Standing up in front of the assembled mass of family and friends, Cameron vaguely wondered if there was anyone in town that wasn't standing in his parent's backyard. In the past few moments, he had shaken the hands of more aunts, uncles, cousins, police officers, and assistant district attorneys than he even knew existed. Pulling Kristina closer to him, he grinned at her. "I thought you said a small party for our nearest and dearest."
"They've added since the last time we checked." Kristina pointed out with a wave of her hand. "As for everyone else, Mom was worried it might cost Dad the election if we didn't invite them." Mac was up for re-election as mayor of Port Charles, a position he would have guffawed at a decade ago, and her mother was doing all she could to insure that he would be a shoe-in for the upcoming term.
"Oh good. Now we're having a political wedding. Grace will live for that attention." Cameron laughed. His younger sister was turning into quite the drama queen. There hadn't been a play produced in Port Charles that Grace Spencer wasn't a part of since she was eight. The extra attention this wedding was apparently gaining would suit her world domination plans perfectly.
"You be nice to your sister. She can't help it if she's got an overdeveloped flair for the dramatic." Kristina lightly scolded, intertwining their fingers. She looked out over the crowd and spotted the brunette standing amongst them, holding up a glass of sparkling cider because she was still a few years from legal drinking age.
"You do realize that once this wedding happens we have Grace on one side of the family and Maxie on the other right? There will be no escape."
Kristina gave him a level look. "And just what is wrong with Maxie?"
"I love your sister. You know I do. It's just between Grace's constant declarations of how Mom and Dad are ruining her life and the latest break-up/make-up in the saga of Maxie and Ric." Cameron shook his head. "We are the normal ones Kris. They will be banging down our doors constantly."
"Then maybe we should take your grandfather's offer and move far, far away." Kristina suggested, though they both knew she was kidding. Port Charles was as much her home as it was his and neither of them could think about leaving it, at least not in the forever kind of sense. She wanted to travel, to get out once in a while, but she didn't think she could stay away from her family for too long.
Cameron understood how difficult it was for her to break apart from her family and that was why he hadn't complained even once about having a long engagement. They were still a few months from the wedding and she had no doubt that the butterflies in her stomach had more to do with the man standing beside her than any misplaced feelings about regret.
"And where exactly would you suggest we go huh?" Cameron teased as he wrapped his arms around her.
"Doesn't matter as long as we're together." Kristina assured him, turning in his arms and kissing him softly.
"I'd say get a room but you two would probably go use mine." Jake teased as he came up behind them, clapping his hand on his brother's back.
"Hey if you're offering..." Cameron laughed and squeezed Kristina's hand.
"We are not sneaking out of our own party." Kristina countered, shaking her head.
"Kris-Kris." Jake laughed, using the name he had given her when he was three. "You know if I was serious, I'd offer Grace's room."
"Hey guys." Deliah Larson, Kristina's best friend and maid of honor, reached her hand out and placed it on Kristina's shoulder. "Mind if I steal you away for a second? We still have a few details to go over."
"Go ahead." Cameron smiled placing a kiss on Kristina's cheek. "Jake and I will just hide here and go over our own wedding plans."
"Cameron Spencer, that better not mean what I think it does." Kristina warned him.
"No, he's trying to limit the number of times I bring up embarrassing childhood stories in my best man speech." Jake smiled. "Don't worry. I'm sticking to my guns and insisting on naked baby pictures being shown."
"You use those I'm demoting you and promoting Morgan." Cameron threatened.
"Oh I'm scared. Mom and Aunt Robin would guilt you for the rest of your life if you tried it." Jake smirked.
"If you mess this up, I'll hunt you down." Deliah promised steering her friend away from whatever disaster Cameron might accidentally let his baby brother talk him into going through with. Kristina must have been on the same wavelength because her lips suddenly pressed together, a telltale sign that she was preparing for the worst. Deliah walked her away from the crowd and spun her around. "Your wedding is going to be perfect. I mean hello? We've been planning it since we were in elementary school. Don't worry."
"Don't you know that kind of thinking is dangerous in this town by now? Remember what happened at David and Sam's wedding?"
"How could I forget? The boys thought it would be funny to put toads in the punch." Deliah smiled a little at the memory. It was the first event she had spent with David since finding out that he was her biological father and Sam had helped her come up with a nickname for him that wouldn't be above her eight year old head. From that moment on, David was known to Deliah as Mod or My Other Dad.
"Exactly. We just left Cameron with Jake. And I saw Morgan and Nathan around here somewhere. We are begging for a disaster of epic proportions here."
"Are you sure Grace is the dramatic one?"
"Excuse me? Is someone trying to take my crown?" Grace slid over to the two older girls, smiling, her long brown hair messily swept up in a bun.
"I think your future sister-in-law might." Deliah teased, leaving Kristina in Grace's charge when she noticed Mod and Sam cross the grassy lawn with her little sister, Natasha. Even though she was adopted, there were times when she looked like one or both of her parents and she managed it with a head full of blonde curls of all things.
"What did my dumb brothers do now?" Grace sighed, rolling her eyes. "Cause if it's as awful as they are capable of, I'll get Mom and Alexis right now."
"They haven't done anything...yet."
"Yet? Yet? And you left them alone? Krissy I love you but you're insane." Grace turned on her heel, searching the crowd. "Ruby! Ruby! Come over here!"
Eleven year old Ruby Spencer came running up to her sister, blonde curls flying. "What Grace? Hi Kris."
Kneeling down to meet her little sister's eyes, Grace winked at her. "I need you to do me a huge favor. And I need you to be as sneaky as I know you are. I'm talking reading my diary and putting it back exactly as you found it so I don't suspect a thing sneaky. Got me?"
Ruby nodded seriously, her blue eyes twinkling. "Got it."
Pointing out their brothers, Grace nodded. "Go spy on them and if anything they are talking about could ruin this wedding, go get Mom, Alexis, and Aunt Robin immediately."
Ruby gave a mock salute and nodded her head. "Got it. They won't even know I'm there."
*****
"It worries me when our kids branch off the way they have." Robin told Elizabeth as she shifted Celia to her other arm and bounced her on her left knee. All she had to do was mention that they were getting low on ice and Patrick, Lucky, and Cruz reached a consensus that it would take all three of them to achieve the task of going to get more.
"I know but when you look at their role models..." Elizabeth waved her hands. "It's not like those three were social butterflies."
"Do you think they're plotting something?" Robin whispered.
"Which group?"
"Good question." Robin sighed.
"If you're talking about our husbands and Cruz, then the answer is yes. If you are talking about our children? The answer is still yes."
Celia clapped her little hands together when a certain relative stepped into her view. "Up." She insisted, reaching for Patrick. "Up." She hadn't figured out how to say grandpa but every time she saw Patrick she always wanted him and only him to hold her. It would have bothered Robin if she didn't have the same reaction to seeing her husband.
"Hey Celi Bear." Patrick cooed, shoving the bags of ice at Lucky so he could reach down and fulfill his granddaughter's single request.
"Oh sure, use Celia to get out of doing work. Typical." Lucky smirked.
"It's like I told you. When it comes to making girls happy, I am the king. Isn't that right pretty girl?" Celia giggled in response and Patrick winked at his cousin.
"I keep telling you it doesn't count when you're related to them." Lucky shot back. "She's genetically required to fall for your crap."
"He's just jealous." Patrick assured Celia. "Pretty soon she'll be big enough to drive."
"I wasn't aware Katie had undergone a brain transplant." Robin teased, tracing the tiny pink elephant prints on her granddaughter's shirt. Their daughter-in-law was a sweet young woman, but she was neurotic when it came to her only child, and no matter how many times Morgan reassured her of their daughter's safety, she worried.
"You're hysterical." Patrick threw back with a grin. Ever since his final day at NASCAR, he had known it would never be him out on that particular track again. They had discussed his options and known he couldn't go back to photography—it simply wasn't his dream. He had used what remained of the money Doug Friedman gave him and bought an abandoned track a few miles from their loft. Now he worked with school age children and he absolutely loved it. "We're going to go dance."
"Make sure you stay in Katie's line of vision." Robin warned before he could disappear completely.
"Katelyn and I have to come to an understanding." Patrick countered.
"Yeah, you won't break her daughter and she won't break you." Lucky laughed.
"That's about right." Robin agreed.
"And if you don't want to get caught, make sure Ruby doesn't see you. She'll run to Katie in a heartbeat." Elizabeth smiled.
"Ruby is quite the little spy. She obviously didn't get that from you." Robin taunted Lucky as he tossed the ice at Cruz.
"We blame my father." Lucky shrugged. He wasn't going to complain. More often than not, Ruby's spying helped keep the twins and Cameron in line far better than any threats he or Elizabeth could come up with.
"He's an easy enough scapegoat." Bobbie concurred as she helped Cruz take the ice to the empty buckets that were open and waiting on one of the fold-out tables.
"LUCKY!" Laura's voice filtered over to the group and they all shot up to their feet.
"What? What?"
"Come quickly! Your father's lost his mind." Laura led him toward the parking lot where her husband and the father of her children was trying to throw one shaky leg over the side of his archaic motorcycle.
"Dad!" Lucky ran out to the yard. "What the hell are you thinking?"
"You wouldn't let me teach the grandchildren. That means I get dibs on the third generation." Luke insisted, pushing a helmet on his head and lifting the visor to glare at their incredulous expressions.
"Luke Spencer, you are almost eighty years old. Get away from that motorcycle!" Laura yelped.
"You want to take Celia?" Lucky barely kept back his laugh. "Oh Katie? Morgan? I think this is your show."
Katie made it there first, one hand high on her hip while the other was tucked around her twelve month old daughter. "What is all this about?" she asked, giving Luke her best "just try me" look. During the short duration of her marriage to Morgan she had learned that it saved time to blame his uncle and then work her way down.
"I was just saying that it's about time to introduce the kids to Marianne." Luke rubbed his hand over the cracked leather seat of the motorcycle and Katie visibly gulped, taking a step back and refusing to relinquish her daughter when Morgan came up behind them.
"Uncle Luke, you've lost it." Morgan declared chuckling. He ignored his wife's hard stare and walked over to the motorcycle. "I'll make you a deal."
At his proposition, Katie's eyes widened to two green saucers. "If you can get on the bike and get it started, you can take Celia." Before he had even had a chance to finish, Katie and Robin were surrounding him like vultures would a fresh kill.
Scoffing, Luke turned to the bike and braced himself for the task at hand. Twenty minutes and no breath left, he kicked Marianne's front tire and muttered expletives, dropping down onto the nearest curb. Grinning, Laura gave him her hand and led him away from the motorcycle, silently scheduling a day to have it picked up and crushed for scrap metal.
Nathan shook his head, smiling as he listened to his sister-in-law's angry voice as she berated Morgan over and over, accusing him of putting their only child in peril. "He's got his hands full with that one." He directed his comment to his parents and they nodded in response, remembering how they used to bicker at each other over the silliest of things.
*****
"When did you get back?" Maria Alejandra Rodriguez demanded as she circled her best friend and only tolerable family member, Hailey Audrey Webber.
"Earlier today. And I know you don't get up before noon so that's why I didn't call." Hailey smiled.
"That is no excuse! I would have woken up sooner if I'd know you were here. Hey, where are your parents? Kristina's going to freak if she doesn't see them."
"They're on their way from the airport. Dad had to finish up with the editor and you know how they hate to travel separately."
"So they sent you on ahead as the messenger. Oh, I wouldn't want to be there when you have to break it to the bride-to-be. Isn't Georgie in charge of the dress?"
"Who says I'm telling Kristina anything? I plan on staying out of her eyesight until the parental units show up."
Out of nowhere, Lance barreled across the lawn, heading straight for Kristina. "Kristina! Cameron! Come quick!"
"Lance? Is there something on fire?"
"You've got to come now." Lance insisted, refusing to go into more detail.
"Is someone hurt?" Bobbie wondered, catching the terror she caught in her grandson's eyes.
"You've led me into so many bad decisions this way." Cameron pointed out, taking Kristina's hand.
"Run on up ahead. I'm going to get some ice to throw on the...um flames." Lance tried to keep his composure even as a giggle was threatening to erupt. They were too far ahead to notice though and he gave himself a mental high five for being so clever. "Four...three...two...one..." He quietly counted, waiting for the sweet sounds of victory.
"LANCE!" Cameron bellowed as Jake, Nathan, Morgan, Grace, Deliah, Ruby, and Katie began throwing water balloons from every angle of the backyard.
Lance didn't even try to run. He plopped down onto the grass and kicked out his feet, rolling onto his back and giggling until his sides hurt. "You fall for it every time!"
"I'm going to kill you." Cameron swore.
"Heard that story before." Jake laughed as he continued his assault.
*****
"Daddy!" Natasha ran up and grabbed David's leg. "Deliah wants me to stay all night at her house. It's ok right?"
David looked into the blue eyes of his daughter and realized he couldn't deny her anything. Hadn't been able to the day he and Samantha brought her home from the lawyer's office and in the remaining ten years hadn't been able to figure it out yet. "If it's ok with your mother, it's fine with me."
"She's talking to Aunt Lulu." Natasha told him shyly.
"You're still going to have to ask her Small Fry."
"How long until I can play with my new cousin?" Natasha wanted to know. Ever since her aunt and uncle announced they were having a baby, she felt like all she had done was sit and wait.
"Another few months. I know it's hard but you're going to have to wait." David smiled as Evan made his way toward them. "But you can ask Uncle Evan right now if you want."
Evan bent down in front of his honorary niece and tickled under her chin. "You want to ask me something?"
"Yes." Natasha nodded seriously. "How much longer is my cousin going to be a hostage in Aunt Lulu's stomach?"
"Hostage?" Evan parroted, sending David a strange look.
"When it's your turn you can explain pregnancy your way." David defended himself.
"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it." Evan muttered back. "There's still two months left, so about eight weeks and then you can meet him." His and Leslie's first child had been the subject of many debates over the last seven months. While she believed without a doubt that they were having a girl, he knew just as certainly that she was going to give birth to a boy. Having answered his niece, he realized that they still had no name for the baby and compromise was going to be as hard now as it had ever been.
"Her. Then you can meet her." Lulu corrected automatically coming up behind her husband with Sam.
"Maybe it'll be both." Natasha, the four foot mediator, offered. "Twins, I mean."
"Does run in the family." David pointed out with a straight face.
"You are so not helping the situation." Lulu pointed out. Ever since she and Evan told the family they were going to be surprised by the sex of the baby, more than one family member felt the need to remind them that was the exact line Lucky and Elizabeth had used to keep the twins a surprise.
"Tasha, why don't you ask Mommy that question now." David prompted his daughter, hoping to stop the death glare Lulu was sending him.
"Oh yeah." Natasha braced herself. "Mommy, can I go over to Deliah's house? She said it was okay and all you have to do is call her mommy and daddy."
Sam had to laugh at her daughter's brilliant bargaining skills. "How could I say no?"
"So I can go?" Natasha asked, making completely sure.
"Of course." The words were barely out of her mouth before her young daughter darted across the lawn to share the good news with her older sister.
"Hi Aunt Maxie! Hi Uncle Ric!" Natasha called out as she raced past them.
Maxie lifted her glass in greeting and smiled until Sam's sweet little daughter was out of sight. She turned to Ric. "I'm trying to have a good time. Why don't you leave me alone?"
"Because it's Saturday and that's when we usually make up." Ric pointed out.
"I don't think we should make up this time. It was clearly over after that last fight."
It was on the tip of his tongue to point out she had said the same thing after every fight. It was probably a good thing they had never made it down the aisle after all these years, despite the constant comments from Mac. Maxie would have filed for divorce, cancelled it, re-filed, and cancelled it so many times they would have been broke from the legal fees alone. However he resisted the urge to point out the obvious. It would only lead to a fight and Kristina didn't need that at her engagement party. "I'm sorry Blondie. You know I'm nothing without you."
Maxie glanced over at him after signaling the bartender for a refill. Even all these years later the sight of him was mouthwatering, but she couldn't let him know how easily she could fall back into old patterns. She had promised herself that she wouldn't just fall at his feet this time. It might kill her, but she wasn't apologizing first. "I know your lines get cornier every time."
"That's cause it's the quickest way to get you to forgive me."
Maybe she shouldn't even be mad at him. They hadn't been talking when he was invited to the banquet and he had been expected to bring a date. It shouldn't hurt her that she hadn't been his first choice or that he had given up trying to get in touch with her and settled for a stand-in for the evening.
"Come on Maxie. You know I had a horrible time without you."
A horrible time? Was that the excuse he was going with? Her anger started to boil over when she remembered how he hadn't come home until very late. She might not have even noticed him if he hadn't crawled into bed with her, his breath sour from alcohol. Since then he had been trying to explain and she had been avoiding him at every opportunity.
"I had to get drunk just to pretend she was interesting." Ric shook his head. "Her entire medical knowledge came from that soap of yours. You know she thinks women putting their babies in trees is a completely normal symptom of post-partum depression?"
In spite of herself, Maxie smiled. "No. No, I'm mad at you. The banquet ended at ten. You didn't come home until one."
"Maxie. Nothing happened with that twit. I got cornered by some board members. I am head of the department. I do have to kiss some ass you know."
"As long as you weren't kissing hers."
"The only ass that night I wanted to kiss was yours." He said seriously.
"You're forgiven under one condition."
"Name it."
"Dance with me."
"The things I do for you Blondie." Ric smiled as he lead her out to the dance floor. "The things I do for you."
THE END