A/N: I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get this posted - life has been super busy! Thanks to everyone who read chapter 66, and a special thanks to everyone who reviewed.
As we draw nearer to the close of the story (we're not there yet!), I'm going to show alot more of the emotional side of things as I imagine them to be between Harm and Mac after having been through all they've been through. Infertility can, and usually does, wreak havoc on a relationship/marriage at some point, believe me. Emotions that were buried find a way to seep up through the cracks, so-to-speak, and the couple is forced to deal with them. They often find themselves at odds over the smallest things, but in reality there are deeper issues at hand. Fear of one thing can come out as anger over another, and what begins as a simple discussion over "topic A" can end as a screaming fight over "issue B". All that said, just try to be prepared for anything and everything to happen to Harm and Mac in the remaining chapters.
Once again, I owe a great big hug to LadyCommish for all her help when I got stuck along the way. She helped with the dialogue of Harm in some places of this chapter, Mac in others, and offered me some amazing ideas when my own creativity failed me. If you haven't done so yet, please check out her JAG fic entitled "Can We Ever Get Back To Before." It tells a very real story of just how devestating endometriosis can be under the right circumstances. Some parts of the story might make you smile, others will surely make you angry, and still others may bring you to tears, but the emotions throughout are so completely heartfelt and very much worth taking the time to read. I'm far from unbiased, I know, but where that dreadful disease is concerned, I wholeheartedly support everyone willing to reveal it as so much more than just something the doctor can clean up and make it all better. Mine was cleaned up, and things are far from "all better."
Chapter 67:
"I said keep it dry, babe" muttered Mac as she carefully unwrapped the water-logged bandage from around Harm's wrist. "Does this look dry to you?"
"I told you, it slipped" he said, attempting once more to defend his mistake. "It's not a big deal, babe, we needed to change it this morning anyway."
"Right" she said, continuing to unwrap the large band of gauze the nurse had applied at the hospital, "but you're not supposed to get it wet, Harm. Do you want it to get infected?"
"Of course not" he replied, "and somehow I don't think getting it wet once will lead to any kind of infection. I'm taking antibiotics, remember?"
"I remember" answered Mac, finally reaching the end of the gauze. "This may hurt a little bit" she said as she took hold of the 2x4 no-stick pad directly over the cut and prepared to lift it off.
Harm looked in the opposite direction, figuring if it was going to hurt, it was best if he didn't know when to expect the pain.
"Ah!" he said, cringing a little as she pulled the pad off.
"I'm sorry, babe" she said, "I tried to be gentle."
"I know you did" he replied. "Some things just hurt no matter how you do them."
"Yeah, very true" she agreed as she examined the wound itself. "Uh-oh."
"Uh-oh what, Mac?" asked Harm, still looking in the opposite direction, a trifle of panic in his voice. "What's wrong with it?"
"There's a lot of sand around it" she said, "which doesn't surprise me with all the sand that was on the outside gauze. We've gotta clean it out."
"Oh, joy" said Harm, deciding to suck it up and take a look. He glanced at his wrist, delicately rotating his arm to get the best view. It looked pretty disgusting - the cut itself was red, a stark contrast to the dark purple stitches, all 12 of them. There was a fair amount of bruising as well, which only added to the unsightliness of the matter.
"Boy, those stupid things really got me good, huh?" asked Harm. "I'll say this much, from here on out, if we feel the need for bondage, it'll be with something incredibly soft!"
"You got that right!" agreed Mac, still feeling guilty for Harm's injury. "Come over to the sink and we'll see if we can get rid of that sand before we replace the bandage."
"I thought we couldn't get it wet?" he questioned.
"We can't" she answered, "but we can dab at it a little and see how that works. Somehow, we've gotta get it cleaner than it is now."
He got up from the chair beside the table and followed her towards the sink. She took a washcloth down from the rack on the wall and wet it with warm water.
"OK, ready?" she asked as she reached out to take hold of his wrist.
"No, but go ahead" he replied, once again looking away.
Mac very carefully dabbed the washcloth on the cut, trying to loosen the stuck-on bits of sand. She stopped when he pulled back.
"Ow!" he said, "that hurt, babe!"
"Sorry!" she said, "it's coming off, though, so the pain isn't for nothing."
"Good" he said, relaxing a little so she could continue.
"I'd ask how you managed to get so much of it in here" said Mac, hoping her conversation would distract him some, "but I don't think that's really a question." She looked at him and smiled.
"Why?" he replied, his smile matching hers, "just because we spent a solid… however long we were out there last night, rolling about in the sand?"
"44 minutes, 21 seconds" said Mac.
"You timed it?" he asked with a laugh. "Obviously your clock is back from the shop."
"Mm-hmm" she replied as she rinsed out the washcloth, "but don't think that means I didn't thoroughly, totally and completely enjoy myself last night, babe."
He just looked at her and smiled. Neither of them would ever forget that night.
"Just a little bit left right…..there" said Mac as she removed the final particles of sand from around Harm's cut. "All done, now we need to let it air out for a few minutes and then put a clean bandage on it."
"That was not fun" said Harm, bringing his wrist up for a closer look.
"I know" agreed Mac, "I know that cut is gonna leave a big scar, too."
"No doubt" said Harm. "Hey, any idea about what we're gonna tell people when we get home and they ask what happened?"
"Um, I don't know," Mac smirked. "The truth usually works for me."
"Suffice it to say, my dear" he replied, "that this time, the truth is not an option!"
"Well...let's see...We could tell them you got it stuck in a fence," Mac offered. "I did that when I was ten."
He pondered the suggestion for a moment. "Could work" he said, "could work... We could say I was cutting my dinner and the knife slipped?"
"That's better," Mac agreed. "We could say you got in a fight with those scouts."
He laughed a bit. "Ok, babe, I'll let you tell everyone all about the encounter with the scouts, and then they'll be so aghast at the knowledge of what we did on that beach that they'll forget all about the cut on my wrist. Problem solved!"
"You know we could say nothing," Mac offered.
"Hey, now there's a plan I can live with!" he said, pointing at her in approval. "We say nothing, and when people ask, we just blow it off and change the subject. I like it."
"You better, because there is no excuse that we could give that they would buy," Mac said stifling a giggle. Then she sobered, "I did tell you how sorry I was about that, didn't I?"
"Only a couple dozen times, sweetheart" he answered. "It was just one of those things, I probably couldn't do it again if I tried, NOT that I ever want to, mind you!"
She leaned up and kissed his lips softly, "Good because I think that romantic romps on the beach are far more fun that the kinkier side of things."
He leaned forward and returned her kiss. "Did you mean it when you said you hoped last night wasn't just a once in a lifetime thing?"
"Yeah," she replied. "Last night...Harm what you did, I've never had that done before and it...all of it was amazing but that..." She blushed a little bit and looked down at the floor.
He smiled, amused by her embarrassment and pleased to be the cause of it. "Really? You'd never done...that before?"
"No," Mac replied. "Even with the other men I've been with, none of them were too interested in me, you know. I was service, that's all." She continued to study their feet.
He immediately pulled her closer to himself. "You'll always be so much more than that to me, Mac. Always. Being with you is unlike anything I ever experienced with anyone else, and anything I can do that makes you feel special and feel as loved as you truly are, I want to do it for you."
"You're doing it," she replied and cuddled closer rubbing her cheek against his chest.
"I love you, Mac."
"I love you too, Harm. So much," she replied. "I never thought it could be like this. I never thought I'd have a wonderful husband, a precious baby girl...now I have almost everything I ever wanted." She continued holding him as they sat down on the bed, her upon his lap.
"What's still missing?" he asked her.
"A baby boy, with Rabb blue eyes and a flyboy smile," she replied. With a long sigh she added, "Now that's just a pipe dream."
"Why do you say that?" he asked her.
"I guess I feel like after everything we had to go through to have Ainsley" she answered, "that I shouldn't pin too much hope on having any more babies. I mean, I know it can happen and we've talked about it and we both want more children, but that stupid little voice that haunted me while we were trying for Ainsley just won't let me relax."
"Sarah," Harm said gently, holding her as close as he could. "There are other ways of expanding our family, we don't have to conceive a baby to love it as our own, you know?" He wasn't sure how she'd take that but he put it out there nonetheless.
She sighed, leaning back against him. "I know" she said, "but my heart's just not to that point right now, and maybe it never will be. Knowing that we have the ability - with a lot of outside intervention - to have our own babies, I just can't let go of that desire, but I also can't seem to temper it with the fear that maybe we've gotten all we're going to get from fertility treatments. It just...sucks to think much about."
"It's not that bad an option, Honey," he offered. "It would be easier on your body, you wouldn't have to go through all of the tests and all."
"If I didn't know better" she said, shifting in his lap so she could see his face, "I'd think you've made up your mind against going through treatment again. Have you? Tell me the truth, please - this isn't something we can be anything other than 100 percent open and honest about."
"I have my doubts," he answered. "I don't want to see you have to go through needles and that horrible x-ray thing, and you had pre-eclampsia with Ainsley, what if that happens again?" he voiced his concerns about that for the first time. "I'm not decided, but I am considering other options."
"Well then you need to know here and now that I'm not considering other options at this point" she said, her voice calm yet firm. "Right now my need and desire to be pregnant again outweighs my ability to think about any other options. You're free to feel however you feel about it, I mean we're in this thing together, but I need to know that you understand where I'm at. Do you?"
"I do," Harm sighed. "I don't have to carry the baby or anything, so the choice is ultimately yours. I'm just scared."
"I'm scared, too" said Mac, "but when you say the choice is ultimately mine, that's not really true. There are points during the treatments where yes, the decisions are mine. I like to have a little say in those things since I'm the one laying on that exam table for all in the room to see, but we're talking about the decision of whether or not to even go down that road again. That, Harm, is a decision that most definitely is not mine alone to make. I mean, think about it, kind of difficult to do an insemination without your 'contribution', babe."
He squeezed her a bit, "It is, isn't it? I don't want to go down this road just now. I mean, I want us to enjoy Ainsley a bit before we consider another one," he told her. "Maybe I'm just paranoid. I miss our baby, I want to hold her and make sure she's all right, and maybe I'm transferring that worry to you and another pregnancy. So can we table this for now? We only have two more days left, let's enjoy them."
"Absolutely" agreed Mac. "What's on the agenda for today? Please tell me it doesn't involve sand, palm trees or removing more than 5 percent of our clothing!"
Harm raised an eyebrow and feigned hurt, "I though you liked that."
"I did" she said, "very much if I recall, but that doesn't mean I want to do it again this afternoon!"
"As you wish," Harm sighed. "I personally could go for that again. But, no, instead, you and I are slated to take a tour of the USS Lexington here in beautiful Corpus Christi at 1300."
"1300?" she asked, leaping off of his lap. "How many minutes are we supposed to arrive before the tour starts?"
"Ten" he answered, "Why?"
"Harm, it's already 1224!" she exclaimed "We still have to re-bandage your wrist, and the Lex is a 16 minute drive from here! We'll have to 'drive Jersey' to even possibly get there on time!"
"Drive what?" he asked as he hopped off the bed and grabbed his tennis shoes.
"Don't worry about your shoes yet" she said, "get in here so I can take care of your wrist!" She dug out the antibiotic ointment and bandage supplies as she continued to speak. "'Drive Jersey' means we'll have to ignore red lights, take the speed limit with a grain of salt and use out own best judgment as to the definition of 'illegal U-turn'! Here, sit down!"
He sat on the edge of the bathtub as she squeezed the ointment onto his cut. "When's the last time you drove in Jersey, Mac?" he asked. "You seem to know a lot about their quote-unquote 'traffic laws'."
"I drove out there with Harriet and Jen when we were doing wedding plans, remember?" She opened the sterile wrapper on the 2x4 pad. "Hold still, this may smart a little."
"Oh yeah, now I do" he replied. "Didn't know you had such an interesting experience, though!"
"'Interesting" she said as she began to wrap the rolled gauze around his wrist, "is only one word for it! 'Insane' is a better one."
"Well, I'm not gonna drive like that here, Mac" he said as he watched her work. "If we're a few minutes late, it's not the end of the world."
"I know" she said as she reached for the scissors and first aid tape, "I just don't want to miss out on anything you've got planned. Like you said, we've only got 2 days left."
"Fear not, my lovely bride" he said, "we won't miss out on anything, I promise."
"I hope not" said Mac, applying one last strip of tape to the gauze, "I've always wanted to tour that ship. I hear it's haunted, do you think that's true?"
"Anything's possible, babe" he said. "Lots of folks swear they've seen a ghost in the engine room."
Mac laughed a little. "Sounds like Bud's kind of thing. There, all done, go put your shoes on and we'll be out of here."
"What time is it now?" he asked her as he hurried out of the bathroom and grabbed his shoes again.
"1233" said Mac, throwing a few necessities into her backpack, which fortunately was still mostly packed from their day at Six Flags. "I'm all set, you ready?"
"Ready" he said, scooping his keys up from the table, "let's go!"
"Watch the knee knockers, babe" he said as they began the tour. They arrived exactly 4 minutes late, but lucky for them the tour guide was running even further behind than they were, so they didn't miss a moment of the tour.
"I've been on carriers before, Harm" laughed Mac, "but thank you for your concern."
"Can't help it" he said, "I'm over-protective when it comes to my girls. I don't want anything to happen to them."
"I know" said Mac, stopping in the passageway to give her man a quick kiss. "When do we get to see the engine room?"
"Later" he replied with a smile, "we can't jump ahead of the guide, she may not like that."
"You could do as good a job or better with this tour than she can" said Mac. "You should have told them who you are, they might have let you lead this one."
"Ah, Mac" he said, wrapping his arm around her as they tried to keep up with the group and keep their conversation at a low volume, "I'm not here to give tours, I'm here with my wife and I want to enjoy that."
"Yeah, but you know so much about carriers" she replied, "you could give these folks an amazingly informative experience."
"Possibly" he answered, "but again, that's not why we came, babe. Let's pay attention before we miss out on something cool."
…14 minutes further along in the tour…
"I can't believe this" whispered Mac as the read the sign on the wall of the engine room. It spelled out the tale behind the ship's nickname, The Blue Ghost. "It gives me the willies just being down here."
"I've got you, Honey," Harm whispered. "No big bad ghost is going to get you," he stifled a laugh at his tough Marine being spooked by a ghost story.
"Oh, cut it out, flyboy" she replied, giving him a playful slap on the chest. "Seriously, did you read this? All these unrelated people, total strangers, claim to have seen and even spoken with this ghost. Do you think they really did, or are you more prone to blame it on the creaks and squeaks of an old ship?"
"I can't discount anything anymore, Mac. I mean, there are so many things I thought were impossible that have happened so, who knows," Harm shrugged. "Do you want to skip this room?"
"No, no" she said, contining to read the story on the wall. She read in silence for a couple moments, until...
"Oh, wow" she said, her voice one of total mesmerization.
"What is it, Babe?" he asked reacting to her change in stance and in tone.
"This..." she said, pointing to a specific line in the tale. "It says here the thing that those people all remember most vividly about their encounter with the ghost is his amazing blue eyes." She turned and looked directly into the baby blues of her husband, a little smile coming over her face. "That's just...well, let me say I know first-hand how memorable blue eyes can be, especially to a woman."
"Oh, yeah," he whispered, his deep voice growing husky. "I'm more partial to brown." He leaned in a gave each eye a feather light kiss.
"Mmmm...you know what that does to me, sailor" she purred.
"Mmhmm," he responed. "I do." And he did it again. "Let's go Marine, there's nothing to be scared of in there." He nudged her further into the room.
They stood inside the engine room for a few moments, neither saying anything as they took in the sights around them, the essence of the room.
"Summer whites and ice blue eyes" she said.
"What are you talking about Mac?" Harm asked scanning the room to see what she was referring to.
"The ghost" she replied, "the legend is he was wearing his summer whites and had ice blue eyes. I'm just thinking about him, who he was, why he was here..."
"He was here for the same reason any of us are, Sweetheart. To serve and protect his country from anyone who would threaten her," Harm replied. "Even now, and this is hard for me to say, if the call came up, if I had to stand and defend her even outside the courtroom, I'd be right there to do that." He held his breath and waited for her reply.
"You...you'd go back to a combat squadron?" she asked, the surprise in her voice echoing loud and clear.
"Yeah," he nodded. "If the call came up, yeah."
She took a deep breath. "I'm not surprised" she said, "as much as I'd hate it, I know it's who you are. The Navy has been a part of your life since the moment you were born, and not only is that something I can't change, it's something I don't want to change. We're both military officers, we know the sacrifices that can come with that, and together we'll deal with them if and when they arise."
"What about you? Would you go if the call came up?" he asked, his voice catching a bit. He didn't know if he could deal with an affirmative as well as she had.
"I'd go" she said, hesitating for just a second as a thought of Ainsley passed through her mind. "I'd hate it, but I'd go."
"No you wouldn't Sarah," he told her firmly. "I wouldn't let you do that." The conviction in his voice was startling, Harm wasn't one to take charge or try to control her, at least not when it came to her career.
"Excuse me?" she replied, eyes wide with disbelief. "You wouldn't let me? Since when would that be your decision?"
"Since you cannot make a rational decision by yourself," he snapped. "In case you've forgotten you have a daughter at home. It not your place to be running around in deserts shooting insurgents. At least I'd be in the plane, I'd be relatively safe, you, I might as well paste a target on your forehead." He dropped his arm from around her and walked to the other end of the room. He had never thought before that minute that with the situation in Iraq being as it was they, one or both of them, could be deployed to fulfill another duty and the thought crushed his heart.
"So let me get this straight" she snapped in reply, "if the call came up for you to fight, you'd take it and I'd support you in it because I know it's part of being your wife. If the call came for me, you'd not only not support me in taking it, you'd actually keep me from going? Explain to me the rational thought process in that, Harm, because I'm not seeing it!"
"Its simple," he sighed. "I'm a man, I'm supposed to sacrifice things for my family and my country. You are a woman, you are supposed to keep the home fires burning. Call me old fashioned but I think its that way for a reason. If something happened to me, you would go on, you're strong enough. If something happened to you...well, I'm not" he replied truthfully, still staring at a far off place on the wall, not meeting her eyes.
"But you said I wouldn't belong out there" said Mac, walking towards him, "because I have a daughter at home. News flash, Commander, she's as much yours as she is mine. I don't see how you can use her as a reason to deny me the right to serve my country."
"I know she's our daughter, Mac," Harm sighed. "But, I'd be an awful single father. If you had to do it alone, you could, me," he shrugged. "I'd be too consumed with grief, too obsessed with finding out how and why that I would be a failure as her father. With you," he turned to look into her eyes, revealing unshed tears in his blue orbs, "I can make it. Without you..." He shook his head and looked at his shoes. Without warning her took her into his arms, holding her so tightly it caused her pain, "Promise me, Sarah," he said hoarsely. "Promise me that if that happens, if you get called up, you'll resign. Promise me."
She had no idea he felt so strongly about something that may not even happen, but obviously he did. "I promise, Harm" she said as her voice caught in her throat."I promise, I won't go. I'll stay here and I'll be your wife, and I'll be Ainsley's mother and that's the way it'll be."
"Thank you," he whispered. "I know how much the Corps means to you but, I don't want to be my mother, Mac. I'm sorry for acting like such a jerk." He was embarrassed by his actions and couldn't meet her eyes.
"Hey, look at me" she said, gently bringing his face around to meet his eyes with her own. "It's OK, you just said what was in your heart, and I didn't take it the way I should have and for that I'm sorry. Now, enough of this sad stuff, we're supposed to be having fun on this ship, let's do that."
"Yeah," Harm agreed. "And let's start by getting out of this room. I'm starting to get the creeps. I'm acting all stupid in here."
Mac laughed a little as she wiped away the last of her tears. "Maybe it's knowing that ghost has eyes like yours?"
"I don't know what it is," he sighed. "All I know is I'm behaving like an ass and if I don't want to end up divorced we better get the heck out of here. Come on."
"Where do you wanna go?" she asked, taking his hand and following him out of the engine room. The rest of the tour group had long since left them behind, so they were on their own.
"Flight deck of course," he replied. "I'll give you the Harmon Rabb special."
"I'm pretty sure I got that last night" she replied, looking at him for a response.
"Nah, that was the Harmon Rabb original," he corrected with a chuckle, his mood lightening with her smile.
"I see" said Mac, "well, if the 'special' is half as much fun as the 'original', I'll love it."
"Not making any promises there, Darlin'," he sighed, copying the popular Texas endearment as he led her up to the flight deck.
Mac listened as Harm, as giddy as a boy with a new bicycle pointed out the different mechanisms and machinery that made the carrier work. He explained how the catapult work and how in defiance of the laws of physics, the Tomcats and Hornets were able to stop with just that skinny little wire. She knew most this of course, but seeing his enjoyment in explaining it made it worth her while.
"Do you hear that?" she interrupted as he was explaining the finer points of catching the "three wire."
"Hear what?" he asked, ears perking to detect the noise that she had alerted him to.
"It better not be what I think it is" she said, looking around the flight deck. "It better not be..."
"It is," he sighed seeing their visitors from earlier that morning before she did. "Don't worry, maybe they're not laughing at us."
"Then why are they looking at us and pretending they're not?" asked Mac as she unconsciously crossed her arms in front of herself. The group of Boy Scouts who'd given them a rude awakening on the beach a few hours earlier was gathered no more than 30 yards away.
"Don't let it bother you, Honey. If they see they've gotten to you, it'll just egg them on," he told her. "Just put your arm around my waist."
"Alright" she said, doing as he suggested, "but what I'd really like to do is go give them a piece of my mind, drill sergeant style! I'm a Colonel in the United States Marine Corps for crying out loud, and they're gawking at me like I'm some sort of pin-up girl in a dirty magazine!"
"If that's what you want to do, go for it," he told her. "If that's what will make you feel better. I don't like you upset like this."
"You won't care if I do that?" she asked.
He hugged her tightly and kissed her hair, "If you need to do that to put this moring behind you then do it. Self conscious doesn't fit you, Marine."
She walked confidently towards the group of boys, debating just how heavy a hand she felt like using. After all, they weren't in the military, nor did she have any official jurisdiction over them, but she wasn't going to tolerate their disrespect. When they saw her approaching, their laughter ceased and sheer confusion took it's place.
"I'd love to know what you find so funny about my husband and I enjoying our time on this ship" she said sternly to the group.
The oldest looking boy in the group, the one who appeared to be their ring leader and the one who appeared to have been trying to peak under their make shift blanket replied with a haughty smirk on is face, "Its not your visit to this boat that's funny."
"Oh" said Mac, clearly disgusted with his smart-aleck reply, "so you're still enjoying the situation from this morning, is that right?"
"Yes, Ma'am," he replied. "Its not often we get to see a nature study like that."
That was it. Mac decided the disrespect was going to end right there.
"Snap to!" she shouted at the oldest boy. As if by programmed response, the group fell into line and stood perfectly straight.
"This marks the END of this blatant, outright disrespect!" said Mac as she stood in front of the boys. "I know you think what happened this morning entitles you to point a finger and scoff at me, but let me tell you, you are WRONG!"
The boys didn't move, they didn't dare.
A few feet away Harm watched his wife go into commando mode on the troop of unruly boy scouts. It had been awhile since he'd seen this side of his marine and he found it strangely alluring.
"I am NOT an instrument of amusement for you" continued Mac, her eyes wide with emphasis. "I am a decorated officer in the United States Marine Corps, and as such and as a WOMAN I deserve your utmost respect! IS that understood?"
The boys were unsure what to make of this somewhat psychotic woman that was claiming to be a Marine. Still their ring leader couldn't comprehend the depth of thetrouble he was in, so instead of an "I'm sorry" Mac got, "That's even funnier than this morning. They don't let chicks in the Marine corp."
"COMMANDER RABB, would you join us, please?" she called over her shoulder, never once breaking her glare into the eyes of the smart-mouthed boy.
Harm heard his wife's distress call and came immediately to the rescue, "Problem, Colonel?"
"This young man here" said Mac while still staring the boy down, "has informed me that 'chicks' are not allowed in the Marine Corps. Perhaps you'd care to enlighten him before I do so MYSELF?"
"Ah, I see," Harm sighed. "For your information, women are allowed to be enlisted personnel or officers in the Marine Corps and I for one believe the Corps is better of because of that fact. This woman, is not only a decorated Marine COLONEL, but a successful lawyer, wife, and mother. She deserves, in and out of uniform your utmost respect and admiration, anything less makes all of you disgrace your own colors. Now, before I call your scout leader, because believe me that is my next move, you will apologize to Colonel Mackenzie for your despicable behavior!"
Harm's orders, as well as Mac's, seemed to fall upon deaf ears. The younger boys were almost visibly shaking with fear. They'd never tangled with military officers before, and these two did NOT appear to be the kind to take much guff from anyone. The oldest boy, however, was unmoved by the exchange, until...
"Pardon me, Sir, Ma'am," the Scout Leader spoke up. "Is there a problem here?"
"Yes, there certainly is" replied Mac. "This young man in front of me has a problem with respect. Seems he doesn't feel I, as a military officer, a lawyer and a woman, deserve any from him, and I don't appreciate that at ALL!"
"Ah, yes," the leader addressed the oldest boy. "Jason, did we not have a talk about this?"
"Yes, Sir," the boy replied.
"And what did we decide the answer was?" asked the leader.
"Apologize with meaning, Sir," the boy replied.
"Let's hear it then," the troop leader instructed.
Taking a deep breath while maintaining his gaze straight ahead, the boy did as he was told. "I apologize for my disrespect, ma'am. I have failed to treat you with the dignity and respect due to you as a Colonel and as a woman, and in doing so I have acted in very poor judgment. I apologize to you as well, sir. I shouldn't have acted in this manner towards your wife or any woman, and I assure you it won't happen again."
"It better not," Harm said in a low voice. "Next time I will not be as understanding. If you were full grown, I'd call you out for treating her that way. If I ever catch a repeat performance, I'll take this matter up with your troop leader and your parents, am I clear?"
"Crystal clear, sir" said the boy.
"Good," Harm replied. "Come on Sarah let's go finish that trap lesson I was giving you."
"Trap lesson?" said the now apologetic young man. "You know a lot about carriers or something, sir?"
"About as much as being a pilot can teach you," Harm replied, secretly happy the boy was interested.
"You're a pilot?" exclaimed one of the younger boys. "Do you fly fighter jets?"
"Yeah, Tomcats," he replied. "Hornets too, now that they are phasing out my usual ride," he answered.
"Wow! Cool!" replied the boys, clearly interested in what Harm was saying. She smiled, thinking about how much fun he could have with a son of his own to talk aviation with. Sure, he'd do it all with Ainsley when she was old enough, but she knew haw badly he wanted to experience the kind of father/son bond that he had with his father, short-lived as it was.
Without even realizing it, Harm took over the tour for the troop of unruly boy scouts. Keeping his arm around Mac's shoulders he explained not only the fine art of the trap, but every thing about Tomcat flight any boy would wish to know. By the time the tour was over, even the most unruly scout had a new mentor.
"Thank you so much, Sir," the boy said. "I've learned a lot today, and not just about planes," he looked at Mac still a bit embarrassed by his earlier behavior. "Please accept my apology again Ma'am. It will never happen again. I was just uh, testing my limits."
"Apology accepted," answered Mac, "and I'm glad you learned from today. Try not to forget those lessons, OK?"
"Yes, Ma'am," the boys replied in unison.
"My apologies as well, Colonel, Commander," the scout leader offered. "It seems that maybe you've gotten through to him though."
"It was our pleasure, Sir," Harm stated and shook the man's hand. Arm in arm Harm and Mac left the ship.
"Did you enjoy that, Babe?" he asked.
"Very much" she answered, "once we worked out the, uh, little issues that seemed to follow us on board." Despite the matter with the scouts and their little spat in the engine room, it had been a truly fun afternoon.
As the walked down the long gang plank, Harm kept a firm hand on Mac's arm, to insure she didn't fall. As they stepped off the steep step at the bottom of the gang plank, he felt a familiar yet dreaded pull. He released her arm and with a tiny groan placed his hand on his lower back.
"You OK, babe?" she asked, seeing the discomfort on his face. "What happened?"
He stretched again, "Nothing my back's bothering me again, that's all."
"Looks like it's more than just bothering you" she said, "you've never complained about it before."
"I told you last night I had kinks in my back," he defended. "Let's sit down a minute and then it'll be good as new."
"OK, sure" she said as they walked slowly towards a bench along the pathway to the parking lot. "Is this because we slept on the sand last night?"
"Probably," he sighed. "I usually sleep on a firm mattress but that was ridiculous. If I have a bad night I usually sit on my butt most of the day so it works out. Couple last night with that really bad step there and here we are."
"I'm sorry, babe" she said, rubbing his shoulder tenderly. "When we get back to the room, I'll give you a massage, that should help some."
"I'm game for that," he sighed. "Do you want to eat first?"
"Yeah" she said, "any suggestions?"
"Somewhere with soft seats," he chuckled. "How about that diner we spotted on the way over here?"
"Works for me" said Mac, offering her husband a hand in getting off the bench.
It took a bit of doing but Harm got up off the bench and managed to stand up straight. With Mac's arm around his waist they walked back to their rental car and headed to the diner.
A/N: For those interested, there's a website for theUSS Lexington: www dot usslexington dot com. The story about it being haunted is true, hence the nickname "The Blue Ghost". There's a link on the webpage about the ghost - click on "general info", then on "live aboard", then on the link for the "Ghost Cam" and that'll take you to another page with a story about it. I would've used the ghost in my story even if he wasn't wearing summer whites and didn't have amazing blue eyes, but since he did, it made it even more fitting. :)
What will happen after dinner? What will happen the next day? How - and when - will the honeymoon end? Chapter 68 will be up in a few days!