Back to Page 1 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13
Sunday
December 12, 2004
Mac’s Apartment
Georgetown, DC
1:03 AM
Harm woke up and was startled for a moment, not knowing where he was and what
had woken him. It took him only a moment to remember that he was at Mac’s,
but the reason why he’d woken up was still unclear to him. ‘I guess it was
a bad dream,’ he thought and closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep again.
That’s when he heard it. A quiet voice. Someone was talking and the sound
came out of Mac’s bedroom. But that wasn’t the only noise disturbing the
silence in the dark apartment. Now he could hear it clearly. A sniff. Someone
was obviously crying. “Mac,” Harm muttered to himself and got worried.
Slowly he got up from the couch to make his way to the bedroom door. It was
slightly ajar and a dim light was shining through the crack.
Harm touched the door, but for a moment he was unsure about whether or not he
should go ahead and find out what’s wrong behind that door. However, another
little sniff coming out of the room made up his mind. Slowly he pushed the
door a bit, so that he was able to look inside.
He could see the bed and the sight in front of him made him smile. There, on
the right side of the bed, was Mac. She was lying on her back and on top of
her, with his head placed on her chest, was Jimmy. He sucked on his thumb
while Mac was rubbing his back in a soothing manner.
Mac held a book in her other hand and quietly read the story for him. Harm
immediately detected that it was Jimmy’s favorite story ‘Bedtime with
Winnie the Pooh’. Harm knew it so well since he’d read it many times for
his younger godson.
By now Harm could hear that Jimmy was the one crying. Then he let his eyes
wander a little bit further and could see that his other godson was lying in
the middle of the bed. He was snuggled up to Mac and obviously asleep.
Unaware to his mind, Harm’s hand pushed the door even wider and his feet
started to move further into the room. Suddenly the door squeaked and made his
presence known.
Mac heard the squeak and looked up from the book just to see Harm standing at
the doorway. He didn’t say anything and just watched the scene in front of
him. She tried to read his look, but for some reason it was unreadable for
her.
“Hi,” Mac whispered and watched him close the door before moving even
further into the room.
“Hey,” Harm quietly replied. “Is everything okay? I heard the sniffling
and got worried.”
Mac nodded her head. “Yeah, everything is okay. Jimmy had a bad dream and
woke up. I heard his crying through the baby monitor and it woke up Little AJ
as well.” Then she looked down at the older boy. “Thankfully he is already
asleep again but Jimmy is still fighting his tiredness though.”
Harm again didn’t say anything and simply looked like he was memorizing the
scene in front of him. Mac saw his reaction and the longing in his eyes.
Without thinking twice she tapped the space right next to her and Little AJ,
asking him to join them without using any words.
Harm didn’t need to be asked twice and quickly moved around the bed to get
slowly into it, trying not to wake Little AJ up in the process.
As soon as he was seated Mac held out the book to him. “Here, want to read
the rest? It shouldn’t take much longer to get Jimmy back into dreamland.”
“Sure,” Harm softly answered and started to read the story from where
she’d left off.
Just like Mac foresaw, it didn’t take long for Jimmy to fall asleep again
and even when he was already asleep, Harm didn’t stop reading the story
until the very end. “It worked like a charm,” Harm quietly said and softly
touched Jimmy’s cheek, getting a little sigh in response.
“Yeah, at least there was no need for a lullaby this time,” Mac told him
and smiled. “I think we should bring them back to bed. It should be safe by
now.”
Harm nodded and together they brought the boys back to the guestroom.
*****
“I can’t believe that Jimmy’s crying didn’t wake me up earlier,”
Harm commented in bewilderment as soon as they were back in the living room.
“Not even you running through the living room woke me up.”
Mac smiled and nodded her head. “I guess you were more tired than you
thought.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s it,” Harm replied and got down on the couch,
trying to find a comfortable position to fall asleep again. “Let’s get
some more sleep. Night, Mac.”
“Good night, Harm,” Mac tenderly said but didn’t walk back into the
bedroom. She stood at the doorway of her bedroom and watched him trying to
fall asleep again. She could see that he was troubled by not finding a
comfortable position.
Harm beat the pillow, turned on his back and groaned. ‘It wasn’t that
uncomfortable earlier. Not uncomfortable at all,’ Harm wondered and looked
up at the ceiling. That’s when he saw the outstretched hand in front of him.
He followed the arm and looked up into Mac’s smiling eyes. “Let’s go to
bed, Harm,” she tenderly told him.
“Are you sure? It’s really not a problem for me to sleep on this couch.”
Mac nodded her head and took Harm’s hand into hers. “I’m very sure,”
she said and hand in hand they made their way into her bedroom. “But no
funny business.”
“Who? Me? No, I’m Prince Charming, Mac. You won’t even know that I’m
lying right next to you,” Harm pointed out with a grin and then thought to
himself. ‘This is going to be a long night.’
‘Yeah, right. Like that could happen. This is going to be a long night,’
Mac thought to herself and then said out loud. “Just try not to snore too
loudly. Oh, and be aware that, should you hog the cover, you’ll be out of my
bed faster than you can say ‘oops’,” she joked.
“Wow, you’re one demanding lady in bed, huh?” Harm chuckled, glad and
even a bit surprised that the situation between them wasn’t awkward at all.
Mac smirked and raised her eyebrow. “You bet, Flyboy,” she told him before
closing the door behind her.
*****
Mac’s bedroom
4:27 AM
Someone was watching her. Mac could feel it and immediately woke up. She could
hear Harm’s quiet snoring right behind her and knew that he was still
asleep.
Slowly she opened her eyes and came face to face with her intruder. “Hey,
honey,” she whispered and gently touched Little AJ’s cheek, feeling beads
of sweat and drops of tears on it. “Bad dream?”
Little AJ nodded his head and took a deep breath. “I’m scared,” he
quietly told her.
Mac nodded her head and moved a little backward, being careful so that she
wouldn’t disturb Harm in his sleep. Then she raised her blanket. “Do you
want to sleep here, honey?”
Little AJ once more nodded his head and quickly crawled into the bed next to
Mac. She covered his little body with her blanket and then drew him into her
arms, making him feel safe.
“Auntie Mac?” He whispered.
“Yeah?”
“Was Uncle Harm scared too?”
“What do you mean, AJ?” Mac curiously asked.
“He’s sleeping in your bed too. Does that mean he was scared just like
me?” Little AJ asked full of innocent.
Mac had to smile and for a moment she didn’t know how to answer the
question. Little AJ always tried to make the grown-ups around him believe that
he already was a big boy, and that there’s nothing that scared him. The
thought that his Uncle Harm was perhaps scared after having a bad dream as
well, made him feel better. If it was okay for his hero to be scared, then it
was okay for Little AJ to be scared.
“Yes, honey. Your Uncle Harm was scared too. But now everything is okay
again and he’s asleep.”
Little AJ giggled and tried everything to be quiet. “He’s snoring.”
Mac chuckled. ‘Yeah. Well, at least he doesn’t hog the cover,’ she
thought before giving her godson an answer. “Yeah, he does, doesn’t he.
Does it bother you?”
“No, daddy snores too. Only much louder,” AJ told her as a matter of fact
and yawned. “Mommy always says he sounds like he’s sawing off an entire
forest.”
“Well, we’re happy then that Uncle Harm doesn’t know how to snore that
loud. Do you think you can go back to sleep now?”
“Yes, Auntie Mac. Good night. Love you,” he said and already sounded more
asleep than awake.
Mac kissed his forehead. “Good night, honey. I love you too,” she said and
closed her eyes.
Little AJ’s even breathing, Harm’s quiet snoring and the blowing sound of
a wind outside were the last thing she noticed before joining her boys in
dreamland.
*****
7:56
AM
Harm groaned, not liking the wake-up call he got today. “Turn the radio off,
baby,” he said fretfully, still more asleep than awake and tried to get the
warmth he was holding in his arms even closer to him. “It’s Sunday and we
can sleep in.”
The only answer he got was a quiet murmur and Harm didn’t understand one word.
“What?”
Mac sighed, not wanting to wake up. This was such a nice dream she had, and she
didn’t want to let it go. “I said, I don’t have a radio in my bedroom,”
she whispered with a sleepy voice and yawned.
“Then what’s this squealing noise?” Harm annoyingly asked and started to
kiss her neck. ‘Hmmm, she tastes good,’ he thought and then took a deep
breath. ‘And she smells even better.’
‘This feels nice,’ Mac thought. ‘And it feels so real….’ Suddenly it
dawned on her. ‘Wait, this isn’t a dream. This is real,’ she continued to
let her mind wander and finally woke up with a bright smile on her face.
She could feel the warmth right next to her; his warmth. Harm was spooned
against her from behind and one of his arms was wrapped around her middle,
slightly running circles on her belly underneath her pajamas top, which caused
goose bumps to form on her skin. Her head was pillowed on his other outstretched
arm. Harm’s legs were tangled with hers and she could feel his hot breath
against her neck while he continued to kiss it. She had no idea how or even when
they ended up in this position, but she really liked it. ‘I better wake him up
before this gets out of hand though,’ she thought and then said out loud.
“Harm, wake up.”
Mac slowly opened one eye and could see that the spot where AJ had slept earlier
was now vacant. That’s when she finally figured out where this noise came
from.
“I’m awake,” Harm muttered against her neck and his breath tickled her
skin. “And I wish we could shut off the squealing so we can go back to
sleep.”
Mac chuckled. “For some reason I doubt you’re totally awake, and don’t let
your godson hear that you’re calling his singing ‘squealing’, Harm.”
“Huh?”
“The noise you’re hearing is coming from the baby monitor. AJ’s singing
‘The Bare Necessities’ to his brother. Jimmy loves this song.”
Harm stopped kissing her neck, opened his eyes and looked up to see the baby
monitor standing on Mac’s nightstand. He listened more thoroughly to the sound
and indeed discovered Little AJ’s voice. Harm let his head fall back to the
pillow and groaned. “How can a child be so cheerful so early in the morning is
beyond me.”
“Has to be his genes,” Mac quietly answered and slowly moved onto her other
side so that she came face to face with Harm.
Now she was able to look into Harm’s eyes and could see the bright shine in
them. It was clear to her that he knew exactly what he’d done earlier. Maybe
he didn’t mean to call her ‘baby’, but the kisses were given
intentionally. That she was sure about. “Hi.”
“Hi.” Harm smiled and started to caress her cheek with his fingertips.
“Good morning, Beautiful. This is really nice,” he softly told Mac, first
pointing at her and then at himself.
Mac nodded her head. Waking up in his arms was indeed a nice thing, and
something she’d dreamed about for a long, long time. “Yes, it is. Very
nice.”
“Please don’t expect me to apologize for waking up with you in my arms, or
for kissing you,” Harm quietly begged and tucked one loose wisp of hair behind
her ear.
“I won’t,” Mac told him in a whisper and with a shy smile on her face.
Harm eagerly returned her smile with one of his own. “Good. And also know that
I was awake enough to know who I was holding in my arms and who I was referring
to as ‘baby’.”
Slowly their heads started to move forward, longingly waiting the moment their
lips would finally meet.
“Ooof,” Harm and Mac groaned out at the same time when a little whirlwind
bounced without any warning onto the bed and right on top of them. They took a
deep breath and let their foreheads touch. They’d been so near, but obviously
it wasn’t the right time. With a sigh they both let their look wander to
Little AJ, who was sitting with a wide grin on their hips.
“Good morning!” Little AJ yelled with a cheerful voice and giggled.
“It’s time to get up, I’m hungry,” he announced as a matter of fact and
interlocked his arms in front of him. “Can we have dinosaur pancakes, Uncle
Harm?”
Harm groaned again and glanced at Mac, who still looked a little shocked. “Do
you think that if we ignore him long enough he’ll go away again?” He
hopefully asked her in a whisper.
Mac looked at him with a ‘get real’-look. “Sure, Harm. Sure,” she
answered in sarcasm.
“Damn,” he quietly cursed to himself and threw his head back into the
pillow. Then he looked at his godson. “Sure, AJ. Dinosaur pancakes sound like
a great idea. That is, if your aunt has the supplies in her kitchen.”
Two pair of eyes were now looking at Mac. “Sure. Shouldn’t be a problem,”
she confidently answered.
“Cool!” Little AJ yelled and jumped out of the bed. “Come on then. We have
to hurry. The quicker we’re done, the faster we can go sledding.” Then he
took Mac’s hand into his and started to pull her out of the bed. Of course he
wasn’t strong enough to do that, but Mac more or less willingly helped him and
got out of the bed. Less willingly was Harm though, who had to let her go from
his arms.
“Why don’t you go ahead, AJ? We’ll be right there,” she told her godson
and stretched her weary muscles.
“Okay!” Little AJ called out and ran out of the bedroom. It only took him a
few seconds before he once again started to sing cheerfully, this time
performing his favourite song ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’.
Mac turned around to look at Harm and saw that he’d thrown the blanket over
his head. She shook her head and chuckled. Mac took one corner of the blanket
into her hand and pulled it away from him. “Time to get up, Harm. You’ve
heard the little man. He wants your famous dinosaur pancakes.”
Before Mac had any chance to react, Harm was grasping for her arm and pulled her
on top of him. “I won’t get out of this bed before I get my ‘good
morning’-kiss,” he said with a pout.
She looked at him with a raised eyebrow and smirked. “Now who’s so demanding
in bed, huh?”
“You haven’t seen anything yet, Marine.”
“Oh, really?”
“Really! And now kiss me for Pete’s sake,” Harm commanded with a grin on
his face.
Mac licked her lips and moved her face a bit closer to his. “My pleasure,”
she whispered and gave him what was meant as a quick and teasing peck on his
lips.
However, after their lips parted Mac looked into Harm’s eyes, only to be
greeted by a gaze full of love and desire, and she was sure that the same look
mirrored in her own eyes. That was all it took for Harm and Mac to come together
again in a slow, long and loving kiss. Harm sighed in relief and both thought
‘About damn time’.
“Auntie Mac! Uncle Harm! When are you coming?” Little AJ called from the
kitchen. “I’m waiting.”
Harm groaned as they broke their kiss and Mac slowly moved away from him.
“Come on, old man. Time to feed the youngsters.”
Harm took her outstretched hand and got up from the bed as well. Then he drew
her back for another short kiss. “We are so doomed,” he told her and got a
giggle in response.
“Go get freshen up while I get Jimmy. We’ll meet in the kitchen.”
“Okay,” Harm said and made his way to the bathroom before turning his gaze
back to Mac. “And Mac?”
Mac stopped at the doorway and looked back at Harm. “Yeah?”
“We need to talk,” he softly told her.
Mac smiled and nodded her head. “We will, Harm. Believe me, we will,” she
said and walked out of the bedroom.
‘Yes, we will,’ Harm thought and stepped into the bathroom.
*****
AN
– Okay, for this story let’s pretend that there’s a parking lot in the
backyard of Mac’s apartment building and that she can overlook it while
glancing out of her windows. We always got to see the front of the building, but
that doesn’t mean Mac’s apartment has to be out to the front, right? Thought
so… ;-)
8:23 AM
Harm was in the kitchen preparing the dinosaur pancakes, while Little AJ and
Jimmy kept him company. They were both seated on the little kitchen table, still
wearing their nightclothes and anxiously awaited their breakfast. Mac hadn’t
joined them yet, since she was still in the bathroom to freshen up and getting
dressed.
“Okay, guys. Here’s your breakfast,” Harm said and served each of them one
pancake and got himself one too. Then he filled one of Mac’s mugs with coffee
and took a place right next to Jimmy, so that he could help him with his
breakfast.
“Hmmm, this is yummy, Uncle Harm,” Little AJ told him and took another bite
of his with maple syrup covered pancake.
“Morning, boys,” Mac greeted from the doorway and determined made her way to
the coffee machine to get herself a mug of coffee. She took a long gulp and
sighed in relief.
“Want some pancakes, Mac?” Harm asked and held his fork with a piece of
pancake to her. “Here, taste it.”
Mac raised her eyebrow and grinned. “Do you want me to open my hangar again,
Harm?”
Harm laughed, remembering their little feeding party yesterday. “Yes, please.
I could even do the airplane noises again,” he offered and chuckled.
“Nah, that won’t be necessary.” Mac obeyed and ate the piece of pancake
Harm offered her. “Hmmm, very good.” Then she got closer to him and
whispered into his ear. “I think you’re a keeper, Harm. You for sure know
how to make pancakes.”
Harm looked at her with a raised eyebrow and smirked. “That’s it? That’s
the way to your heart, MacKenzie? Pancakes?” He asked astonished. “You
should have told me that years ago.”
“Nope, there are still two or three more things you need to know how to do,
but I think you can handle it,” Mac joked but then got serious again.
Harm immediately saw the change in Mac and knew that something was wrong.
“What?”
Mac looked at Little AJ and could see that he was still engaged with his
breakfast and didn’t care about his surroundings. Then she turned her gaze
back to her partner. “Do you have a minute? I would like to show you
something.”
“Sure, lead the way,” he answered and followed Mac into the living room.
“What’s wrong, Mac?” He asked worriedly once more as soon as they were out
of the boys’ earshot.
Mac just nodded at the muted TV before pointing to the window.
“Uh oh,” Harm commented after watching the news for a moment. Then he
followed Mac and joined her at the window. “Oh my.” Harm let his gaze wander
as if he was searching for something and shook his head. “Ummm, Mac?”
“Yeah?”
“Ummm, where’s my car?” Harm once more overlooked the backyard of Mac’s
apartment building, but he couldn’t find his car.
“I think it’s there,” Mac answered him and pointed to a wall on the left
side. “At least the antenna looks familiar to me.”
“I don’t see anything, Mac. Wait, let me re-phrase that. I can see a lot of
snow out there, but not my car.”
“Can you see the snowdrift over there?” Mac asked and got a nod as response.
“There’s an antenna sticking out of it and if I’m not mistaken, that’s
where you parked the car yesterday.”
“In other words… my car is under this nice blanket of snow?”
“Yup, that would be my guess.”
“That’s… lovely. Really… impressive.”
“Yeah, it is, isn’t it?” Mac replied and turned around to take another
look at the news of ZNN. “I’m not sure what’s more impressive though.
Seeing your car totally covered with a blanket of snow or the fact that a
snowstorm raged last night and we all totally slept through it.”
“I take it that you’ve watched the news for a while before you came into the
kitchen. How’re the prognoses? We’re stuck, aren’t we?”
“Yes. They gave out the advice not to leave the house if it isn’t necessary.
The weather report says that the worst is behind us and that everything should
be calmed down by tomorrow.”
“And that means going sledding is no longer an option,” Harm concluded and
took a deep breath.
“Yeah, that’s a given.”
Harm saw the sadness in Mac’s eyes and took her face into his hands to give
her a short but sweet kiss. “Come on; let’s go back to the boys. I think we
need to have a talk with Little AJ.”
Mac just nodded her head and followed Harm back into the kitchen. She still felt
taken aback about what happened between them in these past twenty-four hours. It
was such an amazing feeling she felt deep in her heart and she couldn’t stop
the nearly goofy looking grin that took place on her face.
However, as soon as she entered the kitchen and saw the grinning AJ in front of
her, she felt the pang of sadness coming back again. Mac knew how much AJ wanted
to go sledding and that he would be disappointed about the change of their plan.
Harm took one of her hands into his and tenderly squeezed it. He knew what she
was feeling right now, since he felt the same. Something needed to be done and
he had to come up with it.
“I’m stuffed,” Little AJ said as his godparents entered the kitchen.
“Can we go now?” He asked with a glimmer in his eyes and Harm and Mac knew
what he meant.
Mac sat down on the stool right next to him and ruffled his hair. “I’m
sorry, AJ, but we can’t go sledding today.”
“Why not?” The glimmer in his eyes was gone and the disappointment on his
face was clearly visible now. “You said that if there’s enough snow we would
go sledding and there is enough snow. I checked it this morning. Come look.”
Little AJ jumped from the stool and wanted to run into the living room but Mac
gently held him back.
“AJ, there was a snowstorm last night, and it simply isn’t safe for us at
the moment to go out of this building,” Harm tried to explain but saw that by
now the disappointment on his godson’s face was mixed with sadness and even a
little bit of anger.
“That’s not fair,” Little AJ cried and offended ran out of the kitchen, in
response knocking off his plate from the kitchen table.
Mac sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. “That went well,” she said
while the loud bang of Mac’s bedroom door was heard in the otherwise quiet
apartment.
Jimmy started to cry as soon as his brother ran out of the kitchen and the plate
hit the kitchen floor. The banging of Mac’s bedroom door made him cry even
more.
Harm took his younger godson out of the highchair and cradled him in his arms,
kissing his forehead. “Sssshh, it’s okay, Jimmy.” Then he looked at Mac
and gave her an encouraging smile. “Tell you what. Why don’t you go and try
to talk with him, while Jimmy and I clean up this mess and try to come up with a
plan B.”
“Yeah, I better go and try to talk to him,” Mac answered and suddenly
realized what he’d said a few seconds ago. “A plan B?”
Harm nodded his head. “Yeah, there’s always a plan B. You just have to try
and find it,” Harm explained and sat the now calmed Jimmy back into his
highchair.
Mac, being now deep in her thoughts, only nodded her head before leaving the
kitchen while Harm got the broken dish up from the floor. He was just dumping
the broken plate into the trashcan when he saw that Mac remained standing at the
doorway, having an intense look on her face.
“Everything okay?” he asked worried.
Mac didn’t answer him, nor had she heard him. Too important was the thought
she had on her mind. Was it possible?
“Always?” She only asked in a whisper so that Harm nearly hadn’t heard
her.
“Yes, Sarah. Always,” Harm immediately answered her without thinking twice,
knowing exactly what she was asking about. They were still talking about
children, just not about Little AJ and Jimmy anymore.
They smiled at each other before Mac nodded her head and walked away to have a
talk with AJ.
Harm took a deep breath, looked at Jimmy and shook his head. “It’s not even
much later than nine o’clock and I already feel like I’ve lived an entire
workday,” he told him with a chuckle.
Jimmy responded with a giggle and started to babble. Harm laughed and nodded.
“Yeah, you’re right, sport. Family life is a lot of fun, isn’t it? But now
we better come up with a good plan B, or else this day may end in a disaster.”
*****
9:08
AM
Mac took a deep breath and slowly opened the door to her bedroom. At first she
couldn’t see Little AJ anywhere and only after she entered the room was she
able to see him cowered behind her bed, on the left side right in front of the
nightstand. His knees were pulled to his chest and Mac couldn’t see his face,
since he’d laid it on his knees and crossed arms.
After closing the door behind her, Mac moved deeper into her bedroom and walked
around the bed. Every now and then she could hear his sniffs and hiccups. With a
sigh she took place on her rattan armchair and looked at Little AJ, who hadn’t
looked up so far.
Mac watched him but didn’t say anything. She wanted to give him the time he
needed and hoped that it wouldn’t take long for him to open up and talk with
her.
Little AJ suddenly looked up and into her eyes but still didn’t say a word.
His face was tear-stained and slightly red while the disappointment was still
clearly visible in his eyes.
“You know, if you keep your lips like that for more than three minutes, they
will stay that way,” Mac softly told him, talking about his lower lip, which
was stuck out in a pout. She remembered that her uncle Matt had told her that
when she was a little girl and had pouted that way.
AJ immediately reacted as he’d heard his aunt’s words, pulled his lower lip
into his mouth and bit on it.
Mac raised her eyebrow in wonder when she saw what her godson was doing. “Why
are you doing that?”
Little AJ sighed and wiped off the tears on his cheeks. “Because I think I was
keeping my lips that way for more than three minutes,” he whispered with a
teary voice. “I don’t want them to stay like that.” As soon as he’d
finished his explanation, he was biting on his lower lip again.
She nodded her head and gave him a little smile. “I’m sure it wasn’t more
than three minutes, AJ. Your lips are looking fine.”
“Are you sure?” Little AJ quietly asked.
Mac once more nodded her head and confirmed her statement. “I’m absolutely
positive.”
AJ slowly got up on his feet, went to the armchair and sat down on Mac’s lap.
Then he threw his little arms around her neck and hugged her. “I’m sorry,
Auntie Mac,” he whispered into her ear and Mac could hear that he was on the
verge of starting to cry again. “I didn’t mean to do it.”
“What are you sorry for, AJ? What didn’t you mean to do?”
“I broke the plate and ran away,” he told her, still whispering.
“Oh, honey. I know you didn’t mean it,” Mac answered him and pulled him
even closer to her. “It was only a plate and nothing to worry about. Okay?”
Little AJ sighed in relief and Mac could feel that his little body relaxed
again. “’kay. I love you, Auntie Mac.”
Mac kissed his wet cheek. “I love you too, honey.”
*****
Mac’s living
room
Same time
The dishes were put into the dishwasher and Harm already had changed Jimmy, who
was now sitting on his blanket, playing with his favorite toys. The CD player
was playing some jazz music in the background while Harm was cleaning the living
room.
Doing household chores and listening to soft music always helped him to come up
with a good idea for court and he hoped that it would help him to come up with a
good plan B for today. He believed in what he’d told Mac earlier and knew that
he would come up with one.
“Come on, Harm, there has to be something,” he murmured to himself and took
the bowl with candies from the coffee table to place it on Mac’s dining table.
“Think, man. What did you like to do as a kid while you were at your
grandma’s around Christmas time? Just think Christmasish.”
Harm sighed and walked to the window, looking out at the Washington version of
Winter Wonderland. He thought about the many times he’d spent as a kid at his
grandma’s farm in Belleville. They were often snowed in and could only spend
their days indoors and barely leave the house. However, it was never boring back
then, since his grandmother always knew how to entertain her lively grandchild.
Harm turned away from the window and walked to the dining table to get one red
gumdrop out of Mac’s candy bowl. He took a bite and had to smile. ‘I still
remember the first time she’d taught me how to make chocolate cookies or when
we...,’ he started to think and suddenly had to stop when it finally dawned on
him. “That’s it,” he said out loud with a smile and nearly ran into
Mac’s kitchen. “Please tell me it’s possible.”
Harm opened a few of Mac’s cabinets in hope of finding everything he needed
for his plan. However, soon he had to give up in frustration. Most of the
supplies they would need simply weren’t available in Mac’s kitchen.
“What now?” Harm asked the room and looked back into the living room,
watching his little godson playing on his blanket. “No way are we being
Scrooge the entire day. Right, Jimmy?”
Jimmy just babbled cheerfully and continued to play with his toys.
‘Scrooge?’ Harm thought and had to smile. “Bingo,” he suddenly said out
loud and walked into the living room to get Jimmy into his arms. “Come on,
sport. It’s time for a visit.”
Together they made their way out of Mac’s apartment, ready to accomplish the
mission called ‘Plan B’.
*****
Meanwhile in
Mac’s bedroom
“So we can’t go sledding?” Little AJ asked and raised his face from her
shoulder so that he could look into her eyes.
“No, honey. We can’t go sledding today.”
“Why not?” He wanted to know; still not understanding why they couldn’t go
sledding even though it was snowy outside.
Mac slowly got up from the armchair, still holding Little AJ firmly in her arms.
“Ooof, you’re heavy, AJ.”
“I’m five, Auntie Mac. I’m a big boy and I have to be heavy,” Little AJ
proudly answered her and giggled.
As soon as she stood on her feet, he circled his little legs around her waist,
clinging tightly to her. “Let me show you why we can’t go today, okay?”
“’kay,” AJ answered and together they made their way into the living room.
The first thing Mac noticed was that neither Harm nor Jimmy were no where to be
seen or heard. The only sound in the room was coming from her CD player. ‘I
guess they are in the guestroom,’ Mac thought and walked straight to one of
the living room windows.
“Can you see your uncle Harm’s car out there?” Mac asked her elder godson
and watched him while his prying eyes were searching for Harm’s SUV.
Little AJ shook his head. “No. Where is it?”
Mac pointed at the wall on the left side of the parking lot. “It’s over
there. Can you see the snowdrift right in front of this wall? Right under this
blanket of snow you can find your uncle’s car.”
“Wow, it’s snowed in,” Little AJ enthusiastically replied with wide-open
eyes.
“Yes it is, AJ. The snowstorm last night created quite a few of these
snowdrifts and it isn’t really safe for us at the moment to go out, just to
have some fun with our sleds,” Mac tenderly tried to explain the situation.
“Oh.” Little AJ thought about everything his aunt had just told him. “Does
that mean we’re stuck and can’t leave the house?”
Mac gave him a little smile. “No, if it would be necessary, we’re able to
get out of the house. But as long as no one of us is seriously sick or hurt, we
shouldn’t leave the house at the moment.”
“For how long? Will we have to stay for days?” Little AJ curiously asked and
Mac was glad about his interest, knowing that he started to understand the
reasons.
“I’m not sure yet, sweetie, but I think by tonight we’ll know more.”
“Okay.” Then a bright smile took place on Little AJ’s face, just like the
one he had on his face this morning before Harm and Mac had to tell him about
not being able to go sledding. “Maybe Uncle Harm, Jimmy and I have to stay
more days here. That would be sooo cool,” he said delighted.
Mac couldn’t hold back her laughter about her godson’s enthusiasm and gave
him a quick hug before letting him down on his feet again. “You would like
that, huh?”
Little AJ strongly nodded his head and grinned. “Mmm-hmmm.”
“What?” Mac asked, knowing that something else was on his mind.
“What about Mommy and Daddy? Do you think they can come home tomorrow?”
Little AJ asked while they sat down on the couch.
Mac wasn’t sure how to answer his question. “I’ll tell you something. Why
don’t you try to call them later today? I bet they would like to get a call
from you.”
“Can I?”
Mac smiled and nodded her head. “Of course you can.” She ruffled his hair
and was taken aback when her apartment door suddenly opened and Jimmy slowly
walked into the room. He was followed by his uncle, who had his hands full of
bags and boxes. “Where are you two coming from?” Mac asked in surprise.
Harm gave her his best flyboy grin and placed the bags and boxes onto her coffee
table. “Oh, Jimmy and I just visited the Ebenezer supermarket and got
everything for our plan B,” he told her enthralled.
Mac just raised her eyebrow and let her gaze wander to the bags and boxes before
returning it to her partner’s shining eyes. “Explain yourself, Mr. Rabb,”
she said and could hardly await his explanation.
Harm immediately gave her a salute. “Aye, aye, Ma’am,” he said and hoped
that Mac, and even more important Little AJ, would like the plan B he’d come
up with.
*****
9:41
AM
Mac still looked agog at Harm, eagerly awaiting his explanation about what
he’d planned. “Come on, Harm. Don’t keep us waiting here. What is this
‘supermarket’-talk about?”
“The Ebenezer supermarket,” Harm corrected Mac’s statement with a smirk
and took a seat in one of her armchairs, placing his younger godson on his lap.
“Jimmy and I visited the Ebenezer supermarket. Oh, and may I add what a very
nice lady you have as a neighbor, Ms. MacKenzie. She reminds me a lot of my
grandmother. Mrs. Ebenezer says hi by the way.”
Mac frowned and then raised her eyebrow. “You two were visiting Mrs. Ebenezer?
Why?” She incredulously asked, not believing her ears were working right at
the moment. “Please, Harm. Tell us about your plan B.” Now more than before
Mac was impatient to hear about her partner’s idea. “What are you up to?”
“If you insist,” Harm promptly said and thought about what happened just a
few minutes earlier.
***************
Flashback
A few minutes earlier
Mrs. Ebenezer’s Apartment
Harm lightly knocked on the door and hoped he wouldn’t disturb Mac’s
neighbor. Jimmy stood right next to him, watching his godfather with hawk-eyes.
After a lot of thinking he’d finally come up with a plan B to do another Rabb
family tradition with his favorite boys and girl. However, soon Harm had to give
up this idea since Mac’s kitchen was simply missing most of the supplies they
would have needed.
Thankfully, he found a package of chocolate chips in one of her cabinets while
rummaging through Mac’s kitchen and immediately thought about baking his
grandma’s favorite chocolate chip cookies with Mac and his godsons. Only two
ingredients were missing and Harm now hoped to get some help from Mac’s
neighbor.
“Yes?” An elderly woman asked through the partly opened door.
“Mrs. Ebenezer?” Harm asked and got a little nod as response. “My name is
Harmon Rabb. I’m a friend of your neighbor Sarah MacKenzie.”
Mrs. Ebenezer immediately showed him a bright smile and opened the door of her
apartment wider. “Oh, you’re Sarah’s commander.”
At first Harm frowned while hearing what Mrs. Ebenezer was calling him, but then
he returned her smile and nodded. “Yes, Ma’am.”
“What can I do for you, Commander? Sarah and Little AJ are okay, aren’t
they?” The elderly woman asked with worry clearly audible in her voice. She
looked down at Jimmy, who shyly hid his face behind Harm’s leg.
“Please call me Harm and yes, Ma’am, Sarah and AJ are okay. But obviously
we’re stranded in the apartment today and I thought about baking some
chocolate chip cookies, but…,” Harm started to explain.
“But Sarah’s kitchen doesn’t have the ingredients for the cookies,” Mrs.
Ebenezer concluded Harm’s sentence and chuckled. “Am I right, Harm?”
Harm laughed and shook his head in wonder. “You really do know my partner,
don’t you?”
Mrs. Ebenezer just nodded her head and laughed as well. “I once asked her if
she had some vanilla extract I could borrow and Sarah told me that she had none
and that baking wasn’t really her thing.”
Now it was Harm nodding his head. “It obviously is still not her thing,
because the vanilla extract is still missing. And so is baking soda.”
“Why don’t you and your little boy here come in, Harm? I’m sure I can help
you out,” Mrs. Ebenezer said, letting him and Jimmy enter her apartment.
“That would be great, Ma’am. At first I thought about making a gingerbread
house, but to find any ingredients for this project in Mac’s kitchen was
literally a dead end. I think we could’ve made the icing and the decoration,
but that’s about it,” Harm told her while he and Jimmy followed the elderly
woman into her kitchen.
“So baking chocolate chip cookies wasn’t the first choice?” Mrs. Ebenezer
asked and took the vanilla extract and some baking soda out of one cabinet.
Harm took the items out of her hands. “Thanks, and no, baking the cookies
wasn’t my first choice. I wanted to do one of the Rabb traditions and make a
gingerbread house with Mac and the boys. I’ve done quite a few with my
grandmother while I was a little boy, but I guess that’s something we’ll
have to do another time.”
“Maybe not,” Mrs. Ebenezer only replied.
“Excuse me?”
“Maybe not, Harm. I think I can help you out with your problem.”
“How so?”
Mrs. Ebenezer smiled at him and pointed with her forefinger behind her back.
“The tradition you had with your grandmother as a child is the same tradition
my grandson and I have. Timmy, my daughter and son-in-law wanted to visit me
this weekend but sadly, my grandson got the flu and they couldn’t come,” she
started to explain and then turned around to show Harm all the items she had for
the gingerbread house. “I already baked the wall, roof and chimney pieces. I
would like you to take them and the other stuff I bought for the icing and the
decoration.”
Harm was perplexed. “Are you sure, Ma’am?”
“Very. If you don’t take it I would throw all this into the trashcan
anyway.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Harm quietly answered, still being perplexed
about the offer and the positive outcome of his little visit.
“Just say thank you, Harm. I’m just glad that I can help and I know you’ll
have a great time.”
Harm quickly gave her a peck on her cheek and then one of his best flyboy grins.
“Thank you, Mrs. Ebenezer,” he said and then came up with an idea. “I’m
sorry about your grandson though. Why don’t you just come with Jimmy and me?
You could spend the day with the boys, Mac and I. You could help us build the
gingerbread house. I’m sure the kids and Sarah would love to have you
around.”
Mrs. Ebenezer smiled and shook her head. “Thank you, Harm, but this is
something you should enjoy with the boys and Sarah,” she disclaimed. Then she
got an impish grin on her face and winked. “Maybe you and Sarah could practice
for the future.”
To say that this statement made Harm speechless and feeling dumbfounded was an
understatement. First she was calling him ‘Sarah’s commander’ and now this
one. ‘What’s going on here?’ Harm thought to himself. “What exactly has
Mac told you about me, Mrs. Ebenezer?”
“Oh, not much. It was more the things she hasn’t said. You know, the words
you can read in between.”
Harm chuckled. “You sound like a lawyer.”
“No, Commander. Just like an old woman with a lot of experience and a very
good knowledge of human nature,” she explained and then added with a smile.
“And now you better go before Sarah calls out the cavalry.”
Harm once more kissed her cheek and gave her a bear hug. Then he took the items
from the kitchen counter before following Mrs. Ebenezer and Jimmy to the
apartment door. “Thanks for everything, Mrs. Ebenezer.”
“My pleasure. Please tell Sarah I said hi.”
“Will do,” Harm promised. “Goodbye.”
“Goodbye, Harm,” Mrs. Ebenezer said. Then she looked down at Jimmy and
waved. “Bye, bye, Jimmy.”
Jimmy shyly waved back before following his godfather back to Mac’s apartment.
End of Flashback
***************
Present
Mac’s Apartment
“Harm?” Mac called and once more tried to get his attention.
“Huh?”
Mac chuckled and shook her head. “You spaced out on us, Commander. You wanted
to tell us about why you were at Mrs. Ebenezer’s. What’s in these boxes and
bags?”
“Oh yeah, sorry. Okay, to make a long story short,” Harm started to say and
got up from the armchair to show Mac what he had in all the bags and boxes. “I
thought we could do our very own gingerbread house, but your kitchen, Ms.
MacKenzie, doesn’t have what’s needed for a project like that.”
Mac only shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not Martha Stewart, Harm.”
“Yeah, Mrs. Ebenezer and I came to the exact same conclusion,” Harm
countered. He got an ‘excuse me’-look from her in response and immediately
continued with his story. “Anyway. I found a box of chocolate chips in your
cabinet and thought we at least could bake my grandmother’s famous chocolate
chip cookies. However, since you’re not Martha Stewart, two important
ingredients were still missing.”
“Only two? Wow, Martha Stewart better look out then,” Mac joked and gave him
a sweet smile.
Harm let out a snore. “Yeah, right.”
“So I gather you went to Mrs. Ebenezer to get those two missing things?”
“Yes, Sherlock, that’s the reason why Jimmy and I visited her. And guess
what, she had those missing ingredients in her kitchen.”
“Which means we’re able to bake chocolate chip cookies today,” Mac
concluded and high-fived with AJ, who was still sitting right next to her. “I
like this idea, Harm.”
“Me too,” Little AJ immediately agreed with his godmother and giggled, the
disappointment from earlier was already gone and forgotten.
“Oh, wait, you two. You haven’t heard the best part yet,” Harm said and
took out a box with the wall, roof and chimney pieces for the gingerbread house
to show them. “Mrs. Ebenezer made these so she could build a gingerbread house
with her grandson.”
“And why do you have them now?”
“Timmy got the flu and couldn’t come with his parents. That’s why she gave
me all this stuff,” Harm explained and pointed at the boxes and bags on
Mac’s coffee table. “Now the only question is if you feel like working on a
gingerbread house?” He wanted to know and first looked at Little AJ before
turning his gaze to Mac.
Little AJ and Mac looked at each other, started to smile and exchange a quick
nod. Then they turned their gaze back to Harm. “I’m in,” they said in
unison and giggled.
Harm laughed and sighed in relief. “Great, then we better get started. Maybe
we’ll even be able to bake the cookies as well.”
“Yes!” Little AJ yelled and jumped from the couch.
“Ye, ye, ye,” Jimmy happily copied his big brother’s words and started to
bounce up and down right next to Harm.
Harm took him into his arms and gave him a hug. Then he looked at his elderly
godson and saw that he was still wearing his pajamas. “Why don’t you get
changed and then we can start,” he told AJ.
“Okay,” Little AJ answered and quickly ran into the guestroom.
Mac slowly stood up from the couch and stepped nearer to Harm. “I like your
plan B, Harm. There really is always a plan B, isn’t there?” She quietly
asked and touched Jimmy’s soft cheek. Then she looked deeply into Harm’s
eyes and could see the bright glimmer in them.
“Yes, I promise. There’s always a plan B. You just have to look and find
it,” Harm softly repeated his words from earlier this morning, never breaking
their gaze.
“Don’t make a promise you can’t keep,” Mac quietly said and quickly
kissed his cheek. Then she turned around, got the bags and boxes from the coffee
table before making her way to the kitchen.
Harm’s eyes followed her and as soon as she disappeared into the kitchen, he
quietly replied. “I haven’t yet, Sarah. I haven’t yet.”
*****
10:03
AM
Little AJ and Mac, with Jimmy safely placed on her lap, were sitting at the
dinning room table, anxiously awaiting Harm to come back from the kitchen. The
walls, roof, and chimney pieces for the gingerbread house laid on the table,
just like the goodies for the decoration.
Mac had a hard time keeping Jimmy’s little fingers from pilfering the gumdrops
out of the candy bowl. Each time she caught his quick fingers he giggled and
babbled happily, enjoying the little game between them. In the meantime, Little
AJ’s eyes were glued to the kitchen entrance, impatiently waiting for his
uncle to come out of that room.
The sound of Harm’s happy whistles and the rumbling noises of an electric
mixer were flouting through the apartment, mixed with the soft jazz music, which
still played on the CD player.
Just a few minutes ago, Harm had had a hard time believing his eyes when Mac had
pulled the mixer out from her cabinet. He’d shaken his head and couldn’t
stop himself from making a smart-ass comment about it. “Wow, looks like
there’s still hope for you, Mac. You have a mixer in your kitchen. I’m
impressed, Colonel. Really impressed.”
Mac had only shrugged her shoulders and then gave him her explanation with a
smirk. “I got the mixer for free when I bought my new coffee maker. It was a
‘Two for one’-week at the department store. It was either the mixer or an
egg cooker. I actually thought about giving you the mixer for Christmas this
year, but just for that comment, Commander, I may rethink my decision.” Then
she’d given him a cute smile before turning around, leaving the kitchen and a
chuckling Harm behind.
“Okay, here comes the glue,” Harm announced as soon as he was done with the
icing, setting the bowl and an icing bag onto the table.
Mac and the boys quickly cheered and made the wave. “So… what now?” Mac
wanted to know and finally gave Jimmy one of the sweets he was able to eat out
of the candy bowl.
“Let me guess, you’ve never made a gingerbread house before. Am I right?”
“You bet. But my uncle once told me that I had a lot of fun crushing the one
he made when I was three years old,” Mac teasingly answered him. “That was
the first and last time he let me near his gingerbread houses.”
Harm raised his eyebrow and quickly turned his gaze to Little AJ. “You’ll be
the guard of this house, buddy. Don’t let your aunt near it. Got it?” He
asked and held his hand to his godson.
Little AJ delightfully nodded and shook Harm’s outstretched hand. “Got
it,” he announced and started to giggle when he saw the look he got from his
aunt.
“Traitor,” she murmured and then placed her mouth next to Jimmy’s right
ear. “Guess we’ll have to sneak up on them then, Jimmy.” As if he knew
exactly what she meant, Jimmy answered her with giggles and bounced on her lap,
clapping his hands in delight. Mac nodded her head and smirked at Harm. “Bring
it on, Navy.”
“You’re on, Marine,” Harm replied and rubbed his hands. Then he turned his
gaze back to Little AJ. “How about you, AJ? Have you ever made a gingerbread
house?”
“Uh-uh.” Little AJ shook his head. “No, never.”
“Well, then it’s about time for you to learn how to build one,” Harm
announced and checked out if everything they needed was on the table. “Mac,
you don’t have by chance four soup cans I could borrow? Oh wait, that’s a
stupid question,” Harm said with a chuckle, knowing that Mac always had some
in her apartment. He walked back into the kitchen and got four cans out of
Mac’s cupboard. “Okay, now I think we have everything we need.”
“Actually, no, there’s still something missing,” Mac notified and stood up
to place Jimmy into his highchair. “Something you taught me this weekend.”
She made her way to the CD player and turned off the jazz music, replacing it
with another CD.
“What’s missing?”
“The Christmas spirit.”
Harm groaned and rolled his eyes as soon as he discovered the song Mac was
playing now. “Oh, come on, Mac. You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said,
trying to sound disgusted. Harm’s eyes intriguingly followed each of her steps
as she walked to the Christmas tree to turn on the strands of lights.
“What? That’s absolutely Christmasish, Harm,” Mac told him with a smile
and sat down right next to him. “And the boys love it. Right, AJ?”
Little AJ didn’t care about giving his aunt an answer and had much more fun
with singing the legendary Christmas song ‘Christmas Don’t Be Late’ with
Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Harm anxiously looked at AJ, then back at Mac and put his mouth right next to
her ear. “How many songs like this one do we have to go through?” He wanted
to know, fearing the answer.
Mac chuckled. “Don’t worry, Harm. Only this song is from the Chipmunks.
It’s a compilation of Christmas songs. Of course there’s also a song sung by
the Smurfs.”
“Now you’re kidding, right?”
“Yes.”
Harm sighed in relief. “Thank god. For a second you got me worried there,
Marine.”
Mac just smiled at him. “Let’s start with the gingerbread house. I bet it
will make AJ stop singing in a heartbeat.”
Together they winced when AJ didn’t get the right tone. “Yeah, that sounds
like a very good idea,” Harm commented and took the now filled icing bag into
his hands.
They were right. As soon as Harm said they should start making the gingerbread
house, Little AJ stopped the singing and intriguingly listened to his
godfather’s explanations.
Both Little AJ and Mac helped him to attach the wall pieces with the icing one
at a time. As soon as all four walls were glued together, Harm used the four
soup cans to hold them up while the icing hardened. It took about thirty minutes
before it was firm enough to continue with the roof. They spent these thirty
minutes fooling around and listening to little AJ sing.
Since Harm wanted to teach them how to make a gingerbread house, he gave Mac the
icing bag and explained to her what to do next. “The ceiling is your job,
Marine.”
Mac nodded her head and took the icing bag from Harm. Slowly she added the icing
to the top edges of the walls and then carefully set the roof pieces in place.
Harm watched her and suddenly started to chuckle.
“What?” Mac asked in bewilderment. “What’s so funny?” She wanted to
know before continuing with her work.
“You really look cute when you’re focused on something,” Harm told her and
pointed to her face. “The way you’re sticking your tongue out is simply
adorable.”
Mac slightly blushed, immediately pulled her tongue back into her mouth and then
laid down the icing bag.
As soon as the icing was done hardening, it was Little AJ’s job to work on the
decorations. The first one to go into place was the top of the roof. Harm told
him to line it with the extra icing. After that, it was AJ’s decision to place
peppermint candies along the top, leaving enough space for his uncle to place
the chimney in the middle of the roof. “How’s that, Uncle Harm?”
“Perfect, AJ.”
Next he added lines with the icing on the roof, decorating them with little
sugar candies he found in Mac’s candy bowl. When he was done with the lines,
he gave the icing bag back to Harm. “Here, Uncle Harm. You’re next.”
Harm thought for a second about how to continue and finally decided to add swirl
designs onto the roof with the icing. Then he added icicles made of icing to the
roofline. “Looks like the roof is done,” he finally announced and smiled at
Mac. “Now it’s your turn to do some decorating. Why don’t you go ahead and
create the front and the back of our little house?”
“This should be fun,” Mac muttered, slightly feeling unsteady. Finally she
decided to start with a wreath on top; made of the same little sugar candies
Little AJ had used and some gumdrops.
After that, she painted a door and a window with the icing, this time using
rolled flat gumdrops to color the windows. The frame of the door she made with
colored chocolate drops.
As soon as Mac was done with the front side of the house, they turned it around
so that she was able to work on the backside, making two more windows with icing
and rolled flat gumdrops. “What’s next?” Mac asked and glanced at Harm.
“Now, for the big finale, I think Jimmy should add his doing,” Harm answered
and quickly disappeared into the kitchen.
“You already want him to crush our house?” Mac asked with a smirk.
After a few seconds, Harm came back and took Jimmy out of his highchair, placing
him onto his lap. He got a spatula from Mac’s kitchen and put it into
Jimmy’s little hand, covering it with his bigger one so that his godson
wouldn’t lose the grip.
Together they started to add the snow on the ground, using the spatula to spread
icing all over the cardboard base, on which the house stood. Both Jimmy and Harm
were competing over who had the brightest smile on his face. Their giggles and
laughter sounded like music to Mac’s ears.
She was lost in thought and dreamily watched Harm playing and laughing with the
boys. It was clearly visible for Mac just how much Harm adored children, how
much he’s meant to be a father. ‘How much I want him to be the father of my
children. He’ll be a great dad one day,’ she thought to herself and
couldn’t hide the little smile that took place on her face.
Unknown to her, one single teardrop ran down her cheek and she only realized it
when Harm softly started to wipe it off with his thumb, just the way he had done
so many times in the past. She looked up into his eyes, into a gaze so full of
love and understanding.
As soon as Mac felt that Harm started to withdraw his hand from her face, she
held it and leant her cheek against the palm of his hand. “You’ll be a great
dad one day, Harm,” Mac quietly spoke out the thought she had had a few
seconds ago.
Harm gave her a tender smile, never breaking their eye contact. “Only if I can
have the woman I want to have as the mother of my children,” he gently told
her and tried to let his eyes speak the words he couldn’t seem to find at the
moment. For now it simply wasn’t the right time, nor was it the right place.
He smiled and gave her a short nod, silently telling her that everything would
be okay.
Mac could only reply with a smile and a nod of her own. Turning her head, she
planted a soft tender kiss on the palm of his hand before she squeezed and let
go of it. Then she took a gumdrop out of the bowl and started to create a
walkway in front of the house while Little AJ placed a few of the chocolate
drops to the now snowy looking ground.
“There, all done,” Harm finally said. “Our very own gingerbread house.”
“It looks beautiful, Uncle Harm,” Little AJ responded and you could hear the
pride in his voice.
“Yeah, it really does,” Mac softly agreed and placed one of the leftover
gumdrops into her mouth. “Thanks for showing us how to make one. It was a lot
of fun to work on it,” she said and suddenly her stomach rumbled.
Harm laughed and shook his head. “I bet I know what’s next on our agenda,
Ninjagirl.”
“Yeah, right about now some food sounds like a very good idea.”
“Do you have something particular in mind?” Harm asked, and let Jimmy down
on his feet so that he could go play with his toys.
“I still have some leftover chicken soup I made. There’s enough left for the
four of us,” Mac explained and got up from her chair. “And no smart-ass
comment, Sailor,” Mac immediately added before Harm could reply.
Harm could only laugh and he lifted his hands in surrender. “I wouldn’t
dare, Marine. I wouldn’t dare.”
“Good, good. You’re a very wise man.”
Harm smirked. “I do have my moments. Why don’t you make our lunch while I
try to work more on the files I have left? Maybe after lunch, when Jimmy is
taking his nap, we will be able to get the rest done.”
“Sounds good to me. The sooner we’re done, the more time we have to spend
with much more important things,” Mac gently said and gave him a soft smile.
“My thought exactly,” Harm responded with a wink and a flyboy grin.
*****
1:17
PM
Mac stood in the kitchen, preparing their lunch and enjoying the enthusiastic
sounds which came out of her living room. She wondered what her boys next door
were up to, but one thing she knew for sure. There was no way that Harm was
working on his files liked he’d planned. She chuckled and shook her head.
“Kids. Always trying to come up with something, so they don’t have to work
on the homework,” Mac muttered to herself, continuing to stir up the soup.
***************
Meanwhile in her living room
“Faster, Uncle Harm. You have to be faster,” Little AJ yelled behind him and
clapped his hands. “He’s getting away. Come on, Uncle Harm. You can get
him.”
Harm just groaned, not believing what he was doing. ‘Good thing the Navy
doesn’t get to see this,’ he thought and chuckled. Then he turned his head
to look behind him. ‘I already can see the headline in the ‘Navy Times’.
‘US Navy Commander Harmon Rabb Jr. lost a crawling race against the
one-year-old Marine shooting-star James Kirk Roberts’. How did I end up like
this anyway?’ Harm asked himself and suddenly ran into something. “Aarrgh,”
he yelped in surprise before letting his eyes wander over the object he just
crawled into.
“Nice legs,” he commented and rubbed his head. Then his eyes continued to
wander up. “Very nice.” Finally his eyes greeted a stern face and last but
not least a pair of beautiful brown eyes. “Very beautiful. Hi,” Harm said
sheepish.
Mac raised her eyebrow and chuckled. The scene she’d just watched was simply
too funny. “Hi. What are you doing here, Harm?”
“A crawling race,” Harm answered in full seriousness.
Mac nodded her head. “So I could see. And here I thought you wanted to work on
your files.”
“Nope. I came up with the conclusion to do no more work this weekend and to
only have fun and enjoy the rest of it,” Harm replied, still being on all
fours. “I will work on them on Monday, and if it can’t be done by then I
will simply have to come up with an excuse.”
“With a very good excuse I would say,” Mac concurred and smiled down at him.
She really wanted to laugh out loud since he was still on all fours in front of
her, but for now she was able to hold it back. Mac just hoped her lower lip
wouldn’t be too harmed after all the biting on it.
“I’m sure I can come up with something really good,” Harm tried to sound
secure about his plan and then gave her his best flyboy grin. “I’m a lawyer
after all.”
“Yeah, you are and I’m sure you can come up with something good. At least as
long as you don’t start with ‘I’m sorry, General, but there was this
crawling race I had to attend against this one-year-old Marine shooting-star
called James Kirk Roberts’. I think that wouldn’t work very well,” Mac
told him and when she saw his surprised look and then the blush on his face, she
couldn’t hold back anymore and started to laugh.
“Uh oh, I said that out loud, didn’t I?”
“Yup, you sure did. Come on. Give me your hand, Harm. I’m starting to get a
complex and weird thoughts about seeing you on all fours in front of me,” she
said with a smirk and held out her hand for him to take. “Where’s your rival
anyway?” Mac wanted to know and looked around the room.
“He’s behind the couch, Auntie Mac,” Little AJ quietly announced from the
background and pointed to the couch.
Mac and Harm slowly moved forward so that they were able to look behind the
furniture, seeing the exhausted Jimmy on the floor, sucking on his thumb.
“Oh man. Great,” Harm moaned. “I could have won the race, Mac. That’s
all your fault, Marine,” he said and tried to sound frustrated.
“How many times did he outpace you anyway?”
Harm pulled his hand to his mouth, making a gesture as if he was thinking about
his answer. “Mmmphhh timmmphhh,” he quietly answered so that she couldn’t
really hear him.
“What?”
“He said four times, Auntie Mac,” Little AJ was once more throwing in an
answer from the background.
“Why, thank you, AJ. And here I thought you were my friend,” Harm told him,
this time trying to sound offended. However, he wasn’t able to fool neither
his oldest godson nor his best friend.
Mac laughed and shook her head. “Four times? Wow, Harm. That was quite a race.
Maybe you were a bit slow though. But I’m sure with some training you’ll get
much better in the future.”
“Put your money where your mouth is, Marine. Next time you have a crawling
race against him, let’s see who the slow one is,” Harm told her and crossed
his arms in front of his chest.
“Agreed,” she immediately responded and then smirked. “Mr. Slowpoke.”
Then she laughed and made her way to the kitchen. “Okay, boys, lunch is ready
to be served. Get your hands washed and find your place at the dinning room
table.”
“Aye, aye, Ma’am,” Little AJ and Harm saluted at the same time. Harm took
the tired looking Jimmy into his arms before the three made their way to Mac’s
bathroom.
As soon as they’d washed their hands, Harm, AJ and Jimmy joined Mac at the
dinning room table, enjoying the chicken soup. Jimmy was barely awake and Harm
had a hard time feeding him. “Guess the race wore him out,” Harm softly said
and kissed his younger godson’s head. “Seems to be a nice trick if your kid
doesn’t want to go to sleep,” he concluded with a smirk. “Just get him
into a crawling race.”
“Yeah, and his brother apparently could use a nap as well,” Mac added and
pointed at AJ, who was yawning more often than eating his soup.
“I’m not tired,” Little AJ protested but betrayed himself with yet another
yawn. “Not really.”
Mac and Harm could only shake their heads and chuckled. “I think you should
try it and if you can’t fall asleep, you can get up again. Deal?” Harm
submitted and then thought about his trump card. “But keep in mind, that I
really need you wide awake this afternoon.”
“Why? For what?” Little AJ curiously wanted to know and took another spoon
of soup.
“Well, I thought we should try to dig out my car this afternoon. And maybe we
can even find some time to build a snowman. What do you think, buddy? Sound like
a good idea for this afternoon?”
Little AJ enthusiastically nodded his head. “We really can go out and play in
the snow?”
“Yeah, I think as long as we stay on the parking lot it shouldn’t be a
problem.”
“Cool!” AJ responded while a wide grin took place on his face.
Harm smiled and nodded his head. “Good. Then that’s the plan for this
afternoon. But like I said, I need all your energy for this project, so you
better try to get some shuteye, okay?”
“Okay, Uncle Harm. I’ll try,” Little AJ promised and immediately got up
from his chair to get ready for the nap.
Mac and Harm’s eyes followed him until he disappeared behind the guestroom’s
door. “While we’re talking about digging out your car,” Mac threw in and
looked at Harm. “Have you thought about how we should handle this tomorrow
morning? After all, the mini-van is standing in front of your apartment and the
chances for it being snowed-in like your car are very high.”
Harm nodded his head. “Yeah, I think we can assume that the mini-van is just
as snowed-in as the SUV. What was your actual plan for tomorrow?”
“Just getting the kids to daycare and pre-school before I go to work. Around
six o’clock I would pick them up again and bring them straight home.”
“And when is Harriet and Bud’s plane scheduled?”
“The late afternoon. They’re going to take a cab back home,” Mac
explained. “Do you want anymore soup?”
Harm shook his head. “No, thanks.”
Mac got up and brought the dishes into the kitchen. “So you just have to pick
up the kids and bring them home?” Harm called behind her, already concocting a
plan. He got up from his chair carefully, holding a dozing Jimmy carefully in
his arms.
“Yes, they insisted on taking a cab,” Mac answered as she came back to the
living room. “They didn’t want me to do all the extra driving after work.
You know them and how they can get.”
Harm chuckled and made his way to Mac’s guestroom to get Jimmy’s bag.
“Sure do. But I think that gives us the solution for our little car
problem.”
“Which is?” Mac wanted to know and then slowly followed Harm into her
bedroom. She sat down on the bed right next to where Harm had laid down Jimmy so
he could change him.
“We’re taking the SUV tomorrow morning and go with your plan. After work we
can pick up the kids before driving to my apartment to dig out the mini-van,”
Harm explained his solution while changing the now asleep Jimmy. “As soon as
we’re done we can bring the kids and the car back home. Have you set up a time
with Harriet for getting the kids home?”
Mac shook her head, softly touching Jimmy’s cheek with her fingertips. “No,
but I told her that I would get the kids around six o’clock.”
“Then we just have to let them know that we’ll bring them home a bit later
than planned. That shouldn’t be a problem,” Harm concluded and started to
button up Jimmy’s rompers. When he was done, he kissed Jimmy’s forehead
before picking him up again, cradling him in his arms.
“I could tell Harriet about our plan when Little AJ is calling her. He wanted
to try this afternoon, just to make sure that they would come home in this
weather.”
“Do you think it is possible?” Harm asked as they walked through the living
room to get Jimmy down for his nap.
“I’m not quite sure yet but I hope that Harriet and Bud know more when AJ is
talking with them.”
“Look who’s already asleep,” Harm whispered after he’d opened the door
to the guestroom, seeing that Little AJ was already fast asleep in his bed. Then
he laid Jimmy down into his crib and covered him with his blanket.
“Looks like he was more tired than he thought,” Mac quietly said and walked
over to Little AJ. She kissed his forehead before adjusting his blanket. “He
for sure had a rough night and I guess all the excitement was a bit too much for
him,” she whispered and then left the room together with Harm. “Either that
or mentioning your plan for this afternoon did the trick. Would you like some
coffee, Harm?”
Mac stopped dead in her tracks and turned around when Harm didn’t answer her,
seeing that he hadn’t followed her and still stood in the doorway of her
guestroom. “Harm?” Mac once more tried to get his attention, but again he
didn’t answer her, nor did it look like he was hearing her.
Mac slowly made her way back to him, trying to read his body language. He seemed
to be tensed and obviously deep in thought. The moment she stood right behind
him Mac got on tiptoes, looked over his shoulder and followed his gaze, which
was glued to where Jimmy was sleeping.
She tenderly placed her hand on Harm’s back, surprised that he didn’t
flinched or jerked away. He apparently wasn’t taken aback by her standing so
close to him. “Harm?” Mac whispered right next to his ear. “Are you
okay?”
Harm turned his head a little so that he was able to look at her. “Huh?”
“I wanted to know if you’re okay. You seemed so far away.”
Harm gave her a little smile and took her left hand into his to squeeze it.
“Don’t worry, Mac. I’m fine.”
“Why don’t we make us some coffee and then we could sit down and talk some
or maybe watch a movie. If you’d like,” Mac suggested and took one step
backwards so that Harm could close the door.
“Coffee and talking sound like a good idea,” Harm replied with a smile.
She returned his smile with one of her own. “Good. Just give me a few minutes
and I’ll be back with the coffee.”
Mac started to go into the kitchen, only to be held back by Harm’s gentle grip
on her arm. “Mac?”
Mac turned around and looked into Harm’s eyes. “Yeah?”
“If I would ask you to tell me the story about the crib Jimmy’s sleeping in,
would you tell it to me?” Harm softly asked, finally letting go of his fear to
confront her about it. ‘God, I hope I didn’t do something wrong now,’ he
thought but the look he read in Mac’s eyes showed no discomfort or uneasiness.
Mac took a deep breath and nodded. “I promise. Let me make us some coffee and
then we can talk about it, okay?”
Harm gave her his flyboy grin and nodded his head. “I would like that,” he
said and softly kissed her forehead. “I would like that very much.”
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