The Greens of Jericho

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Different Circumstances Interludes: Long Distance Relationship, Part 5

by Marzee Doats

Author's Note:

I am still working on the first of these Interludes (I think there will be four total, but you never know, it could end up being five).  Once this Interlude concludes (somewhere north of 350 pages and 7 parts) I will get back to Different Circumstances proper (still working on Part 15).  I'm hankering to get back to that story, and it is always in the back of my brain, bubbling away.

Many thanks to my two fabulous beta readers, Skyrose and Sherry for their feedback and encouragement. 

Warnings:

Not necessarily a warning in the content sense, but about how this chapter is structured.  This is partially an epistolary/letter-writing story (just email rather than snail mail), and there are timestamps on all emails.  Just remember that Iraq is eight hours ahead of Jericho Kansas, so if you are looking at the timestamps and something seems out of order, it probably isn't, as our favorite couple is definitely living and coping during a time when they are in a long-distance relationship.

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 From: Jake Green (personal)

Sent: Mon Jun 05 19:09 (UTC+3)

To: Johnston Green (personal)

Subject: Returning the favor

Attachments:

Here's my unsolicited piece of advice for you.

If you eavesdrop on part of a conversation don't assume you know the full story.

From: Jake Green (personal)

Sent: Mon Jun 05 19:18 (UTC+3)

To: Heather Green (home)

Subject: Your Birthday

Attachments:

Hey Babe –

The only problem with us talking for 45 minutes last night is that I didn't find an email from you this evening when I logged on.  You've warned me before that if you tell me everything on the phone then I end up with a boring email but I'm still missing hearing from you. I know you probably just went right to bed (hopefully with a detour for a bubble bath) after you got home from your Birthday Dinner Party.  Hope you had a great time.

So tomorrow – I'll Skype you as soon as I can from 5:45 am on.  This is for breakfast so meet me in the kitchen.  Also I fully expect to get to see Mrs. Green wearing her shorts and her official school polo shirt.  So set things up so I can see all of you ok?

Love you

Jake

From: Agent JJ Green (DEA) [SECURE EMAIL]

Sent: Mon Jun 05 19:43 (UTC+3)

To: Heather Green (home)

Subject: RE: Sunday Dinner

Attachments:

Mrs. Green

Thanks for the long update on your Birthday Dinner.  Sounds like you had a good time.  I wish I could have been there. 

You can mostly ignore the email from the other Jake Green.  I'm just trying to keep the email traffic looking normal for that account.  Mom sent me an email there that I need to answer from this account to be safe.  That's how Eric found out about this account – I was trying to keep him from talking about the vice principal appointment and the lack of raise on my other account. 

I really hate that I have to ask you to send me these stupid emails to prop up my cover story.  Thank you for playing along. 

The conference call wasn't actually my idea.  I told April (from this account) that if I'd been smart I would have talked your dad into flying out to be with you for your Birthday.  I just didn't think of it in time.  That gave April the idea to arrange the conference call.  And Kerry was the one who called everyone in Buffalo because birthdays are very important to her.  Nice of April and your Dad to give me the credit but it was them plus Kerry and Deb.  They convinced Mike to take a whole 24 hours off from work too.

I can claim credit for suggesting the cake so I'm glad you liked it. 

I know how to email Stanley but he doesn't check his that often and I'm not sure what I'd email him about.  After I'm back for a month or so we'll go get a beer and watch a baseball game or something while you spend some time with April.  Stanley and I will be fine.  We always are.  There's no pact re: Mrs. Walker but no way we imagined when we were 12 that she'd still be alive now let alone still teaching 6th grade.

I generally like your tangents Mrs. Green, the more subatomic the better.  Though they do tend to make me want to kiss you (and other stuff).

I knew most of the story about how Eric and I got named but I didn't know that I almost had a brother O'Brien.  You're right Mrs. Owensby would have loved that.  The novel was probably by Louis L'Amour or some other Western novelist.  Cowboy Jake rides again.

I like my mom's rule for naming kids.  You ("she who has to give birth") can pick their names and I will have a veto.  I know we already agreed on Abigail Renate and definitely no Johnston Jacob III, but we're going to have more than one kid right?  And I will veto naming our son Abigail.  So would my mom I bet.

Ok we can tell our kids stories from Greek mythology.  You're going to have to go first so I can see how exactly to edit the stories so they are kid appropriate.  But you probably already have 4 different picture books of Greek myths for babies right?

Glad to hear that everyone in Buffalo is good.  I hope you gave Tommy hell.  If Mandy wants to make a career of helping people he needs to find that supportive husband hat.  Loved the update on Megan – of course she's advanced.  We can both be right about your Dad and not just because it's your Birthday.

As for Mike I sent him a congratulatory email.  He wrote back to yell at me for abandoning you and told me about you wanting him to come visit you.  He also suggested that we should have a kid so you'd stop mothering/big sistering him.  I told him he was crazy if he thought that would be enough to distract you from looking after your favorite baby brother.  I told him I'd buy him a plane ticket to come meet his new niece or nephew when the time came.  I may have mentioned bonus points.  He may have taken this to mean I was bragging about something I'm not allowed to brag about to him.  That's his "inappropriate email".  And it is a guy thing. 

I guess Dad heard part of your conversation with Mom and April.  Don't worry about it but he's like Mike – thinks I've abandoned you.  Dad actually said I was ruining through neglect the most important relationship I have.

Remember if you start to feel abandoned or neglected let me know and I will quit and be on that next plane.  I am a million times more interested in being married to you than I am in this job.

>> What I don't want is to be married to someone who resents me

>> for being too needy or clingy.

I don't worry about you being needy or clingy. I worry that you'll get fed up and decide you don't need me at all.  You cling to me any time you want. 

I'll see you soon.  18 hours til our Skype date.  I can't wait.

Love love love you

Cowboy Jake

 From: Agent JJ Green (DEA) [SECURE EMAIL]

Sent: Mon Jun 05 19:57 (UTC+3)

To: Gail Green

Subject: Heather's birthday

Attachments:

Mom

Heather says the existence of my work email was a big topic of debate at her birthday dinner.  You're all smart people so it's weird that you didn't realize I have work email.  I have a whole work computer network that I use too.

I'm emailing you from my work account mostly to let you know that I try to keep "Lisinski" out of my personal account right now.  Not your fault that you sent me an email that mentioned them but if you need to tell me something about the Lisinskis it's better to use this email.  Right now my other email is tied to a guy named Jake Green who married someone named Heather Lind. 

But at this email address I'm me and I'm definitely married to Heather Lisinski Green. 

Thanks for everything you did to make her birthday dinner special, and to pull off the surprise.  She really loved it all.

You don't have to email Joe about peanut butter.  Heather liked it before she met me but I have convinced her it's the food of the gods – her words.  So we're 2 peanut butter fiends who will probably have peanut butter fiend kids. 

Heather really is going to be the best Mom.  It'll be a challenge to keep up with her but I'll sure try.  Sometimes it's a challenge to keep up with her in a conversation but she seems to think I do all right.  Remember that time Eric said that Heather was dating me because she likes a challenge?  I think that runs both ways with us.  We both like the challenge and the conversation.  And some other things.

Love Jake

 From: Agent JJ Green (DEA) [SECURE EMAIL]

Sent: Mon Jun 05 20:32 (UTC+3)

To: Agent A Beltran-Waller (DEA)

Subject: RE: Not Work (mostly)

Attachments: redirect_email.txt

 Ange

I'd probably eat a corn dog and an ice cream sandwich for dinner and call it good too.  I'm not going to bust you for how you feed your kid.  Though for you and my mother I'd try to work in a vegetable.  Good? 

We look forward to hosting the Wallers on the Green Ranch.  So we better work on getting this investigation closed and some arrests made right?

I told Gretchen that there was no way she or Mellie could fake emails or calls from Heather.  But I am willing to have you try and fake some emails from the rest of my family.  I email with them but it's not like it is with Heather. 

I've attached a list of email addresses that I'm authorizing you to redirect from my personal account (I'll be getting a new one once this op is over) to both of our DEA accounts.  I should still be reading the email that comes from my family and you can use the parts that make sense when you start constructing those "Gramps took a turn for the worse" emails.

This week my mom and my brother both sent me emails that I'm just going to have to hope fall through any Ravenwood filters.  I've thrown all my in laws' email addresses on the list too.  They don't send me email that often but half their email addresses contain the wrong (and real) last name – Lisinski instead of Lind.  Heather's dad and 3 (Andy, John and Mike) of her 4 brothers (Tommy couldn't make it because of work) came from Buffalo to KS for my grandfather's funeral so if I get email from the Lisinskis you can assume that the Linds would send me the same and mention something about him.  They mostly referred to him as EJ.    

I think that's it.  We can talk about anything else that comes up on Tuesday/Wednesday.

Jake

 From: Agent A Beltran-Waller (DEA) [SECURE EMAIL]

Sent: Mon Jun 05 12:46 (UTC-6)

To: Agent JJ Green (DEA)

Subject: Shiny Object Op / GTolliver Guarantee

Attachments: JakeGreenStatus_060530.msg

 Jake,

Please think about changing subject lines when you email me.  I'm going to assume that since we're friends, you're not going to sue the DEA or me (personally) for intercepting your email even though the subject of the email granting me permission to do so is literally "Not Work". (Taking off my bureaucrat hat now.)

Attached is the email from Gretchen guaranteeing that I have final decision about your field status and I don't have to justify any of my decisions ahead of time.  My Spidey Sense is now Mom Spidey Sense, but I promise not to have too itchy of a trigger finger.  Just itchy enough to keep you from dying/almost dying.

I'm intercepting email from all designated addresses now so keep that in mind.  For now, I will just pass all email through (without reading) to your personal account. When you reply those emails will come back to me first so in the future I can scrub any mentions of Gramps out.  That's adorable by the way.  I called my grandfather Grampy, so that's probably why I like it.  For some reason my dad wants Christopher to call him Pops.  Things to think about as you get ready to have a kid. 

Let me know when you let Heather know about Gramps's decline.  Would it be helpful if one of your parents was the first person to email you and let you know?  Instead of Heather?  We could also have Gretchen call you and be your mom if you think that would work better.

Ange

 From: Gail Green

Sent: Mon Jun 05 13:22 (UTC-5)

To: Agent JJ Green (DEA)

Subject: RE: Heather's birthday

Attachments:

Jake Honey,

I feel a little silly typing that to you at your work email, especially now that I know you're a Senior Agent.  Sorry for mentioning the Lisinskis in my earlier email.  I don't quite understand it all but I assume you are trying to keep Heather safe and/or allow her some privacy, and I heartily approve of that.

Congratulations on being promoted to Senior Agent, though I got the impression that it's not a new thing?

You know that we were and are happy to do anything that helps Heather celebrate her birthday.  We love Heather and just want her to be happy.  We want you both to be happy together.  So of course, we're going to do whatever we can to celebrate her.  You are welcome.  And thank you for your thank you, as silly as that is to say.  I'm glad that we pulled off the surprise and that she loved it.  She's going to love tomorrow's surprises even more.

Just so you know, you shouldn't give peanut butter to small children.  It's a choke food, and if you give it to them too early, they might develop a peanut allergy.  You can give them peanut butter when they're a little older (eating solid food) if you add water to creamy peanut butter to thin it out, but chunky or thick peanut butter and peanuts themselves are very dangerous.  I didn't know all this when you were a little boy (and you survived), but it's covered in the course I sometimes teach on New Baby Basics.  Still, I think you're right, your children will probably be peanut butter fiends. 

I'm not going to comment on the rest.  Just know that it makes me happy.  Now I better get going.  I have some errands to run.  You know the 2 most important.  Then I will head out to the ranch.

Love,

Mom

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Monday June 5, 3:51 pm (Jericho KS)

3 and a half months before the bombs

"Hi sweetheart," Gail Green called out in greeting to her daughter-in-law as soon as Heather opened her car door.  Climbing out of the driver's seat, Heather waved, and then ducked back into the Trailblazer to retrieve her purse, backpack, lunch bag and travel mug.  "So, how has your last day as a twenty-six-year-old been so far?" Gail asked, moving from her own open car door to stand next to Heather's.

"It's been fine," Heather answered, juggling her belongings.  "We did our final, final, absolute last academic activity of the year today.  The all caps 'LAST SPELLING TEST OF THE YEAR'," she laughed.  "Now it's just Field Day, and the end of year awards ceremony, and then the last day of school.  We've still got three chapters to read in our last book – The Borrowers – and we'll just play games if we still have time to fill."

"But how has your day been, Heather?" Gail wanted to know.

Her daughter-in-law sighed.  "Really, I'm just trying to get through today and to tomorrow," she admitted, her lips twisting as if they couldn't decide between a smile and a frown.  "Jake and I have a breakfast date on Skype first thing.  I'm pretty much just waiting for that to roll around."  She checked her watch, shaking her head at herself.  "That's in fourteen hours."

"Well, I can understand that," Gail consoled, squeezing the younger woman's arm.

"But hey, I have leftover lasagna and birthday cake to eat," Heather declared, though to Gail her cheerful tone sounded forced.  "Thank you for that.  And I need to fill out all my awards certificates for Wednesday.   So, I'll do that and check my email."  Gail nodded.  They both knew whose email she was going to be looking for.  "Maybe go to bed early for once."

"That sounds like a good plan."

Ten minutes earlier, about to turn off of Spruce Street onto Route Nine, Heather had pulled up behind Gail and honked to get her attention.  They had waved at each other, and then Heather had followed her mother-in-law out to the ranch.  Gail had parked on the narrowest part of the circular driveway, preventing Heather from passing her.  "I'm okay, right?" she asked, frowning softly and pointing toward the garage.  "You weren't going to pull into the garage, I hope."

"I almost never park in the garage." This time, her quiet chuckle was definitely genuine.  "Maybe if it's snowing, and I don't want to have to clear my car before I leave in the morning.  And even that seems wimpy," she continued.  "Growing up the garage was for working on cars, not for parking them.  And being from Buffalo, I know how to clear snow off a car."

"I'm sure," Gail acknowledged warmly. 

"I've got both trucks in the garage anyway," Heather offered.  "There's room for my car, but it starts to feel a little crowded," she shrugged. 

The garage had space for four vehicles, plus a workshop and a generous storage area, but Gail suppressed a smile, opting instead to nod in agreement.  "I just wanted to be sure I wasn't putting you out."

"Never," Heather declared, closing the Trailblazer's door and walking with Gail up to her car. 

"Because I could pull around, if you need me to," her mother-in-law offered, opening the door to the back seat and extracting a small, white bakery box.

"Completely unnecessary," Heather returned before inquiring, "And, what is that?"

"Your birthday cake," Gail answered.

Heather's expression was puzzled.  "You already gave me a birthday cake," she reminded.  Gail had insisted on sending leftover cake as well as lasagna home with her the night before, and Heather had insisted on dividing both in half, so Gail and Johnston could have some too.  "It was delicious, and I've got at least three pieces left."

"Well, that cake was from Johnston and me, and this one is from Jake," she explained, grabbing her purse off the front seat of her Le Sabre. 

"But he knew you were getting me a cake," Heather argued as they started up the short flagstone walk that ran between the driveway and the front porch.  "He even told you what flavor to get.  Why would he think I'd need another one?"

"That is the million-dollar question," her mother-in-law returned, chuckling.  "But he was very insistent.  Besides, he placed his order first, then told me it had to be picked up and delivered this afternoon.  Couldn't wait until tomorrow.  And I couldn't combine it with my order either.  You had to have a whole cake all for yourself," she listed off.  "He has a very specific plan, and I've been ordered to not interfere."

"Hmm," Heather acknowledged, fighting a smile.  "Sounds like he's up to something, especially if there's a 'plan', but I can't even imagine what it is," she laughed.

"I agree with you," his mother nodded, "And I don't know anything beyond the one or two bits he's recruited me to assist with.  And I wasn't even supposed to tell you that much," she confessed, making an exasperated noise.

"Your secret is safe with me," Heather promised as they mounted the first of the three porch steps together. "Particularly the part about there being another bit of the plan."

"Well, really," Gail groused gently.  "You weren't supposed to hear that part, Heather," she complained, chuckling.  She watched as the younger woman fitted her key into the front door's deadbolt lock.  "And you know, he just wants to make sure you have the best birthday possible.  Since he's not here to celebrate with you.  'Fun surprises', he said."

"I know," she replied, stepping into the foyer and, after depositing her things on the hall table just inside the door, disarming the security alarm.  "I know that," she repeated, frowning.  "So, thank you for helping with his plan," she declared, trying to force a smile though it didn't have staying power. 

Heather's eyes suddenly flooded with tears and she looked down and away, unable to face her mother-in-law.  "I – he's – he keeps apologizing for everything.  He tells me he's sorry for missing my birthday, and he's sorry for what happened on Saturday, and he's sorry that this assignment is taking so long," she grumbled, shaking her head.  "He pre-apologizes for our kids that we haven't even decided when to have yet.  He – he spends half his time apologizing, like he's responsible for – for everything that happens.  I could – I could burn down the house," she proclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air, "And he'd probably apologize for that.  And I – I just hate it."

Gail nodded.  "I know, sweetheart," she acknowledged, turning to carefully place the bakery box on the hall table next to Heather's lunch bag.  "I got that impression – that's what you were saying last evening," she reminded, reaching for Heather's hand and squeezing it.  This, she realized, was what her daughter-in-law had really been trying to tell her the day before, and she hadn't fully understood – maybe she still didn't – until this moment.

Heather, though, didn't seem to have heard her.  "He spends the other half of his time making sure that – that I'm not – I'm not about to – to leave him," she confessed, her voice tightening as if it choked her to even say those words.  "Which I'm not," she vowed.  "I would never, ever do that."

"Of course not," Gail murmured, still holding her daughter-in-law's hand tightly in her own.

"And – and then he spends the other half of his time making sure I know how much he loves me.  That part I don't mind," she admitted a beat later, swiping her arm across her eyes.  "And I know that doesn't make sense mathematically," she concluded, emitting a shaky giggle.  "But …."

"Actually, it does," Gail argued, once she could catch her daughter-in-law's eye.  "It makes sense mathematically.  To me, anyway.  When he apologizes.  When he worries that he's – that he's alienating you," she decided.  "He's also telling you that he loves you.  One hundred percent of the time, that's what he wants you to know – to hear.  It underlies everything.  Or overlies everything.  I don't know which way makes sense," she sighed.  "But still, it makes sense to me."

"That makes sense to me, too," Heather sniffled quietly a moment later.  "Underlie, I think.  Like a base.  And it is – it's good to know it – that he loves me – but better to hear it, right?" she declared, clearing her throat.  "He said that you told him that."

"I did," his mother verified.  "The night before your wedding."

Chewing her lip for a moment, Heather nodded, assimilating that bit of information.  "I do like hearing it," she declared.  "And – and he didn't quit his job, at least.  I mean, he can quit his job.  But I don't want him quitting because he thinks it's what I want.  That he has to because I can't handle things.  I can handle things," she insisted.  "And if he wants to quit it should be because he'd like that better."  She paused a moment, frowning to herself.    "So, if this is his big plan for my birthday….  I mean, it's just a cake, right?"

"Chocolate Kahlua," Gail confirmed, forcing herself to not respond to anything else Heather had said, and – most importantly – to not even suggest to Heather that the cake was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it came to Jake's plan for her birthday.  She was under orders to "be calm" after all. 

"Jake wanted to make sure you had one all for yourself, since it's your favorite.  I was going to get you the same one for last night, and he said that was okay, but he also suggested the strawberry lemonade cake, so I took the hint.  And he insisted that I had to get it here this afternoon," she reiterated, shaking her head and smiling.  "Not tomorrow.  Today.  And I have absolutely no idea why."

"This is what he was snippy about last week?" Heather guessed, the smallest of grins once again gracing her lips. 

"'Just stick to the plan, Mom.'  That's what he wrote in his email.  The gist anyway," his mother recalled.  "But I think he's tired, and under a bit of a strain.  And he did apologize for his attitude," Gail assured.  "It's okay, not the first time I've dealt with an out-of-sorts Jake."

Heather frowned, her expression clouding over instantly.  "He's really is tired.  Whenever we talk, he just sounds so tired.  And stressed.  Both of his jobs are so hard," she cataloged.  "And – and – I don't know."   She paused for a moment before confessing, "We've talked four, five times in the last week, and he just sounds exhausted.  But when we're talking, I'm so happy that I can't make myself get off the phone.  Well, the last time I did," she corrected.  "Because he needed to go, and right then he couldn't make himself hang up."

"Jake wants to talk to you as much as you want to talk to him," his mother reminded.

"I know.  It's just … he doesn't need to worry about me," she decided.  "And we only talked so much because he is worried about me," Heather admitted.  "Well, I called him one of the times, just because I wanted to hear his voice.  But then I made him worried.  That was so stupid of me," Heather complained, wiping at her eye.  "Because he really shouldn't worry about me.  I don't want him to worry about me.  He needs to concentrate on what he's doing. He – he needs to figure that mess out and come home."

"'Figure that mess out'?" Gail repeated, her forehead wrinkling.

"That's what Jake says.  He calls his investigation 'that mess'," she explained.  "And that's what he needs to concentrate on.  The investigation and not on worrying about how I'm doing.  I'm – I'm getting along.  And I'll be fine until he can come home."

"Sweetheart—"

"Uhhh," Heather groaned, hiding her face behind her hands for a moment.  "I'm sorry," she sighed a moment later, glancing at her mother-in-law, her expression a mixture of embarrassment and guilt.  "I'm sorry for going 'bleh' on you with all that," she apologized, gesturing with her arms as if she'd handed her mother-in-law all her burdens.  "And you don't need to worry about me either.  I shouldn't have told you all that," she insisted.  "But I'm fine, I promise."

"Well, I worry about everyone I love," Gail countered, offering her daughter-in-law a smile.  "Which includes you.  It's in the mother's job description.  So don't ever think you need to apologize for how you're feeling, Heather.  Not to me.  Though," she continued a half-breath later, "Please avoid burning the house down.  This is a very nice house, and you and Jake have put a lot of work into it over the last few years.  I would really hate for anything to happen to it."

"Trust me, I'm really not planning to test my hypothesis," Heather returned, "'Cause I love this house, too.  Besides, we've always said it's where we want our kids to grow up," she continued, her voice hitching slightly in hesitation.  "As – as presumptuous as that is – or was, anyway."

"Hardly presumptuous," her mother-in-law chuckled, shaking her head at the thought.  "I knew exactly what EJ was up to from the moment he mentioned his plan.  And then he admitted it outright – and not just to Johnston and me, but to your dad too.  He wanted to be sure that once he was gone there'd still be Greens living on the Green Ranch."  Gail smiled.  "I don't know if you've noticed," she teased, "But there is a strong – if subtle – streak of sentimentality that I happen to believe is passed along on the 'Y' chromosome in this family."

Heather laughed softly. "I am aware.  Though, it's not always subtle," she argued.  "And, maybe it's not sex specific.   Maybe it's just in the Green genes, male or female.  Which is a hypothesis I won't mind getting the opportunity to test," she joked, a rosy blush infusing her cheeks.  "Hopefully.  At some point."

"I hope so too," Gail assured, biting her tongue to hold back everything else she wanted to say on the subject.  She surprised her daughter-in-law then by pulling her into a hug, repeating, "I hope so too."

"Okay," Heather nodded a long moment later, taking a step back.  "I think I'm gonna go see if I can find my puppy, then get a drink – maybe a snack – and then we can get to work?"

"Sounds good," Gail agreed.

Her daughter-in-law turned and headed toward the family room and – Gail assumed – the back deck, which wrapped around three sides of the house and was where Baron's outside bed, food and water were kept.  Gail retrieved the cake from the hall table and carried it into the kitchen, leaving it on the counter beside the refrigerator, before returning to the foyer to retrieve Heather's lunch bag and travel coffee mug.

Heather came into the kitchen about five minutes later, Baron hot on her heels, just as Gail finished washing up the containers from her lunch bag.  "I hope you don't mind," Gail said, placing a Tupperware bowl in the drying rack.

The younger woman laughed.  "I really don't mind doing dishes.  But I also really don't mind when other people do them for me," Heather replied.  "So, thank you for that."  She was carrying a small plastic pail, and she showed Gail the contents.  "Figured I'd feed the chickens and gather the eggs while I was outside.  If you need any, please take them," she instructed, moving to the refrigerator.  "I can only eat so much egg salad," she groaned, adding the five eggs to the dozen and a half that were already on the shelf in the fridge.

"Thank you, honey.  I will take you up on that," Gail promised, drying her hands with a dish towel.  "Johnston loves a fried egg sandwich for breakfast, though I know it's not exactly good for him," she grumbled.  "When you're gone in July," she asked, the thought suddenly occurring to her, "Are you going to need me to take care of the chickens too?"

"Oh no," Heather answered, shaking her head.  "That's way above and beyond.  I already drastically overpay Eddie to clean out the coop for me every month or so – it's one of the few things Jake has ever given me a hard time about," she admitted, her tone turning rueful. 

"He gives you a hard time about that?" his mother demanded, frowning softly. 

"Oh no, I didn't mean it like that," Heather giggled, flashing Gail an amused grimace.  "It's more of an inside joke.  Jake's just always hated the chickens, and he couldn't quite believe it that Gramps left them to me along with a whole bank account to be used for their upkeep.  He calls it 'EJ's Evil Chicken Endowment'.  I'm pretty sure he was looking forward to getting rid of 'em, and then he couldn't."

"I see," Gail snorted, shaking her head.  "I really think EJ couldn't resist taking one last opportunity to tweak Jake," she offered.  "He loved him, but…."

"He also knew how to needle him.  And Jake needled him right back, especially about the chickens.  Because Gramps really was strangely devoted to them."

"Well, the chickens were always Betsy's domain," Gail told her.  "But when she died, EJ didn't want to get rid of them, so he went all in.  Which I suppose is exhibit 'A' – or rather 'C' – in the case for the Green sentimentality streak."

"Yeah," the younger woman agreed.  "Or exhibit 'B' – for Betsy."

"I think you're probably right about that."

"I like the chickens," Heather declared, "But I'm not really interested in cleaning out the coop, and Gramps knew that.  I'm a city girl," she reminded, "I'm happy to feed 'em and collect eggs, but Gramps left the money for the them, and I'm gonna take advantage of it for the yuckier aspects, anyway.  That's what Jake gives me a hard time about.  That I was so freaked out about the money until it suited my purposes.  And I pretty much deserve that."

"Well, I'm not so sure about that, but I also think you can hold your own with Jake."

Heather shrugged.  "When he comes home, he can make fun of me about the chickens every day, and I won't care one bit.  As for July, I'm just gonna overpay Eddie some more.  You taking Baron for me is more than enough."

"I'll enjoy having a dog again for a bit," her mother-in-law assured.  "I don't know why we've gone so long without one.  Except that when Charley died the first year the boys were in college, we thought maybe we shouldn't be tied down by a pet."

"Well, don't forget Baron is partially yours – your grandpuppy, right?" Heather teased, calling the dog to her.  She petted him, scratching behind his ears.  "You're gonna stay with Grandma and Grandpa, aren't ya?  And, you're gonna have lots of fun," she informed the Labrador.  "And I sound crazy," she laughed, glancing at Gail.

"Not at all," the older woman contradicted.  "We are going to have lots of fun together."

"He really is Jake's dog," Heather sighed, "But I don't quite know what I'd do without him right now."

"Jake's dog, but your puppy," Gail suggested, smiling.

Exactly!" Heather declared, continuing, "Anyway, I'm gonna tell Eddie to take any eggs that he and Tony can use.  But I'm sure there'll be extras, so I'll have him leave them in the garage refrigerator so you can pick them up when you're out here.  April too," she decided, nodding to herself.  "I'll make sure to tell her that."

"That's very sweet of you," her mother-in-law acknowledged.  "So do you know yet where Jake's taking you this time?"

"Not yet.  It'll be somewhere by the ocean, of course.  And he did say we're staying in a condo with a full kitchen.  I've promised to make peanut butter cookies for him, and he's promised me pancakes, all three Saturdays.  Pretty sure I'll make him cookies multiple times."

"I think I could have guessed that," Gail laughed.  "That Jake would want a kitchen so he could have peanut butter cookies, I mean.  And that you'd want pancakes."

"Yeah, we are a little bit predictable in that arena, huh?"  Heather giggled.  "As for where we're going, I'm supposed to find out tomorrow, though it's not a birthday present," she emphasized.  "I just kept bugging him about it, and finally he said he'd tell me on my birthday.  Which is way better than our honeymoon," she reminded.  "I didn't find out where we were going until we were literally on the hotel shuttle to the airport.  He figured he had to tell me then because they might not let us on the plane if I didn't know where I was flying to."

His mother tutted gently in sympathy, but she smiled, too.  "That was a little extreme, but we all know that he likes to surprise you every so often."

"Yep," Heather grinned.  "Flowers and vacations and occasionally turning up unannounced when I'm totally not expecting him to," she listed.  "And it's always a good surprise – always makes my day or my week," she declared.    "If he showed up now, it'd make my year, but I know that's not gonna happen.  So, I will just be happy with a birthday cake I really don't need.  Speaking of, should I put this in here?" she asked, pointing first at the bakery box and then at the refrigerator.

"Yes," Gail agreed, "But I don't think it was something Jake thought you needed, just something he wanted you to have.  A nice to have.  Because he's thinking about you and loves you.  And take a look at it first.  It's a Chocolate Kahlua cake," she reminded.  "Jake ordered it with purple writing—"

"My favorite color," she murmured.

"But it really didn't show up well on the cake.  And I – well, I threw a bit of a fit," her mother-in-law confessed.  "Because I knew it was important to him.  So, I made them scrape the purple lettering off, then add some cream cheese frosting in the middle so they could redo the lettering in purple and you could actually see it.  Sharon McBee really didn't know what to do.  She's not used to the mayor's wife out-complaining her."

"That's funny."  If there was one person in Jericho, universally known to be high strung, it was Sharon McBee.  But she was a wonder with a whisk, and most people only ever had to deal with her in short bursts, so she tended to get away with being difficult.  Heather had untaped and opened the box while her mother-in-law had been talking, and pulling the lid back, she got her first look at the cake.  "It's really nice, thank you.  And actually, cream cheese frosting on top of Chocolate Kahlua cake?  That sounds even better – and it's already really good."

"Well, I wanted you to see it now, in case the frosting runs or bleeds in the fridge," Gail explained, starting to move toward her purse that she'd left hanging on a chair at the table.  "Let me just take a picture to send to Jake, and then you can put it away."

"He demanded proof?" the younger woman asked, her tone incredulous.

"No," Gail laughed, crossing the kitchen, camera in hand.  "But I figure it's better to be safe than sorry.  Now, let me get a picture of you with the cake," she suggested after she'd taken two close-ups of the cake in the box.

"If you insist," Heather agreed, picking up the box and tilting it as much as she dared so that both the cake and her own head would be visible in the photograph. 

"Thank you," Gail murmured, moving to return her camera to her purse.  "If I do need to send proof, that'll be the one." 

"I'm gonna make some coffee," her daughter-in-law decided after re-boxing the cake and putting it away in the refrigerator.  "Would you like some?  I mean, I know you're here to work—"

"I really don't have that much to do," Gail argued.  "Just the paperwork from yesterday, plus the last round from Saturday.  I already took care of everything else.  Well, I should make out a check for Stanley," she realized, "I don't want him to have to wait.  But my most important task for the day was to deliver that cake, actually," she said, crossing her fingers behind her back.  Heather would know about her actual "most important task" soon enough.  "And, a cup of coffee would be lovely, especially if there's a chat to go along with it."

"Sure," Heather agreed readily, smiling as she moved to the 'coffee station' on the counter and began to put things together to make a pot of coffee.  "I just don't want to keep you if you need to get home."

"Monday night," Gail reminded, seating herself at the long farmhouse table.  "Johnston is at the town council meeting until who knows when.  My only plans for tonight are leftovers and maybe watching a little Jeopardy."

"In that case, do you want to have your leftovers here?" her daughter-in-law suggested, glancing back over her shoulder.  "I'm pretty sure you're planning the same leftovers as me, and you gave me more than enough for two.  I can make a salad," she offered.  "It would be nice to have company for dinner is all.  And I'm sure Baron would love a night off from me trying to engage him in conversation," she joked.

"I'd love to stay and have dinner with you."

"Great," Heather declared, returning to the task of setting up the coffee to brew.

"Sweetheart," Gail said a moment later, her tone turning quizzical.  "Didn't there used to be a doggy door there?" she asked, pointing at the side door that was visible through the open door into the mud/laundry room.  Baron took this as direction and wandered into the mudroom, where he lapped halfheartedly at his water bowl for a few seconds.

"There did," her daughter-in-law agreed, pressing the 'brew' button on the coffee machine before turning around.  "But that was literally the first thing to go when Jake had the security company come out and evaluate the house," she explained, shaking her head.  "The head guy took one look at it, said 'Aw hell no,' and sent one of the junior guys out to crawl back in through it.  He was the biggest of the three – like, Stanley's size – and he crawled right in.  Took like ten seconds, and he was in the house.  Jake had them install a new door later that day.  They were here until after ten that night.  And then, we picked that door from their catalog and they put it in a week or two later."

"And in two years I just never noticed?"       

"Uh, I guess so?" Heather replied, making a face.  With the coffee started, she moved toward the refrigerator, retrieving a container of dog treats from on top, and calling Baron to her.  She squatted down to give him two treats, a head rub and a quick kiss on his snout.  "Jake found them," she offered, standing.  "And Baron loves 'em.  They're peanut butter."

Gail laughed.  "He told me he'd turned you into a peanut butter fiend, but he didn't say that Baron was too." 

"I've always liked peanut butter," Heather contended, "But it's easier to live with Jake if you just go with the full-on peanut butter fiendishness.  And he goes along with my coffee fiendishness.  Though I'm not saying he isn't easy to live with," she added, holding up a hand to forestall an argument her mother-in-law had no intention of making.   "It's probably harder for Jake to live with me than it is for me to live with him."

"I don't think that's true at all," Gail disagreed.  "Sometimes, I think you're the only other person he wants around.  He just puts up with the rest of us because he has to."

"Or because you raised him right."

"He's being polite?" his mother chuckled, "Well, I guess I can accept that."

"I meant that he values family.  We talk about family a lot, and sure we spend a fair amount of time debating which side – the Greens or the Lisinskis – is wackier—" 

"We certainly have our moments," Gail agreed, still chuckling.

"Well, usually all I hafta do is remind Jake that Tommy is a Lisinski and he'll concede victory – or defeat, I'm really not sure," Heather laughed before allowing a soft sigh.  "But family is important to Jake.  I'm not the only one he wants to be around," she argued.  "More evidence of the subtle side of that Green sentimental streak."

"True.  But he still wants to spend his time with you most of all."  The softest of blushes brightened the younger woman's cheeks, prompting Gail to quickly add, "Which is just as it should be.  But still, I'm going to keep insisting on the Green family Sunday dinner."

"And we'll be there," her daughter-in-law promised, giggling self-consciously.  "As soon as he's back." 

"Thank you, honey," Gail sighed, deciding, "But I'll let you off the hook for the first week at least.  It's only right."  Her gaze drifted back to the replaced door and she shook her head.  "I can't believe it took me this long to notice," she complained.

"It was a bit of a sore subject, between Jake and Johnston," Heather reminded, frowning softly.  "I just left it alone.  I mean, a six foot, two-hundred-pound guy crawled into my house through a doggy door.  I wasn't gonna argue about giving up the convenience of having one after that.  They actually replaced all the exterior doors," she admitted, "Including the slider in the family room.  That's why it was so expensive."

"I wish he'd just explained that," Gail groaned.

Without commenting, Heather moved to the sink to wash her hands.

"You don't think Jake should have to explain himself," her mother-in-law inquired when Heather turned around. 

"You know what Jake says about the whole security thing?" Heather asked rhetorically.  "Mostly he says, 'you think they would just be happy that I love my wife and want her to be safe'.  I'm good with how he explains himself."

"Well, it's certainly hard to argue with that," Gail decided, feeling chastened.  "He emailed me earlier today," she continued a moment later.  "From his work email.  Mainly to tell me not to write to him about the Lisinskis on his personal account.  Which I assume is also a matter of security or privacy – maybe both?"

"Both, probably.  The fake version of me has the maiden name 'Lind'.  And, yes, there is a fake version of me," she grumbled.  "On paper anyway."  Gail watched as her daughter-in-law walked back to the 'coffee station' and retrieved two mugs from the cabinet above the coffee maker.  "Because Jake figures that there probably aren't too many Heather Lisinskis in the world.  And even if there are – or were – like, five of us, we probably didn't all marry Jake Greens," she shrugged.

"So that helps maintain your privacy."

"Security, too," Heather said, moving to retrieve a small carton of half-and-half from the refrigerator.  "Turns out there are analysts at the DEA who manufacture paper trails to go with undercover agents' cover stories.  So now there's a marriage license for a Heather Lind and a Jake Green filed in Wilson County, Kansas for a week after we actually got married." 

"Why Wilson County?" her mother-in-law inquired.

"Buffalo, Kansas is in Wilson County," Heather answered, crossing the room to place the half-and-half on the table.  "That was Jake's idea.  I pointed out that we didn't get married in Buffalo, and he just said that now the other version of us had."  This drew a chuckle from Gail, and Heather, fighting a smile, shook her head.  "But having a fake marriage license out there – a fake maiden name – all the other details that have been altered so he's the 'other Jake Green'," she shrugged.  "All of that means we can stay in touch without the targets of his investigation knowing who or where exactly I really am, so…."

"Well, Jake 'loves you and wants you to be safe'," his mother quoted back to her.

"Yes," Heather agreed, pressing her lips together tightly. 

Gail could tell that her daughter-in-law had more to say and so kept silent, waiting Heather out, even when the younger woman distracted herself by crossing the room to pour their cups of coffee. 

"I love him, too," she said, her voice cracking softly.  "And I want him to be safe," she added, placing a mug in front of her mother-in-law.  "That's what the cover story is about – the fake marriage license, the empty bank account, the financial troubles.  It all has to look plausible.  Because if anyone there were to get suspicious about me – google me and realize that Heather Lind never existed, but Heather Lisinski does – or did – and that she married Jake Green, senior agent with the DEA—"  She shook her head.  "Well, I'm not the one who's unsafe.  Jake is."

Heather seated herself, reaching for the carton of half-and-half.  She played with it for a moment, opening and then closing the mouth of the container, before finally reopening it and pouring a splash into her coffee.  She would not meet Gail's eye.  "He doesn't want me to know that, but I'm not stupid," she sighed, frowning.  "He's the one who's there.  He works for them.  He's trying to catch them doing whatever it is that they're not supposed to be doing.  And if they figure out that he's not who he said he is…."  She trailed off, unwilling to give voice to the darkest of her worries.

"Sweetheart," Gail began, though she really didn't know how to continue.  Her daughter-in-law flashed a tight smile before raising her mug to her lips and taking a sip of coffee.  "I didn't realize," she tried again.  "I – all he said in his email was that he tried to keep the Lisinskis out of his personal email, whatever that means."

"It means that he can't be sure they don't scan his email," Heather explained, exhaling wearily.  "Same with his cellphone.  But his work email is secure.  I don't know how that works actually, because that's not something he – we talk about much."

"I just thought he was – he was trying to protect you," her mother-in-law sighed.  "Not that that isn't important," she added quickly, "That's not what I'm saying.  Just that he didn't – he didn't explain that it was to protect – protect him, too."

"Jake wouldn't tell you that," his wife returned.  "He hasn't actually told me that – not directly, anyway.  That's not how undercover works, or maybe it's not how the DEA works," she shrugged.  "I try not to think about it too much, because I don't exactly like it."

"I don't think I like it either," Gail murmured. 

"That's our deal though," Heather explained, fiddling with her mug.  "If there's something he can't tell me, he just tells me that – he can't tell me.  He doesn't lie to me – that's the other half of our deal – but he can't always tell me what's actually going on, and I know that.  Which is the crazy thing about this assignment.  He's never been undercover as himself – with his real name, and enough details from his real life that it's okay for us to be in contact."

"That did strike me as unusual."

"He wasn't gonna take the assignment because it was supposed to be three, maybe four months – worst case scenario, they said – out of contact," Heather admitted.  "He said 'no way', so they came up with this."   

"But it's been four months already," Gail argued.

"Technically not until Wednesday, but yeah," her daughter-in-law confirmed, exhaling a frustrated breath.  "And really no end in sight, far as I can see.  I was hopeful about a week ago, but Jake just said there had only been 'slight movement' and it was too soon to tell.  Which means it's gonna be a while still." Heather predicted.  "And – and I know that going on our anniversary trip probably complicates things.   It's gonna make it take longer in the end, probably.  But I still want it," Heather confessed, frowning at herself.  "I need to spend some time with him.  Like actually with him – in the same place."  She chewed absently on her lip for a moment, then concluded with "I – I really need that."

"Well of course, sweetheart," her mother-in-law consoled.  "You both need that.  Especially if this is going to last another three or four months."

"Or five or six months," Heather groaned.  "End of the year, maybe.  That – that's the worst-case scenario I'm preparing myself for," she admitted.  "I told him I couldn't go so long without seeing him, even if it's just for a few days.  But that's not fair," she declared, her frown deepening.  "That's pressure he doesn't need from me.  So now I keep telling myself that as long as he's home by Thanksgiving, I'll be fine."

"Surely it won't take that long," Gail argued.  "You – we should still try to be optimistic—" 

"I keep thinking I'm being too optimistic," Heather interrupted.  "And, I really don't want to be disappointed.  So, then I end up thinking – bargaining – 'okay, God, can he just be home by Christmas?'"  She shook her head as if to clear it.  "If – I just don't want to be disappointed later.  And I will be if I let myself hope.  I think it's better to be ecstatic if he comes home early than – than whatever I'll be if he's still stuck there next year – until his birthday."

"Heather," her mother-in-law chided, her tone a perfect blend of stern and sympathetic.  "You can't let yourself think like that.  You're going to drive yourself crazy, and I don't want that for you.  Jake doesn't want that for you.  No one who loves you wants that for you, and there are a lot of people who love you."

The younger woman emitted a heavy sigh.  "I know.  And that's why – I really don't want you all having to have me committed to some inpatient facility."  She looked up from her coffee, finally meeting her mother-in-law's eye.  There was concern, and the slightest hint of alarm in the older woman's gaze, and Heather rushed to reassure her.  "I don't – I don't really mean that.  I don't mean that I'm losing it.  I just mean that I don't want to set myself up for disappointment."

Gail nodded.  "Well, that's understandable.  And you know that you don't have to carry this all on your own, sweetheart.  Anytime you need to vent or—"

"Go 'bleh'?" Heather suggested, a wry smile curving her lips.  "Which is what I seem to keep doing to you," she complained halfheartedly. 

"That is an expression I wasn't familiar with before today," Gail chuckled softly.  "But it's really quite descriptive, so I knew instantly what you meant.  And you're welcome to 'go bleh' to me whenever you need to," she informed her daughter-in-law.  "I know I'm not your mother, but you are still welcome to talk to me about anything you need to talk about.  I hope you know that, honey."

"I do," Heather nodded, her lips pressed together tightly.  "And I appreciate it very much," she continued shakily a moment later.  "I still miss my mom every day, but I've always been grateful that Jake is absolutely happy to share you with me."

"I still miss my mother every day, and she's been gone more than twenty years," Gail sighed.  "Like I said, I wouldn't presume that I could take your mother's place – I wouldn't want to – but I am still here for you, Heather, always."

"You know when we were first dating, Jake told me not to sign anything you asked me to because it might be adoption papers, and then we wouldn't be able to date."

His mother laughed at that.  "Jake would not have let that stand, I promise you.  You are the only person he ever brought home and asked me my opinion about.  That very first Sunday dinner that he brought you to," she explained, noting the younger woman's bemused expression. 

"Really?" Heather interjected, squeaking softly, her tone betraying her surprise.  "Though I guess the only other real candidate is Emily, and you already knew her," she continued, sighing as she answered her own question.

"Pretty much," Gail confirmed.  "I just remember that he pulled me aside and said – and I quote – 'so what do you think?'  But his eyes were on you the whole time. So, I knew that it didn't really matter what I thought," she confided, smiling.  "Though – just so you know – what I thought was that you were someone who clearly cared for my son, just as it was clear that he cared about you."

"Oh, I was half in love with Jake by then," his wife giggled.  "Or maybe completely in love.  I was very muddled.  It was a nice muddle, but still a muddle."

"Honey, Jake fell for you as hard as you fell for him.  Maybe you couldn't see it at the time, but that's because you were in the middle of it."

"Or the muddle of it," Heather supplied, snickering softly.  "And I know that now.  We have discussed how obvious or not obvious we both were in the last four and a half years."

"Well trust me, I never considered adoption papers," Gail assured, shaking her head at the thought.  "And I'll admit that pretty early on, I was hoping to welcome you to the family.  But I never thought adoption, always marriage."  Heather blushed softly at that, but she held her mother-in-law's gaze, a sweet smile blooming on her lips.  "Because – well, even then, I could tell that you were both good for one another." 

"We are good for each other," Heather agreed, still smiling.  "At least I think we are.  And I love him so much.  I just want him to be safe.  And to come home when he can," she sighed, before adding, "And maybe to stick around for a while when he does come home."

"That's exactly what I want, too," her mother-in-law declared, reaching across the table to lay her hand atop Heather's.  "For you, and for him.  For you both." 

Heather acknowledged the older woman's words with a nod and a quiet "Thanks."

"I'm not your mother, Heather," Gail repeated, "But you are the daughter of my heart.  You and April both are daughters of my heart," she amended quickly.  "And, I don't know that there was ever a mother of sons as lucky as I am," she declared, squeezing the younger woman's hand before withdrawing her own.  "When it comes to daughters."

Her eyes bright, Heather offered her mother-in-law a watery smile.  "Thank you," she repeated quietly.  "Still," she continued a beat later, allowing a rueful chuckle, "Maybe we should get to work before I manage to hit the 'bleh' trifecta today?"

"Of course," Gail agreed, "But any time you need someone to listen, I'm always happy to be here for you, sweetheart.  Truly."

* * * * *

"So, I don't want you to show me what to do," Gail cautioned as they settled themselves in the study. Gail had seated herself behind EJ Green's imposing desk, while Heather – after dragging over one of the wing chairs that flanked the fireplace – had placed herself across the desk from her mother-in law.  "I want to try and see if I can do it myself," Gail explained, "And then if I need help, well, you can be my 'phone a friend', okay?"

"Of course!" Heather declared brightly.  "I will absolutely be your 'phone a friend'.  I really like that actually.  In fact, I'm going to have to steal that for school."

"Because you run your classroom like a gameshow?" Gail asked, her attention divided as she clicked on the icon to launch the ranch management software.   She glanced at her daughter-in-law, teasing, "We'll have to start calling you Heather Philbin."

"Or maybe Regis Green," Heather countered, giggling.  "And not really like a gameshow," she shrugged, "But I like to make it fun, when I can.  Jake says that I'm diabolical, just in a good way.  Because sometimes I trick my class into meeting a stretch goal by appealing to their interests and making it fun," she explained, spotting her mother-in-law's questioning expression.  "He really does mean it as a compliment."

"I think, actually, that Jake would only use the word 'diabolical' as a positive," his mother suggested.  "In an admiring way, anyway.  Jake doesn’t always think about the world the same way as the rest of us."

"Oh yeah," Heather nodded.  "You're right about that.  And I definitely take it as a compliment.   Also, 'diabolical' is a really good word – so I snuck it onto the list for the 'LAST SPELLING TEST OF THE YEAR'."

"How did that go over?"

"The kids loved it.  Hands down it's the word that was used in the most sentences this last week," the younger woman replied, laughing softly.  "Turns out there are a lot of diabolical older siblings – and a few younger ones – in Jericho.  And one truly diabolical guinea pig."

"That must’ve been some fun reading."

"It really was," Heather agreed.  "And it can be hard sometimes to engage the kids, so I’m always glad for anything that sparks their interest.  I'm always looking for new ways to get them involved – get 'em to participate.  There's just so much to teach them," she smiled.  "I try lots of things, games included.  Bribery, even.  Sort of.  I'll pair something fun with something less fun.  And I'll do a class pizza party as a big reward once or twice a year.  Or I did, until The Pizza Garden got awful and went away."

"The eat your vegetables if you want dessert method," Gail offered, chuckling.  "A favorite of moms the world over – and teachers too, apparently."

"Definitely a favorite of teachers.  And sometimes I just tell my kids that they're gonna hafta figure it out themselves."

"Well, that's what you should tell me.  'Figure it out yourself, Gail'," she admonished herself with exaggerated sternness.  She clicked on a menu, but none of the options she expected were listed.  Frowning, Gail clicked on the next menu, and was relieved to see the function she was looking for on the list.  "Though, if I get myself in a real pickle," she informed her daughter-in-law, "Then you can help me out."

"Okay, but you hafta try to figure it out for yourself first," Heather ordered, wagging a finger at the older woman jokingly.  "And you have to spend ten minutes with the problem before you come to me," she added, her tone firm.  "That's what I always tell my kids.  It's enough time that they can usually figure it out, but not so much time that they end up frustrated and crying.  And, I really don't mean to treat you like you're one of my third graders," she laughed self-consciously. 

"That's okay, sweetheart.  You can treat me like one of your students, I don’t mind one bit," her mother-in-law replied.  "Though, actually, you might have to rescue me after seven or eight minutes if we’re going to avoid tears," she joked.

"Please!  You're doing great," Heather contradicted.

Gail closed the window that had popped up on her screen – it was definitely not the one she was looking for – and shook her head.  "I'm not so sure about that," she grumbled.  "But what I do know is that I would really love to see you in action sometime, honey," she announced, smiling at the younger woman.

"Doing what?" her daughter-in-law asked, her expression perplexed.

"Teaching, of course," Gail returned, chuckling gently.  "I'm sure I've told you that I was a room mother pretty much the entire time the boys were at the Elementary," she continued, earning a confirmatory nod from Heather.  "So, I've spent a fair amount of time in the classrooms there, but I never had to teach anything.  I was always just another pair of hands."

"A very welcome pair of hands, I'm sure," Heather interjected.  "I've had Melissa Landeros as one of my room moms this year and she's great.  Literally any prep work I need help with, she's happy to take on.  She won't even let me split it with her, just says 'hand it over, you've got better things to do'.  It's sooo nice," she sighed.  "But my first year, I had Karen Harper, even though she was also president of the PTA and didn't really have the time for it.  And none of the other parents wanted to volunteer because they might have had to work with her," she groaned, shaking her head.

"I remember.  You were quite overworked that year.  Still are sometimes, I think," her mother-in-law informed her, frowning in sympathy.

"Maybe," Heather shrugged.  "But it’s been good to have had something to focus on with Jake gone."

Gail nodded.  She had gotten the feeling more than once over the preceding few weeks that her daughter-in-law was dreading rather than anticipating the end of the school year.  "I can certainly understand that.  Jake said the same thing to me when—"  Gail caught herself in the nick of time, not wanting to mention – at least not yet – that she’d spoken to Jake on the phone the day before.  "He said the same thing to me in his last email," she corrected quickly.  "That working every day helps pass the time, and that maybe it’ll mean he can come home that much sooner."

"Yeah," Heather murmured, forcing a small and short-lived smile.

"Well, I'm glad to know that Melissa is upholding the honor of room mothers – and former room mothers – everywhere," Gail declared, correctly guessing that her daughter-in-law would be grateful for a shift of subject. 

"And I bet every teacher was glad the year the Green twins showed up in their classroom because that meant they got you too," Heather returned, clearing her throat.  "Even Mrs. Owensby."

"I'm not so sure about that," the older woman countered.  "Jake had a reputation as a bit of a challenge.  Mostly because the coursework was always a little too easy for him," she insisted, drawing a small but genuine smile from her daughter-in-law.  Heather knew that if there was one thing she could count on, it was that Gail Green would always come to the defense of her children.

"He was usually the first one to finish, so he always had a spare minute or three when he didn't have anything to do.  He could get himself into trouble pretty quickly in those minutes," she admitted, shaking her head.  "Some teachers tried to handle it by giving him more to do, but Jake always saw that as being unfairly punished."

"Yeah," the younger woman acknowledged.  "I kinda knew that about Jake.  The extra bright kids really are as much of a challenge – a good challenge, even though a lot of teachers don't see it that way.  But they are as much of a challenge as the kids who take longer to pick things up," she sighed.  "And I like the challenge of keeping the bright kids engaged, but not everyone agrees with me."  

"So how would you have handled having Jake Green in your classroom?" his mother inquired, smiling to herself as she finally found herself in the correct window to record a 'breeding event'.  "I'm just curious."

Heather allowed a slightly uneasy chuckle.  "Well, when Jake complains that he didn't have me as his third-grade teacher, I remind him that, outside of some very weird time travel scenario that I'm really not up for, I can be his third-grade teacher or his wife – but I can't be both!" 

Laughing, Gail asked, "And what does Jake have to say about that?"

"He usually says that what he really means is that how come his third-grade teacher – and his other teachers – couldn't have been more like me.  As a teacher, not as the person he’s married to," she clarified unnecessarily.

"That must make you feel good," Gail suggested.  "Especially since Jake's seen you in action in the classroom so he knows what he’s talking about."

"A few times," Heather agreed.  "But mostly it’s just because he has to hear so much about my job and what I’m doing with my kids," she explained.  "Plus, when he’s here, he sometimes 'gets' to help me grade homework, so he literally gets to see the improvement for himself.  But you’re right, it makes me feel really good – great actually – that he thinks I’m a good teacher.  Jake is …. He's the person who believes in me the most," she decided, hugging herself as if to hold that comforting truth in. 

"Always has, really since we first met.  So, if I were teaching third-grade Jake Green – when I was all of three years old – I would give him something he'd be interested in doing as a reward for finishing his regular work early," she decided, nodding to herself.  "Not just, 'here kid, do an extra worksheet'.  Instead, I'd have let him read a book on airplanes and then engaged him in a conversation about what he'd read.  Anytime a kid wants to tell me everything they know about a subject near and dear to their heart," she declared, "I'm gonna listen." 

"Now see, for that you really would’ve been Jake’s favorite teacher of all time," Gail informed her.  "And mine – as a mother anyway.  When you’re a mom, you can’t admit to your kids that you think some teachers are better at their jobs than others.  But that doesn’t mean you don’t think it," she confided.

"Sometimes I hafta remind Jake that the teacher he’s complaining about from when he was a kid is my current colleague," Heather groaned.  "So, I really can't bad mouth them."

"Especially now with your new position."

"Exactly!  I have to evaluate their compliance with curriculum standards, I can't be talking about how they really should’ve retired ten, fifteen years ago."

"Edna Walker?" Gail guessed.

Heather's expression turned immediately sheepish.  "Yeah," she confirmed reluctantly.

"So, it wasn’t Jake’s favorite teacher who first gave him a book on airplanes.  Actually, I don’t really think Jake ever had a favorite teacher," his mother murmured.

"He doesn't," Heather verified.  "Didn't?  Anyway, we have discussed this, and he kinda, sorta said Mr. Houghton, but he meant more as Coach Houghton from the baseball team than as Mr. Houghton, the history teacher." 

"I can see that."

"It's not like Jake doesn't value formal education – he does," Heather argued, the abrupt change of topic causing Gail to reflect on the difficulty of keeping up with her daughter-in-law in conversation for the second time in as many days.  "I couldn't be with someone – be in love with them or married to them – who didn't respect what I do professionally," she continued.  "And he totally respects what I do—"

"He's very proud of you, too," Gail interjected, adding, "And now with your appointment as vice principal, he has even more to be proud of."

"He really is.  And encouraging and supportive, too," Heather listed.  "But Jake, when he talks about the people who've taught him things, it's not really his teachers in school.  He takes a more expansive view of 'education' – one which I totally agree with.  We all need to read and write, and everyone needs more math and science than they think they do," she opined.  "But if you consider the whole world as your classroom," she proclaimed earnestly, "Well, that really is the mark of a well-rounded and educated person.  Jake and I agree on that."

"So, you're saying that Jake's favorite teacher is the world in general?"

"Not really," she murmured.  "I think – well, I think Jake's favorite teacher is – or was – Gramps.  Gramps and his dad," she amended.  "And, I mean Johnston, not Gramps's father, Ephraim," Heather laughed nervously, "Just in case that wasn't clear."

"Jake said that?"

"Not in those exact words," Heather admitted, sighing.  "But when we talk about the things he learned growing up – the things he talks about teaching our kids someday – well, most of those things are things he learned from Gramps or Johnston.  He talks about learning to ride and care for horses, and the hunting trips," she explained.  "Which he always says are more about the trip than the hunting.  'Spending time together in the woods' is what he usually says.  Plus, baseball.  He liked playing baseball – being part of a team – and how Johnston – and Gramps, too – taught him and coached him.  He has definite plans for coaching Little League when we have kids," she giggled.  "Not just playing catch in the backyard, but actually coaching whole teams of little kids.  He wants to be really involved with that."

"I think he'll be good at that – coaching," the older woman offered, her voice turning husky.  "And the rest.  I'm glad he wants to – to pass those things down to the next generation."

"Well, don't get too excited," Heather cautioned a moment later, finally meeting – and misreading – her mother-in-law's pleased gaze.  "We haven't decided anything about when we're gonna have kids.  We've just always talked about the kids we'll have someday, ever since we got engaged."

"I wasn't even thinking about that," Gail insisted truthfully, flashing an awkward smile.  "You all know where I 'stand on the subject'," she added, quoting her eldest son, "And with Eric and April's troubles, it seemed wise to turn down the temperature when it comes to pushing," she admitted.  "And, things will happen the way – and when – they're supposed to happen.  I'm just glad—"

"I told Jake that I want to have a baby," Heather said quietly, nibbling her lip for a second.  "Start planning to anyway.  Figure some things out," she said, letting out a deep breath.  "And he was very sweet, and told me I should stop taking the pill if that's what I wanted to do.  Which is what I actually said – that I wanted to go off the pill, but he knew what I meant," Heather shrugged, frowning.  "Only it turns out that's a very hard conversation to have long distance, you know?  So, I'm staying on the pill for now, and we're gonna talk about it on our anniversary trip.  And then we'll talk about it again in five or six months, 'cause I don't think he's really ready yet, so it's just better to wait, right?"    

It took Gail – rarely at a loss for words – a moment to conjure up anything resembling human speech with which to comfort her daughter-in-law.  "Sweetheart," she began.

"It's okay, really," Heather insisted, cutting the other woman off.  "So, we wait a year or two more.  That's fine.  Jake isn't gonna suddenly decide that we shouldn't ever have kids, and he's the only person I want to have kids with, so we can wait – I can wait – until he's really ready." 

"He will be, honey, I can promise you that," Gail assured her daughter-in-law, deciding that Jake would just have to forgive her if she was speaking out of turn.  "And I know – from the horse's mouth so to speak – that you are the only person he's ever even thought about having children with.  You said that Jake values family," she reminded, "Well, you are the one person Jake wants to build a family with."

Her lips pressed tightly together, Heather acknowledged this statement with a quick nod, allowing her eyes to fall closed.  "I did it again, didn't I?"" she moaned softly.  "I hit the trifecta and 'blehed' all over you again.  Can – can you just forget I said all that?" she requested, plowing ahead without waiting for her mother-in-law to respond.  "Can we talk about something else?  Literally," she groaned, "Anything else."

"Of course, sweetheart," Gail replied a beat later.  "So, I will just repeat, that I really would love to see you in action as a teacher.  If that would be all right with you, of course," she added, taking in her daughter-in-law's wide-eyed expression.  "But someday, if I could sit in the back and watch you teach.  Well, I'm sure I would be wildly impressed."

"I'm not so sure you'd be 'wildly impressed'," Heather contradicted, taking a deep, calming breath.  "Mildly impressed is more like it.  I teach third grade, not some meaty college course on some heavy subject.  But if you really want to, of course.  I'm – I think I'm pretty good at my job, and I'm honored by your interest," she confessed, blushing softly.  "If you really want to come observe my class one day this fall, I can arrange it.  Especially now that I've turned in the contract and I'm officially the vice principal in August."

"I probably couldn't follow a meaty college course these days anyway," her mother-in-law chuckled ruefully.  "It strained my brain to get my health educator certification.  And learning this," she declared, pointing at the computer screen, "Is also not my favorite."

"Do you need to phone me?"

"Not quite yet.  I'm going to keep trying, so as to impress the official teacher and vice principal in the family with my stick-to-it-ness," Gail joked.  "And come September, I'll start bugging you to arrange a day when I can come to class."

"That sounds like a plan," Heather declared brightly.

Gail returned her attention to her computer's screen, while Heather glanced around the study.  It was the room of the house (with the possible exception of the first-floor guest room) that she spent the least amount of time in.  The fact of the matter was, even though EJ Green had been gone for more than two years, in her heart of hearts, she still considered the study to be his domain.  Nowadays, Gail used it – Jake, too, when he was home and had ranch business to attend to – but Heather only ever stepped foot into the study if she was keeping one of them company.  Besides, she had her own "office" upstairs, off of the master bedroom.

* * * * *

The morning after they had returned home from their honeymoon, Jake and Heather had headed straight to the ranch to retrieve Baron and to – as they had mysteriously been ordered to do in the note Gail had left for them on Heather's (now their) kitchen table – 'go see your grandfather, he has something he needs to discuss with you both'.  The something that needed to be discussed had ended up being Gramps's proposal that Jake and Heather come to live at the ranch.  He hadn't bothered to move back upstairs after Heather's brothers and their families had returned home after the wedding, Gramps had informed them, and he wasn't planning to.  Then, he'd offered them the entire second floor for their use, rent-free.

"I'm being selfish," EJ had declared, "But I don't want this house to be empty.  Which is what it will be if you two aren't going to live here.  Your parents will try and put me in a home," he'd predicted, glaring benignly at Jake.  "Besides, this is the Green Ranch. There should be Greens living on it.  Your parents aren't ever going to live out here.  Neither are Eric and April.  But I thought – or I hoped – that you would be interested.  Both of you."

"Gramps—" Jake had started to object, possibly misinterpreting the signal his wife had sent him when she'd tightened the grip she'd had on his hand.

"That's my offer," EJ had interrupted.  "Now, I've got some work to do outside in the garden, and chickens to feed.  You two should discuss this.  And, you should go look around upstairs.  Downstairs, too," he'd suggested.  "If there are changes you want to make, you should make 'em.  I want you to make this your home.  All I ask is that you let me have my bedroom and the study down here."

"We don't have to do this, babe," Jake had assured once his grandfather had exited the kitchen.  "Not if you don't want to."

But Heather, beaming, had just shaken her head at him.  "Jake, close your eyes," she'd ordered.  Reluctantly he'd complied.  "Okay, it's ten years from now.  Or twenty.  It doesn't matter when, actually – it's just later, and we have kids.  Now, where do you see them growing up?"  She'd paused for a few seconds before adding, her tone laced with excitement, "It's here, right?"

Jake had led her upstairs then, taking her straight away to the master bedroom – Gramps's former room – which Heather had never before set foot in.  "He said we could make changes," he'd reminded, looking around the room.  It was a nice size, though the décor was dated, and stripped bare of all personal possessions and half the furniture, the space looked rather drab.

"I like this room," Heather had declared, squeezing her husband's hand.  "I'm already itching to paint it," she'd giggled.  "And, what is that, exactly?" she had demanded without taking a breath, pointing at the six-foot-wide opening in the far wall that led into a small alcove.

"My grandmother's sitting area," Jake had explained, letting her guide him into the space.  "She'd read in here, and work on projects and stuff.  Spent one winter building a telescope in here, actually.  And, you know, I think we should make it your office," he'd suggested, drawing her into a one-armed embrace so that her back was pressed against his chest.  "You're gonna need a place to do all that deep thinkin' about educational theory that you're gonna be doing," he'd reminded, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.  "A place where you can write really smart papers about how to run a modern elementary school."

"Okay, I like that idea," Heather had agreed, rotating under his arm so that she'd faced him.  She'd looped her own arms around his neck, pulling him to her for a kiss.  "But, I'm pretty sure the original intended use of this room was as a nursery."

"Not sure this qualifies as a room," Jake had returned, his tone skeptical.  "But," he'd continued, wrapping a strand of her hair around his finger before tucking it behind her ear, "I can sorta see how that would work.  And we're gonna need one of those at some point, right?"

"A nursery?" she'd teased, "Yeah, we're gonna need one of those.  At least I really hope we're gonna need one."

"Hey, we're gonna need one," he'd argued.  "Three or four years down the road.  Because this is where we want our kids to grow up, right?"

"Definitely where we want our kids to grow up," Heather had sighed happily before brushing a chaste kiss across his mouth.  "And maybe more like four or five years," she'd corrected, "Just because you don't decide to have a baby and then instantly have one."

"Right," Jake had acknowledged, smirking at her knowingly.  "Might take a few tries."

"That it might," she'd agreed, smiling (and blushing) in return.  "Also, there's this little thing called pregnancy.  That takes some time, too."

"I've heard about that," he'd said, clearing his throat.  "But we're gonna do this?  You want to?  Live here, I mean."

Heather had nodded.  "Yeah, I do.  Because, you're a Green—"

"Hey, you're a Green now, too," he'd reminded, his smirk starting to turn down at the corners.

"I am definitely a Green," she'd reassured him.  "We're both Greens.  And, we're gonna live on the Green Ranch because this is where we want our kids to grow up.  Where we're gonna raise our family and grow old together.  Really old," she'd joked, "Since you're planning to live to be a hundred.  And, this room," she'd continued, stepping away from the shelter of his body but keeping ahold of his hand, "Will be my office – though we can totally share – so it'll be our office to start, and then when the time comes," she'd shrugged, grinning at him, "The nursery."

"Yeah, that's a really great plan, babe," Jake had declared, tugging her back to him so he could kiss her.

* * * * *

"It's been a while since I was in here," Heather confessed to her mother-in-law, smiling to herself.  "I think I still think of the study as belonging to Gramps."

"You don't want to intrude on his space?" Gail guessed, glancing at the younger woman seated across from her.  "EJ wouldn't mind," she reminded, "He adored you."

"And I adored him," her daughter-in-law grinned.  "My one grandfather died a few months before I was born and the other when I was four, so I don't really remember him.   Gramps was the only grandpa I really ever had."  Gail nodded.  "When I had to call Gunnison and Gunnison last week," Heather continued, "Everybody I talked to – well, not Ben Gunnison – but everybody else, they all told me how lucky I was to have him as my grandfather, and I just agreed.  Even if it wasn't strictly true."

"It was true enough for EJ," Gail argued. "He certainly considered you his granddaughter, I've no doubt about that."

"Back when I first came to live here, when I'd get home in the evenings, most days, he'd call me in here right when I came in the front door," she explained, looking back over her shoulder at that front door.  "We'd sit and just talk.  Jake was gone during the week, but home most weekends then," Heather reminded.  "We had great discussions.  And, he'd save up the Free Cell game numbers that gave him the most trouble, and have me give it a try.  He took Free Cell very seriously," she declared, affecting a grave tone.

"Now that is something I didn't know about him," her mother-in-law laughed.  "So, what did you two talk about – or rather, discuss?" she inquired, clearly curious.

"Current events sometimes.  And I'd tell him what was happening at school, and he'd tell me fifty or sixty years of history about the people involved – the families anyway.  The kids don't have fifty years of history to tell, obviously.  But Gramps knew everything about everyone," Heather recalled.

"Your grasp of Jericho gossip has always been impressive," Gail complimented, "But I'd assumed that was Harriet Crenshaw's influence.  I should have known that EJ also had something to contribute.  He knew everyone, and he probably knew everything about them, too."

"Yeah," her daughter-in-law agreed.  "And, some of what I know does come from Mrs. Crenshaw.  About once a week she'd tell me something and then give me specific orders to pass it along to Gramps, so you're right about that.  But what I loved about Gramps is that he wasn't really ever… judgmental," Heather decided after a slight pause.  "When he told me about people, it was mostly so I'd understand their past hardships and triumphs.  He really cared about the people around here."

"He did," Gail acknowledged.  "He was a good man.  I certainly miss him."

"Me too," Heather sighed.  "It's weird to realize that I only knew him for a little over two years."

"Well, for true bonds of the heart, I don't think time has a whole lot of meaning."

Heather nodded her agreement.  "I learned a lot about Green family history from those talks too.  That's how he got me involved in the cemetery project," she admitted.  "He was such a good storyteller and I was hooked."

"I'm sure he loved that time you had together as much as you did," Gail assured.

"I think so.  And then, after we'd talk for a half hour or an hour, when I really needed to go make dinner, or get to work on my grading or my reading for my master's program, he'd hand me something that Jake had faxed me," Heather giggled.  "It wasn't every day, but it was a lotta days.  And I always fell for it, 'C'mon in darlin', sit a spell,' and only at the end would he remember that Jake had sent me something."

Gail's expression telegraphed her surprise at this revelation.  "What was he sending you?  If you don't mind my asking?"

"I don't mind.  I mean, Jake didn't mind Gramps seeing what he sent, and he definitely knew Gramps would see it first," Heather informed her.  "And it was usually a drawing.  Mostly of airplanes, but sometimes other things even though Jake claims that he can only draw airplanes, robots and horses—"

"I didn't know he could draw horses," his mother interjected.

"Side view only," Heather clarified.  "Though really, he draws lots of things he says he can't.  But mostly he draws planes."

"So, he would just fax you his doodles?"

"There's usually a note, too," the younger woman admitted, blushing softly.  "A perfectly sweet, 'G' rated note, I swear.  I would not be telling my mother-in-law about some risqué note her son had faxed me, trust me.  Especially since he faxed it from a government or hotel fax machine, and sent it to a fax machine monitored by his grandfather. And not that Jake sends me risqué notes other ways," Heather added, her blush deepening.  "And – aaahh!" she groaned inarticulately. 

"Sweetheart," Gail chuckled, shaking her head when Heather peeked out from behind her hands.  "You do know that I wouldn't think less of either of you, if Jake were to send you a risqué note."

"That's good?" Heather squeaked, pulling another chuckle from her mother-in-law.

"You're married.  Risqué doesn't shock me.  I might even encourage it on occasion, if I didn't think that would embarrass you."

"It doesn't embarrass me," her daughter-in-law protested, though her frown and deepening blush belied that claim.  "It's just I prefer to keep some things private, between Jake and me."

"And I completely support that choice," Gail assured her.

"Okay," Heather nodded, exhaling a long breath through her teeth.  "Though – really – the notes he sends me mostly just say 'I love you and I miss you'," she explained, shrugging.  "Sometimes he'll say something like 'you're gonna knock 'em dead at the PTA, babe,' when he knows I have to go speak to the PTA about something.  Perfectly 'G' rated.  Well, except maybe not the 'knock 'em dead' part."

"I'm glad.  Especially that he tells you to 'knock 'em dead'.  Like I said earlier, he's very proud of you."

"Yeah," the younger woman sighed.

"You know, it was EJ who first gave Jake a book about airplanes," Gail volunteered a long moment later.  "It was gift to both boys, the Christmas before they turned eight – so second grade," she calculated.  "And Eric was interested, for about a half hour, but Jake – he was riveted.  He and EJ spent the whole rest of Christmas Eve, heads together, looking through that book.  And, it was such a grown-up book, too," she continued.  "Not in the—"

"Risqué?" Heather interjected, making a face, but also chuckling softly.

"Exactly.  Not in the risqué sense, just in the technical sense.  Lots of jargon.  Jake would actually sit down and study that book – really just look at the pictures – because the text was advanced for Johnston and me, and he was a little boy.   But sometimes for the photos that really intrigued him, he'd ask me to read the descriptions to him," Gail recalled.  "Midair refueling was one of those photos.   He was fascinated by the idea that that was something that could be done.  I must've read that page to him every night for a week.  Didn't understand half of what I was reading," she laughed, shaking her head.  "But I just loved seeing how enthusiastic he was for the subject."

"Jake taught himself to draw from that book," his mother continued, admitting, "I haven't thought about this in years.  He started out tracing the planes out of the book – the photographs – and he got very good at it.  So good that EJ eventually gave him a book specifically on how to draw aircraft, but that came later.  The cherry on the sundae, so to speak," she smiled.   "And, I don't think it was third grade, but definitely by fourth grade those drawings started showing up, freehand, in the margins of homework and quizzes that came home."

"I love that so much," Heather declared.  "Knowing the origin story of all the airplane drawings.  And he still has that book," she informed her mother-in-law.  "I mean, Jake doesn't really keep books, but he's held onto that one.  He's shown it to me.  It has the inscription from Gramps – well, 'Grandpa Green' – and everything." 

"And I love that," Gail echoed.  "I hope he still sends you little love notes including drawings," she announced, thinking of one airplane sketch and love letter in particular.  She supposed she would have quite the confession to make the next day, but Gail decided that she didn't care.

"Yes but no," her daughter-in-law sighed.  "Even after Gramps died, he still faxed me drawings with notes.  And then he'd hafta tell me to go check the fax machine, because I never remembered to," she giggled, rolling her eyes at herself.   "But on this assignment, he doesn't have access to a fax machine or a scanner," she explained, shrugging.  "He still emails me every day – or almost every day.  But you know that." 

"I do know that," Gail acknowledged softly, smiling.

"Those emails are … lovely.  Really, the highlight of my day," Heather grinned.  "And in our supposedly private email exchanges we do sometimes get a little more than 'G' rated.  And that's all I'm gonna say on that!" she pronounced with mock severity.

"Fair enough," her mother-in-law returned.  "I wasn't fishing for details.  I – what you said makes me very happy, that's all."

"So, you're doing okay with that?" the younger woman asked a minute later, gesturing at the computer monitor.

"Oh, yes, thank you, sweetheart," Gail answered distractedly.  "I'm almost afraid to say it, but I think I may be finally getting this."

"Knock on wood then," Heather suggested, leaning forward to wrap her knuckles on the desk's edge.

"Good idea," Gail laughed, following suit.

"So, is it all right if I run upstairs for a minute?  Or two – well, three – tops?  I just wanna get my laptop."

"To check your email?" Gail couldn't help but tease before flashing the younger woman an indulgent smile and then waving her out of the room.  "Of course, sweetheart.  Please!  Go get it."

True to her word, Heather was back in two and a half minutes, laptop in hand.  She was also carrying a very long network cable that was looped over her shoulder.  "That is some cable," Gail observed as her daughter-in-law deposited her laptop on her wing chair.

"Seriously," the younger woman sighed.  "I didn't even know they made them this long, but Jake got it for me so I could be semi-portable with my computer again.  Is it all right if I plug in down there?" she asked, gesturing at the router under the desk.

"Of course," Gail answered, backing her rolling chair out of the way.

Heather quickly plugged the cable in, and then tossed it over the desk toward her wing chair.  She moved back around the desk, picked up her laptop and connected the cable, before seating herself.  The two women worked in companionable silence for a few minutes before Heather asked, "You know how tomorrow is Field Day?"

"I do.  Johnston and I will be there at seven thirty, ready to pitch in wherever we're needed."

"He doesn't need to come out here for the last mare?" Heather asked, sounding surprised.  "I thought that was Doc Hansen's recommendation?"

"They finished everything up yesterday.  We may have to offer a free return to the Sharpes, but they agreed to take the risk just to get done for now yesterday," Gail explained.  She clicked the 'save' button then, committing the final 'breeding event' to the database.  "And Johnston – on Jake's advice – has decided to skip next weekend, but work the next.  Though, we're keeping the Sharpes' mares on ranch just in case."

"Nobody said anything last night, so I figured there was more work to be done," her daughter-in-law admitted.  "Which makes no sense, it could have just as easily meant the opposite."

"Well, I laid down the law with all of them on Saturday," Gail disclosed, chuckling uneasily.  "There was to be no discussion of horse breeding at your birthday party under pain of death.  For Johnston and Eric at least," she amended.  "For Stanley, I left it at denial of birthday cake.  Though, honestly, that's about as far as I really would have gone for any of them."

"I'm pretty sure that withholding dessert would've worked on all of them, too," Heather giggled.

"True."

"And, that was super sweet of you, so thank you," Heather declared.  "Also, completely unnecessary.  I was embarrassed, sure, but I'm okay now.  I mean, I was okay after I went to Mass, and then I was really okay after Jake and I talked," she insisted, a smile lighting up her face.  "He said – he said something I really needed to hear, I just didn't know I needed to hear it, at least until he said it.  It was pretty perfect," she continued, staring past her mother-in-law.  "And also completely 'G' rated," Heather claimed, meeting Gail's gaze.  "I swear."

"That's rather disappointing," her mother-in-law returned.  "You two can be risqué if you so desire.  Without telling me anything about it," she reminded.  "But also, the more you insist that something was 'G' rated, the more I'm reminded of Jake always swearing up and down that his homework was done.  And how he was always the most adamant that his homework was finished, when it was in fact the most not done," she concluded pointedly.

Reddening, Heather allowed a self-conscious giggle.  "So, there may have been a moment or two that went 'PG'," she conceded.  "Or higher."

"Nothing wrong with that," Gail assured.  "Also, nothing that we need to discuss.  So, you were saying something about Field Day," she prompted, catching her daughter-in-law's eye.

"Well, it's something about Jake," Heather cautioned.  "Also, me and Field Day."

"Is that a problem?  He – and you – are both in my top five favorite topics of discussion.  I'm that kind of mother," Gail chuckled, flashing the younger woman a smile as she clicked into the financial module of the ranch management software.   "In case you hadn't noticed," she joked.

"I had picked up on that, yes," Heather allowed, her giggle giving way to a gentle sigh.  "And that's exactly the kind of mother I want to be, too.  Someday."

"You will be, sweetheart," Gail assured, silently adding, 'Sooner than you think.'  "I know these things," she continued, repeating, "It's the kind of mother I am.  So," she said a beat later, "What is the something about Jake and you and Field Day?"

"He has an alternative title for Field Day.  He calls it 'Mrs. Green Wears Shorts to School Day'.  Which is true.  It's the one day of the school year that I wear shorts."

Gail laughed at that.  "He calls you 'Mrs. Green'?  When he's flirting with you?"

"Yeah," Heather confirmed, laughing along with her mother-in-law.  "We are sometimes oddly formal when we flirt.  And – I dunno – he really seems to enjoy that I hafta be 'Mrs. Green' at work – and if we run into kids and their parents when we're out and about.  What he doesn't like, though, is that I always introduce him as 'Mr. Green'," she confided.  "To the kids, anyway.  He knows half the parents, and they usually just call him 'Jake' – while they keep calling me 'Mrs. Green'," she groaned, shaking her head.

"He's proud of you," her mother-in-law repeated. "And also, possibly enjoying the ongoing astonishment of a few of your colleagues over the fact that Jake Green married a teacher – and such a great one at that."

"Definitely enjoying the ongoing astonishment," Heather giggled.  "Which is fine because I really like it when he calls me 'Mrs. Green'.  And that I am Mrs. Green.  Is that silly?"

"Not silly at all.  I like it too.  That I'm Mrs. Green – the other one," Gail teased, smiling at her daughter-in-law. "And that Johnston still occasionally addresses me as such.  Because it is nice – after almost forty years of marriage – that it still occurs to him to flirt with me every now and again like when we were newlyweds," she chuckled.  "Of course, these days I'm also a little suspicious," she grumbled a beat later, "That he's buttering me up for some reason."

"Well, I'm pretty sure that I'm the actual other Mrs. Green," Heather argued.  "You're the one that comes to everyone's mind, and then they are so surprised to see me."

"Not if you're under fifteen, sixteen, years old," the older woman countered, "And not if you're a parent of someone under fifteen or sixteen.  Then you, sweetheart, are definitely the main Mrs. Green in this town."

"Maybe," Heather shrugged, a smidge of color rising on her cheeks.  "And, sometimes I think that's what Jake's up to, too.  Buttering me up," she clarified, shooting her mother-in-law a wry grin.   "But I'm glad he still flirts with me, even if we've only been married not quite, but almost, four years.  So, I hope this is one of those 'like father, like son' things, and he's still calling me 'Mrs. Green' in thirty-six years.  Even if it is to butter me up."

"Johnston and Jake, they're more alike than either of them would ever admit," Gail lamented, garnering an emphatic nod from the younger woman.  "But at least that means there's a very, very, very good chance Jake will be calling you 'Mrs. Green' and flirting with you and buttering you up for rest of your life."

"Well, that is my plan!" her daughter-in-law declared cheerfully. 

"So, we were talking about 'Mrs. Green Wears Shorts to School Day'," Gail reminded, chuckling.

"Right.  And this is what your son had to say about that in his last email to me," Heather announced.  "And I quote: 'I fully expect to get to see Mrs. Green wearing her shorts and her official school polo shirt.  So set things up so I can see all of you, okay?  Love you.  Jake'," she finished.  "The part right before this was all about the plan for our breakfast Skype date tomorrow."

"I think both of you are really looking forward to your date," Gail observed.  "Also, my educated guess is that Jake rather enjoys the 'wearing shorts' part of 'Mrs. Green Wears Shorts to School Day'.  Mostly because it gives him a chance to admire your legs."

"Yeah, probably," the younger woman grumbled, rolling her eyes, though that quickly gave way to a grin.  "But it's only fair.  I demanded that I get to at least see him for my birthday, so he should get to see me too.  And I promised him that I'd get you or April to take my picture tomorrow so he could have a sort of souvenir," Heather explained.  "So, even though I will set it up so he can see all of me tomorrow for our date – at least for a minute – I'm still gonna send him that picture."

"I'll make sure to take your picture then, and send it to him along with the cake picture, okay?" Gail offered.  "And if you get April to take your picture, too, maybe he can have two or three souvenirs from 'Mrs. Green Wears Shorts to School Day'."

"He'd really like that," her daughter-in-law murmured, her eyes suspiciously bright.

"I've no doubt."

"This – it's the first time ever – since we met – that he isn't gonna be here for Field Day," Heather said a moment later, frowning.  "And I know that's a silly thing to worry about – be bothered about – but it's kinda worse than having him gone for my birthday.  I've psyched myself up for that.  But…."  She trailed off, glancing away for a moment to swipe one hand across her eyes.  "They stuck me with the softball tournament my first year because they could," she chuckled ruefully, "And because I was engaged to Jake.  Scott Rennie wanted out of running it, and he even said in front of every other teacher at a staff meeting that I was the logical choice as the future Mrs. Jake Green." 

"That's not very fair to you, though it's probably the best fit for Jake," his mother consoled.  "But we both know he'd volunteer wherever you were assigned, even for the – the hopscotch tournament."

"I kinda wish we had one of those," Heather chuckled, a smile playing at her lips but not quite taking.  "I could run that competently.  Though, you're right – I don't exactly know what Jake would do if we were stationed there.  It's just – I'm really not qualified to run softball without him," she groaned.  "But two months ago, when we started planning, I wasn't thinking, and I just let 'em assign it to me like always." 

"You weren't thinking he'd still be gone," Gail reminded.  "And why ever would you?"

Heather nodded.  "Yeah."

"But you have parent volunteers to help you?"

"Oh yeah.  Three dads – Derek Hyde, Shep Cale, and Chuck Landeros.  I'm pretty sure his wife made him."

"Well, a certain amount of dad volunteering is done because a mom somewhere 'made him'," Gail chuckled, "Particularly the room moms."

"That's definitely the story behind Chuck Landeros.  But I think Derek Hyde legit wants to spend the time at softball with his daughter," Heather argued.  "Last year was her first year, and on the first grade/eighth grade team, the required first grade batters never get runs – they hardly ever get hits, and they get to use the tee.  Amy got a run – a homerun, actually, due to an error in center field.  But she smacked that ball off the tee, shocked everyone on the other team.  Derek was soooo proud.  Even Jake said he had a hard time not shouting 'run, run, run!' to encourage her along, but he was umpiring that game, so he had to stay impartial."

"Derek and Jake were on the baseball team together in high school," Gail reminded, earning herself a confirmatory nod from her daughter-in-law.  "And it sounds like you're getting comfortable with running the softball tournament.  That was a pretty good play-by-play."

"I can do the write up for The Record, sure.  That's easy.  But this year I'm gonna need to umpire, and I've never had to do that," Heather grumbled. 

"Jake always stepped in and rescued you from that, I take it," Gail surmised, her tone sympathetic.

"Yeah," her daughter-in-law admitted, shrugging.  "I knew what baseball was, and the basics – nine innings, three strikes and you're out – and I played softball in school when they made us, but that was pretty much it.  Then I met Jake and figured out that baseball was his sport.  The day after our first date, I actually called Tommy up and made him tell me everything he knew about baseball because he has to know about all the sports for his job."

"I remember when we were in Denver for the Jonah Prowse trial, and Jake took us all to the Rockies game over the weekend, how shocked he was when you told him that it was your first major league game," Gail laughed. 

"That was funny.  Because it's not like he didn't figure out pretty quickly that I knew nothing," Heather snorted.  "You make one comment about the designated hitter rule that you actually can't back up in follow-on discussion…."

"I'm sure Jake was flattered that you attempted to study up just so you could talk with him."

"Yeah, I think so.  No matter how poor the execution.  Jake knew I knew nothing about baseball by our third date.  Tommy didn't realize I'd asked him about baseball to make sure I could talk to Jake until I was home for Christmas two and a half months later," the younger woman giggled.   "And Jake also figured out pretty quickly that making fun of my lack of baseball knowledge was a good way to get me to kiss him, just to shut him up," she confessed, a rosy blush staining her cheeks.  

"You do realize you're incentivizing him to tease you," Gail accused mildly.

"Well, yeah," Heather returned, grinning.  "But at least we both enjoy that part."

"I should've known," her mother-in-law chuckled, rolling her eyes.  "You two are quite the pair."

"And now, when we watch baseball together, he still explains what's happening, but now, every once in a while, I'm able to say something smart," Heather declared.  "And also some other stuff."

"So, it's not only your students that you'll listen to expound on a subject near and dear to their hearts," her mother-in-law realized, smiling.  "EJ with town and family history.  Jake with baseball—"

"—and airplanes!" 

"How could I forget the airplanes," Gail laughed.  "You even let Eric tell you all about his weekend golf games, most Sunday night dinners."

Heather shrugged.  "April's pretty fed up with the golf.  So, if I talk golf with Eric, maybe they don't start out every week irritated with one another."

"We can only hope," her mother-in-law muttered.  Their gazes locked for a moment, both of them nodding in grim agreement.

"You know – or really, there's almost no way that you could know – but Jake actually rewrote the softball tournament rules for me, as an extra little birthday present," Heather confided.  "I shouldn't call it little though.  It was so sweet, and such a complete surprise.  Honestly the best present he gave me that year – though he still claims it doesn't qualify as a present.    But he didn't think that the rules we had were exactly safe," she continued.  "And while he couldn't find a way around the crazy team structure – not when we have to have a tournament that includes six- to fourteen-year-olds – what he came up with is definitely much better.  He said that he knew how much I'd hate it if a kid were injured on my watch," she sighed, "So he wanted to make sure that didn't happen." 

"I don't think that Jake would like it if a child was hurt when it was in his power to prevent it, either," his mother offered.

"He really wouldn't," Heather agreed.  "Actually, I think – I think it would be worse for him than it would be for me.  I'd feel awful, of course.  But Jake…."  She trailed off momentarily, a grimace settling on her features.  "Jake always holds himself responsible for so much more than he rightfully should.  Everything – everything from Chris Sullivan dying in that robbery to me getting embarrassed on Saturday—"

"He comes by it honestly at least," Gail interjected quietly, frowning.  "He learned that from Johnston.  And EJ."

This statement didn't seem to register for Heather, and she continued without acknowledging her mother-in-law.  "Things there's no way he could prevent.  So, if a child were hurt – one of our future kids, one of my students, the child of a complete stranger, it wouldn't matter," she insisted.  "He'd carry that… that guilt with him forever.  No matter how much he'd tried to prevent it.  Or how much what happened was ultimately out of his control."  She met the older woman's eye then, shrugging helplessly.  "It's the curse of being Jake Green.  That ridiculous standard he's always trying to live up to."

Gail nodded.  "It's tough.  They don't always listen when you try to talk sense into them."  She paused a moment, clearing her throat softly.  "Sometimes I think all you can do is love him.  Be the one person who always believes in him."

"Well, those are things I can do," Heather promised, allowing a shaky chuckle.  "Things I already do.  And you know, Jake wrote those tournament rules for me, and then he insisted that I put my name on them, and keep his name out of it.  Which is ridiculous!  So, you're right, sometimes there is no talking sense to them."

"Why would it matter one way or the other?" Gail laughed, her expression turning quizzical.  "You two have the same name – same last name, I mean.  And no one was going to mind Jake having rewritten the rules."

"That's what I said!  But we didn't have the same name then.  This was right before we got married," she explained, shaking her head.  "I told him that it would probably be reassuring for a lot of people to know that he wrote the rules," Heather reasoned.  "Way more than letting them think I came up with them all by myself.  I also told him that by the time I would actually be sharing the new rules with anyone else, I was gonna be 'Mrs. Green' and not 'Miss Lisinski'.  And I reminded him that most people would probably realize I'd had help, and exactly who that help was.  Besides, the difference between 'H Green' and 'J Green' is literally the slip of a finger.  One space on the keyboard.  None of my arguments worked though.  He wouldn't budge."

"You should make it 'written by H and J Green'," his mother suggested.  "It's not like he could do anything about it, especially right now."

"Oh, I like that," Heather grinned.  "And really, what is he gonna say?  I'm gonna make that change right now," she decided, clicking on the 'Documents' folder on her laptop.  "Though it should really be 'by J and H Green'.  All I did was a little light editing."

"Johnston can umpire," Gail announced suddenly.  "It's not like he hasn't done it before – for Little League, not Field Day – but still.  He was the boys' first coach, and he never says it, but in high school he double lettered – football and baseball."

"I did not know that," the younger woman squeaked.

"Johnston can umpire," Gail repeated.  "It's been a few years, but he can handle it.  And then you don't have to."

"Are you sure?  I don't wanna pull him away from whatever he was planning to do—"

"He was planning to go where he was needed," her mother-in-law dismissed with the wave of a hand.  "You need him, so the softball tournament is where he's needed.  And, he'll be thrilled to get to spend the day with you."

"That would be great, but do you really think he's gonna want to?" Heather persisted.

"I am.  I'll let him know tonight that he's going to get to spend the day with his daughter.  And if that doesn't do it – and it will – I can always withhold dessert for the rest of the week.  And make him that fried egg sandwich in the morning.  I'm a former room mother," Gail reminded, "I know how to get a dad to volunteer if it comes down to it.  Which it won't."

"Okay…" her daughter-in-law responded hesitantly.  "I guess – or I mean, thank you.  So, I'll email him the official rules document?"

"By H and J Green?" Gail inquired, smiling.  "Yes, please.  And send it to me too.  I'll have it printed out for him when he gets home tonight.  I heard tell of a speed bump kerfuffle in The Pines, so odds are this council meeting runs long."

"Well, I made it by J and H Green," Heather reminded.  "But there," she added, dropping the document onto an email message and then clicking the 'send' button.  "Sent to you both."

"Thank you, honey."

"And a kerfuffle in The Pines over a speedbump?" Heather snickered, "That sounds riveting."

"Doesn't it just?" her mother-in-law snorted in return.  "And, the good news is, I'm almost done here.  Just need to print and sign this check for Stanley, and then we can have dinner."

"Well, in that case," Heather declared, scrambling to her feet, her laptop balanced on her forearm.  "Here you go."  She presented the older woman with a sticker of a cartoonish gold star beaming and proclaiming 'Awesome Job!'.  "I grabbed this while I was upstairs.  Thought you'd earned it.  Didn't need me here at all."

Gail accepted the sticker, peeling it off its backing and pressing it to her blouse over her heart.  "Thank you, sweetheart.  I'll wear it as a badge of honor," she chuckled, smiling.  "But, Heather," she admonished gently, catching her daughter-in-law's hand in hers and squeezing it.   "You are most definitely needed here.  This family needs you.  We'd be incomplete without you – and don't you forget it."

"You sound just like Jake," Heather charged, grinning.

"Is that so?" Gail intoned before declaring, "Well then, you know I'm right."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 From: Heather Green (home)

Sent: Mon Jun 05 20:07 (UTC-5)

To: Jake Green (personal)

Subject: RE: Your Birthday

Attachments:

Hi Jake,

I'm sorry I didn't email you last night.  All I did was go to dinner and eat too many carbs (hello, lasagna, garlic bread and cake) so when I got home, I just decided to go to bed.  School night after all. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take a bubble bath last night, but now I have grand plans for later this evening. :-)  

I was going to drag out the calligraphy pens to fill out my end of year award certificates tonight (the assembly is day after tomorrow) but now I think my kids will have to make do with my regular handwriting in a good ink pen (like every other teacher does).  That I can do before school on Wednesday.     

I had a really nice time at my dinner party (and maybe it was actually a party).  Your mom and April did such a nice job with the food.  So did your dad and Eric, who were on decoration detail.  We had a great time.  I also got to talk to Bonnie for 20 minutes which was fun.  Now that she isn't at the Elementary, I don't get to spend as much time with her as I used to.

Your mom sent both lasagna and cake home with me, even though she knew she was picking up a second cake for me today as a present from you. I'm really glad I insisted on splitting the leftovers with her last night. (She wanted me to take them all.)  I love you, Jake, and thank you for the cake (my absolute favorite!) but I really don't need THIS much birthday cake.  It was super sweet of you and I just want to kiss you even though I'm starting to wonder if you have some secret plot to make me fat.

I am thwarting that secret plot however because I invited your mom to stay for dinner tonight and we split the lasagna and most of the strawberry lemonade cake.  If I thought Baron would eat the last piece of cake, I'd totally give it to him since it isn't chocolate (and I can't share the Kahlua cake with him when I bust into it later because it is). Maybe I will give it to him anyway – he'd eat the whipped cream, if nothing else.

Also, I made a salad to go along with our dinner.  Your mom told me that she's been after you to eat more vegetables so now I'm telling you that she was proud of me for putting together a whole salad with 4 veggies in addition to the lettuce, all without her having to nag me about anything.  Yes, I'm bragging to you about your mom being proud of me for an eating habit. :-)

I had a nice time with your mom this afternoon, and turns out she didn't need any help at all.  She is now a ranch management software expert, including the lineage software.  I even gave her a gold star.  (You think I'm kidding but I'm not.)  Of course, we also talked about you, and she told me the story about you and that book on airplanes that Gramps gave you the Christmas before you turned 8 and how it launched your career of drawing me pictures.  You know I love stories of little boy Jake, and this one (like all the rest) made me all gooey inside.

I also realized something today when I was talking to your mom.  Last week (Tuesday, I went and looked back through my email to see what I'd said and when) I told you that I'm not saying we should have a baby because I think having one sometime later would make me less lonely now.  I said I needed something to look forward to (besides/in addition to you coming home) which is totally true.  But I think it's also that if we made that decision it would be decided, and that actually would help me be less lonely now.  I feel like everything is up in the air and if I had that to hold onto then I would be a little less lonely, less unsettled. 

I don't think I am explaining myself well, but I really thought they were 2 separate things last week.  Now I'm not so sure. I didn't mean to deceive you, Jake, and I really didn't do it on purpose – I was kind of deceiving myself.  But what I absolutely don't want is for you to feel like you have to say yes because you're worried about me.  I'm fine Jake, I'm not going anywhere, and I'm willing to wait a year or 2 if that's what you need.  I trust you.  (Heck, I'll wait 3 years if I have to, but let's still check in and see where we're at every 6 months, ok?)  

Ok, I'm off to take a bubble bath and then I'm going to go to bed early, maybe read.  Or maybe haul out the calligraphy pens and do those certificates.  But I will see you in less than 10 hours and I really can't wait.  I'll be in my shorts and in my polo shirt and we can just look at each other and talk.

I love you so much Jake it is not even funny (another really dumb phrase, but I do love you sooooo much),

Heather 

From: Heather Green (home)

Sent: Mon Jun 05 20:43 (UTC+3)

To: Agent JJ Green (DEA)

Subject: RE: Sunday Dinner

Attachments:

 Hi Jake,

You should mostly ignore the email I just sent to the other Jake Green.  Especially the part where I was an inarticulate mess.  I blehed on you, I'm sorry.  I blehed on your mom today too.  We really did have a nice time hanging out but I still blehed on her. (More than once.)

She noticed that we don't have a doggy door anymore and asked me about that.  So that was fun.  She told me that you emailed her from this account to tell her to not say "Lisinski" so I gave her the broad strokes of my participation in your cover story.  I hope that's OK.  I don't think she's going to try and track down our fake marriage license, but now she could if she really wanted to.

For the record, I don't mind sending you the emails you need on the other account.  I don't even mind making up the occasional anecdote that never happened.  I always liked creative writing.  I assign creative writing all the time, it's good for me to get a dose of my own medicine every now and again, so to speak.  For example, just now I came up with that carb coma story off the top of my head when I really stayed up to email you pages about my birthday dinner, just not to that email.  I want to do whatever you need me to do so that you stay safe.  BECAUSE I LOVE YOU.

I like your mom's rule for naming kids, too.  I vote that we add that rule to the pre-nup – can I get a 2nd? (Assuming you second the motion, the motion carries and I will get that added probably as soon as school is officially out.)  I would not name our son Abigail (or Sue – ha!) and we are definitely having more than 1 kid if I get my way.  You have agreed to having 2 to 3 kids.  It's in the pre-nup, mister.

So that's the part of my other email that you can take with a grain of salt.  When you read that part, don't worry about me.  I just wanted you to know that I realized being lonely and looking forward to when you come home are basically the same thing.  And, trying to solve that by having a baby isn't fair.  But I still want us to talk about it.

I don't know if I own any kid appropriate books on Greek Mythology.  I have an Irish Legends for Children book I got when I went with the Burkes to Ireland the summer between high school and college.  And if I ever saw a book called "Bullfinch's for Babies" I would totally buy it, just based on the title and probably without even doing a test read of the material.  Though I suppose I should make sure it was about mythology and not birds.  (Is there a bullfinch bird?)  But yes, we can work together to make sure what we tell our kids from Greek (or any) mythology is age appropriate, and I will go first. :-)

So, I have some thoughts on Mikey's supposedly inappropriate email: 

(1) I can definitely say you were not inappropriate. 

(2) I award you a million bonus points for realizing that the best present you could give me when we have a baby is to make sure my perpetually poor, starving college/medical student little brother can come visit us and meet his niece or nephew in a timely fashion.  That's not a problem exactly, so maybe it's a "situation"?  A situation you can throw money at (and I won't freak out).  I'm just going to love you even more than I already do for thinking of it, promise. 

(3) Obviously the bonus points you were talking about were for that amazing gift you're planning.  And I've already given you a million.  How about I make it 10 million?  Especially for the planning!

(4) I can only think of one thing that you shouldn't be bragging to Mikey about and I know you wouldn't do that.  "Some things are just between us" is your rule originally.  It's just a really good rule that I am happy to adopt.

(5) So, in conclusion you were not inappropriate and my brother is a pill.  And I LOVE YOU!!!!

BTW, your mom asked me while we were eating dinner if I or my dad would think it was inappropriate (it's the word of the week) if she and your dad sent Mikey $500 as a "Congratulations on getting into Yale" present.  (In case you're reading your email out of order, I invited her to eat dinner – the leftovers she sent home with me last night – with me tonight.  But I did make a salad.)

Your parents also sent him $500 as a college graduation gift last year (without running it by me – I only know because Mikey told me that) so I wasn't quite sure why she was asking this time.  She said that she and your dad always send graduation gifts to pretty much everyone they know (maybe not $500?) and that they are just really proud of Mikey and he's a member of their extended family.  I told her that Dad and I would not mind one bit and thanked her for her generosity and for thinking of him.  (Especially when he's being a pill!)  Also, I think maybe I got a dose of my own medicine.  I know I confuse your mom sometimes because I don't always tell her/people in general why I think 2 things are related.  She obviously thought there was a difference between "congratulations on graduating college!" and "congratulations on your admission to medical school!" that I wasn't seeing.  (Obviously those are different things, I just don't see why she felt she had to ask me about the 2nd and not the 1st.  She didn't need to ask at all.)  Anyway, this leads me to....

>> I generally like your tangents Mrs. Green, the more subatomic the better. 

>> Though they do tend to make me want to kiss you (and other stuff).

I'm VERY glad to hear it!  I will happily keep going off on my tangents, especially if you're going to kiss me (and other stuff) for it.  It's funny though, because I told your mom (not really sure why) that when you start to make fun of me for my baseball naivete, I will kiss you to shut you up, and she said I was "incentivizing" you to tease me.  Uh, yeah.

>> I guess Dad heard part of your conversation with Mom and

>> April.  Don't worry about it but he's like Mike – thinks I've

>> abandoned you.  Dad actually said I was ruining through

>> neglect the most important relationship I have.

Well, Mikey is wrong, and I am going to tell him that.  You have not abandoned me and I know that.  I'm also going to tell him that you were not being inappropriate in your email and that your bonus point balance with me is somewhere like 20 or 30 million.  His bonus point balance with me is like 1,999 and dropping.  Of course, you are allowed to redeem your points for an entirely different set of prizes/rewards than Mikey (or anyone else) gets!

I'm sorry that your dad overheard me in my weak moment and got the wrong impression.  I'm not sorry that you and he both think I am your most important relationship.  I know that you are my most important relationship.  Just don't be too mad at your dad for worrying about us, even though there's nothing to worry about.  Even you worry sometimes that I can't handle our current separation, and he doesn't know me anywhere near as well as you do.

Besides, right now your dad is kind of my hero.  I was totally whining to your mom about Field Day tomorrow because I got my list of volunteers and realized I'm probably going to have to umpire.  The dads who volunteered this year are Shep Cale and Derek Hyde, both of whom have kids on the 2nd/7th grade team, and then Chuck Landeros, whose kids are in my class.  So, I can't have any of them umpire for any game where 2nd/7th plays 3rd/6th. (By rights, I shouldn't be umpiring when the 3rd grade plays, but I sure can't have parent volunteers with a conflict umpiring.)  Anyway, I was preparing myself to have to umpire tomorrow and whining about it but then your mom said your dad could do it.  I'm not entirely sure he's going to want to, but she says he will, and if he doesn't (but she insists he will) then she'll make it happen.  And I should feel guilty about getting her to possibly twist his arm so he does it, but I really don't.  So maybe cut him some slack for me?

>> Remember if you start to feel abandoned or neglected let me

>> know and I will quit and be on that next plane.  I am a

>> million times more interested in being married to you than I

>> am in this job.

See?  This is why you have 20 or 30 or heck 50 million bonus points with me, Hon.  <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

>>>> What I don't want is to be married to someone who resents

>>>> me for being too needy or clingy.

>> I don't worry about you being needy or clingy. I worry that

>> you'll get fed up and decide you don't need me at all.  You

>> cling to me any time you want. 

I tried to write something smart and dispassionate and stiff upper lip in reply, but yeah, I'm not really feeling that tonight.  So just know that when I see you (in person) next I probably will cling to you, maybe a lot.  And kiss you plus other stuff.  And most definitely I'm never going to not need you, Jake.

>> I'll see you soon.  18 hours til our Skype date.  I can't wait.

9 hours now, and I also can't wait!  So, I'll go take a bubble bath, maybe fill out some award certificates (or not), and go to bed, so then it'll go from 6 or 7 hours until we see each other to us actually seeing each other in a blink. :-)

I love you!

Heather

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To be continued in Different Circumstances Interludes: Long Distance Relationship, Part 6.

I really am continuing to write this story (both the main storyline and these Interludes), and I have a pretty good outline to get me through the rest of season one and beyond.  But again, I don't know how fast that will be or if there is still any interest in this story.  If there is, and you want me to know that, the best way to do so (unless you are a registered user of this site and want to leave a review) is to email me directly at: marzeedoats @ gmail dot com (please format as an email address – I am trying to avoid getting additional junk mail).  I promise I will only use this information as encouragement to write, and potentially to send you pdf copies of later chapters, if and when the site closes (would be late May 2023 at the earliest).  Contacting me directly is the best way to let me know if there is still interest in this story, and you want to know (eventually) how it ends. 

When Jake asks Gail if she remembers how Eric said that Heather was dating him because she likes a challenge, he was recalling the conversation at a Green Family Sunday dinner as documented in Different Circumstances, Part 9D.  It was actually Heather who said she has a hard time saying no to a challenge, to which Eric said there was finally a satisfactory answer for why she was dating Jake.

The Borrowers is the first book in a fantasy series of the same name written by Mary Norton in 1952.

Jeopardy! is a long running TV gameshow created by Merv Griffin in 1964.  At the time of this story, the show was in syndication and hosted by Alex Trebek. It was shown in the evening between the nightly news and general network programming in most of the United States.

The terms of EJ Green's will, such as his leaving his chickens in Heather's care, are more fully discussed In Different Circumstances, Part 14G.

Sharon McBee and McBee's Bakery & Café were first introduced in Different Circumstances, Part 11E.  McBee's Bakery provided food for the 'school play work day' and Gail and Mrs. McVeigh ended up commiserating about just how high maintenance she is.  McBee's also came up again in Different Circumstances, Part 15D when Jake reminisced about his father's go-to breakfast (doughnuts and chocolate milk) when he was in charge of getting the boys to school or they were headed out of town on a Saturday morning.  Jake intends to carry on the tradition with his own children.

The town of Buffalo KS is in fact located in Wilson County, in the southeast corner of the state.  In 2000, the population was 284, but that declined to 232 by 2010.  This story takes place in mid-2006, and Heather and Jake got married in 2002 (July 13 to be exact).  In the episode The Day Before, Eric tries to convince Johnston to allow him to enter a USA Today contest to find the top five towns in America with populations under 5,000.  I've always assumed that Jericho the town (proper) has a population just under 5,000 and with the surrounding farms and such probably serves somewhat over 5,000 people (schools, medical center, shopping, etc.) on a regular basis.  So, Buffalo KS is a very small place, with less than 0.1% of the population of Heather's (Different Circumstances) hometown of Buffalo NY (292K in 2000, 261K in 2010) and is still significantly smaller than Jericho, having somewhere between 5% and 7% of the population of our favorite (fictional) Kansas town.

In Different Circumstances, Part 6D, Jake describes his mother to Heather as a person who should have had a ton of kids, and therefore an adopter of strays.  He warns Heather that she may find herself adopted, and that while they probably could still date, to still not sign anything Gail asked her to.  So, Heather is remembering things slightly differently than they actually happened, but close enough for memory.  Also, if you want to go re-read Different Circumstances, Part 6D, that is the one with the date at Bass Lake.  It's always been quite popular.

The first Green family Sunday dinner that Jake brought Heather to is described in Different Circumstances, Parts 5C and 5D.  In Part 5D, Jake does ask Gail what she thinks of Heather, but Gail is mis-remembering the actual facts of what happened – while remembering how that first meal with Heather went generally.  Heather was actually out of the room when Jake asked his question, but his eyes were most definitely on her all evening.

'Phone a friend' is an option from the gameshow Who Wants to Be a Millionaire which was originally hosted in the United States by Regis Philbin.  It first aired in the US in August 1999, and was hosted by Philbin into 2002.  This story is set in June 2006, so a little late to still be referencing Regis Philbin, but I decided to go with it anyway.

Heather tells Gail that Jake says "Spending time together in the woods," was one point of his hunting trips with his father (and grandfather).  In the episode Heart of Winter, Johnston tells Gail, "My kid could sit in a deer stand for hours. We wouldn't say a word to each other, just be in the woods together. I was always afraid Jake would forget about all that you know. That he'd grow up only remembering the bad times. That he wouldn't remember that we'd been close, that we were buddies once."  To which Gail replies, "He remembers. Deep down. It's why you mean so much to him."  So, I respectfully submit that this conversation with Heather could be a reason why Gail was so sure of her statement.

In the Different Circumstances universe, Gail has found a new, later years' career as a health educator.  Given her nursing background, April thought of her when the medical center was in need of a substitute instructor for a Lamaze class.  She later obtained a certification to teach all manner of health classes.  This is covered in detail in Different Circumstances, Part 15B.

Jake first draws an airplane in Different Circumstances, Part 6B.  I write in that part of the story that EJ gave him a whole book devoted to drawing aircraft, but don't say when that happened.  (I also wrote that Gail gave him a book of Peanuts comics and the first airplane he drew was Snoopy's Sopwith Camel.)  I maintain that EJ could have given Jake both books at different times.  And we know from canon (Red Flag) that Jake's grandfather made sure he knew his planes.  So likely, Jake – who has held onto very few books in his life – held onto those two that EJ gave him.

Jake continues to draw planes in later installments of Different Circumstances, and it is in Different Circumstances, Part 12B that Jake tells Heather he can draw horses (side view only) and robots in addition to airplanes.  (And in Different Circumstances, Part 12C that Jake draws an airplane and a "family portrait" of Heather, their baby, and himself in stick figure form.)

Jake's dislike for Heather having her students call him "Mr. Green" is one of the Different Circumstances AU facts that was mentioned all the way back in Different Circumstances, Part 1.

Jake's love of and proficiency at baseball is nominally canon.  He tells Gracie Leigh in the Pilot episode of Jericho that he had been playing minor league baseball during his five years away from Jericho.  Jake hasn't been away from Jericho for five years in the Different Circumstances universe, but I figured that he must have been a good enough baseball player in his youth to make this lie plausible – or to have it occur to him to tell it in the first place.

Jake references the agreement that "she who gives birth" has naming rights (while he who is the dad gets a veto) during the discussion he and Heather have after he returns from Black Jack in Different Circumstances, Part 12F.

Heather's note that she would not name their son Abigail or Sue in reply to Jake saying he would veto naming their son Abigail is a reference to the Shel Silverstein poem A Boy Named Sue which Johnny Cash then popularized as a song, recorded in 1969.  That is a decade before Heather was born, but I think she probably knows both the Shel Silverstein poem and the Johnny Cash recording.

Bullfinch's Mythology is a collection of Greek myths written in English for a general American audience.  It was published in 1867 and was the definitive collection of Greek myths for over a century.  It's a bit dated, and there are other, widely accepted translations now, but the name Bullfinch is still so heavily tied to Greek Mythology and it is alliterative with the word "baby", so it sounded like something Heather would think of.

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