Meet the Family and Their Service Weapons
"Whoosh!!" Lindsay looked over at her man lovingly. "Little Emily Taylor is coming in for a landing! Make way for the human rocket ship!! Zoom! Zoom-zhoom!!"
"That's enough, Danny, she's going to be sick." Lindsay smiled at her niece and husband.
"Alright, you go find mommy and tell her Uncle Danny sent you in for a fuel stop." He ruffled her curls and sent her off.
"You love playing rocket ship with Emily, don't you?" She asked as he sat down and kissed her cheek, catching his breath.
"You bet, and hey, she likes it too." Danny pointed out.
"Hey you two." A strong, feminine voice called from the door.
"Hey Stella!" Lindsay smiled at her friend.
"Hey Stell." Danny nodded.
"Mommy!" A little voice came bounding in from the other room.
"Hey sweetie, how was your day?" Stella smiled at her daughter.
"Good. Uncle Danny and I played rocket ship and Aunt Lindsay and I read a story before quiet time." Little Emily said proudly. She was always being told she was smart for her age, and they were right.
"That's great honey. Daddy and will be home as soon he picks up your brother from school." Stella told her daughter before getting up to take off her coat. Her daughter, although not particularly short, was still only three, and up to her knee at best. She had to get right on her knees to speak to the little girl face to familiar face; she had her curls, and her green eyes, though her features were closer to Mac's...just more adorable. Their tiny bit of Greek/Italian showed in their slightly tan skin.
"Okay. Uncle Danny?" The little girl turned her giant pure green eyes to Danny.
"Yes, sweetheart?" Danny asked, picking the girl up and setting her on his lap.
"Can we play rocket ship again?" She asked sweetly. "Please?"
"Oh, Emmy, Uncle Danny's back is hurting. Why don't you read another story with your Auntie Lindsay?" Danny felt his back cracking already.
"Come on Emily, let's go pick out a book to read with your big brother when he gets home." Lindsay smiled, taking little Emily's hand.
"So Stell, what do you and Mac have planned for Emmy's birthday party?" Danny asked the older woman, as his wife walked into the living room with said older woman's daughter.
"Well just a few good friends, obviously Megan is invited." Stella smiled. "How does Flack like babysitting anyway?"
"Well..."
"Megan, come here to Uncle Don now." Flack grumbled.
"Donald Duck! Donald Duck!!" The four year old Megan cried happily, pulling at Flack's nose, seeing if it was a duck bill.
"No sweetheart, I'm not a duck." He sighed heavily.
"Don, you look exhausted. What happened?" Asked Angell.
"Meggie Messer, that's what."
"He likes it." Danny half lied.
"Hello Stella, dear, we're home." Mac greeted, kissing his wife happily on the cheek. She leaned in to let him do so. "How's your day?"
"Good, and yours?" She asked, kneeling to talk to her son.
"Good mommy, thanks." Answered David. "I made you a picture."
"Oh thank you, sweetheart, it's beautiful." Stella smiled at Mac, who nodded. The picture was as beautiful as a four year old's work could ever be, and was promptly posted on the fridge.
"Is everyone coming to Emily's birthday?" Mac asked, taking a seat by Danny at their table. "Hey Danny, how's rocket ship?"
"I think my back is more misaligned than when Lindsay made me carry her on my back when she was five and a half months along." The man groaned in reply, cracking his back.
"Danny, I don't want to walk home." Lindsay moaned.
"I'm sorry honey, but the subway's down and we're only two blocks from home." He comforted, putting his hands on her arms.
"I don't care." She whined. "Carry me?"
"What?" Danny gaped.
"What?! Do you think I'd be too heavy to carry?!" She raged.
"No! No, no, no, sweetheart, it's just...you want me to carry you on my back all the way home...on main street Manhattan?" He asked to clarify, hoping he's been wrong.
"Please, Danny?" She asked with her large doe eyes.
"Yes, I remember that. Stella and I were driving back from a case and saw you hunched over with Lindsay waving at us." Mac laughed.
"That was the day you crashed the truck, right?" Danny chuckled. "I knew Stell liked to drive the speed limit, but that was just too funny."
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, but I remember Lindsay grabbing your hair and hauling your head up to wave at us, making you walk into a parking meter." Mac laughed heartily, remembering the even well.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, but I remember when Stella was pregnant with Davie and she stripped you down so she could wash your clothes because of that weird laundry habit." Danny chuckled with his friend.
"What are you boys laughing at?" Lindsay and Stella asked together, holding Emily and Davie's hands.
"Remembering pregnancies." Mac stated flatly.
"Hey, I let you keep your boxers on." Stella scolded her husband.
"Daddy! Stop touching mommy's bum!" Davie shouted.
Stella and Mac's faces flushed beet red as Lindsay doubled over laughing, leaning on Danny for support.
"Oh, that's so good it has to be fattening." She said breathlessly.
"Hi Miss Stella!" A little girl greeted before rushing to see Emily.
"Hi Stella, how are you?" The little girl's mother asked.
"Oh good, thanks Eva, how about you?" Stella asked in turn.
"Fine, fine, but I forbid Fred from coming." She nodded.
"Why's that?" Stella asked flatly, baffled as to why.
"Because every time he sees you he can't...y'know...with me."
"Oh...I'm gonna hang up Stephanie's coat." Stella said awkwardly.
"That Stella Taylor is so together, and her husband is gorgeous."
"I know...I envy her. She's beautiful too."
"Am I the only one with a husband who's in love with her?
"No."
"Happy birthday dear Emily, happy birthday to you."
"Make a wish, pumpkin." Mac smiled at his daughter, putting his hand on her tiny back. After she flew out the candles everyone clapped and cheered. "What did you wish for?"
"Daddy, you know I can't tell you." Emily scolded her father.
"Okay everyone, it's time for presents." Stella announced.
"Yay!" The kids flushed into the living room with their cake with their cake and ice cream. Stella, Mac, and their friends from the lab followed suit, smiling at the bouncing children.
"Who's it from Emily?" Asked Danny.
"It's from you and Aunt Lindsay and Meggie, Uncle Dan." Emily answered as if it were the silliest question ever asked. She pulled out a large coloring book with the title Around the World. It had pictures of everywhere in the world, including Greece, which little Emmy had taken quite an interest in since her beloved mother was Greek herself.
"What do you say, Emmy?" Asked Mac.
"Thank you." She smiled.
"This one's from Uncle Adam!" She said excitedly. They all turned to a slightly red Adam. "Checkers! Thank you Uncle Adam!"
"You're very welcome, M&M." He ruffled her curls.
After a montage of presents from Uncle Don, Aunt Jess, Uncle Sheldon and of coarse her big brother, they started playing games.
"I wanna play with Emily." One little boy huffed.
"I wanna play with her!" He replied. Emily simply sat playing checkers with Meggie in between the boys, ignorant to their fuss.
"Your daughter is quite popular, Mr. Taylor." Stella whispered to her husband, wrapping her arms around his firmly muscled torso.
"I know, Mrs. Taylor, and I don't like it one bit." He glowered.
"You want our daughter to be a loner?" She asked with a smile.
"I don't want those boys getting anywhere near my little girl! It's like watching men drool over you!" He bristled.
"Mac..." Stella warned, as Mac pulled away. "Don't you dare."
"I'm just going to get some juice."
"What are you doing now?"
"I'm going to have some cake."
"What about now?"
"Stella, what do you think I'm gonna do? Interrogate him?"
"Why not? You did with Eva's husband, Fred!"
The whole lab gang watched from the dining room as Mac would go from the kitchen to the living room with Stella hot on his heels. Mac would walk briskly from one room to the other, making up excuse after excuse as to why, while Stella would follow half a foot behind him.
"Hey kid." Mac stared at the four year old.
"Hi Emily's dad. You're a police man, right?" The boy asked.
"Yeah, and I have a service weapon, you know what that is?"
"Mac!!" Stella practically dragged Mac away from the innocent and confused boy. "I am not going to let you traumatize little boys on my baby's birthday!"
"I'm not going to traumatize anyone!" He protested.
"Mac, if you tell those boys you have a GUN I will never forgive you and either will Emily!" Stella shouted, holding him back.
"Fine! Fine! Can I tell that Fred that I have a service weapon?"
"No!"