Part 22: Fighting
November 30th 2003
The apartment in Lyon Park was great and at the beginning of next year they were all moving in there. The last week Harm had practically lived in Mac's apartment and had also brought over most of his clothes there. Both Mac and Harm were really happy that they were soon going to move into a bigger apartment where there would be a little more room more all four of them. It was a four-bedroom apartment so Elena would now get her own room and they would make the other bedroom into an office for both of them. The weekend had been really busy. They had spent all of Saturday going through which sets of furniture they were going to bring to the new apartment and making other arrangements for the move. They had just returned home from grocery shopping and were putting the food away together. Mattie was studying in her room and Elena was with Sturgis.
Elena had been sleeping so poorly lately that Mac and Sturgis had rearranged her schedule so she would spend some nights before workdays at Sturgis place too. Sturgis hadn't even realized that it was unfair that unless Mac was out of town he only had Elena on weekends and thereby was guarantied to get to sleep through the nights before he had to go to work. He had just as Harm had concerning Mattie assumed that Mac was better at handling her and therefore both Elena and Mac got to sleep more when Elena was with Mac. It wasn't until Mac had explained her situation to him that he had been able to change anything to the better. Mac had also told him that she thought one of the reasons why she had a hard time asking him to do more was that when she had told him about Elena's existence she had said she would do it alone and now she had realized that she couldn't. From this they had both learned something. Mac had learned not to expect that anyone else understood her situation unless she explained it and asked for help with it. Sturgis had learned that with Mac he couldn't assume that everything was OK just because she wasn't telling him it wasn't. If they both approached things this way, their relationship as parent would work a lot better than it had.
As soon as Harm and Mac had signed the lease contract they had told the admiral about their new living arrangements. He hadn't seemed surprised at all. He had asked if they were planning on making it permanent and Harm had told him that both of their names would be on the contract. Back in Harm's office Mac had explained to him what the admiral had meant. Earlier the same week Mac had talked to him about her workload and the admiral now also had a solution for her. In a month she was getting a transfer out of JAG, but she wasn't going very far. She was going to run legal assistance, in the same building as the HQ was. Because of her work as Chief of Staff she had already been considered for this post before she had expressed any wish to leave JAG.
There were many advantages to this new job. This would put her out of Admiral Chegwidden's chain of command and even if this new job would be busy too, she wouldn't have to travel as much as she did now. The admiral had however warned her that on occasions she might be TAD to JAG to work on certain cases. Mac was glad that she was getting a job that was less time demanding, but still challenging and looked forward to staring it. It wasn't even a step down on her career path, but that didn't seem so important to her right now.
"Harm, did you hear anything I said?" Mac asked Harm slightly aggravated. The two of them had had very few arguments since they had had that chat back in July. Since they hadn't had a lot of cases together there was no cause to fight over a case and in their relationship so far they had been able to always talk the issues out before they broke out to fights. But that was just so far.
"I heard you loud and clear," Harm answered and slammed the door of the refrigerator shut. It didn't make a loud bang as he had wanted to. Doors of refrigerators rarely do.
"Yeah," Mac stepped up close to Harm challenging him.
"Yeah," Harm wasn't backing away from the fight either.
"And you see my point in this?"
"No," he said and looked her in the eyes "I really don't."
Harm put some distance between them and grabbed his jacket off the chair where he had slung it when he had entered.
"That's it. You're going to just leave?" Mac was really upset with him now. Somehow a lot of built up small fights, that they hadn't had in the last couple of months wanted to relieve themselves now and it was making Mac even angrier to see that Harm wasn't going to let them.
"We forgot the tomatoes," Harm mumbled irritated.
"And that's my fault?" Mac was drawing at the last straw trying to pick a fight now.
"As a matter of fact it is," Harm said and smiled at the memory of standing in the vegetable department and suddenly unprovoked being assaulted by a female marine. Mac remembered it too, but she wasn't going to give in just like that.
"Get out of here," she said in a tone, which didn't suit the smile on her face.
Harm did as he had been told and went out the door.
It was starting to get late and Mac decided to go and check if Mattie had started thinking about getting to bed.
"Did you finish your homework?" Mac peeked her head into Mattie's room. Mattie was lying on top of the bed, reading a book.
"I was stuck. I'll finish it tomorrow," Mattie said and put the book away.
"Why didn't you ask us for help? We've been home for some time now."
"I know I heard you, but... you were kind of busy out there."
"You're bothered by us fighting?" Mac sat down on the bed beside Mattie. Mattie didn't answer and just sat up and looked a bit guilty.
"Did your parents fight a lot?" Mac asked carefully. Mattie seldom shared anything about her life prior to coming to live with Mac. Mac hadn't shared a lot about her past either and she was now wondering if maybe she should have done so more.
"Is Harm coming back?" Mattie had nodded in response of Mac's question.
"Oh honey, of course he is. I'm so sorry we didn't mean to scare you," Mac had put her arms around Mattie and pulled her into a hug. At previous occasions Mattie had always redrawn from her when she had touched her, but this time she put her arms around Mac as well. "Harm and I used to fight a lot more before and I think we just need to adjust to this new situation. Living together is going to be tough at times. For all of us. In the end though I think things will be better so or rather I'm quite sure it will."
"I guess I overreacted," Mattie apologized. Mac seemed so upset with herself and Mattie didn't want to be the cause of that. Mattie started to cry and for once it didn't seem so bad to let someone see her cry.
"I understand why you would. I probably would have to in your place. My parents fought a lot too and it never ended happily. It would get physical and that scars you too. When I first got to know Harm I always saw it in black or white. Either you were friends or you were fighting, but he taught me it isn't always like that. At first it was just in the courtroom, but it works in other places too. It's OK to fight as long as you always know that you are going to make up, that you will still be friends afterwards."
Mac kept Mattie in her arms until she had calmed down, then Mac let her go.
"Mattie, I can't promise you not to fight with Harm. It's something you'll have to live with. However you should know that we would never do anything to deliberately hurt each other, you or Elena. If you ask us for help we will always be able put those fights aside. Always. I can promise you that."
They both heard the door being opened and soon again closed. Mattie started to quickly brush her tears away. Mac took her hand and got up from the bed and pulled her out in the living room. There were no reassurances that were as powerful as actually seeing that everything was going to be OK.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Harm asked worriedly when he caught sight of Mac and Mattie. Mattie hadn't managed to hide her red swollen eyes even if she had wiped away the tears.
"We just need a little group hug," Mac said. She would tell him the whole story later.
"That's not so hard to fix," he said and embraced them both with his long arms.
"I'm such a baby," Mattie said when the tears started to fall down her cheeks again.
"Yes, you are," Mac said and started tickling her side. Mattie squealed for a bit, but Harm wouldn't let her go so she was stuck where she was for the moment. Mattie started tickling them as counterattack and now they finally let go of her. She decided that a retreat was the best thing to do now and she rushed over to the bathroom to get ready for bed.
"She's precious our baby," Mac stated.
"That she is," Harm agreed with her.
TBC
November 30th 2003
The apartment in Lyon Park was great and at the beginning of next year they were all moving in there. The last week Harm had practically lived in Mac's apartment and had also brought over most of his clothes there. Both Mac and Harm were really happy that they were soon going to move into a bigger apartment where there would be a little more room more all four of them. It was a four-bedroom apartment so Elena would now get her own room and they would make the other bedroom into an office for both of them. The weekend had been really busy. They had spent all of Saturday going through which sets of furniture they were going to bring to the new apartment and making other arrangements for the move. They had just returned home from grocery shopping and were putting the food away together. Mattie was studying in her room and Elena was with Sturgis.
Elena had been sleeping so poorly lately that Mac and Sturgis had rearranged her schedule so she would spend some nights before workdays at Sturgis place too. Sturgis hadn't even realized that it was unfair that unless Mac was out of town he only had Elena on weekends and thereby was guarantied to get to sleep through the nights before he had to go to work. He had just as Harm had concerning Mattie assumed that Mac was better at handling her and therefore both Elena and Mac got to sleep more when Elena was with Mac. It wasn't until Mac had explained her situation to him that he had been able to change anything to the better. Mac had also told him that she thought one of the reasons why she had a hard time asking him to do more was that when she had told him about Elena's existence she had said she would do it alone and now she had realized that she couldn't. From this they had both learned something. Mac had learned not to expect that anyone else understood her situation unless she explained it and asked for help with it. Sturgis had learned that with Mac he couldn't assume that everything was OK just because she wasn't telling him it wasn't. If they both approached things this way, their relationship as parent would work a lot better than it had.
As soon as Harm and Mac had signed the lease contract they had told the admiral about their new living arrangements. He hadn't seemed surprised at all. He had asked if they were planning on making it permanent and Harm had told him that both of their names would be on the contract. Back in Harm's office Mac had explained to him what the admiral had meant. Earlier the same week Mac had talked to him about her workload and the admiral now also had a solution for her. In a month she was getting a transfer out of JAG, but she wasn't going very far. She was going to run legal assistance, in the same building as the HQ was. Because of her work as Chief of Staff she had already been considered for this post before she had expressed any wish to leave JAG.
There were many advantages to this new job. This would put her out of Admiral Chegwidden's chain of command and even if this new job would be busy too, she wouldn't have to travel as much as she did now. The admiral had however warned her that on occasions she might be TAD to JAG to work on certain cases. Mac was glad that she was getting a job that was less time demanding, but still challenging and looked forward to staring it. It wasn't even a step down on her career path, but that didn't seem so important to her right now.
"Harm, did you hear anything I said?" Mac asked Harm slightly aggravated. The two of them had had very few arguments since they had had that chat back in July. Since they hadn't had a lot of cases together there was no cause to fight over a case and in their relationship so far they had been able to always talk the issues out before they broke out to fights. But that was just so far.
"I heard you loud and clear," Harm answered and slammed the door of the refrigerator shut. It didn't make a loud bang as he had wanted to. Doors of refrigerators rarely do.
"Yeah," Mac stepped up close to Harm challenging him.
"Yeah," Harm wasn't backing away from the fight either.
"And you see my point in this?"
"No," he said and looked her in the eyes "I really don't."
Harm put some distance between them and grabbed his jacket off the chair where he had slung it when he had entered.
"That's it. You're going to just leave?" Mac was really upset with him now. Somehow a lot of built up small fights, that they hadn't had in the last couple of months wanted to relieve themselves now and it was making Mac even angrier to see that Harm wasn't going to let them.
"We forgot the tomatoes," Harm mumbled irritated.
"And that's my fault?" Mac was drawing at the last straw trying to pick a fight now.
"As a matter of fact it is," Harm said and smiled at the memory of standing in the vegetable department and suddenly unprovoked being assaulted by a female marine. Mac remembered it too, but she wasn't going to give in just like that.
"Get out of here," she said in a tone, which didn't suit the smile on her face.
Harm did as he had been told and went out the door.
It was starting to get late and Mac decided to go and check if Mattie had started thinking about getting to bed.
"Did you finish your homework?" Mac peeked her head into Mattie's room. Mattie was lying on top of the bed, reading a book.
"I was stuck. I'll finish it tomorrow," Mattie said and put the book away.
"Why didn't you ask us for help? We've been home for some time now."
"I know I heard you, but... you were kind of busy out there."
"You're bothered by us fighting?" Mac sat down on the bed beside Mattie. Mattie didn't answer and just sat up and looked a bit guilty.
"Did your parents fight a lot?" Mac asked carefully. Mattie seldom shared anything about her life prior to coming to live with Mac. Mac hadn't shared a lot about her past either and she was now wondering if maybe she should have done so more.
"Is Harm coming back?" Mattie had nodded in response of Mac's question.
"Oh honey, of course he is. I'm so sorry we didn't mean to scare you," Mac had put her arms around Mattie and pulled her into a hug. At previous occasions Mattie had always redrawn from her when she had touched her, but this time she put her arms around Mac as well. "Harm and I used to fight a lot more before and I think we just need to adjust to this new situation. Living together is going to be tough at times. For all of us. In the end though I think things will be better so or rather I'm quite sure it will."
"I guess I overreacted," Mattie apologized. Mac seemed so upset with herself and Mattie didn't want to be the cause of that. Mattie started to cry and for once it didn't seem so bad to let someone see her cry.
"I understand why you would. I probably would have to in your place. My parents fought a lot too and it never ended happily. It would get physical and that scars you too. When I first got to know Harm I always saw it in black or white. Either you were friends or you were fighting, but he taught me it isn't always like that. At first it was just in the courtroom, but it works in other places too. It's OK to fight as long as you always know that you are going to make up, that you will still be friends afterwards."
Mac kept Mattie in her arms until she had calmed down, then Mac let her go.
"Mattie, I can't promise you not to fight with Harm. It's something you'll have to live with. However you should know that we would never do anything to deliberately hurt each other, you or Elena. If you ask us for help we will always be able put those fights aside. Always. I can promise you that."
They both heard the door being opened and soon again closed. Mattie started to quickly brush her tears away. Mac took her hand and got up from the bed and pulled her out in the living room. There were no reassurances that were as powerful as actually seeing that everything was going to be OK.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Harm asked worriedly when he caught sight of Mac and Mattie. Mattie hadn't managed to hide her red swollen eyes even if she had wiped away the tears.
"We just need a little group hug," Mac said. She would tell him the whole story later.
"That's not so hard to fix," he said and embraced them both with his long arms.
"I'm such a baby," Mattie said when the tears started to fall down her cheeks again.
"Yes, you are," Mac said and started tickling her side. Mattie squealed for a bit, but Harm wouldn't let her go so she was stuck where she was for the moment. Mattie started tickling them as counterattack and now they finally let go of her. She decided that a retreat was the best thing to do now and she rushed over to the bathroom to get ready for bed.
"She's precious our baby," Mac stated.
"That she is," Harm agreed with her.
TBC