A/N: A few guest reviewer comments to address 1) Sid heading down to the restaurant crime scene was indeed the 'better' idea Sid had in the office when Frank was on the phone with Simms. Off camera Sid ran that idea by Frank of taking Simms' gun, shield and paperwork down to the scene to reinstate him and therefore avoid any further disciplinary complications and Frank not only agreed but offered the olive branch of giving Simms the case. It's not coming back to bite anyone in the butt, I promise! :) 2) a guest reviewer to an earlier chapter suggested Simms' sister worked for the DA's office so I took that one step further and said she worked out of Boston knowing the Danny spin off will be set in that location. I'm not saying Danny in this fic will or won't move yet - nothing is on or off the table but it never hurts to potentially set up a few little tidbits that may or may not play later depending on the direction I go. 3) I was actually thinking of asking for ideas on the upcoming '300th episode' storyline. I want it to celebrate The Reagans as a family - so the premise is Mayor Chase gets this notion in his head to celebrate the long standing tradition of service in the whole Reagan family not just Frank or Henry by (insert ideas here) ie: Giving the entire family the key to the city? Name a street after the family? Throw a gala? Got other ideas? Let me know.
Now for this chapter: After 293 dinner scenes on air and a few dinners in this fic I decided to let the characters have a level of fun that the actual show could probably never logistically pull off...
...
Chapter 18: A Sunday Dinner Like No Other
Maria walks into the bullpen to see her partner already seated at his desk working "Morning." She grumbles.
Immediately Danny looks up and eyes her "What's wrong?" he queries before noticing a gob of food on her jacket "And what are you wearing your lunch to work today?" he adds as he gestures to her upper arm "You have food on your jacket."
Maria follows his gesture with her eyes and sees it "Ugh." She grunts out super unimpressed as she swipes up a tissue from the box on her desk "I thought I got it all!"
Danny chuckles as Maria wipes it off "Nope."
Maria lifts her head to stare daggers at her partner.
"It's just a phase." Danny reassures her "She'll grow out of it."
Maria heavily sighs "Are you sure because it seems it's her new favorite thing throwing food at me, her nanny – the room in general!"
Danny snickers "Yeah Jack and Sean did the same thing."
"Well, how did you get them to stop?" Maria demands to know.
Danny eyes his partner "Honestly?"
"Yeah!" Maria confirms.
"Linda was at her wits end with them so one day I decided to just let them duke it out with each other in a full on food fight. Linda was so pissed at me because well, you know, the clean up was horrendous but in the end it did actually work."
"How?"
"Two ways." Danny begins "One, they weren't used to anyone throwing food back – which they did not like and two: that spurred them to go at one another so hard that at the end they just got it out of their systems."
Maria frowns unsure "Really?" She questions.
Danny nods in confirmation "I'm telling you it works."
"So let me get this straight. You want me to what? Engage in a full on food fight with my daughter?"
Danny is about to reply yes when an idea hits him "Actually no…" He slowly corrects "I have a better idea – can't tell you what it is yet." He quickly tacks on. "At least not until I make some phone calls and get permission but if this pans out, I promise you, Elena's food throwing days will be over."
Maria just eyes her partner wondering what on earth he could be up to…
…..
Danny walks up to Maria at the coffee station in the 5-4 precinct while hanging up his phone "Okay it's all set!" He enthusiastically informs his partner "You and Elena are coming to Sunday dinner!"
Maria's eyes go a bit wide "W…what?"
Danny gleefully nods "And be sure you and Elena dress in your worst clothes that you don't mind getting a LOT of food on!"
Now Maria's eyes go even wider as she also drops her mouth open in shock.
…..
Jamie is sitting on his couch working on this laptop with Eddie rummaging around the kitchen when Jamie's phone dings with a text. He opens the app, reads and his brow furrows in confusion.
Noticing his look, Eddie prompts "What?"
"Um Pops says this week, we should wear our crappiest clothes to dinner, be prepared to get filthy and then bring another set to change into."
Eddie's face scrunches up in complete confusion "What? Why?"
In response, Jamie can only shrug in equal confusion.
A moment later Eddie's phone dings with a text message so she opens it up to read to see a message from Danny
'Hey can I borrow your high chair at family dinner this week?'
"Okay what the hell is going on?" Eddie queries in even more confusion as she moves to hand her phone to her husband so he can read it to…
He does and without waiting for his wife's permission that he's about to use her phone, Jamie just begins composing a message back…
…..
It's early Sunday afternoon when Frank walks into his dining room to see the dining room chairs all off to the side where Sean works to cover all the cloth seats with plastic while Danny busily works laying plastic down on the floor under and around the table and he sighs "Why did I agree to this again?" he queries.
A wide amused smile plays on Danny's face as he pops his head out from under the table to be able to turn and look at his father "Because Gramps told you too?"
Frank sighs.
"Come on Dad." Danny prompts "This will be fun and you know it!"
"Totally!" Sean chimes in with a grin.
Frank shakes his head "As long as you clean it all up after." He instructs before simply turning to walk away.
….
Jamie and Eddie enter through the back door of the Reagan Family home to see Henry and Erin in the kitchen working.
"Come on!" Erin eagerly prompts the second she sees them "Let me see them!" so Jamie drops the bag he's carrying and both he and Eddie take off their jackets to show off their 'crappy' clothes.
"NICE!" Erin commends as she lifts the apron she is wear up so they can see her crappy outfit but Eddie's face frowns a bit at what Erin wearing.
"THAT is your crappiest clothing?" Eddie challenges in disbelief at seeing clothing she would still consider nice.
"What?" Erin defensively counters "It's got a bleach stain."
"Ah I thought I heard voices!" Danny quips in interruption as he enters the room "Welcome! Welcome!"
Jamie looks a little sideways at his older brother's chipper attitude then looks at his wife, his sister and his grandfather asking "Who is this guy?" as he points a finger at Danny.
Ignoring the jab, Danny counters with a gleeful "I am your master of ceremonies today!"
"More like ring master." Erin snorts out "You know like a circus?"
Eddie shrugs a little in defense of her brother in law "Well he did do a pretty good job of being the master of ceremonies at our wedding." She points out.
"Thank you!" Danny appreciatively states "Now, come on!" He eagerly prompts as he gestures for Jamie and Eddie to follow him "Seating is a little different today."
"I can hardly wait." Jamie grumbles as the couple complies.
"Oh does that mean I get to be across from Jamie?" Eddie delightfully queries in hope before begging "Please let me be across from Jamie!"
"Hey!" Jamie defensively prompts.
"Sorry." Danny rejects "You aren't."
But Eddie's disappointment is quickly forgotten the second they enter the plastic covered room and she sees the set up "Oh my god!" She just laughs out in amusement.
"Whoa." Jamie breathes out as he tries to take everything in "We are seriously doing this aren't we?"
"Oh yeah." Danny confirms "We are."
"Okay so if I'm not across from Jamie…" Eddie curiously begins "Who am I across from?"
Danny walks to a chair and places his hands on the back "This is you."
Eddie looks at her chair for the day then shifts her eyes to see her old high chair directly across from her and mouth drops open a bit "You're putting me across from Elena?"
Danny nods "Three reasons." He explains "One, it's your high chair so if your aim is bad…"
"It's not." Jamie chimes in.
"IF YOUR AIM IS BAD…" Danny a bit more forcefully repeats in an attempt to shut his brother up "…and you get your chair dirty, you have no one to blame but yourself. Two, you're about to become a mother – might as well get a front row seat to what that looks like and three, when Elena throws her first fistful, I couldn't think of anyone around this table better then you to get the ball rolling by standing her ground and giving as good as she gets."
"Very true." Jamie agrees.
"And what happens if Elena doesn't strike first?" Eddie queries.
"Trust me." Danny promises "She will. Maria says she's throwing food at everything and everyone."
Eddie let's out a breath of air "Okay." She simply accepts.
"So who am I against?" Jamie curiously inquires.
Danny looks at his younger brother and grins "Joe."
At the thought, slowly a matching grin creeps up on Jamie's face…
"Okay then wait, wait." Eddie pipes up "Let me guess the other match ups - Erin vs Jack!"
Danny snaps his fingers and points at his sister in law "Bingo."
"You against Maria?" She slowly queries.
Danny nods in confirmation.
Excited, Eddie lightly backhands her husband on his chest "This is going to be epic!" She muses before dawning a bit of a concerned look "But who's against Sean?"
"It wasn't hard to convince Jack to make a whirlwind trip home once I explained what it would be for." Danny replies.
"Nice!" Eddie commends in approval.
"Yeah." Danny agrees with a big anticipatory smile "This is going to be great therapy for everyone!"
Eddie then looks at one end of the table before letting her eyes travel the length of it to the other end "So Frank and Henry will make that distance?"
Immediately both Danny and Jamie nod in confirmation.
"Oh yeah." Jamie notes.
"Without a doubt." Danny adds "But Pops will likely have to take the first shot."
Jamie makes a slight face in disagreement "I don't know." He waivers "Dad can be quite the instigator when he wants to be."
"Oh this is going to be so totally epic." Eddie delightfully notes as she let's her imagination run wild picturing nothing but food flying everywhere.
….
There is an eerie sense of calm and politeness around the table as everyone bows their heads for grace.
"Bless us of lord in these thy gifts which we are about to receive from thy bounty through Christ our Lord Amen."
And the second grace is complete, people begin reaching for food and dishing out their plates.
Sean looks across the table at his brother to see him quickly piling his plate.
"Okay that's no fair. Save some for the rest of us!" He begins to point out but when Jack shovels a big fork full into his mouth quickly chewing before moving to scoop up more food up into his mouth Sean has to add "Whoa, where's the fire?"
"I'm hungry. With the drive home I didn't eat today." Jack explains through his food "So trying to actually eat some before well, you know." He adds as he just gestures around the room.
Knowing very well what 'you know' means everyone just eyes one another around the table but Danny frown as he looks at his oldest son and his bad manners "Don't talk with your mouthful." He admonishes.
"He's got a point." Joe adds as he too shovels some food in his mouth.
"You know." Pops chimes in as a very tentative looking Maria who is seated next to her daughter slowly and carefully places food on Elena's plate in front of her "If you two attended more often maybe you wouldn't be so hungry."
"Oh burn!" Sean laughs and right on cue Elena's little hand grabs some food off her plate and launches it directly at Eddie across the table from her.
For a second everyone freezes – they all expected it but it was still a bit jarring to see while Maria full body cringes and can't help but apologetically but silently mouth "SORRY!" to Eddie.
They all watch as Eddie slowly reaches up to remove the glob of food off her and as she does Elena begins to giggle.
Eddie's eyes immediately dart up to look the little girl right in the eye "Oh you think that's funny do you?"
Elena giggles some more so Eddie narrows her eyes at the little girl, reaches onto her plate to pick up some of her own food and with exquisite accuracy flicks it back at Elena in a direct hit to her nose.
Everyone watches as a look of pure shock appears on Elena's face.
"Is it still funny?" Eddie challenges as she picks up a little bit more food and again flicks it at Elena.
Unexpectedly though, Elena's face scrunches up and she looks like she's about to burst out crying so seeing that, Jamie seated next to Eddie quickly picks up some food and hucks it at Joe across from him and next to Elena in hopes of distracting the little girl.
It works.
"Hey!" Joe states in surprise at the speed in which his uncle did that so he picks up food and launches it back at Jamie.
Now watching Joe and Jamie toss food at one another in fascination, Elena begins to giggle again allowing Eddie the opportunity to try again as she tosses a bit more food at Elena.
Surprised, Elena looks back at Eddie but this time she picks up food and tosses it back.
"And we're off." Danny arrogantly boasts as he picks up some food and sends it at his partner in triumph.
Having been focused on watching Elena, Maria let's out an "AH!" in surprise before locking eyes with her partner across from her and the next second she is sending her own food back in his direction.
Not wanting to be left out, Erin immediately swipes up food and sends it across the table to her husband to which Jack promptly reciprocates.
"Oh we should have done with years ago!" Erin notes as she and Jack really go at it.
Watching in amazed awe at how quickly everything descended into complete and total mayhem as food begins to be rapidly fired back and forth across the table, Frank's eyes try to keep up and he can't help but repeatedly cringe at the mess it is all making when all of a sudden a glob of something hits his chest.
He immediately looks across the table to see his father smiling widely at him - glee dancing in his eyes.
"Are we going or what?" Sean impatiently asks his brother across from him who is still trying to actually eat some of the food.
"Just give me a second." Jack deflects but he isn't prepared when a handful of peas hits him from his father's direction.
"Hurry up." Danny instructs "There is only so much food on this table."
"Why do you think I'm trying to eat it!" Jack defends but he picks up food and launches it at Sean anyway.
"Now we're talking." Sean accepts as now that he's been hit, he feels absolutely no remorse when he picks up food and using all his might, forcefully hucks it back at his brother.
"Hey!" Jack protests as he holds his hands up in defense.
"That's for all the times when we were younger!" Sean declares in revenge.
Having heard Sean, Erin and Jamie both look between Sean and Jack then both pick up food and launch it at Danny.
"HEY!" Danny protests in complete surprise before he quickly picks up food in retaliation – first launching it at Erin but before he can grab more ammo to launch at Jamie, Eddie steps in with "I got you covered." She tells her brother in law as she smashes mashed potatoes directly onto her husband's face next to her "This is for the wedding cake Mister!" She declares as she tries to rub it all over his face and Jamie squirms trying to get away.
"Oh!" Frank can't help but cringe and chuckle at the same time.
At hearing her father, Erin looks over at him to realize he has relatively escaped any hits and has just been on the sidelines observing.
"GET DAD!" She loudly instructs the table and before Frank knows what's happening everyone is launching food at him.
"HEY!" Frank protests as he has no choice but to hold up both hands in defense "POP A LITTLE HELP HERE!"
"NO WAY!" Henry rejects while laughing a full belly laugh as he sends his own food flying towards his son.
Being an outsider and now feeling extremely guilty and anxious, Maria begins to quickly fire food randomly around the table "Hey stop picking on the Police Commissioner!" She demands and in watching her Mother, Elena does the same so the people at the table turn their attention to Maria and Elena until finally everyone is exhausted and there is no food left on the plates. It's all covering them and their surrounding.
And everyone just starts to chuckle and laugh and then laugh some more as they slowly begin to pick food off themselves.
Elena decides to simply scoop food off herself and eat it.
Eddie tries to help Jamie wipe his face off and Danny picks up an empty plate and a serving spoon. He simply places the plate just off and under the edge of the table before sliding a big glob of food off the table and back onto the plate.
He holds it up to display "Okay who wants hash?" he jokes.
A mixture of groans and laughs can be heard.
The clean up will indeed be horrendous...
….
A/N: In the world of the actual show filming something like this would have been a NIGHTMARE on so many different levels but in fanfic land? Why not! lol. Next up the clean up and then a couple of sibling heart to hearts.