I would like to thank everyone for their reviews and alerts as always. They mean more to me than you know.

This chapter wasn't easy to write and I hope it makes sense. I hope I got the background of Josh Pendry and his Mom in Harm's life right. If not...I'm sorry I did try to get it as close to correct as I could.

Very loose tags to "Someone to Watch Over Annie" and "Tiger Tiger" ...really just a brief mention.

I hope you all enjoy this chapter :)

Chapter 21

Josh looked from one to the other of the adults. Harm's face was firm...he wasn't backing down.

It was on the tip of Josh's tongue to apologise...he was so close...he hadn't meant to hurt her feelings really. She was nice.

Mac was watching the whole scenario with interest. She couldn't help but wonder if this was what their lives was going to be as new parents...Harm being all macho and Dad like...and if this was how these kids were going to be...a constant tag team. One kid behaving for five minutes just as another messed up. Not that the girls had actually behaved for very long at a time.. still life wasn't boring and it looked like it was shaping up to get a whole lot more interesting. It was funny really... She smiled.

See Josh thought...she wasn't upset at all. He set his chin stubbornly. May as well give her a real laugh.

"I mean it Josh." Harm said. Josh rolled his eyes.

"Ok." he said. He turned towards Mac... Harm sighed with relief. He knew the boy would back down...until Josh continued..."You wouldn't have a fucking clue what I knew about anything." Harm's eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open.

"That's it." he said as he lunged forward. But Josh was too quick. He had already leapt over the small wooden fence that surrounded the large porch. His downfall was turning around to give Harm the finger while he backed away. Harm was after him in a second and as he walked backwards his foot caught a shovel and he tumbled over right at Harm's feet.

JAGJAGJAGJAGJAGJAGJAGJAG

"Uh oh." Chloe said from her perch next to the upstairs window. They hadn't witnessed the whole thing but they'd seen enough.

"Uhhuh." Mattie said. "Flippin Harm the bird...not smart. He's gonna be so sorry he did that."

"OH yeah." Chloe said. They each watched with an eery kind of curiosity as Harm pulled a fighting Josh to his feet and then tossed him over his shoulder before stalking towards the barn. Both girls winced.

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"What the hell do ya think ya doin Harm?" Josh yelled as he pounded on Harm's back. "I reworded the damn sentence didn't I?" Josh shouted defiantly. Harm stood the boy down but didn't let go of his arm.

"Knock it off." he said. "Whether you like it or not I'm gonna take care of you..." Josh scoffed and stood his ground. It wasn't but a minute before the anger he'd been suppressing bubbled to the surface.

"Lemme go." he yelled as he pulled at the trapped arm. "I hate you!" Harm was taken aback by the venom in the boy's tone. Josh had always been one for pushing a little...disregarding instructions to the point of being down right disobedient but this was more than that.

"Why Josh...you need to tell me what's goin on in your head."

"Why should I?"

"Because I don't understand..I need you to tell me..."

"You just let Mom and me walk away and you never even tried to come after us."

"Josh...I made a mistake...I took you on that trip and I lied to your mother...I let YOU lie to your mother. You were in terrible danger and she didn't even know you were there." Harm tried.

The memory of that painful time when he'd let Annie down by taking Josh away on a navy vessel while allowing her to think differently, hit him in the gut once more. She'd never forgiven him and he didn't blame her. Her not wanting Josh to have anything to do with the navy had been irrational and borne out of fear...but he should have talked to her to try and make her understand how strong the pull can be, to emulate a father that you'd looked up to...that you missed. He'd understood Josh then...and he wanted to again.

"SO?...You could've said you were sorry..." Josh said painfully and childishly. It brought Harm back to the here and now...

"I did. When you're an adult Josh...sometimes sorry isn't enough. Your Mom didn't trust me anymore."

"Remember when I told you that you would always be the most important person in your Mom's life?"

"Well I wasn't..." Josh said now openly sobbing. Harm tried to gather Josh in his arms but as soon as he loosened the grip on his arm the angry teen pulled away. "Mom was never the same. She started drinking...she lost her job and then we lost the house..." Harm's eyes were wide and glassy with shock. He had had no idea...

"Josh I didn't know. I swear..."

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"They've been down there for ages." Chloe said. "You don't think Harm really killed him do you?"

"Don't be an idiot." Mattie said. "Unless of course he's lectured him to death." Chloe giggled.

"You girls packed?" Mac said from the doorway.

"Yeah." Mattie said. She didn't have much. Chloe however had A LOT and most of it was still strewn all over her room.

"Chloe come on." Mac said. "Stop minding other people's business and get on with it."

"Ok, ok. What's taking so long though."

"Chloe...pack." Chloe picked up a handful of stuff and shoved it in her bag..."

"Fold it or you're never going to fit it all in."

"Wanna show me how?" Chloe asked with a sweet smile.

"Want me to unpack your hairbrush?" Mac said.

"Um..nope. I'll fold." Chloe's bottom wasn't stinging all that badly any more but she wasn't ready for a round with a hairbrush. Geez anyone would think these people were military or something.

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"How... can... I... trust you?" Josh sobbed.

"I can't make you trust me. I can't make you trust Mac...but we care about you. I give you my word on that. We wanna make a good home for you. We WANT to take care of you." Josh sat and buried his face in his hands. He was so tired...from running, from trying to figure everything out...from all the bad memories. He nodded. Harm sat beside him and pulled him into a tight one armed hug.

"It's gonna be ok." he said. "We'll get past all this. Would you be prepared to make a fresh start?"

"I'm not going to school." Josh said with a sniff. Harm rolled his tear filled eyes.

"I'm not going to argue about that right now." he said.

"I'm not going to argue about it at all." Josh said under his breath.

"I heard that."

"You still think you're gonna spank me?" Josh asked.

"Not this time." Harm said. "But you need to know that respect and honesty are two things I won't bend on."

"Hmmm. You lied to my Mom and you didn't get punished at all."

"Yes I did...I lost your Mom... and you." Josh didn't answer. For once he was out of words.

"Come on." Harm said. "We have a flight to catch."

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Mac, Mattie and Chloe all looked up when Josh appeared in the doorway.

"Harm wants you." Josh said to Mac. His eyes were red and it was obvious he'd been crying but Mac didn't want to embarrass him. "You ok?" she mouthed. He nodded before wandering in and plonking himself on Chloe's bed. Both the girls looked up but it was Chloe that spoke.

"Um...and how come you can still sit?" she said dropping what she was doing and putting her hands on her hips. For once...Mattie was in total agreement and stood right beside Chloe...figuratively and physically.

"Sorry?" Josh asked.

"Did you get SPANKED or not?" Mattie asked.

"Not." Josh said with a wince at the girls' expressions. Wow what was this...how many people did he have to answer to in this family?

"That is SOOO not fair." Choe said. She gave Josh a shove and he shoved her back. "How come?"

"I dunno. I just didn't is all." Josh said.

"It's because he's a boy." Mattie said. If Harm was gonna favour this kid she wasn't gonna like it. Not at all.

"Is not." Josh said.

"So sexist."

"Hey hey hey." Harm said from the doorway. "Enough of the shouting. What's going on in here?"

"Gee...could have something to do with the fact WE...the GIRLS got the daylights spanked out of us while your new little prince got off scott free!"

"Watch your tone." Harm said for about the millionth time that day. He really should record that to save himself saying it over and over. "And you did NOT get the daylights spanked out of you. It was little more than a few love taps."

"Sure." Mattie said under her breath.

"You have something to say ?" Harm asked.

"Well... what the...?"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence." Mattie was astute enough to stop there.

"He gave you the finger Harm." she grumbled.

"Look...Josh and I had stuff to work out from the past. We've done that, now we understand each other. From now on...same rules for everyone."

"Hmmpfft." Chloe pouted. "Still don't think it's fair."

"Well I'm sorry but the rest isn't your business and I'm not going to discuss it further."

"I was just sayin." Chloe said.

"So was I." Harm said. He gave them all a serious look before backing back out to the hallway and holding his breath.

"He always such a hard ass these days?" Josh asked.

"Pretty much both girls said together.

Harm let out the breath he was holding. Peace at last...for now.

TBC