143 - Matching Handbag and Shoes

*I’m here to spoil my nephew. Step out of my way and you won’t get hurt. – Clay*

Camille pulled through the gate and suddenly understood why Peanut wished her luck at finding a place to park. There were even more bikes and a few more rental cars. Vin and Trigg stood off to the side talking to Roscoe. Looking away from them, she hit the brakes and caused her slow-moving Jeep to lurch to a stop.

Sid braced herself and looked at her youngest daughter, “What in the -.”

Throwing the engine into park, and unbuckling her seatbelt at the same time, Camille ignored her mother and yanked open the door. Dashing across the gravel, she flung herself at the man as he turned around and caught her. Wrapping her arms and legs around her friend, she buried her face in his neck and let her tears flow.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Porthos murmured as he hugged her and rubbed her back. “I’m not going to get beat up by your man, now am I?”

“No, don’t think so,” Cookie grinned. “She’s Team Black.”

Porthos arched a black eyebrow at the much darker man.

“You’re only half,” Cookie smirked. “Question is, top half or bottom half?”

“Definitely bottom,” Karan said as she stepped up next to her husband and slipped his arm around his waist.

“Really?” Cookie asked dryly.

“Whatever, you were there,” she rolled her eyes,

“You were,” Porthos agreed.

“I know nothing of what you are talking about, I’m innocent,” Cookie insisted with an indignant attitude.

Karan stepped away from her husband and moved towards where Sid now stood with two of her newest grandkids.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

Karan grinned, “Away from wherever lightning is going to strike.”

Everyone else chuckled and laughed as they also moved away from the grinning man.

“I’ll remember this when you come to me wanting to take a Cajun for a ride.”

Porthos smirked at the blonde, “Swamp Thang likes to share.”

Camille leaned back and looked him in the eyes with a knowing grin, “I knew it.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he sat her on her feet on the ground. “Not talking about that right now.” He looked at the two kids. “Hey, Mitch, I’m Porthos. I’m the coolest of the three of us.”

Athos and Aramis both scoffed as Mitch accepted the hand that Porthos held out. The young teen knew the other two from game nights, but Porthos was rarely ever on because he was usually on duty with the army. Mitch grinned at Porthos, “What makes you the coolest?”

“I’m glad you asked,” he tugged Mitch to him and tossed his arm around the boy’s shoulders and guided him towards the clubhouse. “You ever played Mario Kart with one of the designers?”

“How the hell is making that happen?” Sid asked.

“One of the guys in his unit has a sibling or something that works on the design team,” Aramis said. “Asshole.”

“You love him,” Camille smiled at her friend who grinned back.

“I do,” Aramis admitted. “Not that I’m going to tell him that.” He grinned at Nicki, and offered her a fist bump, “Digging the braids. You wear them better than that idiot.” Jerking his thumb over his shoulder, he jabbed Cookie in his chest.

“Fuck you, shithead,” Cookie laughed as the two men began to try to lock each other in a headlock.

Athos rolled his eyes and put an arm around Nicki’s shoulders, “We’ll leave those idiots to it.”

Camille walked over to her husband and slid her arms around his neck. With hands on her thighs, he lifted her up and kissed her.

“Your dad is not happy with me.”

“I’m going to guess that he found out that we were married,” she grinned as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

“Exactly. But I told him that we were going to have a Saints wedding when we moved up there after you graduate.”

“Did he forgive you?”

Darkness got a confused look on his face. “I’m not sure. He started yelling for Nessie and saying that he needed cake.”

“Nessie’s here?” Camille asked with a bright smile.

He nodded, “So your dad asking for cake is not unusual?”

Camille laughed and shook her head. “You’ve been forgiven as long as she will make him cake.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he chuckled.

He sat her down and they walked into a very crowded clubhouse. So many people caused a moment of panic, but Darkness placed his hand on her shoulder, and she calmed down some.

“Go to the swing on the back porch,” he murmured against her ear and she nodded.

Walking through the building and heading to the back porch, she felt like she did three years ago when she first arrived and knew no one here. The difference was that where she used to sit at a table on the back porch, there was now a bed swing.

Climbing onto the bed, she grabbed a pillow just before Tink launched himself onto the bed and she grabbed the rope in the corner to keep from falling off. She was laughing when the door opened, and she assumed it was Darkness and did not even look over at the new person.

“Yer da is already picking out a cake for yer wedding.”

Grinning, Camille shifted as Nessie climbed up in the bed with her younger friend. She laid her head against Nessie’s shoulder and wrapped one arm around her and kept the other on Tink’s head.

“You love him,” she repeated herself from earlier.

“Aucht, takes less effort to love that bastard.”

“Ness…”

“Oh, lass, yer adventure has barely begun.”

“How’s Priss?”

They sat in silence for a moment and Camille worried about her closest friend.

“It’s been a hard few years, but she’s found where she needs to be. She’s found who completes her. And she has a beautiful bairn.”

“Who…” Camille swallowed and closed her eyes tightly. “Is he the father?”

“Lass, that baby girl has parents that love her, an extended family that will make sure that she never wants for anything and three clubhouses of Saints. That’s all you need to know.”

They sat there in silence in the muggy air as the outdoor fan circulated the air. Tink popped his head up and then belly crawled to the end of the bed. He gave a soft growl, and it was echoed by a rumble that came from the ground in front of the porch.

“Boudreau!”

Camille crawled off the bed and grabbed Tink by his collar and drug him inside. She grabbed three whole chickens out of the refrigerator. She grinned at her three kids and the musketeers, “You want to meet Boudreau?”

Nessie was speaking in fluent Whatthefuckisthat when Camille stepped back outside with her family and Saints following her. She sat down on the porch and removed the plastic from the chicken and tossed it at the alligator climbing up the stairs.

“He’s such a good swamp puppy!” she said as the eight-foot alligator chomped down on the chicken.

“That is not a swamp puppy,” Clay declared. “That is a handbag and matching shoes.”