Kav_100: Meeting the Family (094: Independence)
Title: Meeting the Family
Author: scarlet_gryphon
Word Count: ~1,918
Rating: PG
Prompt: 094: Independence
Notes: *Insert standard disclaimer here*. Set in July of Season 2 of SG-1. X-posted to kavtolanon.
The smell of charcoal barbeques and roasting hotdogs filled the air, mixing delightfully with the fresh salty breeze coming off of Puget Sound. Children ran across the large grassy area that was bounded by the parking lot on one side, the sidewalk on another and the fence that separated the Mukilteo City Beach from the train tracks that ran parallel to the sea on a high embankment for a short while before curving away into the distance. Various families were gathered at the plastic picnic tables that sat off the path, the sound of laughter and conversations floating on the breeze. A lighthouse presided over everything, the glass in its tower glinting in the sun.
Down the beach a little ways and slightly separate from the other families was a large gathering of about thirty or so adults, with various children of all ages scattered amongst them. A cardboard sign taped to the end of one table read, in neat handwriting, “Kavanagh Family Fourth of July Celebration! All Welcome.” Below this someone else had written, “If you brought drinks and don’t want to share, put a label on them! The Management is NOT responsible for moochers.” The gathering was spread across four tables, one laden almost entirely with drinks and condiments. A tall man with closely clipped grey hair was manning the largest grill, an apron covering his slightly rotund torso with the words “No, it’s not done yet. Try again later” embroidered across the widest part of the cloth. Two younger men, both with similarly short haircuts, were assisting him with the food preparations. There was an air of good-natured teasing between the three men, and it wasn’t readily apparent that they hadn’t seen each other face-to-face since last Christmas, and even then that was over a group web-cam session.
‘I wonder where Nate is,’ mused the youngest of the trio, his stocky build denoting the fact that he took after his mother more than his father in that respect. His hazel eyes (Another legacy of his mother) scanned the crowds, searching for the familiar form of the middle child of the Charles Kavanagh branch of the family.
‘He said he’d be here, Rob.’ Said his brother as he started to cut up some onions for his father to grill, always a family favorite at cookouts.
‘I know, Ben, but he’s not usually late for these sorts of things.’ Rob pointed out, checking to see that he was adding the right amount of seasoning to his famous Five-Alarm Chili Dip. It had been keeping chill in the cooler, but Rob always added just a pinch of cinnamon at the last minute to bring some sweetness to the dip that balanced out the copious amounts of jalapeños and chili peppers contained within.
‘He’s coming all the way from Sea-Tac, and you know how bad the traffic usually is going Northbound this time of day, but when you factor in that it’s a holiday, well…’ Charles Kavanagh trailed off, staring through the heat haze over the grill. A slight frown drew the corners of his mouth down as he watched two people making their way towards the gathering. Both wore clothes appropriate for a Pacific Northwest summer in the sun: sneakers, jeans, a t-shirt, and a light windbreaker, though in differing styles and colors, naturally. The tallest of the pair was carrying a small blue cooler, while the other bore a paper bag with what looked like paper plates and plastic cutlery poking out of the top, though it was hard to tell from this distance.
‘Oh my Lord.’ Charles breathed, his words pitched in the sort of hushed tones usually reserved for very large spaces and ancient church sanctuaries. ‘Rob, go get your mother. I don’t care what she’s doing at the moment; ten-to-one your Grandma Jessie has started going on about her petunias, and I’m sure Izzy won’t mind being dragged away. Go on, get.’
Rob shared a puzzled glance with Ben, but did as he was told, abandoning his Chili Dip on the table, but not before placing a piece of plastic wrap over the top to keep the bugs out. He threaded his way through the various members of his extended family until he found his mother and grandmother sitting on a large sand-dusted piece of driftwood. Sure enough, Grandma Jessie was rambling on about her large flower garden that graced her front yard, and Isabel Kavanagh had a definite glazed look about her. Grandma Jessie could do that to people, Rob reflected as he discreetly coughed to announce his presence. His mother looked relieved at the interruption and gave him a thankful smile.
‘Hi, Mom. Hi, Grandma Jessie. Um, Dad needs you for something, Mom. He didn’t say what, but I think it’s important.’ Rob said, biting his lip slightly. Isabel, or Izzy, as she liked to be called, stood up and brushed the sand off the seat of her pants.
‘It was wonderful to see you again, Jessie. Maybe we can talk later?’ she said politely before following Rob to where Ben and Charles were; only it wasn’t just the two men anymore. Izzy’s smile broadened as she took in the lithe form of her middle son, and she stepped forwards, causing Nate to hastily put down the cooler he was holding.
‘Nate!’ Izzy beamed, enfolding her son in a hug. ‘It’s so wonderful to see you.’ She gently tugged on his ponytail as she released him, a fond tone to her voice. ‘When are you going to get this cut?’
Nate’s lips quirked in a half-smile, one that was well known to his immediate family. The issue with his hair had been going on ever since his senior year of high school, when he’d started growing it out in a minor fit of rebellion. Once he’d gotten into college he’d kept it long, and it had become a tradition of sorts for Izzy to lightly badger him about getting it cut. Everyone knew he probably would only get it cut short if his job demanded it, but so far no one had complained.
Well, Charles thought as he watched his wife and son gently tease each other, at least he’s not a chemist. The hair might pose a problem then. A movement at the end of the table caught his eye, and he turned to see Nate’s companion setting the paper bag she had been carrying down on the table. Light brown eyes met his grey-blue, and then looked down towards the table, focusing on the slightly nervous arranging of the plates and utensils that had been in the bag. The woman’s wavy brown hair was held back in a pony tail, but a few locks had escaped and framed a pretty face that looked to have some direct Grecian ancestry to it. She was slender, but not overly so, and Charles could see why Nate was attracted to her.
‘Nate, aren’t you going to introduce us to your guest?’ Charles prompted, and he noticed that the woman suddenly dropped the bundle of plastic forks she was holding. A soft curse in a foreign language issued from her mouth as she bent down to pick up the errant cutlery, and as she rose back to a standing position, Charles noted a slight blush coloring her light olive skin.
Nate blinked sharply and then looked embarrassed at his lapse of manners. ‘Sorry,’ he said sheepishly, then gently took the bundle of forks from the woman and set them safely down on the table before clearing his throat softly. ‘Um, right. Mom, Dad, Ben, and Rob, this is Brooks Rice, my girlfriend.’ The last two words made Izzy’s smile widen, and Brooks smiled nervously in return, edging closer to Nate.
‘Hi,’ she said quietly, taking in the faces around her. Izzy held out her hand, and Brooks took it, her posture relaxing somewhat as Izzy’s all-embracing personality swept over her.
‘Nice to meet ya, Brooks. I’m Ben.’ The eldest of the three sons said when Izzy had released Brooks’ hand. ‘Where’d you two meet?’
Nate winced slightly at the directness of his brother’s questioning, but Brooks merely shrugged and replied with, ‘At work. We were in the same department for a while, but then Nate got transferred to another one a few weeks later. We still saw each other during lunch and well…’ She trailed off, a faint smile on her face. Of course, what she couldn’t say was that while what she had said was mostly true, that fact was that the various mishaps and emergencies at the SGC had forced them together far more often than mere mundane meal-times. That was one of the things Brooks had worried about when Nate had told her about the annual Kavanagh Fourth of July picnic. Working at an above-Top Secret location meant that conversations were littered with half-truths and veiled lies, none of which Brooks was fond of. It couldn’t be helped, of course, but still.
‘So, you work at Cheyenne as well? What do you do, exactly?’ Rob inquired, sitting down on the bench that was attached to the table and stirring his Chili Dip idly after taking the plastic wrap off.
‘I specialize in Robotics and Electrical Engineering.’ Brooks replied smoothly. ‘I can’t tell you much more than that, though. Sorry.’
Charles sighed slightly. ‘I’m afraid we’ve gotten used to hearing that from our boys over the years. Both Rob and Ben have been also involved in some high-level stuff, and Izzy and I have learned just to accept it.’ He said as he checked on the Italian sausages he was cooking.
Izzy cleared her throat and then said, ‘Come on, Brooks. I’m sure we don’t want to bother the men when they’re cooking.’ She started to pull Brooks towards the larger clump of people gathered nearby. ‘I want you to meet some of the rest of the family. I think Rosie brought her famous Death by Chocolate pudding, which you absolutely have to try.’ Brooks shot Nate a slightly worried look, but he merely shrugged and smiled fondly.
‘Don’t worry. No one will bite.’ He said just before she was pulled out of earshot.
‘Much.’ Ben added, shaking his head. Nate turned to look at him, but Ben countered it with a raised eyebrow.
‘You know Elaine and some of the others are going to try and get as much information out of her as possible.’ Ben pitched his voice a few octaves higher in imitation of one of their least-favorite cousins. ‘So, how’d you and Nate meet? Where’re you from? What do you do for a living?’ He shook his head, his voice dropping back into its normal register. ‘You might want to go looking for her after a while.’
‘Did you two really meet at work?’ Rob asked, and Nate’s hand shot out and gently thumped his younger brother across the top of the head. ‘Hey!’
‘You started it,’ Charles observed, trying hard to keep a straight face. ‘It’s your own fault.’
‘But Dad!’ Rob said pleadingly. Charles just shook his head and returned to his cooking, deftly turning the sausages over on the grill as he listened to his three sons playfully bicker and poke fun at one another. Life was good. There was a breeze in the air, the sun was shining, and his family was whole again. Although, Charles mused in the privacy of his own thoughts, perhaps it might be added to soon. You never knew.
Author: scarlet_gryphon
Word Count: ~1,918
Rating: PG
Prompt: 094: Independence
Notes: *Insert standard disclaimer here*. Set in July of Season 2 of SG-1. X-posted to kavtolanon.
The smell of charcoal barbeques and roasting hotdogs filled the air, mixing delightfully with the fresh salty breeze coming off of Puget Sound. Children ran across the large grassy area that was bounded by the parking lot on one side, the sidewalk on another and the fence that separated the Mukilteo City Beach from the train tracks that ran parallel to the sea on a high embankment for a short while before curving away into the distance. Various families were gathered at the plastic picnic tables that sat off the path, the sound of laughter and conversations floating on the breeze. A lighthouse presided over everything, the glass in its tower glinting in the sun.
Down the beach a little ways and slightly separate from the other families was a large gathering of about thirty or so adults, with various children of all ages scattered amongst them. A cardboard sign taped to the end of one table read, in neat handwriting, “Kavanagh Family Fourth of July Celebration! All Welcome.” Below this someone else had written, “If you brought drinks and don’t want to share, put a label on them! The Management is NOT responsible for moochers.” The gathering was spread across four tables, one laden almost entirely with drinks and condiments. A tall man with closely clipped grey hair was manning the largest grill, an apron covering his slightly rotund torso with the words “No, it’s not done yet. Try again later” embroidered across the widest part of the cloth. Two younger men, both with similarly short haircuts, were assisting him with the food preparations. There was an air of good-natured teasing between the three men, and it wasn’t readily apparent that they hadn’t seen each other face-to-face since last Christmas, and even then that was over a group web-cam session.
‘I wonder where Nate is,’ mused the youngest of the trio, his stocky build denoting the fact that he took after his mother more than his father in that respect. His hazel eyes (Another legacy of his mother) scanned the crowds, searching for the familiar form of the middle child of the Charles Kavanagh branch of the family.
‘He said he’d be here, Rob.’ Said his brother as he started to cut up some onions for his father to grill, always a family favorite at cookouts.
‘I know, Ben, but he’s not usually late for these sorts of things.’ Rob pointed out, checking to see that he was adding the right amount of seasoning to his famous Five-Alarm Chili Dip. It had been keeping chill in the cooler, but Rob always added just a pinch of cinnamon at the last minute to bring some sweetness to the dip that balanced out the copious amounts of jalapeños and chili peppers contained within.
‘He’s coming all the way from Sea-Tac, and you know how bad the traffic usually is going Northbound this time of day, but when you factor in that it’s a holiday, well…’ Charles Kavanagh trailed off, staring through the heat haze over the grill. A slight frown drew the corners of his mouth down as he watched two people making their way towards the gathering. Both wore clothes appropriate for a Pacific Northwest summer in the sun: sneakers, jeans, a t-shirt, and a light windbreaker, though in differing styles and colors, naturally. The tallest of the pair was carrying a small blue cooler, while the other bore a paper bag with what looked like paper plates and plastic cutlery poking out of the top, though it was hard to tell from this distance.
‘Oh my Lord.’ Charles breathed, his words pitched in the sort of hushed tones usually reserved for very large spaces and ancient church sanctuaries. ‘Rob, go get your mother. I don’t care what she’s doing at the moment; ten-to-one your Grandma Jessie has started going on about her petunias, and I’m sure Izzy won’t mind being dragged away. Go on, get.’
Rob shared a puzzled glance with Ben, but did as he was told, abandoning his Chili Dip on the table, but not before placing a piece of plastic wrap over the top to keep the bugs out. He threaded his way through the various members of his extended family until he found his mother and grandmother sitting on a large sand-dusted piece of driftwood. Sure enough, Grandma Jessie was rambling on about her large flower garden that graced her front yard, and Isabel Kavanagh had a definite glazed look about her. Grandma Jessie could do that to people, Rob reflected as he discreetly coughed to announce his presence. His mother looked relieved at the interruption and gave him a thankful smile.
‘Hi, Mom. Hi, Grandma Jessie. Um, Dad needs you for something, Mom. He didn’t say what, but I think it’s important.’ Rob said, biting his lip slightly. Isabel, or Izzy, as she liked to be called, stood up and brushed the sand off the seat of her pants.
‘It was wonderful to see you again, Jessie. Maybe we can talk later?’ she said politely before following Rob to where Ben and Charles were; only it wasn’t just the two men anymore. Izzy’s smile broadened as she took in the lithe form of her middle son, and she stepped forwards, causing Nate to hastily put down the cooler he was holding.
‘Nate!’ Izzy beamed, enfolding her son in a hug. ‘It’s so wonderful to see you.’ She gently tugged on his ponytail as she released him, a fond tone to her voice. ‘When are you going to get this cut?’
Nate’s lips quirked in a half-smile, one that was well known to his immediate family. The issue with his hair had been going on ever since his senior year of high school, when he’d started growing it out in a minor fit of rebellion. Once he’d gotten into college he’d kept it long, and it had become a tradition of sorts for Izzy to lightly badger him about getting it cut. Everyone knew he probably would only get it cut short if his job demanded it, but so far no one had complained.
Well, Charles thought as he watched his wife and son gently tease each other, at least he’s not a chemist. The hair might pose a problem then. A movement at the end of the table caught his eye, and he turned to see Nate’s companion setting the paper bag she had been carrying down on the table. Light brown eyes met his grey-blue, and then looked down towards the table, focusing on the slightly nervous arranging of the plates and utensils that had been in the bag. The woman’s wavy brown hair was held back in a pony tail, but a few locks had escaped and framed a pretty face that looked to have some direct Grecian ancestry to it. She was slender, but not overly so, and Charles could see why Nate was attracted to her.
‘Nate, aren’t you going to introduce us to your guest?’ Charles prompted, and he noticed that the woman suddenly dropped the bundle of plastic forks she was holding. A soft curse in a foreign language issued from her mouth as she bent down to pick up the errant cutlery, and as she rose back to a standing position, Charles noted a slight blush coloring her light olive skin.
Nate blinked sharply and then looked embarrassed at his lapse of manners. ‘Sorry,’ he said sheepishly, then gently took the bundle of forks from the woman and set them safely down on the table before clearing his throat softly. ‘Um, right. Mom, Dad, Ben, and Rob, this is Brooks Rice, my girlfriend.’ The last two words made Izzy’s smile widen, and Brooks smiled nervously in return, edging closer to Nate.
‘Hi,’ she said quietly, taking in the faces around her. Izzy held out her hand, and Brooks took it, her posture relaxing somewhat as Izzy’s all-embracing personality swept over her.
‘Nice to meet ya, Brooks. I’m Ben.’ The eldest of the three sons said when Izzy had released Brooks’ hand. ‘Where’d you two meet?’
Nate winced slightly at the directness of his brother’s questioning, but Brooks merely shrugged and replied with, ‘At work. We were in the same department for a while, but then Nate got transferred to another one a few weeks later. We still saw each other during lunch and well…’ She trailed off, a faint smile on her face. Of course, what she couldn’t say was that while what she had said was mostly true, that fact was that the various mishaps and emergencies at the SGC had forced them together far more often than mere mundane meal-times. That was one of the things Brooks had worried about when Nate had told her about the annual Kavanagh Fourth of July picnic. Working at an above-Top Secret location meant that conversations were littered with half-truths and veiled lies, none of which Brooks was fond of. It couldn’t be helped, of course, but still.
‘So, you work at Cheyenne as well? What do you do, exactly?’ Rob inquired, sitting down on the bench that was attached to the table and stirring his Chili Dip idly after taking the plastic wrap off.
‘I specialize in Robotics and Electrical Engineering.’ Brooks replied smoothly. ‘I can’t tell you much more than that, though. Sorry.’
Charles sighed slightly. ‘I’m afraid we’ve gotten used to hearing that from our boys over the years. Both Rob and Ben have been also involved in some high-level stuff, and Izzy and I have learned just to accept it.’ He said as he checked on the Italian sausages he was cooking.
Izzy cleared her throat and then said, ‘Come on, Brooks. I’m sure we don’t want to bother the men when they’re cooking.’ She started to pull Brooks towards the larger clump of people gathered nearby. ‘I want you to meet some of the rest of the family. I think Rosie brought her famous Death by Chocolate pudding, which you absolutely have to try.’ Brooks shot Nate a slightly worried look, but he merely shrugged and smiled fondly.
‘Don’t worry. No one will bite.’ He said just before she was pulled out of earshot.
‘Much.’ Ben added, shaking his head. Nate turned to look at him, but Ben countered it with a raised eyebrow.
‘You know Elaine and some of the others are going to try and get as much information out of her as possible.’ Ben pitched his voice a few octaves higher in imitation of one of their least-favorite cousins. ‘So, how’d you and Nate meet? Where’re you from? What do you do for a living?’ He shook his head, his voice dropping back into its normal register. ‘You might want to go looking for her after a while.’
‘Did you two really meet at work?’ Rob asked, and Nate’s hand shot out and gently thumped his younger brother across the top of the head. ‘Hey!’
‘You started it,’ Charles observed, trying hard to keep a straight face. ‘It’s your own fault.’
‘But Dad!’ Rob said pleadingly. Charles just shook his head and returned to his cooking, deftly turning the sausages over on the grill as he listened to his three sons playfully bicker and poke fun at one another. Life was good. There was a breeze in the air, the sun was shining, and his family was whole again. Although, Charles mused in the privacy of his own thoughts, perhaps it might be added to soon. You never knew.