...Till Death Does Us Part Chapter III – Part 15/24
Disclaimer - See part one for all important information
Thursday February 24
JAG
8:15 AM
Mac and Harm sat in front of AJ's desk and just stared at them. "Do you think this is the best idea?"
"Yes, Sir," Mac answered. "Both of us need to figure this out."
AJ nodded his head. He picked up a paper on his desk. "Commander, you do know this is a TAD as a JAG and not a chance to fly?"
"I understand, Sir," Harm said in an all-business-tone.
AJ signed the paper in front of him. "So, what am I to tell the SECNAV?"
Mac glanced at Harm and again answered first. "Sir, we think it would be best if you informed the SECNAV, that you're handling this by sending Harm to the Henry to allow both of us to check our options."
AJ folded his hands on his desk. "And what are those options, Colonel?"
"We're searching for them, Sir," Mac softly said.
"Sir, we have to consider Ty in this. We want what's best for him," Harm said to his CO.
"Good. At least I know the two of you are looking at the whole picture." AJ turned back to the businesses at hand. "Hand your cases off to those you can and tie up any loose ends before you leave. You report at 0800 at Andrews for your flight out on Monday." AJ handed the paper to Harm. "You're dismissed, Commander."
Harm gave Mac a sideways glance as he stood up, "Yes, Sir." He left the room.
AJ moved out of his seat and sat down next to Mac. "Off the record, Mac. How are you?"
Mac looked at AJ. "Worried about Ty."
"What options are you two looking into?"
Mac sighed and leaned back in her chair with a defeated look on her face. "I'm not sure. Harm said he wants to be married, but I can't do that with the way things are."
"Divorce?" AJ asked.
Mac sighed. "Probably, it seems odd to do. I mean, to divorce someone I was never actually married to, except on a paper."
"And not to mention the father of your son."
Mac was silent for a minute. "How do I keep screwing up my personal life?"
"I don't know, Mac. But you know Meredith and I will be there for you, for anything."
Mac gave AJ a grateful smile. "I know."
Sunday February 20
Harm and Mac's House
McLean, Virginia
10:12 PM
Harm walked down the stairs into the family room where Mac was sitting on the couch, watching a movie on TV and then sat down on the love seat. "What movie is this?"
"Huh?" Mac said, looking over at him.
"What movie are you watching?"
Mac looked at the TV, slightly confused. "I don't know. It's just on," she laughed lightly and turned off the TV. "All packed?"
"Yeah." He looked at her. "You don't need to drive me to Andrews."
"Ty has a doctor's appointment at ten, so I have the morning off anyway," Mac informed him.
"You'll tell me how that goes."
"Of course."
Harm got off the loveseat and moved next to Mac on the couch. "I'm going to get daily updates?"
Mac chuckled. "As long as you check your e-mail daily?"
He leaned his head against the back of the couch. "I am going to miss him so much. I never thought something that small would have such control over me."
"I'm sure he's going to miss you like crazy."
Harm decided to take a chance and he looked into her eyes. "Are you going to miss me?"
Mac stared into his eyes and felt a wave of emotion pass through her. "Yeah."
He reached over and took her hand into his. "I'm going to miss you, too."
"I've gotten used to having you around. It's going to be weird cooking for one."
"You've done it before when I've been sent away for a case."
Mac sighed. "But this is different."
"It's thirty days."
"Yeah," Mac said softly.
Harm decided to take another chance with Mac. "Mac, do you think we could make this into a marriage?"
"This isn't a marriage."
"We're married."
"On a piece of paper, Harm. In life we're not."
"We had a ceremony."
Mac tried to make him understand. She put her hand on his cheek. "We had a quickie wedding in Vegas."
"It was still a wedding."
Mac took a breath. "Do you want to tell Ty one day, that we got married in Vegas and didn't plan on it? That we didn't even know we were getting married until we heard the minister pronounce us man and wife?"
"It was still a wedding," Harm repeated.
"It was, but it wasn't," Mac told him. He looked back at her with a confused look. "We didn't do it, because we loved each other. We did it to escape the bad guys. We didn't say 'I do.' We said 'yeah' and 'okay.' Our family wasn't there. We didn't wake up in each other's arms the next morning and profess our love. We didn't talk for six months and when we finally did talk, we yelled at each other. We agreed on an annulment and then it got caught up in our lives and became a mess."
"But what about the night we were together?"
"That night was wonderful, and I got the most wonderful thing in my life. That night was like a dream for the both of us, but it ended when I woke up alone. My heart broke when I read that note and looked at the signed papers." She carefully looked at Harm. "That night was a lot of things, but it didn't make us married. All it did was make Ty. That perfect little boy, who has both of us, wrapped around his little finger. We're not married."
Harm took a breath and knew what she was saying. "So, what am I to you?"
"You are Commander Harmon Rabb Junior and two other very important things."
"What?" he asked almost scared of her answer.
"The father of my son and my best friend. You're never going to be out of my life, Harm. You're going away so we can try to sort things out. You're not leaving forever, I won't let you," Mac added as the tears fell from her eyes.
Harm pulled her into his arms. "I'm going to miss you, Mac."
"I'm going to miss you, too, Harm," Mac said as she fell into his embrace.
Thursday March 3
JAG
5:35 PM
Mac took a stretch as she finished and reread her e-mail to Harm.
Dear Harm,
Last night Sturgis and Varise stopped by. Ty really loves his Godfather. He was all smiles as he and Sturgis played. Varise and I sat in the kitchen and talked about things. I get the feeling, that there might be a wedding in their future; they really do make a great couple.
They left around nine and Ty and I played for the rest of the night. He misses not having you around. He was fussy when it was time for bed, so I took him to bed with me and he still wouldn't calm down. Therefore, I tried something else. We went into your room and he passed out right away. I think next time I'll call you and have you sing to him. He liked that the last time we did it.
Harriet and Bud are taking Ty home with them tonight. It seems that Ty and Jimmy are good buddies and even AJ likes Ty. He told Harriet that he likes Ty better than Jimmy, because he doesn't live with them. But I think AJ is use to Jimmy by now. So I get the night off, I'm thinking of having a nice long bubble bath and forgetting about things for the night.
Well, I need to finish some things up. I do hope you learned how to open attachments. I got an e-mail from Skates and she said, she taught you how. Here's a picture of Ty with Sturgis I thought you might like. I took it right after Sturgis picked Ty up; I had just finished feeding Ty and told Sturgis to be careful. Your friend looked at Ty and said, "Hey, this is a new shirt." I snapped the picture at the moment when your son proved that he is destined to be a Marine. That's the second picture.
Stay safe-
-Mac
She attached the two pictures to the e-mail and left the office for the night. She was actually looking forward to the night alone. But part of her missed Ty already. She got into her car and looked at the baby sock that was on the back seat. It was navy blue and she sighed heavily, missing Harm.
Once she pulled out of the parking lot, she decided to go visit a friend before going on for the night. She had something to clear up.
End Part 15