A/N: In the original version I wrote I swear this chapter equaled 5 pages in Word but yet now it's only about four. I feel like I covered everything so not sure what I'm missing – sigh…

Chapter 3: The New Normal

For a moment Jamie, Eddie and Joe just continue to stare at the woman in shock but it is Eddie that finds her voice first "As in?" She hesitantly questions as she gestures backwards towards the headstones.

"Yes." The young woman easily replies "That's my family. Are you family?" She then quite curiously inquires.

"Um no." Jamie dismissively rejects.

"You sure?" The woman presses "I heard you say the name Reagan."

Jamie quickly racks his brain to come up with a response "Well Reagan is a pretty common name." he deflects "I mean are you related to former President Ronald Reagan?"

"Um no." The woman laughs.

"See common name." Jamie reiterates but as he looks at this woman before him something in his gut can't help but wonder if somehow he IS related to her "Well we should be going." He suddenly announces as he looks at his wife and nephew with a silent "let's go" look before he simply turns to walk away with Eddie and Joe following.

Surprised the trio is just up and leaving the woman calls out "WAIT!" in an attempt to stop them "YOU DIDN'T ANSWER MY QUESTION, ARE WE RELATED?"

But it was too late, Jamie, Eddie and Joe were already gone.

Feeling a bit defeated, the young woman turns her attention back to the headstones and sighs "I guess it was too much to hope that I suddenly had more family." She states as she leans down to place one of the flower bouquets on a grave and as she does, a police shield clipped to her waist comes into view.

…..

Jamie is alone in his apartment when he hears a knock on his door so he moves to check through the peep hole. Seeing his nephew, Jamie then opens the door.

"You summoned me?" Joe questions as he steps inside.

"I did not summon you." Jamie rejects as he shuts the door after his nephew enters.

"Kinda felt like it." Joe tosses back.

"No." Jamie corrects "What happened is I left my phone at Meretti's and asked if there was anyone that could bring it by."

"On purpose." Joe adds as he reaches into his pocket to pull the device out "As a way to summon me." He reiterates as he offers the phone out to his Uncle.

"Did he go through it?" Jamie questions as he takes it.

"Yes." Joe confirms "You really should have that thing locked."

"If I did that then Meretti would not have been able to see the financial trouble Eddie and I are in."

"Oh." Joe accepts "Right."

"Yeah." Jamie a bit arrogantly confirms.

"Fine." Joe accepts "But you can't keep finding excuses like this to get me over here – it will draw attention we don't need."

"Not really." Jamie rejects "See now that you've been here you've discovered this really great classic car I have and being a car guy yourself…"

"Wait." Joe interrupts in surprise "You brought the Chevelle?"

Jamie nods "I did."

"You should bring it the next time Meretti invites you over." Joe notes "He's big into cars."

"No. Really?" Jamie sarcastically replies "I had no idea."

Annoyed, Joe rolls his eyes "Alright you knew that."

"Yeah." Jamie arrogantly confirms.

"Fine." Joe tosses back "So then why did you need to see me? Got intel to share?"

"No."

"No?" Joe repeats in confusion "Then why am I here?"

"Not really sure." Jamie admits.

"You're not sure?" Joe again repeats.

"Eddie requested we find a way to get you over here." Jamie explains so Joe begins to look around the room for his Aunt.

"Okay where is she?"

"She's not here." Jamie replies.

"She's not here?" Joe repeats yet again.

"You really need to stop repeating what I say." Jamie points out.

Growing frustrated Joe barks out "I don't like being tricked!"

"No one is tricking you!" Jamie snaps back as the prickliness of their relationship bubbles to the surface and the two men stand there glaring at one another in a stand off but before either can say or do anything else they both hear the lock on the door jiggle then a thud.

Giving each other apprehensive looks, Jamie and Joe both shift into cop mode as they pull their weapons from their waists and head for the door. With one on each side of the frame, they share another look then Jamie reaches over and whips the door open only to see his wife almost fall inside for she was propped up against the door trying to juggle multiple bags in her hands while trying to get her keys out.

Like lightening Jamie and Joe move to help.

"Put those away." Eddie chides at the site of their guns "It's just me."

"Well how were we supposed to know that?" Jamie tosses at his wife he and Joe quickly holster their weapons "You don't usually jiggle the lock and go thud against the door!" He adds as he takes a couple of bags from this wife.

Eddie rolls her eyes at his reasoning as she begins to walk inside heading to the round table with Jamie following.

"What is this all anyway?" Jamie inquires as he tries to look in a bag while Joe shuts the door.

"It's Sunday." Eddie reminds her husband.

"Oh." Jamie notes in understanding before turning his head to look backwards at his nephew "That's why you are here."

"Exactly." Eddie agrees as she begins to remove take out food containers from a bag "Because come hell or high water we will continue to keep the tradition of a Reagan Sunday Dinner alive in one form or another no matter where this assignment takes us. We have to promise ourselves that." She then implores to her husband and nephew "No matter what. We keep that connection as a reminder to who we are and what we are fighting to get back to."

A rather touched look appears on Jamie's face at hearing his wife's resolve on the matter "Absolutely." He wholeheartedly agrees.

Eddie smiles happily at Jamie and Jamie smiles back at Eddie before she turns her attention to her nephew "Joe?" she prompts.

Joe sighs and looks between his Aunt and Uncle – he was a loner most of time but with the length of this assignment having that link to home might not be such a bad thing…

"Sure." He agrees "Why not."

"Excellent!" Eddie happily quips as the three begin to open up containers.

"Oh this smells delicious!" Joe notes "I've been looking for a good place to eat but have yet to find one. How did you find this place so fast?"

Jamie laughs "It's her superpower."

"It really it!" Eddie happily confirms "But you want to know the best thing about having take out on a Sunday?"

Jamie, Joe and Eddie all stop what they are doing to look at one another and then in unison they all say "No dish duty!" before laughing.

"Exactly!" Eddie quips as she opens the last container and moves to sit down "Now who is saying Grace?"

Jamie and Joe also sit down and Joe immediately looks and points at his Uncle "You."

"Why me?" Jamie challenges.

"Um because you're like the head of the family now?" Joe needles in amusement.

Jamie scoffs "Far from it. I'm only a rung ahead of you."

"Actually, he's not wrong." Eddie chimes in in realization "If this is our new normal Bub…" She points out "It's you."

Looking at his wife and nephew, Jamie suddenly realizes that not only is he the highest ranking officer at the table but also the oldest member of the family present so immediately his inherent sense of duty kicks in "Okay." He accepts as he clasps his hands together and bows his head leading Eddie and Joe to do the same "Bless us oh Lord in these thy gifts…"

"…which we are about to receive from thy bounty…" Eddie and Joe chime in "…through Christ our Lord Amen." They all finish before settling in to eat.

….

Dressed in a patrol uniform, 'Reagan' sits down at her desk in front of her computer in one of the police precincts in Albany New York. She looks around to make sure no one is looking then hovers her hands over the keyboard. She takes a deep breath then enters into the database search bar the name she heard the woman in the cemetery call one of the men – Jamie Reagan.

A few moments later the NYPD profile for one Sergeant Jameson Reagan complete with picture appears on the screen.

Reagan thoughtfully reads the information. She finds herself zeroing in on the next of kin line and the name Edit Janko Reagan for it is written in such a way that indicates that person also has a profile in the database so clicking on the link, up pops Eddie's profile and Reagan immediately recognizes her as the woman from the cemetery as well.

Reagan again reads the information then leans back in her chair pondering her next move.

"Rookie, let's go!" A male voice suddenly instructs as he walks up to the desk across from Reagan and swipes a set of car keys off it before heading for the exit.

Reagan quickly closes the files on her computer and gets up "Coming!" she calls as she quickly moves to follow.

...

A/N: This would then close out the first episode of the new series. Now, originally, I was just going to stop there and then post the first season Bible I wrote as the final chapter but since I lost the file due to my computer failure I have attempted to recapture the same flow and ease I had in writing the Bible and unfortunately have failed miserable so what does that mean? That means - sigh (and I can't believe I'm doing this) - but I'm going to continue writing the story chapter by chapter so you get a longer drawn out story and I somehow have to find the time to continue this as I really want TPTB to free feel to use any ideas here! Updates will be when they are ready. That's the best I can do...

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