Unity

A/N: So... here we are. This a series of one shots/ficlets for the Rabb family I crafted in Together and Tell Me The Story. Each chapter will most likely be short and unrelated to the previous installment. I'll update this story whenever inspiration strikes, but I'm not sure if the story will take place in chronological order or not.

Just pay attention to the date at the start of each chapter so you will know where it falls in the timeline, and we should be good.

Disclaimer: As always, I only own the typos.

Rating: K

Rabb Residence
March 2011

It was a beautiful day.

The sun was shining. Laughter filled the air. Life was good.

Caroline was running around in the backyard – her laughter was contagious as she repeatedly asked her parents to blow bubbles for her. She would giggle, then clap her hands before running through the bubbles. "Watch, Audrey! You can play, too!"

Caroline skipped over to where her mother was sitting on the deck with Audrey in her arms.

Audrey smiled, but before she could even reach for a bubble, thunder roared, lightning flashed, and it began to rain.

Audrey disappeared.

She was gone.

Alas – it was all a dream.

Harmon Rabb jolted awake and scrubbed his hand over his face. He blinked a few times as his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he focused on the clock on his nightstand.

It was 0537 according to the red numbers staring back it him.

He glanced at his wife who appeared to be sleeping soundly on her side, facing away from him. He leaned over and placed a soft kiss on her temple before he carefully slipped out of bed and ventured downstairs.

It didn't take long for Mac to find him standing by the sink, staring out the kitchen window, lost in thought. She pulled the cinch on her robe tighter to ward off the chill in the air, and wondered if her husband would ever be cold. He was wearing flannel pajama pants, but no shirt, and he was barefoot. She thought back to early on in their marriage. There were cold winter nights where she would have on flannel pajamas, fuzzy socks, and multiple blankets to stay warm, and Harm would go to bed wearing only a pair of boxers – sometimes he wouldn't even use a blanket.

In typical Harmon Rabb fashion, he made sure to wear actual pajama bottoms instead of just boxers once Caroline was born. Mac remembered bringing it to his attention once when Caroline was just a baby.

The memory made her smile.

"Of course, I am going to wear pajama bottoms now, Mac! She can't see me in my underwear!"
"Harm! She's only four months old! She has no idea!"

Quietly, with a small smile still on her lips, she walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. She placed her head against his back - his skin felt cold against her cheek.

He didn't even flinch when she came up behind him – he sensed her presence the minute she entered the kitchen.

"Hey," he whispered.

"Hey, yourself."

"Why aren't you sleeping?" He asked softly.

"Funny, I was going to ask you the same thing."

Harm smiled and placed his hands over hers. "Good thing I asked you first, then."

"Well," she drew out the one syllable word longer than necessary as she scraped her fingernails along his chest seductively. "I was pretty sure I felt my husband kiss my forehead. I waited patiently for three minutes and fifty seconds, wondering if he was going to come back and make another move on me, but nothing ever happened. So, I went looking for him. Your turn."

"I was just thinking…"

"About?" She prompted.

"A dream I had…"

He trailed off, not saying anything else, but Mac could tell by his tone what it must have been about. "About Audrey." It was more of a statement than a question.

He nodded.

"Harm…I thought we had a deal. We're supposed to wake each other up when we have those kinds of dreams."

He turned around so that they were facing each other and tightened his arms around her waist. "Actually, as I recall, we said we would wake each other up if we had nightmares. I wouldn't call this a nightmare per se, Mac. It was just sad."

She rolled her eyes. Leave it to Harm to bring up the technicality. "Spoken like a true lawyer. I'm glad to see that all these years away from actually litigating in the courtroom didn't dull your skills." She smiled softly.

"Well, I happen to be married to a very good attorney. She keeps me on my toes. You might know her actually," he teased.

She chuckled and playfully swatted his chest, but there was a pause before Mac spoke again. "Harm?"

"Yeah, Mac?" he answered distractedly as he drew lazy circles over her back with his fingers.

"Will you tell me about it? About your dream? Please?"

"Are you sure?'

She didn't answer verbally, she only nodded against his chest.

"Well," he began. "It was a very beautiful summer or spring day outside. The skies were so blue, the grass was so green –perfect flying weather, actually." He grinned. "We were outside in the backyard. Caroline was running around laughing and giggling. Isn't her laugh one of the most beautiful sounds in the entire world?" Mac nodded, and Harm continued. "She was having so much fun. You and I would take turns blowing bubbles and she would alternate between trying to pop them and trying to catch them.''

Mac closed her eyes – visualizing the scene.

"And you …. You were holding Audrey on your lap…she was probably about a year or so old. Caroline was telling her that she could play with the bubbles, too."

"What did she look like? Did she look like Caroline?"

Harm swallowed. "In some ways, but not completely. She had darker hair…it was more of a blondish-brown, but just as curly. She had your skin color and your eyes."

"But like Caroline, she had your smile," Mac supplied.

"How'd you know?"

"Because that's how I picture her, too. Exactly."

"We made beautiful babies, Mac."

"Yeah," she agreed. "Then what happened?" She asked after a beat had passed.

"Then it started to storm, Audrey disappeared, and I woke up," he shrugged sadly.

"That does sound like it started out as a very beautiful dream, though."

"It was."

"Then I would like to believe that Audrey just wanted to say hello, and she came to you in your dream."

"Me, too, Mac."

Harm didn't know how long they stood like that (although Mac would say it was seven minutes and sixteen seconds) in the middle of the kitchen wrapped in each other's embrace thinking about Audrey. Although Audrey would never grow on Earth, she would forever grow in their hearts. The constant, heart crushing grief that existed in the first few months lessened, but he knew that the dull ache of missing her would never quite subside. Just like Harriet had told him that night in the hospital – there's a point where you become accustomed to it and it is your new normal.

When those thoughts of Audrey brought Harm to the memories of Mac almost dying in the operating room, he pulled Mac as close to him as humanly possible. He thanked God every day that he didn't lose both of them that night. "I'm glad you're here," he whispered against her ear, his voice cracking with emotion. Yes, he was glad that she was literally standing in the middle of the kitchen with him, but he was even more grateful that she was alive and well.

Her lips captured his in a comforting and assuring kiss. There were no need for words anymore in that moment.

"Come on, Harm," she practically sang as she tugged his hand and pulled him to the stairs. "Caroline will be awake in an hour or so. Let's go back to bed."