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Hope you like this next lil bit.
"I've gotta go, as much as it pains me to admit it!" Harm said looking down at the head of dark hair that was lying across his chest. "It's time for me to go and get the third degree…. I mean work on the 'Vette with Sturgis!" Harm and Mac had been out flying that morning and were now back at Harm's flat, curled up on the sofa listening to music and enjoying each other's company. Mac twisted her head slightly to look at him and pouted slightly.
"Ditching me for a car already?!" she teased. Harm lent down and kissed her gently. Pulling back, he grinned at the expression on her face.
"No, even worse…. for Sturgis!" he joked back.
"Thank you for taking me flying." Mac replied, a smile crossing her face as she remembered their flight. The view had been spectacular; the morning autumn sun had been shining, hitting the falling leaves giving the countryside below a reddish gold glow.
"And thank you for not getting me attacked by angry farmers.." she added with a cheeky grin.
"Anytime darlin'" Harm replied, the Flyboy grin out in full force as he shifted slightly, trying to get up without disturbing her too much. "Come on, I'll drop you home on the way."
The garage, later that evening
"So.." Sturgis asked as they started working on the car. "I haven't heard from you since Friday…I heard from Tony though, did you have a nice evening on Saturday? He said you were with a certain beautiful Marine Colonel we both know…"
"Sturgis," Harm said, grinning up at his friend from his position under the body of the car, "Stop fishing! If you want to ask me something, ask me!" Sturgis laughed.
"But that will deprive me of the amusement value of torturing you for information!" Seeing the look on his friend's face, he carried on, "so? Told her that you love her yet?!"
"Yep!" Harm replied with a grin, "On Friday night."
"Well you're still standing, and I presume since you haven't been able to wipe that love-sick grin off your face since we got there that she loves you too?!" Harm just smiled at him. "So where did you take her on Saturday then?"
"Legal's" Harm replied, reaching over to pick a wrench up off the floor. "Then to the Mall to watch the first in that old movies season they are showing. That's when I saw Tony - I got him to save us a good seat. Then she came flying with me this morning."
"Very nice too!" Sturgis replied with a wink. "And if I may say so, it's about time too!" Harm gave him a look, "What?!" he said innocently.
"You've only been here five minutes, how can YOU be saying about time too?!" Harm replied, a trace of exasperated amusement on his face.
"Buddy, I could tell from the moment I stepped into the Admiral's office how you felt about her. You sure as hell aren't good at hiding your feelings." He shrugged, "Plus some of your co-workers may have mentioned something to me.." Harm looked amused.
"Let me guess, Harriet?"
"And the Admiral." Sturgis responded, laughing at the look of surprise on his friend's face. "He was the one that assured me that you would both come to your senses eventually. Come off it Harm, I think the only people who didn't know how you and Mac felt were you and Mac!"
"Thanks for that buddy!" Harm replied, rolling his eyes at his friend. "Anyway, I noticed you and Bobbi Latham getting on rather well at the fundraiser!" He added, trying to change the subject, "Anything I should know there?!"
"Uh-uh" Sturgis replied, shaking his finger at Harm, "You're not getting off that easily. I want details! That way I can stop the office scuttlebutt when it starts!"
"There are no details to be had." Harm replied, "We had a very nice evening and we plan to enjoy many more together."
"Fine." Sturgis said, rolling his eyes. It was clear he wasn't get anything out of his friend. "Just for the record, everybody is absolutely thrilled for you both." Harm looked nervously at him,
"Even the Admiral?"
"Even the Admiral." Sturgis confirmed, "I have a feeling he has had a contingency plan for this eventuality to hand for a long time." At that moment Harm's mobile phone rang and he pulled himself out from under the car as he went to answer it.
"Rabb" Sturgis carried on with what he was working on. Suddenly a loud cluttering sound that made him look over at his friend. Harm's face had gone pale. The wrench that he had been holding was at his feet, which had to have been the noise he had heard.
"Is she ok?" He was saying into the handset. A small look of relief flashed across his face. "Yes, I'll be right over. Thanks for calling." He hung up and started looking around the garage wildly for his keys.
"Harm? Buddy? What's up?"
"Mac's been in a car accident. They've taken her to the GW emergency department. I've gotta go."
"Let me drive you. We don't need you to have an accident as well." Sturgis suggested calmly, concerned for his friend's welfare. Harm nodded, and together they headed out to Sturgis' car.
"A friend of mine was in a car accident and was brought here" Harm said, looking frantically around the emergency room reception for Mac. "Can you tell me where she is please?"
"What's her name please?"
"Sarah Mackenzie." The receptionist looked on the computer.
"She's in room 102, just down the hall on your left."
"Thanks" Harm said over her shoulder as he practically ran down the corridor she had indicated, Sturgis trailing in his wake.
"Mac!" he called as he ran through the open door, coming to a halt in front of her bed to see her eyes flicker open. He moved quickly to her side, gripping her hand in both of his, gently rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand. "Mac?" he asked, as she turned to look at him, "Are you ok? What happened?" He looked down at her, concerned to see a fair amount of bruising on her arms.
"I was driving to Harriet and Bud's and someone ran into the side of me at a crossroads. The police think the driver might have been drinking."
"Are you ok?"
"I'm pretty bruised, and the doctor said I have a couple of broken ribs but apart from that I seem to be ok. The doctor did an ultrasound because my abdomen was quite sore, she said she'd come and talk to me shortly." Harm leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead.
"I'm glad you're ok. God I was so scared when I got the call Sarah." Sturgis cleared his throat quietly and said softly,
"I'll go and call Harriet and Bud to let them know you are ok. They are probably worried about you." Mac smiled at him,
"Thanks Sturgis. Sorry I ruined your evening working on the 'Vette!" He flashed her a smile, very reminiscent of Harm's Flyboy smile, Do they teach that at Annapolis?! Mac thought wryly to herself, and he left the room, guessing that they would want some time alone together. He called her Sarah! Sturgis realised as he headed down the corridor to the exit so that he could call Harriet. And she let him. Those two are clearly meant to be together.
Harm was sat on a chair to the side of Mac's bed. Since he had arrived he had barely let go of her hand in case something else happened to her. For Mac's part, she was a little groggy from the painkillers that she had been given and was dozing slightly, greatly calmed by Harm's presence, when she heard a knock at the door and the doctor who had treated her walked in.
"Sarah, I've got the results of your…" she paused when she noticed Harm sitting in the chair. She smiled at him, touched by the caring look in his eye as he watched her patient sleep.
"Doctor Richardson this is my partner, Harm" Mac said softly. Harm nodded at the doctor.
"Could you give us a moment?" Dr Richardson asked, unsure as to whether Sarah would want him in the room; she knew that Sarah was a JAG lawyer and was unsure whether the man was her work partner . Harm looked at Mac and started to get up. She shook head slightly and gripped his hand.
"No. It's fine. Anything you need to say you can say in front of Harm."
"Your ultrasound showed up a small problem with your uterus. You are showing the early signs of endometriosis." Mac looked away and nodded. She had half been expecting something to be wrong. She had heard the word before: her mother and grandmother had both suffered from it.
"Is it treatable?" she asked, feeling Harm's grip tighten around her hand.
"Yes. It's been caught early so we can do a laparoscopy and removed the damage tissue. There shouldn't be too much damage, or long-term effect on you reproductive system. We could book you in for surgery in the next couple of days and you could be back to work in just over a week. You wouldn't be able to lift anything for a few days either." Doctor Richardson watched the pair as they looked at each other, seemingly having a silent conversation with their eyes. Harm nodded.
"I'll stay with her and make sure she's alright." He said, turning and looking at the doctor.
"Ok then. Well I'll see when we can fit you in. Do you have any other questions?"
"When can you discharge me today?" Mac said immediately. She hated sitting in hospital beds.
"Anytime." The doctor replied, "We've given you the prescription for painkillers, I'll get the nurse to process your discharge papers as soon as possible. Do you have any other questions about your condition?"
A little under 2 hours later Harm was helping Mac up the stairs to her apartment. Her ribs were hurting and she was wincing slightly as she walked, allowing, for the first time in her life, her guard to drop down low enough to show weakness in front of another person.
"You doing ok Ninja girl?" Harm asked as he took her keys out of his pocket to open the door. "Why don't you go have a bath, get into your pyjamas and curl up on the sofa and I'll fix us some dinner?" Mac smiled weakly at him.
"I'm not really hungry, but the bath and sofa idea sounds amazing."
About forty five minutes later Mac came out dressed in a pair of cowboy pyjamas that Chloe had bought her. As she came out of her bedroom, the movement caught Harm's eye from his position on the sofa setting something up on the lounge table. He stared at her.
"What?" she asked, his intense gaze leaving her feeling a little unnerved.
"Nothing," he blushed slightly, embarrassed, "I just never knew that cowboy pyjamas could look so sexy." Now it was Mac's turn to blush.
"I think you need your eyes testing their Squid." She said lightly, making her way slowly over to him, "you've obviously gone blind!"
"Never!" Harm replied with a cheeky, flirty grin, "Now come and sit next to me so that I can try and peak down your top, and you can eat something." Mac slapped him round the head playfully, and then winced again as her ribs complained at the sudden movement.
"Harm, I told you I'm not hungry"
"But I can still look down your top?!" Harm said hopefully, the flyboy grin out in full force. She looked at him in mock annoyance.
"I wouldn't wanna scare you!" she replied with a grin, "My bruises are pretty hideous." She turned her attention to the table, where he had laid out the food. Her stomach rumbled suddenly at the sight of the pizza box sitting on the table. How did he know that I would eat pizza before I knew it myself!? She thought in wonder. She reached out for a piece as she sat down beside him and he laughed huskily.
"I knew my marine would be hungry eventually!" he said in amusement. "I was hoping that maybe we could watch this?" he pointed to a DVD on the table.
"Shrek 2?" Mac asked, excitedly, "That's one of my favourites!"
"Well I guess that's settled then." He pulled himself to his feet and went to put the DVD on, returning quickly to rejoin Mac on the sofa, pulling her close and enjoying the scent of her shampoo inter mixed with one that was distinctly Mac. For her part, Mac, although sore and a little worried about her upcoming operation, revelled in the warmth and comfort of lying in his arms, safe in the knowledge that he would do anything in his power to help and protect her.
Well there we go, another chapter done. Hope you all like it. I think this is gonna end up being a lot longer than I had envisioned, but that's great since I'm still really enjoying writing it.
More soon, I promise!!!