Chapter 19 - 12 Giggling Girls

The sun was coming in through the windshield on the Chevy Tahoe rental. Of course Joe never rented anything but a Chevy Tahoe. Alison was finally getting used to that fact. Alison had her seat kicked back but her hand was on the inside of his right bicep inside his t-shirt. The skin on skin touching was very relaxing for the both of them. He had some kind of station on the radio turned low and the silence between them was more than comfortable.

It had been two and a half months since the implode of the Shield and her relationship with Colby. The next Sunday was SummerSlam and she had a sneaky suspicion her father was going to be making an appearance during one of the scheduled matches.

Since then she'd been out to Texas numerous times and met all four of her siblings and absolutely fell in love with the idea that she had a brother and 3 other sisters; getting to know all of them was the highlight of her life so far.

Joe was slightly surprised when Alison had invited him with her on this trip to Houston Texas. It was mid-August and Mark had all three girls. Sara let him have Chasey and Gracie the last 3 weeks of August so he could celebrate all the girls birthdays together at one time. He had a giant party and let them invite 5 friends each to sleep over and have a good time.

Technically. Chasey wouldn't be 12 until November and Gracie was already 9 because her birthday was in May. Kaia turned 2 on the 1st of August.

Joe was happy about the progression of their relationship; they'd had several talks about where they wanted to go in the future. Joe had already bought her an engagement ring; which he couldn't help but carry with him everywhere he went. He wouldn't just leave it someplace unless it was locked up like Fort Knox. He also hadn't decided when he was going to ask her, but knew they were going to be married. It was already slated in the stars for them; had been for years - they just had to find their way back to each other.

Once they pulled to a stop in front of a huge black rid iron gate; Joe watched as Alison moved around in her seat as she carefully leaned over Joe's lap out the driver side window and punched in the gate code.

Joe of course was enjoying the view and couldn't help his itchy little hands as he rubbed his hand across her jean covered ass and kissed the side of her neck.

Alison shuddered and had to stop her arms and legs from getting weak and falling in Joe's lap. She moved back a little as she let the tip of her tongue run across the seam of Joe's lips before planting a kiss on his lips. "That was foul play Mr. Anoa'i." She backed up back into her seat. "You will pay for that later."

Joe chuckled as he adjusted the crotch of his jeans; having a hard on around Alison's family would NOT be good. "Looking forward to it Ms. Merker." Joe stated before lifting her hand to his lips and kissing the back of it.

Joe stopped in front of the garage and killed the engine. The house was literally little girl central; they were all over the place. Mark had apparently rented a huge bounce hour for Chasey and her friends and a smaller one for Gracie and her friends. Alison looked back as Joe followed her up the sidewalk as he was careful not to step on or scare any of them.

"Ali! ALISON!" A voice squealed.

Three seconds later, Alison caught one girl in her arms as arms wrapped around her waist as the older enveloped her in a nice group hug. She could hear Joe chuckling deeply behind her. "Okay let me look at all of you." Gracie pulled back but stayed wrapped around her torso as Alison cupped her face and rained kisses all over her face; before pulling Chasey over and repeating the process. "Uh my birthday girl's…You've gotten so big! If you keep growing you're going to be bigger than dad."

"You mean the jolly green giant." Her thick southern accent drew out as she pushed her strawberry blonde curls out of her face. "Ali I'm so glad you made it, if yew'd a missed our birthday's we'd a killed yew."

"Don't be so over dramatic Gracie. Alison already vowed to never miss our birthday's ever." Chasey tried to reason.

"And she never will." Gracie added. "Alison who's your friend? Is he your booooyfriend?" Gracie teased.

Alison laughed as finished greeting the two strawberry blondes with a million kisses all over their faces as well. "Yes he's my boyfriend. He's a really good friend of dad's as well. His name is Joe."

Joe slowly lowered himself so he was eyelevel with all the girls, a soft smile spreading on his lips. He knew how intimidating he was and had done this with many small female fans. Extending his hand to the two, Joe introduced himself. "Happy Birthday, Gracie. Happy Birthday Chasey." He rumbled softly, smirking when it looked as though she swooned and released her hand, standing back to his full height as Mark walked out onto the porch.

"Aren't we missing a smaller version of you two?" Alison asked as she looked around for Kaia.

"Kaia is latched onto Michelle as always; she's scared of all the hustle and bustle that's going on. There were a lot of delivery people bringing things in for the trio party and she was freaking out a little. Dad got her calmed down but not she won't leave Michelle's side."

Chasey and Gracie went back to playing with their friends as Alison and Joe ascended the steps of the huge porch and watched as Mark stepped out of the house. "Hey sweetheart." Mark pulled Alison into a tight embrace, kissing the top of her head and then extended his hand to Joe. "Thanks for comin'. Make yourself at home, Joe."

Joe nodded, shaking Mark's hand in return feeling him pull him in and gave him a one arms bro hug. "Thanks Mark."

Alison and Joe walked through the house, into the kitchen where Kaia was perched on Michelle's hip as the blonde current Mrs. Calaway was cooing to her daughter to keep her calm.

"AISON!" A squeal interrupted everyone's thoughts.

Alison smiled as she looked up and saw Kaia trying to escape her mother's arms to get to her as she squealed her name. Alison chuckled as Kaia squealed her name again missing the L. "AISON!" Alison walked over and took the squirming two year old before she could completely jump from her mother's arms.

Joe's heart squeezed inside his chest as he watched the interaction between big sister and little sister. It was almost too much to take. Alison was going to be a great mom. He shook his head of those thoughts because he really couldn't jump the gun on it.

Alison, Joe, Mark and Michelle walked through the house and out the sliding glass door to the back patio noticing all the girls made it from the front yard to the back; pink and purple balloons and streamers were all over the place. Alison smiled. "Good job on the decorations Gracie and Chasey."

Gracie giggled. "Dad let us get a small helium tank and was letting us inhale helium so we could take the high pitched voices.

"Oh he did; did he?" Michelle planted her hands on her hips as she glared up at Mark.

Mark cringed and fake glared down at Gracie. "Blabber mouth."

It was Gracie's turn to squeal as Mark leapt forward and threw his daughter over his shoulder as he began tickling her behind the knees; her giggles filled the air as Kaia giggled and clapped along.

The festivities wound down around 10 pm. Mark and Michelle were on kitchen and patio duty. Alison ushered the 10 girls up to Chasey and Gracie's room to change into their sleep clothes, then walked across the hall to Kaia's room and changed her and put her in bed. she smiled softly as she leaned over and kissed her little sister on the forehead.

The two year old had run herself ragged with all the older girls and Alison just about died when she turned around after the presents had been opened and saw her laying across Joe's torso while he was slouched down on the couch; she was fast asleep with her head on his chest. She watched his large hand as it slowly rubbed up and down her back.

Alison was brought out of her favorite memory to date as a pair of warm hands caressed her jean covered hips. Along with a pair of warm lips on the side of her neck.

"You sure you want to marry me, because I definitely want a couple of those; as long as they look like you." Joe's deep voice stated in her ear.

Alison smiled as she pushed back against Joe's big body. "I could manage a few of them with you." It was a bold statement coming from her but it was a true statement none the less. They were taking it slow and working on repairing what they had missed out on over the last 9 years.

Joe slowly pulled her out of Kaia's room and walked across the hallway into the bathroom. As soon as the door was closed and locked Alison turned around as she pushed up on her toes and caught his lips. She could feel Joe's hands slid up her back from her hips as he pulled her body into his before lifting her and planting her rear-end on the counter as he stood between her thighs.

It was a nice make out session for them.

Alison broke the kiss when she could hear all 12 girls in the hallway. She hopped off the counter before turning and opened the door and was met by Chasey and Gracie and their ten friends as they all giggled. "Where's the fire ladies?"

Chasey stepped forward. "We were wondering if you could do our hair and makeup."

Gracie squealed as Alison nodded. "Your friend can come with."

"Is everyone in their Pj's?" Alison asked as she looked around and they all nodded. "Okay everyone to the basement." She laughed as 12 girls squealed and yelled all the way through the house to the basement. She could hear Joe chuckling behind her as she looked back at him. "Laugh it up buddy you're keeping me company down there." She reached back and took his hand as she led him through the house as they descended the stairs. "The basement is heated and carpeted and during football season it's Mark's getaway for his NFL fix without getting in Michelle's way." She kicked her shoes off as she sat down on the floor next to the chair that Joe sat in as they watched Despicable Me.

Despicable Me with 12 girls all waiting eagerly to get their hair and make-up done…Joe was in hell. Or maybe it was purgatory, he wasn't sure. He immediately changed his mind to HELL when one of the girls walked over –her name was Shelly- and asked very sweetly if she could braid his hair. Joe raised a very slow brow and looked up at Alison, who couldn't help smirking; holding in her laughter. "If you tell anyone about this, I'll string you up by your toes woman." He growled low in Alison's ear to where only she could hear him and flicked her lobe teasingly before moving to sit on the floor for the girls. Shelly moved up behind him and pretty soon all 12 girls were putting his hair in tiny braids. Alison owed him BIG TIME for this.

Alison couldn't help giggling. Every time she'd finish one of the girls they'd go over and take over another section of Joe's hair. It was a good thing he wasn't paying attention because she was able to snap a couple of shots with her cell phone's camera quietly. By the time the movie was over, the girls had their cake, ice cream, finished Joe's hair and were all tucked in their sleeping bags with the night light on in the bathroom in case anyone had to get up to pee. Alison went around and said good night to each of them on her hands and knees making sure to kiss each one on the head and tuck each of them in.

Joe was standing by the bottom of the stairs with about a hundred tiny braids in his long black hair. Periodically during the hair braiding he was getting, Alison would reach over and squeeze his knee. She hoped he understood how much it meant to the girls and to her. She finished up as she turned and smiled as she walked up to Joe. "Thank you seriously for being such a good sport about it. You didn't have to let them, but you did. You're going to make a great dad someday." She couldn't believe he really let 12 girls braid his hair. "C'mon big guy let's go upstairs and I'll get you unbraided, unless you want to wait until we get back to the hotel."

Joe cleared his throat gruffly, really not wanting to face Mark with his hair like this, but he knew it would take quite a while to get all of the tiny braids unwound. "Let's just go say goodbye to the others and then we can leave. You can do it when we back to the hotel." He rumbled before he pulled his hair tie off his wrist and tied his hair back in a loose bun then taking her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze before they both headed upstairs so the girls could sleep.

"What in the hell happened to your hair son?" Mark demanded as soon as Joe and Alison made their way back upstairs.

Michelle shook her head, cleaning up the mess from the girls while putting the leftover food and cake away. "You look like you were mauled by 12 girls with itchy fingers." She couldn't help giggling.

"He looks like he's got dreadlocks." Mark stammered out while laughing hard.

This was absolutely humiliating, but Joe was a sport and shook each of their hands, thanking them for their hospitality. Michelle pulled him into a hug and kissed his cheek, thanking him for being a good sport with the girls much like Alison had downstairs. She also added she hoped they saw more of him because he was a gentleman and a good match for Alison. Joe couldn't help agreeing with her, though he kept that to himself and walked out to give Alison a minute alone with her family.

Alison got hugs from both Michelle and then Mark for the help and for the visit. Mark invited her and Joe for breakfast the following morning and Alison happily accepted before she turned on her sneaker covered heels and followed Joe out to the rental as they disappeared back into town.