0530 EST

January 21, 2005

Staunton, VA

Mac groaned as her alarm in her head went off.  She knew that it was 0530 in the morning and that she had to quickly get the lead out of her head so she could make it back to Falls Church before lunch.  They had an interoffice workshop starting around lunch and as Chief of Staff she had to be there.  It had been an idea of General Creswell.  A ropes instructor was coming it to teach the staff how they could trust each other a little more.  It actually baffled the staff considering they would trust each other with their lives, the new CO though thought he had a couple of rogue officers that had trust issues.

She jumped in the shower and threw on her uniform.  It was 0600 by the time she got finished packing her bag.  The case she was on was a tough on, and she had to drive to the mountains to find one wayward marine to build a case against the defense.  Harm threw a fit when he found out she was going up there and wanted her to stay in town where he could keep an eye on her, but with Mac being typical Mac, stubborn to get the job done, went there anyway. She picked up her cell and gave him a call.

“Hello?” his sleep voice said over the phone.

“Harm, it’s Mac.  I am just calling you to let you know that I am leaving Staunton.  The marine I was interviewing had a cabin up here.”

“Thanks for calling and letting me know, I’ll see you at JAG in time for the workshop.”

“Sure, you know, I still haven’t figured out why the general feels that we need to learn to trust each other.  We have always trusted each other.”

Harm smiled at the other end.  “We did get off to a rocky start, but we learned to trust each other.”

“I’ll see you in a couple of hours flyboy.”

“Can’t wait to see you.  Mac be careful driving, the weather reports are looking nasty.”

“I think I can handle the snow Harm.”

“Stubborn jarhead.”

“See you in a few Harm.”

“Bye Mac.”

“Bye Harm.”

She ended the connection and picked up her bag.  Mac was glad that he made her agree to checking in every so often, it gave her an excuse to hear his voice.  She checked out of the hotel and started making her way down the mountain.

Mac flipped on the radio in the car and started singing softly to the lyrics of the song, it was a slow country song that she had only heard a couple of times, but it was catchy enough.  Halfway down the mountain it started getting foggy, and since she didn’t know the mountain well enough, she decided to follow a set of taillights that were in front of her to help with all the twists and turns of the mountain roads.

As if the fog on the mountain roads wasn’t bad enough, it started to snow on her, and she was beginning to think that Harm was right, but she wasn’t going to let him know that.  Suddenly there was a patch of black ice on the road, and Mac lost control of the car.  During the horrifying experience, Mac began to see flashes of her life.

Flashback

Christmas 1973

Mac was sitting at the coffee table, she must have only been 5 years old, and the just put up their Christmas tree.  She was making a card to send to Santa.  Just as she was putting the finishing touches on it, she heard her father stumble in. 

“What the hell is this?”

“A Kissmas tree Papa.” Little Mac tried to explain.  Her father hated the holidays, probably because he didn’t drink as much so Mac could end up with something nice for one day out of the year.  He saw the card she made for Santa and got infuriated and threw the tree down.  She started whimpering as she heard the glass balls break.

Christmas 1986

“Hey Sarah,” Chris Ragle called from the kitchen.

“Yeah Chris.” She said walking into the kitchen.

“I lost another hand at poker, and we have no money, so baby you know what you have to do.”

“Yeah Chris here, bet an hour with his wife!” One of his poker buddies said coming up to her.  She started to shrink towards the ground as the man picked her up and slung a drunk 18 year old Sarah Mackenzie over his shoulder.  “Don’t worry Chris, I won’t work her that hard.”

Aboard the Watertown

Mac knew she was slipping away.  Damn, she never expected to go like this, especially not at the hands of a deranged corpsman.  Suddenly, she felt her lungs start inflating.  Harm was giving her “the kiss of life.”  She suddenly slid back into her body, and starting gasping for air.  He held her, and at that moment, she knew she was safe with him.

The Admiral’s House

The electricity between the two was always undeniable, and the kiss that they shared had been coming for a long time.  She never told him this, but during the toast, she was tempted to grab his hand and make a run for the door.  She had always envisioned that it was him she was going to marry.

The Baby Deal

Mac remembered the baby deal vividly, the would go halves on a kid, five years from little AJ was born.  There were so many times that she wanted to tell him that they should have moved up the day, but she never had the guts to tell him that.  If only . . .

The rest of Mac’s flashbacks all contained Harm, him holding her, dancing at the various functions, but most of all, his smile.  Struggling to regain control, the car started spinning and came to a stop across the four lane highway.  The seatbelt pressed hard against her collarbone as the car came to an abrupt stop at the edge of the cliff, being held only by barb wire.  Her head snapped forward and then back, causing Mac to black out, but before she did she could hear the sounds of her cell phone ringing.

Mac’s Unconscious

She drove down the streets of a quiet country neighborhood.  She remembered the day that her and Harm found the house.  They were so excited to find one out in the country, but still close to work. 

She was so excited to get home. Today was the day they found out that they were going to be parents to a bouncy baby girl.  Harm was sitting for her on the front porch and saw his very pregnant wife slowly get out of the car.

“Honey, I didn’t know you were getting home today.”

“The investigation wrapped up early, and I caught a ride on a tomcat home.  I already picked the kids up from Harriet’s.”

“Thanks Harm.  I was going to pick them up in an hour, I know how much they love playing with Harriet’s twins.”

“Imagine the luck that you had twins only 9 months later, at least they can grow up together and have each other as best friends.”

“Yeah, well we got lucky to have them in the first place with the endometriosis.  I thought for the longest time that we wouldn’t be able to have children.”

“Well, we sure proved them wrong.” He put his hand to her stomach.  “How is my little man today?” He said dropping to his knees and kissing her stomach.

“Well, I think your little girl was making Mommy real sick today at work.  She gets her taste for you.”  Harm smiled the minute he heard that.

“We are  going to have a little girl?”  He picked her up and twirled her around.  He put Mac back down and dropped to his knees again.  “Just wait until you come out Little Mackenzie, Daddy is going to spoil you.”

Just then the twins started scampering out the door.  “Mommy, Gabe was jumping on the bed.”

“Mommy, Jakob dared me to do it.”  Gabe answered looking up at her with his big blue eyes.  The twins were definitely Harm’s sons.

“Boys,” Harm said in his best commanding tone, and the automatically went to attention.

“Yes sir.” They answered back.

He got eye level to them, “What did I saw about disturbing Mommy right as she got home from work today?”

“To wait until she has had her bubble bath.” Gabe answered back.

“Very good Cadet Gabriel Rabb.  Now, get to your rooms and make sure it looks nice for inspection.”

“Yes sir,” they answer simultaneously.

Mac looked at her two sons knowingly, “You are dismissed.”  The three year old twins fired off a salute and scampered their way back into the house.

Harm smiled at his twins.  Identical to the very last detail.  Only the people who knew they could tell the boys apart quickly.  They had started becoming very rambunctious and were up to their wits ends when they tried treating the boys like little cadets.  Amazingly, the tactic worked.  Their Uncle AJ had told them they were some of the best well behaved children he had ever seen, and couldn’t believe they came from the Mackenzie-Rabb line.

Just then Mathilda Grace Johnson Rabb came walking out of the house.  “Hey Mac, hey Dad.”

“Hi Honey.  Looking forward to graduation?”

“Yes.  And on the topic of that, I need the credit card.  Mac told me it would be okay if I went shopping for a graduation dress with Zoe today.”

Harm opened up his wallet and handed his teenager the card.  “Don’t put too much on it.”

“Dad, you aren’t even paying for my education, I mean I am going to the Academy and all.”

“Well, the more you put on the credit card, the less you get towards a new car.” Harm told her.

Her face lit up, “Mac, Dad, did I just hear you right?”

“Yeah Kiddo, we decided to get you a new car for graduation, nothing fancy, just something reliable.”

“You are awesome.”  Mattie gave them both hugs and headed out for the mall.

“Harm did you mean it when you called this one,” she said gesturing towards her baby stomach, “little Mackenzie?”

“Sure why not.  After all, I want her to have to spirit of her mother.”  He said kissing her full on the lips.  Harm helped her inside and drew her a bath as they got the children fed.  He washed her back and kissed her neck.

She giggled a little.  “You know, that is how we got into the predicament.”

“Yeah, I know.” He said nibbling her earlobe.  “I love you so much Sarah.”

“I love you too Harm.”

She whispered into the air.  Harm stood there by her car, amazed that he heard him say that he loved her.

“Come on Marine, open up those beautiful eyes.” He ordered her. 

Mac slowly eased back into consciousness and looked into his blue eyes.  “Our twins have your eyes.” She whispered to him.  He helped her out of the car. 

“Feeling okay there Marine, we don’t have kids and aren’t married.  Well kids besides Mattie who is coming back this weekend.”

“The dream was so real Harm.”  Then she was jolted back into reality.  “How did you find me?”

“Well, when you didn’t show up around 8 like you were supposed to, I got worried and jumped into the car and found you.”  She started shivering and he took off his coat and gave it to her.  “Mac, what were you thinking going up against black ice?” The worry was evident in her eyes.

“I was trying to get back in time for the workshop.  I didn’t see the ice until it was too late.”

He pulled her close.  “I love you Mac.” The words popped out. 

“I love you too Harm.” She whispered into his chest. 

“Come on, let me get you someplace warm.”

“I am always warm in your arms.”  He smiled at her and dropped a quick kiss on her lips.  He led her to the car and pulled out his cell phone and called AAA to tow the government vehicle.

He spent the rest of the day fretting over Mac and proposing to her, to which she said yes.

AN-And that is all she wrote.  I actually slid on black ice this morning and almost went over the mountain on my way to a workshop, and my life did flash infront of my eyes.  Scary experience, I don’t recommend it.