And there she was. The only family member that still talked to Nicole besides her mother. Cassandra "Cassie" O'Hara was Nicole's sixteen year old cousin, one of many but also the youngest of the family, "Can I come in?" asked Cassie hesitantly.
"Of course," said Nicole stepping aside to let Cassie into the house.
Cassie looked around and smiled at Charlie, "Hi Charlie."
"Hi Cassie," said Charlie happily, "What brings you here?"
"That's what I wanted to talk to you two about," said Cassie, "Who's this little fellow?" she asked gesturing towards Nicholas.
"This is Nicholas Charles, the newest member of our family," said Charlie happily.
Nicole handed Cassie a bottle of water and sat down with her on the couch, "What brings you here. Is Aunt Martha and Uncle Justin with you?" asked Nicole.
Cassie started to cry and she shook her head, "No they're not."
"Whoa, Cassie, what's wrong?" asked Nicole.
Cassie wiped the tears from her eyes and asked, "Can I stay with you guys?"
Charlie and Nicole looked at each other. They had three bedrooms, one for themselves, one for Nicholas, and a guest bedroom, "Yeah sure, why aren't you at home though?" asked Charlie.
Cassie smiled slightly, "Um can I talk about that later? I just want to get settled in right now."
"How much do you have with you?" asked Nicole.
Cassie sighed and turned around facing the couple before going back outside, "All of my stuff. I need a place to stay."
Holly was at home reading when the phone rang. She went to answer it and said, "Truman residence."
"Hey hon," said Tim.
"Tim!" said Holly happily, "How are you? How are you feeling?"
"I'm feeling better. I mean I still have a lot to work through but it's better than it was. I miss you and George like crazy though," said Tim.
"We both miss you too, especially me," said Holly, "It's not the same without you next to me. And I miss your snoring."
"I don't snore," said Tim.
"Well that's up for discussion," said Holly.
"I miss you too hon," said Tim, "I can't wait to get home to you."
"Well I want you home when you're better," said Holly, "I love you."
"I love you too," said Tim.
The tribe was gathered at the Hump Bar for lunch. As per usual, everyone had news and new stories to tell, "So I heard from Tim this morning," said Holly.
"Yeah how's he doing?" asked Gloria.
"He's doing okay," said Holly, "But I can't wait until he gets home."
"Well you want to make sure he's close to 100%. PTSD can be tricky to treat," said Denise.
She could still remember it like it was yesterday. She was just starting to reconcile with Frank during their separation. They had both gone to Michael's promotion ceremony together and then went out to dinner. When they had arrived home, all they heard was a gunshot. Frank had run in to check on Jeremy who was alone. Thankfully, Jeremy was alive but they both knew he had tried to kill himself.
"Denise," said Claudia Joy.
Denise brought herself back to reality, "I'm okay," she said, "So Gloria how are things going with the wedding?"
"It's not," said Gloria, "Apparently summer is a popular time to get married."
Everyone else chuckled lightly, "I'm sure you'll find someplace," said Latasha.
"So how's Kat doing?" asked Denise to Claudia Joy.
Claudia Joy hesitated on what to say, "Well she's doing okay with the baby but Chris is deploying next week. So I promised her I'd help her with Connor."
"We'll all help her if she needs it," said Jackie.
"Yes granted it's been ten years, but I do know how to raise boys," chuckled Maggie.
"Charlie you okay? You haven't said anything this whole time," said Holly.
Charlie nodded, "Yeah I know. Just a lot on my mind that's all."
"Is Captain Galassini deploying too?" asked Gloria.
Charlie shook her head, "No she's not cleared for full active duty yet. We just have a new resident."
Everyone widened their eyes, "Charlie are you or Nicole…?" asked Denise.
Charlie raised her eyebrows before she realized what everyone meant, "No! I mean, I know what you all though and the answer's no, neither one of us," she clarified, "Um, Niki's cousin is living with us."
"Since when?" asked Claudia Joy.
"Since this morning," said Charlie, "We don't know what's going on. She just showed up at our doorstep this morning and asked if she could stay with us because she needed a place to live. Considering she's the only family member besides my mother-in-law that's talked to Niki since she came out, we felt we couldn't say no."
"Well that's a great thing to do especially since you have your hands full with Nicholas," said Denise.
Jordan opened the door to the Richardson house later that evening. Her mother had called her earlier that day and told her Chris was deploying in another five days. Of course she wasn't thrilled about her step-father deploying but she felt she had to be strong for her mother, "Mom?" she asked.
"In the nursery Jordan!" shouted Kat.
Jordan wondered upstairs and into what was the guest bedroom and was now her half-brother's room. She found her mother rocking Connor in the rocking chair. She walked over the mother-son pair and started cooing at Connor, "Hey Connor how is life on Earth going for you?"
"Well he eats, he sleeps, he needs diaper changes, and he loves being cuddled by Mommy and Daddy," Kat chuckled.
Jordan sat down on the floor, mainly because there weren't any other chairs in the room, "Where's Chris?"
"He went to the PX and the Commissary to get some supplies. You know all that pre-deployment preparation," said Kat.
"Yeah I remember," said Jordan stroking Connor's head, "Even though you haven't deployed since I was fifteen."
Kat and Jordan heard someone enter the house, "Honey, I'm home!" shouted Chris. They heard him come upstairs and into the nursery, "Oh hey Jordan."
"Hi Chris," she said.
"Hi sweetheart," said Chris kissing Kat, "Hey little man."
"Hey," she smiled softly.
"You feeling okay?" asked Chris.
"Just a little hungry that's all," she said.
"Well how about I take my beautiful family out for dinner my treat," said Chris.
"Actually should be getting back to campus soon. I have a big final Monday," said Jordan.
"Come on Jordan, it's only Friday and I deploy Wednesday. I wanted to have a family dinner one last time before then. And by family, I mean all four of us," emphasized Chris.
"Okay then," said Jordan.
"I was thinking the Red Robin down the street," said Chris, "How's that sound to you Kat?"
"Sounds good to me. I just fed him about ten minutes ago so he should be good for the entire meal," said Kat.
Chris took Connor from Kat and said, "Well buddy you ready to go?" Connor stretched and yawned in response, "He can hardly contain his excitement."
Kat chuckled. She would miss watching her husband's interaction with their son.
Denise arrived home from work later that evening. She had been lucky that she had been able to sneak in lunch at the Hump Bar with her friends. She relieved the babysitter and then went to check the messages on the answering machine. There was one message from Tonya, "Hey Denise. I was wondering if you and Frank could babysit Julia tomorrow night. If you're already busy that's okay but it's our first anniversary and we were hoping to have an evening baby free," said Tonya a little nervously, "Again, if you can't we totally understand please call me back when you get this message."
Frank walked in the door just as the message was finishing, "Hey Dee," he said happily and kissed her, "How was your day?"
"Fine, fairly uneventful," said Denise, "Frank, Tonya called and asked if we could babysit Julia tomorrow night."
"What for?" asked Frank.
"It's her and Blake's first anniversary," said Denise.
"Ah. And she wants a night with the hubby child free," said Frank, "Would she stay the night?"
"Um, I can call her right now and see if she wants that? I'm not 100% sure she'd want to be away from the baby that long though," said Denise.
Frank nodded and went to the master bedroom to change clothes. Denise called Tonya who answered after a few rings, "Hello?"
"Hey Tonya, it's me," said Denise, "I got your message. Frank and I would love to babysit Julia tomorrow night."
"Are you sure? If you both have other plans…"
"Tonya, we're sure," said Denise, "I promise you your little girl is in good hands." Denise could tell Tonya was nervous about leaving the baby for a few hours.
"I know, I just haven't stopped worrying about her since I found out I was pregnant," said Tonya.
"I know," said Denise, "One little test changes your life. And Frank wanted me to ask you this but I'm assuming I know the answer, did you want Julia to spend the night?"
"No," Tonya answered quickly, "Blake will be lucky if he can pull me away from her for a few hours."
Denise chuckled lightly, "Well have everything ready that we'll need and we'll see you all tomorrow."
Okay, thank you Denise," said Tonya.