meet the (grand)parents...

[theresalwayshope]

Allison felt a little like she was going insane.

She started out just planning to invite Aramis and Porthos over to meet Jason. Dinner and drinks, nothing big. Then she realized she didn't just feel obligated to invite Athos, she wanted to. So, if she did that, she obviously had to invite D'artagnan, and she really wanted to meet Constance...and she'd promised Grey a chance to help her bake a cake, so if she did something more than dinner, she could let him come over at some point...

The small family dinner became a small dinner party, and with a few more additions morphed into an impromptu potluck for the whole building...or anyone that wanted to show up. She told the family about it privately, asking Porthos and Aramis to make sure the others at least stopped by (with a subtle warning that Jason would be there), told everyone else she knew in the city, and for the rest of the building she posted a couple of handmade fliers: one in the elevator, and another in the laundry room announcing that, with either a main course or appetizer offering, an invitation to the holiday celebration taking place in apartment #39...dressy casual to formalwear welcome, bring your favorite Christmas CD as a bonus.

And, of course, she told Jason...and told him her family would be there.

By the night of the party, Allison was ready...she just felt a little like she was going insane.

She kept her outfit cute, but simple, and took care of dessert by baking some cupcakes, gingerbread cookies, and a two layer chocolate cake which she invited Grey over to help her bake. With a little careful scheduling, she also managed to contribute to the food on hand with her second ever attempt at beef bourguignon: rich, hearty, and sort of impressive under the right circumstances. By party time, she had her front door standing open, some Trans Siberian Orchestra carols playing on her stereo, and while she didn't yet have a tree, she'd gotten some cute plastic holly garland to hang around the apartment, and for fun had ringed her whole living room ceiling in multicolor Christmas lights for good measure.

The party was good to go. The place smelled good, the food came out okay with more to come...the evening was good to go.

And when Jason showed up, her family would show up...and they'd all meet each other...

While she waited for her guests, loved ones, and boyfriend to start arriving, Allison puttered around in her kitchen, swore to herself she was not hiding, and tried to pretend that she wasn't having visions of someone either drawing a sword or a knife by the end of the evening.

Tonight had to be perfect.

(HOLIDAY GATHERING POST! Treat it thusly. :P Front door's open, come and go as you please, anyone in the Bramford Building is welcome, and if you know Allison even remotely she told you about the party. Gather at will, and leave a call for Allison in your subject line if you want to play with her directly! Open eternally, will probably be linked near the end of the month. :D)

Comments

[yourprivilege]

"You're my neighbor, aren't you?" Mary smiles at the man, her hand brushing over the back of Evie's head as she slept on her shoulder. "You live just down the hall, don't you?"

[the_other_guy]

Turning at the sound of the soft, British accent, Bruce blanched only a little and nodded, offering his hand after an awkward moment.

"I am, yeah...married to that doctor, right?" he asked. "Dr. Bruce Banner, nice to...well, meet you formally." His gaze shifted to the baby, features openly softening as he watched her sleep. "I must say, you two have a beautiful little girl."

[yourprivilege]

“Mary Watson. My husband is a Doctor too,” she answers with a smile, the compliment for her daughter winning her over as it always does. “Thank you, though I’m not sure I really did anything. The luck of genetics, isn’t it?”

[the_other_guy]

Bruce rolled his eyes and shrugged a little, still smiling as he watched the little girl sleep. "Well, I'd say you probably get at least some credit for putting up with the physical hardships of carrying a small human being inside your body for nine months."

He glanced around briefly, feeling momentarily lost until he spotted the kitchen sidebar in the open little apartment where Allison had laid out most of the potluck offerings that were alcoholic in nature. Turning back to Mary, he nodded to her precious little burden with a smile.

"Can I get you a drink? Can't imagine pouring one can be easy for you with that little armful."

[yourprivilege]

"A glass of wine would be lovely," she says, knowing that her hands are too full to manage pouring one herself. "But only if you'll stay and talk to me, because I know a woman holding a baby and a glass of wine is an extremely classy look."

[the_other_guy]

"You got a deal." Bruce offered with a quiet chuckle and a nod of acquiescence. Ushering her along with a polite hand on her arm, he led her over to the open kitchen counter where a couple bottles of brandy and some red wine had been laid out. Pouring her a glass, Bruce helped himself to some brandy, sipping carefully as they made their way back into the main room.

"So, Mrs. Watson...your husband, what's his specialty?" he asked curiously. "Or is he something other than a medical man?"

[yourprivilege]

She’s grateful for the wine, and grateful for the company. She’s never had a problem making friends or mingling, in fact it was a necessity in her life before John. But now it’s nice to not have to work so hard and to let conversations happen as they come.

“Actually, it was combat medicine. Now it’s general practice, but he works mostly out of the clinics,” she explains, knowing that John preferred treating those who needed it most and sometimes didn’t have any other option. “And you? Or are you a doctor of another sort yourself?”

[the_other_guy]

Combat medicine...Bruce's work was military in nature, at the start, so he can respect a man on the more honest side of the business, healing soldiers rather than being duped into genetically modifying them.

"I...dabble in medicine," he replied, sipping his brandy, "but the paperwork says I'm in physics, y'know? A specialty of my research, however, is gamma radiation. I've seen, and experienced, some remarkable things that can happen when it's applied to genetic resequencing...not all of it's good, but it's my hope that, with further study, it could have some life-changing medical applications. Altering DNA to correct debilitating, even life-threatening genetic disorders, stuff like that."

[yourprivilege]

It's then that she remembers her conversation with John, wondering how she ever could have forgotten. Superheroes across the hall, he'd said, and she'd laughed it away. But it's a reminder that things in Darrow aren't always what they seem.

"That's admirable," she admits, nodding seriously. It is an admirable thing, and she would say more about it had Evie not chosen that moment to wake and cry out. Mary holds out her wine toward Bruce, "Can you hold this? I think she might need her dummy."

[the_other_guy]

"Of course." Bruce offered with a chuckle, deftly plucking up her wine glass so Mary could get Evie's...dummy. British slang for pacifier, maybe?...

He amused himself in the meantime by watching Evie, trying to catch her eye. Sometimes kids got distracted by watching things, or so he'd noticed now and again...

"Hey, you." he crooned softly. "What's the matter, huh? Yeah, I'm not a morning person, either...poor thing, waking up at a party when you're trying to sleep, that's no fun, huh? You just hang on, baby, 'kay? Mom's gonna get you all squared away, yeah..."

[yourprivilege]

Dummy dug out of her purse, she raises it with a flourish, and laughs when she realises that Bruce is trying to keep Evelyn entertained. Her daughter seems to like him, reaching an arm out to latch her hand firmly in his curls. At least she’s stopped screaming, though now she has to extricate Evie’s fingers, something easier said than done. “Be careful. She has a grip like a vice.”