A/N: Thanks, as always, for continuing to read, review, and follow! I appreciate it and all of you more than you know. This chapter picks up where the last one left off. Hope you enjoy this update!

/

"Ma!"

"Mommy!"

AJ, Miranda and Gabby dropped their backpacks and rushed over to greet Marissa as the redhead rounded the corner into the family room. She had just finished changing her clothes when the three oldest Tasker-Montgomery children arrived home from school. She had been working so much recently that she hadn't been able to spend a great deal of time with them so they hadn't really expected her to be home so early. It was the best surprise.

"Hey, guys." Marissa wrapped her arms around all three kids. Being on the receiving end of a greeting like this was the best feeling ever. The redhead glanced up and saw Susan trailing behind the kids. "Hi, Susan. Thanks so much for picking them up."

"Hi, Marissa. Anytime. I'd say they missed you."

"Not nearly half as much as I missed them."

"Have fun, and I'll see you all next week." Susan said as she left.

Marissa called out after the babysitter. "Have a good weekend."

AJ glanced around looking for his brunette mother after Susan was gone. "Where's Mom?"

"She's upstairs changing Danny."

"Do you have to work this weekend, Ma?" Miranda asked.

"Nope. You have me all to yourselves this weekend, if you're okay with that."

The kids nodded happily.

"Good because we have some planning to do. We need to talk Halloween costumes. I need to know if you all still want to go with the zoo theme."

The kids looked at each other and nodded their agreement.

"We do, Ma." Miranda answered for the three of them.

"Okay then. We'll talk animals tonight then."

"I already know what I want to be." Gabby declared.

"We all know what you want to be, Gabs." AJ rolled his eyes at his little sister. "You want to be a monkey."

Gabby simply grinned. "Yep!"

"There's nothing wrong with that, Monkey. Why don't the three of you go change? Then, we'll see what homework you have and get that out of the way. Since it's such a nice day, we're going to grill out tonight. We can talk costumes and plan the rest of our weekend while we eat. Sound like a plan?" Receiving nods in reply, Marissa clapped her hands together. "Okay. Go change, and we'll get this weekend started."

/

With homework finished, Marissa and the kids were playing on the jungle gym while Bianca was at the grill flipping burgers. Danny's highchair had been pulled outside, and the boy was secured in it and currently chewing on a teething ring. He had recently started teething, and the ring was definitely helping with his discomfort. Greenlee had joked that Marissa had stopped breastfeeding just in time, and no one could really disagree with her on that. Bianca glanced over to the jungle gym and smiled. She knew Marissa was exhausted, but you wouldn't know it from the way she was running and climbing with the kids. The brunette shook her head knowing that her wife was probably going to be a little sore tomorrow, and she also knew that Marissa would simply shrug and say that a little soreness tomorrow was worth the smiles and laughter their children had tonight.

The ringing of Marissa's cellphone snapped Bianca from her thoughts. The redhead had left it on the patio table when she had gone to play with the kids. Bianca sighed when she saw the name that appeared on the caller id.

"Rissa, you have a phone call."

"I'll be right back." Marissa told the kids before she jogged over to her wife.

"It's Geoff." Bianca handed over the cellphone, her unhappiness over the disruption clearly evident.

"I'll only be a couple of minutes. I'm not working this weekend. I promise." Marissa did her best to assure her wife before answering the call as she walked away for some privacy. "Hi, Geoff. What's up?"

"Hi, Marissa. I'm sorry to interrupt, but I just got off the phone with Brady and he was hoping to meet with everyone either tomorrow or Sunday."

"I'm sorry, but I can't do it."

"Marissa, we …"

"No, I'm sorry, Geoff, but I'm not available. I've made plans with my family, and I'm not changing them. I haven't spent any time with them the last couple of weeks. I promised them that this weekend was just for them, and that is a promise that I'm not going to break. Look, I know signing him is important, but right now, we're doing all of the jumping. He's coming to us late Friday and wanting us to drop everything at the last minute to meet with him? If we do that, it's showing desperation on our part, and while it would be really nice to have him as a client, we don't need him. We don't need to go all in to sign him. Check our bottom line and our client list. We're doing really well."

Geoff thought for a moment. "You have some valid points. If we give in on everything, it weakens our position. We're not negotiating from a position of strength, and he has all the power."

"Exactly."

"Plus, Lynn wasn't happy when I told her I might be working this weekend and would need to cancel our plans. I promised her dinner and a show for being away so much. Alright, you convinced me. I'll call him back and tell him we'll have to meet next week. Lucky for me, you were my first call so I don't have to call everyone else back. I'll send a text with meeting details in a little bit."

"That sounds good. Before you do that though, you should probably tell Lynn that you are going to be taking her out."

Geoff laughed. "Excellent advice. I'll see you on Monday. Have a good weekend, Marissa."

"I'll see you Monday. Have a good weekend too, Geoff."

Marissa disconnected the call. She had thought about mentioning the incident with Meyers trying to get into her office earlier but decided it could wait until Monday. Besides, she wanted to discuss the situation with either Caleb, Jack, or both if possible first to determine the best way to approach the other two men since they had known them longer than she had. Marissa hadn't told Bianca about it yet either. She had considered telling her earlier but quickly dismissed the idea because she didn't want her wife to worry needlessly. Marissa didn't see it as a big problem at this point, just something that needed to be addressed so it didn't become one. With the call finished, she headed over to where Bianca was.

The brunette glanced up from the grill with a questioning look on her face.

"It's all taken care of. Geoff said Meyers wanted to meet this weekend." Marissa stopped her before Bianca could protest. "I told him I wasn't going to work. I promised my family that I was all theirs this weekend, and there was no way I was going to break that promise."

"And he was okay with that?"

"Not at first, but when I told him it strengthened our bargaining power by not jumping every time Meyers snapped his fingers and that we are also doing very well without his business, he was onboard. It also helped that Lynn wasn't very happy about Geoff possibly needing to cancel their plans."

Bianca smiled. "I'm glad I'm not the only one. Thank you. Oh, make sure you block off the Saturday after next. We have plans."

"Oh, we do, do we? Whatever for?" Marissa laughed and gave Bianca a quick kiss seeing her scowl. "Kidding. I'm just kidding, Babe. I actually already have the whole weekend blocked off."

"The whole weekend?"

"Yep. We can celebrate before and on the actual day. There will be time for a private celebration, right?" It wasn't really a question.

"Oh, there most definitely will be."

"Good answer. Do we need to arrange for a babysitter?"

"Nope. I have it covered."

"You do, huh?"

"Yep!"

"Are you going to enlighten me?"

"Nope."

"Hmm, I could try and get it out of you."

"You could, and while we both would enjoy that immensely, I'm not talking."

Before Marissa could respond, she was interrupted by Danny crying. The redhead checked on their youngest. "Someone needs a diaper change. I'll take care of our drool monster. Are we close to everything being ready for dinner?"

"Yes, we are."

Marissa called out to their oldest three children as she began to comfort Danny. "Minions, time to wash up. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes."

AJ, Miranda, and Gabby hustled inside the house after Marissa.

Bianca sighed in relief, happy that Marissa had put her foot down when it came to Meyers and the weekend. The brunette had been pretty understanding but thought the man monopolizing her wife's time for yet another weekend was simply too much. She also couldn't shake the feeling that something felt off with Meyers, and Bianca was going to get to the bottom of it, one way or another. The seed of an idea had Bianca smile. She knew just the people to help, and she also knew they would be more than willing to do so.

/

"Are you okay, Marissa?" Ellie asked as she hurried around her car to help her limping boss.

Marissa stopped and released a relieved sigh when she heard her secretary calling out to her in the firm's parking lot. The redhead honestly wasn't sure how long it would take her to make her way into the office given her current pace. When Bianca saw the shape Marissa was in, she had insisted on taking Danny into work with her today.

"Morning, Ellie."

"Morning. Let me help you." Ellie grabbed Marissa's briefcase which contained her laptop before her boss could protest.

"Are you sure you've got it?"

"Positive."

"Thank you." Marissa said gratefully.

"You're welcome. Now, what the heck did you do?"

Marissa sighed again. "Let's just say that I can't climb quite like I used to, and in learning that lesson, I tweaked a few things. We'll just leave it at that, okay?"

Ellie laughed. "Okay. I understand. Are you going to be okay? Do you need me to get you anything?"

"I'll be okay. I hurt my pride more than anything. I've got some ibuprofen and just need to take it slow."

"Well, whatever you need, just let me know. I hope it didn't ruin your weekend."

"Nah, this didn't happen until yesterday afternoon. After scolding me for being worse than the kids, Bianca took very good care of me, wouldn't let me do anything. If we weren't meeting with Meyers in a few hours, I'd be home on my sofa right now. I'll be fine though."

The two finally made their way into the firm's offices, past the reception area and finally to Marissa's office where the redhead sat down and sighed as she flexed her knee. It was the same one that had been injured when Brennan had gone after her. Although healed, it did ache every once in a while, and it was usually when she had done too much like this weekend when she was running, jumping, crawling, and climbing with the kids. Seeing their smiles and hearing their laughter, Marissa couldn't bring herself to be sorry about it however.

Ellie came into the redhead's office and set her briefcase on her desk. "Is there anything I can get or do for you?"

Marissa pulled out her laptop and began to boot it up. "Maybe some juice so I can take some ibuprofen?"

"No problem."

"Oh, one other thing if you could."

"Name it."

"Could you see if either Caleb and/or Jack are in? I'd like to talk to them if they have a few minutes."

"I'm on it, and will be right back."

"Thanks."

/

"Good morning, Binx." Kendall greeted her sister before heading over to her nephew. "Morning, Sparky!"

Danny smiled and reached up for his aunt who happily scooped him up.

Bianca rolled her eyes. The nickname really didn't bother her. Her so-called annoyance was now more of a game with her sister than anything else. "Do you have to call him that?"

Kendall simply grinned as she replied. "Yep! It is my duty as his favorite aunt and godmother to give him a nickname and also see that it is used."

"Hmmm, I didn't know that it was a duty. I guess I need to do my duty and do the same with Lexie." Bianca smiled. She actually already had a pretty good nickname in mind for her niece.

"Let me know if you want some help with that, Bianca. As we all know, I have an excellent track record when it comes to nicknames. Case in point, Minx Manor is known far and wide." Greenlee smirked as she joined them.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind, but I have an idea. Thank you both for coming."

Greenlee was excited to hear what Bianca had come up with. "Ooh, we'll talk later."

"Great. I don't know that I like you two working together." Kendall sighed. "Anyway, it's no problem coming. We've all been so busy lately that we haven't had much of a chance to get together. I can't believe how big he's gotten." Kendall cooed over her nephew as she tickled him causing him to giggle.

"What's Sparky doing here? I thought he went to daycare at the firm?" Greenlee asked as she offered a finger to Danny who grasped it with a grin on his face.

"Usually, he is, but Rissa was pretty sore from this weekend and was limping around. I didn't want her to have to carry Danny in feeling like that. She could hurt herself more."

Greenlee raised an eyebrow. "Rocky is sore and limping? What did you do to her exactly? The two of you get a little wild?"

Kendall scrunched her face. "Eww! I really don't want to talk about my sister's sex life, especially around her son. You could scar him for life."

"Oh please. Sparky isn't even six months old yet. He won't remember this conversation let alone be scarred by it. You, on the other hand, will, and this amuses me to no end for some reason."

"Some twisted reason." Kendall muttered.

Greenlee eyed her best friend. "Like you wouldn't do the same if given the opportunity."

Bianca chuckled, clearly amused by the others' bickering. "Just to clear things up, Rissa's injuries came from playing with the kids. I swear sometimes she got the jungle gym for herself."

Kendall snorted. "I wouldn't be surprised. She is kind of a big kid sometimes. So, what did you need, Binx?"

The younger brunette took a deep breath and began. "It's Brady Meyers."

Greenlee and Kendall quickly glanced at each other but remained silent before they turned back to Bianca.

"I can't shake this feeling that he's got some sort of hidden agenda. The firm put countless hours into their presentation for him, spent all day Thursday with him and his team, and I do mean all day. Rissa didn't get home until after 1:00 in the morning. Then out of the blue, he shows up Friday and has lunch catered for the entire firm."

"Seriously?"

"Yes. Rissa was in court so she missed it. The thing is, when she told me about it, she seemed happy that she missed it. I'm not quite sure why though. Anyway, Geoff called Friday night and said that Meyers wanted to meet with them over the weekend because he had some additional questions for them. When he was at the firm earlier though, he told Geoff it could wait until this week that there was no need for anyone to give up their weekend. Something changed his mind."

"Did they meet?"

"No, they didn't. Rissa told Geoff that she wouldn't be able to meet because of plans we already had. She also convinced him that it would strengthen their position if they didn't come running every time Meyers snapped his fingers. That last part is my translation."

Kendall could tell her sister was a little jealous just from her tone if not her words. "She definitely has a point."

"Yeah, and it's not like the firm's hurting financially. Jack's told me they are having one of their best years ever." Greenlee added.

"Very true. Anyway, more meetings were scheduled for today."

"So, another long day for Red then."

"Most likely, yes."

"What does Red have to say about him?" Kendall asked.

"She said there's something about him that bothers her. She can't quite put her finger on it though, but she just has this uneasy feeling about him."

"He hasn't tried any …"

Bianca quickly went to reassure her sister. "No, she said he hasn't, and she promised to let me know if he crossed the line."

Kendall looked at her sister. "I know Red will keep that promise. There's something else, isn't there?"

"I know he has a reputation. There's no way you cannot hear about it. Don't get me wrong, I trust Rissa. Him though? I trust him about as far as I can throw him."

"You are a very smart woman. What do you need from us, Bianca?" Greenlee asked.

"I can't help but think that he's up to something. I need to know what he's planning. If I know that, then I can do something about it. The two of you have this uncanny ability to find stuff out."

Greenlee grinned. "Flattery will get you everywhere. You want us to see what we find out. I'm up for it. What about you, Kendall? You up for a little adventure, do some investigating?"

Kendall nodded, a sly smile on her face. "Oh yeah, I'm in."

"Good because I have an idea. I wouldn't ask if I were you, Bianca. It's probably best you don't know. Plausible deniability and all."

"Greenlee, I don't want you or Kendall getting in any trouble." Bianca worried.

"Don't worry. We'll be fine." Greenlee assured the younger woman while keeping a thought to herself. We'll be fine, as long as we don't get caught.

Kendall seemed to read her friend's mind and gave her a slight nod. She was up for whatever needed to be done to help her sister. "We'll be okay, Binx. Besides, we can always call Red or Jack if we need a lawyer."

"I hope I don't regret this." Bianca shook her head. "You know what, no, I'm helping. I can't let you do this on your own. Whatever it is you have in mind, I'm in."

Greenlee thought for a moment and then nodded. "Okay. I have an idea of something you can do."

Danny started to fuss prompting his aunt to check the source of his current distress.

"He needs a new diaper."

Bianca took her son from Kendall and took him over to her desk which had become a makeshift changing table with Danny in the office to change his diaper.

Kendall leaned in and whispered to Greenlee. "I don't want Bianca to get into any trouble."

"She's a grown woman and can handle herself pretty well." Seeing her friend's glare, Greenlee continued. "Look, don't worry. She can be our lookout, and will still have plausible deniability. Okay?"

"Alright. I suppose that's okay." Kendall conceded.

Bianca returned and looked at the two women. "So, what's this plan you have in mind?"