Chapter 124 ((my beta reader suggested a Kleenex alert for this chapter!))

Wednesday, May 26, 2004

1210 EST

Mac's apartment

Mac and Chloe had just sat down to eat lunch, when a knock came on the door. Opening it to find Harriett there with a package, Mac invited her in and asked if she had eaten yet. When Harriett told her 'no' Mac invited her to share their lunch of tuna salad on sliced tomatoes. Harriett agreed, but told Mac that she had something to give her first, and handed over the package.

Unsuspecting, Mac sat on the couch and as Harriett and Chloe joined her there she began to open the package. Tearing into the paper, she quickly saw the seal pup picture that had hung in her office for so many years. Her quiet gasp, was followed immediately by tears. She didn't even notice the note that had fallen from the wrappings as she stared at the picture and cried.

'Well, this was it! AJ sent the picture back. It was his way of telling her that things were over for good. She wasn't welcome back in his home any longer,' Mac thought. It was Harriett's voice, saying, "Mac, there's a note," that finally got through to her. She took it and just held it. There was no need to open it, she knew what it said.

However, Chloe demanded that Mac read it. "Read the note, Mac, it couldn't possibly be as bad as all that!" the teen said, having no idea why Mac was crying.

Reluctantly, fearing that her worst fears would be confirmed, Mac opened the envelope and took out the single sheet of paper. As Chloe, looking over her shoulder, read it aloud:

Dearest Sarah,

Even if you hate me at this point, and even if you can never forgive me for what I did, I hope that you will allow this little fellow to watch over our Angel. Since she can no longer have two SEALs to watch over her at all times, she should at least have this one.

With deepest regrets,

AJ

Sobs now wracked Mac's body. Her tears fell onto the glass covering the picture in her lap. Angela woke to the stress she could sense in the room, and started to cry as well. Chloe jumped to her feet and said she would change Angel and feed her.

"I take it the picture meant something special," Harriett quietly said, hugging Mac's sobbing body to her.

"Before I regained my memory, I confessed to AJ what this picture represented to me all the years it hung in my office."

"So, he returned it thinking you might want it near you. What did you expect the man to do, Mac, keep all your possessions?"

"No, Harriett, but this was over Angel's crib, sending it to me is like saying he doesn't want me back...not that I thought he would, but this just confirms it."

"Have you given the man any indication that you wanted to go back? I don't think so, Mac, from the looks of him. The picture probably brought him pain, looking at it over Angela's crib, so he sent it back, just as the note said," sighed Harriett, wishing she could shake some sense into her friend.

"Yeah, and the fact that I told him that the reason it hung in my office all those years, was because it reminded me of the SEAL on the other side of the wall that I couldn't have!"

"No, Mac, I meant lately. I don't mean when you told him what the picture meant to you. What did you expect the man to do? Keep the picture and stare at it until he died of a broken heart?"

"Harriett, he would have to love me to have a broken heart, and that's not the case. It was all a sham! Everything was a lie!" She was sobbing again.

"None of it was a lie, Mac. You really are married!" grinned Harriett.

"Harriett, I remembered everything after the accident and now I remember everything before it too. There was no wedding! It was all a fake for the mission. We were undercover as a married couple." She looked down at her empty hand where her fake wedding rings had rested for so brief of a time.

To be continued….