Chapter Five:

Their base phone rang. "Marks' residence." Mac said picking up the phone.

"We have a Madeline Marks down at the MP station."

"Thank you officer, we will be right there." Mac said into the phone.

"Sarah, what's up?"

"Maddie is down at the MP station. They didn't say why." Mac answered grabbing her coat and the keys for the Jeep the agency left them.

"I'm coming with you." Harm said, "She does have a penchant for getting into trouble. She takes after me in that way." Harm said smiling. "Let's go retrieve our oldest kid."

1400 EST

MP Station

Quantico, VA

Mac pulled up to the station and jumped out of the car. "Lt. Co-"

"Lt. Colonel Christopher Marks. I am here to pick up my daughter, Madeline Marks."

"Where is she?" Mac asked mentally kicking herself for almost blowing their cover.

"She is giving her statement to the Chief."

"Without an attorney? This won't do!" Harm piped up.

"Maddie isn't in any trouble. She found a knife while jogging in the park and she got to a callbox and called the MPs. She did everything right. She didn't even touch the knife, so hopefully we will be able to pull some prints off the knife. She should be fine. She is a tough kid, while she was running through the park, she lost her footing and fell near an old murder scene, and that is where she found the knife."

"Has she seen a corpsman?"

"No, she said it wasn't necessary, said all it was a twisted ankle and didn't need to see someone."

"Mom, Dad!" Mattie exclaimed when she saw them.

"Hi Honey. First day on base and you are already getting hauled in. That must be a new record kiddo."

"Haha, very funny Dad."

"Hi. Lt. Colonel Christopher Marks, Maddie's father."

"Sergeant Andrew Meyer. Maddie has been very cooperative. She is all ready to go. We outfitted her with an ace bandage and wrapped her ankle nice and tight."

"Thank you Sergeant."

"No problem, she has been a delight."

Harm escorted his family out of the building and back to their car. "Are you alright Maddie?"

"Yeah Dad. I was running and lost my footing. Corporal Danners wasn't far behind, and he helped me out, I was kinda freaked out when I saw the knife though. It was hidden in some rocks."

"First day here and we are already stirring up problems. Okay guys, what do you want on the pizza?" Harm asked his family.

"I don't think the baby feels like pizza," Mac quipped up, "Maybe Chinese food, or maybe Thai, or Japanese!"

"Are we giving birth to an Asian kid Sarah?"

"You are giving birth! Ha! You couldn't stand the pain Flyboy. It would probably be easier giving birth to an Asian child, with as tall as both of us are, this kid will probably cause some major pain!"

"Men weren't meant to deal with the pain of having children," Mattie piped up from the back seat. "Susan said it is because Eve ate the forbidden fruit."

"I still maintain that Eve was framed, if she had a good lawyer she would have gotten off!" Mac proclaimed.

"Keep sticking to that argument."

They pulled up to the house and Mattie struggled to get out of the Jeep. Harm noticed and walked over and scooped her up.

"Dad, I can walk on my own"

"Really, so how much pain are you in?"

Harm settled Mattie down on the couch. "I could use a bag of ice to bring down the swelling."

"How did you fall Maddie?"

"I was running along with the IPOD when I came to the hill, I started running up it when I stumbled into a hole. Luckily a new recruit, (Mattie's guard) was running the area too and saw me fall. He helped me up and that is when I noticed it." Mattie said being vague just in case someone was able to plant bugs in the house while they were at the station.

Harm leaned down and kissed Mattie's forehead. "You know you gave your Mom quite a scare. She ended up going into Marine mode on me."

"Sorry Dad, I know how she can be."

"Well you haven't had to put up with pregnant Marine mode yet."

Mac heard them from the kitchen. She picked up a box labeled pictures and headed into the living room. Harm saw Mac coming in with the box. "Sarah, what are you doing lifting?"

"Hey, I can lift light things. The doctor said so. Besides, I found the pictures I wanted to make the picture wall." She answered.

Harm got curious. They weren't supposed to bring anything that could implement them as being who they weren't, so that meant no personal affects. She opened up the box and they pulled out a picture of Harm and Mac from eight years ago. They immediately recognized it as the Embassy ball picture, but someone had doctored it to look like a wedding photo. Harm was wearing dress blues and Mac was wearing a wedding dress. Mattie looked at the picture.

"I never realized how beautiful you two looked on your wedding day," Mattie said looking at the picture."

"Your mother always looks gorgeous Maddie." Harm told her.

Mac smiled at him as they pulled out the next picture, one of Mattie as a little girl holding Mac's hand. They looked at the pictures and realized that the CIA must have used some age regression software in making these pictures. They had done a beautiful job of splicing in some family pictures giving them memories to make it seem like they were the family in the picture.

Mattie watched her parents hang the pictures on the wall and she felt a sudden sadness wash over her. She tried to keep the tears from falling, but couldn't help it.

Harm looked over and saw the struggling emotions wash across Mattie's features. "Oh Maddie, what is wrong sweetheart?"

"Looking at all the old pictures made me realize how much I miss my real mom." Mattie explained.

Harm got the sudden rush of feeling guilty. He whispered in her ear. "Mattie if this gets to hard for you, we will pull out. I thought about everything possible scenario, and I never thought about how hard it would be for you to pretend you have been our daughter for most of your life."

"I feel bad because right now I wish it was true." Harm just held Mattie and smoothed out her hair. When she had settled down he helped her up to her bedroom.