2nd Annual Richards/Mondego Picnic

[Tiff]

Despite promising his brother that he'd check in on Gracie and the girls at least once every couple of days, Monte wound up spending the majority of his brother's time away holed up in his room. He did help Gracie, just not like he or his brother would have hoped. Monte took Zane's threat seriously and though no one had actually done any kind of persuading and he knew he'd never ever have a chance with Gracie, he'd decided he'd stay. When he did go help Gracie he made sure Tally or Zane or someone was with him, just so there would be no temptation or worse suspicion that anything happened while he was there with her. Today, however, everything was going to change. He'd no longer have to worry that he'd lose control of himself with Gracie because Avery was coming home. No one knew except him, Avery, and their dad and their dad wouldn't have known, but Monte and Avery needed help getting the Annual picnic date changed and Monte couldn't have done that on his own. Guy had inconveniently scheduled photography sessions and shoots on all the dates Leah had penciled in for the picnic, that was supposed to occur sometime during the summer.

Leah had not exactly been happy with the way the cards had been dealt, but deep down both Monte and Guy knew she wasn't too torn up over not having the picnic at it's previously agreed upon date. After all with so many members of each family missing it seemed wrong and possibly pointless. Once Avery knew when he was coming back for sure a new unforeseen road block was thrown up, this time by Leah. "Avery isn't home from technical school and with..." Everyone in the room knew she was trying to say with Cadence gone, it wasn't the same, but they understood it was still a bit too hard for her. "Without him it wouldn't be the same. We should just wait for him at the very least." Monte and his father didn't agree with her, but they did walk away feeling defeated. They wanted her and Gracie to be surprised, but at the moment they couldn't think of any way around not telling her and still having her agree on getting together without him.

After a week, Avery finally got around to calling Monte and learned of their plight. "Just have dad tell her I wouldn't be offended if I wasn't there this time and that if you wait any longer it'll be well into the holiday season and then it'd just be a 'Thanksgiving Day' get together or 'Christmas' get together..." It worked. Leah agreed and that was that until it started to snow. Leah had a small meltdown, no one would want to have a picnic in the snow, especially not one that was to last hours and hours like the last time the two families got together. Avery had a solution for that too. "So it won't be a traditional get together, have a dinner party or something, or an indoor picnic, it's not like the house is super small and can't handle our families and friends." The news was passed on to mom and before anyone knew it, the day had arrived and the house was spotless and the Richards were invited over for a late lunch and an evening of fun.

Monte's alarm clock had gone off far too early in the day than he'd like, but there wasn't much use in complaining, he got up, avoided being dragged into helping his mom in the kitchen and made it out to his car so he could head to the airport to pick up Avery. On the way he dialed Zane's number. "Monte?" Zane answered. "Yup, uh..." Things had been a bit awkward between the two of them since Zane threatened him and conversations were minimal or completely non existent. "I have a favor to ask." Monte pushed out. Zane's end of the phone remained dead quiet. "Can you pick up Gracie and the girls and bring them to my house?" Zane's eyebrow raised, though Monte couldn't see it. "Yeah, sure, is there a reason you can't do it?" He was being an ass now. "I have a reason, but I'm not at liberty to tell you, so you can just chalk it up to my being a lazy ass and call it a day, thanks." He hung up the phone and tossed it into the back seat. If he hadn't been such an ass, maybe he would have told him, his best friend was home and that's why he couldn't bring Gracie.

By the time Avery put his bag in the trunk and got into the car, Monte's cell phone was ringing off the hook to the theme song of "Jaws." Avery reached into the back seat and grabbed it. "Are you not talking to mom?" Monte laughed. "She just wants to know where the hell I am..." He grumbled. "Well, I suppose we'll just have to leave her in the dark." He pulled his hat off and placed it in his lap and buckled his seat belt. Monte laughed. "Now I know better than to shave my head, you look fucked up." He pulled the car away from the airport's loading section and started home. Avery ran his hand over his shaved head and smiled, though he'd hated shaving his head most of all. "What did mom decide on for lunch?" Avery asked, his stomach growling. "She had Coble's catered." Avery's stomach growled a little louder. "Did she order extra?" Monte grinned. They both new it wouldn't just be the two families, it probably never would be. Nick was permanently by Tess and Gage's side. Zane would want Tally there, Gracie was a part of the family no matter how Leah felt about it, thanks to the twins and Avery's insistence. Then somehow other members of Avery and Monte's social circle would trickle in and it was more like a Smith/Richards/Mondego/Conner's family picnic than anything.

[Tiff]

Monte's phone went off in Avery's lap again and Avery picked it up and answered it. Monte made a distinctly disapproving face, but continued to drive without saying anything. Avery also remained quiet, but after years of watching his brother answer their mother's phone calls this wasn't anything out of the ordinary. "Where are you?" There was a short pause. "You know the Richards should be arriving any second now and you're apart of this family, you're supposed to be here." Another pause. "Monte please!" Avery made a pouty face and looked in Monte's direction, sincerely feeling sorry for his mom. He passed the phone to Monte and tilted his head to the side, begging silently for him to be nice.

"I'm coming, I'm not far now..." His eyes darted to Avery. "I, uh, I went to the store and grabbed some ice..." It didn't sound convincing and to be perfectly honest, it was a horrible item to say he was out getting, the ice maker in the house was phenomenal at putting out ice, it could rival the ice makers in fast food restaurant fountain drink machines. "Ice? We..." She was fighting not to lose her temper. "Just come home." She hung up and Monte passed the phone back to Avery. "Nice one dude, you could have just let it ring." Avery grinned. "Yeah, I could have, but where's the fun in that? Does she know your ring tone for her is the theme song for 'Jaws?' I bet she hates that."

"No she doesn't know, she doesn't make a habit of calling me on my cell phone when I'm within hearing distance. You have a plan for getting you in the house unseen? I mean Gracie will most likely be there by the time you and I pull in the driveway and mom, well you know nothing gets past her." Avery shook his head. "Just pull into the garage and I'll hang out in there until you come back and get me."

Monte pulled into the garage and they both got out of the car. "I didn't see Zane's car, you sure you want to sit out here? I might be able to sneak you into your old bedroom." Avery shook his head. "Nah, it's just easier to stay out here, but uh, once Gracie gets here could you come get me, I don't want to wait too long. I'd really like to see her and the girls." A grin spread across his face. In his free time, when he wasn't writing Gracie or calling her and his mom, he was checking baby development stats online, trying to imagine how his two little girls were changing, if they were starting to look more and more like Gracie, or if they'd retained their resemblance to him. Sure he received plenty of pictures and updates from both his mom and Gracie, but it wasn't the same as physically seeing and holding them.

Zane pulled up to Avery and Gracie's house, expecting that Tally was more apt to be there than at her own home. He hadn't expected Monte's call or the favor he'd asked of him, he was supposed to give Tess, Nick, and Gage a ride to the Mondego house, but Tess said she and Nick could probably get a ride with Malachi or if Malachi didn't want to come, that Nick borrowed his car all the time. Zane hoped Malachi would come, it'd be nice to see him again, everything after the hurricane had happened so fast and though Zane really didn't know what was best for Malachi, he liked to think that getting him back together with part of the baseball team would be good for him. He zipped his winter coat up and got out of the car, making his way to the front door. He could hear one of the girls crying inside and hoped everything was alright, so far both of the girls had remained in good health, but Zane knew that babies immune systems were still weak and that any day they could come down with an ear infection or anything. He knocked on the door and waited patiently on the porch.

[Kelli-wa]

Tally was sitting in the living room with the girls while Gracie finished getting ready for the picnic. This was the deal most of the time, Gracie would get ready at the very last second that she could. She was just still nervous about leaving the girls alone, even when her sister was the one watching them. She was still expecting Monte to pick her up.

Harper had started squalling right before the knock came at the door and Tally tended to the baby, trying to calm her down, "Come on in, it's open!" she said, she was rocking the baby back and fourth. Gracie did everything in her power to stay put, but instead she came running into the living room, "What's wrong is she alright?" she asked as she lifted her daughter out of her sister's arms. Tally rolled her eyes, "She's fine, Gracie. You know, I can handle these things." Gracie nodded, "I know, I'm sorry. It just scares me a little."

[Tiff]

Zane opened the door when he heard that it was open. He took in the sight and smiled as Gracie came out to help with Harper. He made his way into the living room to Tally and kissed her on the forehead, noting that she seemed a little annoyed. This wasn't anything new really, there were tons of times where this exact thing occured while he was sitting next to Tally watching the twins. In a way her over protectiveness was sweet, any stranger could tell that she loved her girls and didn't want anything bad to happen to them, but after awhile it could become frustrating, especially when you were trying to get her to have some alone time and rest. Harper started to calm down a bit, she was still whimpering, but the postman out on the street wouldn't be able to hear her at least. "Did Monte call?" He asked, he knew Monte wouldn't have called, he wasn't considerate enough to do more than he actually had to. "He called and asked me to pick you up and bring you over to the picnic, but he didn't give me a reason why." He turned so that Gracie wouldn't see, though she was probably to concerned with Harper to look up at him anyway, he rolled his eyes and continued. "I don't mind." He really didn't, it just bothered him that Monte was so secretave about everything. "You almost ready?"

[Kelli-wa]

Nick gave his girlfriend a glance and then picked up their son from the ground. He was almost two now and Nick was hoping he wouldn't catch the 'terrible twos'. He smiled at his pregnant-again girlfriend and then walked up to her, "I think I talked Malachi into coming to this picnic. Hopefully he won't bail on us, though. He's still a bit of a mess..." Nick leaned forward and kissed her forehead. This could be a long day, or it could be an easy one. He hoped for the former, that was all he could do. "We need to talk about what to name that little one in there," he said, smiling at her.
"Kimburee!" Gage said loudly. Nick had recently gotten a DVD of the old Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers Movie and he had taught Gage all of their names, the pink one being Kimberly. Nick just laughed, "I don't know about that, buddy."

[Tiff]

Tess looked up from her cell phone, she'd just received Zane's text message and had been distracted when Nick started talking, she heard him, it just hadn't comprehended immediately. "What...Oh, well that's great." She said, sliding the thin phone into her back pocket. "Really good." She said, finally really understanding him. "We need a ride anyway, Zane had to go pick up Gracie and Tally and with the Twins, there's not exactly a lot of room left. She stepped closer to Nick, her stomach just bumping his hips as she planted a kiss on Gage's cheek. "A name..." She took in a deep breath and exhaled. "I really haven't put much thought into it." She didn't like the name Kimberly, it just seemed too common. She tilted her head, trying to figure out where he might have learned the name from before. "Power rangers? Really Nick?" She wasn't really mad , but she liked to pretend, it made life interesting without caffeine. "What about..." She made a face and shrugged. "I don't know I'll think of something."

[Kelli-wa]

Gracie didn't see what was going on, too involved with her daughter to even care really.  She did hear, though and she sighed, "He does that a lot doesn't he?" she asked, but she didn't really care either.  He still came around to see the girls and help out a little.  She didn't really notice too much anymore. She tried not to interact with him too much after the first day.  It was too weird.  Tally nodded lightly at him, though, they were ready. Gracie looked presentable and there wasn't a chance in hell that Tally was going to let her back in that bathroom.

Nick smirked, "It's a good show for growing boys," he said with a laugh. He shook his head lightly, "You've got to admit it's less annoying than those stupid baby movies." He had been thinking, but he had no idea. He shrugged lightly, "What about Hollis? I think we thought of that one for Gage's girl names."
Gage hit his father in the chest, just to get his attention. "I not a girl!" he said, defending is male title.
Nick laughed, "I know bud, but when you were in mommy's tummy we didn't know if you were a boy or a girl."

[Tiff]

Zane held his tongue not wanting to get carried away in a rant about how awful Monte was when they had a party to go to and especially because he was sure he'd upset Tally the last time he'd complained about him. "Well their car seats are still hooked up in my backseat from two days ago." He said, pointing over his shoulder to the door. "I'm ready when you are." He fished his keys out of his pocket and walked outside to get the heater running again.

Tess nodded. "I know, I was only teasing." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Yes it's less annoying, but not as educational." She laughed, it must be surreal to hear those words coming out of her mouth when before Gage was born she'd been so dead set against attending school. "Anyway, it's still a good show as long as he's still learning." She didn't get a chance to comment on the name before Gage defended his manhood, which made her laugh. "I like the name Hollis as long as you still do." She raised her eyebrows in a question, though she didn't actually ask one. "Are you going to ask Cai if he's going to give us a ride or are we hoofing it in the snow?" She shook her head, because she really didn't want to walk in the snow.

[Kelli-wa]

Gracie smiled lightly at Zane, still trying to get Harper to calm down and stop her crying. She looked at Tally, "Can you get Devyn loaded? Please?" she asked nicely. Tally rolled her eyes, "Yeah, now you want help. When the baby isn't screaming I can handle it, but if someone sounds sad it's gotta be you," she mumbled under her breath as she walled over to the baby. She smiled down at her though and picked her up gently. She started out to the car with the other baby, but not before covering her with a blanket and grabbing a small baby-quilt that someone had gotten Gracie which had proven quite useful since the snow started falling. Gracie followed her out, covering Harper with a blanket as well. "Zane could you grab that other quilt and my diaper bag?" she asked from in front of him.

Nick shrugged, giving her a bright smile, "Who needs educational television when you can have mindless violence, right Gage?" he asked his son. "Yeah, viwense!" He made fists and a mean face. Nick laughed, figuring he'd get in trouble for that one. "But what did I tell you about violence?" he asked. Gage looked at his father Nf immidiatey responded, "Be nice and don't punss giwls."
Nick looked at her and nodded, "I still love that name, but did you have any other ideas?" he asked. "And what middle name would we put with that?" He was blank on that subject. He wasn't ready for middle names, or good at it. He didn't know which names went together and which didn't.
"Yeah, he's on his way." Immediately as that was said a honk came from outside. "There he is."

[Tiff]

Zane walked back in from turning the heat back on in the car to see if Gracie or Tally needed anymore help. Tally passed him with Devyn and he continued into the house to help Gracie. "Oh sure." He grabbed the diaper bag and the second quilt and followed Gracie out of the house, closing the door behind him. "She calming down anymore?"

Tess pressed her palm against her forehead. "You've ruined my little boy." She laughed, she never expected Gage to be a perfect angel past infancy. "You know I like the name Riley, but really Hollis is good and why break the trend we have going? Gage still doesn't have a middle name. [[Right?]] Why should this new baby have a middle name if Gage doesn't have one?" She glanced over her shoulder and out the window at Cai's car. "Wow that was fast." She grabbed two coats out of the closet. "Here Gage put your coat on." She shrugged her own coat on and tried to zip it over her belly. "I guess I need a new coat." She tugged a bit harder on the zipper, but it wouldn't budge. "Maybe you can do it? I'll just try to suck the baby in." She giggled, it was probably pointless. "Have I really gained this much weight?"

[Kelli-wa]

Gracie smiled gently at Zane, "Yeah, I dint know what made her so mad, though.  She just ate and her diaper is clean and dry.  Tal, was there a loud noise that scared her?" she asked.
Tally shrugged her shoulders, "I'm not sure, maybe so.  I just remember the wailing and then a knock on the door that turned out to be Zane."

Nick smirked, "Actually, I perfected him.  He wasn't quite right so I got the thoughts in his head early.  He was gonna turn into Malachi, and though he's cooler now, we only need one depressed person around.  I prefer to make him violent as opposed to depressed."  Nick nodded to Gage who in turn nodded to his mother.
A honk came from outside and Nick smiled, "Cai must be outside.  You ready, babes?" he asked before he saw her struggling with the jacket.  He turned to her, setting Gage down, then took the zipper and tried to push it up more.  He managed to get it past her belly and then let her do the rest so he could put Gage's coat on.  "Daddy no coat!  No coat me!"
Nick shook his head, "I don't think so little man, you follow mommy's rules and that means you wear a coat."
Nick looked up at Tess again, "I assumed we were going to give him one eventually.  Don't kids need one at some point?  Maybe we should just give them an initial or something..."

[Tiff]

"Maybe she's crying to hear herself. Gage talks to hear himself talk all the time. It's actually quite annoying sometimes." He shrugged. "Or she could..." He shrugged his shoulders again. "I honestly have no idea, sorry I can't be more help. Maybe the short drive will lull her to sleep and it won't even matter why she was crying as long she stops right?" He felt like he was rambling to himself and stopped. "Let me know when the youngin's are strapped in and safe and I'll get us outta here.

Tess zipped her coat up the rest of the way and walked over to help Nick with Gage. "If you put on your coat for daddy, I'll get you whatever dessert you want as soon as we get there." She raised her eyebrows, hoping her bribe would work and that Michael wouldn't notice. "I don't know if kids need middle initial or not. What's the point? I guess I could understand if your name was super common like Jane Jones, there might be six Jane Jones' in one class, but if they all have a different middle name it could work out." She shrugged. "But really how many Gage's or Hollis' do you know?" She zipped up Gage's coat and took his hand. "I only know the one Gage and I've never heard of another Hollis before." She opened the door and stepped outside toward Malachi's car.

[Kelli-wa]

Gracie shrugged, "I don't know, I mean, sometimes toddlers do that, but I think babies usually cry for a reason, sometimes, though, it's impossible to soothe that reason..." She sighed lightly but got the baby to settle down just in time to put her in her car seat which would no-doubt make her start wailing again and she'd have to calm her down once again when they got to the 'picnic.' The twins were buckled in so Tally and Gracie also got buckled and were ready to go. "Let's move it, I'm starving."

Nick was skeptical about the bribe. Sure it would work on Gage, but Michael might notice that they were giving the boy sweets before dinner and might have something to say about their "parenting styles." Gage immediately let the coat slip on his arms and allowed Nick to pick him back up so they could start out to Malachi's car. He shrugged, however as she started on the middle initial. "Yeah, but don't they need it for some sort of standardized testing or whatever? And what if other kids make fun of them for not having a middle name? That would suck..." He shook his head, though, because he didn't know anyone named either of those names, aside from his mother's high-school best friend's younger brother. He smirked, "You've got me, though. I don't know anyone with the name Hollis."

[Tiff]

Zane didn't waste a single second, he wanted to get them to the party as quickly as possible so everyone could eat and maybe the twins would be soothed by the constant attention they were bound to get from those in attendance. He pulled into the Mondego drive way and parked behind what looked like Michael Richards' cruiser. "I actually didn't expect my dad here until later, he must have got off work early." He shrugged and turned in the seat. "You want any help carrying them in, or you got it?" He asked Gracie. "I don't mind helping out."

Tess reached the car first and opened the door. "Hey Cai, thanks for the ride." She said then turned to answer Nick. "I honestly don't think it matters, standardized test or not. What are they going to do? Not give my kid the test and fail him because I, his parent, decided I didn't want to give my kid some useless middle name? Come on really? And as far as kids picking on them, the way you've already started bringing him up, he'll be kicking those kid's asses." Gage lit up at the 'a' word. "Asses!" He exclaimed. "That's not a nice word, Gage, mommy didn't mean to say that in front of you." He giggled and repeated it. "And if Hollis is anything like either of us or Gage, she'll be holding the kid down while Gage smashes his face in." She put her hands on her hips and dared Nick to say she was wrong.

[Kelli-wa]

Gracie smiled at Zane with his question, "Uhm, yeah, if one of you could get Devyn, that would be great. I'll take Harper," she said as she unbuckled herself and then unbuckled the car seat. "Just take the whole carrier, though, it's much easier when they go to sleep to just put them in the seat to take them home," she said with a light laugh. She got Harper out fine and closed the door. Tally opened the side Devyn was on and started unbuckling her as well while Gracie made her way up to the house.

Nick smirked, "Fine, fine. You're right. The kids won't be making fun of him because he'd probably smash them. He's chunky for a pre-me. It's kind of weird, isn't it?" he asked her lightly. He started buckling Gage up in the back seat. "You should go ahead and sit up front, babe, I'll just sit back with Gage." Malachi shook his head lightly. "You guys are kind of ridiculous. No one is going to make fun of that kid. He's going to be either the coolest kid on the block, or the meanest." Nick laughed, "You're right on that note."
Once everyone was buckled and ready, Malachi made his way to the Mondego home and parked his car on the street. Nick immediately started to unbuckle Gage again.