"All Over Again" He'd know that laugh anywhere. Jeff Metcalf was used to coming home to the sound of soft chatter--it seemed their house was rarely empty, with friends and neighbors stopping by frequently and often unannounced--but when he walked into the house, cringing as the brisk wind outside slammed the door shut and rattled the windows, the first thing he noticed was the familiar voice. The strange car parked on the curb across the street had gotten his attention for a split second when he passed it by on his way in, but he hadn't given it a second thought until he heard the voices in the kitchen: the sparkle of his wife's signature girlish laughter, along with the voice that he hadn't heard in what seemed like ages. "Jeff, you're home! Oh, honey, I'm so glad you got out of practice early!" Ginger leapt out of her seat immediately when Jeff stepped into the kitchen, flying into his arms and greeting him with a kiss before he could even open his mouth to say anything. His duffel bag dropped to the ground in a muted thud as she caught him off balance, and she laughed breathlessly in apology, pushing the bag aside to lead him in by the hand. "Look who's here!" she said. "Hank? Hey--you came after all!" His brother seemed genuinely surprised when Jeff sprinted to his side and grabbed his arm to pull him up off his seat for an impromptu hug. "Take it easy, baby brother," Hank muttered through Jeff's choke-hold. He eased himself off Jeff and flashed a somewhat embarrassed grin at Ginger when Jeff finally released him. "Three years later and I still keep forgetting just how big he is," he said, straightening his jacket before he took a seat once again. Following his lead, Jeff pulled up a chair for Ginger, then sat at the table with them, shoving aside the pan of half-eaten peach cobbler that Ginger must have gotten earlier that day. "I'm really glad you made it," he said. "So your boss agreed to give you time off for this after all, huh?" "I always told Linda that it doesn't take a union to make an employer more reasonable..." He laughed wearily and shook his head--there had been too many fruitless arguments over this in their home, and Jeff knew that even Hank had grown tired of fighting this old fight. "Yeah, I did manage to get away for a few days." "I was worried there for a while. When you said you weren't sure if you could come... Well, there was no way I was going to resort to Charlie Hailey as my best man-" Jeff spied Ginger giving him a disapproving look, and he immediately felt guilty. "Not that there's anything wrong with him," he said, "but you're my brother..." Hank picked at the plate in front of him and cleared his throat. "You have your lovely wife to thank for that. She's the one convinced me that I should be here for this." Ginger leaned over and slipped an arm around Jeff's waist, smiling at the two brothers. "Well this wedding wouldn't feel right if you weren't here, Hank," she said. "As my mother never fails to remind me, we didn't get to share this with all of you the first time around, and if I had to hitch-hike to Chicago to come get you myself so the family could be back together again for this, I would have done it!" Jeff stifled a laugh. "You see," he said, well aware of his wife's eyes on him, and knowing she'd probably give him a swift elbow to the ribs for saying this, "she's been planning this perfect wedding for the last 26 years. I know part of her is still sore that my going to the minors ruined all the plans, so this is her chance to finally put on the wedding of her dreams, and a little detail like the best man being missing would have put a crimp in her plans all over again-" "You know so much, buster!" He grinned mischievously at her. "Well it's true, isn't it?" "Jeff Metcalf!" "Oh, just admit it-" A reluctant smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "Well, maybe a little..." "Aha, I knew it!" "All right, Mr. Know-it-all. But you know this is as much your wedding as it is mine, and you promised this time around you'd care more about all the plans!" "Good Lord... I-I mean, of course I care, honey." Ginger raised her eyebrow in suspicion, but Jeff knew she could never stay mad at him for too long. Sure enough, an exasperated smile soon spread on her face. Jeff could see she was trying to keep a straight face, but was failing miserably. "I should really leave you two alone--you've got a lot of catching up to do," she said as she started to clear the plates. "Hank, I'll go fix up your room upstairs-" "Oh, Ginger, don't--that won't be necessary..." Jeff looked back at his brother. "What do you mean? You are staying here, aren't you?" Hank shook his head. "You guys have got a full house here already, I don't want to be a bother..." "Don't be silly, Hank! Of course it's not a bother," Ginger said. "You're family, and there's plenty of room!" Hank shot her an incredulous look. Ginger giggled. "Okay, technically, there's not a lot of room, but we can make room for you. Jeff and I can-" "Thanks, but I've already reserved a room at the River Run Hotel," he said. "It's all right, really... In fact, I should get going." "Now? Well, will you at least come back for dinner later? I'm making Jeff's favorit--meatloaf...Linda will be home by then, and Al, and Anne. And Mikey should be waking from his nap soon..." Hank shook his head. "To tell you the truth, I'm a little tired, Ginger. If I go take a nap when I get to the hotel, I'll probably sleep through the night. I'll stop by in the morning to see Mom and Linda." "Mikey's really excited to see you," Jeff said, not expecting the comment to sound as awkward as it did. "You know, he's starting to talk now. He can say all of our names--sort of. Mom shows him your picture all the time so he knows who you are. Yours was the easiest name to say." Hank nodded without saying a word and donned his hat once more, making a motion towards the back door. "Ginger, thanks for the cobbler... I'll be sure to stop by Rupert's while I'm here and tell Mrs. Davis that she still makes the best cobbler I've ever had in my life--besides your mother's of course. I'll be back tomorrow..." "Hank-" Jeff hadn't expected his brother to turn around when he called after him, and he didn't know what to say next. After a few seconds of tense silence, he grinned sheepishly and said, "It's good to see you again, Hank. I'm glad you're here." Hank gave him a weak smile and shut the back door behind him. "Did Hank seem all right to you?" "Hmm?" Ginger had been hard at work for the last hour making paper flowers for their wedding. Jeff watched her scrunch her forehead in frustration as she alternately read the instructions by her side and looked at the flowers, which weren't coming out exactly the way they looked in the pictures. "I can't understand it," she said, shaking her head as she put down the instructions for the upteenth time and held up a droopy flower to inspect it. "When Linda and I made them for Hank's wedding, they were perfect--perfect! I'm using the same pipe cleaners, the same tissue paper... Why aren't they--oh, heavens to Betsy!" Jeff cleared his throat in an attempt not to laugh--the last thing his very agitated wife needed right now was him pouring salt in her wound. He walked over to her knelt behind her, gentling massaging her shoulders. "They look fine to me," he whispered in her ear. He heard her giggle when she tossed the flower to the pile of finished ones. "A grand lie," she said, turning her head to kiss him, "but thank you anyway, honey." She leaned back against his chest and pulled his arms tight around her. "I'm sorry, what were you saying earlier?" "I was just thinking about Hank." "What about him?" Jeff got up from the floor and led her to the loveseat. "Did he seem a little... I don't know, did you notice anything wrong with him?" "Because he wouldn't stay here? That doesn't surprise me too much. He and Al have never really mended fences, so I can't imagine he'd be too comfortable staying here." "But it's more than that..." Jeff hesitated, not really knowing what he was getting at. Maybe Ginger was right, maybe it was just Hank not wanting to be around Al. Heaven knew he had once felt that way around his stepfather too, but time--and marriage to Ginger--had made him realize how happy Al made his mother, and he eventually came to accept him. "He just seemed a little quiet, is all." Ginger lazily brushed aside a lock of his hair and smiled at him. "Honey, he was just tired. It was a long drive from Chicago--he probably just needed a good nap, like he said." Jeff let it go. Ginger was probably right--maybe he was reading too much into things. "Speaking of naps..." "Yeah?" "Mikey's good for another, oh, hour or so of sleep..." "Mmm hmm..." He grinned and pulled her close. "Linda's got to meet a deadline..." A stolen kiss on the nape of her neck. "Mom and Al won't be home for a while yet..." "Why Mr. Metcalf, whatever do you have in mind?" Ginger cooed. "Only what we couldn't do when we were engaged and I thought I would explode from all these... urges..." "Appetites," she whispered in his mouth. He slid his hand behind her neck and pressed her closer to him, and then the sound of insistent crying pulled them apart. "He's awake!" Ginger gasped. Jeff let out a small groan--which Ginger must have heard, because she hit him on his forearm. "Jeff!" she said. "C'mon, that's your little brother up there! We can... you know, get back to this later... but the poor thing's probably hungry." "All right," Jeff sighed, "I'll go get his bottle." He started towards the kitchen, then turned to look back at Ginger. "You'd better hurry up there," he teased, "if you don't start singing that jingle soon, he's going to really start screaming." She laughed and blew him a kiss as she went up the stairs. Next Home| Kyle| Tammy| History| Transcripts|Quotes|Milestones|Episodes| Pictures| Fanfic| Links| Email List