A Snowy Weekend – Part 15

Disclaimer - See part one for all important information

1:17 PM

Mac stood in the kitchen, preparing their lunch and enjoying the enthusiastic sounds which came out of her living room. She wondered what her boys next door were up to, but one thing she knew for sure. There was no way that Harm was working on his files liked he'd planned. She chuckled and shook her head. "Kids. Always trying to come up with something, so they don't have to work on the homework," Mac muttered to herself, continuing to stir up the soup.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Meanwhile in her living room

"Faster, Uncle Harm. You have to be faster," Little AJ yelled behind him and clapped his hands. "He's getting away. Come on, Uncle Harm. You can get him."

Harm just groaned, not believing what he was doing. 'Good thing the Navy doesn't get to see this,' he thought and chuckled. Then he turned his head to look behind him. 'I already can see the headline in the 'Navy Times'. 'US Navy Commander Harmon Rabb Jr. lost a crawling race against the one-year-old Marine shooting-star James Kirk Roberts'. How did I end up like this anyway?' Harm asked himself and suddenly ran into something. "Aarrgh," he yelped in surprise before letting his eyes wander over the object he just crawled into.

"Nice legs," he commented and rubbed his head. Then his eyes continued to wander up. "Very nice." Finally his eyes greeted a stern face and last but not least a pair of beautiful brown eyes. "Very beautiful. Hi," Harm said sheepish.

Mac raised her eyebrow and chuckled. The scene she'd just watched was simply too funny. "Hi. What are you doing here, Harm?"

"A crawling race," Harm answered in full seriousness.

Mac nodded her head. "So I could see. And here I thought you wanted to work on your files."

"Nope. I came up with the conclusion to do no more work this weekend and to only have fun and enjoy the rest of it," Harm replied, still being on all fours. "I will work on them on Monday, and if it can't be done by then I will simply have to come up with an excuse."

"With a very good excuse I would say," Mac concurred and smiled down at him. She really wanted to laugh out loud since he was still on all fours in front of her, but for now she was able to hold it back. Mac just hoped her lower lip wouldn't be too harmed after all the biting on it.

"I'm sure I can come up with something really good," Harm tried to sound secure about his plan and then gave her his best flyboy grin. "I'm a lawyer after all."

"Yeah, you are and I'm sure you can come up with something good. At least as long as you don't start with 'I'm sorry, General, but there was this crawling race I had to attend against this one-year-old Marine shooting-star called James Kirk Roberts'. I think that wouldn't work very well," Mac told him and when she saw his surprised look and then the blush on his face, she couldn't hold back anymore and started to laugh.

"Uh oh, I said that out loud, didn't I?"

"Yup, you sure did. Come on. Give me your hand, Harm. I'm starting to get a complex and weird thoughts about seeing you on all fours in front of me," she said with a smirk and held out her hand for him to take. "Where's your rival anyway?" Mac wanted to know and looked around the room.

"He's behind the couch, Auntie Mac," Little AJ quietly announced from the background and pointed to the couch.

Mac and Harm slowly moved forward so that they were able to look behind the furniture, seeing the exhausted Jimmy on the floor, sucking on his thumb.

"Oh man. Great," Harm moaned. "I could have won the race, Mac. That's all your fault, Marine," he said and tried to sound frustrated.

"How many times did he outpace you anyway?"

Harm pulled his hand to his mouth, making a gesture as if he was thinking about his answer. "Mmmphhh timmmphhh," he quietly answered so that she couldn't really hear him.

"What?"

"He said four times, Auntie Mac," Little AJ was once more throwing in an answer from the background.

"Why, thank you, AJ. And here I thought you were my friend," Harm told him, this time trying to sound offended. However, he wasn't able to fool neither his oldest godson nor his best friend.

Mac laughed and shook her head. "Four times? Wow, Harm. That was quite a race. Maybe you were a bit slow though. But I'm sure with some training you'll get much better in the future."

"Put your money where your mouth is, Marine. Next time you have a crawling race against him, let's see who the slow one is," Harm told her and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Agreed," she immediately responded and then smirked. "Mr. Slowpoke." Then she laughed and made her way to the kitchen. "Okay, boys, lunch is ready to be served. Get your hands washed and find your place at the dinning room table."

"Aye, aye, Ma'am," Little AJ and Harm saluted at the same time. Harm took the tired looking Jimmy into his arms before the three made their way to Mac's bathroom.

As soon as they'd washed their hands, Harm, AJ and Jimmy joined Mac at the dinning room table, enjoying the chicken soup. Jimmy was barely awake and Harm had a hard time feeding him. "Guess the race wore him out," Harm softly said and kissed his younger godson's head. "Seems to be a nice trick if your kid doesn't want to go to sleep," he concluded with a smirk. "Just get him into a crawling race."

"Yeah, and his brother apparently could use a nap as well," Mac added and pointed at AJ, who was yawning more often than eating his soup.

"I'm not tired," Little AJ protested but betrayed himself with yet another yawn. "Not really."

Mac and Harm could only shake their heads and chuckled. "I think you should try it and if you can't fall asleep, you can get up again. Deal?" Harm submitted and then thought about his trump card. "But keep in mind, that I really need you wide awake this afternoon."

"Why? For what?" Little AJ curiously wanted to know and took another spoon of soup.

"Well, I thought we should try to dig out my car this afternoon. And maybe we can even find some time to build a snowman. What do you think, buddy? Sound like a good idea for this afternoon?"

Little AJ enthusiastically nodded his head. "We really can go out and play in the snow?"

"Yeah, I think as long as we stay on the parking lot it shouldn't be a problem."

"Cool!" AJ responded while a wide grin took place on his face.

Harm smiled and nodded his head. "Good. Then that's the plan for this afternoon. But like I said, I need all your energy for this project, so you better try to get some shuteye, okay?"

"Okay, Uncle Harm. I'll try," Little AJ promised and immediately got up from his chair to get ready for the nap.

Mac and Harm's eyes followed him until he disappeared behind the guestroom's door. "While we're talking about digging out your car," Mac threw in and looked at Harm. "Have you thought about how we should handle this tomorrow morning? After all, the mini-van is standing in front of your apartment and the chances for it being snowed-in like your car are very high."

Harm nodded his head. "Yeah, I think we can assume that the mini-van is just as snowed-in as the SUV. What was your actual plan for tomorrow?"

"Just getting the kids to daycare and pre-school before I go to work. Around six o'clock I would pick them up again and bring them straight home."

"And when is Harriet and Bud's plane scheduled?"

"The late afternoon. They're going to take a cab back home," Mac explained. "Do you want anymore soup?"

Harm shook his head. "No, thanks."

Mac got up and brought the dishes into the kitchen. "So you just have to pick up the kids and bring them home?" Harm called behind her, already concocting a plan. He got up from his chair carefully, holding a dozing Jimmy carefully in his arms.

"Yes, they insisted on taking a cab," Mac answered as she came back to the living room. "They didn't want me to do all the extra driving after work. You know them and how they can get."

Harm chuckled and made his way to Mac's guestroom to get Jimmy's bag. "Sure do. But I think that gives us the solution for our little car problem."

"Which is?" Mac wanted to know and then slowly followed Harm into her bedroom. She sat down on the bed right next to where Harm had laid down Jimmy so he could change him.

"We're taking the SUV tomorrow morning and go with your plan. After work we can pick up the kids before driving to my apartment to dig out the mini-van," Harm explained his solution while changing the now asleep Jimmy. "As soon as we're done we can bring the kids and the car back home. Have you set up a time with Harriet for getting the kids home?"

Mac shook her head, softly touching Jimmy's cheek with her fingertips. "No, but I told her that I would get the kids around six o'clock."

"Then we just have to let them know that we'll bring them home a bit later than planned. That shouldn't be a problem," Harm concluded and started to button up Jimmy's rompers. When he was done, he kissed Jimmy's forehead before picking him up again, cradling him in his arms.

"I could tell Harriet about our plan when Little AJ is calling her. He wanted to try this afternoon, just to make sure that they would come home in this weather."

"Do you think it is possible?" Harm asked as they walked through the living room to get Jimmy down for his nap.

"I'm not quite sure yet but I hope that Harriet and Bud know more when AJ is talking with them."

"Look who's already asleep," Harm whispered after he'd opened the door to the guestroom, seeing that Little AJ was already fast asleep in his bed. Then he laid Jimmy down into his crib and covered him with his blanket.

"Looks like he was more tired than he thought," Mac quietly said and walked over to Little AJ. She kissed his forehead before adjusting his blanket. "He for sure had a rough night and I guess all the excitement was a bit too much for him," she whispered and then left the room together with Harm. "Either that or mentioning your plan for this afternoon did the trick. Would you like some coffee, Harm?"

Mac stopped dead in her tracks and turned around when Harm didn't answer her, seeing that he hadn't followed her and still stood in the doorway of her guestroom. "Harm?" Mac once more tried to get his attention, but again he didn't answer her, nor did it look like he was hearing her.

Mac slowly made her way back to him, trying to read his body language. He seemed to be tensed and obviously deep in thought. The moment she stood right behind him Mac got on tiptoes, looked over his shoulder and followed his gaze, which was glued to where Jimmy was sleeping.

She tenderly placed her hand on Harm's back, surprised that he didn't flinched or jerked away. He apparently wasn't taken aback by her standing so close to him. "Harm?" Mac whispered right next to his ear. "Are you okay?"

Harm turned his head a little so that he was able to look at her. "Huh?"

"I wanted to know if you're okay. You seemed so far away."

Harm gave her a little smile and took her left hand into his to squeeze it. "Don't worry, Mac. I'm fine."

"Why don't we make us some coffee and then we could sit down and talk some or maybe watch a movie. If you'd like," Mac suggested and took one step backwards so that Harm could close the door.

"Coffee and talking sound like a good idea," Harm replied with a smile.

She returned his smile with one of her own. "Good. Just give me a few minutes and I'll be back with the coffee."

Mac started to go into the kitchen, only to be held back by Harm's gentle grip on her arm. "Mac?"

Mac turned around and looked into Harm's eyes. "Yeah?"

"If I would ask you to tell me the story about the crib Jimmy's sleeping in, would you tell it to me?" Harm softly asked, finally letting go of his fear to confront her about it. 'God, I hope I didn't do something wrong now,' he thought but the look he read in Mac's eyes showed no discomfort or uneasiness.

Mac took a deep breath and nodded. "I promise. Let me make us some coffee and then we can talk about it, okay?"

Harm gave her his flyboy grin and nodded his head. "I would like that," he said and softly kissed her forehead. "I would like that very much."

TBC…