Army of Two at a Table for Nine

An introspective from Jamie's point of view on their payback for that Code Blue, set during the dinner scene at the end of 9x3.

"Seriously, what was that?!"

"I was saying grace?"

"I have no idea what you were just saying."

"Yeah, but it definitely wasn't grace."

"It's okay, babe, I think you just got a little confused."

"I think you were saying the Our Father—"

"With a little Hail Mary thrown in there."

"And then she circled back to the Our Father, again."

"And then it was just kinda like a super weird mashup. Like, it made no sense."

"It's okay, babe. They're just busting your chops."

"Yeah. It's just… I was just… I don't know... I was just trying to fit in… I don't— I don't know why you guys have to all be so mean."

"Eddie, baby—"

"You just sat there. You let them!"

"Really, guys?"

"Jamie—"

Jamie follows as Eddie retreats from the table, ostensibly near tears, ducking around the doorway to find her leaning against the wall just the other side of the door, biting her lip to keep the laughter contained while she listens to the conversation in the dining room. Moving over to her, his hands find their new favorite home at the small of her back and his forehead nudges in to rest at her temple as they listen. He can't help but join her mirth as they listen to his family, and she has to bring a hand up to clamp over his mouth so his laughter doesn't overflow as they stand there silently quaking together.

They have to quickly school their features and take deep breaths when they hear Pop's chair scrape back with the intent to come apologize.

He takes that as his cue to return to the table to admonish his family for their insensitivity, all while choking back the laughter trying to claw its way up his throat. When she appears, he can't look at them while she speaks, has to focus on her face and her words in order to keep his smile from escaping and betraying them before his cue. He knows her, knows her expressions and her tones well enough to know that she's playacting, trying to fight back her smile, but his family is taking it hook, line, and sinker.

He always knew it could be like this. In the rare moments when he allowed himself to dream of Eddie at the Reagan dinner table, he always saw her holding her own, giving back as good as she got. Having foreseen it, though, doesn't take away from how much he enjoys it, how proud he is of her.

What he hadn't expected was how good it would feel to have a partner at this table.

In many ways, as a family they are all for one and one for all. They love each other and stand up for each other and there are few secrets among them for long, even if there is more than enough fighting to go around. They've tossed plenty of harsh words at each other over the years, but hear someone else do it and they'll all go on defense immediately. Still, when it comes to this table, to them without the world watching, they're not shy about calling each other out, and he's spent his share of time defending himself and his actions.

He always used to envy Danny a little bit, Linda by his side at this table, a partner to count on when the verbal missiles started firing.

He'd envied that, but he'd never truly understood it, never comprehended just how good it would be to have someone next to him that was just his. Even as she learns to open herself up to the rest of them, to find her own niche within the Reagans, he knows that she is his first. He loves his family, but his first allegiance is to her now, and hers to him. She'll have his back and he'll have hers, even if they have to stand against the tide of the Reagan clan.

Sydney had sat next to him for plenty of these family dinners, but it had been different with her. She'd been a presence at his side, but not a partner. He knows the difference now.

It's not that he's often felt like he needed backup in this room, but they all have strong opinions and a hereditary Irish stubbornness that means they can sometimes go at each other with no holds barred. Eddie's been his partner for half a decade, and it's profoundly heartening to know now that she'll be beside him here now, too, shoring him up when he needs support and backing him up when they come after him in that way they sometimes do. She'll never be shy about challenging him when he's wrong, but he knows she'll always stand by him when he needs it.

He sits back now and watches as she laughs, observes the impressed and chagrined smiles of his family as they realize that they've been played. She just wanted payback, a little recompense for the embarrassment of the Code Blue last week. He knows this is much more significant than that. It's a statement to his family that they're a team now, they're making their own future together, coming on their own terms. It's her standing up and earning their respect even as she joins in the traditions and in the laughter. She's no shrinking wallflower that will sit and just take whatever they give, no timid stranger in their midst to be tiptoed around, just a sister, aunt, daughter, granddaughter who'll give back as good as she gets. And soon—not soon enough, but soon—he'll add wife to that list.

She said she didn't want to disappear. In his eyes, she's the brightest thing in the room.

AN: This is one of my favorite Reagan dinner table scenes. In addition to just being a lot of fun, I feel like it's a pivotal point in Eddie finding her place within the Reagans as well as Eddie and Jamie establishing themselves as their own unit within the larger family unit. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the reviews! Both on this particular scene and on any other pivotal moments in their relationship you might like to see added to this collection.