A/N: Sorry about the time lags in posting updates. It's all work's fault;
every time I try to get out, they just pull me back in! Anyway ... thanks to
everyone who has taken the time to review the story so far – I promise this
will be a finished story someday! I have tried to be faithful to proper
treatments and medical terminology in the chapter below, but please know
that I'm not a doctor, so any obvious errors are unintentional.
"Tested Hearts" Chapter 4
Mac's alarm went off as usual, waking her from a dreamless sleep. She opened her eyes, yawned, and stretched her arms above her head, enjoying the warmth of the bed. She smiled to herself, thinking of lazy Saturday mornings spent in bed growing up, and the comfortable, safe feelings in the memories. Her childhood didn't hold many of those types of memories, and the few she did carry with her into adulthood were ones she held very tightly to.
"Geeze, I must be getting older," she said to herself, "I'm waking up and philosophizing first thing in the morning now. Must be Harm's fault, somehow." She giggled at her own joke, thinking of the tall aviator who was her best friend and partner. As she looked towards the winder in her bedroom, wondering just how long she could stay in this spot before she needed to get ready for work, the phone by her bed rang. Surprised, she reached for the portable unit, and tried to read the called ID screen as she brought the receiver to her ear. Her vision was still too blurry from sleep to make out the characters on the screen, and she decided to just find out who could be calling her at this time of the morning the old fashioned way.
"MacKenzie."
"Colonel, this is Admiral Chegwidden. Good morning."
"Morning, sir. Sir ... is something wrong? Not that I mind, but you've never called me this early in the morning before."
"Sorry about that, Mac. Hope I didn't wake you." She noticed he didn't give the reason for his call right away, and that helped her to come fully awake.
"No, sir. I just woke up right before your call, in fact. Sir – what can I do for you?"
"Mac, I have some bad news."
"Is it Harm? What's happened?"
"Colonel, please ... Harm's fine, but Mattie has taken sick, and apparently it's bad enough that Harm and Coates had to take her to the hospital this morning. I'm sorry to be the bearer ..."
"Oh, my God! What's wrong with her?" She leaped out of bed, pulling clothes from her closet while keeping the phone between her shoulder and ear.
"Coates called me a few minutes ago while they were on the way to the ER. Sounds like she has a bad case of the flu – her temp was almost 104 as of 15 or 20 minutes ago, and she lost consciousness before the EMTs got there. They're heading to GW right now."
Mac stopped moving and stood by her bed, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "Sir, I know kids get sick, but what would cause her to lose consciousness like that? She seemed fine when I talked to her on the phone last night after work!"
"Mac, it sounds like it started after dinner; at least that's what happened according to Coates. She went to bed early, and woke Jen up this morning when she fell out of her bed. Jen went to check on the sound, found Mattie on the floor in her room barely conscious and feverish, and went to get Harm. They took her temp, and then called 911."
"Sir, I have to get there –"
"Already approved, Mac. I spoke with Jen about 5 minutes ago. She knows you're coming. I told her to tell Harm you were on your way, and to stick close to him. I didn't talk to him directly, so I don't know what state he's in ..."
"Frantic and scared, sir."
"You're reading him through that bond you two share?"
"No, sir ... I just know that's how I feel right now, and I'm sure it's the same for him, too."
"Yeah. I want you to get there ASAP, Mac ... Jen is blaming herself for this, and I need someone with a cool head close by until the doctors figure out what's going on."
Mac had somehow dressed while still holding the phone in warm slacks and a soft pullover sweater, and was in the process of slipping into boots when she paused at the Admiral's last words. "Why is she blaming herself, Admiral? She didn't get Mattie sick!"
"She apparently thinks that if she'd paid more attention to the symptoms Mattie started having last night during dinner, this wouldn't have happened."
"That's ... Jen must be panicking, which isn't like her."
"Agreed, which is one reason I need you there. I'm going to go in and open the office, and then wait to hear from you or Jen. I told her to check in with me every 20 minutes or when she gets more info."
"Understood, sir. I'm leaving now, and I should be there within 15 minutes this time of morning. They're at the ER?"
"Yes. Mac, the chief pediatric doctor at Bethesda is a personal friend, and I will call him in if needed for Mattie. I don't want to sandbag the GW ER docs, but I want you to know about that option just in case. Don't tell anyone there just yet, especially Harm. I don't want to cause a pissing contest until we know more about her condition, but if we need him, I'm getting him involved."
"Thank you, sir. If you speak to Jen before I get there, tell her again I'm on my way. Once I find them and get some info, I'll call back, sir."
"Good. Whatever she needs, Mac, we'll get for her. Tell Harm I'll be there as soon as I know the office is in shape. Meanwhile, I'm on my cell in case you need me."
Mac picked up her purse and a warm coat, and almost ran to the front door of her place, before speaking again.
"I'm switching off my land line, sir. Talk to you soon."
"Ok, Mac."
She disconnected the call and threw the phone on her couch as she rushed through her front door, quickly locking it before heading to the elevator in her building and her car for the drive to the hospital. "Please, God," she whispered, "keep Mattie and Harm safe." She hadn't prayed in a while, but if there was ever a time ....
Jen reached the cafeteria a few hallways from the ER entrance area, and pushed open the heavy wooden doors. Even at this early hour, the place was half full with people, families and friends waiting to hear about someone they cared about. She stopped, shook herself, took a deep breath, and began walking again towards the coffee machines near the checkout line. She fixed three large coffees, one each for Harm and herself, and the third for Mac when she arrived, and went to pay for the drinks. The attendant gave her a cardboard carry holder so that she wouldn't have to balance three hot, large drinks in her hands, and she smiled gratefully at the elderly attendant. Walking back through the doors of the cafeteria, she turned back the way she came, and almost passed the hospital chapel before noticing the stained glass windows and the "Quiet" sign outside the door. Pausing a moment, she turned to enter, thinking to herself that she just needed a quiet place to collect her thoughts and send a prayer for Mattie and Harm. She was the only occupant of the room, and her eyes could just make out the pulpit and pews that seemed to take up most of the space in the room.
She sat in the closest pew by the door, the coffee holder balanced in her lap, and she lowered her head briefly as her eyes closed. She tried to clear her mind to say the things she wanted to say, but all she could think of was to say "I'm sorry, Mattie.. I should have taken better care of you. Please get well, so I can apologize in person. Harm, I'm sorry, too ... I – I don't blame you if you end up hating and not trusting me after this. I hope I have the chance to make it up to both of you."
Jen sat there in the quiet chapel, silent tears flowing from her closed eyes, her shoulders shaking as she let go.
After a few minutes of questions, Harm couldn't take it anymore. "Could we finish this later? I can't think anymore ... I need to find out what's going on with my daughter!" The nurse sitting next to him smiled gently, and murmured, "Of course, Mr. Rabb. I can finish up with you later. You will have to wait for Doctor Gentry to come and talk to you, ok? Please stay here – is there anyone I can call for you?"
"Um, no ... thank you, nurse. She's on her way, I'm sure."
"Mattie's mother?" the nurse asked him.
"For all intents and purposes," Harm replied, smiling a little at the puzzled look on the nurse's face. "My best friend is another woman I work with, and she's become Mattie's mom in almost every sense. Mattie will vouch for that when she wakes up, trust me."
The nurse nodded again, still a little puzzled at the unique facets of this "family" in her care, but in all her time as an ER nurse, she's seen just about everything ... so nothing really fazed her anymore. "All right, Mr. Rabb. Your young friend should be getting back with your coffee soon, and I'll be at the desk if you need anything."
"Thank you again for your kindness." Harm gave her another smile, and the nurse touched his shoulder as she got up to go back to the admittance desk to begin entering the information she'd gotten from Harm.
The heater in Mac's car decided today of all days to quit working, and she shivered as she raced through the dark streets heading towards George Washington hospital. She drove slightly faster than the limit, reasoning that she could talk her way out of any police stop fast enough to get to the ER in case she was pulled over, but she wasn't concerned about a speeding ticket as much as what she would find when she got to Harm, Mattie, ... and Jen, too. She remembered the Admiral's words about Jen's state of mind, and knew she'd have to help the young woman get past the blame she'd apparently taken on her shoulders, while being there for Harm and Mattie. Poor Mattie, she thought. After everything she's been through ... to be in a hospital on top of it all, just wasn't fair. Still, whatever happened to her didn't sound really serious, right? The doctors will figure out what's going on, and get her well again. And Mattie will be surrounded by people who loved her. Mac knew that once the Roberts heard about Mattie, they'd be at the hospital as soon as they could. Same with Sturgis and the Gunny. That girl wouldn't be alone – and neither would Harm. She sighed again as she wondered what her best friend was going through, and promised him silently that she'd be with him as always, whatever happened.
"I'm on my way, Harm, Mattie ... hang on ..." Mac whispered in the cold air of her car as she raced towards the hospital.
Doctor Gentry stood over the unconscious form of Mattie as she studied the readouts from the instruments and monitors hooked up to the teenager. Mattie was still unconscious and feverish with a temp that hovered around 103, and the watery sounds from her lungs concerned the doctor. Could be the beginnings of bronchitis, she thought to herself, setting her stethoscope on her ears as she listened again to Mattie's chest. The very high fever was the primary problem, though, and was likely the cause of the unconscious state that made this something other than simple flu. She looked at the nurse who was writing down Mattie's vitals on her chart.
"Let's deal with this fever first. Put her on 25 milliliters of ibuprofen and hang an albuterol drip. That should start bringing her temp down and get some more ox into her lungs. I want to try to head off any infection in her bronchial tubes as soon as we can. Put her vitals on the network, and link them to my PMC. "
"Yes, doctor."
"And when the pediatrician gets here, have them double-check her vitals and consult on her chart. She may need a chest X-ray later if the temp doesn't come down fast enough. Draw some blood and send it to the lab, have them put a rush on it. I want to know if we're dealing with anything else in her system."
"You got it." The nurse activated a computer link near Mattie's bed that would start transmitting her vitals over the hospital's internal LAN and wireless systems, where both the labs and Doctor Gentry could get real-time information on her condition through their stations and the doctor's PMC, or Physician's Monitor Computer – a small PocketPC-based device that received wireless signals from the hospital computer network with patient info, vitals, and alerts. The recently installed system allowed for much faster diagnoses and better monitoring of patients, and GW was the first hospital in the DC area to have the new devices.
"I'm going to go talk to the father. If her temp doesn't go down within the next half-hour, or if she hasn't regained consciousness by then, we're gonna admit her." The nurse nodded, and added more notes to her wireless notebook, then took a cloth to gently wipe the perspiration from Mattie's flushed face as the doctor turned to walk through the curtains surrounding the bed and area Mattie was in.
Mac pulled into the hospital parking lot near the ER entrance, and was immediately waved towards the visitors' spaces by a bored-looking security guard who had apparently checked her bumpers and windshield and, seeing no authorized sticker, determined that Mac was a visitor and not someone on staff. She turned off the engine and leaped out of the car, slamming the car door before running through the automatic doors of the ER entrance before coming to a halt near the admittance desk. She turned in a circle, looking for either Harm or Jen, and finally saw a tall-looking man with dark, short hair leaning away from her, his legs vibrating nervously. Mac recognized that habit from many courtrooms and investigations by Harm's side, when he would unconsciously reveal his nervousness about something. The last time Mac saw it was at the Family Court hearing when the judge was deciding whether Mattie would be with Harm or not, and Mac had testified on Harm's behalf. She studied the back of his head, and watched as his legs stilled, and he suddenly looked up and around the room, turning to face her as their eyes met across the room. Mac immediately saw his bloodshot eyes, and watched his face as he stood there, his arms hanging at his side. She saw his mouth form her name, "Mac," and she ran over to him as he started raising his arms. She threw herself against him as he caught her in a tight hug, and he buried his face on her shoulder, shaking in her arms.
"Mac....", he started to whisper in a strained, low voice, as she reached up to caress his face with her hands. "She so ... sick ... and I don't know what's happening with her ..."
"Shhhhhh ..." she whispered to him, pressing her lips gently against his stubbly face for a moment before continuing, "she's going to be OK, Harm, all right? Trust me ... we'll make it through this, all of us – I promise."
"She was OK just a few hours ago, and the doctor hasn't come out yet. Mattie's laying there in a bed, Mac, hooked up to all these things and with a mask over her face ... she's so pale, and I couldn't get her to wake up and talk to me ..." He sounded so lost, she thought, and she led him back to the nearby chairs, pushing him into a seat before taking his hands in hers as she sat next to him. Their knees touched as she leaned against him, both of them savoring the comfort of their physical contact.
"They'll check her over, and find out what's wrong. They'll help her, Harm, and we'll be here with her. Just hang on to me ..." she swallowed, unable to continue talking for the moment, or to stop the tears flowing down her face.
Harm sighed against her, and closed his eyes. "I'm so glad you're here, Mac ... I'm going crazy right now."
"I wouldn't be anywhere else, Harm ... she's my girl, too, and you two are my life."
END OF CHAPTER 4
"Tested Hearts" Chapter 4
Mac's alarm went off as usual, waking her from a dreamless sleep. She opened her eyes, yawned, and stretched her arms above her head, enjoying the warmth of the bed. She smiled to herself, thinking of lazy Saturday mornings spent in bed growing up, and the comfortable, safe feelings in the memories. Her childhood didn't hold many of those types of memories, and the few she did carry with her into adulthood were ones she held very tightly to.
"Geeze, I must be getting older," she said to herself, "I'm waking up and philosophizing first thing in the morning now. Must be Harm's fault, somehow." She giggled at her own joke, thinking of the tall aviator who was her best friend and partner. As she looked towards the winder in her bedroom, wondering just how long she could stay in this spot before she needed to get ready for work, the phone by her bed rang. Surprised, she reached for the portable unit, and tried to read the called ID screen as she brought the receiver to her ear. Her vision was still too blurry from sleep to make out the characters on the screen, and she decided to just find out who could be calling her at this time of the morning the old fashioned way.
"MacKenzie."
"Colonel, this is Admiral Chegwidden. Good morning."
"Morning, sir. Sir ... is something wrong? Not that I mind, but you've never called me this early in the morning before."
"Sorry about that, Mac. Hope I didn't wake you." She noticed he didn't give the reason for his call right away, and that helped her to come fully awake.
"No, sir. I just woke up right before your call, in fact. Sir – what can I do for you?"
"Mac, I have some bad news."
"Is it Harm? What's happened?"
"Colonel, please ... Harm's fine, but Mattie has taken sick, and apparently it's bad enough that Harm and Coates had to take her to the hospital this morning. I'm sorry to be the bearer ..."
"Oh, my God! What's wrong with her?" She leaped out of bed, pulling clothes from her closet while keeping the phone between her shoulder and ear.
"Coates called me a few minutes ago while they were on the way to the ER. Sounds like she has a bad case of the flu – her temp was almost 104 as of 15 or 20 minutes ago, and she lost consciousness before the EMTs got there. They're heading to GW right now."
Mac stopped moving and stood by her bed, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "Sir, I know kids get sick, but what would cause her to lose consciousness like that? She seemed fine when I talked to her on the phone last night after work!"
"Mac, it sounds like it started after dinner; at least that's what happened according to Coates. She went to bed early, and woke Jen up this morning when she fell out of her bed. Jen went to check on the sound, found Mattie on the floor in her room barely conscious and feverish, and went to get Harm. They took her temp, and then called 911."
"Sir, I have to get there –"
"Already approved, Mac. I spoke with Jen about 5 minutes ago. She knows you're coming. I told her to tell Harm you were on your way, and to stick close to him. I didn't talk to him directly, so I don't know what state he's in ..."
"Frantic and scared, sir."
"You're reading him through that bond you two share?"
"No, sir ... I just know that's how I feel right now, and I'm sure it's the same for him, too."
"Yeah. I want you to get there ASAP, Mac ... Jen is blaming herself for this, and I need someone with a cool head close by until the doctors figure out what's going on."
Mac had somehow dressed while still holding the phone in warm slacks and a soft pullover sweater, and was in the process of slipping into boots when she paused at the Admiral's last words. "Why is she blaming herself, Admiral? She didn't get Mattie sick!"
"She apparently thinks that if she'd paid more attention to the symptoms Mattie started having last night during dinner, this wouldn't have happened."
"That's ... Jen must be panicking, which isn't like her."
"Agreed, which is one reason I need you there. I'm going to go in and open the office, and then wait to hear from you or Jen. I told her to check in with me every 20 minutes or when she gets more info."
"Understood, sir. I'm leaving now, and I should be there within 15 minutes this time of morning. They're at the ER?"
"Yes. Mac, the chief pediatric doctor at Bethesda is a personal friend, and I will call him in if needed for Mattie. I don't want to sandbag the GW ER docs, but I want you to know about that option just in case. Don't tell anyone there just yet, especially Harm. I don't want to cause a pissing contest until we know more about her condition, but if we need him, I'm getting him involved."
"Thank you, sir. If you speak to Jen before I get there, tell her again I'm on my way. Once I find them and get some info, I'll call back, sir."
"Good. Whatever she needs, Mac, we'll get for her. Tell Harm I'll be there as soon as I know the office is in shape. Meanwhile, I'm on my cell in case you need me."
Mac picked up her purse and a warm coat, and almost ran to the front door of her place, before speaking again.
"I'm switching off my land line, sir. Talk to you soon."
"Ok, Mac."
She disconnected the call and threw the phone on her couch as she rushed through her front door, quickly locking it before heading to the elevator in her building and her car for the drive to the hospital. "Please, God," she whispered, "keep Mattie and Harm safe." She hadn't prayed in a while, but if there was ever a time ....
Jen reached the cafeteria a few hallways from the ER entrance area, and pushed open the heavy wooden doors. Even at this early hour, the place was half full with people, families and friends waiting to hear about someone they cared about. She stopped, shook herself, took a deep breath, and began walking again towards the coffee machines near the checkout line. She fixed three large coffees, one each for Harm and herself, and the third for Mac when she arrived, and went to pay for the drinks. The attendant gave her a cardboard carry holder so that she wouldn't have to balance three hot, large drinks in her hands, and she smiled gratefully at the elderly attendant. Walking back through the doors of the cafeteria, she turned back the way she came, and almost passed the hospital chapel before noticing the stained glass windows and the "Quiet" sign outside the door. Pausing a moment, she turned to enter, thinking to herself that she just needed a quiet place to collect her thoughts and send a prayer for Mattie and Harm. She was the only occupant of the room, and her eyes could just make out the pulpit and pews that seemed to take up most of the space in the room.
She sat in the closest pew by the door, the coffee holder balanced in her lap, and she lowered her head briefly as her eyes closed. She tried to clear her mind to say the things she wanted to say, but all she could think of was to say "I'm sorry, Mattie.. I should have taken better care of you. Please get well, so I can apologize in person. Harm, I'm sorry, too ... I – I don't blame you if you end up hating and not trusting me after this. I hope I have the chance to make it up to both of you."
Jen sat there in the quiet chapel, silent tears flowing from her closed eyes, her shoulders shaking as she let go.
After a few minutes of questions, Harm couldn't take it anymore. "Could we finish this later? I can't think anymore ... I need to find out what's going on with my daughter!" The nurse sitting next to him smiled gently, and murmured, "Of course, Mr. Rabb. I can finish up with you later. You will have to wait for Doctor Gentry to come and talk to you, ok? Please stay here – is there anyone I can call for you?"
"Um, no ... thank you, nurse. She's on her way, I'm sure."
"Mattie's mother?" the nurse asked him.
"For all intents and purposes," Harm replied, smiling a little at the puzzled look on the nurse's face. "My best friend is another woman I work with, and she's become Mattie's mom in almost every sense. Mattie will vouch for that when she wakes up, trust me."
The nurse nodded again, still a little puzzled at the unique facets of this "family" in her care, but in all her time as an ER nurse, she's seen just about everything ... so nothing really fazed her anymore. "All right, Mr. Rabb. Your young friend should be getting back with your coffee soon, and I'll be at the desk if you need anything."
"Thank you again for your kindness." Harm gave her another smile, and the nurse touched his shoulder as she got up to go back to the admittance desk to begin entering the information she'd gotten from Harm.
The heater in Mac's car decided today of all days to quit working, and she shivered as she raced through the dark streets heading towards George Washington hospital. She drove slightly faster than the limit, reasoning that she could talk her way out of any police stop fast enough to get to the ER in case she was pulled over, but she wasn't concerned about a speeding ticket as much as what she would find when she got to Harm, Mattie, ... and Jen, too. She remembered the Admiral's words about Jen's state of mind, and knew she'd have to help the young woman get past the blame she'd apparently taken on her shoulders, while being there for Harm and Mattie. Poor Mattie, she thought. After everything she's been through ... to be in a hospital on top of it all, just wasn't fair. Still, whatever happened to her didn't sound really serious, right? The doctors will figure out what's going on, and get her well again. And Mattie will be surrounded by people who loved her. Mac knew that once the Roberts heard about Mattie, they'd be at the hospital as soon as they could. Same with Sturgis and the Gunny. That girl wouldn't be alone – and neither would Harm. She sighed again as she wondered what her best friend was going through, and promised him silently that she'd be with him as always, whatever happened.
"I'm on my way, Harm, Mattie ... hang on ..." Mac whispered in the cold air of her car as she raced towards the hospital.
Doctor Gentry stood over the unconscious form of Mattie as she studied the readouts from the instruments and monitors hooked up to the teenager. Mattie was still unconscious and feverish with a temp that hovered around 103, and the watery sounds from her lungs concerned the doctor. Could be the beginnings of bronchitis, she thought to herself, setting her stethoscope on her ears as she listened again to Mattie's chest. The very high fever was the primary problem, though, and was likely the cause of the unconscious state that made this something other than simple flu. She looked at the nurse who was writing down Mattie's vitals on her chart.
"Let's deal with this fever first. Put her on 25 milliliters of ibuprofen and hang an albuterol drip. That should start bringing her temp down and get some more ox into her lungs. I want to try to head off any infection in her bronchial tubes as soon as we can. Put her vitals on the network, and link them to my PMC. "
"Yes, doctor."
"And when the pediatrician gets here, have them double-check her vitals and consult on her chart. She may need a chest X-ray later if the temp doesn't come down fast enough. Draw some blood and send it to the lab, have them put a rush on it. I want to know if we're dealing with anything else in her system."
"You got it." The nurse activated a computer link near Mattie's bed that would start transmitting her vitals over the hospital's internal LAN and wireless systems, where both the labs and Doctor Gentry could get real-time information on her condition through their stations and the doctor's PMC, or Physician's Monitor Computer – a small PocketPC-based device that received wireless signals from the hospital computer network with patient info, vitals, and alerts. The recently installed system allowed for much faster diagnoses and better monitoring of patients, and GW was the first hospital in the DC area to have the new devices.
"I'm going to go talk to the father. If her temp doesn't go down within the next half-hour, or if she hasn't regained consciousness by then, we're gonna admit her." The nurse nodded, and added more notes to her wireless notebook, then took a cloth to gently wipe the perspiration from Mattie's flushed face as the doctor turned to walk through the curtains surrounding the bed and area Mattie was in.
Mac pulled into the hospital parking lot near the ER entrance, and was immediately waved towards the visitors' spaces by a bored-looking security guard who had apparently checked her bumpers and windshield and, seeing no authorized sticker, determined that Mac was a visitor and not someone on staff. She turned off the engine and leaped out of the car, slamming the car door before running through the automatic doors of the ER entrance before coming to a halt near the admittance desk. She turned in a circle, looking for either Harm or Jen, and finally saw a tall-looking man with dark, short hair leaning away from her, his legs vibrating nervously. Mac recognized that habit from many courtrooms and investigations by Harm's side, when he would unconsciously reveal his nervousness about something. The last time Mac saw it was at the Family Court hearing when the judge was deciding whether Mattie would be with Harm or not, and Mac had testified on Harm's behalf. She studied the back of his head, and watched as his legs stilled, and he suddenly looked up and around the room, turning to face her as their eyes met across the room. Mac immediately saw his bloodshot eyes, and watched his face as he stood there, his arms hanging at his side. She saw his mouth form her name, "Mac," and she ran over to him as he started raising his arms. She threw herself against him as he caught her in a tight hug, and he buried his face on her shoulder, shaking in her arms.
"Mac....", he started to whisper in a strained, low voice, as she reached up to caress his face with her hands. "She so ... sick ... and I don't know what's happening with her ..."
"Shhhhhh ..." she whispered to him, pressing her lips gently against his stubbly face for a moment before continuing, "she's going to be OK, Harm, all right? Trust me ... we'll make it through this, all of us – I promise."
"She was OK just a few hours ago, and the doctor hasn't come out yet. Mattie's laying there in a bed, Mac, hooked up to all these things and with a mask over her face ... she's so pale, and I couldn't get her to wake up and talk to me ..." He sounded so lost, she thought, and she led him back to the nearby chairs, pushing him into a seat before taking his hands in hers as she sat next to him. Their knees touched as she leaned against him, both of them savoring the comfort of their physical contact.
"They'll check her over, and find out what's wrong. They'll help her, Harm, and we'll be here with her. Just hang on to me ..." she swallowed, unable to continue talking for the moment, or to stop the tears flowing down her face.
Harm sighed against her, and closed his eyes. "I'm so glad you're here, Mac ... I'm going crazy right now."
"I wouldn't be anywhere else, Harm ... she's my girl, too, and you two are my life."
END OF CHAPTER 4