Chapter Thirty-Two
Three's Company. Four's A Crowd
WEEK 23-PART ONE
NOVEMBER 5TH, 2001
2100 EST
APARTMENT OF SARAH MACKENZIE
GEORGETOWN
Even though parties were generally fun occasions, the atmosphere at this party was bittersweet. It was Gunny's last week at JAG before he went overseas. His departure was hard for everyone, but seeing him go was especially difficult for Mac. She'd felt a kinship with him, not only as a fellow Marine, but also because she was the reason he'd taken the position at JAG in the first place.
For that reason, Mac felt obligated to be the one in charge of seeing him off. Gunny's goodbye party was being hosted at Mac's apartment. Usually Bud and Harriet's house was the epicenter for JAG parties, but Mac wanted to give them a break from hosting. Her apartment wasn't the most spacious, but luckily there were only a few close friends from JAG present.
Gunny was insistent that he didn't want any fuss, but Mac was insistent that he get a proper chance to bid everyone farewell. Finally, he caved, with the stipulation that it be a party in name only. Mac had been tempted to blow up some balloons left over from Harm's birthday party, but in the end she decided to honor his wishes.
To drive home the point that he didn't want to be the center of attention, Gunny stayed behind after everyone else left to help Harm and Mac clean up.
"You really didn't have to do this, Gunny."
"It's no problem, ma'am. You didn't have to do all of this for me."
Mac smiled, trying to hide the wave of sadness she suddenly felt. She could chalk it up to hormones, but she knew that Gunny leaving would have her this upset even if she wasn't pregnant. "It's the least we could do, Gunny."
Harm walked into the kitchen, carrying a pair of glasses to load in the dishwasher. "Yeah," he agreed. "I don't think Mac's going to like having one less Marine hanging around."
Gunny smiled and Mac rolled her eyes, slipping an arm around Harm's waist. "I can't help it if you sailors get a little boring from time to time," she said. Harm smirked.
JAG lawyers were pretty tidy people when it came to everything except their paperwork, so it didn't take the three of them that long to clean up Mac's apartment. In fact, the only thing they really had to do was load up the dishwasher. Harm had swept up in the living room, which had mainly been for show.
"Good luck with the baby, sir, ma'am," Gunny told Harm and Mac as he was getting ready to leave. They both smiled.
"You take care of yourself over there," Harm replied.
"Yeah. Stay safe," Mac did something completely out of character, even when factoring in pregnancy hormones, and pulled Gunny into a hug. From over her shoulder, Gunny gave Harm a wide-eyed look, to which Harm responded with a shrug and a grin.
"We're going to miss you," Mac told him when she pulled away.
"Trust me, ma'am. I'll miss you too, and JAG."
After Gunny left, Harm and Mac changed into their pajamas and retired to the sofa so Harm could give Mac a foot rub. "Do you wanna watch some TV?" he asked. Mac looked at him with surprise.
"You actually want to watch something?" she raised her eyebrows. "Usually it's like pulling teeth to even convince you to turn it on."
Harm smirked. "You've corrupted me."
"Good to hear."
Before they could pick what they watched to watch, Harm and Mac heard a knock at the door. They both exchanged confused glances.
"Maybe someone left something here," Mac said.
"Probably."
Harm made a move to get up, but Mac beat him to it. "I'll get it," she pulled her feet out of Harm's lap and got to her feet.
When Mac opened the door, she froze. Blinking a few times, Mac tried to remember if hallucinations were a common symptom of the second trimester.
"Hello, Sarah."
"Mic?"
"What the hell are you doing here?"
Surprisingly, that aggressive question came from Mac instead of Harm. Mic had actually been let into her apartment, which was farther than he was expecting to get. Judging by the expression on Mac's face when she saw him and the way Rabb immediately stood up, Mic thought he was going to get the door slammed in his face. He considered making it across the threshold to be good progress.
Mic smiled. "Just stopping by, Sarah."
Her eyes narrowed, arms folded across her chest right above her bump. "Are you positive?"
He shrugged. "Well, I heard the news and I decided I'd come by and wish you congratulations."
"Thank you," Mac answered curtly. Harm, who had been hanging back up until that point, stepped towards Mac. He was standing behind her with a hand on the small of her back as if he was her bodyguard. Harm had always acted like Mac's personal guard dog, even when Mic and Mac were together. Mic had found it irritating, even a little insulting, but now he just thought it was endearing. Of course Harm had to be chivalrous and swoop in to save Mac, left pregnant and broken-hearted by her terrible fiance.
"How did you know?" Harm asked. Mic had to stifle a snort at the way Harm was treating him. Like some sort of hostile witness who could act out at any moment.
"Bud told me-don't get mad at him. He didn't mean to. He accidentally let it slip over a phone call," Mic looked pointedly at Harm. "Don't worry, mate. I haven't been stalking her."
Harm scoffed. "That's good to know."
Mac shot him a glare over her shoulder, and Mic smirked. It was satisfying to know they weren't in the honeymoon phase and Harm was getting on Mac's nerves, just like Mic had.
"What do you want, Mic?" Mac demanded.
He shrugged. "We're having a baby, aren't we?"
The last thing Mic saw before he lost consciousness was Harm's fist flying at his face.
The first thing Mic saw when he regained consciousness was Mac's face.
"Mic, I'm so sorry."
"It's okay," he winced at the pain under his right eye. "I probably deserved it."
"You did," Mac replied as she handed Mic a baggie filled with ice. She wasn't any more keen on Mic coming back than Harm was, but she wasn't in support of him getting the shit knocked out of him. They had been engaged and in love at one point; Mac could only hold so much animosity towards him.
He did leave her in an airport, though. Mac did hold some animosity towards him for that.
"Where's Rabb?" Mic pressed the baggie against his steadily swelling eye. Some water dripped out of the baggie and into the kitchen sink. "I want to be ready for the next round."
Mac pursed her lips and sighed. "There won't be a next time," she assured him. "I'm making Harm stay in the bedroom until he's stopped thinking any murderous thoughts."
Mic smirked. "You have him trained well."
"Very funny."
A few moments of silence passed between the two of them. Mic was hunched over the sink with his ice pack, and Mac was watching him pensively. She swore she could hear Harm's foot falls as he paced in her bedroom. Their bedroom, Mac had to correct herself. Her and Harm were together. A couple. Mic coming back didn't change anything.
Up until that moment, Mac hadn't been able to process how she felt about Mic suddenly showing up on her doorstep. But now she was getting an idea of how she felt.
She was surprised she didn't hear Harm breaking stuff. She was even more surprised to find that she wanted to break something.
"Mic, why did you have to come back now?" Mac pushed his arm. It wasn't a forceful shove, and Mac wasn't trying to hurt him-Harm had already succeeded in doing that-she just needed to get her feelings out and breaking a few dishes seemed wasteful and melodramatic.
It wasn't just that Mic showed up, it was that he chose that night to show up. Mac was tired, and her feet hurt. She liked to think that Mic would've waited until the next morning to make his grand entrance if he knew how bad Mac's feet swelled after a day of walking on them.
"Because-"
"Because you left me in the middle of an airport? It took you this long to feel guilty?"
Mac purposely hadn't allowed herself to feel the sting of Mic dumping her, hence why she hopped into bed with Harm mere hours after Mic left. She thought herself to be over it, but seeing Mic's face brought back all the pain and embarrassment she felt that night when he took one look at her and walked away.
"No, Sarah," Mic looked at her and Mac saw the pain-emotional, not physical-in his eyes. "I felt guilty the moment I left, but you'd made your decision clear and I didn't want to make a fool of myself."
"So why are you coming back now?"
"I didn't know you were pregnant when I went back to Sydney."
"Mic, I didn't know I was pregnant when you went back to Australia. In fact, I wasn't even pregnant yet," she picked up a damp dish rag, only to slam it back down on the counter seconds later. "Do you think you're Blue's Clues or something?"
Mic wrinkled his nose. "Blue's Clues? Sarah, what are you talking about?"
Mac sighed. "I was babysitting Little AJ on Saturday," she explained. "It's a kids' show about a blue dog that finds clues and there's this guy that reads letters. You know what, nevermind. It's not important."
"You don't know that."
"Don't know what? Mic, I've seen at least twenty episodes of Blues Clues. I know what I'm talking about-"
"I meant you don't know you weren't pregnant when I left."
Mac frowned, her brow furrowing. "Mic, Harm's the father-"
"Do you know that?" Mic looked at her. Mac paused, suddenly feeling her confidence falter.
"Of course-"
"For sure? Did you get a paternity test?"
"No. I don't even know if you can yet," Mac was trying to maintain some level of snark, but she couldn't ignore the anxiety creeping up inside her. She knew what Mic was insinuating, and she would be lying if it wasn't something she herself had wondered. Those thoughts, which often came to her late at night, were always quickly chased away before they could take root. Now, Mac couldn't avoid them.
"Sarah, when Bud told me, I knew I had to come see you."
Mac certainly loved Bud, but in that moment she wanted to drive all the way to Arlington just to strangle him. Loose lips sink ships, she thought bitterly, That's like the Navy's catchphrase. How could he not know that?
Mic continued. "I couldn't in good conscience leave you alone when you could be carrying my baby."
"I'm not alone," Mac's tone was pure ice. "I have Harm-who is the father, by the way."
"Did one of your visions tell you that?"
That was the final straw for Mac. "You know what," she turned to face him. "Harm and I had great sex that night. While you were on the plane heading back to your little bungalow, Harm was giving me some of the best orgasms I've ever had. And he came inside me; he didn't pull out and finish on my thigh like you did half the fucking time we had sex-"
"I finished inside."
Mac scoffed, rolling her eyes. "When?"
Mic and Mac were far too involved in their argument to realize how absurd they both sounded. Thankfully there were no outside observers present.
"The last time we had sex. The night before I left," Mic said, taking the ice bag off his eye. "Sarah, I know you don't want to hear this, but I am entitled to be a part of that child's life if it is mine."
"Not if I don't want you to. This kid is mine before it's yours-or Harm's. Not to mention it's literally inside me," Mac wasn't usually one to raise her maternal hackles on a regular basis, but it had been awhile since they'd had a good time to shine.
"Come on, Sarah. Don't be like that-"
"Don't placate me, Mic."
Mic wanted to respond, but he saw the look in Mac's eyes and decided to back off. He needed to see to drive back to his hotel and he didn't want both eyes swollen shut.
"While we're being honest," he finally said. "Over the past five months I've had amazing sex with an amazing woman. Who actually takes her tops off at the beach-"
"So much for you being so guilt-ridden over leaving me-"
"Wait, you weren't topless?"
Both Mic and Mac looked up to see Harm standing in the kitchen doorway. He was looking at them with wide eyes.
"Harm, what on earth are you talking about?" Mac asked.
"In Sydney two years ago. You weren't actually topless?"
Mac huffed, feeling a pain shoot up her legs. Her feet were far too swollen for this.
2230 EST
HOME OF MELINDA GARDNER
SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND
It was the first night in two weeks where Melinda wasn't on call, so she decided to celebrate by going to bed at a sane hour. She was not pleased that, only one hour into her beauty sleep, her phone started ringing. Unable to see because of the silk eye mask she was wearing, she groped around blindly until her fingers finally found her cellphone.
Grateful it wasn't her pager, she answered. "Hello. Dr. Gardner speaking. I would just like to say that I am not on call tonight, so if this is medical related you can call Dr. Richardson. I don't have his number but I'm sure if you call the hospital they can get you in contact with him-"
"Melinda, it's me."
"Who is 'me'?"
"Sarah Mackenzie."
Melinda lifted her eye mask. "Mac? How did you get the number to my cell?"
"You wrote it on a napkin the night of the gala, stuffed it in Harriet's purse, and told her to give it to me."
"Oh...I don't remember that."
"You were kind of drunk."
Melinda groaned softly. "So I've heard."
"You also gave it to Bobbi Latham."
"Really?" Melinda frowned. "She hasn't called me."
"That's tragic and all, but that's not why I called you."
Melinda was really hoping that this wouldn't be a conversation that would require her to turn on the light, but it seemed like it would be. She sighed, turning on her bedside lamp. "Why did you call?" she asked.
"Are you free at all tomorrow to do an ultrasound?"
"I can check. Why? Do you think something's wrong?"
"No, my fiancé just wants to see the baby."
"Your fiancé?" Melinda's eyes widened. "Oh my God, did Harm propose?"
"No," there was an obvious edge in Mac's voice.
"Then who's your fiancé ?"
"Trust me," Mac snapped. "You don't want to know."
Being a doctor, diffusing tension was something Melinda did best. "Alright, alright," she conceded. "I'll see if I can fit you in tomorrow. Is there anything else you want to talk about?"
"I'll explain everything later. I can't talk anymore tonight; my feet are too sore."
Flashback
July 24th, 2001
Bethesda Naval Hospital
Nathan decided to take the stairs, figuring that Melinda wouldn't feel up to following him down four flights of stairs in heels. However, he knew better than to underestimate his wife, so he wasn't surprised to hear her heels clicking after him. At a much slower pace than his sneakers, but nonetheless coming after him.
"Do you think you can just walk out on me? After all these years-" Melinda demanded. Nathan turned around to see she was right behind him. He huffed. He'd forgotten how fast she could walk in heels.
"If anything, I should be the one walking out on you," she continued. "You cheated on me, remember?"
"Then why didn't you? You could've gone to the Vineyard and played a few rounds of bridge with your mother. If you wanted to get away from me, why the hell did you follow me down here?"
"Because I thought we could work things out-"
"Work things out?"
"Yes," Melinda smoothed her hands over her skirt. "I figured one of us could be the mature one and extend the olive branch-"
Nathan scoffed. "You? The mature one? That's rich."
"How so?"
"I told you I was unhappy years ago. I tried to get the two of us to work our problems out long before I even thought about cheating. But you know what you did?"
"No. Enlighten me. What did I do?"
The two of them were standing in the middle of the stairwell, their echoing voices giving their argument the dramatic effect a soap opera would be jealous of.
"You ignored me," Nathan said. "You told me to wait. Wait until you got published in this medical journal, wait until you did this interview, wait until you got settled at the clinic. Wait until you got done having coffee with fucking Bobbi Latham-"
"Don't make me out to be the bad guy."
"Why? That's what you did with me. Turned all of our friends in New York against me with some sob story, acting like you had no idea I would ever cheat."
"I didn't-"
"I moved down here because everyone back in Manhattan hates me, Melinda. Because of you."
"No, it's because you decided to bury our marriage troubles in some ex-sorority girl who went to your gym-"
"That's because-"
"And now what? It's Joy? Is she your new Barbie doll-"
"Jesus Christ, Melinda. Can you let me talk?" Nathan snapped. "That's always been your problem. You can't let anyone else talk. Do you like the sound of your voice that much?"
Melinda paused. "I'm-" she swallowed. "I'm just angry, Nathan."
"I'm angry too!" Nathan yelled. Melinda took a step back. "Goddammit, Melinda. I loved you. I was crazy about you. You're smart, you're gorgeous, you're funny. I loved you , but you put me on the back burner with everything-"
"I had work-"
"I was your husband!"
"What did you want me to do? Huh?" Melinda threw her hands up. "Quit being a doctor and become a housewife?"
"No! Melinda, I just wanted you to see past your ego for five seconds," Nathan ran his fingers through his hair. "You refuse to see anything from anyone else's perspective."
"Well, I doubt I have any ego left, seeing as I moved all the way down here just to try and get you back."
Nathan shook his head. "No, your ego's still there. Trust me. If it wasn't, you would realize you made just as many mistakes as I did."
Nathan continued down the stairs, and Melinda didn't have it in her to follow. "This isn't over!" she called after him.
"Yes it is," was Nathan's reply, "It's been over for a long time, you're just in denial."
For once, Melinda didn't have a clever reply. She sighed, the stairwell suddenly feeling lonely without an estranged husband to scream at. "Fuck," she said aloud, raking her fingers through her hair. It was then that she caught a glimpse at her watch.
She had an appointment in five minutes.
Trying to fix her hair as she went, Melinda found her way to the right floor after getting turned around for a few moments in the stairwell. She entered the room and came face-to-face with a very attractive, very happy couple. It took everything Melinda had to keep from rolling her eyes. The last thing she wanted to deal with that morning was a happy couple, but she was their doctor, so she would have to suck it up.
Taking a quick glance at the chart, Melinda asked. "Colonel Mackenzie, I presume?"
"Yes, that's me," the woman nodded, smiling. Melinda could instantly tell she was a first-time mom; she had it written all over her.
"And are you Mr. Mackenzie?" Melinda asked, looking at the man.
He shook his head. "No, I'm Commander Rabb. Harmon Rabb."
"He wishes he was Mr. Mackenzie, though," Colonel Mackenzie added, giving Commander Rabb a teasing glance.
Melinda smiled, shaking both of their hands. "Well, I'm Dr. Gardner. Melinda Gardner. I'll be your doctor today and hopefully for the rest of your pregnancy."
THE NEXT MORNING
1130 EST
BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL
BETHESDA, MARYLAND
"So how are we all doing? All three of you, because there are three of you here this afternoon. Four, if you count the fetus."
Melinda had dealt with some interesting cases before in Manhattan, but she wasn't expecting to encounter anything too abnormal when she moved to DC. She was expecting things at a military hospital to be a lot more dull. She expected everything to run smoothly and everyone be squared away.
As she looked at Mac and her two prospective co-parents, Melinda couldn't help but marvel at how wrong she had been. The other guy there, Mic, stuck out his hand with a smile.
"Mic Brumby," he said, his accent catching Melinda by surprise. Mac liked talking about her ex-fiancé just as much Melinda liked talking about her ex-husband, so Melinda knew next to nothing about the infamous Michael Brumby.
"Melinda Gardner," she replied with an equally cordial smile. Melinda knew that, as a doctor, she shouldn't have a bias when it came to patients, but she already had a feeling she liked Harm better than Mic.
You already know Harm though, she told herself, Give this guy a chance.
"Do you know the gender yet?" Mic asked, looking at Mac.
"No," Harm answered before Mac could open her mouth. She glanced at Harm before answering for herself.
"We decided we wanted it to be a surprise," Mac told Mic.
"What if I want to know the gender?"
"You're not the father, so you don't get to know," Harm replied.
Melinda looked between the three of them, taking a deep breath. She'd dealt with cases of questionable paternity before, and none of them had exactly been smoothing sailing. That conversation was going to have to wait until after the ultrasound, though. Whether Mic and Harm liked it or not, Melinda's first priority was mother and baby.
Trying to ignore the smoldering looks Mic and Harm were giving each other, Melinda smiled at Mac. The smile Mac gave back clearly screamed "Save me."
"Alright, let's take a look at things, shall we?"
Melinda placed the ultrasound wand on Mac's stomach, and Mic made a move to place a hand on Mac's shoulder. However, he was blocked by Harm, who swiftly stepped in the way.
"Are you two okay?" Mac asked them.
"I'm fine," They both answered in unison, looking to glare at each other.
Even though things on the outside were going awry, everything inside Mac's uterus was perfectly fine. Having one positive take away from the appointment, Melinda decided to move on into much dicier territory.
"So, let's talk shop," she said, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "We already know who the mother is; let's find out who the father is."
"It's me."
Melinda's smile dimmed and Mac groaned, burying her face in her hands.