Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and alerted. They mean so much to me. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)
Happy Belated Thanksgiving to Gibbs Fan and all my other American friends. :)
Chapter 16
"Out!" Harm yelled.
"Ok,ok going." Chloe said. "You don't have to yell I can take a hint."
"I mean it Chloe..."
"He always means what he says..." Mac said as she smiled at Harm. His look told her he remembered the promise he'd made her years before.
"Well good." Chloe said. "Cos we're starving and you promised us lunch."
JAGJAGJAGJAGJAGJAG
The girls grinned at each other as Harm slipped his hand under the table to hold Mac's hand.
"So...I guess you're kinda glad now we set you two up?" Mattie asked tentatively.
"We're glad of the outcome Mattie, not so pleased with the means."
"We're sorry about all that." she said.
"We know." Mattie looked at Chloe sadly.
"Look it's over now. You were both punished and we can move on." Harm said.
"I know." Mattie said. "So what happens now ?"
"Well, we enjoy the rest of our trip...then we go home."
"And I go back to the farm." Chloe said. She couldn't help to be a little resentful of this. She'd gone to so much trouble and got her ass whacked purple and now they were all gonna go home and be a family...a family that she wasn't part of. She was the visitor, the outsider.
"I'm not hungry." she said suddenly. "Can I go back to the room?"
"Um...no." Mac said sarcastically. "You were bugging us cos you were starving and now your not hungry?" Chloe shrugged.
"What's wrong Chloe?" Mattie asked. She could tell all the usual mouthiness had for some reason slipped away.
"Nuthin." Chloe said. "I just wanna be by myself."
"Sorry hon we're eating and then we'll all go do something together." Harm said. Chloe just wanted to get away from there all of a sudden and she couldn't even explain why. Things were all mixed up in her head. All eyes were on her and she didn't know what to say.
"I just wanna go back to the room." she said.
"Why?" Harm asked. Chloe stood up and pushed her chair out of the way.
"Forget it." She said. "I'm gonna go wait on the beach." Before they could stop her she ran out the door.
"You have any idea what that was about Mattie?" Harm asked. Mattie shook her head in amazement.
"No idea." she said. "I'd say she's lost her mind but I think that already happened a while ago. You want me to go talk to her?"
"No hon." Mac said. "I'll go."
JAGJAGJAGJAGJAGJAG
Chloe sat on the sand and stared out at the ocean. The sand beneath her was damp but it actually felt kind of nice...soothing. Her butt was far from purple but it did still throb a little when she sat, so the cool, slightly wet sand had a kind of numbing effect. She looked over at the houses that lined the beach and sighed. Who lived in them she wondered...families? All arguing and helping with dinner. Kids fighting and then making up while they played games near the fire. The parents telling them it was time for bed and them whining to stay up longer.
Chloe closed her eyes and imagined what it'd be like if THEY all lived in one of those houses. If they were a real family. The image she conjured put a lump in her throat...a stray tear rolled down her cheek unchecked. She wasn't in that picture. It was Harm and Mac and Mattie, the family she had helped to create and the family she wasn't really part of.
JAGJAGJAGJAGJAGJAG
Mac stood and watched Chloe for a while from the boardwalk. She hoped to get some kind of a handle on what had upset the usually bubbly young girl. In the end she decided to just bite the bullet and go and find out.
"Hey." she said before plopping down on the sand beside her 'little sister'.
"Hey...sorry Mac." she said with a sniffle. Mac put her arm around Chloe and shuffled closer.
"You have me REALLY worried now." she said. "Please Chlo...what's wrong?"
"I'm just bein...I dunno...I..." she brushed away tears annoyingly with the back of her sleeve. "I guess I feel...left out."
"Left out? Why?" Mac asked. She was shocked. They hadn't not included her in anything. "What brought all this on?" Again Chloe shrugged. "Come on Chlo...I wanna help you but I can't if you don't tell me what happened...what upset you..."
"I...it's stupid, don't worry." she said.
"You want me to go get Harm to interrogate you?" Mac joked, hoping it would alleviate the tension somewhat.
"Um no...I'll pass." Chloe said with a half smile. "When you were all talking about going home...I realised...you're all gonna be a family. I'm not part of that...I'm a visitor."
"No Chloe! You're not a visitor. We are a family...admittedly not the norm but a family none the less." Mac said.
"I guess sort of but it's not the same...I'll go back to the farm and you'll all be starting to be a family without me...and then when I visit...I'll be a visitor...looking in from the outside."
JAGJAGJAGJAGJAGJAG
"Should we go and see what's wrong?" Mattie asked. Maybe she'd been more mean than she meant it to come out. It was just that Chloe was so full on sometimes. But she didn't want her to be upset...she even liked her...in an annoying little sister kind of way.
"Nah..I think we should give them a minute...they'll come back." Harm said. "How about we have a drink while we're waiting?"
"Ok..now we're talking." Mattie teased.
"I meant a soda or a juice." Harm said with a mock stern look.
"I know that... I was only joshin ya."
"Uhhuh." Harm said.
JAGJAGJAGJAGJAGJAG
"Hey...you'll never be an outsider." Mac said, her own eyes filling with tears. "We love you you brat..."
"Really?" Chloe asked, as her big brown eyes searched for the truth on Mac's face.
"Yes really."
"Even Harm?"
"Even Harm."
"And even though I did all those...made all those unfortunate mistakes?"
"Yes." Chloe brushed the tears from her face...she felt marginally better.
"It won't be the same though...I wish you were my Mom."
"So do I." Mac said. "But you like the farm don't you?"
"Yeah."
"You told me you did."
"I do and I love my grandparents...it's just...I like it better with you." Mac pulled her closer.
"You know what? I'll talk to your grandparents and see if you can visit a little more often." Chloe tried to smile.
"Thanks." she said. It wasn't what would fix the feeling inside but it was better than nothing.
"Ok...you hungry?"
"Yes." Chloe said.
"Then let's go get something...I'm starving."
The two got up and Mac wrapped her arm around Chloe as they walked back to the others.
"You wanna go up and change those pants...they're damp?"
"Nah...not so much.I kind of like it."
JAGJAGJAGJAGJAGJAG
"Hey..." Harm said when he saw the Mac and Chloe heading towards their table. "Everything ok?" It was amazing , he thought that the same girl that had dressed herself up...or down...as it happened as a... well very cheaply, now looked like a bedraggled little girl who'd been sitting on the beach.
"It's fine." Mac said not wanting to embarrass Chloe. "Let's just order."
The girls gave their orders for food and more drinks.
"Why don't you two go look at the dessert bar over there and see what you're gonna have for dessert?" Harm said. Chloe giggled and Mattie narrowed her eyes in disgust at his lack of sensitivity.
"Subtle Harm. Real subtle." Chloe giggled. "But as it happens...it's not a bad idea." Mattie stood and followed the younger girl to the dessert bar.
"Did I say something?" Mattie asked.
"Nooo." Chloe said. "It was stupid."
"Tell me...please..."
"I was just feeling a little left out...you and Harm and Mac...you're a proper family, or you will be."
"You are too.."
"I'm going back to the farm.."
"Don't you like it there?"
"Yes...and no...I wanna be with kids my own age and with the three of you."
"You want to live with us permanently?"
"I would love that...but it isn't gonna to happen... my grandparents want me there."
JAGJAGJAGJAGJAGJAG
"Well? What gives?"
"She was feeling left out." Mac retold what Chloe had said.
"Aww poor kid...still who could blame her...I'd wanna live with us too." he said with a smile.
"I wonder..."
"No."
"What do you mean no?"
"I mean that she lives with family and they seem to like it that way."
"You don't want her?"
"No Mac...don't get me wrong...she's grown on me...but we can't just take her."
"No..." Mac said. It was a shame though. It would be nice...
"There's a lot to be talked about too."
"Hmmm. Like?"
"Like where we're going to live..."
"Not rushing things?"
"Nope...not letting you out of my sight again." Mac laughed.
JAGJAGJAGJAGJAGJAG
"I have an idea." Mattie said. Chloe's eyes widened.
"I'm all ears." she said.
"Well...what if you became SUCH a handful..."
"Yes...Harm promised that he'd sort me out if I didn't behave."
"Yeah...you could get suspended...run away..."
"Oh I can think of a million things..." Chloe said her eyes now alight with enthusiasm. "My grandparents would want to get rid of me."
TBC