Harm's Apartment

About two hours later they heard the door bell and knew it was the admiral. Harm walked to the door and opened it, seeing the admiral on the other side.

"Good afternoon, sir. Thank you for coming, please come in." Harm said opening the door more so the Admiral could go inside. When Harm closed the door he and the Admiral walked into the living room, and they saw that Mac was already sitting on the couch.

"Good afternoon, sir." Mac said.

"Good afternoon, Major. How are you feeling?" the Admiral asked.

"I've been better." Mac answered, smiling.

"What was so urgent I had to miss my lunch time?" the Admiral asked, trying to sound more like a commanding officer than a friend.

"Well, sir, something happened between me and commander Brumby that I would like for you to be aware of." As Mac said this, Harm could sense a different tone in her voice, and for a second he almost thought she sounded scared. "Please sit down, sir. This might take a while." Mac added. The Admiral sat in a chair directly in front of the couch were Mac, and now, Harm, were sitting. Mac began to tell the admiral what happened, starting with the night Harm went to her house to that same morning. As she was telling the story the Admiral asked few questions and Harm added a couple of comments here and there. Once Mac was finished the Admiral was too shocked to say anything. Harm could tell that he felt the same anger he had when Mac had told him what happened. Although Harm couldn't figure out if he felt this anger because of a friendship or because it had happened with two of his officers. He guessed it was a mix of both.

"That son of a bitch..." The Admiral couldn't even finish his statement. "How are you?" the Admiral asked, as if he had just realized what Mac had gone through.

"I'm just glad I came to Harm's apartment before he could have done something worse. Admiral I would like to ask you for a favor." Mac said.

"Anything, Major." the Admiral said.

"I would like to get a divorce and I thought that you could help." Mac said.

"Of course, when I get to the office I'll get right on it. I'm going to give you both the week off. And don't worry Mac when you return to the office commander Brumby will not be there."

"Thank you, sir." Mac and Harm said at the same time.

"Well, I'm going to go back to the office and get working on your case."

"Ok, sir. Thank you again, sir." Mac said.

"Take care of her." the Admiral said facing Harm. Making Harm remember their earlier conversation.

"Always." said Harm. With that they said goodbye and the Admiral left. Harm and Mac walked back to the living room and sat on the couch.

"Are you alright, Mac?" Harm asked. "You look a little tired."

"Thanks." Mac said sarcastically. "But now that you mention it I am kind of tired and I don't feel very good."

"Why didn't you say something?" Harm asked.

"The Admiral was here, I wanted to get the conversation over with."

"Mac, your health is more important than anything." Harm said, as if scolding her. "Why don't you go to bed and rest."

"I've been resting for the past hours, but just to please you I will go and rest."

"Thank you." Harm said smiling, but that smile soon vanished. Once Mac stood from the couch the same pain as before took control of her body. this time Harm had to hold on to Mac completely so she wouldn't collapse. Mac was gasping for breath and was bent over, while Harm tried to see what was wrong.

"Mac are you feeling the same pain as before?" Harm asked. Mac nodded. "I'm taking you to the hospital. You need to see a doctor." Again Mac just nodded, and that's when Harm realized that Mac must have been in a lot of pain to not complain about having to go to the hospital.

"I need to go to the bathroom." Mac said, Harm almost unable to hear her.

"Ok, ok." Harm led her to the bathroom and although she closed the door, he guessed for privacy, he stayed waiting outside. He was really worried about her. He kept wondering what was causing Mac so much pain, and wished he could just make it do away. Minutes later Mac opened the door and Harm saw that she was bent over her hand over her lower abdomen. When she was next to Harm she reached for his hand.

"I'm bleeding." Mac said. Harm knew what she meant and knew he had to take her to the hospital. Although he didn't want to think about it he knew perfectly well what was happening to Mac. But he preferred not to think about it.

"Ok, Mac. We have to go. Can you make it down by yourself.?" Mac just nodded.

After a few struggles they were finally in the car. During the whole way to the hospital Harm was holding Mac's hand. "It's ok, Mac, everything is going to be fine." Although he was trying to comfort her he wasn't sure of anything right now. When they arrived at the hospital Harm made sure that Mac was attended immediately.

They were now in an exam room. Mac was laying on a bed, already in a gown, Harm standing next to her. The doctor came in and just looking at him brought shivers through Mac's body.

"Good afternoon, I'm Doctor Luke. What's the problem here?" the doctor asked, as if he had better things to do.

"I've been having pain in my lower abdomen and I began bleeding, right before coming here." Mac said not looking at the doctor.

"Do you think you may be pregnant?" the doctor asked. Mac couldn't have been more surprised at the doctor's question Could I be? She asked herself. It's possible, but I doubt it. Wouldn't I have realized it?

"I don't think so." Mac said, even though she really wasn't sure. And what if she was pregnant? What if that was what was causing her the pain? Just the thought made a knot in her throat.

"Ok, well why don't I just check you and make sure, and then we can have some results." the doctor said as if talking to a child.

"Fine." Mac simply said.

"Maybe I should go, Mac. You need your privacy." Harm said, although he didn't wish to leave Mac's side.

"No it's ok, Harm. Don't worry about it." and at that moment Mac squeezed Harm's hand even harder, assuring him that she didn't want him to leave.

"Ok, but if you feel uncomfortable at any time just tell me." Harm said.

The doctor had finished examining Mac after a couple of minutes and twice as many questions. Right away Mac could tell that something wasn't right by the mere fact that two nurses had come in during the examination.

"What's wrong, doctor?" Mac asked slowly as if afraid of the answer.

"I'm sorry to tell you this, major, but you were in fact pregnant."

At the doctor's words Mac couldn't do anything but begin to cry. Brumby had killed her child. Their child. Harm was still holding her hand, but even he didn't know what to tell Mac. A lot of questions were going through his head.

"Why did you say that I was pregnant? What happened?" Mac asked the doctor.

"I'm sorry, but you had an incomplete miscarriage." the doctor. Mac began to cry even harder, wishing for everything to be one horrible dream.

"Were going to have to conduct a procedure to remove the rest of the fetus." the doctor added. "I'll give you to a moment."

Even after the doctor left the room Mac was still in shock. Days ago she was in what she believed was a happy marriage and know she was in the middle of a divorce learning that her husband had killed her child. Even though the doctor hadn't asked she knew that the cause of the miscarriage was what Brumby did to her.

"Are you okay?" Harm asked deeply concerned. Mac didn't answer she just buried her head in Harm's chest and began to cry. Harm placed his hand on her back, caressing her.

"Why Harm? Why?" he heard Mac ask.

"I don't know Mac." was all Harm could say. They had a small conversation and Harm finally managed to calm down Mac. Before the doctor arrived they agreed that they would tell him what had caused the miscarriage. Within a few minutes the doctor had returned.

"We need to do the procedure immediately. If you want you may stay in the room, the procedure is quite simple." the doctor said. "If everything goes well you may be discharged in a couple of hours."

During the entire procedure Mac had her head turned to the side, not wishing to see what was happening. Harm was sitting in a chair next to her, holding her hand and once in a while wiping away her tears. When the procedure was done the doctor began to tell Mac and Harm several after care instructions.

"Doctor I need to tell you something. I think the reason why I had a miscarriage was because of my husband. You see we got into an argument and...." but Mac couldn't continue. Just to think that that night she was pregnant and now she wasn't made her eyes teary. Harm continued to tell the doctor what happened, avoiding several details. At the end he told the doctor that he wished for him to check Mac over and make sure that she wasn't hurt any further and for him to write a report. The doctor agreed to everything, mostly because he felt compassion for Mac and disgust for whoever it was that did that to her.

Between the paper work and the new check up they spent about another hour or two in the hospital. But luckily Mac seemed to physically fine and the paper work of the assault was complete. Now they were on the way to Harm's apartment.

"Do you want anything to eat?" Harm asked knowing that Mac must be hungry. But Mac didn't even answer she just shook her head. She had been like that the entire time since found out she had a miscarriage, and the truth was Harm couldn't blame her. But then again he was worried about her. They reached Harm's building and silently they went up to his apartment. Once they were inside Mac went straight to the bedroom. And even though he thought she need some time alone he followed her inside.

"Mac, talk to me. Please." Harm said, sitting next to Mac on the bed. Mac was looking down and Harm placed his hand on her chin making her look up. That's when he noticed that she was crying again, and it broke his heart. Why did the woman he love have to go through so much pain.

"I'm sorry, Harm. I'm so sorry." Mac said. Burying her face in his neck.

"What do you have to be sorry about. I should be the one saying that, I should have taken better care of you."

"No, Harm. You have been there for me and I don't even know how to thank you. I'm sorry, I shouldn't be acting like this. It's just that I don't think I can handle this."

"Don't say that Mac, it's not true. You are the toughest woman I know, and I'm sure that you can handle this. It's not going to be easy, but you will."

"Thank you. But I don't know if I'm ever going to forget this, forget about Brumby...he killed my baby." Mac said, looking down once again.

"The admiral is working on your divorce you don't need to be with Brumby anymore. All you have to do is get through this and I will be here to help you." Harm said.

"Oh, god, Harm, I don't know how I will ever be able to thank you for everything you have done for me. You are the best thing that has happened in my life and I hope you will always be." Mac said.

"I'm glad the feeling is mutual." Harm said, smiling. " And I'm not going anywhere." he added.

"That's good." Mac said. Harm kissed the top of her head and stood up. "Come on, lets go do something." Harm said stretching his hand so Mac could take it.

"Where are we going?" Mac asked, curiosity hitting her.

"How about we go eat and then we can watch a movie." Harm said.

"Sounds great. Let me just get changed, I don't want to go dressed out like this." Mac said.

"Sure, I'll be in the living room."

"Give me ten minutes." Mac said.

Harm was sitting in the couch and exactly ten minutes later Mac appeared, dressed in jeans and an aqua sweater. Harm couldn't help but think how beautiful she looked.

"Are we ready?" Mac asked.

"Yup." Harm responded, still thinking about his earlier thought.

Minutes later they were on their way to a small restaurant near Harm's apartment, that they had gone before and really enjoyed. During dinner they had a long conversation, mostly about what had happened that day but they still laughed and had a good time. When they left the restaurant they went to a small video store and rented two movies, although they doubted they would get to see both that night. They returned to Harm's apartment and they were now in his bedroom.

"Thank you for dinner, Harm, it was wonderful."

"Your very welcome, you deserve it." Harm said.

"Do you mind if I take a shower before we watch the movie?" Mac asked.

"No, I was planning on doing the same thing." Harm responded.

"Do you want to go first?" Mac asked.

"No it's ok." Harm said.

"Ok, well I'll be out in a couple of minutes." Mac said. And she wasn't kidding, about 15 minutes later she was in the bedroom.

"You turn." Mac said to Harm when she saw that his was in the bed reading a magazine. Harm to was done in about the same time.

"Want anything to drink?" Mac asked.

"No thanks." Harm said. Harm was sitting in the couch waiting for Mac to come from the kitchen, with her glass of water, before he played the movie.

Mac was now standing next to Harm and placing her glass on the coffee table she asked. "Do you mind if I get comfortable?" Mac asked, smiling.

"No, go right ahead. Make yourself at home." Harm responded.

Mac sat a distance from Harm on the couch and then laid down, placing her head on Harm's lap. "A little better than my pillow." Mac said, laughing.

"Thanks." Harm said, laughing as well. "You really took the, 'make yourself at home' comment serious, didn't you?" Harm said.

Mac just smiled. Harm played the movie, and placed the remote on the table. During the two hours that the movie lasted Mac thought that she would fall asleep of how comfortable she felt. No, not even, it was more like how well it felt. Like it was supposed to be like this from the very beginning. Although she had just "broken up" with Brumby she couldn't help but think of Harm. She couldn't deny that he was extremely attractive and that he was the best friend she ever had. He had always been there for her, and even though they had their down moments, he always cared for her as she did for him. But now it was different. She couldn't help but admit that her marriage with Brumby was all a lie, a fake marriage. And she couldn't hide the fact that she was in love with him. That's right, she was in love with him. But how would she admit it, she couldn't. What if it destroyed their friendship? She wouldn't be able to handle that.

The irony of it all is that Harm was thinking the exact same thing.