Chapter 8:

The 2 weeks of waiting for an answer after their first try with the fertility pills seemed like 2 years. Mac had been reading all sorts of things online about early pregnancy symptoms, and as the 2 weeks drew closer to an end, she kept thinking she was feeling "things". Every little twinge, every time her stomach was the slightest bit unsettled would start the wheels turning in her mind "well, maybe….". Sometimes she'd have to say aloud to herself "don't do this, Marine, don't get your hopes up", but it was hard not to. She wanted it so bad it hurt. By the time those weeks were up, she was mere steps away from officially losing her mind.

"Try to relax, Mac, you looked like you were gonna start peeling the flowers off the wallpaper in there" said Harm as they walked to the car. They'd had lunch at a new sandwich place a couple blocks away from JAG, but neither of them ate very much.

"I can't relax, I'm too nervous" she said. "I wish they'd call, don't they know how hard it is to wait?!" She'd gone to Dr. Kendall's office that morning for a blood pregnancy test, a standard part of doing a medicated treatment cycle, and they told her they'd call with the results before 5:00. She made sure they had both her work and cell phone numbers, so they could get a hold of her all day long. It was only 1:30, and she wasn't sure she could remain sane until 5:00.

"Come here, Mac" said Harm. She did as he asked, and he took her hands in his. "They'll call, we just have to try to be patient and keep our minds on other things" he said as he rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. Truth be told, he was as nervous as she was, he just had a different way of showing it, or rather not showing it.

They returned from lunch and Mac tried her best to take Harm's suggestion to heart and focus on something else. She booted up her laptop and pulled up the file she'd been working on that morning, a pretty open-and-shut case of Conduct Unbecoming. "I can do this, I can keep my mind on my work…" she thought to herself as she flipped through a stack of file folders on the corner of her desk. She found the file she was looking for, turned to face her laptop and began typing away.

Down the hall in his office, Harm was working just as hard to keep from thinking too much about everything, but he wasn't having much success. His laptop was open on his desk and his files spread out all over the place, but he wasn't doing any work. Instead, he was mindlessly twirling his pen around with his fingers, staring blankly at the wall. He knew the day could only end 1 of 2 ways - good or bad. He thought about how they'd celebrate if the news was good, how amazing that would be. "Yeah, but if it's not good..." he said quietly to himself, not really wanting to think about that possibility. He eventually forced himself to get some work done, but it took awhile and it never completely kept his thoughts from wandering back.

Mac stayed busy with that Conduct Unbecoming case for over 2 hours. She was so engrossed in it that when her phone rang, she nearly jumped right out of her chair. She took a deep breath and picked up the receiver.

"Mackenzie" she said, hoping whoever was on the other end couldn't hear her voice tremble. She listened carefully to the call, "Ok……right…..ok, thank you" and hung up the phone. She sighed deeply, determined to keep the tears at bay until she reached Harm's office.

He looked up and saw her standing there. "Hey, come on in" he said, putting down his pen and standing up.

Mac walked in and closed the door behind herself without saying a word. Thankfully the blinds on the office door and window were already closed, something they'd both gotten in the habit of doing on days when they knew they'd need some private moments, since if they waited until the other one entered the room to close them, they'd arouse suspicion .

"Did they call?" he asked her, pretty much knowing she wouldn't be in his office at that moment if they hadn't.

Mac nodded and began to cry.

"Aw, Mac" said Harm as he put his arms around her. "I was afraid of this" he thought to himself.

She cried a little longer, then stepped back just a bit.

She looked up at him, and as a smile broke through the tears that were still rolling down her face, she said "the test was positive, we did it".

Harm stood there in amazement. "You're pregnant?" he asked, wanting to make sure he understood her correctly.

"Yes" said Mac, still crying, "I have to go back in 2 days for another blood test to make sure things are going well, but yes, I'm pregnant, these are happy tears!"

A trademark melt-your-heart flyboy smile came over Harm's face as his own eyes filled with tears. "Oh, Mac" he said as he pulled her close and fought to keep his composure, "we should go out tonight and celebrate, what do you say?"

"OK", said Mac as she grabbed a tissue, "why don't you pick me up around seven and we'll decide what we feel like eating, sound alright?"

"Sounds great" said Harm, wiping away the lone tear that had escaped his eyes. After one last embrace, Mac returned to her office and Harm to his desk, but neither of them accomplished anything more on their caseloads for the day.

----------------------------

"Hey, right on time" said Mac as she opened her apartment door and let Harm in.

"But of course" he said as he gave her a kiss and tossed his jacket over the back of the sofa.

"Wow, he looks really handsome tonight" she thought, "the blue in that shirt matches his eyes".

"I thought after we ate dinner we could go for a walk through the park" said Harm, "unless you'd rather go someplace else".

"No, that sounds really nice. I'm not sure what I want for dinner yet, but a walk in the park is always nice" replied Mac as she slipped her shoes on.

"She gets more beautiful everyday" thought Harm as he watched her, "I can't believe how much I love her". "Great, are we ready to go celebrate, my dear?" he asked as he stood up and pulled her close.

"Yeah, let me make one last trip to the bathroom and I'll be all set" said Mac. She kissed him again and went down the hall.

"Harm!!!!!!!!"