What a Difference a Week Makes:
Epilogue : What Tomorrow Holds
"What do you mean you're dating?" Harriet asked louder than she probably should have.
"It means we go out together, do things together." Mac shrugged one shoulder.
"I know what dating means." Harriet huffed. "What I want to know is WHY are you dating?"
"Why?" Mac looked honestly confused. "Because we like each other." Her response came out more like as question than an answer.
"LIKE?" Harriet practically screamed at her.
"Harriet, please try and calm down." Mac glanced awkwardly at the people in the restaurant around them.
Lowering her voice to barely a whisper. "Excuse my bluntness here, but what the HELL is the matter with you?" Harriet's voice went up to a near normal pitch. "I don't want to hear you're DATING. I want to hear, hot torrid love affair. I want mad, passionate, wild sex. I want something worth waiting NINE years for. That's what I want!" Harriet was practically banging her fists on the table.
"You realize you're not making this any easier." Mac sighed quietly, still concerned by the occasional glances of the people seated around them.
"I wasn't trying to." Harriet said through a forced grin.
"Okay, if you promise not to tell anyone, we're a little more than dating." Mac glanced over her shoulder again.
"Exactly how much more is a little?" Harriet's eyes were suddenly twinkling brightly.
"We're sort of trying to have a baby." Mac answered very quietly.
"A BABY!" Harriet screeched.
"That does it! I think we need to finish this conversation somewhere else." Waving at the waitress, Mac promptly requested and paid the bill, practically dragging Harriet out the door behind her.
"Where are we going?" Harriet asked rushing to keep pace with Mac.
"For now, my car." Mac would think of someplace safe to have this conversation once she was out of public earshot. The idea of driving to Florida suddenly held great appeal.
With the doors closed and their seat belts fastened, Harriet turned slightly towards Mac. "Okay, spill it. ALL of it." Harriet looked like a child about to taste their first ice cream sundae.
Turning towards the beltway, Mac started from the beginning. She explained about the baby deal five years ago. She mentioned the little repartee after the four year mark. Mac explained about the missed communications, or opportunities, in Australia, at her engagement party, in Paraguay. Her problems with endometriosis were briefly outlined, along with Harm's mentioning of the anniversary at the admiral's dining out, and of course, of her revelations on Christmas Eve after her car accident.
"So you told him you wanted him to be a part of your life at our New Years eve party?" Harriet wanted to make sure she was following everything Mac had explained.
"Right. The next day we got together for breakfast at the Waffle House. We thought neutral territory was a good place for a serious conversation." Mac realized how far outside of DC they'd driven and got off the highway to turn around.
"AND…" Harriet didn't mind Mac reading road signs so long as she didn't stop talking.
"And, we agreed we wanted to date. We also agreed that we wanted to try and have our own baby first. So we, well, you know." Mac couldn't help the blush that rose to her cheeks.
"I sure hope you don't mean right there at the waffle house." Harriet was only being partly facetious.
"Of course not!" Mac blushed again, "After Harm got back from the crash investigation in California, He took me for a weekend on the shore." Mac couldn't help the little grin that tugged at her lips. It really was a wonderfully romantic weekend. Despite her having been somewhat nervous. Harm went out of his way to be sweet and romantic and made sure she felt totally at ease. Of course after having been in love with him for so many years, he could pretty much have just grinned, winked and whistled at her and she still would have melted in his arms.
"Anyhow, we discussed that we might need to go with invitro or surrogacy, after all, we knew the odds of conceiving naturally were slim, but we thought it was worth a shot." Mac decided they should stop for gas before getting back on the highway.
"I'll say." Harriet said a little louder than she should have, blushing when she realized Mac had heard her. "Sorry." She shrugged.
Mac rolled her eyes at the cute blonde before closing the car door and turning to the pumps.
Once Mac was back in the car, "Okay, so then what?" Harriet continued.
"Working on 'our project' wasn't easy. First, we were ordered to Afghanistan, twice. Of course we had to maintain protocol the entire time. Then, we were barely home from Afghanistan when we wound up in Florida. At least when the Florida case was finished Harm managed to arrange a long weekend at the beach, and..." Looking quickly at the blonde, Mac took a deep breath and returned her focus to the road ahead, "and, he proposed."
"OH MY GOD!" Harriet screamed. Her hands flew to her face covering her hanging jaw. "THAT is definitely more than a little dating." She mumbled through her hands.
"It's been hard, we keep getting separated. Harm had to go finish his quals, and then I had to miss your party over the hostage negotiations in Indonesia. Even if I didn't have endometriosis, getting pregnant and planning a wedding under these circumstances would be difficult for anyone."
Mac rolled her eyes, grumbling to herself when she realized she'd gotten on the highway in the wrong direction. "I sure hope you don't need to be home any time soon." She shot at Harriet.
"Nah, I left Bud plenty of frozen breast milk." Harriet waved off. It didn't matter how full she got, this was well worth any minor, okay major, discomfort.
Satisfied that she had turned around, and they were now headed in the right direction, Mac continued. "As I was saying, as soon as I got back from Indonesia, we told the General about our engagement. He's the one who requested we keep it quiet until he figured out a way to keep us both around. I informed him it was my intention to have a child as soon as we were married, so making any extra effort to keep me on staff might be a waste of his time."
"Oh, I bet that went over well." Harriet shook her head.
"Yeah, he basically told me to let him make his own command decisions."
"So, where does that leave us? I mean you." Harriet smiled.
"Invitro fertilization." Mac replied.
"What about it?" Harriet had loosened her seat belt and had turned completely sideways to face Mac.
"We have our first appointment in three weeks." Mac gripped the steering wheel a little more tightly.
"Before the wedding?" Harriet's eyebrows inched up just a bit.
"Well,…"
"NO, you're not married too?" Harriet slumped back in her seat.
"Not exactly."
"What do you mean, 'not exactly'?" Harriet's head was spinning.
"My transfer to the judiciary won't be official until Monday, so we can't announce the wedding plans until then." Bracing herself for Harriet's reaction, Mac suddenly wished she drove a bigger vehicle.
"And exactly when are these wedding plans for?" Harriet's tone turned very stern.
"Two weeks from Saturday." Mac announced timidly, cringing in her seat waiting for the explosion.
Silence reigned, Harriet didn't said a word. Mac turned to make sure she hadn't passed out or anything.
"Are you okay? Is something wrong." Mac asked. From what she could see, Harriet looked almost catatonic.
Turning to Mac, Harriet's mouth opened slowly. "I don't have a thing to wear."
"Excuse, me?" Mac asked, wide eyed.
"What am I going to wear? I'm still twenty pounds too heavy. I'm just going to have to go shopping, that's all there is to it." Harriet announced flatly.
"By all means, Harriet. Buy a new dress." After all the screeching Harriet had been doing, Mac couldn't understand the absurdly calm focus on her wardrobe.
"OH MY GOD- You're getting married!" Harriet suddenly screeched at the top of her lungs.
Mac couldn't stop herself from laughing out loud, thankful she hadn't driven off the road at Harriet's sudden outburst. "Yes, Harriet, and now that you know, I'd like you to please be my matron of honor."
"Try and stop me." Harriet grinned.
Nineteen years later"That must have been one heck of a car ride." Tom said. No matter how many times his mom told the story, he laughed every time.
"It was. Harriet rambled on for the next hour and fifteen minutes about every detail imaginable for the wedding." Mac smiled at the memory.
"You know, I can see Aunt Harriet screeching like that." Susie chuckled. "Remember how she carried on when I made it to state finals last year?"
"Do you really think she'll like this?" Tom asked, suddenly hesitant.
"I think it'll be the best birthday gift she gets," Harm chimed in.
"Hey Dad, we didn't hear you come in." Susie hopped off the stool and gave her dad a kiss.
"Every time I think about what Aunt Harriet did for us, just makes you really think." Tom commented, shaking his head.
"Yeah, well, she certainly threw us for a loop." Harm agreed, stepping around his kids to kiss his wife hello. "You would think once would be enough, but Aunt Harriet came through for us twice."
Harm looked over Mac's shoulder at the scrapbook on the table. The large book had a photograph of Tom and another of Susie on the day they were born embossed on the cover. Inside the front cover were their full names and birth information: Thomas Harmon Rabb. Born October 17, 2006. Eight pounds, eleven ounces, 21 inches long. Susan Patricia Rabb. Born December 10, 2008. Eight pounds, four ounces, 19 inches long.
Tom looked just like his mom, but he had his dad's flyboy grin. Susie on the other hand, looked like her mom on some days, usually when she was focusing on a particularly hard task, and like her dad on others, mostly when she was smiling and wearing colors to bring out the green in her eyes.
Watching his children put the finishing touches on the scrapbook, Harm put his arm around Mac and kissed her again. He couldn't help but remember how devastated she had been after several attempts at invitro had failed. They had successfully fertilized Mac's eggs with Harm's sperm, but the pregnancy just wouldn't take. Mac had been slowly coming to grips with the reality that if they had any children at all, they wouldn't have his looks and her brains when Harriet brought up the idea of surrogacy. Until then, Mac hadn't even considered the option. She could never have been comfortable with the thought of some stranger carrying their child, never mind the fear that the surrogate might change her mind and sue for custody even if it wasn't her biological child. Harriet's suggestion seemed almost surreal. It had taken both Bud and Harriet months to convince them to let Harriet carry the child. They were even more amazed when Harriet suggested less than two years later that Tom needed a brother or sister.
The album was filled with first moments of each child's life: the first smile, the first step, first day of school, and on and on. Tom placed the last photo of Bud, Harriet, Harm, Mac, Susie and himself at his high school graduation on the last page of the scrapbook. Underneath he carefully wrote:
Forever thankful for your nurturing collaboration with God.