"All I Really Want..."
Author:
Rorie
Email address: rorie.brianne(at)nospamcomcast.net
© December, 2005.
Spoilers:
Hail and Farewell 1 & 2, Fair Winds and
Following
Seas,
any Mattie episodes
Rating: G
Classification: S, R (Harm/Mac)
Summary:
You'll just have to read it.
Date began & finished:
December
23, 2005
Disclaimer:
The characters that you'd recognize and the concept of JAG are not mine.
They belong to Don Belisario, Belisarius Productions, CBS,
Paramount,
and their portrayers. I'm not making
any money off of this story, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Please don't sue... I'll return them when I'm done... probably in better
condition than I found them in (my momma taught me well).
Don't complain to me if they get lost in the mail... blame the United
States Postal Service.
Author's notes are at the end, please read them.
Merry Christmas!!
After the fateful coin toss at McMurphy's, Harm resigned
his commission and followed Mac to San Diego. At first he was disappointed.
He really thought that fate would send them to England. However, after some time, it
turned out to be the best thing for all of them.
Tom Johnson relinquished custody of Mattie to Harm on the condition that he be
allowed to visit her. The judge
agreed. It was a lot easier to
arrange visitation to San Diego
than to London.
Trish Burnett had taken to being the grandmother of a teenager quite quickly.
She loved to spoil her granddaughter and she loved having her son so
close for the first time since he had left for the Academy all of those years
before. Frank, too, took his role as
grandfather very seriously. He found
the best rehab specialists to treat Mattie, and the best fertility specialists
to try and help Mac.
As it turned out, a family friend, who was also senior partner in a family law
firm, decided that it was time to retire leaving an opening for a new junior
partner. As a large portion of the
firm's clients were Navy or Marines from the nearby bases, Harm's expertise
proved invaluable and he was hired at the first interview.
Mac seemed happier than she been in a long time.
She loved being Harm's wife and Mattie's mom, and she really enjoyed her
new command. She thrived on the new
challenges it presented and her personnel truly respected her.
It didn't hurt any that she'd brought Petty Officer Jen Coates and Cmdr.
Alan Mattoni with her from DC, either. Their
familiar faces everyday helped ease the transition to the new place.
There was just one fly in the proverbial ointment—despite seeing all of
the specialists and despite trying all of their recommended treatments—she
still couldn't get pregnant.
0415
ZULU (2015 PST)
RABB HOME
SAN DIEGO,
CALIFORNIA
Harm sat at his desk and stared at the letter in his hands.
As part of his current job, he volunteered to be guardian ad litem for
some of the children in area foster care. He
was their voice in the very tumultuous proceedings surrounding their futures.
He didn't make it a habit to read his clients' letters to Santa but this
one caught his eyes. He remembered
the boy from the foster care holiday party.
The child had seemed sad despite the festive surroundings and had kept
himself separate from the rest of the kids.
Harm knew that this boy was free for adoption but because of his age he
lived in a group home and was an unlikely candidate for a family to choose.
A burst of laughter from the other room caught his attention.
Usually he would have been out there with them, but this year Mac and
Mattie had banished him while they decorated the living room.
Mattie. He smiled.
It was good to have her home. It
had been very hard a few months earlier to let her go away for her freshman year
in college. Sure, she was only at
Stanford and he could very easily drive the several hours and go see her
whenever he wanted to. That wasn't
the point, she was his little girl and he missed her.
Turning back to the letter, he reread it…
"Dear Santa,
I'm
one of the kids they brought in from the home
I was the red-haired boy in an old, green flannel shirt
You may not have seen me, I was standing off alone
I didn't come and talk to you 'cause that's never worked before
And you'll probably never see this letter, anyway
But just in case there's something you can do to help me out
I'll ask you one more time
All I really want for Christmas is someone to tuck me in
A shoulder to cry on when I lose, shoulders to ride on if I win
There's so much I could ask for, but there's just one thing I need
All I really want for Christmas is a family
Well, I guess I should go ahead and tell you now
If it's really true about that list you have
Somehow
I always seem to end up in a fight
But I'm really trying hard not to be bad
But maybe if I had a brother or a dad to wrestle with
Maybe they could teach me how to get along
And from everything I've heard it sounds like the greatest gift on earth
Would be a mom
All I really want for
Christmas is someone who'll be here
To sing me happy birthday for the next 100 years
And
it's okay if they're not perfect or even if they're a little broken
That's all right, 'cause so am I
Well, I guess I should go, it's almost time for bed
And maybe next time I write you I'll be home
'Cause all I really want for Christmas is someone to tuck me in
Tell me I'll never be alone, someone who's love will never end
Of all that I could ask for, well, there's just one thing I need
All I really want for Christmas is a family*
Love, Sinserley,
Love,
Bryan"
Harm laid the letter back on the desk and wiped a tear
from the corner of his eye. He'd
been thinking about adoption for a long time, all the way back to the Admiral's
retirement dining-out when Mac first told him about her endometriosis.
He knew then, even earlier, that it didn't matter how his children came
about as long as Mac was their mother. However,
lately, whenever he brought up the subject of adoption, she'd just clam up and
retreat to her study. After the last
round of IVF, they'd decided to let nature take its course… or not.
She'd had enough of being poked and prodded, injected with hormones, and
generally feeling like a science experiment.
She said that if all they ever had was Mattie that was enough for her,
but he saw the way she looked at new babies and even at the baby section in the
store.
He decided that he'd let Mac read the letter, just as an ice breaker for the
topic. Maybe she'd let him get their
names on the list.
A knock on the office door pulled him out of his reverie.
Mattie stuck her head in. "Okay,
Dad, it's safe to come out now."
Harm smiled, "I'll be right out, Mats.
Just let put some of these files away."
Mattie left and Harm stuffed papers into his briefcase,
all except
Bryan
's Santa letter which he put into his shirt pocket.
With that, he strode out into the winter wonderland, also known as his
living room. "Wow, ladies, it
looks amazing!"
0600
ZULU (2200 PST)
Mattie said goodnight and went up to her room to watch
television and IM a few friends. Harm
and Mac sat on the sofa soaking up the warmth of the fire and the ambiance of
the lights on the Christmas tree and the carols playing on the radio.
"Okay, Sailor, spill it." Mac finally said, breaking the silence.
"You've obviously had something on your mind since Mattie grabbed
you from your office."
"Am I that transparent?" Harm laughed half-heartedly.
"Not to everyone." She
paused, "Now, what's up?"
Harm took a deep breath and pulled the letter out of his
pocket. "Read this first."
Mac frowned as she took the paper from him.
He sounded serious. Unfolding
the missive she was surprised to see a child's handwriting in place of the bad
news she feared. "Dear Santa," she began to read
silently.
At the end, she looked up, tears glistening in her eyes
along with a question.
"You know how I'm GAL for some of the foster kids,
well,
Bryan's one of them. He's eight-years-old
and he's been in the system since he was 6-weeks-old."
Harm began telling Mac Bryan's story.
A long discussion followed ending with Mac agreeing to let him look into
adoption again. After all, it had
turned out perfectly with Mattie.
ONE
YEAR LATER
RABB HOME
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
"Bryan
, come on! We're going to be
late!" Mattie called up the stairs to her younger brother.
"Just a minute, Mats, I've gotta finish this."
Picking up his pen again,
Bryan
signed his name to the letter he was working on.
"Dear Santa,
I don't know how you did it, but you did!!
You gave me my Christmas wish!! I
got the bestest family ever!!
I have the coolest dad around. He's
a lawyer. And a pilot.
He used to fly F-14's and other jets like those here at Miramar.
My
mom's a lawyer, too, but she's also a Marine.
She's sooo nice. I love her
so much. She always tucks me in at
night and sings me silly songs. She
lets me help her in the kitchen, too. Dad
teases her and says I'm a better cook than she ever was.
I also have a big sister, Mattie. She's
in college but comes home for vacations. She
knows how to fly like dad, and, know what? She's
adopted, too. She says being adopted
is the best, 'cause Dad and Mom picked us.
My Gramma and Grampa are great, too.
They live close to the beach so I can go swimming all summer if I want
to. Gramma says that I remind her of
Dad when he was my age. Then she
says God help your mother. Gramma
and Grampa don't care that Mats and me are adopted, they love us just the way we
are.
I gotta go now, Mats is yelling for me.
You see, today we're getting a new baby sister.
She's adopted, too, from China
. Dad and Mom's plane will get here
soon and we'll all be a family.
Love,
Bryan
.
P.S. Santa, you don't have to bring me anything 'cause I got all I
need."
Carefully folding the paper, he slipped it in the envelope
and licked it shut.
Running down the stairs, he grabbed his jacket and bounced
out the front door. "C'mon,
Mattie, their plane will be here soon!"
~Finis~
Author's notes:
There are more than 50 million orphans in the world.
At least ½ million of them are right here in the US. Many other children are
languishing in the foster system, some will be returned to their birth families,
while others will be released for adoption.
The older the child is when released for adoption, the harder it is for
him/her to find a new family. Most
adopters are looking for a baby. I
pray that you hold your family close this Christmas and pray for the ones who
have no family. To echo "Bryan's" letter: "All [they] really want for Christmas is a family."
To learn about adoption, please go to http://www.ShaohannahsHope.org
or call your local department of children and family services.
Credits: The text of Bryan's letter that Harm gives to Mac is the
lyrics to "All I really want for Christmas,"
by Steven Curtis Chapman, from his album of the same name.
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