The play that they had all come to Georgetown for was a huge success and enjoyed by everybody in attendance, especially the Prentiss-Jareau-O'Day party, who, from the look of things, were the only out-of-towners.
Because of the way Elizabeth planned things, the day of everyone's arrival had been the last day of her conference, allowing her to spend time with everyone and get to know the newcomers to her life a little better.
She was also going to deliver another surprise. She loved to give surprises, especially when it made Emily (and JJ) happy.
The next surprise came the following morning in the form of a text.
BZZT!
"Ugh." JJ groaned as they woke to the sound of Emily's phone vibrating on the hardwood surface of her bedside table. "Tell whoever it is, no."
Laughing, but only because she found JJ's 'non morning person' gig so endearing, Emily sat up and yawned as she examined the phone screen.
"Mother is texting me."
JJ yawned and sat up, resting her head on Emily's shoulder. "What does Elizabeth want?"
"Us to come down to breakfast, apparently." Emily told her as she quickly sent a response and then ran her fingers through JJ's flaxen-colored tresses. "She said it's a surprise, and that she just wants us. It doesn't look like your parents are in on it."
Intrigued mostly by that last part, JJ sat up and stretched. "Okay, I'm in. What's the time?"
"Seven-ten, and she wants us in the dining room ASAP."
Not too long after that, Emily and JJ were dressed, mostly awake and walking into the breakfast area downstairs. Elizabeth was easy enough to spot, as the dining area was filled with only a few early-morning birds getting breakfast over at the buffet, but when they approached her table, they saw she wasn't alone.
"Good morning, you two." Elizabeth chirped merrily. "I wanted you to be the first ones to see the next surprise!"
The surprise was in the form of none other than Doctor Spencer Sheldon chipper at the sight of two of his loved ones, he gave them a "Good morning!" as they sat with him and Elizabeth.
"Spence?" JJ questioned. "How…? Why…?"
Emily gave JJ a back rub as she explained to Spencer, "She's not super perky in the mornings. How did you get here?"
"Your mother invited me, and she wanted to surprise Caitlín. I caught the train this morning."
"Caitlín is definitely going to be surprised, I'll give you that." JJ muttered.
Emily turned to Elizabeth. "How did you get Spencer's contact information?"
"Little One," Elizabeth chuckled as she set her cup of coffee down on the table. "You can either question my ways or take time to do the math and realize that our entire family is now under one roof, and also that not only will dear Spencer be surprising Caitlín, but he will be meeting her parents, too."
Emily perked up at that and JJ turned smug, finally awake. "This is going to be oodles of great fun."
"Before you get ahead of yourself, JJ, how about you calm Spencer down?"
In the blink of an eye, Spencer had gone from cool and collected to nervous and quaking in his boots as it suddenly hit him that his being there was a very big deal. It took some time, and just as she calmed down, JJ's phone alerted her to a new text.
It was from Caitlín. S & I are coming down right now. Mum and dad aren't far behind. Where are you, Emily, and Elizabeth?
Down in the dining room. You'll see us ;) she sent.
"Who was that?" Spencer asked JJ as she pocketed her phone.
"Your girlfriend. She and Sinéad are on the way down here. Think you can handle it?"
"Yes, but what about your parents?"
"Not far behind."
At that, Spencer began to hyperventilate slightly, so JJ put a hand over his heart and mimicked breathing exercises, with Emily coming over to help.
"It's okay, buddy." Emily said. "Just listen to us and focus on your breathing."
Spencer nodded vaguely. "Breathing. Right."
Elizabeth watched Emily and JJ with Spencer, quite amused by the sight. He was their brother, and they loved him.
The ambassador missed her long-gone family members, no question, and her heart always ached for them, but it was days like today when she was extra glad and over the moon that Emily wasn't gone, too, because they had a bigger family now, something that she'd given up on a long time ago and something that Emily had never known.
"Spencer? Is that you?"
Caitlín and Sinéad had entered the dining room and had found them, but when they saw Spencer, they were confused.
With a physical nudge from Sinéad, Caitlín gave a laugh of surprise as she walked closer to him. "What are you doing here? Not that at I'm not happy to see you, though."
Spencer kissed Caitlín on the top of her head as he hugged her. "Emily's mom called me and invited me."
Still in Spencer's arms, just because she was happy to have him near, Caitlín turned to Elizabeth."You did this? Thank you."
"You are very welcome, and it wouldn't be a family gathering if we weren't all here, would it?"
"No, I suppose not."
Elizabeth smiled and then nodded in a direction over Caitlín's shoulder. "Look who's here."
Sandy and Rex had found them, and they looked both amused and curious by the addition of an extra person. Realizing what Elizabeth had done, Caitlín took Spencer by the hand, leading him to them.
"Caitlín?" Sandy asked. "Who's this?"
"Mum, dad," Caitlín said proudly as she held Spencer's hand. "This is my love, Doctor Spencer Sheldon Reid. He's also a close friend and colleague of Jenny's and Emily's. Elizabeth invited him here."
Rex and Sandy were very surprised by that, too, but happy, nonetheless because Caitlín was happy, and that pleased them. They also saw right away that Caitlín complimented Spencer and vice versa. That made them happy, too.
"What are you thinking?" Emily asked as the family sat together for their morning meal after collecting what they wanted from the long breakfast buffet. "Something tells me it's more than just one thing."
"Oh, it is." JJ told her. "The first one is that I just know that Rex will take Spencer out for beer—and leprechaun tossing, if he can find that."
"What is leprechaun tossing?
"I've said it before, and I'll say it again: you don't want to know, but if it happens, we can laugh at Spencer when he comes back."
Emily chuckled softly at the images her imagination was providing her with. "What is the second thing?"
"I'm trying to figure out how long it is before Spence takes Caitlín to Las Vegas."
Thankful that the others were currently absorbed in a story that Spencer was telling, Emily leaned forward across the table, wanting to hear her fiancée better.
"Excuse me? You want them to go to Las Vegas, Land Of Drive-Through Wedding Chapels?"
"Cool your jets, Em." JJ laughed. "Spencer was born out there, and his mom, Diana, never left."
Satisfied, Emily sat back down and resumed her meal, not knowing the truth about Diana Reid, let alone Spencer's number one worry about when it came to having kids. JJ knew the secret full well, but it wasn't hers to share. Emily would find out one day.
For now, they'd just live in the moment and enjoy things as they were.
"Oh, there you are, Caitlín. I've been looking for you."
After a day of activities out on the town, most of the family was back at the hotel for the night. Getting the sense that Caitlín needed her, JJ set out to look for her, and after searching a few spots in the hotel she found her in her suite, reading.
"Hey, Jenny." she set her book down and smiled at her, inviting her to come sit with her on the bed. "What's up?"
"Elizabeth and Emily are down in the lounge, locked in a battle of the wits and I wanted to see if you wanted to watch."
Caitlín raised her eyebrows. "Mum versus daughter in a battle of the wits? Elizabeth would cancel Emily out, easy."
"No kidding," JJ said as she made herself comfortable on the bed with her sister. "Especially when the name of the game is chess."
Mildly interested, Caitlín asked, "Who all is down there?"
"Since Rex took Spencer for beer and leprechaun tossing and we're up here, Sinéad and mom are their spectators."
"And," Caitlín said, settling back on the bed. "I'm staying back up here.
"Avoiding mom?" JJ guessed.
"Yeah. She asked me if I'm pregnant, and that's why the visit from Spencer."
"She's always been like that, zero filters and all. You should have seen her when I first came out." JJ gave her stepsister a little shoulder bump. "Are you, though? Expecting a visit from the stork?"
Caitlín shook her head, almost regretful. "I'm not, and we do want kids, but I also want the time with your kids to nanny them before we add one of our own to the mix."
"That's fair," JJ conceded, tracing shapes on her middle as Haley-Esmée stretched lazily inside her. "And I suppose you'll be wanting to meet Diana?"
"Uh-huh, although she and I exchanged letters, just last week. I know she's different, and Spencer told me that Diana once told him that she'd only ever exchange letters with the one Spencer knew he was going to marry." Caitlín's heart filled with love, just at the memory of receiving Diana's letter and how fast she'd sat down to respond. "Spencer also told me that he's going to take me to Las Vegas to meet her the next time we both have a free weekend."
"That sounds like fun. Ever been that far west?"
Caitlín shook her head because although she was born overseas and had done a lot of international travel, the number of places she'd been in the US was very small. "I've been in this country for ten years this come August, and a citizen for the last six, but I have never been that far out."
"You're going to like it." JJ told her and then motioned towards the book she'd been reading. "If you don't want mom to start asking you questions about storks and stuff, then you'll do best to hide that book. The one on your bedside table, too."
She'd been reading books about infant and toddler care—refreshers before she and her sister started their next two nannying gigs—and she knew Sinéad was reading them, too, but she was better at hiding things from a mother who meant well, but still got curious, anyway, and Sandy was sure to come check on her before she went to bed.
"Good point."
Caitlín stood and put her books away in her backpack before turning to her big sister, almost shy about what she was going to say next.
"Jenny, can I ask you something?"
Biting back a 'it looks like you just did' remark, especially because Caitlín wasn't usually like this, JJ responded quickly. "Of course!"
"Will you stay with me and watch TV with me, or something, until Spencer comes back?" she jerked her thumb over shoulder, where the kitchen area was, just beyond the bedroom wall. "We can even go raid the kitchen because Elizabeth told me that she made sure everyone's kitchens were stocked with groceries."
JJ smiled because in her own, unconventional way, Caitlín had just admitted that she was lonely and that she wanted company, two things she didn't cop to because she was a very proud woman, and when she wasn't with Sinéad, she preferred her own company and her books.
"Sure, pipsqueak," JJ scooted to the edge of the bed and held her hands out to her. "But help me up? Your niece is being unbelievably wiggly and will throw me off-balance if I stand up too quickly."
Biting back her own smart remark, Caitlín helped her pregnant sister up and steadied her. "You good?"
"Yep." JJ reassured her. "Let's go."
And so they did, forgetting their roles in life, and they behaved just as they were to each other: sisters.