Is there still interest in this? I'm afraid that I've still got a
real long way to go. sigh I swear I wasn't trying
for yet another novel, but it's turning into one.
Chapter 20:
Ever so Humble
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us look at the stars."
--Oscar Wilde
2445 Zulu
5 February 2004
North of Union Station
Washington, DC
"Is there anything else you want to take, flyboy?" Mac asked as she pulled open a dresser drawer.
Harm rubbed his hand across his eyes. "My oldest jeans are in the bottom," he said groggily. "Need 'em to muck out the barn in."
"Harm," Mac began. "You aren't going to be mucking out the barn anytime soon with that broken leg."
"I know," he said with a yawn. "But it'll heal, and then I'll want to help out with the chores. Grams can let her hired man have a vacation when I'm better."
Mac came over and pushed him gently back on to the bed. "If I have it my way, the most physical exercise you're getting in the foreseeable future is to walk from the bedroom to the couch and to the bathroom. Got that, mister?"
"M-a-a-ac," he protested.
"I bet your grandma will back me up, so you're going to be stuck with both of us fussing over you until you're better." Mac put her hands on her hips and gave him her best Marine glare. "And you're going to have to like it, too."
"Am not," he retorted.
Mac sighed and shook her head. Eight years of being his best friend had taught her that there was nothing he hated worse than being sick, and he tended to try and deny it when he was. She walked around the bed and took his hand. "Harm, we almost lost you, so I'm afraid that you're just going to have to suck it up, because I doubt that you're going to get out of sight of either of us."
"Okay," he said, leaning into her. "Can we leave tomorrow? I'm tired." Harm stifled another yawn.
Mac leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm planning to, sailor. I just want to get everything packed so we can leave first thing in the morning."
"Okay," he said, settling back on his bed. Harm held up the blanket invitingly. "Come to bed?" he asked with a flyboy smile on his face. "I've dreamed of you here in my bed," he admitted.
Mac squeezed his hand. "And I bet those dreams were probably like the ones I've had with you in my bed," she said with a grin. "I'm going to go order us some dinner--you're going to stay put."
Harm patted the mattress beside him. "Please?" he said. "This is much more comfortable than that tiny little hospital bed."
Mac sighed. "All right, Harm, but just for a few minutes; I'm hungry." She climbed on to the bed and crawled over beside him. Harm put his arms around her and held her close.
Mac leaned slightly into his embrace. "I know it's only been a few days since we got the starlight out of your system, Harm, but you're still having nightmares." She put her arm around his waist. "What did he do to you?"
Harm traces circles on the bare skin of her arm. "The first little while wasn't bad," he said finally. "China was worse."
"China?"
Harm bit his lip. "I'd forgotten that I've never told you; the year before we became partners, I was kidnapped by the Chinese and tortured."
Mac hugged him, offering some silent support. "What happened?" she asked softly.
"Drugs, mostly," he admitted. "They made me think that my father was in the cell right below me. Sadik was no worse at the beginning."
Mac simply tightened her grip on him.
"He sent his goons in to give me professional beatings, and then told me that everybody I loved was dead because he'd killed them." Harm closed his eyes in remembered pain. "After he'd been pumping that stuff into me, I even started to believe him."
Harm looked at her, a haunted look in his eyes. "I still see the picture he painted for me every time I close my eyes. Everybody I care about gone, and he and his goons are torturing you to death."
"It didn't happen, Harmon," she murmured, then gave him a kiss on the cheek. "We're all safe, and Jack, Beth, and Webb sent that bastard to hell where he belongs."
"I can still see it," he said, his voice hoarse from unshed tears, "It's worse than the nightmares that made me come after you in Paraguay."
"I'm glad you came after me, Harm," she murmured. "What I said down there didn't help, either. I was terrified after you'd been taken that I'd lost you for good, and that I'd never have the chance to tell you that I was wrong."
Harm tightened his grip on her. "I thought I had lost you, but I couldn't tell him what he wanted to know." He looked at her with pain in his eyes. "If I lost you, I'd lose the best part of me with you, because it's been yours for a long time."
"It won't happen," Mac said firmly. "No more TAD assignments to the CIA; I'm getting too old to go play spy and barely escape one of Webb's cockamamie schemes."
"So you're not dating Webb?" Harm asked.
"I wouldn't be if he'd call me so that I can break up with him," she said with a smile. "He hasn't been returning my calls--I was only seeing him to find out how you were, anyway."
Mac turned slightly and planted a soft kiss on his chest. "I need to go order us something to eat."
Harm shook his head. "Stay?"
"Harm, I'm just going to be in the next room. I'll be right back, I promise." Mac slipped out of his embrace and off the bed, then leaned over and brushed a kiss across his lips much like the one they'd shared at the New Years Eve party a few years back.
Harm reached for his crutches. "I'm coming, too."
Mac put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "No, you're not, Harm. In case you've forgotten, you still have three cracked ribs, and you're not to use those crutches any more than absolutely necessary."
He shot her a pleading look. "Please?"
Mac smiled and went over to rummage in the bag she'd gotten from her apartment. "Nope, but I do have something for you; Chloe sent it to me last year."
"What is it?" Harm asked.
Mac pulled a reddish-brown bear dressed in BDUs out of the bag and handed it over. "Chloe says that it's a Sarah Mackenzie bear," she said with a grin. "It's wearing a bikini underneath the uniform."
Harm examined the bear in his hands. "Does Mac-the-bear have a partner?" he asked.
Mac's smile got wider as she reached in the bag and pulled out a bear dressed in dress whites. "How did you guess?" she asked.
"Because we're a matched set," he said with a broad smile.
"Chloe's grandma made the uniform for Harm-the-bear," she admitted. "He's got swim trunks on underneath." Mac handed him the toy.
Harm set it next to him and started unbuttoning Mac-the-bear's uniform shirt. "So if I pull the top of the bikini off, she'll be like you in Australia." Harm grinned broadly as he took the uniform off the bear.
Mac laughed. "Well, not quite; for one thing, I was wearing a top... the straps were tied behind my back."
"Uh huh," Harm looked unconvinced.
"I'll be right back, stickboy," she said. "You've lost too much weight, and you can't afford it." Mac leaned over and kissed him.
Harm reached up and ran his fingers through the silken strands of her dark hair. "Hurry back," he said when they broke off the kiss.
Mac nodded. "I promise," she said with a quick smile. "Pizza or Chinese? I'm betting that you're tired of that liquid diet they had you on."
"Pizza?" he requested.
"Okay." Mac turned and headed out of the room, leaving Harm to examine the soft, plushy toys.
He finished taking the uniform off of Mac-the-bear and set her on the bed before he picked up Harm-the-bear. He pulled off the dress whites, then set them side-by-side. "Mac-the-bear, meet Harm-the-bear," he murmured. "If you're lucky, Harm, you'll get to keep her forever."
Harm picked up Mac-the-bear and gave her a hug. "Not as good as hugging the real Sarah," he decided.
Mac came back into the room and started picking the discarded teddy bear clothes off the bed. "You should see the wardrobes these bears have," she said with a smile. "Chloe keeps sending me more clothes every few months--Mac-the-bear even has a wedding dress."
"Think Chloe is trying to send us a hint?" Harm asked with a grin.
"Well, let's see," Mac began with a smirk. "After she forgave me for Mic, she decided that you had to be the one for me again, and subtle she isn't."
Harm chuckled. "I remember a certain child informing me that you loved me--wish I'd listened."
"Oh, you listened all right." Mac smacked him lightly on the arm. "You just didn't believe it." She picked up the Harm bear and made it kiss the Mac bear. "I think I'll give these to our daughter."
"Our daughter?" he asked, a slow smile spreading over his face.
"We do have the baby deal coming due in the next few months," she reminded him. "As soon as you're better, I intend to hold you to it."
"I hope she looks like you," he said.
"I hope he looks like me, and that she looks like you," Mac corrected. "I want two."
"One with your looks and my brains and one with my looks and your brains?" he asked.
"You got it," she said. "They'll be perfect. I'm betting that with Rabb genes, they'll be wanting to fly from the cradle."
"That scares you, doesn't it?" he asked. "You've never liked it when I've left to fly."
Mac nodded. "Yes. But it's part of you, and I don't want to change that."
"I'll be careful," he promised. "And I'll teach our kids to fly smart if they decide they want to learn."
"That's all I ask."
Harm leaned over and brushed his lips across hers. "Thank you, Sarah."
Mac gently pushed him down to the surface of the bed. "Rest, Harm. Remember, we have to go to the office tomorrow before we leave for your promotion ceremony."
Harm settled back into his pillows. "Not sure how I'm going to get a uniform over the splints; they're bulkier than a cast would be."
Mac raised an eyebrow. "I know you've got some loose dress pants in that closet of yours that are a close match to your uniform pants," she said. "I'll find them and iron them and the rest of a uniform." Mac grinned. "You'll just have to deal with being squared away like a Marine."
Harm smiled. "I can deal with that."
"Rest, sailor," she murmured. "If you fall asleep, I'll wake you when dinner gets here." Mac curled up next to him and smiled as he put one arm around her. He still held Mac-the-bear in his other arm. 'He'll make a good dad,' she thought. She reached over and pulled the blankets up around him. Tomorrow, they'd be heading to the farm. She'd seen flashes of the old Harm from time to time, and in the quiet of the country, she was hoping that she could get all of him back.
Chapter 20:
Ever so Humble
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us look at the stars."
--Oscar Wilde
2445 Zulu
5 February 2004
North of Union Station
Washington, DC
"Is there anything else you want to take, flyboy?" Mac asked as she pulled open a dresser drawer.
Harm rubbed his hand across his eyes. "My oldest jeans are in the bottom," he said groggily. "Need 'em to muck out the barn in."
"Harm," Mac began. "You aren't going to be mucking out the barn anytime soon with that broken leg."
"I know," he said with a yawn. "But it'll heal, and then I'll want to help out with the chores. Grams can let her hired man have a vacation when I'm better."
Mac came over and pushed him gently back on to the bed. "If I have it my way, the most physical exercise you're getting in the foreseeable future is to walk from the bedroom to the couch and to the bathroom. Got that, mister?"
"M-a-a-ac," he protested.
"I bet your grandma will back me up, so you're going to be stuck with both of us fussing over you until you're better." Mac put her hands on her hips and gave him her best Marine glare. "And you're going to have to like it, too."
"Am not," he retorted.
Mac sighed and shook her head. Eight years of being his best friend had taught her that there was nothing he hated worse than being sick, and he tended to try and deny it when he was. She walked around the bed and took his hand. "Harm, we almost lost you, so I'm afraid that you're just going to have to suck it up, because I doubt that you're going to get out of sight of either of us."
"Okay," he said, leaning into her. "Can we leave tomorrow? I'm tired." Harm stifled another yawn.
Mac leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm planning to, sailor. I just want to get everything packed so we can leave first thing in the morning."
"Okay," he said, settling back on his bed. Harm held up the blanket invitingly. "Come to bed?" he asked with a flyboy smile on his face. "I've dreamed of you here in my bed," he admitted.
Mac squeezed his hand. "And I bet those dreams were probably like the ones I've had with you in my bed," she said with a grin. "I'm going to go order us some dinner--you're going to stay put."
Harm patted the mattress beside him. "Please?" he said. "This is much more comfortable than that tiny little hospital bed."
Mac sighed. "All right, Harm, but just for a few minutes; I'm hungry." She climbed on to the bed and crawled over beside him. Harm put his arms around her and held her close.
Mac leaned slightly into his embrace. "I know it's only been a few days since we got the starlight out of your system, Harm, but you're still having nightmares." She put her arm around his waist. "What did he do to you?"
Harm traces circles on the bare skin of her arm. "The first little while wasn't bad," he said finally. "China was worse."
"China?"
Harm bit his lip. "I'd forgotten that I've never told you; the year before we became partners, I was kidnapped by the Chinese and tortured."
Mac hugged him, offering some silent support. "What happened?" she asked softly.
"Drugs, mostly," he admitted. "They made me think that my father was in the cell right below me. Sadik was no worse at the beginning."
Mac simply tightened her grip on him.
"He sent his goons in to give me professional beatings, and then told me that everybody I loved was dead because he'd killed them." Harm closed his eyes in remembered pain. "After he'd been pumping that stuff into me, I even started to believe him."
Harm looked at her, a haunted look in his eyes. "I still see the picture he painted for me every time I close my eyes. Everybody I care about gone, and he and his goons are torturing you to death."
"It didn't happen, Harmon," she murmured, then gave him a kiss on the cheek. "We're all safe, and Jack, Beth, and Webb sent that bastard to hell where he belongs."
"I can still see it," he said, his voice hoarse from unshed tears, "It's worse than the nightmares that made me come after you in Paraguay."
"I'm glad you came after me, Harm," she murmured. "What I said down there didn't help, either. I was terrified after you'd been taken that I'd lost you for good, and that I'd never have the chance to tell you that I was wrong."
Harm tightened his grip on her. "I thought I had lost you, but I couldn't tell him what he wanted to know." He looked at her with pain in his eyes. "If I lost you, I'd lose the best part of me with you, because it's been yours for a long time."
"It won't happen," Mac said firmly. "No more TAD assignments to the CIA; I'm getting too old to go play spy and barely escape one of Webb's cockamamie schemes."
"So you're not dating Webb?" Harm asked.
"I wouldn't be if he'd call me so that I can break up with him," she said with a smile. "He hasn't been returning my calls--I was only seeing him to find out how you were, anyway."
Mac turned slightly and planted a soft kiss on his chest. "I need to go order us something to eat."
Harm shook his head. "Stay?"
"Harm, I'm just going to be in the next room. I'll be right back, I promise." Mac slipped out of his embrace and off the bed, then leaned over and brushed a kiss across his lips much like the one they'd shared at the New Years Eve party a few years back.
Harm reached for his crutches. "I'm coming, too."
Mac put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "No, you're not, Harm. In case you've forgotten, you still have three cracked ribs, and you're not to use those crutches any more than absolutely necessary."
He shot her a pleading look. "Please?"
Mac smiled and went over to rummage in the bag she'd gotten from her apartment. "Nope, but I do have something for you; Chloe sent it to me last year."
"What is it?" Harm asked.
Mac pulled a reddish-brown bear dressed in BDUs out of the bag and handed it over. "Chloe says that it's a Sarah Mackenzie bear," she said with a grin. "It's wearing a bikini underneath the uniform."
Harm examined the bear in his hands. "Does Mac-the-bear have a partner?" he asked.
Mac's smile got wider as she reached in the bag and pulled out a bear dressed in dress whites. "How did you guess?" she asked.
"Because we're a matched set," he said with a broad smile.
"Chloe's grandma made the uniform for Harm-the-bear," she admitted. "He's got swim trunks on underneath." Mac handed him the toy.
Harm set it next to him and started unbuttoning Mac-the-bear's uniform shirt. "So if I pull the top of the bikini off, she'll be like you in Australia." Harm grinned broadly as he took the uniform off the bear.
Mac laughed. "Well, not quite; for one thing, I was wearing a top... the straps were tied behind my back."
"Uh huh," Harm looked unconvinced.
"I'll be right back, stickboy," she said. "You've lost too much weight, and you can't afford it." Mac leaned over and kissed him.
Harm reached up and ran his fingers through the silken strands of her dark hair. "Hurry back," he said when they broke off the kiss.
Mac nodded. "I promise," she said with a quick smile. "Pizza or Chinese? I'm betting that you're tired of that liquid diet they had you on."
"Pizza?" he requested.
"Okay." Mac turned and headed out of the room, leaving Harm to examine the soft, plushy toys.
He finished taking the uniform off of Mac-the-bear and set her on the bed before he picked up Harm-the-bear. He pulled off the dress whites, then set them side-by-side. "Mac-the-bear, meet Harm-the-bear," he murmured. "If you're lucky, Harm, you'll get to keep her forever."
Harm picked up Mac-the-bear and gave her a hug. "Not as good as hugging the real Sarah," he decided.
Mac came back into the room and started picking the discarded teddy bear clothes off the bed. "You should see the wardrobes these bears have," she said with a smile. "Chloe keeps sending me more clothes every few months--Mac-the-bear even has a wedding dress."
"Think Chloe is trying to send us a hint?" Harm asked with a grin.
"Well, let's see," Mac began with a smirk. "After she forgave me for Mic, she decided that you had to be the one for me again, and subtle she isn't."
Harm chuckled. "I remember a certain child informing me that you loved me--wish I'd listened."
"Oh, you listened all right." Mac smacked him lightly on the arm. "You just didn't believe it." She picked up the Harm bear and made it kiss the Mac bear. "I think I'll give these to our daughter."
"Our daughter?" he asked, a slow smile spreading over his face.
"We do have the baby deal coming due in the next few months," she reminded him. "As soon as you're better, I intend to hold you to it."
"I hope she looks like you," he said.
"I hope he looks like me, and that she looks like you," Mac corrected. "I want two."
"One with your looks and my brains and one with my looks and your brains?" he asked.
"You got it," she said. "They'll be perfect. I'm betting that with Rabb genes, they'll be wanting to fly from the cradle."
"That scares you, doesn't it?" he asked. "You've never liked it when I've left to fly."
Mac nodded. "Yes. But it's part of you, and I don't want to change that."
"I'll be careful," he promised. "And I'll teach our kids to fly smart if they decide they want to learn."
"That's all I ask."
Harm leaned over and brushed his lips across hers. "Thank you, Sarah."
Mac gently pushed him down to the surface of the bed. "Rest, Harm. Remember, we have to go to the office tomorrow before we leave for your promotion ceremony."
Harm settled back into his pillows. "Not sure how I'm going to get a uniform over the splints; they're bulkier than a cast would be."
Mac raised an eyebrow. "I know you've got some loose dress pants in that closet of yours that are a close match to your uniform pants," she said. "I'll find them and iron them and the rest of a uniform." Mac grinned. "You'll just have to deal with being squared away like a Marine."
Harm smiled. "I can deal with that."
"Rest, sailor," she murmured. "If you fall asleep, I'll wake you when dinner gets here." Mac curled up next to him and smiled as he put one arm around her. He still held Mac-the-bear in his other arm. 'He'll make a good dad,' she thought. She reached over and pulled the blankets up around him. Tomorrow, they'd be heading to the farm. She'd seen flashes of the old Harm from time to time, and in the quiet of the country, she was hoping that she could get all of him back.