As Mac knocked on the door Harm shifted little AJ's weight on his hip. The boy hadn't even woken up when they awkwardly manoeuvred him out of the car. Sleeping through anything and everything was definitely a Harriet trait, they agreed, feeling a little better knowing that their best friend was living on, in a way, in her beloved son. When Mac dropped her hand to her side Harm reached over and took it in his own, both needing and wanting the contact. Mac had no arguments whatsoever.

The door opened and a slim redhead stood before them. She was wearing a pair of colourful pyjama pants and a tank top, her bright green eyes lighting up a moment after she saw who was standing in front of her. "Harm?" she squealed excitedly, rushing forward and hugging him tightly, heedless of the slumbering child that Harm was holding.

"Hey, Joey," Harm said, dropping Mac's hand and hugging the girl. He dropped a kiss on the top of her head and then said, "Your dad home?"

Joey pulled away and motioned for the three of them to follow her inside. "Nah. He left for some totally bogus business meeting trip thing a few days ago. Some tiny speck on the map somewhere in Europe I think. But mom is coming home tonight, if you want to talk to her."

"Sure," Harm said.

"Here, I'll take him," Mac said, reaching out for AJ.

"So, Harm, what's with the insta-fam?" Joey asked as the two lawyers transferred the child from one godparent to the other.

"This is AJ Roberts," Harm said. "And this is Sarah MacKenzie."

Mac jumped in, holding out her hand to the girl. "Mac." Joey shook Mac's hand briefly.

"Girlfriend?" Joey questioned Harm.

"Working on in," Harm said, sharing a smile with Mac. "What time do you think your mom will be getting in?" he asked the girl.

Joey shrugged. "Late, probably. Her flight's 'posed to come in at nine, I think. Her tour ended two days ago but she got stuck on the base 'cause her replacement had a major family emergency. She'll probably be getting here close to midnight. You guys can… hang out here, today, I guess. I'm running late for school but, Harm, you know where everything is so just make yourselves at home. I'll be back around four and you can explain what's going on, okay?" she said quickly. Harm nodded. Joey turned and headed off to her room. Ten minutes later she came out wearing a private school uniform. She kissed Harm on the cheek and grabbed a paper bag off the counter before leaving the house in a rush. She was in her car and speeding off towards her school within two minutes.

"This trip isn't really going according to plan," Harm said as he led Mac into the living room. Mac lay AJ down on the couch and covered him with a blanket and then Harm took her hand and led her over to a large chair where he sat down and pulled her down with him. They shifted until they were comfortable and then Harm said, "I'm sorry, Mac. I should have called Michael first, made sure he was here."

"It's okay," Mac said, squeezing his hands. "Besides, Joey said that her mom's going to be home tonight. She should be able to help, right?" she asked hopefully.

"Not as easily as Michael, but I think so," Harm said. "I just feel uncomfortable putting Joey in danger by staying here all day. The last thing I want is to see more people I care about get hurt."

"I know," Mac said softly. She snuggled into the crook of his neck, inhaling his uniquely Harm scent deeply. "Just try to get some sleep, Harm. You've been on guard for far too long. It's time to rest."

Harm nodded. "Okay," he said, tilting his head to the side and resting his ear on the top of her head. "I'll try to get some sleep. For you."

"Thank you," Mac said, knowing that Harm was about to pass out from exhaustion anyway. She hugged him a little tighter and before too long they were both sinking into dreamland.

AJ woke up and panicked when he realized that he wasn't where he had fallen asleep, but as soon as he saw Harm and Mac curled up together in the chair he knew he was going to be okay. He left the couch and crawled onto the chair with his godparents, covering all three of them with the blanket, and, for the next four hours, AJ kept watch while Harm and Mac slept.

Mac woke up first and smiled when she realized that not only was she in Harm's arms, but she also had AJ curled up against her and that he had covered all three of their bodies with a blanket. "Hey, kiddo," Mac said gently. "How long have you been up?"

"Few hours," AJ said with a shrug. "Where are we?" he asked. He'd been trying to figure that out since he woke up but all he could guess was that they were finally—finally—back on solid ground because the ground wasn't doing the shaking thing that he had lived with while they were on the planes.

"This house belongs to a friend of Uncle Harm's," Mac said. "He said that we'll be able to get help here."

"Help hiding or help getting home?" AJ asked cautiously. He wanted to go home. The movie-spy stuff was fun for a while but now he just wanted his daddy and his bed and his toys and the stray cat that he hoped wasn't going hungry without his mother there to feed it.

Mac hesitated, half because she wasn't sure of the answer herself and half because she didn't want to put to words what she knew the answer was going to turn out to be. "I don't know, AJ," Mac said, half lying. She did know, even if it was just the kind of knowing that gives you a slightly sick feeling in the pit of your stomach. "But either way it doesn't matter because the three of us are in this together and you know that Uncle Harm and I are unstoppable when we work together, and with you helping us there's nothing that'll get in our way."

"Pinkie swear?" AJ asked, the childhood vow still holding so much meaning to the boy that the hooking of pinkies was more binding than the most ironclad of contracts, was more secure than a prisoner who had been locked up on Alcatraz when it was still used as a prison and not a tourist trap, was the most sacred of all vows.

"Pinkie swear," Mac said, holding out her pinkie. AJ hooked it with his and they both grinned ridiculously huge grins, holding in giddy laughter only because Harm was still asleep and they didn't want to giggle him or shake him into consciousness before he was ready to wake up on his own anyway.

AJ snuggled into Mac's arms again. "I miss mommy and daddy," he said softly. He looked up at Mac. "Does it get better?"

"Over time," Mac said softly. "It never goes away completely, though."

"Good, 'cause I don't want to forget mommy," AJ said firmly.

"You won't," Mac promised. "But if you ever start to, just come to me or Uncle Harm or your daddy and we'll tell you all about her."

"Thank you," AJ said softly. He hesitated for a minute before speaking again. "Auntie Mac?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm hungry," AJ confessed.

Mac smiled and gently poked Harm, not really wanting to wake him up but not knowing what they would do about the hunger conundrum. Harm jumped up and stood at attention causing both Mac and AJ to fall to the floor in a pile, giggling happily despite their unceremonious dismount.

"At ease, sailor," Mac smiled as she untangled herself from AJ and the blanket and got to her feet. "Feel any better?" she asked as her fingers moved to smooth out his hair that was slightly mussed from sleeping in the chair.

"A little," Harm said. He frowned and rubbed his side. "Who poked me?" Mac smiled and Harm grabbed her around the waist and started tickling her, already knowing all her sensitive spots. AJ sat back and watched as Harm ticked Mac until she begged him to stop. It felt good to see them so happy, even if it was just for a moment. "So, why the annoying wake-up call?" Harm asked as he scooped AJ up and tossed him playfully in the air.

"The little guy's hungry, and if I don't eat soon you're gonna have a grumpy Marine on your hands," Mac admitted.

"Ooh, can't have that, now can we AJ?" Harm asked the boy. AJ shook his head violently. Mac's appetite was the stuff of legends and Harm had taught AJ early on how to tease her about it. "Okay, let's go see what we've got to work with," Harm said, tucking AJ under his arm in Airplane Position and reaching for Mac's hand, both needing and wanting to hold onto her as well.

"I'm telling you now, if you try to pick me up like that you're gonna be sorry, Flyboy," Mac said, indicating how Harm was holding AJ.

"Wouldn't dream of it. You've got too much body fat," Harm said.

"Auntie Mac isn't fat," AJ said defensivelyas Harm sat him down on the countertop.

"Thank you, AJ, but that's not what he was trying to say," Mac said with a good natured smile. "As Uncle Harm has pointed out to me on more than one occasion, women naturally have more body fat than men. But that doesn't mean he was right to say what he did," she added with a glare at Harm.

Harm nodded. "I'm sorry, Mac. I didn't mean to imply that you are anything but perfectly proportioned," he said, slipping his arms around her waist and hugging her tightly. Mac hugged him back, lingering a little longer than necessary before pulling away and hopping up on the counter next to AJ.

"Food please," Mac said innocently.

"Okay," Harm said before turning around and opening cupboards and sifting through the fridge as if it was his loft back in DC. He pulled out some leftovers and proceeded to heat them up while setting the table. Mac wanted to ask how he knew exactly where everything was, but she didn't. She just sat and watched as Harm made the three of them something to eat, even if it was just leftovers.

As at home as he was in a cockpit and in the courtroom Mac knew that Harm was most at home in the kitchen. He had told her not long ago that after his ramp strike, before deciding to go to law school, he had thought about opening a restaurant. He probably would have, too, had Grandma Sarah not talked him into staying in the NAVY despite not being able to fly anymore. She had told him that he still had a lot of good to do and that he could always open a restaurant if law didn't work out, but if the restaurant didn't work out it would be nearly impossible to do the law school thing, especially on the NAVY's dime.

"Okay, eat up," Harm said as he set food out on the table.

They ate and Mac washed up while Harm took a shower and AJ made himself at home with the Cartoon Network. After Harm finished with the shower Mac took her turn, staying under the spray until the hot water had run out. She got back into the clothes she had been wearing for two days since she hadn't thought to grab a change from her bag that was in the trunk of the car, and then she went out and found Harm and AJ watching baseball, both lying on the floor with their eyes glued to the screen. Mac joined them, laying down close to Harm. He reached out and pulled her to his chest and dropped a kiss on her neck before going back to the game.