Hi, everyone! This ficlet is actually somewhat of a prequel to chapter 12, but I also really like it as an ending ficlet for this whole collection. I always hoped that Harm and Mac would live happily ever after. I've had so much fun writing the two of them, but I'm going to take a little break from writing now, as real life has become extremely busy. Thank you all for reading, and I hope you like the ending!

"And so from that day forth, with evil banished forever and peace restored to the magical kingdom, the handsome prince and the beautiful princess lived happily ever after. The end."

Six-year-old Sarah MacKenzie sighed happily as she snuggled deeper into her pillow. "Read it again, Mama."

Deanne closed the book with a smile. "Not tonight, sweetheart. Right now it's time for my princess to go to sleep."

"But I'm not sleepy," Sarah protested with a yawn.

"You always say that," Deanne laughed. "But all princesses need their beauty sleep." She gently kissed her daughter's forehead and reached over to turn off the bedside lamp.

"Mama?"

The urgent whisper made Deanne pause.

"Do fairy tales ever come true?"

"Of course they do." She patted Sarah's arm reassuringly. "And someday I'm sure that a very handsome prince will fall in love with you and he'll sweep you off your feet and take you away to his castle."

Even in the dark, Deanne could see the smile spread across her daughter's face.

"Good night, Mama."

"Good night, sweetheart."

~*~o~*~

After quietly closing the bedroom door behind her, Deanne made her way into the kitchen. She had just started cleaning up the dishes when the front door opened with a bang.

"Where's my dinner, woman?"

Joseph MacKenzie sauntered unsteadily into the kitchen and slumped against the counter, his eyes sunken in and his voice thick with inebriation.

Deanne simply ignored her husband and focused on scrubbing one of the plates.

"I'm talking to you!" he bellowed.

"Dinner was over two hours ago," she replied calmly.

"Well, I'm hungry now."

"Joseph, you're drunk."

"I'm not drunk," came the slurred reply.

"Yes, you are—oh!"

Deanne gave a startled cry as he shoved her aside and snatched the plate from her hands. Angrily, he smashed it against the floor, sending ceramic pieces scattering in all directions.

"When I ask for something, woman," he growled, grabbing her arm and pinning her against the counter, "I expect you to do something about it!"

"Joseph, calm down. This is just the alcohol talking." Deanne tried to keep her voice steady even as her hands trembled and her head spun from the smell of alcohol on his breath.

"Mama?"

Deanne just barely heard the small voice over the commotion, and she was thankful that Joseph was far too drunk and enraged to notice the little girl peeking out from behind the refrigerator.

"Sarah, go back to bed," she said sternly.

Her daughter hesitated.

"Now, Sarah!"

Frightened by her father's fury and the fear in her mother's voice, Sarah quickly scurried back to bed and wrapped her blankets tightly around herself.

And then she heard the very first strike against her mother.

She squeezed her eyes shut, but she couldn't stop the tears from spilling down her cheeks.

This wasn't supposed to happen in fairy tales.

A wistful smile crossed the face of the florist who sat at a large craft table inside her shop, surrounded by an assortment of purple flowers. With an expert eye, she carefully selected the blossoms with the brightest petals and added them to the bouquet. She fluffed some of the leaves and tucked a few sprigs of snow white baby's breath into the vase with them.

As a finishing touch, she wrapped a large satin bow around the mouth of the vase and then leaned back to examine her work. With a satisfied sigh, she reached for a pen and made a bold checkmark next to the name on the order form.

Anderson wedding. Complete.

Mr. and Mrs. Anderson had spared absolutely no expense for their daughter's wedding. The church with a grand cathedral ceiling, hundreds of guests, a fully catered reception, a multi-layered cake, and floral arrangements in the rich color of royalty would have put even the most romantic fairy tale wedding to shame.

It was weddings like these that broke Deanne's heart.

She had given up on the dream of a fairy tale wedding for her own daughter a long time ago. The innocent little girl who had cherished those bedtime stories had grown up and left the shattered memories behind. Deanne hadn't even seen her daughter in years, and wherever she was now, Deanne was certain that she never gave her mother a second's thought.

Why should I care if you were frightened that I might reject you? You rejected me. You abandoned me.

Her daughter's accusations still stung.

The fallout from her own failed marriage still hurt.

And every flower that she added to a wedding bouquet fueled just a little more envy – and emptiness – inside of her.

Deanne's thoughts were interrupted as the jingling of the bell above the front door alerted her to a new customer. With a soft groan, she slowly rose from the stool where she had been arranging the bouquets and waddled over to the counter. She was an older, heavyset woman who didn't move very fast at all.

"Oh, my poor feet," she muttered. She gave an embarrassed smile to the short, blond woman who had just entered the shop. "Phlebitis," she explained. "I can't do much anymore except sit here and arrange flowers."

The new customer returned the smile politely, but her eyes darted around nervously, as if she wasn't quite sure she was in the right place.

"Can I help you?"

"I hope so," the woman replied. "I'm Harriet Sims Roberts. I think we spoke over the phone?"

"Oh, yes. I'm Deanne. You were looking for roses?"

"Desperately." Harriet strode urgently up to the counter. "My florist cancelled at the last minute, and I need roses for a wedding in four days."

"A wedding?" Deanne felt her heart sink. Not another one, she thought privately.

"In four days," Harriet emphasized.

"I see," Deanne said quietly. "Um, so what can I help you with?"

"We don't need anything fancy," Harriet explained. "It's a very small wedding, a military ceremony outdoors on a hillside in Virginia. I just need a few bouquets for the tables and a vine of flowers woven into the wedding arch."

"And you're definitely looking for roses?"

"Yes, ma'am." Harriet's eyes sparkled. "Because the bride and groom met in a rose garden."

It was a romantic image that twisted Deanne's stomach into knots, and she tried to force down the familiar feeling of jealousy. She could just imagine how beautiful an outdoor wedding in a rose garden would be. Quickly, she looked away, wringing her hands together in frustration.

"Ma'am?"

"I'm sorry, dear," Deanne apologized, quickly swallowing the lump in her throat. "A rose garden, you said? Well, that sounds awfully romantic. Let me see what we have here."

Deanne hummed softly to herself as she pawed through some of the sample flower baskets behind the counter. She tossed a few of them aside, shaking her head, until she finally selected a bright white basket with a simple straight weave. Harriet quickly nodded her approval.

Just then, the bell over the door rang again, and a man with a barely discernible limp entered the shop.

"Hi, honey."

"Did you get them?" Harriet asked eagerly.

Bud nodded, reaching into the small bag he was carrying and pulling out a black velvet box. Carefully, he opened it to reveal two gold wedding bands.

Harriet couldn't contain her gasp. "Oh, Bud, they're beautiful."

Deanne cast a scrutinizing glance over at Bud. "So this is Prince Charming?" she guessed.

Harriet giggled and gave Bud's arm a loving squeeze. "Well, he's definitely my Prince Charming, but we're already married. It's two of our best friends getting married now."

"I'm the best man," Bud explained. He tucked the rings safely back into the bag and slipped them into his pocket, patting his side several times as if to assure himself that they wouldn't fall out. He raised his eyebrows in curiosity. "Honey, I thought we were all set with the flowers?"

"Oh, Bud, it's horrible." Harriet sighed dramatically. "The florist cancelled four days before the wedding, and it was a miracle that I just happened to find Deanne here. The colonel is flying in from San Diego tomorrow for her final dress fitting, and the captain's mother and stepfather will be here the day after. The captain himself won't even make it out of London until the day before the wedding. Commander Turner is still on a submarine in the Arabian Sea. And Admiral Chegwidden is coming all the way from Italy..." Harriet trailed off as her eyes grew wide. "What if they don't all make it here in time? What if they get stuck somewhere? What if something comes up, and the captain and the colonel aren't able to take leave? Bud—"

"Honey," Bud said firmly, grasping his wife by the shoulders and shaking her gently. "Relax. Everything will be fine. And everyone will make it here in time, including the captain and the colonel." He grinned. "After all, we can't really have the wedding without them."

Harriet nodded and took a deep breath. "I know, I know, you're right. I just want to make sure everything is perfect for them."

"And it will be," Bud assured her. He gently kissed his wife's forehead. "Because they couldn't have asked for a better wedding planner."

Deanne let out a rather ungraceful snort of laughter. "Sounds like maybe you should have planned the wedding in an airport between their connecting flights."

Bud winced, although he could see a slight bit of truth and humor in that statement. "We're all busy people, ma'am," he admitted, "but we're going to make this wedding work for our friends."

"They won't even get a honeymoon," Harriet mused sadly. "They both have those meetings with the SECNAV in Washington and then there's the congressional committee—"

"Harriet!" Bud quickly interrupted before his wife could take off on another tangent. "They have a whole day after the wedding before the meetings start. I'm sure they'll be able to spend some time together"—Bud's ears turned a little pink—"uh…out of uniform."

"You're right," Harriet repeated again, still trying to convince herself. "Everything will be fine, the wedding will be wonderful, and the captain and the colonel will finally be able to have their happily ever after."

Deanne had been quietly trimming the stems of several dozen red roses, but now she blew out a breath in a huff. "Flying halfway across the world to get married in the middle of some boring political meetings?" she scoffed. "Doesn't sound like much of a fairy tale to me."

"With all due respect, ma'am." Bud immediately leapt to the defense of his friends. "It might not be a fairy tale in the traditional sense, but the captain and the colonel have always been there for each other. They've traveled the whole world together and have saved each other's sixes more times than we can count. And just because they're both unfailingly committed to their duty doesn't mean that they're also not committed to their love for each other. And if you don't consider that to be a fairy tale…well, then maybe it's not."

Bud actually looked a little surprised by his outburst – as if he couldn't believe all of that had come out of his mouth – and Deanne looked completely taken aback.

"I'm—I'm sorry," she said quietly. Her eyes dropped ashamedly, resembling the expression of a hurt little girl. "Sometimes I just get a little emotional about weddings."

Instantly, Bud's face softened, and he shared a look of understanding with his wife.

"I never had a fairy tale wedding," Deanne admitted. "I always hoped my daughter would have one instead." A tiny smile crept onto her face. "My daughter loved fairy tales. You know, a beautiful princess waiting for her prince to ride in on his snow white steed..."

Bud chuckled. "Well, I think a steel gray F-14 Tomcat would be more the style for this wedding, ma'am."

Deanne's brow furrowed in confusion, and Harriet shot her husband an amused look.

"That's only when you marry a fighter pilot," Harriet pointed out with a cheeky grin. She turned to Deanne. "But the snow white steed sounds just lovely."

Deanne's expression instantly soured. "Well, it never happened," she snapped.

"I'm sorry?"

"I wouldn't know anything about my daughter's wedding."

Angrily, Deanne finished snipping the stems from another set of roses and forcefully shoved them into the bouquet. She set the arrangement down in front of Bud and Harriet. "What do you think?" she asked curtly.

Bud and Harriet exchanged a brief look of concern, but Harriet recovered quickly, her eyes widening in awe. "Well, I think it's just beautiful," she gushed. "What do you think, Bud?"

Even Bud had to admit that the flowers were stunning.

Deanne had arranged a beautiful pattern of red and white roses on a thick bed of green leaves. The roses almost seemed to climb up the woven basket, resembling a trellis in a rose garden. She had also strung several roses together on a braided vine, and Harriet thought it would look just perfect over the altar as the captain and the colonel exchanged their vows.

"Thank you so much for helping with this," Harriet said gratefully. "You're truly our savior for this wedding."

Deanne waved her hand dismissively. "Honey, I don't think 'savior' would be the first thing anyone would call me." With a loud groan, she leaned over to pick up an order form. "Now if I could just get all of the details for the wedding."

"You know what?" Harriet suggested quickly, glancing down at her watch and then over at her husband. "Bud and I really have to get going. Why don't I just give you one of the extra invitations?"

Deanne hesitated. "Well, I might need to know more about—"

"Oh, I think it will have all the details you need," Harriet assured her. She reached into her purse and pulled out a glossy white envelope.

Laying it down on the counter with conviction, Harriet caught the other woman's eye with an intense gaze that almost made Deanne squirm. "You know, ma'am," she said sincerely. "This might not be your typical fairy tale wedding, but the one thing about fairy tales is that they always end with happily ever after. And sometimes happily ever after is a lot closer than we think it is."

With an almost imperceptible wink, Harriet turned to take Bud's arm, and they both hurried out of the shop.

"Wait!" Deanne called, finding her voice just a little too late. "Don't you want to make sure—"

She was cut off by the loud jingling of the bell over the door.

"—that I know how many flowers you need," Deanne finished out loud, although her voice merely echoed around the empty shop.

With a sigh of frustration, she snatched the invitation from the counter, surprised to see her own name staring back at her in big, bold letters.

Deanne.

That's weird, she thought. Hadn't Harriet said it was just an extra?

With slightly shaky fingers, Deanne opened the envelope and pulled out a pretty white card. She admired the embossed emblems on the front — an eagle, globe, and anchor entwined with another anchor, shield, and a pair of gold wings.

Curious about such an intricate design, Deanne unfolded the invitation and sucked in her breath. Her hand flew to her mouth in surprise, and for a long time, she simply stared at the card in silence.

Mama?

Deanne let out a startled gasp as she could have sworn she heard the voice of a little girl standing behind her in the shop. But when she spun around, there was no one there.

Do fairy tales ever come true?

A slow smile spread across Deanne's face and hot tears welled up in her eyes.

"Yes, sweetheart," she whispered. "Yes, they do."

Exhaling slowly, she traced her plump fingers over the soft, flowing cursive inside the invitation. The words could not have meant more than if they had actually read happily ever after.

May we extend to you an invitation to celebrate the union of Captain Harmon Rabb, Jr. and Lieutenant Colonel Sarah MacKenzie.