A/N: Here is a second chapter to expand on the story a little more. Thank you to JimChou for some ideas on how to expand the story!

Bull watched his friend as they led Marissa's family over to the rest of the team. He knew she was feeling shy, maybe even a little embarrassed, though he just couldn't understand why. Marissa meant the world to the team; not one of them would ever make fun of her just because she was adopted. He didn't know how to convey that message to her in any other way than to let the team see the people she loved most.

"You must really like Marissa's family, Jason," said Benny cheekily. "You sure spent enough time with them."

"Actually, I do like them quite a lot. It's like having more Marissa's around," replied Bull with a grin, then, in a serious tone, added, "You know, since I just love having Marissa around."

"Do we get to meet them?" asked Chunk.

"You do." Bull stepped to the side so that Marissa's sister and parents could step forward. "This is Tammy, she is Marissa's older sister."

Tammy smiled at the people in front of her. "Nice to meet all of you," she said as she stepped forward again. "Marissa tells us so much about you. I feel like I know all of you."

"It's great to meet you, too, Tammy," said Benny, holding out a hand to her. "I wish Marissa had told us about you."

"She's a shy person."

"Really? I don't think we would have ever guessed that. She's certainly not shy at work."

"You two know that I'm standing right here, don't you?" said Marissa, who had gone very red in the face when Tammy had started talking.

"We do," said Tammy, "but that isn't going to stop us from chatting about you."

"Tammy," tried Marissa, but her sister wasn't listening anymore.

"It's alright, Riss," said Bull quietly. He cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention once again. "I thought you wanted to meet all of Marissa's family?" he asked.

Cable nodded enthusiastically. "We do!" she said excitedly.

"Well, this is Joanne," said Bull, indicating the woman standing behind Tammy, "and this is her husband, Rafael. They are Marissa's adoptive parents."

"You're adopted?" asked Cable. She smiled. "That is so cool!"

Marissa frowned, feeling confused. She opened her mouth to say something, but Cable just pulled her into a tight hug.

"You should have told us!" Cable said excitedly. "We would have loved to meet your family ages ago!"

"You don't think it's strange?" asked Marissa.

"Hell no! These two people have to be the kindest people ever! They raised you and made you the sweetest, friendliest person I've ever met," said Danny.

"Thank you," said Marissa quietly, though with the biggest smile anyone had ever seen on her face. "You don't know how much that means to me."

"I'll bet that you thought we would think you were lying, right?"

Marissa shrugged. "Something like that, yeah."

"You are crazy, Marissa," laughed Chunk. "We know you well enough to know that you wouldn't lie about something like your family."

"It was stupid, wasn't it?"

"Kind of, but you have every right to feel that way," said Bull. "We understand it."

"Thank you," said Marissa. She hugged Bull. "Thank you for yesterday, too."

"Don't mention it," smiled Bull. "Now, I think it's time to meet Cable's siblings."

"How many do you have, Cable?" asked Chunk.

"Three. My sister, Jessie, my brother Will, and my second brother, Matt. I'm the youngest."

"Your parents must have had their hands full," laughed Danny. "Just with you, mind you."

"You're lucky that we're very good friends, Danny," grinned Cable with a fake glare. "Jessie and Matt are twins, and Will is the oldest," Cable explained to the gathered crowd of friends.

"You guys must have loved having a younger sister to boss around," said Benny.

"Actually, it was the other way around. Cable was the one who bossed us around," said Matt. "She's always been the firecracker in our family."

"You three loved to embarrass me," said Cable.

"And you always got us back," replied Will.

"Cable used to make embarrassing photo albums of us that she liked to give out for Christmas," explained Jessie, "she always had a camera with her and she would take photos of us at the most inconvenient times. She managed to always catch us doing something ridiculous or something that we weren't supposed to do. We learnt quickly to not make fun of her anymore."

Bull, Benny and Marissa were laughing hard by now. Danny and Chunk weren't far behind, and Cable was just grinning happily at how shifty she had been.

"That explains why she's so good at her job now," said Danny after a few minutes. "She is easily the best at what she does."

"Cable has always been good at things to do with technology," said Matt. "She's a very curious person by nature, and the internet certainly holds endless mysteries for her to be curious about."

Bull nodded along, but he had stopped paying much attention to the conversation. He watched on as his team and their loved ones got to know each other better. It warmed his heart to see them so happy, and he was very glad that he had organised this event. He had always known that it would be successful, but he hadn't counted on his team feeling so content in each other's company outside work.

The End