A/N: Weird times we live in right now, huh? I hope this finds you in good health. I'll update when I can. It's hard to find writing time in my house when I'm trying to be a teacher on top of being a mom! *Insert crazy face here*
Enjoy! :)
By the time Saturday evening rolled around, Reagan hadn't made much headway on her case. She'd given some potential leads to her boss, hoping it would be enough to keep him satisfied until next week. But she still found herself in the front of the computer in her home office, following up secondary leads so she'd have a head start on Monday. The silver bracelets on her wrist jingled together as she typed away.
"There you are," she heard from the doorway. Deacon stared back at her with a slight frown. "Everyone's going to be here in a few minutes."
"I'm sorry. I just wanted to finish some things I started working on yesterday." She stood up and adjusted her navy blue and white striped tank-top, which was tucked into a pair of dark skinny jeans. A messy bun and sandals completed the outfit.
"Have I told you today how pretty you are?" he asked, smiling, as he slipped an arm around her waist to press a kiss to her forehead.
A faint blush stained her cheeks. "Possibly, but you can tell me as often as you want."
"Just enjoy yourself tonight. Even the bad guys need to sleep."
She sighed as they left the room and headed down the hallway. "I know. It's just hard to turn it off."
"I completely understand. That's one of the hardest parts of the job, but also what makes you great at what you do."
"Thanks, baby," she said, hooking her arm into Deacon's and leaning her head against him for a moment.
The doorbell rang and Reagan offered to get it so he could start the grill out back. When she opened the door, Chris and Street stood on the other side.
"Hey, guys!" She stepped aside to let them in and greeted each with a warm embrace. "I'm sorry we haven't had you over sooner! Work's been a bitch."
Chris smiled. "You don't have to apologize to us about that. We know how it is."
"That's true. I suppose you do." Reagan loved these guys. They were her people and they always knew what to say to make her feel better.
"How's the case goin'?" Street asked. "Deke said you've been working your ass off."
"It's going somewhere. Not sure where yet, but I'll figure it out. Hopefully sooner rather than later."
They nodded in understanding.
Street looked around. "So where is Deke anyway?"
"He's out back, manning the grill. Go on out and help him if you want."
Street smiled at Chris as he headed in that direction.
Reagan caught the intimate look between them and waited until Street was out of earshot to say, "Seriously, when is that man going to put a ring on it?"
"Oh, would you stop with that?" Chris teased. "We're not a traditional couple. We don't have to be married to love each other and have a healthy relationship."
Reagan put up a hand. "I hear you. I'm sorry. You know how excited I get at the prospect of a wedding."
Chris smirked. "I seem to remember a time when you didn't want to rush into things with Deacon..."
"Yeah but that was like ten years ago...which was about when you and Jim got together! I mean—"
Chris shot her a silencing look.
"Okay, I'll stop. I guess being with David has turned me more traditional than I used to be."
"And there's nothing wrong with that. You guys have a beautiful family. Just because I don't want the picket fence and 2.5 kids, doesn't mean I can't see why people would want that. If you really want to rag on somebody, here comes Luca..."
The blond and his strikingly gorgeous girlfriend ascended the porch steps, and they all swapped hugs.
"Hi, Keri! How are you?" Reagan asked the woman, receiving a shy smile in return.
"Good. Luca and I just got done teaching a class at my gym. Do you mind if I use your bathroom to freshen up for a minute?"
"Not at all! You know where it is."
When they heard Keri close the bathroom door behind her, both Reagan and Chris turned to Luca with pointed expressions.
"What?" he asked, his usually beaming mouth turning down at the corners.
Before they could answer, two children raced past them and practically tackled him in the entryway.
"Uncle Luca!" Lila and Matthew yelled in unison.
"Where's Auntie Keri?" Lila asked, not missing a beat. Reagan had a feeling she would ask the other woman for something beauty related, since Reagan was so terrible at it.
"She's in the bathroom. She'll be out in a minute," he replied.
"Yay! I'll go get my brush and elastics..."
They all laughed and watched her go. Meanwhile, Matthew tugged on Luca's hand.
"I wanna show you what Daddy got for me! Come on, it's this way."
As Luca got dragged away by the much smaller male, Reagan stage-whispered to him, "We're not finished!"
"We didn't even start!" he hissed back in confusion, and then disappeared around the corner.
Before the two women could say anything to each other, an SUV pulled into the end of Reagan's driveway.
"Aw, I didn't think they would make it," Chris said.
"Come on, let's give 'em a hand," Reagan added, smiling.
They walked to the vehicle and Reagan held out her arms to hug Bonnie as the other woman closed her car door.
"Hey, mama! How're you doing?" Reagan asked.
"Oh, you know, hanging on by a thread. Victor insisted I could stay home if I was too tired, but I had to get out of there. I love my children, but my God…"
They both laughed.
Victor Tan came around and hugged Reagan with one arm, his other holding their newborn daughter, Ariana.
"Hi, Ari! How are you, darling?" Reagan swept a finger under the baby's chin and received a gurgled grin. "Oh look at that smile! You are so stinkin' sweet."
"You got the stinkin' part right," Tan said with a grimace.
"I'll do it," Bonnie said, sighing.
"No way, I've got this." Reagan reached out in offering and both parents obliged in lightning speed. Before she knew it, Tan had handed her Ariana and Bonnie slid the diaper bag onto her shoulder. Suddenly realizing an absence, she asked, "Where's Eli?"
They all looked into the vehicle and saw Chris snuggled up to the seven-year-old boy in the backseat, giving him tips to win the game on his handheld Nintendo.
"You know you can take that inside, right?" Tan called out.
They barely glanced up, and Eli said, "Be there in a minute!"
Reagan smiled at the couple. "Go ahead and meet the others out back. We'll be there in a jiffy, right babydoll?" she asked Ariana, earning another gassy grin.
Reagan headed to her bedroom, giving the baby a little tour since it was her first time visiting. When she reached her bed, she spread out the changing pad from the diaper bag and laid Ariana on top of it.
After a quick change, Ari was as good as new. They walked to the kitchen and threw away the dirty diaper, but before going outside, Reagan stopped and looked at the scene on their new patio. The vision of smiling faces—her entire family—made her heart feel like it would overflow with love. Deacon was right; she'd needed this.
"Quite a sight, huh?"
Reagan glanced over her shoulder at the familiar voice, mirroring the grin from Hondo. He gave her an embrace that only he could give, and smiled at the new life in her arms.
"You and Deke have another baby and not tell me?"
Reagan laughed. "Hey, you never know." She looked back outside for a moment. "He's such a good father. It's hard to say no to him, if you know what I mean."
Hondo chuckled. "I do. He puts the rest of us to shame. He really needs to knock it off."
Reagan laughed even harder. When she was done, she said, "It's really good to see you, Hondo."
"Likewise. We miss you on the team."
"Those were the good old days, weren't they?" She smiled and looked around. "Where are Jessica and Maya?"
"Jess is out of town for work, and Maya's out back already."
Reagan looked outside and saw the five-year-old girl sitting with Lila and Keri, her chocolate-brown curls getting pulled into matching pigtails.
"Thank God for Keri," Hondo said. "I'm no good at that stuff when Jess is gone."
"Hey, that makes two of us." They both chuckled. "You hungry?"
He patted his washboard stomach. "Starved."
Deacon flipped a burger and took a swig from his beer, almost choking on it when Street fired a joke at Luca's expense.
"Why is everybody ragging on me today? What did I do to you guys?" Luca asked.
"You just make it too easy," Deacon replied. "And what do you mean by 'everybody'?"
"Your wife and Chris. They kept eyeing me like they were mad or something. All I did was walk in the door!"
"That's all it takes, man," Street said.
Deacon cracked a grin and looked across the patio when the back door opened, revealing Hondo, Reagan, and Ariana. The teasing and bickering drifted away as he watched his wife hold the baby closer to her chest, adjusting the blanket to protect Ari from the early-evening breeze.
The sight floored him.
He hadn't realized how badly he'd wanted to see her like that again, not since…
Deacon flipped another burger patty and cleared his throat, taking three long swallows of beer. God had other plans for him and Reagan, and if they were meant to have only two kids, he'd take it. He considered their family more blessed than most. Some couples struggled to get pregnant. They were fortunate enough to have two happy and healthy children. He was eternally grateful for that. But it still wouldn't stop the ache from blooming in his chest when he was reminded of their internal pain from six months before.
When Reagan met Deacon's gaze, she knew what he was thinking even from the other side of his aviators. The bottom of her stomach dropped away and a bit of that warmth in her chest fell with it.
This evening was too good. She didn't want to think about that heartbreaking day, but her memory had other ideas…
They hadn't even known she was pregnant. Yeah, they hadn't been taking any precautions, so the hope had been there. If only she'd taken the right precautions in her job. It was a sore spot in their marriage now—perhaps the only one. If she suspected she could be pregnant, she needed to ask for desk assignments. But when the opportunity had arisen for her to take down a long sought-after perp, she'd seized it. Reagan didn't realize she would walk away with more than physical scars when the perp got the jump on her and kicked her twice in the stomach before her partner got there to assist.
They hadn't told anyone, choosing to keep their private pain as it was. Maybe that had been their second mistake.
But it was all in the past. There was nothing they could do now to change what happened. Reagan learned from her mistake and wouldn't dare make it again. They had their faith and each other, and at the end of the day, that was enough for her. Add two beautiful children and she was more than blessed.
Looking around again at the abundance of life, Reagan willed herself to leave the past where it belonged. She didn't want Deacon to be sad, especially right now.
Reagan walked, uninterrupted, toward her husband and greeted him with a slow kiss. She touched his cheek and smiled softly.
"I love you," she whispered.
She saw the tension melt from his shoulders and felt the strong rhythm of his heart under her palm as she moved it to his chest.
"I love you, too." His voice was low, rough.
"Somebody wants to say hi," she said, lifting Ariana a little higher.
Deacon removed his sunglasses and Reagan admired the dark lashes around his equally dark eyes—her weakness.
"Hey, sweetie," he began, gently squeezing one of the newborn's tiny stockinged feet. "Is Auntie Reagan taking good care of you?"
When the baby smiled, Reagan said, "You know it. But it's probably time for me to give someone else a chance to hold this bundle of cuteness."
"Dibs," Hondo said from the other side of the grill. He set down his beer bottle and came around to take Ariana into his arms. The baby looked significantly smaller in his strong embrace and his level of attractiveness went up a couple of notches, if that was even possible. He talked to her in a voice reserved only for small children and animals, and Reagan assumed all the women there melted a little bit from the sound.
"It's probably a good thing Jess isn't here," Reagan said. "I bet she'd be asking you about making Maya a big sister."
Hondo laughed. "You might have that backwards. To be honest, we've had the discussion. She's been so busy with work; it would just have to be the right time."
"You keep waiting for the right time and it might never come," Deacon said.
"True. We aren't getting any younger, that's for sure," Hondo said, sighing with a smile.
"Speaking of," Reagan said, turning to Luca. "When are you going to put a ring on it? I mean, come on. Look at her."
They all glanced over at Keri as she continued to help each girl with their hair. She laughed at something one of them said, and Reagan chose that moment to look back at Luca pointedly.
"Is this why you're mad at me?" he asked, shocked.
Reagan gave him a teasing smile. "Don't avoid my question!"
"Yeah, I've been wondering this myself," Hondo added.
"Jeez, guys. You gotta give me more credit!"
Reagan narrowed her eyes. "What does that mean?"
Luca shrugged and hinted at a smile. "Maybe I've already got it covered."
Reagan inhaled and let out a small squeal.
Luca pointed at her. "But don't say anything, okay?"
Reagan crossed her heart. "I promise."
"It's about time, man," Deacon said, smiling. "Congrats."
"Don't congratulate me just yet. She's still gotta say yes."
Reagan laughed. "I don't think you need to worry about that. Keri adores you."
"Who do I adore?" a woman asked from behind them.
They all turned to look at Keri, who was joined by Chris and Bonnie. No one immediately volunteered to speak.
"Well this baby, of course," Hondo said after a moment, offering Ariana.
Reagan covered up a snort and nodded in agreement. She glanced at Deacon, who did the same. Luca just looked at Keri, adoration shining in his eyes.
"You got that right," Keri said, taking the baby without pause.
Shouting, from kids and adults alike, rose up behind the group. They all looked to see Street and Tan getting attacked by Matthew and Eli, who wielded Nerf guns and wore bandanas.
Luca nudged Hondo and they jogged across the yard, grabbing two more toy guns from a plastic storage bin. But instead of retaliating, they also fired foam darts at the two SWAT officers.
Tan yelled, "Oh it's on!" and circled around to grab a weapon, which happened to be the last one. "Everyone get Uncle Jim!"
Street, who was now the only one without a Nerf gun, put out his hands and shouted, "Dude!"
Laughing, they all shot darts at him until he was curled up on the ground.
"I surrender!" he cried from behind his hands.
Cracking up nearby, Reagan said to Deacon, "And here I thought you guys had the night off."