Title: Father Knows Best
Characters: Goren, Eames
Summary: Alex' Dad has a heart-to-heart chat with Bobby. Be a fly on the wall and listen in on that conversation! Inspired by Lady Taevyn's fan fic, Pseudo Happy Family.
Genre: Romance/Humor
Rating: T
Reviews welcome.
It was another Eames' family Memorial Day barbeque. The immediate world seemed to be in attendance. Kids galore, from infants through high schoolers. There was a Nerf touch football game going on. Frisbees flying through the air. The volleyball net was seeing action. The blue plastic above-ground pool must've have had a dozen kids in it with adults supervising.
As patriarch of the family, John Eames was in charge of the barbeque grill. It was a responsibility he took seriously. Burgers, hot dogs, chicken, ribs. You could never have too much food, not with this crowd. Picnic tables were overflowing with salads, baked beans, corn on the cob, pretzels, chips, dips, fresh vegetables. Coolers held beer, soda, lemonade, juice, water. Desserts and coffee would make their appearance later on.
His wife, Mary, appeared at his side, surveying the scene.
"Do you think it's enough, Johnny?" she asked, as she handed him a cold drink.
"We're not in any danger of running out of food unless an Army Airborne division parachutes in and starts eating, honey," chuckled her husband.
His wife quickly scanned the sky.
"Let me know if you hear incoming choppers, John," as she gently elbowed her husband in the ribs.
John eyed the scene approvingly. His children that were married had married well. Not well as in rich, but well as in good people… honest, hard working, loyal, caring. One son was still single, but he was young yet. The only single daughter was Alex. The cop. Just like her old man. Well, to tell the truth, Alex had been married, to another cop. He had died in the line of duty several years ago. Alex had since been reluctant to form another permanent relationship with any man, cop or otherwise.
Today she'd brought her NYPD partner to the get-together, Detective First Grade Bobby Goren. Bobby came to so many Eames' events that he was considered family. John Eames just shook his head. These two were made for each other, but neither seemed able to acknowledge it. To themselves or to one another.
When Alex was a surrogate mother for her sister, it was to Bobby she sent the first photo of the new baby. John knew that Bobby visited her in the hospital right after the birth. Alex had placed baby Travis in Bobby's arms. Goren had held the infant as tenderly as if he had been his own child. His son-in-law, Thomas, had sent him the photo of Bobby with the baby from his camera phone. Goren could not have looked any prouder if he were holding his own son.
When John had shown the photo to his wife, she'd commented that Alex needed to have a baby of her own.
"With Bobby?"
"Can you think of a man who loves her more?" asked Mary.
Nope, he couldn't.
John looked around the yard. There was Bobby in the pool with the kids. Letting them stand on his big shoulders and jump into the water. At six feet four inches tall, Uncle Bobby made an excellent diving platform. And he seemed to be having as much fun as the kids. Alex was helping with her nieces and nephews, she had baby Travis in one arm while holding the hand of a toddler simultaneously. Just like an experienced mom.
A while later John Eames actually had a chance to sit down and eat. He'd plopped down next to Bobby, who was holding another toddler in his arms, while trying to feed both himself and the child. How many single guys would do that? Goren seemed to be enjoying the moment.
"You're pretty good with the little ones, Bobby."
"Babies rate pretty high in my book, but I'm afraid she's wearing more of it than she's eating, Mr. Eames."
"That would be normal, son. You want me to take her so you can eat with two hands?"
"That's OK, sir. I've got it covered," as the kid smeared food on his t-shirt. Goren wasn't fazed in the least.
"Bobby, you are the only person here who calls me sir. Please call me John or Johnny."
"Yes, sir…I mean, John," nodded Goren.
"Bobby, I heard that you would like to have a baby with my daughter Alex."
Goren did a double-take, making sure to keep a good hold of the toddler in his arms so he didn't drop her.
"Ahhh…what makes you think that, sir…umm ..John?"
"Bobby, do you remember when you and Alex went to visit Janie and Thomas a few months ago at their apartment?"
"Mmm…yeah."
"Well, someone overheard you talking to baby Travis."
What did I say to Travis that anyone would consider worth remembering?
"You said, 'Maybe one of these years I'll get my head on right and you might just get a cousin.' Do you recall saying that?"
Yeah, I said something like that to Travis.
"Well, uh…now that you mention it...sir…John…"
"So, son, what are your intentions towards my daughter?"
"Umm…well… you know that the NYPD frowns upon partner fraternization…"
"Bobby, please let me speak frankly here."
I thought you were already doing that!
"Of course, John…"
"You and Alex are not getting any younger. It's not like you're a couple of twenty-somethings, you know."
"That's umm ..certainly true…"
"If Travis is ever going to be seeing any cousins from this direction you two might want to hustle this thing along here, son."
"Uh..yes…sir….I mean, John."
"And, Bobby, the partner you have in life is much more important than the partner you have on the job. Just a little bit of advice from an old cop."
"But…uh..John…I'm not at all sure that…uh…Alex feels that way about me…"
"The Eames' clan has been observing you two together for a couple of years now. We're sure. Not a doubting Thomas among us. You two are much more than police partners, Bobby. The only question is, what are you going to do about it?"
Bobby stalled by feeding the toddler some little pieces of chicken from his plate.
"I…I have no idea…."
"Are you going to wait around for some other guy to come along and scoop her up? Turn around, Bobby, take a look at Alex holding Travis and Katie. She could be holding your babies, Bobby, yours and hers."
John Eames' caught the expression that crossed Bobby's face. The if only expression. John knew that he had him now.
"And we know all about your family background, son. No one sees it as a problem, because it isn't , so stop letting it hold you back. You're a good man. You'll make a fine husband and a good father," insisted John Eames, as he patted Bobby's arm.
"I…I appreciate your …uh…vote of confidence, John, but I'd have to convince your daughter…"
"Surely you know how to court a woman, Bobby?"
"I don't know that I've ever actually courted a woman before…"
"Just speak from your heart, son. And…what's that expression that Alex said your captain uses? Oh, yeah….step into her," grinned John Eames.
Three months later.
Date: the Sunday of Labor Day Weekend
Place: the home of John and Mary Eames
It was another Eames' family gathering. Considerably larger than the last one, if such a thing were possible.
"Do you, Robert , take this woman, Alexandra, to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, as long as you both shall live?"
"I do."
"Do you, Alexandra , take this man, Robert, to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, as long as you both shall live?"
""I do."
Date: Eighteen months later.
Place: Birthing suite at Little Flower Hospital
"It's a girl!" exclaimed the midwife.
"Perfect Apgar score of ten," said the attending neonatologist, "Your daughter's an A student already."
"Do we have a name yet, Mom and Dad?" asked a nurse.
"Margaret Mary Eames-Goren,to be known as Maggie."
"Well, Maggie weighed in at eight pounds, three ounces, twenty one and a half inches long."
Bobby looked at his daughter with utter amazement.
"I didn't realize that a baby could be born with so much hair."
"Everyone knows which side of the gene pool those gorgeous dark curls came from," said Alex, as Bobby snapped camera phone photos and sent them to the immediate world.
"Yeah," Bobby grinned, as pride and gratitude filled his heart.
FIN.
"Babies rate pretty high in my book." – Bobby, Ill-Bred, Season 3.
'Maybe one of these years I'll get my head on right and you might just get a cousin.'-- from Pseudo Happy Family