Work Text:
Family Life Part 74
Relatives
By Patt
Word Count: 2535
Summary: Rucker and Andrea Ellison come for a visit. What will they think of Jim and Blair being together?
Notes: Thank you to Bee for the idea about Rucker. :) It was time for opinions about how the family feels about Jim and Blair, I think. Tomorrow’s story will have more about the cousins meeting the cousins.
“You’ll never guess who is coming for a visit?” Jim asked Blair as he read the letter in his hands.
Blair was starting dinner and really didn’t want to have to guess at all. He sighed and said, “Naomi?”
“No, Rucker and Andrea,” Jim answered.
“Rucker Ellison? We haven’t seen him in years, what brings him to Cascade now?”
“Of course Rucker Ellison, who else do we know named Rucker?” Jim snapped.
“Hey, don’t use that attitude with me, buster. If you don’t like the idea of him coming, then call and tell him that he isn’t welcome. What is your fucking problem, anyhow?” Blair asked. He knew the kids were upstairs playing Guitar Hero with Sam, so they wouldn’t be around to listen to his nasty language.
Jim looked around and made sure none of the kids were in sight and then listened to be sure. “They just found out about us and Rucker says he’s coming to see what I think I’m doing.”
“They just found out about us? You mean in all the times you’ve written to him, you didn’t mention anything about us?” Blair couldn’t believe it.
“Why would I bring it up for no reason? I told him we had kids, so I figured that he knew it was us together. I didn’t do it alone for crying out loud.”
“Jim, are you ashamed of us?” Blair almost shouted.
“No, I’m not ashamed, but Rucker’s not the type to like a gay lifestyle.”
“So you are ashamed, you idiot. I can’t believe you didn’t tell him about us. He was probably shocked to his core. You could have told him easier in a letter explaining everything about us. Instead you tell him we adopted kids, but aren’t a couple?” Blair walked back into the kitchen and stirred dinner. Jim knew that he was in big time trouble already.
“We’re never met Andrea. What do you think she’s like?” Jim asked, hoping to change the subject.
“Who cares? I’m still in shock that you never mentioned anything about us to him. I’ve told all of my relatives. How about your cousin Melanie that you write to every six months? Please tell me she knows about us?”
“Why would I mention it if someone didn’t ask me first?” Jim asked somewhat surprised at Blair’s attitude.
“Oh my God, you haven’t told Melanie either. I love Melanie, I was hoping she knew about us. No wonder she doesn’t ever ask about me. She doesn’t think I’m anyone in your life, you big stupid lug,” Blair shouted.
Max called down the stairs, “Is everything all right?”
“Everything is fine, Max. Play your game and keep Sam occupied for a little while longer, please,” Jim called out.
“You know if you could get away with it, you wouldn’t have told the kids,” Blair shoved Jim out of his way and went back to cooking.
“That’s not fair, Blair. I’m very open about you at work and with friends. What is the problem?” Jim asked, totally shocked.
Blair smiled at him and said, “It’s okay that you’re such an idiot. You just don’t lose your brain too often.”
“This is the third time you’ve called me stupid or an idiot. I’m not a happy camper right now, Blair.”
“Neither am I, so that makes two of us. Will you set the table for me, please?” Blair asked sounding like the old Blair again.
“Why are you mad, and not mad at the same time?” Jim really did wonder.
“Because I’m in love with you, you lug. Only I would be in love with a person that doesn’t tell the two people closest to him in his family that he’s gay and that I’m his lover. No wonder they never ask to talk to me when they call. No wonder I’m not noticed at all. Now I understand.”
“Stop calling me a lug, too. I don’t like it very much. I’m sorry I didn’t tell any of my family about us. It just never crossed my mind. I figured they must know since we adopted kids together. Wouldn’t you think they would know it by that alone?” Jim asked.
“A lot of friends that live together raise adopted children or foster kids. Did you bother to tell them the kids’ last name? They would have known then,” Blair pointed out.
“Blair, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal.”
“Then why did you make the face that you made while reading the letter from Rucker?”
“He said that he’s going to find out what I think I’m up to. That means he’ll come and say something crappy and I’ll get pissed off and we’ll never talk again. And you wondered why I didn’t tell him, eh?” Jim asked sadly.
“Jim, stop getting ahead of yourself. You have no idea what he’s going to say. Let’s wait until he and Andrea get here and then we’ll talk to them. I wonder if they liked the wedding present we sent to them.”
“Blair, snap out of it. Who cares if they liked the present we sent to them? For all I care, they should have known we were gay giving a gift to them together.”
“You know, that’s true. I would know that someone was gay if they sent us a gift signed from the two of them. Okay, so I’m going to cut you a little slack for all of this,” Blair said wearing a big smile.
“Again, I ask, how can you be mad at me and not be mad at me?”
“Because I love you. Simple as that. We’ll see what Rucker has to say and we’ll go from there. I have a feeling he’ll be fine with us. He might have been teasing you,” Blair suggested.
“I’m dying to meet Andy. I wanted to go to their wedding but we had all of the things with the boys going on, so we couldn’t leave just then. I hope they understood.”
Blair smiled at his lover and said, “I want to meet Andy too and I’m sure they understood. Jim, I think they knew all along. I bet Rucker is just pulling your leg.”
“God, I hope so, because I’d hate to lose my best cousin and friend in one fail swoop. Besides, I’d like to have some babies running around for us to go see in the future.”
Blair couldn’t believe how cute Jim was, even if he was a twit. Blair pulled him into a kiss and got Jim’s motor running very quickly.
Jim pulled him up close so he could feel his hard on and Blair backed away just as fast and said, “The kids are hungry. They could be coming down any time now.”
“Then why were you teasing me?”
Blair laughed and said, “Get the kids down here for dinner. Count to ten and take deep breaths, it works for me.”
Jim laughed and called the kids down. As soon as he had yelled for them, his hard on was gone. They all came flying down the stairs with Sam yelling, “I beat Max on Guitar Hero. Isn’t that awesome?”
“That is awesome,” Jim replied.
“Max said that I’m better then any five year old he’s ever played against. So I must be good. I’m sure he’s played with a lot of five year olds before me,” Sam said and Max and Drew started laughing their butts off.
“What’s so funny?” Sam asked.
Blair said, “Your daddy, he was making funny faces.”
“Oh let me see one, daddy. I missed it,” Sam whined.
Jim made a good and goofy face for her and she laughed out loud. “He is funny, Max and Drew.”
They all smiled as they sat down to eat dinner. Blair waited until they were done and said, “Do you all remember dad talking about Rucker Ellison?”
“Yeah, I remember,” Max answered.
“Doesn’t he live on an island or something?” Drew asked.
“Yes, that’s the Rucker we’re talking about. Well it seems that they’re going to be in town tomorrow, so we asking you kids to act like good kids for a few days,” Blair teased.
They all started laughing and Sam wasn’t even sure what she was laughing at, but loved laughter.
Max said, “It’ll be nice meeting more of the family. You like Rucker, right?”
Jim thought a moment and answered, “Of course I like him. He’s my favorite cousin. And now he’s married to a nice girl named Andy. She’s very pretty in the pictures, so now you’ll get to see her in person. We’ve never met her either.”
Drew smiled and said, “This is going to be great. I love meeting new family. They might take awhile to get used to us, but we’ll win them over.”
Jim was concerned that they were worried about winning anyone over. “You kids don’t have to impress anyone. Well, except maybe me and pop. But other than that, you guys are all great. You don’t have to be nice for no reason. Understood?”
“Understood,” Max and Drew answered at the same time.
“So I don’t have to be good anymore?” Sam asked sweetly.
“No, you have to be good, but if someone is mean to you for any reason, you tell me and poppy and we’ll take care of things. Okay?” Jim asked.
“Okay, daddy. Nobody is mean to us, though.”
“Good, let’s get this table cleared off and do the dishes,” Blair said.
They all helped and then Jim finished loading the dishwasher and Blair helped Sam with the rest of her homework.
!!!!!!!!!!!
Two days later, Jim and Blair were at the loft on their day off when the doorbell rang. Jim was polishing the tile in the bathroom so he didn’t hear anyone at the door.
Blair opened it to a beautiful auburn haired woman looking lost. “Can I help you?” Blair asked.
“I’m looking for Blair Sandburg or Jim Ellison. We seem to have lost our bearings and lost the number to the unit they live in,” she said.
“You must be Andy?”
“And you must be Blair. I knew it when you opened the door. I just felt a connection. Let me yell at Rucker he’s on the second floor looking for Jim.”
She went to the stairwell and hollered, “Rucker it’s 307. You’re on the wrong floor.”
She walked back to Blair and gave him a huge hug. “I feel like I know you already. Rucker talks about you and Jim all the time. I was thrilled when he said we were making a trip here to see you.”
“I’m so glad to finally meet you. We wanted to come for the wedding, but things came up with the boys and we couldn’t leave. Wait until you meet our family,” Blair said proudly.
“I can’t wait. Samantha sounds precious and those boys sound so grown up already. They take such good care of their little sister. Thankfully Jim kept us posted about the family for the last year and a half, so it’s been nice.”
“Jim got the impression that Rucker was mad about something,” Blair said.
“He’s just mad that Jim didn’t tell him that you and he were married. I mean, I knew from the way Jim worded things. I could tell you were together. Rucker on the other hand has to be hit with a two-by-four.”
Blair smiled and said, “Must be an Ellison trait.”
Jim walked out of the bathroom wearing rubber gloves and said, “Who is this Chief?”
“Oh my God, Jim, you even say it cute. In the letters, you called him Chief and we would smile about that. But that Rucker never understood that he was your husband. I understood right away. Ellison’s must be on the slow side,” Andy teased.
“You must be Andy,” Jim said as he ripped the gloves off and went to shake her hand.
“Oh for crying out loud, I don’t get a hug?” Andy whined.
Jim laughed and hugged her quickly and then stepped back. “Where is Rucker?”
“Rucker is right here. She left me on the second floor to find you guys and didn’t bother telling me that she found you,” Rucker said and hugged Jim and then Blair. “Where are the kids?”
“I see how important ‘we’ are,” Blair kidded.
“Well, I can see that both of you are fine, I want to see the little cousins,” Rucker said.
“They won’t be home until 3:00 today. They go to this funny place called school, Rucker,” Jim joked.
“Speaking of funny, the strangest thing happened the other day. I was talking to my dad and he said something about you guys getting married. I don’t remember being invited. What’s up with you, Jim?”
“I’m sorry, I just figured you would know we were married by my letters,” Jim explained.
“I knew you were married about six months before you actually got married,” Andy teased.
“She did say that. I never understood how we were both reading the same letters. She got a lot more out of them then I did.” Rucker said.
“So you’re not mad about us being gay?” Jim asked.
“Jim, I had a feeling about you two back when you came to the island. Never worry about that. I was just pissed off that we weren’t invited to any of the kids birthdays or things like that. We’re family, man.”
Jim hugged Rucker with love and relief. “I’m sorry, I’ll give you their birthdays before you leave and we’ll celebrate all of their birthdays this weekend. How long are you staying?”
“We’re staying down the road a piece and it’s for five days. You’re going to be so sick of us by the time we leave, it won’t be funny,” Rucker said.
“Rucker, I can guarantee that we will never be sick of you. I love my cousins. If Melanie was here it would be perfect,” Jim admitted.
Andy smiled and said, “Funny you should mention that. She found out we were coming and she said she was going to meet us tomorrow at the hotel we’re staying at. She’s going to be here too.”
Blair said, “Does she know we’re married too?”
“Oh yeah, she figured that out just as fast as I did. Rucker’s the only slow one,” Andy said laughing.
“Who would like to go for lunch?” Jim asked.
Everyone raised their hand and Jim laughed as he pushed everyone out the door.
“I can’t wait to meet the kids,” Rucker said.
“You’ll meet them soon enough. I’m just so glad that they’ll get to see both of you and then tomorrow get to meet Melanie. I’m so excited about this.”
Blair hugged Jim and said, “Did I tell you that everything would be okay or what?”
“Yes, you did.”
And it was.
TBC
PattRose1@aol.com