Chapter 13

Home is where your best friend is

Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed, your encouragement was wonderful. So good, in fact that I decided to finish chapter 13 today instead of doing my history assessment...so if I fail my school certificate I can just blame all of you. :D Congratulations go to aserene who was the 200th reviewer of this story!! Woot! A box of chocolate brownies is being shipped expressly over to the US in its own self refrigerating envelope :D And now....onto the story.

Roberts' Backyard,
Where we left off

Mac, trained in various types of hand to hand combat, knew what Rob was planning to do almost before he did. She could see the subtle shift in his balance and prepared to defend herself against his imminent attack. Sure enough, his fist suddenly came flying toward her face. With amazingly quick reflexes, she grabbed his arm at the same time she ducked....ahem, took cover.... so that the force was completely absorbed by her movement. Before Rob had time to think, she twisted herself about and half a second later he found himself with both his arms pinned rather painfully behind his back by an uncharacteristically strong female marine, who was very mad. Still holding his arms behind him, she spoke softly into his ear from behind.

"Try that again and you'll find yourself in a hell of a lot more pain."

"Mac!" She looked over Rob's shoulder in time to see Harm running towards her. Harm glared coldly at the man being restrained by his best friend.

"What are you doing here, Casey?"

"Ah, the infamous Rabb." Rob spat back at Harm. "Been enjoying screwing my wife, have you?"

Mac twisted his arm further behind his back, causing him to grunt in pain.

"Oops." She said unconvincingly.

By this time several of the adults had noticed what was going on and were looking onto the scene, keeping their distance and making sure the children didn't get too close.


"What's going on Mac?" Harriet asked, concerned as to why a man was in her backyard with his arms pinned behind his back by a certain marine colonel. Recognition showed in her eyes as she realised who it was.

"Is that..."

"Yes Harriet, this is my ex-husband. Now Rob I'm sure you remember Harriet. Her son's having his birthday party today and you weren't invited. So what do you say to her?"

"Keep outta other people's business, stupid blonde."

Harriet, quite unused to being so openly insulted had no idea what to do or say.

Mac twisted his arm again. "Wrong answer, Robert. Now what's the nice thing that we say to someone when we've done something naughty?" She asked as though she were lecturing a small child, but with a harsh tone of voice. She gave his arms another twist for good measure before he answered.

"I'm sorry." He muttered bitterly, barely glancing at Harriet.

Mac gave Harriet an apologetic look and, after apologising to everyone else for the disturbance, lead Rob around the side of the house and out the front. Harm trailed behind them to ensure she didn't get hurt... not that she really needed him there.

She let go of Rob's arms and was about to give him a shove onto the footpath when he caught her off guard and swivelled around, delivering a swift blow to her abdomen. Mac gasped at the impact of his fist and reacted by sending a knee into his groin with as much force as she could muster, while at the same time Harm punched him in the nose, breaking it. Needless to say, Rob was effectively incapacitated for the time being.

"Why are you doing this to me Sarah?" He asked between sharp breaths, trying to keep the pain under control. "I came back to you. I came to ask you to come back home."

"Robert, I don't care why the hell you're here or how you found out where we were going to be, but if you think what you just did is somehow going to make me want to remarry you, then you really need to get your head examined. I am not going to go back to LA with you again and there's nothing you can do that would change my mind."

Rob pushed himself to his knees and stood up slowly, still in obvious pain. "Please Sarah." He implored, trying one last time to change her mind. Her answer was to point her finger in the direction of the road.

"Leave. Now." She told him.

He left, his head hung low in defeat. After a few steps he stopped and turned around to face her again.

"If you change your mind, I'm staying at the Ibis hotel. Room 116." Mac didn't even acknowledge his information, but turned around and walked back toward the house.

"You alright?" Harm asked her as they entered the house, preferring not to face the rest of the party just yet. Mac nodded and with no further words Harm wrapped his arms around her and held her, offering silent support. He was her friend and would always be there for her, no matter what. Mac grunted in pain as one of his arms touched the spot where Rob had punched her.

"Let me see that." Harm was concerned, as it took quite a blow to make Mac acknowledge that something hurt.

Stubborn as ever, Mac shook her head and tried to return to the party. Harm grabbed her arm and lead her into the living room. He sat her down on a chair, admonishing her. Mac pretended to be annoyed by his behaviour, however secretly she was delighted by it. She loved it when Harm's caring protective side came out, even more so when it was directed at her. She allowed him to have a look at the side of her stomach, where a colourful bruise was now forming. Rob may not have been trained in hand-to-hand combat, but he sure packed a hell of a punch and from the looks of it, she was going to be quite uncomfortable when she woke up the next morning.

Mac utterly refused to let Harm get her an ice pack, maintaining that she was fine, and 10 minutes later they were back outside, apologising for their unexpected guest. Harriet waved off all apologies and soon Rob's visit had been pushed to the back of their minds as they joined back in with the festivities of AJ's fifth birthday party.

1700 local
Mac's apartment

The rest of AJ's party had gone without a hitch and, while Rob had been pushed to the backs of their minds, certain other things were foremost in their thoughts. Both Harm and Mac had been thinking almost constantly about the deal they had made five years ago, on the day of AJ's birth. Both remembered it clearly, however both were waiting for the other to bring it up, afraid to mention it, fearing what the other's reaction would be.

Having gone to AJ's party in Mac's car, Harm went back with Mac to her apartment, the two of them chatting idly about work, politics, their friends and anything else that came to mind.

"...so I figured that if I couldn't convince him to take the plea bargain then I could at least convince him to..." Mac stopped dead as her apartment door swung open to reveal an unexpected sight. True, Mac's apartment wasn't necessarily always in what one would call a state of tidiness, but this... this was ridiculous. Books had been pulled from shelves, cushions from the couches, papers from the desk. There were things strewn all over the apartment as someone had gone through obviously looking for something and not caring what mess he left behind as he did so. The worst of it was the filing cabined she kept next to her desk, almost the entire contents of which were scattered all over the floor. Mac groaned and rubbed her temples, feeling a headache coming on. Today was definitely not her day. She felt Harm's strong arms wrap around her from behind and she sighed and leaned into him, thankful for the small comfort.

She pulled out her mobile phone and called the police. There was no question in her mind as to who the offender was and she wanted to make sure he didn't get away with this. Turning up at a party uninvited was one thing, but this was breaking and entering.

As lawyers, both her and Harm knew better than to enter her apartment before the police had cleared it.

Looking through the door into her trashed apartment, she spotted the brightly coloured invitation from little AJ sitting on the kitchen counter.

So that's how he knew we were at the Roberts'.

"What do you think he was looking for?" Harm asked her. "Rob, I mean. That is, presuming it was Rob."

"Oh, it was him alright. I'm sure of it. As for what he was looking for, I really don't know." Her brow furrowed in though as she tried to think of what he could have possibly been looking for. She shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. "Oh well, I don't think anything's missing. Not that I can really tell with my apartment in this state, but I don't think that Rob's the sort of person to just break in and take my things for the sake of it."

Within 30 minutes the investigators had arrived and started questioning Mac about various things, including whether or not she had any idea who did it. She gave them a photo of Rob and the address of the hotel he was staying at.

Forty seven minutes later the investigators left, telling Mac that they would do their best to catch Rob if the fingerprints matched. Mac had no doubt they would.

Once the officers had left, Mac looked around her apartment in annoyance. She put the cushions back onto the couch then proceeded to collapse onto it with a sigh. This day had just been too emotionally draining for her. Harm told her to rest for a few minutes while he got her some coffee and, too tired to argue, she submitted. Harm returned only a minute later after putting a pot of coffee on to find her fast asleep. Taking a blanked from the floor in front of one of the closets, he carefully covered her up, placing a gentle kiss on her temple.

"Mamma, Mamma!" Ali came bouncing noisily into the room and Harm quickly quietened her, explaining to her that her Mamma was asleep and that she had to be extra quiet for the moment.

"But I'm hungry." Ali whined. "I want my dinner."

"Shhh, I'll get you some dinner in a minute. Come into the kitchen with me and we'll see what you want, okay?"

Ali nodded and followed Harm into the kitchen.

~~~~~

Later, at around 1950, Mac woke up, slightly disoriented. She groaned as she realised how long she had slept for.

"Harm." She called, knowing that he wouldn't have left Ali alone while she was sleeping.

"Right here." Harm appeared at the doorway to the kitchen, smiling. "I was just about to wake you. Dinner's almost ready."

Mac sat up in surprise. For the first time she took a good look around, her eyes growing wide as she surveyed the scene. The books were back on the shelves, the cushions back on the chairs, and the clothes, blankets and towels all back in the closets where they belonged. At least half of her files had been resorted and put back into the filing cabinet, with the remainder of them stacked neatly on the desk waiting to be sorted. Everything was in its correct place and to Mac it seemed that the apartment was tidier now than when she had left it that morning. Last of all, she saw Ali sitting in the corner playing quietly with her dolls, flying them around in the toy plane Harm had given her for Christmas.

"You.....?!" Mac was at loss for words but her silence spoke volumes. Harm just shrugged and nodded self consciously.

"You were so worn out and looked so tired that I couldn't bear to wake you. Besides, there wasn't much else to do around here, so I figured I might as well make myself useful. If I've put anything in the wrong spot I apologise but I was pretty sure of where everything went."

Mac's eyes strayed to her daughter. "Don't worry." Harm told her, seeing the direction of her gaze. "I fed her well over an hour ago and she's had her bath and is ready for bed. I know it's past her bedtime but she wanted you to kiss her goodnight, so I let her stay up. I hope you don't mind."

"Mind? Harm, you just tidied my entire apartment, fed and bathed my daughter, refiled half my paperwork and cooked dinner all in just 93 minutes while at the same time managing not to wake me up. How could I possibly mind that?"

Harm shot her a grin and shrugged. "You deserved a break. It was the least I could do."

"Come here." Mac motioned Harm over to the couch and pulled him down and kissed him square on the lips. "Thankyou."

"Anytime, my favourite marine. Now, lets put this pretty little daughter of yours to bed and then we can have some dinner."

Mac gave Harm another kiss and went to get Ali. "Sounds good, Sailor. What's cooking?"

"Chicken schnitzel for you, tofu burger for me and a communal salad bowl, which we all know you will hardly touch."

Mac laughed and went to put Ali, who by this time was looking very sleepy, to bed.

~~~~~

Harm and Mac were lounging about after dinner, on the couch with cups of coffee, when Harm finally decided to bring up the subject of their baby deal.

"You know, Mac, today was a pretty important day. Not just because of little AJ, but for us too...although AJ did have something to do with it...." he trailed off, not sure if he should go on or not. Mac, who was half sitting half lying propped up against him, smiled up at him, a hopeful expression crossing her features.

"You remembered?" she sounded hopeful, like a child wishing for something at Christmas time.

"Of course I remembered, Mac. How could I not?"

"Well, it was five years ago..."

"True, but I still don't see how I could have forgotten about it."

Mac shrugged. "Well, to you it was just an agreement to cheer up your best friend. You could have easily forgotten about it."

Harm was surprised that she saw it like that. After all, he thought it would have been her to forget about it because she had Ali now. "Is that all you thought it was to me, Sarah?"

"Well, yeah."

Harm shook his head. "That's no what it was at all. It was so much more than that. You have to understand, Sarah, that I have loved you for a lot longer than just a few months. I've loved you for years and making that deal with you was my way of telling you how much I loved you, showing you that I could see a future with us together. I realise that you have no need to go through with the deal any more, seeing as you have Ali now, but I still felt that we should talk tonight, work out where we want us to go."

"You...you made that deal because you loved me?" Mac was stunned by his revelation. She shouldn't really have been surprised considering that her reason for accepting his offer was the same as his reason for making it, however the thought had never really occurred to her; she had always assumed that her love for him was unrequited.

Harm nodded an affirmative and smiled at her.

"You know Harm, I accepted your offer for exactly the same reason...only it never occurred to me that you might be offering it because you loved me too." She shook her head. "What a pair we make."

Harm laughed and pulled her into his lap, kissing her temple. "You know, we said that we'd go halves on a kid if neither of us was in a serious relationship, but we never discussed the possibility of what might happen if we were in a relationship with each other."

"Too true." Mac pondered the idea for a moment before continuing. "I don't know. I mean, now really isn't the time for me to be getting pregnant again, especially given how fragile things are at the moment, but I would like to think that some day we could have a child of our own."

Harm's eyes lit up and he hugged Mac tightly to him. "Really? You'd really still consider going halves on a kid with me?"

"Of course, sailor, I can't think of anything I'd like more than to be the mother of your children." Mac wasn't sure whether she wanted Harm to notice her slip in saying 'children' or not. On one hand, she might have scared him. On the other hand, she wanted him to know that she was serious about this. "I'm still not getting any younger, you know, and my biological clock is still ticking, despite having Ali." She chuckled weakly, trying to hide her nerves.

"Then maybe we need to consider making a few things around here more permanent. I really want to do this properly with you Sarah, but there are quite a few obstacles concerning our careers, the first of which will be facing the admiral. I'll have to talk to him before I do anything, but whatever happens, I promise you that I will do this right I really want to make this work with you. Of course, we're always getting out sixes chewed out by the Admiral, so what's new?"

Mac giggled and snuggled into him, as a small child would, terribly pleased at the idea of marrying Harm. After all, he had just promised her that things would become permanent, and he always kept his promises.

Sunday 0900
Mac's apartment

Rrrrrring

Mac was jolted from her sleep by the shrill ringing of the phone on the nightstand beside her. She groaned as she tried to recall the dream she had been having. Such a pleasant dream too, involving a certain Navy commander, a pair of red boxer shorts, a courtroom table and some ducky socks...

She made a face at herself in the mirror as she reached for the phone. Where on earth her subconscious got these strange ideas from, she would never know, but it was a nice dream all the same.

"Mackenzie." She mumbled sleepily into the phone, wondering why on earth someone felt the need to call her this early on a Sunday morning. True, she got up quite early each morning to get both herself and Ali ready, but ever since having Ali she had learned to appreciate the opportunity to sleep in on weekends.

"Sarah, I'm sorry." A sober Rob Casey practically whispered into the phone.

"Rob, is that you?"

Hearing the phone ring from the sofa in the living room, Harm wondered who would be calling at this hour of the morning. When he heard Mac calling Rob's name, he instantly went to her door so he could hear.

"I'm sorry. I thought if I could find the papers you'd still be mine."

"Rob I can barely hear you. What papers?" Mac was getting frustrated with his nonsensical mumbling.

"The divorce papers. If I could find your copy then you'd still be my wife. I love you Sarah." This time his voice was much stronger.

"It doesn't work that way, the divorce is filed with the courts. The papers are just that – pieces of paper." She had to refrain from laughing at him. The idea that stealing her copy would make the divorce void was ridiculous.

"The police are looking for you." She continued. "They lifted several fingerprints from all over the apartment, some of which I'm sure are yours."

She could hear Rob breathing on the other end of the phone, but he said nothing.

"You should probably just pack up and go back to LA before they find you and take you in for questioning. Did you hear me?" she asked after not getting any response from her ex- husband.

"I'm sorry. You're right. I…I'll catch the next flight home." Rob sounded like a lost child. It almost made her feel sorry for him. Almost.

"I might as well tell you. I'm requesting a restraining order against you for me and Ali. If you ever change your mind and set foot in DC again, the law will be on my side. And Rob, next time I won't give you the chance to get away."

The strength in her voice was convicting. Sober, Rob knew she meant business.

"Thank you Sarah. I'm sorry." He hung up the phone without waiting for her reply.

Mac just stared at the phone for a moment wondering if this were it, if she were finally free of that man.

Harm came closer to the bed and sat beside her. She scooted up close to him and threw her arms around him.

Harm hugged her to him tightly, sensing that she needed the comfort "are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I am now." she replied. "Thankyou."

"For what?"

"For being here, for being you, for everything." She sighed lightly and buried her cheek deeper into Harm's comforting shoulder.

Harm wished he could take away all her pain. He wished there was more he could do. At least there were some things he could take care of. He needed to talk to the admiral.