Friday morning and early afternoon: reunion at the airport and meeting the family

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Friday morning: Jamie waits at the airport, is teased unmercifully by his cousin, and is finally reunited with Kitty.


Jamie paced back and forth across the airport's tiled floor, hands shoved in his jacket pockets, alternating between glaring at the arrivals screen, glaring at the clock, and glaring at the silent baggage claim.

"It's 10:34," he muttered. "The plane was supposed to land at 10:30. It's on time. The thing says it's on time." He screeched to a halt in front of his cousin, whose Marine discipline was serving him well in the struggle not to laugh. "Where are they?"

Nate Jessup, who resembled nothing so much as a taller, older, stockier Jamie with a military haircut, shrugged. "It is a big plane, coz." Then he grinned. "I haven't seen you this tied up in knots in . . . damn, I don't even know how long. Can't wait to meet this girl. And you know you're going to roast as soon as we go outside, don't you?"

"Kitty likes the jacket." Jamie hitched it self-consciously. "And I haven't seen her for a month, so I don't want to look like an idiot when I do. She's amazing."

Nate snickered, dug a battered notebook out of his pocket, and made an elaborate check-mark. "Twenty-seven amazings to nineteen incredibles since we left the house. I hope Aunt Jo bought the good beer."

Jamie looked sour. "Gee, Jack, so glad I could help you out."

Nate levered himself out of the plastic chair, caught Jamie in an effortless headlock, and began administering noogies. "Now, Runt," he said conversationally, "we talked about nicknames. You're only doing this to yourself, you know."

"Will you stop--get--argh! Nate! Dammit!" Jamie wriggled free and ran his fingers through his hair. "She's gonna be here in a minute, you sadist!"

"That's Sergeant Sadist to you. Besides, if she's half as nuts about you as you apparently are about her, she wouldn't care if you were hanging upside-down from the ceiling wearing nothing but Winnie the Pooh footie pajamas. Which could be rranged." People began filing through the doors leading to the terminal, and Nate grinned. "But not today, apparently. You get lucky this time, coz."

Kitty had made a severe effort of will not to phase through the plane and just skip the whole 'filing out of the plane very slowly', but once they were actually on the ramp into the airport she had no qualms about using her small size to slip between people and dash ahead. Her back pack firmly tucked against her side, she ducked past a man with a briefcase, shooting him a grin over her shoulder as she bipassed the escalator in favor of racing down the stairs.

She slowed slightly when she passed the security agents at the entrance to the waiting area, but then spotted Jamie, and all caution was forgotten. Of course, the security agents couldn't help but smile at her shout of, "Jamie!" as she dashed toward him and tossed herself into his arms.

Jamie had just enough time to perk up and grin before Kitty cannoned into him and he found much better things to do with his lips. Eventually, though, they had to break for air, and he leaned his forehead against hers, grinning like an idiot and not caring in the least. "Ohh, that's better," he breathed. "You're here, you're here. This is a good day."

"Missed you so much," Kitty whispered into his shoulder, holding him tightly. Breathing him in deeply, she slowly pulled away to look him over. "Ohhh, jacket..." she muttered, and kissed him again. "Yeah, very good day," she added when she stopped to
breath again.

"Hmm. I'm pretty sure it's unhealthy--y'know, anatomically speaking--when your heart's half a continent away." Jamie grinned. "But it's okay now. We're going to have so much fun this weekend--oh hey!" Somehow, without loosening his hold on Kitty in the least, he got them both facing in Nate's direction. "This is my cousin, Nate Jessup. He's driving us back. Nate, this is Kitty."

Nate grinned. "Well, I didn't figure it was anybody else. Nice to meet you."

Kitty held out her hand. "Nice to meet you, too. Jamie's told me so many stories about all of his relatives... It's a little daunting." But she grinned as she shook his hand.

"Heh. Well, damn near every word out of the runt here's mouth since he got home has been about you, so there's daunt on both sides, trust me. Glad to see he wasn't exaggerating too much, though."

"I," Jamie said loftily, "wasn't exaggerating at all."

"My mistake." Nate grinned. "Round about the fifteenth recitation of her sterling qualities I must have lost track."

"I didn't bring you along to make commentary, you know."

"You didn't bring me along at all. Aunt Jo said there'd better be somebody driving who was looking at the road instead of the girl." Nate winked at Kitty. "So, are we waiting for any bags here?"

Kitty grinned at the banter, her arm around Jamie's waist tightening a little as she watched the two of them. "Oh, yes," she said. "I've got a little suitcase coming."

"We've got some time, then," Jamie said fondly. "Well, we would anyway, but, you know. Before the horde descends." He grinned. "Wow, you look good . . . how've you been? I mean--" He patted a jacket pocket, and paper rustled. "Letters, yeah, but--tell me? I missed your voice."

Leaning her head against his shoulder, she said, "My parents are insane, and I've nearly gone mad with missing you, but I'm here and you're here, and that means everything in the entire world is good."

Jamie planted a kiss on the top of her head. "We'll just have to declare this weekend a sanity break then. Or at least a more-fun-kinds-of-crazy break, it's kinda nuts at home, but I think you'll like it. Everybody's really looking forward to meeting you, and there's food, and fireworks, and . . . you're here and I'm here and everything's good. It's been a
really long month."

"Yes, it has," Kitty agreed. "And I am highly in favor of more fun sorts of crazy - I miss fun-crazy. You do know it's your job to protect me from your relatives, right? Because I don't feel like being lynched when they figure out just how not-worthy of you I am."

"We're not back to that, are we?" Jamie hugged her closer. "You're being silly. No lynchings. No not-worthiness, either. I say so. So would my mom and dad if they were here, they like you a lot. This isn't a test you have to pass, it's just a fun weekend with me that my family happens to be here for."

"You're whole family," Kitty put in. "I swear, you have more relatives than most people have friends and aquaintences. Oh..." she was suddenly distracted. "That's my bag." Her finger pointed towards a small black carry-all that had just trundled it's way onto the conveyor belt.

"Most of them are older than I am, so it's not my fault."

Nate hooked Kitty's bag off the belt and slung it over his shoulder. "Ready to go, kids?"

"Think so, yeah. Hey, we'll be back in time for lunch." Jamie grinned at Kitty. "Grilled kosher dogs and chips, probably, because of all the mouths to feed. We'll rustle something else up if you want it though."

"Sounds fantastic," Kitty said with a smile. Closing her hand on Jamie's, she added, "Lead the way."

As they walked out to the parking garage, Jamie suddenly grinned at Nate's back, then winked at Kitty. "Say nothing about the car," he muttered in a too-audible undertone.

"There's nothing wrong with my car, Runt," Nate retorted without turning around. "My car is a classic."

"It's a 1973 Olds Omega. In lime green. Except for the bright yellow door."

"I'm still working on it."

"You've been working on it ever since I can remember. It's still lime green. Except for the yellow door."

Nate shot an exasperated glance over his shoulder. "Kitty, do I have to take this from him? Help me out here."

"Wait, you're expecting me to take sides against the boy? Sorry, Nate, you're on your own this time. But hey, I won't take his sid..." She trailed off as she spotted what could only be the car in question. "No, I take that back. That is a truly hideous color for a car to be."

"I've had more important things to do than track down the original paint color, that's all," Nate grumbled as he put Kitty's bag in the passenger seat, but he recovered his smile when he turned back to the couple, tipping the seat forward. "Back seat's a little cramped, and it's a two-hour drive, but somehow I don't think either of you'll mind all that much. Hop
in."

Kitty giggled, the ducked her head to crawl into the back seat of the car. When Jamie followed her in she curled up with her head on his shoulder. A cramped car after the plane ride was less than great, but with Jamie there it was heaven.

---

And when they get back to the farm, about noonish, Kitty meets Jamie's dog, mom, and grandmother in quick succession before getting a little overwhelmed; they go up to his room to talk, and resolve to explore some of the advantages of Kitty sleeping in a room Jamie's been sneaking in and out of since he was old enough to reach the windowsill.



Roads in Kansas tended toward the straight, and so the travelers caught sight of the Madrox farm while they were still some distance away. Still, the full effect wasn't apparent until they pulled into the driveway: a low, rambling farmhouse of wood and stone, some sections obviously newer than others. An old oak tree loomed behind the house, and a large barn stood off to
one side.

In the front yard, an oversized RV presided over what appeared to be a small tent city; an assortment of small children ran shouting between the tents in hot pursuit of an indeterminate number of dogs.

Nate pulled into a makeshift parking lot on the grass near the front door of the house and held the door open for his passengers. Jamie clambered out of the car, and held his hand out for Kitty, smiling and nearly bouncing on the balls of his feet. "C'mon, I wanna show you everything!"

It would be far easier to phase out of the car, but Kitty was wary of doing so in view of so many people - even if they were Jamie's family. So she took his hand and climbed out, stretching her back out as she stood. "Ok, ok," she said with a smile. "I want to see everything, so let's go."

"Excellent. C'mon, we'll sneak past the midget squad." He nodded toward the RV. "That's Uncle Harvey's--he's been kind of nomadic since the divorce, but he's a great guy. Writes mystery novels. His last one almost made the Times bestseller list."

"Very cool," Kitty said, although she kept a close watch on the so-called 'midget squad'. There were certainly a lot of them.

They managed, however, to get through the front door without incident. The entryway opened onto a warm, wood-paneled living room that managed to be tasteful and homey at the same time. Jamie waved a hand. "This is actually part of the original house, the one my great-grandad built when he settled here--we've sort of added on as needed, so Mom and Dad probably rattle around a little now that it's just them."

"It's lovely," Kitty said, her fingers trailing over the wood of small table. She smiled and glanced up. "So much history..."

Jamie smiled back. "Was over a hundred years old already by the time I showed up. We've been here a long time."

He was about to say more, but was interrupted as a golden retriever, muzzle going grey, scrambled into the room to leap up on him and attack his face, tail wagging furiously.

"Tyke! Ackthpt. Get down, boy, I know you missed me." He grinned at Kitty, scratching the dog's ears. "I think he thinks every time I leave the house I'll be gone for another year. This is Tycho. He's a moron, but he's cute, so we forgive him. Tyke, say hi. Say hi, boy." He wrestled the dog around to face Kitty. "This is Kitty. If you're very nice to her, she might drop you a piece of her hot dog later." Tyke's ears perked up ahd he sniffed hopefully.

"See, I can totally understand missing you like that," Kitty said with a grin. Holding out her hand to be smelled and then licked quite thoroughly, Kitty said, "Hello Tycho. You have excellent taste in owners."

"Yeah, but you don't have dog breath when you pounce me."

Tycho not only sniffed and licked, he nuzzled his head up underneath Kitty's hand in a shameless plea for skritchies. Jamie grinned. "Looks like he just has good taste."

Kitty happily provided skritchies. "Indeed - my lack of dog breath is probably one of my better features," she said with a grin. "Although I can't wag my tail nearly as well as he can."

Jamie chuckled. "I don't know about that. I know which one of you I'd rather--oh hey Mom."

"I thought I heard your voice, Jamie." Jo Madrox stepped the rest of the way into the room and smiled at Kitty. "It's wonderful to see you again, Kitty, we're all so glad you could make it. How was your flight?"

Kitty stood up, smiling. "Hello, thank you for having me. The flight wasn't that bad - thankfully it's not that far from Chicago out here. How have you been?"

"Oh--busy, but otherwise good. Had an outbreak of hardware disease last month--" She smiled apologetically. "Which means that one of the neighbors' herds got loose and into some grass with metal debris in it, and the debris didn't pass through. Only one surgery, thank goodness."

"That must be terrible for the animals," Kitty said, looking worried. "I'm glad it wasn't as bad as it could have been."

"It's fairly painful, yes--" Jo stopped short and rolled her eyes. "Lord, listen to me, talking shop right before a meal. Next thing you know I'll have the charts out and all those hot dogs will go to waste." She grinned. "I suppose you're on the grand tour anyway? Most of the family's outside supervising the grills, Jamie, but your grandmother's in the family room and I'm sure she'd like to see you both."

"Thanks, Mom." He smiled at Kitty. "What do you think? Meet Grandma, then get something to eat?"

"Works for me," Kit said with a nod.

"I'll see you outside, then--I'm sure Lil needs the help keeping Jesse from burning his eyebrows off by now." Jo smiled. "I'm afraid they only get worse as they get older, Kitty. We'll have to get the girls together sometime this weekend and swap stories."

"That sounds like fun," Kitty said. "And really, I'm not that surprised, from the stories I've heard, that it doesn't get better with age. But then, I think it's kind of cute."

Jo laughed. "That's the best way to handle it. I'll see you two in a little bit."

"Note to self," Jamie said as his mother left the room. "Organize field trip to Topeka for the guys to avoid gossipy doom." He grinned and took Kitty's hand. "The family room's down this way, in the new part of the house--Dad and I added it on the summer before I came to the school."

The family room proved to be an oblong, cheery room, paneled in varnished pine, with plenty of windows and a red brick fireplace at the far end. In front of the fireplace, in a comfortable armchair angled to catch the sunlight through one of the windows, a tiny birdlike woman with a long silver braid sat with a book. She glanced up as they entered the room, and
her whole face lit. "Jamie! You're back. Is this your young lady, then?"

"Hey, Grandma. Yeah, this is Kitty. Kitty, this is my grandma, Rose Jessup."

Grandma Jessup beamed. "Well, come on closer, then, child, let me get a look at you."

Kitty stepped forward, trying not to think too hard about matriarchical families and smiled. "It's nice to meet you, ma'am," she said.

"My goodness, aren't you lovely." She smiled. "Don't let Jamie get away, now. He's a good boy."

That got a grin out of Kitty. "Oh, I think I'll keep him as long as I can," she said, glancing over her shoulder at Jamie.

"As long as you want me," Jamie corrected, smiling.

His grandmother nodded, satisfied, then grinned mischievously at Kitty. "I just bet he told you I'd say you need to eat more, didn't he?"

"Well, I was warned that I'd probably end up being fed almost constantly all weekend," Kitty admitted.

"There's plenty of food, right enough. But I'll spare you the grandmotherly admonishments--he told me you were a dancer, and I know you need to watch how much you eat." She directed a mock glare at Jamie, who was looking slightly crestfallen. "You, on the other hand, my lad, look like you've been eating far too much junk food. There's a vegetable platter out there and I'll expect you to have seconds of it before dessert."

Kitty giggled lightly. "I try to get him to take care of himself, but it doesn't always work very well," she said. "But I promise, we do get fed fairly well at school."

"I'm being ganged up on. No fair." Jamie eyed Kitty severely. "Especially when I'm not the one who forgets to eat every time there's something interesting on the computer."

"Not everytime..." Kitty said, but she smiled somewhat apologetically at Jamie.

"Enough times." But he smiled back.

"You two," Grandma pronounced, "are just too cute."

Kitty blushed as she turned back to Rose Jessup. "Thank you, ma'am."

Jamie grinned. "Oh! Mom probably would've wanted me to tell you, food should be just about ready. We're headed out there next."

"All right. Thank you, dear. I'll be out in a little while, once the frenzy's settled a bit." She smiled, eyes sparkling. "Just lovely to meet you, Kitty. I hope we can talk later."

"Nice to meet you too, and that would be very nice," Kitty said, smiling. Turning, she took Jamie's hand again. "So, outside then?" she asked, managing to keep from looking too worried.

"That's the plan. The back yard looks a lot like the front yard, except, today there are less tents and more food." He navigated them down the hall, and once they were out of earshot of the family room, squeezed her hand. "You're not still nervous, are you? Because by my count you've charmed the socks off of all six members of my family that you've met--well,
okay, Tyke doesn't wear socks, but he'd probably shed more off his legs if you asked--and you have to respect the statistical data, don't you? You're doing fine, really."

"If by 'charmed the socks off' you mean been vaguely cordial too, then sure..." Kitty worried at her lip. "It's just that there are so many of them, Jamie," she said. "I mean, you've basically met as much of my family as I have - it's really just my mom, dad and me. This is... kind of overwhelming."

"I was counting me, you know," he pointed out, smiling. "That would bring the average up even if they didn't like you, and they do. You're all likeable and stuff." He stopped in the hall and slipped an arm around her waist. "We can take a break if you want, though, take your stuff upstairs? We're not gonna miss the food, and--I'm really sorry, Kitty, I should've thought. I guess I got a little carried away."

"No, it's ok," Kitty said quicklky, leaning into him. "I do want to meet all of them... But yeah, maybe a little break would be good."

"Then a little break we will have. Right this way."

They detoured back through the living room to pick up Kitty's suitcase, and then up a narrowish, fairly creaky set of stairs to the second floor. The stairs let out onto a wide, carpeted hallway, and Jamie pushed open a door about halfway down.

The room thus revealed was cheerful and only slightly messy, its wallpaper nearly invisible behind bookshelves and posters; an Alison Blaire concert poster shared pride of place over the desk with a large Alan Lee print.

"You'll be in here," Jamie said, smiling. "Should be pretty comfortable, and you won't have to share with anybody. Perks of being a guest."

"Well, as long as we don't count Al over there," Kitty said with a grin, nodding at the poster of their counserlor turned music teacher. "I take it this is your room? I'm not putting you out, am I?"

"Yeah, I've been wondering if I should take that back to school and get it autographed, or take it down because I know her now, or what . . ." He shook his head. "You're only putting me out in the sense of I'll have to find somewhere else to sleep, and there's the couch downstairs, the spare bunk in Uncle Harvey's Winnie, the hayloft, and hey, if the weather stays
this nice I might just sack out in the tree out back, it won't be the first time." He grinned. "In the sense of being an inconvenience, no, you're not, enjoy the bed. I put fresh sheets on this morning and everything."

"Well, Al'd be thrilled, of course. But then, you might have to fight Doug over the poster afterwards," Kitty said with a smile. She glanced around the room again. Almost idly, she said, "Your family'd probably flip their lid if you stayed with me, wouldn't they?"

"I could take Doug. He doesn't get up early enough." Jamie's eyebrows went up at Kitty's last words, and he smiled slowly. "Weeellll . . . yeah, maybe. We'd get pretty seriously teased, at the very least. On the other hand, I know three different ways in and out of this room that don't make any noise . . ."

Kitty smiled back. "Not that I mind teasing," she said, "but... it'd be nice."

"The door locks, and I've been able to sneak through the window since I was six," Jamie replied promptly. "I'll leave a dupe wherever I end up officially sleeping, and have it come in with breakfast tomorrow morning. Nobody'll know any different." He grinned. "I missed that too. And . . . I brought some of that backrub lotion of Amanda's, you know, just in case."

Kitty walked over and wrapped her arms around him, leaning in close and hugging him softly. "That sounds wonderful," she said. "God, I've missed you so much, Jamie."

Jamie buried his face in her hair, taking a deep, happy breath as he held her close. "I missed you too. More than anything. You can ask Doug and Angie, I wasn't fit to live with that first couple weeks." He grinned. "I was this close to leaving a dupe at the school and shipping myself FedEx to hide in your closet. They have all these rules about live animal transport, though."

Kitty giggled softly. "My closet's kind of full, but you could probably live under my bed if you wanted to come back with me... Course," she admitted, "the Professor and them'd flip if you didn't come back."

"Yeah, and I've still got the occasional session with Doc Samson that I probably shouldn't be late for. Don't think I'm not tempted, though. I could unionize your dustbunnies, and I bet you'd let me sneak into bed now and then." Jamie leaned in for a kiss. "We made it this far. I think we'll make it to August."

"Not sure what unionized Dust Bunnies'd be like," Kitty mused. "And August seems so far away... But yeah, we'll make it."

"They'd demand more dust? Procreation Now! Dustbunnies Are Bunnies Too!" He grinned. "Think you're ready to face the friendly horde? I'm getting kinda hungry."

Kitty nodded. "Yeah, food would be good, and I can handle them... I think." But she smiled up at Jamie as she said it.

"You'll do fine. You've been dealing with insane parents for a month--my family should be a piece of cake after that. And speaking of cake, my mom made chocolate. Shall we?" Jamie grinned, stood, and offered his arm.

Taking his arm as she stood up, Kitty smiled. "Yes, let's. After all, if we don't hurry, one of your eight thousand relatives will eat the last of the cake."