Clara's First Birthday

FEBRUARY 18TH, 2003

0930 EST
JAG HEADQUARTERS
FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA

As soon as Mac woke up, she knew it was going to be one of those days. Usually this would be manageable, but it just so happened to be the day before her daughter's first birthday, and Mac was determined not to let one bad day throw a wrench into everything she had planned. Clara would only be turning one once, and Mac needed everything to be perfect.

The day before, Clara had been sent home early from daycare because she had spiked a fever, and whatever bug she'd caught hadn't gone away overnight. After spending the whole night taking turns staying up with her, Harm and Mac devised a game plan over a hasty breakfast.

Said plan was for where to take Clara for the day. They didn't even broach the topic of what they would do if they had to reschedule her birthday party for the following day - because that was a nonnegotiable. Clara was having her first birthday party - no ifs, ands, or buts about it. It was mutually agreed upon by both parents that Clara would be fine by tomorrow.

"It's just a twenty-four hour thing, right?"

"Yeah. Definitely."

Harm had to go to Norfolk for the day for an investigation, so that left him out of the question to watch Clara. They didn't want to send her to Harriet and run the risk of Little AJ getting sick, and the daycare wouldn't take her because she was still feverish. So that only left one option.

Mac would have to take Clara into the office with her. It wasn't an ideal situation by any means, but neither was Clara getting sick so close to her birthday. Mac would just have to do what she did best as a marine, and as a mother: adapt and be flexible.

Thankfully, Mac didn't have that many things on her schedule for that day. She'd purposefully left it as clear as possible so she could focus on putting the finishing touches on Clara's big day, but now she was focusing on making sure Clara would be well enough to celebrate.

While also…working. Unfortunately JAG still needed her when her child also needed her.

She didn't have any trials (thank god) and only had a few client meetings in the morning and early afternoon. Other than that, she just had paperwork, which you would think would be the easiest task to complete with a baby in your lap, but that was not the case. Especially when the baby was sick, cranky, and wanted her mother to pay all of her attention to her instead of working.

After Clara tried to pull the document Mac was trying to read out of her hands for the seventh time in two minutes, Mac decided a break was warranted. She sat down her paperwork, placing it far enough away on her desk that it would be out of Clara's tiny reach. She had already tried to push Mac's papers off the desk one other time.

"I'm sorry," she said, lifting Clara up and turning her around to face her. She frowned when she saw Clara's flushed cheeks. Mac pulled her in close, tucking her head under Mac's chin. "I'm sorry you're not feeling well."

Clara whimpered, squirming in Mac's arms. Mac placed the back of her hand against Clara's forehand, her frown deepening when she noticed it was still too warm.

"It's gonna be okay," Mac assured her, placing a kiss on her warm forehead. "You're gonna have your birthday party tomorrow and it's going to be so much fun, I promise."

Usually Clara was Harm and Mac's happy girl, and seeing her decidedly unhappy was distressing for the both of them. Harm had wanted to opt out of going to Norfolk, insisting that Sturgis could do the investigation on his own, but Mac had told him to go, saying that they would be fine. Now Mac was wondering if they would both be fine - Clara, at least. She and Harm agreed they would take Clara to the doctor if her fever hadn't broken by that evening, and Mac was hoping it wouldn't come to that.

"Colonel Mackenzie?"

Mac looked up from Clara and saw Tiner hovering in the doorway. She'd been so lost in thought that she hadn't heard him knocking.

"Yes, Tiner?"

"Your first client is here."

Mac sighed and pursed her lips. She hoped her clients wouldn't mind that there would be someone listening in on their conversation.

Mac's first client was a grizzled Army Colonel, who was more bemused to see Clara there than anything else. Her second client, who she saw after taking a brief lunch break, was a Navy Commander and a mother of three. She was still a little baffled to meet her lawyer's daughter, but she erred on the side of understanding rather than confusion.

By the end of the day, Mac and Clara were both considerably exhausted. What didn't help things was that Clara hadn't really had the opportunity to take a good nap, which would prove to be a recipe for disaster that night.

It was a little bit after 1700, and Mac was sitting at her desk, Clara still in her lap where she had been for most of the day, except for those five minutes where Mac had gone to the bathroom and Tiner had to watch her (that hadn't gone over well, incase you were wondering).

Mac was leaning back in her desk chair, trying to fight dozing off when there was a soft knock at her door.

Jolting awake and feeling Clara stir in her arms, Mac looked up to see a familiar face in the doorway.

"Sorry," Harm apologized with a soft smile. "Didn't mean to bother you."

"Oh, it's okay," Mac replied, fighting back a yawn as Harm walked into her office and around her desk. "We were just taking a break."

"How's she doing?" Harm asked, reaching down to feel Clara's forehead with the back of his hand. She was still sleeping soundly, tucked in the crook of Mac's arm.

"She's doing better, I think. Her fever feels like it's gone down. I haven't been able to take her temperature, though," Mac explained with a yawn. "I forgot the thermometer at home."

"That's okay," Harm said. "I'm done for the day, so I can take her home if you want."

Mac nodded. "Okay -" she yawned again. "That sounds good. Thank you."

As he bent down to scoop Clara up, Harm placed a kiss on Mac's cheek. "You try to get home soon, too, okay? You need your rest."

"Yeah and I still need to put up the decorations-"

"Mac-" Harm lifted Clara out of Mac's lap, gently shushing her as she began to fuss.

"The party can still happen, Harm. She's feeling better."

"I know," Harm shifted Clara's weight to his hip, placing a kiss on her cheek. Mac couldn't tell if he was talking to her or Clara.

"Mac, honey, I don't think it would be the end of the world if we moved the party to this weekend."

Mac sighed. "Harm, it's her first birthday. We can't mess this up."

"She's not going to know the difference, I promise."

"We'll know, Harm," Mac said as she buried her face into her hands. She wished that none of this was happening. This day out of all days.

Harm rubbed Clara's back as she continued to fuss. He could tell Mac was stressed out, Clara obviously was too, and he didn't want to make matters worse. "Listen, I'll take her home, and we can talk about this later."

"That's fine," Mac lifted her head up from her hands and offered Harm a tired smile. "You two get home safe."

"We will, won't we?" Harm hiked Clara up further on his hip, grinning at her in an attempt to cheer her up. It didn't work.

After grabbing her coat from Mac, Harm left with Clara. Mac remained at the office, having a few things left to do before she headed home herself. While she was getting ready to leave, she resigned herself to the fact that she was going to be too exhausted to put up decorations that night.

She and Harm were both off the following day, and Clara's party wasn't until three, so they would have most of the day to turn Mac's entire apartment into a wonderland for their daughter's first birthday.

"Everything's going to be fine," Mac told herself as she packed up her things. "She's going to wake up tomorrow and be good as new and everything's going to go fine. It's all going to be amazing and perfect and she's going to love it."

"Ma'am?"

Mac looked up to see Tiner paused in the doorway. "Yes Tiner?" she asked.

He looked at her with wide eyes. "Who are you talking to?"

Mac stared at him. "Myself, Tiner," she responded. "I'm talking to myself."

Tiner blinked. "Oh - okay, ma'am. I was just checking."

"It's something that happens with motherhood,":

The next day: February 19th, 2003. The day Clara Patricia Mackenzie-Rabb turned one. However, whether or not the birthday party was still happening on this day remained to be seen.

It was no longer Clara's health that proved to be an issue, but rather the health of her parents. Clara had woken up with no fever and no signs of illness other than a slightly runny nose, back to normal content self. Harm and Mac, on the other hand, couldn't say the same for themselves.

They had gone to bed the night before after coming to the consensus that they would wait and see if Clara was feeling better in the morning before they decided whether or not the party was still on. Both of them fell asleep after checking on Clara one final time, feeling fine.

Then Harm had woken up at around 0300 in a coughing fit. He went to the bathroom, continuing to cough, then returned to gently shake Mac awake. She was already awake - she just hadn't been able to bring herself to open her eyes yet. She was holding on to the hope that she might've been dreaming.

"Hey," she spoke groggily, rolling over and looking up at Harm. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Do I feel hot to you?" he asked. Mac responded by bringing her hand up to feel Harm's cheek, and then his forehead.

She frowned. "Hon, you're burning up."

Harm sighed. "That's what I thought," he sat back down on his side of the bed, briefly turning away from Mac so he could cough again. Mac watched him carefully.

"Do you think we should-"

"No," Harm quickly shook his head, coughing again. "I'll be fine in the morning. I just need to sleep it off."

Matters only got worse when Mac woke up that morning with a splitting headache and congestion so bad that she could barely breathe out of her nose. After getting Clara up, who was now back to her happy and babbling self, Mac forced Harm to check his temperature, and then checked her own.

"Well," Harm said, his voice scratchy as they stared down at the thermometer. "I guess we now know who Clara gave her fever to."

He turned to look at Mac, who sniffled. At first he thought it was just her nasal congestion, but then he saw her watery eyes and realized she was crying.

"Oh Mac…"

She leaned over the bathroom sink, burying her face in her hands. "She's turning one Harm, she's one today and we're not going to be able to do anything for her because we're all sick."

Harm frowned, feeling his heart ache for Mac. He knew how badly she wanted everything to be perfect for Clara. He'd been helping her plan everything for the past month.

"It's not your fault, Sarah," he said as he rubbed her shoulder. "You can't control when we get sick."

"I know, but why did it have to happen today?" she said, wiping her tears away and sniffling again. "Why couldn't she have gotten sick next week? Or last week?"

"I don't know, honey," Harm pulled her into his arms, resting his chin on top of her head.

Mac nodded, lifting her head up from Harm's chest. "I mean it's not like she's going to know the difference, so I guess it doesn't matter."

"It still matters," Harm insisted. "We can still do something today, just the three of us."

"What if that's not enough, though?" Mac asked. "What if she looks back and thinks we didn't care enough about her to do anything for her first birthday?"

"She'll know we cared about her," Harm said. "We can move the party to this weekend and make it the best party ever. She'll forgive us for this, I promise."

"We already have the cake," Mac said, sounding slightly dismayed. Her nose was even more congested now that she had been crying. "We may as well cut it today, so it won't go stale."

Harm smiled. "Exactly," he bent down to place a kiss on Mac's cheek. "And she's going to have both of us all to herself for the whole day. When's that last time that's happened? She's going to love it."

Mac looked at her blotchy face in the bathroom mirror's reflection. She sincerely hoped Clara would love it - or at least have a good time.

Much to Harm and Mac's relief, Clara did enjoy her first birthday. After downing as much cold medicine that's safe to take, Harm and Mac pulled out all the stops they could from the comfort of their apartment to make sure their little girl was celebrated. As Harm had predicted, she was just happy enough to have her parents all to herself for the day. Harm and Mac were the sickest they had been in a long time, but they were happy, too.

All three of them were still sick, actually, so it was just as well that they didn't do anything. Even though Clara's fever had broken, she definitely still had a cold.

"What's today? Is today your birthday?" Harm asked, looking at Clara through the lens of his video camera. It had been a present to him from Bud that past Christmas, and once Harm had figured out how to use it, he'd brought it out for every occasion possible. Mac wouldn't be surprised if the entire day ended up on film.

Clara giggled, reaching up to try and grab the front of the camera. Harm and Mac laughed.

"Happy birthday, sweetie," Mac said as Clara squirmed in her lap, still fascinated by Harm's camera.

After watching Clara's current favorite movie (The Lion King) Harm and Mac decided to give Clara a couple of her presents. The rest of them were being saved for her official birthday party, which had been rescheduled to that Saturday.

Finally, it was time for the big moment. The cake. Harm and Mac each got their own slices, and Clara got an entire corner, the assumption being that most of it would end up on her hands, on her face, or on the floor.

"Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday dear Clara…"

Harm and Mac were still very congested, so their vocal abilities were not up to their usual par, but it was the thought that counts.

There was a singular candle on Clara's slice of cake, which Harm had to help her blow out, even though she tried very hard to do it herself.

"Yay! Good job!" Mac cheered for her regardless, because it wasn't everyday her daughter blew out birthday candles for the very first time.

"What'd you wish for?" Harm asked, guiding Clara's hand, which had a big hunk of the cake in it, away from the edge of her high chair tray. She'd already somehow managed to get the cake all over herself, she didn't need to get it all over the kitchen floor, too.

"Probably to watch The Lion King again."

"Right. Probably."

Even though the day wasn't what Harm and Mac envisioned for Clara's first birthday, but the day ended up being perfect nonetheless.

Later that evening, after giving Clara a bath and putting her to bed, Harm and Mac sat on the sofa. Between them, they'd gone through an entire box of tissues that day and enough cold medicine to take down a horse.

"Do you think you'll call out sick tomorrow?" Harm asked.

Mac shrugged. "I don't know," she turned to look at him. "What about you?"

"I feel like we probably should," he said. "We don't need the entire JAG office taken out by whatever this is."

"It's a cold," Mac replied with a smirk. "Just because it probably came from a daycare doesn't mean it's some kind of mystery disease."

"Whatever you say."

Mac rolled her eyes affectionately. After turning away to sneeze, she snuggled up close to Harm, resting her head on his shoulder. It wasn't like they could get each other any sicker. She was in her Corps sweatshirt and Harm was wearing an old t-shirt he swore he hadn't worn since the Academy. An unexpected perk of the day was that neither of them had to change out of their pajamas.

"We did it," she said with a soft sigh. "We made it through the first year."

Harm smiled, reaching for Mac's hand and giving it a squeeze. "We did it," he agreed. "I knew we could."

"I can't believe it's already been a year."

"I know. Time flies," Harm hooked an arm around Mac's waist. "She really is amazing, isn't she?"

"How could she not be?" Mac asked. "We're here parents. She has your looks and my brains."

Harm frowned. "I thought we agreed she had your looks and my brains."

Mac laughed. "Nice try, flyboy."

Originally this was going to be a part of The Case, but I couldn't find a place to fit it in. What better place than to put it here, then?

Thanks for reading!

-Harper