Hi there! I know it's been awhile since this story has been updated. I absolutely blame that on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. I hope wherever you are in our world, you're safe and doing well. I hope this chapter lives up to the long wait for it! I can't promise regular updates, but please know more chapters are coming and this story does have a definite ending!


(See the first chapter for disclaimer, notes, spoiler, etc.)

Chapter Twenty-Four: "My Heart Will Be"

Casey

"Next?"

He glanced at the next box in the stack and lifted it into his arms. "Muffin tins and cookie sheets," he recited, watching as Diana exhaled deeply.

"B or H?" she asked, gathering her long dirty blonde hair into a ponytail.

"Everything in this pile is for the home kitchen. Everything in the garage is for the bakery kitchen."

"Ok. Ok." She exhaled again, somehow deeper and longer, before she reached out for the box. "Case, thank you for separating the boxes, but I think I would just-"

"Really like to be alone in here so you can organize the kitchen the way you want to without me getting in the way."

She pushed the box onto the white granite countertop and turned back to him. "I know, I'm awful," she murmured as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "But, if this is our forever home, I don't want to reorganize this kitchen annually the way I did in Islamorada. I want it to be perfect from the start," she continued as he drew her in, kissing her softly, "because you built me the perfect kitchen. My heart will be-"

"Be what?"

"Happy."

He grinned against her lips as he backed against the island, surrounded by the top-of-the-line appliances he secured for his classically trained pastry chef wife. "I did good, huh?"

"Oh yeah," she giggled, kissing him. "Very very good." He was prepared to kiss the afternoon away, but as quickly as they began, she pressed her palms against his chest and sighed. "But, I want to empty these boxes and get rid of them. Before dinner."

"Ok," he sighed as she slipped away, reaching for the top box on the stack. "Hey, maybe I'll run downtown and check out the site. A crew was laying the flooring in the ground floor units."

She began to laugh as she looked up. "Finally! After the hours spent agonizing over which wood laminate style to choose!"

"Hey!" he retorted as a blush flamed his cheeks, "there was something like 40 options!" With a laughing snort, she tossed a ball of packing plastic at him that he easily batted away. "Don't forget to recycle that, mama!"

The alarm system chirped, indicating that one of the doors opened. A moment later, he heard the front door slam and he winced, imagining the glass inlay vibrating dangerously. He walked out into the living room, just in time to catch Nicola stomping up the curved staircase. "Hey!" he called out. "What's with all the noise, Nic?"

His youngest child stopped halfway up and, after several moments of silence, she turned slowly. Her blue eyes were red-rimmed and shiny with tears. "What's wrong, honey?"

She shook her head furiously and hiccupped a sob. "I- I had a fight with Lizzie," she gasped.

He nodded and met her at the bottom of the stairs, just in time to catch her as she leaned into his chest and cried. Ben and Meg's middle child was close in age to his youngest child and it seemed natural they became as good of friends as he and Meg were. "Fights with friends suck," he murmured, kissing the top of her head as he hugged her close. "What did you fight about? Do you want to talk about it?"

She only shook her head in reply and burrowed deeper into his embrace. But, a moment later, he felt her body squirm as she angled her head up to look at him. "We're not friends anymore. Don't be weird about it. Ok?"

He nodded even as he internally flinched. His baby girl was sounding more and more like her older sister every day. "I won't," he promised, chucking her chin. She blinked and leaned away slightly, wiping her eyes. "You sure you don't want to talk about what happened?" he asked. "It might-"

"She's a LIAR!" she hissed, glaring up at him. "She promised she wouldn't tell anyone and she told her DAD! HER. DAD."

His own face bent into a deep frown. "What does Ben have to do with anything?"

Nicola lowered her head, embarrassed, and he gently nudged her chin up. "I- I told her about Nana. That she got really upset when she remembered what happened the day Poppop died."

In that moment, he felt the synapses of his brain fire in unison. Recognition flooded through him like an avalanche and he found himself hugging his daughter back to him. "It's ok, baby."

Angrily, she shook her head. "NO, IT'S NOT! SHE PROMISED NOT TO TELL ANYONE!" He nodded, having learned enough from Allie's teen years that it was best to say nothing now. She sighed furiously and crossed her arms tightly against her chest as he leaned against the banister. "But, she ALWAYS kept asking how we were! I got so tired of saying, 'We're fine' or 'We're ok' – I just wanted her to shut up and stop REMINDING ME THAT POPPOP WAS DEAD EVERY TIME SHE ASKED!"

"That would've annoyed me too," he replied diplomatically as she wiped her still wet eyes. "I don't blame you for being mad."

Here, she glanced up nervously. "Really? Even though Meg is-"

"Meg and I will always be friends. But, you don't have to be friends with her kids too."

She nodded slowly. "Dad? Are you mad I told her about Nana?"

He shook his head and hugged her back to him. "It's ok, Nic."

"Will- will you tell Nana?"

He sighed. "I will, but I promise you: I'm not mad and she won't be mad either." With a shaky sigh, Nicola leaned against him and said nothing else. "Why don't you go upstairs and chill out?" She rolled her eyes at the painfully outdated expression and he plowed forward, "Mom is setting up the kitchen, so you'll want to stay out of her way until dinner."

She nodded and started to turn away. A moment later, she pushed herself onto her toes and kissed his cheek. "Thanks, Daddy."


Evy

"Another episode?" Benjy asked.

With a nod, she snuggled against him and curled her feet beneath the chenille throw blanket. "Dwight, you ignorant slut," she mumbled, smiling to herself when he burst out laughing. She peaked up at him, feeling his entire body shaking with laughter.

"What's so funny?" Caitlin asked, dropping the baby monitor onto the sofa before she melted into the opposite corner.

"Just one of Benjy's favorite lines from The Office," she explained.

"Oh, I've never watched that show. Is it funny?"

"Oh, Cait…" she groaned, feeling Benjy's reply jolt his body as he earnestly replied at the same time, "It's the best show ever. So funny! I own all the seasons on DVD. It's about-"

She peeked over, seeing the incredulous expression on her sister's face. Did any of them love a show the way Benjy loved The Office? "You sound like Sean when he talks about The Sopranos," Caitlin finally replied. She couldn't help but smirk and swallow back a giggle. Cait said what she had been thinking. But, it was true. They weren't raised by parents who watched television habitually. She leaned over Benjy's thighs to look at her sister. "It's not our fault we've missed out on tv history, Cait," she said as he teasingly squeezed the back of her neck. "Sean left us behind."

"It's always Sean's fault," she laughed as her phone chimed. She swiped the screen, looked at it, and immediately smiled. "Oh, good. Charlie and the kids are at the airport."

She reached for her sister's phone and grinned at the selfie Greg texted of himself with his brother and sister. "I'm dying over how tall Greg has gotten! What are you feeding him?" she exclaimed as she held up the phone so Benjy could see.

Cait merely shrugged. "You'll know what it's like when you have kids. They go from newborn to high school age in the blink of an eye."

She nodded, understanding the sentiment in a new way. She would have kids one day. Just like Mom, Cait, Shasta, and Diana. "Someday," she said softly, eyeing Benjy out the corner of her eye. "Medical school lasts a hot minute. Several hot minutes." Benjy's hand was a comforting weight on the back of her neck, another gentle squeeze.

Cait grinned as she closed her eyes. "Until then, you've got the title of World's Favorite Aunt to revel in. I'm having Charlie bring the kids for Mom, but I know they're so excited to see you too. Especially Greg."

"My main man since the day he was born," she pointed out, glancing up at Benjy. "You're my junior man." She giggled as he rolled his eyes back and mimed being stabbed in the heart before he slumped over the throw pillows on his right.

"Evy." She glanced over at the seriousness in her sister's statement, belying Benjy's playfulness. "Has Mom said anything to you about looking the list of therapists I made for her?"

She shook her head. While things between herself and Mom had returned to normal, their mother was still insisting her memories of the day of the car accident were real. "My hope was she'd be in a better mood after the kids got here, she'd be…something. More open to it."

"I'm not above bribing her with a longer visit with my kids if she at least looks at the list. Is that wrong?"

As she shrugged, Benjy murmured, "Isn't that the point of having kids?"

Caitlin chuckled and slowly looked over at them, blinking tiredly. "Absolutely…and anyone who tells you different is a liar."

She smiled as Benjy's arm went around her shoulders. "Your kids being here has another bonus besides bribing Mom." As her sister's blue eyes wrinkled in a silent giggle, they both said, "No AJ."

"How do you figure that?" Benjy asked.

"Cait's kids conveniently put together a family movie night schedule," she explained. "They've requested Nana's presence at all showings." It only took a seemingly off-hand comment to Mikey before he and Blake had run with the idea and filled every night of their 10-day stay with a different movie. "So, au revoir nightly dinners with AJ Deschanel."

Her palm smacked resoundingly against Caitlin's as they high fived. Their eyes met as their fingers locked, a heartfelt squeeze passing between them. Past misunderstandings and tempers flaring didn't matter. Not anymore. On this, the two of them were united. Mom had to be kept away from AJ…by any means necessary.


Olivia

Pancake pulled against the lead, interested in the small lizard who scurried up the palm tree next to her. I tightened my grip on my end and gently tugged once. The obedient dog immediately turned and trotted back to my side. A moment later, she fell into step again between Morris and I. This stretch of Ocean Avenue was always quiet, a status assured by the lack of public beach access and street parking. The towering palm trees cast wide shadows over the street, keeping the sidewalks cool and shaded.

On the other side of Pancake, Morris sucked on a cigar. I immediately thought of he and Gregory years ago, standing on the patio of the house with cigars as their daughters chased each other through the bubbles Valerie and I blew through plastic wands. It was a lifetime ago. Is Morris thinking of the same memories as me, immediately drawn to them by the mere scent of cigar smoke?

You know something, darling? It's taken more than 40 years, but I think- I think I can finally kiss you without minding the foul cigar taste on your lips.

I faltered, remembering the quiet moment with Gregory last Christmas. This was always how it went, every single day. A memory begets a memory begets a memory. It was unending, like Prometheus doomed to his rock. Our beautiful memories assaulting me like torturous ghosts, haunting my days and nights.

Suddenly, Morris' hand was a steadying presence around my right arm. The weight of his hand pulsed through me, wrenching me from last Christmas and back to the present. To the quiet street. To the dog's wagging tail. "Alright?" he asked, his teeth clenching the cigar.

With a half-hearted shrug, I meet his eyes. It was all a mess, wasn't it? Me. Nights with AJ. The children's worries about me. My fountain of memories. My broken heart. "Perfect," I murmur, my hand covering his briefly. A tremor goes through his hand and I squeeze his gently, reassuring. "I am fine," I sigh as our entwined hands fall from my arm. We stand silently, the dog's tail lazily wagging as she stood between us. An exhausted sigh rose in my throat and, a moment later, I felt my shoulders cave in.

"Fine, hmm?" he asked as he slipped Pancake's lead from my hand. A moment later, our fingers threaded together and I felt his return squeeze. Reassuring. Comforting. Kind. Pitying? Perhaps. Another moment went by before I leaned into his shoulder, his hand dropping mine as his arm came around me. My eyes closed and I sighed again. He didn't feel like Gregory. He wasn't Gregory. But, he was gentle and warm. My broken heart felt something familiar in his solid embrace. Something comforting.

If just for a moment.


A/N: Evy quotes a line from Season 3, Episode 20, "Safety Training", of The Office (written by BJ Novak).