Holly was doing laundry and cleaning up the living room by the time Jax got up.
"Babe? What are you doing?"
"Cleaning. I wanna make sure that the house is ready for when my family gets here."
"Right. Your grandpa is coming today."
"Yeah. From what I understand, this is his first time in the States. So it's the first time he's been in the house and the first time he's seeing the kids in person."
"And the first time he's seeing Abel since Belfast."
"Yeah."
"You ready for that? That's pretty heavy, babe."
"It is. But at least I'll get to see my grandpa before he passes."
"I'll send Rat to help you clean today."
"Actually, will you send Juice? It'll be great to utilize his OCD."
"Ok. I'll give him a call after breakfast."
"And I still have to start looking through my mom's recipe books and decide what I'm gonna make for dinner tonight."
"Who's coming? My uncle and his family, my cousins Giovanni and his family and his sister, Maria and my grandpa. I'm hoping the guys would be willing to join us? You think you could ask?"
"I'll talk to them when I see them today."
"Thanks, baby. I gotta call Mallory and see if she can watch the kids for me. I have to go grocery shopping."
"Should I just let you be for now?"
"I love you always. But yes."
"How about if I take the kids?"
"What are you doing?"
"I don't know yet. Worse comes to worse, I have Lyla and Nero watch them."
"Ok. Thank you."
Jax walked into shop, looking over at Chucky as he let the kids go inside, holding onto Lilia.
"Hey, Chucky? You mind keeping an eye on the rugrats when you're done washing the windows?"
He chuckled a bit as Chucky hummed in agreement with a kazoo in his mouth, shaking his head as he walked inside, looking at Juice.
"Holly's asking for you to help her out at the house. Italians are coming tonight and she's going a bit crazy trying to make sure everything's spotless."
"Alright. I'll head up there now."
"Tread carefully. She was just getting flustered when I woke up and by the time I left, she was going a mile a minute."
"Thanks for the heads up."
"And remember. Not a word about the wedding. Her family's in on it, but I want it to be a surprise."
"You got it, bro."
He nodded, watching Juice leave as Tig took Lilia from him, kissing the little girl's head as Valentina came over to him, pick her up. Lilia was usually calmer when she being held by Tig, but Valentina was a daddy's girl through and through. He held onto her as he looked over at Chibs, who was holding onto Tommy, who was drinking from his bottle.
"Where are we with the Wahewa?"
"They're willing to let use the same patch of land that we used for Ope and Lyla's wedding on Sunday, but they're having an issue with their bullets. They lost one of their biggest clients."
"What do they want us to do about that?"
"See if we can find them a new buyer or something."
"See if we can borrow a sample. We'll bring it with us to the meet with the Kings and Holly's family. See if we can entice one group or both."
"Aye."
"What about the food and stuff?"
He looked over at Bobby, letting Val play with the rings on his fingers, checking on Abel, who was playing with Happy.
"Holly's favorite restaurant doesn't cater. Too small of a place."
"See what it would take to get them to cater. I know money's dwindling at the moment, but I don't care what it costs. Worse comes to worse I'll ask Holly for a check for food for Chibs' birthday."
"Alright. I'll go back today. As for the cake, the bakery that Holly likes? Owner's kid went to Aquino. Not a fan of the club."
"They still like Holly, though, right? Holly helped that woman get started in her business. Go at her again. Tell her it's for Holly. If she doesn't go for it, remind her that she still owes Holly."
"You got it, pres."
He sat down, putting Val in his lap, letting her curl in as he looked over at Opie.
"Lyla's taking care of the guest list and the girls at Diosa are helping out with decorations. They don't know what colors to get for anything."
"Venus said Holly was really into navy and vintage. What about your certificate? Father Winston."
He smirked and laughed a bit, watching Opie flip him off.
"It should be here today. And it's really weird to have it."
"I know Holly's gonna appreciate it."
"She better. Cause it's getting burned after this is said and done."
"What about the suite?"
"Honeymoon suite at the Venetian has been booked for you two. You owe Nero back for it."
"Ok. You sure you're alright taking the kids for a week?"
"Yeah. Kids are looking forward to having their cousins stay with us for a while."
Jax sat at the bar with Valentina, eating ice cream with her, listening to her babble when he heard his phone go off, seeing Holly's number.
"Hey, babe."
"Get your ass over here right this second and get this crooked cop out of my fucking house!"
"What are you talking about?"
He cursed under his breath when he heard Barovsky in the background, yelling incoherently.
"I'm on my way."
He kissed Val's head gently before handing her over to Bobby and leaving, racing home. By the time he got home, Holly was running upstairs in just her bra and underwear and Juice was coming up from the basement.
"What the hell is going here?"
He watched Juice check to see if Holly was listening, seeing him bite back a laugh.
"Barovsky came to the house, drunk off his ass, shouting something about Patterson and Colette and Nero, trying to get Holly to blow him. He got as far as ripping her shirt a bit before she kneed him in the balls. Really hard. Hard enough to make him puke down the front of her clothes. I wrestled him downstairs. And that's what you walked into."
Jax laughed a bit, shaking his head.
"Alright. Throw her shirt away, but throw the shorts in the washer."
"She's got the washer going right now. I'll soak 'em and put them into the next load."
"Alright. Thanks, Juice. I'll get her calmed down, you clean this up."
"I tried to get her to eat something and haven't had any luck."
"Told you she's in project mode. Order a pizza, pepperoni, mushroom and olives for her. She'll kill you if you use any dishes right now. There's some paper plates up in the pantry."
He went upstairs and into the bedroom, pulling Holly close, pressing her back against his front, holding her arms against her half naked torso.
"You gotta relax a bit, babe. The house looks amazing, and the dinner won't be right if you pass out because you haven't eaten all day. I have Juice ordering a pizza for the two of you. So get dressed, sit in here and relax for a little bit. I'll get Barovsky out of here."
"I don't care how fucking drunk he is, make it incredibly clear to him that if he ever touches me again, I'll cut his dick off and make him eat it."
"I promise."
"And I'm not done cleaning."
"Holly, the house is looking really good. The toys are put away, I can tell you've been handwashing the floor, and the windows are sparkling. And it's only lunchtime. You need to eat."
"I'm not hungry."
"Yes, you are. You're just being stubborn."
"I'm not stubborn."
"You're always stubborn when you're in cleaning mode. But you don't need to be."
"There's still so much to do."
"What else needs to be done?"
"The bathrooms need to be cleaned, I need to hit grocery store and get the stuff for dinner and I need to start cooking."
"I'll make you a deal. You sit and eat, take an hour long break and then get the stuff you need for dinner, letting Juice clean the bathrooms, and I'll get Tig to take the kids to Legoland next week."
She couldn't help but smile, looking back at him.
"Will you really?"
"Yeah, I will."
He smiled as he watched her turn in his arms, knowing that he was getting to her. He could feel the tension fading.
"And I'll take you out to dinner. Just you and me."
"Really? We haven't done that since we started dating."
"That's not true."
"It's totally true. Everytime we've gone out to dinner we've taken the kids with us."
"Oh shit. Sorry, babe. Tonight, it'll be just you and me for dinner. We'll go wherever you want."
"Anywhere?"
"Anywhere."
He watched her think for a minute, kissing her head gently.
"Fine. An hour. And then I go back to cleaning."
"Until dinner. Then I'll get Chibs to watch the kids tonight."
Jax walked back into the shop, looking over at the staircase when he heard Valentina screaming and crying, seeing Chibs and Bobby laughing.
"What the hell's going on now?"
"Wee one's been crying since you left. Hasn't calmed down since. Opie tried to get her to take a nap."
"What happened?"
He watched Chibs start laughing harder, looking over when Bobby started to talking.
"If there was any doubt who that girl's parents are, there isn't anymore. She called him an idiot and headbutted him in the balls before she ran upstairs."
He tried, unsuccessfully, to not laugh, calming himself before going upstairs, seeing Tig and Happy trying to get the kids to take a nap. Which wasn't going well because Val was having a full blown meltdown. He went over and picked her up, rubbing her back.
"What's going on with you today? You were fine before I left."
"I don't want you to leave!"
"Mommy needed me to help her with something. Did you not sleep last night?"
He watched as she pouted, wiping her face gently.
"I heard you hurt uncle Opie."
"Sowwy, dada."
"I'm not the one you need to say sorry to. Come on. Let's go find uncle Opie so you can say sorry to him."
"No!"
"Do you want me to call mommy?"
"NO!"
He sighed, kissing her head gently.
"You need to say sorry to him. You hurt him badly. And you know what to do when you hurt someone."
He watched her pout more, watching the part of Holly Val had in her come out.
"Either you say sorry or I call mommy and have her take a toy away."
"Bad dada…."
"No. Bad Valentina."
He brought her down, seeing Opie come out of the bathroom.
"You ok, brother?"
"She has your hard head."
"Sorry, brother."
He looked at Val, who was trying to bury her head in his neck.
"What do you say to uncle Opie?"
"No…."
"Say it, little girl."
He watched her look over at Opie, her eyes wet and teary and tired. He only ever used little girl as a warning.
"Sowwy."
"It's ok, bug."
He clapped Ope on the shoulder before bringing her back upstairs for the nap he knew she desperately needed.
Jax walked into the house, going into the living room to find Juice knocked out on the couch while Holly was marinating meat and vegetables in the kitchen.
"Hey, babe. You still wanna go to dinner?"
"No. Sorry."
"It's ok. We'll go some other night."
"Yeah."
"You ok? You're not saying much."
"I'm exhausted. Between cleaning and doing laundry and cleaning up after Barovsky, I just wanna curl up and fall asleep. But I still have some more stuff to marinate."
"Have you eaten at all?"
"No. But there's some pizza left in the fridge if you're hungry."
"How much more do you have left?"
"Not much."
"Ok. What do you need me to do?"
She looked back at him.
"Really? You hate cooking."
"But I want to get you in bed so you can finally relax. So what do you need from me?"
"The veggies need to be cut up."
"Ok. I'll get all of it chopped up and then we'll eat together."
He watched her tear up, going over to kiss her forehead as he pulled her on for a hug.
"Long day, babe?"
"Very long."
"It's almost over."
He ended up letting her get the food done, putting a blanket on Juice on his way to the basement to check on Barovsky. Who was knocked out. He sighed deeply as he went back upstairs, looking over at Holly as he walked upstairs, going to change into pajamas. By the time he got downstairs, Holly looked like she was gonna pass out, but she was done with all the food. He helped her put everything in the fridge, letting her wash her hands before picking her up and carrying her upstairs, curling up with her in bed, drifting off to sleep with her.