Week 15 - UDC 10
71. Hush-hush
He's sitting on the front porch steps after his tutor has left, puzzling his way through a chapter in a text book when a car pulls up. Puzzled, Bart looks up to find a family of redheads getting out of a car, a man, a woman, and... is that two toddlers? Then he realizes that he knows them, from the grocery store a month ago. The door opens behind him and he hears his mother chuckle at the sight. "Mom?"
"I told you, remember? We're hosting dinner tonight."
Bart blinked at that, suddenly realizing what Nick had meant by the 'see you later' earlier in the day. "Oh."
"Bart?"
"Yeah?"
"Textbook." He handed it up to her and then she smiled when Noah reached them and let one of the twins down.
"You remember Bart, right Nicky?" Noah smiled as his son greeted Bart enthusiastically and Bart stared up at him with wide eyes before turning his attention to the two-year-old. "He's the easy one. It's Maggie you have to work on getting to know."
72. Topsy-turvy
Next to arrive was actually not someone he'd have expected and Jaime lifted Nicky smoothly out of Bart's lap with practiced ease. "How-"
"Younger siblings," Jaime told him and said hello to Nicky with a smile. "Where are his parents?"
"Inside. What is going on here?" Bart looked from Jaime to the girl he'd shown up with, watching them with small smile.
Jaime shrugged. "Don't know enough to tell you. Char, you've not met Bart before, right?"
"Wasn't time a month ago," she told him, nodding to Bart. "You know my sisters, Karen and Jennifer."
Bart nodded, and then realized she was holding a paper shopping bag in one hand. "What's in that?"
"Food," Char explained. "Mind if I go inside and give it to your mother?" At a shake of his head, she did so, stepping around him and going inside.
Jaime chuckled at Bart's puzzled expression. "I told her mother it was a sudden dinner party, and her parents made a casserole and a desert for us to bring."
73. Fuddy-duddy
In the kitchen, Sheryl and Chelsea were chatting when Sheryl noticed the girl with the bag enter, and she frowned. "And you are...?"
The girl smiled. "Here with food, ma'am. Where do you want it?"
"On the counter is fine, miss." Sheryl watched her, frowning. "Who are you in this situation?"
"Pete was in my summer Trig class," she explained as she took a covered casserole dish out, along with a cake container. "At TCC, and Jaime goes to school with him."
Chelsea smiled at that. "You're the recently engaged couple that Alan told me about yesterday. Charlotte?"
"Yes." Charlotte shook her head in annoyance. "His mother was so excited, you know? She loves weddings and just had to announce it to the world, even if we're waiting until after Jaime graduates to start planning."
"Sounds like a mother who loves her son and you," Noah said, entering the kitchen from the living room, with Dean behind him.
"They okay out there?" Chelsea asked and Noah nodded.
"So far."
74. Wishy-washy
He'd joined Bart in sitting on the front steps when another car pulled up, and that was when Jaime frowned over the top of Nicky's head while he played with Bart's fingers. What was their alternate JROTC advisor doing here, with an unfamiliar man that had military bearing in tow? "Okay, this is just getting weirder."
"Both my parents have been acting odd since Wednesday," Bart said quietly. "Figures that Jenkins would be involved somehow."
Jaime's attention shifted to the unfamiliar man, in civvies, sporting a mustache and appearing more weary of things than he'd ever recalled seeing from anyone else. "Right."
"Clothes different," Nicky said suddenly. "Not brown."
Ah, so this was possibly someone from the military. "Not brown, huh? Interesting."
When they reached the front porch, Alan gestured for Nicky wordlessly and Jaime handed him up. "You remember Mike, don't you? From the other day?" Nicky nodded, but didn't reach out. Alan smiled. "He's had an interesting day or so, kiddo. Might need a hug."
"Hug?" Nicky asked, tone interested.
"Yes, Nicky. A hug." At that, Nicky finally did reach out, almost lunging from Alan's arms and Mike caught him with a surprised expression on his face while the toddler did exactly that. "There you go." He glanced down at them and mouthed 'khakis.' Jaime wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it.
75. Pitter-patter
Alone on the front steps again, Bart glanced at Jaime. "I'm going to guess that that guy..."
"No guesses about it," Jaime told him as they watched another car pull up and the Bradshaws and Pete got out. He frowned, for Pete was staring at the house with an unreadable expression for a minute before shaking his head closing the car door. "Bart?"
"What?"
"Has he been back here since November?"
Bart shook his head and stood up, Jaime joining him shortly after. "No."
When they got close enough, Walt nodded to Jaime. "Glad you could come. Congratulations?"
Jaime nodded back. "Thank you. It's a while off, though, sir." Beside him, Bart suddenly squeaked in surprise and he glanced over...
"Pete, why are you hugging me?"
The answer took a minute or so. "I got you grounded. For months."
Bart looked up at Helen and Walt, nodded inside. "Can we have a minute?"
Helen smiled. "Certainly. Inside, Walt. The boys need to work through this one."
Bart waited, made eye contact with Nick, then pried Pete away enough to make eye contact with him. "I was grounded for my own behavior. Never think I wasn't."
"Because of me."
"No, because of how I acted with you. There's a difference, understood?" Bart reached and tapped the MIA bracelet. "This was one reason. Breaking your arm, no matter how it happened, was another. They were right to ground me." Pete didn't seem convinced. "Guys? Hug."
"You sure?" Nick asked.
"Yep."
From the door, Sheryl and Helen watched as Nick and Jaime joined them in a hug, with Pete in the middle of it.