"Do you believe in magic in a young girl's heart, How the music can free her, whenever it starts. And its' magic, if the music is groovy It makes you feel happy like an old-time movie..."

Kim's doorbell went off, she looked out the door and opened it, "Stew..."

The woman next to him was shorter than even Kerry. She had a rich brown hair that hung halfway down her back. "I'm Mary..."

Kim took a step back, "Come on in. You're the first ones here..."

Stewart looked very seriously at Kim, "Tell me this... Kerry is coming."

Kim patted Stewart on the back, "Don't worry, she and her son Henry will be here."

Stewart's jaw practically hit the ground, "Son?" He laughed, "Kimmy, you find new ways to save my ass."

The bell rang again, "Go save your girl from my clowns." She peered out the window again. Her parents. Her father Charles was taller than Kim by a bit, but had midnight black hair and comforting hazel eyes. Her mother Rose seemed to be Charles' opposite in every way but one. She was short where he was tall, and she had the blondest hair where his was dark. They did, ironically enough, have almost the same color eyes. It had been quite a surprise when Kim wound up with blue eyes.

Kim opened the door. "Mom, Dad..."

Rose shook her head as she entered and gave her eldest daughter a hug. "Were you going to let us freeze to death Kimberly? We need to move somewhere warmer Chuck."

Charles closed the door behind him with a smile. Managing to catch his wife's coat as it was flung at him. He hung it as well as his up and faced his eldest child. He hugged her. "How are you doing Kim?"

"Good, really, really, really... great."

Charles put an arm around her and they walked into the living room where Rose was already grilling Stewart and Mary. "So, that's the girl he's been hiding for three years. I don't see why."

"Yep."

"And your surprise? Are you pregnant?"

"Dad." She gave him a push in the gut and he laughed as the door bell rang. "Ah..." Kim started towards the entry way but Stewart was like Quicksilver and was by his older sister before she could blink.

Stewart opened the door and was nearly bowled over. He blinked. "I'm Stewart, I'm guessing that was Henry."

Kerry nodded.

"Kim, Kim..."

Charles had to use both his hands to not laugh out loud at the look on his wife's face as a little boy, who looked at least partially Hispanic, came flying into the living room and from the top of the two steps launched himself at Kim.

Long ago Rose had come to live with the fact that Kim would never have kids. Rose even understood that it wasn't even because her daughter was gay. She knew about sperm donors, and fertility doctors. No, Rose had thought that the kind of commitment that had to be in a relationship before a kid was even considered was just not in Kim's future.

Kim whirled Henry around, the little boy laughing. Kim stopped and Henry put a hand to her forehead. "Dizzy?"

Kim laughed, "You bet your bottom buster." She turned and found her mother standing at one end of her living room, her hands on her hips. "What? This is Henry Weaver." She whispered to Henry, "Is your Mama glaring at me?"

Henry nodded and laughed with his hand over his mouth. "And his Mom, Doctor Kerry Weaver."

Kerry stuck a hand out towards Charles, who instead pulled a surprised Kerry into a bear hug. Rose marched over and yanked Kerry away from her husband, shaking her head, "Boundaries Chuck."

"Oh?"

Rose backed up until she bumped into Kim, who still had Henry in her arms. The older woman waved a finger at her husband. "Don't you dare Charles."

He did, grabbing her around the waist and lifting her onto his shoulder with little effort. She whacked at his back, but not with too much force. He turned in a circle. "So... how is everyone?"

"Charles Stewart Legaspi."

Kerry regarded Charles for a second, "Firefighter?"

This gave both Charles and Rose, still on his shoulder, pause, "Yes." He gently put his wife down. "How'd you know..."

"Henry's mother was..."

Charles stared at Henry for a long moment and then turned back to face Kerry. "Sandy Lopez."

Kerry blinked in surprise, "Ye-yes..."

Charles put an arm around his wife, "I'd met her, she was an amazing woman, an amazing firefighter."

Kerry swallowed and managed to drag half a smile onto her face. "I know."

She nearly jumped as Rose put a hand on her arm, "Since I know my daughter is not the best cook."

"Hey..."

Rose smirked, "Not the worst either honey, but we'd better go check the kitchen."

"Uh... okay?"

Mary glanced over at Stewart, then to Kim and Henry and to the retreating women. "Is your family always like this?"

Kim and Stewart spoke in chorus, "Yep."

This made Henry laugh.

"Well, I don't think she'll burn anything down. So, Kerry is it?" Kerry nodded, "How long have you known my daughter?"

Kerry did the calculations, "It's been about seven or eight years since I met her."

"Se-Seven?"

Kerry shook her head, "We... were..."

"Together?"

Kerry shook her head, "I was going to say, apart for most of those years. We ran into each other at the Super Bowl." Kerry shook her head, "That day, Sunday the 3rd, 2008 would have... been a horrible day except for one thing, one person..." She smiled.

Rose winced, "You're a Patriot fan?"

Kerry shrugged, "I am."

"So, you're a doctor too? Psych?"

"No, no, no... too many issues. Emergency Medicine."

Rose chuckled, "Henry, the Psychiatrists and Psychologist have more issues than even us normal people."

"Kim seems well put together..."

"Honey, have you seen her clowns?"

"Didn't you give her some of those clowns Mom... so, what's for dinner?"

Stewart put a hand on the top of the cooking pot and it was promptly whacked by Rose. "I'm going to make sure that your father hasn't choked on a salted nut."

Stewart let a breath out as Rose left the kitchen. "So, you survived the first round... your kid is cute. Smart as hell too."

"Is it your turn to grill me?"

"You sound like crap." He pulled out a chair, "You should sit, and no, I let Craig, my older brother, do the grilling of Kim's girlfriends. You know that most of them don't make it to this stage, she introduces them to her exes, uh... I mean friends."

"I know."

"Ah... you, uh, you almost know that most of them don't make it to this stage. Actually, I think I only remember one or two. She's ah..." He glanced towards the doorway, "You know she's a bit of a player right?" He shook his head, "And then of course, she's crazy for being friends with her exes... Crazy."

"I know."

"Good... good. My sister is great, don't get me wrong, but sometimes... I guess you could say she gets bored or... something. Makes her a great Psychiatrist, nothing throws her and she stays engaged." He shook his head, "Not as good a girlfriend though."

Kim put an arm around Kerry, but the shorter woman shrugged it off. "Kerry? You okay? You were quiet during dinner."

"Not now Kim, please."

Kim couldn't resist, "My Mom?"

"No."

"Kerry, talk to me."

Kerry whirled at Kim as she threw a dish towel at the sink. "How long are we going to do this?"

Kim blinked, "What?"

"You heard me, this isn't play anymore. I should have realized it, it's my fault, but you..." Kerry took a stuttering breath, "You are a... a... ball of charm with legs that go..." Kerry took another breath, "I'm not single Kim." Kerry took another breath, Kim was sure that she was going to hyperventilate. The red head put a hand up when Kim took a step forward, "No, if this is fun, a romp than... I need to know now, because for whatever reason that... my child, Henry, he's stuck on you like a barnacle on a rock. And none of it matters, it doesn't matter if you are the only chance I will ever have at love again in my life, I can't... I won't put Henry through it."

Kim got the almost irresistible puppy dog look on her face, "You don't... you don't know..."

Kerry's jaw worked, "Don't be funny Kim. You break my heart, I'll live. You break his. He's four Kim."

"Uh... guys..."

Kim didn't look from Kerry's face, "Go away Stewie."

"Uh..."

"Go. Away. Now Stewart." Kim was fraying, Stewart could practically see it.

Stewart disappeared. Kim started to approach Kerry and then changed her mind and crossed her arms over her chest. "I know that I'm not good at commitment. When I was..." Kim took a deep breath and took another step back from Kerry, "I was eighteen, a freshman in college. I'd known for a little while that I was gay, three years maybe, it was kinda obvious to me since... anyway, I didn't... do anything about it in high school, I wasn't hiding or anything, I just had work, I wanted to be a doctor, and sports too, Track, Cross Country."

Kerry had her hands on her hips. "Kim, is there..."

"Shut up Kerry. Just, just let me... say this okay, and then you can screw up our relationship again." Kerry blinked, "But in college, it was like... she was a senior and God she was a bitch." Kerry frowned, but Kim didn't seem to notice, it was as if she had gone back to the time. "But she was... gorgeous, and smart, and she paid attention to me. We ran track together, and then we started hanging out, and then we started making out... and... I fell in love, and I told her. I thought she'd..." Kim's eyes focused for a moment on Kerry, "She was a brunette by the way, not a red head." Kim shifted her arms over her chest. "She didn't break my heart, no, that would have been nice of her. She... she crushed it in magnificent fashion. You think that your not defending me was bad."

Kim paused, "In retrospect, she had deep psychological issues, but, at that point I wanted to be a pediatrician." Kim's anger seemed to have melted into sadness. "First, she slept with my brother Craig. He had come to see me, to see the college. I went out to dinner with my parents, they did it on my bed. But, that wasn't enough. She slept with John one of my best friends. He, unlike my brother knew that we were a couple. And then the cherry..."

Kerry took a step towards Kim, "Kim..."

"No... let me finish. That was nothing compared to her cherry. She... she wanted to humiliate me, she accused me of... of..."

Kim closed her eyes and Kerry gasped. "Oh My God, Kim... I..."

Kim took a deep breath, "I managed to convince the authorities that I never touched her. I..." A short chuckle escaped Kim, "I think that my mother convinced them that I wouldn't ever harm a fly. She can be..."

"Persuasive?"

Kim didn't meet Kerry's eyes but nodded. She finally let her arms drop to her sides, "You're the first you know..."

"First what?"

"I break up with people because that means that I have control. You, you're the first time I've gone out with someone, had a relationship with someone a second time. And..."

"Kim."

Kim shook her head, but did see out of the corner of her eye that Kerry was closer than she had been. A petty thought flew through her brain, she wished that Kerry still had the crutch, she was much stealthier without it. "When I was just out of Med School I went out with... let's call her Sara. We were pretty serious, well, for me anyway, so, out of the blue comes her ex. I don't even remember the other woman's name Tigger, Tiger or something equally... weird. They talked and then Sara and I talked and I said all the right things, she needed to be happy, that I wouldn't hold it against her. And... I meant every word I said. I liked Sara, more than I'd ever liked someone, but... when she went back to Tiger, I... I moved on with barely a second thought." Kerry opened her mouth to speak, but Kim continued, "When I saw that card. I... I was scared out of my mind. I was not ready to let go yet. Sara, Tiger, was happening again, but this time if I'd had to speak those words that let you go free. Say that I only wanted you happy, that we'd be friends... all that crap." Kerry smiled at that, "Every syllable, every sound that came out of my mouth would have been a lie. I love you Kerry Weaver. I have no idea what the future will be, but I don't want to be your girlfriend." Kerry met Kim's gaze. "I want to be your partner, your Significant Other... wife... whatever the hell the current politically correct term is. I want to be your... everything Kerry, and Henry's too. I can never replace Sandy, I can see that in your eyes, but... I want to maybe put a quick patch on the part of your heart that her death ripped to shred."

Kim fell silent and Kerry stood there totally still, "That sucked."

Kim's whole body jerked back as if hit, "What?"

A smiled inched its way onto Kerry's face. "For the grandkids, you need to come up with a better proposal, something with champagne and perhaps me choking on the ring or something..."

Kim bent down on one knee, the only problem was that when her knee hit the ground she gave a yelp of pain and wound up sitting on her butt next to the kitchen cabinets. Kerry smiled and got down next to her, "Well, that'll at least get a laugh."

"Are we... are we okay?"

Kerry reached over and pulled Kim into a kiss. "Yes. I... I never knew, it..."

"...makes me totally make sense."

Kerry bit her lip, "Not by a long shot, but I can see why..."

"Yeah..." Kim sighed, "You should hear how my father and mother's proposal went."

"You will not tell that story Kimmy..." Charles scratched his head, "What exactly are you two doing on the floor?"

Kim groaned, "Catastrophic knee stupidity I tried to race her a couple of weeks ago, she took me down."

"Good on you Kerry. Now, get up, you'll catch your death, and then I'll catch my death from your mother." He pulled Kerry and then his daughter to their feet. "Dishes young ladies... hmmm."

As he left Kerry laughed, "Young ladies?"

"Damn straight."

Kerry smiled and shook her head, "I see where you get... you..."

"Harrumph..."

"Kim... do your parents, are they in love?"

"What? Yeah. The threats and names and all that is just play. They are what I aspire to..."

"Oh... not a bitchy red head with a penchant for screwing up the relationship?"

Kim gripped Kerry and lifted her so she was sitting on the counter. "I aspired to... because..." She kissed Kerry's nose, "I think, I finally understand my parents."

Kerry smiled, "You still owe me a syllable."

Kim smirked, "Oh?"

"No, no... parents, brother, awake son..."

Kim made a pouty face, "You could stay over."

"Nope..."

Kim was silent, "Guess I'll have to go rent a U-Haul then huh?"

"Kim, U-Haul sucks."

"Ryder?"

Kerry made a face, "Don't you have your gaggle of friends, and I have all those willing Interns..."

Kim made an aghast face, "Kerry Weaver, using your position for your own gain."

"Budget or Penske, okay?"

"Guess I'm going home with you then Ms. Weaver..."

Kerry slid off the counter and tapped Kim on the nose, "Then you'd better be good huh?"

Kerry walked out of the kitchen and Kim rested her head against the counter, "Heaven help me."

Fin ~ February 8th, 2008