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It was strange, in the best possible way, to watch Joe take so quickly and easily to their family this second time around, no stiffness in his actions as he talked and joked with all of them, his laughter loud and frequent as he took the his uncles’ ribbing with a grin on his face. As she glanced around the table with a smile of her own, Eddie couldn’t help but wonder if she’d been given a glimpse of what dinners had been like in the Reagan family nearly twelve years earlier, back when the man sitting in Joe’s seat was the father he’d never gotten to meet but was still so much like. The thought broke her heart, in a way. The sound of her husband’s laughter next to her as he leaned forward to talk to his nephew helped ease the ache.
They continued on like that for the rest of dinner, lingering at the table even longer after dessert than they usually would. Eventually, they began to disperse, with Eddie and Jamie being two of the last out the door.
Joe was still in the driveway when they walked out, about to climb into his car, and Eddie gave him a quick hug.
“We gonna see you next week?” she asked as she pulled away.
He nodded, flashing an easy smile. “You will.”
“Good. You keep coming out of your shell, turtle,” she ordered playfully, patting him on the shoulder before moving aside so Jamie could shake Joe’s hand.
He laughed, promising, “I will,” before bidding the both of them farewell and climbing into his car.
Eddie reached for Jamie’s hand and they walked, fingers intertwined, toward their own.
-
“So,” Eddie began once they’d made their way home and were relaxing on the sofa, her head resting against his arm and his fingers carding slowly through her hair, “this has been a very interesting week.”
He huffed a laugh. “You can say that again.”
“This has been a very interesting week,” she repeated cheekily, grinning when he glanced down at her with a deadpan expression. The grin pulling at the corner of his lips despite his best attempts to fight it gave him away. “Maybe we could all decide, you know, as a family, just to stick to paperwork for the week.”
“You even suggest it, Danny or Joe will go out and try to do something from the latest superhero film,” Jamie pointed out dryly, causing her to laugh.
“You’re not wrong,” she agreed, settling back against his shoulder. “I’m really glad you’re all safe.”
“Me, too.”
“And I’m glad we’ll be seeing more of Joe. He’s a good kid.”
“Yeah,” Jamie agreed. “He really is.”
“We just need to stress to him that family meeting does not equate to family suicide mission ,” she quipped.
“We’ll write him up a welcome pamphlet, make sure we outline that very clearly,” Jamie promised with faux seriousness.
“Good.” Eddie snuggled closer. “Hey, if we can’t all do paperwork for the rest of the week… ”
“Yes?” Jamie questioned, glancing down at her.
“Do you think maybe everyone could agree to try not to get shot at tomorrow ?”
“You know that if you even suggest that to Danny, he’ll probably look up which gang member he last pissed off and invite them out to coffee just for the fun of it, don’t you?”
“Yeah,” Eddie sighed, smiling. “I do. You know, that family of yours can be a lot of work sometimes.”
“That family of ours. And, yes. I do. We’re worth it, though. Aren’t we?”
She smiled. “Yeah. You are.”