So sorry for the delay in posting. I've had no internet for days, so couldn't post or anything! My email inbox is full-to-bursting! LOL! Okay, this is the last chappie...A big thanks goes out to all of the people over at the JAG voting board at teavee. Their ideas and suggestions give me constant inspiration for increasingly outlandish stories! Also big thanks go to all of the people who leave reviews for my stories. You guys are the best! Thank you; GermanJagaholic, Arica Princess of Rivendell, madge622, starryeyes10, verabell, cbw, McRose, scottiedog and jagrules.

OOOO

Part 7

After changing carrying duty twice, they finally arrived back at the retreat, to be met by the paramedics. News had gotten around that they had found Hope, so there was quite a crowd, even though the military officers tried to keep a space around the paramedics so that they could work unimpeded. Of course, the Mattonis wanted to get to their child straight away, but somehow Alan had managed to persuade them to let the paramedics do their job and stay back a ways.

"Ma'am?" one of the paramedics asked Mac, "Please could you help us keep her conscious? She keeps slipping out of it."

Mac spent the next few minutes trying to keep the child awake, as the paramedics checked over her outward injuries and wrapped her in a thermal blanket. Once that was done, they carefully lifted her into the back of the ambulance parked on site, so that all their other duties could be done in a sterile environment. Here, they established the IV that supplied the vital fluids Hope so desperately needed right now. Her temperature was rising as fast as they could get it to, without compromising her condition, so they announced that now was the time to transport her to the nearest medical facility.

With a kiss to the child's forehead, Mac bid her words of encouragement and good fortune, before climbing out of the ambulance, so that the paramedics could proceed to secure all of the equipment.

Harm came forward with a blanket for her and a cup of coffee, but Mac was by now shivering so badly, she spilt some of it over her frozen hands. Harm took it back from her and together they watched Mr. and Mrs. Mattoni being admitted into the ambulance, to accompany their daughter to the hospital.

Once the flashing lights were out of sight, the Admiral came forward to see them, having only just gotten back himself. He was about to tell them, 'well done,' when he caught sight of just how bad they both looked themselves.

"Are you two alright?" he asked them.

Both nodded, but he steered them to where another set of medics, military ones, were treating other officers for severe heat-loss and exhaustion. Mac didn't even get all the way there, before she went down like a sack of stones. AJ had to hold up most of her weight, because Harm was in nearly as bad shape as she was. AJ supervised the medics getting them settled on some field stretchers and treated, before he went to find Bud, Harriet and the rest of his remaining command.

OOOO

When Mac came to, she was ensconced in a nice warm bed in a nearby hospital. She heard voices outside her door, somebody talking to one of the doctors, but didn't really have the strength to open her eyes and see who it was. Sleep was beckoning to her again. The voices barely registered with her before she drifted back into sleep.

OOOO

Nearly four hours later, Mac opened her eyes again to be greeted not only by the sight of her partner, but also by bright flashes of color. It took a second for her eyes to adjust properly, but she soon realized that she was looking at arrangements of bright flowers.

Harm gave her a smile as he took in the look of confusion on her face.

"We've become something like celebrities, over the past few hours," he told her, "When the ambulance arrived here, there were already a bunch of news crews on-site. I should imagine that it's probably twice as bad, by now."

Mac grimaced as she tried to move.

"You okay?" Harm asked, concerned as she settled back against the soft pillows, "Do you want me to call the doctor?"

Mac shook her head, gently, "My…my head's just a kinda sore…I probably shouldn't move it anymore."

"You hit it as you went down," Harm confirmed, "The doctors want to keep us both overnight, just to be safe."

This was one time when Mac wasn't going to argue. She'd never felt this kind of bone-deep fatigue before, so even if she had any desire to, she was pretty sure her arms and legs wouldn't work well enough to get her out of this hospital bed.

"How's Hope?" Mac asked, knowing how serious this must have been for the little girl.

"It was touch and go for the first hour," Harm replied, "But they downgraded her from the ICU then the high-dependency a little while ago. They're confident that she's going to make a full recovery."

"That's good," Mac sighed in relief, "and you? If you're aching anything like I am, I'm sure that it was an ordeal for you to get through here."

"They presented me with my own set of wheels," Harm told her, maneuvering it backwards so that she could see, "I insisted on seeing you, but you've been sleeping for hours now, so I've come and gone a few times."

Mac chuckled, asking, "And does your room look anything like mine?"

"Virtually identical," he laughed, "I was thinking of asking some of the nurses to donate some of the arrangements to other patients here. There's no way all of them are coming home with me."

"That's a good idea," Mac smiled.

"The Mattonis came to thank me, earlier. They came to see you too, but you were fast asleep," Harm told her, jokingly asking, "What have you been doing, catching up on the last four weeks we missed, while the Daniels trial was going on?"

Mac chuckled, but was silenced by the soft look in his eyes that hinted as to his true emotions while she had been unconscious. It was clear that he had been more than just a little bit worried. Without even thinking about it, she made the effort to move her arm to the side of the bed and grasp Harm's hand where it rested.

"This has been something of a nightmare for everybody involved, these past few days, but I'm glad that we were able to help somebody and that we both got through all this okay," she told him.

"Me too," he nodded, "What can I say? We make an incredible team."

FIN