OOOO

Later that night, Mac paid her partner a visit, but unfortunately found him busy entertaining someone she whom she presumed (wrongly) must be his latest conquest. She shrugged off the importance of her visit, saying she had just stopped by for a chat, since she'd been in the area (not entirely true, but Gina's apartment was closer to Harm's than her own.) She assured him she'd catch him at work, the next day.

OOOO

"Join me for lunch, today, Colonel?" Harm asked, after the first session of court recessed.

"Sorry, Harm," Mac apologized, "I'm afraid I've got plans…In fact, if I don't hurry, I'm going to be late…"

"Got a date, Colonel?" Harm asked, curiously.

"Do my shoes suggest 'date' to you, Commander?" Mac asked, after toeing off the pair of heels she had worn in court and slipping into a pair of flats.

She left Harm standing in her office, telling him, "Please close the door on your way out…" before heading out.

Despite her assertion, Harm thought that Mac seemed just a bit too cheerful, too eager to simply be meeting a friend. Was this about, a few nights ago? He'd been wanting to get out of that blind-date-disaster all evening, but that little doe-eyed powder-puff had insisted on following him home. He'd managed to wrap it up soon after Mac left, but Mac had not called like she said she would, even over the next weekend. Was this some sort of revenge for him dating someone else? Harm didn't think that Mac was the vengeful type, sure she had sometimes seemed interested in him as more than a fellow officer, particularly lately, but playing these sort of games?

Harm settled for a working lunch, going over the details of their case, rechecking all the details so they were ready for going back into court.

OOOO

"Sorry," Mac scrambled for her cellphone in her purse, casting an eye to little Penny, once again sleeping peacefully in her carrier.

She didn't stir and Gina quickly assured her, "It isn't a problem."

Mac found it was Harm calling.

"Harm?" she asked, "Have we been called back in early or something?"

A quick glance at her pager told her that wasn't the case.

"No, I just wanted to ask you something…Do you remember Petty Officer Morales saying anything about frequenting bars in the area where the assault took place?"

"Harm," Mac tried to be firm, but polite, "I'm actually kinda busy just now…"

"And this could be an important detail to helping our case," Harm justified, shamelessly baiting her, "This isn't upsetting your date, is it?"

"Goodbye, Harm…" Mac didn't give him the opportunity to reply before she hit the disconnect button on her phone and slipped it into her purse again.

"Just a nosy colleague," she told her sister, "I intend to introduce you to all of my friends, of course, but I'd like to have you to myself for a while, first!"

Gina just laughed, loudly and resumed eating.

Again, Mac's eyes went curiously to Penny, who was still slumbering soundly. Mac had at first been a little concerned that the noisy crowd in the popular restaurant would disturb the baby, but Gina had told her not to worry about it.

Again, Mac thought about what a quiet, placid child Penny was. Neither Bud, Harriet, Harm nor herself had been able to contain Little AJ's energy, at that age. They'd only managed to meet up once over the weekend, so Mac hadn't heard a lot about Penny, other than what a quiet child she was and that she had been sickly, when she was younger.

"She's okay here, really," Gina again reassured her, obviously reading her sister's thoughts.

"I was just worried about the noise," Mac explained.

"She doesn't hear any of it."

Penny certainly seemed to be deeply asleep, Mac noted, before Gina continued.

"Any of it…Mac, Penny's congenitally deaf. She's also mute, although the doctors weren't able to figure out if it's just the problem with her ears, the section of her brain that controls speech or if she is just selectively mute…They said that it can happen with children who are born without hearing. Most still develop sounds, like any other child does, but some never utter a sound, not even reflexive ones."

"But what about in my office, when I shut the door too hard?" Mac asked, confused.

"She's extremely sensitive to vibrations," Gina explained, adding, "And smells, for that matter. She gets excited at the scent of her baby food and her bubble bath! She's well behind most other kids in her development, including physical, but that's only because she had such problems with her digestive system. She was only a few days old when she underwent an operation on her intestines. Doctors thought it might just be IBS or Chron's disease, but it turned out that her bowel was entangled. She has more of it than other children and sometimes things get caught and they become inflamed. She's likely to grow out of it. However, combined with the other problems, her development has been profoundly affected. I was looking into specialist education systems when the bad news came about my leukemia."

"Do you need any help with that?" Mac asked, "I'm sure your hospital and doctor's visits will keep you busy, so I could ask around for you…My friends Harriet and Bud might be able to help. They've got a couple of children, one who is at school. I'm sure AJ's school could give us some references…"

"That would be great, thanks, Mac," Gina looked like her mind was at peace now for the first time in months, "I really don't know what I'd do without you…"

"That's what big sisters are for!" Mac winked at her.

They had to part ways soon after that, because Mac's pager went off to say that the court session had been moved up.

After hugging goodbye, Gina set off with Penny for appointments with the pediatrician and oncologist, while Mac headed in the opposite direction, back to JAG's courtrooms.

OOOO

"How'd your date go?" Harm asked, when Mac answered her door, later that night.

They'd been busy with prosecution strategies all day, so he'd forgotten his prodding campaign.

"Great," Mac teased him back, "Penny's a great girl…"

"What?!" Harm's eyes bugged out of his head, "Oh, you actually weren't on a date, were you?"

"I did tell you that, didn't I?" Mac asked.

"No, not exactly," Harm pointed out.

"As good as…" Mac maintained.

"Are you planning on letting me in," Harm asked, leaning against the wall right next to the door, "or are you entertaining your girlfriend, again?"

"C'mon in," Mac invited, stepping aside to let Harm in.

The first thing he saw when he stepped in was the portable crib that had been set up in the living room.

"Is this your 'girlfriend,' Penny?" he asked, looking at the tiny occupant inside and cocking an eyebrow.

"This is Penny," Mac confirmed, "I'm not sure that I'd call her a girlfriend, but she is my niece, whom I've only known about since last week. I offered to baby-sit tonight because her Mom really needs a full night of rest. She's had a long day with doctor's visits."

"Do you mean you're 'Aunty Mac,' or 'aunty Mac?" Harm asked, which, funnily enough, Mac understood.

"I'm a real Aunt, Harm. On Friday, I discovered that I have a little sister that I never knew existed…or at least she found me. It turns out that she was born and put up for adoption soon after my Mom ran off on my Father and I. I assume that Joe never knew that Deanne was expecting and obviously my Mom found the responsibility of a child too much to handle…again."

"Wow," Harm remarked, "That's BIG news…I assume that you're pleased to find out you have a sister…"

"Yeah, it's something that every only-child wishes for, but I guess I am a little upset by the circumstances. Gina was adopted into a nice home, but her parents died about a year back. She decided to search for her birth family after Penny was born and went through a bad spell and after her doctor told Gina that she had leukemia. She's being treated here in DC, which is where a private investigator told her she could find me."

"Uh, yeah," Harm surmised, "I can see how this is all a little bitter-sweet. Is your sister okay? How's her treatment going?"

"She's only about to enter the first stage, yet," Mac told him, "But I thought she could really use some TLC, beforehand. That's why I'm watching Penny tonight, then again, this weekend, while Gina goes to a 'fitness spa.' She's going to need all the strength she can muster, once her chemo sessions begin."

"That's too bad about your sister," Harm commiserated, asking, "have they said anything about the possibility of a bone marrow transplant?"

"Gina says that she's nowhere near that stage, yet. Her doctors want to try the chemo, to see if they can force the cancer into remission. Bone marrow transplants have the ability to cure, but open up the body to all sorts of post-operative infections. Because their own bone marrow is killed off before the transplant, patients have basically got no immunity until the new bone marrow is established. But I do plan on being tested, anyway."

"She's your full sibling, so the chances of a good match are strong," Harm nodded.

"I'm not sure just how good is good enough for a transplant," Mac told him, before going to check on Penny. Satisfied that she was sleeping, Mac asked Harm if he wanted to stay to watch a movie.

"Sure…Do you want me to help move Penny's crib into the bedroom?"

"Maybe later, but she'll be fine there, for now."

When Mac picked out a movie, Harm expressed concerns about the action sequences in it, thinking that they'd be too loud when there was a child sleeping nearby.

"It won't be a problem, Harm," Mac explained, "Penny can't hear…at all. She's congenitally deaf and is only sensitive to vibrations, but that should be okay, as long as we don't have it up too loud."

OOOO

Mac opened the door, knowing just who would be here on a Saturday afternoon. She'd been expecting this visit all day.

"Hey Harm," she welcomed him in, taking his coat from him and putting it in the wardrobe.

"Look, Penny," she turned back to her niece, who was seated in her car seat on the living room floor, watching a battery-operated toy monkey who blew bubbles, "Aunty Mac's friend Harm has come to see you."

The little girl of course didn't hear her, but looked up at the vibrations coming from the front door closing. Mac at first had been unsure how to act around the little girl; she was basically a stranger to Penny, but as the child had been pretty much accepting of Mac from the get-go, Mac had decided just to follow Gina's example. Gina always talked to her child, just as any other parent would and once Penny grew older, Gina had hopes to teach her daughter to lip-read.

"Hey there!" Harm smiled, bending down to eye-level (or almost) with the small child, "Nice to see you're awake, this time, little one! I can't believe how much you slept, last night."

The little girl watched Harm, placidly, obviously calmed by Harm appealing features. Mac had noted that Nikki Roberts was the same way, in the presence of her Godfather.

"She hardly ever stops sleeping," Mac told Harm, "Gina says she's been like that ever since she was born."

"She's probably growing…" Harm commented, "That's what my Grams always says about tiny babies. My Dad was one and she helped a friend care for her premature baby one summer, when I was about ten. 'Just let him sleep,' she said, 'When he sleeps, he's growing.' How old is Penny? She's a tiny little thing. Was she a preemie?"

"No, she wasn't and she turned five months last week," Mac replied, "but because of the problems she had when she was born, she's a bit behind other babies her age…You wanna hold her?"

Harm was a little wary.

"I dunno, she's so tiny…"

"She's not going to break," Mac assured him, lifting Penny out of her chair and joking, "just make sure you don't drop her. I wouldn't be able to explain it to Gina…"

Harm shot her a quick dirty look, trying to focus his full attention on the tiny little body in his arms.

"Well aren't you an itty-bitty little thing?" he asked the little girl, "I could probably fit you in the palm of one hand! I'm afraid you're going to slip through my fingers!"

"She likes you," Mac told him, with a smile.

Harm wasn't sure about that, but Penny did seem content enough in his arms. She didn't smile at him or anything, but watched him closely with her light brown eyes.

"I should have figured as much, she is a blond, after all," Mac joked, turning and heading towards the kitchen.

"Where you going, Mac?" Harm ignored the joke, but his head shot round and he instinctively held the baby a bit tighter.

Penny rewarded him with a hefty kick to the ribs.

"I'm just going to warm her bottle up," Mac placated him, "Don't worry, I'll only be a second."

"You're stronger than you look," Harm turned his attention back to Penny, who had settled down now that she felt Harm easing up.

By the time Mac returned, Penny had closed her eyes and was dozing.

"How many hours a day does she sleep?" Harm asked, amazed.

"Well, she slept until nearly seven am this morning and she's had several short naps already. I'll wake her up once her bottle has cooled down."

After that, they settled Penny back in her crib and sat down to watch some television.

OOOO

Mac and Gina were sitting with Penny on the hospital bed, waiting for Gina's doctor to show up. They'd just got Gina checked into her room and the doctor would be coming around to tell them about what would happen, later that day, when Gina underwent her first round of chemo-therapy.

"You okay?" Mac asked, watching her sister as she bottle-fed the baby, "You're not worried, are you?"

"Just a little nervous," Gina revealed, "but only because I don't know what's going to happen…the doctor couldn't tell me if I will even lose my hair. He said that after the first few rounds, once we have my blood counts back, then he'd decide if I needed to have the treatment strengthened or weakened. We don't know how my body's going to react to this…"

"I'll be here, the whole time," Mac assured her.

"If I start getting sick, I want you to take Penny out of here," Gina paused, before she explained, "I appreciate you helping me, but the best way you can do that is by protecting Penny. I don't want her seeing anything if I start getting really ill."

"But who is going to help you?" Mac really felt torn, "You're my little sister; I want to help you…"

"Do that; by protecting Penny for me," Gina was unmovable on this detail, "I'll have nurses here who'll take care of me, but I don't want Penny experiencing any of this during her very first year of life…Please promise me you will…"

Mac sighed, pausing for a second before reluctantly agreeing.

They were interrupted from any further discussion by the arrival of Gina's doctor.

OOOO

"How're you doing?" Mac asked, from where she was perched on Gina's bedside.

Gina just nodded and burrowed in closer to her pillow. A fine sheen had broken out across her pale forehead and Mac could see that she was really trying to hold it together.

As she started to turn green, Mac asked, "Would you like me to go and get the nurse?"

Gina nodded.

"Are you sure you don't want Penny and I to stay…"

Mac didn't even get to finish the question, before Gina resolutely shook her head. Mac knew better than to ask if Gina had meant 'No, I'm not sure' or 'No, I don't want you to stay.' She knew perfectly well what Gina had meant and she knew how much her daughter meant to Gina, which is why she had decided upon this.

Using every ounce of her marine strength and training, Mac got up off the bed, dropped a kiss onto the side of Gina's face and went to pick up Penny in her carrier.

"Bye, Mommy," she spoke for Penny, "We love you."

Gina managed a half-smile/half grimace in their direction, before shutting her eyes again and taking some deep breaths.

Mac walked out of Gina's room and made her way to the nurses' station, a single tear escaping and running down her cheek as she did.

She told them how Gina was experiencing severe nausea and when one nurse left to monitor Gina, the others looked back to Mac, who was not going back into the room.

"She, uh…she wants me to take the baby away, when she's feeling this bad…"

One of the nurses patted Mac's hand, understandingly and then went to help her colleague with their patient.

OOOO

When Mac left the hospital, there was only one place she could think of to go.

Harm was at home, that Saturday, doing a bit of DIY around the house. He nearly hit his head on the pipes below his kitchen sink, as he rose to answer his door.

"Mac," his face showed his concern, when he realized who was at his door, "Is everything alright? Isn't Gina at the hospital for her treatment?"

Mac nodded, a few more tears dripping down her face.

"Come in," Harm quickly ushered her and Penny inside, guiding her to the couch and taking his place beside her.

"I, uh, I don't understand, Mac," Harm admitted, "I thought you and Penny were going to be staying at the hospital with Gina, while she had her treatment…"

Mac nodded, wiping away the tears as she explained, "We were…But Gina started to get very sick after the treatment and wanted me to take Penny away…She didn't want Penny seeing her like that…"

Harm wrapped her in a warm hug.

"I just want to help…" Mac explained, helplessly.

"I'm sure you are, Mac," Harm calmed her, "I know you want to be there for your little sister, but you can only help Gina on her terms."

Mac nodded, morosely, turning her head on Harm's shoulder, so that she could see her niece, who had fallen asleep in the car on the way over.

OOOO

After the full set of treatments, Gina was let out of hospital for a couple of weeks, so that she could recover before beginning her second round. How that round went depended upon what her doctor found from her blood tests. Her doctor had arranged an appointment to speak to her about the results and the following treatment on the Tuesday, so Mac took the morning off work and went with her.

"I wish I had better news…"

Mac felt her head spinning, much like it had when she'd heard the same words from her own doctor.

"…Your blood results have showed no change at all. We're going to have to give you more intensive treatment and start you on a few new drugs…"

Mac sighed and her sister took her hand. At that moment, Mac didn't feel so much like the big sister anymore, even though it was Gina who was really impacted by all of this.

"Will that mean that I'm going to lose my hair?" Gina asked.

"Probably, yes," the doctor told her, regretfully.

"And the nausea?" Mac asked, "Will it be worse, with the more intensive treatment?"

Again the doctor nodded and added, "and with the more intensive treatment, we may need to keep you hospitalized between treatments…"

Gina looked to her sister, but didn't need to say anything.

"Of course I'll keep Penny, for you…I know how you feel about having her there when…"

Gina gave Mac's hand a squeeze in thanks.

But she would later find out that there wasn't anything that her sister wouldn't do for her.

After their appointment, Mac waited with Penny for Gina's meds while the prescription for Gina's meds was written up. When Gina's doctor emerged with the slip of paper, Mac asked about the chances of her being a suitable bone marrow donor for her sister.

"Well, we can of course run the tests, but at this point in time, we want to be focusing on the chemo-therapy. What we're hoping for with the chemo, is that Gina's leukemia will go into remission. With bone-marrow transplantation, the patients who succumb post-op usually do so from disease such as rejection or from common illness that is contracted post-op. Without grafted bone marrow, there is no immunity, you understand?."

Mac nodded and the doctor continued.

"But we will of course run the test for you and for any other family members who may wish it."

Mac thought about it for a second, replying, "No…I'm the only one around, just now. We have no idea where our Mother is. Do you think we should begin to search for her?"

"I wouldn't worry about it just yet…We have to hope that a bone marrow transplant won't become necessary…"

Mac nodded and thanked him, before he returned to his office. When Gina returned from the ladies' room, she and Mac headed to the car.

"I asked Dr. Rennick about the possibility of a bone-marrow transplant," Mac revealed.

"And he said that it wasn't in my best interests, unless the chemo doesn't help…" Gina had obviously had the same discussion with her doctor.

"Yeah," Mac nodded, "that's what he said…You asked the same thing?"

"Soon after I was diagnosed," Gina nodded.

The rest of the journey home was quiet, as both women thought about their absentee mother.

OOOO