AN: A thousand thanks to everyone who's sent a review or an e-mail of encouragement to me. It means a lot! And thanks for putting up with me and my slow posts. Many thank yous to Cria for betaing!

Part 14

"Only if you want to…" Harm said before she had finished. "I mean you don't have to if you don't want to. You can say no."

"Sit down here," Mac said and got up from the stool. She put it out a bit further from the wall so that she could stand behind it. Harm sat down and started to unbutton his shirt. When it was open in the front Mac helped him to get it off. She had read the few instructions on the jar and had taken out as much of the ointment that would be needed. You had to massage it in. She started slowly spreading the ointment out on his back and arms.

"You'll tell me if it hurts, right?"

"Yeah."

Mac continued to move her hands all over the scared area until the ointment had been completely drawn into the skin. A few times she could sense him tensing up a bit and then she tried to be even more careful with those areas. When she was finished though, they were both a lot more relaxed then they had been before.

"Does it feel better?" Mac asked. They had both been completely silent during the whole time.

"Yes, it does. Thank you, Mac."

"Not a problem at all," Mac said and had problems hiding how much she really had enjoyed the treatment herself.

The rest of the week in Belleville was spent relaxing and enjoying each other's company. They invited the Bensons over for dinner one night and went swimming almost everyday. One day they went for a long walk into the forest. Every night after Isabelle had gone to bed, Harm and Mac spent out on the porch talking about everything between heaven and earth. Mac also continued to help Harm massaging in the ointment on his back and arms. After only a week there were already results to see from the treatment, but they probably would have continued doing it even if it wasn't actually helping. They both enjoyed the physical closeness so much.

The last day of their stay all three of them had helped packing everything together and into the car. When they locked up the house there was a powerful sadness that came over them all. None of them wanted to leave, but they had to because Mac had to be back at work the day after tomorrow and she needed that extra day at home.

Isabelle had been thrilled when they had told her that she was going to spend the rest of the summer together with her father and not at the sitter's. Mac had called the sitter and explained that Isabelle wasn't going to come back for a while. She hadn't been quite as thrilled.

After hours of driving, they were finally home. By that time it was already late in the evening and Isabelle had already fallen asleep. Mac and Harm got her into the house and undressed without really waking her up and then they carried everything into the house. When they were standing in the middle of the hallway that was full of their luggage and both were taking off their shoes, was the first time they both realized that they had also taken Harm's bags into the house and he wasn't supposed to stay there. He still had his hotel room. They both realized it at the same time and started to laugh.

"You know Harm we do have a guestroom and Isabelle would be thrilled if you stayed here. So if you want to, and only then, you can stay here until you find a real place to live and not just a hotel room," Mac said after she had started to calm down a bit.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, but as I said only if you want."

"Well, I do want to. Honestly!"

"Then it's a deal," Mac said and reached out her hand, which Harm firmly took and shook firmly.

"It's a deal."

TBC