Chapter 25
They arrived at A.J.'s house, with her not having a clue, or at least they thought so. Each one them felt as though they had left some of the dark clouds back on that narrow dirt road.
Her house was a renovated fire house from the 1860's. It had a huge property to it, since the fire company had rented out to the community for picnics and gatherings. The kids had lots of room to run around, still leaving plenty of space for the adults to gather.
Her family was also here to spend some quality time with their daughter and granddaughter. Since they all live outside of California, these kinds of reunions didn't happen as often as they should. Of course it would have been preferable not to have come out for the reason that they did.
As she rounded the corner to the back yard, everyone yelled surprise! A.J. created the look of surprise on her face, either way she was pleased to see all of her friends and some of her family.
It wasn't that she wasn't grateful their gift. Besides, they really worked hard to make it a surprise. Then it occurred to her, her mom must have brought along the 'red' book!
As if on cue, Ruth walks up to them, stopping long enough to kiss her little girl on her check. Then she does the same to Johnny, which makes him blush. He was embarrassed by how much he liked her affection towards him. "Johnny, would you like to see pictures of A.J. when she was a little girl?" She produces the 'red' book in question.
"Awe mom, did you have to do that?" Just what she needed everyone cooing over her baby pictures!" Of course everyone was so intrigued; they had to see the scrapbook for themselves.....oh joy!
She took this time to find her partner, not that it was difficult. He was the only other one in a wheel chair. He had been healing nicely from his injuries, in fact his casts were set to come off in only a couple of weeks.
"Hey Partner, how's it going?" She was clearly happy to see his face, it was the first time they had any time together since the crash.
"I could ask you the same thing. Roy came to see me, he let told me that you were finally out of the coma." With a grin he seldomed showed to anyone but her, he continued. "It's about time you gave up on the whole Diva act! You were really beginning to embarrass yourself." Though he tried to hide it, his eyes told her of his own physical pain and the emotional pain of almost losing his partner.
"Well, that's brave talk for someone who 'confessed' to my boyfriend that he wants my body!" That wasn't even close to what happened that night.
His mouth gaped open, as he stuttered. "I did NOT say that, Oh my GOD, is that what Davidson told Gage?" One look into her eyes,as she batted her eyelashes told him, he had been had. He laughed and swatted her arm.
Feeling good about torturing her own pigeon, she focused back on the crowd.
"Everyone, can I have your attention?" She waits for a few moments. "Look I just wanted to say...thank you. For saving me, being there for my family, everything...."
The rest of the evening was spent with games, eating, drinking and being merry.