After they cleaned up the dishes, Mac took Tom on a tour, showing him the den where he imagined having poker game or two with the guys. They came back into the living room to decide on a movie, which took them a little over twenty minutes; they fought over which movie to watch until they made their choice.
Mac had picked The Green Berets, Sands of Iwo Jima and Rio Grande. She would loved to have watched A Lady Takes a Chance, but both of them singularly thought that watching a romance was not a good idea, even though some of the films they picked had some romance in them.
Tom's choices were: The Flying Tigers, The Alamo and Fort Apache. They settled on In Harm's Way only because the title reminded them of Harm. Mac had purchased a sixty-three inch flat screen which she had installed above the fireplace.
In the kitchen while waiting for the popcorn to pop, Tom asked, "Mac, would it bother you if I had a beer? I can always drink a soda or water if it does." AJ and he had bought a couple of cases of beer to drink for the three weeks they would be here but Tom hoped to stay longer. He knew about Mac's alcoholism and did not want to drink in front of her if it bothered her.
Mac was touched that he would ask. "No, it doesn't bother me. Now if you had asked me the first few of months when I first came here, I might have said yes." She leaned back against the counter across from him with her arms wrapped around herself and sighed, "Before I came here there were times that when I passed a bar, or liquor store, I would come very close to stopping to purchase a bottle of vodka. That was one reason I left JAG when I did. I had been having flashbacks of shooting Sadik and what had happened in Paraguay, and all I had been doing was taking it out on everybody, even a witness on the stand. My system was craving a drink in order to calm my anxiety. I don't know why I'm telling you all this." Mac found it quite easy to tell Tom all her secrets.
Glad that she felt comfortable with him to open up, he suggested, "Maybe it's because you need someone to talk to, someone who wasn't there at the time." Even though he knew she was talking to Zek.
"No, I've been talking to Zek, but haven't said anything about being tempted to stop for a bottle of vodka. Not even my uncle Matt knows that. I'm too ashamed to mention it to him."
Reaching across to her, he grasped her hand giving it a squeeze. "I'm sure your uncle would understand and YOU didn't stop for a drink, that's what really matters. You were strong enough to resist that temptation, Sarah. He would be very proud of you if he knew." They were staring into each other's eyes again, getting lost in them. Their heads moved slowly toward each other when they were interrupted.
"He's right, Sarah, I would have been and I am proud of you sweetheart." Matt came over giving her a hug, kissing her on top of her head while wishing they hadn't come back so soon.
AJ, wanting to make Mac at ease, grabbed a beer from the refrigerator asking, "So, what movie are we watching?" He looked to Mac while nodding toward the beer to see if she minded. Seeing her shake her head. "We wondered what happened in there. Saw all those DVD's scattered this way and that over the coffee table.
Tom and Mac tried to look innocent, but it wasn't working. "Well, we decided to watch In Harm's Way; thought it would be appropriate." Tom said grabbing his beer before walking back in the family room.
"How long did it take you two to decide on that one?" AJ asked knowing how stubborn they both were.
Mac automatically answered, "Twenty-minutes and fifteen seconds."
Tom looked at her with surprise, but before he could ask her how she knew that. Matt said, "Don't ask! I could never figure out how her grandmother did that either."
They all took seats with AJ and Matt purposely sitting on the one sofa leaving the other for Tom and Mac. They could have all sat on one, but Matt called both dogs up to sit between AJ and him.
When Mac saw what her uncle had done, she just glared at him. He grinned back at her before taking a sip of his beer. After putting the DVD in the player, Mac turned the sound system on and tossed the remote to Matt. While the movie booted up, she checked the fire adding another log. She then turned all but the small lamp by the front door off and sat at one end of the sofa not really sure if she wanted Tom to sit next to her or hoping he would.
Returning from the kitchen with two large bowls of popcorn, Tom handed one to AJ and Matt. He stood next to the sofa Mac was sitting at looking down at her, saying, "I could only find these two large bowls, hope you don't mind sharing."
Giving him a big smile, she replied, "No, I think we can handle sharing, don't you?"
Tom sat down so close to Mac, she could feel the heat coming off him. Taking a sip of her ice tea to cool off, she took too big of a swallow and started choking. Tom patted her on the back asking if she was okay. Hearing her say she was fine he thought, 'Oh yeah, you sure are fine!'
Neither realized that he had left his arm around her shoulders, but AJ and Matt sure noticed and looked at each other grinning. They all watched the movie and followed it with another one before saying their goodnights.