AN: Thank you all for the wonderful feedback. I'm glad you enjoy this story and I hope you like this installment too..
A Snowy Weekend – Part 9
Disclaimer - See part one for all important information
Sunday
December 12, 2004
Mac's Apartment
Georgetown, DC
1:03 AM
Harm woke up and was startled for a moment, not knowing where he was and what had woken him. It took him only a moment to remember that he was at Mac's, but the reason why he'd woken up was still unclear to him. 'I guess it was a bad dream,' he thought and closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep again.
That's when he heard it. A quiet voice. Someone was talking and the sound came out of Mac's bedroom. But that wasn't the only noise disturbing the silence in the dark apartment. Now he could hear it clearly. A sniff. Someone was obviously crying. "Mac," Harm muttered to himself and got worried. Slowly he got up from the couch to make his way to the bedroom door. It was slightly ajar and a dim light was shining through the crack.
Harm touched the door, but for a moment he was unsure about whether or not he should go ahead and find out what's wrong behind that door. However, another little sniff coming out of the room made up his mind. Slowly he pushed the door a bit, so that he was able to look inside.
He could see the bed and the sight in front of him made him smile. There, on the right side of the bed, was Mac. She was lying on her back and on top of her, with his head placed on her chest, was Jimmy. He sucked on his thumb while Mac was rubbing his back in a soothing manner.
Mac held a book in her other hand and quietly read the story for him. Harm immediately detected that it was Jimmy's favorite story 'Bedtime with Winnie the Pooh'. Harm knew it so well since he'd read it many times for his younger godson.
By now Harm could hear that Jimmy was the one crying. Then he let his eyes wander a little bit further and could see that his other godson was lying in the middle of the bed. He was snuggled up to Mac and obviously asleep.
Unaware to his mind, Harm's hand pushed the door even wider and his feet started to move further into the room. Suddenly the door squeaked and made his presence known.
Mac heard the squeak and looked up from the book just to see Harm standing at the doorway. He didn't say anything and just watched the scene in front of him. She tried to read his look, but for some reason it was unreadable for her.
"Hi," Mac whispered and watched him close the door before moving even further into the room.
"Hey," Harm quietly replied. "Is everything okay? I heard the sniffling and got worried."
Mac nodded her head. "Yeah, everything is okay. Jimmy had a bad dream and woke up. I heard his crying through the baby monitor and it woke up Little AJ as well." Then she looked down at the older boy. "Thankfully he is already asleep again but Jimmy is still fighting his tiredness though."
Harm again didn't say anything and simply looked like he was memorizing the scene in front of him. Mac saw his reaction and the longing in his eyes. Without thinking twice she tapped the space right next to her and Little AJ, asking him to join them without using any words.
Harm didn't need to be asked twice and quickly moved around the bed to get slowly into it, trying not to wake Little AJ up in the process.
As soon as he was seated Mac held out the book to him. "Here, want to read the rest? It shouldn't take much longer to get Jimmy back into dreamland."
"Sure," Harm softly answered and started to read the story from where she'd left off.
Just like Mac foresaw, it didn't take long for Jimmy to fall asleep again and even when he was already asleep, Harm didn't stop reading the story until the very end. "It worked like a charm," Harm quietly said and softly touched Jimmy's cheek, getting a little sigh in response.
"Yeah, at least there was no need for a lullaby this time," Mac told him and smiled. "I think we should bring them back to bed. It should be safe by now."
Harm nodded and together they brought the boys back to the guestroom.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"I can't believe that Jimmy's crying didn't wake me up earlier," Harm commented in bewilderment as soon as they were back in the living room. "Not even you running through the living room woke me up."
Mac smiled and nodded her head. "I guess you were more tired than you thought."
"Yeah, I guess that's it," Harm replied and got down on the couch, trying to find a comfortable position to fall asleep again. "Let's get some more sleep. Night, Mac."
"Good night, Harm," Mac tenderly said but didn't walk back into the bedroom. She stood at the doorway of her bedroom and watched him trying to fall asleep again. She could see that he was troubled by not finding a comfortable position.
Harm beat the pillow, turned on his back and groaned. 'It wasn't that uncomfortable earlier. Not uncomfortable at all,' Harm wondered and looked up at the ceiling. That's when he saw the outstretched hand in front of him. He followed the arm and looked up into Mac's smiling eyes. "Let's go to bed, Harm," she tenderly told him.
"Are you sure? It's really not a problem for me to sleep on this couch."
Mac nodded her head and took Harm's hand into hers. "I'm very sure," she said and hand in hand they made their way into her bedroom. "But no funny business."
"Who? Me? No, I'm Prince Charming, Mac. You won't even know that I'm lying right next to you," Harm pointed out with a grin and then thought to himself. 'This is going to be a long night.'
'Yeah, right. Like that could happen. This is going to be a long night,' Mac thought to herself and then said out loud. "Just try not to snore too loudly. Oh, and be aware that, should you hog the cover, you'll be out of my bed faster than you can say 'oops'," she joked.
"Wow, you're one demanding lady in bed, huh?" Harm chuckled, glad and even a bit surprised that the situation between them wasn't awkward at all.
Mac smirked and raised her eyebrow. "You bet, Flyboy," she told him before closing the door behind her.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Mac's bedroom
4:27 AM
Someone was watching her. Mac could feel it and immediately woke up. She could hear Harm's quiet snoring right behind her and knew that he was still asleep.
Slowly she opened her eyes and came face to face with her intruder. "Hey, honey," she whispered and gently touched Little AJ's cheek, feeling beads of sweat and drops of tears on it. "Bad dream?"
Little AJ nodded his head and took a deep breath. "I'm scared," he quietly told her.
Mac nodded her head and moved a little backward, being careful so that she wouldn't disturb Harm in his sleep. Then she raised her blanket. "Do you want to sleep here, honey?"
Little AJ once more nodded his head and quickly crawled into the bed next to Mac. She covered his little body with her blanket and then drew him into her arms, making him feel safe.
"Auntie Mac?" He whispered.
"Yeah?"
"Was Uncle Harm scared too?"
"What do you mean, AJ?" Mac curiously asked.
"He's sleeping in your bed too. Does that mean he was scared just like me?" Little AJ asked full of innocent.
Mac had to smile and for a moment she didn't know how to answer the question. Little AJ always tried to make the grown-ups around him believe that he already was a big boy, and that there's nothing that scared him. The thought that his Uncle Harm was perhaps scared after having a bad dream as well, made him feel better. If it was okay for his hero to be scared, then it was okay for Little AJ to be scared.
"Yes, honey. Your Uncle Harm was scared too. But now everything is okay again and he's asleep."
Little AJ giggled and tried everything to be quiet. "He's snoring."
Mac chuckled. 'Yeah. Well, at least he doesn't hog the cover,' she thought before giving her godson an answer. "Yeah, he does, doesn't he. Does it bother you?"
"No, daddy snores too. Only much louder," AJ told her as a matter of fact and yawned. "Mommy always says he sounds like he's sawing off an entire forest."
"Well, we're happy then that Uncle Harm doesn't know how to snore that loud. Do you think you can go back to sleep now?"
"Yes, Auntie Mac. Good night. Love you," he said and already sounded more asleep than awake.
Mac kissed his forehead. "Good night, honey. I love you too," she said and closed her eyes.
Little AJ's even breathing, Harm's quiet snoring and the blowing sound of a wind outside were the last thing she noticed before joining her boys in dreamland.