AN: Sorry it took so long, but I had weekend duty last weekend. Thanks for all the encouragement! Thank you Alex for betaing.

Part 5

"If you're willing I'd like to recommend that Andy would be placed in your care. We don't know when her mother," Ms Brown didn't seem to have a lot of respect for the woman who had left her child just like that "will decide that she can take care of her daughter again and when she does it won't be up to her anymore to decide that anyway. Besides I'm sure the Marine Corps will have some things to settle with her first, won't they?"

Mac just looked at her in shock "You mean she'd stay here for ..."

"I can't tell you for how long it would be. We rarely can with these children, but in my opinion it isn't very likely that Ms Matthews regains custody of her unless she returns really, really soon," she paused for a few seconds and Mac could see her eyes being filled with sadness "Unfortunately there are more of these children then there are good families that will take them in. You know, you'd be doing a really good thing for her. But I'm not going to try to convince you. This is not for everyone."

Mac took a deep breath. She didn't know what to say. Deep inside she knew she could never just give Andy up to the system again if she didn't know she'd be well taken care of where she was going, but at the same time she wasn't sure if she was up to the job of taking care of her.

"This is the number of my cell phone," Ms Brown wrote down the number on the back side of her card and gave it to Mac "Call me when you've made up your mind and I'll make the arrangements for whatever it is that you choose to do."

"I ... I'll call you," Mac said. She walked the younger woman to the door and bid her goodbye.

"You should tell her about her mother," Ms Brown said.

"I know," Mac nodded. She knew this was going to be hard

She took a few breaths to gather herself before she walked over to the guestroom where Andy was waiting. She found the girl sitting on the floor in the middle of the room playing with her doll.

"We have to talk about something," Mac said and sat down beside the girl on the floor.

"Is it about my mom?" Andy asked.

"Yeah, it is," Mac said and the seriousness in her voice made Andy realize this wasn't any good news.

"Did she leave just like yours did?" Mac could hear the sadness of the little girl's voice far too well.

Mac nodded "Yeah, kind of. She wrote a letter to Ms Rowing and Ms Brown's office and it said that she wanted to be sure that someone took care of you."

"When is she coming back?" Now tears were strumming down Andy's cheeks at a fast pace.

"I don't know. She doesn't say. She thinks she needs to fix some things before she can take care of you again."

"I want my mom," Andy throw her arms around Mac's neck and Mac lifted her up to sit across her lap.

"I know, honey, I know," Mac tried to comfort her the best she could, but she knew that the sadness and desperation of the little girl was far to big for her to be able to change at all.

Andy was still crying when the phone started ringing five minutes later. At first Mac considered just letting it ring, but she realized that it was more disturbing to listen to the phone than the actual call would be so she got up from the floor and lifted Andy up to carry her out to the phone in the living room.

"Mackenzie," Mac answered the phone.

"Hey Mac. I know you said you'd call, but ..." Harm started off by apologizing.

"It's OK," Mac tried to reassure him, but Andy's sniffles was heard by Harm through the phone and it made him think it might not be so OK.

"Did everything go well with the social worker?" he asked her worriedly.

"Yeah, but we found some things out that made us quite sad," Mac tried to explain.

"I guess then this isn't such a good idea," he said like he was preparing to end the call.

"What isn't a good idea?"

"The real estate agent is letting me borrow the keys to the house I just thought I'd ask if the two of you wanted to come with me and look at it and then we'd go up and visit Mattie together, but I guess you have other things to do."

"Actually I think that would be a good idea. We need to think about something else, besides I need to talk to you about something." She couldn't be more specific then that right now.

"Good." She could hear him smile "If I come and pick the two of you up in twenty minutes, is that OK?"

"Sure. I'll see you then."

Mac hung up the phone and told Andy what they were going to do. At first she didn't seem to happy about it, but when Mac told her about going to visit Mattie she seemed to brighten up a bit. As they waited for Harm to come, Mac went to call Bud and Harriet and ask if she could take Harriet up on the offer of keeping Andy there over the next day.

Just the look on Harm's face when they parked in front of the house told Mac that his mind was already made up. She and Andy followed him around as he pointed out all the advantages of the house. The current owners son had been in a wheelchair his whole life and so there wasn't any need to make any adjustments for Mattie before she could come and live there. It was a one-storage house with four bedrooms, a living room and kitchen off course. Though it was probably the smallest house in the neighborhood, it didn't feel very small and for the little family that Harm and Mattie made out, it was just perfect.

In her heart Mac knew it didn't matter what she said about the house, he'd still want it, but she was still focusing hard as they walked through the house to see if she could find anything that Harm hadn't already thought of. It was very plain and in a way boring, but Mac had the feeling that that was exactly what made Harm so attracted to it. He would be able to remodel it into any style of his own choice.

"It's nice, Harm. I think you found exactly what you need," she said as she concluded her assessment of the house.

"You know if I start moving to buy it tomorrow, I can probably have it done in time for Mattie to get out of the hospital. I'd hate for her to have to stay there any longer because I don't have anywhere that she can stay."

"I can't tell you what to do, Harm, but I'll help you as much as I can with whatever you decide."

"I know that," he smiled at her.

"Can we go now?" Andy was starting to get impatient. She didn't think it was a lot of fun to look at this empty house.

"Andy, we're going to take our time here. You'll have to be patient," Mac told her in a firm voice.

"I just want to look at one last thing again," Harm said and started walking away towards the kitchen. "Wait here and I'll be right back."

Five minutes later he returned and they walked out to the car. After making a quick stop at the real estate firm to drop off the keys, they were on the way to Mattie's hospital. It was a relatively long drive and Harm and Mattie had discussed having her transferred to a hospital closer to DC once she was stable enough for that. However the drive went fast as they talked the whole time. Mac was glad that Andy seemed to be warming up to Harm.

When they walked into Mattie's room, she was looking out the window and as she turned her face towards the sounds from the door, they could see that she'd been crying. She was surprised to see Mac and a little girl accompanying Harm and though her cheeks were still wet from tears she tried to smile at them. Harm was quick to walk up to her and bring out a napkin to dry off her tears.

"Hey Mattie," he said and with his eyes he asked her if she wanted to be alone. Mattie shook her head no. She knew she'd have plenty of time during the night to bury herself in self pity and tears, and so for now she could just as well enjoy the fact that not everyone had forgotten about her.

"It's nice to see you up, Mattie," Mac walked over to the other side of the bed.

"I'm not so much up these days," Mattie said "But it's nice to see you too."

"This is Andy," Mac introduced the little girl who was clinging on to her hand. "She's staying with me ... for a while," she added.

"Hi Andy," Mattie tried to smile a bit more whole-heartedly.

"Hi!" Andy said "Are you sad 'cause the doctors say you can't walk anymore?"

"Andy," Mac berated her. She knew that Mattie was just like her and Harm in that way, she hated it when other people saw her weak and pointing out that they had seen her cry wasn't very good.

"It's OK, Mac," Mattie said. "Actually I think I'm more sad because my father isn't coming to see me."

"I'm sad too," Andy said "My mother went away."

"I'm sorry. My mother died a couple of years ago."

Mattie and Andy continued to talk until Andy realized that she had to use the toilet and Mac and she had to rush away to find one.

As Mattie and Harm was left alone, he started telling her about the house.

"I wish I could move back to the apartment. I want things to be the way they were before," Mattie told him referring to the time before she had reconciled with her father.

"Things will never be like they were before."

"I know, but I just ... I just hate the fact that you have to change so many things in your life now to take care of me. Especially when I left and ..."

"Mattie, it wasn't your fault that things didn't work out with you and your father. I know you tried your best and I'm so proud of you for that," he leaned forward to stroke his fingers over her check and across her hair. "All I want now is for you to get better so you can get out of this place, OK? Just focus on that and I'll take care of the rest." He smiled reassuringly at her.

Both of their heads turned towards the door when they heard a few quick knocks on it. Mac had closed it when she and Andy left.

"Come in," Mattie said.

"Look who we ran into in the hallway," Mac said and stepped aside to let a new visitor into the room. This time Mattie didn't have to force a smile. "Jen," she screamed out.

"Hey Mattie," Jen rushed over to the bed and kissed Mattie's cheeks several times as they continued to giggle.

"No one told me you were coming today."

"No?"

"No."

The two girls continued to talk for several minutes until all of the laughter in the room was interrupted by a big growl from Andy's stomach.

"Hungry, huh?" Harm said.

"Yes," Andy responded.

"Why don't you and I go and get us all something for dinner?" Mac suggested to Harm.

Harm looked questioningly at Mattie, but she just nodded "I don't mind, I'll have a nice bag of fluids dropped into my arm all night, what do I need food for?" she tried to joke.

Harm looked at her for another second before he nodded in approval of Mac's suggestion. Andy wanted to stay with the big girls so Mac and Harm left alone.

"I didn't realize that she couldn't eat yet, I'm sorry," Mac said as they were walking towards the hospital cafeteria.

"It's OK, Mac. Even the doctors say that's just temporary," he said "What was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

"It's about Andy."

"You've got proof now that her mother left voluntarily."

"Yeah, it seems that way. Bud says they're going to charge her with desertion when they find her."

"So what happens to Andy then?"

"That's just the thing. The social worker who came to the apartment today said she'll recommend for her to stay with me. If I say yes, that is."

"Oh," Harm said "You're not sure you want to do it."

"It's not so much that. I mean I'd love to have her live with me. To have someone to come home to. Someone who mattered more than anything else. But that's just what I'm worried about. That maybe I want it more for me and she could be a lot better off with someone else."

Harm looked at her with a face that seemed to say that he didn't know what she was talking about.

"I didn't have the best role models when it comes to being a parent and I'm not sure I could be a good one for her. Not as good as she deserves. And that's putting aside all the practical stuff like the fact that I live alone, work a lot and travel and ..."

"But the social worker obviously saw something that made her think you were up to the job."

"It's so strange. I told her about my alcoholism and my parents and ..."

"But you've worked through those things. You know what I think? I think that she saw how much you already care about Andy and the fact that you're worried you won't be good enough just proves that. All parents worry about that from time to time."

He stopped walking and slightly touched her arm for her to stop as well so that they were facing each other. "I can't tell you what to do. This is a far too important decision and you have to make it on your own, but you should know that there's no one in the world that I think would make a greater mom than you Mac. And you're not alone, never forget that. You have Harriet, Bud and Jen and ... me. You've got me."

"Thank you, Harm, " she tried to blink the tears away as she leaned up towards him and embraced him. Harm was quick to wrap his arms around her and holding her tightly to him. "You're already the great father I always knew you'd be."

He brushed his hands over her hair. "I ... think we need to get that food soon or they'll come looking for us."

"Yeah, I guess so," She took a step away from him and before she got her hands up to brush the tears away from her cheeks he was already there with his thumbs.

"Let's go," he said and took her hand. She smiled as she braided her fingers with his.

Twenty minutes later they returned with cartons of what was probably not delicious, but at least eatable food. There were sounds of laughter coming from the room and Harm was starting to get a bit worried that everything would be too much for Mattie. She still needed a lot of rest to get better.

As they entered the room he could also see that she was starting to look really tired and he decided that once they had eaten, he would make sure they'd get going so Mattie could go to sleep.

The atmosphere of the room during the dinner reminded Mac a lot about how things had been when Mattie was still living with Jen across the hall from Harm and she'd come over to have dinner with the three of them. Andy fell perfectly into the picture. As soon as they had all eaten Harm ushered them to say goodbye to Mattie and get going back towards DC.

Andy fell asleep after just five minutes on the road.

TBC