Hi, everyone! I can't believe we're on chapter 20 as Christmas is quickly approaching! These last few ficlets will be a little more Harm-centric. I hope you find them fluffy and romantic but still in character for Harm and Mac. Thank you all for following this story, and I hope you're having a wonderful holiday season.


Family


"Mrs. Patricia Rabb, the United States Navy regrets to inform you that the aircraft of Lieutenant Harmon Rabb, Senior, was shot down over Vietnam on December 24, 1969."

Those words – and the way her heart stopped when she heard them – haunted her for a very long time.

There were so many nights when she couldn't sleep, and Trish lay alone in her bed, surrounded by a stack of letters and cassette tapes. They offered her just a little bit of comfort, to see his handwriting, to read his words, and to listen to his voice.

But they broke her heart at the same time, and there was one night when Trish suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to hold her son.

She selected one of the tapes and hurried into his bedroom. He was sound asleep, but Trish couldn't resist wrapping her arms tightly around him anyway.

"Hi, darling," she whispered against his hair.

"Mom?" he murmured sleepily.

"I wanted you to hear something." Trish pressed the play button on the little cassette player, and there was a soft whirring as the tape started.

"Morning, Trish, Little Harm."

"Daddy?" The little boy perked up at the sound of his father's voice.

"No, darling, they're letter tapes," Trish explained. "Your father recorded them for us while he was away."

"We're launching for a reconnaissance mission early this morning, but Tom says we'll be back in time for breakfast. I don't know what's for breakfast today, but Trish, I'm sure whatever you're cooking is better than what we're having. So you make sure Little Harm eats every bite so he'll grow up big and strong…"

And on that lonely night, both Harm and Trish fell asleep listening to the warm baritone voice of Harmon Rabb, Senior.

~*~o~*~

Trish Burnett hadn't hesitated in accepting the invitation to come to Pennsylvania for the holidays. Even after Harmon was gone, Sarah Rabb had always welcomed Trish into her home. When Trish had remarried, Sarah hadn't even thought twice about welcoming Frank, too.

You're family, she had said. And you always will be.

Trish knew that it was because Sarah wanted to have the chance to watch her grandson grow up. She didn't want to lose the living link to her own son.

Trish sighed. But it hadn't always been easy.

Harm's devotion to his father had consumed him for his entire life. It had driven a wedge between him and Frank, nearly gotten him killed in Vietnam, and then nearly gotten him killed in Russia.

Twice.

She knew that her son bordered on obsessive, but sometimes his heart simply would not let go.

Trish believed that it would take someone very special to fill that void inside his heart.

As she stepped into the airport terminal, she saw her late husband's mirror image standing by the baggage claim. And when she saw the woman standing next to him, Trish knew that she was the one.