A/N: This starts a series of little bits taken from the storylines of my various other stories. I didn't quite make it with this one, but I'd like to keep them around 1000 words or less, cuz ya know, these are just vignettes! This first one is from Ricochet, the story where Mac haunted Harm after Paraguay. Poor boy. The story ended happily, in case any of you were wondering.

Vignette One

Ricochet: Home

"Mac…sweetheart, I'm here, you're okay. Everything's okay. I'm here, baby." Harm spoke in quiet, soothing tones as his gentle fingers caressed Mac's forehead and cheeks, then stroked through her hair. He'd been dozing in the seat next to her bed, and her cry had awakened him with a start. Harm continued to run his hand over her hair, keeping up a steady stream of soothing words, but Mac still fought against the safety belts holding her on the gurney that served as her hospital bed on their flight back home.

"Mac, honey…" Harm placed his hand on her arm, not wanting her to pull her IVs out or dislodge any of her monitor wires, but she yanked it away.

"Let go of me!" she hissed, still straining against the belts, but Harm could tell her struggles were sapping what little strength she had. Her movements slowed and her eyes filled with tears, her body trembling under his hands, and his heart broke for her to see the fear in her eyes. He continued to speak to her, touch her, until he saw recognition in her eyes…

But then his heart shattered at her next words…

"Please, Harm…don't let them hurt me again. Get me off this table…please!" She struggled weakly at her bonds and then her body went limp with exhaustion, her tears now falling toward her ears. As he wiped her tears away, he choked back many of his own. His ninja girl looked so frail and tiny, gaunt, with a sickly pallor that frightened him beyond measure. The scars from the burns shed sustained when Sadik's camp was bombed were just as he'd remembered from her ghostly visits; they covered her right arm and the right side of her face, and from glimpses he'd had as the nurses cared for her, he knew they crisscrossed stomach as well. Her blankets concealed a shattered pelvis and a crushed right leg whose infection had been slowly and painfully leaching the life out of her. Even now, after multiple doses of antibiotics, she was still spiking fevers that made her body shake as she whimpered in pain.

It broke Harm's heart, though he also remained elated to have found her.

"Sir? I can sit with her if you like so you can catch some shuteye."

Harm looked up into the compassionate gaze of Victor Galindez. He knew there had been no officer that Gunny respected more than Mac, and after himself, there was no one Harm trusted more than Victor to look after Mac.

And yet…he just couldn't leave her side. It was almost as if he was afraid she'd vanish just as she had when she was a ghost if he wasn't constantly in contact with her.

"I'm fine, Gunny," he answered, though he could hear the fatigue in his own voice. He knew, though, that he wouldn't sleep until she was safe at Bethesda.

"Sir…at least go use the head and grab a bite to eat. You haven't moved since we took off."

"I said Gunny, I'm fine!" Harm snapped, but the sympathetic light in Victor's eyes didn't falter, and with a sigh, Harm finally nodded. "You're right. I-I'll go take a break. Thanks." The two men switched places, and then Harm did his best to choke down a granola bar before stepping into the tiny facilities that served the plane's passengers. There weren't many others on board—just a nurse and a flight paramedic along with the pilot and copilot, but Harm was grateful his stepfather had arranged for a larger airplane than usually used for a medical transport.

Once Harm finished his business and washed his hands, he stepped out of the head, intent on getting back to Mac…and suddenly found himself running up the aisle toward her even before he heard her scream.

Once again, Mac was thrashing as much as she could against the safety straps of her gurney despite Gunny's efforts to soothe her. The younger man stepped aside, and then Harm was once again trying to stop her flailing arms.

"Mac, come on honey…" She continued to struggle, cursing him, telling him to get away from her, telling him to get her off this goddamn table, and though he told her over and over she was safe, she apparently couldn't see anything else but that torture shack, where she'd been shackled to a blood and urine-soaked table as they did god knows what to her. "Sweetheart…"

Harm watched as her body gave up fighting, and then the nurse was at his side, injecting something into her IV.

"A sedative," she murmured. "But she fights it so hard…"

"That's Mac," Harm answered back, watching her eyes flutter shut. "She…she doesn't like to be out of control."

"She's a marine alright," the nurse nodded and Harm nodded as well, but he knew it was about more than being a marine. She'd had so little control over the bad happenings in her childhood; she was loathe to give it up as an adult.

Harm resumed his place in the seat by her bed and absently took her hand in his. It was limp and for a moment, Harm thought she'd at last sleep, but the next thing he knew, he was staring into her glassy eyes. At least there was recognition in them this time. "Hey, sweetheart," he smiled gently.

"Harm?" She sounded tentative, fearful, and he knew they had a long road ahead of them.

"Yeah, honey?"

"I'm so tired."

"I know, Sarah. Just go to sleep. It's okay."

"Can't. Hurts."

Harm sat up straighter in alarm. "Where?" At that moment they hit a pocket of turbulence and she cried out, gutting him. Her grip on his hand tightened, though it was still bird-like, and just as he was going to scream for her nurse, the woman appeared at his side and injected something else into Mac's IV.

"She's a little early, but…"

"Thank you, Monica," Harm answered gratefully, knowing the young RN wouldn't compromise Mac's safety. He could see it in Mac's eyes when the pain medication she had been given started to take effect. Still, though, she fought to stay awake.

"Mac, sweetheart…just sleep. It's okay." For a moment she looked away, and when she glanced back, there was embarrassment in her eyes. If she wasn't so ill, she'd probably be blushing. She shook her head.

"No…afraid…you…go." Her speech had started to slur with the combination of meds she'd been given.

"Never, sweetheart. I'm here. You're safe. We're going home."

"Home?" Though her voice was weak, he caught the undercurrent of joy there.

"Yeah, Mac. Just close your eyes and when you wake up, we'll be home."

"Home," she whispered again, a smile gracing her pale lips as her eyes started to close. "Stay with me."

"Always." Her smile widened but she still wasn't giving into slumber. Stroking her hair, he started to sing the lullaby her ghostly form had sung to him so many nights.

"You remembered…" The corners of her lips turned up again, and he felt the slight tightening of her hand around his while he stared at her in shock. Did she too remember her unearthly visits? He didn't have a chance to answer her before her hand squeezed his again. "Don't let go of me." She was almost asleep.

"Never, my love." And he didn't. Not when they landed at Andrews, not when they took her from the plane and loaded her onto the ambulance, and not until the doctors needed to take her when they arrived at Bethesda. When she next awakened, she was indeed home, and Harm was again by her side, his hand wrapped tightly around hers.

End