Max Talbot, Family Man?

***Jass' POV*** 22 November 2013

"I'm Coming!" I shouted as I made my way to the front door. I had called this out three times before this and whomever was _at_ the door didn't seem to hear or care. When I got there and got it open I was taken aback by the delivery men standing there.

"Are you Jassmine Richard?" I nodded and he held out a clipboard. "Sign here and we'll start bringing things in. Where do you want them?"

I blindly signed and then heard what he said. "Want what?" I said clearly bewildered.

He sighed and rubbed his hand on his face. "We have 10 boxes in our truck of baby gear. Where's the nursery?"

A light dawned in my pregnancy addled brain. "Oh! Um... top of the stairs and to the left... only bedroom on that side." I had spoken before getting on the plane with my dad who understood he would have to earn the right to be a grandparent. He asked me if there was anything I wanted or needed for the kids. Having Max on Skype and dad on the speakerphone made things easier. Max told dad that we didn't have any nursery furniture for the house yet. He then clarified and said the Colorado house. Dad then said that he would make sure that the kids had everything they needed for furniture. This was dad keeping his promise and then some.

Once they were done I was standing in all of this and wondering just _how_ I was going to get it all together without Max here. That's when my phone rang. "Grand Central." I said rather happily as I answered.

A laugh answered me. "Been a busy day already?" It was Kristen Gigure. "A few of us were wondering if you had a chance to get things for the nursery yet. I know that Max said the furniture was covered but you're getting close." I liked Kristen a lot, and not just because her husband was my saviour when I had surprised Max.

I couldn't help it, I frantically giggled like a mad woman. "You could say that. My dad came through on a promise for the first time in my life and now I'm kind of overwhelmed. Do you know of anyone who'd be willing to come over and help put together baby furniture so I feel more ready?"

I could hear the smile in her voice. "I'm positive we can do that. After all _we_ read directions before putting things together. How many boxes are there?" She had put me on speaker, I could tell by the tinny tone she'd gotten.

Moving around so I could see and count the current additions I cursed. "Looks like 9 of the 10 boxes are shipped as they are. The 10th one I can tell was packed by someone in the family." I heard gasps from the other end. "I know, it's a lot. Knowing my dad he got things that would last too which means solid wood. I'll babysit for those who have to get kids in the afternoon and buy dinner and booze for everyone but those of us who can't drink." There were days I missed having a nice glass of wine, already this was one of them.

I then heard Jessy laugh. "Come on girls, she needs us and is willing to feed us and help us forget this too. Jassmine what are the boxes so we know how difficult this will be." I also heard Mia, Ashley and Hailey behind Jessy.

Looking at the boxes in ernst I smiled. "Half are from Pottery Barn Kids so I bet those are dressers and storage, maybe even a crib. I see the glider I'd been wanting and the double stroller. There's something here from Childcraft and another one from Stokke." The girls all whistled or made a hell of a lot of noise.

Mia spoke up. "Some of that stuff isn't cheap Jassmine, just what _does_ your family do?" There were murmurs of agreement and I sighed.

"Tell you what, if you're willing to come and help, I'll answer every question you have. I know I'm new here and you're curious, especially with they way Max has been protective of me. Consider this the chance to ask all the questions you want, you'll have a captive audience." My nesting instinct had kicked into overdrive once I had gotten here. Max had taken it in stride and made sure that every surface of the place was clean, including the ceilings, to my specifications. I think he paid extra to the cleaning company for them to come out but I hadn't asked. Now it was _past_ time to get the nursery ready.

Kristen came back on. "Jassmine, we'll be there. I'm sure we can think of some things we want to know about you and I'm sure you want to know things about us as well. We'll formulate a plan of attack when we get there. In fact if there's anything else we can help with, now's the time to ask." I heard Mia agreeing in the background.

"Not that I can think of, unless you know of a way I can get that kind of help after they get here." As much as I tried to think of and remember things it was even more difficult for me than it had been. I needed a way to see if things had been done.

The girls chuckled at me and said they were on their way. I hung up my phone and waddled downstairs to wait for them. I was feeling quite a bit less overwhelmed by the sheer amount of boxes now, that is until I went into the spare room and noticed the neatly labeled boxes I had shipped to Max before getting here. Most of it was clothes and other things the girls in Philly swore I would need. I hadn't gotten around to opening it any further before packing them to move. That was going to be the second project for today, if I had the energy. If not, it would wait.

In 20 minutes I had the girls coming in and looking around. We hadn't had anyone over really yet as I was just getting settled. I gave a quick tour of the first floor, not that they couldn't see everything already. "It's about 1,000 square feet smaller than my condo was in Philly, it's also somewhat temporary. We want to see if we can find a house to rent around here that's a bit bigger." I would prefer to own the house but renting was a good compromise for this season at least.

Just before we could start talking about how we wanted to get this all done, the doorbell rang. I started to hoist myself up and then noticed Ashley waving me to stay seated. I heard the door open and then Ashley laugh. "Hey Mal, come on in. Some of us are here to get to know Jassmine and help her put together some baby furniture. Come on in and join us." I heard Mel laugh and the two of them came back into the living room.

I had spoken to Mel on the phone a couple times but this was the first time I had met her. She came over to me with a smile. "You _have_ to be Jassmine. It's nice to put a face with the name." We shook hands.

"It is. There's water in the fridge if you want some. We were about to head up to the nursery to make a plan." I hoisted myself up and slowly led the way.

When we got in what would be the kids' room they all gasped. "I did warn you what you were getting into." I said as I moved a bit further into the room. "We know that we want the crib close to the door so we can get in and out easily during the night. And when I say we I do mean Max and I. We're equal partners in this."

Kristen smiled as she moved through the boxes. "It's nice to hear that you are deciding things together. A lot of time they are gone so much that we end up doing everything." She shifted boxes a little and found what she was looking for. "We'll do this one first. Do you know where you want to put the chair in here?"

I looked around. "Um... I have no idea." Everyone laughed and began moving things out of the room.

Jessy started opening the box for my glider and ottoman. "Ok, so while we start on the queen's nighttime throne, someone throw out a question so we can get to know Jassmine better." I found a patch of floor and got as comfy as I could.

Kristen smiled. "I'll start. How are you dealing with your pregnancy?" She then picked up the directions and listened.

I was on the spot, but it was nothing new. I was used to dealing with that. "Really, I've been overwhelmed for so long about this entire thing. We found out late that I was pregnant and then shortly after that we found out it was twins. It's been a wild roller coaster ride. On top of that my family didn't approve of us being together, let alone being unwed parents." I snorted at this and corrected myself. "Actually my Gran has always loved Max, it's my parents and siblings who aren't fans."

Ashley looked up from the dresser she and Mel were getting together. "Ok, this isn't cheap stuff. You said you'd explain why when we got here." Laughter filled the air as I joined and shook my head.

I shifted on the floor as someone was trying to poke my kidneys and started my story. "Ok, it's actually really simple. My family is one of the oldest in Philadelphia and consequentially one of the most wealthy. Most people don't realize that Max is actually the poor one of our relationship." The astonished looked I got made me laugh outright. I held out a hand and got myself back under control. "Give me a chance to explain." They all stopped and looked at me.

I sighed and started. "My grandparents were part of one of the oldest families and of course that means so am I. We own quite a bit of parts of Philly and I am now the head of the entire structure, but that I'll get to. Between the ages of 18 and 23 my birthday gifts from my beloved grandparents was a building. I know it sounds like lame gifts but they are all well run buildings and have stayed that way. When Max and I got together I was also the head of Bastion de la Sécurité it's Philly's own version of Covenant House, but better. It's a position I inherited from Gran when my grandfather died. Anyway, it's the charitable arm of our family corporation and started working with the Flyers which is how I met Max. It took some heavy flirting on both of our parts, a friend who is more like a sister ditching me, a wonderful meal after a game, a phone call with his family and we were thick as thieves. It's been almost 2 years now and we're very much in love." By the looks on their faces they all knew how I felt about Max, it was similar to how they felt about their men.

Hailey rescued us by accidentally dropping the screwdriver she'd been using. "Whoops. Ok, now that we're positive that you two had a whirlwind romance. I wanna know what you thought of Max, your first impression when you _did_ meet. Why did your almost sister have to ditch you?" By now the glider was put together and I was moved into it. Both so I could try it out and be out of the way for the dressers being built.

I thought back as I rocked. This was going to sound bad but it was the truth. "Actually, yes I was attracted to him and had been for a while, but his bad reputation preceded him. If you didn't know, he was known in Pennsylvania as a notorious womanizer, like working his way through the single female population of Pittsburgh notorious. So while I was attracted I didn't want to be just a notch on his belt. It helped that Mr. Snyder said something that made me reign in my temper when we were introduced. Dani already knew I liked him but hated his reputation so she helped me focus on him and not my irritation. He actually really impressed me. I expected the typical dumb jock but he was well spoken and asked thoughtful questions." I chuckled a bit. "He even made me laugh. I found that I had trouble that night getting him out of my head. His words pulled me in and those eyes were unforgettable, I had to get to know him. The rest is history." I spread my hands out in front of me as I finished.

A few hours later we had everything put together and were now sitting back in the living room. I had moved the boxes from my shower into the living room. Fortunately I had not gotten huge boxes so I could carry them even now. I set them around me while the girls were decorating the room. I had given them free reign to use any of the decor we had as long as it was both green and purple. Mia came downstairs and saw the boxes around me. "What's going on Jass?"

I smiled at her. "These are the things from my baby shower in Philly. I hadn't washed any of it, just packed it so I could easily carry them and shipped them here. I got another box from one of them yesterday so I thought I'd open everything at once and get them ready for their arrival." I rub my belly. "Would you grab me a knife so I can get through the tape?"

She got it but then wouldn't give it to me. "Hold on, we can make this feel like a real shower again." She jogged up the stairs and rounded up the rest of them. Soon enough we were all opening the boxes and cooing over all the tiny outfits and baby gear. I couldn't believe that everyone had been so generous. I had everything I needed to bring these two home and feel ready.

Finally I was ready to open the box that came yesterday. I gasped a little bit as I read the return address. It was from Gran. Everyone gathered close. "Something wrong Jass?" I had asked them to just call me Jass. I knew how much of a mouthful my name was.

My eyes teared up as I slowly opened the final box. "No, it's just... this is from my Gran. She said her gift would be coming later." I got into the box and found the handwritten note my Gran always sent with gifts. It was written on the stationary set I had customized for her. The front was a collage of her favorite flowers on a clean background and it simply said 'from the heart of Gran'. Inside was her loving script. 'My dearest Jassmine and Maxime. I apologize for the lateness of this gift but I hope you will agree that it was worth the wait. I have booked my visit for the holidays as we discussed. I will of course email you with the full details, but I did want to let you know that I arrive on the December 18th and leave on January 3rd. Much love to you all, Gran'

I dabbed at my eyes and dove deeper into the box. There were 9 ziploc bags with two sets of clothes each in them. The first two I took out looked identical until I looked closer. They were handmade crocheted baby hockey gear in Avs colors and with Max's number on the hats. One set of a hat, diaper cover, leg warmers and "skates" for each of them. With both sets there was a onesie proclaiming the wearer to be the newest Avs fan. Next came 3 sets of onesies with cute sayings on them. The first set said 'Little Prince/Princess has finally arrived'. The next one had 'Yes, we are twins' and 'No we cannot be identical'. The final one had all of us giggling with 'Keep calm and carry on' and 'Now panic and freak out'.

There were 2 different Christmas sets, one handmade crochet for Santa and Mrs. Claus and the others were cute onesies that could go with them. Then there were the boy/girl crocheted hats in the right colors of green and purple. Then I came to the final bag, again there was a note. 'Jassmine, do not be upset with Maxime over what is in here. I asked for what is on these so that I could have them made.' That got me a bit worried, then I pulled out the first outfit. It was a onesie and hat with our son's name on it, in the correct color even. My hand flew to my mouth as I trembled and tried hard not to cry. Lifting the second outfit out tears slipped down my face. My Gran had made sure that at least once _both_ of my children had their names on something they would wear.

I leaned over and grabbed the phone. I dialed Max's cell easily and waited for him to pick up. After he said hello I sobbed. "You told Gran their names."

The other end of the phone went silent for a moment. "You got her package." I heard him sit up and turn off the tv. "Babe, are you mad that I told her?" He sounded _really_ worried about that.

I shook my head violently, which also shook off the girls who were edging closer to check on me. "No! No, not at all. Overwhelmed again by the generous support we've gotten since moving and what my dad and Gran did, but not upset. Thank you love. Thank you for making sure at least once in their lives they got something that was uniquely theirs."

I could hear his smile from here. "You're welcome. Gran approves of both names and promised no one would find them out until we were ready."

I wiped my eyes and braked out a laugh. "Uh, you might as well tell the guys cause I have several of the girls over and they've seen them. They put together dad's gifts for us and even decorated with the coordinating sets I got. I'm hoping they will close the door so we can see it for the first time together." One of them ran up the stairs and loudly shut the door to the nursery.

Max's voice got soft. "I can't wait. Be careful and thank the girls for me."

I chuckled. "I and the kids who won't have furniture that's falling apart will. Be careful yourself. We're waiting." He chuckled, blew us all kisses and hung up as I heard knocking on his door. I hung up the phone and looked up into 6 worried faces. "I hate hormones. I cry at the drop of a hat." Kristen came over and hugged me, handing me some tissues as she did. "We hadn't told anyone the names we have chosen for the kids until now. Just that it's a boy and a girl and the colors we were going to use for them, green and purple." I started crying again, but still they were tears of joy. "To have Max tell Gran so she could get these done, it means the world to me." They took turns hugging me and we made plans to watch the game together tomorrow night.

As they left that night I had a good feeling about this place. Things were going to be great here.