storybrooke; WHO: Steve (Bobby Singer), Maggie (Jo Harvelle), Ellen and Josh Soprano WHAT: Maggie’s come home! WHEN: Easter Friday WHERE: The Soprano house WARNINGS: As fluffy as cotton candy
Steve Soprano couldn’t stop pacing the few feet of walkway in the foyer to his house. His wife had already tried to get him to come to breakfast, to sit down and read the paper, anything to get him to stop digging a hole into their house with his constant walking. He couldn’t help it though. His little girl was finally coming home. Not that Maggie was exactly little anymore, nor had she been in a long time. But she had finally decided that the best next step for her and Josh was back in Storybrooke and he couldn’t be happier.
He’d get his daughter back and his grandson. It was better than Christmas.
So was it really his fault that he couldn’t seem to stop walking the length of the floor, keeping a clear shot of the driveway as he waited impatiently for her to finally show up? He could hear Ellen sigh again, muttering something about the floor, but he caught her smiling as she headed past him.
The sound of a car pulling into the driveway had his attention snapping back to it and he had the front door open before the car was parked, bounding down the stairs to greet the two. “Let her get out of the car first,” Ellen called after him, but he ignored her for the moment, wanting to be the first to get a hug in.
The drive had been a long one, and Josh had started to get cranky partway through, which had extended their trip by three days. But finally, Maggie was pulling into Storybrooke. The familiar sign she passed on the way into town was comforting, and she felt a knot in her shoulders relax as she eased up on the gas, not wanting to get a ticket thanks to the speed limit dropping.
“We’re home, buddy,” she said as she glanced in the rearview mirror, then smiled when she saw Josh was sound asleep. Since she had these few quiet minutes, she drove through the town itself, taking the long way to get to her parents’ house, figuring that she would see if anything was new. The town was, surprisingly, very much the same. She felt a flutter in her stomach when she passed by The Rabbit Hole, and then when she passed by Sam’s place, and it didn’t ease up until she pulled into her old driveway.
As she cut the engine, she looked up and grinned to see her dad already partway across the yard. Josh didn’t stir as she unbuckled, opened the door, and stepped out just in time to be picked up in a familiar hug. Closing her eyes, Maggie breathed in the scent of her dad, her own arms tight around him, and smiled into his shoulder. “Hey, Dad.”
“You’ve been gone too long, kiddo.”
The words were out before he could stop them. Steve had sworn to himself that he wouldn’t add on anymore guilt over his daughter’s long absence and he didn’t mean for what he said to have as much weight to it as he knew it might. But he had missed her, had missed the grandson he’d seen less often than he’d like. He was fully aware that it was his children’s job to move out and on with their lives, that the fact they were both pursuing a life outside of his house was a good thing but that didn’t lessen his wish for them to be around more. At least Daniel had stuck around.
He patted her back as he peered into the car, spotting the sleeping boy. It was going to take a lot of restraint not to wake him up, but he knew far too well how cranky children could be. And how much crankier their mothers could be if they were woken too early. Pulling back, he looked Maggie over, trying to get a glimpse into how her trip had been.
“Car held up fine? No trouble getting here?” He was going to want to bring it to the garage in town to make sure everything was in working order.
“Yeah, I know,” she agreed, but smiled anyway as he let her go, looking up at him. “But I’m home now, and I want to thank you and mom again for letting us stay here until I find a place. I’ll pay you rent, and you’re not arguing about that.”
Following his gaze to her son, Maggie’s face softened, and she then looked at her dad at the questions about the car, shaking her head. “None at all. I just drove through town a little to get a feel for the place. Doesn’t seem to have changed at all,” she said, amused at how different she was from when she’d left. Stepping over to the door, she unlocked it and leaned in to unfasten the car seat.
“Joshua...hey, Josh. We’re home,” she said softly, and as he stirred and opened his eyes, her heart softened all over again. As he reached out his arms, Jo reached by him for a small duffle bag that had supplies for him, then wrapped her hands around him and pulled him out, straightening up next to the car once she cleared the door. “Say hi to your grandpa,” she murmured in his ear, then turned to her dad.
She still called the place home. Steve hadn’t been sure if she would or not, but the sound of that word in relation to their house was enough to have him beaming. Watching her with the boy was like looking back in time, a snapshot of how Ellen had been with Maggie and Daniel when they were younger. It warmed his heart enough for him not to argue about the rent issue. He’d take her money and put it away in a fund for Josh, knowing there was no use in arguing with his daughter about it. She was as stubborn as her parents were.
“You’ve gotten bigger,” Steve told Josh with a grin, watching the boy hold up the correct amount of fingers for his age as he gave a toothy smile. “I think he’s grown a few inches at least.” Steve nodded toward the house. “Your mom’s been waiting to see you both. Head on in and I’ll start unloading your things.”
“He definitely has. I’m going to look into enrolling him in school, the week after next. Give us both some time to settle in,” she told him, while she reminded herself she needed to both get a job and find an apartment. Josh yawned sleepily and pushed his face into her shoulder, and she smiled a bit, then waved a hand at her dad. “Our stuff can wait a few hours, Dad. Don’t worry about it.” She grinned at him and kissed his cheek, then headed for the house.
She’d barely cleared the door when she was met with another hug, this one from her mom. Somehow during the embrace, Josh transferred himself from Maggie to his grandma, clinging tightly as the two women broke apart, and Maggie shook her head with a laugh.
“Still don’t know how he does that. I can take him up and - “
“You’ll do no such thing! Go on into the kitchen for food, you haven’t been eating enough. Me and my little man here are going to head up and I’ll lay him down. He’s got Danny’s old room.”
Maggie blinked at that and watched her mom take Josh up the stairs, then turned to step back to the door to tell her dad, “You guys didn’t need to do that, he could have just slept with me in my room.”
Steve arched a brow at her as he bounded back up the stairs. “You’ll be thanking us for the peaceful nights with him having his own room,” he told her as he steered the two of them toward the kitchen. His wife was right, Maggie did look like she needed to eat more and he doubted the food they’d eaten on the drive over had been the healthiest. “Figure it's good for storing all the toys you might have brought too.” And all of the ones Ellen and he had managed to buy in the last few days.
“Not that he ain’t allowed to have them out of the room.” Their house had always been cluttered up with the kids’ artwork and toys. It hadn’t been the same since the two had moved out and it’d be a welcome change to have signs of a happy childhood strewn about again.
“You wanting breakfast, lunch? We got leftover pancakes, biscuits, stuff to make sandwiches. Or I can break out the grill and fire up the steaks in the freezer. Or we could always do burgers.” Whatever she wanted he was more than happy to start putting together.
“As soon as I manage to find a place, we’ll be out of your hair. You didn’t have to go to the trouble,” she protested only half-heartedly while letting him usher her into the kitchen in the back. Knowing better than to argue, she sat obediently at the table to watch him. “I brought most of it in the car, but there’s a moving truck that should be here in a few days with the rest. Not a lot, but there’s some furniture anyway. I need to figure out a place to put it.” Pushing her hair back from her face, she leaned against the table and smiled at him.
“A sandwich will be fine. How about the steaks for dinner? Danny’ll come over too, right?” She missed her brother being there, but was proud of him for running his own place. “It’s been a while since he’s seen Josh.”
“Your brother’s supposed to show up after he’s done with his last client.” Hopefully that would be late afternoon at the latest, but there was really no telling. It might take him a little longer depending on how the tattoo session went, but Steve was confident that his son would be there by dinner. He wouldn’t want to miss out on seeing Josh before he headed to bed.
“The apartment situation ain’t the best out here, never has been,” Steve continued as he started pulling out all of the ingredients for her favorite sandwich. “You might be better off looking into renting one of the houses. Some are offering up a better price and you could get a backyard for Josh to play in.” With how active kids his age could be Steve had a feeling she’d want that, especially if she was working. “Just don’t go taking on any of Gold’s places.”
He’d never liked the guy and doubted that he ever would. The less his family had to do with that men the better in his opinion.
Steve placed the plate down in front of her and sat down. “And you gotta know that your mom and I are more than happy to watch that grandson of ours whenever you need it.” School was a good idea, but he hoped she wasn’t thinking about putting Josh into daycare as well. Not with him and Ellen home and bursting at the seams to get time with the boy.
She let out a breath thoughtfully at his suggestion of a house, and after a moment she shook her head. “I need a job before I can even look at a house, but I’ve got to admit, a backyard would be nice.” Her eyes drifted out their own back window at their yard, and she smiled, remembering how often she and Danny would be out there playing.
At the mention of Gold, she looked back at her dad, eyes hardening just a little. “That con artist? Trust me, I wouldn’t take anywhere of his if it was the place place on earth. I’m amazed he’s still walking around in one piece here.”
Picking up the sandwich, she smiled at him and took a big bite. After she finished chewing, Jo nodded. “Yeah, I know. And he’s pretty smart, I think he could probably get into Pre-K. I need to make some doctor’s appointments so he can get his latest shots, and then find out what kind of paperwork I need to fill out to get him registered….” She trailed off and shook her head, taking another bite. “I’ll look into that Monday.”
Steve nodded along, pleased that she still seemed to have some sense to her. Ellen and he must have done something right in raising the two like they had. But he’d asked enough questions now, poked enough at what her plans were after what had to be an exhausting drive. If he asked anymore he was certain Ellen would be down to give him a hard look for bothering their daughter. Not everything had to be figured out that exact minute.
“You’ll find something. There’s a number of places hiring and I’m sure any of them would be more than happy to take you on. Don’t go thinking you need to work somewhere you hate or with people you don’t like just to earn some money. Find something you’ll enjoy.” They were in no hurry to start getting paid any rent. Both of their retirements more than paid the bills every month.
“Just focus on settling in, kiddo.” The rest he was certain would come with time. No point in rushing through it all.
Maggie nodded a bit, doing her best to be optimistic, at least in front of her dad. She knew she’d be up late with her worries, as she normally was. “I’ll look into it after Easter,” she told him, then smiled at him again.
“Now if you don’t make your own sandwich and join me, I’m going to start to feel kinda weird...or at least sit down. I know you probably worried mom to death waiting for us to get here,” she chided gently, taking another bite of the sandwich. Absently, she wondered why they always seemed to taste better when one of her parents made them, because at the moment this was the best sandwich she’d had in three years.
“I already ate, Mags,” he told her, but sat down across from her before grabbing an apple from the bowl of fruit on the table. It was almost like how it had been a few years ago with the two of them at the kitchen table and Ellen upstairs busying herself with something or other.. All they needed was Danny coming in through the front door to tell them some story about his day to complete the picture.
Only this was better than any old memory because it was actually happening and would hopefully continue to happen for days to come. The Soprano family was finally back together and nothing was going to spoil the absolute happiness that Steve felt over that fact.
She smiled triumphantly once he sat and that was when she jumped up to get them both a glass of water. After setting the glasses down, Maggie returned to her sandwich and met her dad’s eyes.
“It’s really good to be home,” she told him sincerely, then took another bite out of the sandwich, looking down at the plate again.