Title: Bedtime Story
Author: Aimee
Email: harmonrabb.sarahmackenzie@gmail.com
Website: http://darkbeauty.org
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Slight ones from Fair Winds and Following Seas.
Disclaimer: Harm, Mac and Mattie do not belong to me. I’m just playing with them for a while. Sarah, Daniel and Sadie are mine, though. ‘The Velveteen Rabbit’ belongs to Margery Williams.
Summary: Bedtime in the Rabb residence.
Author’s Notes: It helps to have read Family to know what’s going on. Thanks to Dev for the beta. You’re very much appreciated.

2100 Zulu
Rabb Residence

Harm wondered where Mac was. She had gone to tuck the kids into bed over an hour ago. Putting down his book, he got up from the couch and wandered in the direction of the bedrooms. Looking in on Daniel, he found his son fast asleep, holding onto his favorite teddy bear. He kissed him before adjusting his blankets and quietly closing the door behind him.

Moving down the hall, he came to Sarah’s room. When he eased the door open the scene there took his breath away. Mac and Sarah were both sitting on the bed. Mac was leaning against the headboard, a pillow supporting her back. Sarah was curled up beside her mother, her head resting on Mac’s lap. Mac was reading ‘The Velveteen Rabbit’ to their little girl. Meanwhile, Mac’s fingers were gently playing with Sarah’s dark hair.

“The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old that his brown coat was bald in patches and showed the seams underneath, and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces.”

“Mommy, can we make bead necklaces tomorrow?” Sarah asked.

Harm had to smile at that. Suggestions were a powerful thing for his daughter.

Mac smiled at Sarah affectionately. “Of course. We’ll go to the store in the morning for the supplies.”

She continued reading while Harm enjoyed their interaction. He soon noticed that he wasn’t listening to the story and tuned his wife back in.

“One evening, when the Boy was going to bed he couldn’t find the china dog that always slept with him. Nana was in a hurry, and it was too much trouble to hunt for china dogs at bedtime, so she simply looked about her, and seeing that the toy cupboard door stood open, she made a swoop.

‘Here,’ she said, ‘take your old Bunny! He’ll do to sleep with you!’ And she dragged the Rabbit out by one ear, and put him into the Boy’s arms.

That night, and for many nights after, the Velveteen Rabbit slept in the Boy’s bed. At first he found it rather uncomfortable, for the Boy hugged him very tight, and sometimes he rolled over on him, and sometimes he pushed him so far under the pillow that the Rabbit could scarcely breathe. And he missed, too, those long moonlight hours in the nursery, when all the house was silent, and his talks with the Skin Horse. But very soon he grew to like it, for the Boy used to talk to him, and made nice tunnels for him under the bedclothes that he said were like the burrows the real rabbits lived in. And they had splendid games together, in whispers, when Nana had gone away to her supper and left the nightlight burning on the mantelpiece. And when the Boy dropped off to sleep, the Rabbit would snuggle down close under his little warm chin and dream, with the Boy’s hands clasped close round him all night long,” Mac read as Sarah pulled her own bunny closer.

Harm thought he heard a noise further down the hall so he reluctantly went to see what it was. He looked in on Mattie, who was in bed with the flu, but she was fast asleep. Thanking God for their oldest child, he moved down the hall. Opening the last door, he looked in on their youngest child. Just three months old, Sadie was wide awake. Going over to her, he picked her up. “What’s the matter, sweetie?” She only cried.

Walking with her out to the kitchen to heat up her bottle, he marveled at the miracle of how his life had changed in the last few years. He remembered General Cresswell giving both he and Mac their reassignment commissions, he in London and Mac in San Diego. That had spurred him to finally tell Mac how much he loved her. He had asked the question he wanted to ask her since he had bought the diamond engagement ring six months prior. When she said yes, he thought his heart would burst from love. Just a week later, his reassignment back to JAG headquarters was approved. The night before Mac was to leave for San Diego, word came from General Cresswell that he had pulled some strings and Mac was reassigned back there as well. Six months later, they became husband and wife. Nine months after that, Mac gave birth to Daniel and Sarah. And six months ago, Sadie was born.

Testing the bottle and determining it to be the right temperature, he carried both it and his squalling daugher back to her room. There, he sat down with her in the rocking chair and fed her. Smiling down at her, he wondered how he ever got so lucky. Four wonderful children and a beautiful wife. He couldn’t imagine life getting any better.

Her stomach full, Sadie had fallen back to sleep, her tiny finger wrapped around her daddy’s much larger one. He kissed her and laid her back down, making sure her blanket was covering him before closing the door behind him.

Moving back down the hall, he wondered if Mac and Sarah had finished their story yet. Claiming the watching space he had vacated, he listened.

“Autumn passed and Winter, and in the Spring, when the days grew warm and sunny, the Boy went out to play in the wood behind the house. And while he was playing, two rabbits crpt out from the bracken and peeped at him. One of them was brown all over, but the other had strange markings under his fur, as though long ago he had been spotted, and the spots still showed through. And about his little soft nose and his round black eyes there was something familiar, so that the Boy thought to himself:

‘Why, he looks just like my old Bunny that was lost when I had scarlet fever!’

But he never knew that it really was his own Bunny, come back to look at the child who had first helped him to be Real.”

Closing the book, she looked down at Sarah, who had fallen asleep and smiled. She looked up, as if sensing a presence. Smiling, Harm came forward, gently lifting Sarah from her mother’s lap. Mac stood up from the bed and adjusted the pillow. Harm lay their sleeping child down and tucked in both Sarah and her bunny. He and Mac kissed their daughter and closed the door.

Walking hand in hand to the other end of the house, they stepped into the private sanctuary that was their bedroom. Once there, she turned to face him. “How long were you standing there?” she asked.

He smiled. “I was there about 5 minutes at first, but then I heard Sadie so I went to feed her. When I came back, I was there for another 10, I think.”

She looked at him affectionately. “I love you, Harm. I can’t imagine life without you.”

“I love you, too, Mac,” he told her, kissing her.

Pulling apart, they climbed into bed before Harm turned off the light. Lying down, he pulled her into his arms, her ear to his heart. Wrapping his arms around her, he kissed her again before they slipped off into dreamland, once again feeling blessed.