| Subject: Re: Family Christmas C3/8 plus |
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fananicfan
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Date Posted: 16:08:28 06/13/07 Wed
In reply to:
fananicfan
's message, "Family Christmas - story after How We Became Us in the series" on 09:10:59 06/11/07 Mon
CHAPTER THREE – The First Seven Days
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Mattie had boarded a plane on Thursday night and, between the flight time, a delay in New York and time changes, she'd arrived late yesterday afternoon. Harm wasn't sure how the eight hour time change would effect Mattie, but he'd missed her and wanted to spend time as much time with her as possible. He knew that it was selfish, but Mattie could rest while he was at work during the coming week, so after his morning run and a quick shower, he knocked on Mattie's bedroom door. Once he'd made sure that Mattie was stirring, he went to the kitchen to start their breakfast.
Mattie said that she was tired and seemed to be sluggish, so Saturday turned out to be a day in of sorts. When they went out to the market for groceries, Harm's little car got a laugh from Mattie. After they'd returned to the apartment, they watched movies and talked about things that Mattie might have seen in the book that he'd given her or online that she'd like to see while she was here. Mattie asked Harm if he'd planned anything. His response was that he'd planned a couple of things for later in her visit, but nothing right away. He didn't know if the time change would be hard on her or not, so he had things that needed to be done, but they didn't need to be done on a schedule. He'd saved decorating the apartment for Christmas so that they could do it together, and they needed to go shopping so that Mattie could pick out a gift for Mac for Christmas. However, he explained that he hadn't planned any sightseeing because he first wanted to know if there was some place special that she wanted to see, because he preferred to take her to see a place that interested her instead of the standard tourist excursion. If she didn't have a preference of what she saw, he'd schedule a tourist's view of London for next weekend.
Mattie wanted to turn in not long after dinner, saying that she was tired, but she seemed more distracted than tired to Harm. Harm gave Mattie a tour of the apartment and showed her were things were located, like where the bath towels were stored, and then Mattie spent the rest of the evening in her room.
Harm had emailed Mac one line last night before he'd gone to bed: 'Mattie has arrived safely.' Tonight was Saturday and the usual day that he called Mac and Mattie, so before he went to bed, he called Mac. The call seemed short. Maybe it just seemed short because he usually talked to two people instead of just one. As he lay in bed, he thought about the call. They hadn't really talked about anything.
Sunday, December 11, 2005
With two exceptions, today was almost an exact duplicate of yesterday. The two exceptions were that Harm was able to get Mattie to go out for lunch and that Trish called to make sure that it was okay for them to pick up Mattie tomorrow to go to an art gallery or two. It was decided that Harm's office was closer to their hotel and a gallery that Trish was interested in seeing, so Mattie would go with Harm to the office in the morning. Trish and Frank would pick up Mattie from his office and spend the day with her, and then Harm would meet the three of them for dinner at the hotel where Trish and Frank were staying.
Monday, December 12, 2005
Harm went to knock on Mattie's door to make sure that she was up so that she could get ready while he was out for his morning run. Much to his surprise, Mattie's door was open and she was already up. During his run, he thought about how she'd been acting. He hoped that her being up this morning meant that she was feeling better and that they'd get out some this week.
Before Trish and Frank arrived, Harm got the chance to introduce Mattie to several people at his office, among them, Petty Officer Banks, his yeoman, and Commander Manetti, his XO.
Monday mornings were usually busy for Harm. There were always phone messages and emails that he needed to read and respond to as well as cases that had come in over the weekend that needed to be reviewed before staff call. Mattie had made an amazing difference in his outlook towards the normally boring but necessary tasks this morning. In fact, his whole day seemed good, the first good day at work that he'd had in awhile. Harm attributed this feeling to the smile and hug that Mattie had given him before she'd left with Trish and Frank. Mattie was here and, though it would be better if his wife were here, too, it was still nice having part of his family around.
Harm left the office about half an hour early so that he could change to go to dinner. He met his parents and Mattie at the hotel restaurant as planned. Mattie looked tired, but happy, unlike the distracted look that she'd had on Saturday. Mattie was very animated in discussing her visit to The National Gallery in particular. In fact, Mattie monopolized the dinner conversation with talk of her outing with Trish and Frank. Mattie also mentioned during dinner that, based on things that Trish and Frank had suggested and things that she’d remembered from the book that Harm had given her on his visit to her in the hospital, she'd made a list of places that she'd like to visit while she was in London. She said that maybe tomorrow they could decorate the apartment for Christmas and discuss her list. Harm was thrilled that the 'old' Mattie seemed to be back.
By the time they returned to the apartment after saying their goodbyes to Trish and Frank, Mattie and Harm were tired. It was interesting that, since Mattie seemed to be feeling better, he was more relaxed and ready to get a good night's sleep himself.
Mattie was able to go to sleep easier tonight, tired from the activities of the day and feeling more secure. If Mac had told Harm about her behavior, he'd have said something over the course of the weekend, so Mac must not have tattled on her.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Harm woke Mattie for breakfast before he left for work for the day. Over breakfast, they discussed what Mattie would do while he was at work. She’d bought some postcards yesterday, and said she thought she’d write short notes on the back and get them ready to mail, review her list of places to see, and take a nap. Those were her top three choices. After saying that he’d call around lunchtime to check on her, he also told her that he should be able to get away from the office a little early and he’d see her then.
Harm hadn’t been able to leave early, so when he got home, he started dinner. After dinner, they started decorating for the holiday. While they removed items from the two small boxes that Harm had of Christmas decorations, they discussed her list of things that she wanted to see while she was in London. One of her requests was to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. Harm said that it was a morning event, so when he went into the office tomorrow, he’d check to see if he had a morning when he didn’t have an appointment that would interfere with him coming in late. Other items on her list included: several museums, including the British Museum and The Museum of London, The Tower of London, any one or all of the street markets that Trish had told her about, and she wanted to see the church where Princess Diana had been married to Prince Charles, Westminster Abbey or St. Paul’s Cathedral, she wasn't sure, and she wanted to walk on Baker Street, made famous in her mind in the pages of Sherlock Holmes books that she’d read.
While talking and untangling light strings, Mattie seemed rested and happy, making Harm feel that his sense that something had been wrong a few days ago must really have been Mattie’s fatigue, and that he should relax and enjoy her visit.
A short time later while decorating the tree, Harm’s concern that something wasn’t right returned. Harm knew that it was time to start asking questions, but Mattie was never one to be pushed, so he used his skills as an experienced investigator to try to get her to open up to him. He’d only ask a few questions at a time, and not back to back in order to avoid her becoming aware of what he was trying to do. He hoped that she'd either reveal the problem or put his mind at ease. He’d start with generic questions that she should be expecting.
“How do you like San Diego?”
“I liked the weather at first. You know, wearing shorts in September was cool. However, Christmas without snow is one thing, but it isn’t even cold there in December!”
They then compared the weather of the Virginia/DC area, San Diego and London before Mattie asked a question.
“I thought you were going to come to San Diego. How much longer are you going to be in London?”
Unfortunately, there was no answer to her question. Harm answered the only way he could. “I need to talk to Mac about that. I don’t know how long we want to wait for the Navy to find a billet for me in the San Diego area. We may be better off if I go ahead and put in my paperwork to retire. I was hoping that Mac would be joining us for Christmas and that I could talk to her about it face to face. She said that she'd requested ten days, but the last time I asked her about it, she was kind of irritated and said that she hadn’t heard anything about it yet and that she’d let me know. I’m still waiting.”
“I think Mac works too hard.” Mattie paused. “I guess you don’t get a say in how many hours a day you work in the Navy.”
“No, you don’t."
"She’s just really tired all the time, so I was wondering.”
Time for his next question. “How are you feeling?”
“Good. Of course, I have days when I get tired, but it takes a little bit more to wear me out each time.”
“So you haven’t had any problems getting around at school then?”
“I can walk just fine, but if I had my license, I could get around better.”
“Since you brought it up, how is school going, so you can get that license?"
They were putting the finishing touches on the tree while Mattie answered. "I've been trying really hard and I hope that my report card shows it."
After finishing with the tree, Mattie and Harm indulged in some chocolate ice cream before Harm said that he thought he'd call it a night. After Mattie had mentioned how much Mac worked, he hadn't wanted to tell her that had some case files to review for tomorrow's staff meeting.
From the 'talk' they'd had while decorating the tree, Mattie was sure that Harm didn't know about Mac seeing a doctor.
Harm read the files that he needed to and went to bed, reviewing what insights he’d gathered on what was bothering Mattie. She was worried about Mac, school, and something else that she hadn't yet been able to share with him. Whatever it was, Harm was pretty sure that it was gnawing at Mattie and that it would come out in time. Nevertheless he had two pieces of the puzzle.
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Harm followed his normal morning routine with the addition of getting Mattie up to have breakfast with him before he left for work. Today, he was almost to the door when Mattie asked if he could mail the postcards that she'd written yesterday. After Mattie had retrieved the postcards from her bedroom, Harm was on his way.
After the staff meeting in the morning, Harm called in his yeoman and they went to work to rearrange Harm's schedule where they could. It took a little time to be sure that all the changes had been made, but they made it happen. Harm called Mattie to tell her that he was on his way home just after 1200. Harm arrived at the apartment and changed out of his uniform before they left. They might be able to accomplish two things at once: checking off shopping at a street market from Mattie's list and Mattie picking out a Christmas gift for Mac. Tired, they returned to the apartment after a late dinner out, but with several things checked off Mattie's list of things to see in London.
While shopping, Harm had noticed that Mattie had become very quiet whenever he'd mentioned Mac's name or buying her a present. During dinner, Harm had managed to ask a few more questions, but he wasn't sure what her answers had revealed.
Thursday, December 15, 2005
After they'd returned home last night, Harm had told Mattie about the plans for the next few days. He hadn't been able to free up time in the early morning or late afternoon today, but he'd cleared time at midday so that he could take an extended lunch. True to his word, Harm showed up and had lunch with her at the apartment.
Harm came home at 1700 and fixed them dinner. They watched a movie and had some popcorn before calling it a night. Tomorrow, they were going to check something else off her list.
Friday, December 16, 2005
Today the usual routine of getting up was followed, but instead of Harm leaving for work, they left together to go out for breakfast and a little sightseeing before watching the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. The changing of the guard ceremony held Mattie's attention, yet the moment it was over, she became petulant again. She'd started floating in and out of this 'mood' since yesterday afternoon - sometime around the time when he'd first mentioned Mac's name. Mentioning Mac's name while decorating the tree the other night had changed Mattie's mood, too. Something was definitely troubling her, but he couldn't imagine what. Mac had told him about Mattie not wanting to start school, but she was going. He knew about Mattie wanting her license, but none of what he knew seemed to be a reason for Mattie to appear to be so indifferent towards Mac.
Mattie knew that she wasn't hiding her feelings very well when they returned to the apartment. Harm changed into his uniform and grabbed his laptop. He told Mattie that she could catch up on her email or play computer games at his office while he was working. She knew that Harm must be worried about her, but she also knew that he didn't know why she was acting the way she was. She didn't want to take the time to figure out the time change differential, but today was the 16th and, at some point today in San Diego, Mac was going to be seeing a doctor...a doctor whom Harm seemed to know nothing about from the talks that they'd had over the last several days.
After an hour of spending time watching Mattie's back as she surfed the net and emailed her friends using his laptop computer at a table in his office, Harm had the perfect excuse for sending Mattie to the conference room. He had a scheduled meeting with Commander Manetti about the Bach case. Harm showed Mattie the way to the conference room and returned to his office. He had a couple of minutes, and it was time to interview some witnesses in the case of Mattie v. Mac. Harm called his mother and Frank.
Trish and Frank said that they'd stayed out of 'parental matters' while Mac and Mattie had been living with them, and once they'd moved out, they hadn't been in a position to observe anything. Trish was going to leave it at that, and then decided that she couldn't. Although, she didn't really have any facts to back up her intuition, Trish left her son with this information. "You have to understand, Harm, that I don't *know* anything. What I'm about to say is just what I believe to be true, with no facts to support my view, so take it as a theory. I don't think that Mattie and Mac are as strong as they'd like you to believe. I think they miss you, and the move has been hard on both of them. Mac's trying to do everything perfectly, both at work and at home, and there is no such thing as perfect and it is leaving her stressed and tired. And I think Mattie's a teenager who's unsure of whom she can trust, based on her previous experience."
Commander Manetti's knock kept Harm from asking his mother more questions for clarification.
Harm finished his work, and he and Mattie dined out before heading to the apartment after a full day.
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