Chapter 95: Family Dynamics

Jamie swings the front door of the house open to see his brother on the other side.

"Where do you want it?" Danny inquires.

"Want what?" Jamie counter back in confusion.

Danny points towards the driveway "That."

Jamie leans out his front door to look in the direction of his brother's finger to see a disassembled free standing basketball hoop.

"I don't need it anymore." Danny explains with a shrug "Boys have moved out. Figured you could use it."

"Hi Uncle Danny!" Mia calls as she comes bounding down the stairs from the second floor.

"Figured SHE could use it." Danny clarifies as he gestures in Mia's direction.

"I could use what?" Mia questions.

"Your Uncle is giving us his basketball hoop." Jamie explains.

Mia's eyes go wide "Really?" She exclaims in excitement as she scoots under Jamie's arm to step onto the porch and look for herself "Cool!"

"So I repeat…" Danny continues "Where do you want it? Or if you can't decide, I can just leave it in a big heap smack dab in the middle of the driveway – up to you."

"Even when you are trying to be nice…" Jamie begins as Mia takes a couple of steps down the porch stairs and he and Danny step out onto the landing as well.

"Hmmm…" She ponders trying to figure out where it should go.

"You still have to go and be an…" Jamie continues to his brother but his voice trails off as he looks in Mia's direction - He didn't want to say what he is thinking with her standing right.

"Still have to go and be all what?" Danny arrogantly prompts in amusement knowing exactly what his brother wants to say and knowing he also WON'T say it with Mia right there.

So not to be deterred, Jamie takes his finger and points at his ass.

Danny heartily laughs and points at his brother "That's good!" he laughs "Get used to talking in code."

But out of the corner of her eye, Mia sees Jamie's actions so she turns her head fully to look back towards her Uncles "You can just say ass you know." She flat out states "I'm not a little kid."

Jamie and Danny turn to look at her.

Mia shrugs and moves towards the hoop.

"And here I thought the Reagans were such a nice family." Rosa's voice states.

Turning, Jamie and Danny see Eddie and Rosa standing just inside the house looking at the brothers.

Eddie frowns "You two are giving the rest of us a bad name." She chides but its impossible for everyone not to see the amusement playing in her eyes.

"I THINK IT SHOULD GO OVER HERE!" Mia's voice calls so once again, Jamie and Danny turn to look at the young girl as Rosa and Eddie step out onto the porch to look as well.

Rosa just shakes her head when she sees the hoop "You guys are spoiling her. You know that right?"

Danny shrugs "That's what Uncles are for. Besides, it's good exercise and great for practicing agility and accuracy."

Jamie sighs "He does have a point." He reluctantly admits.

"AND." Danny dramatically tacks on "I need the space."

Jamie turns to look quizzically at his brother "For?"

Danny nonchalantly shrugs "My mustang."

Jamie raises his eyebrows at his brother "You mean the one that hasn't run in over 15 years sitting in Dad's garage?"

"Yup." Danny confirms with a nod of his head.

"You're going to fix it up?" Jamie states in surprise.

"Yup!" Danny quips in confirmation "Well…" he then hesitates "Actually…" he waivers "Considering all the tools that WERE at Dad's are now here in your HEATED garage and between the two of us – you really do have more experience fixing cars – have I ever told you what a great job you do keeping The Chevelle in top notch condition?" He sweetly compliments.

Jamie's mouth falls open and he just starts to laugh "Oh you want ME to fix your car?"

"Well not completely all by yourself." Danny counters slightly offended "I'll help a bit too. You know…. if you're okay with that – working on it together."

Jamie stands there looking at his brother and a wide smile appears on his face.

At seeing her husband's look, Eddie leans over to Rosa and lowly whispers "You are about to see a kid in a candy store Jamie at having his brother ask and want his help to fix his car."

Jamie turns to look at his wife smiling widely but then drops the smile and clears his throat "One of the cars will need to park outside."

"Hey." Eddie counters as she tries to play hard ball but underneath she couldn't be happier for her husband "He's your brother. You can park The Chevelle outside."

"Um…" Rosa interrupts with a slight raise of her hand "Pretty sure my clunker should be the one that parks outside."

Eddie turns to look at Rosa "Well that's not fair."

"I live in a mansion now." Rosa counters "I can handle parking outside."

"AH!" Mia's voice suddenly exclaims.

Everyone turns to look at the young girl to see her trying to move pieces of the basketball hoop herself but quickly loosing her grip on an oversized awkwardly balanced piece.

"Mia!" Rosa calls in alarm as Jamie and Danny rush over to steady and take control of the piece from her "What are you doing?"

"Well no one was listening to me." Mia grumbles "You were all talking about a stupid car so I decided to just move it myself."

"I'm sorry." Danny warns "Are you calling my car stupid even after I gave you a basketball hoop?"

"Um no…of course not." Mia sheepishly replies in regret at seeing the look Danny is giving her "Thank you Uncle Danny."

"Better." Rosa mutters as Jamie turns to look between Rosa and Eddie but pointing at Mia "She still has no patience."

"Well patience is a virtue." Danny points out.

"Or one could say she was taking the initiative." Eddie counters.

All eyes turn to look at her.

"What?" Eddie defends "She wanted something and instead of just waiting around for others to give it to her, she took it upon herself to try to make it happen."

Jamie frowns "Really Eddie? She was impatient and could have hurt herself."

"And then she would have learnt from that." Eddie points out "We learn from our mistakes right so let her make some – stop being so overprotective."

Danny leans over to Rosa "Uh oh. Is this a preview to the kind of parents they will be?"

Jamie and Eddie both turn to look at Danny.

Danny shrugs "You really need to get on the same page or yours like her is gonna run rough shot all over the both of you."

Jamie takes a deep calming breath while Eddie narrows her eyes and glares at her brother in law.

"Oh boy." Danny mutters as he quickly steps behind Rosa using her as a human shield "She won't hurt me if she has to go through you first."

Rosa turns to face Danny "No but I might hurt you. You get that I live with them right? You can leave but I still have to deal with them!"

Danny smiles widely "Welcome to the family Rosa. Great to have you aboard!"

"Really?" Rosa challenges unimpressed before she defiantly steps aside and sweepingly gestures for Eddie to proceed towards Danny.

"Wait!" Danny calls "What was that code word Sean said you had – oh it was your old call sign - 12 David! 12 David!"

"That only works when he says it." Eddie counters as she points at Jamie but keeps her death stare glued to Danny.

"Help your older brother out here Jamie!" Danny calls.

Jamie sighs "Fine. 12 David Eddie."

Eddie turns to look at her husband "Ah come on!" She whines.

Jamie shrugs "He is my brother. I kinda like him alive."

"What's 12 David?" Mia prompts.

Danny looks at Mia in surprise then looks between Jamie and Eddie then back at Mia then back at Jamie and Eddie "You never told your god daughter what 12 David means?" He states in absolute shock.

Jamie and Eddie look at one another "I guess it just… never came up?" Eddie slowly offers as the only excuse she can come up with.

"So what is it?" Mia prompts again.

"It's only the entire reason these two exist as a couple!" Danny laughs out "Actually." He corrects "It was the reason they DIDN'T exist as a couple for like 5 years."

"What?" Rosa questions confused.

"Come gather around." Danny cajoles as he gestures for Mia and Rosa to come closer to him "Let me tell you a fascinating tale!"

Jamie rolls his eyes as he looks at his wife "I take back saying 12 David to save his ass – go for it!" he prompts in permission as he gestures towards his brother.

Rosa turns to look at Jamie "You just said ass."

"So did you!" Jamie counters back.

"Ass. Ass. Ass." Mia repeats over and over again "There I've said it. Our ass is our butt. Our butt is our ass. Can we stop making such a big deal out of this already? Now not to appear impatient or anything, but I'd like to know more about this 12 David AND if there is a timeline on when this basketball hoop might be usable – no rush!" She immediately promises not wanting to appear impatient as she looks between Danny and Jamie.

"Okay come on." Jamie prompts "We'll set it up over there and tell you the story as we do."

Danny looks at Mia "You like Disney right?"

Mia nods.

"Then you'll love this story – it's a true fairytale!" He laughs.

Eddie shakes her head then turns and heads for the man door to the garage "Rosa you want a lawn chair?" She calls backwards.

"Huh?" Rosa again questions in confusion as she moves to follow.

"Well there is no way I'm letting Danny and Jamie tell this story without me being there to correct them…" Eddie explains as she moves through the garage and grabs two lawn chairs "And I'm going to need to sit down." she adds as she hands one chair over to Rosa then moves to exit the garage.

Rosa looks at the chair then back out the door after Eddie.

"NO!" Rosa can hear Eddie's voice chide in rejection "You already got the story wrong!"

Rosa shrugs then moves to follow "I guess laundry can wait…"

"How is it wrong?" Jamie's voice counters "We barely finished introducing ourselves when that first call came in. You ran to the driver's side of the RMP, got in and a took off like a shot!"

"Yes." Eddie confirms "But I asked 'mind if I drive' and you didn't object."

"YOU DIDN'T GIVE ME TIME!" Jamie counters back.

Danny looks over at Rosa "Got any popcorn?"

"Shhh." Mia chides her Uncle already enthralled with the story "I'm listening."

….

"Boy." Mia sighs with a shake of her head as she bounces the basketball now in her hands before looking up at Jamie "You were an idiot and you!" Mia chides as she shifts her attention to Eddie "How could you date?! You knew you loved him!" She adds before aiming and throwing the ball at the now set up hoop.

Jamie and Eddie both heavily sigh "We know."

"You know..." Rosa chuckles as Mia retrieves the ball "I have to agree with my daughter on this one – you were both idiots."

"WE KNOW!" Jamie and Eddie repeat yet again in exasperation as Mia bounces her ball back to her self proclaimed throw line.

"My sister could be almost my age by now." Mia points out before lifting the ball and throwing again but this time it bounces off the backboard and heads in Jamie's direction.

"Excuse me?" Jamie questions as he catches the ball and tosses it back at the hoop. He makes the basket.

"You've known each other almost ten years." Mia explains as she moves to grab the ball again "I'm ten. My sister could be like eight years old by now." She adds as she again throws the ball.

"Oh stop trying to talk logic to these two." Danny snickers as he moves to get the ball "I'm just happy they finally got their heads out of their…" But Danny stops talking, holds the ball with one hand and uses his free hand to point at his butt.

Mia giggles.

Jamie and Eddie roll their eyes.

Rosa shakes her head.

"And got together and now finally, FINALLY having one of you." Danny adds as he throws the ball at the basket.

Mia again grabs the ball but she just holds it. She turns quiet and ponders something before looking at Eddie. "You really saved Uncle Jamie from a hitman?"

Eddie heavily sighs at the memory and nods her head in confirmation "I did."

"Wow." Mia notes in awe "You really are my hero then because if you had not have been there to save Uncle Jamie – Uncle Jamie and cousin Joe could not have saved me and Mom from kidnappers."

"Oh yeah." Danny notes with a smile "Cousin Joe was there too."

Jamie sighs "To be fair though if I wasn't around, chances are you and your Mom would not have even been kidnapped." he points out "That only happened because your Dad was trying to help us."

"That's true." Eddie chimes in "But chances are good the Feds would have gotten your Father then…" She tells Mia "…and he'd be in jail until you graduate college instead of the reduced sentence your Uncle helped get him."

Mia nods and moves back to the throw line "I know." She states before throwing the ball again "So when Dad is released…" she curiously questions as she just lets the ball bounce away and turns to face everyone "Is he going to live here too?"

All the adults kind of just look at Mia not sure how to answer that.

"Um… that's still a few years away Mia." Rosa awkwardly replies.

Mia shrugs then heads after her ball "I know." She accepts "But just wondering."

All the adults turn to look at one another suddenly really wondering the answer to that too…

They are brought out of their haze by the sound of the basketball hitting the backboard and swooshing into the basket "But Uncle Danny is right that your story is a fairytale." Mia adds as she again goes to retrieve her ball "You got the girl, you got the house, baby on the way – and like Cinderella you even have the wickeddddd…" She begins to drawl out "…ly cool step sister! Did you catch that? Wickedly cool instead of just wicked?" she laughs "Man I crack me up."

Everyone just shakes their heads at the young girl.

"So now it's step sister?" Jamie questions.

Mia shrugs "It lent itself to the story."

Danny leans over to the other adults "When did she start sounding like a fifteen year old?"

"It's been a gradual change since she turned ten." Jamie notes.

"Huh." Danny notes.

"Girls do mature faster then boys." Eddie points out.

"Okay stop talking like that." Rosa chides "She's ten. I want to keep my baby as long as I can."

"Still here you know." Mia points out.

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Eddie warmly retorts as she smiles at her god daughter.

Suddenly the sound of Jamko barking and high pitched cat screeching is heard coming from inside the house causing looks of alarm to appear on everyone's faces.

Danny's face scrunches up "Is that a dog?" he queries but Jamie ignores his brother's question as he starts to run for the house "Jamko was in his room right?" He calls back.

"Yes!" Rosa returns as she and Mia then Eddie and Danny follow.

"Jamko?" Danny breathes out in surprise "He's back?"

...