Sleepover at Grandma's
Summary: When in the midst of family chaos, what do the Walkers do? They play Nintendo Wii.
A/N: Well, my sister and I were playing Hannah Montana: World Tour on Wii, before a new episode of Brothers&Sisters, so this was bound to happen. I figured it was somewhat appropriate, since Hannah Montana has been referenced on the show a couple of times (product placement much?).
Anyway, this happens shortly after "Spring Broken." I have attempted (then failed and abandoned) a B&S story once before, but I'm still a little shaky about characters and such.
Sarah ran through her house and gathered any random toys or other accessories she thought her kids would need, then shoved the item into Paige's hot pink backpack she was holding. There was a business conference for dot com companies this weekend, and Joe had some cousin's wedding to attend in another state. While she would back out, she hadn't wanted to miss out on the opportunity, so her mother offered to take the kids. Sarah couldn't be more grateful, but didn't feel too bad since she had a feeling her mother was looking forward to some quality grandchildren time as well. "Paige, Cooper! Get down here now! We're leaving for Grandma's house in five minutes!"
"But I need to find my PSP!"
"I don't care, Cooper!" Sarah insisted. "If you don't come down soon, I'm leaving without you!"
"I wish Uncle Tommy was still here! Then I could stay here with him!"
"You and me both, kid," Sarah muttered under her breath. The thought of her brother had her sitting down to a break at the dining room table. She went to rest her elbow on a book on a table, realized it was Paige's homework book, and threw that into the backpack as well.
Her busy household had been turned upside down since her…two… brothers returned from "Spring Break" in Baja. How could I have been so stupid? She wondered for the hundredth time. "Hey, Kevin, here's an idea – why don't you take our brother. who's facing criminal charges and convinced he's innocent, on a trip?"In her defense, she hadn't been the one to come up with the bright idea of crossing the border. Why didn't I suggest Disney Land?Her only other consolation was that she'd had the best of intentions at heart. And that her mother still didn't know.
Yes, four days had passed since the guys got back, and their mother still didn't know. They'd told Kitty when she called, but they'd been too afraid to tell Nora, especially after what happened at "The Ryan Dinner" two weeks ago. They knew they had to tell her, but with everything else going on, they were afraid this would push her over the edge. So far, Nora had stayed out of Tommy's legal troubles because she already had Kitty and Ryan to worry about.
For the moment, they told her that Tommy had come back from Spring Break in no better mood, and was too busy working out things with his lawyers and trying to reach Julia to check in with her. She'd bought it…or at least, gave the impression of buying it…but they had a feeling sooner or later she'd demand to hear his voice, or else storm over to Sarah's house (where she'd been told he was still staying) herself.
With everything going on, Sarah was wondering how she would keep her head on straight enough to talk with business people at the conference this weekend. Because of recent developments she'd considered staying home. However, her previous insistence to go, combined with the kids already booked to stay at Grandma's, would surely raise Nora's suspicions to an all-time high.
At the sound of her kids bounding down the stairs, Sarah jumped up and gathered whatever junk she could find on the way to the living room. At the very least, her house wasn't a hotel anymore. While Tommy had gone on the lam, Justin had come back almost a new person. He'd been so refreshed that he insisted that he was well enough to stay in his own apartment.
On a side note, Sarah had her suspicions that something was…off about Justin. Not wrong, just different. He had some big secret, she was sure of that.
But she'd leave it alone for the moment. She was too frazzled by everything else going on to create more unnecessary drama for herself.
"Kids, you ready? I told Grandma you'd be there in time for dinner!" Sarah shouted. Of course, her mother had insisted on making dinner for the kids. Sarah didn't mind at all – it gave her less of a hassle before she caught her flight to New York.
Which was leaving in four hours, since she'd taken the later flight. Because travel rules said to be at the airport two hours beforehand, she only had two hours to drop the kids off and get to the airport.
Paige and Cooper reached the bottom of the stairs, their arms and pockets filled with every last toy or technical gadget they would need for the next two days. Paige whined, "Mom, I can't find my –"
"Pink backpack?" Sarah replied and held up the offending object.. "How many times have I told you not to leave it in the living room when you get home from school?"
"Sorry," Paige grumbled as she struggled to keep her belongings in her arms on her way to her mother. She then dumped her armload in the backpack…which was half-full. "Hey! What's Cooper's junk doing in here?"
"It was the only bag lying around," Sarah replied, to which Paige sulked and went back to stand back by her brother. At Paige's movement, something stuck out of her backpack. "Oh, Paige, you're bringing your Nintendo Wii?" Sarah chided. One of Joe's wealthy relatives had bought it for them for Christmas. "Don't bring that, you'll get it all scratched up on the way there."
Paige gave her mother a pleading look. "Please, Mom? I want to play Hannah Montana: World Tour with Grandma!"
"Grandma won't want to play that. She'll want to play Mario Kart with me!" Cooper insisted as he pointed to the game among the items in his hand.
Sarah couldn't help but laugh. The mental picture of her mother playing either game was too funny. For that reason alone, she agreed, "Alright, you can bring it. But if I hear that you two fought over it once, it stays home from now on, got it?"
"Got it," the kids muttered in unison on their way out the door.
"Don't leave anything in the backseat," Sarah warned as they pulled up to Nora's house. In the rearview mirror, she could see her kids frantically getting together their various backpacks and other items. "Otherwise it'll spend the weekend in the car in the driveway." She was planning on using her own car to drop off the kids, then take a cab to the airport.
In about three minutes the kids had all of their belongings and got out of the car. Sarah walked up with them to the front door…only to have Nora open it before she could ring the bell. "There you are!" Nora exclaimed. She hugged each of her grandchildren as they came into the foyer. "Guess what we're having for dinner?"
"McDonald's?" Cooper asked hopefully. Sarah tried not to give the kids fast food for dinner too often.
Nora laughed. "Of course not – I knew you were coming, so I made macaroni and cheese!"
"The box kind?" Paige replied.
"No, not the box kind. This is much better, you'll see," Nora added the last part quickly at her grandchildren's doubtful looks.. "Now, why don't you two run upstairs and drop off all that stuff?"
While Cooper ran ahead, Paige paused and looked up at her grandmother. "I brought my Hannah Montana game. Will you play it on Wii with me?"
"Will I play what?" Nora asked in confusion.
"Nintendo Wii. It's a video game system, Mom," Sarah explained, a smile on her face. It was very hard not to laugh at her mother's predicament. "Like the Super Nintendo Tommy had."
Nora nodded in understanding. "Oh, yeah, I remember that! I was good at that game where you had to make the little Italian man jump over holes in the ground."
When Paige stared in pure bewilderment, Sarah couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Trust me, Super Mario has come a long way since the '80s."
"They had Super Mario back then? Wow," Paige replied, only half-joking. When her mother and grandmother made it clear that they weren't amused, she gave them a weak smile and bolted upstairs after her brother.
Sarah shook her head. "As for game playing tips, I suggest having an ice pack and plenty of aspirin on hand."
"Duly noted," Nora replied with a laugh. She began to walk into the kitchen and invited Sarah to follow. "Do you have some time before your flight? Did you eat?"
As she followed her mother, she checked her watch. "I guess I could sit for a few minutes," Sarah agreed while they entered the kitchen. Truth be told, she had been planning on getting some food court crap at the airport, so if her mother happened to have any actual food lying around, she wouldn't say no. "And not really, I was going to…"
Sarah trailed off when she reached the kitchen entryway. Much to her surprise, Justin sat at the island, a pile of papers in his hand. He was looking at them so intently that he didn't even notice her entrance. "Hey, Justin, what are you doing here?"
"Oh, jeez!" Justin exclaimed and jumped off the stool. "Don't you knock…at the kitchen door…" The stack of papers went behind his back, then he began to back out of the kitchen through the back door.
But Sarah pounced on him. "Oh, no you don't!" she exclaimed. Her curiosity of what he could be hiding from her at an all-time peak, she raced across the kitchen and snatched the papers from his grasp before he could even blink.
Frustrated, Justin tried to grab the papers back while she read them. "Come on, give those back! You have no right to…"
"Oh my God…" Sarah said in a near-whisper as she glanced at her brother and mother for confirmation. "These are medical school applications."
"He came over for help rewriting his essay," Nora explained with an apologetic look at her son. It was clear that in her effort to give her daughter dinner, she'd forgotten that her soon needed privacy.
When Sarah's gaze shifted back to him, Justin nodded. "I want to be a doctor."
Sarah gaped at both of them while she took in the situation. Justin was going to med school? Justin? Once she took a couple of seconds to work through the surprise, she found that she was…relieved. After all the trauma he went through when he was a soldier, then drug addiction, and most recently his break up with Rebecca…it was so comforting to hear that Justin was figuring out his life. "That's…that's amazing! I'm so happy for you!" she exclaimed, then wrapped her brother in a congratulatory hug.
"Really? You don't think it's stupid?" Justin asked as he hugged her back, relieved by her unexpected reaction.
"No, of course not!" Sarah assured him when they broke apart. "After everything you've been through, it's about time you did something like this. You deserve this and I know you can do it if you set your mind to it."
"Thanks, Sarah," Justin replied.
His recent trip with Tommy and Kevin in mind, Sarah asked, "So does everyone know?"
"Just Kitty doesn't, I haven't really talked to her lately," Justin explained. "But I told Kevin, and then he blabbed it to Tommy."
"Yeah. Have either of you talked to Tommy this week? I've been calling him constantly and he hasn't called back once," Nora ranted, her temper spiked at the mention of him
Sarah and Justin traded worried glances, then quickly looked away. "No, uh, he's just really busy. You know, I'm going to go check on the kids," Sarah said, then made a bee-line for the stairs.