Mac sat with a cup of coffee. She and Jen had just finished moving all the furniture into the centre of the room and covering the room with drop cloths so as not to get paint on the carpet.

"Are you beginning to wish you hadn't agreed to help ma'am?" Jen asked.

"No, this is fun, apart from the bruise on my leg."

"I'm sorry about that."

"It wasn't your fault. I was the one who moved too quickly."

"Hopefully it won't be too bad."

"Jen, I'm a Marine I had a lot worse than a bruise on my leg, nice gapping bullet wounds for example." Mac reminded her.

"Ouch."

"Gotta love flying with Harm." Jen smiled at Mac's comment. "So how's Jason? I haven't really seen him since we've been back."

"He's good; he's going to take me out to dinner on Saturday night, somewhere fancy."

"Any special occasion?" Mac asked, having an idea of why Tiner was planning dinner.

"He says it's just because were back and we've finished at the Pentagon." Jen said.

"But..." Mac prompted realising Jen had stalled.

"I don't know something seems off about it. You know kind of like when a guy starts giving you flowers for no apparent reason when they've never done it before. Something is up; I just can't put my finger on it."

"Maybe you're just being paranoid." Mac suggested.

"It's not like I think he's cheating on me, it's just something is wrong and I can't work out what it is."

"Maybe he did just miss you and wants to do something nice for you to show you he's glad you're back." Mac offered trying to rectify the situation.

"Maybe." Jen sighed. "Maybe I am just being paranoid and maybe we should change the subject."

"What do you want to talk about?" Mac asked.

"I don't know." Jen paused. "You ever think of having more kids?"

"Yeah, Harm and I talked about it hypothetically. Abi should I have a little brother or sister, I don't want her growing up an only child. But it's not going to be for a couple of years. I don't think I'd cope with having two under two and my job."

"That will be good for her." Jen smiled.

"I remember you saying you want kids, ever think anymore about it?"

"Yeah sometimes, especially when I see how cute Abi is."

"That's because you don't see her when she's screaming her head off at 0300."

"She's still cute." Jen smiled as she glanced at where Abi was sleeping. "I just think my life needs to be slightly more stable before I think about having kids."

"You're life is not stable? I mean it's a little odd with the hours and having to go out to carrier and the Pentagon occasionally. I thought you and Jason were pretty happy."

"We are, it's just he's going to finish law school soon, then he'll be going to OCS, which will make our relationship against regulations. I love him, but I guess deep down I know it'll have to end."

"Not if you change the nature of your relationship before he goes to OCS." Mac pointed out. "Then it's perfectly fine."

"Ma'am, I don't think we're there yet."

"So you'd say no if he asked you tomorrow?"

"No. But I don't think he would ask me. I guess I just have to accept that." She paused. "Do you think we should get the painting started before she wakes up?"

"Sure." Mac realised Jen wanted to change the subject. "One sandy yellow room coming up."

~

"Did you have a good day at the office dear?" Mac asked as Harm came through the door she had been painting her toenails.

"Yeah, one of those annoying judges had the day off." He teased. Mac tossed a cushion at him.

"So I was talking to Jen today..."

"Well that's a surprise since you spent the day at her apartment." He sat down.

"Funny, we were talking; she doesn't think Tiner would ever ask her to marry him."

"And exactly how did you bring that topic up?"

"I didn't, we were talking about whether we had thought about having more kids, and I remembered her saying she wanted kids at some point so we talked about and it came up."

"I guess she's going to be in for a surprise then."

"Yeah, seeing as she slightly paranoid about his sudden desire to take her somewhere fancy for dinner on Saturday night."

"It's traditional; I relayed Harriet's suggestion of keeping it simple and from the heart."

"I guess we'll see on Monday."

TBC