"Hey Mac, up for lunch?" Peach stuck her head in Mac's office door.
"Would love to, unfortunately I have court against Sturgis in a few minutes. What's up?" Mac slapped her pen down on her desk.
"It is most unfortunately, the birthday of our benevolent Secretary of State. Nate of course is dreading the whole event being as it just reminds him that he's that much closer to turning forty. So, because he would never actually celebrate his own birthday or expect any of us to. I've taken it upon myself to throw him a party, at the condo on Friday." Peach was smiling form ear to ear.
"Why do I hear the most enormous surprise/catch lurking in the background?" Mac as well was smiling by this point.
"It's a costume party." Peach was on the edge of squealing.
"Did you have Lieutenant Sims help you plan this?" Mac asked with an amused expression. Peach nodded enthusiastically. "What time on Friday?"
"Around seven, be sure you give Harm the word would you. I don't have time to run over to the Pentagon today." Peach started heading back toward the door.
"What are you up to today that has you so busy?" Mac asked as she grabbed her briefcase and got up from behind her desk.
"I'm not working at the State Department any more so I need to find some way to fill my days that has some meaning. Nate suggested I find a cause; find something that I was passionate about. I told him that I could run his '04 Presidential campaign. He reminded me that he wasn't going to run in '04. So, I signed up to volunteer for the Susan G. Komen foundation and the USO." Peach and Mac walked toward the elevator.
"The USO? The Ross family must be having a real effect on your inclinations toward the military." Mac's voice carried with it a certain lilt.
"I've always been favourable toward the military. My dad was a Marine you know." Peach stated proudly.
"Really?" Mac was shocked; Peach didn't strike her as the stereotypical Marine Corps brat.
"He was a Master Sergeant; he died in Vietnam in 1972 only a few days after my second birthday. He had been in country for most of my life; I think I only have one real memory of him." The door to the elevator closed around Peach and Mac.
"He wasn't a sniper like Nate was he?" Mac asked, sensing something slightly telling about the whole thing.
"Recon, he was killed during the ARVN Eastertide Offensive that came after our incursions into Laos." The elevator slowly went downward toward the courtrooms.
"You know, every time I learn a little bit more about you, I get to thinking that my first impression of you was wrong." Mac commented.
"Really? What was your first impression of me?" Peach asked, her curiosity peaked.
"It's nothing really." Mac waved dismissively.
"Oh come on, Mac. We're both grown women, there's no need for us to be offended over something so petty. We're friends now, so even if our first impressions were bad, they're not the lasting impression we're making." Peach goaded Mac with a playful elbow to the arm.
"Alright, you won't like it but just remember that you were the one who goaded me into saying it." Mac reminded her. "You just seemed like the oddest personality when I first met you. I mean, you had some obvious Washington savvy but you also came across as one of those sorority girls from the west coast that airhead then genius. I had also never seen such devotion to one man, I wasn't sure whether or not to admire you for it."
"That's a fair assessment I suppose." Peach wasn't exactly sure what to say. "Then again, we didn't exactly meet under the best of circumstances last year."
"The emergency room at a hospital isn't the most conducive setting to great first impressions." Mac chuckled nervously. "So, what about you? What did you think when you first met me?"
"I thought you were a pushy tomboy with a catty streak that I wasn't willing to cross. Then again, there was a lot to admire about you. You were tougher then I could ever hope to be and I'd never seen General Jack Ross respect a woman the way he respected you because you were a Marine Lieutenant Colonel. I guess I admired in you what I felt I lacked." Peach theorized.
"Funny how things like that happen." Mac chortled again as the elevator doors slid open. Mac went toward court to face off against Sturgis and Peach headed toward the parking lot.
1726 ZULU
HARRY TRUMAN BUILDING
FOGGY BOTTOM, WASHINGTON DC
Gunny and Bax walked through the hallway toward the boss's office. It was openly evident to all that Nate Ross had not been in the best off moods in the last week or so. They cautiously walked through the door with their hands above their heads in the Prisoner of War position. "Alright, alright, hands down, I'm not the Gestapo. That's the Vice President's office, it's across town."
"Sorry, boss but your office has become something of a free-fire zone recently. Aside from Peach, we're the only ones who have been able to enter without getting our heads bitten off for something." Bax ventured to comment.
"I have not been that bad." Nate argued.
"Sir, you chewed out your secretary because there was only one sugar in your coffee." Gunny reminded him.
"Okay, so I've been a grizzly bear with haemorrhoids, are you two quite pleased with yourselves?" Nate looked up at two grinning faces. "The last month has been hell. I've been shot, I've been trying to find the right moment to propose to my girlfriend but either terrorists take over the State Department or the President calls me away from my apartment and to top it all off, I think the Vice President got an iron stake up the ass for Christmas because he's become the chief source of my migraines lately." Nate rubbed his temples.
"So you called us up here just to vent?" Bax guessed.
"No, but that helped. I called the two of you up here because the beginning of the year means promotions season over at the Pentagon. The two of you are in good standing because not only is the E-8 board convening next week but so is the O-6 board. Admiral Chegwidden will be sitting as the chair of the O-6 board. Commander Baxter, your record has been selected for review by the board. I just wanted you to know that you will receive an outstanding fit-rep from me, being as I am the civilian leader of the department of the United States government to which you are attached and being as I am a decorated Marine officer, I'm sure the board will impart extra consideration." Bax smiled at Nate's comment. "As for you, Gunny, as you no doubt know, you have choice to make about which path you pursue in the Marine Corps as to what your future career will entail. You can choose to become either a First Sergeant or a Master Sergeant and the board will consider this along with your record when they make the decision whether or not to promote you. For the record, you also will be receiving a stellar fit-rep with my name on the bottom of it." Nate stood up from behind his desk and both Gunny and Bax came to attention and fixed salutes.
"Thank you, sir." Bax rhymed off.
"Not a problem, Commander. You and the Gunnery Sergeant do good work, it's only fair that the two of you be rewarded for it. I look for to being able to give you your Eagles and slap a new set of chevrons on the Gunny's sleeve." Nate smiled for the first time in a long time at work. "Additionally, I think it's fair to mention that should your respective promotions come through, you two have been tasked with the command of a forty man, joint forces unit that has been tasked by the President with immediate response and fast action deployment to State Department emergencies in the war on terror. Commander Baxter, if your promotion to Captain comes through, you'll be in command of this unit and the Gunny will be your senior enlisted officer. It has been suggested by higher ups that you pick a ground-pounder as your XO but I personally think that someone you feel you can trust would be better suited. You'll have your pick of the Special Forces personnel."
"Thank you, sir." Bax nodded.
"Dismissed, Commander." Nate nodded and Bax along with Gunny left the office.
2031 ZULU
JAG HEADQUARTERS
FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA
The Admiral called a meeting in his office. Even though Harm was technically assigned over at the Pentagon, he seemed to be spending more and more time over at JAG with the excuse to the CNO that 'in order to perform duties at a maximum efficiency, one must be immersed in a legal environment.' The CNO responded that it was pretty had to crash an F-14 from inside the building at JAG Headquarters so he permitted Harm's visits.
Everyone walked into the Admiral's office to see Reverend Beverly Chegwidden sitting on the edge of her husband's desk with a three mile wide smile plastered on her face. "What do you think put that smile on her face?" Mac whispered to Harm.
"The Admiral must be performing his husbandly duty on an above average basis." Harm joked which caused Mac to role her eyes. Harm proceeded to keep trying to getting her going. He discreetly reached down and quickly pinched her six with two fingers causing her to leap into the air and yelp which brought everyone in the room's attention to her.
"Colonel, did I just hear you yelp?" The Admiral was looking through his glasses at Mac.
"No, sir, I was just momentarily excited by something." Mac replied.
"Riiight." The Admiral got up from his chair.
"I'm so going to get you back for that, flyboy." Mac threatened in a whisper.
"I look forward to it, Colonel." Harm replied in a coy tone, leaving Mac with a shocked expression.
"The reason that I called all of you into my office today is because, in a rare break of decorum on my part, I've decided to share a little personal news with you." The Admiral took his wife's hand. "My wife and I are expecting a new child to join our family in about seven month's time."
Everyone was immediately taken aback for a few seconds before recovering from the shock. "Congratulations, sir," Harm was the first to regain the power of speech, "and to you to, Mrs. Chegwidden."
"Harmon Rabb, how many times do you have to be told to call me 'Beverly'?" Bev lectured playfully as she leaned against AJ's shoulder.
"Congratulations, ma'am." Harriet offered in her own excited, squealing, motherly tone. After a few more pats on the back and extended congratulations, the crowd in the room seemed ready to disperse pretty soon when Harriet and Bud called for everyone's attention. "We were going to wait for a better time to tell everyone but since we all seem to be celebrating pregnancy right now anyway. Bud and I have announcement as well." There was a pause but everyone knew what was coming. "We're pregnant!"
There was a few more minutes of congratulations extended. Harriet and Bev wrapped each other in a big hug; this caused Harm to chuckle slightly and lean in to speak to Mac. "How many more months do you think they'll be able to do that?" Harm asked in a whisper.
"Harmon Rabb, you're bad." Mac whispered in a seductive tone and accompanied it with a saucy wink.
"Well, I try." Harm tossed back and Mac was forced to smile, Harm was definitely acting a little less like himself right now. Mac eyed him suspiciously before heading over with Coates to coo over the pregnant women while the Admiral, Harm, Sturgis and Bud went out to smoke a cigar.
"Rabb, I have no idea what I've got myself into here." The Admiral admitted as he leaned up against Harm's Lexus. "I mean, I figured when I got married that would be it but I never figured that there was a chance I would end up being a father this late in life and I mean, I certainly never intended to."
"Sir, I mean you have some experience with Francesca, it won't be that different with another child. You always told me that one of your greatest regrets with Francesca was that you didn't think that you were there as much as you could have been. You have the chance to be there for this child." Harm let out a slow exhale on his cigar.
"You know, Rabb, I knew there was a reason that I kept you around for seven years." The Admiral and Harm shared a laugh. "Aren't you going to give me some sappy inspirational speech about marriage and love and happiness and the key to life? That will be immediately followed by you glancing over at Mac longingly." The Admiral ventured and Harm's mouth went agape, causing the cigar to fall to the ground. "Son, I'm old but I'm not blind yet. I've noticed things over the last six of those seven years."
"Apparently, everyone has." Harm muttered under his breath.
2356 ZULU FRIDAY
NATE'S CONDO
FOGGY BOTTOM, WASHINGTON DC
Nate had been walking around in a suspicious mood all day. It was his birthday, he was in a very naturally suspicious mood, there were even rumours that anyone being nice to him today would be sent down to Camp Delta for interrogation; and saying 'Happy Birthday' was definitely out of the question. So, when Peach had presented him with this special bathrobe and pyjama ensemble, he accepted it with only minimal hesitation so as to spare her feelings.
Part of what was making Nate suspicious was that Peach had been walking around in his Marine issue beige trench-coat since he'd gotten home and when he'd ask her why she was wearing it, she'd quickly change the subject. "Come on, Nate; let's see how my present looks on you."
"Nicole, I feel like I'm twenty years older." Nate complained from inside their bedroom.
"Nate, if you come out, I'll show you what's under the trench-coat." Peach goaded him knowing that as a man, his natural curiosity would eventually get the better of him. Sure enough, a few seconds later, Nate came skulking out of the room to show off the ensemble and Peach ambushed him. She stuck a grey wig on his head and coaxed a brown wooden pipe into his teeth.
"Nicole, what the heck is going on?" Nate asked, his voice slightly slurred by the pipe in his mouth. "And why do you have pink bunny ears on your head?"
"Honey, you're going to have to trust me." Nicole took his arm and guided him downstairs.
"This coming from the person with pink bunny ears on her head." Nate mused as they continued walking.
"Be nice, or you won't get to see what's under my coat." Peach pointed her index finger at him and it landed on the tip of his nose.
"It's just, they're pink bunny ears!" Nate pointed at them. He stopped focusing on the bunny ears when Peach dropped the trench coat. She was dressed in a Playboy bunny costume. "Okay, I get the point of my attire now; I'm supposed to be Hef. But who was I very good to in a previous life to get you to wear that?" Peach flicked on the light and Nate was greeted by a loud roar of 'Surprise!'
Even with the grinch attitude that he had held about his birthday for the last couple of days, Nate was actually smiling and chuckling when he saw all the people waiting for him in his living room. "Alright, I have to say, I'm very impressed." Nate turned and kissed his girlfriend on the cheek. "Thanks, honey."
"Oh, you just go have fun with your friends. You're such a drag when you get all sappy." She gave him a light but encouraging pat on the back. Nate took her arm in his and insisted that the two of them walk down the stairs together. The first people that they met at the foot of the stairs were Harm and Mac. Harm was dressed as a very strapping Mark Antony and Mac was dressed as the kind of Cleopatra that one would expect to see on a Victoria's Secret catwalk rather than at a costume party. Her costume was golden with a string beaded miniskirt that fell just below her six. Of course, this much skin out in the open had caused Harm's protective side to kick into high gear and he had one arm wrapped around Mac's shoulders while the other held a mock Roman centurion helmet under his arm.
"Why, if it isn't Mark Antony and Cleopatra." Nate mused as he and Peach greeted their guests. "Nice to see you, two."
"Well, Mr. Secretary, you're another year older, you think you've gotten any wiser?" Harm asked as he raised his glass of pop to his host.
"Yeah, Budweiser." Peach joked and Nate turned toward her.
"Bad joke, honey." Nate replied with a small chortle.
"Come on, Peach, let's go talk with the girls." Mac and Peach tossed a mean glare at the guys before walking away.
"So, have you had the necessary talk with Mac yet or are you still lollygagging around the obvious attraction?" Nate and Harm went walking through the crowd in the living room.
"Why does everyone suddenly have an opinion about this? Or have you all always had this opinion and now you all simultaneously decided to share it with me?" Harm turned to face his friend.
"Well, being as I can't speak for everyone else, I'll just say that I've observed certain behaviours in the two of you that I can recall seeing in myself a few years back." Nate gave him a pat on the back. "Take a few minutes to summon up your courage and then go to her lad and don't hold anything back when you do." Nate walked away to speak with his brother Steve and Nikolai who had flown in from Moscow just for the festivities. "You look like the bloody Czar!" Nate walked over and gave his oldest friend a hug.
"It's a good costume, if a little tight in the waist." Nikolai replied.
"I'd just be on the look out for anyone dressed as Rasputin." Nate joked.
Harm was standing next to Sturgis (dressed as Detective John Shaft) across the room from Mac who was still standing with Bobbi, Peach, Coates, Bev and Harriet. In his mind she was a greater then Cleopatra herself, after all Cleopatra was only mortal but tonight as she had been before but only in his dreams, Mac was his goddess. He needed her, with an overwhelming feeling that was beginning to consume him It was hell on his resolve, maybe his costume was just having too much of an effect on his personality. His nerves were wearing to a fray. When she looked over at him, he took it as some kind of sign from the Cosmos. A year ago, he had said that there had been a time that he had been in love with Mac, that she was no longer the person that she had been when they were first partners but in the year since then she had become that same Sarah.
Now, all that was coming to a head along with what Mac was wearing and how much of her that was shown to him. Before he could really decide to do so, Harm's legs were carrying him toward her his control was wearing thin, he need to do something to help him regain the control that he had long prided himself on. He turned and jogged out of the party on to the balcony. Harm put his hands on the railing of the limestone balcony and looked over into the city before looking up at the Capitol.
Harm took a couple of deep breaths before he felt a familiar soft hand on his back. His last breath was more ragged. "What's up, sailor? You left in kind of a hurry." Harm turned to face her.
"It's just been kind of a long week I suppose. I mean with everything that's happened and now with you, it's all been a lot on my mind." Harm looked longingly into her big brown eyes.
"Harm, if something's bugging you, why didn't you just come to me?" Mac paused for second. "Wait, you said something about 'now with you', what did you mean by that?"
"Well, it's just that with Reverend Chegwidden being pregnant and Harriet being pregnant again, I guess I just kind of figured…." Harm was interrupted when Mac decided to finish his sentence.
"You figured that I'd want to join the club?" Mac ventured with a smile. "You're funny."
"Do you?" Harm asked, not meeting her gaze.
"Why? Are you thinking of moving up the timetable?" If one listened to Mac closely enough, one could hear the glimmer of hopefulness in her voice.
"I think so, yeah, I mean if that's okay with you… It's just that I…I…I" Harm began to stutter so Mac put one hand on his chest to calm him down but she felt his heart race under her fingertips. "Mac, I don't think I'll ever find anyone better then you to be the mother of my children and I think……I think I'm sick of looking."
"Harm what are you trying to say?" Mac's was no longer trying to hide the hopefulness in her voice. Seven years of waiting seemed to have built to this very moment. Her heart began to race in rhythm to the one that she felt under her fingertips.
"Mac, I'm in love with……" Harm tried to fight his own insecurity, his own cowardice, his own obsessive control but once again getting that last word out proved too much to ask. "I'm in love with the idea of having a family with you."
Mac reeled back for a second and furrowed her eyebrows. That wasn't what she was expecting to hear. It was something, something very good, just not what she was expecting. She opted to hug him tightly rather then actually answer him since the power of speech seemed to be failing her at the moment. The two stood out on the balcony in that embrace for a little while longer before Mac finally got up the nerve to say something. "Harm, I think I've been in love with that idea for a long time."
Harm had to chuckle at that comment. "We're a couple of sentimentalists." He remarked and she playfully slapped him across the chest.
"Way to ruin the moment, flyboy." Mac mused as she leaned in for another tight hug. "You know we have this odd habit about porches at parties."
"Tell me about it." Harm added.
Inside, Nate and Sturgis were standing together, witnessing, without any audio, the scene outside. "You think they finally got it right?" Nate asked as he turned toward Sturgis.
"I've learned that you never take anything for granted when it comes to those two." Sturgis replied before turning to go and find Bobbi. Nate walked over to the stairs and climbed a third of the way up the marble staircase before tapping a fork against the glass that he held in his hand. Everyone's eyes immediately fixed upon him.
"First of all, I would like to extend my thanks to everyone for coming tonight. I would particularly like to thank Lieutenant Harriet Sims and my beautiful and talented girlfriend whom my sources tell me planned this little shindig." Nate stopped for a moment and pondered the ripples in his glass. "You know, every year I dread my birthday because it used to be an occasion on which I looked around and I thought that another year had gone by and I had accomplished so little with my life. This year however was something different because this year I feel as though I've actually done something. I had one birthday wish this year, I wanted to do the most important thing in my life up until this point. I've been trying to do it for a month but I never seem to find the right time.
However, everyone that could possibly interrupt the moment is already in the room tonight, so there's no reason that my cell-phone, home-phone or beeper should go off. Now, if my aforementioned, wonderful, beautiful girlfriend would join me up on the stairs." Nate motioned for Peach who was blushing profusely. She slowly walked up to him, trying to avoid tripping over her heels. "For those of you who don't know the stories, I'm sure that there are any number of people in the room tonight who would be more then willing to tell you. For those who do know the stories, this will seem like nine years in the making." One of Nate's hands was holding Peach's the other was fumbling loosely in the pocket of his birthday gift bathrobe. He turned toward her and she watched as he slowly sank to one knee and pulled his hand out of his bathrobe to reveal a blue velvet jewellery box.
"Nicole, just a little less then a decade ago, you walked into my life and from day one I didn't know what to make of so beautiful, intelligent and talented a woman. Over the years I've been lucky enough to be your friend and even your best friend. Over the last months, I've been lucky enough to be your significant other. Even after all that time, I still don't know what to make of you. I think it's going to take a lifetime for me to figure out. Will you marry me?" Nate paused and looked up into her eyes to see them welled with unshed tears.
"Only you would propose to me while I'm wearing a Playboy bunny costume, you know that?" She mused and Nate, along with the rest of the guests, let out a nervous laugh. "Of course I'll marry you. I've been in love with you for nine years." Nate slid the ring on her finger and she leapt into his arms as applause echoed through the room. Congratulations were soon exchanged in the room and Peach showed off the ring to all the other women while Nate was jeered at, in jest of course, by his closest friends.
It was then that Spinner approached Nate who was talking with the President who was dressed like Hawkeye from the old MASH TV series. "Sirs, we just got news from Langley." Spinner ventured and obviously caught the attention of his seniors. "Boss, do you remember a few years ago when you sent that bill to President Clinton that authorized a NATO embargo on certain materials to North Korea? Among which were materials that we knew would be necessary to the building of a stable nuclear reactor?" Nate nodded his head. "Sir, the bill worked! About an hour ago, the North Korean nuclear reactor blew up."
"Jesus, that's horrible." President Russell answered.
"Damn right it is." Nate added. "How many casualties?"
"Everyone in the facility and the surrounding North Korean military base. Sir, there were North Korean government officials touring the plant today, they were caught in the blast as well." Spinner hung his head.
"What do we do about this?" Nate turned to the President. "I can't help feeling like Oppenheimer right now, I feel like there's blood on my hands."
"Calm down, you didn't encourage them to enrich uranium and considering all possible outcomes, this one was probably the one with the smallest body count." The President put a hand on his friend's back.
"Three cheers for the lesser evil." Nate deadpanned.
And while the news had put a minor damper on the evening it was still a huge success and no one seemed to mind that Harm and Mac spent most of the evening out on the balcony wrapped in a tight hug that neither seemed willing to break.