Chapter Fifty-Six:
Just like Flying

WEEK 37
FEBRUARY 18TH, 2002

0900 EST
JAG HEADQUARTERS
FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA

Generally, there was only so much you could plan when it came to giving birth, but Mac was determined to have as much of it planned as possible. After much debating and convincing, combined with a fair amount of pleading - one may even be able to call it begging, Mac was finally able to set up an induction date with Melinda. She would be going into labor on March 4th at approximately 0600.

Life was good. Mac could now count the days to when she would have her baby. If she was feeling really fancy, she could count the hours and minutes too. She was going to have a baby in eleven days and twenty-one hours on the nose.

When Mac strolled into the breakroom and felt a contraction, she wrote it off as Braxton Hicks. She'd had them before, freaked out about them, then realized they were nothing, and went about her way. So, that morning, when she felt a tightening in her lower abdomen, Mac wrote it off as nothing. She waited for a few seconds for it to be over, grabbed a granola bar from the cabinet, then walked back to her office.

The second contraction came while Mac was sitting at her desk. It happened long enough after the first for Mac to forget that the first one had even happened. Until the third one arrived, then Mac remembered.

Three? She looked down at her bump. That's weird. Usually her braxton hicks always went away when she ate something. Neither of them were particularly painful, the same amount of pain that would come with a standard menstrual cramp, but it was enough to pique Mac's attention nonetheless.

When the fourth contraction happened, Mac decided to activate her internal clock. The fifth and sixth contractions happened, exactly twenty minutes and six seconds apart, and Mac thought, Well, those are kind of regular. Then two more happen, at perfect twenty minute intervals, followed by another.

The thought finally occurred to Mac, after an embarrassingly long time, that she was in labor.

Her hand went down to her bump, her eyes widening. "Oh my God," she said softly. "I'm in labor."

She sat there for a few moments in shock, partly expecting some sort of an alarm to start going off. She expected everyone to start freaking out-she expected herself to freak out-like what happened in the movies, but nothing happened. Mac just sat there in silence, while everyone outside her office just went about their daily business.

Once the shock wore off, Mac was irritated.

"Seriously?" she looked accusingly down at her bump. "I just set an induction date. Yesterday."

Mac waited another hour before deciding on any plan of action, waiting to see if the contractions stopped. They didn't, they kept coming. Every twenty minutes - like clockwork.

She was in labor, and she wasn't going to do anything about it. For the time being, at least. Mac knew that, unless her baby was on the fast track to get out like Little AJ had been, she was in for some waiting before things really kicked into gear.

Harm was in Norfolk on an investigation with Bud, hopefully just for that day, so Mac was really hoping the baby would take its time.

Once the reality of her labor sank in, Mac decided to make some phone calls.

"Trish?"

There was a pause on the other end of the line and the sound of some shuffling. "Hello? Sarah, is that you?"

"Yes, I'm sorry for calling so early," it was only 0800 in La Jolla. "But um, you might want to push your flight up, if you can."

"Why?"

"I started having contractions two hours ago."

Mac also thought about calling Chloe, but she was in school, so Mac just left a message for her grandmother to relay to her. Mac also called her mother but got her voicemail. That concerned Mac a little, but she decided she had bigger things to worry about. It wasn't like this was the first time her mother had gone MIA, after all.

She held off on calling Harriet, deciding that would lead to everyone finding out within a span of ten minutes. That was the last thing Mac wanted. Why get everyone worked up when barely anything had happened?

Mac decided to just lay low, going about her day like nothing was happening. There was stuff she had to do before she went out on maternity leave - files she needed to put in order, cases she still had left to reassign. Not to mention her entire office was a mess. The baby would have to wait, she still had stuff to organize.

About an hour later, Mac was walking through the bullpen with a stack of files, on her way to the copier when another contraction hit. Like the ones before it, it wasn't painful, just mildly uncomfortable. It was enough to make her pause, stopping right in the middle of the bullpen. She played it off nonchalantly, pretending she was stopping to check something in one of the top files.

However, Mac wasn't too slick to avoid the Admiral.

"Colonel?"

Taking a deep breath, Mac slowly turned around. "Yes sir?"

The Admiral walked over to her, taking off his glasses. "This may seem like an invasive question but-" he paused. "You wouldn't happen to be in labor, would you?"

She smiled sheepishly. "Was it that obvious, sir?"

He shrugged. "I was just taking a wild guess," he looked around the bullpen. "Don't you think you should be...heading home?"

"Oh no, sir," Mac assured him. "My contractions are only nineteen minutes and forty-seven seconds apart, and my water hasn't broken yet. I'm perfectly fine to stay here at least for the next few hours."

"Colonel-"

"I'm fine, sir. Really," Mac turned to head back to the copier. "And please don't tell Harm! He said he'll be back by five!"

The Admiral sighed as he watched Mac walk away. He headed back to his office, grabbing his car keys and stuffing them into his pocket. He wanted to keep them handy just in case he ended up being the one driving her to the hospital.

The only person who would ever give birth in JAG offices would be Harriet Sims - he would make sure of that.

1715 EST
JAG HEADQUARTERS
FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA

The Admiral kept a watchful eye on Mac for the rest of the afternoon. He made himself seem inconspicuous, limiting his observation to nonchalant circles around the bullpen. At one point, he'd even noticed that Mac had managed the nod off at her desk. Clearly she wasn't in that much pain at that time, so he held off on calling Harm.

Harm came strolling in a little after 1700, tired but content from a successful investigation. He knocked on Mac's office door frame, and she looked up from her computer.

"Hey," he said. "You ready to head home?"

Mac laughed, pushing her chair away from her desk. "Sure," she said. "If you wanna take me to the hospital right after."

"Huh?" Harm froze, watching her with wide eyes as she went to go grab her coat. "What - wait - what are you talking about...Mac…?"

She looked at him and grinned. "We're having a baby, baby."

The Admiral was standing nearby in the bullpen, with his back turned so it wouldn't seem like he was eavesdropping. He heard Harm ask, "How long have you been having contractions?" He didn't hear Mac's response, but judging from Harm's "What?" that was so loud the entire bullpen heard it, the answer wasn't a desirable one.

2030 EST
MACKENZIE-RABB RESIDENCE
GEORGETOWN

Deciding to savor her last time in her apartment before becoming a mother, Mac changed into her sweatshirt and sweatpants, sat down on the sofa with some snacks and water, and relaxed. She was going to turn the TV on, but the entertainment was right in front of her. Ever since he found out she was in labor, Harm had been in varying stages of freaking out. Whatever Mac did, she couldn't get him to calm down.

"Hang on, sailor," Mac caught him by the shirt sleeve. He was on his fifth lap of anxiously pacing around the apartment, muttering out a checklist of things he was supposed to have gotten down before then.

"Huh? Are you - did you water break? Is it time to go?"

"No," Mac tugged Harm down onto the sofa next to her. "I'm fine. There's no baby yet."

Harm's shoulders sagged with relief. "Okay, good-" he started to hop back to his feet, but Mac stopped him. "Mac, what are you-"

She placed one hand on either side of his face. "You need to calm down," she said, making sure each syllable was crisp so he wouldn't miss a word of what she was saying. "You're going to be holding my hand for the next few hours while I push out a baby. I'd like for you to keep some of your wits."

He slowly nodded, bringing one of his hands up to cover Mac's. "Right," he took a deep breath. "Right, yeah, you're right."

Mac smiled. "We're having a baby."

"We're having a baby," Harm kissed her palm, looking at the ring she was wearing. Mac had decided to put it on for good luck.

"And you need to take a shower."

Harm's smile dimmed. "Huh?"

"You spent all day on a carrier," Mac said.

"It was parked."

"Still," she insisted. "I love that you're a sailor, but I don't want you smelling like one when you meet our child for the first time."

Harm still wasn't convinced. "But Mac-"

Mac placed a finger over his mouth. "Honey, we've been sitting here for two and a half hours and nothing has happened. You can take at least twenty minutes for a shower, I promise."

After negotiating the time down to fifteen minutes, Mac was finally able to convince Harm to take a shower. He got in, allowing himself the luxury of waiting a few minutes for the water to reach the perfect temperature. He was just about to start shampooing his hair when there was a knock on the shower door.

"Yes?" he asked, poking his head out. Mac was standing there, looking as calm as she had been before. Only now there was a wet spot spreading down her sweatpants.

Mac smiled apologetically. "Sorry to interrupt, but I think my water just broke."

After a brief change of dress for Mac, and another mini-freak out for Harm, they were on their way to the hospital. Harm had the hospital bag in one hand and his car keys in the other, and Mac was right at his side, practically bouncing with excitement.

"Isn't this exciting?" she asked as they headed to the elevators at the end of her hall. "We've never done this before."

Harm nodded wearily, trying his best to keep himself calm. "This is definitely new territory for us," he looked down at Mac, who was grinning from ear to ear. "You know what would be great? If we could keep this positive attitude the entire time."

Mac laughed. "You know what would be even better?"

"What?"

She reached up to kiss him on the cheek. "If you could get into a positive attitude."

"I am," Harm said indignantly. "I also just happen to be incredibly nervous."

As the elevator doors closed, Harm felt a firm sense of finality. The next time they were in this elevator, they would have their baby with them. This was the moment they'd been prepping for ever since they were sitting on Mac's bathroom floor back in July. They were going to have a baby. They were having a baby.

Get yourself together, Rabb, he told himself, It's just like flying. You start off, and you deal with whatever happens when it happens. Then you just have to stick the landing.

Since we're in the home stretch of this story, and these last few chapters are pretty short, I decided to go back to weekly updates :)

It's finally happening! Our favorite couple is having their baby!

-Harper