Disclaimer: Still not mine…
A/N: Wow, this was so fast that I am even impressing myself. Actually I'm just trying to get as much in before that crazy move-in week of collegiate nonsense…Happy reading!
Chapter 8:
Harm ended up staying later than he expected at Mac's house that night. After dinner Nat asked Harm if he wanted to watch 'Thomas' with him and Harm agreed after checking with Mattie, who told him to stay. When he finally left, Mac walked him out to his car and they shared a goodbye hug. It wasn't much, but for them it was a lot.
The next morning, Mac drove Chloe to the airport on her way to work, and Harm went to work on an investigation aboard the Seahawk. The following Sunday, Mac received a call from Harm telling her that he was back and that he wanted to have dinner with her that week. Mac agreed and they scheduled it for Tuesday.
Monday, Mac got home from work and checked her answering machine, relieved to find no messages. She was not expecting any calls, but Mic had returned from his business trip the night before and was sure to have found the divorce papers in the empty house. Up until then, she had been sure to check in with him every day via her cell phone. She knew that it was simply delaying the inevitable, but she wanted to establish a stable home in D.C. before the divorce proceedings began.
She had researched her situation extensively and had gone over the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abductions to ensure that she was not violating it in anyway. As a custodian and American citizen, Mac was perfectly within her rights to take the children to America for a vacation as long as she provided Mic with contact information. Since Nat and Talia had spent all of their lives in Australia, the custody hearing would have to take place in the Australian courts, but Mac hoped it would not come to that. The agreement she had drawn up was very fair to Mic. Granted she got full custody leaving him with visitation, but the conditions were rather liberal. Mac did not want to isolate her children from their father; she simply wanted to isolate herself from him.
Realistically, she did not expect things to go that smoothly. There was no way that Mic would let this go without some form of confrontation, but Mac wanted to be on solid ground when it happened and not in that house where he had some type of power over her. Now it was only a waiting game, which ended while they were eating that evening.
"Doorbell!" Nat shouted jumping from his chair and racing toward the door.
"Slow down," Mac ordered setting down the spoon she was using to feed Talia, "And don't open that door until I get to see who it is."
"Okaaay," he exaggerated but waited until his mother opened the door. The minute she did, he let out a screech, "Daddy!"
"Hey kiddo!" Mic swept him into his arms and gave him a big kiss. Without setting him down, he leaned over to give Mac a kiss on the cheek, "Hello, luv."
"Do you want dinner?" she asked, shooting daggers at him with her glare.
"Eat with us Daddy," Nat pleaded.
"If you insist," he set down his son and followed Mac into the kitchen. He walked over to Talia who gurgled happily at the sight of him, "How's my princess?"
Mac quickly prepared a plate of pasta for him and handed it over without a word. She sat in stony silence eating her own meal and feeding Talia hers. Looking at Talia drink from her bottle, Mac could have sworn that her little girl was aware of the tension around her. Nat on the other hand, was oblivious to everything and sat eating while alternating between humming and chatting with his dad.
"I'm done!" Nat announced, with a spaghetti sauce smile.
"I can see that," she smiled back and led him to the sink, "Let's clean you off first."
"Can I show Daddy my room?" he whispered to her as she wiped his hands.
"Later," she cleaned his face and bopped him on the nose making him smile, "Why don't you go play with Daddy in the family room, okay?"
"Okay," he walked back toward Mic, "Daddy come play with me, please."
"In a minute," Mic gathered the dirty dishes and brought them over to Mac, "We need to talk."
"I'm aware, but I have to clean up and get Talia to bed first," she took the dishes from him, "Go play with your son."
Mac finished cleaning and carried Talia upstairs to her room. After a quick diaper change and switch into pajamas, Mac laid her gently in her crib. Walking across the room, Mac turned on the CD player so that it played classical music and soothing nature sounds and flicked off the lights, "Don't worry, Mommy's going to take care of everything. Sweet dreams, Tali-babe."
"And this is my favorite toy ever!" Nat declared and proudly held up his airplane.
"Very cool airplane," Mic took the toy to look at it.
"It's an F-14," he explained wisely.
"I know that."
"Can I have it back?" Nat reached for it.
"Where did you get this?"
"Unca Harm."
"Uncle Harm?" Mic repeated his voice becoming angry as he looked up to find Mac walking into the room, "Uncle Harm?"
"I said that!" Nat pouted beginning to be scared by his voice, "Give it back."
"Give him the toy, Mic," Mac said calmly.
"I see you made no time introducing our son to Rabb," he turned to her angrily.
"We ran into each other at the park," she answered calmly, "Do you expect Nat to call him Commander?"
"Not uncle," he glared.
"Give it back, Daddy," Nat whined, on the verge of a tantrum.
"Be quiet!" Mic snapped.
"Mic-"
"No!"
"Fine," Mac reached for the plane, but his fist connected her face first and she fell into the couch. Seconds later Mic threw the toy against the wall breaking it in two and sending Nat into tears. She pushed past Mic and picked up Nat protectively, "I'm taking him upstairs to calm down."
She spun on her heel and raced upstairs trying to calm down her son and herself. Mic honestly did not hit her much – up until today she could have counted the times he had on one hand – and he never lashed out in anyway against the kids. Mac could deal with his temper if it only affected her and as long as her kids had no idea. When it all started, she swore that she never allow her children to witness what she had, until tonight.
"It's okay Mr. Nat," Mac told him as she carried him into Talia's room locking the door behind her, "It's okay."
"Mummy hurt?" he whimpered noticing the blood trickling down her chin from a split lip.
"Mummy's fine," she set him down on the rocker and wiped her face, "Here, sit down."
"Okay," he silently watched her spread a blanket on the floor and get Talia from her crib.
"Okay, Babe, you're going to play here with your brother, okay?" Mac set her down on the blanket with a couple of toys while Nat slid off the rocker to join her, "Now Mr. Nat, you're going to have to be very brave for Mommy. After I leave, I want you to lock the door and not let anyone in until I get back, okay?"
"Okay," he nodded solemnly.
"That's my boy. I love you two," she kissed both of them and stood up. Turning up the CD player to drown out any noises of downstairs, she walked out the door closing it firmly behind her. She heard the snick of the lock, took a deep breath, and headed downstairs to find Mic.
"I'm sorry," Mic said the minute she walked into the kitchen and offered her a damp rag filled with ice, "I don't know what came over me. He just said Harm's name and I got jealous, then something snapped. I'm really sorry."
"What are you doing here, Mic?" she ignored him and the ice he offered.
"I came to see my family, my wife," he offered her the ice again, "Take it."
"I don't need anything from you," she slapped the ice from his hand and it scattered across the floor, "And I am not your wife."
"Until I sign those papers you are," he sneered, "That is what you expected me to do when I found those papers in our empty house, right?"
"Yes, I expected you to sign them like any decent man would," she tensed her jaw, preparing for any reaction, "We've been over for months, Mic, and it's time you accept that."
"We're not over," he argued, "I still love you, and I know you still love me. We're a family."
"We stopped being a family the minute you lay a hand on me, and I stopped loving you a long time ago," she turned away from him, and he followed her to the front door, "Now leave."
"You can't just throw me out, Sarah," he argued pointing up the stairs, "I'm their father."
"Get out, or I'm calling the police," she could see his temper rising and wanted him out before he did anything else.
"They're my kids!"
"We'll talk about that later," she held open the door, "Right now, this is my house and I want you gone."
"I'll be back, Sarah," he said as he walked out the door, "You know I will."
"Unfortunately I do," she muttered to herself as she closed and locked the door behind her. She leaned against it and slid down to floor where she broke down into tears.
Harm jumped up from the couch when he heard a knock on his door. He set aside the file he was reading and went to the door expecting to find Mattie or Jen. When he swung it open, Harm was shocked to see Mac standing behind it with a duffel and diaper bag on one arm and a crying Talia in the other, while Nat hugged her leg.
"Can we come in?"
A/N: I know, terrible place to leave it, but I'm really going to try and get one more chapter in before I have to leave…but prepare yourselves for a cliffie if I cannot. As always, please review and let me know what you think!
Shalimar – Hehehe…thanks!
Toplesslemon – Thanks for the complements, and don't worry I don't in any way blame Australia for Mic's ickiness…that's his own fault! And membership to the anti-barney club is free…welcome!
Nix707 – Don't you hate it when your computer conspires against you? Gah! Believe me when I say that Harm will not take the Mic situation lightly. While neither of them are ready to admit it, Mac's his girl and he won't let anything happen to her! I wonder how much it would cost to rent a double decker bus?
XLovexNxPainx – As Mac said, you couldn't have her kids calling him "Comannder"… grin
Kiki – I'm glad your addicted:o)
JamieAKAaclassyone – Oh the custody issue will be a messy one, but a certain Commander may just help Mac out some off the record "encouragment" to get Brumby to walk away. Thanks for the good luck wishes for school. It's my second year, so I'm really excited…although I'm not that packed…I think the senioritis is coming in early. ;o)
KittyX – Was this soon enough? Hehehe!
Southernqt – I thought I recognized the name! I will be getting back to Field for the sequel eventually, but I wanted to get this one done first. As you know, I can be a bit unpredictable with the updates when life gets in the way, so I don't want to leave two things unfinished. Thanks for reading!