Chapter 10

4 hours later

Inside Mac's hospital room

After having calmed down, Mac found that most of her anger was gone and that she was sitting there in bed mostly baffled. She had never seen Harm act that way before. It was her surprise and anger that saved her from being scared. Because thinking back now, the look of rage in Harm's eyes was scary.

Mac had been wracking her brain the past few hours but still couldn't come up with a plausible reason as to why Harm would act that way towards her childhood friend. Harm was an officer and a gentleman in the truest sense of those words and she still couldn't come to grips with the virtual stranger she saw go berserk in her room a few hours ago.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the nurse coming in to give her dinner. She couldn't help but make a bit of a face at the thought of consuming anymore of that tasteless junk they called hospital food. The nurse just smiled at her.

"Don't worry, Sarah. If all goes well through the night then this should be your last meal here. Did the doctor tell you?" the nurse asked.

"Yeah, Dr. Roshan told me if all goes well he'll be letting me go tomorrow morning. Thank god for that!" Mac said.

The nurse had left her door slightly open and Mac noticed a figure sitting to the left of her door.

"Kate, who is that sitting just outside my room in the hallway?" Mac asked the nurse.

"Oh, it's Harm. He's been sitting there the past couple of hours… I uhh… I heard what happened earlier…"

"Who hasn't, with all the racket we made."

"Sarah, I'm not sure what happened… and I don't mean to be so forward, but maybe you should talk to him. It's obvious he's not going anywhere…" the nurse whispered.

Mac sighed, "I guess you're right. I might as well try to get what answers I can. I sure as hell haven't come up with any on my own."

The nurse gave Mac a reassuring pat on the shoulder as if to tell her 'you're doing the right thing', and walked out leaving her door wide open. After a moment, Mac called out to Harm in the hallway.

"So… are you going to just sit out there all night or are you going to come in?"

Harm didn't have to be asked twice, he was quickly on his feet and by her door. He was still a little unsure of whether to step in. Mac couldn't help but notice how lost he looked… like a lost little puppy almost. Her heart melted at the sight. The contrast between the Harm in front of her at the moment and the Harm of a few hours ago was huge. This one looked like he couldn't harm a fly, and that was the man she fell in love with.

"Come on in, Harm… how long have you been out there?"

"I never left," Harm said, simply. "Look, Mac I'm sorry. I know how all that must've looked. And I'll admit, I kinda lost it…"

"Kinda lost it? You're lucky Jamie didn't press charges against you!"

"Listen Mac, I can explain, I just need you to give me a chance and just listen. Please."

Mac noticed that Harm was holding something behind him. "Alright Harm, I'm listening… and what's that thing you're hiding behind your back?"

"Oh this… it's something I want to show you," Harm said, placing a photo album on her lap. "…But not just yet. I need to explain some things to you first."

Mac fought the urge to open the album, but instead focused her eyes on Harm, "Ok Harm, I'm all ears."

"Mac, I know how frustrated you've been these past few days not knowing anything… and more than that… no one's told you anything. Because of it, I know you've been forced to fill in the blanks yourself. And you've jumped to some wrong conclusions," Harm paused, looking for Mac's reaction.

"What conclusions are those?" Mac asked, confusion written all over her face.

"Well… when you overheard me talking to Harriet about my wedding plans --"

"I concluded that you were getting married. Was I wrong?" Mac asked, somewhat facetiously.

"Yes and no. You were right in that I was getting married… but you were wrong about who I was going to marry."

"Harm, I never found out who it was you were going to marry."

"I know… but you eliminated the possibility that it could have been you."

It took a moment for Mac to digest what Harm had just said to her. Mac sat there stunned at what Harm had just implied. Harm saw the shocked look on her face and took her hand into his large one as if giving credence to his claim. Mac pulled back slightly, a part of her was afraid that she was hearing things. She realized that she couldn't believe what Harm was suggesting… to do so would be to set herself up for a huge fall if she was wrong.

"What are you trying to tell me, Harm?" Mac asked, her voice wavering.

Harm reached for Mac's hand again, "Mac… you are my fiancée."

Mac thought she heard right, but she wanted to be sure, "What did you say?"

"You're my fiancée, Mac. I wanted to tell you since you woke up, but the doctor wanted to wait for a little bit…" Harm noticed that he no longer had her attention. "Mac…?"

"Oh, sorry, Harm I just…"

"I know it's a lot to take in… but it's important that you found out."

Mac stayed silent which worried Harm. She had a faraway look and he wasn't sure what she was thinking. "Mac? Umm… say something."

"Harm, you have no idea how much I wish that were true…"

"It is true, Mac!"

"No, what I meant was… was that it's my experience that when something seems too good to be true… it usually is," Mac said, sadly. "I'm just so afraid that in acknowledging that, I'd be setting myself up for a huge heart break."

"I wouldn't lie to you about this… not something like this."

"But Jamie… he… he didn't say that you and I were engaged. I mean, he didn't say otherwise, but the way he talked… it was like you had a family already… one that doesn't include me."

"Jamie's a liar, Mac! He's been trying to worm his way into your life and he saw your memory loss as the perfect opportunity to do so! Don't you believe anything he says!"

"And why would he lie to me? He's my friend, I've known him for years!"

"He's infatuated with you, Mac. He came to our house before you lost your memory and since then he's been trying to convince you to leave me for him! I'm not lying to you, Mac, this guy has an unhealthy obsession with you. He may have even been the one to put you here!"

"That's ludicrous! I know Jamie, he would never hurt me."

"That's not what I heard, Mac. I heard that he grabbed you at a restaurant at his hotel a couple of days before you were attacked. He wouldn't take 'no' for an answer."

"You heard? How reliable is your source, Harm?"

"I had the detective look into him."

"You did what? Harm you don't have to go to any cop, I can tell you from experience that Jamie's harmless."

"I'm sorry, Mac but I just can't believe that."

Harm and Mac were silent for a few moments, neither was eager to break the deadlock that they found themselves in. After a few more minutes, Harm broke the silence.

"I had Jen drop this off for me earlier," Harm said, pointing to the photo album. "I wanted to show it to you… in case you… had any doubts."

Harm gently opened the photo album on Mac's lap. He pointed to the first picture, "This was us at McMurphy's where we announced our engagement."

Mac saw the picture. She was in Harm's arms, the two of them looking lovingly at each other. They were surrounded by their friends, all of them held their glasses up in gesture of a toast.

"And this picture here was taken by Bud when I was seeing you off at the airport. You had to come here to San Diego just a little bit earlier than me to assume your billet."

In the picture, Mac was wearing her uniform, but Harm was in civvies. He was holding her luggage for her while his other arm held her as he kissed her good bye. Mac wished so much that she could remember that moment.

The next picture was when she and Harm found out that they got custody of Mattie. She was sitting in her wheelchair while Harm and Mac were on either side of her, a huge smile on each of their faces. "This was when you flew down from San Diego for the last hearing on Mattie's custody. We all went out to dinner that night to celebrate."

The next picture was of Mac sleeping next to Harm, her head on his chest. They were laid out across a towel on the beach. "Mattie took this when we weren't looking. We were just enjoying the sun that day."

"And this picture here's another one by Mattie one morning when we were making breakfast." The photo showed Mac trying to make Harm eat a piece of bacon. The look on Harm's face on the photo made Mac laugh.

Harm turned the page and there was a picture of him and Mac at a barbeque. It was obvious they weren't paying attention to their surroundings and were kissing passionately. Harm was leaning against a tree with Mac in his arms and little AJ pulling at his leg obviously trying to get his attention.

"I'm not sure who took that, but that was when we were having a barbecue at Bud and Harriet's. That was a good day, we had found out earlier that our chances of having a baby was a lot better than the four percent chance that your doctor in DC had said. We had huge grins on our faces that whole day, and we really couldn't keep our hands off each other that day."

"You mean… I can have a baby?"

"Our chances are a lot better than what we first thought, yeah. We've had two different doctors tell us that since we got here. We've been pretty hopeful. The doctors have told us that we probably won't even need medical intervention."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean we haven't really been trying… we wanted to get married first, but yeah… we're pretty happy about that." Mac let the conversation go for the meantime.

Harm pointed to the next picture. Mac was asleep, sprawled out on the sofa with her head on Harm's lap. Harm was completely engrossed in his book, but his free hand was holding Mac's hand in his. "And this picture was just taken one lazy afternoon. Mattie thought we looked "cute" together like that, so she took it."

Harm went through the whole album, showing Mac snapshots of their life together the past five months. By the time Harm closed the album, Mac had tears in her eyes.

"I wish… I wish so much that I could remember all that," Mac said, her voice slightly choked from her tears.

"You will, Mac… and even if you don't get your memories back, we'll make new ones… we can do anything Mac, as long as we're together."

"As long as we're together…" Mac repeated in a whisper.

"Mac, I don't want there to be any doubts in your mind. I'm here with you because I can't imagine being anywhere else, and tomorrow, when the doctor releases you, we're going to go home together to our house… our home. I've already taken time off work and I'm going to take care of you. In my heart, you're already my wife and I'm your husband… Mac, I love you, please don't ever doubt that."

Harm brushed the tears from Mac's cheeks with his thumb, leaning forward, he tentatively brushed his lips against hers. Mac, finally accepting the truth, wrapped her arms around his neck deepening the kiss.

"I love you too, Harm… Oh god, I feel like a vise has just let go of my heart that I didn't even know was there… You have no idea the heartache I've been through the past couple of days thinking you were engaged to someone else," Mac said, through her tears.

"I can only imagine what you went through…" Harm said, kissing Mac on the temple. "But at least now you know."

Harm and Mac talked for hours more. Mac had a lot of questions and Harm did his best to answer them. They even agreed that they wouldn't postpone their wedding that was scheduled for the following month. When Mac tried to stifle a yawn, Harm knew that it was time for her to rest.

"Ok Marine, you didn't hide that yawn from me. It's time to sleep."

"No, not yet…" Mac protested weakly.

"Oh yeah… I mean, even the Energizer Bunny needs to be recharged," this got Harm a playful smack.

Harm started taking his jacket off and began fixing the pillow he would be using on the chair next to Mac's bed. "Harm? Would you lie next to me?"

Harm smiled, his first genuine one in days, "Honey, you don't have to ask me twice."

Mac scooted over slightly and Harm settled in next to her, taking her in his arms. Mac cuddled closer to him, breathing in his scent which comforted her to no end. They remained silent for a long time. Harm thought that Mac was asleep until she spoke.

As if thinking out loud, Mac, her voice laced with ice said, "Jamie lied to me."

TBC in chapter 11

Ok, well I know that was a short one, but you guys were threatening me with bodily harm already, so I figured I'd let Mac in on everyone's secret! LOL Well, I hope this chapter appeased a lot of you, and I hope I didn't make it overly sappy. I found myself struggling between heartfelt and cheese. Oh well, live and learn. Anyway, let me know what you guys think and I'll start on the next chapter ASAP! Cheers! BTW, this story has been so full of angst I think I'm going to do a pure fluff story when this is over!