Sorry this took so long. The school I work at is on the Trimester system and we just had end of term tests. I'm the teacher the kids go to for help on their tests, so the end of the term is always hectic for me. I had as many as 9 different tests going on at one time. Also I actually had this back from the beta yesterday but decided to add a little more before posting. This chapter isn't very exciting and is mostly day to day stuff but I promise I'm headed somewhere!


Reagan National Airport
1600 Hours
4/5/2004

I probably should have done this 11 months ago, at the latest. A trip to Red Rock always helps clear my head. There is just something about being out there that makes everything seem so much clearer.

I feel calmer and more focused than I have in months. Actually, it's probably more like years. The last time I felt this way was when I got back from the Guadalcanal after Mic and I broke up. After that TAD I was at peace with myself and knew what I wanted. I'm not sure when I lost that, definitely after Paraguay, it might have started with Bud's accident.

I know I still have to meet with the shrink but I don't dread it like I did. As a matter of fact, depending on what she's like, I might even go beyond what's required. The time away let me see what I need to work on, now I just have to find the right person to help me. Everything that happened after Paraguay helped Harm grow up. I think I've made some progress but I still have a way to go. I broke up with Clay but I'm still keeping Harm out of my life. Heck, I'm keeping everybody out of my life. I'm only superficially involved with the kids and I want more than that.

I'm acting like I'm going to be able to get to work on this right away and I'm not. Of course if this plane doesn't land I'm never going to get home, let alone meet with the shrink tomorrow. Even after the plane lands I still have a long taxi ride home to look forward to. Harm offered to come get me, but since the plane was supposed to land at 1435, I told him I would just grab a cab. Not a major hardship in the middle of the afternoon but no fun during rush hour.

"Ladies and gentleman we've been cleared to land please stay in your seats until the plane reaches the gate."

"It's about time, any longer and I'd be in DC for my funeral not my mother's" my neighbor mutters loud enough to gain a flight attendant's attention.

Not to mention any longer and we'd have to deal with his hangover. I finally found a man who could drink more than my father.

Most people start gathering their belongings as soon as the plane touches the pavement but I don't move even after we've reached the gate. I figure since I have no one waiting for me there's no need to rush. It's still going to take me forever to get home. I'm the last person off the plane and as I come up the ramp I get a huge surprise. Harm is standing by the ticket counter and he's dressed in civvies.

"Mac!" He calls to me and I smile at him.

"Harm. What are you doing here?"

"The admiral gave me the afternoon so we could come pick you up."

"We? Harm, I hate to be the one to tell you this but you're by yourself."

"I'm only by myself because Mattie took AJ to the bathroom." He gives me a funny little grin.

"Oh, Okay. Sorry you had to wait so long."

"Are you the reason the plane was late?"

"Of course not. That's your job."

Harm just cocks an eyebrow in response.

"Aunt Mac!"

AJ's scream gives me enough warning that I'm able to brace for his impact with my knees. When this kid gets older he's going to make a great offensive lineman or hockey enforcer, he's tough.

I reach down to give him a hug and notice his hair's a lot shorter than it was when I left.

"AJ, What happened to you hair?"

"They had to cut it because of my owie. See!"

He turns so I can see the other side of his head and sure enough he has 4 stitches in his head.
I must look shocked because Harm steps in at this point.

"He's fine Mac. He hit his head on one of the cubbies at the sitter's. I took him to the doctor just to be on the safe side. The only reason the doctor took stitches is so he won't have a bad
scar if he goes military or bald as an adult."

I start giggling, I can't help it.

"What's so funny Mac?"

"Just trying to imagine a doctor who would think about such things."

Harm chuckles, "I see your point."

"It was cool, Aunt Mac, the doctor let me watch! It didn't hurt at all." AJ proudly tells me.

"The doctor sat him in front of a mirror and AJ watched the whole thing." Harm explains.

"Hate to interrupt, but can we get out of here?" Mattie shifted impatiently

"Yeah!" AJ chimed in.

"You okay, Mattie?" I ask. She looks a little green.

"Just don't like thinking about that. He was so intent on watching and I threw up before the doctor even started sewing!" Mattie wails.

Confused, I look at Harm to explain.

"They used a very large needle to numb the area first." Harm tells me.

"I can see how that would be hard to watch." I sympathize with Mattie.

"Okay you guys let's go get Mac's bag and then we'll go get some dinner." Harm starts to steer everyone to the luggage claim.

Mattie and AJ both cheer.

"Uh, Harm?"

"Yeah."

"What about Jimmy?"

"Jen's going to pick him up and keep him until we can get him. I thought we'd go have dinner just the 4 of us."

"Sounds great. Let's get out of here."

Mac's Office
1545 Hours
4/9/2004

And to think I was looking forward to coming back to work. I started back this morning. I was able to get cleared to return to work fairly quickly. I am still going to see the therapist for at least a little longer but that's my choice, not a requirement of the admiral.

Everybody's out of the office or in court, except me. This means I have no excuse not to be working on my paperwork. The only paperwork I have left is the stuff I always put off because I hate it. I should have waited until Monday to come back.

Oh, well. If I'd stayed home today I'd just worry about how my homework assignment is going to go. My assignment for the week is to spend 30 minutes one on one with each of the kids. There's one stipulation, driving to and from the sitter or school doesn't count. We are supposed to do something just the two of us. Mattie and I are going to bake 3 dozen cookies tomorrow for the volleyball team's banquet next week.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with either AJ or Jimmy. One thing the therapist pointed out to me is that I rarely spend time with the kids that's not caretaking stuff and never just one kid at a time. She suggested working on my relationship with each of them independently will help me feel better about my role in their lives.

~Knock, Knock~

"Enter."

Coates opens my door and sticks her head in.

"The sitter is on line two, Ma'am."

"Thanks."

I take the call and 3 minutes and 15 seconds later I'm headed out of the building. Jimmy is sick and the sitter thinks he needs to go to the doctor. Coates informed the admiral while I wrote a note for Harm. Then I gather my things and head for my car.

Harm and Mac's house
1845 hours
04/9/2004

Jimmy and I pull into the driveway. Harm called when he got out of court and offered to join us but I told him I had everything under control. He decided to collect AJ from the sitter and take him home. He called once they were home and again offered to come out, but by that time the doctor was almost ready to discharge Jimmy with some medication and a referral to a specialist. I told Harm we'd be home soon and he needed to feed us when we got there.

"We're home!"

"Hey, Mac we're in the kitchen."

I head in that direction with Jimmy and find everyone at the table eating Papa John's Pizza.

"I hope there's some of that for me?"

"Of course, I put it in the oven to stay warm. So you want to fill me in on what's going on? You just said he was fine."

"They think he has allergies."

"They think?"

"Yeah. When I got to the sitter he was acting like he does when he has a really bad cold but he was fine this morning. When I got him to the doctor they discovered he was wheezing just a little bit. The only thing that was different today is that a volunteer from the humane society brought some animals in for a presentation for the kids. So the doctor thinks Jimmy had an allergic reaction to at least one of the animals."

"Makes sense, so what do we do?"

"We have some medication for him for this weekend and he has an appointment with an allergist Tuesday afternoon. He's on Dimetapp and Albuterol syrup. They tried Benadryl but he didn't really like the taste of that. He kept spitting it on the nurse."

"I've wanted to do that a time or two myself," Mattie chuckles.

"Me too." Both Harm and I tell her at the same time.

"So are we still going to make cookies tomorrow, Mac?"

"We're going to try."

"Shouldn't be a problem, maybe the boys and I can go to the movies or something. I'm sure there's a kiddie movie playing somewhere."

"That would be great, Harm." I smile at him.

"Think I could spend the night at Susan's tomorrow night?" Mattie asks out of the blue.

"Did she invite you?" Harm asks.

"No, but she will when I explain the situation." Mattie says sheepishly.

"What situation?" Harm and I ask.

"Her little sister, Mary, has had to take Albuterol. It makes her really hyper. The last time Mary was up for 20 hours straight."

"20 hours!" Harm and I looked shocked.

"Yep." Mattie says glumly.

It could be a really long weekend. Why don't doctors ever warn you about this kind of thing?

tbc....

Hyperactivity really is a side effect of Albuterol Syrup. My daughter's asthmatic and was on it for awhile when she was a preschooler. A year later a friend of mine called me in tears because her daughter had only slept 4 hours that night. The doctors had put her on Albuterol and hadn't warned her!