Disclaimer: Don't own'em
--
The next morning...
Mac woke up to a bright sunlight pouring through the windows and a warm Harm hogging the sheets.
She grinned. She put a hand to her mouth to stifle a giggle. How could he be sleeping now? At a time like this? They'd just gotten engaged! They were going to get married!
And he was sleeping.
Unbelievable.
She quietly slipped out of bed before the sheer force of her excitement woke him up. She exited the bedroom, shutting the door behind her, and stood in the middle of the living room.
She looked down at the ring on her finger. She squealed silently. She was getting married to Harm! Of all the things ... she hadn't even let herself imagine this.
She jumped up and down with excitement, but it wasn't enough to tame the energy inside her.
She pulled out her 80s dance moves. Running man. She was getting married. The robot. To Harm! Moonwalk. She had a ring! Milking the Cow. It had taken him months to get up the nerve to put that ring on her finger!
She laughed at that, pausing in her private dance-a-thon. Silly man. Waiting for the right time, her foot!
She glanced at the bedroom, and decided she didn't want to celebrate alone.
She ran back towards the room, pushed the door open and vaulted onto the bed.
"Harm!" She cried, landing squarely on his stomach. "Wake up!"
He grunted in what sounded like pain. His eyes popped open in shock and he looked visibly winded. He sat up so quickly, they almost bumped foreheads.
"Mac!" He placed his arms protectively around her, his eyes wildly searching the room. "What is it? Did someone break in? Where's my gun?" He was disoriented.
She laughed, and hugged him tightly with her arms wrapped around his neck.
"We're getting married!"
He pulled back and stared at her blankly. He blinked. "What?"
She giggled at the expression on his face. "You big oaf. Wake up! We're getting married."
"Today?" He frowned, confusion overrunning his face. "Are you sure?"
She stared at him, trying very hard not to laugh. He apparently wasn't fully awake. She waved her ring-clad ring in front of his eyes.
"You asked me last night!"
He deflated with relief, but immediately straightened, indignant. "You scared me awake because of that! Mac!" He protested. "My heart stopped beating!"
She hugged him again, squeezing him with all her strength.
"I can't breathe, Mac," He choked out. "It's too tight" He tried to pull her arms away.
"We're getting married," She whispered to herself, getting all teary-eyed. She sniffed. "I'm so happy. I love you."
"I love you, too." The poor man sounded very perplexed, but he gave up trying to move her arms and just returned her hug.
She leaned back and patted his cheek.
"You can go back to sleep now, Harm," She offered grandly, her eyes wet with tears, her lips stretched in a grin. "Thank you."
He laughed.
"You are a strange bird, French fry." He kissed her nose. "I think I'll make you breakfast instead. Another wake-up call like that one is likely to give me a heart attack. It's best for my health to just stay awake."
She didn't even feel the slightest bit guilty. How could he even sleep when things were going so amazing?
"Okay." She shrugged happily. "But how about French toast?"
He looked at her in disbelief for a moment, before the tell-tale spark of amusement lit his eyes.
"Only if you promise never to wake me up like that again." He bargained.
"If I did that, I'd be starting our engagement out with a blatant lie. That wouldn't be wise, would it?" She said in as serious a tone as she could muster. "Maybe we shouldn't rush this discussion. How about I give you a few months to think over an answer, and then, when you think the time is right, you can get back to me."
He rolled his eyes. "I'm never going to hear the end of that, am I?"
"Not for all the French toast in the world, Squid."
--
Harm waited as the phone rang. He'd never been so excited to talk with his mother.
"Hello?"
"Hi, mom," Harm tried to sound nonchalant, but he couldn't keep the grin off his face.
"Good morning, darling," Her smile was evident in her voice, as was usually the case when he called her. "So, do I have my daughter-in-law yet?
"Mom," He used the tone of exasperation he'd mastered these last few months, having used it whenever she asked him this question.
"Alright, alright" She relented with a sigh. "I won't ask."
Harm's grin got wider. He was really, really enjoying this.
"Guess what, mom?" He re-assumed his mantle of casualness.
"You proposed," She said, her off-hand tone matching his.
He rolled his eyes. So much for the element for surprise. "You suck all the fun out of announcements."
There was a heavy pause.
"Oh! My! Goodness!" She shrieked, and Harm had to hold the phone away from his ear. "Harmon Rabb Jr. you proposed! Give Sarah the phone!"
"But," Harm protested. He'd done all the hard work, what with proposing and all ..."What about—"
"Now, Harmon!" He knew a command when he heard one.
Harm sighed, glancing at Mac. "She wants to talk to you."
Mac grinned and grabbed the phone from Harm.
"Trish, hi!"
Harm watched as she listened carefully to his mother. She was nodding and laughing and looking beautiful. And soon she would be his wife. Wife. He grinned. Who would've thought: him with a wife. Wait until he told Keeter. Hell, wait until he told anyone.
"Thank you!" Mac's enthusiasm pulled him back to the present. Harm marvelled at his mother. She was congratulating her soon-to-be daughter first, before her already son.
Mac laughed in genuine pleasure at something his mother said.
His mother squealed over the phone, and it sounded suspiciously like "You can finally call me 'mom'!"
He shook his head grinning as Mac laughed even harder.
"We have your flight plans." She nodded into the receiver. "I will, Trish, I promise." She looked at Harm for a moment, smiling widely, before returning her attention to the phone. "What? Oh, sorry Trish. I mean, Mom. Sorry, Mom." She actually blushed when she said 'mom'.
"Bye, Tr- Mom." Mac gave a small, conscious laugh when she corrected herself. "Have fun in Venice! Give my love to Frank."
She handed Harm the phone, and indicated the bedroom.
"Shower," She mouthed to him. He nodded, and turned his attention to his mother.
"Hey, Mom."
"Harmon! I am so proud of you!"
"Thank you." He said, with a touch of pride, and then patiently listened as his mother vented her excitement.
"I always worried you'd never marry! Oh, this is such great news. Frank always said you would settle in your own time, but I was beginning to wonder ..." His mother rambled, as she always did when she was excited. "I thought my only daughter-in-law would be Sarah – the biplane, not that wonderful girl you found – and my only grandchild that corvette of yours."
It was Harm's turn to blush. He was relieved Mac had gone for her shower. She would've teased him for the rest of their lives if she'd heard that.
"Mom!" He exclaimed.
"Oh, I know. I shouldn't have doubted. You do take the roundabout route to practically everything you do."
"Is this supposed to be a congratulatory call?" He cut in, "Because it doesn't exactly sound like one." And his mother said his verbal filter was defective.
"I'm sorry, dear. This is just such incredible news! Wait until I tell Frank!" She paused for a breath. "Oh, and have you told your grandmother?"
"Well, we were going to head over there for Thanksgiving next weekend, to tell her about..." He hesitated, still not sure how he felt about all this, how to talk about it with his mom ... "About my last trip to Russia."
"Harm," Now his mother was hesitating, "Maybe you should give her one big piece of news at a time. Gram is getting on in years."
"So I don't tell her about Sergei?" He didn't think he could keep that from her. She'd see it written all over his face.
"Tell her another time," She suggested. She didn't sound sure.
"How would she take the news? And wouldn't she get upset if she found out I was keeping this from her?"
A heavy pause.
"I don't know how Grams would take it," She finally said, speaking slowly as though testing the words. "But I think if you tell her once you've wrapped your mind around it, and she sees that you're okay with it, she won't worry as much about you."
"She'd worry about you."
"Harm, I don't know if I can talk about it just yet. If I'm ready for that. It still hasn't quite sunk in yet."
"It wouldn't do to avoid it," He said gently.
"I know."
They both sighed.
"Alright," His mother said, her tone decisive. "You should tell her. But give her the good news first."
"She'll be really excited about that," Harm grinned, picturing Gram's reaction and shoving everything else aside.
"She is going to be over the moon!" Trish said, sounding excited herself. She then added in a more severe tone, "Just call her to tell her in advance that you're coming. She'll pull your ear if you don't give her enough notice to cook up a storm for you two."
"Don't worry." He assured his mom.
"And don't forget Frank and I will be passing through two weeks from now, on our way back from Europe."
"Would I forget a thing like that?" He feigned affront.
"Well, not with Sarah to remind you, I'm sure."
Harm rolled his eyes at his mother's teasing.
"This is so wonderful, Harm! I am so excited! I'm so happy!"
"So am I." He couldn't help but laugh at his mother's rambling.
"Good! Now go celebrate with your fiancée!" She ordered.
"Yes, Ma'am." He hung up wearing a smile on his face. It occurred to him there was one more person he could call to tell in person. He headed back to the bedroom to get his cell phone.
"What're you up to?" Mac asked, when he entered the room. She was in the middle of dressing, already having finished taking a shower. Harm had never met anyone who showered as fast as Mac did.
"Getting Frank's phone number off my cell." He answered. He picked up his phone and scrolled through the address book. "I thought we could call him."
"That's a great idea!" She exclaimed. "It'll make him so happy to hear it from you."
"If I beat mom to it," He joked. "She's probably called up everyone she knows by now. Mothers." He shook his head in fond exasperation.
Mac's only response to the statement was a soft smile and a distant look. For the first time since she'd woken him up by throwing her full weight onto his ribs, she seemed subdued. Harm put down his phone and walked up to her. She was buttoning up her shirt, lost deep in thought. He pulled her into a hug.
"Hey." He whispered. He wondered what she was thinking about. Her parents? "When's the next time you can talk to Uncle Matt?"
"Not for a while. We usually only talk once a month." She sounded sad. "I'll write to him."
"Think he'll approve?"
"He'll be very pleased," She answered, her voice muffled by his shirt. She sighed. "Go on, call Frank."
"Okay," He kissed the top of her head. "You want to go to the Wall after? We can tell Dad the good news, too."
She nodded against his chest. "Okay. Although I think he already knows."
Harm smiled. She always knew the right thing to say. But what could he say to her?
She looked up at him, probably sensing his worry for her. "I'm fine, I promise. Call Frank."
He kissed her soundly before retrieving his cell phone. He'd give her that family, he vowed. She wouldn't miss out on anything.