“No, I can’t take anymore! Please stop!” Tinkerbelle cried, sobbing hysterically as he rounded the corner and ran down the hallway where he used to race his matchbox cars with his brothers late at night when their parents had gone to bed.

He ran down the hall, shoved the double doors to the family room open and decided then and there that he was definitely going to kill his brothers.

*-*-*-*

“Please, stop!” she cried, gasping for air as she tried to stop laughing, but she just couldn’t, not with all seven of Danny’s brothers shoving the most embarrassing pictures they could find of Danny in her face.

“Wait! I found the home videos!” Arik announced triumphantly as he held up a large stack of DVDs.

“You………Bastards!” Danny snarled as the photo album on her lap was suddenly yanked away.

“Oh, come on!” his brothers whined as Danny snatched the rest of the photo albums away from them.

“Betraying bastards,” he grumbled with a murderous glare aimed at his brothers as he slammed the photo albums down on the coffee table.

“Stop being an asshole,” Duncan said with a roll of his eyes as he reached down to-

“Ow!” he yelped as Danny grabbed his hand and with a simple twist of his wrist, dropped his brother to his knees.

“The next person that shows my girlfriend a picture of me wearing one of Mom’s bras is a dead man!” he snarled, using his hold on his brother’s hand to make his point.

“Let go, you bastard!” Duncan yelled, gasping in pain as Danny added a little more pressure to drive his point home.

She should be concerned about his brother, but……

“There’s a picture of you wearing a bra?” she asked, shooting a hopeful glance towards the pile of photo albums and wondering if it would be possible to get a copy blown up for her wall.

“Don’t even think about it,” he said, throwing her a menacing look that once upon a time would have cowed her, but now it just made her mumble under her breath and shake her head as she got to her feet and walked around him to find that picture for herself.

She heard a muttered curse and then she found herself pulled into Danny’s arms and his lips pressed against hers. “Be nice, Tinkerbelle, or I won’t show you my old tree house.”

“You had a tree house?” she asked, smiling against his lips as she imagined a mini-Danny holing up in his tree house, warding off his territory from his younger siblings.

“Yes, he did and I could only get him to come out for dinner,” a small woman with graying black hair and a huge smile said as Danny stepped back.

“Sweetheart, this is my mother,” Danny said, leaning down to kiss his mother on the cheek.

“Mom, this is my girlfriend-Mom?”

“Mrs. Bradford?” Jodi asked, panic taking over as she reached for the older woman just as her eyes rolled in the back of her head and she-

*-*-*-*

“I’m fine,” Mary, Danny’s mother, said, waving off everyone’s concerns and gesturing for everyone to eat.

“Honey, maybe we should go to the hos-” Dr. Bradford began to say only to stop mid-word when Mary turned a furious glare on him.

“My oldest son brought home his girlfriend to have dinner with me and I’m damn well going to have dinner with her!” Mary snapped at her husband, startling everyone at the table.

“Ummm,” Dr. Bradford began to say, swallowing nervously as he slowly, ever so slowly, handed his wife the ice pack he’d been holding against the back of her head where she’d hit the edge of the couch when she’d passed out, and sat back in his chair. “Just let me know if it starts hurting.”

“Uh huh,” Mary said, shifting her attention back on her. “Would you like any more chicken, Jodi?” she asked pleasantly, startling her even more.

“N-no, thank you, I’m fine,” she said, glancing down at the plate overflowing with food and wondering how she was going to eat all of this without getting sick.

“Are you thirsty?” Mary asked, sounding eager as she gestured towards one of the many pitchers lining the long dining room table.

“I’m fine, thank you,” she said with a smile.

“Are you sure?” Mary asked, gesturing for one of her sons to pour her a glass of lemonade.

“She’s fine, Mom,” Danny said, waving his brother off.

“Yes, yes of course,” Mary murmured, looking thoughtful as she absently pushed her mashed potatoes around on her plate.

“This is really good, Mrs. Bra-umm, Mary,” Jodi said with a smile as she took a bite of mashed potatoes.

“So, tell me about yourself,” Mary said with a huge smile as soon as Jodi had food in her mouth.

“You already know all about her,” Danny said, surprising her.

Mary’s eyes narrowed on Danny. “I have waited years for one of my inconsiderate sons to bring a nice young woman home to meet me! You will not deny me this moment!”

Jodi watched in astonishment as every single one of Danny’s brothers suddenly dropped their heads and become completely focused on their food while Jason, Trevor and Kenzie sat there, clearly enjoying themselves. Danny just sat there, pushing his food around on his plate as he stared down at the table. Frowning, she looked from Danny to the end of the table where his father was also staring down at his plate, pushing his food around.

“Jodi?”

“Hmm?” she murmured, tearing her gaze away from Mr. Bradford to focus on his wife, his really happy wife.