All familiar characters are Janet's, the new ones and any mistakes are mine. The song mentioned below is 'Almost Like Praying' by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
"I'm so glad you're home!" My mother announced, reaching for Olivia as soon as we crossed the threshold of my childhood home and headed towards the living room. "I've missed you both and my little angel here, so much ... I'm not even too upset that you went to Miami without us. Tell me everything! Do not leave a single thing out."
"If we're going to be having dinner soon," Steph said, happily relaxing into the one-armed hug my mother caught her in, "we should probably skip the murders, bodies, and psychopathic-history, and just stick to the other parts of our trip."
"Please do. I'd much rather hear all about my Julie, Olivia's first full crawl, and how you felt during your first family vacation with both, along with what it's been like being home now with two active puppy dogs. You know you could have brought them, too. I would have fixed them each a plate … of only good food, Carlos, before you say anything."
"I know you would, that's why Gunner and Ammo are at home, protecting floors one through six. Our daughters made the trip feel like something far beyond work," I admitted. "I think I can safely say we spent some quality time as a family."
"Don't let him fool you, your son made it an actual vacation for all of us," my wife told my parents. "He and I even got to go on a date in paradise thanks to Bobby and Cal, plus Kane and Harp. We missed Olive like crazy, but we really enjoyed the time we had together."
"How are Kane and Harper handling the pregnancy?" My father asked us, remembering the six he survived in vivid detail.
"We were just at their place," I told him. "Kane made a pitiful attempt at trying to convince us that letting them keep Olivia for a few months - until their daughter is born - would be a charitable and reasonable act."
"I'm still surprised that boy lived to see his thirties," my mother said. "Oh how I've worried about that one."
"Kane's also surprised he's still around," I confirmed. "Harper has played a large part in that. She's given him someone to fight and stay alive for."
"I had to tell Kane that I would literally die without Olive," Steph shared with my parents, "and if I die ... then Ranger would kill him. He must not have doubted it, because he let me pry her out of his arms. He's already toast ... soggy, smooshy, crustless toast ... and his own baby girl isn't even here yet."
"The toughest men fall the hardest, the fastest. It happens to the best of us," I told her.
My wife smiled up at me. "Yep ... definitely The Best."
My eyes bounced back and forth between Steph's flirty smile, to my mother dancing around the living room with her granddaughter to the song I recognize as one written to raise money for hurricane relief. Mama Manoso can still outdance anyone on the floor, which is why music is always playing somewhere inside their house if she's home. Olive is currently reaping the rewards from that.
Though my daughter is holding her own. Every time she was gently 'dipped', Olivia's arms would go straight up, and her top half - along with her lower legs - would start waving/shaking with joy as she choked out a laugh that quickly morphed into a gurgly-giggle which produced another drool-wave to crash onto her chin.
"May I cut in?" My father asked his wife.
Always the gentleman, he didn't take Olive away from my mother or kiss his granddaughter before handing her back to me so he could take advantage of the situation and dance with his wife. Instead ... he curled an arm around each of them and synced his movements with theirs. The three flowed as one fluid unit until the song died away.
"And here I was thinking the peek-a-boo game we play with Olive and her 'Little Boss Babe' blanket is exciting to her, but clearly dancing is waaay more fun, especially when you're doing it with two clear experts," Steph pointed out to me. "We could power Newark and Trenton with just that grin Olive has on her face."
