No fish to fry.

[light_in_sound]

Alison was excited. Mother's Day had been months before, but her gift for the day had finally been finished. Longshot had worked long and hard on the koi pond he'd built for her. Dakota and John had pitched in on the digging and the final touches. Her husband had wanted to do most of it himself, but it was a very big job

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[laertes]

Dakota was making sure the sheets strung up between poles were in place. It would be hard to do the unveiling without veils. Though the steady burn at the back of his neck told him his wife was less supervising and more ogling his butt. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Gloria Jean chasing Sadie around the yard. He chuckled to himself and headed toward the grill. His sons were most likely wherever Miyuki was. If for the fact Rodney acted like a big puppy around the young ninja. Though both boys turned into even bigger puppies around Asuka. Dakota swore they would jump off the mountain if the woman asked them to. It actually kind of amused him

He jogged over to stairs to help Alison. He was angling for the bread but bet he would end up getting the salad.

[clericpreston]

John actually enjoyed cooking, so he didn't mind being stuck with kitchen duty. Actually, for the last two weeks or so, very little seemed to bother him. He was, at that very moment, whistling happily under his breath as he balanced glass pitches of lemonade, chocolate milk, iced tea, and fruit punch.

Lisa burst out the back door waving a new toy she'd brought for Sadie. "Hi Daddy! Bye Daddy!" She raced past John and hurried to catch up with Gloria Jean. The toy was a knotted piece of thick rope with a handle on one end for tug-of-wars. She figured that between the two of them, they could handle the over-excited puppy. Maybe.

[pastthegumbo]

Rogue has been watching Dakota's rear. She likes how the jeans he's wearing fit him. Of course, she should since she picked them out at the store for him. After quite a bit of him modeling in a tight t-shirt. She smiles as her husband starts their way and looks up at the back door as Lisa seems to burst right through the scene.

A glance toward Gloria Jean reveals the girl giggling and waving her arms at a puppy with a tongue lolling out of her mouth running. She checks over her should at what Longshot is doing.

"If y'all can pull the bone right out of the ribs, then those are done, sugah."

[sonofarize]

Longshot nodded at Rogue's instructions. He had several types of meat and vegetables grilling. Or so it went when he tried to appease everybody. He carefully poked at the bone with his tongs before trying to see if it would come out.

"Mm. A couple more minutes. It's not quite there yet." He glanced over at Rogue, spotted Ali behind her and grinned. He waved at her.

"Hey, gorgeous! What did you bring to keep the meat company?"

[light_in_sound]

"Thank you, love. This will be the best Mother's Day present ever. I will never forget a second of it." She laughed lightly at the ring of sauce around his lips and shook her head as she went back to her own food. It had been a near miss, but she managed not to reach out with a napkin. The mommy-urge to wipe his face clean had been almost overwhelming. She blamed the run in with his four-year old self.

She smiled at Will. He was such a sweet boy. He blushed a lot, though. Poor kid.

Under the table, a puppy-like tongue licked Alison's toes. She slipped off one of her sandals and pet Sadie lightly with her foot. With all the food they had, there should be plenty for a nice treat later.

[laertes]

Dakota had opened his mouth to protest but got a soft body pressed again him. He quickly closed his mouth and shook his head. Though he couldn't resist planting his hands on her behind and giving her a small shove forward when the food had no teenagers around it.

Will turned very red and smiled back at Alison. Then he became a lot more intent on exactly what was where on his plate.

Rodney snickered at his brother. Though the snickering would abruptly stop when Asuka sat down across from him. Well, across from him and right by Will. Rodney blinked, turned a little pink and tried to strike up a conversation with Miyuki.

Gloria Jean looked around at what everybody was doing. She wiggled in her seat to the beat of the music playing in her head. She also enjoyed every last bite of everything that was on her plate.

[clericpreston]

John whistled pleasantly as he filled his plate and poured himself a lemonade. The beer had been good, but he didn't want to have much to drink today. He was working tomorrow. No time for a hangover.

He took his plate back over to where his daughter sat and plopped down beside her. He transfered a rib from his plate to hers to make up for the one he stole. Then he dug into his salad. Crunchy bacon bits made it all that much better.

Lisa giggled at her father and let her feet swing, bumping into John's knee lightly.

Robbie was very good and did not glare at the boy sitting on Miyuki's other side. Even when Rodney struck up a conversation with the ninja girl. He couldn't resist breaking in to politely ask if he could pour Miyuki a drink.

[pastthegumbo]

Rogue blinks at the shove. Not so much the movement but where her normally shy husband put his hands. She has the feeling she is a bad influence. Good for herself.

She gathers up enough food and finds an open spot at the table. She notices the trio of teenagers and does her best not to chuckle at the ripple of tension surrounding the ninja girl. Ah, puppy love.

She tucks into her food before her husband seats himself. There is supposed to be an unveiling after the eating. Rogue does not want to be the one holding everybody up.

[laertes]

Dakota settled himself down at the table. He had no desire to stand around and ogle the pond. He had done that yesterday anyway. Before the womenfolk got back from shopping with enough bags to almost make him cry.

Gloria Jean watched the fish swim after the food pellets with wide-eyed wonder. She gasped and pointed at one of the koi. "That one has whiskers like Daddy does if he doesn't shave for a long time!"

Will nodded slowly to Robbie and his step-mother. He walked a little stiff-legged toward his sister. He barely heard Gloria Jean point out various fish and say how they reminded her of family members. He was in a haze... until his sister pointed out a fish that reminded her about him. Then he blinked and jogged toward her. "Hey! What was that?"

Rodney walked casually beside Miyuki as they headed closer to the pond. His hands were stuffed into his pockets, making his shoulders hunch a little. He was doing his best to not look like he was looking at Miyuki instead of the pond.

[clericpreston]

Once Robbie saw Rogue approaching them, he took his leave of Will and headed back over to Miyuki. He smiled at her and threw a little more food into the pond to draw some of the koi over to them.

Lisa giggled at Gloria Jean's descriptions of the fish and joined her in picking out the ones that reminded her most of her family. Robbie's was decidedly unflattering. John's was less so.

[pastthegumbo]

Rogue wanders over to the two girls who just recently got a thirteen year old boy out of a daze. There is an important question to be asked.

"Now, which one looks like it has my hair?"

[sonofarize]

"Well, not everything," Longshot hedged quietly as he followed his wife's lead. "There's one little bit I'll have to show you later. After everybody's gone to bed."

He had to pause on the middle of the bridge. He had caught something out of the corner of his eye. Something he hadn't expected carved into one of the railing posts on the bridge. He pulled Alison to him as he ran a finger over the carving. Did Dakota put that there? It wasn't in the bridge plans that Longshot had seen.

His finger traced over a simple carving of two hearts nestled together. He looked at the other posts and blinked. Three more of the posts were carved. The next post had one simple heart on it. The following two had two smaller hearts nestled together on each.

[sonofarize]

After everyone else had disappeared into their rooms for the night, Longshot tugged on Alison's arm. He was trying real hard not to hop from foot to foot. "C'mon, buttercup. One more thing I gotta show you at the koi pond."

He grabbed the blanket he had brought down from the bedroom and looked at his wife expectantly. If she was tired, he would push it off for another night. Though it would be real good if they could go now. Everybody tired themselves out at the party, so they would be sleeping heavier...

[light_in_sound]

Alison chuckled and took hold of the hand he was tugging on her with. Her husband was practically vibrating with excitement. Not unusual for him really, but she hadn't seen it in a while.

"Alright, sweetheart. Show me your big surprise." She wasn't tired. She'd slipped inside for a little nap in between the big unveiling and everyone heading for bed. She knew this was important to him, so she wanted to be up for it.

[sonofarize]

Longshot smiled and lead Alison out the back door. He lead her straight to the pond. "I hope you like this. It was really hard to figure out how to place everything and to make sure we had enough room."

He paused on the bridge. He let go of her hand and cupped her face. He leaned close so his lips were nearly touching hers. "You're beautiful. I have a hard time remembering that this beautiful woman chose to marry me. You're a dream I never want to wake from."

Then, in the middle of the bridge, under the moonlight, Longshot kissed his wife like he never wanted to be more than an inch away from her body.

[light_in_sound]

She had been wondering what he had hidden at the pond. And how he'd done it without anyone noticing. Then... she wasn't thinking about anything.

If Longshot hadn't been holding her by the face, she might just have melted right down through the bridge and into the pond at his words. Miyuki's romance novels had nothing on this. She sighed soft and breathless into his kiss and leaned a little more against him.