After the contentious custody battle, Frank & Mary go on with their lives as usual. But it isn't until an eventful night at Ferg's that Frank starts to wonder if maybe his life might be missing something. Now that his niece has a normal life, maybe...
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2 ½ Years Later.
Joey slowly lowered herself down on her beach blanket and gazed out onto the ocean. The sun had just started to set around them as Fred tried his best to jump up into her lap. But, unfortunately for the one eyed cat, Joey didn't have much of a lap for him to settle into anymore.
Sensing her cat's frustration, Joey picked him up and placed him on top of her very pregnant belly and felt him immediately start to purr against her as he got more comfortable.
"Thaaat's it, Freddy pie." Joey cooed as she scratched behind the cat's ears the way that he'd always liked. "Get comfy and enjoy the show with me."
The show that Joey was referring to was the elaborate game of fetch that Frank and her three kids were trying to pull off with their 4 dogs; Gus, Roger, Dog, and their newest addition, Lola, a large labradoodle who had followed Frank home about a year ago and had stolen everyone's hearts.
In Lola's case, it was refreshing for Joey that Frank was the one who insisted that they keep the stray dog when they couldn't find her owner. Granted, by the time they had accepted the fact that the poor sweet dog had been abandoned and that there was no one was looking for her, Joey was already in love with tall blonde labradoodle and couldn't bear to part with her either. But it was nice to say, 'I told you so' every now and again and prove to her husband that he wasn't fooling anyone. There really was a sweet guy hiding underneath his grumpy exterior.
Dog was still technically her brother Cam's dog. But they were dog sitting for him while he was traveling with his boyfriend Steve throughout Europe. The huge fancy trip had been Steve's consolation prize when her brother had turned down Steve's marriage proposal last month and had badly bruised the poor guy's heart.
Poor Cam was still having a really hard time settling down. But in his defence, after a lifetime of feeling trapped, Cam, understandably, resisted the idea of giving up any of his newfound freedom. Even if the person Cam was with actually made him really happy and had no plans on breaking up with any time soon.
The two of them were due back early the next morning but, for as much as she missed them, Joey liked having Dog around. She just hoped that they were able to work through their issues during their trip. Steve really was a great guy and had quickly become an extended part of their family after her wedding.
Joey really liked Steve but she felt nothing but sympathy for her big brother. Afterall, she'd been in Cam's shoes before she met Frank. Joey had considered marriage a prison for the majority of her adult life. But as she watched the love her life happily try and organize the chaos of three hyper children and four excited dogs all trying to play fetch different toys. She couldn't help but smile and realize how wrong she had been.
Meeting the right person really made all of the difference in the world. Marriage wasn't always easy (far from it) but it certainly wasn't the prison Joey had assumed it was. In their two and a half years of marriage, she still didn't consider herself a relationship expert, but Joey had learned that finding the right person to spend your life with made the sweet times sweeter and the bad times almost bearable. Her marriage to Frank was worth all of the time and effort that they put into it and Joey couldn't imagine what her life would look like without him.
