his emotions. He stood silently for a good few seconds before he knelt on one knee next to Loren's chair, and opening his arms, he said softly, "Loren, I would be proud, honoured and delighted if you saw fit to change your name to ours."
Loren looked at him through her own tear misted eyes, before she let herself slide forward into his embrace and bury her face against his chest.
xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
Later in the dark, warm comfort of their bed, Jen raised her head from her husband's chest, "Are you sure you're alright with Loren changing her name?" she queried.
"No, I'm fine with it. Do you have a problem with her taking our name?"
Jen sighed, "No, I don't have a problem, and in a way I get it..."
"Oh?"
"Yeah... Loren had a crappy childhood - she told me a lot that first weekend in La Jolla - and, well I guess, she's fought so hard for so long and was so ruthless about it as Loren Singer, well, now that she's changed, she needs to be somebody else, you know? Like she's put the past behind her, and your - our - family have been so instrumental in effecting that change, and for perhaps the first time in her life, making her feel loved, and Frank and Trish and you have all told her, and shown her in so many different ways, that she's part of the family, that she now wants to be a part of the family..."
Harm considered Jen's words and smiled, "I knew when I married you that you were smart and beautiful, but where did you suddenly get to be so wise?"
Jen chuckled softly, "Psych 101, The Human Mind - the course I'm studying on line!"
"H'mm... well I'd rather study Physiology 101, hands-on, right now," Harm murmured suggestively as he slid the said hands under Jen's T-shirt.
"Right backatcha, Commander!" Jen replied eagerly as she raised herself above him and lowered her head for a kiss.