| Any comments, suggestions or questions can be directed to the author. Thank you for taking the time to read and I hope you found something that you could enjoy. Disclaimer: I do not own anything in relation to C.S.I., Alliance Atlantic, CBS, William Petersen, Jorja Fox or any other characters contained herein... I just like playing with them now and then while stretching my writing muscles. And if you think there's any money to be gained by suing me, you're in for a horrible disappointment. |
| Check out All the Author's Works in Progress at FanFiction.net |
| LIKE IT WAS YESTERDAY |
| Part 5 - On a Mission |
| As he was the only one not currently draped with a child, manning a grill, stirring a pot, or demonstrating the proper technique for mounting a Cephaloleia beetle on a display meant for scientific purposes, Geoffrey was sent to locate the missing son in the depths of the catacombs the family called a basement. He had already gotten lost twice, first opening the door to the garage instead of the basement, and next when he turned right instead of left and ended up in a storage room that frightened him more than any haunted house ever could. Apparently, big families kept everything from their pasts. However, he did make a mental note to ask Michael about the bright red tandem tricycle he saw hanging from the ceiling. His mission was to locate the room in which James had sequestered himself, for reasons unknown to his mother, and to safely escort him back through the catacombs and deliver him to the matriachs in the kitchen. Geoffrey suddenly felt like his Marine Corps drill instructors were a piece of cake next the formidable command of the lady of this house. Upon breaching the door of the third room, he managed to stumble across an office. Not seeing his intended target residing within the room, he was about to turn back to the task at hand when something on the wall caught his attention. It was a painting, and it bore a resemblance to someone he was fairly certain he had seen before. Upon closer examination, he found that it looked an awful lot like the man Michael frequently referred to as his lifelong mentor; it was a painting of his Uncle Gil. He stared at the subtle lines of the artwork and quickly realized that it must have been done many years ago, because, while the eyes were the same dazzling blue gems, the face was considerably younger. With his careful examination of the image, he failed to notice the footsteps behind him, until the owner spoke and then he nearly jumped out of his skin. “I always liked that one, too.” So much for situational awareness, he thought, as he struggled to get his heart back down inside his chest. “Sorry about that… I was just making sure Momma hadn’t come down here snooping this time. Didn’t mean to scare the bejeebus out of you in the process.” James made his way around him and took up his place behind the desk on the opposite side of the room. “No sweat… I didn’t need those five years you just shaved off my life.” Geoffrey had taken an instant liking to the younger man, so it was easy to kid with him. He thumbed in the direction of the various frames of artwork and photos to ask, “Where’d these come from?” |
| “Ah… That would be my mother’s version of a refrigerator art gallery. She’s always been my biggest supporter.” James’ face took on the faint hue of blush as he attempted to shy away from the attention. “Some of these look like they were before your time, so how’d you-…” Geoffrey was confused about how James could have been around to properly paint the obviously youthful image of Uncle Gil. “Photographs… I was always fascinated with ‘em. Mom had everything put in a computer archive a long time ago. So, when she saw how much I liked looking through the pictures, she had all the disks printed and put all the prints into a big laminated book for me when I was five.” He reached over the desk and retrieved a large battered book from the pile he was obviously working on. Handing it over to Geoffrey, he admitted, “I’ve spent hours pouring over that book through the years, and now I have three kids doing the same thing. And from the looks of it, I might need to make another one, since they spend all their time asking where Daddy and everybody else is at.” He carefully opened the historical record of Michael’s family and glanced through the first pages. “Wow… This is really fantastic. And your Mom put this together?” “Ah, no…” James laughed at the idea of his mother, with four very active little boys, a professional career, and all of her other projects; having the time to sit down and make a photo album for fun. “According to Pop, she sent copies of the disks to some online service to have it printed up. All she had to do was label and document the pictures. Making that album would have taken away from golf lessons, swim practice, Cub Scouts and potty training Danny.” Geoffrey shook his head at James’ answer. “Now there’s a mental image I could’ve done without.” “No kidding!” He started stacking pieces of paper from the desktop into a shoebox beside a page of cardstock paper. “Looks like you got nominated to come dig me out of the basement, huh?” “Yes… I was requested, by your mother and your aunt to come downstairs and extricate you from whatever it is you are doing and ‘to bid you come in to dinner.’” He silently cursed himself. It never failed that when he was nervous, he would fall into quoting things to take the focus away from his own awkward verbal skills. “Nice… Don’t tell me… Aunt Sara’d have my hide if I forgot this one.” James squinted his eyes and searched for the proper response. “Got it!” He stood and bowed in a flourish, “‘Fair Geoffrey, I thank you for your pains.’ Or something like that… Much Ado About Nothing, Act Two, Scene…um…” He shook his head for a moment, as though he was attempting to knock it loose from his brain. “Scene Three; Leonato’s Orchard.” The aforementioned aunt entered the room shaking her head. “I can’t believe you forgot that one, James.” “Be fair… I remembered the lines and the act, and it’s not like I’m Danny or Bethie.” He winked rakishly at Sara and quipped, “Those two could cite rote and verse the entire collection if you asked them to. Freaks of nature, if you ask me.” The slender woman chortled at his joke, but still came back with one of her own, “Must have something to do that red hair.” With that, James burst out laughing. As their laughter subsided, Geoffrey began to feel like he was an intruder in their conversation. He shifted nervously for a moment, but quickly found a soft, long fingered hand over his forearm. “Sorry, Geoffrey… It’s just a little inside joke between James and I.” Her touch had an oddly calming affect on him and he smiled his understanding. “Yeah, Aunt Sara and I have a good time cutting it up a lot. But it’s only because she’s the only one who ever gets my jokes, so it makes it pretty easy. Everyone else just stares at me like I’ve just grown a second head.” He winked again and went back to stacking things in the shoebox before he added, “Including my poor wife.” “Which brings me to why I came down…” Sara gracefully sat down in one of the chairs near the desk and went on to explain, “Emily called and said she was finally on her way. Devon’s little friend didn’t get picked up until a few minutes ago, so she couldn’t leave right away.” “Figures.” James rolled his eyes as he sat back in the chair to regard his visitors with his full attention. “That poor woman’s spent a lifetime getting roped into one disaster after another.” Sara flashed an impish wink at Geoffrey and said, “Well, she did marry you, after all.” After the friendly laughter died away Sara gestured for Geoffrey to take the seat on the other side of the desk. “How are you holding up with all this insanity, Geoffrey?” Geoffrey released a sigh as he sat nervously sat down on the chair. “I feel like I need a score card to keep up with everyone as they come in.” James let loose with a belly laugh at his confession. “Dude, I was born in this family, and I have to keep a cheat sheet to know what’s what and who belongs to who anymore!” Patting his forearm again, Sara confirmed her agreement with James. “It must be really confusing for an outsider, because I know sometimes I even have to remind myself where everyone fits in.” James began to dig through the briefcase on the floor beside him and explained, “First off, you gotta know that Uncle Gil is like everyone’s Uncle, but nobody’s at the same time. He was my grandfather’s best friend and they worked together in San Francisco. Momma was like a toddler when he came along, and he spent so much time with her and their family that Grams basically declared him her uncle. Officially, Mom is his goddaughter, but they’re a lot closer than that, and he’s kind of filled in for her Pop since he died. He even gave Mom away at her wedding.” He continued to search for something in his briefcase as Sara commented on the family dynamics. “And nearly all of the ‘aunts’ and ‘uncles’ are really just godparent’s, except for my brother Daniel and Thomas’ sister Maddie, neither of which are still with us.” “Also make sure you pay attention to name distinctions.” James pulled a folder from his case and started flipping through it as he explained, “Tommy and Thomas are two completely different people. Same with Nick and Niko. And just to make things even more fun…we have a Lillian and a Lily, both of whom go by the same sounding name.” Sara seamlessly chimed in again, “Unless of course Mikey is involved, and then it’s easy.” Laughing, James asked, “She’s gonna cold-cock him for that one of these days, isn’t she?” “Probably,” Sara’s eyes rolled slightly with her answer. “Found It!” James held up the print outs he had retrieved from the folder in his other hand. Handing it over the desk to Geoffrey, he explained, “These will save your bacon some day. I know it’s helped me out of some tight spots a few times. Names, birthdates and who belongs to who, by generation. My wife is actually the one who puts it together for me, because she has trouble keeping up with this insane asylum, too.” |
| Pouring over the precious document, Geoffrey tried desperately to commit as much of it to memory as humanly possible in the least amount of time. His first task was to hunt down a name he had heard mentioned several times during dinners at Michael’s family friends house in D.C. Nick and R.J. talked about the man a lot, and he was sure he had not met him as yet, so he was curious about the man’s identity. His intent must have been obvious, because Sara instantly appeared to key into it. “Who are you looking for?” He set the list down and shyly smiled as he shrugged his shoulders, “Oh, well… Nick and R.J. have mentioned someone a lot and I didn’t think he was here yet, so I was just cur-” A dark cloud fell over Sara’s face the instant the words left his lips, and it immediately made him sorry for asking. He could tell that his question had caused her some pain, and he assumed that there was probably not a happy reason for the man’s absence. “Warrick? Or ‘Rick?” When she paused, he nodded. “Same guy, and he passed away…just over two years ago.” She quickly swiped at her eye to whisk away a tear before adding, “It’s still pretty fresh for most of us, but he and Nick were really close, and I think he may still be having a hard time letting go.” Everything suddenly made a lot more sense to him; the way R.J. always tried to steer the topic of conversation away from him, the mood shift in the room when he would be talked about, and that thousand yard stare Nick would get. He made another mental note to talk to Michael a little more about the details in the future. James shifted something across the desk towards Sara and gave Geoffrey a conspiratorial wink. “Since you could’ ve waited until I got hauled upstairs by the Marines, I assume you came down here to check on my progress with your little project?” Geoffrey watched as the indomitable Aunt Sara quickly came back into her calm and reserved façade. It was something to see, and he finally understood why Michael always claimed that his Aunt Sara was the strongest person he knew. “Well, I suppose… Since I did come all the way down here, and I can see that you have been working on said project…I might as well take a little peek.” Her right eye brow rose with her words, and Geoffrey had to suppress the grin forming on his face. “Then you’re really in luck…because I’m finished.” He pushed the page the rest of the way across the desk at his aunt. “I only had a couple left when I took off from L.A., so I wanted to get it finished and passed off to you before heading out to the wastelands tonight.” Sara took the page from the desk and brought her other hand to cover her mouth in an attempt to contain the gasp that escaped upon seeing the scrapbook page. “Oh James! This is…amazing.” “I tried to find the pictures that Uncle Gil would like the most, and that won’t get me killed once Momma sees it, too.” James sat on the edge of his seat, waiting for the final verdict from his aunt. “I really wanted to capture the way Uncle Gil sees her… What do you think?” Sara dropped the page onto the desk in front of Geoffrey as she stood up and closed the distance between her and James. Wrapping her arms around him as he stood up, she said, “It’s absolutely perfect, kiddo… Perfect.” Geoffrey looked to James for permission to pick up the page, and as he wrapped his arms around his aunt, James nodded. |
| Geoffrey picked up the page and was instantly faced with images of the woman responsible for his partner’s existence. Seeing Michael’s mother portrayed in the various stages of her life was an eye opening experience. She was still a radiant woman, but in her youth, Geoffrey was convinced that the woman probably stopped traffic on more than one occasion. But it was the comfortable and confident demeanor that seeped from every photograph that truly struck him. It was the same look he saw every day, in Michael. After she regained her composure once more, Sara moved around to look over Geoffrey’s shoulder. He tried to hand the page back to her, but she refused and placed a comforting hand upon his shoulder. She reached out with her other hand and pointed to an aged, sepia-toned photograph of a toddler. “Where’d that one come from?” James twisted around and determined which photo she was referring to before he answered, “Oh! That’s one of the ones we found at Grams when we cleaned out the house after she passed away. The back said Mom was eighteen months old when it was taken at the park in Mission Hill.” “And this one?” She gestured to the image of the young girl writing in the sand. “From my picture book… I think Mom said it came from a box of photos Nana Mary sent her when she was pregnant with the twins.” He walked back to the other side of the desk and pulled another sheet of paper out of his briefcase. James briefly scanned the page before saying, “Ah, eight years old, the beach in Marina Del Ray when Uncle Gil and Grampop took her to L.A. for a basketball tournament. I guess they also saw Nana Mary while they were there. Uncle Gil took the picture and sent it Nana Mary.” She regarded him with a puzzled expression and asked, “You have that all written down?” He looked up with his surprise and then chuckled, “Ah, no… I have the details written down, like ages, dates and locations, but the rest is from bugging the tar out of Mom asking her questions when I was stalling before I went to bed at night. The stories stayed with me, but the details got fuzzy, so I made sure to document all the pictures, too.” His face betrayed a devilish thought and then James added, “And besides, Uncle Gil was always on me about not doing my homework, so I didn’t want to mess this one up.” As she chuckled at James’ joke, Sara glanced down at her wrist and immediately double checked her watch. “As much as I would love to stay here and look this over…they’re gonna send down a search party any minute if we stay much longer.” Geoffrey carefully stood up from the chair and passed the scrapbook page over to Sara when he said, “I’ll head back up and run a little interference for you.” He turned to head out of the office when he stopped and looked back nervously, “Which way out?” They both laughed at his request. “Left out of the door, down the hall, around the corner, stairs on the right, family warehouse of doom on the left.” “Got it… I’ve still got chills from my last run in with that warehouse.” Geoffrey shuddered at the thought, and left the room to the amused laughter of the remaining inhabitants. Successfully navigating his way back upstairs, Geoffrey was nearly knocked back through the door by the stampeding little people running through the hallway. As he finally made it through the door unharmed, he was met with the disapproving voice of the lady of the house. “Next midget I find running in this hallway is gonna peel onions for the next hour… Do you hear me?!” A resounding chorus of “Yes Ma’am!” was called back from the family room. Stephanie turned to find Geoffrey carefully peeking out from the door. “Sweet Jeebus! You weren’t caught in that stampede, were you?” He laughed at her concern and smiled. “Thankfully, the door was still between us when they ran by. I was just waiting until the coast was clear before I tried again.” Shaking her head, Stephanie took his hand and led him toward the family room. Stopping at the doorway, she cleared her throat and quickly found five pairs of eyes staring back at her. “I think everyone needs to stay in here for a little while and calm down. Did you all know that when you tore through my house you almost knocked poor Geoffrey down the stairs?” Geoffrey instantly became uncomfortable with the attention being focused on him, but the frightened looks on each child’s face made him feel like a first class jerk. He tried to speak again, but the glare he received from Michael’s mother made him feel like he was a five year old about to get busted for breaking something, and he shrank back from her steely gaze. “I want you all to think about what would’ve happened if Geoffrey hadn’t been able to keep his balance and fell.” Before she could even finish another word, the oldest boy stood up and wiped a tear away when he addressed her. “We’re sorry, Gamma. I told Chris he could pick the movie if he beat me to the TV. It’s my fault.” As he finished explaining the incident to his grandmother, the little boy hung his head, and the other children sat silently. They were all awaiting their judgment for the heinous act. Geoffrey stood completely still and in total shock. Not only had the woman diffused the situation in a limited amount of time, but she also had a confession, and all of the parties involved were prepared to take their punishments. He decided that Stephanie probably had more on the ball than any government interrogator he had ever met. And he finally understood how she was able to handle not one, but two kids like Michael, in addition to the three others. Another woman came up behind them and quietly informed the children of their penance. “Okay, I know that not a single one of you is ever going to run in Gamma’s house again, so…you need to apologize to Geoffrey and then you guys can go outside and help Grampop with his chores.” One by one, each child got up and made their way to the doorway, their heads held down in reverence. The two smallest girls walked in front of the twins and reached out for his hands as they clumsily gave their apologies when they brought him down to crouch in front of them. After mangling his name with their toddler’s mouths, they placed a tiny kiss on either side of his face. The twins were the next, and as they reached him, they simultaneously wrapped their arms around Geoffrey’s neck and chorused “Sorry Uncle Geoffrey” into his ears. Finally, the oldest boy, and apparent ring leader, came up, wiped another tear away and tried bravely to look him in the eye. Geoffrey briefly glanced up at the two women for some kind of clue as to what he should be doing and saw that they were both trying desperately to keep the grins from showing on their faces. “I’m sorry, Uncle Geoffrey.” The boy held out his hand to shake Geoffrey’s and then heaved a deep sigh. “I hope we didn’t mess up nothing.” Geoffrey found himself struggling to keep from smiling at the little boy’s attempt to act like a man, because it was obvious to him that it meant a great deal to the child. So, he sucked in a breath and puffed out his chest as best as possible while crouching at kid level. He deepened his voice to a tone that befitted a Marine and addressed the boy. “That’s alright. But next time…it’s usually best to follow the general’s orders, Little Man. We soldiers have commanding officers for a reason… It’s because we still have a lot left to learn. Think you can do that?” He watched as the boy took a deep breath, and puffed out his chest, in a direct mimic of Geoffrey’s earlier action. Standing tall and just a little proud, he released Geoffrey’s hand and gave him a little boy salute. “Yes Sir!” And with that he bounded out of the room and headed for the rest of his merry little band of midgets. When Geoffrey finally stood back up, he found the highly amused faces of two women staring at him. “Too much?” Reaching out to place a hand on his shoulder, the blonde woman shook her head and explained, “You did great… And without even knowing it, you just made that kid’s whole year.” Stephanie chuckled, “Micah has been fixated on being a soldier for about a year now, and I’m pretty sure you just made a fan for life.” She turned to her daughter-in-law and asked, “Does Thomas know he’s about to get a whole bunch of helpers?” “Yeah, we actually heard the commotion from outside, so he and Patrick asked me to get the kids. We thought they needed an outlet for all that energy. And it’s not like Uncle Gil is much help out there anymore.” The woman turned back to Geoffrey and moved in to embrace him. “And while this is an unusual way to make introductions…I am very happy to finally meet you, Geoffrey.” Laughing at his confused expression, Stephanie conceded to end his bewilderment. “Geoffrey, this is Patrick’s wife Tammy.” “Oh! Hey.” He blushed a little, but he was very excited to meet her as well. “I suppose I should have figured it out…” He awkwardly tried to gesture at her burgeoning belly and she chuffed at his gentle display. “Yeah, being the pregnant one seems to be how everyone recognizes me.” Tammy’s hand dropped down to her belly as she laughed. “Well, if you’d just lock that sex maniac out of the bedroom for a while, you might not have that problem anymore.” Michael came up behind them and rested his hands on his mother’s shoulders as he looked around her head to see what was going on. Instead of giving Michael any further fuel to torment her, she simply turned to Geoffrey and asked, “Since you’ve got the other twin…does that mean I should give you my condolences?” “Nah…” Michael smiled when he saw the glint in his eye as Geoffrey prepared to deliver their favorite joke. “I’ve found that with both of us traveling so much, I haven’t had enough time to get fed up with his antics just yet.” They started walking back down the hall to the kitchen as the laughter began to die away. Tammy hooked her arm through Geoffrey’s as they walked and added, “Stick with me, Honey… I’ll tell you exactly what to do when it starts.” When they reached the kitchen, they found Uncle Gil checking everything out on the stove. As he turned to see who was walking into the room, he gave Stephanie a guilty grin. “Just looking.” With her hands planted firmly on her hips, Stephanie fixed him with such a steely gaze that Geoffrey was fairly certain it was only for affect. “I thought I banned you from the kitchen a long time ago.” He quietly watched as the older gentlemen who met him at the driveway after his run with Patrick that morning made one corner of his mouth turn up into a time worn smirk just as his deep blue eyes began to sparkle with a mischief he was sure had been there since birth. “Would believe it was the Alzheimer’s?” Stephanie’s brow rose with his comment. “Maybe…if you had Alzheimer’s.” Uncle Gil shrugged and gave in to her demands. “Can’t blame me for trying…but I really came in to get a glass of water.” The conversation was quickly joined by Sara, who was looking at her watch as she remarked, “Ya know…that didn’t work with the kids when they didn’t want to take a nap either. So, don’t even think it’ll work now.” Geoffrey saw the faintest hint of pink rise in the man’s creased cheeks when he realized he had been thoroughly busted. “Yes, well…there is that, Dear.” He bowed slightly to his wife and then to the lady of the house before he shuffled toward the door. Before he could escape the stern gazes of his wife and niece, another woman came waltzing into the kitchen. Without waiting for introductions, or hearing where the conversation was at, she simply burst in with an exclamation that left little doubt as to her identity. “I know, I know… I’m late again, but Steph you have got to do something about that weekend guy before I’m forced to stuff him in a drawer and call it a draw.” She stopped short when she realized the old man was caught in her path. “Daddy!” She looked at her watch, “What’re you doing up?” He kissed the flustered woman on the cheek and patted Geoffrey’s arm as he passed by to exit the kitchen. “Take my advice, Son… Just do whatever they tell you before they start to gang up on you. It’s not a pretty sight.” The women all shared a knowing look between them as he called over his shoulder, “I’ll be in Thomas’ office taking my nap. Try not to start the fun without me.” Once their laughter died away, the latest arrival suddenly noticed something out of the ordinary. The squeak that came out of her throat could hardly be called sophisticated, but when she launched herself across the room to leap up into Michael’s arms, Geoffrey knew without a doubt who she was. “Mighty Mouse!!!” What followed was a mass of wholly unintelligible gibberish, as far as he could discern, but the other women in the room seemed completely uninterested in the exchange and went back to preparing the food as Michael and his cousin Lilli yammered on. Geoffrey was relegated to waiting for a pause in the melee before any actual introductions could be made. As he waited for an opening, Tammy nudged him a little and then put a peeler in his hand as she gestured at the carrots. “This could last a while… It’s been more than a year since they’ve actually seen each other.” Eventually, the two cousins seemed to remember that there were other people in the room. Smiling they both walked up to the kitchen island and began to re-engage the rest of the room. “Sorry about that… Has everyone’s hearing recovered?” Her mother shrugged, “I’ve spent the last thirty years with your father and his bugs, a little squeaking doesn’t even register anymore.” When the younger woman came to stand next to her mother, Geoffrey was struck with the unbelievable resemblance. Their builds, their posture and their features appeared to be exact copies, but at different stages in life. The only real differences he could find were a more narrow forehead, a slightly stronger jaw, and while both sets of eyes were dark, Lilli’s seemed to have shifted away from the soft brown of her mother’s to an almost inky color; not entirely black or blue, but most definitely not brown. Tammy seemed to notice his staring, and she gave him another nudge. “Eerie, isn’t it?” He caught her eye and it helped to break the stare. “It was even worse before Aunt Sara’s hair finally started showing the gray.” Michael mussed Lilli’s hair and quipped, “Attack of the Clones. I’m still convinced they were just some of Uncle Gil’s DNA experiments.” Having slipped in unnoticed during the commotion, James added his own wit to the discussion, “Then how do you explain Max?” Without skipping a beat, Lilli countered with, “Failure number sixty-six, lot one-one-three-eight.” Chuckling, Geoffrey kept his gaze on the task at hand. While he was not without any cooking skills, he knew from his time with Michael that cooking was something of an art form in his family, and he did not want to mess anything up. When things grew strangely quiet, he looked up to find that the focus was now squarely upon him. He carefully set down the peeler and the newly skinned carrot onto the cutting surface before he wiped his hands off on the towel that was flipped to him by Tammy. He tried to affect a calm and solid composure when he asked, “Yes?” Watching as Lilli turned to Michael, who was smirking from ear to ear at that point, he worried about what was about to come next. “You didn’t?” The next few moments were a barrage of pointed, but incredibly vague questions and answers. Geoffrey found it difficult just to keep up, so there was simply no point in trying to figure out what was going on behind the dialog. He just hoped that everything would still be standing at the end. “I did.” “And you couldn’t be bothered to tell me?” “Kind of ruins the surprise that way.” “And what if I bailed today?” “Not unless you wanted to incur the wrath.” “I was totally gonna sleep in, ya know?” “You never sleep.” “That’s not fair.” “Since when was that part of the rules?” “Since I said so.” “Like that ever worked.” “I swear I’m gonna deck you one of these days.” “Get a ladder.” “You are so asking for it.” “I dare you.” “I’m so gonna hold this over your head.” “What’s new? I’m still paying for the frog in your shirt when we were five.” “I still get freaked when I hear ‘em croaking.” “Amphibi-phobic.” “That’s not funny.” “It is on this side.” “Must be the lack of oxygen up there.” They were still going strong when Patrick snuck in behind him and whispered to Geoffrey, “They could do this for hours…and have.” He turned to see Patrick’s wink as he added, “But I know the trick to shut ‘em both up.” He watched as Patrick tapped his wife on the shoulder and gestured for her to cover her ears; Geoffrey followed suit. Taking in a deep breath, Patrick puffed up his chest and prepared to sound the alert. “MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO- OOOOOOOOOOO-OOOOOOMMMM!!! Mikey and Lilli won’t shut uuuu-uuup!” Caught like two deer in the headlights, Geoffrey watched in amazement as both of the offending parties stood perfectly still and appeared to be completely frightened at the prospect that they were actually in trouble. As the women laughed at the scene, Patrick clapped Geoffrey on the back and said, “Works every time.” Michael reached around Lilli and Geoffrey to slap his brother in the head, “Tattletale!” A nearly identical pair of little toe-headed children peeked in from the patio doors and screamed, “Grampop says knock it off!” before they giggled and slammed the door shut behind them. The display only fueled everyone’s laughter as Lilli and Michael blushed from the attention. As Uncle Gil shuffled back into the kitchen he kissed his daughter on the cheek and smirked. “Good to know that some things never change around here.” He reached for the bottle of juice being handed to him by his wife as he made his way through the kitchen. “I’m going back outside with Thomas and the children…where it’s a little quieter.” After her father’s well-timed exit, Lilli finally remembered that there was still some unfinished business. She crossed the kitchen and began to give Geoffrey the once over. The others in the room casually watched the inspection with amused grins decorating their faces. When she eventually appeared to make a judgment, she turned back to Michael and asked, “A Marine? Really? You couldn’t have done something a little less stereotypical than a guy in uniform?” Michael, never one to back down from a chance to snark at anyone simply countered with, “Jealous?” As if to demonstrate their compatibility, Geoffrey was unable to stop the comment that flew from his lips, “Because I still have a few friends in the Corps, and it wouldn’t take much to call one of them in on a mission of mercy.” With Lilli’s mouth hanging fully agape, Michael went to stand beside his partner and draped his arm over Geoffrey’s shoulder to say, “And THAT is why I brought him home!” The room exploded in laughter with the exchange. After recovering from her surprise, Lilli introduced herself properly, and gladly welcomed Geoffrey into the family. Once the meal preparations were finished, the table was set, and the food was brought into the dining room. Standing over the completed table, Stephanie looked around to see everyone hovering near the room. With a glance at her watch, she began to wonder of they should go ahead and get the kids started, instead of waiting for James’ wife any longer. As the thought was completing itself in her mind, the front door was thrown open and an excited eleven year old girl hollered into the house to announce their arrival. “GAMMA!!! We’re Here!” Stephanie walked out into the hallway just in time for the girl to hurl herself at her grandmother. “Gamma! We saw the comet! We really, really saw it!” “No clouds last night?” Stephanie hugged the girl as she asked for the particulars. “Not a one! We watched it go clear across the sky and it was the most amazing thing ever. When’s the next one?” She was an energetic girl, but her enthusiasm for astronomy was her newfound love, and she threw herself into it completely. As Stephanie squeezed the girl’s hand, she knew her son was in for some new challenges with her newest interest. “Well, the next one I know about is only going to be visible from the Southern Hemisphere, so we might have to do some more research, Devon, honey.” The girl hugged her tight and she knew they would be looking up the comet schedules before the night was over. A haggard and obviously weary woman came trudging down the hall after the girl. “Can you make the next one not quite so late at night? They wouldn’t go to sleep until they saw it, so we were up until almost three in the morning… Thanks a lot, Mom.” Stephanie laughed at her predicament, but she felt the need to offer her apologies. “Sorry, Em… But it was the next appearance.” She reached down and ruffled the girl’s hair before she offered, “Just be grateful it was on a weekend…this time.” “Don’t even say that… I don’t want to know.” She was shaking her head in exasperated disgust as her husband made his way to her side. “And you…you better be sticking close to home for a while, Mister.” James embraced his wife as he laughed. “That would be the plan, my dear. That would be the plan.” He kissed his wife’s cheek and was met with a questioning expression on her face as she looked over at the man with the close cropped hair and the rigid posture. “Sorry… Emily, this…” he gestured at Geoffrey and Michael, “is Geoffrey.” “Okay… That explains my phone call with Micah so much more.” Emily held out her hand, and Geoffrey took it into his. “It’s nice to meet you, Geoffrey. And if Micah starts to get on your nerves about the soldier stuff, please let me know. He means well, but he’s gotten a little obsessive lately.” “Not a problem… We’ve already come to an agreement, of sorts.” Geoffrey instantly tried to remove any worry she might have had about the little boy’s fascination. Stephanie decided to interrupt before things went any further. She had food getting cold on the table, and grandchildren who were anxiously waiting to devour it. “Jimmy, why don’t you get Em something to drink and…” she nodded at Patrick and Michael, “we’ll get everyone in for dinner.” With those few short words, the whole family set to work. The twins went through the garage to round up their father and the kids outside. Tammy went back into the family room to wake the two youngest girls from their nap. Sara and Lilli worked to help Uncle Gil and Aunt Catherine off of the couch with a gentle pull. Geoffrey took his instruction from Stephanie, and left on another seek and recover mission, but this time to get Danny from his room upstairs after coming in from a shift at the hospital. As everyone was getting seated at the table, Stephanie took a final survey of the situation. The only thing she could find that was missing; one son and his wife. Just as she made the realization, her husband asked, “What happened to Jimmy and Emily?” The moment the words were off of his lips, a loud, only slightly manish scream could be heard from the kitchen. Patrick was the first to ask, “What the hell was that?” Danny, still slightly groggy from his nap, croaked an unexpected answer to the mystery through a partial yawn, “Probably just found out he’s gonna be poppa again.” Almost everyone at the table was stunned by his conclusion, but Patrick was the one to ask, “And just how would you know, smart guy?” Lilli simply reached for the basket of rolls when she flippantly responded, “Because I told her to have Danny run the test to confirm it, Bonehead.” |
| The continuing years of the Discovery Series storyline as the family gets ready for a big event. The family storyteller gathers up some photos and shares a perspective on the past. (including a "photo album" scrapbook) GSR/Yo!Bling/Etc. *Rated PG for Most Everyone. |