Chapter Forty-Nine:
Prayers Being Answered

WEEK 30-PART TWO
DECEMBER 23RD, 2001

0120 EST
MACKENZIE-RABB RESIDENCE
GEORGETOWN

Harm stared up at the dining room ceiling, the corner of the dining room table somewhat obstructing his view. Every time he tried to shift his position on the mattress, it made a noise, something that Mac's mattress did not do. Harm didn't enjoy sleeping like a corpse, but he wasn't allowed to toss and turn like he usually did, unless he wanted to wake up the entire apartment. He never liked air mattresses and made a point to avoid them whenever he could. This time was an exception.

Being the pregnant woman, Mac got a claim to her bed, and Chloe, being a kid, got the same claim. Jen, being the guest, got the next best spot on the pull out bed. That left Harm, being the gentleman and martyr, on the air mattress in the dining room.

"Hey."

Opening his eyes, Harm could make out a figure in the doorway. Blinking a few times, his eyes adjusting to the darkness, and Mac slowly came into view.

"Mac?" Harm propped himself up on his elbows, wincing at the grating squeaky sound the mattress made underneath him.

She walked over to him, dragging her pregnancy pillow along behind her. "How are you doing?" she asked, throwing the pillow down on the mattress next to Harm.

"Fine…" he watched with confusion as Mac got down onto her knees as easily as she could manage. Pulling the quilt back, Mac began to arrange her pregnancy pillow on the mattress. Harm instinctively reached out to help her. Making sure Mac was comfortable had become a part of his nightly routine. "What are you doing, babe?"

"Keeping you company," Mac answered, pulling the quilt over the two of them. She draped one leg over the pillow and draped an arm across Harm's chest.

"Mac, the bed is way more comfortable than this," Harm reached over to rub the area of Mac's lower back, right between her hips, that had a tendency of bothering her.

"I have you and my pillow," she murmured, already fighting to keep her eyes open. "That's all I need to be comfortable. Plus Chloe snores."

Harm smirked softly, reaching out to brush Mac's bangs out of her face. "Okay," he said. "Just let me know if you need any of my world famous back rubs tomorrow."

Mac smiled. "Don't worry, I will."

She snuggled as close to him as she could get with her pregnancy pillow in the way, and Harm listened through the darkness as Mac's breathing became more even and she fell asleep beside him. He continued to rub her back, making the movements more gentle so as to not disturb her while she slept.

Harm thought back to that time, so many years ago, when he and Mac spent the night in the woods after Sarah crash landed. They were obviously in a completely different scenario now then they had been back then, but there were some similarities. For example, Mac was snuggled against Harm, and Harm's back was incredibly sore.

THE NEXT DAY
CHRISTMAS EVE

1930 EST
ROBERTS' RESIDENCE
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA

Harm and Mac were the last ones to exit Bud and Harriet's apartment. Everyone was heading to the Navy chapel to hear Chaplain Turner's Christmas Eve sermon and had met up at Bud and Harriet's beforehand. The gathering had gone over well, with the exception of Singer losing a bracelet and making a false accusation.

"Here, I got you," Harm grabbed Mac's coat from the coat rack and helped her into it.

"Thanks."

"Sure."

They paused under the doorway. There was a mistletoe hanging over the doorway, and both Harm and Mac glanced up at it at the same time. Mac smirked. "Well," she looked back at Harm, her eyes twinkling with amusement. "This would've been awkward a year ago."

Harm grinned. "Good thing this isn't a year ago," he leaned down and kissed Mac, one hand coming to rest on the small of her back.

Mid-kiss, Harm opened his eyes to look down at Mac. He pulled away from the kiss, knowing it was too early for either of them.

"Come on, marine," Harm began to close the door behind them. "We gotta get going. We can find another mistletoe later.

If you're gonna want to kiss me later, that is, Harm thought. He had a feeling that, once Mac found out he'd spent money on a new car that was now MIA, he would be as deep in the dog house as he could get. Not quite as deep as he was after Mic left, but deep enough. He still had the earrings as leverage against Mac's temper, but he doubted that would be enough. He didn't think the black coat with the red velvet trim that Chloe had helped him pick out, the one Mac was wearing that night, wouldn't be enough either.

Harm was eager to hear Chaplain Turner's sermon, but he planned on spending most of the time praying Mac wouldn't kill him.

2130 EST

THE NAVY CHAPEL

WASHINGTON DC

Harm and Mac walked out of the chapel arm-in-arm, Mac's head resting on Harm's shoulder. The air was cold and crisp, with snowflakes beginning to fall in swirls around them.

"It was a great sermon," Mac commented, looking up at the night sky.

"It was," Harm agreed. He stopped walking, and Mac looked back at him with concern.

"Harm?" she raised an eyebrow. "You okay?"

He nodded, even though he certainly wasn't okay. Mac's new car getting stolen was the fault of the person who stole it, but Harm still couldn't help but feel like the whole thing was his fault. He'd done everything he could; looked everywhere and filed a police report, but that did nothing to stifle his guilt. Harm would give Mac the world if he could; the least he could do was get her a car.

"Mac-" Harm paused to run his fingers through his hair. "I'm sorry."

She frowned. "About what?"

"You know I would give you the world, right?"

"Of course," Mac laughed at the absurdness of his question. "What are you talking about? Harm, is everything okay?"

"Mac, I-" Harm was

Harm was cut off by the sound of a car honking behind him. Mac gasped and Harm turned around to see a shiny, brand new Jeep that belonged just to Mac idling in the chapel driveway. There was a big red bow tied to the hood. Sturgis, who was behind the wheel, poked his head out the window and grinned.

"I decided to go ahead and get it waxed and detailed for you," he called. Harm was too speechless to say anything. However, he recovered quickly when he saw Mac's wide-eyed expression.

Giving her his best Flyboy grin, Harm gestured to the Jeep. "Merry Christmas, baby."

Mac gasped. "Is that-did you-is that my car?"

"Uh-huh."

She squealed (surprising because Mac by no means was a woman who squealed) throwing her arms around Harm's neck and placing a big kiss on his cheek. "Oh my god!" she stared at the Jeep in awe. "Harm! You got me a car? For Christmas?"

"Yep," He nuzzled her neck as Sturgis got out of the car and walked towards them. "Nothing but the best for my girl."

"Here you go, Colonel," Strugis handed Mac the keys and she delightfully hurried off to go check out her present.

"I should've figured you'd have something up your sleeve," Harm said, turning to look at Sturgis, who was looking all too smug.

He shrugged. "I figured I'd do my part. I wasn't expecting you to file that police report, though."

Harm looked at him incredulously. "What did you expect me to do?"

Sturgis chuckled, and they watched as Mac looked over her new car, with its shiny black exterior and black leather interior. Just seeing how excited Mac was with the Jeep was enough of a Christmas present for Harm.

Nathan and Melinda sat beside each other during the sermon, but they kept a cordial five inches between themselves. After the sermon, Melinda got roped into a conversation with Harriet and Loren Singer, whom Nathan hadn't spoken to since the gala. Nathan was left to twiddle his thumbs and decide when a polite time to leave was. All of those people seemed nice, but he only really knew Melinda.

"So, you're the other Dr. Gardner?"

He looked up to see an Admiral-assumedly The Admiral, as everyone had been calling him.

"I am," Nathan nodded. "And you must be Admiral Chegwidden."

AJ smirked as the two of them shook hands. "I am."

"It was a nice sermon," Nathan said, only because he couldn't find anything else to say. He'd never been too good at small talk, unless it was flirting.

"Yeah," AJ nodded in agreement. "It was good."

Nathan found his eyes drifting back over to Melinda. She had his back turned to him, and snowflakes were beginning to cling to her hair and scarf. "You know," he turned back to look at AJ. "Tonight's our anniversary."

AJ's eyebrows shot up. "Really?"

"Uh-huh."

Eleven years ago, on December 24th, 1990, Melinda Bernard and Nathan Gardner were engaged. It was the first Christmas their two families were spending together, and the clashing of the Bernards and Gardners was driving the young couple so crazy that they decided to elope. After a particularly disastrous dinner, they packed their bags and left, tying the knot at a drive-through chapel that had no reason to be open on Christmas Eve.

Now, eleven years later, they were going to put all of that behind them.

2215 EST
THE VIETNAM WAR MEMORIAL
WASHINGTON DC

Sturgis took Mac's car back to the garage for safekeeping, after she promised to take everyone for rides in it the next morning. She was over the moon, as was Harm, because now he wouldn't have to feel like such an ass the next morning.

Despite the long day, there was one stop Harm and Mac had left to make.

"Are you sure you're not too tired? Because we can go home." Harm asked as they got out of his Lexus. He quickly rushed over to Mac's side of the car, offering her his arm. It was snowing more heavily now, the temperature hovering a little below freezing. Harm wanted to be there to keep Mac from falling if she slipped, or at least be there to break her fall.

"I'm fine," Mac told him as they began down the same familiar path Harm took every year. "We're already here."

"True."

Harm had the route memorized, so it didn't take him and Mac long to find his father's name etched in the wall. Mac felt like she was intruding, like she was interrupting some sacred father-son moment, but Harm had insisted he wanted her to come.

As Harm traced his fingers over the letters, he noticed Mac was standing back, watching. "You can come over, you know," he told her. "He probably wants to meet you."

Mac smirked. "You're getting spiritual on me?"

He shrugged. "It is Christmas Eve."

Affectionately rolling her eyes, Mac walked over to the wall. She paused before gently running her fingers over Harmon Rabb, Sr -the man who had played a part in sending her the love of her life, the man she'd heard so much about, but would never get to meet.

Harm noticed Mac's pause, and he reached to place his hand over hers. "Merry Christmas, Mac."

Mac smiled, leaning back to rest against Harm's chest. The medals on his jacket jabbed into her back a little, but he was warm.

"Merry Christmas, Harm."

While they stood there quietly, Mac decided to exchange a few words with another Harm. Thank you, Mac thought, looking skyward, Thank you for sharing your son with me.

The sun was shining bright in the hangar. Sarah's fresh paint job was glistening in the sunlight. Harm Sr. and Harm Jr. were taking a break from working. They were leaning against the hangar wall, talking.

"So," Harm Sr. looked at his son. "Have you finally found it?"

Harm Jr. blinked. "Found what?"

Harm Sr. smirked, getting that twinkle in his eyes that he always got in his eyes when he knew something his son didn't. "You know what."

Suddenly, from behind them, a tiny giggle was heard. A little girl came rushing out of the hangar and over to them, barely old enough to be walking, let alone running. Harm Sr. chuckled and scooped her up into his arms.

"I believe this belongs to you."

The little girl reached over to Harm Jr, a wide grin that perfectly matched his spread across her face.

"Daddy!"

CHRISTMAS DAY

0900 EST
MACKENZIE-RABB RESIDENCE
GEORGETOWN

Harm jerked away, feeling that heart-stopping jolt of being ripped out of the middle of a dream. He blinked a few times, gradually recognizing the familiar surroundings of Mac's bedroom. As Harm's heartbeat slowed, he tried to put the pieces of his dream together before they slipped from his mind completely. There was his dad, and Sarah, and the hangar, and the little girl that looked so much like Mac, but had Harm's smile and eyes.

Glancing over at Mac, Harm watched her sleep for a few moments. In the window behind her, snow could still be seen falling. It was the perfect Christmas. Harm's eyes slowly traveled down to Mac's bump, and he couldn't help but wonder who that person inside of Mac would turn out to be.

Apologies for the inactivity. Fitting for the Halloween season, I've been terrifyingly busy. This chapter has gotten me in the mood for Christmas though, and I hope it did the same for you guys :)

So, any guesses? Who's right? Is it a boy like Mac thinks, or a girl like Harm thinks? I'd love to hear your thoughts. I, of course, know, and I must say I've almost spoiled it on accident multiple times.

All will be revealed soon, don't worry :)

Thanks for reading!

-Harper