Chapter Thirty-Five
People Vs. Mac

WEEK 23-PART FOUR

1400 EST
BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL
BETHESDA, MARYLAND

The TV in Mac's hospital room could only get three channels, and none of them had anything interesting on. That led her to her go-to activity for when she had nothing else to do.

Napping.

She had just closed her eyes and had gotten into a comfortable position when there was a knock at the door. She groaned, burying her head into her silk pillow. (not the one that Harm and Mic were throwing around, the other one)

"Who is it?" she called sweetly, trying to act extra pleasant to make up for her previous outburst. She just wanted to let the nurses know, Hey, I'm not a hostile patient. I'm actually a lovely person. I'm just under an obscene amount of stress right now.

The nurse who had been assigned to guard Mac's door poked her head in. "There's someone here to see you."

Mac frowned "Who is it?"

"It's me, ma'am."

Recognizing the voice immediately, Mac craned her neck to see around the nurse. "Bud?" her eyebrows shot up.

"Is he supposed to be here?" the nurse asked.

"Ummm...I guess?" Mac nodded. She was suspicious at first, but then she remembered that Bud was harmless. "Yeah, let him in."

Bud walked in, and the nurse closed the door. Before he could reach Mac's bedside though, she held up a hand. Bud stopped in his tracks. "If you're here on behalf of either Harm or Mic, I don't wanna hear it. Unless you want security to kick you out."

"Oh, I'm not here because of them, ma'am. I'm here because I got admitted."

"What?" she sat up. It was then that she noticed the small bandage on Bud's temple. "What happened?"

He blushed. "Well ma'am, seeing you faint just...made me faint, I guess."

"How come? Surely you've seen worse." Thank God, there's at least one man that I know who cares about me, she thought bitterly.

"Can I sit?" Bud asked, and Mac nodded.

Bud pulled up a chair. "Ma'am, I am so sorry."

Mac was grateful for the apology, but it was coming from the wrong person. The two people she wanted an apology from weren't even allowed to see her.

"About what, Bud? You don't need to apologize for Harm and Mic-"

"It's not that, ma'am," Bud sighed. He looked like a child who'd gotten in trouble with his teacher. "You see, I don't know if Commander Brumby told you this-he probably didn't-but him showing up is all my fault."

Confused, Mac stared at Bud for a few moments. Then out of the fog that was her mind lately, the faint memory of the comment Mic made when he first arrived came back to her. "Bud-"

"Ma'am, with all due respect, can I finish?"

"Sure," Mac yanked the pillow that was wedged under her hip out, fluffing it. She had a feeling she was going to have to get comfortable for this. "And you can call me Mac, Bud. I'm in a hospital bed trying not to go into preterm labor, call me Mac."

"Alright, ma'am."

Mac sighed. It was worth a try, she thought, deciding to let it go; Bud was never not going to pull rank on himself. "What were you saying?"

"Well, a couple of weeks ago, Commander Brumby-should I call him Mic? Has he officially reinstated his commission?"

"Bud, how would I know?"

"Good point, ma'am," he acknowledged, continuing. "Anyway, Commander Brumby emailed me and asked me how everyone was doing. I guess he asked me because I was going to be his best man, or because he didn't want to talk to you."

He probably didn't want to talk to me, Mac silently answered.

"And when I went to answer, I told myself to absolutely not mention anything about you and Commander Rabb having a baby."

"I see," Mac nodded.

"But, I should've proofread it before I hit send, because I mentioned the baby. I didn't mention Commander Rabb, though."

Mac smirked, "That's worth some brownie points." she said. The comment was meant as a joke, but Bud took it seriously.

"Not too many, ma'am. But that's not the point. Anyway, right after I hit send, I noticed what I said. I said, right in the middle of the email, "Everyone's so excited for Colonel Mackenzie's baby." And you know ma'am, once things get sent, they can't get unsent."

"I'm aware."

"Commander Brumby didn't answer, so I assumed that was all. But then he showed up the other night and I knew it was because of what I did."

"Bud, you can't control Mic."

"I know ma'am," Bud replied. "But if I hadn't said that, he wouldn't be here. And you wouldn't be so upset-" his eyes widened. "Are you upset, ma'am?"

"At you?" Mac asked. Bud nodded. "Of course not," she answered. "It was an honest mistake. Not to mention, I got myself in this situation. I should've told Mic as soon as I found out I was pregnant. I can't expect you to lie on my behalf."

"So you don't blame me?"

Mac laughed. "How could I?"

Bud didn't say anything, but he looked visibly relieved. He ended up staying for a little bit, him and Mac making small talk which gave Mac a much needed distraction from everything going on. For a little while she was able to forget about the drama with Harm and Mic, all the stress she was under at work, and the ever-growing to-do list she had to get done before the baby came.

"Alright, I hate to break up the party, but the Colonel needs to have her blood pressure taken," Mac's nurse said as she entered the room. Bud got to his feet.

"You can stay if you want, Bud," Mac said quickly. As much as she could use a nap, Mac desired some company, and it wasn't like neither she nor Bud could just walk out of the hospital.

"I wish I could ma'am, but Harriet's coming by in a little while to have with me," Bud replied. "But I'll send her your way if she has the time."

"Okay Bud, thank you."

"No problem, ma'am."

Once Bud left, the nurse looked at Mac. "He's the only nice visitor you've had today," she observed as she wrapped the blood pressure cuff around Mac's upper arm.

Mac sighed. "I know."

Melinda was in the middle of surgery, her fourth c-section of the day, when she heard the OR doors swoosh open and someone walked in.

"Melinda," Chief Swanson said. "We need to talk."

"About what, chief?" she asked. "I'm five seconds away from being elbow deep in a woman's uterus."

"I just received a phone call from Admiral Chegwidden. Once you're done here, can you explain to me why you thought it was a good idea to go into the office of the Judge Advocate General and go on a tirade?"

Melinda paused. "Of course, sir."

1515 EST
BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL

BETHESDA, MARYLAND

After getting her ass handed to her by Chief Swanson, Melinda sat alone in the same break room where she'd confronted Nurse Joy. Drowning her sorrows in a cup of pitch black coffee. Usually she loaded her coffee up with sugar, but she figured a bitter cup would compliment her bitter mood.

Melinda knew she brought all of this on herself, but that provided little comfort. She didn't like practicing the art of self-pity, but she figured she'd make a special exception for today.

"Here."

A hand appeared, holding three packets of sugar. It was a left hand, a familiar left hand with a familiar gold band on the ring finger.

Melinda sighed. "What are you doing?"

Nathan sat down in the seat across from Melinda. "Sugar," he announced.

"I don't like pet names. I've never liked pet names."

"I know that," Nathan smirked. "I've known you for fifteen years, just because we're getting divorced doesn't mean I stop knowing you. And I know you only drink coffee with an obscene amount of sugar," he slid the packets of sugar across the table to Melinda.

Melinda smiled despite herself, taking the sugar packets and opening them. "Did you come here to gloat?"

"No," Nathan said. "I am coming to see if you're okay, though."

"Let me guess, everyone's talking about how Chief ripped me a new one," Melinda poured the sugar into her coffee cup.

"Not everyone. I'm pretty sure the people in the morgue don't know yet."

Melinda rolled her eyes. "Good to know."

Nathan paused, drumming his fingers on the table. It was something he did that always annoyed Melinda, but she didn't say anything. Nathan always drummed his fingers when he was thinking, and Melinda missed having conversations where both of them were thinking.

"You know," he said. "You've always advocated fiercely for your patients, and I've admired that."

"But…?"

Nathan smirked. "But, you did cuss out the Judge Advocate General of the United States Navy."

"I didn't cuss at him," Melinda corrected. "I cussed in front of him. There's a difference."

"Still, it was something you did."

Melinda nodded. "You're right. It was something I did. A very stupid thing I did."

"It was a very Melinda Gardner thing to do. Which doesn't automatically equate to stupid."

"What does it equate to?"

Nathan grinned. "It equates to being incredibly passionate and acting impulsively because of it, which is a good thing"

"It is?" Melinda looked at him skeptically.

"It is when you have good intentions, and are doing it for someone other than yourself. And I think that's what you were doing," Nathan told her with a shrug.

"You do?"

"Yeah, I do," Nathan nodded. You were trying to help Colonel Mackenzie. We both know you didn't drive all the way to Falls Church to feed your ego. You can do that here."

Melinda rolled her eyes. "Just when I catch you being nice…"

"I gotta keep you on your toes, Mel."

A moment of silence passed between the two of them. Melinda took a sip of her coffee, relishing the sweeter taste. She sat the mug down. "Do you think I read the ultrasound wrong?" she finally asked.

Nathan looked up. "What ultrasound? Sarah Mackenzie's?"

Melinda nodded. "I know she wasn't forthcoming about all of her sexual history, but I can't help but to wonder if I read the ultrasound wrong. Because if I did, and she's a couple of weeks father along-even if it's only a week, then Mic Brumby's the father. Which means I'll probably get sued because I told her that Harmon Rabb was the father."

"You didn't read the ultrasound wrong, and you didn't definitively tell her who the father was, either."

"And the Chief said that if I 'pulled another stunt like the one I did today' I'll get fired. So that's great."

"Melinda, you didn't read the ultrasound wrong," Nathan repeated.

"How do you know?" Melinda demanded.

Nathan didn't say anything, which didn't make Melinda feel an ounce better.

"I'm so sorry to bother you, but you have another visitor."

Mac groaned softly, turning over to see her nurse, Tess, poking her head into her room. "Another one?" Mac asked with a yawn.

Tess smiled. "You're Miss Popular, today."

"Yay!" Mac replied, feigning enthusiasm. Tess opened the door fully and in walked Harriet, who looked a little apprehensive.

"Is now a bad time, ma'am?" she asked. "Because I could come back later."

"Oh no Harriet, now's a fine time," Mac sat up. She awkwardly twisted around, attempting to re-fluff her pillow.

"Here, let me get that for you, ma'am," Harriet walked around the bed, taking the pillows and fluffing each of them.

Mac smiled appreciatively. "Thanks Harriet."

"No problem, ma'am," she replied. "How are you doing?"

"I'm doing...better," Mac nodded slowly. "As good as I can be, under the circumstances."

"That's great," Harriet smiled warmly, "You gave us quite the scare back at the office, ma'am," she said.

Mac sighed. "I'm sorry about that. Believe me, if I could've chosen not to faint in the middle of a staff meeting in front of everyone, I would have."

"Oh no ma'am, I completely understand."

"Do you want to sit?" Mac asked, nodding towards the chair Bud had sat in earlier.

"Sure, ma'am. I can't stay long, though. I have to pick up Little AJ from daycare soon."

"That's alright, I don't want to keep you too long."

Harriet shifted in her seat, and Mac suddenly noticed how uncomfortable she looked. That immediately piqued Mac's interest, as it was strange behavior for Harriet. Mac turned over completely to face Harriet, propping herself up on her elbow. It wasn't the most comfortable position, but Mac was willing to sacrifice comfort to find out what was bothering her friend.

"Is something wrong, Harriet?" Mac asked. Harriet's eyes widened and she blushed.

"Nothing's wrong, ma'am," she answered hurriedly. "I should be asking you that question."

"If something's bothering you Harriet, you can tell me," Mac insisted. "And you can call me 'Mac.'"

Harriet smiled faintly. "Okay," she bit her lip. "Umm...Mac, Bud told me why Commander Brumby came back."

"Oh," Mac frowned. Why would Harriet be that bothered by Mic? "Did Mic ask you to come here? Because he shouldn't have done that-"

"It's not that," Harriet spoke hastily, an odd expression on her face. It was one Mac had seen plenty of times before. It was the kind of expression someone wore when they had something they wanted to say but couldn't bring themselves to say it.

"Well then, what is it?" Mac felt the baby shift inside her, as if they were tuning in to see what Harriet had to say as well.

"Ma'am, I don't want to offend you-"

"Say what you have to say, Lieutenant," Mac didn't mean to pull rank, but Harriet beating around the bush was making her antsy. Plus, she had a sneaking suspicion she knew where this conversation was headed. A very bad sneaking suspicion.

"When you told me you were pregnant, you didn't tell me there was a possibility Commander Brumby was the father."

Harriet's words came out in a rush, but Mac heard each one of them. She didn't know what to say in her defense. Truthfully, Mac didn't believe there was much she could say in her defense.

"I know, Harriet," Mac said quietly, looking down at her hand, which was placed over her belly.

"I just don't understand how you could've thought that was a good idea, ma'am."

Mac sighed. "It was wrong. I shouldn't have lied like that-"

"Oh...I wasn't talking about you lying, ma'am," Harriet looked down.

"Then what are you talking about?"

Harriet shifted in the chair. Mac's eyes narrowed. "Answer the question, Lieutenant."

"Why did you think it was a good idea to sleep with two men in one day like that?"

This time, Mac didn't just hear every word, she heard every syllable. She got a seasick feeling, thinking back to when Lt. Singer called her a whore in the JAG bathroom and when her father called her his 'stupid, tramp, daughter' when she was sixteen.

"Don't you think that's a little whorish of you, ma'am?"

"I wish I had a son so I wouldn't have to deal with a such a stupid, tramp daughter."

Mac stared at Harriet. She looked even more uncomfortable than when she first walked. It suddenly clicked for Mac why Harriet had looked that way when she came in.

"It wasn't the same day," she said quietly. Mac swore she saw Harriet wince, but she wasn't looking at her. Mac couldn't bring herself to look at her. "Not that that's even any of your business."

The comments from Singer and her father hadn't hurt, because Mac had been able to see them coming. She expected Singer to be a bitch, she expected Joe Mackenzie to be a drunken ass, but she didn't expect anything like this from Harriet.

"Oh…"

"Yeah," Mac nodded. "So uh, did you plan this?" she asked. "When Bud gave you my room number, did you know you were gonna come down here and call me a whore? Or was it a spur-of-the-moment thing?"

Harriet's eyes widened, and her expression paled. "Mac, I-"

"Don't lie to me, Harriet. We both know what you meant."

"I didn't mean that, Mac," Harriet insisted, but her expression easily told Mac otherwise. Harriet had always been a bad liar, it almost made Mac want to laugh.

"Because you don't get to call me a whore," Mac said. "Especially after giving your daughter my name - you don't get to call me that."

The moment Mac said the words, she knew she shouldn't have. Harriet's expression was stricken, almost as though Mac had hit her. She quickly got up, grabbing her purse and leaving the room without a word.

If Mac wasn't completely out of tears, she would've cried.. Instead she turned over onto her back, staring up at the blank ceiling of the hospital room. She felt a flutter, followed by a small tumble.

"Are you practicing gymnastics?" she asked aloud, gently rubbing her belly. There was another flutter, and Mac sighed. "I know, I'm changing the subject. I'm a horrible person, aren't I?"

Mac felt a small tumble. "You're not giving me straight answers, kid," she turned back over, realizing her pillows needed to be fluffed again. "I won't be that mean to you," she said softly. "I promise. You just caught me on a bad day, that's all."

1950 EST
MCMURPHY'S TAVERN
WASHINGTON D.C

Nathan Gardner walked into the bar, not quite sure what to do. He'd never been to this bar before, but he'd heard good things about it from some of his coworkers. He decided today was as good a day as any to try it out. He stood in the entrance, trying to figure out his plan of action. He was pretty extroverted, but he also wasn't used to going out alone.

His eyes landed on an old jukebox, and Nathan found himself walking towards it without much thought. Nathan was surprised to see it was actually working, and began to look over the songs. After finding one he liked, he fished around in his pockets, and by some miracle he found a quarter.

Nathan picked the song and sat down at the bar. Moments later, Melinda Gardner walked into the bar. She didn't really like going to bars alone, but she didn't feel like being in her apartment alone, either. Granted, driving all the way into DC wasn't ideal, but this was the only bar that she knew Nathan never went to.

Turning away from the jukebox after picking a song she liked, Melinda spotted Nathan at the bar. She sighed and looked towards the entrance, contemplating a quick escape. But she didn't. Instead, she walked up to the bar and sat down right next to Nathan. It was like one of her friends from Manhattan, Laura, told her, "You two are working at the same hospital and living in the same city, you're bound to run into each other sometimes."

Melinda sat down next to Nathan. "Fancy seeing you here," she said. He looked up in surprise.

"Hey."

"Hey yourself," Nathan replied. "I didn't figure this place was your scene."

"It's not," Melinda shook her head. "But you know why I come here?"

"Why?"

"Because this is the only bar that I knew you didn't come to." she explained. "Apparently, I was wrong."

Nathan smirked. "I can stop coming here, if you want."

"Would you mind?" Melinda asked.

"No. I have other places. I can leave now, if you want," Nathan grabbed his coat and started to get up, but Melinda held out a hand to stop him.

"I'll let it slide tonight, though," she said. Nathan smiled and sat back down.

"You know," he said after some silence. "I think we're getting pretty good at being divorced."

Melinda nodded in agreement. "We are."

"It would really seal the deal if you signed the papers."

"Nathan-"

"Alright," he put his hands up. "I won't talk divorce. But can we talk shop?"

Melinda shrugged. "Depends on what it is."

"The Mackenzie paternity case," Nathan said, and Melinda's shoulders immediately sagged. "Look, before you start-"

"Nathan-"

"I have an idea," Nathan announced before Melinda could continue.

"And what is that?" Melinda asked.

"Have them take a fertility test. One of them might be infertile - the fathers I mean. It's pretty obvious Colonel Mackenzie is fertile.

Melinda paused, staring at Nathan for a few seconds. At first she was mad at him for having the nerve to bring up work, especially after the day she had, but now she was just mad that he came up with that idea before she did. He had always been the more creative one out of the two of them.

She couldn't help but counter with at least something. "That's a shot in the dark, though. They're both young, and healthy. More than likely, they're fine."

"It's worth a shot, though," Nathan said. "You never know."

Melinda nodded. "That's right, but there's the matter of getting them to agree to take the test. I can't just force them to let me take an ultrasound of their testicles and have them submit a semen sample."

Nathan smirked. "If you don't put it to them that bluntly, I think they'll agree," he said. "If they want to be that baby's father badly enough, they'll agree to do it."

As Melinda and Nathan were talking, Mic Brumby walked into the bar. He walked over to the jukebox and slipped in a quarter, heading over to the bar. He noticed there was a very attractive woman sitting there in a pink sweater, with long auburn hair cascading down her back.

Even though he was in DC for business (if finding out whether or not he was the father of Mac's baby could be counted as business) and not pleasure, Mic sat down next to her. He'd called Gillian three times before entering the bar, with no answer, so he took that as a sign that he could play the field a little bit.

It would only be flirting, though - he wasn't trying to get anyone else pregnant.

"Are you new in town?"

The woman turned around, her eyebrows shooting up. "No," she said. "But you are."

Mic's brow furrowed in confusion before it finally clicked. His eyes widened and the woman-Dr. Gardner-laughed.

"It's you," Mic said before he could stop himself. Dr. Gardner laughed harder and he blushed.

"It is me," she said, holding up her drink.

"It is I," the man sitting on her other side corrected, but she ignored him.

"It is me," she repeated, briefly glaring over her shoulder at the man. "Dr. Melinda Lorraine Bernard-Gardner, M.D. At your service."

"You don't need to say the 'M.D' at the end if you put the 'Dr.' in front," the man said. Dr. Gardner rolled her eyes.

"Seriously? Could you leave me alone for at least five seconds?"

The man shrugged. "Just trying to help you out, Mel."

Mic looked between the two of them and his smile dimmed. "Am I interrupting something?"

Dr. Gardner and the man both snorted in unison. "Oh God no," Dr. Gardner said. "We're divorced. There's nothing left to interrupt."

"We would be divorced if you would sign the papers."

"Jesus Christ-" Dr. Gardner took a breath, flashing Mic an apologetic smile. "Forgive him," she said. "He's from the Midwest, he likes to cut into conversations."

"And she's from New England," Dr. Gardner's husband said, someone Mic assumed was probably "The Other Dr. Gardner" he heard some nurses talking about at the hospital. "Which means she's pretentious and sticks her nose up at absolutely everything."

"Maybe I should head out-"

"No, no. Don't do that," Dr. Gardner's husband said. "Brumby, is it? Nathan Gardner."

The two of them shook hands, and a new song began to play from the jukebox.

"As I walk this land of broken dreams, I have visions of many things. But happiness is just an illusion, filled with sadness and confusion…"

Melinda looked at Nathan, and then back at Mic. "Did you guys pick this song, too?"

This is where I left off, I'm pretty sure. I know this angst is a lot, especially for a story that started out so light-hearted, but I promise everything will end up happily...you guys will just have to be patient :) Also I figured I'd throw in a little call back to the jukebox scene from season three, just for the hell of it. Why not?

Also I know it seems like Harriet's acting very out of character, but you guys will see why she's acting that way in a little while...

Thanks for reading!

-Harper