2030 LOCAL
MAC'S APARTMENT
GEORGETOWN, VIRGINIA

Harm took a deep breath and knocked on the door. He shifted nervously from foot to foot until she opened it. He gulped. "Hi, Mac," he said softly. "You look… beautiful."

Mac flashed a smile, then grabbed her purse and her wrap. Silently, he took it from her and helped her put it on. "Thanks," she said. "You don't look too bad yourself, Sailor. And you can put your eyes back in your head now. Where's Mattie?"

"In the car." Harm gave Mac a self-conscious smile. "She said she didn't want to move, because she was afraid of getting dirty."

"Are you sure that's Mattie?" Mac asked. "I don't know her well, but the few times I've seen her…"

"I know." Harm said with a grin. "I was tempted to ask her if she'd been replaced by a pod person, but I don't think she'd get that reference, anyway." He paused and opened the door to the stairwell for her. "Thank you, Sarah. This means a lot to Mattie, and to me. I even taught her to dance last weekend so she'd be ready for this."

"You're welcome," Mac said quietly.

They walked down to the car in companionable silence. Harm opened the door of the Lexus and helped her in. "Hey Mattie," Mac said with a brilliant smile.

Mattie smiled. "Nice dress, Colonel."

Mac twisted around slightly as she fastened her seatbelt so she could get a look at Mattie's gown. "Thanks. So I hear you were afraid of getting dirty?"

Mattie smoothed down her skirt self-consciously. "Yeah. I've never had anything like this before, and I'm afraid that I might accidentally wreck it."

"You won't." Mac said confidently. "I remember what that was like, though."

Mattie bit her lip. "I guess." She smiled mischievously. "I got what Harm let me get--he wouldn't let me have anything sleeveless, but I bet he doesn't mind when you wear something like that."

"Mathilda," Harm said warningly. He fastened his own seatbelt and started the car.

"Relax, Harm," she said impudently. "This is supposed to be fun."

Mac giggled softly. "Mattie, I'm a lot older than you are. You look very pretty--and fifteen, which is how old you're supposed to look."

Harm looked back and flashed Mattie a smile. "You look great, honey. I think I'm going to have to spend a lot of time tonight warning off teenage boys."

"What about other guys who want to make time with the Colonel?" Mattie asked.

"That, too," Harm said.

Mac rolled her eyes. "I can take care of myself," she reminded them.

"You don't have to," Mattie said. "We've got Harm to get rid of them for us. He promised that he would leave his gun at home, so I think we're safe."

"Harmon Rabb!" Mac crossed her arms over her chest. "Did you tell Mattie that you'd warn off boys with your service revolver?"

"No," he mumbled. "Thought about it. They're not allowed to get… ideas about my daughter."

Mattie groaned, as if to say, 'see what I have to deal with," and Mac started laughing. It only took a few more minutes to reach the hotel that was hosting the party.

Harm got out of the Lexus, shut the door, and hurried around to open the doors for Mac and Mattie. The women got out and shut the doors behind them before taking Harm's proffered arms. Together, the trio walked into the hotel, where they were directed to the ballroom. Mattie gasped as she caught a look inside. It was a far cry from the decorated gyms that she was used to attending dances in. The ballroom had been decorated with roses, including a rose arbor with what looked like climbing roses wreathing it. Small tables stood around the perimeter. Each table had a vase with a single rose in it.

Mattie was still looking around the room as Harm escorted them to one of the tables. As he carefully took their coats and hung them on the chairs surrounding the tables, Mattie had a chance to notice that the roses on the tables were actually artificial. Mentally, she shrugged. It cut down the cost, she supposed, to not have fresh flowers. It was pretty, she decided, just as a fashionably dressed woman picked up a microphone.

She flashed the crowd a big smile, then began to speak. "On behalf of the officers' wives, I'd like to welcome y'all out to the fiftieth annual Daddy/Daughter Rose Ball," she paused briefly before continuing. "If we can have all of our fifteen-year-old young women and their fathers to come up to the stage, we'll be starting momentarily."

Mattie took a deep breath to calm the butterflies in her stomach. "Why did I want to do this?" she muttered.

Harm took a step closer to her. "Because your friends were?" he suggested. "Relax, Mattie. You'll go up on stage, they'll announce that you're my daughter, and that you want to be a pilot, then you'll come down and when everybody is finished, we'll do the Rose Waltz, and then it's over."

"Easy for you to say," Mattie said. "I'm gonna screw it up. I'll trip on the stairs or something and fall flat on my face. Then, during that idiotic waltz, I'll trip you, and we'll both end up on our asses."

"Language, Mathilda," Harm said warningly.

"Ha-rm! Don't call me that!" Mattie complained.

"Then don't use that kind of language, kiddo," Harm said.

Before Mattie could do more than roll her eyes, Mac interrupted. "I'm guessing that you've practiced this?" she asked.

"A million times," Mattie admitted. "But I'm still afraid that I'll screw it up."

"You won't," Mac said with a grin. "If you've practiced that much, then you know what to do. I'll be watching the two of you."

Mattie bit her lip and nodded. "Okay. C'mon, Harm." She grabbed her guardian's arm and started pulling him towards the stage. A glance back at their table showed the Colonel digging in her purse. Another glance, and she saw Mac pulling a camera out of her purse. Mattie tried not to groan. Just what she needed--pictures of her making a fool out of herself.

Just before they got to the stage where the other girls were lining up in alphabetical order, Harm stopped her. "You'll be fine, honey," he said softly, then kissed her on the forehead.

"Thanks--Dad," she whispered. Mattie firmly told her stomach to stop bouncing up and down, then took her place in line. She watched nervously as Harm got in line with the other fathers and waited for her name to be called. It seemed like an eternity before she was called up, and even longer as she stood under the rose arbor, grinning like an idiot, while they read stuff about her.

Mattie carefully walked down the stairs, trying not to trip on her long skirt. She felt, rather than saw, Harm come up beside her, and tuck her hand into the crook of his arm. He led her to their position in the circle and got ready for the waltz. "Breathe, kiddo," he ordered softly. "It's almost over--then we can have some fun."

Mattie gave him a weak smile and rested her hand on his arm. "Thanks," she said again, not being able to say just how much it meant to her that he was there.

Her eyes widened as the last teenage girl was led to the dance floor, and she stiffened as the opening bars of the waltz played. She ran over the steps of the dance in her head and reminded herself to follow Harm. Carefully, she went where he led, remembering the lessons he'd given her, as well as the practices for what she was beginning to call the, "damn dance."

She concentrated on the steps, going through every one in her head right before they performed it. Holding her breath, they went through the spins and twirls that were part of the routine--if she were to trip, she knew it'd be in the middle of a twirl. Thankfully, she made it through, and they stopped just as the last bars of the music were winding down. She relaxed slightly, ignoring what the president of the organization was saying. She almost jumped as the young man who'd been assigned to dance with her walked up.

Harm shot him a look of warning, to which he nodded before taking Mattie's hand. "Um, hi," she said. "I'm Mattie."

He grinned as he put his hand on her waist and started dancing to the slow song that was playing on the audio system. "I thought you must have a nickname," he said. "My parents gave me a weird name too."

"What is it?" she asked curiously.

"Nathaniel," he said with a slight blush. "I make people call me Nate."

"It's not too bad." Mattie said with a smile. "Not as bad as 'Mathilda,' anyway.

"So you really want to fly fighters?" he asked.

Mattie nodded. "Yeah. All I've ever wanted to do is fly. What do you want to do?"

"I want to be a doctor," he said with a shy smile. "At least, I think I do. My parents like the idea--as long as I still go military."

"Harm hasn't pushed in one way or the other," she said slowly. "As long as I keep my grades up, he says I can be what I want. But, well, I've always wanted to fly, and everybody knows that Navy pilots are the best."

Nate laughed softly. "Yep. My dad's a pilot--and my mom swears that Navy pilots walk on water. He refuses to say anything to make her change her mind."

Mattie smiled shyly as they swayed to the music. "If the stories I've heard about my guardian are true, then I think I agree with her."

They came to a stop as the music wound down. "Thanks for the dance, Mattie," Nate said with a smile, then led her to the edge of the dance floor.

"You're welcome," she answered, then hurried over to where Harm and Mac were standing.

"He behaved himself, didn't he?" Harm asked, eyeing Nate, who was standing across the room.

"Haaaa-rm," Mattie protested.

Mac nudged him in the ribs. "Behave," she whispered. "You were watching the poor kid like a hawk."

Harm gave her a long-suffering look. "Had to," he responded.

Before he could say anything more, Susan came over and interrupted. "Hey y'all," she said with a bright smile. "Was he as nice as he is hot, Mats?" she asked.

Mattie grinned. "Ohhh yeah," she said. "He says he wants to be a doctor--and he's going Navy, too."

Susan bit her lip. "Mine said that he's going to Annapolis and he's going to be in the Marines--let's make a pact, we're not gonna date military, because the casualty list is too high."

Mattie put an arm around Susan and gave her a squeeze. "Sucks, doesn't it?" she said softly. She watched as Harm took a half step closer to them, but she shook her head and shooed him away. Absently, she registered Harm asking Mac to dance, but she was more concerned about Susan. It hadn't been that long ago that her brother had died, after all.

"Yeah," Susan drew in a shaky breath. "I mean, dad's gone, and now Joe…"

"At least you've still got your mom," Mattie said softly. "I mean, you've got somebody there who loves you."

"I keep telling myself that, but--"

"You miss them. And you wish that they hadn't died," Mattie finished.

Susan nodded and looked out over the dance floor. "What is it between Commander Rabb and whats-her-face?"

Mattie knew that Susan was just trying to change the subject, but she let it pass. "You mean Colonel Mackenzie? He loves her. He told me so."

"I know! You told me that, Mats. But the way she looks at him--" Susan cocked her head and studied the pair.

"I think she loves him too. They're just too dumb to figure out that they love each other." Mattie clasped her arms behind her back. "I thought about trying to help them out, y'know, give them a clue, but I'm afraid of screwing things up even worse. 'Sides, Harm's been making me see my dad, and I'm not sure I want to contend with Mac being that far in our lives."

"But if she loves him--"

"She betrayed him, Susan." Mattie declared hotly. "She betrayed him, so how long would it take her to hurt him again? If I end up going home and staying with my father, I'm not leaving Harm behind if he's hurting. He deserves better than that."

Susan was silent for a few minutes. "How do you know she will? And do you know for sure that you're going back to Blacksburg?"

"I don't," Mattie admitted. "But, well, Harm was there for me and took me in when he could've just called the cops and dumped me at Social Services." She paused. "I owe him. And I love him. I don't know if I want to give Tom a second chance--Harm is my dad, too, and, well…"

"You don't really want to choose between them," Susan said.

"Yeah. I don't want to give Mac the chance to hurt Harm again, either--but he trusts her. And she did help him get me, so I guess she can't be all bad." Mattie's eyes strayed to the couple on the dance floor. "I've never seen him happier than when she's with us. I mean, he's happy with me around; he smiles more now than he used to, but you can just tell, y'know?"

"Yeah. I saw just now--he lights up when she touches him." Susan sighed happily. "It's sooo romantic."

"Grownups," Mattie said in disgust.

Susan giggled helplessly. "You could help him," she pointed out.

"Nope. She's dating some guy named Webb," Mattie said with a grimace.

"Must be dumb," Susan commented. "If I had a guy who looks like your guardian look at me like he looks at her, I'd never let him go."

"I know." Mattie sat down in a nearby chair.

"Are you okay here?" Susan asked. "I need to go rescue somebody from Linda."

"Sure," Mattie answered absently. She crossed her ankles and bit her lip. "Harm and Colonel Mackenzie'll be back in a few minutes, anyway."

With a hurried goodbye, Susan gathered up her skirt and started winding her way through the crowd. Mattie sighed as she watched Harm and Mac dance. If Harm trusted her, she guessed they'd have to work it out by themselves. She still wasn't sure about what she'd do if Tom wanted her back, but she was sure of one thing--Harm would always be her dad, and she'd always do her best to keep him in her life.

The End.