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Have Faith
Part Five:
Tricks of the Mind
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Mac turned the blinker on, and turned out of the parking lot of her apartment building, having showered and changed in to civvies. "So where do you want to go first? There's the mall. And an outlet about fifteen minutes away. Or we can go from store to store."
"The mall. I hate cars. I'd rather walk around all day."
"Okay." Mac
looked at the younger girl briefly then turned her eyes back to the road, "What
store do you want to go to first? Clothes,
food, shoes…"
"Maybe a couple of outfits?"
"Good idea. And maybe a hair cut? Only if you want."
Beth nodded, "I've been wanting to cut it like Gio's."
"How does
Gio have hers?
"Well I want it shorter, but
hers is layered and angled from the chin down."
"Her hair isn't that much shorter then yours though."
"That's why I said I want it shorter. Like shoulder length, maybe a bit shorter."
"I think that will look really good on you." Mac replied, as they pulled into the mall parking lot. She parked in the nearest spot and got out, which Beth did as well. They walked toward the main entrance, "How about if you get your hair cut first and then you can get some clothes?"
"I think that would be a good idea. You will help me pick out clothes, right? Most of my stuff is hand-me-downs from Davy. I'm not really good at picking out what looks best on me."
"I'd be happy to help."
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Harm pulled up to Carli and Jacob's house and cut the engine. He, Davy, and Bud had spent the hour ride up calling people to make arrangements to meet at places at certain times.
"I really wish this were all a dream. Davy whispered, never moving her eyes off the brink house. She sighed and leaned forward to get her bag off the floor in front of her feet. She got out of the car, and looked around, Wendy was walking up the sidewalk, "Wendy? I thought you were going to meet us for lunch."
Harm and Bud jumped out of the car after hearing the voice of Davy's best friend.
"I know." Wendy nodded, "But something came up."
"What?" Davy asked, fearing the worst.
"Gen has pneumonia and Gio has mono."
"Oh, thank god. I thought you were going to say they ran away or your dad came for them." She hugged Wendy.
Wendy laughed, "Okay. I'm probably getting sick as well, so I'm gonna go home, crawl into bed, and…" Suddenly she realized where they were standing, "You know what, I'm gonna come in with you."
Davy looked at her oddly, "You don't have too."
"I want to."
"Alright." The four began to approach the house, "After all this is over, I want this house to be demolished or something." Davy shivered, while shoving the key into the lock and opening the door. She moved out of the way, and hit a light switch as the three others came in.
Harm looked around. He'd always felt comfortable in the house, but its feel had changed. It was as if the walls were laughing at him, mocking him for not knowing. The family portraits, once showing a happy family, he realized were cover, were lies.
"Come on. I want to get out of here as fast as humanly possible." She directed them up the staircase and down the short hallway to Beth's room. The door dividing the hallway from the teen's room, was painted white with the name Beth painted in delicate script. Around her name, twirls and clouds and faeries were painted – the cloud faeries playing with clouds and butterflies.
Davy pushed open the door and guided them into the ornately done up room. The walls carried the theme of faeries and clouds from her door throughout the room; her furniture was all expensive oak wood.
Harm immediately went to the bed and stared at the nearest bedpost. Nothing noticeable, so he ran his fingers along the wood – until he felt two holes. He bent down to look at the hole on one side. He could see clear through to the other side. Stand up fully again, he did the same at the other three posts.
"Uncle Harm?"
"I'm sorry. I needed to see." He told her.
"I know." She rubbed his back, and then walked out of the room. 'I can't do this. Yes, you can, Davadita. No I can't. This is too hard! The hard stuff is the stuff that's always worth it.' She fought mentally, and then returned to the room, where she discovered Harm had found something from under her sister's bed.
Harm held rope and a knife.
Davy began to breath heavily. She looked between the three people in front of her, "I…I…I…" Was all she could manage, before running out of the room and into the bathroom. She locked the door, and threw up. She got to her feet, and could hear her uncle pounding on the door.
"Davy! Open the door!" He yelled.
'Just do it, Davadita. Go on. You know they'll be better off without you.' Her mind told her, in a voice she didn't know, one that scared her – but still, she obeyed it. She reached into the medicine cabinet and pulled out Jacob's bottle of prescription heart pills.
"Davadita! Davadita, let me in, please!" The emotion ran think in Harm's voice. Finally deciding he didn't care what anyone would say, he moved Bud and Wendy back, and kicked the door in. Davadita was in the tub, rocking herself back and forth, the pills shaking out of her hand.
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Beth stared at herself in the mirror. Half of her hair was gone, but she loved it! She jumped up and down to see how it looked, as the hairdressers smiled. Mac paid, and the two left the salon.
"Davy and Uncle Harm are gonna love this! You like it, right?" She asked.
"I think you look very nice. Now we have to get you some clothes. How about we go into one of the department stores and pick out clothes for each other."
"That sounds so cool. I've never been shopping like this before!" She laughed.
Suddenly Mac's cell phone began to ring and she dug around her purse while walking. She finally found it, and flipped it open, "MacKenzie."
"Mac. Where's Beth?" Harm's voice cracked.
"What's the matter?"
That question brought Beth's attention.
"We looked through Beth's room. I don't think Davy really truly had an idea what went on in there. Mac, she almost swallowed an entire bottle of heart medication."
"Is she alright?" Mac began to panic.
"Physically, yes. Mentally and emotionally, not as much as she thought. I talked to a friend of mine at Bethesda. He thinks it would be best if she spent a day or so there."
"Are you sure that's best?"
"I've never seen her like this. If you saw her, Mac. I'm afraid of what she might do to herself."
"Alright. I'm gonna take Beth to get some clothes and we'll head there."
"I'll see you later." He hung up.
Beth looked at her, "What's wrong?"
Mac sighed, and moved the teen to a bench. She sat down, as did Beth, and then she began, "That was your uncle, as you probably knew. He said that while they were looking around your room at the house, Davy got upset. She tried to swallow a bottle of pills."
"What?" Beth could feel the tears forming.
"She's alright, but a doctor recommended she spend a few days at the naval hospital. Harm is going to take her there."
Beth started to sob, "She didn't do anything."
"I know." She pulled Beth into her lap, "I know. It's not Davy's fault. We're not going to abandon her there. She'll come back, okay? She just needs to talk to someone. It's not a punishment, Beth."
"Yes, it is." She dug her face into Mac's shoulder.
"No, it's not. Listen to me; Davy has suffered as long as you have. She tried so hard to get over it, and she thought she could handle anything that's thrown at her. But she can't. She needs someone to tell her what I'm telling you. You aren't invincible, Harmony, and neither are Davy or Harm or me." Mac finished, but Beth's tears didn't and she continued to cry. 'When we get back…I hope I have that therapist's number still.'
-*-*-
Beth clung to Mac's arm as the two walked into JAG. Harm and Bud had gone to bring Davy to Bethesda, while Wendy had returned to her brother and sister – which meant Mac was now left with the teenager.
"Tiner, could the Admiral see me?"
"Yes, ma'am."
He called into Chegwidden who told him he needed five minutes. Mac sat down in a chair, and Beth sat down
next to her. "Hi." Tiner said, looking at
Beth. He reached out his hand over his
desk, which Beth reluctantly shook. "You're
Beth, right?"
She nodded.
"I like your hair. Cmdr. Rabb is going love it." He complimented.
"Thank you." She murmured.
Chegwidden appeared in the doorway, "Colonel, you wanted to see me?"
"Yes, sir. In private." She looked at Beth, and then pointed to Harriet, "Could you go talk to Harriet for a few minutes? I'm sure AJ would be glad to see the young lady his godfather's been talking about."
Beth nodded, and walked away.
Mac walked into the Admiral's office as he shut the door. She waited for him to speak first, but he just looked at her expectantly, "I assume Cmdr. Rabb called you."
"Yes, he did." He rubbed his eyes.
"Sir, I'm not sure if either of the girls are ready for this."
"No child ever is."
She collapsed into a chair, "Do you have the number of a good child psychologist?" She asked. Words weren't coming easy. Yesterday everything had been easy, what had happened between then and now?
"Here." He handed
her a piece of paper, "Her name's Anastasia Xane. She specializes in child abuse." Mac was about to get up, "Anything
else?"
She looked around, "I think I
realized something this morning, sir."
"What'd you realize?"
"I think I love Harm."
Chegwidden began to laugh; "I've been waiting for either you or him to say that for a long time now, Colonel."
She blushed, "I think I'll go find this Dr. Xane's office now."
"Actually, she's here. After Cmdr. Rabb called, I called Anya. She agreed to come wait for you and Beth."
"Thank you, sir."
"Dismissed."
"Aye Aye, sir."
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Beth and Mac stumbled into Harm's apartment, and stood for a moment smelling the left behind scent. Mac finally spoke, "Come on. He'll be home tomorrow so we get the apartment to ourselves. We'll have some dinner when Harriet and little AJ get here, paint our nails, gossip, and hit the hay."
"Are you sure he won't mind us using his apartment? I mean, you know, with Harriet and little AJ coming over?"
"I asked him while you were talking to Dr. Xane."
Beth looked at her shoes and then walked over to the bedroom. She put down her bag, and pulled out the pajamas Mac had bought on their way out. She went into the bathroom to change, and was aware of Harriet coming in. 'Beth, you can handle this. Come on, if Davy could handle telling Uncle Harm and going back to that godforsaken house, you can handle this. It's just a trick of the mind. Davy will be fine. Just like always. Remember – once this is over you get to live with Uncle Harm and then you can live with Davy or him. You'll get a choice.' She thought, 'For once.'
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Cassie Jamie
How's that?