The day went by in the blink of an eye again.

JJ all but fell on to hers and Will's bed after arriving home from work. She was happy for the solace. Will completed this by closing the door behind him. He had seen at once that something was eating his wife. Now it was just a matter of getting down to the bottom of the issue.

"Why the face, cher?" Will asked. "Long day?"

"Only because I was actually doing mundane government paperwork. How about your day?"

"Dull as dirt—the coffee pot was broken." Will sat with her. "Again."

"I think you guys need to replace that old thing. Didn't you tell me once that it was new the same week you were hired?"

"That's a long memory." Will rubbed JJ's thigh. "Are you calling me old?"

"Nope." JJ straddled Will and kissed him. "Not at all."

"Good, but Lord knows I feel it some days."

JJ took both of Will's hands in hers and kissed his fingers. "Did you come up with a brilliant solution to save the day at work?"

"Primrose and I took up a cash collection from everyone who wanted coffee, as well as a list of orders to the coffee place across the street."

"Oof." JJ sympathized. "Was there a long line?"

"Uh-uh. The baristas were very patient and helped us out. One of them even lent us a hand with bringing everything back."

"Wow. Did you guys tip them?"

Will nodded. "And well."

They were then quiet a beat.

Everything that Will had had to say had run its course... meaning that JJ would have to talk about what was on her mind. It still hadn't stopped being a bother.

Will decided to let JJ have a little more leeway and touched a hand to her middle. "How are the babies?"

"Behaving." JJ said in relief as she focused on her youngest children. "Here's hoping to a normal enough weekend."

She kissed Will again.

He returned the affection. "When has anything in our lives—together or apart—ever been close to normal?"

"Good point." JJ capitulated.

"Does the whole team know about the babies yet?"

JJ shook her head. "Matt and Emily know. Everyone else is in the dark, since we chose to wait until Monday."

"Because that makes twelve weeks." Will recalled. "Were you and Emily at least able to talk to Penelope about... everything?"

"We were. Penelope is in the know now, and she's onboard."

"But…?"

"We caught her in the beginnings of a massive system upgrade, Will. She had no time for anything other than that project."

Will tried not to feel too disappointed. "Oh. That's okay."

"Never fear. Penelope promised to take a whack at looking into June McCann tomorrow."

"Alright. I'll call Penelope later to say thank you." Will said with satisfaction. "And I'll thank Emily—if we can get her away from Henry, Michael, and Olivia..."

"Stop it." JJ laughed. "She loves it, and so do they."

Will pressed a kiss to JJ's cheek. "If you insist."

JJ bobbed her head, her mind already back on her phone call from that morning.

And Will could see that there was no further use in putting things off. "I'll ask you again, cher—why the long face?"

"I got an interesting call this morning. Uh... my dad called me."

Will interlocked his fingers behind JJ's back, supporting her. "Wow. That's bold."

"You're telling me." JJ interlocked her arms with Will's. "I couldn't even call him dad because I'm still mad at him. He asked me to dinner and I said yes because he extended the olive branch first."

"That's definitely big of him. Is he back on speaking terms with Hannah yet?"

"He had better be. I've had my share of quarreling parents to last a lifetime. What do you make of all this?"

Will pulled JJ closer to him. "I think that I am very proud of you, Jennifer. This has all been one roller coaster after another, but you've still handled all of it. Not everybody could. Yet, you have."

"Something tells me that the drama concerning my parents—all three of them—is far from over. Thank you for being at my side, William. I love you."

"And I love you." Will returned. "Thank you for being at my side while we figure out the mystery surrounding my parents. Our lives will never be quiet again, will they?"

"No." JJ laid an ear to Will's chest so she could hear his heartbeat. "Welcome to what is going to be the greatest adventure of our lives together."

Will just nodded and rubbed his wife's back. JJ had always been very affectionate towards him for as long as they had known each other, but it seemed like that particular trait heightened when she was pregnant. So he was going to take in every moment like this that he could.

But—

The LaMontagnes were interrupted by a slapping sounding on their bedroom door.

"Daddy?" came Michael's voice. "Daddy?"

There was more slapping of a tiny hand on wood. Michael knew about the idea of knocking on a door, but had yet to master the concept.

"Just a second, buddy!" Will called back. "Stay put!"

"Okay!" Michael trilled.

Will then sighed as he disentangled himself from JJ and sat up. "There are two other adults in the house because us now. Yet, he still goes out of his way to seek me out when I'm behind a closed door."

"In a small number of years, the twins will be doing the same thing. Imagine identical baby girls that are copies of me, but with your accent."

"Not fair, darling." Will griped. "I'd be done for."

JJ sat up straighter and gave Will a gentle nudge away. "Messing with you is fun. Now go play with Michael before he tries to break the door down."

Will got in one last kiss and left for the hallway.

All JJ wanted was to crawl under her bed covers on her bed, but she had a family to take care of. And a chat with Katherine was due.

So after a quick shower and a change of clothes, so headed back downstairs.

JJ smelled something unexpected for this time of night when she reached the kitchen.

"Is that bacon?" she said in surprise.

At the kitchen island, Katherine and Emily were working together on something food-related. There was even a tablet propped up between them with a recipe on display. Both cooks looked up when JJ entered the room.

"You are smelling bacon." Katherine informed her. "I just had to send Olivia and Henry on their way with a piece each because they were 'hanging around,' but failing to be discreet. Will asked me if I had anything to contribute to soup night."

"Which you obviously do. I guess you did some grocery shopping, then?"

"Mhm. Arranged before us is the ingredients for my deep dish pizza bites."

"And how did Emily get involved?" JJ pressed.

"I just showed up." Emily said cheerfully. "Jayje, we need muffin tins and cooking spray. Where are those kept?"

"The tins are in the bottom cupboard beside the stove, and the cooking spray is in the cupboard just above that. What happens next?"

"This is your sister's show, not mine." Emily said as she fetched the items.

"Kit, what does happen next?" JJ asked the younger woman.

"Emily helps me pour the batter into each part." she indicated three large mixing bowls. "It's just going to take awhile. After that comes the actual baking."

"I can't wait to see how it all turns out. Who taught you your way around the kitchen?"

"Philemon, mostly. He broadened my horizons. I want to pass what I know to Olivia and the baby."

"That's lovely."

Katherine gave a nod, but fixed her big sister with a scrutinizing expression. "You want something."

"And you're sharp." JJ remarked. "Are Clifford and Hannah back on speaking terms?"

"I don't know." Katherine said without much concern. "Why are you asking?"

"Because Clifford called me while I was at work. He asked me out to dinner."

Katherine had quite the response to this. Though it was very much an accident, the wire whisk she had been using suddenly snapped clean in half. Saying that she was filled with tension was an understatement.

"I'm sorry, Jenny!" she squeaked.

"It's okay." JJ relieved her of the broken tool. "That old thing has been unreliable for ages."

Emily came to Katherine's rescue, pulling the cooking materials towards herself. "I'll take over. Your sister wants to talk to you."

So Katherine turned an interested eye on JJ. "Yes?"

"What would cause you to feel so much tension that it would manifest in one of my cooking tools breaking?"

"In this case, it's because of a memorable time he took me to dinner, and the conversation that followed."

"I smell a doozy. What the hell did Clifford say?"

Katherine sneered, "I was already engaged to Philemon, but then dad had the audacity to ask me if I thought I was doing the right thing with choosing to marry a soldier."

"Ouch. And what was your answer to that?"

"I said yes, of course." Katherine huffed. "I knew exactly what I was getting into when I accepted Phi's marriage proposal. I was ready for the decades of the long haul. I really was. Did our father ever serve?"

JJ shook her head after thinking about it. "Not to my knowledge. I have, but I'm not allowed to say any more than that."

"Why am I not surprised by that?"

Emily set her mixing bowl down and said, "I've also been to war, but not in the same fashion as JJ has. Unfortunately..."

Katherine rolled her eyes. "It's all classified?"

"Gold star for Katherine."

She sighed heavily. "My life is never going to be quiet again."

JJ winked at her. "That's practically the family motto by now."

"There should also be something about baptism by fire. All I'm saying is that you should be careful when you talk about what you do for a living, alright? Clifford can sometimes be tactless."

JJ bobbed her head. "Message received."

She then watched as they finished their cooking project and set everything in the oven to bake.

"What does Clifford like talking about?" she asked haltingly.

Katherine gave a serious answer when she realized her had been ruminating on this for awhile. "He likes talking about all things math, animals, and he forever has childhood anecdotes. You probably heard those before… How's this—he does love everything there is about football."

JJ perked up. "I played soccer in high school, but I've always loved watching football, too."

"Then that's that. Are you going to tell dad anything about Henry and Michael?"

"I feel that should, but I still don't know when I him to properly meet them. My feelings are scrambled about that matter." JJ shrugged. "Em, what do you think?"

She had been privately thinking of her upcoming outing with Virginia and Zion just then. Startled, she scrambled wildly for something to say.

"I think you should do what feels right." Emily told her friend. "He's your dad, Jennifer."

"That's inescapable." JJ sighed for what she felt was the umpteenth time. "Having him back all of a sudden is a huge adjustment."

"It totally is. Even Clifford would understand you wanting to take baby steps, and I will be more than happy to set him straight if he doesn't."

"Thanks. Hey, do you think Fitzhugh would mind if I called him? It would be nice to talk to a dad who's normal."

Emily grinned. "Actually, he would love that. I bet he'd find a way to cheer you up."

JJ felt even better now. "Then that is that."

Emily's only response was a vague hum. Her mind was back on the Rainers again.

She came back down to earth when she was met with JJ's and Katherine's near-identical expressions of amusement. "What?"

JJ smirked. "You were thinking about Ginny and Zion, weren't you?"

Katherine giggled before Emily could answer. "Jenny, she's turning red."

This was very true. Emily was behaving like a child caught with one hand in the cookie jar.

She coughed. "And so what if I am?"

JJ relented. "I just think that it's really sweet. Seeing you happy makes me happy."

"Aww, thanks."

They hugged.

Katherine watched the duo and wondered briefly if they had been married in another life.

"Are you seeing Ginny and Zion again soon?" she asked Emily.

"Yes—on Saturday morning!"

"And Jenny will be seeing dad on Saturday night."

"So?" JJ interjected nervously. "What's your point?"

"Oh, nothing." came the tone in a singsong reply. "It just means I'll be hanging out with Will—that's plenty of time to pry out silly stories."

JJ groaned. "Oh, God."

"Will is a great storyteller..." Emily remarked.

JJ's mood changed on the turn of a dime as a memory popped into her head. "Don't think you're home safe, princess. He also has tales about you."

"That's just great." Emily felt her own sense of trepidation. "Don't tell me he remembers the Absinthe Incident."

"And just how you think Will came across the information of what you dressed like in high school?"

Emily held her head in her hands as she leaned against the counter. "Why..."

"Just be grateful that he's tight-lipped, Emelise."

"That's a small victory. Did I tell him anything else that night?"

JJ laughed softly. "Why would I give it all away now?"

Emily just groaned again.

Katherine continued to watch Emily and JJ's banter. She was quite amused, and pleased that they were distracted for the time being. Life in this family really was never quiet.

But that was perfectly alright with her.