June 17th 2032
1837
Rabb dining room
La Mesa, CA
"Mom? Dad? I'm pregnant." Their daughter beams, sitting at the Rabb family dinner table as they have their Sunday night dinner. Mac had been sitting on one end of the table with Harm at the other. Harper had been sitting next to her husband Hank as Mattie sat with Jon, and Harmon, Holden, and sister Harriet filled out the rest of the table.
Mac and Harm had four biological kids, with Mattie technically being Harm's, but she considered Mac her mother too. Mattie came to Harm as a teen and had turned 16 when Harper was born. Harper had been born before they got married and participated in their wedding. Soon after returning from their honeymoon, Mac discovers she's pregnant again. This time a boy who would be named Harmon Rabb III. Mac had been told she had endometriosis, and if getting pregnant with Harper was pure luck, they would look at other options to try again. She was ready to go down that road if need be. It was when she got pregnant with Harmon she suspected that maybe it wasn't as bad as she was led to believe. Unless this, too, was just pure luck. That was when they hit a wall. They had two perfectly good kids, a boy, and a girl, but Mac had wanted more. She wanted the big happy family she never had growing up. Though there could have been a bit of jealousy and Mac wanting to compete with Harriet. They would try In Vitro Fertilization for a few cycles and thought about quitting when they tried once more and. Mac had two viable eggs, and what would you know? Nine months later, twins Holden and Harriet were born. She knew at this point she was done. She had two boys and two girls. A mini Mac and a mini Harm included.
Looking over at her daughter for a moment as she tries to gather what she'd just heard from her daughter, she gasps. Harper had grown up to be a fine young woman. She still had her mother's gorgeous brown hair and the dashing blue eyes of her father.
"You what?" She looks over at Harm, afraid he's going to have a heart attack from the shock of the news, and she can't handle a trip to the ER right now.
"Getting old had no business being this stressful," She told Harm one night as they lay in bed.
"Are you saying I get to be a grandpa again?" Harm asks, watching as the couple nods at him. It had been almost five years now since Mattie announced that she was pregnant with Abigail, and Harm had nearly forgotten what it was like to feel this excited.
"That's great!" Mac smiles, seeing the four of her other children start congratulating their sister. Mattie was 42 this year and married to Jon, and they had two kids, Oliver, who was 10, and his sister Abigail who had just turned four. Harper had just turned 26 with Harmon, 24, and the twins were about to graduate high school and turn 18.
"You know, I'm going to be the best uncle!" Harmon chuckles, taking a sip of his soda.
"Oh yeah?" Holden replies, asking with an inquisitive look on his face.
"Yeah! I'll arm wrestle you for it!" Harmon says, standing and about to get in position to arm wrestle with his younger brother.
"Hey, hey! Boys, we are not arm wrestling over whose the better uncle." Mac proclaims, rolling her eyes. Boys, she never understood them and was quite surprised they had lasted this long with all the shenanigans they had gotten into in their younger years.
"You gotta better way, Mom?" Harmon asks, turning to go sit down. He was bummed not getting to actually arm wrestle with his brother.
"Hmmm, yeah, I do; how about we wait and let the baby decide!"
"Oh, come on! That will take ages!"
"It beats you winning like you always do and Holden pouting for a whole week!"
"I do not!" Holden pouts as Mac shoots him a look. He was doing it again. Holden had always been a sore loser. No matter what they were doing. Whether it be a board game, cards, or a bike race like they did when they were little down the street. You name it; Holden was a sore loser.
"I know! We can bike race like old times!"
"No! You will not be competing for this! So just give it up, Harmon." Mac says, shooting a look to Harm as if to say, 'Help, please.'
"Your mother's right, She's had enough stress lately, and we don't need to be fighting over something like this. I'm sure the baby will like you equally."
"I'd agree with that." Harper smiles, taking her husband's hand and holding it as she watches her brothers discuss how they would decide who was the better uncle.
"When are you going to tell Nana and Papa?" Harm asks, starting to feel sad that his parents couldn't join them for Sunday dinners much anymore. They had begun to age, and getting out of the house wasn't as easy as it used to be.
"I have dinner with them next Friday; I'll have an ultrasound picture by then, so it will be easier for them to understand. You know how forgetful Papa is getting." There is sadness in her voice as she speaks the last few words. It reminded her of the last few years with GeeGee Sarah when she had to go into a home when her dementia had started to get worse.
"I'm going over to help fix the sink tomorrow, so I'll make sure to keep my mouth shut." Harm says, getting up to start cleaning up from dinner. Mac gets up after him and starts picking up the dishes and scraping the food into the food waste bin to be put out in the green waste bin Wednesday night and picked up on Thursday trash day. The two meet in the kitchen, Harm having collected the plates and bringing them to the sink. Turning, Mac takes a moment to admire her husband. He had started to get wrinkles, and his once wonderful brown hair had turned to a beautiful shade of platinum, just like his mother's.
"What?" Harm asks, watching his wife, who had stopped to look at him.
"Nothing, I was just noticing your hair. It's beautiful, like your mother's."
"You like my grey hair?" He asks inquisitively before being cut off by Harriet, who had come into the kitchen for a water.
"Ew!" She gags.
"Mom and Dad are flirting again! Get a room!"
"Ok, I'll take Mom upstairs and see you guys later." Harm chuckles, seeing Mattie come into the kitchen behind Harriet. Her two kids had been upstairs sleeping as they had both sacked out from the day's activities they had done this morning before dinner.
"They're kids, Mom; they just don't get it." She chuckles, putting a hand on Mac's shoulder as she comes over and gives Mac a hug. It made Mac smile to hear her daughter call her mom and give her a hug. Letting go, she excused herself to go wake up her kids. She gets Abigail up, but getting Oliver up is more challenging. He had gotten much bigger, and right now, she had wished she had laid him on the couch in the living room.
"Mom!" Mattie calls out, carefully holding her son in a bridal hold as she walks to the top of the stairs to see if anyone would be there to help her.
"What do you need?" Mac asks in a loud voice. As she rinses her hands and goes towards the stairs.
"You got any more diapers? The poop is real right now, and I used my last one this afternoon."
"Check under the changer; I keep some backup!"
"Thanks!" She replies, laying her son back on the changer. Before Oliver was born, he had been diagnosed with severe Spina Bifida and had surgery as a newborn. Jon had brought him upstairs, and now all Mattie had to do was change his diaper and then get him back down the stairs. Holding him with one hand to keep him from rolling off, she searches around for that diaper her mother had said she stashed. Moments later, she finds the diaper and is able to slip it on her son. Setting him back on the bed, she wraps up the diaper and has plans to toss it in the bathroom trash so it can be discarded and not left in the bedroom to go bad.
"Ollie, Mommy has to go throw something away; please do not move off the bed." She explains to the boy and moves quickly to toss the diaper and then comes back to pick up her son again in the famous bridal hold she was so good at. Carefully she makes her way down the stairs and adjusts her grip before going in search of her husband and the rest of her family.
"Mama! Nana gave cookie!" Abigail smiled, looking up at her mother, who had entered the kitchen.
"Nana gave you a cookie? Wow! Did you say thank you?"
"Yah!" She smiles,
"Good."
"Now, please go find your father so we can get going. You two need quality sleep for school tomorrow." Mattie smiles again, feeling her mother come closer and kiss the boy in her arms and then giving Mattie a kiss on the cheek.
"Love you."
"Love you too, Mom. Just wish my hus-" She stops herself as she spots her husband and her son's wheelchair in the corner of her eye.
"There you are, my arms," Mattie tells her husband as she carefully sets her son down and into his chair before buckling him up.
"Bye, Dad!" Mattie calls as the four move towards the front door. Harm had gone back into the dining room for more dishes when he quickly returned to say goodbye to his eldest.
"Bye, you guys. See you soon; love you."
"Love you, Dad; thanks for the lasagna."
"Welcome." Harm smiles back, watching Mattie turn, ruffle her father's hair, and give him a goodbye kiss.
"I can see why Mom likes it." She whispers before moving back to her son and finally leaving.
"Well, there goes some of the energy." Mac sighs, sitting at the kitchen table for a break and watching Harm load the dishwasher.
"Does it ever surprise you that we made it this far?" She asks him between clinks of the dishes going into the dishwasher.
"Every day." Harm replies, putting a tab in the little box and closing it before starting the dishwasher and going to sit down.
"I mean, when the twins were born, and we would visit them in the hospital, we would have to equally separate our time between our other kids and the babies. I don't know what we would have done without Trish and Frank. Oh, and Mattie, if she'd gone back to Virginia or somewhere else for school and not San Diego State."
"The good thing is we survived; the bad thing is we are getting old. I noticed a new grey hair for me."
"Well, we can only pray; yours is beautiful like mine."
"Yeah, yours is gorgeous, but I already told you that and got accused of flirting."
"You want some coffee? Maybe turn on a show? We can flirt later once the kids go to bed."
"I'd love that, flyboy."
"Let's make sure we see our other family off, and the kids have everything they need first. I know they are adults, but they are my adults, and I love them."
"Make that two of us. I love them too. Including you."
He shoots her his famous flyboy grin and lifts her hand off the table, and kisses it.
"Mom! Dad! We're leaving!" Harper yells from the front door as the two adults get up quickly and head for it before moments later stopping in the entryway.
"We are also going to take Harmon back to the barracks so he doesn't have to take a cab, or you guys take him home. It's on our way anyways." Harper adds as her father gives a silent thank you.
"I don't know why you don't live at home, Harmon; we have room for you. Not to mention I miss you when you leave." Mac sighs, cupping her son's face and kissing it.
"I know you want me home, but living on base just makes it easier for me and makes it more like -" Harmon says, being cut off by Mac.
"The military. I know, I know, you say that every time I mention it." Mac sighs, letting out a tear.
"No crying, Mom, please; I'll see you on Wednesday for dinner."
"I'm not crying! Someone is cutting onions!"
"MOM!"
"Ok, ok, well, you guys better leave before I continue crying."
Kissing her son again, she then leans to kiss Harper.
"Bye, love you." She says, waving and closing the door. Turning, she goes back into the kitchen to finish cleaning up. As she walks in, she sees Holden pulling food out of the fridge to make a sandwich.
"Didn't we just eat?" She asks, watching him stack meat on a slice of bread.
"Yeah, but I'm still hungry."
Ahh, the joys of having a teenage boy. Always hungry and eating us out of house and home.
"Aren't you always hungry? I swear I feed you! Just please save some for the rest of us!" Mac nagged, walking behind him and closing the fridge.
"Mom…" He moves from the counter and tries to shoo her out of the room.
"Go find Dad and do your flirting upstairs; I need some time with my sandwich before bed."
Her eyes go large as she hears him refer to their flirting.
"You know about that?!"
"Mom, I'm not eight anymore; I think we all know you and Dad have sex upstairs."
They had tried to be discreet, but apparently, it wasn't working. Mac was just thankful she didn't have to explain to a young child what she and Harm were doing. Now that would have been awkward.
"Dad and I are going to watch a show and have a little coffee; please don't stay up all night; you have school tomorrow."
"I won't," Holden says, moving to take his plate to his room as Mac goes to make a small pot of coffee.
"Oh, and hey! Please bring your dishes down in the morning. I know you have a few plates up there."
"I will, Mom." The boy grumbled, moving to go upstairs.
After the coffee had been brewed, Mac poured her and Harm a cup before going to the living room and turning on a recorded show. During the commercial break, she looks over at her husband.
"They know."
"Know what?"
"That we make love."
"Well, you know, sometimes we are not very discreet. You have said my name a little loud before."
"Ok, maybe I have, but my point is, our kids know."
"And does that bother you?"
"I mean, I know it shouldn't, as it's a normal thing people do, but it was just a little embarrassing to hear from your kid that he knows you have sex."
"I mean, Harriet did tell us to get a room earlier because we were flirting."
"It seems obvious that they've known for a while."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Mac sighs, shifting and finishing her coffee. The show ends a while later, and they clean up and start turning off the lights to go to bed. They find their way towards the stairs, and Mac stops momentarily. She had a wooden box displayed in a cubby under her stairs. It had a folded flag holder on top with a large space under it with felt to hang pins and ribbons. She was having a moment of memories, and she needed time to look at the medals. She'd retired 17 years ago, just before the twins were born, and while she knew it was the right thing, there were times she definitely missed serving. She retired at the rank of Brigadier General, having done so much and served multiple commands. Her favorite being the nine years she spent with Harm at JAG. Coming up behind her, Harm wraps his arms around her and lays his head on her shoulder.
"You alright?" He asks, looking up to see the medals in front of him. Feeling his arms, she puts her hands around his and sighs.
"Just remembering old times."
"Like what?" Harm asks inquisitively.
"Well, the first memory that came to me was after we brought Harmon home. We had picked him and Harper up from base child care and had come home, and I remember you'd picked up our uniforms from the cleaners the day before, but somehow there was a mixup, and I only had the one uniform." She pauses, trying not to let the tears fall.
"Anyways, I think Harmon was so fussy on the way home that I couldn't wait to feed him and ended up breastfeeding in my uniform in the entryway, and when I was done, he ended up throwing up all over me."
"Oh yeah, and then you panicked so much you scared Harper into thinking something was wrong, and she ended up peeing her pants."
"Oh my, yes!" Mac chuckles, feeling Harm kiss her neck.
"And then we ran around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to figure out what to do with a dirty Harper and your dirty uniform." Harm replies, feeling like he was transported back to that moment of chaos.
****FLASHBACK****
"Oh, GOD! Harmon, my uniform." Mac's voice is full of emotions. She'd just been thrown up all over and unsure of what to do. She'd been thrown up on before, so that was nothing new, but she'd had a stressful day at the office, and everything seemed to crumble since she left the office, and it was dominos as she stepped in the front door.
"Harm! HARM!" She calls, panicking as she moves around the entryway.
'Oh god, what happened? Why am I panicking, calm down, deep breath, you're a Marine, no need to panic.' Mac tells herself as she sees Harm come into the room.
"What's the matter?" Harm asks, waiting for an answer, but Mac doesn't get the chance when Harper comes barreling up to Mac, almost knocking her over.
"Mama kay? Harpee pee pee."
"What sweet pea?" Mac asks, handing the baby to Harm so she can quickly see if she can clean her uniform.
"Mama hurt, yell, make me pee pee."
"Mama is just fine. Do you need to go to the bathroom?"
"Harpee, go done." The girl says, still having issues pronouncing her name.
"You went by yourself? That's my big girl!"
"No, Harpee, go here."
"Oh-" That's when Mac realizes.
"Well then, let's get you into some fresh clothes."
****END FLASHBACK****
The memory fades as she feels Harm kiss her neck again.
"Did that play for you like it did me?" Mac asks, taking a hand and running it over the glass in front of the shadow box.
Harm nods, smiling and watching his wife.
"Do you miss it?"
"What? The babies or the Marines?"
"I guess both."
"Yeah, I definitely miss my JLS command and our time at JAG, but getting to be home with my babies was even better. And yeah, I miss my babies as babies."
Letting go of her husband, Mac turns and kisses her husband. She lets her lips linger before pulling away.
"Are you ready for bed? I am exhausted, and I have to help Mattie with Oliver tomorrow. He's got the day off from school, and I'd told her I'd help babysit."
"You need help?" Harm asks.
"Sure, I was going to go to that inclusive park. With the wheelchair swing, he likes so much. I'd love to have the extra strength because you saw tonight how big he is getting."
"Well then, let's go to bed so we can go to the park!" Harm smiles and reaches for the light switch in the hall area. It lit up the area from above but also had a little light that would light up the both of their military shadow boxes. Each with a flag flown at the San Diego City Hall.
Taking his wife's hand, he walks with her upstairs, and they slip into their bedroom. Undressing, the two get ready for bed. Teeth are brushed, and Mac runs a brush in her hair to keep it from tangling more in her sleep. Climbing in bed, lights are turned off with 'Alexa,' and they spoon each other and finally fall asleep.
"Night, Harm," Mac whispers.
"Night, Mac." Harm replies.