Outside Oklahoma City, Wednesday evening

[vdistinctive]

Trudy had said Eliot and his family were going to be her guests, so he wasn't allowed to cook dinner. He'd said she shouldn't have to cook it either, and they'd both refused to make everyone eat leftover funeral casserole

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[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was doing her best to look more confident and ready than she actually was. "Uhhh...yeah?" she said, keeping her hands by her sides rather than letting them wring each other in her lap the way they wanted to. "They know I'm coming, right?"

This was the fourth time she'd asked that since getting to Oklahoma. It was possible she was the tiiiiiiiiniest bit nervous.

[vdistinctive]

And the fourth time that Eliot nodded and said "They do."

He left off the "they're excited to meet you" part this time, since it might just make her even more nervous, what with thinking she had to live up to expectations or something.

[spin_kick_snap]

Good call, Eliot.

"Well, what are we going to tell them?" Kathy asked. "We should get the story straight. They're not the kind of people you can mention zombies and dead girls and magic wishes in front of, right?"

[vdistinctive]

"I wouldn't bring it up all casual-like, but, darlin'. You ain't gotta tell 'em anything if you don't want."

[age_of_the_geek]

Hardison was thankfully free of any self-doubt when it came to spending time with Trudy and the family this time around. He'd gotten it out of his system last visit. Sure, he still had some lingering guilt about yelling at their dying dad, but Eliot wasn't holding it against him, so he wasn't giving it much weight.

Which meant he could take the lead a bit and keep the spotlight off of Parker and Kathy. "Hey, hey folks," he said, walking into the restaurant. "Y'all brought the baby pictures, right?"

When in doubt, throw Eliot under the bus.

[vdistinctive]

[age_of_the_geek]

"But I didn't actually get to see the bowl cut!" Hardison said, wrapping Trudy in a fierce hug. He was very, very good at those. "How you holdin' up?" he asked softly, for her ears only.

[vdistinctive]