1513 est

Maryland Science Center

(Mac's POV)

After about an hour at the water part of the Kids Room, Harm and I are already feeling worn and ready to drop.  We've been chasing AJ all over, trying not to lose him.  We also seem to always be in the line of fire...well, water...and we're both consequently soaked.  We've finally gotten a hold of him, and we're leaving the water area for the building area.  On the way out, though, Harm decides that he wants to be cute, and he splashes me as we walk by the last fountain before the dry area.

"Oooooh, Unca Harm...you're in big trouble now," says AJ, who looks as though he'd like nothing better than to see Harm really in trouble.

"But I was just giving Mac a bath, since she got candy all over her, and she's probably sticky," he argues. 

"Maybe she'll buy it if I go for cute."

It's cute, but I'm not buying it.

I creep over to the fountain while Harm is defending himself to AJ, and I get him back.

"Ooh, Unca Harm, I told you that you were gonna be in trouble.  But you didn't listen to me."  He shakes his head solemnly. 

"Okay, well now that all three of us are wet, what do you say we let ourselves get dry while we're building, okay?" I say in what I hope is my best 'mommy voice.'

"Okay," chorus the two boys, and we finally get away from the water.

1845 est

Maryland Science Center

(Mac's POV)

After about an hour and a half in the observatory, we are finally able to drag AJ from the "space place," as he calls it, and we start to make our way to the car.  Harm and I quickly usher him back past the kids' area, trying to keep him distracted by asking him what he wants for dinner.

"Oh, I don't know...hey, can we go to the water room one more time before we leave?"

"Sorry, buddy, it's already closed," replies Harm.

"Pity, too.  I wanted to get Mac one more time."

In your dreams, Flyboy.

We decide to go back to my place for dinner.  As soon as we walk in the door, I tell AJ to get ready for a bath.

"But Aunt Mac, I already got wet at the museum."

"Did you have soap?" I ask.

"No."

"Then you're not clean.  You need soap and water to get clean.  Come on, now.  Bath first, and then we'll have dinner and maybe watch a movie."

"Ooh, ooh, a movie!  Okay!"  He runs into the bathroom, and I follow to get the bath ready for him.

I turn on the faucets and take out the Mr. Bubble bottle that Harriet left for him in his bag.  I pour in a capful under the running water and then replace the cap as the suds spread to all corners of the tub.

All of a sudden, I feel a pair of strong arms wrap around me, and I feel myself being forced into the tub.  I quickly decide that I'm gonna take him down with me.  I grab onto his arms so that he can't escape, and we both fall into the bathtub with an enormous splash that reaches the ceiling and races across the floor to meet the carpet in the hallway, where AJ, stark naked, is standing with his hands clapped over his mouth and his eyebrows disappearing into his hairline in a look of utmost shock.

He regains his voice after he watches a few moments of struggling on my part to get into a reasonably comfortable position that doesn't have my head underwater.  "Unca Harm, you're in really, really big trouble now.  You got water on the floor."

Yeah, and he pulled me into the bathtub with all my clothes on.  He could've at least done me the courtesy of waiting until they were off. 

"But I thought it was Mac's turn to take a bath.  Then she pulled me in, so I guess it was really my turn."

AJ contemplates this for a few seconds, then says, "Or maybe she just thought it would be a good idea to take one together so you save time.  But I thought it was my turn."

"It is your turn, sweetheart.  Just as soon as Harm gets off of me."

"Do I hafta?"  Yes, you're squishing me, and your hand should definitely not be there with our godson standing right in the doorway.

Harm seems reluctant in getting up, but he helps me out of the tub and grabs a towel from the rack and wraps it around me.

"Alright, Sport, jump on in the tub," Harm says.

AJ looks into the significantly emptier tub, then says, "Can I have more bubbles?"

"Sure thing.  Mac, go ahead and get changed, I'll fill it back up."

"Although, I'd much rather help you out of those wet clothes."  I wonder if his mind always works like that.

I change into some dry clothes, then head back to the bathroom.  Harm is in there now with a mop, trying to get all the excess water off the floor even as AJ is putting more onto it with his splashing around.

"Harm, you may as well be sweeping the desert clean.  Why don't you wait until the little Squid is done, huh?"

"Heh, heh...little Squid.  You're funny, Aunt Mac."

"Hmm...I guess she's got a point.  There's less water in the tub than on the floor."  "Okay.  Can you watch him while I get changed into dry clothes?"

"What, you don't want help?" I ask enticingly.

He raises an eyebrow at me.  "I'd love help."  "Someone's got to make sure the Squid doesn't drown."

"Squid.  Ha!  Squiddy squid squid," intones AJ in a soft, sing-song voice.

I grin and nod my head, then sit down on the lid of the toilet seat.

"Uh...I wouldn't sit there if I were you.  I mean, unless you don't mind getting soaked again," says Harm warningly.

"Right," I reply as I move to stand by the doorway.

"Look, you guys...I'm Squiddy Claus!" exclaims AJ, who is sporting a foamy beard and mustache.  "Ho, ho, ho."

It's with great difficulty that we finally get AJ out of the bathtub half an hour later.

"But Aunt Mac, the pirates just captured Christopher Columbus on the Pinto, and they already set the El Niño on fire.  They haven't even caught the Santo Marina yet."

I rub my eyes as I respond, "Sweetie, the captain of the Pinta broke away from the other two ships without permission to find an island of gold, the Santa Maria, which Christopher Columbus was the captain of, struck a reef and sank the next day, and Christopher Columbus used salvaged pieces of it to build a fort on Hispaniola where the remaining crew that couldn't fit on the Niña could stay, while he went back to Spain, arriving just before the rogue captain of the Pinta, thereby winning all the praise and a place in history."

He sits there with his mouth hanging open in stupor, then says, "I think I'm ready to get out of the tub now."

"Hmm...I didn't know all that stuff about Columbus."  "I ordered pizza for dinner.  It should be here any minute."

"Mmm...pizza!" 

Harm takes AJ into the bedroom to get into pajamas, when there's a knock on the door signaling the arrival of dinner.

"Pizzaaaaaaa!!!!!" AJ squeals, and the next minute, he's streaking out of the room—and when I say streaking, I mean streaking.  Before I can stop him, he bolts to the door, flings it open, and stands there in all his glory to greet the pizza delivery guy. 

Harm was obviously taken completely by surprise, because he comes out a whole five seconds after Mr. I'm-too-sexy-for-my-clothes.  I've got my hands over my face in resignation, and between my fingers I catch a glimpse of a dazzling white posterior before he's scooped up by Mr. I'm-too-damn-sexy-for-my-own-good. 

I get up off the couch and grab my wallet lying on the counter to pay the pizza guy.  Thankfully, he finds it all very amusing, and he doesn't seem the least bit embarrassed by it.  I pay him for the pizza and then give him an extra nice tip for his understanding.

"You could've fried an egg on your face just now, Mac.  I wouldn't worry about it.  AJ isn't."

"Unca Harm, can you really fry an egg on Aunt Mac's face?" asks a curious AJ, now fully clothed.

"Nah, it's just an expression."

"Oh." 

We all three just stand there, Harm and I awkwardly, and AJ breaks the tension by saying, "Can we eat the pizza now?"

So we sit at the table and eat our pizza, and when we're done, I accompany AJ into the living room and pop in The Lion King II while he sprawls out on the floor with a pillow from the couch.

"You've got to be kidding me.  There's another one?"  "When did they come out with a second movie?" Harm asks.

"No idea," I reply as I plop down on the couch.

"Oh, but she knows that Christopher Columbus had really great timing and made history."  I roll my eyes and focus my attention back to the television.

Harm sits next to me on the couch.  Forty-three minutes into the movie, AJ is asleep and I'm leaning against Harm, wrapped in his arms and feeling like I'm in heaven.

I feel myself drifting off to sleep, and the last thing I hear from Harm's thoughts is, "Hmm...I wonder where that tattoo is..."

Keep wondering, Butch.