A/N: Granger Clan Saga. Saturday night at the Granger house. The usual Granger style chaos, plus Maggie encounters her parents while she gets lasagna from Hannah for dinner with Chas at her place.
--"Aww..." Hannah melted at the sight in the den. Colby was stretched out in his recliner, fast asleep, with Bethany cradled against his chest. One hand secured her bottom and the other hand was hooked around her shoulder, his long fingers spanning almost half the length of her body from the shoulder down. Bethany was happily gnawing on one of his knuckles.
Quietly, she got her camera and snapped a picture.
"Yah ah!" Bethany babbled, happy to see her Nana, and woke Colby up.
Hannah caught her breath at those sexy, heavy lidded, bedroom eyes. "Rough day at the office?"
"Mmmm... Or I'm just getting old." He laughed when he saw the camera. "Why are you taking pictures of me while I'm asleep?"
Hannah grinned, and went to the shelves to get an old photo album. She settled into the recliner with him. When she found the picture she was looking for, she said, "Look at this picture, and look at the one I took today."
Colby burst into laughter when he compared the two pictures. The older picture showed him similarly comatose, but with Keeley in his arms. Keeley was also happily gnawing on his knuckle. "Like mother, like daughter," Colby chuckled. "Look at this next one. I must have stretched out my arm and taken that picture of all three of us. Six, if you count the triplets you were carrying. Hand me the camera, I'll do it again."
Hannah burst into giggles as he shifted them more comfortably, then stretched his arm out to take the photo of them.
"What in the world are you two doing?" Keeley eyed them suspiciously, sure that her parents had finally gone around the bend.
Justin grinned, "Looks normal to me."
"Come look at these pictures, Justin, of Keeley when she was about Bethany's age." Hannah was still giggling.
Justin burst into a full-bellied laugh. "Oh, my God! How cute! Look at these side by side, Keeley! It's a riot!"
Keeley sat in his lap and they spent a few minutes going through the photo album.
"Oh, look, there's Bethany," Robin crooned as she came into the den. "May I hold her, please?" she begged Keeley.
Keeley laughed, "Sure. You might want to get your own grandchild though."
Robin sent her a patented Brooks glare, then melted as Keeley passed Bethany to her. "Don't think for a minute I haven't tried to persuade her." She made funny faces at Bethany and was rewarded with a baby laugh. "Maggie's as stubborn as her father."
Hannah's lips twitched in amusement and shook her head slightly when Keeley opened her mouth to say something about Chas.
Colby snickered, but Robin was too wrapped up with Bethany to notice.
"So did Erin decide on a wedding dress?" Keeley asked.
"Yes, she did." Erin said dryly from the doorway to the den, where she was standing with Giselle. She smiled warmly at Hannah, "Do you want to tell them or should I?"
Hannah smiled, "You go ahead."
"I've decided to use Hannah's wedding gown."
"And she decided this after we've been shopping for weeks." Robin said dryly.
Erin smiled serenely, "I was just hoping to find something similar, because I didn't want to have to get it altered."
"Did you think Hannah was going wear it again?" Colby demanded. "Over my dead body!"
Erin and Giselle both burst into giggles at his outraged look.
"What have you been doing then?" Keeley was curious, "Mama's been home awhile."
"Hannah and Verity came home earlier. Verity brought the dress back so we could get it altered," Erin explained.
"I came back to rescue Rafe from the twins." Hannah cocked her head at the sound of laughter from the living room, and smiled. "That's Rafe and Verity laughing with the twins. He's a pro now. They adore him."
"How'd the boys do? Are they back yet?" Robin asked. "Who are the best men, anyway?"
"Tyler decided on Jonathan, and Cameron decided on Chas," Colby replied. "I think Brandon went along just to cause trouble."
Justin snickered. He didn't think it. He knew it.
"What about you, Colby? Justin? Rafe? Aren't you getting fitted for your tuxes?"
"They'll probably do that after Cameron and Tyler agree on which tuxes," Giselle's eyes sparkled in mischief. "Which may be a while yet." She glanced at Erin who rolled her eyes.
"Cam wants everything just so. Poor Tyler," Erin shook her head.
"I'm sure Chas will sooth everything over," Hannah murmured.
"Who's this Chas?" Robin asked curiously.
"A friend of Cam's. His partner, actually, in the financial services firm." Hannah's eyes danced. She heard their voices in the living room, "Here they are now."
"This I gotta see," Colby murmured to Hannah, a wicked gleam in his eyes. She laughed and nudged him in the ribs as he moved quickly out into the living room. Justin wasn't far behind.
"It's, ah, a guy thing," Keeley tried to cover for them when Robin raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"But why can't we just stick with black and grey?" Tyler was demanding as they came out of the den.
"What's wrong with adding a little color?" Cameron was just as insistent. "Just some blue so it'll bring out the blue in Erin's eyes. Some green on your tux to bring out the green in Giselle's!"
"I thought the point was to get the same tuxes!" Tyler threw up his hands in frustration.
Jonathan wisely stayed out of the way, but Chas, a clothes horse in his own right, tried to sooth the troubled waters. "It could still work. Get the same tux, just a different colored vest. And..." Chas' jaw dropped when he saw Robin. "Oh. Ah." What else he was going to say, no one ever knew. He was rendered speechless at the sight of an older Maggie, yet, not Maggie.
Cam gave him a puzzled look, then burst into laughter when he turned and saw Robin. "Aunt Robin! How are you? Did you manage to find my bride a wedding gown?"
Robin eyed Chas in surprise. "Erin's decided to use your mother's wedding gown. And who's this young man?"
"John Chastain, call him Chas. He's one of the parters of Bryson, Chastain and Granger," Cam pulled Chas forward, his eyes gleamed with amusement. "This is US Attorney Robin Brooks. Maggie's mother, and Director Eppes' wife."
"Um. Pleased to meet you, Ms. Brooks," Chas just barely managed not to stutter. He wanted to strangle Cam, he knew Cam was laughing at him.
Just then Bethany fussed and reached for her mother. Robin relinquished her reluctantly. She glanced at Hannah and murmured, "What a strange young man."
Chas turned red and Cam almost choked trying not to laugh.
Hannah nudged Robin, "Oh, behave!" She saw Colby grin. "What?"
He shook his head and reached for the door. As if on cue, the doorbell went off, and he opened it.
"Oh dear," Hannah murmured.
"Hi Maggie! Come on in." Colby ushered her in.
She eyed his grin suspiciously, then her eyes widened when she saw her mother. "Mom! What are you doing here?" And almost groaned aloud when she saw Chas as well.
"I was about to ask you the same question," Robin said dryly. "And you get to answer first, because I've got seniority."
Maggie sighed, she never won, she didn't know why she even tried, "I, um, came to pick up some lasagna." She saw her mother's eyebrows rise. "I asked Hannah to make some for me."
"Really," Robin asked with interest, "Were you going to surprise us with dinner? We haven't had Hannah's lasagna in a while. Your dad's coming by in a few minutes to pick me up, we can just go over to your place..."
"No, it's not for you." Maggie tried to cut her mother off. Oh, no, she thought in a panic, you can hear a pin drop in this place. She saw everyone watching and listening with interest.
"Then who is it for?" Don demanded from behind her.
She sighed, "For Chas. He's coming over to my place for dinner." Her eyes widened when she turned to look at him. "No! Dad, no!" She released a sigh of relief when Colby grabbed Don before he attacked Chas.
"I can't believe you stopped me," Don was furious.
"Well, I know from experience that it doesn't do any good," Colby said dryly.
"Let me go," Don demanded, his brows lowering further when he realized that Chas had placed himself protectively in front of Maggie. "Colby, let me go now."
"Say pwease," Quade piped up.
Hannah burst into peals of laughter. And just a split second behind her, everyone else broke up into laughter as well.
Don sighed, he couldn't help laughing either. "Let me go, please." He glared at Colby, "At least your grandson's learning manners."
"I can't tell you how amazed I am at which grandson it is," Colby ruffled Quade's hair in amusement. "Why are you all worked up anyway? He hasn't done anything yet."
"Yet, being the operative word." Don retorted, "He's having dinner at Maggie's place, or did you miss that part? What did you do after dinner the first time you had dinner at Hannah's?"
"I had to go to work," Colby laughed when Don looked at him in disgust.
"So, I'm sorry to interrupt, but if I could just get the lasagna, I'll be off," Maggie said, eying her father warily as she edged towards the kitchen. She sighed with relief when Hannah headed towards the kitchen, and she followed her hurriedly, glad to get away from all those eyes.
And all those eyes swung to Chas. He sighed as he braced for the third degree, but to his surprise, Robin sent him a sympathetic smile and ushered an indignant Don out the door. His relief was short-lived when she said brightly, "I'll call Maggie later, to make arrangements for lunch or dinner tomorrow."
Cam chortled with laughter when they left.
"Gee, thanks, Cam!" Chas said dryly.
"It'll be fine," Colby clapped Chas on the shoulder in encouragement. He grinned at Maggie when she came out of the kitchen.
"I can't believe they were here." Maggie shook her head. "I can't believe your whole clan is here! Don't they have homes to go to?"
Hannah smiled, "They come by for dinner most Saturday nights."
"Lasagna, I bet," Maggie said dryly, "That's why it wasn't any trouble to make more for me?"
Hannah hugged her, "Enjoy it, Maggie. Your father will deal with it. He's a good man."
"I'm ready to go if you are," Chas was starting to get his act back together.
Maggie grinned, "Only if I get to drive the Ferrari."
Cam hooted. "Oh, this I gotta see. He never lets anyone touch that precious car of his."
Chas glared at Cam. He saw Colby grin. "Not you too! You ever let Mrs. G drive your Mustang?"
"You better believe it. I've never been able to say no to my woman." Colby was not encouraging.
Everyone laughed when Chas sighed and surrendered his keys.
Colby grinned as he watched them leave. "I believe he's done for."