Generations: The Long Game

Sunday - the Play Date

Reece was rather surprised that everyone had agreed to come for the play date. He had said specifically that he was not planning to cook, and he was fully aware that that was usually the draw for he and Marj's get togethers. He was over the moon to have all the children over and not be in the kitchen preparing their meal.

Mia actually surprised him by saying she would cook. The plan was to make homemade pizza. It was a recipe she and Reece had perfected over the years. It started out when Autumn was still young. They would make it for her when she was having a particularly rough day. Over their years together they often made it after a night out drinking. It was easy enough to make but required enough time that you would sober up a bit before eating.

The plan was that Winter was going to cook with Mia so he could learn the recipe for Autumn. She raved about it for years now, but as he did most if not all of the cooking, he really needed to be the one to learn it. The upside to this was Winter would not be choosing what to cook. He often served beef with only Autumn's preferences in mind and many of them were not fans of nearly raw meat. Mia quipped that Autumn practically wanted her steak to moo on the way to the plate.

So, while Mia and Winter were starting their preparations in the kitchen Reece was setting up little activities to do with all the children. Jamey helped him set up a little space area where Reece said they could touch anything there. That was Jamey's favorite part. As soon as Clodagh and Sorscha arrived with Quinn he ran off to get her and bring her to the space area. Reece overheard their conversation and chuckled.

"When you go to the space museum, Quinny, you aren't allowed to touch, but Uncle Reece said we can touch anything. He even let me touch everything in his space room. Can you believe it?" The little girl just stood there mesmerized by all the boy was saying. She was listening to ever word he said about the space shuttles and the moon rock that was in the space room.

Reece moved on and left them to it. He couldn't help but think about all the times he had dragged Mia and Autumn to that same space museum when they were younger. Roger had put an end to that when he forced him to take a Saturday job. They were at school during the week and the museum was closed on Sundays. It wasn't hard to figure out that that was the plan.

The fantastic four had found their way to the small ball pit Reece had put up in the lounge and were throwing the little plastic balls at each other. He knew as they got older, they were gonna be a rowdy bunch.

Mia having finished her tasks in the kitchen left Winter to finish the bake. He didn't mind. He knew where she was heading. She tucked in with Liliana at the pretend play station. Growing up Mia had her mom and her brother, but they weren't close. So, for most of her life she didn't have one single person that was related to her around. Now she had her children, but she reveled in the fact that, now that she knew about Autumn, Liliana was blood. Part of it, Winter thought, was her trying to make up for the time she lost with Autumn. Part of it might have also been that, while the four boys were wanted and loved, Lili was the only girl in the Fortune/Knight/Roberts family group.

She had sat on the floor with the little girl for the better part of an hour before everyone was called to lunch. As they sat around the table and ate, they chatted about how fun this day truly had turned out to be. None of them really had much time to just sit and play. For Reece he was absorbing every moment. It had started out as a byproduct of them deciding not to have more children. It made him want to remember every moment. To soak it all in, but now it was his favorite past time. Not just with Emery, but with all of them.

After lunch they were expecting a special guest, so Marjorie went around collecting the plastic fruit from the pretend play area and putting them away. Char and Mia sat on the sofa laughing as she frantically attempted to collect every piece.

Carly and Eric came in followed by Jodie. Mia nearly fell on the floor when Jodie asked if they had started a nursery in their home. "No, Jodie, my love these are all our children. You came today to do story time, remember?"

"What!? Totes Lush." Not much had changed.

Marjorie got her settled into the "book corner" with the children and came to sit next to Char and Mia. They all knew that Reece had gotten her a job at the library doing story time twice a day. What they didn't know was that he paid her wages. Marjorie had always known that the nursery wasn't the right place for Jodie, but she never could find it in her heart to fire her.

She looked across the room to Reece who was sitting with Carly. She was talking animatedly, but Marjorie noticed the look on his face and wondered if everything was truly ok. She knew he would tell her if anything was wrong later, but she hoped it wouldn't ruin his day in the meantime.

Mia looked to Marjorie "you know I told him once that it was like watching he and Aut all over again, but truthfully, they are more like he and I when we were growing up before ..." She trailed off and Char took her hand. The memories were still painful even after all the therapy and mended relationships.

She shook the memory from her thoughts and sat in the ball pit with the boys. Reed sat nicely for story time, but Emery, Aki and Carson were like Reece and Mia. Too much energy to sit still. So, she sat there and played with them until they were all laughing so hard they couldn't sit upright. Char loved seeing her like this. Happy and carefree. A far cry from the mean redhead she had met and fell in love with. Although they all knew she could still be that.

As the babies started to fall asleep, and Quinn and Jamey sat down to watch Lightyear the adults got some time to just sit and chat. Marjorie asked after the girls and Charlotte said they were with friends today and would be home later.

Autumn and Sorscha were talking animatedly about something, but Mia couldn't make it out. What she did know was seeing her sister like this made her happy. She had truly made friends. For Mia it was easy to see and feel like Autumn was her little sister. She always had anyway. Just then Autumn looked up and caught her gaze. She smiled. In that moment she knew Aut saw her as a sister finally too.

"Mia, what has Carly been doing at yours all weekend? We had hoped she stay a night or two here."

Mia looked up rather shocked. "Oh, she hasn't been at ours. I thought she was here." Suddenly bringing the children to her at their house in town made sense. Everyone went quiet.

Reece broke the silence. "So, before they left for their honeymoon, Viv and I were talking about doing a cook off. Winter, I wonder if you and Mia would want to join in. You lot are always saying that I am the best cook, so let's put it to the test." Winter looked at Mia and Mia shrugged. "Why not?" So sometime after Vivian returned, they would all get together for a massive four-person cook-off.

In that moment Reece and Clodagh both noticed Jamey and Quinn were no longer in the room. He could see how worried she was, so he took her hand and said, "come on, I have an idea on where they might be" he guided her down the hallway with Sorscha and Marjorie in tow. When he got to the door he noticed it was slightly ajar. He pushed it the rest of the way open, and there they were. A big book spread across both their legs. Their heads tilted and leaning on each other. Fast asleep.

Sorscha and Clodagh gathered Quinn and said their goodbyes. They had to pick Aidan up from grandma anyway. They were followed by all the other families. As they watched the last of their friends pull from the drive, Reece held her with one hand on her growing bump. "It was a good day, gorgeous." "One of the best," she replied.

A/N: please check out a very special art installation made especially for this chapter on TikTok @artbywill79