A Friendly Demonstration
Chapter 55
As the door to his office clicked shut behind Coates and Martinez Harm stared at it in some bemusement for a long moment, the files in front of him totally forgotten, before he gave himself a mental shake and stretching out an arm he started the process of booting his computer with the intention of seeing on screen, for himself, that incredible e-mail purporting to originate from the SecNav's office. However, before he could access that screen, his desk top intercom buzzed.
"Yes?" he snapped.
"Sir, it's Martinez. I just tried several times to get through to the SecNav's office, but all I keep getting is the busy signal, sir."
"Okay, Yeoman Two. Keep trying, please."
"Aye, aye, sir!"
Harm allowed himself a wry grin… He should have expected that practically every recipient of that startling message would be checking its authenticity. But he still had an ace or two in the hole, so while Martinez was tied up with trying to get through to the Pentagon, Harm figured he would go direct to the source. A quick check of his contacts list gave him the number he needed and with a smile of anticipation he carefully dialled it.
"Arnold."
"Good afternoon, Louise. It's Harm Rabb,"
"Harm! Oh… sorry, I mean good afternoon, sir!"
"No, don't worry about it, Harm will do nicely between friends. How's your husband and that little tyke of yours?"
"They're well, I hope…"
"Hope? Don't you know?"
"Well, they were okay before I left home this morning, but now my world's been stood on its head…" Louise Arnold's voice trailed off as suspicion dawned, "And this isn't just a social call, is it, sir?"
"Well, I am always happy to talk with you Louise, but you're right, this isn't just a social call. And what do you mean your world's been turned upside down?"
"You, Captain Rabb, are speaking to the JAG pro-tem!" Louise replied in what she hoped were haughty tones and which made Harm smile.
"And you're feeling a little out of your depth?" he asked sympathetically.
"I feel like I'm on the bridge of the Titanic and I can see the iceberg and I know it's going to sink us, but I can't do anything about it!" Louise complained, with just the edge of laughter mixed with the desperation in her voice.
"H'mm… well order full astern both engines and hope the salvage tug arrives before too long," Harm encouraged her.
"Ah… now we come to it!" Louise replied in a satisfied voice. "You want to know if that e-mail you received is genuine, or some kind of giant hoax?"
"Well, that thought had crossed my mind, but if you are pinch-hitting for the JAG, I guess there's some truth in the message?"
"Every word of it is true, Harm. The Admiral is coming back, and we're expecting him to stomp through the doors to the bull pen at zero seven fifty five on Monday morning, with a growl for everyone!"
"Wow! After he retired… Well…"
"Yeah, I know. That must have been some rabbit the SecNav pulled out of his hat. Has he been taking lessons form you?" Louise's smile was evident in her voice, as she gently teased Harm, the prerogative of an old and trusted friend.
Harm snorted, "Hah! When it comes down to low animal cunning, that man needs no lessons from anyone!"
"Well, that's probably true… but I do need lessons in coping with all this paperwork! Harm, I'd love to speak with you more, but this desk it… it's just covered with…paper!"
"Oh, I know that feeling!" Harm said sympathetically. "Which reminds me, I need an XO and a CoS… how does the idea of a PCS to London strike you?"
"Oh, no!" Louise laughed, "That particular idea has about as much impact as a wrecking ball, and about as much appeal! No thank you! We've only just got settled in DC after Okinawa!"
Harm chuckled, her response was just about what he had anticipated, still, it would have been good to work with Louise again, but…"Okay, then Louise, if that's the way you feel, I'll hang up now and let you try and stem the flow of paper across your desk!"
"Okay, Harm… but don't be a stranger, d'ye hear?"
"I hear! G'bye Louise!"
"Goodbye, sir!"
Harm was still smiling as he cancelled the call and immediately redialled, but this time to Jennifer Coates' extension.
"Legalman One Coates, sir!"
"Coates, this is Captain Rabb. I expect Martinez is still trying to get a line to the Pentagon. Tell her to belay that, I've got independent corroboration from Falls Church. What I want now is the two of you to call round every office in the department and inform everyone that there will be a full formation, less the duty attorney and the duty Legalman in the Chapel Yard at sixteen thirty hours. That is to include the judiciary, less Commander Moseley, I'll tell him myself!"
"Full formation for all officers and all rates in the Chapel Yard at sixteen thirty hours, aye, sir! Martinez and myself to inform everybody, less Commander Moseley!"
"That's it, thanks, Legalman One. But if anyone asks, you haven't got a clue as to why I'm ordering this formation, got that too?"
"Clueless Coates, that's me, sir!" Jen dared to risk a mild joke.
"That'll be the day!" Harm snorted, "Thank you Legalman One!"
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"So… with effect from Monday next, the Navy and Marine Corps JAG will once again be Rear Admiral, Upper Half, A J Chegwidden. What this will mean for us here in London I don't know, and what effect this change of command might or might not have on us is also unknown, but I expect you all to carry on and complete your duties in the exemplary manner in which you have carried them out so far. That is all. Dismissed!" Harm took a breath and watched as the formation broke up amid, as he had expected, a buzz of conversation.
"You can hardly blame them, sir," Charles 'Chuck' Moseley said to Harm as he turned to face the officers who had been drawn up in a single rank behind him.
"No…" and to Moseley's surprise, Harm grinned, "If the news set this dovecote all a-flutter, can you imagine what the impact of it was at Falls Church?"
"Continuing your analogy, sir, I'd say that it put the cat smack dab in the middle of the pigeons!"
"I guess it did at that! Now, gentlemen and ladies, if you'll excuse me, I need to get changed. I've a hospitalised daughter to visit!"
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Libby Hawkes shot up in Harm's estimation during the drive from Grosvenor Square to RAF Northolt. Although it was obvious that the young woman was almost bursting with questions she wanted to ask, she had the sense and restraint not only not to ask any questions but also not to make any comments to her rather thoughtful CO, who was uncharacteristically sombre during the drive.
Grateful for Hawkes' restraint, Harm favoured her with a slightly warmer smile and a thank you, "Now get off, see that the car's gassed up, and then you can go home and speculate with your buddies."
He grinned as he saw the young PFC's expression, "It's okay, Private Hawkes, the news is officially out, so feel free to talk about it with your friends."
Libby Hawkes had no idea of how to respond to what she saw as the Captain's teasing, other than to draw herself up into a brace, "Aye, aye, sir!" and stiffening into a momentary brace about faced and walked back to the car.
Harm watched her go, a secret little smile on his face. PFC Hawkes hadn't been in the Corps very long, but Parris Island had definitely had its way with her, she was a through and through Jarhead, right enough!
Letting himself into the house Harm took a quick shower and changed into a casual shirt and a pair of chinos before making himself an egg salad sandwich and grabbing a bottle of mineral water from the fridge.
His snack meal completed he checked that he had his wallet and ID before locking the front door behind him and climbing into the Subaru. Once he had programmed his destination into the GPS he snapped his seat belt closed and turned the key in the ignition.
Acknowledging the salute of the RAF SP at the main gate, he followed the directions squawked at him from the GPS, smiling a little at the distortion to the clipped British accent – an accent with which he was becoming more and more familiar – and threaded his way through the remains of the evening's crush hour traffic until he hit the A413. Settling the car to a steady sixty miles an hour on the open road and slowing down for the various speed limits en route it took Harm just the forty two minutes to cover the thirty two miles between home and the hospital, but owing to the congestion at the hospital parking lot, due to the influx of evening visitors, he needed to add another five minutes to his total time before he reached the reception desk.
The friendly smiling face of the morning's receptionist had been replaced by a younger woman whose smile was professional rather genuine, but who nevertheless asked politely, "How may I help, you, sir?"
"Hi, I'm looking for Miss Grace's room… I'm her father," he added as the young woman's eyes narrowed and he produced his ID to verify his claim.
The young woman relaxed slightly, "That's fine, thank you, sir. Now if you'll just give me a moment or two…" even as she spoke her fingers were dancing over the keyboard until she looked up with another professional smile, "Miss Grace is in the Owen Thomas Ward, if you take the door to the left and follow the signs, they'll take you straight to the ward, which is on the ground floor."
It took a second for Harm to make the translation from 'ground floor' to 'first floor', but he thanked the young woman and headed across the stiff-pile carpeting to the door that had been pointed out to him.
After what seemed to be a ten-mile hike down corridors that at least had farmed, cheerful prints hung at intervals he entered the ward, passing between two rows of side wards until he reached the nurses' station in what seemed to be the middle of a complex of side wards, storage closets and from the aroma of coffee, a ward kitchen.
"Good evening, I'm Harmon Rabb, I'm looking for my daughter's room," he told the nurse on duty.
"Mister Rabb, yes, we've been expecting you! Your daughter, quite a character, is in room seven… that's just a little further along on the right."
"Thank you… room seven!" Harm smiled at the nurse and turned towards the passage leading off the central area, and also leaving the nurse gazing somewhat wistfully after him as she lamented that all the good ones seem to have been taken already. Then she gave a wry grin and a mental shrug, 'I really need to get a life!' she told herself forcefully.
Harm's face split in a broad grin as he approached Mattie's room, clearly audible from twenty yards down the hall were the high pitched voices of young women in full flow. Pausing by the doorway, he saw Mattie, sitting on the side of the bed, and apparently in the middle of a four way conversation between Gill, Gill's Mom and Dad, and a girl who he supposed was the other occupant of the two bedded room.
"Hey, Squirt," he said lazily, "You might want to power up on the volume a bit, I don't think they can quite hear you on Capitol Hill!"
Mattie twisted around, a little gingerly, Harm thought, and her sunniest smile lit up her face, "Hey Harm, it's about time you got here… I was just telling Gill and her folks how much I missed you!"
"Yeah, right," Harm grinned, "Ain't working! I could hear what you were saying fifty feet down the hallway!" He switched attention to Gill's parents, "Good evening, I hope that Mattie hasn't been giving you too much lip! Hey, Gill," he finished softly, and there was something about the way he spoke, and the way his eyes softened that had Alice Shephard's eyes flashing to his face. She gazed at him for no more than a second or two before she averted her gaze, but her mind was whirling under the impact of what she had just seen and heard.
"Well considering that I know everybody else here, Mattie, are you going to remember your manners and introduce me to your roomy?"
"Oh! Cra… uh… Oh, darn it! Harm, Ginny, I'm sorry! Harm this is Virginia – Ginny – Woodman, and Ginny this is my Dad, Harmon Rabb. Harm, Ginny's here because she fell off a mountain – and I thought that I'd pulled a dumb stunt!"
"Hi," Harm sent a smile at the slender brunette in the wheelchair between the beds and received a shy smile and "Good evening, Mister Rabb," in return.
Harm propped a hip against the window ledge and said to Mattie, "Okay, now that the civilities have been done, what's been done with you today?"
"Uh… I barely got settled in here when Doctor Jameson came to see me, and had me wheeled off to an examination room, and x-ray and MRI – Do you know just how much I hate those things? Anyway, he poked and prodded – just like I knew he would," Mattie scowled.
"And that took all day?" Harm asked in mild surprise, and then seeing the smiles on the faces of the Shephards grinned self-consciously, "I'm sorry, if you've heard this before, but I need to know what they're doing with Mattie. After all, she is my little girl," he added with an all too innocent look at the teenager.
Mattie looked appalled, "Oh! I am so going to get you for that!" she half laughed half threatened.
"Yeah, well, you're going to have to be able to move a bit faster than you can now!"
To the Alice and Jack Shepard's amazement Mattie just grinned, "It will happen! It will happen!"
"Yeah, bring it on!" Harm chuckled, but then became serious again, "So they spent all day poking and prodding and strapping you into machines you don't like?"
Mattie shook her head, "Nope, that was just this morning. This afternoon they took me to rehab and handed me over to a physical therapist and a remedial gymnast – whatever that is – and they carried out all sorts of tests to see how much strength and movement I had in my legs. Hey! And guess what? I even managed four steps before I fell over!"
"You fell?" Harm asked in sudden alarm.
"Yeah, but I was okay, I went down onto my hands and knees and it was on a padded mat. Honest Harm, no need to get bent out of shape it was pretty funny. I let go of the rails, like they said, and I'd just taken three steps and said, 'look, Mom, no hands!' and then my legs just up and quit on me!" Mattie just shook her head again and chuckled, the expression on Harm's face as well as the memory of her fall combining to tickle her sense of humour.
"She's right, Mister Rabb," Ginny Woodman put in, "They're used to people falling over here, and all the gyms and rehab therapy rooms are floored with padded mats."
"I'm sure they wouldn't let Mattie, or any of their patients do anything to put themselves at risk," Alice Shephard added.
"Well… if you all think so…" Harm conceded grudgingly.
"Of course Mummy's right!" Gill smiled as she nudged Harm with her hip so that she could share his perch, slipping her arm around his waist at the same time. In an automatic reflex move, Harm draped his arm across the Gill's shoulders and let his fingers idly toy with the tip of her arm.
Mattie shook her head and in a conspiratorial aside, just loud enough for Harm to hear, confided to Ginny, "That's Harm for you, he goes into zone five over protectiveness at the slightest excuse!"
"Zone five?" Ginny queried.
"Oh… yeah… like way over the top," Mattie tried to explain with a sly sidelong glance at Harm.
"But why zone five?" Ginny queried with a frown.
"Oh, that's pilot speak," Mattie said.
"Yeah, and you shouldn't use it on the natives!" Harm scolded her, but with a wink to Ginny to let her know that he wasn't being entirely serious.
Ginny laughed, "Oh, I don't mind Mister Rabb. Spending the last few hours with Mattie had broadened my education considerably. I mean from an anthropological view it's interesting to see how you colonials developed after we set you free!"
"Ouch!" Harm exclaimed.
"And she's perfectly right, of course," Gill added with a straight face.
"Now see what you've done, Squirt!" Harm complained, "You've provoked a native uprising!"
"Well, we aren't quite as violent these days," Jack Shephard intervened through his chuckles at Harm's discomfiture, "We prefer education to eradication, so…" he handed an obviously weighty plastic carrier bag to Mattie, "There's that history primer you asked for. It's quite an old book, 'Normans and Plantagenets', but it is still useful, and then there's those two book from David's bookshelf – I did ask him first, Gill!" he added as Gill opened her mouth to object. "The history book you can keep, but David would like his two Conan Doyle books back when you've finished them."
"Oh, wow, Thanks Mister Shephard! That's great! Thank you!"
"And there's a couple of aeroplane magazines in there as well," Alice Shephard smiled, "as well as some fresh fruit, a satsuma, a banana and an apple, We weren't sure what sort of fruit you would like…" Alice finished uncertainly.
"She eats what's good for her – at least she does if she knows what's good for her!" Harm growled.
Mattie wasn't the only one not to be deceived. Harm's fake snarl brought a dig in his ribs from Gill, who merely said in a warning voice, "Harm…"
"Ouch, yes, ma'am. I'll be good!"
"Did I hear someone cry out in pain?" a cheerful voice asked from the doorway.
Harm wasn't the only one in the room to turn their heads to stare at the newcomer, most had expressions of friendly curiosity on their face, but Mattie's face lit up in a grin, "Hey Doc! C'mon on in and meet my dad!"
Harm looked more closely at the other man, neatly dressed in tailored slacks and a tweed jacket, he wore a white shirt and a paisley necktie. Taller than average, he wasn't quite as tall as Harm and had an unruly thatch of grey hair on his head and Harm put his age at about fifty, a few years older than himself at any rate. A pair of bright blue eyes in a tanned and weathered face regarded Harm equally curiously. "And you'd be Mattie's father?" he guessed.
"That would be right," Harm agreed.
"In that case I'm pleased to meet you! I'm Derek Jameson," he extended a hand to Harm who shook it, impressed with the other's firmness of grip that didn't descend into some sort of silent, alpha male contest. The other continued, "And I'm in charge of getting this young lady… well, both these young ladies back on their feet as soon as possible!"
"It's a pleasure to meet you at last, Doctor," Harm said warmly, "I've heard a lot of good things about you from Clark Brent at Bethesda."
Dr Jameson cast a glance around the small, crowded room and said pleasantly, "I'm glad that I have this opportunity to meet you. I understand from Mattie that you would find it difficult to get here during the working day?"
Harm nodded, "I am the guy in charge, but there are only so many liberties I can take."
"I see, but I'm also pretty certain that you're keen to find out exactly what I have in mind when it comes to treatment for this young lady?"
"I guess," Harm admitted.
"Good! Now, if Miss Rabb will excuse me for stealing one of her visitors away for a few minutes?"
"Yeah… Okay… go ahead…" Mattie reluctantly agreed, "But try not to keep him too long, please, Doc?"
"You wish is my command, Miss Rabb!" Dr James on smiled. "Mister Rabb, this way, please?"
"Yeah, right… Gill, are you coming?"
"Of course I am! Mattie can keep Mummy and Daddy entertained while we try to understand what's going to happen."
Harm and Gill followed Dr Jameson down the hallway a few steps until he opened a door and ushered them to what was evidently an examination room. A padded examination couch stood squarely in the centre of the room and on one wall was a poster, similar to the one Harm had seen at the military hospital in Woolwich, showing the human skeleton, but on one of the side walls was a large flat screen and on the desk below it a computer. With a smile, Doctor Jameson waved Gill into one of the two chairs in the room while he sat at the desk his fingers already skittering across the computer keyboard. At last, and to the accompaniment of Jameson's grunt of satisfaction, the screen lit up showing an array of what Harm recognised as images of MRI scans, he surmised of Mattie's body, although what they were of precisely was beyond him. A look at Gill showed that she was just as nonplussed as himself.
Dr Jameson obviously saw the confusion on their faces and smiled, "I won't ty to baffle you with science, but these are cross-sections through Mattie's body from the thoracic region down to her pelvis – that's from her chest down to her hips. This particular image here," he used a pen to indicate one image shows us the damage done to her sciatic nerve, which was stretched and torn due to the sudden deceleration impact when her aeroplane crashed. I have of course read the notes from the hospital in the USA, together with the case notes from the doctor from Johns Hopkins, one of the premier hospitals in the USA, I'm given to understand?"
Harm, nodded.
"Yes, well, according to their diagnosis and prognosis, Mattie's future is not particularly rosy…" he held up a hand to forestall Harm's imminent interruption. "However, we like to think of ourselves as one of the best spinal injuries units in the world and we are not so gloomy. The human body is a marvellous machine with a great capacity for healing and it appears in Mattie's case that the sciatic nerve is attempting to overcome the damage done to it by rerouting the messages from the brain to the legs. It's not quite that simple, but I don't want to confuse you. But if you really want I can go into greater clinical detail."
Harm exchanged a look with Gill, "I think we're getting a sufficiently broad picture, Doctor. But I reserve the right to ask for clarification as and when necessary," Harm replied.
"Ah, yes. Mattie did say you were a successful lawyer!" Jameson smiled. "But to continue: The repairs to the nerve are responsible for Mattie experiencing a return of feeling and her currently limited degree of mobility. There is a procedure, which would mean surgical intervention to graft nerve tissue to the sciatic nerve in the hope of restoring full strength and mobility, but to be quite honest, there is only a sixty per cent chance of the procedure being successful and in addition all spinal surgery is risky and there is always a chance of things going wrong. So my opinion is that Mattie should undergo therapy for a further three months, while we monitor her progress. I am cautiously optimistic that is all she needs at the moment. However, if you agree, and there is no marked progress over the next three months, then I think we should revisit the possibility of surgery. Now, are there any questions?"
"Therapy. Where, when and who?" Harm asked.
"Ideally here, with our own highly experienced therapists, but somehow I don't think that Mattie would really appreciate a prolonged stay here, and I have a feeling that it would be difficult for you to be continuously ferrying Mattie to and from West Drayton."
"That might not be a problem, but I won't know until next week. I'm a single parent and there are situations where it would be ineligible for me to assist Mattie, so I have hired an agency nurse to come and look after her until she's sufficiently mobile to look after herself full time. I might be able to negotiate that the nurse does the ferrying. How many sessions a week are we looking at?"
"Initially, three sessions a week. They would be all day sessions – with breaks obviously – and would include hydrotherapy, so Mattie would need a swim suit as well as gym clothes and shoes. I'll have the ward clerk prepare a list of all that she would need to bring with her. Don't look so downcast. As I said I am cautiously optimistic that we will see Mattie restored to full mobility, although it may take a little time."
"Full mobility, as in being able to pass a military fitness test and a flight physical? Mattie intends to become a naval aviator, flying fast jets," Harm explained.
"Well!" Doctor Jameson was obviously surprised, "If Mattie is still determined on that as a career after having already experienced an aeroplane crash, then I am quite sure that she has enough determination to get back on her feet without the need for surgery!"
"Oh, I've never doubted she has the grit, but by the same token, I've no wish to see her worsen her condition."
Doctor Jameson dropped his light hearted manner and leaning forward to look more directly at Harm, he said earnestly, "That is not going to happen, Mister Rabb. Not on my watch!"
Harm nodded his appreciation but said, with maybe just a hint of severity in his voice, "I'll hold you to that, Doctor."
"And I wouldn't expect any less of you, Mister Rabb," Jameson agreed affably, "But I have a feeling that I have taken you away from your daughter for quite long enough, and if that hair of hers is any indication of her temperament, then I have no real wish to have her get angry with me for monopolising your time!"
Harm and |Gill walked back to Mattie's room both mulling over what Jameson had told them. "It doesn't sound too bad, Harm…" Gill said tentatively after a sidelong glance at his expression.
"No… no, it doesn't," Harm said slowly as his expression cleared. "He was pretty optimistic, wasn't he?"
"Cautiously optimistic," Gill corrected gently, "Oh, Mummy, Daddy, are you leaving already?" Gill exclaimed as they almost bumped into her parents as they left Mattie's room.
"I'm afraid so, Gilly," Jack Shephard smiled, "The other girl's parents have arrived, and with your and Harm's return, I have a feeling that the room just wouldn't be big enough."
"But we'll be back tomorrow," Alice Shephard announced, "And mother should be with us!"
"Oh, yes!" Gill enthused, "That would be good, wouldn't it, Harm?"
"I should say so," Harm agreed, "The way Mattie spoke about Gill's grandmother, I think it would do her the world of good!"
"Yes, thick as thieves those two!" Jack Shephard laughed. "Will we see you again tomorrow, Harm?"
"God willing, and if the creek don't rise!" Harm agreed.
"Gillian?" her mother asked.
"I… I'm not sure yet. I'd like to come, but…"
"Well maybe that's something we can talk about, once we've spent a little time with Mattie," Harm suggested.
Alice and Jack Shephard nodded and then with a round of goodbyes Gill's parents made their way along the corridor towards the buildings entrance.
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Harm and Gill didn't stay too long with Mattie. They exchanged formal greetings with Ginny's parents who they had brought with them Ginny's younger sister and the two siblings were chattering away at such a rate and volume that Harm gave up on the visit as a bad job. "I hate to go so soon, squirt," he whispered into Mattie's ear as he gave her a goodbye hug.
Mattie leaned back, away from him a little so that they could each see the other's face and rolled her eyes, "Yeah, all that noise is kinda sucky, huh?"
"Just a bit! But don't say that too loudly. Play nice!"
"Oh, I will! And anyway, I've got my MP3 player tucked under the pillow so once you've left for home…" Mattie's voice and expression became reproachful, "Then I stick my headphones on and…"
"Yeah, okay, I get the picture!" Harm laughed, "But not too much volume! Remember you'll need perfect hearing for the flight physical!"
"Ya think I'm going to make that?" Mattie asked, showing one of her rare flashes of doubt.
"No brainer, Mats! That's a given."
"If you say so," Mattie agreed dubiously.
"I do… but now…" Ham disengaged from Mattie's grasp and stood back ass Gill leaned in to give the teenager a hug.
"He's right you know," Gill told Mattie. You'll be back on your feet before you know! You've got the balls for it!" she whispered the last into Mattie's ears, causing the teenager to give a startled gasp and then a crow of laughter.
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Once outside in the parking lot Harm turned to Gill, "Just what did you say to Mattie, right there at the end?"
Gill's face took on a prim expression, although Harm could plainly see the laughter in her eyes, "That, Captain Rabb, sir, is need to know!"
"Oh…" Understanding seemed to flood into Harm's mind, "Female stuff?"
"Exactly!" Gill smiled.
"Uh-huh… Are you coming back to Northolt with me, or are you heading straight back to Central London?"
Gull hesitated, "Honestly, I'd like to come back to Northolt with you, but it plays hell with my morning schedule. I have to get up early to get into London in time to change for work…"
"Is that what you wore to work today?" Harm asked, looking at Gills light grey suit and cream, open necked blouse.
"Yes, why?"
"You could wear it tomorrow, save you having to go into London. You could leave direct from Northolt to Stanmore."
"Well, the suit is okay, but I'd need a fresh blouse and… other things…" Gill finished with a slight blush.
"I do have a washing machine, and an iron, and you could borrow one of my t-shirts…" Harm suggested.
"Yeah, I could, I suppose.
Maybe it would be best if you left a few things at my place? Just in case there are any other unforeseen overnight stays.
"M'mm…" was all Gill could find to say in reply.
Harm gave a slight shake of his head, and although he was serious, there was a touch of amusement, or possibly whimsy, in his voice when he said, "You know, Gill, our domestic arrangements are beginning to irritate me. I think it's time we sat down and had a talk…"
"About?" Gill asked as her heart seemed to skip a beat.
"About the future… our future…" Harm suggested.
"Oh… Yes… you may be right…" Gill replied with a blush.