"Mom? Pop?" Mike called as he opened the front door to his childhood home. When they'd decided to marry, Danny had agreed to move into the McGarry home for Mike and Dee's sake so they could stay in the same school. With his younger half-brother about to start college, his mother had been making noises about moving into a smaller place. Mike had already spoken with his mother and sister about buying their shares of the home from them. He'd never be able to afford it on a cop's salary, but then, he didn't have to. Leo McGarry had left more than enough to his children, and that money had grown considerably over the years thanks to the careful investments overseen first by Jed Bartlet, Nobel laureate in economics, and then by Mike himself. Jed Bartlet had made sure none of his brood of grandchildren grew up ignorant about money and finance. The money to buy out his mom and sister wouldn't even make a dent in his investments nor would the glittering emerald and diamond engagement ring and matching wedding bands that he'd picked up this morning after his overnight shift.
"We're in the family room," Margaret called to her son. "We've got a surprise for you, Mike! Did you bring Maddie with you tonight?"
Mike smiled as he wrapped an arm around the woman in question. "Yeah, she was on duty last night" he called back as he guided Maddie down the hall to the family room. He leaned in to give her a quick kiss on the cheek because of this he wasn't looking as he asked, "So what's the surprise?"
"Us," Dee answered from where she sat on the couch holding her two month old daughter. Her husband Joe sat beside her absently twirling a lock of her red hair between his fingers as he spoke quietly with Danny.
"When did you get here?" Mike gasped as he bent and gave her a hug. As he straightened he deftly transferred his niece from her mother's arms into his own. "Why didn't you tell us you were coming?"
"We weren't sure we were going to be able to," Dee admitted. "Dani and I needed to get clearance from the doctor, and Joe was in the middle of some big investigation."
Out of professional curiosity, Mike raised an eyebrow in question to his brother-in-law. Joe shrugged as he said, "Those bodies they pulled out of Lake Michigan."
"That serial killer?" Mike asked.
"No shop talk until after dinner!" Margaret ordered as she and Danny carried munchies into the room from the kitchen.
"Peace, Mom!" Mike said with a grin. He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek careful of the baby in his arms. "Or should I say Grandma?" he asked cheekily as he looked down at the baby looking up at him from his arms. He held his finger out for Dani to grab. As soon as her tiny hand locked onto his finger, she brought her fist up to her mouth for a taste.
"Mom will do," Margaret told him giving him a kiss in return. She caressed the baby's silky cheek as she told Maddie, "We're so glad you got to come tonight! Mike couldn't remember if you would be off duty when I called last night."
"I got off this morning," Maddie told her. "So I've slept most of the day."
"Good!" Margaret declared. "Then you can help Dee and I get the rest of the munchies from the kitchen, and we'll leave the men to talk behind our backs."
The men watched the three women leave the room before Danny broke the silence asking Joe, "How's it feel being a dad?"
"I'm in awe of her," Joe said grinning like a loon at his baby girl lying content in her uncle's arms. "I miss sleep though," he admitted ruefully.
"I hear Nora's been helping Dee with the baby?" Mike said.
"She's good with kids," Joe said. "Adults, not so much. Matt's quite a guy. I've gotten to know him a lot better the last couple months. He's got some stories! I think he misses life at the station now that he's retired." He didn't really have to explain to the others. They'd all wanted to escape Nora as well, and none of them were married to her.
"I'll have to introduce him to Maddie the next time they come out. They can swap stories," Mike said. "I hear he's helping you fix up your new house."
"It's a God damned money pit," Joe growled then shrugged. "Dee loves it so what can I do."
"Buy stock in Black & Decker," Mike advised chuckling at his brother-in-law's expense.
"You laugh now," Joe warned as he cast a significant look in the direction of the kitchen.
Mike didn't reply. Instead he fished a small black box out of his pocket and tossed it one-handed to Joe. Danny moved closer to his son-in-law's side to get a better look at the rings. "Nice," Danny commented.
"They'll look good on a redhead," Joe added. The sound of female voices coming down the hallway forced him to close the box and toss it back to Mike who put it back in his pocket just before the three ladies returned to the room. The women eyed them suspiciously noting the silence in the room, but thankfully they didn't ask any questions each assuming the silence was due to the men breaking Margaret's edict against shop talk.
"We're here!" Josh's voice echoed through the house from the foyer.
"Family room, Josh!" Danny yelled to his friend. A moment later the entire Lyman clan plus significant others wandered into the room.
"Dee!" the three younger women squealed at the unexpected sight of their cousin.
As they rushed to hug her she said, "Surprise!"
Matt dropped Jed's diaper bag out of the way along the wall then joined the others in greeting the pair from Chicago. "So I hear you've been putting up with my mom," he said to Joe as Jed lunged towards him. At a little more than six months, Jed was already the budding politician. He was full of smiles, and he'd never met a stranger. His sweet disposition meant that Jodi was often able to keep him with her even in meetings on the Hill. Many of the older members would often comment with a smile about taking meetings with her parents while she played on the floor at their feet. "Thanks," he told the other man as he transferred his son to Joe's arms.
"She's good with DeeDee," Joe said. "And your dad and brothers have been great helping us get settled in Chicago."
Before Matt could ask after his family, Donna broke in demanding, "DeeDee? You're calling that baby DeeDee? You give her a beautiful name like Danielle Donnatella Young, and you nickname her DeeDee?"
"Only when he wants to annoy me," Dee said leveling a disapproving look at her husband. "He thinks it's cute." Dee traded a look and a shrug with the other women in the room. Her husband and the other men in the room correctly translated it as 'He's a man. What can you do?'
"Why don't you like it?" Joe asked. The wide-eyed innocence of his expression didn't fool any of them.
"Besides the fact that my nickname is Dee, and that nicknaming our daughter DeeDee is just too sappy for words?" Dee asked.
"DeeDee sounds like a name for one of those little yappy dogs," Margaret said adding a glare for her son-in-law. The same glare that cowed the indomitable Leo McGarry into obeying her idiosyncratic rules. Unfortunately, Joe appeared to be as immune to it as her own sons.
Maddie smirked as she joined the women adding, "Or an empty headed blonde debutante."
"Hey!" Donna and her daughters protested as one.
"You're blonde but no one could accuse any of you of being empty headed," Billy told the three women as he wrapped his arms around Sara from behind. He and Donna had returned from their 'observing' just last night. Their one week mission had turned into almost a month before sanity had finally broken out, at least temporarily. No one really expected the peace they'd brokered to last, but there was always hope. The general public might not realize just what part Senator Lyman played in the peace process, but those in power in Washington did. The whispers of Senator Lyman being made Senate Majority Leader would become fact in a little over two weeks. However as Majority Leader, Donna would need a press secretary with more experience than the young woman currently in that position. Donna had talked to the woman who had luckily agreed that she didn't have the experience to handle the added work and pressure. While Josh and Donna both wished CJ was available and willing that wasn't the case, so they'd been carefully coaxing their second choice candidate into taking the position. Donna had gone so far as to enlist the woman's grandmother to help persuade her. In typical Josh fashion, he'd groused that he wished he'd thought of it first.
As the sat around the family room, the adults munched on the informal buffet Margaret had set up as they talked. It wasn't long before talk moved on from the goings on within the family to the lawsuit.
"I don't want to talk about this any more tonight," Margaret declared. "What did Ethan say Josh?"
"They're in," Josh replied. "They had a list of people they wanted us to look at for the campaign and positions in the administration."
Maddie had a bewildered look on her face as she leaned close to Mike and whispered, "What's he talking about?"
Mike leaned close and whispered in her ear, "Donna's going to run for President."
It was the matter of fact way he stated it that caused her eyes to widen. It also brought home to her just how different Mike's family was to her own. "Excuse me," she murmured quietly as she rose from the couch.
Mike had a confused expression on his face as he rose to follow, but Matt's hand on his arm stopped him. "Let me go," he said. Before Mike could protest Matt had followed her from the room. It didn't take Matt long to find her standing in the kitchen drawing in deep shuddering breathes. "Finally hit you huh?" he asked.
"What?" Maddie asked.
"That you're dating a man who called the former President of the United States 'grandpa'" Matt elucidated. "I mean, I knew Jodi was a Bartlet when we were dating. I'd met her parents and everything, but when we first got engaged it finally hit me what that really meant. My future father-in-law was the Secretary of State. Donna saw me panic. She took me aside and told me that they didn't care that I didn't have an Ivy league education. I made Jodi happy."
"My dad's a fourth generation cop from Boston," she said. "We were poor, Matt. My brothers are cops and firefighters. I barely finished high school!"
"My dad's a firefighter. So are two of my brothers. My sister's a teacher. They don't care, Maddie" Matt told her with utter confidence. "All they care about is that you make Mike happy. They already consider you family or they wouldn't have said anything about Donna's plans."
Maddie looked at him as she considered his words. He waited patiently until he saw the moment her tension lifted then he gestured for her to precede him back into the family room. "Welcome to the family, Maddie" he said as she passed him.
