Monday

Tommy was woke up by the sound of a little kid laughing, he sat up and listened and heard it again. Just then he remembered that Julia was coming home today, and it must be her.

So he got out of bed and got dressed, and went out to see her.

As soon as he walked into the room, he was tackled on the couch.

"Uncle Tom-Tom, I've missed you sooo much."

Tommy laughed and gave her a hug "I've missed you to kiddo."

Julia frowned slightly "Uncle Tommy, I'm not a kid anymore."

Tommy looked thoughtful "Oh sorry I forgot, you're what twenty twenty-one now right?"

Julia laughed "Uncle Tom-Tom, I'm only six."

Tommy was trying to keep a straight face "Really? You look so grown up for six."

Julia rolled her eyes "Oh really? Well you look so old for twenty-seven."

Tommys eyes widened "Oh yeah? Well....ok I've got nothing for that, you win." Then he narrowed his eyes at her "This time." He said and they both laughed.

Maggie had been sitting in the chair, and now rolled her eyes "OK guys do you have to do that every time you see each other?"

Tommy and Julia both looked at her, and nodded "Well yeah." They said at the same time.

Maggie just laughed at them and then asked where Jude was.

Tommy shrugged "I think she's still sleeping."

Julia smiled "Jude's here? Where is she, I'll go get her."

Maggie smiled at her daughter "She's in the guest room but I don't know if you should wake her up yet."

Tommy smiled at Julia "I'm sure she won't mind Julia." He turned to Maggie "She loves Julia, in fact we were talking about her last night and Jude said she was a great kid, really amazing."

After saying those words, Tommy gets a thoughtful look in his eye.

Maggie saw this "What are you thinking about?"

Tommy shook his head and gave her a smile "Nothing important." But again he gets the same look in his eye. He just didn't want to tell Maggie that after saying those things about Julia, Jude went on to say she was just like him. "Does that mean she thinks of me that way?" He wondered to himself.

Just then they hear a squeal and Julia yell out "Jude, I'm so happy to see you" and they look at each other and laugh.

Then they hear Julia ask Jude a question and Jude get very quiet.

In Judes room

Jude wakes up to Julia yelling at her, she sits up and gets tackled back down with Julia sitting on top of her.

Jude chuckles lightly "Hey, I'm glad you're back."

Julia reached down and hugged her "I'm so happy to see you, are you and Uncle Tommy back together?"

Jude started a little, not prepared for that question, then she shook her head and gave Julia a small smile "Well, no honey, me and your Uncle Tommy are just friends."

Julia thought about that for a moment, then shrugged "OK, I just wondered if you were going to be my aunt yet, but I guess not."

Jude didn't know what to say, she loved this kid, but she sure knew how to make a person uncomfortable.

-----"No kiddo but that's OK, you can never have to many friends."

Jude looks up and sees Tommy in the doorway, she smiles at him but he just looks at Julia "Hey what do you say me and you go get stuff for a cookout for the forth?"

Julia jumped up "OK, but can Jude come too?"

Tommy hesitated, then nodded "If she wants to, yeah."

Julia looked at Jude "So you want to come too?"

Jude looked at Tommy, and notices him acting a little weird, and she shook her head "Thanks, but I think I'm just going to stay here, maybe next time alright?"

Julia nodded "OK." She got down off the bed, and walked past Tommy "Come, let's go."

With a chuckled Tommy walked out behind her "OK ok, I'm coming."

Jude watched Tommy walk away with Julia, wondering if he seemed upset because of what she said to Julia.

She didn't want to hurt him or Julia, but she couldn't tell the little girl they were back together, that would be a lie.

As she was getting out of bed she heard someone at the door, she looked up and it was Maggie "Hey, did they leave?"

Jude nodded "Yeah, Tommy took her to get some stuff for Wednesday, for a cookout."

Maggie nodded "You hungry? I made breakfast, if you want any."

Jude nodded and smiled "Yeah I'll be right there."

So Jude got dressed and went to have breakfast with Maggie.

Tommy and Julia

Julia and Tommy were walking down an aisle, looking for hot dog buns, when Julia turned to him "Uncle Tom-Tom?

Tommy looked down at her "Yeah?"

"You love Jude. Don't you?" The way she said it, made it sound like a statement more than a question.

Tommy stopped waling, and looked at her, wondering if it was so obvious that a six year old could see it?

He nodded "Yeah I do." She was always the one person he told everything to "But we can't tell her that alright."

Julia nodded "Alright, but why not?"

Tommy took a deep breath "Because she's getting married to someone else, and so we don't want to confuse her."

Julia looked a little confused herself "OK Uncle Tommy, I won't tell her."

Tommy nodded, then wanted to know something "How did you know?" He asked "That I was in love with her?"

Julia's eyes bugged out "You're IN love with her!? Oh wow, I thought you just loved her like a friend. So that's why I can't tell her, OK."

Tommy looked surprised "Yeah, that's why."

Julia looked back to him "If you love her, why don't you just tell her, then maybe she won't marry this other guy, and you can be together."

Tommy shook his head "Sometimes kid, you sound to much like your mother. The truth is, I'm not good enough for her."

Julia rolled her eyes "That's stupid, you should fight for her."

Tommy just looked at her, wondering if her mother had told her to say these things.

He grabbed the hot dog buns "Let's just get this stuff home, and not worry about me anymore alright?

Julia shrugged "Yeah, whatever you say."

Later At Home

Maggie walked into Julia's room, and sat down on the bed beside the little girl "Hey honey."

Julia looked at her and smiled "Hi Mommy."

Maggie raised her brows "So did you do like mommy said, did you get him to tell you?"

Julia nodded and her smile widened "Oh yeah, he talked, but he told me not to tell her."

Maggie nodded "Did he tell you not to tell anyone?"

Julia thought for a moment, then shook her head "No, just her."

Maggie smiled "Do you want to tell me?"

Julia smiled again and nodded "Yeah."

So Julia told her how Tommy said he was in love with Jude, and that he wasn't good enough for her, and that's why he wouldn't tell her.

After their talk, Maggie told Julia it was time for bed "You did good kid, thanks for helping me."

Just as Maggie was about to walk out of the room, Julia stopped her "Mommy, guess what else we did."

Maggie turned back to her "What?" Julia sat up and smiled "We also got some fireworks, but don't tell anyone."

Maggie nodded and walked out, shutting off the light as she went.

----

Tommy was just walking out of his room, as Maggie came out of Julias. He smiled at her "Hey."

Maggie smiled back "Hey, where's Jude?"

Tommy smirked "In the studio, where she always is. Is Julia in bed?"

Maggie nodded "Yeah, but she told me something interesting from your shopping trip."

Maggie chuckled at the way all the color drained from his face "What did she tell you?"

Maggie smiled "She told me about the fireworks, but don't worry, i'll still act surprised."

Tommy smiled then, relived "Oh yeah, well she wanted to get something fun for everyone, and I know Jude loves fireworks, so I thought that would be good for the forth of July."

Maggie nodded "Yeah, it was really great of you to do that for her, you're a good guy Tom."

Tommy watched after her, as Maggie turned and walked down the hall, wondering where that came from.