Chapter Sixty:
Tattoos are a Girl's Best Friend

APRIL 5TH, 2002

1845 EST
JINX PROOF TATTOOS
WASHINGTON DC

Harm had held Mac's hand through one of the most painful experiences of her life, so Mac found it was only fitting that she would hold his hand through one of the most painful experiences of his life - barring any near death experiences, of course.

That experience was getting his first tattoo.

Mac had gone first as an attempt to ease Harm's nerves (she'd also let him come the week before to her touch-up appointment - again to ease his nerves), getting her violet stem on her left shoulder blade. It hadn't exactly felt like nothing, but it hadn't been the worst feeling thing in the world. It had been farther away from the bone and had required less shading than her lotus flower, so it had been less painful than the work she'd had done the week prior.

"Alright, if you want to take a break or get water or anything, just let me know," their tattoo artist, Lisa, said as she picked up the tattoo gun with a gloved hand.

"Sure thing," Harm nodded, diverting his eyes from the gun.

Lisa was about ten years younger than Harm and Mac and was actually a Georgetown alumni, something she and Harm had yet to bond over because he'd been too nervous to make his usual small talk. After graduation and not finding satisfaction in marketing, Lisa had decided her artistic talent shouldn't go wasted and decided to get into tattooing. Art was another thing Mac knew Harm and Lisa could bond over, but Harm was acting far too anxious for someone who was usually so calm under pressure.

"Are you positive you're not holding him hostage?" Lisa asked, the buzzing tattoo needle hovering less than an inch away from his right bicep. Both him and Mac had been strategic about the placement of their tattoos, picking places that would be covered by their uniforms.

Harm shook his head, already wincing even though the hard part hadn't even started. He had nearly jumped out of his skin when Lisa had put the stencil on. "Nope, I'm completely here on my own volition, believe it or not."

Lisa looked at Mac with wide eyes. "It's true," Mac confirmed. "This was actually his idea."

She turned to face Harm. "It'll hurt less if you're not tense," she said. "Just relax."

"She's right," Lisa said, clicking on her headlamp. "Are you ready?"

Harm nodded, giving Mac's hand a squeeze. She hadn't had to ask if he needed to hold it; he'd just done it.

"As I'll ever be."

Soon enough, the only sound in the room was the buzzing of the tattoo gun. Harm was still tense, but was handling it well overall. Mac's freshly-done, wrapped tattoo was doing fine - it was just kind of itchy.

"So, why are you guys getting these tattoos? If you don't mind me asking," Lisa said as she began work on the stem.

"It's for our daughter," Mac said. "She's about a month old, isn't she, Harm?"

If there was anything that could distract Harm from the discomfort of being tattooed, Mac knew it would be giving him the opportunity to brag about Clara Patricia Mackenzie-Rabb.

ONE HOUR LATER
EN ROUTE TO ARLINGTON

"It looks great," Harm said, looking down in admiration at his bicep. The sleeve of his t-shirt was rolled up, showing off his first tattoo that was covered by a clear plastic bandage. "It wasn't even that bad."

"Yeah," Mac nodded from the driver's seat. "She did a great job," she briefly glanced over at Harm. "You handled it like a champ."

Harm grinned. "I don't think I could've done it without you holding my hand the entire time."

"Do you think you'll get any more?" Mac asked, which made Harm laugh.

"Hell no."

Mac raised her eyebrows as she merged into the exit lane. "You realize that if we have more kids, you're going to have to get one for each of them, right? I mean, it's only fair.

Harm looked over at her with a smirk. "So you're saying you want more kids?"

"Hypothetically," Mac quickly amended. "Hypothetically if we have more children, you would have to get more tattoos."

After thinking it over for a few moments, Harm nodded. "Then yeah, I'd get more. I'd do anything for our kids."

"Kid, sailor. Don't get ahead of yourself; my vagina still looks like a war zone."

It was true. Mac had taken a look at things with a handheld mirror that morning and hadn't exactly been thrilled at what she'd seen. She'd demanded Harm check it out as well to see if her eyes were deceiving her - he'd said everything looked fine, but she was positive he was just being nice.

Instead of using the handheld mirror, Harm had just crouched down while Mac was balancing somewhat awkwardly, with one foot propped up on the closed toilet seat and one hand braced against the corner of the counter.

"It looks…"

"How? How does it look?"

"It looks like a vagina, honey. I don't know what else to say."

Mac had looked down at him with raised eyebrows. "Is there something else to say, though?"

"Honey, you had third degree tearing-given that, it's not that bad."

"So it's bad?"

"Mac, it'll heal and be fine. I watched you give birth to our child, I promise this doesn't bother me."

"You watched?" Mac's eyes widened. "I told you not to!"

"Honey, I was right there-"

What had made this entire exchange all the more comical was that Harm was in uniform, less than ten minutes away from leaving and heading into the office.

Back in the present, Harm had to resist reassuring Mac that her vagina did, in fact, look fine.

"I was speaking hypothetically," he teased, looking at Mac as she rolled her eyes. "What about you? Would you get more?"

"Kids or tattoos?"

Harm shrugged. "Either."

"Well…." They had pulled up to a stop light, giving Mac the perfect opportunity to think. She bit her lip. "Having more kids is a solid maybe, and as for tattoos…I'd definitely get more."

Harm's eyebrows shot up. "Really?"

Mac shrugged. "Sure. If I wasn't in the Corps I'd be pretty tatted up, hon."

"Seriously?" Harm looked at her in surprise. "Tatted up?"

"What?" Mac laughed, looking at him innocently. "Don't tell me you're some tattoo snob like Mic."

"No, I just never thought I'd ever hear you say the phrase 'tatted up.'"

Mac reached out and swatted Harm's arm just as the light turned green.

"Ow, you hit my tattoo!"

"Sorry."

2030 EST
ROBERTS RESIDENCE
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA

It had been a long three weeks since Bud had gone away to serve on the Seahawk, but thankfully Harriet had her hands full - not only with her son, but also with her brand new niece that she got the privilege of babysitting from time to time. Harriet loved spending time with Clara, and she also loved the distraction it provided her, keeping her mind from worrying about Bud as much as she usually did.

When Clara was a couple weeks old and Harm and Mac decided to venture out into the real world for a quick dinner date, Harriet had jumped at the chance to watch Clara. Without trying to sound biased, she considered herself to be the perfect babysitter. She had experience, had the supplies, and the best part was that she didn't cost a cent.

"Well, I finally got Little AJ to go to bed, so it looks like it's just us girls now," Harriet whispered, bending over the bassinet to check on Clara. The bassinet had once belonged to Little AJ and had been pulled out of the hall closet and repurposed for Clara's visits.

Clara didn't stir, put to sleep by some of Harriet's aunt-magic accompanied by a bottle. As big of a risk as it was, Harriet couldn't resist picking her up. There were some people who believed that babies would get 'spoiled' if you held them too much, but Harriet was not one of those people. Clara was her first niece, Harriet would be crazy not to spoil the living daylights out of her.

"Hi sweetie," Harriet cooed, settling down onto the sofa with Clara snuggled in her arms. "Your Mommy and Daddy should be here any minute, they just called. Are you excited to see their new tattoos? They got them just for you."

Babies were by far Harriet's favorite people to talk to; they were always invested in the conversation and they rarely ever had anything negative to say. Clara was absolutely no exception.

"Maybe I should get a tattoo?" Harriet wondered out loud. "What do you think about that? Do you think I could rock one? I never really pictured myself with any, but you never know."

Harriet was correct; Harm and Mac did arrive just a few minutes later. Harriet put Clara back in the bassinet to save giving the appearance that she was trying to wake up their sleeping baby; she wasn't, but Clara probably would've woken up anyway if she had kept holding her.

"Hi!" Harriet greeted when she opened the door. "How did it go?"

"Good," Mac said. Harm nodded in agreement. "Harm didn't pass out like I thought he would."

Harm eyes widened. "You told Harriet you thought I was going to pass out?" he asked.

"To be fair, I agreed," Harriet replied with a shrug.

Walking over to the bassinet, Mac bent over to look at Clara. "How was she?" she asked, looking over her shoulder at Harriet.

Harriet waved a hand. "She was a dream, gave me no trouble at all."

Harm chuckled. "No offense Harriet, but that probably means she's going to give us hell tonight."

"Yeah," Mac agreed as she lifted Clara out of the bassinet. "She'll probably start screaming ten minutes into the car ride home and not want to stop."

"Oh really?" Harriet frowned. "She doesn't like car rides? Little AJ loved those when he was little."

"Oh she likes them," Harm said, "It just depends on her mood."

"She gets the moodiness from Harm, in case you were wondering," Mac added, giving Harm a wry glance.

"Alright, Alright, I get it," he said, walking over to Mac and reaching out for Clara. "Why don't I get her loaded into the car seat so you two can talk about me behind my back instead of to my face?"

"Alright sailor," Mac replied. "I'll be down as soon as we're done."

Harm left the apartment with Clara, who was already starting to wake as he shut the door. Mac and Harriet sat down on the sofa beside each other, Harriet moving some of Little AJ's toys out of the way to make more room for their feet.

"How have you been holding up?" Mac asked.

Harriet sighed. "Oh, as well as I could be, I guess," she said. "Some days are better than others. Every time I talk to Bud he says he's doing fine, so that helps ease my conscience at least."

"I'm sure he actually is doing fine, Harriet," Mac told her. "He'd never lie to you."

"Yeah I know, but I can't help but worry," Harriet looked at Mac with raised eyebrows. "You're telling me that if Harm was out there you wouldn't be worried at all?"

Mac laughed. "Oh I'd be worried sick."

"Exactly."

Glancing down at Mac's engagement ring, which she was now wearing full time since her and Harm announced their engagement a few weeks ago. They decided Bud deserved to find out in-person before he went to the Seahawk.

"So," Harriet looked at Mac coyly, eager to hear any updates on Mac's life and equally eager to change the subject, "Have you and Harm made any progress on wedding planning yet?"

"Oh God," Mac rolled her eyes. "Don't remind me. We haven't even thought about it."

"Really?"

Mac nodded. "Yeah, we want to take our time with it. Plus we want to get the hang of parenting first."

"Understandable."

Harriet sighed again and thought back to when her and Bud got engaged, feeling a whole other wave of sadness from missing him.

"You know," Mac said with a smile. "I have decided on one thing for the wedding, though."

"Oh really?" Harriet raised any eyebrow. "What did you decide on?"

Mac looked at her meaningfully. "Who my maid of honor is going to be."

Harriet's eyes widened. "Really?" she asked.

"Yeah," Mac confirmed with a wide smile. "I figured you deserved a do-over since you technically never got to be my maid of honor with Mic. What do you say?"

"Oh Mac, of course!" Harriet exclaimed, throwing her arms around Mac's neck in a hug.

TWO DAYS LATER

APRIL 7TH, 2002

2130 EST

APARTMENT OF HARMON RABB JR

NORTH OF UNION STATION

"I can't believe you."

"Believe me for what?"

"Getting a tattoo of a flower and selling this place," Keeter looked down at Harm's loft in a mild form of despair. "After sinking so much money into turning this place into something other than a dump-"

Harm laughed as he dropped a stack of old law textbooks into a cardboard box. "I know you've devoted your life to being a wayward bachelor, so I get that having a family of your own that you'd gladly make sacrifices for is a hard concept for you to grasp."

Keeter placed a hand on his chest. "Ouch."

"You know it's true," Harm said, sitting down on the arm of his couch. "I mean, I can't even really explain it-"

"I know, it's the greatest love of all. I get it, Whitney Houston."

"It's like…" Harm continued, ignoring Keeter's quip. "I love her so much, it hurts. Like it's a physical pain-"

Keeter eyed him wearily. "You should get that checked out."

"But it's so confusing because it's also the best thing I've ever felt. This afternoon she fell asleep on my chest and I don't think I've ever been happier. And she's already so big-"

"Harm, I just saw her. She's the size of a dachshund."

"She used to be so tiny-"

"I don't see how she could get any tinier. Dachshunds are already small."

Harm sighed, looking at Keeter. "You really just don't get it," he said.

Keeter shook his head. "I guess I don't," he said. "But you know that whole white picket fence thing was never for me, Harm. You were always the one that Luke and Annie got to babysit Josh - they never asked me."

"I think Josh might've turned out differently if they had."

Keeter laughed. "Exactly."

Harm stood up and walked back over to the bookshelf. Ever since he'd moved in with Mac, his loft had served as a pseudo-storage unit for the stuff that could no longer fit at Mac's place. After crunching the numbers, Harm soon realized that it would save money to just sell his loft and then buy an actual storage unit, so that was his current plan of action. As he told his mother, the housing market wasn't what it used to be, but Harm had a feeling that his loft in the heart of DC wouldn't take long to sell.

He was definitely going to miss the place, but it wasn't his home anymore.

"I know you're probably sick of me," Harm said with a laugh. It was taking Harm some time to realize that, even though he would gladly make every conversation about Clara, that not everyone would want to listen to him talk about Clara all the time.

"No, I'm just giving you hell," Keeter replied. "It's actually nice to see. I don't think I've seen you this happy in a while."

Harm paused in the middle of taking another stack of books off the shelf. "Are you being nice to me?" he asked incredulously.

Keeter shrugged. "I decided to give it a try this one time. Don't get used to it."

Unloading the second stack of books into the box with the others, Harm straightened up and looked at Keeter. "Well then, I guess I'll be nice to you for once."

"What do you mean?" Keeter asked.

"Do you want to be my best man?"

This has been such a long week, oh my god. I haven't been this happy to see a Friday afternoon in a long time.

The idea I got for Harm and Mac to get tattoos appropriately came to me while I was getting a tattoo, and my idea to make Harm one big baby about it was also an idea I got while I was getting another tattoo. I can't make fun of him too much though, because I did tear up a little bit when I was getting my ribs done last month.

Anyways...enough about my tattoos. We only have three chapters left, and I'm definitely trying my best to tie up some loose ends (will there be a sequel?...who knows?), and I'm a little sad to see this story coming to a close, but all good things must come to an end - sadly.

Thanks for reading!

-Harper