geeky_agent | OOM: Visiting Family

Current Mood: worried

OOM: Visiting Family

She almost wishes Caiti would be there.

It would mean more questions and more problems, yes. They'd still have to explain Caiti having met Jack already in Morocco two years prior and she just knew that wouldn't go over well.

Still, she can't help but wonder if maybe it would be better to get everything out in the open now. (Not everything.) Caiti had always been good at dealing with problems between her sister and brother and it sounded like she and Jack had gotten along pretty well and she hadn't seen her in months...

This had probably been a bad idea but it was too late to back out now.

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Jack looks up at the passing road signs, then down at the map, dragging his finger along their route. "Okay, looks like the turn-off should be coming up on our right in the next couple minutes."

Glancing over at her, he gives her a slightly nervous smile; her nervousness is all over her face, not that he can blame her. "We should be there about when we said we would, relax."

Ryan's smile fades as they leave the room. Jeannie hands Tori a sippy cup and Tori seems to remember the coloring she'd left during the excitement of a new person and her Aunt Chrissy. Once their daughter's occupied for a few moments, Jeannie finally makes eye contact.

"That bedroom is next to Tori's," Ryan says quietly.

Jack follows Chris up the stairs to the bedroom Jeannie had mentioned, heaving the bags onto the bed. It's a nice room; comfortable, with a nice view out the window, looking out over the trees.

Unzipping his suitcase, Jack gives Chris a small smile. "Why do I get the feeling Ryan isn't too happy with the thought of us sharing a room?"

Dinner is quiet, tense, as by unspoken consensus they keep to small talk, Tori gleefully filling the silences by talking about the dog that lives next door or her preschool. Once the dishes are cleared and washed, Tori drags Chris off to look at something, Jeannie heading outside.

Jack walks out into the living room, looking out at the view for a minute, then moving over to a table with photos on it. He smiles, spotting one of Chris and Ryan Jr. sitting on a dock, grinning; Chris is missing one of her front teeth. Behind it, there's one of Ryan Sr., helping Chris hold onto a fish. Chris looks about seven or eight, beaming at her catch, while Ryan looks down at her with a kind of amused pride.

Despite everything, he still can't help but feel a small stab of guilt, knowing that Ryan will never get the chance to come back to this place, won't get to meet his granddaughter or see his other children again. But that blame needed to be put at Stephen Saunders' door.

Coming in from outside, her arms full of Tori's toys and other things they'd left outside, Jeannie casts a quick look over at Jack and Ryan talking over by the living room windows. They're talking quietly, their expressions serious, but not antagonistic. That's something at least she thinks, hoping that conversation is going well. She wants to like Jack; she does like him, from what little she knows about him so far. But she has to admit, the main reason she doesn't want to find fault with him is because Chris has been so distant, they don't need something else pushing them apart. Not just for Ryan's sake either; she and Chris had been friends before she met Ryan, and she misses that friendship.

Walking up the stairs to the second floor, she can hear Tori chattering on excitedly, hear Chris' occasional question or comment, when Tori lets her have a chance to get a word in edgewise. At least it looks like one conversation is going well, she thinks, smiling to herself.

Pushing the door open, she smiles at Chris for a minute before turning her attention to Tori. "Time for bed, sweetie. Auntie Chris will be here in the morning, so you can tell her everything else you want to then. Go and brush your teeth."

After saying goodnight and after Jeannie and Ryan have headed upstairs, Chris and Jack go outside by the lake. It's still warm outside, even with the lake so close, and the only thing that can be heard are the crickets and the sound of the waves.

"So," Chris comes up to Jack and slides her hand in his. "How'd the cross-examination go?"

For reasons she doesn't quite know, Chris wakes up before everyone else. Trying to fall back asleep doesn't work and if she stays in bed, she'd only wake up Jack more than she already has.

The only obvious solution to her is to go downstairs and make breakfast for everyone.

Over the pop of the sizzling bacon and the sound of coffee brewing, she hears someone walking down the stairs and assumes it's Jack. "Hey, you decided to get up after all!"

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The Meeting

Ryan-Jeannie Conversation

Jack-Chris Conversation

Jack-Ryan Jr. Conversation

Jeannie-Chris Conversation

Chris-Jack Conversation