June 2006

Harm had arranged a fancy dinner to celebrate that the Navy and the Marine Corps had decided that the JLS should continue to be a functional command. They were alone for the weekend while Mattie was with her father in Blacksburg and Logan was with Trish and Frank. They had just signed the adoption papers. They had so much to be happy for.

It was their anniversary weekend. It was a year since they had agreed to get engaged and flip a coin to see who would follow who where. Harm had a surprise for Mac too. For her leave in July they were spending a week in Beallsville on the farm left to him by his grandmother. Mac had still not been there. Mac had met Harm's grandmother a few times, but since Sarah Rabb the first, had died three years back she would never get to see the life Harm had gotten now.

"You look beautiful," Harm complimented when Mac walked into the kitchen.

"Do you recognize the dress?" she wondered as she spun around.

"Yeah, you wore that one when we flipped the coin," he smiled as he walked over and kissed her softly.

"One year," she said as the kiss ended.

"One year," he repeated. "A lot has happened."

"I never thought I could have this life. After my endometriosis diagnosis, I had given up on the idea," she smiled warmly. "And now we have all this. I've never been happier."

"Me neither," he cupped her face. "And I know I haven't managed to give you the one thing you really want yet, but I haven't given up on that."

Mac smiled cleverly. "Well, about that," she showed a stick she had held in her hand.

Harm studied the stick. "Uh?" he took it from her and studied it. "Is this a pregnancy test?"

Mac nodded. "Yes. The doctor confirmed it this morning. I couldn't tell you until I was absolutely sure, but we did it."

"We're having a baby?" Harm still couldn't really grasp what he had been told.

"Yes," Mac smiled brightly. "All the effort finally paid off."

"Wow," he hugged her close. "This is amazing."

Saturday

After last night's overwhelming news Harm woke up with a pang. He had so many questions he realized. He had no idea what this meant for Mac, what they could expect, and what they had to think about. He knew very little about pregnancies. He hadn't really thought about this part of it since he'd been mostly focusing on what they needed to do to get pregnant. They had made love last night and even though Mac had assured him that it was okay, he had never been more careful.

"Good morning," she said and snuggled closer to him.

He put his arms around her. "Good morning. How are you feeling?"

"I feel great," she let out a sigh. "Happy."

"Me too," he hesitated.

"But?" she wondered.

He chuckled. "I just realized that I don't know the first thing about pregnancy."

"We'll figure it out together," she promised as she lifted her head to look at him. "

He turned towards her and propped himself up on an elbow. "Tell me what the doctor said one more time."

She smiled. "That they would follow me up closely. That I should continue to live my life as I normally do. That I should eat healthily and exercise. I'll have my restrictions about being in the field though. But I seldom am so it won't be much of a change."

"Okay," he smiled and reached out and put his hand on her belly. His son or daughter was growing there.

"It's pretty amazing," Mac let out a happy sigh as she enjoyed his caresses. "I just don't know what I'm going to do when the baby comes."

"What do you mean?" he moved the sheet away from her exposing her upper body. He kissed her belly softly.

"If I'm going back to work," Mac admitted.

"You want to quit?" he was surprised but thinking about it, it made sense. Mac had wanted this baby so badly it made sense that she'd want to focus on being a mommy when the baby arrived.

"I'm thinking about it." She inhaled sharply as his hand moved over her belly, reaching her exposed breasts. He had the ability to make her crazy with just small touches.

Harm let his mouth trail kisses the same way his hands had moved. She did have a spectacular body.

"If you keep that up we won't get out of bed yet," she warned.

"There's no rush," he reminded her.

Later they enjoyed a long walk on the beach before they decided to stop by an ice cream booth and have ice cream. They talked about their hopes and dreams, and their fears.

"I have a good feeling," Harm said as they sat down on the sand.

Mac sat between his legs and leaned back. "I hope your feeling will turn out to come through."

"When do you want to tell people?" Harm wondered after a little while.

"Not yet. It's still early," she said with hesitation. "I should get past the first trimester first. It feels safer to tell people then. In case… You know."

"I know," he kissed her neck and held her closer. "But I have a good feeling," he repeated what he had said earlier.

"I'm not going to worry about it," she promised. "But let's keep it between us for now."

"Of course," he agreed.

The next day

After picking up Logan from Trish and Frank's house they went to the beach. They made sandcastles and enjoyed lunch outside. Harm loved watching Mac's maternal side. She was so far away from the tough Marine Colonel when she was with Logan. Her wide smile and the way her eyes sparkled. Harm knew she loved every moment she got to spend with her family.

"You look happy," Mac said.

Harm hadn't noticed that he had been observed. He moved over to his wife and son. "I am," he bent down and lifted Logan up. "Come on, let's fly."

"Yes, Daddy! Fly!" Logan yelled and put his hands up.

"That's my boy," Harm said as he held Logan above his head.

Mac laughed softly. Her heart was bursting with love for her two boys.

Later that night

Harm had been to pick up Mattie from the airport. They had enjoyed dinner and gotten caught up on Mattie's trip to Blacksburg. The girl seemed happy and she was talking about going there for a few weeks over the summer.

"Anything new around here?" Mattie wondered.

Harm and Mac's eyes met and they both smiled. "Nah, it's the same," Harm said.

"You guys look happy," Mattie pointed out.

"We are," Mac smiled. "Life is pretty good. And you're back home so the family is together again"

Mattie appreciated the last statement. "I'm happy to be back. I missed you guys."

"We missed you too," Harm said.

"Do you guys mind if I get Logan ready for bed? I bought him a new book that I'd like to read for him," Mattie said as she stood and took her plate to the sink.

"No, you go ahead I know he missed you," Mac said.

Mattie smiled. "I missed him too."

Later

Harm found his wife in their home office.

"Are you working all night?" he wondered.

"No, just preparing for a new week. You?" she wondered.

"I'm all caught up," he reassured as he sat down across from her. "I had a chat with Mattie."

"Yeah?" she knew he had something on his mind.

"Tom has been asking her if she was considering moving home," he admitted.

Mac nodded. "And?"

"Mattie wishes to stay with us," Harm said thoughtfully. "I don't think she completely trusts that her father will stay sober."

"Has he shown signs of drinking?" Mac wondered.

"No, according to Mattie Tom is in great shape. He's working again and he seems to have found a way to stay away from alcohol," Harm reassured.

"It gets easier," Mac said as she leaned back in her chair. "There are different types of alcoholics and I suspect that Tom's alcoholism is his way of feeling better when his life gets hard. It dampens the pain. His problem isn't staying sober when life feels problem-free, it is to stay sober when life throws obstacles in his direction."

Harm nodded. "Do you ever think about drinking?"

"No," she answered honestly. But my drinking was mostly to get away from everything. I've found other ways of dealing with my past. I tried to go back and deal with things that way after Dalton died, but I'm not going back there again," she reassured.

"So you've never wanted a drink after that?" Harm wondered.

Mac hesitated. "After Sadiq Fahd, Webb was drinking. He left this half-empty glass at my apartment and for a second, in my anger, I considered it. But I broke the glass."

"That was inconsiderate of him," Harm pointed out.

"Yeah, but he wasn't very considerate. He almost got me killed," she reminded her husband.

Harm hesitated. "I will never understand your relationship with Webb," he admitted.

"Yeah, well, join the club," she said with a half-smile. "It was what it was, can we just leave it at that?"

He nodded. "Sure."

"Why are we talking about Webb?" she wondered.

"We're not, we're talking about Tom," Harm pointed out as he stood. "I think Mattie is making the right decision by wanting to stay here. But I'm biased. I keep picturing him at the hospital after Mattie's accident. He was a mess."

"I agree with you, and I feel that Mattie's wish is the most important. What's more, is that it's our job to protect her. If we feel she's better off here, we fight to keep her," Mac reasoned.

Harm smiled. "I agree. And there won't be a fight. Tom says it's up to Mattie."

"Good," Mac smiled.

Harm turned to leave the room.

"Harm?"

He turned in the doorway. "Yeah?"

"Do you worry about me drinking?" she questioned.

"No," he answered point-blank. "You've come a long way since Dalton. And I know you wouldn't do anything to hurt the kids."

"Or you," she added with a sweet smile.

He smiled "Come to bed."

She nodded. "I'm right behind you."