A/N: This picks up from the previous chapter. I don't own any of the characters except my own.
After Hank was done shopping, he went home. Alyssa had already gone for the day, so it was just Olivia, Meredith and the kids.
"Hey, Babe."
"Hey."
"You feelin' any better?"
"It still hurts but I'm better. Lexie's fever is down, so that's encouraging."
"Yeah, it is."
Hank went to kiss Olivia and then he kissed Lexie on top of her head.
"Anything from Internal Affairs?"
"Not yet but I'm expecting some sort of punishment."
"Like I said, I expected nothing less from you. You did what you did to protect me. I would have been very surprised if you didn't do something just like with what happened with Elliot in Hawaii and when he was holding a gun to my head."
"I wasn't gonna stand there and let that idiot today bad mouth you and disrespect you the way he was. It pissed me off that he slapped you in the first place. If it had been Lisa or anyone else, I would have done the same thing."
"Did HNT say anything?"
"They said I handled it the way I should have and they probably would have done the same thing I did."
"At least when you have my back, you really mean it."
Hank kissed Olivia, put the stuff away and then both squads walked into the kitchen.
"Hey."
"Hey.
Al kissed Meredith.
"Olivia, you ok?"
"It still hurts but I'm doing better. I told Hank that when he has my back, he means it."
"I think any of us would have done the same thing."
"I know I would have."
"I appreciate that. Have you heard from Jenna?"
"Not yet. I'm just worried about the babies. I'm glad Ed is with her."
"I'm glad he is too."
"Hopefully if he's found guilty, that'll also mean that his son will have to pay for causing the accident that Aunt Ellen and Uncle Paul were in."
"Let's hope so. Did you let Trevor know what happened?"
"I did."
"Erin, did you talk to Julie?"
"I did. She's relieved that he's dead."
"I am too actually."
"What time is dinner?"
"We told the Parkers to be here by 5:30, since Olive is home by 5:15."
"Who's all gonna be here?"
"All of us, the Parkers, Al and Meredith and Trudy. Doug and Marissa are bringing their kids and I told Hank to tell them to bring their swimsuits. I probably won't take Lexie into the water though."
"Is she doing any better?"
"Her fever went down."
"That's encouraging."
"We should probably get back."
Everyone left to finish things up for the day. Everyone left work at their normal time, so they were able to head home. Trudy went home to change before she headed over to Hank and Olivia's. Erin, Jay, Justin and Al all arrived at the house at the same time Olive did. When Justin saw Olive, he kissed her. They all went inside and Hank, Olivia and Meredith were all fixing dinner.
"This isn't something we see all that often. Mom is in the kitchen."
"Ha, ha."
"What's for dinner?"
"Plain or barbeque chicken breasts, corn on the cob and baked potatoes. All of which can be done on the grill. We also have a salad and Meredith is making brownies and cookies for dessert."
"Sounds good."
The four of them hugged Olivia and Hank and then after they kissed their kids, they went to change. By the time they came back to the kitchen, Hank and Al were outside, so Jay and Justin joined them.
"Erin, did you talk to Internal Affairs?"
"I did. How long do you think you'll be off?"
"I really don't know. I enjoyed spending the afternoon with Noah, Lexie and the grandkids. It also gave me the chance to spend time with Meredith and Alyssa too. This job has been so stressful lately."
"Tell me about it."
"I keep telling your dad that I expected nothing less from him with what happened today."
"No kidding."
The doorbell rang, so Erin went to get it. It was Lieutenant Bradley.
"Detective."
"Lieutenant."
"Is Hank here?"
"He is. Come on in."
"Thanks."
Lieutenant Bradley came in and then they went into the kitchen. Erin went out to get Hank.
"Lieutenant."
"Lieutenant."
Erin and Hank came in. Hank shook Lieutenant Bradley's hand.
"John, what's goin' on?"
"We are dropping the investigation into what happened with you and Darryl Jones. From what I could tell, what you did was justified and I know you've been better with your temper."
"I don't wanna be the person I once was anymore and I want my family to be proud of me. Like I told you before, I was defendin' a fellow officer, which I would have done even if she wasn't my wife. If it was Sergeant Langan, Officer Burgess, Erin, Detective Upton, Sergeant Platt, Commander Crowley, any female in the department or just any female in general that it had happened to, I would have done the same thing. I snapped but both Olinsky and Halstead, who were there when it happened said they would have done it too. Dawson, Schmidt, Atwater and even Officer Stabler said the same thing."
"Honestly, I would have done the same thing. How is Officer Stabler working out for you?"
"So far, so good. I figured I'd let him show me what he can do with Ruzek off this week."
"He did mention to me that he wasn't sure he wanted to be a Detective because of his dad. When we were in New York for his father-in-law's retirement party, a friend of Lieutenant Barba's son was raped and Jenna had gone to talk to her. We were talking and he said cases like that really made his blood boil. I told him his dad would have said the same thing. I've known him since he was a little older than Noah."
"That's a long time."
"It is and his dad decided to treat me the way he did. If he hadn't been killed, I never would have forgiven him for what he tried doing Hank."
"I don't blame you for feeling that way. Are you ok with as many people as you have on desk duty or even light duty? Sergeant Langan told me she was more than likely expecting again and I know Officer Tucker is too."
"Lisa has not had it officially confirmed yet."
"That's what she told me."
"Kyle said he and the rest of the guys were fine. I actually enjoyed spending the afternoon with my two youngest and my grandkids. This job has been so stressful lately."
"Are you thinking about putting your papers in?"
"I don't know. I could step back and let Lisa and Kyle lead the squad while I stay at the Precinct but of course right now that would be more Kyle. Although he'll be taking time off when his wife has her baby."
"If you need help, let me know and I'll send Upton or probably Atwater over. Isn't Casey due at the same time Alex is?"
"I'm pretty sure."
"I'll still have Jay, Al and Ruzek if I send Upton and Atwater to you. I can always bring Dickie up again too."
"Kyle will only be off a week. I'll figure it out."
"I still have Antonio on desk duty but I'm in the same situation you are. I'd also like to cut back on bein' out. I'd like to have Halstead take the Sergeant's exam and have the same thing that Olivia does with the two Sergeants. Dawson said he's fine with it."
"I don't have a problem with that. Have you talked to Commander Crowley about it yet?"
"Yeah, I did. She said she understands where I'm comin' from."
"It's fine with me too. Olivia, if you're off and both of your Sergeants are unavailable, who is in charge?"
"Erin even though she has been there less than some of the others. It has nothing to do with the fact that she's family. I treat everyone the same."
"The same with me regarding Halstead. Olinsky has seniority but he doesn't want the responsibility of bein' in charge."
"You've both done a good job of treating all the members of your respective units the same."
The doorbell rang again. Olivia went to get it. It was Trudy with the Parkers.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"Come on in."
"Thanks."
"The kids are in the family room just through the kitchen."
"Emma, keep an eye on your brother."
"I will."
The 3 kids went to find the rest of kids, while Olivia took Doug, Marissa and Trudy into the living room, so they could sit.
"They all get along pretty well, huh?"
"They do."
"How's Lexie?"
"Her fever has gone down. She also had a pretty good nap this afternoon."
"That always helps. Is your cheek any better?"
"A little bit but I'm sure it's going to bruise. How your visit with your grandchildren go?"
"It went better than I expected. I offered their mother a new job opportunity and it seems like she is going to take me up on it and at least come in for an interview."
"Wow!"
"She wasn't sure at first because of the distance but then we offered her Marissa's condo. Right now she still owns it but she's been thinking about selling."
"I told her to pay me whatever she's comfortable with for right now. I may decide to sell it to her if she's interested."
"So, she's a nurse?"
"Yeah. Right now she's at Comer Children's Hospital but she doesn't like the overnight hours, which I can understand. She said no one wants to switch. One of our nurses is retiring and mostly works the day shift. She occasionally works overnight though and Leah said she'd be ok with that occasionally. Working overnight is hard when you have young kids."
"That's for sure."
"I've had a lot of people tell me they don't know how I can do what I do. Your jobs must be hard too. Hank has told me stories about Loyola and some of the other hospitals that I'm not as familiar with."
"One of the things they really stress in Emergency is two visitors only. Visitors have to check in at security with a photo id and then they get a badge with their photo on it. Security then will walk them to the person they are there to see. It makes us feel a lot safer too."
"That makes a lot of sense. I know in some hospitals, Pediatrics is locked."
"They love to wander but we don't keep the unit locked. We have cameras everywhere throughout the unit. The entire floor is the Pediatric Unit. It's hard being there sometimes. If one of my patients passes, it's hard to deal with."
"I can imagine."
"It's hard for me sometimes too. I see a lot of burn victims and cancer patients, a lot of which are kids but we also get gunshot victims and all that too. Sometimes those victims are kids as well. It's hard for me when the victims are kids. I usually end up going home and hugging our kids if I've had a bad day."
"I do the same thing. I have zero tolerance for any type of abuse."
"That one little one that came in a few months back. That was heartbreaking."
"That was."
Marissa and Doug told Olivia about what had happened.
"That had to have been hard. I hate getting calls like that."
"I'm even more emotional when I'm pregnant, so ended up breaking down. One of the Residents in Emergency at the time was a jerk and I happened to be working with him that day. He told me that things like that happen and to suck it up. I told him he doesn't understand what it's like to have children and that the victim was the same age as my son. How am I not going to take that personally? He basically said that the Emergency Department is no place for emotional women. I told him not to speak to me like that. He said he should have me written up for insubordination. Doug heard the confrontation, so did my Supervisor and so did the Chief Resident. The Chief Resident fired him. He had had several warnings prior to that. That was actually my first time working with him but it was not our first confrontation. He had come on his shift as I was leaving and Doug had met me before we left. Apparently he didn't know we were together and he made a comment about me fraternizing with one of the doctors and does HR know about it? I told him Doug and I have been in a relationship for close to 8 years and HR has known for some time but our relationship is none of his business."
"Good for you."
"My Supervisor has been supportive of us since the beginning. She's known Doug for years and she was also friends with Barb."
"Diane was a Nursing Student when I was a Med Student."
"That Resident sounds a lot like the guy that slapped me this morning."
"He was very sexist. After what had happened that day, there were other nurses that came forward and said was making inappropriate comments to them."
"That does happen quite a bit."
"I have always been respectful of the nurses I work with or really any of the nurses at the hospital. Let's face it, they're the ones that do most of the work. I would never speak to a nurse the way he did. I don't even talk to Marissa like that at work because it's not appropriate for the work place. Unless we haven't seen each other because we're on different shifts or when we get to work before we go our separate ways, we hardly ever kiss each other at work. She usually comes up to my office on her break and we normally try to have lunch together. When that incident happened though, I was being very protective of her and I didn't care who saw it."
"According to Erin and Justin, Hank wasn't into the public displays of affection with Camille but he has no problems with them with me. Every time we see each other throughout the day, we never part without at least an 'I love you' because we never know."
"It would be different for you two because of your line of work."
"I've gotten to be like that with Randy too."
"I'd like to meet your husband."
"Maybe after dinner we can go over to the fire station."
"That works."
"That works for us too."
Meredith joined him, while Hank walked Lieutenant Bradley out.
"All good?"
"Yep. He's also fine with me wantin' to have Jay take the Sergeant's exam."
"That's good."
"Doug wants to meet Mouch, so we're heading over to the fire station after dinner."
"That works."
"I better go help with dinner."
Hank kissed Olivia and went back outside.
"Is Al helping?"
"No. He's watching them but that's nothing new."
"Somethings never change."
"With him, no."
Then Erin joined them.
"Is Olive watching the kids?"
"Yep."
"I brought my photo albums and some other stuff, so you can see Hank in his younger years."
"Oh, great!"
Doug went out to their SUV and went to get what he brought. He then gave Olivia the photo album, so she started looking through it. Then Hank and Al came in.
"Uh oh!"
"You were a hottie in high school. I might be biased but you still are a hottie."
"Thanks."
"We can look at the videos later or if we don't get to them, you can watch them and I will get them another time. I actually had those put onto DVDs."
"I can't wait to see those. Al and Meredith, how long have you two been together?"
"Since high school. We've had our ups and downs though."
"When she gets mad at me, I move into the garage."
"Now that Lexi is no longer at home, I may just have you move to another bedroom."
"We've been better lately though."
"We have."
"Do you and Hank argue a lot?"
"Not a lot but I do get annoyed with him sometimes. Like this morning when Lexie was being so fussy and wouldn't let me leave for work. I just barely got to the ME's office before the two of you did and he made some comment about thinking I forgot because he left early for a case. I told him if he was going to give me a hard time, then I was going to leave. If Hank is home, he'll get her to settle and he's absolutely amazing with her but I'm usually always the one that has to get her to settle when she's not feeling well. Noah too."
"Ours usually want me too. Emma fell off her bike last summer and hurt her arm. She was in so much pain and Doug could tell by looking at it that something wasn't right. She had dislocated her elbow."
"I knew how to pop it back into place, so I did and then we took her in. She still had a broken arm but that wasn't as painful as the dislocation was."
"How'd she handle it when you popped it back into place?"
"She did really well. I told her it was going to hurt but once it was done, most of her pain would be gone. She screamed when I did it but she said she felt better."
"I had dislocated shoulders a lot playin' football."
"Same here."
"I had dislocated fingers playin' softball."
"We all did. Hank, do you still think about Camille?"
"I do. I still go to the cemetery all the time. Olivia wants us to remember her. Justin made the decision early in our relationship that he wanted to call Olivia 'Mom'. He asked her if it was ok and she said it was his decision. I never expected that though, since he was so close to his mother. The two of them hit it off the moment they met even though Justin wasn't sure he wanted to see me with anyone but his mother. I thought Camille was my forever but I had her taken from me. I was never the best father to Justin and I missed out on half of Erin's life. I hated myself for cheating on Camille but she forgave me. I think she was a saint."
"You had told me what happened with Bunny after it happened and you were also honest with Camille about it. That's where I was wrong. I waited until the kid was 15 to tell Meredith and yeah, she finally forgave me but I lost Lexi because of it though. Not that it would have made it better if I had said something sooner."
"It might have with me but who knows with Lexi."
"I don't blame you. I completely blame Bunny."
"I asked her and she kept telling me that I wasn't your dad. I should have insisted that she have a paternity test done."
"Look at it this way, you get to see your grandchild grow up and she does not. She got what she deserved. I wouldn't have even wanted her in Nadia's life because she would have tried to do the same thing to her that she did to me."
"True."
"At least Justin accepted Olivia in your life. After Dylan accused us of screwing around while Barb was dying, I knew he never would have accepted Marissa or the kids in mine. He had no idea what I was going through while I was watching her die because he was off most of the time getting high. I see children die all the time but it still doesn't help when it's someone you love."
"If anyone gets that, I do. I deal with dead bodies for a living but having someone you love die in your arms is not easy. My relationship with Justin suffered after Camille's death but Olivia and Olive helped us repair it. We're closer than we have ever been these last couple years. He loves being a big brother."
"He's become very protective of me too. Earlier this year when I feel on the ice and hurt my ankle and knee, he transferred from Intelligence as their 2nd tech guy to SVU as our tech guy. He's still with SVU though but Hank said he's fine with that, since he has someone looking out for his girls all day."
"Is it hard having most of the family working together as much as you do?"
"Not really. We check in several times a day. Hank and Jay usually show up at SVU to check on us but sometimes Erin and I will go to Intelligence. If something happens to me, Erin or Justin will call their dad right away. If something happens to Hank, Jay will contact me or Erin. Hank will contact Erin if something happens to Jay and I'll contact Jay if something happens to Erin. With what happened today, I had the hospital contact Hank because I wanted him there. He didn't let on to the suspect that I was his wife. He had Jay come in with him."
"He probably would have found a way to come in with me anyway."
"I don't doubt that."
"When the rest of the squad came in, Halstead said the only bomb that went off was you when the suspect hit Olivia."
"That's true."
Justin came into the room.
"Are we eatin' outside?"
"We could do that."
"We're just about ready."
"Ok."
Everyone headed outside and then they ate. After dinner, everyone who was going to the fire station went, which was mostly everyone except Erin, Jay, Nadia, Olive, Camille and Lexie. When they arrived, they got out of their vehicles and went in.
"Hey, look who's here!"
"Hey, Herrmann."
"Where's Lexie?"
"She's at home with Erin, Jay, Olive and the babies. She has an ear infection again, so we didn't want to take her out."
"Aw, that sucks. We hope she feels better."
"Thanks."
"You ok after what happened earlier?"
"Yeah. It's still sore though."
"This is the 51 family. This is Battalion Chief Wallace Boden, Lieutenant Matt Casey, his wife Paramedic Gabriela Dawson, Paramedic Sylvie Brett, Lieutenant Kelly Severide, Christopher Herrmann, Brian Zvonecek or Otis as he likes to be called, Stella Kidd, Joe Cruz, Capp, Tony and this is my husband Randy McHolland aka Mouch. This is Doug Parker, his wife Marissa and their kids Emma, Jade and Luke. Doug went to school with Hank, Al, Meredith and me."
"Nice to meet all of you."
"You too."
"Gabby is Antonio's sister."
"Ok."
"How old are the 3 of you?"
"I'm 7, Jade's 4 and Luke is 2."
Everyone gave Noah and Daniel a high five.
"Big twuck."
"That is a big truck, isn't it, Luke?"
"Yeah. Ambwance, Mama."
"Yep. Mommy sees lots of ambulances where she works, doesn't she?"
"Yeah."
"Where do you work?"
"I'm a nurse in the Emergency Department at Loyola. Doug is a Pediatrician there as well."
"Oh, wow!"
"Would the 3 of you like to climb on the vehicles?"
"Sure."
Matt and Kelly took all the kids to climb on the vehicles and then Doug and Marissa's kids got into the ambo, while Marissa watched and took pictures. Doug talked with everyone else. They all stayed until all of 51 got a call. They went back to Hank and Olivia's and by the time they got there, Maggie and Dickie were there with the boys. Olivia introduced them to the Parkers. Mostly everyone changed and got into the pool. Olivia kept Lexie with her. Dickie had taken the boys into the water, so Maggie stayed with Olivia and Meredith.
"Have you heard from Edward or Jenna about the trial?"
"I did. Ed said he's denying everything and this entire thing was blown out of proportion. Jenna took the stand today and Ed said he does tomorrow. Unless something happens in the meantime, he's expecting it to last all week."
"I've always hated trials like that. My guess is, since Ed was so thorough with whatever records he kept, he'll help to convict him. From what Michelle had said, all the ones that complained about him in the past were willing to testify. She said they were glad to finally be able to see him go down. The only thing he had said to me in the past was that I shouldn't have been in the position I was in or running SVU."
Trudy got out of the water and joined them and then Dickie joined them while the boys were playing with the other kids.
"You talkin' about the trial?"
"Yep."
"Sometimes I think some people with the NYPD don't like me because of my dad."
"That time when Kevin's friend was raped and you said that made your blood boil, I did say you sounded like your dad but you're nothing like him. I completely understand if you don't want to be a Detective like him but I've seen you do your job. You've obviously made an impression on Hank, which says a lot."
"Hank can be very critical of the people in his unit. He and Halstead haven't always seen eye to eye but this is the closest they have been in as long as I can remember. He and Dawson haven't always seen eye to eye either."
"I completely agree about Hank and Jay. They learned to get along better for Erin and as far as Hank is concerned, Jay has really proven himself as a cop, son-in-law and father."
"You've done wonders for Hank. He and Justin were never this close either."
"I completely agree. Like Trudy, I've known Hank a long time and I know how much he was hurting after Camille's death. He did say at one point that he wasn't going to get involved with anyone else after losing her because love was too painful."
"Yep, he did say that. Obviously he changed his mind about that. I'm glad Doug was able to find love again as well and he seems happy."
"I'm glad for that too."
"All I wanted was to have a good relationship with both my dad and father-in-law but Dad made that so difficult."
"Jay also has a difficult relationship with his dad, so he completely understands your feelings."
"We've actually talked a lot about it. Dad only cared about himself."
"I agree completely. I don't think he realized what his leaving did to me. I was a bitch to Rollins and Amaro when they first started with SVU because they weren't him but they both turned out to be better friends. Amaro never liked Ed either but they now know how to be civil with one another. I never would have forgiven your dad for what he tried doing to Hank."
"I don't blame you for feelin' that way. We had told him many times to contact you. He chose not to, so it's his own fault. If he was still around, there is no way in hell I would have let him be in our kids' lives. Mom and Jack, definitely."
"How did things go with Jack meeting Bernie?"
"She likes him and told Mom she deserves to be happy. Mom said Grandma told her that as long as the 6 of us are happy, then she's happy. She's fine if Jack wants to make it official with Eli and Olivia as long as she still has a relationship with them. Mom said Jack told Grandma that he wouldn't have it any other way. Mom said she wishes Jack's kids were with them, so everyone could meet them too but they happened to be with their other grandparents when they came out here."
"Are their other grandparents ok with your mom?"
"Oh, yeah. They really like Mom and both kids and they're fine if she wants to make things official with Kelsey and Max. Like Grandma, they just want a relationship with their grandkids."
"Where do they live?"
"They're in Portland."
"Do the rest of you get along with his kids?"
"Yeah. They're great kids. Eli and Kelsey have known each other since kindergarten and Olivia and Max have known each other forever too. Eli loves having a younger brother and Kelsey loves having a younger sister as well. They lived in the same neighborhood and Susan was the first friend Mom made when they moved to Seattle. She was actually the one that convinced Mom to divorce Dad. She didn't trust him at all."
"Did she work at all?"
"Actually, she was a police officer. She ended up bein' killed in the line of duty. She had pulled over to help someone, whose car had been disabled and had gotten out to check on them when someone hit her. The person she had pulled over to help had called it in and reported it. They got the guy and it turned out he was intoxicated at the time it had happened. This wasn't his first DUI. Max was not quite a year old when this happened, so he doesn't remember her but her family was everything to her."
"Do you think she would have been ok with your mom and Jack getting together?"
"She told Mom once that she would love for her to be in Jack and the kids' lives if something ever happened to her. The way she put it was that Mom deserved to have a good man in her life and Eli and Olivia deserved to have a stable father figure in their lives. If she was still around, Dad wouldn't have pulled anything with Mom as far as Olivia was concerned because she would have hunted him down herself and thrown his ass in jail."
"Did he ever get physically abusive with your mom that you know of?"
"Not that I know of. I think it was just with me. Mom said Susan was not a fan of his because of his humongous ego. She was always tellin' Jack to keep an eye on Mom. Mom was there for him and the kids after she was killed. I think Mom has had feelings for him for a while but she wanted to give him time. They spent time together as friends because of the kids and since he coached Eli's baseball team. Right around Christmas, they finally decided to try being in a relationship. Jack was hesitant to go to the next step because of Dad still bein' in the picture."
"A year ago, she told me your dad wanted to get back together and they were back to sleeping together."
"We're all glad she decided not to. Jack treats her so much better than Dad ever did."
"Where are they living?"
"They bought a house. They took the 4 kids and went to look."
"As long as everyone is happy, that's all that matters."
"This is the happiest I have seen Mom in a long time."
"How do you feel about becoming a dad?"
"I'm kind of nervous about it. We weren't necessarily tryin' for a baby but Jenna and I have become closer in the last several months, so obviously that resulted in a baby. She didn't necessarily want to start her new job and then go on desk duty."
"That happened with me and I'm fine with it. It happens. All the stuff that has gone on with your dad in the last year has actually brought Hank and I closer. We've always been close and that bond grew stronger after this one was born. I was nervous too, especially since being a mother was the thing I wanted the most. I just never thought I would ever have a child growing inside of me. I was scared because I just wanted her to be healthy. She's a stubborn one like her daddy but she's healthy."
"I was scared about becoming a mother too. It happened for me in the worst way possible. My parents let me make the decision. His father wanted me to get rid of it but abortion was never an option. It was my choice to keep my son even though I could have put him up for adoption but I gave him the best life I could. It was also my choice not to get into a relationship because of what had happened to me. I have no complaints with Ed."
"I have no complaints with Hank either. When Hank and I got together, I knew he was the one I wanted to spend my life with."
"I knew that about Ed too."
"I knew that about Jenna and my sisters all knew that about their husbands. I just wanna protect her from that asshole ex of hers. A part of me still thinks he's gonna continue to harass her. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he has more kids outside of his marriage."
"I'm sure he does. How many kids does this guy have?"
"Besides Josh and Jordan, I think he has 4 with his wife. Jenna told me that he thinks he's so wonderful in bed but he wasn't all that great. Funny thing, I've heard the same thing from my mom about Dad. Then again, Dad always had a high opinion of himself."
"This Ryan guy sounds like he's a lot like your dad."
"That's what it sounds like. Maggie, are you and Ed planning any trips?"
"Next summer sometime, we're doing an Alaskan cruise with my sisters and their husbands. Ed wants to take his parents too."
"I think we're leanin' towards you takin' Josh and Jordan to my mom's. We haven't decided about the babies yet. There would probably be too much stuff to take for them unless my mom and Jack went out and got stuff to keep there. I know my mom said she's plannin' to come here when all the babies are born, since Lizzie and Jenna are due around the same time. We're not goin' anywhere for Thanksgiving or Christmas. More so for Christmas because the babies will either be here or just about here."
"It sounds like my sisters want to do Thanksgiving this year with just their spouses, kids and grandkids. That works for me. If we have one with everyone, there's more than 50 people. I'm guessing that would also include Trevor's family and we would include the Barbas and Michelle's parents. Who really wants all those people?"
"That's us too. I'm one of six kids and four of us are married with kids. On top of that, we now have Jack's family and his former in-laws. Kevin and Kyle's sister wants to have all the holidays but Kevin doesn't know his schedule yet and Kyle never knows when he'll have to work. Kyle and Alex will have their baby by then and may not want to go too far. I could have to work, since technically I'm the new kid."
"My first Thanksgiving here, I was the new kid but on maternity leave."
Then the Langans came around to the backyard. They even had Sarge.
"Hello."
"Hey. How'd things go the rest of the day?"
"It was definitely more uneventful than it was this morning. How are you feeling?"
"It still hurts but it's better. This one's fever went down, so she's doing better as well."
"Good. Are you taking the rest of the week off?"
"Probably. Is that ok?"
"It's fine with me. We can handle it."
"Mommy, can we go swimming?"
"Daddy can take you home and you can put your swimsuits on."
"Yay!"
"Where's my hug?"
Emily, Adam and Tyler hugged Maggie and then they hugged Dickie as well. Trevor put Charli and Becca down and left to head home after he kissed Lisa. Lisa took Sarge off his leash and then he ran around with Captain. Lisa sat down and then Olivia put Lexie down with Charli and Becca.
"What was everyone talking about?"
"Olivia asked if Ed and I had any trips planned, so I said we're planning to do an Alaskan cruise with my sisters and their husbands next summer and Ed wants to take his parents as well. I said we could take the kids to Kathy and they could stay with her and Jack, while we're gone if that's what Dickie and Jenna wanted. He said that was a possibility for the boys anyway but he said they haven't decided about the babies yet mainly because they'd need too much stuff. He said Kathy is planning to come here when both Jenna and Lizzie have their babies, since it's around the same time. We then got to talking about the holidays, since Dickie said they probably weren't going anywhere for either Thanksgiving or Christmas. He said Kyle and Kevin's sister wants to have holidays. I said the sisters basically want to have holidays with their spouses, kids and grandkids and actually agree with that. If we have everyone, that's over 50 people. I'd want the Barbas and Michelle's parents here and I'm sure that would include Trevor's family."
"I'm good with that. I think Trevor wants to have it this year. Dave said if he knows a months or two ahead of time, he can take off. Amy and the kids are off most of that week anyway. Two years ago for Thanksgiving, it was just me, Trevor and the kids, since these two were only a few weeks old. Everyone else was in New York when you and Uncle Ed got married and last year, you had it but we went to Hartford. It doesn't bother me if we don't have it with the whole family, since we see everyone all the time anyway."
"True. What happens if you and Trevor want to have it and so does your sister?"
"I'm fine with that too even if Mom and Dad decide they want to go Sarah and Greg's. Like I said, it's not like I don't see any of them."
Trevor and the kids came back and Rita, Joe, Pauline and Steve were with them. The kids headed to the pool and Trevor sat down with Lisa and Rita sat down as well.
"Margaret."
"Hello."
"Olivia, how are you feeling?"
"Better but it does hurt though."
Hank had gotten out of the water and came over to them. He kissed Olivia and Lexie before sitting at the foot of Olivia's chair.
"Lisa likes the idea of what we were talking about for the holidays this year."
"It's the easiest solution as far as I'm concerned. It's only July, so we still have time to figure it out."
"We do."
"The only one who needs to get the time off is David anyway."
Al, Doug, Marissa and the kids came over and Hank introduced Doug, Marissa and the kids to everyone. They said they would all have to get together again soon and then they left. Trudy, Al and Meredith left shortly after the Parkers did, while everyone else talked for a while longer. Hank had taken Lexie in to get her ready for bed and Justin and Jay took the girls in to get them ready for bed. Erin and Olive followed, so they could both take quick showers before they fed the babies. Hank brought Lexie out to say goodnight to Olivia and then he put her to bed. Trevor and Lisa left and took their kids home to put them to bed, while Dickie took the boys home. Once Josh and Jordan were ready for bed, Dickie did a video chat with Jenna, so they could say goodnight to Mommy and Papa. Everyone else left and headed home. Olivia got Noah ready for bed, while Justin took Daniel to get him ready. Once the kids were all in bed, Olivia had changed for bed, while Hank took a shower before he joined Olivia in bed. They watched the DVDs Doug brought for a while. Hank kissed Olivia goodnight and they fell asleep in each other's arms. Erin and Olive had already fallen asleep, so Jay took a shower and then Justin took one before they both joined their wives.
The rest of the week went by quickly and was uneventful. Chief McCormick's trial went quicker than they expected it too and he ended up being found guilty on all charges. His son was officially charged for causing the accident that Ellen and Paul were in. Ed and Jenna were planning on staying until Sunday to help his parents go through stuff and pack. She had even talked to her other grandparents and they said they had been working on going through stuff since they had returned from Chicago. Ed and Jenna had also spent a little time with Ellen and Paul before they returned to Chicago.
Stay tuned for moreā¦
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