Title: A Chance at happiness 84/86
Author: Christen (purplehaysc@netscape.net)
Disclaimer: these characters belong to once and again except any characters you don't recognize
Distribution: Take it, but let me know. If you have any of my other fics, go ahead.
Comments: email me all you comments and suggestions. This is my first once and again fan fic so any ideas or comments you have would be great. So please email me with them. J oh people I have been reading the reviews and the very least I can see if first OMG! I am so shocked I have gotten so many reviews. If you have any other questions then email me at purplehaysc@netscape.net Oh and after finding out about the cancellation of the show I've found it harder to write some reason because when I watch the show inspiration comes so…
"So are they on there way here?" Eli asked Grace as he came up behind her.
"Yeah, I just called them and I got this weird feeling like I interrupted something." She said worried.
"You probably did." He said sitting down next to her.
"I hate it when people do that to me, I don't think they'd like it."
"Well once they see why you interrupted them, they'll be ok with it."
"I guess, you know I really can't believe they've only been married a year. It seems like it's been forever."
"Yeah well, with all the things our families has gone through it should seem like a long time."
"But at least we're still a family."
"We'll always be one, maybe not a "normal" family but we will always be a family."
"Ok there's Grace's car, you want to check it out?" Lily asked.
"Wouldn't dare, my guess is Jake already did and I don't want to second guess him." Rick said.
"Probably a good idea." Lily said as she opened the door.
"Surprise!" Everyone screamed.
"What is going on here?" Lily asked.
"I think it's a party for us." Rick said.
"It is." Barbara said walking up. "Happy Anniversary Lily, Rick." Barbara said hugging both of them.
"Thanks Mom, did you put this all together?"
"Not by myself, your kids helped and so did Jake, Tiffany, Judy, Sam, Karen, Henry… Just about everyone."
"So are you surprised?" Peg asked coming up.
"Yes so is this why you came in so early, Mom?" Rick asked.
"Yes, Barbara called me and told me about what she want to do and I thought I'd try to be here."
"Well I'm glad you are." Rick said smiling.
"So can their kids get in here?" Jessie asked as she came over with Zoe, Eli and Grace.
"Sure, so which one of you planned the whole sneaking out before we woke up and scaring us too death?" Lily asked.
"Well I talked to B a couple of nights ago and we decided that it would be best if you two didn't see us leave." Grace said.
"You four must be exhausted though, we heard you come in late last night." Rick said.
"And that's why we're not staying all night." Eli said.
"Well it would be nice if you all could stay." Lily said.
"Can't, dad already asked us to leave after the first hour, I think he wants to have a more adult party after we leave." Zoe said.
"What about Jamie?" Rick asked.
"Sam's going to pick him up at our house after the party is over with." Jessie said.
"Ok, ok let the x's through please." Jake said as he pushed Karen through.
"Sure, thanks for letting us use the place." Rick said.
"No problem." Jake said. "It's nice for us all to be together for a good reason." Jake said.
"It's been a long time since we've done that." Lily said.
"Yeah, we need to try to do this more often." Karen said smiling.
"Well with the wedding on the way and the babies, we should have more of these soon." Rick said.
"Tiffany, is that a ring I see?" Lily asked.
"Um… Yes…" She said hesitantly.
"Jake, when were you going to tell us?" Lily asked.
"Well we really were going to wait till after your party." Jake said.
"Well now all that we have to wait on is Henry and Karen to get engaged and then everyone will be." Rick said.
"I think your jumping the boat here, Rick. As for Jake and Tiffany, congratulations." Karen said.
"Ok, it's her brother and sister's turn now." Judy said walking up with Sam, Aaron and Miriam
"Hey you four." Lily said smiling.
"Happy Anniversary Lily, Rick." Aaron said.
"Thanks Aaron, it means a lot that you came." Rick said.
"We wouldn't miss it for the world." Miriam said.
"It's good to see you too, Miriam." Lily said.
"So did we ruin a really good evening?" Sam asked Rick.
"Well I'm not going to deny that we were having a really good night before you called." Rick said.
"So what do you two think of the engagement?" Jake asked Zoe and Grace.
"Well I for one I am very happy for you." Grace said.
"And you?" Jake asked Zoe.
"I guess I have to be happy for you." Zoe said.
"In other words, she's trying to say she's glad." Grace said giving Zoe a look.
"Hey come on its time." Eli said as he came over to Grace.
"Time for what?" Jake asked confused.
"You'll see." Zoe said smiling.
"Hey everyone, can I get your attention for a second." Eli screamed.
Everyone looked at him.
"What are you doing?" Rick asked.
"You'll see." Eli said.
"Ok well as most of you know the six us are about to have to leave so we'd like to give the first toast…." Grace started to say.
"You see we're the only ones, well not including Jamie and Katie, that live with this married couple all the time, so we get to really see what they are like and believe me it's not as wonderful as you think." Eli said.
Everyone laughed.
"In our defense we have to live with those four." Lily said.
"And because of that we've gotten to really know each other really well, not all of us did this by choice, may I add." Jessie said.
"She's talking about me in case you were wondering." Zoe said.
People laughed.
"So we know how much of a struggle this has been for them. See we're not the easiest people to live with." Grace said.
"Oh really." Rick said.
"And because of everything we've put them through, we think it's quite a miracle that they've survived." Eli said.
"So we've all four decided that we have something we wanted to say to you two." Jessie said.
"Oh this should be interesting." Lily said.
"I'll start." Zoe said. "Well I know that sometimes my arguing with everyone and anyone gets on both of your nerves. I know Mom is used to it but Rick it must have killed you. So I guess I owe you a thanks for not just killing me."
"Well it did cross my mind." Rick said.
"And mom, I'm sorry for all the dinners I ruined because of my well big mouth." Zoe said.
"I'm use to it." Lily said.
"Ok my turn." Jessie said. "Well Lily I've got tell you, you've been such a good stepmother to me and it took me a long time to see that. You were so understanding when the things with my mom got bad and when things with Katie and I started getting together." She started to say.
"Well it's hard not to be nice to you." Lily said.
"And Dad, I'm glad you found Lily because I've never seen you so happy before and I hope I'm that lucky when I get married." Jessie said.
"Ok my turn now." Grace said. "Well as most of you know this year for me and my family hasn't well gone as planned. It seems that everything that could go wrong did go wrong and I know that was hard on everyone but especially on the people living with me. I know I'm not the most positive person a lot of the time and that's really doesn't help. So I must admit I was hard on a lot of them especially Rick. Rick, I know I don't act like it a lot but I'm glad you are my step father."
"Thanks." Rick said.
"And I know that you had no clue what you were getting into when you married my mom and I know that Zoe and I were a shock to you. But I'd like to think that things have gotten better. I know some mornings you were wondering why you ever did this. Like the mornings when the food was all out and we were all arguing which is just about every morning at our house. I just want both of you to know that I'm love you both and I hope that you two will last many more years to come."
"Ok well I'm I not sure I can do much better than that." Eli said. "But I'll try. I know that I'm a pain a lot of the time. It seems whereever this is trouble I am right there but for some reason, Lily you did not see that a lot of the time. And I have to thank you for that. I know sometimes you both felt like killing me and I am glad you didn't because I did finally realize how lucky I am to be in a family like this. We may not all get a long a lot of the time, most of the time. But deep down I know we all love each other and we're all very glad, though we will never admit this again, that you two got married. You two gave us all the chance to meet people who in normal everyday life we would never meet. So if everyone one will raise their glasses for me and say a toast to a marriage that has survived just about everything and I hope that they survive everything else to come."
"I am so tired, I think I'm going to fall asleep the moment my head hits the pillow." Grace said as she entered the house.
"Me too, I didn't get any sleep last night." Jessie said.
"Well what about you two?" Eli asked Zoe and Jamie.
"We're not tried, but you can all go to sleep we'll be fine." Zoe said.
"Should we believe her?" Eli asked Grace.
"No, but I don't really care right now, I'm too tired to care." Grace said. "And you're not going to care either, you're going to come with me." She said dragging him off.
"All I'm going to say is please don't break any laws." Eli said as he left.
"We'll try not to." Zoe said.
"So how do you think the party went?" Eli asked as they got into her room.
"Pretty well." She said yawning.
"Why don't you just go to sleep?" Eli asked.
"Not with out you because I know you're just as tired." Grace said.
"Ok, so if I lay down with you, will you go to sleep?" He asked.
"Defiantly." She said as they both lay down on the bed.
"Good night, Grace." Eli said.
"Good night, Eli." Grace said falling asleep.