Part Nine Part Nine

Grandma Sarah's Farm

Bellevue

1043 (10:43 local)

"Sarah, would you mind giving me a hand in the kitchen?" Mac looked up from her perch on the couch next to Harm at the sound of Trish's voice. When Grams and Mac got back from the market, Harm helped them in with the groceries before taking a seat on the couch with Mac while Grams and Trish put the food away.

Mac secretly hoped for a few moments alone with Harm before she talked with Trish, but apparently that wasn't the case. He squeezed her hand gently and gave her an encouraging smile before she stood and walked into the kitchen. Grams left the kitchen giving Trish and Mac some privacy before filling Mac's seat next to Harm.

After a few moments of silence, Grams reached over and covered Harm's hand in hers. "I must say Harmon, I am very fond of your Sarah." Harm looked over at his grandmother with a smile before replying, "Well I'm very fond of her too, Grams."

Grams pulled her gaze away from Harm before staring down into her lap. "She and I had a nice long chat on the way to Sam's Market. She's a very nice woman and she has a heart of gold also." Harm nodded at his grandmother's assessment of Mac and couldn't agree with her more. Mac was the type of person who would do anything for anyone, as long as she had the chance to.

Grams voiced dropped down to a soft whisper with the hope that Mac wouldn't over hear her. "She's afraid, you know, to love you." Harms eyes bulged out of his head, his chin falling into his lap. He hadn't even reached that conclusion yet, although he was close. But how was it possible for his grandmother to know that?

"She…She told you that?" Harm stammered then looked at his grandmother in disbelief. He had known Mac for nine years and not once had she ever come out and told him that, although he didn't expect her too.

"No Harmon, she didn't tell me that. But it's pretty easy to see." Grams waited a moment for Harm to absorb what she was saying before continuing in a sensitive voice. "If you look into her eyes deep enough, you can see how frightened she is to lose your friendship. But her face…her face when she looks at you displays nothing but love. Maybe you never noticed, or maybe you have and just confused it with something else. But she does love you dear, she just needs a little bit more time to come to terms with it."

Harm wasn't quite sure what to say. Of course he'd always hoped that Mac loved him, and not just the type of love you have for you best friend. The real love, the love you have for the person you want to spend the rest of your life with. How was it that his grandmother had more of an insight into what Mac was feeling after only a few hours of knowing her and he was still a bit out of the loop after nine years of friendship?

"Love isn't something you can force, Harmon. You can't just snap your fingers and say, 'I'm going to love this person.' It's something that has to develop and grow on it's own. I'm not saying that she doesn't love you already, but I'm sure Mac's almost ready to love you Harmon. I mean after all, she did come up here to meet your family. That has to count for something, right?"

Meanwhile in the kitchen, Trish was breaking up the freshly washed lettuce while Mac cut and chopped the vegetables for the salads they were having for lunch. Mac wasn't sure having a knife in her possession was the greatest idea right now, seeing as how her hands were shaking like leaves.

Mac knew the talk with Harm's mother was inevitable, she was going to have to have it sooner or later. She would've preferred to have it later rather than sooner, but at least she could get it over with. Mac only hoped that her talk with Trish would be as easy as the talk she had with Grams.

"Sarah dear, you and Harm have been friends for how long now?" Trish already knew the answer to that, but she didn't want to dive into the deeper questions first and give Mac the wrong impression of her.

"Uh…We've been friends for nine years." Mac was downright nervous. She could feel the knife slipping in her hands due to the moisture forming in her palms. She put the knife down and subconsciously wiped her hands on her jeans before resuming her chopping.

Trish smiled to herself when she seen Mac wiping her hands on her jeans. She wasn't trying to make Mac nervous, she just wanted to get to know the woman who captured her son's heart.

"That's an awfully long time to be friends with someone. Are you surprised neither one of you have been transferred yet?"

Mac took in a deep breath…this was harder than she thought. Trish, so far, was only asking simple questions but to Mac it felt more like an interrogation instead of a 'getting to know you' session.

"Well yes, I am surprised that we haven't been reassigned somewhere. It's unheard of to be stationed in one place for so long but it's a blessing also. You grow close to those around you so for me, the work place doesn't always seem like work. It's kind of more like a gathering place for me and my friends."

"As for my friendship with Harm…" Mac paused a moment, trying to think of the proper words to finish her sentence. 'Friend' didn't seem adequate enough to describe Harm and 'Best Friend' didn't feel right to her. Yes, he was her best friend but he was so much more than that. He was the godfather to her godchildren, he was the one constant she had in her life…he was her rock. But she certainly couldn't tell his mother that…could she?

Mac ceased chopping and put the knife down on the cutting board before looking over the counter top towards Harm and his grandmother. "Harm is the one person I know I can always count on; he'd never betray me or our friendship and for that I am forever grateful."

Trish smiled brightly at hearing Mac's answer. That's the answer she was looking for. Mac didn't say the first thing that came to her mind in an effort to hurry along with their conversation. She took the time to think about what Harm truly meant to her before responding and that was when Trish knew. That's when she knew Sarah was the one for Harm. Mac may not have come out and said the words in plain English, but underneath the answer lays the honest to god truth. Sarah was in love with her son, and that was all Trish needed to know.

Trish wiped her hands on her jeans in an effort to rid them of the lettuce pieces then walked over to where Mac was sitting at the end of the island. Once Trish made it over to Mac, she wrapped her arm around Mac's shoulder and whispered, "Welcome to the family, Sarah."

Mac couldn't help herself; tears of happiness filled her eyes at the sheer joy exploding inside her. She wasn't sure what she said to cause Trish to respond in that manner, but she would say it again as long as she could continue to feel this blissful.

Part Ten

Grandma Sarah's Farm

Bellevue

2032 (8:32 local)

Harm sat on his bed with a magazine in his lap. The day had progressed rather fast for his liking. They four of them ate their lunches in relative silence after he, Grams, his mother and Mac finished talking. After their meal they all went and did different activities to pass the time. Mac went into her room to read, Grams went for a nap, his mother did some yard work and he went about fixing the shed that housed the cow feed.

Before they knew it, it was time for dinner. Once again, the meal was passed in relative silence, the group too wrapped up in their own thoughts to worry about making conversation. Trish and Grams were happy that Harm had finally found someone who made him totally and completely happy. Harm worried about the talk Mac had with his mother and Mac continued to work through some of her issues.

The more she thought about it, the more Mac realized she was pushing away the one person who could help her through her issues. She realized that working through things was harder to do when she did it by herself, instead of asking Harm for some advice. All she had to do was talk to Harm, like he told her to do once before. Maybe if she talked to Harm, she would be ready to start a relationship with him sooner than she thought.

As for Harm, all he kept thinking about was Mac's conversation with his mother. When Grams told him it looked like Mac was crying, all of the worst possible scenarios entered his mind. His mother brought up children, her past, or even her future. But when his grandmother told him not to worry because Mac didn't appear to be upset, he started to imagine the possible conversations they could've had to make Mac cry...period.

A soft knock on his door brought him out of his reverie. He looked up to see Mac with a sheepish look on her face. Mac wasn't feeling as confident as she had been earlier that morning. Her emotions were starting to calm and she wasn't sure what to make of it.

"I'm sorry to ask you this but you wouldn't happen to have an extra shirt lying around, would you? It seems I forgot to pack an extra pajama shirt." She stood in his doorway wearing peach colored pajama bottoms and a white tank top.

Harm just smiled and pointed to the top draw of his bureau. Mac walked into the room and over towards the dresser before pulling the draw out. She noticed how the draw only had a few articles of clothing and couldn't help herself from asking, "Don't you think you under packed a bit, Harm?" She grabbed a t-shirt and shut the draw before throwing the shirt over her head and onto her body.

Harm waited until Mac turned towards him before replying honestly, "No, that draw has all the extra clothes that I packed. I knew you were going to forget to bring something so I brought an extra piece of everything in case you needed something."

Mac looked at Harm in awe. He knew her so well sometimes it was almost scary. It was a known fact though, whenever they went away on missions she would always forget to pack something. Most of the time it was socks but this time she forgot a shirt.

Mac continued to stare at Harm, like she was trying to figure something out. Harm just sat on his bed, waiting for her to reach whatever conclusion it was that she was searching for.

However, he wasn't expecting her to walk over to his bed and sit down next to him, her chin resting on her knee. Her eyes fixed onto his, searching for something positive to grasp on to. Here was this gorgeous man, right in front of her, hers for the taking but yet she continued to keep him at an arms length away. She continued to tell herself she deserved to be happy and loved and all she had to do to get those things was grab onto the man in front of her.

After a few moments of staring at Harm, Mac whispered, "I'm sorry." Before Harm had the chance to question her she continued. "I'm sorry for pushing you away, for making you think you were waiting around for something that wasn't going to happen." Mac paused for a moment in an effort to stop the tears from forming in her eyes but it was to no avail. The floodgates were open and she was going to cry; she needed to cry. She needed to cry to rid herself of all the negative feelings she had of herself.

"I know that I shouldn't have pushed you away, I didn't mean too. I was just…I'm so afraid, Harm." Harm reached over and picked Mac up, placing her on his lap before wrapping his arms around her. He opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it. It was best to just let Mac say what needed to be said.

"I'm afraid that if we take the next step, and something happens we won't be friends anymore. And I can't let that happen, Harm. Your friendship is so important to me. If we lost that…god, I don't know what I would do." Mac sniffled softly before burying her head in Harm's shoulder.

Harm hated it when she cried, especially when she did it because of him or something involving him. And this time was no different. He held her tightly to his chest, unwilling to let her go. "You won't lose me, Mac…ever. I'm not going anywhere please believe that. I'm here for as long as you want me."

With that comment Mac sobered. That's what it all came down to really. It all depended on whether or not Mac wanted him too. He told her a week ago that he wanted to be with her, now it was all up to her.

Mac lifted her head from its perch on Harm's shoulder before looking him deeply in the eyes. For the first time she noticed the depth of his emotions for her. The love and security he'd been offering her for quite some time was shining brightly through his ocean blue orbs. She brushed the tears from her cheeks with her fingertips before wiping her hands on her pajama bottoms.

Hesitantly, Mac placed one of her hands on Harms chest over his heart while the other one grasped his chin, holding his face in place, their gazes locked. She knew now was the time to say what needed to be said. She was living for today and fighting for her future all with a simple sentence.

So with her voice just above a whisper, loud enough for Harm to hear she said, "I do want you, Harm. I'm tired of pretending that I don't." The smile on Harm's face was bright enough to light up the entire house. He was just so happy at the moment, he felt like he won the lottery.

Mac felt Harm's heartbeat accelerate at her declaration and in that moment she knew, that everything would be okay. "I still have some things I need to work through, but I can't do it alone. If you don't want to help me then I guess I understand…" Mac's face fell at having to ruin the moment of bliss. She didn't want to burden Harm with her problems but he had to know what he was getting himself into.

Mac was giving Harm an out. If he wanted, which she hoped he didn't, he could walk away from her and move on with his life. She had to at least give him the option because if she didn't she would constantly think he was sticking around out of kindness. And that was something she wouldn't be able to deal with.

Harm lifted Mac's chin with his index finger. "Whatever it is Mac, we'll get through it…together. You're stuck with me now, Marine; there's no getting rid of me." Harm smiled to let Mac know he was joking and she smiled briefly before turning serious.

"I don't want to get rid of you, Harm…ever. I want you to stay with me…" Mac trailed off for a moment trying to dig up the courage to say a single word that could make or break them. "…always." She looked up at Harm in nervousness, hoping she didn't overstep her boundaries, asking for so much from him already.

Harm dropped his hand from Mac's chin before resting his forehead on hers, looking deeply into her chocolate brown eyes. "Always Mac, that's what I want too." She smiled brightly in response and wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulders, holding him tightly to her.

For the first time in a very long time, Mac felt truly and completely happy. She finally had the most important thing anyone could ever ask for and that was a soul mate.

After a few moments of Mac squeezing the daylights out of Harm, she relented her hold on him then rested her head in the crook of his neck. She breathed in his masculine scent, relishing in the fact that the drop-dead-gorgeous man in her arms was all hers. Surely she must have died and gone to heaven. Mac lifted her head from his shoulder for a moment to look at Harm…no, she was in fact still alive and he was still hers.

Finally feeling free of her negative emotions, Mac decided it was time to finally 'seal the deal' so to speak, with Harm. Mac rubbed her nose with Harm's, giving him an Eskimo kiss before saying, " I love you, Harm."

At his whispered, "I love you too, Sarah," Mac placed a gentle hand on his cheek before bringing her lips to his. This kiss, however, wasn't anything like their kiss on the porch earlier this morning. That kiss spoke of things to come and reassurances. This kiss however, started as a soft caress of the lips, just taking a small taste of each other, before progressing into a deeper, more meaningful kiss; an earth-shattering kiss of deep, raw emotion finally being released.

Unfortunately, the need for air became too strong and the pair separated, each taking deep breaths in an effort to calm their racing hearts and burning lungs. Mac's yawn brought a chuckle out of Harm along with his sultry comment. "Tired already, Marine? We haven't even started." Mac punched his arm playfully.

"Yes, I'm tired, I've been up for almost fifteen hours. And, might I add, during those fifteen hours, I had two emotionally charged conversations and I cried…twice."

Harm trailed his fingers up Mac's arm in a soothing manner. "I was just playing with you, Mac. If you're tired then go to bed." Mac looked at him a bit sheepish before replying, "Well, if it's not too much trouble, I'd like to sleep in here with you."

Harm smiled brightly before replying, "I think that can be arranged." He tapped Mac's legs, signaling her to stand so he could stand also, before pulling the covers down and climbing into bed first, Mac following after.

Mac lay on her side, her back to Harm's chest and her head on his arm while his other arm held her securely to him. One hand held his to her chest while the other rested on her belly, fingers intertwined. Harm kissed her softly before saying, "Good night" into her ear. Mac mumbled incoherently already half asleep. She was sure to have some good dreams tonight…