1 January 2003
7:03am Local Time
L'hotel Meurice
228 rue de Rivoli
Paris

Mac awoke to the first day of the year at a slow and leisurely pace. Still drifting out from the realms of dreamland, her senses kicked in gradually one by one, building up to a strange and unfamiliar feeling. She felt the smoothness of silken bed sheets that were not her own. The distant chirping of birds steadily grew louder and was the only sounds to be heard. The usual scent of lavender in her bedroom was amiss and she felt light and … serene.

Harm!

The realisation of where she was and what had happened hit Mac all at once and caused her to shoot up in bed, looking around rapidly for confirmation. It hadn’t been another dream! The rush of elation simultaneously assaulted and soothed over her entire being. Her happiness was so great, she was about to burst. Grabbing the extra pillow lying beside her head, Mac hugged it to herself tightly. She felt kind of silly, lying here, revering in this wonderful moment. But the sensation of being loved was almost like a newfound emotion, something that had sadly been missing even in her childhood. And so she tried to absorb it all, each and every tingle that was electrifying her body, making her feel alive and invigorated. Long moments later, first arching her back muscles, she stretched out languorously from her fingertips down to her toes.

Mac found herself humming as she literally leaped off the bed and bounced into the bathroom.

Harm had agreed when she’d suggested they spend the day at the Disneyland Resort where the New Year’s Day parade would take place. Grabbing the toothbrush and tube of toothpaste, she moved back out to the bedroom. Dancing over to the hi-fi, she hit random to play any one of the CDs she’d brought along to listen to days earlier. Heavy drum beats and lush melodies instantly reverberated around the room.

Back in the bathroom the flash of her face in the vanity mirror caught Mac’s attention and she stopped mid brush to inspect herself closely. Her hair resembled something close to an afro wig, her skin was flushed and her eyes seemed too large and shiny. But, she was ecstatic. She grinned a white frothy grin at her reflection, mouth full of foam.

After completing the essential tasks of waking up, Mac was at a loss as to what to do with herself next. It was only 07:21 and she couldn’t wait to see Harm again. Picking up the remote control, she turned up the music volume even louder. She couldn’t help it. She had to let loose the enormous extra amount of energy that was suddenly in her system. Brandishing what was now her imaginary microphone; she jumped up on top of the bed and joined in Bon Jovi’s crooning at the top of her voice. “EVERY TIME I LOOOOOK AT YOU, BABY I SEE SOOOOOMETHING NEWWW”

07:18am Local Time

Harm stepped out off his hotel suite smiling and whistling some jaunty tune that he was improvising on the spot. Walking down the hallway, he nodded cheerfully at an elderly couple passing by. He’d managed to book a room just a few doors away from Mac. Despite only a few hours sleep, he’d woken up early, never before had he ever been this eager to start the day. He’d just ordered breakfast for two to be delivered to Mac’s room. It hadn’t been easy, attempting to place an order for room service over the phone with his extensive French vocab of ten words and even fewer phrases. In the end, he’d actually had to make the trip down to the Restaurant and achieved the feat after a lot of pointing, nodding and ‘oui’s.’

Arriving outside her room, Harm heard muffled music from within. So she was up already too. He shouldn’t have been surprised.  

“Mac?” he knocked, waiting … and still grinning to himself. He waited for about all of fifteen seconds before impatiently knocking again.

“MAC, it’s me. Open up! What’re ya doing in there?” He tried the door handle, naturally it was locked.

Just then a maid pushing a cart with their breakfast arrived. “Bonjour Monsieur Rabb? Voici le petit déjeuner que vous avez commandé. Vous m'aiment le servir dans la chambre?”

Other than recognising his own name, Harm had no idea what the lady had just fired off, but he stepped back and waved at the door with a smile. She produced a key and opened the door to push the cart inside. Harm tipped her and escorted her back out, locking the door after she’d left. A swift glance around the large room showed no sign of Mac.

Following the music that was blasting out from the bedroom, Harm walked towards the source of the noise. Partway across the room -- did that just sound like …?! The bedroom came into view and he stopped short in amazement. A few seconds later, great big laughs coursed through him, but he kept silent and continued to watch the show.

His kickass, straight by the book Marine, Lt. Col of the USMC, was dancing on the bed with her eyes closed, hips swinging and head waving wildly in all directions in time with the music.

“I DON’T WANNA SLEEEEEEEP TONIGHT, DREAMIN’S JUST A WAAAAAASTE OF TIMEEE”

Hearing Mac sing, or rather more accurately, belt out the words at the top of her lungs was too much. Harm chortled and regained his breath to let out a loud catcall, shouting over the music. “A rock chic, I like it!”

Mac’s eyes snapped open and her arms dropped hastily from midair where they had been gesturing grandly. She blushed furiously and stood frozen, while the pounding melodies continued on alone unaccompanied. How could she have possibly gotten caught in a once in a lifetime impromptu behaviour?! Refusing to acknowledge his large smirks, she switched off the music and tossed the remote onto the bed, still feeling the burning heat on her neck upwards.

“A secret passion that I haven’t heard about Mac?” Harm teased in the reigning silence that followed. She avoided any eye contact. Before she could jump off the bed, Harm covered the distance between them with two long strides and reached her to swing her upside down over his shoulder like a ragdoll.

Mac let out a loud and very un-Mac like squeal. “HARM put me down!”

He did. Once outside, he gently deposited her in a heap on the couch and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before moving to the food cart.

“Breakfast is served, Madonna.”

Mac glared at him, but other than an occasional cheeky smile, Harm made no further comments on her musical talents. Although, she knew this was in no way the last she’d hear of her embarrassing display.

After an unhurried breakfast, Harm followed Mac back into the bedroom. In a flash, she had a plan.

“Sailor, have I said good morning yet?” Mac asked, running both hands up his chest and backing him up to the edge of the queen size bed.

“Definitely not like this, you haven’t” Harm muttered, drawing her body in closer within his arms.    

One second he’d been lost in the sweet sensations of her kiss and the next, Harm found himself flat on his back. Stunned and staring up at Mac’s laughing face.

“What was that for?!” he exclaimed in surprise.

“Carrying me like a sack. And THIS is what you’ll get if you ever reveal what you saw earlier!” With that, Mac gave it to him good. She lifted the pillows she’d picked up in both hands at the ready and bombarded him with well aimed swings at his chest and head.

Harm burst out in laughter, trying to dodge her attacks and grabbing blindly for her arms at the same time. Eventually he got a hold of one end of the pillows and a tug of war ensued. It was the Navy and Marines pride at stake and neither side would’ve surrendered until one of them won.

That is, if dozens of feathers hadn’t suddenly burst out everywhere.

“Oh my god, HARM!” Mac gasped as they both fell back abruptly from the material in their hands ripping apart. The two stared at each other in surprise and burst out in another round of laughter.

Mac flopped flat onto her back, still clutching a handful of feathers in her right hand. Feathers. It had only been exactly … fourteen hours and six minutes ago that she’d sat on a bench wishing for the one thing that she’d longed so long for. The lone feather that she’d tried to capture but had flown out of her grasp. Now, she thought ridiculously, she had an abundance of them. A whole heap of goose feathers!

“Mac? What’s wrong?” Harm asked, his concerned face suddenly loomed above her.

Looking at his features fill her entire field of vision, as if he was all that existed in her world, the answer to his question was the easiest that Mac ever had. “Nothing. Nothing’s wrong. For once, everything is absolutely right.” Her reply was watery, the slightest hint of tears.

“I know.” He gazed at her in mutual understanding. Life was good, life was better than good. At this very instant it was perfect.

Harm rolled them both over so that he supported Mac’s body above his own. They drifted off together, each to their corner of their shared contentment.

Suddenly, Mac felt a rumbling tremor from the hard planes of Harm’s body beneath her. It was one of the greatest feelings, to feel his laughter travel through him to her. Propping herself up onto her elbows, careful not to jab too painfully into his chest, she looked down questioningly into his smiling eyes.

“You know, this is the first story I’m gonna tell our kid.”

Mac’s eyebrows shot up at his presumptuous words.

“I – I thought you, we – we’d eventually have a kid.” Harm stumbled over his words in bewilderment at her reaction.

“Kid? Who said I wanted a kid?”

The unexpected intensity of his disappointment shocked even himself, but thankfully it didn’t last long. Mac’s mouth descended upon his ear whispering. “Harm. I don’t want a kid, I want KIDS. At least one beautiful little boy and a girl. And probably even more.”

His relief was immediate and immense. He glared at her at her devious tactic. “That was harsh Mac. For a moment ther-” the rest of his words were cut off by her lips fusing with his.

Mac pulled back seconds later and gazed down at him apologetically. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you’d take me seriously.”

“It’s ok. I should’ve known conquering your heart doesn’t exempt me from MacKenzie’s rule book” Harm joked, partly serious. 

“Of course not!” Mac scoffed. “And you better remember that the next time we face off in court.”

His only reply was to pull her back down for another kiss.

“But you do get some concessions,” she murmured against Harm’s lips. She felt him smile and pressed back with a smile of her own.   

“Harm!” She lost count of the time when his firm mouth trailed a blaze of kisses down the column of her throat. “We’ve got to get going soon. The parade starts at six and we need to get there early to get a good spot. Otherwise it’ll be jammed packed.”

“How about …” his large hand roved down her back suggestively. “If we create some fireworks ourselves? I promise you, you’ll enjoy this show just as much,” he mumbled hopefully against the softness of her skin.

“Mmmm I’m sure I would too ... Sounds tempting …”

“But no can do! We already missed most of the fireworks last night because of your distractions! Mac pushed his head away, laughing.

Harm crawled up to eye level again. “If memory serves me right, you were as much a recipient and participant in the distraction as I was.”

“Maybe” Mac replied noncommittally with another laugh. “But this is an opportunity that we can’t miss. When will we get another chance to be here for New Year’s celebrations?”  

“Hey, we can come back here anytime you want.” Harm reassured her, instantly solemn. “Anytime and anywhere you want to go. As long as you bring me along with you.”

“Really?” Mac asked in awe, eyes round with wonder at all the possibilities that he’ was presenting her with.

“Really” Harm ran a finger tenderly over the fine arc of her eyebrow, down the perfection of her nose and over the fullness of her parted lips.  

To touch, to hold and to kiss her whenever he wanted, they were the simplest and most fulfilling things Harm had yet to experience in life. It had been less than a day in their newfound freedom, but already he was addicted beyond imagining. Tightening his hold on her, he stole another series of kisses from Mac’s waiting mouth. He treasured every single kiss she gave and selfishly claimed them all for his own. They were his newest and would forever remain his favourite aphrodisiac.  

Every time I look at you, baby, I see something new
That takes me higher than before and makes me want you more
I don't wanna sleep tonight, dreamin's just a waste of time
When I look at what my life's been comin' to
I'm all about lovin' you

All about lovin' you