A Little Wisdom

OCTOBER 2023

1430 EST
EN ROUTE TO MACKENZIE-RABB RESIDENCE
WASHINGTON D.C

Mac had a lot to be grateful for in her life, some big things, some small things. One of those things was that her kids were grown up. As much as she hated watching them grow up, it was somewhat of a relief to her.

They were all teenagers now, so Mac's days of dealing with strollers, diapers, and tantrums over things that absolutely did not matter in the long run were over. She would see mothers with young kids in the grocery store or at the mall and think to herself, I feel your pain, but I'm so glad I'm not in your shoes anymore.

However, there was one thing Mac wasn't counting on. She knew wisdom teeth removal was bad, from the videos she saw on the internet and from the stories Harriet had to tell (both AJ and James had to get their wisdom teeth out), but Mac had no idea wisdom teeth removal would turn her 17-year-old son back into a toddler.

"Mom! Mommy, you're driving on the wrong side of the road."

"Honey, I'm not."

"Yes you are! I'm watching you do it."

"Adam, I promise you I am driving on the right side of the road."

"You're gonna get us both killed."

Mac sighed. "Alright, whatever you say, honey."

She looked over and saw Adam fishing around in his mouth. He pulled out a wad of gauze, his brown eyes widening at the sight of blood. He was the spitting image of Harm, but he had Mac's brown eyes.

"WHAT IS THIS-"

"Please use your inside voice, we're in the car."

"Mommy, the dentist put blood in my mouth!" Adam wailed, looking over at Mac with complete terror. Lily, Adam's younger sister, had begged her parents to let her skip school so she could take a video of Adam after the procedure, but Mac had told her not to. Now she was somewhat regretting that idea.

"They had to take your wisdom teeth out. You bled a little bit."

"You mean to tell me this blood is mine!"

Mac checked over her shoulder and began to merge onto the exit ramp. "It's not that much, I know it looks like a lot, but it's not that much. Put the gauze back in your mouth, it'll help."

Some blood mixed with saliva dribbled down from the gauze and onto Adam's shirt. "I don't like dentists, they're mean."

"Your father says the same thing-Honey, you're getting blood all over your shirt, put the gauze back in your mouth."

Mac ended up having to pull over to coax Adam to put the gauze back in his mouth, and once they got home, she was finally able to breathe a small sigh of relief. However, that breath was short-lived. Mac was not weak by any standards, but Adam was only two inches shorter than Harm and had almost the exact same build, and Mac doubted he would be able to get into the house without help.

It was ironic, or at least Mac thought it was. Adam was born at 30 weeks weighing barely two and a half pounds and now he was 6'2 and 180 pounds.

Mac couldn't help him inside if she wanted to.

"Mom, what are you doing? Get back in the car, I wanna go to the ocean."

"It's too cold to go to the beach," Mac told him. "We can go next summer, like we always do."

"Next summer? That's like…" Adam paused, brow furrowing in thought. "A million days away."

"That's a little dramatic honey," Mac said as she pulled out her phone.

Adam's mouth dropped open, the gauze almost slipping back out of his mouth. "Dramatic? I think you're being the dramatic one, Mom."

Mac smirked and shook her head. Adam continued, "The ocean isn't only around during the summer. It's around all the time. I could go to the ocean on Christmas if I wanted to!"

"Of course you could, baby."

"Call Dad! He'll tell you! The ocean is around all year! He's the-the-the…Judge Advocate General of the United States of Navy of-of America! He knows about the oceans, Mom."

"Alright, alright," Mac stopped the video she'd been discreetly taking of her son. "I'll call your dad."

Harm arrived about twenty minutes later, parking his Jeep behind Mac's Mercedes. Even after all those years, Mac couldn't get enough of seeing Harm in uniform. There was some added speciality to it, now that he was JAG. But Mac would have to ogle later; right then they had more pressing matters to attend to.

"Hi Daddy!" Adam greeted, giving Harm an overly exaggerated wave.

"Hey, son. How are you feeling?"

"The dentist was mean to me and put blood in my mouth. See?" Adam opened his mouth, giving Harm a full view of the bloodied gauze filling his mouth. Harm winced, looking away.

"How did it go?" he asked Mac.

She shrugged. "As good as wisdom teeth removal could go. I'm just glad he didn't freak out like AJ did and lock himself in the dentist's bathroom and refuse to come out."

"That's a silver lining."

"I know right."

Harm grabbed Adam and hoisted him out of the passenger seat. Adam immediately slouched against Harm. "Where do you want him?"

"I wanna go to the ocean!" Adam announced.

"The ocean?" Harm raised an eyebrow. "It's October. It's a little cold, don't you think?"

"I don't care about the cold! Who cares about the cold?" Adam demanded. "As long as the ocean's there, I don't see why I can't go see it."

Harm looked at Mac with wide eyes. "What kind of stuff do they have him on?"

"They gave him nitrous oxide for the procedure and he has vicodin for the pain."

"Yeah but, why is he acting like this?" Harm asked, looking down at Adam, who was staring up at Harm with wide eyes.

Mac smiled. "That's just a pleasant side effect. He reminds me of you when you got drunk at Bud and Harriet's wedding."

"When did Aunt Bud and Uncle Harriet get married?" Adam asked, his words slurring.

"Uncle Bud and Aunt Harriet got married before you were born," Harm said.

Adam frowned. "What wasn't I invited?"

"Because, son, you weren't-never mind. Let's get you inside."

As Harm helped Adam in the house, one of their neighbors stopped on the sidewalk and called out, "Is everything alright?"

It hadn't occurred to Mac how strange the scene might look, with Harm helping their nearly-grown son into their house in broad daylight, until then.

"Wisdom teeth," she replied. The neighbor nodded knowingly.

Once they were all inside, Harm asked. "Where do you want him? Couch or bedroom?"

"Couch," Mac answered.

"The ocean." Adam said at the same time.

Deciding the couch was closer than the ocean, Harm took Adam into the living room. Adam landed on the couch a lot rougher than expected, but didn't seem fazed by it.

"Dad-Dad-Dad-are you listening to me?"

"Yes, I'm right here."

"You….you need to tell Mom that the ocean is around all year. Not just during the summer."

Harm paused. "Huh?"

"She thinks the ocean's only around during the summer. And I-I told her that since you are the General Advocate Judge-"

"Judge Advocate General."

"Whatever. You just need to tell her that she's wrong."

Harm looked over his shoulder at Mac. "You're wrong," he said, taking way too much pleasure in telling her that.

"She was also driving on the wrong side of the road."

Mac rolled her eyes. "I was not."

"Yes you were! All of the other cars were going the other direction!"

"That's because there was more northbound traffic. We were on the interstate, honey."

Adam narrowed his eyes. "We didn't leave the state, though."

Harm was snickering at that point, and Mac was having trouble holding in her laughter as well. However, Adam did not appreciate either of his parent's amusement.

"Stop laughing at me!"

"Okay, okay, we'll stop," Mac said, swatting Harm, who couldn't stop chucking, on the shoulder. "Why don't you take a nap?"

"But my teeth hurt!"

"I know, but you won't feel them if you're sleeping."

"Fine," Adam grabbed a throw pillow he'd accidentally knocked on the floor and hugged it to his chest. "But can we go to the ocean afterwards?"

"Whatever you want."

Harm looked at Mac with raised eyebrows. "Which one of us is taking him to the ocean? You are me?"

She smiled ruefully. "You need to go pick up Lily from school."

"But Mac, I have to budget...budget." he said as he walked out of the living room, leaving Adam to his nap.

"Just make someone else do it, like the Admiral used to do with you," Mac shrugged. Even though Harm was now an Admiral himself, AJ Chegwidden was still considered the only 'Admiral.'

Harm smirked. "Yeah, I guess I could. I keep forgetting I can tell everyone what to do now."

Mac raised an eyebrow. "You mean, everyone except me, right?"

"Of course."

Adam slept for a grand total of ten minutes before he was up again. Mac was fixing him some Jello, that being one of the only foods in their pantry that required minimal chewing.

"Mom?...Mom?...Can you come here?"

"Just a second."

There was a small pause before Adam spoke again.

"...It's been a second. Can you come here? Pretty please?"

Mac sighed, sitting down the bowl of jello. If he asks me about the ocean again, I'm going to lose my mind, she thought as walked to the living room.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I have a secret," Adam whispered.

Getting overwhelmed with a sense of déjà vu, Mac sat down on the edge of the sofa. "About what?" she asked, whispering as well. She'd learned from the ocean debacle that it was best to just go along with whatever Adam said.

"It's about Dad."

This is going to be interesting. "What about Dad?"

"I think-I think...he's in love with you, Mom."

Adam's serious tone and expression made Mac snort. "Well, I sure hope he's in love with me."

"You guys should totally…" his voice trailed off. "Get together some time," he finally finished. "I think that would be great."

"I'll have to talk to him about that."

"My mouth is leaking."

Mac looked up and saw a small trail of blood coming out of Adam's mouth. She quickly got to her feet. "Hold on, I'll get you some new gauze."

"Don't make too much fun of your brother," Harm told Lily as they pulled into the driveway. "He doesn't know what he's saying. He's on incredibly high painkillers."

"But you told me to take a video so you send it to Uncle Keeter."

Harm frowned. He'd forgotten he'd told her to do that. "Forget I said that," he told her. "Plus, your mother probably beat you to that."

"Can I take one if I just send it to Clara?"

Clara was away at college and was unable to witness the aftermath of Adam's wisdom teeth removal. She was naturally very disappointed, as any teasing older sister would be.

"Sure. This is a family experience, she shouldn't miss out."

"Was getting his wisdom teeth taken out even necessary?" Lily asked as they walked up the driveway.

"Yeah, like those train tracks across your teeth," Harm told her affectionately.

Lily frowned, running her teeth over her braces. At thirteen (nearly fourteen) she was the youngest of the Mackenzie-Rabb family. She was still regarded as the 'baby' of the family, despite being a teenager. Harm was having some difficulty wrapping his head around his youngest growing up; sometimes he had to remind himself she wasn't still in elementary school.

"Is he going to be healed by my birthday?"

"Yes, why?"

"I don't want him to steal the spotlight. I'll only turn fourteen once."

Harm chuckled. "You know it's my birthday too, right?"

Even though Lily wasn't premature like Adam was, her birth was unique in that way that it happened on Harm's own birthday. He got to celebrate turning forty-six in the hospital by becoming a father for the third time over. He really didn't mind sharing a birthday with one of his kids. In fact, he preferred it that way. Instead of the attention being on him getting older, it was on Lily growing up.

When Harm opened the door, foolishly he was expecting Adam to still be asleep. However, in the living room, Harm and Lily discovered Mac in the recliner, laughing hysterically, and Adam laying on the sofa, going on about something-

"There he is!" Adam exclaimed as soon as he saw Harm.

"What's happening?" Lily asked.

"I know your secret, Dad!"

"What secret?" Harm and Lily asked in unison.

"That you-" Adam pointed at Harm. "Love her," he pointed at Mac.

Harm blinked. "What?"

"Admit it!" Adam sat up. "You're in love with Mom!"

"Of course I am," Harm answered with a shrug. "I've always been in love with your mother."

"Cool, can we go to the ocean now?"