Meeting the nieces he never knew he had...

Tom and Sarah stood in the lobby as they turned and looked first at the hispanic girl who seemed to be hesitant, as if something were impacting her that she was caught unawares, but just as quickly it came, it went, and she turned around and spotted them almost instantly. "'Rina!"

Sarah laughed a little as the younger girl quickly made her way through the lobby and as soon as she got near, leapt and wrapped her arms around her apparent "cousin". The two of them exchanged warm hugs before the girl then turned and smiled even more widely (if that was possible) and then latched onto Tom. "Uncle Tom! I'm glad to see you here!"

Tom gave a smile, the best he could to a strange teenager hugging him, before he looked at her. "Hey, didn't know you would be here."

"Oh, mom didn't tell you?" The girl pulled away and then whipped out her phone. Within moments, the two of them were talking in a back and forth quickly, her gestures towards Tom and Sarah caught the two of them a bit surprised and they exchanged puzzled looks before the girl quickly turned off her phone and uttered a few choice curse words. "Damn it, I swear she forgets so much. She said she forgot that Amorina was captain of her squad and would be here." She rolled her eyes and then looked at her. "I swear, sometimes, your mom got all the brains in the family, 'Rina."

Sarah just grinned as well before Tom's phone rang and he picked up. "Hey..."

"Sorry about that, Tom! I completely forget you and Amorina were going to be there and I was just so overwhelmed with work, Scott's off at band camp, and now Rosalie said that they don't have another adult to chaperone!" The woman continued to pour word after word out and not let Tom get in so much as a word, the two younger girls laughing and exchanging glances at each other. "So...yeah, I'm sorry!"

Tom paused for a moment to make sure she was done. "Oh, I was just about to say that Rosa's here in the lobby with me. I have no problem signing a chaperone form but does her school have one? I only have Amorina's."

"I'll get on it quickly! Thank you!!!" Another five minutes passed with her chirping at him with all sorts of mixed Spanish and english, all of which Tom just palmed his head and Sarah just smiled and winked at her cousin, before he finally said his goodbye.

"Lord give me the strength the next time I see your mom," he muttered and Sarah, turning to give her husband/dad some protection, whispered into Rosalie's ear. A few moments later, after Rosalie ran off to tell her coach about their discussion, Sarah turned and showed him her phone. "Here's Aunt Juanita's picture, in case you needed any sort of 'inspiration' to help..."

A few moments later, the blonde girl and her friends walked back in from the conference room and just as they were about to walk into the elevator, the blonde followed her friend's pointing and she spotted Sarah and Tom standing and talking. "Oh my...Uncle Tom!"

He looked back across as the second girl came almost as quickly as Rosalie and before he could do anything, she leapt up and snagged him in a hug. "Um...hey..." he patted her back a bit until she pulled away and looked at him. "Didn't know you were here!"

"I'd say the same! I mean, it's understandablesinceAmorina'scheercaptainandhersquadwouldobviouslybehere..." the girl kept rambling and Sarah just rolled her eyes before tapping the girl on the shoulder. She turned, spotted her cousin, and let out another squeal before she turned and hugged her too, the mile-a-minute ramblings continued. "Oh my god, I just about spaced things."

"Did your mom not say anything?" Tom already knew he'd regret asking that. The look on the blonde girl's face turned dark as she took out her phone, dialed her mom, and spent the next five minutes talking rather agitated and frustrated to her mother. A mother who, just prior to this conversation, did not even know who he was. Tom just shook his head and looked at her friends, the two girls whispering to each other and when he smiled at them, blushed a bit and smiled embarrassed.

"We got here, mother, and your brother is HERE and he can be our chaperone!"

With a few more words for her mother, the girl hung up and took a deep breather before she turned back and smiled widely and happily at him. "You can do that, right, Uncle?"

Tom didn't want to cross blades with her. He'd rather deal with the plague with open cuts. All over his body. "Sure, you know that."

The girl smiled. "Great! I'll tell coach quickly." She motioned to her friends who took off after her and after they disappeared into the elevator, Tom again just palmed his head.

Sarah laughed a little as she pulled out her phone, scrolled through the pictures, and pulled out her file. "This is Aunt Nadine, by the way."

Tom just rolled his eyes and looked at her again. "No good deed goes unpunished?"

"You asked, Popsicle, you receive."