It was Saturday night; the family had finished playing a few rounds of UNO, had dinner, and the kids had been put to bed. Leaving Harm and Mac the time to finally talk. Turning off the TV to have fewer distractions, Mac looks over at Harm.

'Sorry.'

'About what?'

'This morning.'

'When you left?'

'Yes.'

'It's alright; I know we are dealing with a lot.'

'I want the hearing aid.'

'You do?'

'Yeah, I think it will help.'

'If that's what you really want.'

'It is; I think it will help with my teaching.'

'Go for it!'

'Your not mad?'

'Why would I be mad?'

'That I get one, and you don't?'

'I mean, yeah, I wish my ears were not as bad, but I can deal. What about Cochlear Implants?'

'I don't know; I would think since I'm a hearing aid candidate, I might be for that too. Maybe we can both go. See if you can get them.'

'Me? You know it won't work!'

'Worth a shot!'

'Ok, I'll humor you; we can go.'

Looking up at him, her eyes widen as she gets an idea.

'This is totally changing the subject, but what if,' She starts, leaving Harm on edge.

'What?!'

'What if we started our own law practice? I know you don't like teaching, but we could focus on disability cases.'

'Who said I don't like teaching?'

'I've been trying to get you to join me, but you keep telling me no.'

'We've been through a lot M-A-C I just needed time to decide.'

'What? And a year wasn't enough?!' Mac's face shows a little anger.

'I guess not!' He pauses

'I love you, can we not argue about this?' Harm finishes, letting out a silent sigh.

'I'm sorry, I forget we are both doing this together, and you have different experiences than me.' Mac sighs, leaning on her husband.

'Those are my ideas, what's been going through my head. Well, the hearing aid was this morning when I went on my run. I ended up at the Admiral's house. We talked, and I feel much better.'

'Let's think about the law stuff, but, I think you should go for the hearing aid.'

'I'm scared, though; what if it doesn't work?'

'Then we try something else. Unless you don't want to. I'm not going to force you to do something you don't want.'

'You alright?' Mac asks, realizing they'd really been talking about her.

'Me?'

'Yeah, you.'

'I guess I'm alright, life's been crazy busy with the kids, and I haven't had time to stop. Though, I guess I'm just worried about you. I've given up on me and started focusing on you.'

'But-' she pauses.

'You have to think about yourself too.'

'We both got hurt. You deserve something for you too. Why don't you and Parker go flying this weekend.'

'M-A-C! You know I can't go flying anymore!'

'Who says that? I read online you can fly if your deaf. I mean, you don't need dispatch or anything; plus, you've got P-A-R-K-E-R; she can be your ears.'

'Take Parker out! You both need it!'

'Ok, I'll ask her, see if she wants to go. She might be scared.'

'Ah yeah, I didn't even think about that.'

'I forget that being deaf comes with new emotions.'

'You remember it took Jonah a while to be really comfortable in a car with us driving?' Harm signs shifting slightly in his seat.

'Now that you mention it, yes, so we are not going to stress her; if she says no, then that's a no.'

'Agreed. We don't need to stress the kids anymore.' Harm sighs, watching his wife yawn.

'Bed?'

'Yes.'

Getting up, Harm takes his wife's hand and helps her off the couch. They walk to the bedroom, and Mac starts slipping off her clothes. She's down to her underwear when she tosses her clothes in the hamper. Standing in front of the mirror, she sighs. The scar from one of her early excursions with Harm sticks out like a sore thumb on her leg. She hadn't noticed it in a long while. She'd gotten stitches after the bombing on her knee, and for a while, those seemed to stick out more. Rubbing her hand over it brought back memories, but it didn't seem to bother her. Which she thought was weird. Her emotions had been all over the board this last year, so these small memories just kind of left without anything.

Heading into the closet to get her PJs, she's met with her husband behind her. He wraps his arms around her and kisses her shoulder. She didn't need words or signs to know that he was telling her he loved her. Turning around with a Marine's T-shirt in her hand, she drops it as she looks up and leans in to kiss her husband. He returns her kiss with one as equally as passionate as the one she gave him. As they continued to kiss each other, the air in the room shifted. There was a moment where they finally felt safe. The tension had finally relieved itself, and they finally felt comfortable.

"Love you…" She pulls away as she mouths to him. He mouths an I love you back and leans in for another kiss. She wanted to keep kissing, but she was starting to get cold. Pulling away, Mac shivers as Harm looks at her. He was worried he had done something wrong.

'No, just cold.'

'Oh, well, here!' He signs, helping her get dressed into her PJs and warm up. He then gives her a tight hug, hoping it will warm her up.

'Much better.' She smiles, letting go and heading towards the bed. She climbs in and double checks she'd plugged in her phone before pulling up the covers. She checks her phone one last time before snuggling with Harm. It had a text from the Admiral, and she quickly responded.

Admiral: Just checking in. You ok?

SMac: Yes, thank you. Harm and I had a good talk. Off to bed; talk soon. Love you.

Closing her phone, she sets it down and turns off her light. Snuggling into Harm, she holds him close as she starts to doze off. Harm had flipped off his light, and he soon, too, fell asleep. As the two slept, Harm began to have a nightmare. This was the first in a long time.

***Nightmare***

He was standing in the rubble of the mall. He'd been looking around for Mac, but no one seemed to be there. He was alone as he kept walking. The more he walked, the more people appeared around him, filling almost every empty space. He had been calling for help and calling for Mac's name, but no one was responding. It was like they ignored him. The more he walked, the more his surroundings kept stretching, and he felt more lost. As he looked up, he saw a bloodied and brushed Mac. Something he never got to see. By the time they were reunited after the accident, the two had been cleaned up. Trying to get closer to her the farther she slipped. When he realized in his dream that if he stopped, the closer she would come to him, he tried to trick the system. It didn't work, and when he looked up again, she was gone.

"Mac!" He screamed, watching her fall off into the distance and disappear.

Moments later, he jolted up in the bed. He was in a sweat and breathing rather hard.

***End Nightmare***

Feeling the bed move also woke Mac, who was now looking at Harm worriedly. She hadn't seen him like this before.

'H-A-R-M! You ok?'

'Had nightmare'

'I'm here, right here.' She signs as she pulls him close to comfort him. Letting him know he was awake and alive in the real world.

'You died-' He signed, his face full of sadness.

'I'm alive, though, right here.'

'Please don't ever-'

'I won't, I promise.'

'Do you want me to snuggle? Will that help?'

'Yes,' his face is still sad as he tries to shake the nightmare.

Pulling her husband close, she held him tight as to hopefully get him to sleep. She wakes up the next morning to see him asleep. She'd let him sleep in as she went to the kitchen to make breakfast. As she made it downstairs, she saw Jonah come down moments later.

'Morning!' Mac smiles, shifting as she sees him come in the kitchen. She had been working on getting coffee started.

'You want to help me make breakfast?'

'Pancakes?' Jonah asked, as Parker comes in.

'Yes!'

'Morning, Mom!' Parker smiles, coming up to hug her mother.

'Morning!'

'You want to help make pancakes?'

'Yes, please?'

'Sure, you get the eggs.' She tells Parker as she looks over Jonah.

'You get the box mix out of the cupboard.'

'You two want any toppings?'

'Chips?' Jonah asks, putting the box on the counter and watching his mother start unloading the powder into a large bowl.

'Yes, Dad likes the chocolate ones, and I'll have some too. Just depends on what you guys want.'

The two kids had agreed they both wanted the chocolate chips, so to save time, Mac just poured a bunch of the chocolate chips into the mixture and had Jonah stir it around. As Mac starts pouring the batter into the pan, the kitchen light flickers. Turning, Mac smiles to see her husband come into the room.

'Smells good!'

'You hungry?' Mac asks, flipping a pancake.

'Yes, please!' Harm smiles, coming over to kiss his wife. The two kids gag, watching their parents get all lovey-dovey.

'GROSS!' Parker signs, as the parents laugh at her.

'You don't like when mommy and daddy kiss?'

'No, it's gross!'

'One day, you'll have a partner, and you'll love them like we do.' Harm replies, stepping back from Mac and heading towards the fridge. He grabs the creamer and heads to the coffee pot. He pours himself a cup of coffee and pours in a bit of creamer before sitting down at the table. The kids had finished helping Mac with the pancakes, and they all sat down to eat.

'Wow?! You guys made these?' Harm asks, smiling as he takes a bite.

'Yeah! We helped Mommy!'

'Yes, you did, and I thank you.' Mac smiles, finishing her last pancake.

'I wanted to talk to you guys.' Mac starts.

'I got the opportunity to get a hearing aid; now, this won't give me full hearing, but it will help.'

'Will it hurt?' Parker asks, watching the hands around her.

'Nope, I will get to hear low sounds, and maybe some words, but that's about it.'

'You get them to daddy?' Jonah asks.

'No, unfortunately not, Daddy has bad ears, but I'll go with Mommy and see what they say; it's a lot of testing, and we go next Tuesday.'

'When we get any news, we will let you know.' Mac adds, watching her two kids, trying to see if she can read their expressions. They seemed inquisitive but thankfully not scared. It was nice to see them asking questions. Mac feared that when the couple came home, the kids would be afraid of them. Not sure how to react and keep to themselves. Seeing them open up more and be less afraid made the almost depressive state Mac was in get better. In the beginning, just after the accident, the house was almost quiet. No one really wanted to talk. The adults were still learning to communicate, and the kids were scared to do anything. They didn't know how to react and would act scared around their parents. Parker was afraid something would happen to her parents and her life would fall apart. Thankfully the adults would see therapists, and the kids had counselors they could talk to. A place they could open up.

'Movie?' Jonah asked, looking at his parents, who had been silently flirting.

'Sure, let's watch a movie, help us with the captions, please.' Mac replies.

'Yeah, I can help!' Jonah smiles, helping put dishes in the sink as they go to the living room. He helps them with the captions and turns the TV up so he and his sister can listen but not to loud that it hurts everyone's ears. Harm was good at blowing up the TV. Snuggling on the couch with her kids as they watch the movie, Mac smiles. She holds them close, letting them enjoy the movie. As she watches the movie, she plays with her son's hair, running her hands gently through it. She couldn't be more happier in that moment. Getting to spend the day with her family.