Memorial Day BBQ

[starcity_archer]

Invitations had been sent out, all heroes welcome, chili had been percolating in the crockpot all morning, vegetables cut, beer bought, and now all Ollie was lacking was the guests, before he could start grilling up a storm. He'd remembered this year to buy the kosher hot dogs this year instead of the regular ones. Beef ones tasted funny but if Sue

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[middle_amazon]

"Great Hestia, I'm going to eat way too much of that." His 5-month pregnant daughter-in-law has made a rare trek from the Titans base to see him and the others.

[starcity_archer]

Ollie absolutely beamed as he engulfed Donna in a hug. She had his grand-kid in him. His grand-kid. This was amazing. "Do you need to sit down? What can I get you to drink? Water? Juice? Milk?"

[middle_amazon]

"Barbecue when it's ready. This kid I swear will take anything grilled at any time." She sort of misses beer even if she's not a heavy drinker. "I'll stick with water for now. Roy's making a run for it. You're safe at the grill, Ollie."

There was a time where she would have never thought she would seek out Ollie all on her own. But they sorted things out before she and Roy got married.

[starcity_archer]

"Burgers, kosher hot dogs, or veggie kabobs?" Ollie offered. "Anything else? We got food already going in the kitchen. He searches out the best seat in the backyard for his daughter-in-law.

[make_contact]

Joey let Donna settle in for a minute before making his way over to her chair. She's a safe bet to start off with; she's well aware already that he's back because he knows Roy has told her and all he needs to do is come full circle and show his face.

Some days he's STILL wrapping his head around the 'Roy married to Donna' part of the equation. He would have put money on them never getting it through their heads...

He hesitates a second, then touches her shoulder, waving almost sheepishly by way of hello when she turns her head. He smiles though, warm and calm as ever. Of everybody he's missed Donna's very close to the top of the list right now. He has to thank her for all the pictures she left for him if nothing else.

[middle_amazon]

That and last time he saw her, she was married to an unemployed college professor who moved them out to his family farm in New Jersey and Roy was taking him out as a wingman to Atlantic City.

Tears well up in her eyes. "Hey you." She gently wraps in a hug. "Welcome home," she whispers in his ear.

[make_contact]

He wraps his arms around her in return, swallowing thickly at the feel of her breath against his ear. Donna's not the first person to welcome him back but she's the first one who's made him feel like he can be such a thing as 'home' after all this. He hates to make her teary-eyed but it's a relief to be missed and welcomed given how they parted.

He gives her a kiss on the cheek, lingering in that hug for a long few moments before pulling away. He doesn't go far, pulling up a chair in front of her. He'll try the sign first. Donna was always pretty sharp with figuring out what he was saying even if her sign vocabulary failed her.

'It's so good to see you. How are you doing?'

Are doing, not 'how have you been'. He doesn't want her to feel compelled to recount the last ten years of her life on the fly.

[middle_amazon]

"Pregnant," she replies with a grin. "Thankfully it's all going normally. Last time..." He died right before Bobby was discovered; when she was recovering from the Wildebeest fight to be specific. "Last time there were some problems so I haven't been getting out much. But everything is going well this time."

[make_contact]

'So I heard' he signs, grinning wide. Roy had mentioned it more than once. 'Congratulations. Do you know boy or girl yet?'

[middle_amazon]

"Yes. Boy. I swear, the little guy poses for ultrasound shots. I don't know where he could possibly get that from."

[make_contact]

He laughs, shrugging his shoulders, hands raised palms up, in a broad and mocking I-wouldn't-know-either gesture.

'If you're lucky he'll keep it up after he's born. More for your folders.' He hesitates for a moment, the vauge worry that she'll find his pawing through her files voyeuristic somehow creeping through him.

'I was looking at all your photos in the computer.Have to thank you for those.'

[middle_amazon]

She shakes her head. "What happened, Joseph?" She could read the files, but she needs to hear it from him.

[make_contact]

That erases his smile in the space of a moment and he leans forward in his chair, letting out a slow breath, carding a hand through his hair before resting his elbows on his knees. He's not sure he can even properly explain it; but she's asked and he knows she's asking because she wants to know what he's been through more than she wants to know the facts of the story -- so he'll try.

He signs slower, because this first part might be the most important.

'You remember Eric Forrester?'

[middle_amazon]

She frowns. "The cyberpath who tried to seduce Raven?"

[make_contact]

Seduced? No, Used. Humiliated. Tried to kill her. The understatement re-kindles that slow burn in his chest at the thought of what is and what could have been - for her and for him.

But all he does is tighten his fists for a long moment before signing 'Yes'. Snapping at Donna isn't fair and it won't make him feel better.

'When I fought with him I jumped into his body. I got lost, I couldn't control him. He was mostly a machine inside. Raven's soul self rescued me but he...' He grasps to think of the right word for a moment. 'He imprinted himself into me.'

[middle_amazon]

She lets that knowledge and the pain on Joey's face fill in the gaps. "He and the tainted souls then..?"