"Can you get the door please Cassie? I kind of have my hands full." Alexandra called out from the kitchen bringing a tray of sandwiches out to the pool.
"OK mom. Where are my purple goggles?" she asked rushing to the door.
"They should be in the shed in the yard with the rest of the pool supplies sweetie. I didn't move them." she yelled before going outside.
"Thanks mom." she yelled back before opening the door. "Aunt Maureen, Aunt Joanne, Uncle Collins. What are you guys doing here." she yelled jumping to hug Collins.
"We figured Uncle Mark, Aunt Hanna and the boys have been her for months, so we wanted to see what's keeping them here. You look great Babygirl. You're getting so big." Collins smiled looking down at her.
"Aunt Hanna's been recovering from her surgery and the boys have been monopolizing Zach's whole summer." she laughed leaning over to kiss Maureen and Joanne on their cheeks.
"Zach Winters is here? Really?" Maureen smiled looking down at her.
"Yeah, but good luck getting near him. Adam and Anthony have barely let him go home since they got here." she laughed looking over at them.
"Cassie honey, who was at the door?" Alexandra asked shutting the sliding screen door before going into the kitchen.
"I came for my assistant. I've had it and I'm not taking no for an answer this time." Joanne called out smiling as Alexandra entered the living room.
"What are you guys doing here?" she called out excitedly rushing in to greet them.
"We missed you and figured LA must be the new bohemia since Marky won't leave." Collins laughed picking her up.
"We missed you guys so much too." she smiled hugging him tight. "Oh my God, Roger is gonna be so excited you guys are here. You're definitely staying with us. We will not take no for an answer." she smiled as Collins let her down.
"Baby, do we have any chips. The boys are looking for those salt and vinegar ones I always buy that you hate." Roger called out searching through the kitchen.
"Roger, we have company." she called out excitedly as he entered the living room.
"No way. Look out LA, hell has finally frozen over." he yelled rushing into the living room to hug everyone.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Maureen asked putting her hands on her hips.
"Bohemia seems to have a new home." he laughed looking over at them.
"Yeah, can you believe it? We're all here at the same time. And Mark finally broke down and came too." Joanne laughed looking up at him.
"LA's growing on him. Plus, he's afraid if he tries to leave, the boys are gonna try to smuggle Zach into one of their suitcases." he laughed putting his arm around Alex' waist.
"I can see that." Maureen laughed looking over at him.
"Come on, do you guys want to meet him? He's in the pool with the boys." Cassandra smiled looking over at Maureen.
"You're serious? We can meet him?" she smiled looking down at her.
"Down girl. He's only 13. I don't think he can handle a woman as worldly as you." Roger laughed looking down at her.
"Who are you kidding Davis. You can't handle a woman as worldly as me." she laughed as Cassandra led her to the back yard laughing with her.
"She forgets who I'm married to." Roger laughed holding Taylor tight before leaning in to kiss her neck.
"Roger, company behavior." she giggled looking up at him.
"He never listened before. Why should he start now?" Joanne smiled looking up at them.
"Exactly." he whispered kissing her neck.
"Some things never change." Collins laughd looking over at her as he started towards the yard.
"Uncle Collins." Adam and Anthony yelled running to him.
"Hey boys. Are you liking California?" he asked smiling at them.
"Yeah, it's a lot of fun. We get to go swimming and we went to Disney land with Uncle Roger and everything." Adam told him excitedly as Hanna and Mark walked towards him.
"Hi Collins." Hanna smiled as he leaned down to kiss her cheek.
"How are you feeling Babygirl?" he asked looking down at her.
"Better. Thank you." she smiled looking up at him.
"Good. We were really worried about you." he said looking down at her.
"Thanks, but there's no need. I'm fine. The surgery went great and I just started chemo. I'm not as tired as I thought I would be." she said looking up at him.
"Well, you look good." he smiled looking down at her.
"Come on Anthony, Zach and Cassie want to play Marco Polo." Adam smiled looking over at his brother.
"OK. Do you wanna play Uncle Collins? We can wait for you if you want." he asked looking up at him.
"That's OK Anthony. I'll get in on the next game." he smiled messing up the young boys hair.
"OK cool. I'm ready. I'm gonna kick your butt this time Winters." Anthony yelled jumping into the pool.
"It's nice to see Anthony's come out of his shell." Collins smiled looking over at Mark.
"Yeah, ever since he went to the doctor with Hanna and he heard it from the doctors mouth that she's gonna be fine, he's been like a whole new Anthony." Mark smiled looking over at him.
"Good. I know Roger and Alex were really worried about him. And you for that matter." he smiled looking down at Mark.
"Yeah, I was stupid, but I'm OK now." he smiled looking over at Hanna.
"Good for you Mark." he smiled as Alexandra, Roger and Joanne entered the yard.
"How about I go in and make some drinks. It'll be like old time. Sort of." Alexandra asked laughing.
"I'll help sweetie." Joanne smiled looking over at her as they turned to enter the house.
"Wine and Beer." Collins, Mark, Maureen and Hanna yelled as everyone laughed.
"Yeah, I still don't get that." Alexandra laughed before turning around to go into the house.
"Roger, I'm gonna go get changed. My mom'll be here in a little while to pick me up, OK?" Zach said looking up at Roger as he wrapped himself in a towel.
"Why don't you and your mom stay for dinner, son? You're more than welcome. Plus it'll give your mom a chance to meet everyone." he smiled looking down at him.
"Yeah, that would be cool. Thanks Roger." he smiled looking up at him.
"Anything bud." he smiled looking over at him.
"It's nice to see he finally warmed up to you." Collins laughed looking over at him.
"Yeah, and him and Cassie have gotten really close too." Roger smiled sitting in the lawn chair.
"Is that such a good thing?" Joanne asked getting a bottle of wine out of the refrigerator.
"Don't worry. They're more like brother and sister." she smiled looking over at her taking the wine glasses out of the cabinet.
"Well that's good." she smiled looking over at her.
"Yeah it is. It's the closest Cassie will have to having a sibling." she said looking over at her.
"You don't regret not adopting another baby, do you?" she asked looking over at her.
"Of course not. Roger and I are very happy. There's nothing we would change in our life." she smiled looking over at her before going out to the yard with the wine glasses.
"And then, we went to lunch later that day." Alexandra smiled remembering that afternoon at the Life Cafe.
"Wow, this place is really nice. Joanne talks about it all the time. I've always wanted to come here and hang out with you guys." she said looking around as they entered the Life Cafe.
"I wish she had brought you by. That way I could have met you sooner." he said holding her hand.
"I am starving." she said as they sat in a booth next to each other.
"Me too." he said leaning in to kiss her.
"I mean for food Roger." she said laughing as she kissed him back.
"Oh, right. Food." he said laughing as he looked over her shoulder at the menu.
"So what do you feel like?" she asked looking up at him.
"You." he answered as he kissed her neck.
"Roger, I'm serious. Focus, food." she squealed as he breathed lightly on her neck.
"I'm sorry. You're right. Food now." he said as three people stood over them.
"Ahem." Collins said as he, Joanne and Maureen smiled at them.
"Oh, um hi guys. What are you doing here?" Roger asked laughing as he looked up at them.
"Mark asked us to meet him for lunch" Collins said amused by them.
"I am gonna kill him." he said laughing.
"Hi Alexandra." Joanne said smiling down at them.
"Hi Joanne." she said smiling at her.
"It's nice to see you two are getting long so well." she said as Roger's face turned red.
"Do you guys wanna join us?" Alexandra asked as Roger turned to look at her.
"We would love to. Thanks." Maureen said sitting in the booth.
"No, we're gonna let them eat lunch alone. We'll be over there not bothering you." Joanne said taking Maureen's arm.
"Oh come on Pookie. Alexandra asked us to join them." she told her getting out of the booth.
"Maureen, not now. Let them eat in peace. How would you guys like to have dinner with us? Collins is making dinner for the gang at our place tonight and we would really like it if you joined us." Joanne asked smiling at them.
"We would love to. Thanks Joanne." Alexandra said as Roger looked at her.
"OK, we'll see you around 7." she said before they left them alone.
"Why did you do that? I wanted to hang out with you alone tonight." Roger asked looking at her.
"Because I want to get to know your friends. Plus we have all day today and tomorrow to hang out." she said leaning over to kiss him.
"Oh OK." he said submitting to her beautiful blue eyes.
"OK." she said smiling at him as they kissed again. The waiter came over and they placed their order. Maureen, Collins, Mark and Joanne tried not to stare at them, but it was really hard. They made such a beautiful couple.
"Aren't they adorable?" Maureen said smiling at Joanne.
"They sure are." Joanne said smiling at them as she watched them laugh and canoodle from across the room. She had never seen either one of them so happy. Alexandra had been her assistant for 5 years and knew about her previous relationship. She deserved to finally be happy and Roger was such a great guy. He was a good fit for her too. They had a lot in common. She was glad they got together.
"Yeah, you should have seen his face when Maureen plopped down in the booth. I swear, I thought he was gonna jump up and drag her out himself." Joanne laughed looking over at her.
"I love torturing Roger. You know that." Maureen laughed looking over at him.
"Yeah, a little too much if you ask me." Roger laughed as Alexandra reached up to caress his face.
"Oh Honey, you know you love the attention." she smiled looking up at him
"Not that kind of attention." he laughed looking down at her.
"You guys are so funny. I don't think I've ever had this much fun." Mrs. Winters smiled looking over at them as the kids watched a movie in the living room.
"Yeah being in this family is interesting to say the least." Alexandra laughed as Roger leaned over to kiss her head.
"I'm really glad Zachary has you two to influence him. You have no idea how much it means to me to have him spend so much time with you and Cassie." she smiled looking over at her.
"Zach is like a son to us. He is welcome here any time he wants. So are you for that matter." Alexandra smiled looking over at her.
"Thank you. It hasn't been easy raising him alone." she said picking up her wine glass.
"You don't have to Noreen. We're always here for you. You know that." Roger smiled looking over at her.
"I know Roger. Thank you. Being around you has changed him. He used to be so withdrawn, he didn't have any friends and he was shy when it came to meeting new people, but Cassie came in and dragged him out of his shell. She's a real good girl. You two should be very proud of her." Mrs. Winters smiled looking over at them.
"We are. Thank you Noreen. We're proud of Zach too. He's a great kid." Roger smiled bringing Alexandra close to him.
"He is, isn't he? I'm really proud of him. I mean, he's used to being an only child, but the way he's been over here every day and spending time with Cassie, Adam and Anthony, he loves it here. He really does. He feels like just one of the kids." she smiled looking over at Alexandra.
"Well we figured it's better that he's here rather than at some summer camp with people who don't know him. He's more than welcome and he knows that." Alexandra smiled looking over at her.
"I don't know how to thank you two. For everything you've done for me and Zach." Mrs. Winters smiled looking over at them.
"Don't try. They won't accept it anyway. Trust us. We know." Hanna smiled looking over at Mark and then at Alexandra and Roger.
"Yeah, you're part of the family. You'll never get rid of us now." Collins laughed drinking his stoli.
"I think I can live with that." she smiled looking up at them.