Disclaimer: I do not own them…I'm borrowing them for my own amusement!

A/N: This picks up in Spring of 2004, which I'm roughly translating to about mid-season nine. Basically all of the major events have happened just as they did on the show, minus Mac. Harm still becomes Mattie's guardian, but they obviously didn't meet because he went UA to look for Mac in Paraguay. Do me a favor and just accept that the Harm/Mattie/Jen arrangement has been set up. Happy Reading!

Chapter 1:

"So these kids you're babysitting," Harm began, he was driving Mattie to a babysitting job over her spring break, "How old are they?"

"The little boy, Nat, is almost 3, and the little girl, Talia, is 1," she answered.

"And you can handle both of them?"

"I handled them fine the last four days," she laughed, "Beside, Nat is quite the little gentleman, and his accent is adorable."

"Accent?"

"Australian," she paused to point out the next street he needed to take, "Their mom just moved them here from Sydney a couple weeks ago."

"What does the mom do?"

"She's working as co-council for the legal department of some hospital."

"No dad?"

"I think they're in the process of divorcing. Sarah's never really told me about it."

"Well, it's not really any of my business. I was just curious," he turned onto a residential street, "Which one is theirs?"

"The third on the right," she checked to make sure her bag had everything, "Will you or Jen be picking me up?"

"I will," he pulled into the driveway of the small two-bedroom house, "She has to stay late to finish up some stuff for the JAG picnic tomorrow."

"Okay," she opened her door, "I'll see you at 5:30 then."

"Bye Mattie."

"Bye Harm," she got of the car and waved to him as he drove off to work. She walked up to the porch and knocked on the screen door.

"Come on in, it's open," Sarah called from the kitchen were she was feeding Talia, "Hey Mattie."

"Good morning," she walked into the kitchen.

"Hi Mattie," Nat looked up from his bowl of Cheerios with a grin.

"G'day mate," Mattie smiled back, making him giggle. She noticed Sarah's still wet hair, "I can finish feeding Talia if you need to get ready."

"Thanks, I only have 6 minutes and I'm obviously not ready," she handed Mattie the spoon without actually checking her watch to confirm the time.

"No problem," Mattie sat down and took over the food duties, "So, Nat, what do you have planned for today?"

"Mum rented the new Thomas movie for us to watch," he answered, referring to Thomas the Tank Engine, his favorite series.

"That's going to be fun," she smiled, "Now finish eating."

"Yup."

"Thanks again for helping me out Mattie," Sarah returned with her hair swept up, but still damp, "I know you'd rather spend your spring break relaxing."

"I have fun here and I could use the money," she assured her, "I'm glad Mrs. Abrams gave you my number."

"So am I," she organized her briefcase, "The kids love you."

"They're good kids."

"They're going to start daycare at the hospital with me next week when you go back to school, but I hope you wouldn't mind if I called you weekends sometimes."

"That'd be great."

"Okay, I've got to run. Bye Tali-babe," she bent down to kiss her daughter, "Come say goodbye Mr. Nat."

"Bye Mummy," he ran over to hug her.

"Be good for Mattie," she kissed the top of his head.

"I will," he promised.

"Bye Mattie," she headed out the door, "Thanks again."

"Hey Mattie," Sarah unlocked to door a half hour early, "I'm home."

"Mummy," Nat jumped up from where he had been watching TV, "We're watching Thomas!"

"I can see that," Sarah hugged him and he ran back to his seat on the floor.

"Talia's napping," Mattie told her from her seat on the couch where she sat with the baby monitor, "You're home early."

"Yeah, sorry about surprising you," she joined her on the couch, "I was able to get out early."

"No problem," Mattie smiled.

"Do you want to call your dad to pick you up?"

"He's working and he's not my dad."

"Sorry," Sarah said quickly, "I just assumed."

"Don't worry about it," she shrugged, "He's my guardian. My real dad's in rehab."

"Alcoholic?" she guessed.

"Yeah," Mattie's pretty features darkened.

"So was my father. It's good that you have someone in your corner."

"I couldn't ask for a better advocate," she smiled.

"It baffles me how some parents don't realize what they're doing to their kids," her eyes fell on Nat who as happily engrossed in the movie and her mind wandered to the reasons behind her bringing the kids to D.C. Snapping back to reality, Sarah changed the subject, "I have another request for you Mattie."

"What?"

"Would you be able to watch the kids tomorrow for a couple of hours?"

"What time?"

"10 to 1?" Sarah asked hopefully.

"I have this picnic to go to at noon in the park, but I could bring them with me."

"I don't want to make you do that."

"It's just a thing thrown by my guardian's office, and there'll be a bunch of little kids there," Mattie told her, "It really would not be an issue."

"You sure?"

"Yeah," she assured her.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Okay," Sarah stood up, "I need to start dinner."

"You want help?"

"Not unless you have an undying urge to chop vegetables."

"If it's that or Thomas, I'll choose chopping," she laughed.

"True," Sarah laughed too, "You're lucky he's not watching B-A-R-N-E-Y. That's his real favorite."

"I've never seen him watch it."

"That's because I told him that they only have him in Australia," she opened the fridge and started getting out what she needed for dinner.

"You're evil," Mattie laughed.

"No, it's that stupid dinosaur that's evil."