Friday, July, 29th

Harm smiled when he descended the stairs and found his wife on the floor doing Pilates. He was a lucky man, he thought as he walked over to her. July had gone by in a hurry it felt like. He'd been busy at work, traveling more than he would have liked. He'd been visiting the branch offices that lay under his command the previous week and spent most of his time in meetings. This week he'd been home, but it was busy as usual. Now that he felt that he had his responsibilities under control he could take some leave soon.

"Morning," Mac smiled when she noticed him.

"Morning. You're up early," he smiled as he bent down to kiss her. "I don't bend like that. How do you do that?"

She chuckled and moved into a new position. "Years of practice. You should really try it with me once.

"Like this?" Harm moved in behind her and sat down with her between his legs, wrapping his arms around her.

"It's all about the breathing," she leaned into him. "You're out of uniform, Captain," she commented.

"You make my rank sound really sexy when you say it like that," he trailed kisses down her neck. "I'm taking the morning off to go with you and Mattie."

"Speaking of Mattie, did you see a stumbling teenager walking around upstairs?" she teased.

"Yeah, she mumbled something about it being way too early to be up and locked herself in the bathroom," he laughed softly.

"Sounds familiar," Mac relaxed into his touch as he started massaging her shoulders. "We have a doctor's appointment at 08.30, then it's her time with Molly and then after that, it's her therapy group. It's a pretty packed day, are you sure you have the time for that?"

"I'm making the time for that," he kissed her neck again. "Besides, I think things are calming down. I'm on top of things."

"Good to hear," she let out a contented sigh. "And if you ever get tired of your day job, you could just do this instead."

He chuckled. "That good, huh?"

"Oh yeah," she moved her head to look at him.

He leaned in and kissed her softly. "I like mornings like these."

"Me too," she turned and leaned on to him again. "Please continue."

He laughed softly. "Yes, ma'am."

"Let's just stay like this," she suggested.

"Today?" he wondered.

She shook her head. "Forever."

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her real close. "I'm in."

"Good," she smiled.

"Morning," Mattie mumbled as she came downstairs.

"Hey," they turned their focus to her.

Mattie slumped down on the floor by their side. "Do we have to be awake now?"

"The schedule says so," Mac let out a sigh. "We're just going to stay like this from now."

"I'm sending in my retirement papers later today," Harm joked.

"Sounds good," Mattie yawned.

Harm's phone beeped, and he reached for it. "Later," he said as he put it away.

"Okay," Mac started to stand. "Enough of this, we better get started."

Harm stood too and reached for Mattie's hand and dragged her to her feet. "Come on, the Marines have returned to reality."

"Okay," Mattie reluctantly headed for the kitchen.

"I'll just take a quick shower and I'll be right down to eat," Mac disappeared upstairs.

Friday, August 5th

Harm hung up the phone and walked out on the porch. Mac and Mattie were indulged in a game of scrabble.

"Mom says hi," he sat down in a chair. "Scrabble outside?"

"Yeah, the weather is too nice to stay inside," Mac smiled sweetly. "Are your mom and Frank doing okay?"

"Yes, and they are looking forward to spending time with us soon," he finished checking his email and put his phone away. "I talked with Tom as well."

Mattie looked at him. "What did he say?"

"That he was glad to hear from us," Harm hesitated. "Weren't you supposed to call him last week?"

"I was, but I didn't," Mattie shrugged. "It slipped my mind."

"He wanted me to say that he's looking forward to seeing you again soon," Harm looked questioningly at Mattie. "You do still want to go?"

"I guess," she hesitated. "Was he still going to his meeting?"

"Yes, he's keeping up with the program," Harm reassured.

"Okay," Mattie shrugged again. "I guess I'll go see him."

"He sounded a little sad about you not calling him," Harm admitted.

Mattie hesitated. "Well, I just wasn't sure what to say to him. I know he's trying, but I…"

Harm and Mattie shared a look. "It's okay not to trust him, Mattie," Mac reassured.

"He let you down," Harm added.

"I just don't want him to get his hopes up," Mattie finished a word and leaned back in her chair.

"About?" Mac scribbled down her score.

"I don't want to go back to live with him," Mattie stood. "I don't really want to talk about it. You can take over," she headed for the door.

"Mattie?" Harm called after her.

"I don't want to talk about it!" Mattie hurried inside.

Harm started to stand, but Mac reached out and took his hand. "Let her come to you."

Harm hesitated. "Are you sure?"

Mac nodded. "She needs to dwell on it. We should let her."

Harm relaxed into his chair. "She's conflicted."

"She is," Mac agreed.

Mattie peaked out the door. "I'm heading to bed. I'm tired," she hesitated. "I'll go stay with my Dad for a few days when we go home."

"It's your choice Mattie," Harm reassured. "And no one is expecting you to move back with him. Not your father. Not us."

Mattie nodded. "Okay. Thanks."

"We love you," Mac smiled. "We're here."

"I know," Mattie smiled. "I love you guys too."

They watched her leave and Harm took Mac's hand. "She'll be okay."

Mac nodded. "We'll make sure of that."

Friday, August 5th

Harm put a few more shirts in his suitcase and headed for his closet again. They were traveling to DC tomorrow and his marine was already prepared for the trip. Mattie had been postponing the packing as well and Mac had ordered her to get it done.

"Mattie is all done," Mac stepped into the bedroom.

"Is she now?" Harm was amused.

"I'm not that bad," Mac hesitated. "Okay, so I am, but Marines are first to go."

"We're not going on a mission, Mac. Just a vacation," he added with laughter.

"This way, we can relax and enjoy tomorrow instead of having two squids running around looking for this and that," Mac pointed out as she closed the door. "Besides, think of how happy I am when I know that you've finished packing," she added and wiggled her eyebrows.

Harm smiled cleverly. "Good point, counselor," he put boxers in the suitcase. "All done," he said proudly.

"See, if we do things my way we get more time for this," she moved into his arms and kissed him.

He moved his hands inside her sweater. "I definitely see the upside of doing things your way."

"We can sleep in tomorrow," she added between kisses.

"That's an even better reason to do things your way," he moved her over to the bed. "If you'd use this method over the years you would have won every argument we've ever had."

She giggled as he put his hands on her behind and lifted her up. "We would have been court-martialed if I had used this method over the years."

"It would have been…" he dropped her on the bed and moved over her. "…totally worth it."

"Totally," she agreed.

The next day

Mattie's suitcase was already by the stairs when Harm and Mac walked downstairs the next morning. Mac put her purse down on the table by the stairs and Harm put their suitcases down by Mattie's. They were all ready for a week back home.

Harm took Mac's hand as they walked to the kitchen. "Something smells great."

"Pancakes?" Mac questioned as they found Mattie behind the counter.

"I made breakfast," Mattie smiled. "I'm all packed and ready to fly home."

"Those words make me so happy," Mac smiled cleverly.

"I do see your point about being prepared," Mattie pointed out as she flipped pancakes. "This way instead of running around I have time for breakfast."

"You're going to turn into a great Marine, Mattie," Mac complimented.

Harm raised his eyebrows. "I thought you were going Navy?"

"We'll see," Mattie shrugged. "I think maybe I'd like to be a Doctor."

"Really?" Harm sat down. "I thought you were sick of Doctor's?"

"I am but seeing so many of them made me realize that they have a cool job," Mattie put pancakes on the table.

Mac smiled as she put juice on the table and sat down beside her husband. "You can do anything you want, Mattie."

"I thought I wanted to be a pilot, but after my crash, I'm not sure I ever would want to go up in a small plane again," she admitted. Harm hadn't pushed Mattie about her flying since the accident, just mentioned that if she wanted to go up he would be by her side. Mattie had let it slip that the thought of going up scared her and that even the thought of commercial airplanes scared her before her first flight after getting out of the hospital. Harm and Mac had been prepared that Mattie might have problems when they flew back to London, but Mattie had handled it great.

"That's your decision," Harm smiled.

"Thanks," Mattie sat down as well. "So, dig in."

"It does look great, Mattie," Mac reached for a pancake. "Thank you."

"I should do my part of the shores around here," Mattie reasoned.

"We appreciate that, but you're a kid, so be a kid," Mac teased.

"Kids," Mattie wrinkled her forehead. "I never quite got them."

Harm and Mac both chuckled. Mattie was unbelievably mature for her age, and sometimes acting like she wasn't their ward, but a fellow roommate, claiming that she should do her part of the chores. Mac appreciated the help, but it had taken her some convincing to have Mattie focus on getting well and her school work and not what chores she should do. The teenager shone through every now and then of course, and Mac and Harm knew that when Mattie settled in she'd let her guards down and be a kid. She was still conflicted about her role with them, not sure how to show them how grateful she was. They would give her time to trust that they would always be there for her.