Work Text:
“Are you sure it’s alright I’m here tonight?” Aaron asked, fiddling with his tie for perhaps the dozenth time in the last hour. He’d fiddled with it so much that all he’d managed to achieve was making it look more crooked.
“Boot, would you relax already?” Nyla rolled her eyes. “You’re acting like you’re preparing to run with the bulls or something, not sitting down for a new years dinner.”
“Dinner!” Aaron echoed, his voice cracking into a higher octave than he’d intended. “At the head of Internal Affairs’s house, when I’m already likely on his shit list from my reputation and I’ve only been a rookie for a month!”
Wesley grabbed his arm to both ground him and stop him spiraling any further as they approached the driveway. “Hey, relax Aaron. Grey said the whole team was invited right?”
He waited for Aaron to nod the affirmative before continuing in the same soothing tone, “that includes you. And besides,” he joked, gesturing to himself, “if Percy is alright with me being here as Angela’s plus one I doubt he’ll have a problem with you. I’m a lawyer, remember, I’m literally every cop's enemy.”
Aaron slowly relaxed, the tension fading away somewhat as he took Wesley’s words in. “Yeah.” He breathed, “yeah, you're right. It’ll be fine.”
“Or if not,” Nyla shrugged, unable to resist stirring the pot, “it’ll make for a great story to tell back at the precinct.”
Aaron’s shoulders returned to their previous attempt to hike up over his ears.
“Stop it!” Anglea laughed, whacking Nyla’s shoulder lightly. “At least wait until we’re inside and can appreciate his terror properly.”
Wesley just sighed, loud and obnoxious as he glanced at the two of them. “You two are the worst.”
“Yup,” Nyla agreed whole-heartily.
Luckily for Aaron, before the detectives could continue teasing him they spotted Tim and John approaching from the other end of the street.
“Hey,” Nolan called out cheerfully as they got within earshot.
Aaron zeroed in on his fellow rookie, “please tell me I’m not the only one who’s having second thoughts about this,” he begged.
John smiled warmly at him. “It’ll be fine.” He was unintentionally repeating what Aaron himself had said earlier, which did little to calm the younger man’s fear.
“C’mon,” Tim cajoled gruffly, interrupting before Aaron had a chance to actually think about it. “We better get going or we’re going to be late, and if that happens you can forget worrying about Percy. Grey will have all our hides.”
Nyla frowned, casting her gaze back down the path they’d just walked up, “speaking of being late, either of you see Chen, West, or one of their cars on your way?”
Tim shook his head. “Nada. And it’s not like either of them to be late, especially to his own dad’s party.”
“Maybe they’re still on their way,” Wesley suggested, glancing at his watch, “how are they getting here? Anyone know?”
Nolan shrugged. “I offered to swing by their place on my way, but Lucy said they had a ride sorted.”
“Should we wait for them?” Aaron suggested tentatively.
“Hell no!” Angela snorted derisively. “They’re P2’s now, they don’t need their old TO’s holding their hands,” she winked at Tim. “And if they want to rock up late then it’s their heads on the chopping block.”
“Exactly,” Nyla said, mock saluting her. “Shall we?”
The group turned and headed up the driveway to the door.
Aaron hesitated a beat longer, part of him wanting to wait. That resolve didn’t last very long and quickened his pace to catch up to the others.
He stopped just behind Nolan, fighting the urge to adjust his tie again, as Tim rang the doorbell.
A few moments later the door opened to reveal Diane West standing there smiling at all of them. “Just on time,” she said warmly before turning to call into another room just beyond their view. “Dear, they are here.”
There was a muffled reply.
“Come on in!” She ushered them inside and offered to take their coats.
“Thank you for inviting me Ma’am,” Aaron squeaked, cheeks flushing as Diane’s full gaze rested on him as he handed over his coat.
“It is a pleasure to have you young man, and no more of this Ma’am nonsense you hear me? It’s just Diane.”
Aaron just nodded, not trusting his voice enough to speak.
“It’s lovely to see you again Mrs West,” Angela said.
“What did I just say?” Diane mock scolded her before turning her attention to Wesley, “and this must be the charming partner I’ve heard so much about?”
“Good things I hope,” Wesley grinned easily at her and held out a hand to shake.
Diane laughed, “as well as can be expected considering the feud between lawyers and cops.”
“I’ll take it.”
Tim was about to speak when there was a loud crash, the unmistakable sound of something breaking and a familiar high pitched squeal of “Jackson!”
Before any of them could question that, Diane let out a low, resigned sigh and muttered, “five minutes. I left them alone for five minutes, how could they have gotten into trouble in that time?”
She directed the comment to herself as she headed down the hallway, presumably towards the kitchen and the sound.
The others let out a collective shrug and followed.
Whatever they had been expecting, it hadn’t been this.
Flour. Everywhere.
It looked like a snowstorm had erupted in the centre of the kitchen, right next to the island.
It covered everything. Benches, floors, work-surfaces. And most notably, Jackson and Lucy, who in this moment, could’ve passed for very realistic looking snowmen.
Jackson had a thick covering in his hair, a fine white powder clinging to his face and making him appear ghost-like. Lucy had apparently tried to catch the bowl before it could fall, only managing to tip its contents - more flour - all over her clothes, her top going from maroon to a light pink and giving her jeans a washed out effect.
The shard of glass on the floor made it clear that she hadn’t managed to catch it.
The others gaped at them, wondering how in the seven hells this had happened.
Diane simply looked at them, one eyebrow raised. “What happened?” She asked flatly.
“He did it!”
“She did it!”
The voices overlapped as the two of them immediately pointed fingers at each other.
Diane tapped her foot impatiently, "I'm waiting!”
Jackson cracked first as was expected. “It was under control till Lucy decided to catapult the flour everywhere.”
Lucy whirled on him, “don’t peg this solely on me! You were the one that dropped an entire bag of flour into the bowl when I wasn’t ready and were about to tip it off the counter!”
“Because you left it on the edge!” Jackson argued back.
“Because I had to grab the salt,” Lucy growled, waving the shaker at him. “And I told you to wait!”
“You told me that as I started pouring! Why’d you leave the bowl on the edge like that?”
“Why didn’t you move it?”
“Children!” Diane warned, interrupting the argument.
Before she could threaten them, Marshall pushed the kitchen door open and called to her.
“Hey Mum, Dad wanted me to tell you that the dining room is all set up and -” Marshall tailed off as he entered the room, “yikes! What happened here?” He spotted the flour covered duo and snickered, “Mum, you didn’t seriously leave them alone in here did you? You remember last christmas!”
Jackson glared at his brother and opened his mouth to say something.
“Don’t!” Diane warned, looking between them and silently warning them against continuing this.
She turned to face her guests, a practised smile on her face. It lacked some of the warmth from earlier. “I am so sorry about this. If you follow me out to the dining room, Marshall will be out with drinks in a moment. As for you two,” she trained a level gaze on Jackson and Lucy, “clean this up and get changed.”
“Yes Ma’am” Lucy saluted her with the handle of the broom she’d pulled out of a cupboard, almost whacking Jackson with it as she did so and he squawked in protest.
Jackson eyed the extendable handle on the kitchen sink like he was plotting something.
Diane stopped him cold with a glare. “Behave,” she said firmly to both of them.
Tone turning welcoming once again Diane turned back to her guests, “right this way.”
As the door swung shut behind them they could just make out Marshall’s voice as he commented, “you know if you were planning on joining a theatre play of Frozen, there were other ways you could have announced-” whatever he was going to say was cut off by his sudden yelp and the echo of feet rapidly covering distance.
Tim and Angela exchanged a look, having siblings of their own they had no doubts what was happening behind closed doors.
The dining room and lounge area of the house was beautiful, Aaron decided as he took it in.
Warm lighting spilled across polished wood floors, and the whole space carried that unmistakable feeling of somewhere people actually lived - not staged, not stiff, just… real. Laughter seemed to linger in the walls. Homely.
Percy and Grey had been seated on the couch talking quietly. They rose when the others entered the room.
“Glad to see you all made it,” Percy called warmly.
“Thank you sir,” Nolan responded, acting as the group's spokesperson.
“Come, grab a seat.” Percy gestured to the table as he and Grey crossed the short distance from where they had been sitting, “there’s no assigned seats so just grab a spot wherever you like.”
“Boot?” Nyla called, seeing Aaron hesitate, his gaze caught on the far wall.
Aaron blushed, “sorry. Sorry.” The words tumbled from his lips, “it’s just… you have some beautiful photos sir.”
Percy smiled kindly at him, “we certainly think so. And there’s no need for nerves or formality tonight. Take a closer look if you’d like,” he encouraged.
Boldened by this Aaron moved to get a better view. The others followed after a few moments, curious.
The wall could have passed as the page in a scrapbook it was so well covered.
There were dozens of photos of the whole West family - school portraits; holiday snapshots; awkward teenage phases immortalized forever.
Marshall at various ages, from gap-toothed chaos gremlin to… slightly taller chaos gremlin. Jackson cycling through hairstyles that should probably remain buried in history. Percy and Diane looking progressively more tired with each passing year.
Angela pulled her phone out and snapped her own copy of some of the more embarrassing ones, “oooo, this is perfect! Next time he doesn’t listen to me, bam, blackmail in the form of his sixth grade bowlcut,” the absolute glee in her voice solidified the others' decision to never get on her bad side.
John’s attention was locked on a different frame, “is this Jackson’s prom?” He looked to Percy for guidance, although the photo made it pretty obvious.
Jackson stood with his arm wrapped around a teenage girl’s shoulders, both of them grinning into the camera. Jackson was dressed in a gorgeous tuxedo with a pale green tie that matched his partner's dress and corsage perfectly. A date maybe?
“Yeah,” Grey confirmed, eyes softening as he looked at the photo, “they went as friends.”
Well, that settled the date question.
Wesley frowned as he studied the girl in the frame, “is it just me or does she look kind of familiar?”
Exaggerated curls and elaborate makeup aside, she looked kinda like Lucy.
“Could just be an old school friend we’ve met at games night,” Tim suggested, although he was frowning as if he didn’t truly believe that.
Behind them Percy and Grey exchanged a look.
It’s not like they were wrong. To a certain extent she was an old school friend, and they had met her at games night, but still…
It wasn’t quite the full picture.
Before either of them could decide whether to step in, Aaron had already moved on to the next frame.
“Wait—she’s in this one too,” he said, leaning in.
This time it was a much younger version of the same girl - her hair in messy pigtails, sitting cross-legged on the grass next to Jackson, both of them streaked from head to toe in what looked like mud. Marshall was kneeling between them, looking delighted as he waved his fistful of mud to the camera.
“…Okay,” Nyla said slowly, folding her arms. “Now I’m interested.”
Nolan stepped closer. “That’s definitely the same girl.”
Angela finally lowered her phone, glancing between the photos. “She seems to show up a lot for someone we’ve never heard about.”
Tim’s frown deepened. “Neighbour, maybe?”
“Neighbour doesn’t usually equal matching Christmas sweaters,” Wesley pointed out, gesturing to another frame a few along.
Sure enough - there they were again. Jackson, Marshall, and the mystery girl a little bit older, maybe pre-teens, all bundled up in identical sweaters, perched together on the same bottom step of the staircase.
“Could be a cousin,” Nyla suggested.
“A cousin who from the looks of this practically lived here?” Nolan raised an eyebrow.
“Why not?”
“Well, for starters, where’s the rest of the extended family?”
“Maybe she got taken in for some reason or other,” Aaron said, backing Nyla’s earlier idea up.
Tim turned to him, “if that’s the case then why does she disappear when they get older?”
It was partly true. They were working under the assumption that the girl was a similar age to Jackson, which would mean she was somewhere around seventeen when she started vanishing from the photos. Not completely, but the ones she was in seemed to only be around the holidays, not everyday occurrences like the younger ones.
“I dunno, do I look like an expert on the West family history?” Aaron sassed back.
“So she’s a fugitive then?”
Grey leaned towards Percy, “they do realise they could just ask either of us right?” He asked this quietly so that only Percy would hear him while the other squabbled in the background.
Percy snorted, “I’m not convinced they even remember we’re still in the room right now. And besides, where would the fun in that be?”
The group was interrupted by the door opening once again and Marshall stepping through balancing a tray of drinks. “Here we go!” He said brightly, carefully setting the tray down.
“Perfect timing Marshall,” Percy said before beckoning to the others, “come grab a seat and a drink while you continue your theorising."
Marshall stopped mid-pour staring at his father, “theorising? Theorising about what?”
Percy shrugged non committalty. "They've taken an interest in the living room photos, that's all.”
“Almost ready for dinner then?” Grey interjected, he was having fun watching his officers stew and wasn’t ready for Marshall to spoil it by telling them the truth.
“Yeah,” Marshall replied cautiously, having seen the play for what it was. “Mum’s just grabbing the last few items and Jackson and Lucy finally finished cleaning up their mess so they’ll be out any minute.”
“They would’ve been done a lot sooner if you three hadn’t started throwing flour at each other,” Diane rolled her eyes, having caught the tail end of Marshall’s statement.
“But I’m innocent,” Marshall blinked innocently up at her.
“Mmm,” Diane did not sound convinced, “that look worked a lot better when you were younger, I definitely saw you start that fight.”
“Lies!”
The argument was effectively halted by the sound of approaching footsteps and a muffled conversation.
“I’m telling you, you still have a spot of flour on your nose.” That was definitely Lucy.
The door swung open to reveal Jackson frantically pawing at his face with one hand, trying to find the nonexistent spot. “Did I get it?”
When he got no response he scowled at her, “if you’re lying I swear I’m going to-”
“Carefull,” Lucy interrupted him, "I've got witnesses now.” She winked at Grey as she dropped into her seat, Jackson reluctantly settling in next to her with one last swipe.
Nyla did a double take when she realised that Lucy’s sweater was one she’d seen her wear several times. Where she’d gotten it on such short notice she wasn’t entirely sure. Maybe Jackson kept a spare change for her in his car or something?
But they hadn’t seen it on their way in so where-
She was cut off from her thoughts by Lucy speaking.
“So,” Lucy smiled, “did we miss anything interesting?”
“Only if you count the part where we’re apparently harbouring a fugitive.” Marshall said simply.
Jackson froze, “run that by me one more time?”
“Your friends spotted a ‘strange girl’,” Marshall used air quotes around the words “in the photos over there, and have come to the conclusion that we, the West, harboured a fugitive for a number of years.”
The photos?
Ooooh. It clicked.
Lucy hastily turned a laugh into a cough when she caught Tim staring at her.
She avoided looking at Jackson. They could have some fun with this but Lucy knew that if she looked at Jackson right now she would blow it.
She tried her best to school her expression.
“I’m telling you,” Wesley huffed, “the fugitive theory has potential.
Angela eyed her fiancee. “Be honest with me, did you or did you not start drinking before we left the house tonight?”
“What kind of question is that?” Wesley spluttered.
“I’m just trying to work out how bad you have lost your mind. Why on earth would the West’s harbour a fugitive, they’re a cop family for crying out loud.”
“Ok a) that doesn’t mean anything, I’m a lawyer Ang, I’ve seen cops do all kinds of things they're not supposed to,” then if realising that may come off as being insensitive he turned quickly to Percy, “no offense.”
Percy couldn’t take it personally, working in IA he had also had his fair share of dealing with cops who thought they were above the law. It was heartbreaking but it was the truth.
“So what would you suggest Angela?” Nolan asked, trying to keep the peace.
“I don’t know, but not that!”
Diane frowned as she realised she must have left the breadrolls in the garage. “Excuse me a moment, I just need to grab something.” She rose smoothly to her feet and turned to her family, “while I’m doing that would one of you be able to check on the cobbler in the oven?”
“I’ll do it,” Lucy volunteered, starting to push her chair back.
“Thank you dear,” Diane’s muffled voice carried as she disappeared through the kitchen door.
“Ooh. I know.” Aaron’s voice carried clearly, excitement shining through as he got lost in the theory, all of his earlier nerves temporarily forgotten. “What if instead she’s some kind of obsessed stalker who got into the house and cropped herself into the photos to trick everyone?”
Jackson, who'd been in the midst of setting his glass back down, turned his head to the side just enough to catch Lucy’s eye.
It was their undoing.
They lost it.
Unable to stop the laughter that was bubbling up from the sheer audacity of the theory, Jackson snorted and sprayed his mouthful of champagne all over Lucy.
In any other situation, she probably would have smacked him.
Instead, she wheezed—an undignified, strangled sound—because her chair had already been in motion. Her elbow clipped the edge of the table with a sharp thunk, and she disappeared from view with a graceless thud.
“What the—” Tim started.
“Ice! I’m getting ice for Lu!” Marshall yelped, launching himself up so fast his chair nearly tipped over. He fled to the kitchen, laughter leaking out of him like a faulty pressure valve.
Jackson folded in on himself, collapsing forward onto the table, causing the tableware around him to rattle, his shoulders shaking violently. Mercifully, he missed his plate.
The rest of the group stared at them.
Aaron and Wesley shared a look of concern. Nyla’s gaze flicked between the kitchen and the two of them as if realising she was missing something. Tim wondered if Jackson had hit the table hard enough to leave an imprint on it. Grey just raised an eyebrow at their actions.
Percy had a long suffering look on his face, like this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. He looked like he wanted to bang his head against something - hard.
From beneath the table came a high pitched wheezing noise and Wesley peeked under the table at Lucy. “Umm… are you ok?”
Lucy didn’t respond other than flapping an arm in Wesley’s vague direction. Wesley looked at Nolan for guidance.
It was Percy who answered though. “She’s fine,” he sighed.
Then, addressing the two of them. “Jackson! Unless you plan on forgoing the wonderful dinner your mother made and eat the table, I suggest you lift your head.”
Jackson pushed himself up, fighting to keep from bursting into laughter all over again when he saw the confusion.
“Lucy, kindly get off the floor! You have a chair for a reason.”
Still fighting for breath, Lucy clawed blindly at Jackson. He rose, grabbing one of her wrists and hauling her up with him.
Marshall returned at that exact moment, face suspiciously red. “Here, Luce.” His voice cracked as he handed her the ice pack.
Lucy held it against her bruised elbow with a nod of thanks.
Jackson’s eyes sparkled - a look Angela unfortunately recognised all too well. The kind of look that meant mischief was imminent and he had zero regrets.
“I dunno Marsh,” he started innocently. “I mean should we really be giving ice packs to our stalker? What kinda message does that send?”
Lucy let out a strangled noise.
Jackson barely managed to keep hold of Lucy’s arm as she folded into him, laughing so hard she couldn’t breathe. She buried her face in his shoulder. Marshall doubled over, bracing himself against the back of her chair, and wheezing.
Percy rubbed his temples. “I asked,” he said to Grey, voice tight with long-suffering patience, “for one dinner. Just one. Where they behave like the adults they insist they are.”
He gestured broadly at the trio, who were now clinging to each other for structural support.
“That they have their own apartments and jobs and what not. And yet…” he waved a hand to the very ‘grown and mature’ image his kids were currently displaying. “Get the three of them in the room together for more than five minutes and they turn into pre-schoolers!”
Rather than displaying any degree of sympathy towards his friend's predicament, Grey just seemed deeply amused.
It was at that moment that Diane returned to the dining room, breadrolls clutched in her hands. “Right! Here we go. Lucy, hun did you get a chance to check on the-” she stopped mid sentence as took in the scene around her.
The guests puzzled faces; one amused uncle; a resigned father; and the three ‘adults’ who were giving circus clowns a run for their money.
She pursed her lips and glanced at her husband.
Percy raised a hand and gestured to the trio. Making a face as if to say ‘you know what they’re like.’
Unfortunately she did know. All too well.
But while this may not be a formal dinner, there were still standards, and she would ensure they were met.
Diane placed the dish down on the table and let out a piercing whistle. It cut through the ruckus laughter and all eyes turned to her.
“Marshall Smith West! Jackson Andrew West! Lucille Mai Chen-West!” She looked at each of them in turn. “Get. It. Together. Now!!” Her tone was steely. The kind of parental voice that inspired instant fear, no matter how old you were.
The three kids straightened as their full names were called, it had been a while since they’d earned that particular tone. It normally only came out when they were in deep trouble.
“I’m sorry, West?” Tim blurted out into the silence, eyes locked squarely on Lucy.
Unable to resist the opportunity, Lucy blinked innocently at him, “well, yeah. This is the West’s house, you do remember that right?” She asked, deliberately misunderstanding his confusion.
The smile that was tugging at her lips was wiped off as Diane cuffed her round the back of the head.
“Lucille,” her tone was low and warning, “if you would like to spend the rest of the night washing the dishes with a toothbrush keep it up.”
“Oooooo,” Jackson crowed. “Someone’s in trouble!”
His dad just looked at him. “You’re welcome to help her Jackson.”
That shut him up.
Marshall was smart enough to keep his mouth shut. He had no inclination to be stuck washing dishes until the end of time. No thank you.
“Since when is your last name West,” Nolan cried, continuing Tim’s original question.
“It’s not.” Lucy said plainly.
Angela raised an eyebrow at her. “Hate to break it to ya, but we all heard Diane call you Chen-West, so unless we’re having some kind of shared hallucination….” She tailed off deliberately, waiting for someone to fill them in.
“It’s more of an honorific, something to link me with these two knuckle-heads,” Lucy circled a finger between Marshall and Jackson, “there’s no legal tie or anything.”
“Not due to lack of trying.” Marshall mumbled into his water glass just loud enough for those on either side of him to hear.
“Wait, what?” Aaron stared at him.
“Yeahhhh,” Wesley stretched the word out, “we will definitely be circling back to that.”
Lucy shot Marshall a look that very clearly meant, ‘I’m gonna get you for that!’
Marshall just shrugged philosophically. He didn’t regret it and it’s not like he was lying - there had been a time when his parents had thought very hard about making it official. So much so that there was probably still a draft of the adoption paperwork lying around somewhere.
He wasn’t about to tell Lucy that though.
“How exactly did you end up with the West name?” Tim asked impatiently.
“Helped Percy bury a body.” Lucy didn’t blink as she delivered that line, and he couldn’t tell from her face if she was lying. “After that, I knew too much. The name was a reminder that if the West family went down I was going with them.”
Grey watched in disappointment as some of his officers seemed to believe it. “She’s kidding!”
“Of course I’m kidding!” Lucy’s face split into a blinding grin. “But the look on your faces.”
Nyla ran a hand down her face, “I regret ever teaching you anything about bluffing. Clearly you need no help.”
“Why, thank you.” Lucy bowed slightly to her.
“Wasn’t a compliment.”
“I know.”
“As for the name,” Percy rose, deciding to take charge of the conversation, “it just fit.”
“Lucy has always been around,” Diane continued, “at some point she became our kid as much as she was her parents.”
“Awww,” Lucy smiled at Diane, reaching a hand across the table and squeezing Diane’s hand.
“I’m getting the feeling that you two didn’t actually meet at the academy like Nolan told us,” Angela said dryly.
Marshall spun to his siblings, “you told them you met at the academy? Dude!”
“We might’ve stretched the truth just a teensy bit.” Jackson shrugged.
“I wouldn’t exactly call twenty years a teeny amount.”
“Twenty years!” Aaron gaped, before something seemed to click and he turned back to Diane, “so when you said Lucy had always been around…”
“My parents used to live three houses down,” Lucy finished. “But I might as well have grown up here.”
She glanced around the table, suddenly a little more self-conscious under the weight of everyone’s attention. “My parents worked a lot when we were younger, trying to get their business off the ground and seeing how Jackson and I were friends, the Wests were kind enough to open their home to me.”
“And like I told you back then,” Percy said softly, crossing to stand just behind her chair, “you are always welcome home. No matter what. That goes for all of you.” He dropped a kiss to the top of her head, and squeezing both boys' shoulders before returning to his seat.
“How did you and Jackson actually meet then?’
“He kidnapped her at school.” Marshall grinned.
“It was not a kidnapping!” Jackson defended.
“Did you or did you not literally drag Lou over to mum after learning you were on the same bus route when she was picking you up for an appointment and declare that you were going to be best friends, despite her being a year above you?”
“You were one, you don’t even remember this!”
“No, but I’ve heard the story enough times!”
“Really?” Angela perked up. “Not so straight laced as you appear if you were kidnapping kids from the school ground were you boot?” She teased.
“Lucy came willingly!”
“That is a terrible defense,” Wesley said, the corner of his lip twitching upwards, “and as a lawyer I feel it is my duty to tell you to ‘shhh’ now.”
Jackson crossed his arms, pretending to sulk, but the smile betrayed him.
“So you’ve been neighbours since you were around fiveish?” Tim asked.
Lucy shook her head at that. “Not always. My parents moved when I was sixteen, a better job opportunity that was a couple of hours away from here. But I still came back every term break and holiday I could.”
“Did you plan on going to the academy together then?” Nolan questioned, searching his mind to see if there were signs he’d missed that they’d known each other longer than he’d assumed.
“Not at all,” Jackson laughed. “That was actually pure luck. We drifted a bit when we went to university, and neither of us knew the other was even applying for the academy.”
“I didn’t even know I was doing it till I was literally doing it,” Lucy added.
“So getting into the same programme and same precinct…. we couldn’t have planned it better if we tried.”
“Although,” Marshall winked conspiratorily at Grey. “They may have had some help in that department.”
“But I thought IA didn’t have any control over assigning officers to precincts?” Aaron said, not understanding.
“They don’t.” Percy confirmed.
“And I wasn’t talking about dad,” Marshall confirmed.
“Marshall,” Grey said, a warning tone creeping into his voice.
Nyla’s eyes darted between them, something seeming to click into place a second before it was verbalised.
“Perks of your uncle being your commanding officer, am I right?” Marshall grinned broadly at the group.
“Uncle?” Tim spluttered.
“Unfortunatley,” Grey sighed.
Tim and Angela exchange a barely concealed look of horror, it had been bad enough for Angela when Jackson was just the son of her precincts head of internal affairs, but to realise that both their former trainees had a deep personal connection with their immediate supervisor?
“How long has that been a thing?” Wesley asked, genuine curiosity in his voice.
“I can’t even remember,” Grey groaned, “feels much longer with the amount of grey hairs this lot have given me over the years.”
“But you’re bald.” Aaron blurted, mortified the moment the words left his mouth.
“What a keen sense of observation you’ve got boot.” Grey rolled his eyes. “See,” he turned to the elder West’s, “it wasn’t enough for your kids to make me go grey, they had to scare away my hair completely.”
“Hey!” Marshall piped up indignantly, “you were the one who taught us how to cover up the wi-” He never finished his sentence. Whatever he had been going to say was caught off by a thud, and Marshall yelped, leaning down to rub his poor shin which had taken the full impact of the kick.
He glared at Jackson and Lucy, it could’ve been from either of them really and they were both giving him warning looks. It was just as well, the four of them had sworn to take that particular incident to the grave.
And what their parents didn’t know wouldn’t kill them - probably.
“Uncle Grey was dad’s partner for a long time while they were working patrol together,” Jackson deliberately changed the subject. “He came over for a lot of dinners.”
“Like, a lot, a lot.” Lucy added.
“How come you never said anything about it to us?” Tim asked.
Grey just smiled softly, “it wasn’t my story to tell.”
“And what’s your excuse?” Angela raised an eyebrow at the two of them, unwilling to let them off the hook that easily.
Jackson just shrugged, “honestly? We thought you knew.”
“Seriously?” Nyla demanded.
“I mean, yeah.” Lucy nodded, “it’s a pretty open secret. You’ve literally seen my medical paperwork,” she pointed at Tim, “why would I put my CO down as one of my emergency contacts if I didn’t have some kind of connection with him?”
Tim shifted as he became the centre of everyone’s focus, “ok, first of all, I’ve only seen your paperwork once,” he defended. “And that was right after you were buried alive. So forgive me if I missed that detail in the heat of the moment.”
That certainly put a damper on the mood. Marshall looked down right murderous at the mention of that time and Diane worried Percy was going to break his glass with how tight he was gripping it.
“Fine, you get a pass on that one. But you,” Lucy spun to Nolan, her tone deliberately light. “You have known us since the academy, what’s your excuse?”
“I thought you met at the academy!” Nolan protested, it sounded weak even to him. “How was I supposed to know you had a twenty year long backstory?”
“You never questioned how we seemed to know everything about each other?” Jackson asked.
“I thought you were just really close, and it fit with the rest of your weird in-synch behaviour.”
“You see it too?” Aaron pointed at him, “I thought I was the only one!”
“Everyone sees it Aaron,” Grey chuckled.
“What ‘in-synch’ behaviour?”
“Y’know, how you guys can read each other's next move without saying anything, stuff like that.”
“They’ve been like that since they were kids,” Percy said fondly.
“We don’t-” Lucy and Jackson started to say at the same time before looking at each other.
“Man,” Marshall laughed, “Tamara is really going to regret skipping tonight's dinner.
“You’ve met Tamara?” Wesley asked.
“Yeah. The second dad heard Lucy had a long term puppy he wanted to meet her.”
“She is not a puppy!”
“Taking in the teenager who steals your car is the textbook definition of a puppy Lou.” Jackson smirked at her.
“Ignore her,” Marshall said cheerfully, “she’s just salty that she’s not the automatic favourite anymore. Turns out there are advantages to having more females around the house.”
Lucy scowled, “I’m suddenly remembering all the pros of being an only child.”
“Awwww, come on Lou,” Jackson teased, rising to drape his arms around her neck, “y’know you love us!”
“Jacks get off!” Lucy squirmed, trying to break free. But there was no real bite to her actions, they both knew that if she really wanted to get him off she could.
“Yeah,” Marshall agreed, reaching out to poke her in the side.
Lucy tried to get away from his questing hand but Jackson tightened his grip, effectively trapping her.
“Admit it!” Marshall flexed his fingers, “or we’ll be forced to force it out of you.”
“I will bite you!”
“Errr. Sorry, wrong phrase.”
“Marshall! Don’t you dare” Lucy shrieked, the high pitched words turning to helpless laughter as Marshall’s nimble fingers danced along her side.
“Marsh, stop.” The words coming between ragged gasps.
“Not hearing the phrase!” Jackson sing-songed.
“Fine! Fine!” Lucy managed to wrench herself away just enough to speak breathlessly, “I love you.”
Jackson released her and slid back into his own seat, still grinning.
“There!” Marshall brushed his hands in satisfaction. “Was that really so hard?”
Lucy blew a tuft of hair that had escaped in the events of their tussle out of her face, “I would advise you both sleep with one eye open tonight.”
Diane couldn’t help but smile at their actions. All too often, the world - the careers they had chosen - was such a serious and stressful place, leaving little room for fun. So it was nice to know that no matter how old they got, they still carried that same childish laughter with them.
Percy shook his head, though there was a trace of fondness in his eyes as he stepped toward the wall.
“There is one photo you may have missed in the craze of your theorising earlier,” he said, coaxing a small duel frame out of its hiding spot.
It was a simple silver frame, but the images it held were priceless.
On the left side there was a photo of Marshall, Jackson and Lucy. Lucy couldn’t have been any older than ten, making Marshall somewhere around six. The three of them were wearing matching sweaters and perched together on a log, illuminated by the light of the campfire behind them.
The right side was a lot more recent. Nolan recognised the set up immediately. It had been taken at their academy graduation. Lucy and Jackson were beaming in their official dress blues, Marshall standing between them with an arm slung around both their shoulders.
Two photos taken years apart.
It didn’t show the ups and downs life had thrown at them in between.
What it did show, what was clear to everyone here, was the love that existed between those who had chosen to call themselves family.
Home.
The silence was broken by Diane asking who wanted desert, the question greeted by a resounding chorus of ‘yes’.
‘Yeah,’ Lucy mused to herself as Jackson elbowed her.
Watching Aaron and Wesley laugh with Marshall. Seeing Angela, Tim and Nyla quietly converse with Percy on something and Grey patting a still slightly shell-shocked Nolan’s back.
‘It was good to be home.’