OOOO
Part Eleven
Eventually, everything was ready and set out on the dinner table and Harriet was about to call everyone around to eat. However, she noted that there was still one person missing. As if in answer to her thought, the doorbell rang again, signalling the arrival of the last guest. Bud made his way slowly up the stairs to answer it. As he pulled open the door, he was greeted by the sight of a pair of brown envelopes, which Clayton Webb was holding out in front of him.
"Merry Christmas, Bud," Webb bid him, offering the envelopes to Bud.
Bud just looked at him for a second.
"What…you mean…this is…?"
"Webb?" Harriet spoke up from the entrance to the kitchen, "Is that you? Come and get Christmas lunch, everyone hasn't started eating yet, we were waiting for you…."
"Harriet, Harm, Mac," Webb replied, "Could I see you guys up here for just a minute? I've brought some presents for you."
"Huh?" Harriet asked, as she, Mac and Harm made their way up the stairs, "Presents for the children?"
"No, honey," Bud told her, beaming, "Presents for us. For us and for Harm and Mac…."
The three of them just stared at him, then looked from Bud to Webb and back again.
"The adoption application?" Harm spoke up first, "It went through…?"
"Yes it did," Webb pronounced, with a smile, "Merry Christmas, Mommy and Daddy! You lot are the proud new parents of a little girl each."
Harriet and Mac let out an excited scream and hugged, then went to Webb and pulled him into a hug.
"Oh, thank you Clay!" Mac thanked him, still in shock, "Thank you so much…We can go home, now? We can take the girls back to DC?"
Webb nodded and watched as they all opened up their envelopes. Inside were all of the legal documents, which Webb talked them through.
"Okay, these are the official certificates of adoption. One for 'Sashenka Marrietta Roberts.' And one for 'Ekaterina MacKenzie-Rabb.'
He also reached into his jacket and fished out a couple of passports for Mac and Harriet, this time legal ones on which Katya and Sasha could travel.
After this they went to tell the rest of the family, seated around the dinner table, after which they all tucked into their Christmas lunch with enthusiasm. Mac was content to pick at her meal in bits and pieces as she focussed on getting Katya to eat. The little girl had never had a meal quite like this and she picked up each small piece of food with her fork and tasted it carefully, before chewing it contentedly.
"Is that nice, darling?" Mac asked her as the little girl tucked happily into her turkey.
"Have we got another meat-eater on our hands?" Harm joked from his place next to Mac.
"She knows a good thing, obviously," Mac countered back, jokingly.
Harm turned his attention back to Mac, "Do you want me to keep an eye on her eating while you finish some of your own meal?"
Mac nodded, touched by his thoughtfulness and Harm moved to lean over the back of Katya's chair, encouraging her as she continued with her meal. On the other side of the table, Bud was feeding little Jimmy while keeping an eye on Sasha and little AJ eating their meals. Harriet happily chatted to Mikey as she finished her meal, then swapped over with Bud, so that he could get something more to eat. After Mikey was done, he took all of the children over to the carpet in front of the TV, where he kept an eye on them while their parents had some time to themselves.
"So, when do you guys think you'll be travelling back to DC?" Webb asked his friends, back at the dinner table.
"As soon as everything is wrapped up here, I guess," Harm supposed, "We're going to have to get a lot of this stuff shipped back to DC, but as soon as we can get flights, I guess we'll take the girls home to DC."
Harriet and Bud nodded in agreement.
"I hope we can expect lots of visits, Sergei?" Mac spoke up, to her future brother-in-law, "Have you got any plans over New Year?"
"I'd love to come out and spend some time with you," Sergei confirmed, "I've got some time off due, I'm sure I can manage a few days, at least."
"Good," Harm approved, "Mac and I would love for you to play an important part in Katya's life. It's important to us that Katya is brought up knowing and being proud of her roots."
Harriet and Bud nodded in agreement.
"Harm and I can only tell them so much," Mac explained to Sergei, "I don't know that much about Russian culture and tradition, even though I speak the language."
Sergei nodded in understanding then asked, "So you want both of the girls to grow up speaking English and Russian, too?"
"Absolutely," Bud confirmed, "It's an important part of who they are. Harriet and I will always answer any questions Sasha has, no matter how difficult they are. It's important that the girls understand where they come from and have a sense of pride about their heritage."
"Yes," Sergei agreed, "That is important. It makes me very happy to hear that. A lot of Russia's orphans are not as fortunate as Sasha and Katya. To get wonderful parents like the four of you, who also accept and allow them to be what they really are and where they have come from, that is such a good thing."
"Sergei," Mac approached, "Harm and I have been discussing the idea and agree unanimously. Do you think that you'd like to become Katya's Godfather? We can't think of a better person to guide Katya as she grows up. You can teach her a lot about her heritage and also the world that she's going to be coming into, once we get back to the States."
Sergei just stared for a minute, then smiled, truly touched by the fact that Harm and Mac wanted him to guide the future of their first child.
"I…I would love to…I just can't believe that you want to entrust something so precious to me…" he stuttered.
"And we can't think of anyone better for the job," Harm insisted, "So that's a 'yes'?"
"That's a 'yes' my brother," Sergei confirmed, smiling, "That's definitely a 'yes.' I promise, I won't let either you or Katya down. That is a promise."
They all continued to talk to each other, until Katya made her way back to the group, circling around the table and going to Mac.
"Mamma…" she told Mac tiredly, lifting her arms to be picked up.
Mac lifted her up onto her knee, where Katya cuddled in and tucked her face away against Mac's chest.
"What's the matter, baby?" Mac asked her, "Are you tired?"
The little girl nodded against Mac's chest, snuggling in further, where she promptly fell asleep. Harm leaned over from where he was sitting next to Mac and they both watched their daughter sleeping, contentedly.
"I know that she's probably going to have trouble sleeping tonight if she sleeps now, but I can't help but just sit and watch her," Mac told Harm, quietly, while the others carried on chatting in the background.
"She's just amazing, isn't she?" Harm agreed, "I can't ever think of being without her."
"But, we never will have to," he continued, "Now she's 100 ours and we can take her home, to begin her new life."
Both sat in silence that night, contemplating this amazing news.
OOOO
Later on, Bud and Harriet left the table, to check on how little AJ, Sasha and Baby James were doing, seated in front of the television with Mikey. Mikey was the only one of them watching the TV, as the others were fast asleep on Mikey's lap, even baby James in his carrier, beside Mikey.
"Guess they zonked out," Mikey told Bud and Harriet, laughing, "I always thought that the Russian cartoons were great, but I guess they didn't agree."
"It's been a long day for all of them," Harriet reasoned, "Perhaps we should just get them to bed. Maybe they'll sleep right through."
When all of the children had been put to bed, the adults brought the discussion through to the living room. They passed away the hours chatting comfortably, enjoying the quiet evening to themselves.
OOOO
At 0600 the next morning, Harm was awakened by the sound of musical laughter. The next minute, he felt movement beside him, but kept his eyes shut, thinking that it was probably just Mac turning over. He felt a pudgy hand touch his face softly then heard Katya speak, right next to his face.
"Daddy?" she asked him, inquisitively.
"Hmm," Harm replied, still not wanting to wake up yet.
"Daddy," Katya persisted more emphatically, not giving up.
"What is it, princess?" Harm asked, sleepily.
"Playtime," the little girl told him, authoritatively, in Russian.
When her Daddy didn't make any move to start playing, she lifted her dolly, repeating again, "Playtime, Daddy."
The dolls hair tickled Harm's nose and he pulled back then gave in, sitting up with a groan.
When he did, he caught sight of Mac standing by the door to the bedroom, watching on with laughing eyes, but managing to keep her face straight.
"I see you've been encouraging our daughter to wake her Daddy up," Harm noted, amused, "I suppose she wants me to see her toys?"
"She wants her Daddy to play with her with the toys," Mac corrected him.
"Oh good," Harm commented, "No way to start your day quite like watching a Naval Commander playing with dollies and a toy horse!"
Mac giggled and Katya noticed her Mommy and let out a squeal of delight, exclaiming again, "Playtime, Daddy!"
"Tell Daddy in English," Mac instructed her, "Then Daddy will understand. Just like Mommy told you…"
"Daddy," Katya requested in English, thinking carefully about what Mac had told her, "Come play…"
Harm smiled and clapped his hands.
"Very good, princess! That was perfect," he encouraged.
Katya beamed from ear to ear and passed him her pony, to play with.
Mac joined them on the bed, and she and Harm tried their best to entertain Katya quietly, just in case nobody else in the house was up yet. This proved to be hard, because Katya had a wild, infectious giggle that sent her Mommy and Daddy into stitches of laughter of their own, which only served to excite Katya all the more.
They didn't need to worry about everyone else in the house, though, as little AJ and Sasha had already made their way down to their parents, their Uncle Mikey and Uncle Sergei, who were all sleeping in the living room. Their Grandparents and their Uncle AJ and Aunt Meredith had all been wakened upon hearing the children in the hallway and AJ had made his way out of bed and out to them, to make sure that they got down the stairs, safely.
"AJ," he instructed the little boy, "Make sure that you hold on tight to the banister and keep hold of Sasha's hand. Be careful, take the stairs slow."
"Okay, Uncle AJ," the little boy replied, doing exactly as his namesake had told him.
When AJ went to return to bed, he came upon Harriet's parents making their way into the children's room, so as to check on baby James.
OOOO
There was a knock on Harm and Mac's bedroom door, as Katya let out another uncontrolled squeal.
"Come on in!" Harm told the person on the other side of the door.
When Trish popped her head around the door, Mac apologised, "Sorry Trish…"
Frank leaned around behind her and grinned at the sight of the antics that his Grand daughter was getting up to.
"Sorry, Frank," Mac continued to apologise, "It's just impossible to keep this little bundle of energy quiet!" She leaned in to tickle Katya and made her squeal and giggle even more.
"It's okay, we've been awake for a while," Frank told them, "Trish and I wanted to see what our angel was getting up to."
"We've been having fun," Harm told them, asking Katya, "Haven't we princess?"
The little girl just sat and watched him silently, so he made a big play out of prowling across towards her, before pouncing on her, grabbing her up and turning her upside-down.
Katya let out a piercing half squeal, half giggle that bounced off the walls, making Mac, Trish and Frank put their hands over their ears and making Harm wince.
"Well," Mac concluded, "If everyone wasn't woken up before, they will be now!"
OOOO
They chose the first Sunday of February to fly home to DC.
Before they had left, Harm and Mac had gone out into Moscow and chosen a diamond solitaire ring to make their engagement official.
Everyone else had arrived home before them, Harriet, Bud and the children getting into DC just the night before. Their CO AJ Chegwidden was at the airport early that morning to give them a lift home.
"We really appreciate this, AJ," Harm thanked him, knowing how tired the man had to be, when they had called him out so early in the morning on a Sunday.
AJ just told them, "It's no problem at all. Meredith and I had a wonderful Christmas, this year and the least I could do was to give you a ride home."
Once they arrived home, AJ helped them in with their suitcases then bid them farewell. Mac and Katya passed out on the bed while Harm manoeuvred the suitcases in. After that, he joined the two most important women in his life, on top of the bedspread, falling asleep without another thought.
OOOO
When Harm woke up, some time later, he chuckled softly as he noticed that they were all still wearing their coats and shoes. He quickly divested himself, then Mac and Katya of these items, careful not to wake the sleeping woman and child. After that, he went into the kitchen and started to prepare them all a bit of late breakfast. He set the coffee maker before making his way back into the bedroom, where he stood in front of the bed, watching the woman he loved and his child sleep. They were so peaceful and Harm knew that he'd seldom ever see another sight quite as beautiful as this one. Mac and Katya had both moved in their sleep since Harm had left them. Mac was now lying on her front, with an arm securely around her child. Her beautiful face was turned towards Katya, as if she were breathing in the scent of the little girl's hair on the pillow next to her. Her eyelashes gave a slight flutter and Harm knew she'd probably wake some time soon. Katya was stretched out along the length of the bed, her covers now down around hips. Her arms were stretched out above her head and her deep, contented inhalations made Harm's heart positively melt. Harm knew that she could probably unconsciously sense that her Mommy was nearby. Harm had read somewhere that during the first few days of life, a baby first comes to recognise its Mother primarily by her scent. He knew that Katya had probably not come to recognise any smell during her babyhood, apart from the smell of her biological mother's drugs, but he really felt that Katya was now bonding with he and Mac as a baby would do during her first few months of life. Whenever Katya was asleep in Mac's arms, the little girl would nuzzle up to her Mother's breasts for comfort, although Mac had never filled that sort of primary need, not in terms of breast-feeding, anyway.
Harm was stirred out of his musings as Mac awoke.
"Oh, good, flyboy, you're up," she grinned up at him sleepily, as she breathed in the scent of the coffee brewing in the kitchen, "I feel just like having a nice, strong coffee. See that you don't make it too weak, now!"
Harm just grinned back at her as he went to dutifully go and get her a mug of coffee.
OOOO