Memorial Day, same year.

After six long weeks, Priestly was excited to have a doctor's appointment the next day. The prospect of being cleared to go back to the grill full time had him almost giddy. Unrestricted work, at long last. He'd been popping his head in as often as Jude would let him, taking care of the paper trail...balancing the books, placing the food order, paying bills. But to go back and really be back...he felt like it was Christmas again, just like he had while he'd waited for Jude to bring the kids to Dominican to see him.

The grill was closed that day, anyway, because it was Monday. And if Memorial Day didn't always fall on a Monday, it would have been closed, anyway, so he figured he could stand to put up with one more lazy day. He'd tried playing the "but this is really Trucker's day" card, but Jude wasn't having it. He'd lost count of the number of times she'd chewed him out in the last month for trying to do more than she thought he should. A few times, he'd chewed right back, but the last time he'd done it, he made her cry. And while it was probably just sheer exhaustion that made her cry, he'd felt like a total dick. So although he felt like some kind of deadbeat just goofing off while she and Trucker and Zo and his mom and Leo set up the party, he did as Jude asked and kept the kids distracted so they could get things done. As far as chores went, it wasn't so bad. The sun was shining, the breeze was pleasant, and he was watching Lily toddle unsteadily after Mikey in Leo's backyard as Trucker cooked up a round of his popular hamburgers. All was right with the world.

Priestly greeted his crew as they filtered noisily through the back gate. Gabriel, his grill man, who was still with him after five years, was just about finished with his Bachelor's degree. He knew what it meant, though he hated it. But he was happy that he'd been able to provide a job for the guy while he slogged slowly through school, a couple classes at a time, in much the same way as he'd gotten his own degree. Diego, his newest and youngest addition, was always cheerful and mellow. Piper, the only one of their original bunch unless you counted Trucker himself which Priestly didn't. Every day he wondered if that day would be the day she'd decide she was tired of working and would rather focus completely on Noah and Julia and her painting. And lastly, Mina, who he jokingly referred to as "Jen, the Next Generation", though the two looked and acted nothing alike. A prior foreign exchange student from Seoul, Mina had convinced her wealthy family to permanently relocate to Santa Cruz. She was the techie, the one he counted on to keep the website Jen started up and running. She was also not shy. Frankly, if he was going to compare his current employees to the original bunch, Mina was more the Tish of the group...though a lot more choosy about her dates.

He greeted them all with hugs or manly shoulder clapping, thanking Diego and Mina with a round of, "You didn't have to do that, guys," when they handed him brightly wrapped packages. On one of his paperwork expeditions at the grill he had, in Trucker's grand tradition, declared a company barbecue for Memorial Day, and Piper made the mistake of teasing him about his birthday. Gabriel piped up from the grill,

"Boss man, it's your birthday? We should party down for that, too, then!"

He also greeted Noah and Julia, who tagged along with Piper, teasing Julia about how her folks brought him a free babysitter for his birthday. At thirteen, she had looked after Mikey and Lily on more than one occasion, and she'd gone a great job. She just grinned back, shaking her head. "No way, I don't work for free. But you can pay me in food today." He just smirked and tugged her braid before slapping Noah's shoulder in greeting as he passed.

So now here they were, his upbeat crew. Truthfully, he was proud of them. Grateful for them. By Jude's account, they'd kept on like always...no slacking off because the boss was gone. No increased tardiness or call outs. Like Trucker, he tried to hire people he liked on a personal level. So far, it had mostly worked out. A few bad choices had come and gone over the years, but when he griped to Trucker about them, the old surfer just laughed and told him it was all part of the game.

Tish and Rick were next, with Mikey's little half-sister, Becca, who was just six months older than Lily. When Becca made a beeline for Lily, Priestly grinned. The two girls got along well. Piper greeted Tish like she hadn't seen her in a year, even though Priestly knew they'd run into each other at the hospital. Jen and Jeff were last through the gate.

"Jesus, Jen!" he scolded, grabbing the bags she carried, startled at how heavy they were until he peered into one and saw a couple six packs of Sello Negro she must have brought for Trucker. "You trying to make the kid a world class weight lifter or what?"

Jeff smirked. He'd no doubt scolded her, too, and had likely gotten the same exasperated look. Though still sweet as could be, Jen had grown more confident and had definite ideas about her capabilities. And right now she was rolling her eyes at his concern.

"I'm four months pregnant, Priestly," she replied, palming the little bump at her middle. "I'm not an invalid."

He kissed her cheek putting his palm over hers protectively, which erased the half-hearted irritation she'd been feeling. "Yeah," he said seriously, "but you've been waiting so long for this I just don't want anything to screw it up."

In true hormonal pregnant lady fashion, the kind sentiment made her eyes well up. Priestly met Jeff's eyes and high fived him. Jen went back to exasperation and they both howled with laughter, clasping hands and doing a sort of half hug. Tish, familiar with the game, just smirked at Jen and said,

"Remember when you thought that was funny?"

Jen gave in and giggled, "When it was you, Tish, it was funny!"

He glanced over into the yard, tracking Lily and Becca and Mikey. Satisfied that none of them were doing anything likely to make them bleed or cry, he ducked into Leo's house to set down Jen's bags, one of which contained a pie she'd made that needed to be tucked into the fridge. He entered the kitchen carefully. Too many cooks, as they said.

Slipping his right hand around Jude's waist, he gently nudged her out of the way of the fridge. She gave him a look that clearly said she wanted him out of the kitchen. He gave her a disarming smile and lifted the bags. "Jen brought pie." Raising his voice, he said, "And Trucker's favorite beer!"

Trucker promptly took control of the beer bag with a delighted grin. "Hey," he joked, "I guess it's my birthday, too!"

Priestly chuckled. "Guess so, Truck."

Taking the last of the bags from him, Jude gave him a light shove. "Go get the kids washed up," she said, kissing him before adding the word, "Please."

"Yes, ma'am," he teased in reply, pausing to kiss her again.

They'd been through hell and back in the last six weeks, and not just because of his brush with death. Jude had been tightly wound for many reasons…concern for him, money worries, stress over the horrible suggestions made by greedy attorneys, dealing with suddenly being handed his half of the household and parenting duties, fending off the initial flood of reporters and publishing houses, you name it. Though she tried hard to keep everything under control, she sometimes lost her temper.

For his part, being stuck at home most of the time wore on him. He was not a person who liked sitting still, and he especially didn't like being alone and doing nothing. Sitting around too much made him think too much. Thinking too much made him feel guilty about what his rash decision was doing to Jude and to everyone else that had to pitch in to cover his slack. Too much guilt and too much thinking seemed to fuel the nightmares. The nightmares tended to wake Jude, who was a pretty light sleeper most of the time, which just made him feel worse. On the other hand, if he tried to tire himself out with housework or yard work, Jude got on his case about doing too much too soon and they ended up fighting. If he went to the grill too often, Jude chased him out, which frustrated him to no end. Worst of all, she didn't even want him helping with the kids too much for fear he'd catch something they might be carrying.

Finally one night he'd blown up at her. And not just a small burst of exasperation. He'd yelled her all the way into the back wall of the kitchen, only stopping when he realized how pale she'd gone and that Mikey was standing behind them in the doorway, his little eyes round as saucers and his cheeks wet with tears. Horrified, he'd fled the house in Gossamer, shaking so hard he almost couldn't drive. Though he had no idea how (and Trucker refused to tell) Trucker found him hunched into himself on the cliffs overlooking his favorite surf spot, staring out at the ocean "Sheet white and shell-shocked" as he put it.

This was what Priestly thought about even as he scooped Mikey up under one arm and Lily up under the other, both giggling gleefully as he teasingly growled at each of them. As he plunked Lily on the bathroom counter and hoisted Mikey up to stand on his knee so he could wash his hands, he remembered the way Trucker just sat beside him in utter silence for an hour, waiting him out.

Finally Trucker decided he wasn't going to talk, so he broke the silence. "Didn't we have this conversation once already? The one about you trying to save the world and fix everybody?" When he tried to protest, Trucker cut him off. "I'm not talking about Missy. You did what you had to do in the heat of the moment, and the results weren't what you intended. Nothing you can do there. But you're taking on a whole lot of shit that belongs to other people, man, and all that's doing is messing with your head."

Trucker's palm cupped the back of his head just as he broke, putting his face in his hands, elbows on his knees even though his right elbow jolted at the move. He just slung his arm around Priestly and let him ramble about never, ever wanting to act the way his father acted, never wanted to put fear into his wife's eyes, to blow up at anyone like that at all but especially not in front of his kids…to put fear on their faces or tears on their little cheeks.

"C'mon, man," Trucker chided gently after Priestly wound down, "don't be so hard on yourself. I don't think I've met a better father to his kids than you. Everybody makes mistakes, and no one gets out alive. That's just life. Jude is okay. So she's worried about you. Maybe a little too worried, but that's just human. You scared the living shit out of all of us. But we're all okay now, just like you're okay now. Everybody's dealing with things the best they know how. Stop taking on the blame for all of the bumps in the road, because no matter what happens, the bumps will always be there. If it wasn't this, it would have been something else making them."

He remembered being so afraid to go home and face Jude. He'd been so awful, and he felt literally sick at the way he'd left things. It was late when he'd pulled into the drive after talking with Trucker so long they almost couldn't find their way back to their cars. The lights were low, the house quiet, the kids in bed for a couple hours by then. She was curled into a corner of the couch, grill paperwork spilling from her lap onto the floor. He tried not to wake her, but she slept lightly.

He'd just looked at her for a long moment, trying to figure out how to apologize. He eased down on the couch beside her, surprised when she let him take her in his arms. Even more surprised when she kissed him with a fervor that matched that first day he'd been home. And when she'd finally come up for air and he'd gasped out an apology, she panted,

"Me, too."

Priestly plopped Mikey back on his feet and stared down into his face. In that uncanny way kids had, Mikey just looked at him for a long moment as if he knew exactly what kind of somber thoughts his daddy was thinking, then let out a deep belly laugh as if to say, "Hey, it's ok, I still love you!" and took off down the hall to rejoin the party. Priestly held Lily with one arm and helped her wash her chubby hands with the other, laughing when she clapped them and splashed water everywhere.

"Silly Lily," he sing-songed at her, turning off the tap.

As he stepped out onto the patio with Lily tucked against him, a familiar face popped into view.

"I'm sorry we're late," Lisa said apologetically as his eyes locked on the little girl clasping Lisa's hand.

Missy.

Her eyes found him, too. She turned shy and mute, just standing frozen beside Lisa. But her eyes were still on him. He wondered what to do, whether to say hello or just smile. He gave her a lopsided grin and lifted his hand, setting Lily down as she caught sight of Becca. Missy didn't move, still stricken by shyness. Priestly turned his attention to Trucker as he put a platter of finished burgers on one of the two picnic tables Leo had set up.

Herding Lily and Becca together, he and Tish settled the girls into the booster seats Leo had created just as his mom put a plate with cut up burger meat, potato chips, and grapes down in front of each one. Mikey got a mini burger with ketchup, chips, grapes, and beans.

Soon, everyone had a plate and the tables were filled with chatter and laughter. From time to time, Priestly glanced at Missy, who was sitting next to Mikey. He wondered if she was okay. The kids had clearly already met because they chattered about their friends and toys and various other things as they ate. But Priestly caught Missy looking at him more than once. Each time, he gave her the same lopsided grin.

After lunch, Leo set up a crazy water sprinkler toy he called the Waterpillar, and as the adults chatted, Julia generously chaperoned Missy, Mikey, Becca, and Lily as they hopped, ran and stumbled around in the water with high pitched squeals and giggles. Still a kid at heart, Priestly caught her taking a few passes in the water, herself.

He turned his attention back to the conversations at hand. Listening to them, he once again marveled at his history with the people around him. Trucker, Zo, Noah, and his mom were talking about her one time surfing expedition with Noah. Noah was wondering whether he should allow Julia, who'd only recently expressed interest, to give it a try. Jude piped up and offered to take her to Cowells for some lessons. Jen, Tish, and Jeff were talking about upcoming movie releases. He met Jeff's eyes as the two women mused about watching Tom Cruise sex it up in Rock of Ages. Jen gave him a smile and said, "That brings back the times you came out with Sherri, Samantha, Kate, and me."

Jeff's eyes narrowed teasingly, and Priestly held up his hands. "Hey, man, that was before I found out she was talking to some guy on the internet!" Then he turned to Jen and grinned. "Yeah, that was fun…we saw that 80s cover band…" Priestly tried to remember their name.

"Aqua Net Rising," Jen replied. "And we saw Standoff."

"Yeah, that's right," he said. "That was awesome!"

"Have you heard anything about Miller?" Jen asked.

He shook his head. "Nah. I really thought they'd make it big. They were really good."

Jen agreed.

"Hey, Mom?"

Priestly glanced up and saw Julia had come back up to the patio to talk to Piper. He glanced out at the yard. Mikey and Missy were still running around in the sprinklers, but Becca and Lily were both sitting, taking turns covering the little spray nozzles and letting them go again, giggling wildly as they got doused again each time.

Piper squinted up at Julia.

"Can I go out with Sarah and Ashley to the movies tonight?"

"What movie?" Piper asked.

"Titanic," Julia replied. Priestly and Jen looked at each other in puzzlement and mouthed the title. Tish smirked and whispered, "Re-release." Jen's eyebrows shot up comically.

"What time?" Piper fired back.

"Seven."

"Absolutely not," Piper answered. "You have school tomorrow."

Julia sighed. "Mom, please?"

"No. You know the rules. Curfew is at nine o' clock and that's a three hour movie. No way."

Julia rolled her eyes. "Dad….." she whined.

"Nooooo," Noah shook his head. "You heard Mom."

Priestly hid a smirk. Piper and Noah had tried so hard to have a kid and finally discovered she had silent endometriosis and would never be able to conceive again, much to their heartbreak. Sometime after they married but before they found out about the scarring, Julia started calling Piper her mom, which he thought was cool. But what he thought was cooler was that Piper had once marveled that even when Julia got mad at her, she never stopped calling her mom or threw in her face those hated words, "You're not my mom!" Piper needed that. She needed to be somebody's mom, since she had to accept she would probably never meet her first born and that she'd never have another biological child.

He stood up, gathering empty plates and pitching them in the trash on his way out into the swampy yard. It was getting too gooey out there. Time to bring the kids in. When he told Mikey to go shut off the water, Mikey protested.

"Dude, you leave the water on any longer and you'll get swallowed up by the quicksand."

The thought made Mikey giggle, and he turned the trek to the spigot into a harrowing trial of almost sinking down into oblivion, struggling to make it to safety. Bending down to Lily, whose turn it was to plug up the nearest nozzle, he tickled her round little belly and said,

"Time to dry off."

She squealed and let go of the nozzle, catching him right in the eye.

"Aghhhh!" he joked, clasping his hand over it. "Lily Bee! You trying to blind Daddy or what?"

She didn't necessarily understand the words, but she giggled crazily at the way he pretended to stumble around like he couldn't see. He fumbled for her. "Lily, where are you? Becca? Missy? Anybody?! C'mon, don't leave me out here! I could fall into some quicksand!"

He heard the water go off, but he kept up the act until he felt a little hand take his and a little voice cry,

"I'll save you! Come with me!"

"Wait!" he cried back. "We have to save Lily and Becca, too!"

"Okay," Missy agreed. "Let's get them!"

So he scooped up Lily, and Missy said sweetly, "C'mon, Becca, we have to get out of here. We have to get safe!" Becca got up and joined the game, tearing toward the patio on her chubby little legs. Priestly goofed around, stumbling in the other direction until Missy grabbed his free hand and said, "No, we have to go this way!"

"Show me!" he cried dramatically. "I can't see!"

"Oh, no!" Mikey cried suddenly. "Quicksand! Jump!"

He played along, peeking at Missy as she hopped. He hopped, too. At last, they reached the edge of the patio, which Missy declared safe. Jude held out a stack of towels. He tucked one around Mikey with his right hand and then passed Lily to his mom, who had grabbed one of the towels from the stack. Tish took one for Becca, and Priestly reached down and draped the last one around Missy's narrow shoulders.

"Thanks for saving me!" he said as she clutched at the brightly colored beach towel that nearly swallowed her up.

"Ooh, it's cold!" she squealed, her teeth chattering as the breeze picked up and she lost the protective warmth of the sun to the shade of the patio. Suddenly, she huddled closer to him. Without thinking about it, he scooped her up and snuggled her against his side and then froze as he realized what he'd done. Her shyness gone, she just burrowed against him and said, "Thanks for saving me, too."

Grinning at her, he dropped a kiss on her forehead as he caught Lisa's eyes. He winked at her and said to Missy, "Any time, kiddo."

a/n: Hope you enjoyed the story. I really love Betsy's characters, and I've come to love the folks I've added, too. I doubt I'll be able to leave them alone and let them rest for long. If anyone has prompts of something they'd like to see along this arc, let me know and I'll consider them!

All the best to you! Thanks for reading!