Chapter Four:
Night and Day

2030 EST
APARTMENT OF SARAH MACKENZIE
GEORGETOWN

"Do you mind if I finish straightening my hair?"

"No, go ahead."

"Okay, cool."

Chloe returned to her dresser, picking up her straightener. It was still plugged in, but she'd had the sense to at least turn it off. Mattie, meanwhile, didn't know where to sit. There was a desk chair that was completely covered in clothes that had been tried on and discarded, and Mattie didn't know if Chloe would be okay with her sitting on her bed, which was completely unmade and looked like it hadn't been made since the last time Chloe visited.

The only other option left for Mattie was the circular, fuzzy area rug in the center of the room. She sat down on it, looking up at Chloe as she went to town on her hair with that straightener. Mattie wondered if this could get anymore awkward.

"So," Chloe said as a strand of her hair sizzled through the straightener. Mattie wasn't about to say anything, but the room was increasingly starting to smell like smoke. She turned around to look at Mattie, her fried hair flipping over her shoulder. "How old are you?"

"I'm fifteen."

"You're lying."

Mattie's brow furrowed. "No I'm not!"

"Yes you are. You looked away when you said it."

"I'll be fifteen in three months."

"So you're fourteen?"

Mattie sighed and rolled her eyes. "Yes, if that makes any difference."

"It does," Chloe turned back to look at herself in the mirror. "So you're what? A freshman?"

"Yes…what does that have to do with anything?"

"Nothing, it's just that you're a baby."

Mattie's mouth dropped open. "I'm not a baby!" she insisted. "How old are you?"

"I'm fifteen - I'll be sixteen in May, though."

"So we're practically the same age."

"Not really, but okay," Chloe winced a little as she heard the straightener sizzle. In the reflection of the mirror, she noticed Mattie sitting on the floor. She clamped her straightener shut and turned around to look at her. "Dude, you can sit on my bed, I don't mind."

"Oh - okay," Mattie quickly jumped up and scurried over to the bed, sitting with her legs crossed, back awfully stiff.

Chloe eyed her with suspicion. She was suddenly doubting Mac's promises that this would go well. She sure seems weird, Chloe thought with a sigh.

However, she hadn't realized she'd been sighing outloud until it was too late. Mattie's eyes suddenly widened. "Sorry," she began to apologize quickly. "It's just that - well, I haven't really - I don't have a lot of friends-"

As Mattie continued talking, Chloe found her dread growing quicker by the second. Mac, I'm going to kill you, she thought.

"I've just never had a sleepover before, so I don't really know what I'm doing."

"Okay," Chloe shrugged, feigning nonchalance. "It's whatever, honestly."

"It doesn't feel like whatever," Mattie looked down at her hands, and suddenly Chloe was hit with a pang of guilt. While she was so busy berating Mattie in her head for being weird, it occurred to Chloe that she too, had once been…well, weird. Up until last summer, actually.

As much as Chloe didn't want to, she felt obligated to help her. Or at least try to make conversation with her.

"No really," Chloe assured her. "I get it. You can ask Mac, I used to be weir - I mean, I used to have trouble making friends, too," she sat her straightener down, giving her freshly straightened hair a run through with her brush. "You have to have your first sleepover sometime."

"Right," Mattie answered, but she still looked unsure.

As Chloe unplugged her straightener, she racked her brain for what - if anything, her and Mattie could have in common. After going through a few basic topics (clothes, music, movies, school) and finding nothing promising, inspiration struck Chloe in a way that could only be described as positively miraculous.

Chloe knew Mac. Mattie knew Harm.

What better to talk about than Mac and Harm?

Deciding to cut to the chase, Chloe turned around and walked over to the bed, sitting down next to Mattie. She turned to look at her, her expression deadly serious.

"So," she started. "Tell me, what do you think about Harm and Mac?"

Mattie blinked at her. "Harm and Mac? What about them?"

Chloe laughed. "What about them? There's everything about them," she folded her arms across her chest. "Has Harm told you anything?"

"No," Mattie shook her head, still looking at Chloe like she had two heads. "I mean…Mac is someone he works with. That's about all that I know about…them. Yeah, I guess that's it."

"You don't know that they're in love with each other?" Chloe demanded. And here I thought it was SO obvious. It is so obvious.

Mattie's eyes widened to the point where they looked like they were beginning to bug out of her head. "What?"

Chloe hastily reached over and clamped her hand over Mattie's mouth so Mac wouldn't hear. "Shhh…" she removed her hand. Mattie looked even more bewildered.

"But - if they're - how could they be - that doesn't make any sense -" Mattie sputtered, trying to wrap her head around this girl she'd just met an hour ago was trying to tell her.

"Oh, it makes all the sense, trust me," Chloe said.

"But if they're in love with each other?" Mattie's brow began to furrow in confusion. "Then why aren't they…together?"

"That's the age old question," Chloe cleared her throat. "Allow me to explain. Picture this: the rose garden at The White House. It's a hot summer morning. It's 1995 - no, sorry. It's 1996. This was before I met Mac so the details are a little fuzzy. But anyways, allow me to continue…"

THAT SAME TIME
HARM'S APARTMENT

As Harm fished his keys out of his pocket, he tried to force himself not to worry. This is what you wanted, he reminded himself, You wanted her to get out and make some friends.

While he was preparing dinner for himself and just himself, in his loft that was usually not this quiet this time of night, Harm still found himself trying not to worry.

It's not like she's at some party where god knows what is happening, he had to remind himself, She's at Mac's apartment.

Even still, as Harm boiled his pasta he couldn't help but find himself worrying. Worrying if Mattie was having a good time, worrying if she was getting along with Chloe, worrying if she liked the pizza. Worrying, worrying, worrying.

Harm knew Mattie wasn't a kid. She wasn't a little girl Harm had to pack lunch for every day and teach how to tie her shoes. She was only a few years away from being an adult; while she was definitely not an adult and still needed plenty of guidance, Harm also knew she had a whole past before he met her. She'd had parents, a home.

As much as Harm felt like Mattie's father at times, he felt like it wasn't his place to fully embrace the role. He knew form his experience with Frank what a thin lin it was, caring for a kid that wasn't technically yours. Granted, Harm had been a lot younger than Mattie when Frank had started coming around, but he imagined the growing pains weren't all that different.

But things had worked out with Harm and Frank, so Harm was hopeful things would work out between him and Mattie too.

He was ready to be in Mattie's life for the rest of his own life - he was more than ready for that commitment, but if it was in the cards for him to actually be Mattie's father, that was a decision he was leaving up to Mattie. It was what Frank had done with him - he'd left it to Harm's decision whether or not he wanted to call Frank "Dad" or if he wanted Frank to legally adopt him. Harm hadn't wanted either of those things and Frank had respected his decision, but that didn't mean that would also be the case for Mattie.

But still, Harm was leaving the ball in Mattie's court. If she wanted Harm to be her dad, officially, Harm was leaving it up to her - he was too hesitant to overstep.

He definitely felt like Mattie's father, and that wouldn't change regardless of her decision.

Too lost in thought, it took Harm several extra to hear his phone ringing. He scrambled to pick it up, anticipating seeing Mac or Mattie's Caller ID. When he saw it was an unknown number with a California area code, his brow furrowed in confusion.

Hoping it wasn't Webb, Harm picked up. "Hello?" out of habit, he tacked on, "This is Commander Rabb speaking," though he sincerely hoped this wasn't a work matter - not this late in the evening when he had a sleepover Mattie was at to worry about.

There was a beat of awkward silence on the other end of the line, and Harm was about to repeat himself when the other person finally spoke.

"Hey so, uh, this is awkward but…."

The other person was not who Harm had been expecting. It was a young man - a young, young man. Harm could tell by the voice. It was in that awkward transition into dropping down to a grown man octave, where nearly every third word was met with a voice crack and everything just sounded a little off. Harm's voice had dropped the summer after freshman year of high school, and while that was a time in his life he could often look back on and laugh about, it was something you couldn't pay him enough to relive.

It only made Harm wonder more - who the hell was he talking to?

"You uh, you used to date my mom."

Suddenly, Harm felt his stomach drop and panic begin to rise in his chest. There was no way, right? Absolutely no way. Harm wouldn't lie - he'd spent the bulk of his young adulthood before coming to JAG entertaining his fair share of women, but he had always been careful.

Harm found himself suddenly sitting on the sofa, forgetting to even keep an eye on his pasta. "Hey kid," he scratched the back of his neck. "Do you think I could get a name, maybe? Either yours or your mother's?"

Leading with a name might've been the smart thing to do, but okay.

"Right yeah," the younger man gave an awkward laugh. "I'm Josh?" he said his name like he was asking Harm to see if it was correct or not. "Josh Pendry. My mom's name is Andrea - Annie?"

Harm felt relief come flooding in, combined with surprise. Why would Josh Pendry be calling him after six years?

With the pasta beginning to boil over catching his eye, Harm hastily stood up from the sofa and walked back into his kitchen. Cradling the phone between his shoulder and ear, Harm turned the stove down. "Yeah right," he said. "I remember you."

He'd been Luke's best man. He'd been at Josh's baby shower. There had even been a brief time where he thought he'd be Josh's stepfather. Of course he remembered Josh.

"So, why are you calling? What's up?"

Harm tried not to sound accusatory - even though he was a little concerned that Mattie might need to get ahold of him and wouldn't be able to.

"Well, I uh, I kind of wanted to know more about flying," Josh replied, punctuating the sentence with another laugh. That was another phase of growing up that Harm remembered well - making everything into a joke because you were completely and utterly unsure of yourself.

"I'm interested in going to the Academy."

Harm frowned. Josh couldn't be that old already.

"How old are you?"

"I turned fifteen last month."

Harm smirked. Ah yes, being fifteen. He remembered being fifteen, as much as he didn't want to.

"You're still a little young for the Academy," Harm told him with a chuckle, even though he couldn't help but feel a swell of joy that the boy's love for the Navy hadn't been deterred over the years. Harm couldn't wait to find out what Annie thought of it.

"I know, but I also was wondering….." there was a long pause. "I want to know more about my dad, and I was wondering if you could….I don't know, help me with that?"

Just like that, Harm felt his joy be undercut by a stab of sadness.

"My uh, my mom said she'd call you, or email you about it, but I got impatient."

Harm knew the feeling. He knew exactly what it was like being a young man growing up and feeling like you had no idea who your father was, impossibly impatient to knowing anything - everything.

Harm leaned against the counter. "Is that right?" he asked.

"Yeah…Sorry, I know this is a lot and I'm probably bothering you-"

"No," Harm quickly shook his head even though Josh couldn't see. "You're not bothering me, Josh," he gave a quick glance at the clock. It was almost 2200. Harm wanted to talk to Josh, but it also wasn't a good time. There was so much he could say, and wanted to say, but he had no clue where to start, and Josh deserved to hear things in the right way.

"Listen…" Harm racked his brain for a plan of action. "Why don't I give you my work phone and tell your mom to give me a call so we can….we can figure stuff out."

"Okay!" Harm smiled at the hopeful tone in Josh's voice.

After a few more minutes of semi-awkward small talk in which Harm found out Annie had gotten remarried to an accountant (Harm wasn't surprised that she had steered clear of Navy men) and that Josh was now an older to two younger sisters. Harm had also informed Josh that he was a Commander now, no longer "just" a Lieutenant Commander.

After Harm hung up, he looked down at his phone in dismay. He now found himself worried about two teenagers, not just one like he'd been before his phone rang.

EVEN LATER THAT NIGHT

It was a little after 0300, and Mattie and Chloe were still awake. Partly because it was a sleepover and the point was to not sleep, and partly because it had taken Chloe until 0145 to explain everything Harm & Mac related.

Mattie and Chloe were laying in the darkness on the fuzzy mat in the center of Chloe's room, their heads together.

"But I don't get it," Mattie insisted. "If she was so heartbroken when he decided to go off to fly, why didn't she just….say she loved him!"

"I don't know!" Chloe exclaimed. "That's what I told her to do, but of course she didn't listen to me. "

"And they were both single after Mic and Renne, why didn't they get together then?"

Chloe scoffed. "You're telling me - I wanted to bang my head against a wall when I visited that Christmas and they still weren't together."

Mattie turned her head to look directly at Chloe. "And what about the baby?" she asked. "That deal they made?"

"Who knows at this point?" Chloe shrugged. "That deal was supposed to come true this year, by the way."

Mattie's eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yep," Chloe replied with a sigh. "But knowing those two, it's probably a lost cause."

"You don't know that."

"I feel like I do. For two grown adults they can never seem to get their act together," Chloe folded her arms behind her head, staring up at the ceiling. "It's kind of embarrassing."

"Yeah…" Mattie turned to look at the glowing numbers on Chloe's alarm clock. Harm would have a brain aneurysm if he knew she was up that late, but she found herself really not caring. "I'm not going to be like that when I'm an adult," she said as she re-joined Chloe in staring up at the ceiling. "I'm going to have everything figured out all the time."

"Me too."

The next morning, Mac shuffled into the kitchen a little after 1030, allowing herself the luxury of sleeping in despite her internal clock. She knew the girls wouldn't beat her at getting up. In fact, Mac would be shocked if they made it out of bed before noon. When Mac got up to pee 0415, she'd still heard faint giggles coming from the other bedroom.

She was grateful for two things: one, that the girls had seemingly hit it off, and two, Mac had been able to get some sleep - not amazing sleep, but still sleep.

The night before, when she knocked on the door to tell them that the pizza was here, they had been sitting far enough away from each other on the bed as they possibly could without one of them falling off. The awkwardness had been palpable, but at least both of the girls had been smiling.

As Mac shut the door, she could've sworn she'd heard Chloe whisper something about Mic Brumby, which led Mac to be a little suspicious of what they had been talking about. Ultimately though, she'd decided to let it go. What got discussed behind that door, whether or not it pertained to Mac, was none of her business. That was the unspoken rule of sleepovers. Whatever got said after 10 p.m was top secret.

Pouring her creamer into her cup of coffee, Mac checked her phone. There was a text from Harm, because of course there was a text from Harm.

How was it?

Fine, Mac typed back as fast as she could. She was still getting used to this whole texting thing, and wasn't sure if she liked it all that much. They're still asleep.

Harm then asked about breakfast, and Mac knew he would so she'd had an answer already prepared. Cafe down the street.

If Harm wanted them to have a home-cooked breakfast, he would have to come over and do it himself, because Mac certainly wouldn't be doing it. She was okay with subjecting Chloe to her cooking, but Mattie was a guest.

The cafe was also open for lunch, so if the girls didn't wake up in time for breakfast, it wouldn't be a big deal. Mac had already thought it out. She was always Marine-prepared, even when it came to sleepovers.

1600 EST
EN ROUTE TO HARM'S APARTMENT
WASHINGTON DC

The drive back to Harm's place was a quiet one, partly because Mattie was half asleep in the passenger seat. When Mac had told him that he could pick Mattie up the next morning, he hadn't expected it to be the mid-afternoon. But apparently the girls hadn't woken up until 1300, and then Mac had wanted to take them out to lunch. When Harm had picked Mattie up, she'd look exhausted, albeit happy.

"So I guess you had fun?" Harm asked.

Mattie shifted her weight, looking at Harm with bleary eyes. "Yeah," she said with a yawn. "It was fun. Chloe's nice."

"That's good. I'm glad you guys got along."

"Yeah," Mattie nodded. She yawned again. Harm wanted desperately to ask what time she'd gotten to sleep the night before, but held himself back. He didn't want to overstep.

"I think we're going to go to the mall on Monday," Mattie said, and Harm's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Oh really?" he had to remind himself to act cool. He cleared his throat. "That's good. I could drop off during my lunch break -"

"Actually I was thinking about just taking the metro," Mattie replied with a shrug and Harm felt his stomach dip again - why was parenthood - legal guardianship, filled with so much worry all the time?

"There's a stop that's, like, a two minute walk from the loft."

"Yeah, I know."

Of course Harm knew. He'd lived in that loft for almost a decade - that was the metro stop he always used when he needed to go somewhere in DC.

Harm didn't want to overstep, but he still felt like he should say something. He was her legal guardian, after all.

"Are you….are you sure about taking the metro by yourself?" he asked, trying to keep the worry from showing in his voice.

"Uh-huh," Mattie asked. "It can't be any worse than running a whole farm by yourself, can it?"

Harm looked over at Mattie, who was looking back at him with a slightly smug expression. "Touche," Harm replied as he turned on his blinker to merge lanes.

"Plus, Chloe said she'd meet me there and ride with me."

"Oh, that was nice of her," Harm said, feeling a sense of pride for Mac's little sister. After all of these years, she'd finally come around to being nice to new people.

Once again not wanting to overstep but also very curious, Harm had another question. "So are you guys friends now?"

"I don't know," Mattie shrugged. She looked at Harm again, and he caught her biting back a laugh.

"What did I do? Why are you laughing?"

Mattie shook her head, letting a couple of giggles escape. "Nothing," she assured him. "I was just thinking about stuff we talked about last night."

Harm raised an eyebrow. "What did you guys talk about?"

"I can't tell you!" Mattie said. "It's top secret!"

"Top secret?" Harm gave her an incredulous look. "What could you guys be talking about that's top secret - you know what, never mind. I actually don't want to know, do I?"

"I don't know," Mattie shrugged. "You might think it's funny, but I'm still not telling."

Harm didn't get the same memo Mac did - that all sleepover talk was top secret.

Oh to be a teenage girl at a sleepover again - I miss those days. But anyways, I'm officially caught up on updating all of my stories! Hurray! Before I talk a little bit about this chapter, I wanted to extend a thank you to Benslerfan4ever for pointing out an editing mistake I had in The Case - apparently I had Harm and Mac have the same conversation in two different chapters. Oops! Sorry about that!

But anyways, allow me to talk about Josh Pendry for a second. Despite his mother being...his mother (though I do have some sympathy for her because she was obviously still grieving her husband and her and Harm should've never dated in the first place, but oh well), I do have a soft spot for Josh. That scene in Tiger, Tiger where Harm doesn't get to say goodbye to him never fails to tug at my heartstrings. So, like so many of us, I decided to fix it with Fanfiction.

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!

-Harper