OOOO

Part 2

Harm was outside, just finishing feeding the hens in the yard, when he saw Sarah in the distance, running towards him. He was about to wave to her, when, as she got closer, he saw that she was quite distressed and was bleeding from the nose.

"Sarah!" he exclaimed, "What's happened? You're bleeding!"

"Nothing," she told him, her voice still shaky with emotion, "I'm alright."

Harm could see by her red eyes and the lines down her face that she had been crying.

"C'mon inside," he told her, "we'll get you something cold to drink and get you cleaned up."

He took her by the hand to lead her, but she hesitated a second.

"Are your parents in?" she asked him.

"No," Harm told her, "Mom, Frank and Grams have gone to church. They won't be back for a while yet."

Once they were inside, Harm grabbed a piece of kitchen roll and tilting Sarah's head back, began to wipe away the blood.

"I think it's already stopped bleeding," Sarah told him.

"How did this happen?" Harm asked her, "It's quite a nasty bump."

Sarah hesitated a second, before telling him,

"It… it was just an accident."

Usually, Sarah didn't go about telling people about her home life, but something about Harm told her that she could trust him.

"My Mom and Dad were having a fight. My Dad lost his temper and went for my Mom, but I got in his way. My Dad accidentally caught me with his hand."

At Harm's horrified look, Sarah quickly explained, "Oh, he doesn't make a habit of it, he'd never purposely hurt me. This wouldn't have been that bad, but I guess I caught his Marine Corps ring."

Slowly, Harm nodded his head.

"Is your Mom going to be alright?"

"Yeah," Sarah assured him, "Dad's passed out now. When he wakes up, he'll have such a killer hangover, he won't be able to get out of bed. And he's always sorry for what he's done when he wakes up."

"Would you like to stay and watch TV?" Harm asked her.

"Yeah, okay. Do you mind if I use your bathroom to clean up a bit?" she asked.

"Sure," Harm told her, "It's just at the top of the stairs. Second door on the left."

After she had washed up, Sarah joined Harm on the couch in the living room, where he was watching re-runs of "The Brady Bunch." As the afternoon movie started, Harm casually glanced at Sarah, then snaked around the back of the couch. Sarah noticed this, but didn't mind in the slightest. It was nice to have someone to talk to, to trust in, particularly when you were an only child. Also, the fact that she was constantly moved from one place to another meant that she didn't really have much of a chance to make friends, let alone meet boys.

The two of them relaxed together on the couch watching the movie. Afterwards, Sarah stood up.

"I'd better get going," she told Harm, "It's already 4:37. My parents will be getting worried if I'm not home soon."

Harm himself had not noticed what time it was, as there weren't any clocks in the living room. He took a look at his wristwatch. Sure enough, it was 4:37. Sarah, Harm noticed, was not wearing a watch.

"How did you do that?" he asked her.

"Do what?" she asked him, as they headed out the door.

"Do you mind if I walk with you?" Harm asked Sarah.

"No, not at all," she replied and Harm locked the front door, then they set off down the road. They walked in comfortable silence for a few minutes, when a large, white car passed them, then braked to a full stop.

"Hang on just a second," Harm told Sarah, "That's my Mom. I need to give her something." He fished the bundle of house keys out of his pocket and ran to the car. The passenger side window wound down.

"Hello, darling," his Mother greeted him.

"Hi Mom," he replied, handing her the keys, "I locked the house up before we left.""

"Who's the young lady you're with?" Frank asked him, interested.

"That's Sarah," Harm told him, "She's on vacation here with her Mom and Dad. She dropped by and we watched some TV. I was just walking her home."

"That's my little gentleman," Gram enthused, proudly, "He's like his Daddy and his Grandpa!"

"I'll see you all in a bit," Harm told them, before running back to where Sarah was standing waiting for him.

"She's a pretty, young thing," Trish observed as she glanced back at Sarah through the rear window.

"Yes, she is," Frank and Grams both agreed.

OOOO

Harm and Mac sat together on the porch steps, looking into the night sky. As Harm cradled Mac against him, he gave a little sigh of contentment.

"It's really beautiful here," Mac commented.

"Yeah," Harm agreed, "It's great when there are no clouds and you can see all of the stars."

OOOO

Harm was up in the loft of the barn, stargazing with his telescope, when he looked down and saw Sarah walking through the orchard towards the farmhouse. As she got closer, he called out her name.

"Sarah! Up here."

She looked up at him, then gave him a wave.

"C'mon up," Harm told her.

"Okay," she replied.

As Sarah climbed up the ladder into the loft, Harm held his hand out to her, helping her up.

"Are you spying on the neighborhood?" Sarah grinned.

"No!" Harm laughed, "Just star gazing. You want to look?"

"Okay," Sarah agreed, sitting down beside Harm and he pointed out all of the planets and constellations and explained about each one. Finally, some time later, Harm finished up, "and that one there, that's Jupiter."

They sat in silence for a minute, then Sarah turned to Harm.

"Harm, is it okay if I stay up here for a while? I don't really want to go home just yet."

"Sure," Harm told her, "Sarah, is everything okay at home? Are your parents fighting again?"

"They were earlier," Sarah replied, "but my Dad's passed out on the couch now and my Mom's already gone to bed. They won't even know that I'm gone and they won't wake up until tomorrow morning."

As Harm gazed through his telescope, changing the focus, he saw that he could indeed focus on his neighbors' house. He chuckled as he remarked, "That wasn't a bad idea about spying on the neighbors."

When he didn't get any answer from Sarah, he turned around to face her and found that she was now fast asleep in the pile of hay behind them. As Harm looked out of the window into the night sky, he saw that it had started raining. He sighed as he looked back at Sarah and stroked her hair back off her face.

"Goodnight Sarah."

OOOO