Well, look what we have here, a new chapter in less than a month, heck it's been just over two weeks. Thanks toYaleAceBella12, bdw8033, Pharmergirl, seleneplaysgames, decadenceofmysoul, and Daisyangel for your reviews. I'm glad you all liked it.
Contains scenes and references to 4x9 and 4x11.
Thanksgiving. Henry's favorite holiday. Mostly because there were no presents to buy, no candy to hand out, and no fireworks to keep him up all night, just good, old-fashioned family gathered for dinner. Granted, his family did that every Sunday, something about Thanksgiving made them more relaxed. Soon the family was seated around the table and ready to give thanks. Linda was prompted to go first. "This Thanksgiving I am thankful for ..." she trailed off not liking being put on the spot. "Why do I have to go first?"
"You always go first," Danny answered.
"I'll go," Henry said.
"No, no, it's okay," Linda answered, brushing at her hair to get it out of her face.
"Time's up," Frank said.
"Uh, my kids," Linda finally spouted seeming a bit panicked.
"Eh!" Jamie made the noise of a buzzer going off. "You said that's last year."
"I did?" Linda asked, looking down the table at him.
"Yeah," Anna answered.
"Well, let me do another," Linda said, trying to come up with something else.
"No, no, that was lovely," Frank assured her. "And the food's getting cold," he added.
"Okay," Linda agreed.
"Next," Frank ordered, looking around the table.
"I'm thankful that I have Drew Brees on my fantasy football team this year," Jack said.
"Ah," Frank nodded. It was almost as if he was wishing to be that young again.
Then Sean went. "I'm thankful I have the 2013 Jets as my real football team this year," he said. "Go Gang Green!" he cheered with Henry as they fist bumped. Anna did her best not to roll her eyes, though she made a mental noise of disgust.
Danny spoke up next. "And I'm thankful that I have a beautiful wife and three kids who put up with me, especially when I forget how old one of them is and believe me, it's not that way in every family. I am also thankful for that drumstick on the right, which has my name on it." Danny rubbed his wife's back and caught his daughter's eyes, giving her a soft smile. Anna had to resist the urge to scoff aloud this time but managed it and smirked. The giving thanks continued around the table.
"Me, I'm just thankful for what I'm always thankful for: to be happy to be kicking around this place with all of you," Henry said.
"I'm thankful to be done applying to colleges," Anna said. You could have heard a pin drop after that and every head turned to her.
"What?" Linda asked.
"Since when?" Danny added.
"Where to?" Jamie said in unison with his brother and sister-in-law.
"Can we get to the food first? I'm hungry," Anna answered.
Jamie went next. "Okay, I'm thankful for all the ordinary citizens who have come up to me on the beat over the past year and thanked me for my service—All two of them." He held up two fingers to emphasize his point. "Also bullet proof vests."
After a beat of silence, Nicky went. "I'm thankful I only have a year and a half left before I go to college," she said, looking at her mom.
"I'm thankful that she still has a year and a half left before she goes to college," Erin answered.
That left only Frank. "And I'm thankful for four generations of this family, at this table, safe and sound, and starving." Grace was said, food filled the plates, with Frank taking the other drumstick, then all eyes turned back to Anna.
"Tell me you're not playing with us, little missy," Danny demanded.
"Not so little anymore," Anna said. She swallowed. "I'm not," she said firmly.
"So where have you applied?" Jamie asked.
"Here and there," she shrugged.
"Were you going to tell us? Tell me?" Jamie pushed.
"Only if I got accepted. I know my grades are good but I'm not sure they're good enough or that baseball alone makes me the well-rounded candidate they're looking for."
"You didn't just apply to Ivy League schools, did you?" Erin asked.
"When I was applying, I kept a list of schools and had them listed in order of how bad I wanted to go there. You did apply to a couple safety schools, right? You're smart and there's no doubt you could go Ivy League if you really applied yourself, but sometimes bad things happen and it's nice to have a backup plan," Jamie told her.
"What's your backup plan?" Danny asked.
"Columbia or John Jay then Hudson if it really went bad," Anna said.
"Anna," Linda got her attention, "why didn't you tell us you were looking at and applying to schools. A school visit usually helps you decide if you want to go."
"I didn't want to get your hopes up if it didn't work out and I know that it's expensive for you or Dad to take off for campus visits," Anna said softly.
"Don't you have to pay application fees for some of those schools?" Danny asked.
"Some of them, yeah," Anna admitted.
"But none of them you applied to?" he pushed.
"For student athletes with at least a B plus average, our school will pay for up to three college application fees."
The table went silent and everyone continued to eat. "So, are you going to tell us? What schools are you applied to I mean," Nicky said.
"Three in state, four out of state." Anna sighed.
"Go on," Henry prodded.
"Columbia, Harvard, and Stanford are really long shots but some days you have to dream right?"
"You can do it, Anna. We all have faith in you," Jamie told her.
"Then there's NYU, the University of Wisconsin, and University of Miami in Florida. Then if nothing else Hudson," Anna explained.
"I'm certain you'll get accepted to more than just Hudson University," Danny told her.
"Miami and Stanford? Why so far away?" Frank asked.
"Sometimes New York is a little too small. Need a change," Anna answered.
"That the only reason?" Danny asked.
"Yep," Anna answered.
"What about you, Nicky?" Jamie asked.
"My friends have been talking about it but I haven't been looking. I am however taking my SAT test in April," Nicky told him.
"You want help studying, I still have my stuff from last year," Anna said.
"Thanks," Nicky agreed.
Anna was glad for Christmas Break to roll around. Though she was doing well in school and Jim stopped in at the diner from time to time, she was looking forward to a break from studying and to spend some time with her brothers. Plus people were bigger tippers during the holidays. With all of her Christmas presents bought, the only thing left was to give one fourth of it to the household rainy day fund, which she wasn't sure her parents knew she was doing, one fourth into her as-needed fund, and the rest into her college savings account. Then one day things went from bad to worse.
It was the last day before Christmas Vacation and they had just gotten their English test back. At the top of Anna's, marked in bright red lettering, was a big D. Anna sighed. English came easy to her and it wasn't like the subject matter was all that difficult either. Luckily, the guy was just a sub while their teacher was out on maternity leave and one D wasn't going to kill her GPA. Then after school, one of the newer waitresses had called in sick so they were short-handed making Anna work straight through her break and to top it all off a baby threw up all over Anna shoes so she wound up going home feeling pissed off at the world. The bright neon sign on top of all of that was that she couldn't even park in her own driveway since there was a Mercedes Benz there. All Anna wanted to do was crawl into bed and not wake up until Christmas but that plan was dashed too when she smelled her mom's baked ziti upon entering the house. Normally, she loved her mom's baked ziti, it was one of the best things she made but with how tired Anna was, she just wanted to go to bed despite it being dinner time.
"—Miss Florida too much," Linda was saying as Anna shut the door and leaned back against it.
"Mama," Anna whined staring at the ceiling, "Why is there a Benz blocking the driveway and can I skip dinner? I'm not really that hungry."
"No, little miss, and the answer to both is because we have company," Linda answered as the rest of the talking stopped. Anna instantly straightened up and looked around the room. Her eyes found the two visitors on the couch she barely recognized and she instantly shucked her shoes then moved across the room to Danny's side where he stood by the window. He smiled, switched his beer to his other hand then wrapped an arm around her.
"Anna, this is my old friend Mickey Patrick and his wife Connie, Mick, Connie, my oldest, Anna," Danny made the introductions.
"Anna? Wow, I think the last time I saw you, you were being christened. You're as beautiful as your mama," the man on the couch, Mickey, said.
"Thank you," Anna said as his wife smiled. "So it's your Benz that's blocking the drive? Nice car, could do a better job of parking it though, like not at the end of my driveway." Mickey laughed slightly.
"Where did you park?" Linda asked Anna.
"In front of Diane's. Her family left right after school to go to Hollywood for Christmas."
"She's right, that is a very nice car," Danny said pulling the curtain aside to admire it. Anna looked out as well but what really drew her attention from whatever story Mickey was telling was the Con-Electric truck across and slightly down the street from them.
"You see that Con-Electric truck?" Anna whispered to her dad.
"Mm-hmm," he answered in the back of his throat.
"Hasn't been a reported outage on this street in weeks," she again kept her voice low.
His response was just as quiet when he answered. "Stay with your mother, I'll be back." Anna sighed as they both turned away from the window. Danny spoke to Linda. "Um, Babe, I'm going to take the trash cans out, okay?"
"Danny, we're about to sit," Linda complained as he moved to the door.
"Yeah, I know. It's uh ... If I don't do it now, I'll forget," Danny answered. Mickey said something in what seemed like gibberish and Danny responded back but it seemed liked Anna and Connie were the only ones confused. Danny left and Connie looked at her husband.
"What on Earth was that?" Connie asked.
"Ob," Mickey stated. "I never told you about ob?"
"Ob?" Connie asked, shaking her head.
"Anna, coat and shoes," Linda told her. Anna nodded and grabbed her shoes. She walked into the laundry room and dropped her shoes in the washer before starting it. Then she moved to the closet to hang her coat up, which she just took off. "It's their secret language from fifth grade?" Linda answered.
"That's right," Mickey said.
"Danny made me learn that before we got engaged," Linda complained.
"Oh, brother," Connie protested.
"Yeah," Linda said. "Here, have some more wine, we're going to need it."
"So, what grade are you in, Anna?" Mickey asked.
"Twelfth," Anna answered, shutting the closet door and moving back into the living room next to her mom.
"A senior? It's been that long? Wow," Mickey told her.
"You thinking about college?" Connie asked.
"Haven't decided yet though. You used to live near Miami, what's it like?"
"By near you mean less than an hour. Boca is as close to Miami as Stamford, Connecticut is to Manhattan," Mickey answered.
"It's a good place, and the boys certainly like the beach at Christmas time," Connie added. Then the front door opened and Danny was back.
"Mom?" Sean asked from the bottom of the stairs. Anna saw the two Patrick boys and Jack behind him.
"Go, sit. Danny, in the kitchen," Linda said.
"Linda, can I help you with anything?" Connie asked.
"No, you and Mickey, go ahead to the table, Danny and I have this," Linda said. "Anna, wash your hands."
Anna nodded then followed her dad to the kitchen. After washing her hands she found her seat at the table across from Mickey and Connie. Soon Linda and Danny joined them. "So, Anna," Danny said about halfway through dinner, "have you decided anything more about college?"
"We had that conversation earlier, literally about two seconds before you walked through the door. I won't find out where I got accepted until at least February. Application deadlines aren't until New Year's Day."
"I know you mentioned Miami but have you thought about going anywhere else?" Mickey asked.
"A few other places. Three in New York, Cambridge, Wisconsin, and Cali."
"It's always nice to be home," Connie said
"Yeah but sometimes New York seems a little small."
"I can imagine."
Two nights later Mickey and Connie took Danny and Linda out to dinner and Anna was volunteered to watch the boys at the Patricks' new place. Though she didn't really have any other plans she didn't like being volunteered to do something. Thankfully, there was an upside to the babysitting gig. The place was huge and the boys entertained themselves well enough that all Anna had to do was channel surf in the living room and keep an ear out. As usual, the boys were well behaved. Both Danny and Mickey paid her at the end of the night and the Reagans went home. Anna noticed that sometime over the course of the day or the day prior her dad had acquired a shiner but with no explanation, Anna didn't want to push it, besides, he'd probably say it was a hazard of the job.
"Hey, Dad," Anna said as Danny took them home.
"Yeah, kid?" Danny asked.
"Did you tell Uncle Mickey my going rate for babysitting?"
"10 and hour plus five an hour for each additional kid. Why?"
"Because he tripled that."
Danny glanced at her in the mirror and Linda looked back at her. "What?" Linda asked.
"Yeah, 40 bucks for the night plus an additional 20 dollars for the second kid, times three."
"Maybe he was paying for Jack and Sean too?" Danny suggested.
"40 plus 60, not exactly the same."
"He paid you $180 for babysitting?" Sean asked surprised.
Anna glared at her brother then looked back at her dad. "What am I supposed to do?" she asked.
"Accept it, gracefully," Jack said.
"Jack," Anna stated.
"What? He knows you're going to college next year and college is expensive. Besides you saw that house and the car, it's not like he can't afford it," Jack told her.
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense."
"Just think of it as a really good tip besides it's no picnic looking after teenage boys," Linda said.
"I sat on the couch and watched TV. They entertained themselves. Like they always do when I babysit," Anna said.
"Eh. He still trusted you to keep the house from burning down. Maybe your presence alone prevented them from acting up too bad," Danny said. Though his daughter seemed to accept that as an answer, Danny wasn't sure if it was right. He was pretty sure it had something to do with the gambling debt tale he had spun to Mickey in the bar. In order to get him to talk about whether or not he was in bed with mobsters, Danny had fabricated a tale of him being over 12 grand in debt. He told his old friend that he had just been looking for a way to earn some more money to help pay for Anna's college bills but had lost more than he had made and was now behind on the kids' tuition, the car payment, and had even taken out another pension loan. While he felt bad for using his daughter and to a lesser extent his boys, like that, he knew it was one of the only ways to get the truth from his friend. Luckily, no one pushed it any further.
When the lieutenant from OCID told him that he'd have to wire up for his meeting with Mickey, Danny got an uneasy feeling. First, he couldn't believe he was actually doing this to his oldest friend, but then he was worried about blowing the whole thing if Mickey ever found out about the wire. Unable to think of a way around it, Danny called his daughter. Maybe just hearing her voice would calm him down.
"Hey, Pop," Anna answered on the second ring.
"Hey, kid, everything alright there?" Danny asked. She was off school and babysitting just his boys this time.
"Yep, the boys are being boys and there's a marathon of crime shows running."
"Don't sit in front of that TV all day."
"I've already done my chores and have a head start on an upcoming paper, plus I'm halfway through a new book. I'm just taking a break."
"You're pretty tech savvy," Danny stated.
"I was born at the tail end of the Millennial Generation and the beginning of the iGeneration."
"The what?"
"I'll explain it to you later," she said dismissively. "What do you need?"
"If I need to record a conversation, is there a way to do that without a tape recorder?"
"What's a tape recorder?" Anna deadpanned.
"You are not that young."
"I'm kidding. Seriously though, they make apps for everything these days. Not on your phone granted, it's a little too old school, but on most smart phones. I can show you when you get home if you want. Or if you need it right now, I'm pretty sure TARU can hook you up."
"It was just a question. I have to go. Remember what I said about the TV."
"Yes, sir," Anna answered. They hung up and Danny made his way to TARU to see if they could set him up with another phone.