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The Perfect Fit – Part 3
Disclaimer – See part one for all important information
Harm stared at his godson taken aback and then at the adults sitting at the table. "What?" He asked astonished as Bud sat down at the table, giving Harriet a quizzical look.
AJ quickly stood up from the table and walked in front of Harm and Mac. He took one of Mac's hands and then one of Harm's before making them hold hands. "Does it fit, Auntie Sarah?" AJ curiously asked, looking up at his godmother with a hopeful look on his face.
Mac took a breath, knowing exactly where he wanted to go with this. "AJ, honey."
"Does it fit? Does Uncle Harm's hand fit in yours?" AJ asked again.
Mac slowly let go of Harm's hand and knelt down to be eye level to AJ. "It's not that easy, AJ."
"Uncle Harm doesn't fit. It looked like he fit." AJ sadly looked into Mac's eyes and she could see that tears were forming in his eyes.
One single teardrop ran down his cheek and Mac softly started to wipe it off with her thumb. "It does, honey," Mac lovingly told him while the adults around them wondered about their conversation, not being able to follow it.
"But you don't feel it here?" AJ pointed to Mac's heart.
Mac closed her eyes for a second. She couldn't lie to her godson, but she couldn't tell him the truth either. The truth was that she didn't only feel it in her heart. She felt it all over her body. That slight touch, even though it was forced, surged through her body from her fingertips to her toes and especially in her heart. She opened her eyes to look into the innocent blue eyes of AJ and softly gave him her answer. "I do."
"Then why aren't you and Uncle Harm married?" AJ asked in wonder and frowned.
"Remember I told you that he had to feel it too?" Mac reminded AJ while a voice in her head told her to remember that she and AJ were not alone.
AJ slowly raised his head and looked at Harm. "Uncle Harm, why don't you love Auntie Sarah?"
Harriet's jaw dropped as soon as the words had left AJ's mouth. Sturgis choked on his soda while Bobbie covered her mouth. Bud could only stare at his son, wondering what AJ had gotten himself into this time. And the only thing Mac could do was close her eyes for a short moment, knowing that this just got way out of control.
Harm looked at his godson, suddenly knowing how a deer felt realizing it was going to be hit by a car. He took a ragged breath and slowly knelt down to look at his godson. "Why do you think I don't love your Auntie Sarah?"
"Because you don't feel it here," AJ explained to his uncle and pointed to Harm's heart.
Harm glanced at his friends, which were still sitting at the table, silently asking for help but getting none. They all looked at him and eagerly awaited his response. Harm slowly turned his gaze to Mac and noticed her composed expression. He carefully searched her eyes and saw the pain and at the same time the hope that stood there while waiting for his response. He slowly took her hand into his again and gently squeezed it. "I do feel it," he quietly gave his godson the answer but remained locked in Mac's eyes. "I feel it all the time."
"Then why aren't you married?" AJ asked.
Mac tore her gaze from Harm and looked at AJ. "It's not that easy, AJ."
AJ placed his hand on Harm and Mac's joined ones. "But it fits and you feel it."
"It's hard to explain, AJ," was all Harm could say, not being able to explain his godson the situation any better.
AJ turned around and looked at his mother. "Mommy said if you love someone, things are easy. Right, Mommy?"
"Right, AJ. But sometimes grown ups have trouble telling each other things," Harriet told him, hoping her son would understand the complex idea.
"But you and Daddy tell each other things." AJ moved closer to the table.
Harriet looked at Bud. "AJ, things aren't always that simple."
"Why?" AJ asked, still not understanding what the problem was. It had sounded so easy when his aunt had told him about the perfect fit.
"Sometimes, what adults say gets lost in the words," Bobbie tried to explain while she focused on the little boy in front of her.
"Huh?" AJ asked with a confused look, understanding less and less what the grown ups around him said.
Sturgis decided to take a stab at it. "Grown ups have a lot of things to think about and sometimes they are scared of what the other might say back to them."
"So Uncle Harm is scared of Auntie Sarah?" AJ asked, not believing that it was possible to be scared of his aunt.
The four adults at the table glanced defeated at each other and then slowly focused on Harm and Mac. Their expressions changed from confusion to pure delight when they watched their two friends slowly kiss each other, obviously forgetting where they were and that they had an audience. Their hands still joined while their free ones held on to the back of each other's necks.
"I don't think Harm is scared of Mac," Bobbie softly said to the group and smirked.
AJ looked at his godparents and laughed. His melodic sound caused them to break their kiss and to look at the table. They both blushed and softly chuckled in embarrassment. "Does this mean you're getting married?" AJ asked in hope.
Mac looked expectedly at Harm, who quickly gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "It means that we are going to talk."
"You're not scared to talk?" AJ wanted to know as he thought about what the adults had just told him.
"Not anymore," Mac gently answered and smiled at the little boy.
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Friday
October 24, 2003
Admiral Chegwidden's Residence
8:56 PM
The engagement party was in full progress. Bud and Harriet stood at the side of the make shift dance floor while several of their friends were dancing. However, the couple wasn't focused on the dancers because they were watching another couple standing off to side, whispering to each other.
"Hard to believe our son did that," Harriet said to Bud.
Bud smiled when he saw Harm kissing Mac on the cheek before taking her hand to pull her onto the dance floor and into his arms. "I know. It's pretty great, isn't it?"
"It is," Harriet commented as a four-year-old bundle of energy bumped into her legs, "AJ Roberts."
"Sorry, Mommy," AJ apologized when he looked up to his mother. "Where are Auntie Sarah and Uncle Harm?"
"Over there." Bud pointed to the couple on the dance floor who looked like they were in their own world, lost in each other's arms and eyes.
"Okay," AJ only said and walked onto the dance floor, tapping Harm's leg as soon as he stood right next to his godparents. "Uncle Harm?"
Harm looked down and saw AJ. He glanced at Mac and smiled before picking his godson up and into his arms. "Yes, AJ?"
"Are you happy about Sunday?" Little AJ wanted to know as he settled into his uncle's side.
"I'm very happy about Sunday. Why? Aren't you?"
AJ beamed a smile. "I've been practicing, so I'll be perfect. I don't want Auntie Meredith and Uncle AJ to be mad at me if I drop their rings."
"I'm sure you'll do fine." Mac placed a hand on the boy's back and kissed his cheek.
AJ turned his attention to Mac. "When are you and Uncle Harm going to get married? I want to be your ring bearer too."
Mac chuckled slightly. "Uncle Harm has to ask first."
"Ask, Uncle Harm! Ask!" AJ called loudly causing several people in the room to chuckle at his antics.
Harm laughed, "I will, just not right now."
Mac raised an eyebrow at Harm's admission. "Really?"
Harm got serious, knowing he and Mac hadn't really talked about getting married yet. "Yeah, it's okay with you, right?"
"Very okay," Mac softly replied as her heart raced in her chest.
"Can I tell Mommy?"
"No!" Harm and Mac responded at the same time, causing AJ to laugh before he wiggled out of Harm's arms and quickly ran away.
Harm and Mac's eyes followed him while AJ ran into the kitchen. Harm placed his arms around Mac and chuckled in her ear before he softly kissed it. "You do know that he is going to tell."
"I know. He has us wrapped around his little finger."
"Just wait 'till we have kids."
Mac looked into his eyes and smiled. "I can't wait."
"Me neither."
They danced for a few more minutes, both lost in their own thoughts about what just happened. Harm finally broke the silence between them. "You don't mind?"
"Mind what?"
"Me asking so soon," Harm quietly explained.
"Should I?"
"No."
Mac smiled at him and squeezed his hand. "Harm, I don't mind at all."
"How do you feel about it?"
Mac glanced around them and saw how their friends were laughing and talking around them. "You want to talk about this now?"
"There's no time like the present."
Mac sighed before making a suggestion. "Can we talk about it someplace more private?"
Harm grinned sheepishly. "Sure, and I know the perfect place." He took her hand and led her out onto the front porch.
As they stepped onto the porch Harm took off his jacket and placed it on Mac's bare shoulders. "You know me too well," Mac gently said and drew her arms through the sleeves.
"I figured it might take a while for us to talk."
Mac gave him a look of agreement. "How long have you been thinking about asking?"
"It's been a running thought for the last few years. But in the last few months it's been pretty constant."
"How constant?"
Harm grinned with slight embarrassment. "You remember last month when we had dinner at Yamato and ran into Stan Miller?" Mac nodded her head in response, remembering the time she'd met Harm's friend from high school. "I came very close to introducing you as my wife."
"I've almost introduced you as my husband quite a few times too," Mac softly admitted.
Harm leaned against a post on the porch, took her hands into his and brought her a little closer to him. "I love you so much and I want this to work."
"I know and I want this to work too. But there is still a lot to sort out."
"Not as much as you think," Harm told her as he received a questioning look. "We both know the admiral is greasing the wheels for us."
"I know."
Harm moved his hands to rest on her waist as her hands fell to the tops of his arms. "You're the woman I am going to marry."
Mac looked pleadingly into his eyes. "Then ask."
"I will, just not yet."
Mac playfully grumbled. "I hate the word 'yet'."
Harm laughed and pulled her flush against him. His hands resting on the small of her back while her hands worked their way to the back of his neck. "When I ask, I want it to be special."
"I've got you. I don't need a fancy proposal."
"But I do," Harm said before softly kissing her ear.
Mac slightly pulled away from him but looked merrily into his eyes. "I don't have a choice, do I?"
"No, Ma'am." Harm grinned before he claimed her lips in a kiss intended to show her how he felt.
The kiss took on a life of its own like many of their kisses before did. Harm pulled her closer, if it was even possible, and Mac fell into him, letting him take her into a world of wonder and bliss. Neither of them noticed when the door opened and a blushing Tiner walked onto the porch. "Ma'am, Sir."
Harm and Mac's lips broke apart from each other and they quietly groaned. Harm kept Mac pressed against him while he looked over her shoulder. "Yes, Tiner?"
Mac rested her head on Harm's chest while Tiner answered him. "They're getting ready for the cake, Sir."
"Thank you, Tiner," Harm said before the petty officer walked back into the house, closing the door quietly behind him. Harm looked down at Mac, who held onto him. "He's got the worst timing."
Mac lifted her gaze to meet his. "I say we return the vase we got Meredith and AJ and buy a bell that rings every time someone opens the door."
Harm chuckled while Mac started to take off his coat. "Or we could stop making out on the front porch."
Mac looked at him, watching him while he pulled on the coat. "I like the bell idea better."
Harm grinned wickedly as they walked back into the house. "Me too," he gently agreed and took her hand into his.
TBC