Mattie was moving around in the kitchen. The pancakes were done and the coffee was almost done as well. She had gotten everything out of the refrigerator that could possibly be eaten as breakfast. She was surprised that she hadn't seen anything of Harm or Mac yet. Harm and she were going to drive Mac to Norfolk and they needed to leave in time. She went upstairs to see if Mac was up. When she didn't get any response, she slowly opened the door, just to find the bed made and the room in perfect order. It looked like no one was really living there. Mattie turned around and walked hastily over to Harm's door.
"Harm, she already left," Mattie cried out and that was the only warning Harm and Mac got before she stormed into the room.
They both sat up, the cover was covering up all of them except for the heads, but it didn't change anything about the fact that they had been found in a rather compromising situation sleeping naked in a bed together like that.
Just as fast as she'd come into the room, Mattie rushed out without saying a word. Harm and Mac got up from the bed and rushed to get some clothes on and then follow her downstairs.
They found the door to her room closed. Harm knocked and said "Mattie, can we come in? We need to talk to you about this."
"No! You've ruined everything! Everything!" Mattie cried out.
"What do you mean we've ruined everything?" Harm asked her trying to get a grip on how she was experiencing the situation.
"I don't understand why you would risk all that we have, because of... because of something like that. If you had those needs couldn't you go out and find someone else to take care of them with. But not with Mac. Don't you see that she's never going to come back to us now?" Mattie was angry and upset with Harm. Her voice was high pitched, but they had no problems hearing what she was saying through the door.
"Mattie, can we come in?" Mac asked her. "We're not going to be able to solve anything like this. With us out here."
They could hear her breathe, or rather grasping for air, and Harm slowly opened the door and walked into the room. Mattie was sitting on the floor leaning her back against her bed. Every breath she was trying to force down her lungs was causing her to shake and at the same time tears were streaming down her cheeks.
"Oh, honey. I'm so sorry. So, so sorry," Mac rushed over and sat down beside Mattie hugging her close to her, trying to breathe with her.
"It's... not... your... fault..." Mattie got out "How... could... you?" she asked looking up at Harm "Now... she's... not... going... to... come... back... You... used... her," Mattie was just getting more and more panicked.
"No, Mattie I'm always going to come back to you, to both of you. Always, always, always. You need to calm down a bit so we can talk about this. Take a deep breath, Mattie," she said and did so as well "And breathe out." She released all of the air that was in her lungs and Mattie tried her best to follow her, but she was still just able to get a small amount of air into the top of her lungs. They continued doing the same thing for 15 minutes. Harm kneeled down beside them and tried to put his arms around both of them as well, but when he felt Mattie only getting worse, then he backed off a little, just holding his arm around Mac trying to comfort her. By now tears were falling down both Harm and Mac's cheeks as well.
"Mattie, you've gotten the wrong impression of our relationship," Mac said when it seemed to get a little easier for Mattie.
"Don't tell me you were just sleeping..."
"No, we're not going to tell you that," Mac told her "But we are going to tell you that this wasn't a one night stand. Mattie-honey, Harm and I," she took Harm's hand and he braided his fingers with hers "are in a relationship."
"We're in a serious relationship and we have been for quite a while now," Harm said.
"Ever since I broke up with Webb to be more exact."
"And that's supposed to make me feel better? You've been lying to me for the past two months. The two people I trust the most..." Mattie didn't sound angry, just sad and disappointed.
"Mattie, we didn't mean to hurt you by hiding this from you. We just... We needed some time to get this thing with us properly together, before we could tell anyone about it. We needed to practice being a couple. But we want to tell people about it now," Mac took Mattie's hand squeezed it carefully "You were going to be the first to know. We were going to tell you yesterday, but... We wanted you to know before I left."
"Right. You're leaving," Mattie looked at her watch. "Mac, we're going to be late. You're going to miss the depart."
"No, I'm not," Mac said slowly and took a deep breath "Because I'm not going away on the Patrick-Henry."
Mattie didn't say anything, just looked at her confused.
"You see, we found something out yesterday, something that's going to change a lot of things around here. But it's not going to change all of us being a family," Harm said and stressed family. He had sat down on Mattie's other side. "Our family is going to get a new member. Mac's pregnant."
Mac nodded to confirm what Harm was saying and had her one hand protectively on her stomach. Mattie looked at Mac's stomach and then up at her face. Her expression was simply of shock so it was hard to say what she thought of the news.
"I know that it's a lot of new things for you right now. We're still rather shocked as well, I think. And it's going to take some time until we are properly adjusted to this new situation. But... can you see this happening? Can you see the four of us being a family together?" Harm looked at her attentively.
Mattie tock a deep breath "I don't know. I mean, I hope we will, but can you ever really be sure until it really is happening?"
"You can have faith and trust. That can go a long way."
"I'll try that. I'll try really hard. I know I have to."
"We're all going to have to work really hard to make this work, but I want you to know that this isn't going to change anything about how we feel about having you here. We're really glad to have you here and we never want you to leave again. Not until you're like fifty at least," Mac added.
They remained sitting on the floor of Mattie's room for a while, all of them thinking about different yet the same things. Finally there was a growling sound from Mac's stomach.
"It seems like the little man in there has inherited his mother's appetite," Harm commented and smiled.
"You better watch it or the little girl in here," Mac said. Her hand was still on her stomach. It was like she was afraid that if she let go of it, it would all go away. "and I will seriously kick your butt," Mac said and swatted him lightly on the arm.
Mattie couldn't help but smile at their exchange.
They moved out to the kitchen and started to reheat the pancakes and get everything back to order for breakfast.
"So are you two going to get married now?" Mattie asked them as she was just stuffing herself with her second pancake. She looked from Harm to Mac and back.
"Well," Mac said "we haven't talked about it..."
"Yet, but," he just looked at Mac and she looked back at him and smiled "I think we might actually do that."
"Was that your proposal? I'm starting to get the whole you needing to practice-thing and I'm telling you you're not done yet."
"Hey," Mac and Harm protested at the same time and it caused them all three to start laughing.
"But you're going to have a real wedding at least. I mean with bridesmaids and stuff..."
"Of course," Mac said.
"And will you let me be one of the bridesmaids?" Mattie asked carefully.
"Are you kidding? You'll be the maid of honor," Mac said without any doubt in her voice.
"Cool," Mattie smiled happily. "I promise to get better at knocking."
"Yeah, I think that might be a good idea," Harm agreed and smiled back at her.
The End
AN: So this was the last part of Neighbors. This story has truly been a wonderful summer-project for me. At times I wish that I would have had more time to write and post at times, but I guess that has kept the suspense up... Anyway I've had lots of fun sharing this story with all of you this summer. Thank you for that! Special thanks of course to everyone who wrote to me and encouraged me to continue writing. Extra special thanks to Cria and TZ who have helped me by beta-reading the story.
Oh, and an epilogue will follow soon...