Chapter Nineteen

A few hours later.

Megan was on her way up the stairs to check on the twins, who were having their afternoon nap, when she heard someone talking from the room they were in.

She stopped and listened just outside the door to listen to what was being said.

"Just look at these boys, aren't they gorgeous Caroline?" Megan recognised the voice as Lizzie's.

"What ever you think Lizzie. I personally think there is something suspicious about everything to do with them and their mother." Caroline replied.

"What are you on about?" Lizzie asked of her sister in law.

"Well, just think about this. The girl Megan, she barely lost her husband before she snagged another one. Who she has now saddled with three kids, who aren't even his! And to top it all off, Jack is acting strange." Caroline concluded.

"Well, Jack is acting strange because he is happy. He is in love and he has a family again. And to make a comment on your other suggestions that my niece is a slut, would just bring me down to your level Caroline." Lizzie finished all further comment.

Megan ducked into one of the other bedrooms when she heard angry footsteps heading out of the room.

Looking through a crack in the door, Megan watched as her would be Aunt stomped down the hallway like a sulking child.

When the coast was clear she headed over to the room to find Lizzie nursing a restless Nick.

"Hey, you sure told her." Megan said with a smile on her face.

"Oh god, you didn't hear it did you?" Lizzie whispered trying not to wake Lachie.

"Yep. Afraid so."

"Don't let it get to you Megan, she is just a cranky old bitch who has nothing better to do with her time then bag on other people. She did the same thing to Katrina when her and Mike got married. She has always hated me for the sole reason that one I'm younger then her. And two, that she knows I'm more beautiful." They both burst out laughing at her sarcastic tone on the last comment.

"I won't let it get to me I promise. I've had worse ribbing from motorists during peak hour. So, since we have woken my beautiful boys up. How about you give me a hand to take them down stairs to the rest of the party?"

"Deal."

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Once back downstairs, Megan noticed the foul looks she was getting from Caroline on the other side of the marquee.

As soon as she walked through the tent flap, Katrina came up to her and held her arms out for Lachie.

"I can see by the looks you are getting from a certain ice queen over there, that you put her in her place Lizzie." Katrina said as she took the baby.

"Oh that was nothing. Megan just be warned that won't be the end of it, you will have at least another few rounds at Camp Caroline before she is done. You might want to warn Sam as well, she was eyeing her off a while ago." Lizzie replied.

Katrina, Lizzie and Megan all went to sit down near Sam.

Megan gave Daniel a quick kiss on the lips. "Sweetie, you go play with the boys. It's time for some girl talk." Megan told him in the most bimbo sounding voice that she could muster.

"Yes dear." Was the only reply she received from her dutiful husband, along with an eye roll in her direction.

Once Daniel left they all sat there in comfortable silence as they surveyed the scene around them.

Almost everyone was here apparently.

The younger boys, JJ and Jeff were trying to convince all the older men to join in on a game of baseball. Finally succeeding in getting enough people for two teams the men all headed through the back gate into the local park that backed up to yard.

Daniel, Jack and all of his brothers were heading to the fence to join in the game.

All of the people left were congregating into small groups around the yard.

The silent spell was broken when Melissa came and passed around some drinks.

With Caroline having just gone inside the coast was clear.

Lizzie knew that Melissa and Caroline were not the best of mates either, and knowing that decided to delve into a conversation about their mutual enemy.

"So Melissa, do you want to kick Caroline's arse today, or is it just me?" Lizzie asked innocently.

"Me? Never. I would never do such a thing. I'm too classy for that, I'm the type of broad that hire's someone to do their arse kicking for them." Melissa replied. "That way you don't break any nails." She added, and promptly burst out laughing quickly followed by everyone else in the group.

Once everyone had gotten them selves into some semblance of control, Sam asked the next question.

"Forgive, me I'm lost. What happened up stairs that I don't know about."

Sam seemed slightly protective of Megan, Lizzie noted as she answered.

"Ah let me see, it might have had something to do with ear bashing she received up stairs from me after she made some comments about my big brother and his daughter."

"Don't worry Sam it isn't anything to worry about, just a little jealousy." Megan added.

"Your not wrong, Megan. That woman is seriously nuts sometimes. I hate to bag on my own brother." Lizzie said with mock emotion in her voice. "Well, sometimes." She added.

"Either way he has really bad taste in women. I felt so sorry for Jack when Tom started dating Caroline." Melissa added.

"What do you mean?" Megan asked.

"Well the first time that Caroline met the family was at some reunion thing or another. When she was introduced to Jack, she just went ga ga over him. At the time he was married to Sara and Charlie was just a kid." Lizzie stopped then, not knowing if she had said too much. Not knowing if her brother had told his daughter or his new girlfriend about his past.

Realising why Lizzie paused, Megan said, "its ok, Lizzie, we know all about Sara and Charlie."

"Ok, well um, when Caroline met Jack she was practically drooling over him. We've established that. Either way I don't think she ever got over the fact that he told her flat that he didn't want anything to do with her other than a sister in law when she propositioned him one night. Needless to say that any woman that has any type of relationship with Jack better be aware of the acid tongue that woman possesses."

"Do you mean that she hit on him, while she was going out with his brother?" Megan asked.

"Yep. I never said she had any taste. One O'Neill brother is bad enough but two, yuck." Lizzie answered. "I don't know whether to be insulted or just hurt you Lizzie." Jack said as he crept around the corner and stood behind his sister.

"Busted." Lizzie replied before holding up Nick towards his grandfather.

"You wouldn't hurt the woman holding your grandson would you?" Lizzie asked of her brother with the sweetest smile she could muster.

Ignoring her attempt at humour Jack rolled his eyes in the direction of his two ladies and motioned for Sam to follow him.

"Ill be back in a few minutes." Sam said over her shoulder as she took Jack's hand followed him out of the marquee.

"Don't forget the condom's!" Lizzie sang low enough so only the people around her could hear.

"Oh god, Lizzie that was charming." Melissa said as she gently punched Lizzie in the arm.

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Jack walked through the house and out on to the front lawn. There weren't too many people out the front yard. Almost everyone had congregated in the backyard and the park.

Pulling Sam behind him he took her over to the porch swing at the edge of the veranda. Sitting down he pulled her down next to him.

"Was Lizzie just telling you about Caroline?" He asked.

"Yep, she had a few words to say to Lizzie upstairs earlier about Megan and the boys." Sam said as she cuddled up to him.

"What the hell did the conniving little bitch say?"

"Nothing serious, don't worry about it. Lizzie fixed the problem. Now Caroline wont even come near us. This is such a beautiful day." Sam added trying to change the subject.

"It is isn't it, and I know exactly what you're trying to do Samantha. Changing the subject isn't going to stop me from ripping Caroline a new arsehole. It might delay it, but not stop it." Jack added for clarification.

"Stop it, you cranky old man. I think Megan had proved for once and for all that she can take care of herself. Ill keep and eye on things and if they escalate I'll let you know. Deal?" She asked.

"Deal." He agreed.

They sat out on the porch, quietly for a few minutes enjoying each other's company.

"Do you think your family likes me?" Sam asked.

"Well did my mother throw you out of the house at any stage today?"

"Nope."

"Well there you go. You're loved." Jack said as he took her face in his hands.

"Have I told you today how beautiful you look?" He asked sincerely.

"I don't believe you have Jack." Sam replied as she put her arms around his back and pulled him in for a kiss.

"I can't believe you are necking on the porch like teenagers, get a room." Lizzie said as she burst through the door chasing Rory, who was winning this game of tag.

Jack and Sam sprung apart as Lizzie and Lucy started chasing Rory around the side of the house where Jack and Sam were sitting.

Jack reacted quickly enough to grab the five year old around the waist as he ran past. Lizzie and Lucy stopped dead in their tracks.

"Who's winning?" Jack asked as he stood with the boy squirming happily in his arms.

"Rory is." Lucy exclaimed.

Before any further comment could be made, Jack made a mad dash around the side of the house with Rory still in his arms.

Lizzie and Lucy were slow to react, but eventually took off after Jack in hot pursuit.

Sam shook her head as she stood up, and went back into the house.

On her way to the back door, she bumped into Caroline who was coming out of the kitchen.

"Sorry, Caroline." Sam said as she made a move to go past the woman in her way.

"No problem, Sam. Is it?"

"Yep that's it." Sam answered noticing that Caroline wasn't moving out of the way.

"So how long have you and Jack known each other?" She asked Sam.

"About five years or so. We work together in the Air Force." Sam added.

"So are you in the air force or just a civilian like Daniel is?" Caroline asked.

"I'm a Major in the air force on the same team as Jack." Sam thought if she kept the answers short the interrogation would finish sooner rather than later.

"I heard Lizzie say that you were a scientist or something, that's why I thought that you were civilian." Caroline explained herself.

"I am a scientist as well, Astrophysicist actually." Sam said with pride in her voice, there take that bitch, Sam thought to herself.

"That's very nice. I still can't fathom why Jack would want anything to do with a scientist. He's not the sharpest tool in the shed, if you know what I mean." Caroline whispered the last part, in a mocking tone.

"Actually he understands my work better than most people would. And besides I'm really good in bed." Sam said smugly as she pushed her way past Caroline who was stunned by the admission.

Sam walked out into the back yard to go and find Megan, she had to tell her what just happened.

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Daniel came back into the yard to find, Johnny asleep in his mother's arms.

"Hey how you going out there?" Megan asked as Daniel took a seat next to her.

"Not too bad, I haven't broken any bones yet, which is always a good thing. Where are the twins?" Daniel asked as he surveyed the back yard.

"I think Melissa has Lachie and Katrina has Nick. Over there." She pointed them out to Daniel who was searching the back yard.

"How are you going with all of this?" Daniel asked Megan as he gently brushed some of her hair out of her face.

"Honestly Daniel, I'm having a ball. Everybody is almost the same as I remember them. What about you?" She asked.

"Not to bad at all, your uncle's all seem really nice. Do you want anything to drink?" Daniel asked.

"Yes thanks, just a soft drink of some description would be nice."

Daniel gave Megan a quick kiss on the lips as he got up to find some refreshments.

Heading over to the makeshift bar Daniel noticed Jack sitting quietly by himself surveying the backyard.

He grabbed some drinks and promptly returned to Megan to deposit hers.

He hastily made an exit when he realised that he had interrupted her gossiping with Sam about something. So Daniel made his way back to where Jack was sitting.

"What you doing?" Daniel asked as he took a seat next to the older man.

"Nothing much, you?" Jack asked in return.

"Staying away from the gossiping women in our life." Daniel said with a snigger.

"What are they on about now?" Jack asked in mock exasperation.

"Damned if I know and I wasn't willing to take my life in my hands to stick around to find out."

"Good choice. So you enjoying yourself at Camp O'Neill, Danny boy?"

"Absolutely. You?"

"Yep, it's always good to catch up with the family. I haven't seen them that much lately. Since Charlie I think I might have seen them all together like this twice, once at the funeral and once about two years back. The only one that I have ever kept constant contact with it Lizzie, and that's only because she leaves like 300 messages on the answering machine until I ring her back. Subtly runs in the family." Jack stated at Daniel's obviously bemused expression.

They sat there in relative silence until Johnny, who had obviously untangled himself from his mother, came bounding around the corner of the marquee in search of his father.

Seeing his father Johnny made a beeline for where he was sitting.

"Daddy, where'd you go?" Johnny said as he stood in front of his father with his hands on his hips.

"I've been here with Grandad. Where have you been?" Daniel asked him back.

Pointing back towards his mother, Johnny noticed that a few people were watching him and he became all shy. Leaning into his father's legs he reached up and pulled him self up on to his dad's lap.

"So Johnny how does it feel to be two years old today?" Jack asked as he leaned over to where the boy was hiding his face in his father's shirt.

Jack received a giggle as a response.

"How many times do I have to tell you people, no giggling!" Jack said as he reached over and started tickling his grandson. Daniel joined in and soon Johnny was a squirming mess of giggles in his father's lap.

Megan came around the corner upon hearing Johnny laughing his little head off, to see two grown men tackling a two year old in a tickling contest. Johnny was screaming his head off in hysterics, thinking it was the best game in the world.

Johnny caught sight of Megan out of the corner of his eye and tried to reach out for her to rescue him.

"Mummy!" he cried out in between fits of laughter.

"Don't look at me little man, it's your fight." Megan said as she looked on with amusement.

"Dad, grow up." Megan added when she noticed the feral smile playing on her father's lips when he noticed she was within arms reach.

Johnny finally escaped their grasp and ran to the safety behind his mother's legs.

"You know sometimes I think that I have and extra two sons, instead of a father and a husband." Megan said trying her hardest not to laugh at the looks on the men's faces.

Daniel and Jack looked at each other in a silent communication and both turned to Megan at the same time and said in unison, "Sorry Mum."

"Smart arses." Megan said as she turned hearing one of the twins cry.

"Leave the poor girl alone you boys." Jonathan Snr said as he walked up to Megan and placed his arm around her waste.

"Honestly Megan, I don't know how you put up with my son. He is trying at the best of times. And it appears that he has been a bad influence on your future husband over there." He continued with a smirk on his face.

"Pop all I can say is that I wish I could lock them in little cage's occasionally. Give both myself and Sam some peace and quiet every now and then." Megan replied while poking her tongue out in a mature manner at the two men in question.

"Megan bring your fiancé` along, I have something I want to talk to you about." Jonathan Snr said as he reached down to pick up his great grandson.

Daniel got up and took the hand that Megan extended towards him and they both followed the older man into the house and up the stairs.

Thank you so much for your patience with me muddling my way through all of this. How do you like it so far? Is it loosing the edge I would like to think that it once had. If so let me know and I'm always open to suggestions.

Love Ellie Mae