A/N: Considering the fact I eloped (twice) I have no freaking clue what's involved in planning a wedding. (Now planning a divorce, that's an entirely different subject!)

The 'who died' line is borrowed from an absolutely wonderful Harry Potter fic that can be found at It's a great story but it's not for kids!!

Thanks to everyone for all the wonderful feedback!

NCIS Headquarters
1105 Hours
10/26/2004

"Dinozzo, What the hell is this?" Harm's yell could be heard by Abby, Ducky and Dinozzo before Harm was completely in the room.

"An application for a search warrant." Harm could almost hear the 'DUH' in Dinozzo's response.

"I know that. What I want to know is why didn't you get this to me before I went to JAG?" Harm snapped.

"I didn't know you were going to JAG?" Dinozzo responded. "Look it's not a big deal it can wait until this afternoon or tomorrow morning." Dinozzo really had no clue what the problem was.

"NO! You can go to JAG and get it taken care of." Harm shoved the papers back at Dinozzo.

Dinozzo opened his mouth to argue, but thought better of it. He decided to get out of Abby's lair and go let Gibbs know he was heading to JAG.

Harm started to leave, noticing he was being watched.

"What did you want, Abby?"

"Just wondering who died and made you Gibbs?"

Harm looked up in shock. "Excuse me?"

"She's got a point. You are rather Gibbs-like in your manner lately." Ducky informed Harm.

"Meaning what?" Harm growled.

Abby decided to take this as her cue to make herself scarce. If anybody could find out what was bothering Harm it would be Ducky.

"Mac wants to set a date."

"And you are having second thoughts about getting married?" Ducky questioned.

"NO!" Harm looked shocked.

"Then what's the problem?" Ducky asked, amused at Harm's reaction.

"She wants to get married on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day."

"And this is a problem?" Ducky asked like he has no idea why getting married on Christmas would bother someone.

"Yes!" Harm looked indignant at Ducky's lack of sympathy.

"Let's look at this logically. Christmas is not your favorite time of the year, right?"

"Right, but how do you know that?"

"Simple, I remember reading that your dad was shot down on Christmas Eve. That would make any kid not like Christmas."

"Okay, so?"

"Christmas isn't something you enjoy. It's also when your friends died, correct?"

Harm just shook his head yes to the question.

"Is it possible that Sarah came up with these dates as a way to try and make Christmas a happier time for you and AJ? Thinking of Christmas as when your godparents married has got to be better than just thinking of it as when your parents died." Ducky said quietly.

Harm just stared at him. It was pretty obvious to Ducky that the thought had never occurred to the Commander before this. For an intelligent man with degrees in engineering and law, Harmon Rabb could be pretty stupid at times.

Eventually Harm shook his head and stood up.

"Thanks, Ducky. If anybody is looking for me I went to JAG. I've got a marine I need to apologize to."

"I'll let Gibbs know." Ducky told Harm's back.

Harm just waved his thanks.

Mac's Office
1303 Hours
10/26/2004

Mac sat down at her desk with a sigh. Just what she needed, a client who was guilty. There were times when she much preferred prosecuting and this was one of those times. Of course it might be nice to get out of town for a couple of days. She'd suggested a date for the wedding and Harm had blown a gasket. She hadn't really expected him to readily accept the date, but she also hadn't expected a meltdown to rival one of Jimmy's.

Knock, Knock!

"Enter."

The door opened and Harm stuck his head in. "Hey, marine."

Mac frowned at him. He seemed almost friendly. He'd been a complete ass when she saw him earlier.

"What did you need, Commander?"

Harm winced. "Lunch."

"I don't have time to go to lunch. I was just handed a new case and have to leave in the morning."

"Then it's a good thing I brought lunch with me. I assumed I'd need a peace offering."

Mac's eyes narrowed. "What did you bring?"

"Beltway Burgers. I may be slow at times but I'm not a complete idiot." Harm dead panned.

"Get in here." Mac laughed.

Harm came in, shut the door and handed her the bag of food.

"You really know how to make a peace offering. My favorite burger, large fries, and a large chocolate shake."

"Well, I knew I needed to make it a good offering. I'm sorry I was such a jerk." Harm said.

"You're forgiven. What do you say to getting married New Year's Eve?" Mac asked, figuring she should make a concession since Harm apologized.

"Actually, I think we should get married on Christmas Eve."

Mac set her food down and just stared at Harm.

"Are you feeling okay?" Mac asked, feeling his forehead.

"Yes, mom." Harm joked.

"I thought you hated the idea of getting married during Christmas?"

"I did until Ducky made me look at the idea from a different angle. Now I'm rapidly warming up to it." Harm told her.

"Remind me to thank him when I get back." Mac mused.

"Does this mean we're getting married Christmas Eve?" Harm questioned hopefully.

"Yes it does, squid." Mac answered.

"Great! So we can start planning tonight, right?"

"Wrong. I've just been given the Porter case. I leave in the morning. I need to start planning strategy so that I can at least keep the case from being overturned on appeal."

"Okay, so how long do you think you'll be gone?"

"Less than a week. The guy is guilty as sin, I'm going to do my best to cut a deal." Mac told him.

"Okay, I'll see what I can get done while you're gone." Harm informed her.

"That sounds good." Mac told him. She fully expected him to get very little done. After all plan a wedding was a lot of work. In her experience, it was more work than most men wanted to deal with.

Harm and Mac's house
2030 Hours
10/29/2004

"I'm home!" Mac called as she opened the door.

"We're up here!" Harm called back.

Mac headed up the stairs and found Harm and Mattie in the bathroom drying off AJ and Jimmy and getting them ready for bed.

"Aunt Mac!" AJ jumped up and came over to give her a hug with his brother trailing behind.

"Hi, boys! I missed you!" Mac told them as she returned their hug.

"What about me?" Harm asked with puppy dog eyes.

"You too." Mac chuckled as she gave Harm a kiss.

"There's some leftover pasta in the fridge. Why don't you go find some dinner while Mattie and I finish getting the boys to bed?"

"Sounds good. I'm starving. Don't say it!" Mac shook her finger at Harm.

"Did I say anything?" Harm asked.

"No, but I could hear you thinking it from here." Mattie told him.

Mac said goodnight to the boys and left the room still chuckling at Mattie's crack.

Mac had just finished her dinner when Harm came into the room.

"Hey! You want to come into the family room and I'll tell you what I got done on the wedding plans?" Harm asked her.

"You did some planning?" Mac asked shocked.

"Yes, I did some planning. I'll admit my mom helped some though." Harm told her.

"Okay, I'd love to hear what you've got planned. What about Mattie?"

"Oh, she's fine. She's IM'ing with a friend about the volleyball tournament this weekend. She's going to bed in a few since she has to be up by 0600."

Harm and Mac headed into family room and had a seat on the couch.

"Chaplain Turner has agreed to perform the ceremony. We were thinking of late afternoon or early evening. I've narrowed it down to two places for the ceremony. One is the church we go to on Christmas Eve and the other is the Fairmont. The advantage of the Fairmont is that we can also have the reception there. We've got 3 different invitations for you to choose from. Mom used her connections and has some sketches of wedding dresses that she's sending overnight for you to choose from."

"Harm, the Fairmont would cost a fortune!" Mac was shocked.

"Not really, because it would be a present from Mom and Frank. Of course so would the wedding at the church with the receptioit's not like we have any other relatives lining up to spoil us." n elsewhere."

"They can't do that!"

"Why not? They can afford it, they want to, and as Mom pointed out it's not like she has any other children lining up for her to spoil." Harm said matter of factly.

"Okay, good point."

"So, did I do good at getting things started?"

"You did very good, but I don't want to talk about the wedding right now." Mac informed him as she leaned closer to him.

"Okay, what do you want to talk about?"

"I don't want to talk at all." Mac reached up to kiss Harm.

"I think that can be arranged, but maybe we should go upstairs." Harm growled as he started to stand up.

"Good idea." Mac said, accepting the hand Harm offered her.