They
didn't stay like that for long. After a few minutes, Mac pulled away
and made her way over to the phone.
"I umm need to call the
police." She said quietly.
"I can do that for you."
Harm quickly offered, but she shook her head. She picked up the phone
and let out a breath before she entered the number. Harm could almost
see the walls she was building up around herself while she waited for
somebody to answer.
"Yes this is Sarah Mackenzie. I would
like to report a break in."
She continued to give them her
address, telephone number and Harm's address. They said they would be
around in about half an hour. While she was making the call Harm
walked around her apartment once more. He still couldn't believe
that anybody could ever hurt Mac in any way. He went back out to find
Mac sitting on one of the kitchen chairs.
"You know Mac, we are
going to have to call the Admiral and let him know what's going
on."
"Yeah, I know." She said rather emotionlessly.
Harm
looked at her carefully. "Do you want me to?" He asked
carefully.
She looked up at him quickly with a hard look in her
eyes. "No, I'll do it." She stated quickly. With that she
picked up the telephone and quickly punched in the number, as if she
were afraid if she didn't do it immediately she would back
down.
"Admiral Chegwidden" She heard a gruff voice at the end
of the other line answer.
"Hello Admiral. Sorry to bother you."
She quickly answered, trying to sound like there was nothing
wrong.
The Admiral immediately recognized her voice and lessened
the hardness in his own. "Good evening Colonel! What can I do for
you?"
"I was just calling to let you know that my apartment
was broken into and so I'll be staying at the Commander's for the
moment."
"Are you alright, Colonel?" He carefully asked.
"Of
course! I'm fine!" Mac answered a bit too quickly.
There was
something in her voice that bothered him but he decided not to push
the matter any further. He doubted she'd tell him anything
anyway.
"Is Commander Rabb with you now?" He asked
instead.
"Yes sir, he is."
"I'd like to speak with him
quickly."
Mac hesitated slightly before handing Harm the phone.
Chegwidden didn't wait for him to say anything before he started
talking.
"Good evening Commander! Now I know you can't say
anything because the Colonel is standing right behind you so I'll
do all the talking."
"Yes sir"
"I got the feeling that
the Colonel isn't telling me something. I don't know what it is
but I want you to make sure she's okay and if she's not you are
going to stay with her until she is. Both of you have plenty of
personal days left so if you don't show up tomorrow or any other
day for that matter I'll put you on leave. Do I make myself
clear?"
"Yes sir!"
"Good. Now there is one more thing.
Am I right in my assumption?"
Harm paused quickly before
answering. He wanted to respect Mac's wishes but he also wanted to
do what was best for her.
"Yes sir." Harm answered quietly.
There was a silence over the phone before the Admiral
continued.
"Well thank you for the call. And Harm, take care of
her."
"I will sir. Good night."
"Well?" Mac asked
impatiently. She had noticed how little Harm had said and was worried
what the Admiral had found out.
"He told me that we have plenty
of personal days left if we need them and he told me to look out for
you."
Mac looked at him questioningly and then said quietly "You
know I don't need any looking out for Harm."
Harm smiled at
her. That was a typical Mac answer. "I'm fully aware of that,
Marine. But I'm afraid you'll just have to put up with it Marine
because there's no way you can prevent me from doing it."
Mac
smiled back at him. Harm would always be Harm.
They
waited in complete silence until the police arrived. Even though she
was hiding her emotions very well, Harm knew how close she was to
losing it at the moment and as much as he wanted to do nothing more
than to out his arms around her and comfort her, he was afraid she
would push him away.
There was a knock on the door and Mac jumped.
Harm got up to answer the door. After about an hour and fifteen
minutes, they were done and left saying they would contact Mac in a
few days.
"What do you say to going back?" Harm asked
gently.
"Sounds great to me. Just let me get some clothes. I
might as well grab what I'll need for Monday, considering I'll
probably still be staying with you." She said and then quickly
added "Only if that's okay with you of course."
"You
know you're welcome to stay as long as you want to, Mac." Harm
answered.
Mac
walked over to her bedroom and Harm followed her. It didn't look
quite as bad as the living room, but it surely hadn't been spared.
Some of her clothes had been taken out of the closet and were torn.
There was still one of her uniforms hanging in the back of the
closet. Mac grabbed it along with some other clothes and necessities
and then proceeded to the bathroom to get some shampoo and makeup.
Harm waited patiently by the bedroom door, not wanting her to feel
pressured to hurry up. After ten minutes she returned with a bag and
announced she had everything.
"Come on, Marine. We can clean
this up some other time."
She didn't respond, just lead the
way to the door and exited.
They
didn't say much during the ride home. Mac just stared out the window,
lost in her own thoughts. Harm parked the car in front of his flat
and they got out. After they had gone inside, Harm found a note on
the fridge saying that the rest had gone out to see a movie and that
they wouldn't be back for a while. Mac came up behind him and read
the note. I think I'm going to go lay down for a moment since Trish
and Frank aren't here." Mac announced.
Harm just smiled at
her and she headed off to the bedroom.
