Title: Family Life Part 1

Author: Kate (katydid) PG or Pg-13

Disclaimer: These characters are not mine. I'm just doing this for fun, not for profit.

Many thanks to my beta readers Karen and Holly!

Author's Note: Harm and Mac finally got their act together and married. Mattie is living with them. Harm remodeled his loft plus Mattie and Jen's apartment into a large apartment. Jen now has an apartment on the first floor like Harm's old one. Harm is the military liaison to Bobby Latham's committee on the Hill, but is TAD to JAG when things are slow on the Hill. It's January 2005, and Mattie has just turned 16 and is in 10th Grade.

Rabb/Mackenzie Apartment

North of Union Station

Washington, District of Columbia

2000 EST

Jen was staying with Mattie while Harm and Mac are out on an investigation. The former roommates were planning to spend this Friday night catching up, eating junk food, and introducing Mattie to such classic films as Say Anything.

The movie ended while Mattie was painting her toenails, while Jen picked up the pizza box and the dirty dishes as she was heading off to make some more popcorn. "Jen," asks Mattie -- "was it like it was in the movie when you, you know, did it for the first time?"

"Did what Mattie?" says Jen absent-mindedly. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she realized exactly what Mattie was asking and she realized that she did not want to answer the question.

"You know, IT, had sex for the first time" Mattie replied.

Jen took a deep breath and answered her former roommate "Mattie, my younger years are not something I really like to talk about. Besides its nothing you should strive to emulate. Is there anything you want to know in particular?" said Jen while thinking, ' Please say no. Please say no'."

"Not really. What movie do you want to watch next?" asked Mattie. She realized that she had touched a nerve and this was not a subject, like other parts of her past that Jen liked to talk about.

"I don't care. You choose" Jen replied thinking she had managed to avoid a potentially difficult and embarrassing conversation.

JAG Headquarters

Falls Church, Virginia

1000 EST

A surprisingly nervous Jen knocked on Mac's office door. "Do you have a minute to talk about Mattie ma'am?"

"Come in and close the door," replied Mac "She didn't give you trouble while Harm and I were gone did she?" As she said this Mac was thinking this was a bit unusual since Jen normally talked to Harm about issues regarding Mattie.

"No ma'am. She asked some questions that made me think that you should talk to her."

"Jen we are alone in my office talking about my daughter, I think you can call me Mac," said Mac. "Now what did she ask you and why do you think that I should talk to her?"

"Well, ma'am I mean Mac, after we watched the movie Say Anything she asked me if my first time having sex was anything like the movie," replied Jen. "I told her that I don't really like to talk about my younger years and it's nothing she should emulate. I then asked if she had any specific questions. She said no. Did I say the right thing? I want to be there for Mattie but I didn't know how to handle the situation."

At that moment, Mac knew why Jen had chosen to have this conversation with her and not Harm. "Jen you did just fine. I'd rather not talk about some of my teenage exploits either. You tried to get at any deeper questions," replied Mac.

As she said this Mac realized that starting as mother to a teenager meant being thrown into the hard stuff right away. After all, Mattie had been part of her family less time than Jimmy Roberts had been around, as far as Mac knew the biggest issue Bud and Harriett had with him was biting.

"Thanks for letting me know Jen. I think Harm and I need to talk to Mattie." Don't worry, I won't let her know you told me," said Mac. "I'm glad she talks to you. You don't need to tell her anything that you are not comfortable with, but you are a good example for Mattie."

As Jen left, Mac began an email to Harm asking if he could have lunch with her to do some parent stuff, she left that part of the message purposely vague. She knew they needed a joint plan of attack and didn't want Harm to make this only her responsibility.

Mac's Office

JAG Headquarters

Falls Church, Virginia

1200 EST

Harm arrived at Mac's office with deli sandwiches for both and closed the door.

"So, Mac, what kind of parenting stuff do we need to talk about?" he says.

Mac replies, "Sex."

Harm was surprised and almost sprayed his drink. "What? I mean I thought we hadn't decided about adding to our family yet? Or is something bothering you?"

Mac laughed, "Flyboy, I'm not talking about us or baby. I'm talking about what we need to say to Mattie on the subject."

"Oh," says Harm, somewhat relieved. "I signed the permission slip for family life class the other day so we're covered there."

Mac rolled her eyes at Harm "Nice try but we can't leave this just to her school. There's the whole issue of values and of making sure she knows she can come to us with questions or problems."

"Oh," says Harm. "Isn't that a mother/daughter thing?" Besides what made you bring this up?"

"HARM! We're in this together, while there is definitely room for some girl talk Mattie needs to know what both her parents think. I brought this up because Jen came to see me and told me Mattie was asking questions about Jen's first time. She wanted to be sure she handled it okay and to let us know maybe we should follow up. Remember, we can't let Mattie know Jen told us this."

"I don't suppose we can tell her to wait until she is out of college and married can we?" Harm said hopefully. This was one area where the idea talking to Mattie made him more than a little uncomfortable."No we can't. We'd be hypocrites. Mattie knows we slept together before we were married and being a bright girl I'm fairly sure she knows that we did more than just sleep."

"All right" says Harm. "Can I at least think about it for a while? I don't have much experience talking to 16 year old girls about sex."

"Sure, Harm I want to do some thinking too," replied Mac. "I've got my annual physical this afternoon so I'll see you at home after that."

"Oh yeah that's today isn't it," said Harm. "Are you going to ask if there is anything we need to know or do before we start trying to get pregnant, I mean I know we decided not now, but soon right?"

"Yes, I am absolutely going to bring that up although I'm not sure I'm ready to start trying right away," replied Mac.

Bethesda Naval Medical Center

Parking Lot

Bethesda, Maryland1700 EST

Mac sat in the car staring at all the pamphlets she left had the doctor's office with. She was feeling a little overwhelmed, surprised, and happy about the news she'd just received.

Rabb/Mackenzie Apartment

North of Union Station

Washington, District of Columbia

1800 EST

Mac entered the apartment and found Harm in kitchen starting dinner. It looked like he was making some kind of pasta.

"Hey Ninja Girl!" says Harm. "What did the doctor say?"

"Well she said it's kind of pointless to think about when to start trying, since I'm already pregnant," replied Mac.

"That's wonderful!" says Harm as he picked Mac up and swung her around into a giant hug. He looks at Mac to make sure she was smiling too. "How did this happen I mean I know how it happened but aren't you still on the pill? You are happy about this right?"

"Harm, I'm thrilled about this. I know I said I wanted to wait a few more months but now that I know I can't remember why I wanted to wait," says Mac. "As for 'how,' the doctors best guess is that I fell into that 1 failure rate."

"How far along are you? When can we start telling people? Can we tell Mattie? My parents?"

Mac replied, "I'm about four weeks along. I'd like to wait until I am about 12 weeks along before we tell people in case something happens. However, since this means no carrier or overseas investigations I have to tell the Admiral ASAP. I'd like us to tell him tomorrow before the paperwork reaches him. We can tell your family tonight if you would like." As far as telling Mattie goes", Mac goes on to say "we need to make sure she knows this baby will not make her any less important to us. I think after we tell her, I can use this to start a little woman-to-woman talk in a few days about nothing being 100 effective. That way I can bring up the subject and she won't think Jen told."

"Does this mean I'm off the hook?" asked Harm with a grin.

"No, of course not, your part comes in later, after we have a woman-to-woman talk," replied Mac. "Unless of course you want to be around for a discussion about gynecologist appointments and breast self exams."

"No thanks, I think I'd make us all uncomfortable," Harm replied to his wife.

"By the way where is Mattie?" asked Mac.

"She's babysitting for AJ and Jimmy. Bud called and asked her at the last minute since Harriet seemed like she really needed dinner away from the kids. Bud will bring her home before 2200," replied Harm.