Harm and Mr Finnegan had been sitting at the surgery door for a little over twelve minutes when the man's wife came out, very obviously in great distress. Harm couldn't begin to think about how much courage the woman must have had, to leave her small child on an operating table, in the hands of a team of surgeons.
Her husband was quick to get to his feet and take his wife into his arms.
"It's okay, sweetie," he told her, "Everything's going to be okay…She's in the best of hands."
With that, Mr Finnegan steered his wife away towards the elevator doors, presumably towards the hospital canteen.
"The doctor was right," Harm thought to himself, watching them as they left, "They're going to have a long, tough time ahead of them."
Harm had uttermost sympathy for them both.
Exactly one hour and thirty minutes later, the doors to the OR swung open and Harm released a tense breath when he saw Mac ensconced in the bed being wheeled out.
"Hey, there, Marine," he greeted her softly, as Mac opened her eyes, "How you feeling?"
"Okay," Mac croaked, groggily.
"Good," Harm nodded in approval.
Mac fell back to sleep during the journey back up to her room.
"The doctor said that the procedure went very well," one of the nurses present informed Harm, a smile lighting her friendly face, "She should be up to tell you more in about half-an hour. Just make sure that you leave Ms. Mackenzie to sleep, it's the best thing for her, right now."
Harm nodded his assurance then settled himself at Mac's bedside, as the nurse finished checking over and adjusting the settlings of the medication that was flowing down the tube, into Mac's right hand. With a last smile at Harm, she left them in peace.
As promised, Mac's doctor showed up twenty-seven minutes later. After telling Harm the details of the surgery and how well it had gone, she continued,
"If all goes as well as it has so far, which I'm very confident it will do, Ms. Mackenzie should be feeling much better, after a couple of weeks rest. Then, when she's ready, I'll clear her to go back to active duty…"
"Thank you doctor," Harm told her, his gratitude clearly showing, "Thank you so much for all that you've done."
"You're both very welcome, Mr. Rabb," the woman smiled back at him, "I'm sure everything is going to be just fine. You just have to have a little bit of hope and faith."
Fin
Author's note: I know that the first two parts of this were in first-person, then the last couple were in third-person. I wasn't meaning to be awkward, it just turned out that way. I wanted the first two parts to portray exactly what both Harm and Mac were thinking, so the reader would become involved in the story. The last two parts just happened naturally, so try not to read too much into it.