Don hadn't been sure on what to expect when he stepped out into the backyard. Sure, he had his own family idiosyncrasies and he'd been to more than his fair share of family get togethers over the years. He was sure he knew how to handle the Lewis family though, after all he spent his days with the scum of New York. Surely this wouldn't be as bad as Emma was fearing.

She was nearly shaking her flip flops as the two of them walked outside. Linda was standing in front of the grill with her uncle Michael. He was a tall, thin man with dark hair. The two of them looked to be in a heated discussion about something as Emma and Don made their way over to them. Michael was the first to notice Emma and a wide smile spread across his face, "Well if it isn't my little Emma!"

He reached out, engulfing Emma in a big bear hug before she could say a word. "It is so good to see you," He was saying as he pulled back to get a better look at her. "I'm going to have to find Carole and get her over here, she won't believe how you look!"

"I hope that's a good thing," Emma laughed. "You look exactly the same though!"

"Ah I see you've got one of those Yankee accents, we're gonna have to get that out of here." It was then Michael noticed Don, eyeing him for a moment before jutting a hand out towards him, "I'm Michael, Emma's uncle."

Of course Don was going to act like the perfect gentleman or else his mother would have his hide. He reached out to shake Michael's hand, "Don Flack, it's nice to meet you."

Michael looked at Emma with a grin on his face, "About time you got a boyfriend, your mom was saying it'd been what? Years since you had a boyfriend."

"Well I don't know about that," Linda said as she motioned for Michael to take over the grill. "Don's one of Emma's friends though, they met when we moved up north."

That seemed to placate her uncle for the moment and Emma shot her mother a thankful look. Linda knew how to save Emma from a potentially embarrassing situation. Emma looked up at Don and he grinned, leaning down towards her. He lowered his voice so only she would hear, "I have a feeling you're gonna get the boyfriend question more than once."

Emma laughed, "Just keep flashing those baby blues at everyone, they'll forget about me in a heartbeat."

An obviously pregnant woman walked over to the two of them and Don deducted that it had to be Emma's cousin Jenny. She looked to be about the same age as Emma, though she was taller and had blonde hair. Her and Emma hugged and Emma spent the next five minutes nearly squealing over her baby bump. Finally she remembered Don and turned towards him, "oh god I'm horrible at this introduction thing." She shook her head, "Jenny this is Don, he's one of my friends from New York. Don this is my cousin Jenny."

Both shook hands and Jenny seemed smitten from the get-go with Don. It was true, all he had to do was smile and it seemed like any female (or male, for that matter) fell for anything he said. Emma turned around to talk to her mom and when she turned back around, Don was nowhere to be found.

She frowned and looked around the yard, finding her friend in the middle of a gaggle of women. She bit her lip to hide a grin, grabbing Linda's arm. "Mom look at that," She said pointing to the middle of the backyard.

Her aunt, Carole, and her teenaged daughter, Holly were in the group with Don. Two of her other cousins, Laurie and Lisa, were also with the group surrounding him, along with Jenny. Linda laughed, "Uh oh, we've lost him to the women.."

"Think we'll ever get him back?"

"With Lisa in there? Probably not. She'll be talking his head off for the next hour, at least." Linda patted her shoulder, "I've got to head into the kitchen to get more chips. Watch Michael, make sure he doesn't burn the burgers."

Emma watched Don for a moment. He was definitely flirting with the whole group of women and they were eating it up like ice cream on a hot summer day. She laughed to herself before turning to her uncle. He flipped one of the burgers, glancing at her, "So how you doin' kiddo? New York treating you okay?"

She smiled, nodding her head, "Oh yeah. I love it there."

"And that guy, that friend of yours, he all right?"

Another smile from her as she reached into the cooler, grabbing a soda from inside of it. "Don's a good guy, trust me. He's a cop." Cop was an easier term to explain than detective, then everyone would want to know every gory detail of every case he'd ever worked.

Michael raised an eyebrow, "A cop, huh?"

"Yeah." She nodded, glancing at the group again, "He's a good person, I swear."

Michael looked a little skeptical. "If you say so. You sure you two aren't together?"

Emma laughed, nodding her head, "Yes I'm sure we're not together." Somehow she knew if her and Don were together, she'd be the first one to know.

She found herself cornered in the kitchen by Laurie and Lisa about a half an hour later. All Emma had done was gone inside to grab some more drinks and when she turned around, the two girls were standing in front of her grinning like cheshire cats. Emma inwardly groaned and set the drinks down on the counter, she was going to need a beer after this. Laurie and Lisa were both stereotypical sorority girls and were both a few years younger than Emma. Laurie was brunette and about the same height as Emma. She was bubbly and loud and had always been outgoing, even as a child. Lisa was a bit more on the quiet side, a tall and skinny blonde who could seem a little standoff-ish at times but was really a sweetheart.

Laurie had a glint in her eye and smiled, "You have got to tell me where you met him because he is seriously hot."

Emma laughed, "We met at school way back in the day. I mean, I'm talking junior high."

It was Lisa's turn to talk as she shared a look with Laurie. "And you're not dating him?"

"Nope." Emma shook her head.

"Why the hell not?" Laurie exclaimed.

Emma wanted to bang her head into the wall. She'd gotten accosted by her Aunt Carole and asked the same thing. Another cousin, Anna, had asked how long her and Don had been together. Of course when she found out they weren't dating, Anna had made a beeline for Don even though she was married to Philip. Emma sighed, looking at her two cousins, "Because we're friends, that's why."

Lisa shrugged her shoulders, "I think you're crazy."

"Well that's your opinion on it.." Emma went to the fridge and grabbed a beer out of it, twisting off the cap before taking a long drink. It was going to be an even longer evening and she had a feeling she'd need all the alcohol she could get if she was going to have put up with all this crap.

The two girls left Emma alone not long after that, saying something about going to fix their hair. Emma leaned her hip against the counter, nursing the beer still as she looked out the window. Don was out in the backyard, only he wasn't surrounded by adoring female adults any longer. This time he was surrounded by four smaller children. Ben and Leigh-Anne were four year old fraternal twins belonging to Philip and Anna. Jordana and Kelsey, seven and five respectively, belonged to Carole and Michael. Emma smiled at the sight, watching as Don had to kneel down in front of the kids to be at a better eye level with them. Of course they were smitten with the older man, everyone seemed to be. That made Emma feel a lot better about it all, she wanted everything to go smoothly and she wanted everyone to like her friend. Of course, Philip and Michael had teased Don about his accent a little but it was all in good fun.

Emma finished off the beer and tossed the bottle away before grabbing the drinks she'd gone inside for the in the first place, and headed back outside. She deposited the drinks with her mother before walking out into the yard to join Don and the kids. He smiled when he saw her, "Well about time I got to see you.."

"Hey you've been busy!" Emma laughed, looking down as Ben latched himself to her leg, "hey you, you having fun?" Ben was blonde haired and blue eyed. Emma hadn't seen him since he was a baby but had heard he was always a loving a little boy, and always wanted someone to play with him. He nodded his head but didn't say anything as he eyed her.

Leigh-Anne was fascinated with Don, leaning against him as she watched Jordana and Kelsey playing in front of them. Don stood up, brushing his jeans off, "So everything okay?"

Emma nodded, "Yeah I think so. You have made a huge splash with my family."

He grinned, "I told you it'd be fine."

"Yeah yeah, what else do I owe you now?"

"A drink?"

She shrugged and untangled herself from Ben, "You kids go play, we'll be back in a little bit."

The two of them made their way into the house, each grabbing a beer along the way. "Your family seems great Em, I don't know why you were so worried."

"Me neither, to be honest," She said with a shrug. "I swear I thought you were going to get kidnapped by Aunt Carole and Anna."

He laughed, leaning against the arm of the couch once they moved into the living room. "Whatever."

"I'm serious! They were definitely flirting with you."

He shook his head, "Nope. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Uh huh." She slid down onto the couch, stretching her legs out in front of her, "I know my mom was worried about my cousin Charlie showing up."

"How come?"

Emma laid her head back on the cushions, "Well every family's gotta have the one member that's a tad bit...out there. And it'd be him."

He moved to sit down next to her, stretching his own legs out. "What'd you mean?"

"Let's just say, he's always blamed my mom for the divorce. He was a big fan of my dad's. But he's had some problems with drugs and alcohol in the past."

"Who are his parents?"

"Oh! That might help.." Emma laughed some, "Sorry. He's the oldest of my Aunt Kathy. She's not here either though, her and mom don't exactly get along. But we weren't sure if either would show up to this thing or not."

"Well, hopefully neither shows up to cause any trouble. It'd suck to ruin your trip and ruin Jenny's baby shower.."

She nodded, "Yeah I know. I've never understood why my mom and Kathy never got along. Mom's called me nearly in tears before, after trying to talk to her. Kathy tried to say mom was stealing grandma's money when she was sick."

Both of them had slid further down into the cushions, only the tops of their heads visible over the top of the couch. Don nodded as he listened, aware that Emma had some aunts and other family members that they didn't talk to often. He just didn't know the extent. She took another drink of her beer before talking again, "Which none of that was true, why would mom do that? I got a pretty nasty phone call with grandma died, Kathy was pissed that I wasn't flying back for the funeral. I don't even remember why I didn't fly back but I remember that phone call." She sighed softly moving to lay against him some. Don shifted some but was still quiet as he listened to her. "She called me a bunch of names, said my mom had been stealing money and everyone knew it. So needless to say, the people that are here tonight are the ones that know mom and didn't believe any of the crap Kathy was saying. There's other family members that have been brainwashed pretty much and think mom and I are the worst people ever to be born on earth."

Don shook his head, now leaning against Emma as much as she was leaning against him. "That's ridiculous. Families tend to get weird when one member is sick or hurt though. People say things knowing they'll hurt the other party and it sucks. And it's sad. But...I think people will get theirs eventually. You have wonderful people around you, Emma. Don't let her or your cousin get you down."

She smiled, lifting her head up to look at him better, "I know..and thank you."

He smiled as well, "You keep thanking me.."

"So? Gonna do something about it?"

He leaned in more towards her, licking his lips unconsciously as she did the same, "I might have to, you know."

"Do what?" She asked in a whisper, blinking a couple of times. Someone needed to inform him not to do that because it was highly attractive.

Don smirked some, barely brushing his lips over hers before he pulled back, shrugging his shoulders as he took a drink of his beer. "Do something about you thanking me all the damn time."

Emma blinked a couple of more times, sitting back once he pulled away. Did he just do what she thought he did? It was so quick and..soft, she wasn't sure if it really had happened. She nodded dumbly before she found her voice, "Oh..oh yeah. Well..I'll try to stop then." She took a long drink of her own beer, she was beginning to think she just imagined the kiss. Surely it was her imagination playing tricks on her, it was that and the alcohol.