Harm quietly sat up in bed and blinked a few times. Mac appeared to still be sleeping and he didn't want to wake her. Since Sergei wasn't in his bed anymore, Harm decided he must be having a shower. His mom and Frank usually slept in so they wouldn't be up for a while. He stretched out his hand to grab the alarm clock he had placed on the coffee table the night before to see what time it was.
"It's seven thirty-six and forty-nine seconds," a voice next to him said.
"I thought you were still asleep Mac!"
"Just woke up nine minutes ago," she said turning to face him.
A wave of anger and pain washed over him when he saw her face. The bruises had become more visible than the day before and although her eyes weren't red and puffy from crying anymore, there was something missing in them.
"Earth to Harm!" Mac called, waving her hand in front of his face.
"Huh?" he replied, realizing he was staring at her face. "Sorry, it's just that I'm surprised you're not showered and dressed already and hauling me out of bed!" Harm tried to joke.
"Hey!" she said swatting him in the arm, "It's not my fault you take forever to get ready in the morning!" Right as she ended her stomach started to growl.
"Uh oh! Hungry Marine at nine o'clock! I'm clearing off before things get dangerous!" Harm laughed as he jumped out of "bed".
A minute later Mac heard, "Hey Sleepyhead! Scrambled eggs or omelets?"
She smiled to herself. Typical Harm, she thought. After a quick contemplation she called back, "Scrambled eggs on toast please!" A minute later she added, "Hey Harm, do you have any salsa?"
"Yeah. Why?" was the answer she got.
"For the eggs of course!"
She didn't get an immediate response. Instead Harm walked back out into the living room with two eggs in his hand, nothing but his boxer shorts on and an expression that clearly said "Huh!"
God he's got a good body, she thought, I think this is the only thing that can give his dress whites any competition.
"You still with me Marine?"
"Sorry, what?"
"Don't tell me you are really going to eat salsa on eggs!" At her innocent smile he continued, "You really have weird eating habits Mac." With that he turned and headed back to the kitchen shaking his head. Mac remained sitting on the mattress for a few more seconds before getting up to go get dressed. Just as she was about to open the bathroom door, it opened from the inside and Sergei walked out.
"Good morning Colonel! Did you sleep well?" he asked brightly.
"Yes I did, thank you!" Mac quickly answered. The rest of Harm's family certainly didn't need to know about her waking up in the middle of the night. I'm a Marine after all, she thought, I should be able to handle this just fine!
"Is my brother cooking breakfast?"
"Yep. He's even taking orders!" she replied with a smile.
"Well in that case!" Sergei left Mac and headed towards the kitchen.
A nice hot shower is just what I need! Mac said to herself while rubbing her sore shoulders.
Harm heard someone walk up behind him and assuming it was Mac said, "Geese you were fast Ninja girl!"
Sergei couldn't stop himself from chuckling. His brother looked pretty funny scrambling eggs with nothing more than his boxer shorts on while whistling to himself.
"You do have weird habits in this country!" Sergei stated.
Harm spun around and looked at his brother. He had completely forgotten about the rest of his visitors. "Yeah, well… You know what," he said while giving Sergei the whisk he had been using, "Why don't you finish up here and I'll go put something on before Mom and Frank get up."
Soon everybody was up and at the breakfast table. Mac had managed to effectively apply her makeup so that the bruises were barely visible. During breakfast Trish asked, "Harm, is there a mall or anything around here? I need to get a couple of things."
"Yeah, the nearest one is in about a ten minute drive from here. Are we talking about a normal person's "couple of things" or you version of it?"
"I'm not that bad! I'll only need about an hour."
Frank looked over at his wife disbelievingly and joked, "Triple it and then it's about accurate!"
Harm chuckled. "Okay Mom, I'll take you to the mall and then we'll all go have lunch somewhere."
"You know Harm," Trish started, "Mac and I could go and you men could meet us for lunch."
Mac tensed at the suggestion. She knew the chance of running into Robert there was tiny. It just made her feel a bit uneasy that he only lived aboutfifteen minutes from the mall. She glanced over at Harm. They had always had a way of communicating without words.
"You know what Mom, I think there are a couple of things I need to get myself," Harm quickly answered.
Trish had insisted that she and Frank do the washing up so Harm, Mac and Sergei went to the living room to wait until they finished. Mac sat down next to Harm on the sofa while Sergei went to see if there was anything on TV.
"Thanks Harm." Mac said after a minute.
"No problem at all, Mac."
With that he casually draped his arm around her shoulders and she leaned her head on his shoulder. Sergei found an old comedy to watch and sat down on the other side of the sofa. The small group stayed like that until Frank and Trish finished washing up.