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It wasn’t until well after midnight that the Reagan siblings finally began to disperse from their father’s home, still as shell-shocked at their nephew’s sudden appearance as they had been when he had first taken his seat at the dinner table hours earlier. They stumbled over their goodbyes, assuring Joe they would be seeing him soon and making him promise to get in touch if there was anything he needed their help with before then.
“Hey,” Eddie said, pulling the young detective aside while Jamie was saying goodbye to his brother and Sean, “I know we don’t know each other that well, but I do get how overwhelming meeting the Reagans for the first time can be. How are you doing?”
“I…” He trailed off, glancing over at Jamie and Danny as his uncles gently teased his younger cousin. “It’s a lot.”
“I can understand that,” Eddie replied quietly, smiling softly as her husband met her gaze and offered her a subtle wink. “The first time I was in this room with all the Reagans at once, I was telling them I’d gotten engaged to Jamie. I was absolutely positive I was going to either throw up or pass out.”
Joe huffed a laugh, shaking his head. “I felt the same way, most of the way over here. I wasn’t even sure I should come.”
“Why not?” she questioned curiously.
He shrugged uncertainly. “I know my mother wasn’t exactly respectful to the Commissioner the last time they saw each other. I didn’t know if he’d want me around, after that.”
“Your grandfather’s never going to turn you away, Joe,” she told him truthfully. “None of them will. I’ve seen your uncles nearly kill each other at that table more than once. There’s still a place set for the both of them every week.”
“My mom’s family, they aren’t like this,” he tried to explain. “They’re ‘three strikes, you’re out’ people.”
“My family’s like that, too,” she told him seriously. “But the Reagans aren’t. Did you miss the part about Jamie and Danny almost killing each other before?”
He cracked a smile. “How long ago did you do this the first time?”
“Almost two years. We didn’t date long. Well, we didn’t date at all,” she amended. “Not really. We were partners for almost five years, though. We knew we loved each other, so the rest of it just seemed like it’d be a waste of time. So, we just went ahead and got engaged.”
“Hey, I took you out to dinner first,” Jamie protested over her shoulder, hand moving to rest against the small of her back as he spoke.
“You’d taken me out to dinner about a hundred times by then, Jamie,” she retorted laughingly, unable to stop herself from smiling when she caught sight of the amused glint in her nephew’s gaze as Joe glanced between them.
Jamie rolled his eyes fondly, then extended his hand for the younger man to shake once more. “Thank you for coming, Joe. It was… it was good to meet you,” he finished finally, clearing his throat.
“You too,” Joe replied easily.
“You have my card, right?” her husband checked once more.
“I do,” the detective confirmed, releasing his uncle’s hand with a nervous grin. “I hope I won’t need it.”
“If you do, don’t hesitate to use it,” the sergeant replied seriously, gaze softening as he glanced over at his wife. “There a chance we’ll see you here next week?”
Joe cleared his throat. “I’ll be here.”
“Glad to hear it.” Jamie reached out to clap his nephew once on the shoulder, flashing him that supportive smile Eddie had seen him offer to Nicky, Jack, and Sean about a thousand times. The look on his face just about screamed proud uncle. “See you then.”
“See you then,” the younger man echoed, offering them both another timid smile before his attention was grabbed by his great-grandfather lumbering over to talk to him.
The sounds of their laughter echoed through the room as Jamie and Eddie finally turned for the door, and Eddie breathed a sigh of relief, a smile pulling at the corner of her lips as Jamie led her carefully down the front steps, taking care to ensure she didn’t slip.
Joe hadn’t been with his family for the first twenty-four years of his life, but he was with them at last, and that was what mattered most. He’d never have to be apart from them again, not unless that was something he decided. Based on her interactions with him, both at the dinner table and moments earlier, Eddie didn’t think they had anything to worry about. At long last, the eldest Reagan grandson was right where he’d always belonged.
Despite never having actually met the man, Eddie knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that wherever Joe Reagan was at that moment, he was smiling.