Author's Note: The holidays are finally over, and I'm GLAD! Here's a little update for the fic. I hope you enjoy it and I hope you review if you would like to let me know your thoughts. Enjoy!

"How did lunch go today with Jenna? Did the two of you talk?" he asks, settling into bed that evening and grabbing Mac to him in a comfortable grip.

"We did," she says from her spot resting her head on his chest, "It was hard to have it all come out, but necessary. She is totally supportive. In fact, I found out that she and I share the kid thing in common… only she has no chance of conceiving."

"Why?"

"Something from when she was younger. We talked about adoption."

"Is that something that they are working on?"

"I think she might bring it up to Matt."

"Matt's a nice guy, I'm sure that he'll be open to the idea." Harm says nodding.

"Why do I have a feeling you guys talked about this?"

"He asked me about if we were thinking about kids when we were on our run the other day, and I told him that it was going to be hard for us to have a baby… I didn't give him details, but then he told me that they couldn't. He's worried about bringing it up to her."

"Adoption?"

"Yeah."

"Well, then I hope she does end up talking to him about it. It reminds me of us…. Everyone said that they knew but us."

"Speaking of which, when do you want to have everyone out to celebrate the wedding?"

"You still want to do that?" she says with a raised eyebrow.

"Do I still want the whole world to know that I landed a woman as beautiful as you for my wife? Hell yes! I'll invite people I don't know just to show you off."

"Harmon Rabb, you're obnoxious." She says with a smack to his chest.

"No, I'm just truthful. I think we should have everyone come see the new digs and celebrate."

"Maybe I'll call Harriet tomorrow and see what she thinks about the idea. You know how much she loves helping plan things like this."

"Well, between her and Jenna, I'm pretty sure you won't have to lift a finger."

Mac just smiles at that, and he knows that it was her plan all along, which earns her a squinted eye stare in response, "You know I don't like stuff like that."

"I do know that, but you would think that being married to me would be something you want to celebrate."

"It is, I would just rather celebrate it with you… repeatedly… naked."

"Don't you think that we've done that enough?" he says with a laugh.

"Well, we're practicing for when we can actually try for that little Rabb, so we might as well make it more often."

"Who knew that you would be like this… I should have married you a long time ago. We could have been doing this all along."

She kisses him then, crawling up and placing her hands on his chest, "I don't know if the Admiral would have approved."

"If he knew what I knew, the man would have approved. Trust me." He says, leaning up to kiss her again as they fall into the new but familiar course of the evening.

An hour later, they lay together with smiles on their faces.

"We are only getting better at that…" she says with a sigh.

"I should hope so."

"I love you Harm, you know that?"

"I do, and I love you too…"

"I'm sorry it took us so long to say that to each other." She admits quietly.

"I am too, Sarah… I am too."

Those were the last words they spoke before giving into sleep for the rest of the evening.

When Harm gets home the next day he is met with a very smiley ex-Marine.

"What has you so happy?"

"The three day weekend."

"Oh really? Do you have plans for this three day weekend?"

"I do."

"I don't seem to remember planning anything."

"That is because you didn't and I did. We're going downtown for the weekend and I've got plans for the Art Museum and the Shedd Aquarium, and a hotel on Michigan Avenue for tonight, Saturday, and Sunday."

"What about meetings?" he asks and she smiles.

"I knew that you would ask that, which is why I have talked to someone at my meeting here to be my sponsor. If anything comes up where I need to talk, they are ready for me. I've been feeling a lot better with everything, and I really do think I'll be fine for the weekend."

"I agree."

"Thanks for your vote of confidence."

"Always… so when do we leave?"

"Train leaves from the Libertyville station at 7:18, so get your stuff packed for the weekend and let's ship out Navy."

By the time he gets ready to go she has turned all the lights off in the house and is waiting for him at the front door with her weekend bag in hand.

"Clearly, you wanted to leave this weekend." He says with a smirk coming down the stairs.

"I just wanted to have a weekend with just the two of us and some fun. We've been so deep in everything that has happened and before that it was transitioning. I feel like we're finally settled in a place that we can take a weekend for each other."

"I'm so glad you planned it for us. It'll be a nice break." He says grabbing her bag.

"Harm." She says with a disapproving scowl

"You are no longer a Marine, so you can't use your 'I'm a Marine, I can carry my own bag' line on me. Let me be the gentleman this weekend. Let's just be an adorably in love married couple that people want to watch on the street." He replies with a kiss to her cheek before walking out the door in front of her.

"If everyone only knew how much of a sap you are."

"That is just between the two of us."

The hour long train ride into Chicago passed quickly, with all the sights. They saw the city come into view with all of its lights and a beautiful skyline and both of them were content to watch the scenery roll by. When they got to Union Station it took them a little bit to orient themselves, but they got out on Jackson and Mac insisted that they walk to their hotel.

"Mac, it is more than a few city blocks."

"I know, but we can walk past the Sears Tower on our way, we go over the river, we pass State Street."

"All of these things would happen if we were in a cab too. And wouldn't you rather see all those things in the day time?"

"Harm, can we please just walk? We'll see them on the way back in the day when we come home, but I just want to walk tonight too." she says, using the brown eyes he fell in love with to convince him that they should walk.

It didn't take them too long, navigating the city streets, passing under the EL, and finding their hotel on Michigan Avenue. By the time they got to their hotel room, Harm was already ready to end their evening.

"Can we just do room service tonight Mac? I know that you wanted to experience the city, but I'm beat from today, and I have a feeling that the Aquarium and the Art Institute are going to be plenty of walking in the next few days."

"As long as you let me order a hamburger." She bargains with a raised brow and a pointed finger, giving in because she knew he had a long day.

"You're on…. But will you at least eat some salad with it?"

"Only for you will I subject myself to such things."

They eat and flip through the brochures in their room before deciding a few different places to eat in the next few days.

"There's one place that they are mean to you… we could go there."

"They're mean to you?"

"Apparently they're supposed to be. It's like a play acting kind of thing… sounds amusing."

"That sounds like a fun place to take Harriet and Bud when they come visit."

"There's a dueling piano bar a bit north that we could check out tomorrow night."

"I would probably really enjoy that."

"Which is why I brought it up." She says with a look and a smile in his direction from her perch at the small desk in their room.

"We could just eat at the Art Institute tomorrow for lunch while we're walking around and then see what we pass on the way there to decide on dinner. Then dessert at Howl at the Moon?"

"You are really enjoying this, aren't you?" He says with an amused grin.

"I am. I feel like I've been cooped up at home for too long and this was a great change of pace."

"You and I have never gotten to do this part, you know?" he says, standing up from his spot and coming to take a place behind her.

"What do you mean?" she asks, still glancing through the brochures when he comes to place his hands on her shoulders to get her attention.

"The dating… the first weekend away together. We jumped right in, didn't we?"

"We did."

"Does it bother you that you didn't get that? Honestly?" he asks, knowing that part of him wishes that he had given her every piece of that.

She sets the brochure on the desk and turns to wrap her arms around his neck before answering him, "Harm… when I think about all the dating I've done, it has always been this forced encounter where you are trying to hold someone's attention while at the same time, you're trying to figure out what they're all about too. I was telling Jenna that you and I had this great foundation as friends, while we needed to work on the us part. That's why the dating wasn't important though, because we fit each other so well in the day to day that it would have seemed like we were just doing the same we always did."

"With the added benefit of making out."

She rolls her eyes at the comment but continues, "Yeah, but I think of you and me and our relationship and we are anything but normal. We wouldn't know what normal was."

"So what is this then?" he says gesturing around the room.

"A happy, in love, married couple enjoying some time to themselves for the first time."

"I've got an idea…" he says smiling after she says that.

"What is it?"

"You and I didn't get our honeymoon, you know?"

"No, we didn't, but we needed to move and get—" she starts before he cuts her off with a finger to her lips.

"I'm saying that we should just treat this like our honeymoon of sorts."

"What exactly will that entail?"

"More practicing?" he says with a grin and they finish off their evening tangled in each other.

Apparently during the summer time the Aquarium is the place to be and they are forced to wait in a long line outside the building with the city's skyline stretched out behind them. Their second day in the city was already proving to be hot and sticky.

"This really is a beautiful part of the city, the aquarium, the stadium, and the museum all in one set spot."

"I think that the Planetarium is over here too, actually." He says pointing off in another direction.

"How long do you think this line is going to take?"

"I have no idea, why?"

"Because this Marine is already starting to get hungry, and I don't think I can wait until we get inside."

"I think I saw a couple of vendors while we were walking over her, do you want to go grab something and come back?"

"You don't mind me ditching you for a hot dog?"

"Hey, you stayed out with me well into the night at that piano bar last night, so the least I could do is wait here and give you a few bucks for some hot dogs."

"You really did have a good time over there, didn't you?"

"You know how much I love music, Mac, and those guys could make a piano rendition of darn near everything that people threw at them."

"It was kind of amazing." She says with a nod and a smile.

"So go get something to eat and I'll be waiting."

She kisses him on the cheek before leaving for some food.

She makes her way back to the vendors, enjoying the walk in the warm summer air. While she's standing in line, she notices the man in front of her drop some crumpled cash out of his pocket. He glances down and appears to see it, but doesn't pick it up, so she takes the opportunity to get it for him.

"Sir, you dropped this." she says smiling as she hands it back to him, noticing his US Army cap as he turns.

"Thank you ma'am. I really appreciate it."

When they start moving forward she notices his limp and realizes that the gentleman couldn't bend down to retrieve the money, which was why he left it down on the ground.

"Are you still in?" she asks him, nodding toward his hat.

"No ma'am, I got discharged after an accident in Iraq."

"I'm sorry to hear that soldier. Where were you at?"

"Baghdad, ma'am." He says with confidence.

"Part of me wished I wasn't a JAG during all this combat. I would have been over there with you."

"Army?"

"No, former Lt. Colonel Sarah MacKenzie, United States Marine Corps." She says, putting her hand out for him to shake.

"Sergeant Frank Wallace, US Army." He replies, taking her hand in his.

"Nice to meet you. I did some time over there because I can speak the language, and was overseas when a friend lost his leg on some mines near a new school we built. You did a great service."

"I appreciate that, ma'am."

"And what are you doing now, Sergeant?" she asks and catches his off set look.

He was saved when the man in front of him finishes his order and it is his turn. That is when she has the time to take it all in. His clothing wasn't pressed and washed like most retired military men still wore it, and his shoes were worn thin. He counts through the dollars that she had handed him and searches the menu before she steps in.

"You know what soldier, you made my day by telling me about your service, so let me buy you your meal today. I think we'll take four hot dogs, two bags of chips, three apples, and three bottles of water please." She says to the man before opening her purse and putting her credit card out in front of the cashier.

"Ma'am, you didn't have to do that. It's too much." He says, starting to blush.

"Marines say never leave a man behind." She says, and he gives her a silent nod in recognition of her gesture.

She hands him two of the hot dogs, a bag of chips, an apple, and a bottle of water before taking out a piece of paper to write down her name and their number at home.

"My husband is a Captain up at Great Lakes, and we both worked JAG for years. If you aren't getting what you need from the Army, let us know. I know that it's hard to ask for help, and I'm not ordering you to do it because… well, while I did outrank you, I'm not in any more and neither are you. You deserve the help."

He looks at her a moment before taking the piece of paper from her outstretched hand and nods.

"I may take you up on that offer ma'am, but I've tried to figure it all out before… I don't think that there is help for me."

"If you choose to take me up on that, then I might be able to help you." She says, turning to walk away and get back to Harm.

The man watches her walk away with a small smile on his face. Many had said thank you to him over the years in passing, and he had tried to get help before, but it wasn't what he needed. It was exactly what Mac needed though. She had heard of people who got out of the military and didn't know their rights or their benefits on leaving, but had never seen someone outside of the JAG office that was dealing with it. Why couldn't she use what she knew about the military and the legal system to help people like that?

When she gets back to Harm in the line, her look is far away and he notices her distracted state, "Mac, what took you so long?"

"I um… I think I know what I want to do."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I think I figured out something that I want to do that will still have me working with the military, but in a different capacity."

"Really?"

"Yeah." She says with a smile and he gets the feeling that she needs to think through some different things before she shares with him what happened and her ideas for the future.