Disclaimer: I own the OC's (you'll know 'em when you see 'em) and the storyline and that's it. I do not own Burn Notice.
A/N: Thank you everyone for all of the lovely reviews! :D It took me a while to publish a new chapter because the first chapter actually took five, or is it six?, months to be completed. I kept plucking away at this chapter though and I feel that it is… Realistic. And totally a Michael/Fiona setup.
Oh, and the dog's name IS the shortened version of the name that it seems to be. It just seemed right. ^_^
It doesn't take much work to design an almost ironclad plan; all it takes is a little time, a little patience, and plenty of information.
On the other hand, if you're too cavalier and believe that your plan is airtight, then your ego will steer you straight into trouble. It's always best to have alternatives for every step of your plan as well.
This, I've learned, is not applicable at breakfast time.
The next morning brought with it a whole new round of Westen-Glenanne family fun.
Breakfast was a hectic affair for the household, involving disagreements such as what cereal was good that morning, where someone's favorite shirt was, and who was feeding the dog table scraps though its food bowl was full.
"Claire, please don't feed Enelope your banana," Michael said, referring to the family's Irish wolfhound, as he entered the kitchen.
"But he likes bananas." Claire defended her actions with, offering the dog the yellow fruit again. The dog, which was lying on the floor but had its head raised, turned and tracked Michael's path to the refrigerator instead.
Michael opened the fridge door and grabbed a blueberry yogurt. When he turned around, he found that the dog had had enough of being offered fruit and was leaving the room.
"I think he's full." Michael told his daughter, who looked upset that the dog didn't want to eat.
Claire shrugged and put her banana on the table, suddenly bored. She brightened almost immediately, though, and climbed off her chair faster than Michael could ask. She scampered out of the room, making a beeline for the living room where Phillip watched cartoons.
Michael smiled as Claire took a seat next to her brother, both of them excited because a favorite show was about to begin.
Fiona appeared just as it began, studying the children over her shoulder before turning to smile at Michael. Baby slept against her shoulder, looking adorable.
"Did Claire manage to convince Enelope to eat her banana?" Fiona asked him as she went to the cupboard near the sink, taking a jar of pureed peaches from it.
"Not yet." Michael told her, still smiling as he watched his two oldest children laugh at something on the TV. Finally, he turned around to look at Fi. "Busy schedule today?" he asked her.
Fi shrugged as she put the baby in his highchair, the youngest child awakening almost immediately. "Oddly, no. I have a few errands to run, which include looking into some new hedges to replace the old ones the idiot that Barry recommended destroyed last week, but other than that I have nothing in mind. We are going to your mother's for dinner though."
Michael nodded. "7 o'clock?"
"6:30, actually." Fi said as she put a bib on Baby, stopping to kiss the chubby fist he offered her. "Her aquacise class is meeting at 7:30 lately."
Michael nodded again, watching Fi as she got out a rubber-tipped baby spoon and took the jar off of the baby food.
The phone began ringing as Baby turned his head, tracking some invisible item in the sunroom that was just off of the kitchen.
"I'll get it. Could you feed Baby?" Fi asked Michael as she stood from her chair and hurried over to the wall phone.
Michael, silent as ever, finished his yogurt in one giant spoonful and put the container and spoon down on the counter. He took Fi's seat as she spoke to the person on the other line, Jesse, if he wasn't mistaken.
Baby turned his head to look at Michael, his eyes the same shade of blue as his father's. Michael was a little surprised to find that Baby was giving him an unimpressed look. A Westen-family unimpressed look, if he wasn't mistaken. The same one his mom gave him.
Michael looked at the jar of baby food in his hand and determined that he, too, would look unimpressed if everyone thought that was what he wanted to eat.
"Well of course we would love to have you and Dani over for dinner. Well, if you want to bring something you could always be in charge of the dessert. Nothing with too much sugar; I don't want the kids to get too hyper before bedtime. Okay. 5:45 on Saturday it is."
Michael looked up from his futile attempt to feed Baby, his youngest son having made it quite clear that the peaches were not going to be eaten by him. "We're having dinner on Saturday with Jesse and Dani now?" Michael asked, a little confused why they were doing so. Jesse, Sam, and now Dani practically lived at their home already. Since when did they arrange visits?
"Yeah. It's Dani's birthday. Jesse wanted to take her out to a restaurant to celebrate, but she's working a case right now that keeps her phone ringing. There's something about phone calls that just ruins a romantic dinner." She said, giving him a pointed look.
Michael smiled in return.
Ironclad plans are also not applicable for evenings, weekends, weekdays, or holidays when you live in suburbia.
I learned that one the hard way.
Once the family had eaten breakfast- not all at the table or without the help of someone else- Michael took his cup of coffee and cellphone out onto the back patio and called his boss.
After he and Fiona had settled down, several people- Sam, Maddie, Jesse, Barry, and Fiona herself- suggested that he get a job at the same place as Jesse. Actually, they suggested he just get an official job. Jesse then offered his workplace as a solution.
Fiona had been pleased. That meant less unexpected trips here, there, and everywhere else and more time spent learning what the married life was like.
Michael still, after multiple years with the company, had a hard time accepting the 9-to-5, little work on vacations or weekends, setup.
Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. R-
"Michael! I was waiting for your call. You're still on vacation, right?" His boss, a retired CIA agent himself, joked.
"Yeah, I'm still on vacation. I was just wondering how the Port Electronics case was coming along. Have their security company contacted them yet?"
There was a pause on the other end. "Well, no, not yet…" His boss said hesitantly.
Michael grimaced, pacing slowly from one side of the patio to the other. "I'll look into that then. The security system shouldn't have failed like it did."
"You're thinking it was sabotaged?"
"Well, either that or it was one he…" Michael turned to find Claire standing there, watching him. "…ck of a coincidence." He smiled at his daughter, who smiled back at him, before going back in the house.
That was Claire. She liked sharing joy with everyone.
Unless pirates were involved.
Working a normal job allowed me a freedom the CIA and freelance work never did. I can go home at night, take vacations, and spend holidays without work looming over my head.
It also meant a stable paycheck and gave my mother something to brag about.
"Whatever the case, I will have someone else look into it right now. You're on vacation, Michael. Enjoy it. Pretty soon those kids of yours will be all grown up and going to college and getting married, and suddenly you'll miss these days."
Michael gave a short, paper-rustled-and-you-missed-it, laugh. "I take it a quiet, empty house is a little alarming?"
His boss laughed. "That, and my bank account is in therapy. Two weddings and a kid still in college will do that to ya'. I'll see you in a couple of days; don't call me again while on vacation or I'll tell Fiona."
"Got it, Boss." He said as he hung up. Exhaling, he relaxed a little as he examined the yard.
The pool had one-too-many leaves in it, the lawn was getting a little shaggy near the back fence, and the toolshed no longer looked rustic; it was downright shabby.
It wasn't a picture-perfect yard, and yet, it was what…
He stopped that thought. He knew it was what Fi had always wanted, but him? No, he had never given his dream house or yard much thought. He hadn't had one in mind, actually, but if he had to guess…
His yard was pretty close to perfect.
I don't mind my current life at all. It's a lot more stable and organized than what I had before.
I don't have to form plans for every waking moment; I can have the freedom to make a spur-of-the-moment decision without having to pay for it later.
The life I led before, though, didn't have a lawn that constantly required maintenance.
I'll be overjoyed if you review, but if you decide to just keep coming back for more chapters then I will be equally as happy. Happy readers = Happy Raini.
Flamers will have to find my office, first, in order to give the flames to my secretary. Sorry, but I resolved to (for the new year) not have my office swarmed by ninja's again. Long story.