OK guys! Final main chapter then just the epilogue to go. Been a fun ride! I have completed another short story, so if you enjoy my work, whack on an author alert and you'll know when it's ready (may well post it tonight). It's not Kasey AU and a little different (more my Fostering Fun style) but I'm hoping people enjoy it. May not post tomorrow but will probably finish Transitions Wednesday!
This is very much a fun chapter to wrap things up really. Thanks to thesameguest and TheTBone for their help.
Let me know if you enjoyed!
Kasey looked over the list one more time before checking the clock. The caterers still hadn't arrived and she was getting nervous. She had forced an already super-stressed Lena to entrust her with the task as they left to get primped on Stef's urging, and she was determined to succeed with it - if anything to avoid the wedding being quickly followed by a funeral.
"Kasey!" Sharon whispered harshly as Kasey sprung round from her thoughts. She looked over nervously before heading to find out why she was needed.
"What?" she asked confused.
"I need you to come shopping with me." she grabbed her wrist. "It won't take long, we'll be back before your Moms are from their hair appointment."
"What, no! Grandma, I can't go shopping now, I have to be here for the caterers arriving. And I'm in my sweats!"
"Oh please, you live in California. People get away with anything here. And Brandon can look after that, can't you kid?" she shouted over to her unexpecting grandson.
"Ha!" Kasey scoffed. "I wouldn't leave Brandon in charge of his own breakfast..."
"Hey! I'm just as responsible as you." he complained, now keen to do whatever it was he had been volunteered for, just to prove the point.
"Simmer down you two, this is important. I need to go and order your Moms' wedding gift so it can be delivered tomorrow."
"So why do you need me?"
"I need you to help me choose. Come on, no more about it. Brandon, your in charge of the caterers."
"But -"
"Stuart, Kasey and I are just heading out, we'll be back in an hour." Sharon shouted through to the closest adult.
"Ugh!" Kasey groaned as her arm was being yanked towards the door, quickly thinking to shout some instructions back to Brandon. "List on counter, check it! Don't let them leave unless it match-"
Before she could even finish the word she was whipped away leaving her brother wondering what had just happened.
"How are you beating me? This is so not...fair." Jesus swung has arm smacking the imaginary ball.
"Well I guess I'm not as out of...practice as I thought." Stuart batted it back.
"This is only because we're playing an old man game" Jesus dived to try and get the hit but it missed and BLUE TEAM WINS flashed up.
"You were totally pwned, Jesus!" Jude jeered as Jesus scrunched up his face.
"Unbelievable." he grumbled as Stuart held out his hand.
"Well believe it or not kid, I've actually been playing Tennis since back when we had real rackets. This is pretty good though." He examined the console in front of them.
"There are adventure ones too on it. And you have some really hard challenges with some of them." Jude explained, bobbing gently on his knees on the sofa.
"Mom practically got a hernia trying to beat me at the hula hoops." Jesus laughed remembering as Stef came in, her hair freshly pampered.
"You didn't give me enough warning regarding the level of activity required." Stef grumbled, making her arrival known, as her son poked his tongue out.
"Well that one sounds like it may do my back out but I'd be up for one or two more." Stuart agreed.
"Uhm, I don't think so." Lena commented, bouncing in behind. "What do you guys think you're doing?" She panicked, the stress of the day finally beginning to hit.
"It's just one or two more, why not?" Jesus complained.
"Dunno if you noticed, knucklehead, but we have a little wedding going on to get ready for." Stef filled in, much more matter-of-fact but still in solidarity. "And we hear the Reverend is a pretty important role so we may need him back."
"Not to mention the hundred things to do!" Lena added looking at her Dad harshly.
"Think your Moms are right, kids. Besides, I'm getting tired of beating you." He clapped Jesus' back, prompting a gloating laugh from Stef.
"Really?" She teased. "You losing your touch there, son?" she hugged around his chest as he look to her defensively. "Or should I say no touch." She added, the only one sparing a laugh for her clever handsfree gaming joke.
"Hey I would whip his butt in a proper game."
"A proper game?" Stuart laughed.
"Yeah, you know. One where you can actually die."
Lena rolled her eyes, her agitation growing, as Stuart replied through another soft chuckle. "I didn't realise death was the definition of success over games that have been around for centuries, but OK. I guess we academics are out of touch."
"Guys, really!" Lena urged. "Games away and start getting things moving. Now." Lena clapped sharply. "Dad, be an adult, please." She strode up the stairs, leaving Stef, now the calmer of the two, moving off Jesus and drumming her hands on Stuart's back.
"OK, I think it's best we pick up one of these "proper games" later, right kids?" He compromised.
"You got it." Jesus switched for the menu, Stef swiftly intercepting and blocking the detector.
"Uhm, that goes for you too. This doesn't come on again until after the wedding."
"But -"
"Or it doesn't come back on till after your wedding. Go!" She added as the two boys slumped down defeated.
"Jesus, if you're desperate to not get dressed yet, you can deposit those Order of Ceremonies into piles around the room. Jude, can you take your suit to Dana in our bedroom to check if it needs ironing, please?" She ordered as the two boys dispersed to their individual tasks.
"I guess I better get suited up." Stuart replied. "Unless you fancy a quick game now they're gone?" He asked with suggestive flair.
"You're a bad influence." Stef nudged her future father-in-law as she moved through towards the kitchen.
"I can't believe we're sneaking in the back." Kasey whispered, panicked after seeing the cars had arrived home. "You said we'd be back before them!"
Kasey edged a look around the doorframe, relieved it seemed that her Moms at least weren't going to catch them in the act.
"Quit your whining, we're home - and looks like the caterers have been so you can stop your worry-wart act." Sharon reprimanded, her drawl exaggerating with every grumble.
"I still don't see why I had to go anyway, you didn't even listen to my advice." Kasey commented resentfully.
"I did!" Sharon clipped her arm. "I just took it into account and overruled it."
"Well I am not responsible if they hate it."
"Who could hate a bed like that? It has remotes. Remotes! My Victor says -" Kasey cut her off with a grimace, the saturation of her grandma's company wearing her down.
"Grandma, I love you, but one more bed story about Victor and I really don't think I will be able to look at my own bed ever again."
"You're so dramatic." Sharon rolled her eyes as Kasey ignored the comment, noticing an irregularity in the number of boxes around her.
"Wow, food for a hundred sure piles up the boxes." She commented. Most of them were trays with the pre-cooked cold bites and sandwiches. Another with a different coloured lid to heat up but there was one one particular kind, more numerous than others, all simply cardboard.
"Hey, Brandon..." Kasey shouted over, seeing his figure fly past the hallway.
"Oh, you're back..."
"No, Brandon. We didn't go anywhere to come back from. Secret adventure, remember?" Sharon tapped her nose with a whisper as he nodded in agreement.
"Were there any problems?" Kasey grabbed the clipboard, still not feeling completely sure about this.
"Uhm, I don't think so. I signed their thingy and they brought it in."
"Well I'll leave you to it, got to hide the evidence of our excursion." Sharon chirped, bouncing out the room with her paperwork as Kasey filtered through the boxes, her pace quickening.
"Brandon, did you check the order when they delivered it?" She looked into the depths of plastic transparent bags that filled each box, her concern growing further.
"Yes, Kasey. I'm not as incompetent as you like to pretend you know." He moved over to her as she checked the sheet again.
"Then why the hell do we have 1000 rolls?"
He looked over the list and into one of the boxes, not reading the mixture of fear and anger on her face.
"Is that too many?" He asked, oblivious.
"No, not at all. I forgot the theme of the wedding was a carb eating contest." She replied sarcastically, her voice ramping up. "Why the heck didn't you call me?" Brandon's eyes creased, taking the sheet off her.
"Hey you made the order, not me! You're the one who must have deviated off the list."
"The whole point of checking through our copy is to send anything back that was a mistake. That's why I explicitly said, check the list!" Kasey turned to look at the mountain of bread before her, realisation seeping in. "Are you actually telling me we have ten times the amount of bread as we do people?" The two of them looked over the food. "Lena is gonna flip! She was already practically imploding with everything still to do. I insisted I'd handle this part."
"How did you screw it up anyway?" Brandon asked, barely listening. It was a good question.
She paused a few moments before slapping the clipboard onto her forehead.
"Jeez, I'm never letting Mom near me when I'm doing something important again. Or letting Grandma make me buy a stupid robot bed." Thinking fast, she switched into action mode
"We need to hide this. If we keep the majority in the back, Moms don't need to know till they're in wedded bliss and Lena won't be stressed anymore."
She gathered out armfulls of the bread packets, scooping a few out onto the table to try and hide the evidence of the rest. "We need about a hundred, maybe we can get away with two, so ten or twenty packets." She ordered as Brandon dived in to help just before they heard Stef's voice approach and rapidly slid the surplus boxes off the table to hide them behind, leaping round to block any view.
"Hey Mom!" Brandon beamed, sharing the nervousness. Kasey cursed his lack of subtlety.
"Hey...Brandon." Stef replied suspiciously. She'd spent 16 years learning how to spot a cover up attempt. "What's going on?"
"Nothing." They both chirped in unison, Stef raising an eyebrow
"Really?" She stepped forward to move around the table, Kasey and Brandon slowly edging to block anything visible. As Stef eyed them each tentatively, they changed direction moving again, causing her to slap her arms crossed across her chest.
"OK, what is going on?" She demanded, not willing to play any longer. She roughly moved Kasey to the side and looked to see what they were blocking.
"Holy cow, are we inviting all the pigeons in San Diego? Kasey, what happened?"
"You batted my hands against the keyboard and didn't let me re-check the orders!" She immediately jumped in on the defensive with panic, Stef taking a moment to register what she was referring to.
"Wait, what? The other night?" She asked confused, finally remembering.
"It looks like we've got rolls for a thousand instead of a hundred." Brandon filled her in as Stef covered her forehead with her hand.
"Kasey, did you not check the order when they dropped them off?" She asked, jaded as Kasey's eyes flicked to Brandon. She quickly did a weigh up of length of earache vs. lie for her leaving things unattended, whatever her calcilation, she didn't have time to respond before Lena came striding in, clearly still in business mode.
"Oh good, catering came!" She commented relieved as Stef joined the two kids trying to block. She didn't know if she would be left accountable with this or not and had only just got back on Lena's good side.
"You know, honey, we got this. Maybe you should go get the..." She looked to Kasey for suggestions.
"Wine. I think we need wine." Kasey spluttered out.
Lena looked across the three faces and awkwardly posed bodies forming a neat line across the room.
She cocked her head slightly as Jesus came bounding in behind.
"Mom, where was it you wanted these book thingies?" He asked, Lena barely having time to open her mouth before the next distraction.
"Hey Moms, I think the DJ arrived." Mariana bobbed in, now Lena and Stef's head flashing between all of the appearing children.
"You know - Mom, we'll get wine, you help Mariana with DJ." Brandon piped up, hoping it would give them more time as Lena spun between the voices.
"Excellent plan, B." Stef now weighed in as Jesus' boredom left him fiddling with one of the folded bits of card.
"Honey, where did you say the iron was?" Dana now appeared in the rapidly filling kitchen, yet another sight for Lena to process.
"Hey, who are the Fadosterams?" Jesus laughed, Stef, Kasey and Lena all snapping their heads towards him and seeing the now torn booklet in one hand, a picked off label in the other.
"The who?" Lena asked, baffled, taking the card off him and reading it. Soon enough, her glare squinted round to Kasey all of the other eyes slowly joining. A mixture of fear, confusion and pity depending on who owned them.
Oh shit.
Kasey's mouth hung open, flicking between all of the expectant faces trying to find where they should be looking.
"So..." She further darted her eyes around the room - the silence growing, along with the width of Lena's nostrils and the height of her left eyebrow.
Kasey threw a small look to Stef whose eyes were quietly pleading. Realising she was out of bullets, she made the move to throw her gun in one last ditched attempt to distract.
"I think we ordered too much bread..."
"That was freakin' hilarious." Jesus laughed as he and Kasey took plates of the food out to the tables.
"That was absolutely not freakin' hilarious. I thought Mom was going to kill me."
"Fadosterams. Brilliant." He laughed again.
"Hey that was your fault, idiot. I nearly got away with it."
"I don't think you will now, or Mom. I'm pretty sure she's still having her ear chewed off about encouraging you to goof around."
Kasey looked at him, clearly not sharing the joke.
"This was so not meant to happen." She dumped the food down and looked at the decorations around the yard, taking a moment to stop stressing and take in the beauty of it.
"It all looks super pretty though, huh?" She sighed peacefully, the spectacle putting her misdemeanour out of her brain. She came back to reality, seeing Stef approach.
"Eventually got away. Thanks for dropping me in it, darling daughter. Now I've reminded Lena it's not the end of the world, care to tell me where you were when the catering arrived?" She probed, Kasey looking to Sharon across the way and back to her Mom. She couldn't spill any more secrets today.
"I was playing games with this dummy." She lied, throwing him a pleading look.
His mouth turned up into a smile.
"Sorry Mom, I made her because we needed four. Brandon's useless so we left him to deal with the food." Stef shook her head with an eye-roll.
"Well, I guess we'll just have to work out to work off the carbs. Just be glad it was the cheapest food on the menu or you'd have been walking the boxes back to the factory, Kasey Fadosteram."
Stef threatened playfully, starting to see the humourous side now the initial scolding was over.
"Hey look, your Dad's arrived." Stef signalled to Mike as he walked across to join them.
"Hey team, looking good!" He smiled giving Stef a kiss on the cheek.
"Classier than the wedding you threw us, huh?" She teased as he squeezed his hand over Kasey's shoulder, kissing her head in turn.
"And you're significantly less pregnant." He smirked as Stef cleared her throat in a damning reprimand, Jesus and Kasey sharing a smirk.
"Is there a reason the kitchen is full of bread?" Callie asked, joining the group.
"How much can there be?" Mike giggled, having come straight in the yard and missing the fun.
"Enough to play man sized bread-jenga." Stef replied, a glint appearing in Jesus' eye.
"Hey, I'll be back - gotta check on something." Jesus scurried off.
"Alright." Stef clapped her hands. "Time's a-ticking but we're nearly done. Anyone want a drink while we finish up the preparation?"
"Got anything soft?" Mike asked, Kasey looking up proudly as he winked at her.
"Coke, lemonade and soda water with mixers."
"Actually, I'll go with a coffee first. Help me get wired up to help you keep track of this rabble." he commented as Kasey threw him a look.
"So...can we have something not soft?" Kasey asked with a beaming grin and puppy dog eyes.
"I can give you a hard clip on the ear if you like." she smiled smugly back as Kasey squinted, Stef finally relenting.
"Mama and I agreed one half glass of champagne for the toast later. Not a drop more." She looked at them sternly even though she knew it would be ignored. "If that's OK with you?" she looked to Mike who shrugged his approval.
"Better than nothing I guess." Kasey threw a defeated smile to Callie as Mike gave her shoulders a last squeeze.
"I'll come give you a hand." Mike moved off and accompanied Stef back to the house, leaving Callie and Kasey fumbling around the food.
"How's your day going, soon-to-be-sis?" Kasey turned to look at her, stealing a bite of one of the hors d'ouvres .
"Pretty good." Callie smiled back after a short pause. She had pushed her earlier neuroses aside and had decided to focus on her happiness for the day. Focus on the good things that had happened since the trial. On all of the things this family had given her, each and every one of them.
"Oh my God! Have you guys seen the bread tower Jesus and Jude are making on the kitchen table?" Mariana came bounding over as Kasey's eyes dropped down. "Brandon's trying to keep them out but I think they've got like ten seconds till Moms see."
"Exactly how did we end up with so much bread" Callie asked curiously.
"Don't even ask." Kasey groaned with a sigh turning back towards the house, Mariana linking Callie's arm and guiding them all back.
Update: That fic I was talking about...it's been posted and it's called "The Mice Will Play"
Final Chapter Preview: Stef and Lena reflect on the wedding and their family.
"Can you believe we're married?" Lena whispered, gazing deeply into her wife's eyes, Jenna having left them to it.
Stef raised her eyebrows gently with a smile. "I can't believe I'm lucky enough to have you at all." She nuzzled back as Lena dipped her head with a small blush.
"Yeah well that goes both ways." She replied softly pulling her as close as it was possible in their choreography.