A/N: Thanks for continuing to read, review, and follow! I really appreciate it. I apologize for the delay in updating. I went on vacation and then have been slammed at work since I got back. It seems like you always pay for vacation. Thanks for staying with me! This chapter picks up where the last one left off. Hope you enjoy this update!

/

"Good morning, sunshine!" Marissa grinned when she saw Cory wince slightly at her greeting as she stumbled into the kitchen.

"It's morning. I'm just not sure how good it is yet though. You can also cut the 'sunshine' crap." Cory and Jo had a little more wine than Marissa the night before. She was suffering from what she would describe as a borderline hangover that morning. Cory knew her friend loved teasing her at a time like this. Truth be told and roles were reversed, she'd be doing exactly the same thing.

Marissa laughed and retrieved some Tylenol and a cup of coffee for her friend. "Here. This should make you feel better."

"Hopefully, this will stop anything before it gets too bad. I knew we shouldn't have opened that last bottle of wine. You were smart not joining us."

"Well, I do have 4 kids here, one being a toddler. Plus, there's Kendall and Greenlee. I've got to be sharp for them. By the way, they're stopping by for breakfast."

Cory groaned. "I'm going to need more coffee before they get here."

"Very true. You definitely need to be on your toes when dealing with them." Marissa smirked and topped off her friend's coffee.

"Good morning." Bianca said as she joined the two women in the kitchen. She gave Marissa a quick kiss as she accepted a cup of coffee from her. Bianca couldn't help but chuckle when she saw Cory. "How are you feeling this morning?"

"I'm okay. Your wife has given me Tylenol and coffee which has helped somewhat."

"Some breakfast will probably help you too." Marissa said as she placed a cookie sheet filled with bacon into the oven along with the breakfast casserole that Bianca had prepped for everyone the night before.

"Rissa's right. You'll want to drink some water too and not just coffee." Bianca suggested.

As Cory was getting ready to answer, the trio heard a knock on the front door. Before any of them could make a move to see who it was, they heard Jo call out that she would get it.

"At least we know that Jo is up and moving. Not sure of her condition though." Cory said.

"Whose condition?" Jo said having the caught the tail-end of Cory's comment. Kendall and Greenlee followed her into the kitchen.

Marissa glanced at her friend. "Yours. You don't seem too much worse for wear. How are you feeling?"

"Unlike the professor over there. Rough morning, Cory?" Greenlee chuckled.

"Professor, huh? I'll take it. A little too much wine last night, but I'm already feeling better. Don't worry. I'll be good for our road trip."

"Atta girl!" Kendall said as she patted Cory on the back. "We come bearing croissants straight from Servatii's."

Bianca took the bakery box from her sister. "These smell really good. Have a seat, and I'll get the three of you some coffee. I'll get you some water, Cory."

"Thanks, Bianca. To answer your question, Marissa, I feel pretty good."

"How is that possible, Jo? You drank just as much wine as me if not more." Cory asked.

"I'm going to say it's because of Kendall and Greenlee. You can't possibly be around them and not develop a healthy tolerance."

"You're welcome!" Greenlee grinned and clinked her mug against her partner in crime's.

Kendall chuckled. "What she said! Do you need a hangover cure? We do know of a pretty good one."

Cory shook her head and smiled. "Thanks, but I really am doing okay. I do have a question though, Kendall. How does your hangover cure stack up against Terri's? The one she gave us the last time we were in Shamokin was amazing."

"True. We asked her for the recipe, but she said it was a family secret. Ours is close to hers though." Kendall stated.

Greenlee nodded. "We've done some research on this. All in the name of science of course."

"Of course." Marissa smirked. She heard Danny waking up over the monitor. "I'll go get Sparky and see if our other minions are up yet."

"We'll get things together down here." Bianca said.

"We will?" Greenlee asked amused.

"If you want breakfast, then you will."

"Fine. We'll help. Man, your wife is bossy, Rocky."

"Oh, I know." Marissa waggled her eyebrows and gave Bianca a quick kiss before she left the kitchen.

Greenlee high-five the redhead as she left the room and shot a grin at her best friend. "That's a fun little tidbit to know."

Kendall rolled her eyes and groaned. "Oh my God! How many times do I have to tell you all to not do that? There are things I don't want to hear or know about my little sister."

The others laughed and continued to give Kendall a hard time as they began to gather items for their breakfast and headed to the dining room.

/

After breakfast, everyone, with the exception of Kendall and Greenlee, got dressed and gathered in the family room.

"When are Jessica and the others getting here?" Kendall asked.

"Mom will be here soon. I don't know who's more excited about her spending the night, Mom or the kids." Jessica smirked.

Marissa chuckled. "I'd say it's a tie."

"Definitely." Bianca nodded. "The others will be here in about an hour, and Bruce will be here in about two hours."

"I'm glad everybody was able to change their schedules at the last minute." Kendall said.

"Me too. It's definitely worth it though. I'm glad Terri gave you a heads up on what's happening when you called her." Greenlee added.

"So am I. When she told us, there was no way that we couldn't be there. After all, we are honorary citizens of Shamokin." Bianca smiled. "At least according to the staff and regular customers at Shamokin' Joe's."

"Yep! I like them. I'm looking forward to seeing all of them. Are Zach and Ryan ready?" Jo asked.

Kendall chuckled. "Yes, they are combining forces again with watching the kids while we are gone. Spike and Emma promised to give us an update of what happens. Your Mom volunteered to be an emergency contact for the guys should they need her expertise."

"She's the reason we're not freaking out leaving Bri and Lexie with their Dads. Don't get me wrong, Ryan and Zach are good with them, but Jessica is very calm and just has a way with, well with everyone." Greenlee said.

Jo nodded proudly. "That she does."

Gabby happened to glance out a window and squealed in delight when she saw a familiar car approach the house. "Nana J is here!"

AJ jumped up and headed outside to greet Jessica. "I'm going to go help her with her bag."

"It looks like she has a couple of other bags. Come on, Gabby. Let's go help too." Miranda followed her brother with Gabby right behind her.

"You'd think they hadn't seen her the other day." Marissa chuckled and picked up Danny who had headed to the door behind his brother and sisters. "Not yet, Sparky. Maybe you can help in another year or two when you're a little steadier on your feet."

Jessica entered a few minutes later followed by AJ, Miranda, and Gabby. The moment Danny saw her, he practically lunged out of Marissa's arms, who luckily had a firm hold on him, towards Jessica.

"Nana J!"

"There's my sweet baby!" Jessica smiled and took Danny from Marissa.

"I remember when I was her sweet baby." Jo teased her mother.

"Me too." Marissa sighed dramatically.

"The two of you, hush!

"You have to admit, the kids are a lot cuter than both of you." Kendall smirked.

Marissa simply shrugged. "I'm not able to deny that."

"Gabby and I will put these bags in the kitchen, Nana J." Miranda said.

"And I'll put your suitcase in your room." AJ offered. Whenever Jessica stayed over, she stayed in the guestroom that Jo had slept in the night before and had made sure to straighten up for her Mom's overnight.

"Thank you, babies." Jessica smiled.

"You know, Jessica, you don't need to bring anything over." Bianca chuckled and held up a hand to stop Jessica's impending protest. "I know we won't be able to stop you though. So, what did you bring today?"

"We're going to make pizza from scratch and some brownies too. Don't worry. I'll make sure we'll save all of you some." Jessica laughed when all of the other women smiled in response.

/

Bianca and Marissa kissed the kids and made them promise to be good for Jessica. The couple knew that last part wasn't necessary because they were always good for Nana J, but it was reflex.

"We'll be just fine. I'm frankly more worried about you having your hands full with those two." Jessica smirked indicating Kendall and Greenlee.

The women in question glanced at each other and shrugged.

"She's not wrong." Greenlee said, her tone matter of fact.

Kendall nodded. "No, she's not."

Bianca rolled her eyes. "Oh, I know, but we've got reinforcements."

"Thanks for watching the kids, Jessica." Marissa kissed Jessica's cheek.

"You're welcome. Thank you for arranging this for Jo. She needs the break more than she knows."

Marissa winked. "I know. I'm just glad we were able to get things back on track for her and Greg. Okay, we better go. You have our numbers if you need anything. Love you all."

"Love you guys." Bianca added before she followed the others into the limo.

"Love you too." The kids called out as they waved goodbye to their Moms.

Once the group drove away, Jessica looked at the kids. "Okay, who's ready to make some brownies?"

"Me!"

Inside the limo, Greenlee glanced around at the group. "Okay, the bar is open! Who's ready for a drink?"

"Me!"

/

Bruce parked the limo in the parking lot of the Shamokin Inn, and the group piled out. Once everyone had their bags, they all headed inside. The clerk smiled immediately when she recognized the women.

"Welcome back! It's so good to see all of you again!"

"Hi, Lara. It's good seeing you again." Bianca smiled warmly at the desk clerk. "It's not too early for us to check in, is it?"

"For you guys, not at all. Seriously, Winston made sure your rooms were made up first thing today so they could be ready for your arrival." The last time Lara remembered seeing her boss so excited about guests was this group's previous visit to Shamokin. Lara checked everyone in and handed out their keys. With that done, she picked up a map of the town and a yellow highlighter. "This is how you get to the park. It's like a five-minute walk from here. The ceremony starts in an hour."

"Perfect! That gives us plenty of time to drop our stuff off in our rooms and freshen up a little." Marissa said.

"No one else knows we were coming early, right?" Kendall asked.

"Other than Terri, Winston and me? No. It's going to be a really good surprise."

Greenlee smiled. "Excellent. Are you going to be there?"

Lara nodded. "Yeah, I will. I get off in half an hour."

"Good. We'll see you there!"

/

"Wow. This is really something. Pine Valley really needs to do something like this for Jesse." Natalia said as she observed the scene around them.

The city of Shamokin had gone all out. There were carnival rides, food booths, games, a stage set up for a band, and other various vendors present. Above the stage were two banners. One thanked the outgoing chief of police Ed Moore who was retiring. The other congratulated the incoming chief, Sean Bray.

Kendall nodded. "They really should. I don't know if the mayor would agree to it though."

"Yeah, he's not Jesse's biggest fan."

"That's because Jesse stands up to him and stays away from politics as much as possible." Marissa said knowingly.

Natalia smiled proudly thinking of her boss. "Isn't that the truth. Jesse doesn't play games. He cares about the community and keeping them safe."

"He's a good man, a good person. We're lucky to have him as our chief of police and our friend." Bianca agreed.

"Hello, everyone! Welcome back! I can't tell you how happy I am that you made it for the ceremony." Terri greeted the group.

Bianca hugged their friend. "Hi, Terri. We're happy to be here. It's a big day for your little brother."

"Yes, it is, and I couldn't be prouder. It's good that this worked out with Jo's bachelorette party. Congratulations, Jo!"

"Thanks, Terri! I owe this getaway to Bianca and Marissa. They saved me and the wedding."

Marissa waved her friend off as she stepped forward to hug Terri. "We didn't do anything that you wouldn't have done. Besides, the real hero is Erica."

"What did she do?"

"She replaced Jo's wedding dress within days. I have to admit that that was something even for my Mom." Kendall said.

"Wow. I'm going to need details later."

"Definitely. Oh, Terri, I'd like to introduce you to the newest member of our group. Terri Long, I'd like you to meet Maura Abbott also known as Rafaela's better half. Maura, this is Terri Long. Terri has saved our butts a few times."

"It's nice to meet you. Wait. Aren't you Dr. Abbott? I remember Rafaela talking about you the last time she was here."

"It's nice to meet you too. Yes, I am, but please call me Maura. As for Ela's better half, I don't know about that."

"Oh, no. I know, and I agree with Marissa 100%. You are definitely my better half." Rafaela smiled and kissed her girlfriend's cheek.

"Well, I can't wait to talk more tonight. You all are going to Shamokin Joe's later, right?"

"Like we would ever miss going there. We do have a reputation to uphold." Greenlee smirked.

Terri laughed. "Yes, you do, and from my experience, you do it quite well. Oh, it looks like they are ready to get started. I need to get up there. See you all later."

Bianca's eyes followed Terri's gaze and saw Sean, his wife Heather, and their daughter taking their seats on the stage. "See you later."

"Want to get a little closer?" Randi asked.

Gail nodded. "Definitely."

The group moved closer to the stage along with the rest of the crowd that had assembled in the park. Unbeknownst to most of those in attendance who turned their attention to the stage, other eyes were focused on the visitors from Pine Valley.

/

A/N: Yeah, I had to leave it there. See you soon!