Thanks so much for the reviews! I've been working on this update for a little while now, so I apologize for taking so long to get this up.
"I really appreciate everyone agreeing to a Saturday lunch," Linda smiled as she, Erin, Nicky and Henry bustled around the kitchen, preparing the family feast.
"Not a problem," Henry insisted as he rinsed some carrots off in the sink.
"How long is your Great Aunt in town for?" Nicky asked, pulling the butter out of the fridge.
"Just until Tuesday," Linda answered, cutting open some dinner rolls. "She's not so fond of the city anymore."
Erin chuckled. "I can't imagine getting sick of this place," she commented.
"I guess if you left your purse on the subway one too many times..." Linda started.
"Or got your heel stuck in a subway vent on the sidewlk one too many times..." Nicky giggled.
"How many elevators did she get stuck in?" Henry laughed.
Erin nodded in agreement. "OK, so she and New York City didn't exactly have a love story for the ages."
"More like one nightmare after the other," Danny said as he entered the kitchen, then leaned over to kiss Linda on the cheek, distracting her as he stole a roll from the plate on the counter.
"I saw that, Reagan!" She laughed, swatting at his hand.
"What?" He asked innocently as he quickly put his hand behind his back.
Jamie walked past, quickly grabbing at the roll that was in Danny's hand. Once Jamie was completely behind Linda, Danny pulled out his hands.
"See? I got nothing!"
"Baloney!" Linda giggled, whipping around and catching Jamie trying to grab a second roll. She slapped at his hand gently so he'd let go. "You'll spoil your dinners!" she reached over and took the roll that Danny had handed off to him.
"How do women do that?" Jamie muttered.
Frank laughed. "I was married to your mother for over 40 years, and I never figured it out."
Henry nodded in agreement. "Same here. Still a mystery to me."
Danny looked at Jamie. "I still haven't figured it out."
Linda smirked. "And I'll never tell. I gotta have some secrets, don't I?"
"Not from the finest dectective of the NYPD, you don't! I'll figure it out!" he laughed.
"Uh huh. Right. OK, Uncle Danny. Keep living in that delusional world," Nicky giggled.
"Oh, and you know how women know what's going on when they don't even see it?" Danny cocked his head, regarding his beloved niece. "Do tell. We're all ears."
She shook her head. "Like I'd spill a secret like that!"
Erin smirked. "That's my girl!" She put an arm around Nicky's shoulders. "Gotta protect the secret for the future generations to come..."
"Bullsh-"
Linda shoved a stack of plates into Danny's chest, effectively stopping him from finishing his comment as the boys came bounding into the room.
"Set the table," she ordered, with a look of amusement.
Jack pointed at his father. "That's another dollar in the swear jar, Dad!"
"I didn't swear!" Danny insisted.
"You almost did!" Sean countered. "It's a dollar for an almost swear and five dollars for the actual word. Ten if it's the big bomb."
"Go wash your hands," Danny said gruffly as the boys followed him out of the room.
"That's a pretty penny for the swear jar rules, Linda," Jamie chuckled.
"Yep. Keeps the boys from cursing. At least in front of us," she admitted. "Danny's the biggest contribitor."
"I bet," Frank laughed. "Swear jar never helped Mary and I when he was young."
"I'm still young!" Danny hollered from the dining room where he was still by himself setting the table. "I'm waiting for some help in here, little brother!"
Jamie laughed, taking a basket of cutlery and napkins.
Linda smiled gratefully at Jamie as her brother in law retreated from the kitchen. "Yeah, the swear jar is only helping us sock money away for the kids college educations. Other than that, I'm sure the boys curse like sailors when we're not around."
"Any idea on what time dinner will be ready?" Frank asked.
"In a rush, Francis?" Henry asked, one eye brow raised.
Frank raised a hand in mock surrender. "Just wondering if I have time for a quick moment with my sons."
"About 15 minutes, Dad," Erin answered.
Frank nodded in thanks.
"Can you send the boys in here?" Linda asked him. "Tell them they have to toss the salad and set the veggies out on the platter."'
Frank nodded again. "I'll check to make sure they washed their hands, too."
Linda smiled. "Good idea."
Frank shut the door to the study as Jamie and Danny settled themselves in the sofa across from his desk. The room had become known as the "war room" after he had been shot and was basically confined, by the department, to run to the PC's office from his home.
"You set?" Frank asked. Straight to the point.
Jamie nodded in confirmation. "Hernandez called last night. It's a-go."
"Be careful," Danny advised. "I did a little light reading. Checked out their files during my break yesterday."
"They do make the Sanfino's look like amatuers in comparison," Frank nodded.
Jamie sighed, leaning forward and taking the paperweight from Frank's desk into his hands. "I know. I've also read the files. Many times."
"Reading the files is a lot different than being around when they do it."
Jamie looked at his father and sighed. "I know. I've been running all sorts of senarios through my mind. How I would handle certain situations. How I would get out of a tricky spot..." he looked at Danny and saw his older brother was about to respond, "and yes, I know - I won't know how to respond to a situation until I'm in the middle of it. But, I'm thinking about it. I'm going in as prepared as possible. That's all I can really do."
"Any second thoughts?" Frank asked.
"I'd be lying if I said no," Jamie admitted. "But that's normal, isn't it?"
Frank and Danny nodded in confirmation.
"I'd be more concerned if you said differently."
"Dad, this is my calling," Jamie said firmly. "Police work is in my blood just as much as it's in yours, in Danny's, in Grandpa's."
Frank nodded, then looked out the window and towards the sky which was starting to cloud over. "All parents worry about their kids," he said quietly. He didn't have to see Danny nodding his head in agreement. "You'll understand that feeling well one day, Jamie." He swallowed against the lump in his throat that had suddenly appeared, causing a small burning sensation. "But ever since Joe, I worry even more."
Jamie nodded. "Yeah. I know." He set the paperweight back down on the desk and caught a glimpse of a picture of Joe on his Dad's desk. "But I also know that I have to do this."
"What do you mean?" Danny asked.
Jamie shrugged. "It's a feeling. I can't really explain it. I didn't have this urge with Nobel or the Sanfino's...but this time, I feel like if I do it, I could help someone avoid a lot of hurt and pain."
"And if you don't do it?" Frank asked.
Jamie sighed, looking down. "I know I sound crazy. But I feel like if I don't, I'll end up wondering who got hurt because I backed out."
"You mean like whose murder could you have prevented? Whose family wouldn't be mourning the loss of a person they loved?" Danny scratched the back of his neck, not really following.
"Maybe," Jamie answered. "Maybe not. I don't really understand it myself. But I know that my heart is telling me I have to do this."
A slight knock on the door caused all three to look at who was interrupting them.
"We're putting the food on the table," Erin said. And with that, she was gone again.
"Time to wash up, boys," Frank said, standing up. As he walked around the desk, he placed a hand on Jamie's shoulder, giving it a tight squeeze before carrying on towards the door.
"I guess that's that," Danny shrugged, standing up. "C'mon little brother."
"Nicky, c'mon!" Erin called into the living room. "Dessert is on the table."
"I'm here," Nicky answered. She slipped into her chair an set her cell phone down on the table.
"Don't we have a rule about cell phones at the table?" Henry tilted his head towards Nicky, waiting for her to put it away.
"Can you make an exception, just this once?" Nicky asked, sending him her big puppy dog eyes.
Erin rolled her eyes and smiled.
Linda chuckled. "I've not yet met a man, especially a Reagan man, who is immune to the doe eyed girl."
"And she's learning to use that to her full advantage," Erin whispered across the table. "She talked her father into taking her on a two week vacation to Europe this summer!"
"Two weeks?" Linda's eyes nearly bugged out her head.
"Yes. Two weeks. And it's not like I won't be supervised." Nicky cast a sidelong glance at her mother, hoping they could table this argument for later.
Henry motioned with his hands that he was in agreement with Nicky. He didn't want to even think about his only granddaughter running around Europe with that bum of a man she called Dad. "Getting back to this," he pointed to the cell phone. "Why make an exception?"
"The woman I babysit for in Manhattan might be going out tonight."
"I thought Breanne cancelled," Erin said, all thoughts of the Europe trip on the back burner.
"She did. But Nick called. He and Breanne's girlfriends are conspiring to get her to go out."
Linda laughed again. "Hang on a sec...they have to conspire to get her to go out? On a Saturday night?" She couldn't believe her ears. "If someone said to me 'hey let's go out', I'd find someone for these two. Even if I had to resort to bribery or blackmail."
"Hey!" Jack and Sean both protested, much to the amusement of everyone at the table.
"You two drove me nuts this week! And don't even get me started on your grades, Sean. Or your being late for class twice this week, Jack."
"Well, I wish Nick and her girlfriends luck," Erin sighed. "If I were her, I'd still be hovering for at least a week."
"What happened?" Henry asked.
"Her three year old son broke his arm at the playground a couple of days ago," Nicky answered, taking a sip of water.
"Kids break bones all the time," Danny shrugged.
Linda looked at him. "Remember how panicked I was when Jack hurt himself playing football?" Danny nodded his head. "It took you an entire day to get me to stop blaming myself for not wrapping him in bubble wrap before I sent him in on the field. And need I remind you, I'm a nurse?! "
"So your point is that mothers hover over their sons?" Danny smiled. That earned him a playful slap from his wife.
"She's a young, single mom, Danny. She blames herself for not being there. For not protecting him," Erin took a bite of the chocolate cake. "Linda has you to calm her down. Breanne doesn't have the support of her sons father."
"It's one night," Danny protested, shoveling a forkful of cake into his mouth. He looked to Jamie. "What do you think? Is this chick being too protective?"
Jamie sipped his coffee slowly. "I'm in the minority here," he said after a moment. "I don't have kids so I don't know what I'd do. What I do know, though, is that what's right for you isn't necessarily what's right for another parent."
Danny scoffed.
"You haven't asked how the kid broke his arm, either. Maybe it isn't the fact that he broke a bone, but how the bone was broken."
Danny was silent.
"Someone get a calendar," Erin joked. "We must memorialize this moment. Danny Reagan is speechless."
"Never thought I'd see the day," Linda leaned back in her chair, smiling broadly.
Henry threw his head back and laughed.
Frank snickered. "Well, son, you may not be a father yet, but you are pretty insightful."
Jamie chuckled. "How did he break his arm?" He looked from Erin to Nicky, wondering which Reagan woman would answer.
"She and a neighbor have sons that are about the same age, so they usually help each other out. They trade off with each other. One day a week they each take the others kid...gives them a moment to just breathe. Take a break for a minute. But her neighbor had a last minute appointment, so rather than disappoint the boys, she had the new nanny take them to the park. Apparently, the new nanny was easily distracted. While she was playing some game on her phone, Noah fell off the jungle gym."
"He's three!" Danny's fork clattered against the plate he'd dropped it into. "He shouldn't have been on the jungle gym unsupervised."
"Exactly," Erin smirked. "She thought her son was with her friend. Turns out, her kid was with a complete stranger who was too engrossed with Angry Birds to pay attention to the two little people she was supposed to be watching. She feels guilty. Feels like she failed her son. And that's why she's hovering now. It's her way of attempting to make up for it."
"She's a nice woman," Nicky looked to Jamie, a little glint in her eye. "Beautiful too."
Jamie choked on the coffee, setting the mug back down on the table.
"You would really like her," Erin chimed in. "She's really smart and sweet."
"No, no, no," Danny put his hands up. "Little brother over here has his eye on someone else."
"Who?" Frank questioned, unable to keep the surprise and hope from his voice.
"Thanks, Danny," Jamie muttered, wiping at the table cloth with his napkin.
"C'mon," Henry reached out and slapped Jamie's shoulder. "Out with it, boy. Who is she?"
"Oh, he's blushing!" Linda teased.
Jamie sighed, wishing the floor would open up under him and swallow him whole.
"Well, actually," Danny chuckled, "he doesn't know her name. But she's gorgeous!"
"Should I be worried?" Linda's head snapped to Danny. She knew she had nothing to be worried about. He may be a world-class flirt, but he would never hurt her. Especially since hurting her would mean hurting their sons.
"No way, babe," Danny leaned in and kissed his wife. "No need to be worried. You're all the woman I could ever want or need."
"Good answer."
"So how do you know about this woman if he doesn't even know her name?" Frank asked Danny.
"The first time he met her, we were in the park playing some basketball."
"Oh!" Linda jumped in her seat a little. "Is this the woman who said she wasn't going to run again unless there was an axe murderer behind her or a burger in front of her?"
Henry laughed. "Sounds like my kind of girl!"
Danny laughed. "That's the one."
"Wait," Nicky picked up...she looked at Danny. "You said 'the first time he met her'," she turned her attention to Jamie. "Just how many times have you met this woman, Uncle Jamie?"
"Twice," he answered. "Last time was a couple of days ago."
"And you still didn't get her name?" Frank chuckled.
Jamie groaned. "No."
Henry noticed his grandsons discomfort. He slapped him on the shoulder again. "Don't worry, Jamie. It was the fourth try before your dad got your moms name."
"Seriously?" Erin peered over at her father. "Why have I never heard this before?"
Jamie breathed a little easier, thankful that the heat was now off him and on his father who was being grilled by Erin, Linda and Nicky.
He looked at Danny and glared.
Danny just chuckled.
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