Chapter Three:
Introductions

1945 EST
EN ROUTE TO MAC'S APARTMENT
WASHINGTON DC

"If I call you and ask you to pick me up, you need to come pick me up."

"I'm sure Mac would drive you, though."

"You're going to pick me up."

"Okay."

Harm looked away from Mattie and turned his attention back to the highway. She was sitting in the passenger seat, her body uncomfortably wedged against the door - she was as far away from Harm as she could get without jumping out of the car. By no means was Harm a mind reader, but he knew Mattie was upset with him. He could count on one hand how many words she'd spoken to him that day, and he noticed she was deliberately avoiding eye contact.

He hoped the sleepover went well, for his sake just as much as Mattie's. He didn't know how much longer he could take the silent treatment.

"Alright, here we are," Harm pulled over a couple of doors down from Mac's apartment complex. Georgetown parking was a royal bitch, so he was lucky to have even found a spot on Mac's street.

"Okay," Mattie said in a clipped tone, unbuckling her seat belt the minute Harm put the car in park. "You don't need to walk me in."

Harm gave her an incredulous look. "Come on Mattie," he pleaded. "You don't even know what building she lives in."

Mattie glowered at him for a moment and then huffed, shutting the car door behind her with far more force than what was necessary. Harm took that as the closest thing he would get to an answer. With a sigh, he exited the car after her.

THAT SAME TIME
MAC'S APARTMENT
GEORGETOWN

If Mac wasn't mistaken, she was more nervous for this sleepover than Chloe was. Chloe seemed downright apathetic, if not eager and impatient to get the entire thing over with. Mac was wondering if she was going to have to remind Chloe to be nice.

"Hey," Mac announced, knocking on the closed guest room door. "Harm and Mattie are going to be here any second, are you almost ready?"

"Hang on! I'm straightening my hair!"

"Okay…how much more do you have left to do?"

There was a pause. "I just started," Chloe replied slowly. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh…okay," Mac sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "That's fine…take your time."

It wasn't fine, and the last thing Mac wanted Chloe to be doing at that moment was taking her time.

However, Chloe had a solution. "Just tell him to circle the block a couple of times! It won't take me that long."

Mac pursed her lips. "How long is 'that long'?"

"Ummm…about thirty minutes."

"Chloe-" Mac stopped herself. Out of the hills she could die on, this wasn't one of them, She sighed again. "Alright, just come out when you're done, okay?"

"Sure."

Mac returned to the living room to find her cell phone buzzing on the coffee table. Of course it was Harm, no doubt calling to tell Mac that he and Mattie were here. It only made sense that the one time she needed Harm to not be on time, he was.

She picked up, trying to plot a way she could wrangle Chloe out of her bedroom without the use of force.

"Hey, I just parked. We're walking over now."

Mac sighed. "Do you mind waiting?"

"Why?"

"Chloe's straightening her hair."

"Oh come on, Mac," Harm chuckled. "How long could that possibly take?"

"Thirty minutes," Mac responded grimly. "Knowing Chloe, maybe longer."

"Is there any way you could get her to speed up the process?" Harm asked. "We're already here, Mac-"

"I know, I know," she responded quickly, biting her lip in thought. Turning around to face Chloe's door, Mac resigned herself to something, a cruel fact for someone who desperately wanted to seem 'cool:' she would have to put her foot down.

It took Mac an embarrassingly long time to remember that Chloe was staying in her apartment; Mac had keys to both of the bedrooms. The apartment building she lived in was an older one, built in Georgetown a little bit after the Great Depression and renovated in the late 80s. The doors in her apartment had been renovated, but not completely. The bedroom doors could be locked from the inside, but there was a pair of old skeleton keys that could unlock and lock the door from the outside.

When Mac got them when she moved in, she resolved to only use them in the event of an emergency. This wasn't an emergency, but the keys could still be useful.

Ring of skeleton keys in hand, Mac returned to the closed guest room door. She knocked again. "Chloe, Harm and Mattie are here. You need to finish getting ready."

"I'm almost done - twenty more minutes!"

"Chloe, if you don't open the door, I'm coming in."

"What?"

"You can finish straightening your hair and get to know Mattie at the same time. I promise she won't care if you don't look picture perfect."

"But Mac, I care."

"Chloe-"

With a huff from the other side of the door, the door opened and Chloe appeared, looking more irritated than Mac had seen her in a long time. One side of her hair was significantly straighter than the other - her middle part didn't do anything to help hide the contrast.

"Fine," Chloe conceded, looking down at the keys in Mac's hand with mild surprise, and it suddenly occurred to Mac that Chloe must've thought she was a pushover.

"Thank you," Mac replied. I'm not a pushover, either, for your information.

Chloe followed Mac out into the living room. "But if she thinks I'm weird because of how my hair looks, I'm blaming you."

"She won't care, I promise. And she wouldn't think you're weird."

"But what if she does?"

Mac turned around, trying to muster up as much patience as she could, trying to conjure up any vague memories of what it was like for her being a teenage girl. "Chloe, there's a high possibility you're never going to have to see her again after tonight. Just do this one favor for Harm, okay?"

Chloe's eyes widened as a realization dawned on her. Mac's eyes widened when she realized she'd misspoken.

"Harm, huh?" Chloe asked, folding her arms across her chest and looking at Mac smugly. "This was Harm's idea? You're doing this for Harm-"

She didn't hear the knock at the door, but Mac did. As she went to answer, she looked over her shoulder at Chloe. "That's not true," she said in a fierce whisper.

It was true, and Chloe absolutely knew this. "Of course you're still in love with him!" Chloe exclaimed, loud enough to where Mac was sure Harm and Mattie would hear. "I knew it-"

"Chloe, shhh!" Mac said as she opened the door. Quickly turning back around, she faced Harm and Mattie with a wide smile. "Hey! How are you guys? Come in!"

After introductions were made, the four of them hung around awkwardly in the living room making small talk. Around ten minutes of this passed before Chloe had finally had enough and turned to Mattie.

"Do you want to see my room?" she asked, to which Mattie immediately nodded. As much as she didn't want to do this sleepover, she was willing to do anything to escape.

"Okay!" Chloe promptly sat up from the arm of the sofa. "See you later guys!"

Mattie and Chloe rushed off to Chloe's room and, once the door was quickly shut (and locked) behind them, Harm and Mac were left to fend for themselves in the living room.

"So…" Harm started slowly. "What should we do now?"

Mac looked at him with raised eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

Harm shrugged, a little embarrassed at how clueless he was at how these kinds of things worked. He was new to parenting, after all.

"I haven't been to a sleepover since middle school, Mac. I don't really know how these things work anymore."

"Well, first of all, you need to leave," Mac said. "Usually the parental figure doing the drop off doesn't stay the night, too."

Harm nodded, but made no move to leave. "Right."

Mac watched him for a few moments. "That means you're supposed to leave, Harm."

"I know, I know."

Still, Harm didn't make a move to leave. He remained rooted to the spot, hovering near Mac's doorway like some strange wax figure. Mac watched him for a few moments, until she realized he wasn't going to leave without further encouragement.

Correction: he wasn't going to leave Mattie without further encouragement.

"She'll be fine, you know," Mac assured him. "I promise. Chloe's a lot, but she doesn't bite. She's had all her shots, too."

Harm chuckled lightly, running his fingers through his hair. His apprehension was still apparent. "I know, it's just-"

"She'll be fine," Mac repeated as she attempted to guide Harm towards the front door. "I'm an expert in childcare and herding teenagers."

"I guess you're right," Harm admitted. Mac opened her door and gently nudged him through the opening. "They're only, what? Fifteen? How much trouble could they get into."

Mac's smile suddenly dimmed. "Don't say that," she said, suddenly serious. "Speaking from my personal life experiences, don't say that."

Harm looked at Mac with wide eyes. "But I thought you just said they'd be fine."

"They will be. I used to be a fifteen-year-old girl, believe it or not," Mac said as she began to close the door on Harm. "I have experience. If you were the one watching them, then there would be problems."

With that, Mac closed the door. However, just as she turned around to go ask the girls if they wanted pizza, there was a knock. Mac turned around and walked back over to the door with a sigh, knowing exactly who it was.

She met Harm's innocent gaze with a stern look. "Harm, I told you she will be fine! Stop being such a mother hen!"

"I know you did," he replied. "I just wanted to let you know that, if Mattie wants to come home, call me and I'll come pick her up - and I'm not being a mother hen."

Mac gave him a look. "I can drive her, Harm."

"I know, just call me though, okay?"

Mac rolled her eyes. As frustrating as Harm was being, she had to admit it was endearing. "I'll call if she needs anything. Pinky promise."

Harm smiled. "Thanks Mac, I appreciate it."

"No problem," she replied. "I figured they'd have more fun here than at your loft."

"You're probably right," Harm said. "Just make sure they don't have too much fun, alright?"

"They won't, don't worry," Mac replied with a laugh. "They're nothing like I was when I was a teenager. You have nothing to worry about."