Family Reunion

"My little Seanie Boy!"

Sean braced himself for the tight, suffocating hug from his grandmother. A striking woman, Pepper Fallon could still turn heads even in her early seventies--although her golden blonde locks came courtesy of her hairdresser these days. Any observer could tell in short order that not only did her daughters inherit her good looks but also Pepper's sharp wit, sharp tongue, and self-confidence. Although she often scolded or lectured her daughters, she loved them dearly. Wrangling Bridget and Brandy, in particular during their teen years, if not far earlier for Brandy, had been an ulcer-inducing time.

Despite what Peyton said about her sharper side, Sean only saw Pepper as a typically sweet, kind, and loving grandma. The sort that would pull back from the hug and kiss each cheek as she did now. The kind of grandmother who would gush over how proud she was of him, yet immediately warn him to never pull a stunt like that again.

"I thought I raised you to be a smart boy with a good head on his shoulders," Pepper stated, wagging her finger in his face.

"It's not like I did nothing in raising him," Bridget muttered.

"I've lived a stressful enough life, always being sick to **** with worry over my daughters and husband. I don't need one of my grandchildren acting up now. Especially not my favorite grandson."

"I bet she tells that to Gino too," Brandy joked, earning her a glare from her mother.

"Of course, we know who put these dangerous thoughts into your head," Pepper commented.

"Oh, sure, blame me," Bridget responded, growing defensive.

"That's your guilty conscious, honey. However, I wasn't talking about you. I was talking about him!" Pepper declared.

Seamus Fallon halted his conversation with the senior Theodore Day. Considering they'd been headed to the same place, the Fallons and the Days performed their usual sensible behavior and carpooled to the ball. That's what the next-door neighbors had been doing for over four decades. Yet, these days, it proved more difficult for Seamus to drive himself around. In his early eighties, the years of grueling, dangerous private detective work had caught up with his body. With a limp in one leg and a shot rotator cuff on the other side, Seamus often found himself ordered not to drive by his wife.

Throwing his good arm up in the air while Theo chuckled at his side, Seamus asked what he did now. Bridget and Brandy waited for the examples because they knew the long-winded list at their mom's disposal. Yet, their mother surprised them by holding her tongue mostly.

"By enchanting Sean with rose-colored tales of your cases. He never witnessed the pain behind those so-called great adventures," Pepper replied. "But we'll talk about this later. Our sensible boy doesn't need any more foolish ideas bouncing around his head."

"Too late for that," Brandy remarked as Fawn giggled next to her. Under her mother's questioning gaze, she elaborated. "Sean seems fine now, but you should've heard the nonsense that he babbled at the hospital. He's not as wholesome as you think, Mom."

"Babbling nonsense?" Pepper repeated, growing concerned. "You said that Dr. Bhandari diagnosed his concussion as mild."

"More like moderate, Mom," Bridget admitted to her, downplaying that fact. Then, sensing the pending accusations, she scrambled to clarify. "Brandy's talking about Sean's reaction to his first painkillers. It made him loopy and chatty."

Pepper automatically inquired as to what medications Sean had been prescribed. She nodded as what her middle daughter told her made sense. As a retired nurse who spent most of her years working in the ER, Pepper had vast experience with traumatic injuries. That led her to grill Bridget with questions about Sean's foot and leg. Despite her years as a practicing physician, Bridget felt like a medical student again under her mother's questioning. Sean watched in fascination while Brandy yawned in boredom.

"He's going to be fine, Mom," Bridget reassured as she finished. "Sean's off that medication. And while it did create several awkward moments, it wasn't as funny as some people found it."

"Oh, like I was the only one," Brandy defended herself as her older sister's eyes fell on her.

"I didn't say you were," Bridget sassed back. "Harvey still thinks it's hilarious."

"Harvey?"

While Bridget had already heard that her parents knew about The Stinging Truth articles, that one word conveyed so much from her mother, bracing for the onslaught, Bridget decided to just get it over with.

"I guess you heard about those tabloid articles."

"We saw them. Heard plenty more about them," Pepper relayed, glancing over at Virginia Day, who couldn't hide a smile. "However, I think that's another topic that's best for us to discuss elsewhere."

Brandy oohed, then mouthed to her older sister that she was in trouble.

"Don't worry, Bee," Seamus reassured, catching the sisterly teasing. "Your mom found the tales to be highly amusing."

"Seamus!"

"She just can't admit that because of Bev."

"Yeah, I bet she didn't take them too well," Bridget said, understating her expectation of her older sister's reaction. Beverly would give her shit about any scandalous article, but with Harvey being her high school sweetheart, it made matters so much worse.

After waiting patiently for her turn, Virginia Day moved in to hug Sean, compliment his heroic rescue, and wish him well. Knowing the Fallon family as well as she did, Virginia also made her move to help interrupt the conversation about Beverly.

"I always knew that you had more than a sliver of your grandpa in you," Virginia proclaimed.

With the closeness between the Fallon and Day families and with her grandchildren all living far away, Mrs. Day often treated Sean and Peyton as her extra grandchildren. So he wasn't at all surprised as she pinched his cheek before pulling out her purse. His eyes widened with anticipation.

"I brought you your favorite," Virginia stated, pulling out Sean's preferred brand of candy.

"Thanks, Mrs. Day!"

"Mrs. Day? Did that conk on the head discombobulate you?"

"Oh, I meant, thanks, Aunt Ginny," Sean corrected, feeling as if he'd done that with several women this week. Still, he managed not to call her Great Aunt Virginia jokingly. The one time he had earned him one of the Toone twins' harshest pranks in defense of their grandma's age.

"More candy, Virginia?" Theo questioned in exasperation, then added a grumbling comment. "I'm a dentist, and my wife is the biggest candy pusher in Honey Hollow."

"You need patients, don't you?" Seamus teased his friend.

While Mrs. Day began to question Sean about the non-****-defying moments of his cabin trip, Bridget studied her little sister. She recognized the signs just as Brandy noticed the scrutiny.

"What?"

"What's your problem?" Bridget questioned.

"I asked you first," Brandy shot back.

"No, that's what I asked. What happened?"

"Nothing," Brandy lied after noticing her mom glance over.

"No, you got that sulk to you, Bran," Bridget said. "Did you get in trouble again?"

"Nothing happened."

"What did she do now?' Bridget asked Fawn.

"Don't ask her!"

Rather than get dragged into another Fallon sister bickering, Fawn motioned toward a new development with Sean. That swiftly drew attention away from her.

"I know what the doctor is going to say, Sean. He won't allow you to drive with that cast on," Pepper stated from experience. "And I absolutely forbade it."

"I'll be fine, Grandma," Sean whined, causing his mother to wonder what she missed.

"Pep, the boy doesn't want his grandmother dropping him off at school every day. He's a senior for fuc--he's eighteen," Seamus pointed out after watching his language.

"Nonsense. Seanie won't mind me helping him out. I'm going to be visiting him every day to make sure that he's being properly cared for at home," Pepper insisted. That raised alarms with her middle daughter.

"Sucks to be you," Brandy whispered at Bridget with a snicker.

"Mom, Sean doesn't need you to chauffeur him around town," Bridget interrupted.

"Are you going to do it? Are you going to rearrange your patient schedule for him? I didn't think so," Pepper remarked.

"But I really don't need--" Sean protested before getting cut off.

"I can do it."

"Really? You're going to get up bright and early every morning to drive your nephew to school?" Pepper inquired sarcastically of her youngest daughter.

"Oh. Um, I, well, uh, I can pick Sean up from school..., and Fawn can handle the mornings. She's already going there," Brandy offered for her shocked best friend.

"I can?! Well, yeah, I guess I can," the school librarian responded.

"Don't you have those classes to return to? The ones we paid the greater portion of the tuition?" Pepper questioned Brandy.

"I don't need to be back on campus for three weeks! I can stay around here until then," Brandy replied.

"You never want to stick around town for long. So what happened now? Flunk out? Get asked to leave? Did your professor's wife find out about you?" Pepper questioned.

"That was one time, and I didn't know he was married! She was on the other side of the world while on a sabbatical. She was!" Brandy insisted after getting dubious looks. "I'm the one who figured it out. I've helped Dad catch enough cheating husbands to know the signs. I should've never said anything."

"All the more reason for your offer to drive Sean--"

"I don't need anyone driving me!" Sean exclaimed after growing sick and tired of getting ignored. "I have a car that I drive JoJo and Newt to school in. So Jo can drive for a while instead."

"Well, you see there. I did raise a sensible grandson."

Bridget held her tongue at her mother's comment. You always used to hope that I'd get a kid like me for payback, but when I don't, you take credit for them. I need a damn drink!

"Now, dear, let's not forget another person's contribution to how Sean turned out," Seamus began. Bridget immediately perked up, knowing her dad would come to her defense, as always. "The kid learned problem-solving and being decisive in the eye of danger from me."

Brandy nodding forcefully in agreement with their father only rankled Bridget more. It's not like Leonard helped out in raising our kids very much. You'd think that I'd get more credit. All I need is Bev here to chime in with her damn opinions.

"Mom's taught me a lot too," Sean insisted, causing Bridget's heart to warm over. At least, he understands!

"Well, of course. We all know the Tarvers lack any bedside manner," Pepper responded. Her feelings about the several Dr. Tarvers that she worked with at the hospital were well known. "I warned your mother that Leonard wouldn't be a warm and fuzzy kind of man."

"Not like me, huh, Pepper Shaker?" Seamus inquired with an exaggerated wink.

Bridget, Brandy, and Fawn all shuddered at the nickname, with Brandy even putting her finger down her throat to mimic gagging. Sean didn't understand the fuss. He found the nicknames his grandparents used for each other to be cute. His parents never did couple of things like that. Naturally, if he knew that Seamus usually called his wife Pepper Shaker before dashing upstairs to their bedroom for a round of lovemaking, Sean wouldn't find that imagery cute anymore.

"Still, I'm proud of you, Sean," Seamus proclaimed, slapping his grandson's shoulder. "I always knew you would step up when the time came. Even more so in the face of danger. Can't say the same about your two cousins. Gino would probably ask his mother what to do."

"Now, Seamus, that's--"

"Entirely true," he stated to his wife before turning back toward his grandson. "Now, did I ever tell you about the time I almost drowned out at Wasp Lake? It was during the Garden of Pan case."

Sean automatically sat up straighter in his wheelchair. He'd only heard whispers about the Garden of Pan case. It seemed to be a taboo topic around Honey Hollow. One that people in the know gave a quick nod to when mentioned, then hushed the other person. Sean didn't even know that his grandfather had almost drowned during the case until this moment. The reason for that came roaring back.

"You know you didn't," Pepper reminded with steel in her voice.

"Ah, that's right. It's on the list of banned cases that you can't hear about until you're older," Seamus said, acting as if he had just remembered. His wink toward his grandson said otherwise.

"I'm eighteen now!" Sean pointed out.

"Still too young," his grandmother insisted, hoping to shield his innocence.

"Hmm, when did you find out?" Brandy stage whispered toward her older sister.

"Twelve. It was part of the watch-out-for-men speech," Bridget revealed, enjoying her mom's discomfit. She'd waited until Peyton turned fourteen, and that had only been due to Lana dropping tidbits about the scandal.

"It's different for girls," Pepper declared. "Your mother needed to know, and it was harder to keep it quiet back then. Still, we should've waited."

"I read the file when I was seven," Brandy announced as if it were an everyday thing.

"It was in your father's safe!" Pepper turned to glare at her husband for leaving it unlocked.

"I always kept it locked," Seamus insisted as Sean noticed Fawn slowly backing away from the group.

"Well, then, you clearly taught our daughter safecracking. And don't deny it. I know about the lock-picking lessons," Pepper reminded, although Seamus denied it.

"I didn't crack the safe. Fawn did!" Brandy sold out her best friend with glee.

"Fawn Dawn Graff!" Pepper admonished.

"Thanks," Fawn muttered at Brandy before raising her voice. "It's not what you think, Mrs. Fallon. I found a book in the library about it."

"I highly doubt that your grade school library carried that book."

"Well, no. It was at the Zurbrugg library," Fawn admitted hesitantly.

"Why were you there as a seven-year--You stole the book on Bridget's campus tour?!" Pepper accused, recalling the trio of seven-year-olds tagging along on the tour.

"No! We checked it out," Fawn insisted before selling out her best friend. "Actually, Brandy did under Harvey's name."

"How in the world did--forget it. I don't want to know," Pepper gave in. She assumed that Brandy sweet-talked the clerk into somehow believing that she was his little sister.

"Can you tell me about the case, Grandpa?" Sean took his shot.

"Soon. Very soon," Seamus promised. His wife also reluctantly gave up the fight. Deep down, Pepper knew that Sean couldn't be sheltered forever. "Now, I didn't have too many near-drowning experiences. But I recall telling you about that one time in the kitchen of Shaughnessy's."

"That's when the Klackhursts ran it as a cop bar," Sean stated. As if I'd ever forget that story!

"A suspected dirty cop bar. I'd been friends with the previous owner, who they muscled out, and knew how to slip inside without being noticed."

"But you got caught," Sean pointed out.

"Not until after the tip I received proved true. The Klackhursts were holding a big powwow in the bar to discuss what to do about Cillian Thirlby. That's when he was the district attorney and caused them more than a few headaches for their gang. Unfortunately, I stayed too long eavesdropping through the kitchen door."

"That's when Bear Burke attacked you," Sean filled in for the others while throwing a punch. He didn't need to, as everyone else around him had heard the story multiple times before.

"Bear lived up to his nickname. Even with my boxing skills, he tossed me around like a rag doll. I did manage to hurt him, but--"

"That's when he held your face in the kitchen sink!" Sean supplied, getting more into the retelling. He mimicked strangling with his hands, causing people in nearby groups to look over in curiosity or bewilderment.

"A sink full of dirty water," Seamus specified.

"And with your air running you, that's when you managed to grab the frying pan and bash him over the head!" Sean brought his hand down hard in his enactment.

"Always be aware of your surroundings," Seamus repeated a point he drilled into his daughters.

"But you never told me what happened afterward. Didn't the people in the meeting hear the fight?" Sean questioned, finally finding the right opportunity to ask about the point that gnawed at him.

"Damn right they did. I threw a few pots and pans at the ones that rushed into the kitchen and got the hell out of there."

"But what about your limp?" Sean knew that his grandfather's leg had been badly hurt by this point.

"Well, I would've been caught if my getaway driver hadn't suspected that something had gone wrong," Seamus praised, smiling at his youngest daughter.

"They were supposed to be stopping for ice cream," Pepper stated, the memory causing her to fume.

"The tip came in at the last second, and it was supposed to be a quick check," Seamus defended himself.

"Brandy shouldn't have even known how to drive. She was eleven."

"I saved Dad," Brandy sang gloatingly at her older sister.

"Showoff," Bridget grumbled.

"Seamus, must you put those thoughts in his head. Look at how Brandy turned out," Pepper scolded her husband.

"Hey!"

"Family fuckup," Bridget countered in her own singsong voice.

"Now, don't get up in arms, Pep. We agreed that the kids needed to know about the Klackhursts, especially with all the trouble they caused our girls. Jethro and several of the cousins are still on the ****. They multiply enough that Sean is bound to encounter more than one in his life. I don't want him unprepared if one of them seeks payback for what I did."

"Lash won't be multiplying ever again," Brandy gloated.

Sean chuckled. He'd heard about the time that Aunt Brandy had her showdown with Lawson "Lash" Klackhurst. Although he still didn't know precisely what Lash did that pushed Brandy too far. Son of Jethro, a police detective and the alleged non-criminal side of the family, Lash felt he could get away with anything because of his father. He also had a hair-trigger temper that earned him his nickname and the leering family eye for the Fallon girls. Unlike when Harvey Diamond came to Aunt Beverly's defense or when his mom slipped through the Klackhursts' net, Brandy lived up to her reputation as the daughter most like Seamus. Rather than seek an escape, she barreled right into the danger. She'd left Lash a withering mess and with rumored damage to his family jewels courtesy of a high-heeled stomping.

"Brandy, you were told not to tell your nieces and nephews about that," Pepper reminded after noticing Sean's chuckle.

"I didn't!"

Pepper continued her mom-glare.

"That's why you had me tell Sean?" Fawn's question revealed the truth. "How did I not see that one?" she asked herself out loud. "Sorry, Mrs. Fallon."

"You're forgiven, dear. I know my girls."

Theo cleared his throat after a shared look with Virginia. They'd sat through enough of these Fallon family get-togethers to know when to move the conversation to another subject.

"Well, I do think that Sean's heroics will make him a popular guy around school. I bet the girls will be lining up."

Bridget beamed in agreement while Pepper scowled.

"Chasing popularity only leads to trouble," the Fallon matriarch noted with glances at her two daughters.

"Hey, I never tried to be popular. I just was," Brandy declared. Next to her, Fawn rolled her eyes.

"Same here," Bridget proclaimed.

"I'm sure that Sean will be humble, unlike your girls," Virginia said, ruffling the teen's hair.

That swiftly led to questions from the Days about his breakup with Beyza and any girls on the trip that caught Sean's eye. Pepper seemed particularly interested in his interactions with Whitney.

"Okay, what's the problem?" Bridget asked, sliding closer to her younger sister. "Don't deny it. You keep fidgeting and looking over in that direction. Is it an ex-boyfriend?"

"When have I ever worried about an ex-boyfriend?" Brandy replied with a question of her own and a who-am-I look at Fawn.

"Then what's going on?"

"I can't say. Mom warned me to behave or else..."

"Don't worry about Mom's threats. You can stay at my house until she cools down. Now tell me, or I'll get Fawn to snitch," Bridget prodded. She could tell her sister was about to burst from holding in whatever their mom wanted kept quiet.

"Crystal is here!" the youngest Fallon blurted out.

"Brandy!" Pepper hissed, her head swinging away from Sean.

"Of all the fucking nerve," Bridget hissed, almost exactly like her mom, as her eyes locked in on Teddy's traitorous girlfriend.

"Oh, dear," Virginia gasped. "Perhaps it's best that Tinsley couldn't be here tonight."

"Screw that," Theo disagreed. "That cheater and a night like tonight are precisely when my daughter's pranks are suitable."

"Oh, now she's your daughter," Virginia responded, raising an eyebrow.

Bridget could help but smile as she recalled all the times she'd heard that debate between Tinny's parents.

Despite already being aware of Crystal's presence, Pepper still clucked her tongue in annoyance. She agreed with her daughter that the woman had far too much nerve than was healthy if she showed up at this event.

Seamus didn't say anything out loud. Instead, he remembered what the trio of thirteen-year-old girls did that summer for **** and how he covered it up. With lightning speed, he conveyed to Brandy and Fawn, through facial language, that they should keep their mouths shut. If Pepper finds out, I'll never hear the end of it.

"Who is she?" Sean asked.

"Nothing for you to worry about," Pepper said.

"No, Crystal is what you get when popularity matters more than anything else," Virginia told him.

"She's a vile, evil, and traitorous bitch," Fawn added.

Sean wondered who the hell this woman was to get two of the nicest people he knew to talk about her that way. He figured that she had something to do with the Day/Toone family in the past. The teen also felt increasingly annoyed to learn how much his family had kept from him. Maybe I need to start doing some investigative work of my own.

"Brandy, are you going to take care of this?"

"Theo!" Pepper exclaimed.

"I'm on it," Brandy replied, thrilled that Teddy's dad just gave her permission.

"Brandy, stay!"

"Don't talk to me like I'm Faraday," Brandy shot back at her mom. I'm not the family dog!

"Your mother doesn't want a scene at Cassandra's event, Dee," Seamus pointed out. "So wait until after midnight, and do it outside."

"Seamus, don't put more ideas into her head."

"Uh, does Nate know this Crystal?" Sean asked.

"Sure, he's heard all the stories," Mrs. Day answered.

"By sight?" Sean continued.

"He's seen her pictures from when she dated Teddy."

She dated Teddy Day?! Sean wanted to think this over more, but he didn't have the time.

"Well, Nate just walked in the main door." Sean motioned to where Nathan Toone stood almost twenty feet away from the woman who grabbed his family's attention. Fortunately, his attention was on all the young women nearby.

"Shit!" Bridget exclaimed. She immediately started scanning the crowd for anyone who knew Nate. Options were limited as the Toones moved to Hawaii a dozen years ago. C'mon, where's Finn or the girls?

"Oh, dear. Can one of you hurry over there and get him?" Virginia asked, looking at the younger members of their group.

"Gladly," Brandy responded.

"No! Fawn can go," Pepper interrupted.

"Uh, Mom," Sean said.

"I got this," Bridget said before raising her voice. "Barney! Barney, over here!"

"No, Mom, you better--"

"Hold on," Sean's mother told him. "Yes, over here, Barney. Can you get Nate? Nate!" Bridget pointed at her BFF's son. "Can you bring Nate over here by his grandparents?"

"Mom!" Sean yelled.

"What?"

"You just had to go and drag my name in the mud again, didn't you? And in those trashy town tabloids with him of all people!" A new voice shrieked.

Sean palmed his face as his mom ran out of time.

"Happy New Year to you, too, Bev," Bridget greeted, turning to face her older sister.