Carter-O'Neill Residence
Colorado Springs, Colorado

Jack was busy making breakfast in the kitchen when he heard his wife coming down the stairs and jerked his in that direction to alert their daughter. "Looks like Mom is ready to join us, kid. Why don't you finish setting the table?"

"You betcha, Daddy!" Sage slid off the barstool at the counter and carried the last breakfast items to the table.

Sam walked into the kitchen, wearing her robe and a soft smile. "Good morning."

"Morning sleepyhead," he grinned, giving her a quick kiss. "I wasn't sure how much sleep you'd gotten during the quarantine so I figured letting you rest would be best. Breakfast is almost done."

"I didn't mean to sleep in today... not with the party this afternoon. You said there were still some preparations left for this morning, the least I can do is help out after letting you organize everything," she replied, one arm around his waist.

"All done," Sage announced as she joined them. "Hi Mommy."

Jack watched as Sam leaned down to kiss the girl and then the two moved over to the counter. Their daughter placed two mugs on the surface and Sam filled them with coffee. "Careful with that," he cautioned when Sage took his cup with her to the table. "It's hot." Finishing up with the stove he turned it off, placed breakfast on some plates and took those with him as he followed the girls.

"It looks beautiful," Sam commented.

He looked at the festive decorations she indicated, the ones he had placed around the house and yard last night after she and Sage had gone upstairs. The two of them had gotten ready for bed while he made sure everything was in place for the party downstairs. By the time he'd joined them they were both asleep on Sage's bed with an opened book in between them. He'd gently woken up his wife and taken her to bed, despite the early hour and they'd called it a night. "That it does. Look, pancakes for the birthday girl," he set a plate down in front of Sage's chair, which was decorated with balloons.

"It's not my birthday yet, Daddy."

"But we're celebrating it today with your friends," Sam replied. "Or do you want to save all their presents until your actual birthday?"

Her eyes grew wide and she quickly shook her head. "No!"

Jack chuckled softly as he placed some toast and an omelet in front of his wife and sat down with his own plate, filled with a few pancakes and an omelet. "So, birthday girl it is then."

"Sweetie, what are you drinking?"

"Nothing," Sage said with a shrug. "I forgot the milk."

Sam rolled her eyes and got up before Jack could do or say anything. "I'll get it." Within seconds she was gone and he could hear her opening the fridge. "Jack, why is our fridge filled with Jello?"

Sage's mouth dropped open and her eyes were wide. "Uh-oh, busted!"

Jack winced and threw her a conspiratorial look. "It's for the kids," he yelled over his shoulder.

"That's enough to feed the entire school!" Sam replied as she came back to the table, milk in hand. "Just how many children are coming over today?"

"Just some friends, Mommy."

At their daughter's answer and perfectly schooled innocent face the Carter look was thrown his way, eerily reminding Jack of the late Jacob Carter. He'd had the same look, which was often more a combination of disappointment, impatience that silently said 'you better tell me what's up right now' and the intense eyes than an actual glare. It was spooky that Sam seemed to have perfected it and was now using it on him! "Just a dozen or so kids," Jack replied defensively.

"A dozen? There are only fourteen kids in her class!"

"We didn't invite the whole class, did we munchkin?"

Sam watched as Sage shook her head and frowned. "So you invited everyone but two classmates? That's not very nice."

"Just half, Mommy."

"And the Jenkins girls from down the street, Rick from next door, two kids from karate and two from ballet," Jack added.

Sage nodded as she munched on her pancakes. "Bobby and Kristy and Mallory and Jane."

"Okay... it's your party after all," Sam admitted as she sat down. "Just tell me you're going to feed them something other than jello."

"I got burgers, hot dogs, chicken, tofu, salads and some veggies and steaks for the adults."

"Is that why you were out back yesterday when I got home, setting up the grill?"

Jack smirked, thinking about the things he and Sage had been planning. "Yes... among other things."

"You're not going to tell me until this afternoon, are you?"

"Nope."

Sam rolled her eyes but a small smile was tugging at her lips as she turned her attention back to breakfast. "I take it that means you're not going to let me help you set things up either?" When he just shook his head she sighed and looked at their daughter. "And what about you? Are you going to help your Dad or do I have to help you get ready?"

"Daddy said I'm good to go, just need my swimsuit," Sage replied. Lifting the carton of milk she cautiously poured some in her cup, with the same focus and determination Jack was used to seeing from his wife when she was working on some doohickey. "Right?"

"Yeah sure you betcha," he grinned, reaching out to ruffle her hair. Earlier, he had already combed the girl's hair after they'd both gotten dressed. "Trust me, Sam, you don't want her to shower, wash her hair and get her ready in some fancy outfit for today's activities. We'll probably all be in need of a shower at the end of the evening..."

Vogel Residence
Colorado Springs, Colorado

William Vogel sighed as he buttoned up his shirt and walked over to the floor length mirror to put on his tie. Trust his wife to get him assigned supervising duty of a bunch of seven-year-old kids at a birthday party. On a Saturday, for God's sake. Didn't the woman know he worked hard all week so he could go to the club in the weekend and enjoy some golf with his business partners after twenty plus years of marriage? It wasn't even a party of one of his own children! Years ago, before they had even moved to Colorado, Eleanor had told him to attend the parties of their two eldest, it had been awful and had made him put his foot down about any involvement with the children's birthday parties. It was why they had caterers, party planners and a nanny after all!

Luckily the girls were now too old to even want him present and Billy didn't know any better, but now he had to spend his day off at the O'Neills for their kid's party! He could only hope it wasn't one of those god awful tea parties his eldest had once had. Then again, William doubted his son would want to attend something like that or be friends with a kid who enjoyed them. Funny, how one of Billy's best friends was a girl, he thought to himself. Neither of his daughters had been friends with boys at that age and once they were old enough he'd made sure to send them to an all-girls school. Not that he was aware of all the children his son and daughters mingled with but in this case Billy was always talking about his friend.

He didn't remember ever seeing the O'Neill girl since he usually worked late and the few times Billy had friends over they were in the playroom with the nanny but he had dropped the boy off at the girl's house a few times at Eleanor's insistence when on his way to the office or the club. Billy would often already be out the car and up the porch steps before he himself had time to release his seatbelt, so he'd never bothered getting out and just drove off when the girl's father - he presumed - would open the door. O'Neill wasn't a very common name in their circles and the gray-haired man hadn't looked familiar; it made William wonder what their connection to the school was.

"Why on Earth did you volunteer to help?" He asked when Eleanor emerged from her walk-in closet. "You know how important it is for me to socialize with my business partners and potential clients."

"I couldn't very well let Billy go there alone, who knows what that man would do to those children!"

"For God's sake, Eleanor, it's just a birthday party," he grumbled, fumbling with his tie. "What difference does it make whether the boy plays there on regular days or attends a party?"

His wife looked at him with dismay as she put on her jewelry. "First of all, I had no idea that Mr O'Neill was the girl's primary caretaker. You didn't think that was important information to share with me?" She inquired in a high tone, but before he could reply she continued. "I don't think they have a very traditional family and I'm not sure how wise it is to let Billy socialize with that girl. I'm disappointed in both you and Lisa."

"Who?"

"Billy's nanny," she said curtly, scowling at him. Well, she tried but it wasn't very successful after her recent spa retreat. "More importantly is that we don't really know this family and yet we allow our son to spend time at their home. When the girls were younger at least we knew all the parents involved at the school."

William nodded slowly, even though it wasn't really true for him. He'd never meddled into such things; that was a task for Eleanor and the nanny. "What does O'Neill do for a living?" Perhaps there was still a business opportunity here and today wouldn't be a complete waste of time.

"The man is retired. I think his wife said something about the military but I was too shocked by the entire situation, to be honest," she replied, a hand delicately placed on her chest. "Frankly, I'm not entirely reassured that Billy and the other children would be safe in their care. They sounded quite rude on the phone."

Military? "Let's ask the boy before we go over to the party." Considering how much Billy spoke about his friend and her family it wouldn't be too difficult to get some more information out of him.

"I believe she works to support the family," Eleanor said.

"Mrs O'Neill?" Interesting. "I suppose in this day and age that isn't as abnormal as you make it sound, dear." It was rather unusual in their circles but it was intriguing as well. Perhaps it could be a topic of discussion this afternoon. Certainly the woman's work had to be more interesting than his wife's volunteer work, organizations and her society gossip.

"It's a disgrace. What on Earth should we talk about with these people?"

Rolling his eyes William grabbed his jacket and turned towards the door, intent on going downstairs and hopefully get this afternoon over with as soon as possible. Perhaps he could still join Montgomery at the club afterwards. "Will any of your friends be there today or is Billy the only one from school?"

"A handful of children were invited and after making some calls I have reassured our friends that we would be present to supervise as well. The Prescotts were sending their nanny," Eleanor added as they went downstairs.

"Why aren't we sending... our nanny?" Whatever her name was. It was difficult to keep track of since his wife usually fired and hired personnel like maids and nannies without informing him. Therefore he had stopped trying to learn their names years ago, when the girls had still been little.

Eleanor turned around as they reached the ground floor and looked at him. "Someone should stay with the girls and considering Lisa already failed to keep me abreast of the families of the children Billy socializes with I don't think it would be wise to send her to supervise today."

"Very well," he grumbled. By the sounds of it a new nanny would be hired soon... "How long do we have to stay there?"

"I believe there is some kind of dinner, unless the inquiry about dietary habits was meant for a late lunch or snacks."

Wonderful, William thought. He watched as Eleanor went to get Billy and donned his jacket. Apparently the birthday party had more of a casual dress code therefore he had elected to wear a two-piece suit and forego his usual waistcoat. In this summer heat that suited him just fine, especially if some of the activities were outdoors. "Do you have the present with you, son?" He asked once Billy and Eleanor returned.

The boy was wearing khaki slacks and a light blue shirt, his red hair sticking up a bit from running his hand through it. "Yes, Dad," he held up his bag.

"Did you pack your swimming trunks too?" When Billy nodded Eleanor sighed and steered him towards the front door. "I still don't know what to expect this man has organized, considering the address listed is their home address and they don't even have a pool."

"Sage's dad is the coolest," Billy exclaimed, practically bouncing off the front steps. "It'll be awesome."

Ah yes, Sage was the girl's name. "What is he like, this eh... O'Nei-"

"General Jack," his son interrupted. "He's got tons of medals and awards. Sage snuck us into his office once and he's got this awesome gun!"

"Your father has a gun too," Eleanor replied in a flat tone.

Billy turned around, facing them and pretended to hold a machine gun. "General Jack has one of those cool guns from the movies that go like rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!"

"In his office?"

"No, Mom," he rolled his eyes. "Sage showed me a picture of him, her mom and uncles carrying them in his office. Her mom is pretty neat too! Oh and when we had that sleepover they let us watch the stars through a microscope on the roof!"

"Telescope," William corrected automatically. Who knows, it might actually turn out to be an interesting afternoon, he thought to himself as they made their way over to the car.

Carter-O'Neill Residence
Colorado Springs, Colorado

It was less than an hour before the party would start so after checking in with Cam to see how everything was going on base Sam left the home office and went to look for her husband and daughter after locking its door. Knowing them they were probably losing track of time while fooling around in the backyard under the pretext of getting everything ready, meaning it wouldn't hurt to check on them.

She stopped by the kitchen to get some water bottles from the fridge, a task that wasn't as easy as it sounded because of all the cups and pans of jello that were seemingly stashed randomly around the food and drinks that were placed in the appliance. But after rooting around she found three bottles and went out to the sliding doors leading to the backyard. The grill was already set up on the deck as expected but that was about the only thing she had expected in the yard!

There was a large inflatable paddle pool she had never seen before on the lawn, filled with something that looked awfully familiar - and it wasn't water. As she stepped onto the grass she spotted a couple of buckets with water and others filled with water balloons. Their usual hose was rolled out and next to it lay a twin, which by the looks of it was going to be connected to the kitchen's faucet through the opened window. Two extra lawn sprinklers were placed strategically in the middle of the grass and on the other side of their sizeable yard Sam could see Sage bent over a sprinkler head from their sprinkler system, appearing to be adjusting the spray under Jack's instructions.

"Excellent," Jack praised as their daughter stood and looked up at him. "Good job, munchkin. Why don't you go turn them on for a test run while I intercept your mom, okay?"

"Yessir!" Sage exclaimed, snapping off a sharp salute. Turning on her heels she ran towards Sam and the house, beaming with pride over her accomplishment. "Mommy, I futzed with the sprinklers! Daddy says I'm like you with doohickeys," she cried as she ran past.

Sam chuckled and looked over her shoulder as the girl ran up the steps before turning back to her husband, quickening her pace. "I see you've got our daughter roped into doing your dirty work," she teased, gesturing at the sprinklers.

Jack accepted one of the water bottles eagerly and quickly downed half of its content. "Yeah," he grinned, wrapping an arm around her and stuffing the bottle in the pocket of his zipped-off cargo pants. "Can't waste that Carter intellect! I would hate to see what she'd be capable of when bored after hearing the horror stories of your youth."

"Mark's stories are exaggerated," she replied. Smiling, she leaned into his toned chest, enjoying the feel of his strong arms around her.

"Maybe... but I've heard stories from Dad too. If it was just your brother I'd give you the benefit of the doubt but after hearing some of the things your dad and Selmak shared I'm inclined to believe Mark."

"Traitor," she muttered under her breath. "So... is everything set for the party?"

Jack nodded and indicated the sprinkler system and the hoses. "Yeah, almost done. Just got to test these babies, raid the linen closet for extra towels and double-check the contents of the cooler."

"Mrs Vogel and Billy will probably be here soon, if she hasn't changed her mind yet about supervising."

"Teresa said she'd come and help too and the Jenkins would be over around dinner time to help with the preparations and the kids."

She smiled, pleased that they had such great neighbors. All the time she had been living in her old house in Colorado Springs she'd hardly socialized with her neighbors and only knew their names because of the nosy old lady next door who felt it necessary to keep her apprised of certain things in the neighborhood. After she and Jack had moved back here almost a year ago they had quickly befriended Teresa and her husband, Ricardo Martinez, who were living next door.

Sam was under no illusions about the reasons of their friendship and knew it was all down to Jack, who was far more social than her when it came to things like these. It also helped that the Martinez's son, Rick, was just a year older than Sage and they got along great, often climbing the trees in both their backyards. Just last month she had heard Jack and Ricardo talking about building a tree house for the kids this summer but so far they hadn't made any definitive plans yet. The Jenkins were also a nice couple with seven-year-old twin daughters, Loren and Emma, and lived down the street.

"Let's move to the deck," Jack suggested, already steering them in that direction. "I could use a break and I doubt you want your nice sundress to get wet once Sage has finally managed to turn that sprinkler system on."

"Good point. Besides, she needs to drink something too in this heat."

He cast her a critical onceover, frowning behind his sunglasses. "Did you make sure to put on some sunscreen?"

"After getting dressed," Sam said. "I'll make sure to apply some more when the kids are all here; I'm not sure any of the parents have thought about sun protection for them."

"I bought extra, made sure to get waterproof too. We should make sure to apply some on Sage too after she's gotten dressed into her swimsuit," Jack commented. "The forecast said it was going to be a nice summer day but it's hotter than I'd expected. Maybe I'll check with Ricardo and see if we can borrow that huge party tent of his to provide some shade..."

Scanning the backyard as they reached the deck she grinned when suddenly the sprinkler system was turned on and water sprayed in all directions. "He might not want it to get wet."

"We can put it over the paddle pool, there are no sprinklers there."

"Speaking of which," she turned to him with a speculative gaze, "is that a new purchase, filled with jello?"

Jack gave her a roguish grin after plopping down on a lounge chair. "Maybe if you put on your bikini we could do a quick test run before the kids get here," he waggled his brows.

Sam was about to retort when Sage came running out of the house.

"Did it work, did it work? Daddy?"

"It certainly did," he replied, gesturing in the direction of the active sprinklers. "Whoa." He grabbed the hem of her shirt when she tried to run off towards it and pulled her into his lap. "You might want to wait getting wet until you have your swimsuit on, kiddo."