Umm... happy reading! Oh, and would y'all mind maybe just letting me know what a couple of your favorite chapters are? Thanks a bajillion!

It was the fourth of July. Michelle and Ellie both had fond memories of fireworks and red, white and blue Jell-O creations on Independence Days when they were little, but their enthusiasm for this particular celebration had ebbed after their father's death. Michelle had work off, so they went running that morning, and Michelle had attempted to make pancakes. They went to IHOP instead.

At two in the afternoon, Michelle had finally gotten around to (attempting to) clean that morning's burnt pancake batter off of the floor, stove, and wall, and Ellie was simultaneously doing laundry and packing- she was leaving in the morning to go visit Kerry.

A buzz from downstairs startled Michelle, causing her to spill soapy water all over herself and emit loudly an expletive she rarely used.

"Chelle?" came Ellie's voice from her bedroom.

"You didn't hear me say that!" Michelle called as the buzz was repeated. Flustered, she buzzed whoever was at the door on up without speaking, then turned back to her puddle on the floor.

A few minutes later, Tony was impatiently knocking on the door. "Girls! I know you're in there!"

Just as he went to knock again, Ellie opened the door a crack. "Oh. It's you." She opened the door all the way.

"Oh it's you?" Tony mimicked, stepping inside. "What kind of a greeting is that?"

Ellie shrugged. "Michelle's trying to clean up the mess she made this morning."

Tony and Ellie both began to walk to the kitchen. "Uh-oh, what'd she try and cook?" Tony said, shaking his head as he saw Michelle.

"Pancakes," Ellie and Michelle answered in unison.

Tony winced. Ellie giggled. Michelle glared at them both.

"So," Tony began, fishing around in his back pocket. "Who's up for some sparklers?"

Michelle looked up from the stove. "Do I look like I'm up for some sparklers?"

Tony laughed. "Well, not right this second, maybe, but how about if I help you clean this up, then we all go over to my parents' house and eat my mom's food and do sparklers there?"

Thirty-three and one-half minutes later, they left. Thirty-seven and four-fifths minutes later, Michelle realized that she hadn't changed her shirt and that it was still wet. Thirty-eight and three-tenths minutes later, Tony rolled his eyes. Forty and one-eighth minutes later, they left again. A flat ninety-one minutes from the time Tony suggested sparkling in the first place, they pulled up in front of a medium-sized one story with five cars already out front. "Looks like we're not the first ones here," Tony said as he got out of the car and ran around to, as usual, open Michelle's door. Ellie was already half-way out.

Michelle had already met Tony's parents, two of his five brothers, and all three of his sisters, but Ellie hadn't met any of the Almeida clan. Introductions were made, and as was to be expected, Ellie stayed fairly glued to Michelle, but she didn't go into turtle mode as badly as Michelle had thought she might.

While Michelle was busy talking to Tony's older sister, Katie, Tony pulled Ellie across the yard to sit by him on the bench that was against his parent's back wall.

"So what do you think of my family?"

"That's a... lot of people."

Tony chuckled. "Tell me about it. It was a lot when we were kids- now that we've got nieces and nephews involved, it's a small army."

They sat in silence for a moment before Tony spoke again. "So, I um... needed to ask you something."

"Yeah?"

"Well, since I figure that you're Michelle's closest family... I wanted to ask your permission to propose to her."

"Propose? Like ask her to marry you?"

Tony nodded.

Ellie waited a moment before replying. "Well, I guess you almost deserve her. But you're about as close as anyone's going to get to being worthy of Chelle, so..."

Tony smiled. "Is that a yes I can?"

Ellie nodded.

"You won't veto it?"

Ellie shook her head, and Tony pulled her into a side-hug. "But if you're going to ask her in the next two weeks, while I'm going to be gone, you have to make her call me as soon as she says yes!" Ellie hurriedly spat out.

"Okay, I promise."

Tony and Ellie made their way back over to the crowd of Almeidas, where some sort of Jell-O creation had just emerged from the kitchen. Tony stood behind the chair where Michelle was sitting and put his arms on her shoulders. She reached up and held his hand, turning around and looking up at him. "What were you two talking about?"

"Everything," he answered, not completely lying. My everything.