Earth2Mama: It’s a good thing for the moms to come for a visit.
Yep, Michael loved it.
Lol, chances are good that Brooke and Brian are going to have the typical younger brother/older sister relationship.
mary mary: Gotta love a good turtle scene, lol.
Yup, still too soon for the game. True, this group’s gonna take up a lot of seats!
sarammlover: At least now they can move forward. Ah, Brooke’s coming around, it’s just taking a little bit of time. We enjoy exploring the Amy/Michael relationship, it’s a lot of fun to delve into.
Natalie36: She will, don’t worry.
Alien_Friend: More chaos to come, lol! We haven’t heard from Maureen in a while, so we’re not sure about that one.
Could be more surprises to come!
Amy/Michael moments are great, aren’t they? We love writing scenes with the two of them.
Small steps, but Brooke’s making progress.
Cardinal: Thanks!
Nope, lol, definitely not just one table and we’re thinking that’s why the girls have everything set up on the back deck.
You’re so right. Sean needs that support and he needs to know that at least someone in his family is there for him. Nah, Sherry won’t make that leap.
rosyrosy2882: We’re pretty sure Amy knows Michael’s the right guy for her daughter. She did really well picking out his birthday gift.
We’re not too sure that Darren’s gonna come around, but at least Sean does have his mom and she’s going to do her best to make sure that he knows he’s loved.
We love Tony too! Yup, it’s been a while since he graced Long Beach with his presence. Might just see another familiar face or too.
Lol, Brooke will get there, don’t worry. She’s just gotta figure out where she fits in.
kay_b: Lol, well, since you’re lovin’ it let’s see if we can make it a little bit sweeter.
Part 129 – Lunch With the Family
Michael was slouched back in his chair, carrying on a thumb-wrestling match with Shane when he felt a pair of small hands grab his other arm and a little person clambered up into his lap. He glanced down and smiled at Antonia when she shifted around to get comfortable, quietly watching the game and quickly becoming bored with it.
“Well, look who’s already up,” Adam said when he stepped out on the deck. He smiled at his youngest child and ruffled her hair as he passed her to go and sit next to his wife.
“Why’d they tell us to come out here an’ sit down?” Brendan complained. “I still don’t see any food on the table.”
“Oh, shut up and suck on a piece of fruit,” Sean muttered as he played a game of War with Max.
Sherry smiled at how effortless her son’s interactions were with this group of people. They had accepted him in a way that his own family had been unable to do and she was glad that he’d found a place of acceptance and friendship with them.
“Bet you’re hungry, huh?” Michael asked when Antonia started playing with the buttons on his wristwatch. He reached out and grabbed a slice of cantaloupe off of a plate in the center of the table and set it on his plate, cutting it into several manageable pieces for her. “Don’t worry, food’s almost ready to be served up.”
Antonia yawned widely and leaned back against his chest, contentedly munching on the piece of fruit. She glanced up at him and smiled when she pointed at the plate and he reached out and pulled it closer to put it within her reach.
“Bren, are you complaining about something?” Karen asked as she stepped out on the deck carrying Caela.
“Just sayin’ that maybe I should get up an’ see if you girls needed any help with anything since Maria told us to come out here like… jeez, almost an hour ago…” he trailed off and fell silent when she shook her head at him and handed their daughter over.
Caela was looking around at all of the unfamiliar faces and her eyes widened when she saw Ki-Ki sitting a few seats away with someone that wasn’t her. She squirmed around until Daddy let her go and she weaved around the chairs to get to her target. “Ki-Ki?” she said quietly as she tugged on his hand. She frowned at the little girl sitting in her spot and she reached out and shoved the leg closest to her.
“Hey, hey, don’t do that,” Michael chastised when Caela shoved and Antonia kicked back. He was leaning over to scoop his niece up when she backed away and stuck her bottom lip out, shaking her head as she looked at him. “C’mere, Caela.”
She turned and ran back to Daddy, climbing up in his lap and refusing to look at her favorite uncle.
“Uh-oh, now you’ve done it,” Adam said, laughing.
“Aww, he…ck,” Michael muttered, catching himself as the last second. He stood up and turned to hand his baby sister to Tony since he was sitting closest. He walked around to get to Brendan’s chair and he crouched down next to him, ducking his head so he could meet Caela’s downcast gaze. “Hey, c’mon, don’t be like that…”
Brendan’s eyebrows shot up when Caela ignored Michael and turned around to face the opposite direction, little arms crossed over her chest. “Oh, you’ve seriously pissed her off,” he said, shaking his head and laughing.
Michael made a face. “I didn’t do anything.”
“It’s like Girl Code 101, Cuz,” Tony spoke up, offering his unsolicited advice. “They don’t like it when they’ve gotta share you.”
“What’d you do?” Maria asked when she came outside to set some plates on the table.
“Okay, how did this suddenly become somethin’ I did?” Michael asked, exasperated. “I was just sittin’ there, mindin’ my own business, and Caela came over and gave Antonia a shove, Antonia kicked back, I told ‘em to stop, tried to pick Caela up, and she took off. Now she won’t even look at me.”
“Somebody’s jealous, huh?” Maria glanced at Caela with a little smile. “Wait until ya have to share your boys with the big girls, kid. That’s when it really gets ugly.”
“Looks like that jealousy gene’s pretty strong,” Tony said as he bit into a piece of watermelon.
“No one asked for your advice, Tony,” Liz said, smacking the back of his head as she leaned past him to place a serving dish on the table.
He rubbed the back of his head. “I’m not helpin’ you anymore, Guerin.”
Maria glanced around the tables they had lined up together, counting the people and making sure everyone had a seat. She elbowed Michael when he got to his feet again, nodding to the beach. “Maybe you should go talk to her.”
Michael glanced over his shoulder and saw Brooke down by the water with her dogs and he ran a hand over his face as he wondered what to say. “Yeah, alright... don’t serve the food before I get back.”
Adam was sitting a couple of seats down from Alex and he looked at the younger man when he noticed him staring at his sister. “She’s still havin’ a pretty tough time with all this, huh?”
Michael nodded and spoke before his brother could answer. “She’s been through a lotta shit with Hank and our mother.”
Alex leaned back in his chair and motioned to the cooler packed with ice and drinks. “Take ‘er one of those drinks she likes an’ try to get ‘er to come up here and eat.” He shook his head when Michael glanced at him. “Don’t try to force it. She’s comin’ around, but she needs to do it in her own time.”
“That sounds like very good advice,” Tony muttered. “Isabel tell you to say that?”
“No, I came up with it all on my own.” Alex told him. “Maybe you’ll be able to think of smart stuff like that too, once you grow up.”
“Ouch,” Michael grinned and got one of the drinks Alex had mentioned before he kicked off his shoes to walk down the beach.
Tony rolled his eyes and glanced at his aunt. “You see the abuse I’ve gotta put up with just to visit my girls?”
Amy laughed. “Just because your mouth’s so big, Tony.”
“Yeah,” Maria agreed, hugging her cousin from behind. “But we love ya anyway.”
“Oh, well, hey, as long as y’all love me AND my big mouth. But, hey, I’m a radio personality... it pays to have a big mouth.”
She rolled her eyes and went back in the house to get the food.
“Hey, Dad,” Callie called, “can we swim in the ocean this afternoon?”
He glanced at his wife. “I think it’d be okay, don’t you? I mean, the game starts at six and we probably wanna be there about an hour before kickoff... they’ve probably got time to swim for a while, right?”
Nicole nodded. “Sure. I really can’t wait to get out there as well,” she admitted.
“Boss has spoken,” he told his daughter. “You’ve got a green light.”
Tony shook his head. “Um, dude, seriously? A guy should never refer to his woman as ‘the boss’. Guys who do that give the rest of us a bad rep.”
Isabel shook her head as she leaned over to set another dish on the table. “Tony, sweetie, we’ve talked about this before... you do not get to offer advice until you’re actually IN that thing called a relationship.” She turned to her fiancé. “Alex, would you get the serving dishes with the meat? They’re a bit heavy.”
“Sure, where are they?”
“In the oven so they’d stay warm... don’t burn yourself.”
Alex nodded and got up to go into the kitchen.
Brendan glanced at Caela in his arms. “You can’t be so rude to Uncle Mike, little girl. He loves you.” He chuckled when she just shoved her little Moo right in his face, giggling.
Max snorted when Sean slapped the last card down on the pile and his hands shot up in the air. “Okay, we need to sit down and play a serious card game... we oughta have a guys poker night.”
“Hey, why only guys?” Liz complained.
“’Cause it’s ‘poker night’,” Tony explained. “Look, we don’t wanna come over and hang out when you guys are doin’... well, whatever it is you do when a bunch of girls get together.”
Liz rolled her eyes. “You suck.”
“Hey,” Max said as he took her hand and pulled her closer. “I could always teach ya to play strip poker later. Promise you’ll like it a lot more than sittin’ around with a bunch of us guys playin’ regular ol’ Texas Hold ‘Em.”
“Um, Tony, am I mistaken or weren’t you the only guy at our girl’s night last time you were in town?” Maria pointed out in her most innocent tone.
“And wasn’t I the one who told you two stubborn people,” he gestured between her and Michael, “to suck it up and finally talk rationally?”
“It’s amazing how someone with no actual relationship experience has such strong opinions about them,” she threw right back at him.
“Okay, you two! Stop this,” Amy demanded, shaking her head.
Adam laughed. “Seems like I’ve missed quite a lot.”
Maria waved him off. “Just the drama.”
“If you got girls, you got drama... it’s a fact.” Tony leaned back in his chair, satisfied that he had shared his wisdom.
*****
Michael took his time walking along the beach to reach his sister and he stopped a few feet away from her, waiting for her to acknowledge his presence.
“I just needed a few minutes, Michael,” she said, sounding tired.
“Brooke, I know this’s pretty overwhelming... I know that. But I’m runnin’ out of new ideas about how I can make you believe this isn’t gonna come between us.”
She shrugged. “I guess ya can’t.”
“No, I guess not. But, c’mon, it looked like you were dealin’ with the kids pretty well.”
“They’re annoying. And loud,” she complained.
“You were their ages once and you were annoying and loud... still can be some days.” He elbowed her. “Like this mornin’?”
Brooke made a face. “Don’t remind me.”
“Look, this,” he gestured to the group of people gathered on the back deck, “it doesn’t change who you and I are, Brooke. It doesn’t take anything away from us. Me an’ Bren, we’re still the same guys who harass you about curfew and Luke.”
“You’re not the same anymore,” she denied. “But in a good way I guess. Maria has changed ya a lot.”
“Well, okay, no... six months ago I was a total dick, I didn’t have a relationship with Bren, didn’t have much of one with Alex, and while you and I have always had a good relationship, I think even ours has gotten better.”
“Are you scared sometimes that Hank will get back at us?” she asked, staring out at the ocean.
“There’s a part of me that knows the chance of him retaliating against us is possible, but I’m not gonna live my life worryin’ about whether or not he’s got somethin’ up his sleeve. He had that power over me for 20 years... I won’t let him have it again.”
“But what if he separates us again?” she burst out.
Fuckin’ Hank! he railed silently. “Brooke, hey, look at me.” He waited until she did as he had requested. “What’s got you thinkin’ about him today of all days? Has he contacted you?”
She shook her head silently and turned away from him again when a tear rolled down her cheek.
Relief washed over him at her denial and he pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly. “I wish you’d talk to me, kid. Just lay it on me, whatever it is... ‘cause I feel like you’re drownin’ here an’ I don’t know what to do to save you.” He kissed the top of her head. “Don’t like that feelin’.”
Her body was racked with sobs once he held her close and she needed a few moments to get a sentence out. “I see him every night in my dreams, Michael. He’s comin’ after us.”
“Hank will never, and I mean NEVER, take you away from us again.” Moments like this reminded him of how young and vulnerable his little sister was and it made him angry that Hank still had a grip on her. “Damn it Brooke,” he whispered, “why haven’t you told any of us you’ve been havin’ nightmares?”
She shrugged. “You’ve all had so much goin’ on lately.”
He leaned back and tipped her chin up. “Yeah, we’ve all got a lot goin’ on, but that doesn’t mean that you or any problems you’re havin’ have become unimportant. Not for any of us.”
“I just didn’t wanna bother any of you with my stupid dreams.”
“They’re not stupid,” he denied. “But, if you’re havin’ dreams like that you’ve gotta let us know ‘cause they’re upsettin’ you an’ ya know none of us wants that.”
“Am I a bad person if I say I wish he was dead?” she asked quietly. “I hate him so much.”
“Well, if it makes you a bad person you’re in good company at least. We can’t change the hand we got dealt, Brooke... and yeah, you an’ me, we got the worst of it from that bastard, but we can’t focus on that ‘cause it just pushes other stuff, good stuff, outta the way.” He hooked his thumb over his shoulder, indicating the people on the deck. “Our luck’s finally changin’, an’ now we’ve got all these people who love us an’ wanna help make things better. Sometimes ya gotta stop fightin’ ‘em and let ‘em do that, ya know?” He shrugged uncomfortably. “I’m still getting used to that, so I know it’s not somethin’ ya just accept overnight, but just... I don’t know, try to open yourself up to the possibilities.”
She buried her face in Michael’s chest. “Ya sound like a shrink, ya realize that?”
He snorted. “It’s all that crap Maria keeps tellin’ me.” He lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Just don’t tell her it’s workin’ or that I actually remember it ‘cause she’ll never let me live it down.”
“She’s good for you.”
“Yeah, she keeps tellin’ me that,” he joked.
Brooke glanced up at the back deck. “Leave me alone for a few seconds okay? I’ll come up there when my eyes look normal again.”
“I don’t know... normal might be expectin’ too much,” he murmured as the water gently lapping over his feet got his attention.
“Ungh, now my pants are wet,” she said.
“Could be worse,” he mused. “You could be all wet!” he shouted as he scooped her up and ran out into the ocean and jumped in.
“Micchhhhhaeeel, no!!! What’re you doing?” she yelped, but it already was too late.
Michael grinned when her muffled words became clearer as he surfaced. “How’s the water?” he asked, ducking out of the way when she splashed water at him.
“YOU!!!! What’d you do?” she asked, trying to sound angry, but ruining it with laugher.
“Made ya smile,” he said as he reached out and placed his hand on her head so he could push her under the water long enough to get away.
“I’ll make ya pay for this,” she screamed out when she got her head out of the water again. “You’ll see.”
Michael swam towards the shore. “Never!”
“Maybe not here in the water. I’ll come after you when you’re not expecting it.”
“Whatever! C’mon, let’s get up to the house before there’s no food left.”
“I don’t have any clothes to change into,” she complained as they both got out of the water.
“Um... shit,” Michael muttered, remembering they weren’t at home.
“Ya have to drive me home later,” she told him. “I can’t go to a football game or party like this.”
“You two need to go change,” Maria said when they got up close to the deck.
“You don’t have to tell me that, ya know?” Michael told her.
She shook her head. “Your bag’s in the car with a change of clothes and knowin’ Isabel the way I do she’s got emergency clothes packed somewhere in the truck.”
Isabel came up from behind her and shook her head in amusement. “Very right. I know this crazy family by now.”
“Oh, and Michael, you two had better hurry ‘cause we’re about ready to eat.”
“C’mon,” Michael pulled Brooke by her arm. “Brendan will eat it all by himself if we don’t hurry.”
“Why’s everyone always accusin’ me of eatin’ everything in sight?” Brendan complained.
Karen touched his shoulder. “Well, Bren, normally you do.”
“Jeez, I just can’t win.”
“Maybe you just need to stop fightin’ losin’ battles,” Sean advised.
“They’re just jealous, man,” Tony assured him. “Ya know how girls are... all that food goes right to their hips.” He didn’t see the two hands that came up to smack the back of his head and he turned to look at the culprits. Liz and Maria were standing behind him, glaring at him. “Ow! C’mon, girls! Ya know I love ya and besides, a guy likes havin’ a little somethin’ to...” He cleared his throat when he was kicked by too many feet to count and he realized how many kids were there. “Right, well... somebody pass me something to stick in my mouth.”
“Besides your foot?” Amy asked sweetly.
Brendan groaned. “When can we eat?”
Tyler nodded. “Yeah! When?”
“We should be able to get started, don’t you think, Iz?” Maria asked. “It won’t be too long before Michael and Brooke get back out here.”
“Yeah, alright, before anything gets cold.”
“I’ll just go ahead and start fixing his plate otherwise he’ll whine that he missed out on all the good stuff.” She rolled her eyes. “Not like there’s enough here to feed an army or anything.”
“You two are like a married couple, ya know?” Tony shook his head.
“And your point is?”
“Just sayin’. Has he asked you to marry him yet?”
“I’m pretty sure the world would know about it if Michael had popped the question,” Max said, grinning.
“Doesn’t he wanna marry you, M’ria?” Brian asked, not understanding the humor in the situation.
Maria cleared her throat. “Um, well... see, that’s not...”
“One day, buddy,” Michael said as he stepped out on the deck. “Maria an’ me, there’re some things we don’t rush into.” He sat down next to Maria and smiled when he saw that she was already fixing his plate.
Amy smiled. Michael was definitely the right guy for her daughter and she was pretty sure that she would find them married in just a few years.
“Gotta have more ribs than that, baby,” Michael said when she handed him his plate.
“You can get more after ya eat this,” she told him.
“Fine, where’s that potato salad? Somebody pass it down this way.”
Alex watched Brooke as she took a seat next to Michael. He had watched them down on the beach and it had looked as if she had been upset.
“What’s the matter?” Isabel asked quietly when she noticed Alex’s gaze on his sister.
He shook his head. “Nothin’, just wondering what happened on the beach.”
“She seems to be okay now.”
“Yeah, true.”
*****
Maria, Isabel, Liz and Brooke walked out on the back deck after they had cleaned up the kitchen a little bit. There was a hell of a lot of dishes to clean for so many people, but they had decided to just put the food in the refrigerator for now and do the dish washing later when the guys needed to leave for the game.
“Hey, is everything okay?” Maria asked Brooke once the others were already outside.
“Yeah, sure, why?”
Maria shrugged. “Saw you on the beach with Michael.”
Brooke shook her head. “I don’t wanna talk about it right now.”
“Okay.” They followed the other girls outside and Maria smiled when she saw Michael and Caela together on the beach.
“Seems like someone finally gave in again, huh?” she asked, amused.
“Yeah,” Rosie agreed. “Couldn’t last long, she loves her Ki-Ki.”
“Well, he is hard to resist.” She chuckled. “It’s kinda cute how she got all jealous though.”
“Well, she does share the Guerin genes,” Brendan spoke up. “You should know all about that.”
“Me? Know anything about jealousy?” She winked at him as she walked over to the steps.
Michael glanced up when he saw Maria up there, watching him and he made a sign for her to join them.
She smiled and kicked her shoes off, walking down the steps and across the warm sand. “What’re you two doin’ out here all by yourselves?” she asked when she was close enough to speak without yelling.
“We needed some uncle-niece time, right, Caela?”
The little girl just tightened her grip around his neck and held onto his dog tags possessively. “My Ki-Ki,” she murmured quietly.
“Guess this would be a bad time for a kiss,” Maria said, laughing quietly.
“How about we take Aunt Maria for a walk on the beach together, huh?” Michael asked the little girl.
Caela brought the dog tags up and started chewing on them as she turned her head to study Maria and after a moment she nodded and laid her head on his shoulder again.
“Alright.” He held her close to his body as he got up from where they had been sitting in the sand. “Hey, Bren,” he called his brother.
Brendan nodded to let him know he had heard him and he waved when his brother motioned to let him know they were going for a walk and taking Caela with them.
Michael settled Caela safely on his right side while he took Maria’s hand with his left, running his thumb over the back of her hand.
“Have you noticed that we seem to be getting a lot of marriage comments from everyone?” she asked.
“It’s not just marriage, they’re wantin’ to know about us havin’ kids too.”
“Why’s everyone so interested all of the sudden?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably because half of them will be getting married soon and havin’ their own kids.” He glanced down at Caela. “Or havin’ more kids.”
She snorted. “Yeah, that’s true, I guess. We’re all pretty much paired up... Alex an’ Iz, Bren an’ Karen, Max an’ Liz, and Kyle an’ Tess... which couple you think will be the next to get engaged?”
“Hmm, I guess I’d put my money on Max and Liz.”
“I’ll bet you’re right.”
“Unless you’re plannin’ to ask me,” he joked.
She just smiled. “You never know... we do have our own way of doin’ things.”
He chuckled and pulled her closer to him. “Yeah, but I also know you’d like it if I popped the question,” he teased.
“So, I’m a girl who likes certain traditions,” she said with a smile.
“Don’t worry. I WILL ask you someday.”
“Don’t worry,” she gently mocked, “when you get around to askin’... I know what my answer will be.”
“Well, I hope it’s the right one.”
She smiled as she looked out over the ocean for several minutes before turning to meet his gaze. “It’s the only one.”
He leaned over to give her a light kiss, chuckling when Caela complained about it. She had been almost asleep.
Maria glanced up to her left when she noticed that they were nearing the cliffs and she tugged on Michael’s hand. She looked ahead, searching for the outcropping of rocks and she chuckled when she found them. “This’s where it all started, remember?”
Michael glanced up at the cliffs. “I’ll never forget it, baby.”
“I hope we’re still so hot for each other when we’re old.”
“Ya have doubts?” he teased. “I was an ass back then, sorry. I just wasn’t used to any girl affecting me the way you did.”
“Not really any doubts, no,” she chuckled. “And you don’t have to apologize for that, baby. We still have our moments but I think we’ve both grown up a lot in the past few months.”
“She’s sleepin’,” Michael told Maria quietly, gesturing at Caela.
“It’s been a busy day for her. And she was NOT happy about your little sister at all.”
He laughed quietly. “Yeah, it’s probably a good thing that Antonia won’t be around all the time.”
“Ah, she just has to learn that Ki-Ki has enough love for both of them.”
“Kids love me,” he told her with a wink. “I don’t know why though.”
“Because they can see right through the bullshit that the rest of us get caught up in.”
“Bullshit, huh?”
“Yeah. You remember that little boy at the motocross race? You were anything but pleasant that day and yet he knew he was safe with you... little kids can see the good in people, Michael.”
“I wasn’t pleasant because ya pulled that stunt with me in the parkin’ lot, remember?”
“Yeah, wasn’t a very nice thing to do... although, I really wanted to ditch our deal so badly when you had me pinned up against the Jeep.”
“That was pretty hot, huh? I had to bring all my strength into play to keep to the rules, you can believe that.”
“Super-human strength, baby. I don’t know how you did it.”
“Thank God we don’t have to worry about that anymore. Well, unless ya come up with another of those no-sex bets again.”
“Like it matters... did that even last 24 hours?”
“Well, yeah, it did. We made it one whole night.” He glanced at her teasingly. “The make-up sex on the beach this mornin’... twice... was good though.”
“That was good,” she agreed. “Eventually we’ll have our own beach that we can use whenever we want to.”
“We should get started on that pretty quickly, huh?” He glanced at his watch. “I guess we should head back to the house. We’ll have to leave in a couple of hours and I wanna spend some time with my dad since I doubt we’ll have much time after the game for that when the New Year’s Party starts soon after.”
“We’ll manage to find time where we can.”
“Well, I sure as hope there’ll also be some time for a little revisit of this morning.”
She smirked. “You just never know when that moment will happen.”
*****
Adam sat on the railing near the steps and watched the couple as they walked along the beach, talking and holding hands. He glanced up when Maria’s mother joined him and he smiled warmly, motioning for her to claim part of the railing. “The two of them make a good couple,” he said.
Amy nodded as she leaned back on the railing, her body angled so she could watch the younger couple. “They’ve had some pretty rocky moments from what I’ve been able to put together, but the longer they’re together, the stronger they get.”
“Hey, Alex, there’s some guy at the door askin’ for your sister,” Callie called as she stuck her head out through the open deck doors.
“Thanks, Callie,” he said as he stood up. He looked at Isabel. “Must be Luke; I’ll get the door.”
Brendan glanced up from his conversation with Sherry when he heard Luke’s name mentioned. “Did we invite him?”
“Mind your business,” Karen said without looking up from the photographs Nicole was showing her.
He rolled his eyes and went back to his conversation, glancing up when Tony and Sean got loud as they debated something about statistics and sports. He turned his head to look at them and he nearly laughed when Sean started waving his hands in the air as he tried to explain the validity of his comment.
Tony shook his head. “Dude, you couldn’t be more wrong.”
“Actually,” Shane said as he got up and joined them, “Sean’s right. Statistical analysis is an accurate way of determining…”
Brendan tuned him out at that point. His eyes had a tendency to glaze over when Sean started going on about statistics and mathematical probabilities. “I love the guy, but that stuff just bores me to death,” he said as he looked at his best friend’s mother.
Sherry smiled and patted his hand. “You’ve been such a good friend to him, Brendan.”
He shrugged and grinned. “Sean’s been there for me an’ until I got my fiancé back in my life, he kinda took care of me.” His expression sobered and he lowered his voice as he met her gaze. “It means a lot to him that you’re here.”
Sherry watched her son for several minutes and she smiled sadly. “I only hope I can do the right thing where he’s concerned. I don’t know anything about this… the way… oh, I don’t know what I’m trying to say,” she said quietly, her frustration obvious.
“Don’t get tangled up in labels, Sherry. Gay or straight, he’s still Sean and he just wants to be loved and accepted like anyone else.”
She chuckled and nodded. “This’s the first time he’s really seemed to be happy.” She sighed. “I just worry about him out here…”
“You don’t have to worry. He’s not alone out here and this group isn’t gonna let anything happen to him. We’ll keep an eye on him an’ when he’s ready to start datin’ or whatever, we’ll be here to make sure the guy’s decent.”
“You wanna stop plannin’ my future for me,” Sean complained, giving Brendan a friendly shove as he passed him to go get a drink.
“Don’t worry, Sean, we won’t let him take you out to find a date,” Karen reassured him.
“Thanks, I appreciate it.”
Brendan turned around when he heard Brooke talking a mile a minute as she walked back outside dragging Luke behind her.
, when Maria and Michael were at the beginning of their relationship! haha!
I love happy parts!
. i love how she is playing 'who's boss' with all the new kids coming in. haha, i hope it wont be like this forever. cause i really want her to feel like she is part of Adam's family too! 
I love her relationship with Michael tho! i wish i had an older brother like that