Starie, this is for you. Word count is a thing ;)

The Simmonses were the first guests to arrive. Well… two of them, anyway.

"Where are the kids?" JJ said in surprise after the help took the Simmonses coats for them. "Both of mine are around. Somewhere."

Kristy laughed. "We lucked out—Matt's brother actually agree to watch our tribe of weirdos when we asked."

JJ spoke in further surprise. "Hosea lives in town?"

"Uh-huh. He and his wife and their brood live about fifteen minutes from us. Abigail's place is just a little past theirs."

At the look of polite puzzlement on Emily's face, JJ enlightened her. "Hosea and Abigail are Matt's two older siblings."

"Got it." Emily spoke next to the Simmonses directly. "Hey—Spencer is already here, and I bet he's in the kitchen. Why don't we go say hi?"

The Simmonses liked this and followed Emily out of the front hall.

JJ stayed put, waiting on everyone else.

Tara showed up after the Simmonses.

Penelope arrived next. Then Luke.

Rossi, minutes later.

"You look happy." he told JJ.

"I am. It's a wonder what a whole day without a case, and an evening with loved ones can bring."

"Don't I know it. Anything you want to share about what's going on at home?"

Rossi still had suspicions of his friend's pregnancy, and was trying to bait her into a response. JJ deflected him.

"Not today." JJ noticed a tote that Rossi was carrying in one hand. "What's in there?"

"A 1999 Right Bank Bordeaux from the wine cellar at my place." he said. "Special occasions call for special celebrations."

"You've got no argument from me on that one. When you were outside just now, did you see anyone else?"

Rossi thought about it. "No, but I think someone is pulling up now."

JJ looked out of the window her friend was adjacent to; it gave her a view of the driveway and the lane beyond. August had pulled up in a decent-sized car. He worked at top speed to help his wife, his mother, his sister, his daughter, and his niece from their confines. Clifford was nowhere in sight. But JJ didn't care. Getting his bouquet had been enough.

"M'am?"

JJ turned to see that Margaux, the head of the house help, had arrived again.

"Yes?" JJ asked her.

"The ambassador sent me over to see if you need anything."

"I don't, but," she indicated her colleague. "This is David Rossi. Could you show him where everyone else is, please?"

Margaux nodded. Rossi followed her away.

JJ waited on the others.

Katherine, Hannah, and Aurora entered the house first. Lucy and Olivia were just behind them. August was last.

As the Baltimore clan was the largest amount of people to arrive, the full help appeared as if out of nowhere to take their things for them. They were gone again almost as quickly as they had come.

"Woah." said August. "What just happened?"

"Everything in this house happens at the speed of light." JJ joked. "I'm just happy to see so many of you."

Hannah said hastily, "Clifford elected to stay home. I'm sure you understand."

"Yes, but please tell him that I did receive his flowers this morning."

"Will d—"

Olivia spoke over Hannah, excited by a thought that had just popped into her head. "Aunt JJ! What about our flowers?"

"I got those, Olivia, so don't worry. They're on my desk at work. I'll see them all the time."

"Good." Olivia said with serious approval.

Lucy piped up, "What about the flowers that we sent?"

"Also on my desk at work." JJ informed her.

"Hooray!"

The little girls then began to chatter to each other, discussing what they wanted to do next. Aurora took this opportunity to speak to her sister-in-law uninterrupted.

"Who all knows about the twins?" she asked.

"Will, Henry and Michael, my mother, Emily and her parents, and my co-worker, Matt."

"Understood. Our lips are zipped, and we've had words with Lucy and Olivia about blabbing."

"I appreciate that." JJ pointed to two flower bouquets that Aurora was carrying. "Who are those for?"

Aurora laughed as August lifted the bouquets from her arms and handed one each to the toddlers.

"I forgot I was holding them. The girls wanted to brings flowers to Emily's mother because they understand what 'making a good first impression' means."

"Elizabeth is going to love that." JJ beckoned for the small crowd to accompany her. "Time to head to the kitchen before they send out a search party."

Elizabeth was indeed quite flattered by the offers of the 'good first impression' gifts. Olivia and Lucy even found Fitzhugh to be very charming. Any nervousness they'd had was previously gone.

But then came a new obstacle.

Being introduced to their new family members. At least they had been warned ahead of time.

August, Aurora, and Hannah were easy enough to take in because they each had their own individuality about them. Katherine confused them because of her strong resemblance to JJ. It was difficult to digest the fact that she wasn't their mother's twin. Olivia and Lucy tripped the boys up the most. They looked like miniature versions of JJ. The family genes were insanely strong across the generations.

"I know what you're thinking," JJ told her sons. "But they are your cousins from Baltimore. Say hi."

Henry snapped out of it first and waved to the girls. "Hi."

Michael blew kisses to Olivia and Lucy. They giggled.

Olivia stepped forward and took Henry by the hand as she looked up at him. "Do you like books?"

"I do."

Michael told Olivia, "We have books!"

Lucy glanced about. "Where?"

"In the other room." Henry answered.

Michael proceeded to take Lucy's hand, enamored. "We'll show you."

And just like that, the newly-formed posse left for the main sitting room. They seemed oblivious to the surprise of the adults.

"Well, okay." JJ quipped. "That's that. We are definitely all family here."

Everyone agreed.

Dinner was a big success.

Elizabeth and Fitzhugh outdid themselves with a meal of several different pasta dishes and casseroles, a variety of cooked vegetables, two kinds of salads, a variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks alike, and of course, a mountain Emily's cheese-filled biscuits. Those were a huge hit. Brownie trifle was even on the menu for dessert.

Emily enjoyed being in the thick of things, and her parents were pleased to see their daughter happy. She was glowing.

However... Emily did notice at one point that Katherine had found a seat away from everyone else. She looked lost in thought.

Emily sat beside her. "Everything alright?"

"Yes." Katherine said softly.

"It looked like you were a million miles away just now."

"Sure felt so."

"You're in a room full of profilers, and even one extremely bright analyst, all of whom could sniff out your issue very fast. I'm the one who stops to think first."

Katherine absently played with a lock of stray hair. "It would be a lot easier to talk about it where it's quieter."

"Do you want to talk about it upstairs? Should I get JJ and Will?"

"Y—"

"What's happening over here?"

JJ had wandered over with August and Aurora.

"Your sister's told me that she has things she wants to talk about." Emily replied. "I asked her if she wanted to discuss it upstairs."

JJ turned to her sister. "Kit, are you in trouble?"

"Not per se. It is rather pressing, though."

"Okay." JJ patted the younger woman on the shoulder. "And what about you two?"

JJ was talking to August and Aurora now. Both of them had become suspiciously quiet.

"There some items we also want to share." August admitted to her.

"Do you know what Kit is talking about?"

Aurora nodded. "Yes, but not all of it."

Here, the conversation was interrupted yet again, this time by Will.

"What happened?" he asked. "I thought were gathering people for cards. Elizabeth is wiping the board with Spencer at chess. He's ruffled about it."

Emily's insides jumped at this. Not many people could best Spencer at his favorite game. The fact that her mother was hard at it was both impressive and amusing. She really wanted to watch.

But it seemed that she was needed where she was. "Katherine, August, and Aurora have important things they want to share, but it seems that a crowded party is hardly the time or place."

Will surveyed the young people assembled before him. Each was related to him because of his wife. Giving them all a place to land was the right thing to do. Family took care of family.

"Why don't all of you come over for an early dinner tomorrow?" he finally said. "We can get pizza, and talk about whatever it is that all three of you are sitting on."

They liked this idea, but deferred to JJ and Emily.

"What are you all looking at me for?" Emily cried.

"You're important to us, too." August explained while Katherine and Aurora nodded with great fervor. "You're our family. Will you be there?"

"Yes, of course, but I can't say how long I'll be about to stay." Emily thought of her impending date with Virginia. "I think JJ gets to have the final say."

All eyes fell to the blonde. She didn't hesitate. "Will six o'clock work for everyone?"

"Yes." they chorused.

"Alright." JJ told them. "I'll send you all our address tomorrow."

Katherine was visibly relieved. "Thanks."

August and Aurora each expressed their own thanks before departing the group in search of card players again. Katherine decided to check on Olivia. Emily made for the chess players, post haste. Elizabeth was up against Rossi now. Their competition was fierce.

The LaMontagnes remained behind.

They were standing out at one end of the room, watching everything and everybody. Both of them felt that their hearts were very full.

"What are you thinking about?" Will asked JJ when he spotted a small smile on her face.

JJ kissed him. "I'm thinking about how much more full our lives are going to be, a year from now."

"Very full." Will enveloped JJ in a close enough hold that he could feel her baby bump against him. "I love you, Jennifer. I will always be in awe of this big, crazy family that we helped create. Life wouldn't be the same without any one of them."

"Isn't that the truth?" JJ agreed. "How about we go check out the chess game?"

A few people stayed after the party to help clean up.

This left Emily's thoughts free to run about Virginia again. On the other hand, JJ decided that this 'shift change' was a good time to try to pry more information from her partner about her. It was very fun to have a big sister in her life after all these years.

But Emily saw through her.

She spoke with her hands on her hips. "Jennifer Alexandra, I can read you like the back of my hand. What do you want?"

They were in the kitchen again.

JJ had rather a cheeky look on her face. "It's about your date—"

"Shut up!" Emily hissed. "I don't want everyone to know!"

These words were just out of her mouth when Penelope walked through the room, hot-footed. She was being chased.

"Jayje? Em? Help?"

Michael, Olivia, and Lucy were following her, matching her movements at the slightest deviation. Penelope didn't know what to make to it. The kids thought it was very funny.

"Just keep going." JJ called as Penelope and her ducklings passed by. "They'll sleep like logs if you wear them out."

So Penelope continued through the kitchen and back out again, her duckling tittering in amusement all the while.

JJ tried again with Emily. "So about your date—"

The next disruption happened as Emily's parents breezed in with Will. They had been having a conversation about future get-togethers. Their collective interest was piqued forthwith when they saw that JJ and Emily were trying too hard to hide their own discussion.

Will smirked. "Never mind what we were talking about."

Elizabeth nodded. "You two are behaving like you are sisters."

"They do that all the time, actually." Will told her.

Fitzhugh spoke to his daughter with an air of egging her on. "Well, Emelise Adele? What was that about a date?"

She rolled her eyes in a very spectacular manner, realizing that she was cornered. Having a big family was going to take some getting used to.

"Oh, alright." Emily said in mock exasperation. "I do have a date."

"With whom?" Will asked.

"Ginny."

In response to this, Will beamed like a pleased little brother. He also held out a hand to Fitzhugh. So did Elizabeth. Fitzhugh gave them each a twenty dollar bill. They'd settled some kind of bet.

"And what was that?" Emily inquired.

Will happily filled her in. "Your mother and I bet your father twenty bucks apiece that the whole reason you brought Ginny Lynn up to begin with today was because you have a date with her. You told me, but you didn't say any specific name."

"That's very sharp intuition." Emily praised. "The date is tomorrow night."

She moved her attention her parents. Her voice was heavily-laden with apprehension. A lot of things hinged on this next part.

"What do two think?"

"I'm really happy for you that things are looking up." Elizabeth said with true goodwill. "Ginny is a really fun and interesting person."

Fitzhugh backed his wife up. "Your mother is right. We really love Ginny. She's one in a million, chickpea. Bring her by when you're both ready for it."

Emily grinned at her parents' accolades. This gave her all the more confidence about being with Virginia. How she wished she could just talk to her already.

But she hugged Fitzhugh. "Thanks, I will definitely bring Ginny by."

Elizabeth held Emily's face in her hands. "We can't wait."

They hugged their offspring again and vacated the room. Will trailed after them. Emily and JJ were alone again.

"How are you feeling now?" Emily asked her partner.

Emily let out a shaky breath. "Happy. Content. The only thing I want now is to call Ginny."

"Okay. Help Will and I corral the boys, and we'll go home."

Emily was all too eager to make that happen.