Chapter Text
13 NOV 2005
0200 Zulu
Rabb Residence, BOQ
London, England
Harm had a hard time sleeping that night as his dreams gave foreboding images that he just couldn't shake as he awoke around 0145 according to the alarm clock perched on his nightstand. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out what the dream meant. It wasn't like him to remember what he dreamt, but there was something about this one that made him sweat.He got up as slowly and as quietly as he could so as to not disturb his own version of "Sleeping Beauty" and made his way to the kitchen to sit down in the small breakfast nook. What did it all mean? Had his Marine unwittingly transferred some of her abilities to him? Could he, now, sense when someone he cared for, loved, was in trouble... hurt... dying? He shook his head. 'Impossible' he thought. However, He just couldn't shake this feeling of impending...suffering?
Harm looked at the wall clock above the telephone and calendar... 2:03 am London time. Doing a quick calculation, he figured it was just after 6 p.m. in La Jolla. He looked at the cordless phone and made a decision.
"Hello?"
"Hello Frank. How's everything at the ranch," Harm answered with a slight edge to his voice.
"Harm? Are you alright son? Are Sarah and Mattie ok? What time is it there," Frank asked in rapid fire.
"Sarah and Mats are fine. They're sleeping soundly. It's just after two in the morning here. Uh, is mom back from the gallery yet." He figured she would be. Trish was usually home around this time.
"Yeah, she just walked in… Trish, Harm's on the phone."
"Darling, are you alright? What's wrong?"
Harm felt a bit sheepish at what he was about to say, "Everything's fine; Sarah and Mattie are well. It's just that…I had a bad dream…"
"Harmon Rabb, you're a bit old to be coming to your mother in the middle of the night crying about nightmares," she remarked with a hint of sarcasm in her voice and a grin on her face.
"Maybe I deserved that, but take it easy on me. It's 2:15 AM here. Yeah, uh, this is different, Mom. I told you about when Mac was the one who directed the SAR crew the night Skates and I went down in that storm, right?"
Trish shuddered at the memory, but maintained poise and controlled her voice as she answered, "Yes, dear. You did."Harm took an audibly deep breath and said, "Well, I'm beginning to think she's rubbing off on me. The dream I had was so real and so terrifying that I had to…" His voice trailed off at the end.
"What is it sweetheart?" Harm could hear the tremble of concern in her voice.
Harm wasn't quite ready to go into any specifics of the dream. Especially since he wasn't able to see who was in the dream. He hesitated, but started, "Well, I can't be certain, but I was so sure that I could see someone being hurt or in trouble in some way.
"When I woke up, I looked around and saw Sarah sleeping comfortably. Then I got up and went to check on Mats; she was the same. The only other people I would be that concerned over, other than our friends to a lesser extent, would be you and Frank. So, to ease my mind, I called."
"Darling, we're fine; a little older and worse for the ware, but fine. Are you sure you can't tell me anymore?" Trish was now ready to hop a flight across the pond to continue this conversation in person.
Harm could almost hear her thoughts. "No need to come running all the way over here… Harm... I'm alright, Mom. I've got to go. Sarah's up. I'll give you a ring later. Love you."
At that, he pushed the end call button and placed the phone back on the receiver. He was about to get up when Mac waived him off and sat next to him.
"Everything alright, Harm? I got up and you weren't there. Was that your mom on the phone? Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, Mom and Frank are fine. I just…" his breath caught for a second and he was about to continue but Mac held up her hand.
"Are YOU ok? Talk to me Flyboy," she said as she laid her hand softly on his left cheek.
"A year ago, I would have said 'I'm fine,' and let this go. As it isn't a year ago, I won't hide from you anymore."
Harm took another deep breath before he continued. "I just had a bit of a nightmare. Someone I care very much for was being hurt, or in trouble, or was…dying. I couldn't see any faces, just feel an overwhelming sense of doom… pain… desperation. I don't know. I think you may have rubbed off on me."
Mac could only shake her head slightly before answering, "Well, it's about time I started rubbing off on you. Nine years, 3 months, 12 days, and 2 hours I've known you and visions is the only thing you pick up from me," with a grin creeping at the corners of her mouth.
"Come on Sarah, I'm trying to be serious."
"Alright, alright. Can you give me any specifics; anything to give me a frame of reference. Sounds, voices, surroundings, anything that would trigger some sort of recognition can help you get a clearer visual. That's what I had to do when I was looking for Commander Aiken while you were TAD to the Patrick Henry. If you want, we can go back upstairs lay down and you can try to recall what you saw in the dream?"
Harm gave this a thought for what he considered to be about a minute and responded, "Once again, Ninja Girl, you're the one to come up with a dispassionate plan. That's one of the many reasons I fell in love with you."
"Well, you can show me how much you love me, AFTER we deal with this dream," Mac volleyed back in anticipation.
13 NOV 2005
1045 Zulu
Rabb Residence, BOQ housing
London, England
After she tried to dig deeper into Harm's dream, Mac only ran into roadblocks at every turn. She'd ask him about the surroundings, if he was inside or outside, what sounds there were. To each answer, he could only say "I don't know." She was starting to get frustrated. Harm noticed this and suggested they stop for the night and move on to him showing her how much he loved her; to which she gladly acquiesced.
Now the day was almost half over when the pair finally roused from their slumber. Harm was first. As he slowly blinked and then rubbed to get the sleep out of his eyes, he rolled to his left and gently moved his right arm into position to pull her closer. She murmured slightly before muttering, "No muh… more. Twice was enough… go away."
Harm grinned at the memory but wouldn't let her get away with sleeping any further this morning. He gave her a quick squeeze and kissed the spot on the back of her neck where it meets her back, which set her body into a shiver. This was enough to get her to move, however begrudgingly, out of bed and towards the shower as Harm pulled on his boxers, jogging pants and undershirt.
Once Harm made it downstairs, he saw that Mattie was up and dressed. She looked up at him and said, "Hey, you're just now getting down here? You're usually the one getting the rooster up. What gives?"
"Oh, I was having a rough night. Dreams kept waking me up."
Mattie looks up at him with a stunned expression on her face. "Aren't you a little OLD to be having nightmares," she said with a gleam in her eyes and raised eyebrow.
Harm grabbed his chest in mock hurt and exclaimed, "Old, huh? I'll show you old, Squirt." Then, he began to pummel the sides of Mattie's ribs with one hand before grabbing one of her feet and began attacking that.
Mattie couldn't stop her squelches from flowing out her mouth as the sortie continued. "STOP DAD, STOP IT!" she screamed as Harm continued. "O… k… I… g… gi… give," she finally got out as Harm stopped and stepped back.
"So, am I still old, Squirt?"
Not wanting a repeat of recent events, Mattie thought 'There but for the grace of God go I' and sighed before answering, "I refuse to answer that on the grounds it may incriminate me," with a grin as wide as the Grand Canyon.
Harm let out a loud, deep laugh as he remarked, "Well spoken, Counselor. That doesn't get you off the hook…." He paused for a second rerunning the events of the last 5 minutes pass through his memory and asked, "Did you just call me 'Dad'?"
Mattie bit the inside of her lip. She had hoped he that hadn't registered with him, but to no avail. "Oh… um… Yeah, I guess I did. I've been thinking about this ever since you were the first person I saw when I came out of my coma, other than doctors and nurses. I've known I could trust you since you started working for me at Grace. You've done more for me than my own father…." Her voice started to fade as she spoke that last sentence. "I… I'm s… sorry. I need to be alone," she murmured as she got up to run to her bedroom.
Before Mattie could get past him, he grabbed around her with his strong, protecting arms and she huddled into his embrace, sobbing in heaves. He rubbed her back with one arm and with the other he held her head to his chest as she cried.
Mac was sitting on the top stair watching and listening to everything that had happened between the other two members of her small family. A smile hinted at the corners of her mouth as she looked in love and admiration at the man who would be father to their children… if… She shook her head and continued to look at them.
"Hey, sweetheart," Harm started, "Look, I'm not letting you go until you look at me and tell me what's going on here."
"Da….Harm, I told you that I've been thinking about calling you 'Dad' since I woke from the coma. You lied and told me that my father was home getting things ready for me to come home. He abandoned me and left me for dead. As far as I'm concerned, for now, Tom Johnson is dead to me.
"Since my mother died in that accident, I had an up/down, on and off again relationship with him. During that time, YOU were the only constant in my life. That meant more than me than anything anybody else could have done for me. You opened your home AND your heart to me and made sure I had everything I needed. You were a dad in every sense of the word, except there was no blood relation. For a year and a half I called you my foster dad. The last time we faced Judge Smith, remember, I sat up in my wheelchair and flat out told the judge that if she allowed you to adopt me that I wanted to have my name legally changed to Matilda Grace Rabb. From then on I've wanted to call you dad, but didn't feel comfortable until you destroyed my sides when you tickled me." Mattie was now fighting desperately not to let Harm see the tears he knew were forthcoming.
Harm was battling his own emotions as he listened to his daughter; trying to keep her from seeing his own tears, which had started coming in waves as he felt so much pride and love in and for the young woman with the fiery reddish curls. He had just felt his knees almost give way and moved then both to the couch.
"Well, Squirt, now that you've let the cat out of the bag, why don't you tell me how you feel about calling me 'Dad'?"
Mattie pulled her tear soaked hair away from her face and said emphatically, "I won't ever be calling you 'Harm' again….Dad," with extra emphasis on the last word.Mac could no longer keep herself quiet and started crying loud enough for the others to hear. Her Marine training had finally been broken by what she witnessed. Once she had, once again, held her composure, she made her way down the stairs and towards the couch where Harm and Mattie stood to bring the newest member of their family into a group hug. This lasted for about three or four minutes until Mattie picked her head up off of Harm's shoulder and said, "Hey, hungry teenager here." At that, the adults chuckled and with one last tug of six arms in a loving embraced, hugged once more and the trio began to pull apart to make a start to the rest of their day, which passed by without much fanfare.
With the events of the last 24 hours behind him, Harm couldn't help but think that the worst of this emotional rollercoaster was over and he could go about the next few weeks before the wedding to focus on work and finalizing his plans for his and Mac's honeymoon.
….Harm would soon find out that this was not to be.