Riding in Chad's car, Nigel sits in the passenger seat with the coon collection he had gotten for his mother. Chad pulls into the driveway and notices a treehouse in the backyard.
"They still haven't taken it down?" Chad quips, stepping out of the car.
"Nah, too much work to take it down. Besides they like it up there. Hell I still do. I remember me, Hoagie, and Wally made bongs out of water bottles and apples the night we graduated high school." Nigel explains.
"Okay yeah. That thing can never come down." Chad laughs. Taking Nigel's hand, Chad heads up to the house and knocks on the door. It's answered by Nigel's mom Katherine Uno.
"Boys, you made it!" Katherine says, excited to see them, especially Nigel.
"Happy birthday, mom." Nigel gives his mother a big hug and gets an equally big one from her.
"Oh thank you Nigel, it's been too long. What have you been up to?" Katherine asks.
"Just busy with work and stuff." Nigel explains.
"Well, just glad you're here. Come in your father's in the other room." Katherine leads Nigel into the other room where both he and Chad are greeted by Monty.
"Oh good to see you, son." Monty hugs Nigel.
"Good to see you too, dad." Nigel hugs Monty.
"So, what have you two been up to?" Katherine asks.
"Ah same old. Just working, trying to get exercise in, being there for each other. You know what I mean." Chad answers, hugging Nigel from behind. Katherine looks at the two of them, and back at Monty.
"I remember when we were your ages. Wanting nothing but to be with each other all the time." Katherine quips.
"Oh your right about that." Chad replies, hugging Nigel a little tighter. Everyone laughs before they hear a knock at the door. Monty stands up and stops his wife.
"Dear, I'll get this one." Month says. He answers the door to find his brother Benedict standing there with Cree Lincoln, who had just recently married in Las Vegas.
"Oh good to see you made it, Ben." Monty pats his brother's shoulder.
"Well I'm surprised your wife invited me." Benedict quips.
"Now Ben, let's not get into that again. You are still my brother, no matter who you voted for." Monty replies.
"Well anyway, I want you to meet someone. This is my wife, Cree." Benedict introduces the younger woman to Monty, who is slightly taken back by the obvious age gap.
"Oh… well… hello… Cree. It's good to meet you." Monty shakes her hand.
"Well hi there. Benny's told me all about you and your wife." Cree says, in a flighty tone.
"Well come on in then." Monty lets the two of them in and leads them to the living room. "Now this is…"
"Oh… my… god. Chad Dickson and Nigel Uno?" Cree asks, recognizing the two.
"Cree?" Chad asks, surprised to see her.
"Cree… Lincoln?!" Nigel asks, more shocked than surprised.
"No guys. It's Cree… Uno." Cree corrects them, showing off her wedding ring.
"Oh, you got remarried Benedict?" Katherine asks, hiding her contempt.
"Yes I did, Katherine. And I'm very proud of it." Benedict states, grabbing Cree by the waist. The two of them give each other butterfly kisses. Seeing someone they grew up with kissing a man twice her age, Nigel and Chad both exit the room when the doorbell rings.
Nigel opens the door and is greeted by a hug from Dalia, "Nigel!" Dalia yells, excited to see her cousin.
"Good to see you too, Dalia." Nigel replies.
"Hey come on, give the man some space." Chad says, earning an eye roll from Dalia.
"I haven't my cousin in over a month. I'll hug him however long I damn well please." Dalia replies.
"We'll save some for me, hun." Lizzie quips, walking into the house. Dalia stops hugging Nigel to kiss Lizzie.
"There's ALWAYS going to be hugs for YOU." Dalia lovingly states.
"Good to see you two are still happy." Nigel says.
"Oh, we're more than happy, Nigel." Lizzie shows off the engagement ring on her hand.
"Wow, congratulations! Do you have a date set?" Nigel asks.
"Not yet. But when we do, you'll be the first to know." Dalia says.
"Thanks and it's funny that you tell us that you're engaged now." Nigel says.
"Why do you say that?" Lizzie asks curiously.
"Because his uncle and his new wife are here." Chad explains, much to their surprise.
"You're Uncle Ben's here? I'm amazed your mom even lets him in the house." Lizzie quips.
"It was more my dad I think. They agree to set politics aside for his sake." Nigel explains.
"Well, regardless of that, who's his new wife?" Dalia asks.
"Do you remember Abby's sister, Cree, by any chance?" Nigel asks. Lizzie and Dalia both wince.
"Oh god. That's… that's fucked up." Dalia states.
"What does he do to afford someone like her?" Lizzie asks.
"He's the President of the NRA." Nigel answers.
"That explains a lot." Dalia quips.
"Well anyway let's make conversation with them." Nigel says, leading everyone back into the living room.
Walking into the living room, Dalia sees Cree and Benedict and tries to hide her disgust. This is hard to do, especially when Dalia sees that Cree has nothing on under her skirt. Looking away, she looks at her aunt and gives her a big hug.
"Aunt Kathy, happy birthday." Dalia hands Katherine the present and hugs her.
"Oh thank you sweetie." Katherine says.
"Actually, it was all the idea of my amazing… fiancé." Dalia explains, showing the engagement rings that the two girls have.
"Oh, that's excellent. I'm happy for you. And I'm sure your father would be too." Katherine says, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Well, let's not make it us. Let's make it about her. We'll make birthdays great again." Benedict quips, earning an eye roll from Dalia.
The rest of the day is them catching up on life and what they're doing. Benedict and Dalia avoid being alone in the same room together, to avoid talking politics.
Over the course of the evening, Lizzie and Dalia notice that wherever Nigel is, Chad is. At one point Dalia calls Nigel over to ask him a question and Chad follows him.
"Um, Chad this is a question for Nigel. Not you." She tells him.
"I can be in this conversation, too." Chad protests.
"Um… Nigel doesn't have to do EVERYTHING with you. Sometimes personal space is best for people." Dalia states.
"Well… what's best for Nigel is to be with me." Chad states, hugging tightly to Nigel.
Noting this, Dalia gives Lizzie a look and drops the conversation.
Later on when it's time to leave and Nigel says his goodbyes, Chad hits the horn to hurry him along. When Nigel leaves, Katherine and Monty stare at each other, uncomfortable with what had just happened.
"Did something about that seem off to you?" Katherine asks.
"I don't know. I think it was Chad. Maybe they're going through stuff. I don't know. At least the rest of your birthday was good." Monty says, calming her down.
Meanwhile as Lizzie and Dalia leave, Dalia begins getting the feeling that Rachel was right to be nervous about Nigel being around.
"Hey Liz, do you mind driving tonight? I need to make a call." Dalia requests, sitting down in the passenger seat.
"Hey, Rachel, it's Dalia. Yeah, you were right to be nervous about Chad."
End of the chapter. Definitely one of the more humorous chapters of the story. I always thought it would be hilarious to make Cree a trophy wife. I hope you all enjoyed it. I hope to update this again soon.