Disclaimer: none of the fine folks from JAG are my creation....
A/N: I'm hoping to get a few more chapters finished before my surgery on February 3, since after that there will understandably be a short pause in my writing.Thanks a ton to everyone who reviewed the proposal chapters!! It's so cool that the very thing folks started asking about - a proposal - was exactly what I was planning to write next. That tells me the story is flowing in a natural pattern, and that's been a major goal of mine all along. I've got a pretty good idea of what the coming chapters will hold, but if anyone has any ideas, feel free to throw them out there! I can't promise I'll use them, but you never know!!!
Thanks a ton!!!!!
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Chapter 21:
"Do any of them stand out above the rest?" Harm asked Mac as they pored over a half-dozen real estate listings. They'd been looking at houses for 2 weeks, and of the nearly two dozen the realtor had shown them, they had it narrowed down to these few.
"I dunno" said Mac, "there are good and not-so-good points to them all. It's such a big decision."
"Yeah, it is" replied Harm, "but it's not so big that we can't handle it."
"I know, babe" said Mac, rubbing Harm's back just a bit, "I just want it to be the perfect home for our family."
"Our family" said Harm, "I hear it and I still don't really believe it's happening."
"I know" said Mac. "Sometimes I feel like after all the time we wasted and all the games we played, we don't deserve to be this happy."
"We do, Mac" replied Harm as he placed his hand on her tummy. "We've been through so much and still managed to end up together - no one can argue that our family is meant to be."
"Indeed." said Mac, her hand atop his.
"I guess we need to weed out a few more of these, huh?" said Mac, getting back to the task at hand.
"Yeah, I think so" said Harm. "Which ones do you like the most?"
"Well, I think we should go with 4 bedrooms versus 3" said Mac. "At first I didn't think we'd find any 4 bedrooms in our price range, but since we did I like the idea of the extra space."
"OK, so that's this one and those 2, right?" asked Harm, moving some pages off the table.
"Right" answered Mac. "I like that this one has the master bedroom and the smaller bedroom downstairs, it'd name for a nice, close nursery."
"OK" said Harm, "so you want a house where we can have the nursery close to our room?"
"Yeah" said Mac. "I know we'll have a baby monitor and all, and they say a mother can always hear her baby when it wakes at night, but this being the first one I'd really like to have it close."
"Sure, babe, whatever makes you happy" said Harm. "So, that really only leaves these 2 here." He handed her two pages from the few that remained on the table.
"I guess so" said Mac. "I'd like to walk through them both once more and really decide which one feels more like home."
"Not a problem" said Harm, "I'll call Stacy tomorrow and see when she can get us back in."
"Great" said Mac, "looks like we've almost got it figured out, huh?"
"Looks that way to me" answered Harm with a smile. "I wanna get everything done with the financing by the end of next week, so hopefully we'll be able to move by the end of next month. I want us to be totally settled in before the little one arrives."
"Do you think it's a boy or a girl?" Mac asked him.
"Depends on when you ask me!" replied Harm with a laugh. "I think one thing one day and the opposite the next. I really don't know. What do you think it is?"
"Oddly enough" said Mac, "I'm doing the same thing you are, flipping back and forth. You'd think I'd have a 'mother's hunch' of some sort, but I really don't."
"Well, boy or girl, it's gonna be the most beautiful baby in the world." said Harm.
"And the most loved." added Mac. "I can't wait, Harm, It's gonna be so amazing."
"I know babe" he replied, "I'm counting the days right along with you."
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They met with Stacy, their realtor, a few days later, and she showed them the 2 houses they had left to choose between. That evening, they once again sat on Harm's couch discussing their options.
"I'm torn, Harm" she said, "completely torn between them."
"What things are making it hard to pick?" he asked.
"Well, the layout of this one is great as far as guest space and storage space goes" she said, "but this one has the little bedroom close to the master, which is important to me since I want the baby close to us."
"If that's really what's tripping you up" he said, "I don't see how there's a problem. I think we should go with this one so we can have the baby's room close to ours. That's a lot more important than having extra closet space and a bigger attic."
"You're absolutely right" said Mac, a relieved expression on her face. "I don't know why I didn't look at it that way, I mean what's more important - where we keep the extra junk or where our baby sleeps?!"
"That's right" said Harm, glad he was able to help Mac make a decision she was happy with. "I'll call Stacy as soon as we get to the office tomorrow and let her know we'd like to put an offer in on this one, OK?"
"You bet" replied Mac. "Let's hope we get it, I'd hate to have to choose again!"
"Well, for now the choosing is done" said Harm, "now why don't we get some shut-eye? We've got an early appointment with Dr. Mianni tomorrow."
"Yeah, we do" said Mac with a yawn. "I don't know that it'll be all that involved, but it's always nice to know everything is still OK."
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"How are we doing today, Sarah?' Dr. Mianni asked Mac.
"Aside from having to pee all the time and not being able to get comfortable to sleep" said Mac, "I'm fine!"
"Ah yes, the familiar sounds of a patient in her 28th week" said the doctor. "I could introduce you to many, many other women who know exactly how you feel."
"Well, it's nice to know I'm not suffering alone" said Mac with a smile.
"If you'll lay back for me" said Dr. Mianni, "I'll measure the baby and make sure it's still on track."
"Sure" said Mac as she laid back on the table. The doctor pulled a measuring tape from her lab coat pocket and measured the height of Mac's tummy.
"Perfect" she said as she jotted down her findings on Mac's chart. Pulling the small Doppler machine from her other pocket, she said "Let's listen to the heartbeat." She squeezed a small amount of gel on Mac's tummy, moved the small Doppler wand around until she heard the heartbeat, and then held it still as a familiar, comforting sound filled the room.
"I could listen to that all day" said Harm proudly.
"Does it sound OK?" asked Mac, being the ever-concerned mother-to-be.
"Sounds wonderful" said Dr. Mianni. "Everything today appears to be right on track, which is exactly what we like to see."
"Amen to that" replied Harm.
"Do either of you have any questions for me?" asked the doctor as the appointment drew to a close.
"I don't think so" said Mac.
"Actually, I do have one" said Harm. This surprised Mac, not that he had a question, but that he hadn't mentioned to her before then.
"Sure, Harm" said Dr. Mianni, "what is it?"
"At what point in the pregnancy does sex become unsafe?" asked Harm. "For their sake, not mine" he added, pointing towards Mac with a little grin.
"Unless there are complications of some sort" said the doctor, "sex is perfectly safe through the entire pregnancy."
"Really?!" replied Harm, clearly a bit surprised.
"Yes, really" said Dr. Mianni. "In fact, some couples whose babies are overdue find that having sex actually helps bring on labor."
"We'll be tucking that away for possible future reference!" said Mac.
"Wow, I guess you really do learn something new every day, huh?!" said Harm. "Thank you, doctor. It probably seemed like a silly question, but I've been concerned about it so I thought I'd better ask."
"It wasn't silly at all, Harm" said the doctor. "I think it's wonderful that you're so concerned about Sarah and the baby that you'd ask about that, not a lot of men would."
"He's the best" said Mac, "one-of-a-kind in the most wonderful ways."
"I can see that, Sarah" said the doctor. "This baby is going to be very lucky to have you both for it's parents."
"Thank you, doctor" said Harm. "I think, though, that we're gonna be the lucky ones."