The Causeway - Friday Afternoon

[notlikebobby]

As soon as class was over, Jack had been off to the computer lab to see if he could find out when their mom's flight would be in. Of course, it was 2010 and the flight was in 2005, so it wasn't as simple as checking the website. He'd dug around and found what he was looking for, eventually discovering when the flight had landed...would land...did

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[notlikejack]

"Can you see her, Jack?" Bobby asked, standing on his tiptoes excitedly. "Do you think she's gonna be mad her flight was late? I hope she didn't yell at the pilot again."

[notlikebobby]

"She's always mad about something." That wasn't true, and was a bit unfair. "There's someone coming, but I can't make them out. Remember what I said. Play it cool."

[notlikejack]

Bobby gave him a look of duh. "I know! And if she starts figuring stuff out, I'll ask her about her department. That'll distract her."

[notlikebobby]

"And if she really starts, if you want to stay here, let me handle it." Jack's train of thought disappeared when he saw that it was, in fact, their mother arriving, with... "Courtney?"

[notlikejack]

He bounced up, staring and gleeful. "Wow, Jack, did you know Courtney was coming?"

Clearly he hadn't from his tone of voice but that mattered not. "Hi Mom!" he called. "Hi Courtney!"

[notlikemysons]

"Bobby!" Grace's irritation at the flight delays was pushed aside momentarily while she held her arms out for a hug. She'd never been away from the boys this long before, and she had to keep the urge to look them over and make sure they were okay in check. "Jack. You would not believe the trouble the airline caused us. Wow, look at this place."

[notlikejack]

Bobby ran to give her a tight hug, not caring (as usual) if he was being cool or completely dorky. "Mom! I missed you. I'm so glad you came."

[likesjacknbobby]

Courtney stood back to let Jack and Bobby see their mom. Suddenly she wasn't sure what she should do with her hands. Maybe this had been a bad idea. She should have called and let Jack know because he'd been gone a month and maybe he didn't want to see her anyway.

Crap. This weekend better not suck.

[notlikebobby]

Jack gave Mom a brief hug. It was almost as if she was glad to see him, which kind of surprised him considering how they'd been when they left. Jack turned his attention to Courtney. "What are you doing here?" His question was confrontational but the smile on his face showed he was happy to see her.

[likesjacknbobby]

"Thought we were going to Florida," she said sarcastically though she was smiling back at him. Did they hug? How was this going to work. "Plane went the wrong way."

[notlikebobby]

They were definitely going to hug if Jack had anything to say about it. He made the first move to hug her. "If you were going to Florida voluntarily with my mom, I'd ask why, who are you and what happened to your dad to let that happen?"

[notlikemysons]

"I'm not here two minutes and already you're insulting me," Grace scoffed lightly. "I'll have you know that if Courtney and I were to go to Florida, which might have better weather than out here right now - questionably, but might - she would not only have a great time, she'd never question coming on vacation with me ever again."

[likesjacknbobby]

Okay, they were hugging, and Courtney was completely happy with that. Even if they were broken up technically, she'd have considered a kiss if his mom and Bobby weren't right there.

"Hey, I came here voluntarily with Dr. McCallister, didn't I?" she shot back. "And there's not even any sandy beaches."

She was wrong about that, but she didn't know yet.

[notlikemysons]

"Call me Grace," Grace reminded her. They'd had this talk, which was not at all awkward for Grace but probably was for Courtney, before leaving for the airport. "Bobby, let's get out of this weather before it starts to rain. Do you want to lead the way to the hotel?"

[notlikebobby]

There was probably a good possibility that Jack was going to kiss Courtney anyway, despite the break-up, if they could get enough time alone for that to happen. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed her until she was here. When he pulled back from the hug, he nodded at Bobby that it was okay to do what mom said. "There are beaches," he told Courtney. "Sandy ones. If the weather holds up, I'll show you tomorrow."

[notlikejack]

"There's a ton of beaches," Bobby agreed instantly, going over to claim his own hug from Courtney before grabbing their mom's suitcase and heading towards the hotel. "It's an island, you know. I can show you where I -" his ramble of words halted instantly as he realised "-um, I mean, you probably just want to go by yourselves, and, um, well, they're really nice!"