Fated (A Chris Evans Series)

Date Night

Thanksgiving brought Chris and Denise's little family back to his big family in Boston. The holiday schedule was worked out a while back, after the couple had to spend three big holidays apart. Because last Thanksgiving was spent in LA, this year's would be spent in Boston. Denise's parents were a little bummed they weren't going to be there for Jack's first Thanksgiving, but seeing as they had Jack for his first Christmas- they couldn't really complain. Lisa did invite them out to Boston too, but her invitation was politely declined as the rest of Denise's family would've gotten upset if her parents weren't around to host their annual Thanksgiving dinner party.

Denise agreed to FaceTime her parents before dinner so her extended family could see Jack; not everyone in her family had met Jack yet, so the video call was highly sought after. Denise had also promised to call the Stans so they could exchange holiday pleasantries. It'd been a long time since they last saw each other, in person that was. They scheduled a FaceTime call at least once a week so the babies could familiarize themselves with their godparents and each other.

The couple, their son, and their dog flew into Boston on a Friday afternoon. Scott picked them up at the airport and took them back to Lisa's where they settled in Chris' childhood bedroom as the house he'd bought thirty-four minutes away was still unfurnished. They celebrated Thanksgiving on the Saturday with Chris' family and friends. Lisa threw a huge dinner party that really started at lunch time, giving Chris and Denise a chance to introduce Jack to everyone who was yet to meet him.

The crowd was slightly overwhelming for their little one. Halfway through being passed from Uncle Scott to Uncle Matt, he started bawling, forcing Chris and Denise to take him and hide out in the bedroom for a while. Dodger padded after them because everywhere Jack went, he followed. Chris had to pace the room for a good ten minutes before Jack calmed down and dozed off. They stayed and made sure Jack was off in dreamland before rejoining the party, and Dodger stayed even after Chris asked him to follow. Chris pouted as he and Denise made their way downstairs, grumbling "looks like he's found himself a new best friend." Denise laughed and gave his hand a squeeze.

Sunday was spent at Carly's. Denise and Jack hung out inside with Shanna, Carly, and Lisa; Chris and Dodger ran wild outside with the boys and men, tossing a football around. All the while Chris was running around with Miles and Ethan, getting tackled by them- he thought about Jack and how it wouldn't be long until his son was going to be able to join in on the fun. He was excited, like really excited. It was trivial, but it was also a right of passage for every father and son so who could blame him? He got excited every time football Sunday came around and Jack wore his little Patriots jersey. He would take a dozen photos while rambling on about how great it would be when Jack was old enough to attend the Super Bowl with him. Those photos were added to the scrapbook labeled 'Jackson Christopher Evans', along with mementos. Basically anything and everything involving Jack was added to the scrapbook. Both iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks were also chock full of Jack's photographs. Why wouldn't they? Chris and Denise were first time parents who had a ridiculously adorable son.

There were many things to get excited about when it came to Jack and his milestones, like his first word: 'dada.' He was eight and a half months now, learning to repeat sounds Chris and Denise made. He didn't know what he was saying, but it didn't stop what came out of his mouth from melting their hearts. Chris cried when Jack sounded something close to 'daddy,' and Denise cried because she clearly didn't spend enough time with him to let his first word be associated with any variation of the word 'mother.' Chris felt so bad that he spent the two weeks after Jack said 'dada,' trying to teach him 'mama.' It was so sweet that she got over not being Jack's first word. It wasn't like Jack knew what he was saying anyway, and even if he did- Chris deserved being Jack's first word as he was the one putting in the time while she was busy at work.