Author's Note: You know how you set those lofty goals for yourself in hopes of rising to the occasion? Yeah... well you get lots of updates when I set random goals for myself! I hope you enjoy the next installment of this one. I have another one in my head, but it's kind of a stupid little one shot, so I can't decide if I actually want to do it or not... still mulling in my head. Anyways, enjoy and review if you would like!

The rest of the week went by as usual for the two of them until Harm called home on Thursday requesting Mac's presence at his office.

"What's wrong?"

"I just need you to come in about something."

"Oh, um… okay. You're forgetting that I don't have a car, right? You took it this morning because you knew that Jenna was going to come take me to the grocery store this morning."

"Crap, you're right. We live down the block from a street full of car dealers and we haven't gotten around to getting you a new car."

"Maybe that is something that we can work on this weekend, but for now, what would you like me to do?" Mac asks, still curious as to why he would want her to come in anyway.

"Hold on Mac." He says putting the phone down and walking into the main lobby of his office area where the younger man was waiting.

"Have you eaten lunch yet?"

The younger man shook his head and Harm nodded in acknowledgement before walking back into his office.

"Be ready in fifteen for going out to lunch. You game?"

"You going to tell me what you need?"

"I'm bringing it with us." He says, which causes her to be even more curious.

She's watching for the SUV when it pulls in the driveway and Harm steps out along with another man that she recognizes after a few seconds.

"Sergeant Wallace, I see you took me up on your offer." She extends her hand without skipping a beat.

"I'm sorry ma'am for the intrusion, and you too sir. I lost the piece of paper you gave me with your number on it, and the only thing that I could remember was that your husband works as a Captain at Great Lakes." He explains to both of them.

"Don't worry about it Sergeant. Why don't we all enjoy a meal together and we can talk about what brings you out here." Mac says, putting a hand on his shoulder and gesturing back to the car.

He insists that she gets in front with her husband and after a short discussion about the soldier's favorite fare, they ended up at a small diner in downtown Libertyville.

"Ma'am, I apologize again for doing this." he says as they are waiting for the waitress to return and take their order.

"Sergeant, I'm pretty sure that I was the one who told you to call me if you needed to, so don't you worry about anything. Has something happened?"

"No Ma'am, I just realized that it was time that I got some help."

"Okay, well, why don't we see what we can do to help you out."

After about an hour of talking with the younger man, they realized that since he returned, he hasn't been receiving any kind of medical care including the physical therapy the Army recommended for him after he got back. He was also unable to find a job that he could perform well at and would even consider him given the fact that he had disabilities.

When Harm told the young man that he would pull some strings to put him up on base for a few days until Mac could look into things, his response was that of gratitude and some shame. She saw how proud of a man he was and knew that he had to have hit rock bottom if he was searching for this help.

Later that evening, when he came home, Harm was met at the door with a searing kiss.

"What was that for?" he asked, pulling back and looking into her eyes for the first time that evening.

"For supporting him."

"Mac, all I could think about was Bud. When everything happened to him, all I could think of was what could have happened if he hadn't had the support that he had. He came back to all of us ready to help him. This guy is single, has no family around, and really no support system or friends around him. I don't blame him for having a hard time."

"But don't you think that the Military should have done a better job making sure that he was getting the help he needed after what happened?"

"I do, but at the same time, we don't know if he ever asked for the help." Harm points out and she fades a bit at the words.

"Either way, he needs some help, some support."

"I completely agree with that."

"Can I talk to you about what I found while we eat?"

"Definitely." He says, smiling while taking her hand and leading her into the kitchen for dinner.

They sat down to eat that evening while Mac talked animatedly about an organization she found called The Wounded Warrior Project. The research she did online proved to be something she could put herself behind.

"They don't just council and help with the medical aspects of these different soldiers, but part of it is to provide networks of support. It even includes job training and helping get veterans into different college programs for special training in other fields."

"That sounds amazing." He replies, genuinely impressed with the group.

"They opened up a Chicago branch of the project recently, and I really think I want to call them and talk to them about what I could do to help. I'm sure that they could always use legal advice, and I've decided that I'm going to look into the Illinois bar so I can be an asset in the state and go to trials and things if needed."

"Have you given any more thought to teaching? You mentioned it a while back, and I do agree that your experience in military law really would be an asset to any University."

She thinks for a moment before responding, "For now I want to work on a volunteer level. I want to check into this Wounded Warrior Project and see what I could do there. I'm worried about committing to something like a professor position only because the plan for us is to start a family soon. What if I got the job and then I got pregnant? I don't know how soon or how much stress that is going to be, so I like the flexibility of just volunteering my time."

As she says it, he notices how her voice drops a bit at the end, almost seeming afraid to bring up that part of the conversation.

"How long did the doctor say that we had to wait before we started to try again?" Harm asks, putting a hand on hers across the table.

"They said that I needed to be on birth control for a couple months before we started talking about it again. That doctor that came to see me the next day told me to call when I thought we were ready to go for it again. We're only at about a month now anyways, so it's a moot point."

"It's not. I know that it is on your mind, and it's on my mind too. I'm just wondering if we want to bring it up in our next session with Dr. Miller." He says, knowing that the two agreed to lay all of it out there before they started to try for a family.

She waits for a minute, finishing her food and then standing up to clear her plates from the table. The conversation was throwing her for a loop, and she was getting frustrated at the fact that it was upsetting her given that she brought it up in the first place.

"Mac?" he says, coming up behind her to place his arms around her waist.

"I was the one who even brought it up this time. I just… it's hard to talk about trying when we didn't even really try the first time. I looked into some things about getting pregnant and all the issues that arise. Harm, I don't think that I can handle a sex schedule or shots or all these things… not after we weren't even trying and I was able to get pregnant. When we go to the doctor, I don't want that for us. Everything that I'm reading says that it is so hard on a couple, and I don't think that I can handle that with the two of us."

He turns her around then, knowing that she needed to see his face when he said what he wanted to say next.

"Mac, a while ago, I brought all of this up to you. I did the research and I know some of the things that we could have to go through. I am ready and willing to do any of those things if you want to. I am also willing to put it in God's hands and see what happens. We were able to do it on our own once, so who says that it couldn't happen again? Can I make a suggestion and we can talk it over with Dr. Miller as well to see if he thinks it wise?"

"What's the suggestion?"

"You said that we can't try for another month, right?"

"Right."

"What if we don't really try at all? What if, for a year, we just revel in being together finally? You can go off the pill, and we just leave it up to nature. Maybe a few months in, you're pregnant… maybe you aren't at the end of the year. We just take it off the plate and focus on us, and if it happens then it happens." He says, wondering how she would take that idea.

"Why this way?"

"You just said that you didn't want a schedule or anything like that, and I think that is what they are going to tell us to do. If we go into it tempting fate, then who knows what the outcome can be. I want to start a family with you, Mac, but this way we aren't ruining us trying to get it."

She looks in his eyes, noticing how they show his feelings for her, "so this doesn't have anything to do with stopping the whole idea?"

"No, I want this for us. I just think that we can go about it in a way that is going to work better for the two of us."

"I only have one problem with that idea." She says, having a realization that hurts her a little bit more than she would like.

"What is that?"

"We didn't know before… we weren't really trying and we weren't looking for anything before, and I was pregnant for weeks. I know that they said they didn't know what caused the miscarriage before, but I have to believe that if we would have known, I could have been doing something." She says, still blaming herself a little bit for what had happened.

"So we try to improve our health in the meantime?" he says, and she raises an eyebrow.

"I have a feeling that this is going to mean that I'm eating less red meat."

"Maybe just a little bit. One thing that I was reading about when I was looking into all of this stuff before was that a healthier woman is more likely to have a healthier pregnancy. So, why don't we really work at that and you can take the prenatal vitamins from the get go, and we make sure that we are ready and doing everything right anyway."

"You're serious about this?"

"Mac, if it means that you would worry less and it means that we could possibly get a healthy baby, then yes. The Rabbs are going to keep their PT up and analyze their diet… not that mine was really that horrible."

The afterthought statement earns him a jab in the side as she laughs and then stands on her tiptoes to kiss him heartily for the second time that evening.

"And what was that one for?"

"I'm so lucky to have you."

"You are?"

"I am."