|
Home Stories by Author Stories by Title Links |
The Right Reasons 1: The Deal
Rating: IM15 (for now – we’ll see how it goes for later *veg*) Summary: Things are not as they seemed in the season finale. I can’t say any more than that. This chapter will run a bit long so I can get everything I want in here LOL. Disclaimer: I don’t own them. Never have. Probably never will. Not making any money off of this either. Spoilers: All the way through the Season 9 finale. Let’s hope I get this done before Season 10 begins.
Admiral Chegwidden’s Retirement Party
Harm and Mac sat together outside of the Admiral’s retirement party. He could sense Mac didn’t want to be around a lot of people at that moment, and to be honest, neither did he. She started talking about Webb and their relationship. Not his favorite topic, but it was important to Mac, so he listened to her. Then she brought up the subject of children.
"I don't know if you realize it but this week is an anniversary of sorts. Five years ago.” Brilliant, Rabb, Harm berated himself. She’s just found out her boyfriend is dead, is facing some sort of health problem, and you have to bring up ‘the deal’.
“We're already there. I knew it was this year,” Mac replied woodenly.
Harm tried to remove his foot from his mouth. “This isn't the right time to talk about it. I want you to know that if you want to have a baby, in the future, the offer still holds. We could do it together, like we planned.” That was better – he just wanted her to know that she needn’t feel abandoned. God knew he was eager to have children – with Mac – but only if and when she was ready.
“Men just seem to pass through my life, except for you. Will you always be there?” Harm didn’t know where Mac was going with this question, but for him the answer was easy.
“Yes.”
“Then you need to know what the doctor told me.” Harm took Mac’s hand. He knew the news couldn’t be good.
“Go ahead.”
“That pain in my back? It’s being caused by uterine fibroids.”
“Uteri-whats?” Harm asked. He wasn’t being deliberately stupid; he really didn’t know what she was talking about.
“Growths on the inside of my uterus,” Mac bowed her head, and Harm could hear the tears in her voice. “Basically, it means without surgery, it’s going to be hard to conceive. And even then, it’s not a guarantee. So if you want to run now, it’s okay. I won’t blame you.” Her voice turned bitter.
Harm thought carefully before he answered. “Mac, although I’d love to have a child with you, it’s not the be-all, end-all of our relationship. If you can have children, that’s great. The deal stands. If not, that’s okay, too. I will be by your side no matter what.”
She buried her head in his shoulder. “We haven’t been the closest of friends this past year-”
Harm interrupted her. “And that’s as much my fault as anyone else’s. I’m here now, though, and I’m not going anywhere.” His arms crept around her shoulders and they hugged, not romantically, but as friends offering each other comfort.
Meanwhile …
A rugged military man stood on a shoreline and scanned the horizon with a pair of binoculars. His walkie-talkie squawked. “Yes, sir?” “Nothing, yet.” “I’ll give it five more minutes.”
He clipped the walkie-talkie back on his belt and continued looking through his binoculars. Almost the entire five minutes passed by before he heard a faint engine noise over the sound of the ocean.
“C’mon, c’mon,” he urged. Finally, a small black inflatable motorboat popped into sight over the waves. When it got almost to the shore, he waded into the water to help bring the boat in.
When they got onto dry land, the boat’s occupant set about deflating and hiding the boat, while the other called in on his walkie-talkie. “Package is in hand. Over and out.” He switched off the walkie-talkie and turned to face the man who had come in on the boat. “How are you?”
“Better now that I’m back on land, Gunny. That was a rough few days of travel.” He grinned at Victor Galindez.
“And I’m glad to see you alive and kicking, Mr. Webb.”
|