Next
Morning
Mac’s room
1012 hours
Mac was slowly waking up to the feel of Harm’s breath blowing softly on her neck. Lying against her on his side, the warmth of his arm resting heavily across her body, his hand on her hip, and his fingers tightly gripping the side of her six, was bringing back very vivid memories of why they were still in bed and exhausted at...what time was it? This was the first time sex had ever thrown her internal clock off. Turning to get a better view of the alarm clock. Mac sprang up when she saw it was after 10 o’clock. Check out was in less than an hour.
Jostled out of his sleep by her sudden movement, Harm immediately felt the warm flesh still nestled tightly against his now awakened body. Reaching his arm around her again, he pulled her back down into the bed holding her tightly against him.
“Where do you think you’re going?” He mumbled, half asleep, half aroused.
“It’s after ten. Check out is less than an hour from now and your mom is expecting us... ten minutes ago!!” Mac was obviously in a panic.
“She won’t mind.” Squeezing her more tightly, his lips nibbled sleepily on her shoulder, his arousal taking sturdy form against her supple hip.
“HARM!” Mac sat herself up in an attempt to extricate herself from Harm’s tempting hold on her.
“HOW do you plan on explaining to YOUR mother why we’re running so late?”
A slow smile spread across Harm’s groggy visage as he impishly raised one eyebrow at her.
“Harmon Rabb you are NOT telling your mother we’re late because we couldn’t stop having sex.” Mac smacked him on the arm that wouldn’t release her.
“Wasn’t sex.” Having sat up next to her, he was now mumbling into the same shoulder he was nibbling on again.
“What!”
“Was making love.” Sneakily harm had slowly snaked his arm around her waist until his fingers were just under her breast. The words were no sooner out of his mouth than his hand slid up and fully cupped her breast, his thumb flicking the already taut nipple.
“This isn’t fair!” Mac sighed. “Haaarrrm... we have to go.”
Now that they had finally crossed the line and made love, they were insatiable.
Dropping his forehead against her shoulder. “I should never have told mom we were here.” Grudgingly, he loosened his grip on her and sat back against the headboard.
“We’ll just tell mom that we were running behind schedule leaving the base. But I guarantee you she’s going to take one look at us and know what we’ve been up to just as sure as she could tell I lied about Mary Taylor.”
“Mary Taylor?”
“Long story.” Harm rolled his eyes.
“I’ll let it go this time but only because we’ve got to get moving.” Smacking Harm lightly on the leg, Mac got up and pulled a few things out of her suitcase before turning to Harm. “If you promise to behave, we could always conserve time and water.”
Harm grinned like a Cheshire cat as he watched her naked form strut into the bathroom and close the bathroom door. Making sure to leave it open a crack in invitation.
Despite a very rambunctious shower, the two managed to clean up, dress and check out by the eleven o’clock deadline. Disregarding Mac’s growling stomach, they decided to head straight to La Jolla.
Mac frequently dosed during the short drive to his mother’s house. After all, it had been a very busy night. Pulling into the driveway, Harm reached over and kissed her lightly, her soft lips almost impossible to resist. “We’re here.”
Mac had barely managed to open her eyes when she could here a woman’s voice getting closer.
“I thought you two were going to be here hours ago. I was just debating whether or not I should start worrying.” Trish Burnett smiled at her handsome son pulling him into a strong embrace. He had been right. One look in her son’s eyes and she knew what had kept them.
It wasn’t long before they were all settled comfortably on the back deck enjoying the sunshine, ocean breeze and homemade lemonade.
“Is this the house you grew up in?” Mac asked Harm once Mrs. Burnett had gone to the kitchen to check on lunch.
“Pretty much once Frank and Mom got married, yeah.” Harm nodded.
“Very well. Lunch will be ready in just a few minutes. Do you want to eat out here on the deck, or would you prefer to be inside?” Trish asked stepping through the patio doors.
“Either way is fine with me.” Harm shrugged.
“I don’t know when I’ll have another opportunity like this. If you don’t mind, I’d love to eat out here.” Mac requested.
“No trouble at all, dear. I’ll go tell Consuelo to serve lunch out here.” Trish wandered off once again.
Having skipped breakfast, Mac could probably have eaten even an ocean of seaweed she was so hungry. Fortunately for her, Consuelo had cooked up some delicious Fettuccini Alfredo with a spring salad, and fresh sourdough bread with garlic butter.
“When you’re finished there, you two should put on your suits and take a swim. The water’s been unusually warm.” Trish suggested to her son.
“I don’t know, we’ve been working pretty hard.” Harm noticed the color drain immediately from Mac’s face. “On the case that is, and I think a nice nap might be more in order.” Harm glanced at Mac hoping he’d recovered well.
“Nonsense, you can nap in DC or at least if you insist on napping take a couple of the lounge chairs down to the shore and nap on the beach.” Trish rolled her eyes.
“I don’t know. I think a swim sounds pretty good.” Mac shrugged at Trish.
“There you go! At least someone has some good sense.” Trish chuckled.
“You two aren’t going to start ganging up on me are you?” Harm teased.
“Maybe.” Both echoed in unison, delighted by the look of horror on Harm’s face.
Trish turned to Mac. “I had Carlos put your bag in the guest room. I think you’ll like it. It has a beautiful view of the beach. You can access the beach from the deck, and it’s somewhat isolated from the rest of the bedrooms. Harm will show you where it is.” Trish patted Mac’s arm in a motherly gesture.
“Thank you. I’m sure it will be lovely.” Mac smiled, trying to hide her disappointment at being isolated from Harm’s room.
“Good. Now that we’ve settled that, you two run along and change.” Trish waved her hand at Mac, politely shooing them into the house.
“Oh, Harm.” Trish called after him.
“Yeah, mom?” Harm nodded at Mac to go on in and pointed down the long hallway, then lowered his head closer to his mom.
“I had Carlos put your bag in the guest room too. Now, go on. You don’t want to leave Mac waiting.” Trish smiled with the same knowing grin she had the day she’d asked Harm how his date had gone with Mary Taylor. Someday, if he and Mac had children he hoped he could read them as easily.
“Thanks, mom.” Harm leaned in and hugged his mom. He really needed to spend more time with her. Being with her just reminded him of how much he really did miss her.
Walking back to their room, Harm chuckled to himself at how his mother always could read him like a book. He wondered if that was something inherited or learned. Either way with Mac’s sixth sense he probably wouldn’t have to worry. She’d do all the reading of their children.
Reaching the bedroom door, Harm paused to quietly watch Mac unpack. Even emptying a suitcase looked graceful when done by Sarah MacKenzie. He couldn’t wait to make her his wife and start having children.
Slowly, the color began to drain from Harm’s face as his eyes opened wide. Blinking hard and taking a deep breath, he stepped into the room to face his marine.
“How goes it beautiful?” Harm wrapped his arms around her from behind.
“Your bag is in here too.” Mac blushed. “I guess your mom knows.”
“I warned you she would.” Harm chuckled.
“I guess it’s a mother thing.” Mac shrugged, turning to face Harm, she instantly noticed his pallor. “Hey, are you okay. Did your mom say something to upset you?” Mac’s eyes flew wide as her mind started jumping to conclusions.
“Oh, God. She didn’t want us to share a room. No wait, she didn’t want me to come at all? What is it Harm? Tell me what happened.” Mac was trying not to sound too panicked and was failing miserably.
“Power down.” Harm smiled. “Mom thinks you’re the best thing to happen to this family since Lee IaCocoa retooled Chrysler.” Harm ran his fingers through her hair in an attempt to calm both himself and her down.
“Then why the long face?”
“You know I love you more than words could possibly describe?”
Smiling coyly, “I think we can agree you’ve showed me that pretty successfully, Navy.”
“I don’t ever want to do anything to ever hurt you or make you angry with me again.” Harm kissed her forehead before looking into her eyes again. “I know you told me before things were too much, too soon, to let you come to me about our deal.”
Mac nodded her head yes.
“I, I uh wasn’t really thinking last night.” Harm felt Mac stiffen slightly in his arms.
“I, that is we, we didn’t, at least I don’t think we did. I know I didn’t.”
“What are you trying to say?” Mac was getting nervous waiting for him to make sense.
Sighing heavily, “Oh, Mac. I didn’t think to use condoms last night. You’ve got to know I didn’t do it on purpose, that I wasn’t pushing or ... I don’t know I just ... God, I love you please don’t be upset with me.” Harm pulled her into a tight embrace.
Harm felt Mac’s shoulders begin to shake in his arms.
Pulling away, he was relieved to see the smile on her face.
“Well, that has to be a first.” She chuckled, placing her hand tenderly on the side of his face. “You never cease to amaze me.”
“I don’t get it.” Harm shook his head lightly, pulling her back closer to him.
“Most men don’t really consider birth control something they need to worry about. Most guys use condoms because they don’t want to catch anything. Not because they’re worried about the girl becoming a mother.” She reached up and placed a soft sweet kiss on his lips.
“Then everything is okay?” Harm questioned, lightly kissing her forehead again.
“Well, if you mean okay I’m not mad at you. Yes, everything is okay, I’m not mad at you. If you mean everything okay, you, or we didn’t use birth control, well, that depends on what you mean by okay.” Now it was Mac’s turn to sigh heavily.
“As long as you’re not angry with me.” Harm kissed the top of her head “then anything and everything else is okay. I don’t care if you’re pregnant. I think you probably know, I’d love it.” Harm leaned down and kissed her lips in earnest, not totally sure he wanted to hear what she had to say.
Their lips lingered in a delicate caress. Softly, his lips moved to kiss her cheek, her eyes, and back to her pouty lips again. Too aware of the serious nature of the conversation, Harm pulled back to look in her eyes.
“For the record,” Mac started, “I’ve always wanted to have your baby from the moment you first made the suggestion on the steps of ops. I’m also not on birth control right now. Although the pill helps some people with symptoms, my case was too advanced for it to make any difference.” Mac pulled away further and walked over towards the patio doors where she could see the ocean.
“I’m ready. But it might not make any difference.” Mac felt Harm step up behind her. She could tell he wanted to wrap his arms around her as he had done a moment ago. Reaching behind her, she took hold of Harm’s hand and pulled him up next to her.
Turning to look at him. “If you want to use contraception, if you’d like to wait until we’ve been together longer, that’s fine with me. You need to know the longer we wait the fewer my chances of getting pregnant.”
Harm started to speak and Mac raised her finger to his mouth. “Let me finish.”
Seeing his head nod in agreement, Mac dropped her finger taking hold of his other hand.
“You also need to know, if you’d like to work on our deal, I’m ready for that too. All I ask is please don’t get your hopes up- it may not be easy. If you’re really bound and determined to have a biological child with me we may have to have medical intervention and even that may not be enough at my age.”
Harm waited to see if she had more to say. After an awkward moment of silence, he softly spoke.
“I’d like to try.”
Bending over he scooped her up in his arms and carried her over to the bed, his lips hungrily devouring hers, his tongue beginning a duel they were becoming more than good at.
Their clothing scattered across the floor, the sun shining brightly through the glass doors, ignoring the odds of a frustrating disease, they fell into bed and into each other.
The ecstasy of making love heightened by the hopes of making a baby.